Skyrim: Dawnguard
Chapter 5: Chasing Echoes
By Danny Buell
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Isran accompanied Dexion to his chambers on the second floor of the fortress. Fabricus
removed his helmet and sat down against the stacks of crates that lined the atrium walls. He placed it
down next to him and rested his arms on his knees. Serana sat down next to him.
" Fabricus…"
" What's on your mind?"
" Well… I might know where one of the elder scrolls are."
" Why didn't you say that earlier?"
" Half the people in your little crew would just as soon kill me as talk to me. That doesn't exactly
make me want to open up. I got a warmer welcome from my father. That's saying something."
" What is it between you two exactly?"
" Ever since he decided to make that prophecy his calling, we kind of drifted apart. I don't even
think he sees me as a daughter anymore. I'm just… a means to an end."
" Where is this elder scroll then?"
" We need to find my mother, Valerica. She'll definitely know where it is, and if we're lucky, she
might have it herself."
" You said you didn't know where she went."
" The last time I saw here, she told me she would be hiding where my father would never
search. Other than that, she would never tell me anything. But the way she said it… 'somewhere he
would never search'. It was cryptic, yet she called attention to it."
" Sounds like she was cautious."
" Maybe. What I can't figure out is why she said it that way. Besides, I can't imagine a single
place my father would avoid looking. And he's had all this time, too. Any ideas?"
Fabricus looked to the hole in the roof and thought for a moment. "Here, in fort Dawnguard?"
" No, that would be too obvious. Besides, she would kill everyone inside."
He spoke to himself aloud. "Where he wouldn't look for her…" He thought before he looked
back to Serana. "By the divines, it is obvious! She's hiding in castle Volkihar!"
" Wait, that makes sense! There was a courtyard in the castle. I used to help her tend a garden
there. She used to say my father couldn't stand the place. Too… peaceful."
" Isn't that risky? Sticking around the castle?"
" Oh absolutely. But my mother is no coward. That is… we won't trip over her as we look there
but it's worth a look."
He grinned in amusement. "I don't think they're going to let us in the front door."
" True. But I know a way to get into the courtyard without arousing suspicion. There was a
unused inlet used by the previous owners on the north side of the island to bring supplies into the
castle. An old escape tunnel from the castle exits there. I think that's our way in."
" I guess that's where we're heading."
" Okay then, let's move."
Fabricus rose, donning his helmet. The two of them mounted their horses outside and rode out
to Castle Volkihar.
Fabricus and Serana took a book in the middle of the night from the shore to the castle. He used
a night vision spell to see where he was going as he rowed the boat. Serana's advanced night vision
(given to her as one of the many perks to being a vampire) guided his way.
The wood of the boat creaked as the waves crashed into it. He pulled around to what he could
see as a port inside the rocks. He pulled towards a patch of flat land next to one of the stone piers. He
staked the moor to the ground and removed his sword. With a candlelight spell in one hand and a sword
in the other, he walked to the stone steps that led to a door. Serana followed close behind him. "Open
the door please." He smiled.
She opened the door for him as he walked in, his sword held out before him. His eyes scanned
the steps that led down to another landing. He walked down the steps, running into a few skeevers. He
continued on though through the undercroft.
" So what happened to your family… why do you carry great resentment for them?"
" As a child, I was close to my mother. When my parents began to fight… I became trapped
between them." She said bitterly. " My mother always used to feed me negative opinions about my
father and after a time I began to believe them. Now I see myself as a pawn that they're using against
each other and I wish they could reconcile and we could become a family again. I know that isn't
possible. What about you, what was your family like?"
Fabricus sighed. "I never knew my mother or father. I was taken in my a family in High Rock who
were healers who taught me how to use magic. When I learned I wasn't their son, I took flight when I
was seven years of age. I was then taken in by a Redguard and his wife in a caravan. They taught me
how to fight along with the Khajiits. When I was seventeen, I set off again seeking answers of my path.
Something told me to go to Skyrim, so I did. When I got here, I was nineteen. I was then captured on the
border and thus began the legend of the Dragonborn."
" That's intriguing. I was mostly alone my life. I always wandered this undercroft and my mother
would hate me for it. What about you, who do you have in your life?"
" Myself." He answered stoically and bitterly.
" Does it bother you than I with you?"
