The limitless planets had twisted the void, creating cracks in space time order, then one of them started absorbing the rest unto itself. It was too late to reverse what happened. As thus, those left behind smashed the ninth each millenia, colliding and finally, the creating a massive crack, dividing the ninth into two. As if in its last struggle, the first half smashed with one of its fragments, causing more fragments to fall into the other half. The latter was then divided into two and the other half, became the new ninth. But as if it's dying sneer, it swallowed all strength and life from the rest of the planets that had collided unto it into the other half. Creating a new body while leaving the rest of the planets dead or dying. Only ten planets who were far away, watching the events unfolding, was able to avoid the catastrophic event.

Then it spoke.

"Whole again, once more. But divide again, nevermore."

Mortred woke up with loud beating of his heart and panting breaths. Another nightmare again. The intensity of these bad dreams were increasing day by day.

It's becoming worse.

The headache and pain now lingers after he woke up. He still don't know the reason of these bad mornings. And moreover, he always forgot what was the nightmare all about. Causing even more confusion.

His right arm was strangely cold but his body was warm. Heated by something. He turned to his right, his arm was on the cold leather floor of the tent. Then as he turned left, he found someone's body clinging unto him. A woman with blazing brown-red hair. Thankfully his sudden waking did not disturb her sleep. They had a very tiring day yesterday and one of the things that eased their exhausted bodies was their nightly activities. He could feel her well-toned body that could compete against his. He smiled, thinking that he was lucky to have a lover that could probably beat him up in a brawl. The only thing that proves her feminity was her plump chest touching his other arm.

He tried not to wake her up as he slowly and softly pushed her to get out of her locking arms. He put on his clothes that was just tossed around their bedroll, that was along with hers. He grabbed another folded blanket and covered her bare body. She squirmed many times under the thick fur blanket. Maybe the absence of his body made her uncomfortable. He smiled and opened his tent then grabbed the lit lamp beside their bed roll. As he slowly walked outside, darkness welcomed him with a long corridor that seems to swallow every light that tries to erase the silent dark. The dripping water from the pipes on the ceiling along with the faraway sounds of the pistons were the only things that made him sleep better than the other locations. The constant noises was preferable than the deafening silence in the dark.

Barrels and crates of their supply in small sleds were all around the camp. A makeshift fence for any unsuspecting intruder. During the first years of their expedition, they were able to make use of portals and recall spells to resupply themselves on nearby cities without attracting unwanted attention. But since they entered the underground Dwemer City, they had lost contact with the outside world, they realized that on going further down the deep city, they will not be able to resupply themselves from the surface. So as the leader of the expedition, Mortred had to decide at that point. Whether to continue through the gates and lose their only supply line, or stop the expedition and return to the surface empty handed. It was obvious he chose the former, he even planned to go alone but not one of the expedition members left him even if he warned them of the potential perils under the cavernous depths.

Since then, they had to make do with mushrooms, underground spring fishes, dried biscuits and meat that was kept frozen by spells, grow vegetables on their carriages with the help of alchemy and magicka, and filtering the water.

Every footsteps he took, echoed through the caverns. This was one of the longest expeditions he had underwent. They didn't even know if they were still underneath Skyrim or was already under Cyrodiil. It's been months… or years since they ate their last vegetables and fruit supplies fresh from the surface. Maybe, four? He already forgot the exact time. They were now deep beneath the bedrock that breathing was starting to become harder for them. It was only thanks to his lover’s strange foreign spells that moves earth, rocks and filters dangerous dusts, that they were able to go further beyond what they thought to be the last point of life for a normal mortal.

Then he saw the tents where this other companions slept. A thick fur tent where a siblings of female and male khajiit were sleeping. Another three leather tents owned by three nords and a large tent near the campfire where two Argonians rested. There was a hammock on the corner where another small fire was lit. It was the female orc mercenary he hired that's gazing on the fire with roasted skeevers. Maybe she caught it earlier while they were sleeping. She was known to be enthusiastic with her traps as a hunter. And she was the one in charge of the watch at this hour. The orc greeted him by raising her mead as she saw him walking towards her. He just shook his head then went passed her and stopped on a corner of the rocky wall. He opened his pants and went to relieve himself. Much to the disgust of the orc.

"Cursed Shite, if you want to take leak, go do it far from where I sleep." The orc grumbled as she tossed a pebble towards him. Hitting him from behind.

"How was the watch?" He asked after he finishes himself and shaking his wood to avoid wetting his pants.

"Aside from your stinking pee, I only smelled same hazards around us since we entered the area. Still crittering and cluttering around us." She grabbed several dried roots and tossed them to the fire. Then she noticed his soured face. "Had another bad dream?"

Their time of travelling together made his expedition team knew about his sleeping problems.

"Yeah, you can now go take your rest. I'll keep watch." He took a seat on a rock around her campfire. Warming himself from the cold wind.

"I don't want to sleep after you spread your smell nearby." The orc scoffed.

"You can take your rest at my tent."

"With someone who could choke a golem to death while sleeping? I'd rather not." The orc joked. Then she saw him writing on his journal. "Recording our daily sufferings?"

