Scalez regained his voice. "Are the other things you told me also lies?!"
Samuel knew that Scalez would react like that. It was his right to question everything after what just happened. "I only lied about the master of dark arts part. I swear that all other occurrences were true."
Scalez was not entirely content with Samuel's reply. "But why did you lie?"
"Because I feared that you won't accept me if you see my true self... I never wanted to do this but I have no other choice..."
Samuel formed a ball of black energy in his right hand. Scalez stepped back and made his strongest fire spell ready for use.
But Samuel slowly moved his right hand to his chest instead and touched it. The energy ball dissolved into a pitch black and thick fog encasing his body entirely.
After a short moment, the fog was gone. His bare chest had changed. Samuel pointed at the place where his heart should be. "This is my dark core - a Heart Stone, to be precise. A long time ago, I replaced my original heart with this dark artifact to gain more power. I will tell you more about it but we haven't the time for the that right now. We need to leave the fishing spot as soon as we can because we are not safe here anymore. So I suggest gathering our belongings first."
Scalez wasn't sure what he should reply. But he realized the seriousness of the situation and took action just as Samuel suggested.
Within half an hour, they stored everything in their magical backpacks. These backpacks were bigger on the inside and reduced the weight of all stored things immensely.
Samuel put his Ebony Armor on afterwards - he simply forgot that he was running around just in his linen pants all the time since he took the armor off to go swimming which he forgot as well. He remembered it as it was getting too cold for him and the nights in Skyrim can get very cold.
~ Why Scalez didn't mention that I'm running around half-naked all the time? And why I ended up in this rough and cold land anyway... I wish I could remember it... ~
While Samuel contemplated, Scalez sat on a tree stump observing his mysterious friend. He still regarded him as his friend despite Samuel's lie.
~ If I were in his shoes, I would have done the same thing, to get more power. ~
Scalez was surprised about this thought and shook his head to suppress it. It didn't help. Instead, it made it worse. A long forgotten memory rose up from his subconscious hitting him hard. He felt a sudden pain in his heart.
The pictures before his inner eye showed him that he was lying motionless on an altar. His closed eyes and his smiling mouth gave his face a peaceful look. He seemed to be delighted about the thing that would happen next. A pair of Hagravens stood in front of him. One of them took a knife and stabbed his heart. The pain was the strongest he ever experienced in his entire life. He opened his eyes and a long blood-curdling scream came from his mouth. His vision began to fade to black. The Hagravens prepared their spells. That's what he last saw before he died.
Scalez gasped.
Samuel looked worried in his direction. Then he was sunken in his thoughts again. Didn't he say that they should leave the fishing spot as soon as they can? But they couldn’t. They were caught by their inner demons.
Scalez’ visions were not over yet. He saw himself standing on a small island east of Winterhold, the snow covered mountains behind him and a shipwreck and a dead bandit next to him.
~ The Sea of Ghosts? ~ The other Scalez wore the skirt that usually was worn by Forsworns, a pelted cape and a horned helmet. His chest was bare. He didn't mind the sheer cold.
~ Something is even more off ~ Scalez looked closer at his other self and was shocked. There was a hole as big as a fist in the chest of the other Scalez exactly at the location were people have their heart. This hole was actually not empty. It was filled with a Briarheart. Little sticks span over the wound like a very primitive suture keeping the Briarheart in place.
The other Scalez turned his head. Their eyes met. "You are not supposed to be here."
Scalez was perplexed.
~ I'm dreaming. ~
"No, you don't."
"You are reading my thoughts?!"
"Not quite. There's a strong bond between us. The Briarheart allows me utilize it. Without this bond this would not be possible."
"But how..."
"We are the same person after all, more precisely two versions of a person living on different planes of existence. Unfortunately, I cannot explain how you got here."
"I had a vision of you. After I saw your Briarheart I'm now certain that the vision showed me the beginning of the Briarheart ritual. You were lying on an altar and one of the Hagravens stabbed your heart. I can still feel a reverberation of the pain you've felt."
Scalez noticed that the mouth of the other Scalez formed words but he couldn't hear them anymore. The world around him dissolved into white.
The next moment he found himself sitting on the tree stump at the fishing spot again, his head was sunken on his chest. Samuel was shaking him. "... Wake up... We wasted too much time."
Scalez opened his eyes and looked at the pale face of the Breton.
~ I wonder if he experienced a nightmare as well. ~ "How long did I sleep?"
"I have lost track of time. The night is still pitch black. I guess we slept a few hours. I don't remember that I had dozen off."
"Me neither."
"Let's stop pondering and finally leave this place."
When Samuel summoned a portal Scalez stood up.
"This will take us to my sanctuary where we can hide us until we come up with a plan."
Scalez entered the portal without hesitation and Samuel followed him.
Shortly after the portal vanished, another shadowy figure appeared out of nowhere at the fishing spot. She looked like a Wood Elf and wore a blue robe. "It has begun." where the only words she said while looking at the night sky.
At Samuel's sanctuary...
Samuel: "This is my dimensional home. It's located on another plane of existence. Nobody should be able to enter it from the outside without knowing the portal spell."
Scalez: "It looks neat. You have all the crafting stations you need. And the huge number of chests... Do you remember where you stored what?"
Samuel: "No."
And they both laughed hard.
Samuel: "It's about time that I get dressed properly."
He snapped his fingers and, within the blink of an eye, his Ebony Armor was replaced with black garments which were decorated with golden ornaments and exposed his bare chest.
"You need to teach me this trick." said Scalez.
Samuel got closer and put his hand on Scalez’ temple. "No problem." He looked deep into Scalez’ eyes. Samuel's eyes were full of warmth.
~ What an attractive man ...~ Scalez thought. He felt a sudden tingling where Samuel was touching his skin.
"That's it, quick and easy." Samuel took his hand away. The tingling was gone. "You should be able to do this now. Just imagine your desired clothes or armor and snap with your fingers."
Scalez did as he was told and changed his blue traveling mage outfit with the armor of the Dark Brotherhood. "That's not what I wanted."
"It can happen sometimes that the spell prefers the suggestions made by your subconscious. You can say the spell is a work in progress."
"And I'm your test subject."
"You got that right."
"Tsk, tsk." replied Scalez with a playful undertone. He snapped with his fingers and wore his previous outfit again.
“I think I will stick to this look.”
As they seated themselves ... at another fireplace, Scalez pointed at Samuel's Heart Stone and said: "Now tell me how you acquired... this thing."
"Where should I begin..."
[END OF PART 3]
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