" No… I…" He looked back ahead of him. "It's great having you with me."
" I feel the same. Thank you."
They continued through the halls and over a wooden bridge to another tunnel. "This must be
the escape tunnel."
" It is." She motioned to the lever. "You sound very stoic."
" I lost someone dear to me a year ago due to a dragon. I cursed to the sun to take away my love
like flipping a switch but… I lost something more than just her."
" And this is why you joined the Dawnguard?"
" Somewhat. When I lost her, I was more driven to fulfill the prophecy but I had nothing to gain
from it. The Dawnguard came to me, so I joined after exploring for quite some time. Expanding on my
skills. I've been alone ever since."
" I know how that feels, being alone for a long time. Exploring alone is like walking around these
halls in the pitch black, not knowing what lies ahead."
He chuckled. "Yeah, something like that."
" You disagree?"
" No… I just travel alone because I won't deal with another person dying."
" So your plan was to die alone?"
" No, that wasn't what I meant. I would wait till I can find someone who I know I can trust and
love and I could adventure with." He smiled. "I'm might have found her but I'm not sure."
Serana blushed. He was obviously flirting with her. "Who is that?"
" Now, where is the surprise in that."
They exited a door into a large courtyard surrounded by tall walls and towers. He looked
dumbfounded at the garden seeing it was dead. There was a large golden moon dial in the center of the
courtyard.
" My mother would be ashamed of this." She groaned, looking around the courtyard. "All of her
work. Undone."
" One day, maybe, it could be restored."
She sighed, kneeling down and feeling the dead leaf of a plant. "Maybe never."
" So, where do you purpose she is?"
Serana got back onto her feet and looked around till her eyes caught the moon dial. She pointed
to a few missing pieces. "There are pieces missing from the dial like someone scattered them… on
purpose."
Fabricus looked around. "And I assume it is up to me to find them?"
She smiled and nodded. "Not what kind of man would you be if you didn't do all the work?"
" A happy man." He grumbled as he walked to the small pond. Resting on a rock was a piece of
the moon dial. He picked it up and walked to the moon dial. He searched all over collecting the pieces
and placing them in the correct spots. When he was done, he decided to push the moon dial. He heard
stone under his feet shake as a hidden stairwell formed in the stone. Serana raced over, looking down
the dark stairwell. Fabricus held up his glowing hand. "Ladies first?"
She rolled her eyes and motioned for him to lead the way. He walked down the steps into the
cold. A shiver shot down his spine as he entered a room lit by a fire place. His sixth sense was kicking in.
He looked around, blood everywhere. Serana gasped as she entered the room shortly after.
" Wow, I never knew this was here. I had always assumed the west tower had collapsed."
" You think your mother is somewhere inside?"
" Well, it beats doing nothing."
" Amen." He continued on, drawing his sword.
In the awkward silence, Serana came first with the questions this time. "So… what was it like…
fulfilling the prophecy?"
" I don't understand your question."
" I mean, uh, what did it feel like becoming the Dragonborn?"
Her question was met by a deathly silence. People had always assumed heroes could walk
through hell and not be damaged from what they see. The things he's seen in Sovngarde, the villages
burned by dragons, loved ones murdered by dragons… it wasn't something you can walk away from
blindly. It was something he doesn't talk about either.
" Sorry I asked."
He was still quiet. They walked into a large cathedral style room with gargoyles posted on the
walls and on the ground. It looked like someone was crafting them till they were interrupted. The
carving tools still on the ground. He looked up at the gargoyle, stuck in stone at the head of the room.
The light beaming through the window provided enough for him. He gripped two hands on his blade and
placed his one foot forward. The stone exploded, the gargoyle leaping towards him with a nasty snarl.
Fabricus raised his hand, a bolt of lightning shooting out of his palm in a bright glow of blue. Shocks
sparked and raced around the gargoyle till it came to a dead halt at his feet. He turned his head to a
gated off entrance. Serana commented that there should be a way past but he ignored her and walked
to where the gargoyle was. Behind it was a candle stick to the left side of a fireplace. He turned it, the
gate rising. He turned to see Serana staring blankly at him. He walked past her and through the entrance
up the stairs.
" Did I do something wrong? I take the silence for a yes."
" No." He sighed, then continued on. He opened an old door to enter a large study. It had blood
everywhere, ingredients for potions, ruined and intact books, and alchemy stations everywhere. The
most prominent feature is the large group of circular stones in the center of the room.
