Miraak had obviously wanted to make things hard for her. After traveling between places in Apocrypha, 'chapters', as the books she read called them, and finding strange, pale covered books containing nothing more than a short, cryptic stanza she needed to unlock another chapter, finding herself on an open platform surrounded by the black sludge was a relief. To both sides of her were towers, looking crumbled and open to the murky air above. Directly ahead of her was a Word Wall, its Thu'um calling to her, saturated with Miraak's power. Two Seekers hovered in front of it, tentacles reaching out to brush it occasionally. Hesitantly she notched an arrow and drew her bow back, aiming directly for one of the Seekers. She let her arrow loose. It struck the Seeker in the back, where a human's spine would have been. A foreign cry rent the air as it collapsed into a pile of cloth and ash. She had loaded another arrow and was firing it at the second Seeker before it had completed its turn. The arrow struck its chest, but didn't kill it. The next two arrows, combined, felled the thing. She scurried over to their remains and searched them, finding only a handful of books she hadn't read before, which she stashed in one of her bags. She hesitated at the Word Wall.

She couldn't touch it. It would alert Miraak to her presence immediately, if he didn't already know she was there slaying his minions and working her way towards him.

A sudden roar from above her sent her backpedaling. A massive dragon, the same Dov she had seen Miraak step atop only a few weeks earlier landed on the Word Wall, fire bursting out of his maw. Her mind whirled-what was she supposed to do?-while she jumped out of its way.

It came to her immediately, horrifying her to no end.

The Shout. Miraak's Shout. Hermaeus Mora's Shout.

She had no choice.

"Gol Hah Dov!" The Thu'um sent the Dov's head reeling back, fire spraying high above him into the air. It died abruptly as he shook his head, focusing on her. The dragon blinked at her, and stepped down from the word wall, curling its tail around itself as it hunched over like a cat.

"Hail, Thuri. Your Thu'um has the mastery. Climb aboard and I will carry you to Miraak." Ren took a small step back, shocked.

"Does it…Does it hurt? What I did?"

The dragon tilted its head as it regarded her.

"I am Sahrotaar, Might Servant in your tongue. Our names reflect who we are, Dovahkiin. I serve. This Shout does not enslave me against my will. If it is not you, it is Miraak, and it is Miraak whom I hate."

"Doesn't this hurt you?" The Dov's head swung side to side and he regarded her critically.

"I have never been asked this before. I cannot answer. I have never known anything else. Climb aboard, Thuri." Sahrotaar repeated. Ren closed her eyes briefly. He was calling her a word she wasn't entirely familiar with, but she believed it meant tyrant. She hoped that this Thu'um died with her, died on her tongue and bled out from Miraak's body to never again grace the ears of a Dov.

She couldn't imagine a life like his. Was Miraak the cause of it? Was Hermaeus Mora?

She opened her eyes and walked over to the snake-like dragon and gently put a hand to the creature's neck.

"Just behind your head?"

"Geh, yes."

She hesitated again, but put her foot against one of the spikes protruding out of Sahrotaar's scalp. She winced as she pulled herself up into a position she often took when slaying a dragon.

"Hold on tightly." No sooner had the dragon spoke then it unfurled its wings, jumping off of the ground. Ren let out a squeak of fear as the dragon righted itself and began to gain altitude.

"Beware, Miraak is strong. He knew you would come here."

"I expected as much. Where is he?"

"The tallest tower. Come, use your magic to fight Miraak's minions." She spotted them as soon as he said something, a pair of Seekers and another small Lurker racing around a ruined platform just below them. She summoned the most powerful frost spell she knew to her fingertips and cast it, sending a spear of ice slamming directly through the Lurker's chest. It died instantly-or at least it was down for good.

A volley of fireballs and a stream of dragon fire later, they were again on their way to Miraak.

"How long have you been here, Sahrotaar?" Ren asked softly. The dragon was silent for a long moment.

"Shortly after Miraak came to this Bein, foul, place, he demanded my presence. Taazokaan, Tamriel, has been closed off to me since." He rumbled, his wings straining for higher altitudes. Ren fell silent and did her best to stay flattened to the Dov's spine. It was easier on her and she had no doubt it was easier on Sahrotaar. They were circling the tower now, rising up with each rotation. She realized she was shaking.

