A Series of Daedric Events (a Skyrim fanfiction)

Chapter Ten - Waking Nightmare pt 2

Once we're inside Nightcaller Temple it is pitch black inside. Erandur walks to the back of the room and casts a flame spell on the back wall. 

"Give me just a moment and I'll have this open," he says to me. 

An opening is created and I follow Erandur into the next room. 

"This place is too quiet," I shiver. I'm not used to Temples or fortresses being this quiet. It's so eerie. Even once you've rid the places of bandits or vampires inside, there's usually the sounds of the wind or nature. This place is utterly silent. 

"Now I can show you the source of the nightmares. Over there," Erandur points. 

I look down and I can see some sort of staff glowing in the darkness beneath. "Gods, that thing looks evil," I shudder. 

"Behold the Skull of Corruption, the source of Dawnstar's woes," Erandur says bitterly. "We must reach the inner sanctum and destroy it. Come, there's no time to lose,"

"How does that one skull affect all of Dawnstar?" I wonder. 

"Lore holds that the Skull of Corruption holds a constant hunger for the memories of others. The Skull has been out of touch for so long, I fear it's gained the ability to reach out on its own and try to feed," Erandur explains patiently. "What it does with these memories is just conjecture and an argument for scholars and historians to this very day,"

I'm glad Erandur is patient with me asking so many questions. It makes a difference from Marcurio's arrogance and Blaise's constant worrying. Or working alone. 

"So-"

"Damn it," Erandur curses. We've reached a doorway, but it's blocked by some kind of glowing, magic-looking barrier. I squint at is distrustfully. "The priests must have activated this barrier when the Miasma was released,"

"That barrier looks difficult to breach," I frown at it. 

"Impossible actually," Erandur responds. Just how does he know so much? There has to be more at play here. "There may be a way to bypass the barrier, but I must check their library and confirm it can be done,"

"Stop," I call. "You seem to know an awful lot about this place. What's going on?"

"I suppose there's no point in concealing the truth any longer," Erandur sighs. "My knowledge of this temple comes from personal experience. I was a priest of Vaermina,"

"Is this a trap?" I lift my greatsword. "Elaborate!"

"What would you have me say?" anger flashes acoss Erandur's eyes. "Sorry for following the misguided teachings of a mad Divine? Sorry for stealing memories from children? Do you realise when the orcs attacked, I was only concerned with myself? I fled...and left my brothers and sisters behind to die,"

I keep my greatsword hoisted. "You said you're a Priest of Mara now. Is that true? Or is all of this a trap?"

"This is no trap," Erandur insists. "I've spent the last few decades living in regret and seeking redemption from Mara and by Her Benevolence, I will right my wrongs,"

I lower my sword. "Fine. I'll trust you because we both need each other here. What's our next move?"

"I still have my key to the library. We can check for something there," Erandur leads the way and I follow after him. 

We step into the dusty old library and something shifts in the air. The thing about this Temple being too quiet is that I notice immediately when something is not quite right. Sure enough, there are two men dressed in purple robes and an Orc. They must have woken up. Luckily for us, they still appeared to be quite tired and so we dealt with them quickly enough.