"Unfortunately, no. That would be very boring to be read by scholars in comparison to what I am writing right now." He replied while scribbling something. "I am currently drawing the symbols that we had found from the ruined docks."

The previous discovery they had several days ago was what came to her mind. The sixteenth underground dock they found on these seemingly eternal cave system.

"Looks gibberish to me." The orc went to her bag and took out four bottles of mead. She tossed two of them to him which he caught.

"Thanks."

Most of the symbols and written journals they found were written in a language they do not know… or most of them. It was both a very old forgotten language and foreign from Tamriel.

“They are called the Akadiro right?”

“What?”

“Akadiro, you know the race of people your trying to investigate here. I heard you mention them many times also.” The orc explained.

“Hahahahaha, yes and no.” he corrected her. “I am studying them, learning more about their history, life, culture, language and motivation. No, they are called Akaviri, people from the land of Akavir. Also known as Land of Dragons.”

“Wait… does that mean that dragons came from a foreign continent?”

“That’s a question that had no definitive answer…yet.”

He closed his journal then took out another one which looked to be much older and full of torn pages. Although he still couldn't read it due to being ravaged by time and rot, he previously found out that these ancient people were not trying to live here. And he don't know what was their reason in delving on the dangerous underground Dwemer cities.

"All these cold ruins made me remember the warm soup that I had in Whiterun. I should make note to ask the innkeeper for her recipe."

"What soup?" He asked.

"Hmm? Oh it was a mammoth soup. The meat was juicy and cooked with great care that it could melt in your mouth. The aroma of cheese could be smelled with every spoonful taste. And the smell of unknown herbs combined with the hot broth is so mesmerizing." The orc temporarily went to her blissful delusion before snapping back. "I wonder what would be the taste like if I replace the mammoth with crabs or deer..."

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Stop, you’re going to make me hungrier too. Haha.” Both of them laughed.

Then the orc looked at the cavern behind them from which they came from.

“To be honest, no matter how many times your lover did it, I will always be amazed.”

“Youre not alone.” He looked at her and smiled, feeling somewhat proud. He had to admit, the expedition would have never reach this far without the sleeping beauty in his tent. Her spells were unique, strange and obviously… foreign. She would move, manipulate and bend the rocks, sand, and earth to her will. Without her, they would have to dig manually with their strength and tools into the hard bedrock. Her existence made their travel easier and safer than he previously had. And unlike the way battle mages or even the archmages he knew, manipulate elements… her’s were like a martial art. It always mesmerize him everytime he sees it. He studying it, but strangely also, her spells were not dependent on magicka.

It’s like the earth under their feet, was a part of her.

He first thought that she was even an Akaviri that had washed up on Hammerfell. But she couldn’t understand the Akaviri language that he showed her. At least, he was able to confirm that she wasn’t from any province or even a native from Tamriel or nearby continents. She was from somewhere else. Her reaction in seeing the cultures and life in the continent was already an enough proof for him. Communication with her was one of the things he had a hard time making due to her… past situation. He smiled again, remembering the first time he was able to make the first language for her kind.

"Already found why these people started living on Dwemer cities?" the orc asked. “You’ve been asking that before we entered the Gate of Death. Muttering that in wonder like some lunatic… woooo.”

“Take a guess.” He grinned.

“What?” the orc raised her brow.

“I’m trying to ease your boredom right now.” He waved his hand, then took the mead beside him and drank. “Try storming your head for the answer.”

“I’ll humor you then.” The orc drank her mead then thought for several minutes. Mortred just patiently waited as he continued writing.

The orc thought about what they saw, the scribbling that they found, the abandoned dwemer factories that assembled and disassembled ships, the countless of snake-men remains around the workshops and the activity focused more on the knowledge sector on the city than the city itself. She felt a sense of familiarity on this, she see some pattern but she can’t remember why and how. Then she noticed what they had done in the past years, poking around ruins.

"Studying."

"Hm? What?"

"They were studying the Dwemer Technology." She stood up as she drank the entire bottle as if to restrain her childish excitement. She slowly realized the true objective of these snake people.

He grinned in reply. Nodding to her.

“So you are actually learning about our travel.” Mortred takes an amuse tone, as if teasing her which she just shrugged as she took another bottle. “You’re right. These people, the Akaviri, came to our land, trying to conquer. Then became part of our people when they met their promised savior, the Dragonborn Emperor. Then as they lived here through the years, they had found a lost civilization that was forgotten and even ignored by the native people of Tamriel or its rulers. And from these ruins, they were able to find the answers they seek. But as we all know… as a scholar also, I do know… that answers only breeds more questions. So they became trapped with the longing and insatiable appetite to fill the void in their minds.”

“So they delved into the sunken cities of Dwemer to get more knowledge?”

“Yes, and according to the records that I found in Cyrodiil, Akaviri actually made several trips from Tamriel and back to their homeland, Akavir. The emperor allowed it, thinking that it would give great benefit to him.

“Benefit?”

“He already conquered all of Tamriel, although he never said it out loud, his recorded approvals, letters, and edicts he allowed, obviously displayed his desire for invading Akavir.”

