Liri: Fucking vampires! I just can’t seem to get away from them!

 

Serana: …Is that a bad thing?

 

Liri threw a punch engulfed in flames as her answer.

 

 

Serana: Huh, you’re getting a lot better with this whole constant casting thing. Teresa would be—

 

Liri: It’s like they feel like it’s their RIGHT to invade into your personal space!

 

 

Serana: (Oh, so this is what we’re doing…) Still upset about the whole ‘Silas’ incident? It sounded pretty harmless to me. Besides… Seemed like the two of you enjoyed yourselves.

 

 

Liri threw a punch at Serana, but this time no spell spilt forward.

 

Liri: Be. That. As. It. May. It still gave that bitch NO right to mess around with our heads!

 

 

???: I’m sorry, should this ‘bitch’ simply turned you away when your lot came knocking? Or perhaps she should kick you and your party out now—

 

 

Liri threw a fierce kick that connected with a cold, metallic appendage.

 

Liri: Three weeks ago I may have had an inkling of fear in hearing that threat, Azsanwess…

 

 

The Dwemer looked Liri up and down with a gleeful smile.

 

Azsanwess: This haughtiness… I’d expect nothing less from the specimen Silas promised me.

 

 

Liri’s eyes flared and it took everything she had from blasting the Dunmer with a face full of flames.

 

Liri: If you weren’t Silas’s friend, I’d have blown you to Oblivion by now. Don’t push me, Elf!

 

 

Azsanwess: Friends? He’s naught but a useful acquaintance that I have a mutually beneficial working relationship with. You think I’d honestly have anything to do with a creature like him otherwise?

 

 

Liri: Call him a creature again, and I’ll make it so that your race truly becomes extinct like the world believes you to be.

 

Azsanwess: Oho! Is that so?

 

Liri: Try me!

 

Serana: Look, I’m glad you you’re over your whole love-hate thing with Silas, but can you just NOT automatically jump into a new feud? First it was vampires in general, then the Dawnguard—

 

 

Liri sucked her teeth and backed off.

 

Azsanwess: Interesting… For someone who harbors so much disdain towards vampires, it seems like you show a bit of subservience to this one… Intriguing…

 

 

Liri: You really like pressing my buttons…

 

Liri fell into a fighting stance that Silas had taught her.

 

Liri: You honestly think I bluffing? Say anything else about Silas, Serana or I and I’ll—

 

 

Azsanwess: Ah! I’m doing it again, aren’t I? Silas warned me that I couldn’t interact with you like I do him or my automatons… Apparently I’m… agitating you? Is that right?

 

 

Liri and Serana shared a look, and the latter couldn’t help but laugh.

 

Serana: Is this a glimpse of what I could have been like if I was awake the entire time I was buried away?

 

 

Serana: We’d probably have fought to the death… *sigh* That’s not a pleasant thought.

 

Liri: Luckily it’ll only stay a thought.

 

Serana: *smiles* Calmed down now?

 

 

Liri glanced at Azsanwess who seemed to be making mental notes of their interactions.

 

Liri: I… I’ll be alright. It’s just frustrating that she sees me as nothing but someone to experiment on—

 

 

Azsanwess: That is actually completely nonfactual. You are an indispensable and integral component in my latest experiment, PROJECT: Magic.

 

Liri: Project… Magic?

 

Azsanwess: Precisely!

 

 

Serana: If you don’t mind us asking, what does this… experiment pertain to?

 

Azsanwess: Oh? You actually are intrigued?

 

Liri: I mean, sure. It DOES require me after all.

 

 

Azsanwess: Aha. I think I see where the problem initially arose. You thought… Ha! Preposterous, I just need a few samples from you initially and some from you just in case…

 

Liri: In case, what?

 

Azsanwess: PROJECT: Magic is my attempt for fix the energy consumption issue I am currently experiencing due to all of my personalized upgrades.

 

 

Azsanwess: At the moment I utilize two sources of energy… Magicka and souls. However, the latter is not self-sufficient and it is also not practical. Therefore I decided to engage PROJECT: Magic.

 

 

Azsanwess: If my calculations are correct, and they usually are, experimenting on your samples should give me the secrets on how to not only manufacture Magicka in bulk…

 

 

Azsanwess: But to also to make said Magicka thrice as potent as that which is naturally produced from the body.

 

Liri: I could see how that would eliminate the need for souls… By why do you need me?

 

 

Azsanwess: Initially I tried utilizing myself as a test subject, but I found out that I don’t generate enough Magicka to be self-sufficient as it is after all of my upgrades.

 

 

Azsanwess: And although becoming a vampire has helped with the whole dying crisis I was facing, it actually hindered my Magicka output and increased my need for hibernation.

 

 

Liri: So you wanted to utilize a mage that has high Magicka regen, but is also very powerful and knowledgeable in their own right.