She played with Hroar's ring, her chest suddenly hollow and aching.

It was soundlessly that they burst over the lip of the tower, and Sahrotaar pumped his wings harder, until they hovered in the air looking down upon Miraak. Two dragons, regular, normal dragons, perched upon an arch on either side of the First Dragonborn. She stared at him steadily as she pushed herself up, flexing her fingers as she reached for her bow.

"Sahrotaar, are you so easily swayed?" Miraak asked, sounding amused. Ren grabbed a special bundle of arrows from the center of her quiver and unwrapped them. Karliah was a powerful alchemist and an expert at poisons. This particular brew was instantly fatal to most any creature on Tamriel, save perhaps a Dov. It was time to see just how strong Miraak truly was.

She felt Sahrotaar was about to speak, but Miraak cut him off.

"No, not yet. We should greet our guest first. I am pleased you have accepted my master's invitation, Mal Dovahkiin. This would be a poor evening indeed without your presence."

"Please land, Sahrotaar." She breathed. He obeyed, and she mustered all of the courage she possessed to face Miraak.

Sahrotaar landed gently at the lip of the tower, extending his neck towards Miraak. She slid down, bow still drawn, and walked forward until she stood only a few feet from Miraak, just out of his reach.

"And so the First Dragonborn meets the Last Dragonborn at the summit of Apocrypha. No doubt just as Hermaeus Mora intended. He is a fickle master, you know. But now I will be free of him. My time in Apocrypha is over. You are here in your full power, and thus subjected to my full power. You will die, and with the power of your soul I will return to Solstheim and be master of my own fate once again." He lifted an arm towards the two dragons hulking behind him.

"Kruziikrel, Relonikiv, now." One of the dragons Miraak commanded hurtled itself at Sahrotaar, sending both of them plummeting off of the side of the tower. The second followed shortly, leaving the two of them alone.

"Your master is one of the few who have earned my full revulsion." She said calmly, dropping the poisoned arrows into an empty quiver at her hip. He did not make a move to attack her.

Hard experience had taught her she had to keep her cool in battle. It threw her enemies off and it kept her wits sharp. Every movement she made now was sharp, methodical.

"I am surprised. To spurn the power he offered you for doing nothing more than what you had already set out to do?" Ren lifted her chin, aiming directly at his heart. She let her arrow fly.

It brushed his shoulder, slicing through his robes and sending a small spray of blood into the air. He didn't pause, but drew his sword and lunged.

Her bow fell as she evaded his attack and she drew her own sword, bringing it up in time to stop an oncoming blow.

"Fus Ro Dah!" Miraak staggered back.

"You are strong. Stronger than I believed possible, Mal Dovahkiin."

"I'm not going to go down without a fight." She replied conversationally. He laughed.

"I would expect nothing less from the Last."

"Mul Qah Div!" His Shout sent spectral armor flaring into existence around him, stopping her blows. She fell back, eyes narrowed at they circled one another.

"They wanted me to deal with Alduin-Hakon and the rest. I chose otherwise." He suddenly said, standing absolutely still.

"Were you ever loyal to him?" She asked softly, reaching into one of her bags. Her hand closed around a hard metal object-an Elven dagger.

"He took everything from me, Mal Dovahkiin. Of course not." She hurtled the blade at him and charged.

"Krii Aus!" Purple light flared into existence on his spectral armor, fizzing against it until nothing remained. She swept her Daedric blade diagonally across his chest. He turned, so her blade caught his arm, rather than his chest. His own blade nicked her thigh, leaving her suddenly trembling with fatigue. She backpedaled and scrambled for a stamina potion, jerking it out and downing it as quickly as she could, feeling the strength pour back into her limbs.

Note to self. Avoid Sword.

"The Greybeards taught you well..." He murmured, lunging. She took another step back-and felt something cold and wet grasping at her leg.

"By Nocturnal's grace." She hissed, scrambling to her left. Miraak struck her arm, cutting nearly to the bone. She let out a muffled cry, and Ren narrowed her eyes. He paused at the edge of the pool of oily black water, head tilted to the side as he regarded her.