" This… this cannot be!" Serana gasped, walking towards the stone.
" What is it?"
" My mother had always talked about necromancy and the soul cairn, where captured souls go.
I'd never thought she actually did it."
" This is a portal to the soul cairn?" Fabricus removed his cloak and placed it on one of the desks.
"This ought to be interesting."
" If my mother has figured it out… that means she's in the soul cairn."
" And how do we get her out?"
" She must have a journal somewhere. It might tell us."
Fabricus turned to the table where he placed his cloak. There were two large and decrepit book
shelves, both barren. On a small book shelf was a leather journal and three ruined books surrounded by
cobwebs. He picked up the journal and blew off the dust.
" I think this is it." He tossed the journal to Serana. She opened it and read the ink carefully.
" Okay, we'll need Soul gem shards, finely grounded bone meal, and purified void salts."
Fabricus walked across the circle and to a long table with soul gems and shards. A top a
wardrobe just past the stairs on the right in a large silver bowl were the shards. On the last shelf on the
balcony, in a large silver bowl were the void salts. He went back down the stairs to a table by the
entrance was where he found the bone meal. He scooped the items in his hands and handed them over
to Serana. She walked up the stairs with him to the stone chalice. One by one, she dumped the materials
into the chalice. Finally, she held her hand over the chalice and cut her palm with an elven dagger. With
a roar of moving stone, the large stone rings began to rotate and shake. They rotated and rotated, some
forming a floating staircase to the balcony, others leading down into a purple and pink portal. He's seen
something like this before, the portal to Sovngarde.
Fabricus went down first but he felt something eating away at him. He strength was being
weakened and his limbs becoming weary. Serana, noticing this, hoisted him up and back onto the
balcony.
" Are you alright? That looked painful."
He removed his helmet, wiping off the sweat on his forehead with his arm. He donned his
helmet and starred at her. "It was. What happened?"
" Now that I think about it, I should've expected that. Sorry. It's hard to describe. The soul cairn
is… well, hungry, for lack of a better word. It's trying to take your life essence as payment."
" So there's no way of going in then?"
She bit her lip. "There might be but you're not going to like it."
" What is it?"
" Vampires aren't counted among the living. I probably go through there without a problem."
" Are you saying I need to become a vampire?"
" Not your first choice, I'd guess."
" There has to be another way."
" Maybe." She had a look of sadness but then she looked back to him. "We could just 'pay the
toll' in another way. It wants a soul, so we give it a soul. Yours."
" Wouldn't that kill me?"
" My mother taught me a trick or two. I could partially trap your soul and offer it to the ideal
masters. It might be enough to satisfy them. It would make you a bit weaker as we travel through the
soul cairn, but we might be able to fix that once we're inside. Maybe."
" Those are my only options?"
" I'm sorry. I wish I knew a better way, something that would be easier for you. Just know…
whatever path you choose, I won't think any less of you. Sometimes things just have to be done. I know
that better than anyone."
Fabricus stood motionless for a second in thought. He refused to become a vampire but he
partially didn't trust her. Ever since he stepped inside Castle Volkihar he had been thinking it was a set
up by her father. He had no choice though. "Soul trap me. I won't feel right as a vampire."
Serana sighed with a hint of sadness and rubbed the corners of her eyes. "Are you sure, I'm
willing to do it, but you need to think it through. You'll remain mortal but you'll become weaker in the
soul cairn."
" I'm ready. Let's do this."
" I know this is difficult for you. I hope you trust me… I'd never do anything that could hurt you."
Fabricus looked down, his helmet hiding his blushed cheeks. "I trust you completely."
She smiled faintly with joy. "Thank you. I promise to make this as painless as possible. Hold still."
She held out her hands with glowed purple, sparks shooting out of her palms. She held up her
hands to him. A single bolt hit him, his body shaking as he felt something tear out of him. He grunted,
staggering as he watched half of his life essence ebb away to Serana. He collapsed onto the stone railing,
heaving heavily as she raced to his side. "Are you okay? Did I hurt you?"
He shook his head. "No, no, we need to keep going."
" But we can stop if--"
" I said we need to keep going." He turned himself around and looked at the portal. Mustering
his strength, he headed down the stone steps.