 

Azsanwess: Precisely!

 

 

Serana: (You two are… getting along?)

 

Liri: (I’m a bit of an experimenter myself, so I can understand where she’s coming from.)

 

Serana: (Heh, I see…)

 

 

Liri: But why me? I know of a mage that much better fits the requirements for this experiment than me.

 

Azsanwess: It’s because… You were the only mage ‘making noise in this damnable province’.

 

 

Liri: (And Silas thought he’d be able to capture me…)

 

Liri felt herself get hot over this revolution, but she almost immediately let go of that feeling.

 

Liri: *sigh* It’s not like he was wrong…

 

The Dwemer tilted her head.

 

Azsanwess: Excuse me?

 

Liri: N-nevermind. I’m guessing that was how Silas worded things.

 

???: Does it matter who said it as long as it was true?

 

 

Liri and Serana turned to view their guests, but Azsanwess seemed more that expectant of their arrival.

 

Azsanwess: The hunters. I gather your ‘rounds’ were rather uneventful?

 

 

Vori: You can say that again. Other than your automatons and some Falmer, there hasn't been much of anything to come within the perimeter you set up.

 

Azsanwess: I said as much.

 

 

Vori: Hmph! Well seeing is believing, Elf.

 

Azsanwess: Noted.

 

The Dwemer walked off and began to tinker with something.

 

Vori: She’s so… UGH!

 

 

Vori turned to her fellow Dawnguard and let out a disappointed sigh.

 

Vori: At ease. Seems the elf has everything under control, so I guess you can catch up with your… ‘friend’.

 

 

Vori and Aelfna saluted one another and then the former retired to their sleeping quarters, leaving the Halfling alone with Liri and Serana.

 

Aelfna: Ahaha… So…

 

 

Liri: Something you want to say?

 

Serana: LIRI!

 

Liri: WHAT!? She’s been too tense with me ever since we ‘made up’. It feels annoying to feel like I have to walk around on eggshells all the time.

 

 

Liri turned her attention to Aelfna once more and repeated herself.

 

Liri: So, what is it?

 

Aelfna: Why did you leave the College? They… We needed you, and then you just up and left.

 

 

Liri: I’d gotten all I needed from them.

 

Aelfna: But you could have done so much more! You could have become Archmage! Divines know you deserve it more than anyone else did especially Jyl—

                                                                                                                    

 

Liri yoked the Halfling up by the collar and looked her square in the eye.

 

Liri: Don’t put any of that on me! This… ALL OF THIS, is so I can ultimately reunite with and protect my little sister.

 

Liri: So if I have to take out a clan of vampires I’ll do that. If I have to leave the College AND the Shadowswords, I’ll do that. If I have to become some kind of melee mage, I’ll. Do. That.

 

 

Liri: And I won’t be questioned or told how I could have done any better by anyone. Especially not some bright eyed girl that’s been looking up to me for as long as I’ve known her!

 

 

Serana: (Innis will be alright. Silas said she would…)

 

Liri let go of Aelfna but didn’t break eye contact.

 

Liri: If anyone should have stayed at the College, it should have been you.

 

 

Aelfna: What do you mean?

 

Liri: You were made for that life, the whole give and take. You understood concepts really well, and because you weren’t special, you empathized with people who struggled.

 

 

Liri: You would have made a better teacher than most of us, but you decided to chase me…

 

Aelfna: You’re LITERALLY the strongest mage in the Province! Why wouldn’t I want to be—

 

 

Liri: Where I am? Because there’s nothing to gain! You know what I plan to do after all this? I'm going to settle down and live life with my sister! (…And possibly him…)

 

Aelfna: You’re joking…

 

 

Aelfna: You only want me to leave like you’ve always wanted me to leave… You think I’m getting in your way! You think I’m only going to be fodder! Well I’ll have you know—

 

 

A monstrous roar bellowed from outside of Azsanwess’s dwelling that stopped everyone present and chilled them to the bone…

 

 

…All except for one of them  that is.

 

Azsanwess: Ah, this happened much quicker than we calculated… *sigh* Must have been an erroronous variable…

 

Before anyone could stop her, the Dwemer was out the door.

 

 

When it slammed behind her, life breathed its way back into everyone, and Serana and Liri shared a knowing look.

 

Serana: (This Magicka…)

 

Liri: (It’s him… I know it is…)

 

Nodding the two of them started for the door, when Aelfna intercepted them.

 

Aelfna: A-are you two crazy!? You’re going out there!?! But the Dwemer has everything under control—

 

 

Liri: I never WANTED you to leave Aelfna. But if I EVER had a reason for your dismissal, it’d be because when you can pass the buck to someone else, you do so every single time.