"Nocturnal, bless your Agent!" She cried, holding out her uninjured arm's hand to Miraak. Shadows burst into existence, shooting from her flesh and burying themselves into Miraak's body. He let out a strangled grunt as they shredded at him, then retracted. Ruby energy spiraled into her. The bleeding wound on her arm healed itself, and she was running at him before he had recovered. Her blade sank into his chest. He let out a grunt as she jerked it out, taking a small step back.

"You never let me finish, Mal Dovahkiin. Such deplorable manners." He murmured, blood dribbling from beneath his mask to stain his robes. His body suddenly went indistinct, and he vanished. She let out a sharp cry, looking around for him. Where was he? How could he have survived a blow like that?

A black pool in the center of the tower bubbled as she turned to it, and he stood there, a single hand reaching for the heavens as he stared down at her.

"But I know things that the Greybeards will never teach you, Ren Arex of the Nightingales. Kruziikrel, Zii Los Dii Du!" Miraak roared. One of his dragons soared up from over the edge of the tower and hung, suspended, in the air above him, wings spread like some sort of demonic crown. Her eyes went wide in horror as she watched the Dov collapse into fire and light, scream in sudden anguish, and its soul fall to Miraak. It made his body solid again, healing the wound visible between the tear in his robes.

"This is wrong." She breathed. Miraak stepped out of the pool, striding directly towards here.

"Truly, I grieve that you must meet your end in this way, Mal Dovahkiin. You could have been great, should fate have decreed otherwise."

"And I suppose fate decreed the sun should die at the hands of a mad vampire, that a traitor should run the Thieves Guild while his victims suffer at the point of his blade, that Alduin should devour the world while the Last Dragonborn lives. Fate is an excuse, Miraak, that cowards use to excuse their actions." She snapped.

Their blades became a blur, crashing and ringing against one another in an intricate dance. Once more, she dealt him a fatal blow, and once more, he devoured the soul of the other dragon. They were evenly matched, so involved in their battle neither of them had the time to use a Shout. Neither of them could spare the breath. No matter how many wounds they sustained, they inflicted just enough damage to the other that it did not matter.

It was then disaster struck.

Sahrotaar burst into the sky above them, surprising Ren. Miraak's blade crashed into hers, sending it spinning from her grasp. She took a step back-and froze, Miraak's blade touching the hollow of her throat.

"Herma-Mora is laughing at us, you know." He murmured.

"Why can't you just read a Black Book and return to Solstheim? Why go through all of this?" She whispered. He laughed softly, almost bitterly.

"These games are all that Hermaeus Mora has, Mal Dovahkiin. He controls all who enter and who leave his realm. My knowledge is rivaled only by Herma-Mora's himself, but I do not have enough power on my own to best him. But your soul? You have slain Alduin, the World Eater himself. You have read an Elder Scroll and remained unscathed, a feat no one else in all of Tamriel's history can boast of. You are the Last Dragonborn, the last of our kind. Do you know how incredibly powerful you truly are? You could lay waste to your enemies with a single thought, if you knew enough. I cannot escape without your power."

Sahrotaar landed behind Miraak, sending a tremble through the tower. Ren bolted, casting a blizzard spell at Miraak and an invisibility spell on herself.

"Hiding is beneath you, Dragonborn." He called, holding up a ward against Sahrotaar's powerful flames with one hand and slowly turning his head to survey the empty space before him. Ren snatched up her sword and pressed a soul gem to it, then downed a healing potion.

And she charged.

"Darkness consume you!" She cried, swinging her sword.

He caught it on his ward and shoved, sending her crashing to the ground. She hadn't expected him to move so quickly, hadn't known it was even possible.

Then she saw the flare of magicka surrounding his figure, a faint blurriness on his limbs when he moved.

"Impressive, Mal Dovahkiin." He murmured. She pushed herself up, anger finally igniting within her. His sword against her throat stopped her. It was at that moment, on her knees with a sword at her throat, the full reality of that moment hit her, the full force of what had and was occurring, what it meant for everyone and everything.

