The Ruin That Should Not Exist

4E 201 | Late Sun's Dusk | Ninety Days Since Arrival

Calcelmo forbade entry.

Remiel began packing equipment.

The newly revealed ruin had no place in Markarth's archives. Its metal composition differed from known Dwemer structures. The Calamities' symbol had been cut too cleanly to be ancient.

Raya examined the threshold with Threadborn vision. Seven dark magical paths extended inward. One carried frost. Another pulsed like blood.

Mei and Eryx had been there.

Tsukihana, Katana, Raya, and Remiel entered while Calcelmo and Aicantar remained outside to study the door and operate it if necessary.

The ruin smelled of rain despite lying beneath the mountain.

Bronze conduits ran through dark stone like veins. The first corpse they found was a Forsworn woman with blackened eyes and no wounds. A sharpened key fragment rested in her hand, cut with seven grooves.

When Raya sealed the fragment inside a specimen case, the dead woman inhaled once and died again.

"Something inside the key maintained an imitation," Raya said.

"Blood magic?" Tsukihana asked.

"No. Memory."

A blade scraped along stone in the right-hand passage.

Raya sent a sphere of fire ahead.

Rows of alcoves appeared. Desiccated bodies stood within bronze frames: Nords, Imperials, Reachmen, mages, warriors, some ancient and some recent.

At the final alcove stood a corpse in Blades armor holding a katana.

The old weapon across Tsukihana's back grew heavy.

The corpse raised its head.

"Successor identified," said a voice from the bronze frame behind it. "Key fragment detected. Transfer required."

It attacked.

The dead Blade's swordsmanship was disciplined, swift, and close enough to Akaviri forms that Tsukihana recognized the philosophy. Katana joined, yet the corpse held both blades.

Bronze channels flared.

Every preserved body opened its eyes.

Above them, the entrance began to close. Calcelmo's shout vanished beneath grinding metal.

The dead Blade returned its katana to the sheath and lowered into a quick-draw stance.

"Prove continuity."

Tsukihana mirrored him.

Her thumb pressed against the guard.

Two inheritors faced one another across centuries: one alive, one preserved because the ruin refused to release the past.

The bronze channels flashed crimson.

Both swords left their sheaths.

And the ruin chose its successor.

END OF THE CURRENT MANUSCRIPT To be continued in Act III: Awakening, Chapter 10.