 

 

Liri took Serana by the arm, and they followed after Azsanwess to confront whatever it was that had made that wretched howling before…

 

 

However, neither of them were prepared for the sight that greeted them upon exiting the Dwemer’s home.

 

 

Azsanwess, for a calculating and logical as she was, had donned herself in some sort of Dwemer armor and was going toe-to-toe with a some sort of monster… Or at least she was…

 

 

Before she was swatted away like a fly before the creature’s power.

 

 

Serana’s eyes widened as she realized what was happening.

 

Serana: That’s… I’ve seen father turn before, but it was nothing like this…

 

Liri: Serana? What’s happening? Where’s Silas!?

 

 

Azsanwess struggled in vain to get up as the beast sauntered over to her.

 

Azsanwess: I should have known this mutt couldn’t control it… Looks like it’s time for plan N… I do hate skipping steps like this…

 

 

Azsanwess looked the Vampire Lord in its eyes and smirked.

 

Azsanwess: But you were never one for proper procedure, were you, Lord Volstikar?

 

 

In her heart Liri knew, but hearing the confirmation of her suspicions was more that she could handle.

 

Liri: T-that… THAT monster is Silas!?

 

???: That mutation is indeed the Lord of Clan Volstikar. And unfortunately for him, I’ve been dispatched to deal with him. What did the Dwemer call me? Plan N?

 

 

Liri: (That voice!)

 

Liri turned in the direction of the voice and she could hardly contain her excitement when she saw the face it belonged to.

 

Liri: Rosalie! You’re—

 

 

Serana immediately stopped her, her arms trembling.

 

Serana: T-that’s not Rosalie! That’s… That’s someone my father used to warn me about ages ago… But… How is she still alive?

 

 

Liri took a closer look at the woman, and although they shared the same face that’s where the similarities ended. The hair, her figure, even how she carried herself…

 

 

???: Did I hear the name of my soon to be deceased body double?

 

Azsanwess: There are more pressing matters Neila! Like this beast that’s about to KILL me!

 

 

Neila: *sigh* Fine, whatever.

 

The Rosalie lookalike used her supernatural speed to close the distance and deliver a fierce kick to Silas that resounded throughout the area…

 

 

But for how powerful it sounded, the blow did little more than irritate him, causing Silas to refocus his anger to this new disturbance.

 

 

Silas(VL): Rose…!! Neila…

 

Neila: Yeah, it’s me! Not your precious little soon to be dead faux-sister!

 

Silas(VL): *glares* If you touch… A single hair of her’s—

 

 

Neila: You’re going to what? Kill me? *cracks knuckles* I fought that monster Foran not too long ago and with how you are right now, I can easily take you down, ‘big man’.

 

 

Silas let his actions do the talking for him, and flew at Neila with the full intent of blowing a hole through her stomach. However, Neila was able to deftly slide under his attack…

 

Taking advantage of her speed, Neila caught Silas with an off balance kick that blasted him square in the jaw and knocked the Vampire Lord off balance.

 

 

Ceasing this opportunity, Neila gathered enough distance and speed in order for her to deliver a hellacious dropkick... That Silas was easily able to guard against...

 

 

And upon Neila regaining her footing, counter with a boot to her face that sent her soaring through the air...

 

 

But Neila didn't let the pain faze her an ounce as she went immediately on the attack...

 

 

As the two of them continued their seemingly unending struggle for dominance with neither side relenting even an inch...

 

 

Liri: This… This has to stop! Silas… One of them could get killed!

 

Azsanwess: Plan N WAS a bit too far of a leap… I supposed I could double back to Plan C…

 

Liri: Which is!?

 

 

The Dwemer threw something at Liri’s feet that shocked her.

 

Liri: A-a collar? THIS collar!?

 

Azsanwess: Ah, you’ve seen my work before? I’m impressed.

 

 

Serana: Is there something I should know about this collar?

 

Liri: When I was first captured by Silas and his Clan, this collar severed my Magicka flow and all but took away my magic. How is this—

 

 

Azsanwess: This collar was especially made for Silas’s little… control issue. His rage at the current state of things has kept his mind in a constant state of flux, and has led to what you see here.

 

 

Azsanwess: Apparently the mutt has become fond of your sister and this Rosalie to such an extent that not knowing their whereabouts has really stirred up his feelings…

 

Azsanwess: That and well… Something else…

 

Liri knew there was much more to what the Dwemer was saying, but there wasn’t time to dwell on it.

 

Liri: What do I have to do?

 

 

Azsanwess got out of her armor and rose to her feet.

 

Azsanwess: Pacify and then collar him. I’ll give you more instructions later, but that should at least help cease his current rampage.

 

 

Serana looked at the ongoing battle between Silas and Neila and frowned.

 

Serana: You want HER to step between THAT and try to pacify HIM? You make it sound so EASY…

 

 

Liri picked up the collar and magically stored it away.