He pointed at the tall structure that’s on their view, which had no resemblance to any Dwemer architecture but instead, was similar to the themes of Akaviri temples and homes they made here in Tamriel.

“Then?”

“Then… silence.”

“Uhhh… what?”

“The recorded history after that went silent. From what I gathered, it all started when the last Imperial Akaviri Potentate was removed from power.” Mortred shook his head and closed his journal, as if to contemplate.

“Even now, no one, even me, knows the reason. But I feel… that we are coming to the answer.” he added then continued back writing.

“Don’t you… you know, have connections with that certain…what did you call them…ummm… orders of psychic?” the orc asked.

“Oh you mean the Psijic Order. Wait. How did you know them?”

“You just talked about them yesterday. Mentioned them when you were regaling us the history of College of Winterhold.” the orc rolled her eyes and replied in monotone.

Mortred then remembered about it, he gave them a long lecture about the significance of magic in Skyrim’s development as a province or in its independence.

“Ah yes… unfortunately, I have no way of contacting them.” he sighed. “They come to you, not the other way around.”

“Heh, I didn’t expect powerful mages were actually shy.”

He laughed at her remark as it was the same thoughts he had about the secretive order.

“You should rest, we don’t want you walking wobbly tomorrow.” He told the orc.

“Fine, but I ain’t sleeping here.” She folded and took her hammock with her and went on the other side of the camp. As he dropped more dried roots into the campfire, he heard the countless of footsteps in the dark around them. He could hear the thousands of hostile beating hearts. Their armor clinking and saliva dripping on their mouths, with glaring white eyes.

Then he raised his face towards them. Staring at them on the dark abyss where they hid themselves, waiting to strike. And as he blinked, his eyes went gold with ruby slit, glowing in the dark with pure unfiltered bloodlust.

This caused countless of skittering sounds in haste. Disappearing into the deep darkness. He sighed in frustration and sat back, returning back to his thoughts. He opened his journal again and took out his pen then began writing.

[It was probably the 636th…no probably 640th day already since we entered the gates of an undiscovered dwemer city. The hidden culture, secrets and lives of the people in the past was truly fascinating to know. It made me feel like a child discovering something new once again. Each time we pass a dwemer city, I couldn’t deny how envious I am to witness and feel the full potential of their technology, their innovations to improve their lives. If only they were still alive.

Despite not seeing the morning light for almost several months, the morale of the expedition is still strong and highly motivated. Not just the loot but it seemed that my curiosity was very infectious. Supplies are still plenty, fresh water were available thanks to our resident rock girl. And the Argonians had grew some kind of infatuations towards mechanical innovations of the Dwemer. They started tinkering with the captured Centurion. I wish they would be able to make it work for us. It could help lighten the load from me. Despite growing in a primitive marshlands of Argonia, they became quite knowledgeable and interested in dwemer machines after reading some of my books also.

I had to use dead falmers to drag our several new carriages again. One of the great uses of necromancy. If only I could use them to interview some dead Akaviri but unfortunately for me, I haven’t found a single corpse of their race in the ruins. We always found their scaly tracks in every ruins but never any remains. As if they all disappeared in an instant.

One of the unanswered questions that I wanted to ask to them, was why they, the Akaviri, needed the Dragonborn. And why did they not return to Akaviri with him if they need him that much? From their influence and the information I found, they practically worshipped him, not as a savior but as a… for the lack of a better word… a god. Why not bring him back to their continent? What was the reason they were willing to even grovel on him when they were known to enslave and eat human flesh?

I first thought that how they had perceived Reman was different from how Tamriel perceived the dragonborn emperor. However, from reading what they left behind, their perception about the dragonborn was practically the same as of that in Tamriel. And they would probably not worship Reman if they had their own dragonborn in Akaviri, also how did they come to know about the existence of the Dragonborn? How important is the dragonborn to them?

And most of all, how did they predict the coming of events that made them carve the Alduin’s Wall?

These questions haunt me for nights even without my recurring nightmares. Although, I wasn't able to decipher much of the journal, books, and murals, I have a gut feeling that the Akaviri worshipping the dragonborn was not their first intention.

In my gut opinion, these Akaviri were not trying find the dragonborn out of worship or loyalty.

But out of desperation.]

He underlined twice and highlighted the word 'desperation' to emphasize his theory. Then he turned to the next page and wrote more.

[I found more books that thankfully was stored well from the ravages of time. Learning Akaviri language was very hard but it truly paid well. However, there are four things that I found to be very strange to be mentioned many times. Everytime they were mentioned, the writers would always go on a mind cringing urge to be very vague and poetic about them. Which made me frustrated sometimes.

I even tried deciphering their meaning out of context but to no avail, instead they were probably names. And very important ones for sure, perhaps it’s their gods and goddesses in their homeland, seeing how they both praised and cursed all four of them:

To’sh Rah ka

Ryu’a

Shoh

O’rochi

and… Kaguya

We may still have to delve further down the western district, and after that explore the caverns of mineralites that we had skipped earlier. If I won’t find the answer I seek in these cities or ruins in the abyss, I may have to go to their homeland. After taking a looooonnnnng rest from this expedition of course.]