Somehow, by some miracle, she kept herself from crying.

"Mal Dovahkiin, Zii Los Dii Du." He murmured.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

A myriad of visions, memories, flashed before his eyes.

Vision blurring, he watched a Breton stand over him, sword drawn and a loathsome smile gracing the man's lips. He saw a dark, dank room filled with people, all of them lifting a fist and cheering for him, a red-haired man laughing at his surprise. He saw a grotesque vampire roaring in fury as a dark-haired woman screamed, reaching out for him as he fell. He saw a black dragon, Alduin, staring deeply into his eyes, deep laughter ringing out from the black Dov's maw. He saw a beautifully carved bow glistening with light upon a pedestal, a strange looking elf gesturing to it with one arm, sinking into a deep bow as he did so. He saw the knowledge of an Elder Scroll pouring forth before his eyes like a leaf in the wind, there one moment and gone the next. He saw a proud Nord covered in blood and ash reaching out for him in concern and tearing a gag off of his own mouth at the same time. He saw a Dunmer woman with indigo eyes hugging him tightly before a flooded Dwemer ruin. He saw a young Nord boy picking the lock of a door, flashing him a grin before vanishing inside the building.

They were hers.

She didn't scream. Reeling from the memories that were pouring into his head, he dropped his blade and fell to his knees as her body slumped to the ground, squeezing his eyes shut beneath his mask. He felt the hundreds of Dov souls he had collected over the millennia rush into her, the faint wisps that he had spent every day of his life ignoring vanishing with shrieks of relief, of joy.

Why were they so different? Why did she not bear the burden of a thousand minds against hers?

Apocrypha flickered in and out of focus, replaced by random places he had never been before in his life. The same dark room he had seen in one of her memories, a home, well-lived in and cozy, a variety of wild lands he knew instantly to be Skyrim, and then-

-Darkness.

Nothing.

"Aal Hin Sil Kos Mul, Kiir." May your soul be strong, child. The voice was soft, male, sorrowful, and…familiar. The black began to lighten, and Miraak found himself awakening in the back of a wooden carriage, wrists bound tightly together.

"You're finally awake."

Miraak was back in Apocrypha, staggering away from the vanishing body of the Dovahkiin he had just slain. He reached out and caught her fingertips, just tightly enough to will himself to go with her. The Mal Dovahkiin's power flooded him, awing him with the sheer amount of magic alone that answered to her call.

He was still shaken from her memories, but he knew enough to compose himself as Solstheim swirled into existence around him. Breath refused to come to him for a long moment.

He was home.

It had changed drastically, but…it was still home. The very essence of the island remained the same, gently greeting him and then falling back into a deep slumber.

Kneeling beside him, unaware of his presence, was a pale skinned Nord whose Sil bore the crest of Molag Bal.

A Daughter of Coldharbour? Here? He straightened, catching her attention with the movement.

She looked up at him, standing. She lifted her chin to stare at him, stepping protectively over the Mal Dovahkiin's cooling body. He recognized her as the dark-haired vampire from one of the Mal Dovahkiin's memories.

"Her blood is on your hands. All of Skyrim will hunt you for this." The vampire whispered, clenching and uncurling her fists repeatedly.

"Skyrim is no concern of mine." Miraak said, brow furrowing beneath his mask. The Mal Dovahkiin's Sil remained as unconscious as a soul could be, inert even as the Dov souls poured through her into what Miraak assumed was death. This was….strange. Unexpected. He would have to document this at the first chance he got.

Of course, no one in all of existence, save perhaps Akatosh himself, knew what this would be like, what would occur.

"It should be." She snarled, trembling.

"And why?" He asked, amused. A cruel, bitter smile touched her lips.

"You have no allies here. It doesn't matter how powerful you are, or how powerful Ren is…was." She paused, closing her eyes. A brief struggle seemed to take place behind her closed eyelids.

"Those she called friend, those she called family, will hunt you to the ends of Tamriel. And when you get there, you had best pray to your filthy master for mercy."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Serana is Bad Ass.

THIS IS NOT THE END. Just the end of part one. Lol.

Kudos to anyone who can figure out what/where all the memories were~