 

Liri: *smiles* Isn’t it though? All I have to do is see how I fair against a couple of behemoths. How bad can that be?

 

 

Serana: Ugh… Divines he’s already rubbing off on her… It’s only been two weeks…

 

Liri laughed off Serana’s comment and immediately threw herself into the fray…

 

 

Liri made her entrance into th battle rather dramatically as she took to the skies and deflivered a flying flame kick a Silas, but the Vampire Lord took it as if it were a normal attack.

 

 

Before Liri could land, Silas caught her by the throat and had planned on slamming her to the ground when Neila followed Liri's lead and delivered a flying kick of her own to his back...

 

 

That forced Silas to release Liri and fall to a knee.

 

Neila: What's wrong 'Lord' Volstikar? Not as high and mighty as you believed yourself to be?

 

 

Baited by her taunts, Silas once again flew at Neila intent on ripping out her stomach. However, Liri sprung to her feet and used this chance to hurl a fireball in the ancient vampires' direction.

 

 

Neila eyes widened at the incoming ball of flames, but she had no time to get out of its direction before it impacted with Silas and engulfed the area in a fiery explosion.

 

After recovering from Liri's attack, Neila immediately bolted toward Liri, her murderous intent paralyzing the Nord.

 

Neila: You DARE fling flames at me mortal!? Your death won't be enough to quell—

                                                                                

 

Before Neila could finish her statement or reach Liri, Silas used his otherworldly speed to step in front of Liri and drive Neila headfirst into the ground.

 

 

The act didn’t kill Neila, but it definitely knocked her unconscious which left Liri all alone with Silas on the battlefield...

 

 

Liri inched closer to the being that had replaced her lover, and had to stifle her fears of losing Silas so soon after giving in to her feelings toward him.

 

Liri: S-Silas? Do you… remember who I am?

 

 

Silas bore down on Liri and she felt fear akin to when she had fought Foran, but it didn't overpower her like it did then and she did not back down.

 

Liri: S-Silas! Look at ME! Listen to MY voice! Remember me!

 

 

Liri: Remember me!

 

Silas's demeanor changed and he gripped his head in pain.

 

Silas(VL): Lisaly… No… Li-Liri… What…  What are you doing—AAARRRGGGHHH!!!

 

 

Liri: (Lisaly!? His Wife?) *presses herself against him* You need to calm down Silas! You’re going to hurt everyone here. You’re going to hurt… me… Doesn’t that matter to you?

 

 

Silas(VL): N-no… I’d never—

 

Silas suddenly let out a deafening roar that all but made Liri go deaf temporarily. But rather than cower back, she embraced him and stayed like that…

 

 

Until Silas had gotten it all out of his system, and reverted back to his regular form.

 

Silas: *pant* *pant* Heh, a-a hug? You sure have some bold but effective means of handling me.

 

 

Liri smirked, leaned forward and pressed her lips onto his.

 

Liri: Mmmm… All that… matters… Mmmm… Is results…

 

Unwillingly Liri tore away from Silas and the collar materialized in her hand, catching Silas’s attention.

 

Silas: Tsk! Damn… So it happened before she predicted…

 

Liri: W-what’s going on Silas?

 

 

Silas: *scratches head* Well… This transformation has always been… SLIGHTLY unstable. However, now with my emotions being everywhere it’s gotten much harder to control…

 

 

Liri: Azsanwess said as much, but that just means that everyone has to help with the search for Innis and Rosalie. Then you’ll be back to—

 

Silas: No Liri… I’m afraid it’s a bit more than that…

 

 

Silas: I’ve… I’ve got something to tell you. Something I should have told you almost immediately after we reunited. Something… That I think might make what we have—

 

 

Liri: Look, just be honest with me and I won’t be mad, okay.

 

Silas: …I believe you said the same thing before I told you that you were supposed to be part of Azsanwess’s experiments…

 

 

Serana: (He’s got you there.)

 

Liri shot a mean look in Serana’s direction, and then refocused her attention back to Silas.

 

Liri: I promise. O-on… On my mother’s grave!

 

 

Silas remembered what Innis told him about her clan, and was visibly even more uneasy.

 

Silas: S-shit… Well if you’re going to go that far… *sigh* Fine! Screw it!

 

 

Silas: *sigh* I went to the Soul Cairn almost a month ago and met up with Lisaly.

 

Liri: Your… wife? That’s… That’s wonderful, right?

 

Silas: It… was something…

 

 

Silas: Anyway, I ended up finding up a ton of things that I never knew… But mainly I found out a way to bring her back to life.

 

Liri: That’s… *swallows* That’s great news! I-I know that you’re so—

 

 

Silas: It involves making a choice. I can either bring her back, or keep you here. You both can’t be on Nirn at the same time.

 

Liri looked at him with a blank stare.

 

Liri: . . . . . . What?