Fellow Traitor

4E 201 | Late Sun's Dusk | Eighty-Six Days Since Arrival

Eryx looked at Noctis one final time.

"Until we meet again, fellow traitor."

His body dissolved into a cloud of blood before Tsukihana's strike reached him.

The mist vanished into the ground.

The controlled corpses attacked.

Cutting them apart did nothing. Severed torsos crawled. Detached hands retained weapons through blood threads. Wounds closed beneath red membranes as Eryx's command repaired the dead.

Tsukihana saw the system before the others did. Every crimson thread led toward a symbol painted across the mine entrance.

Katana threw enchanted knives. Blood tendrils intercepted and absorbed the blasts.

The marionettes closed from all sides.

The black marks surfaced across Tsukihana's hand.

She felt the blood command: one network, multiple bodies, a single source.

Tsukihana extended her hand and clenched it.

Every corpse froze.

Eryx's magic fought her grip. Her arm shook as black lines spread toward her elbow.

"I cannot hold them," she said.

Noctis faced the mine entrance.

"You do not need long."

His Shout shattered the blood symbol and collapsed the outer tunnel.

The threads snapped.

Every corpse fell.

Afterward Tsukihana asked why Eryx had called Noctis a traitor.

"Was he lying?"

"No," Noctis said.

"A traitor to whom?" Katana asked.

"People you do not want finding you."

He refused more, calling it his responsibility until disclosure would not place additional enemies behind them.

They found a map on one corpse: seven crimson lines converging beneath Markarth around a single ciphered word.

Awakening.

Tsukihana accepted Noctis's silence only for the moment.

Far away, Eryx wrote in his journal:

The Dragonborn reacts to accusation. The Moon vessel can interrupt external blood commands. Consciousness remains intact during partial awakening. Both traitors are more complete than expected.