Ysmir-made-real: Part 1

Inspired by my argument for the ascension of the Last Dragonborn and /u/Sakazwal's brilliant post finally making sense of Ysmir, this shitty fanfic explores how I personally imagine the ascension of the Last Dragonborn.

It began in the weeks following the Battle of Apocrypha. Ysmir, or so the Dragonborn had called himself since his journey to the Snow-Throat, had eaten one who could shout the land apart and cast powerful spells without Magnus' blessing, and soon afterwards he felt a strange power build inside him. The first thing that he noticed was a warmth unbefitting his vampiric physiology, and that his heart twitched and pulsed from time to time as if was attempting to leap out of his undead chest. His blood flowed, slowly at first like molten ebony, but more and more it felt as if a dam in his body's blood-rivers had been opened.

By the time he had met with Valerica in Castle Volkihar, his symptoms had worsened.

"Valerica!" he shouted after opening the front doors of the Keep, "Are you here?"

No answer was given, and his voice was echoed back through the empty halls as if by the ghosts of those he had slain there. He gazed upon the tables that the Volkihar clan had cannibalized innocents upon, and whatever remorse he had for killing Serana’s family left him then. Ysmir had been a bloodless vampire by principle and in spite of sanguine urges, who only agreed to undeath so that he would never have to die. He furthermore hated any being that predated upon mortals. Vampirism ordinarily requires feeding in order to retain the appearance of a mortal, but when Ysmir found a strain that did not have this limitation, the possibility of eternal life was all too tempting to pass up.

Ysmir stepped outside and shouted throat-magic at the earth, "DUR NEH VIIR!"

Durnehviir returned to Mundus with the power of the dragonborn's Voice, and the half-rotting wyrm asked the Qahnaarin if there was anything he could do to assist him. Ysmir pointed to the Volkihar balcony.

"Will you be my wings, friend?"

"It can't be a disease," Valerica stated, "but it may be a curse."

"Maybe some Aedra or Daedra is jealous of my so-called service to Hermaeus Mora?" Ysmir queried.

"Or your vampirism is being stripped away by Molag Bal. You've done service to Boethiah, and killed more of our kind than anyone I know of. I remember you wearing Boethiah's mail before constructing the dragonbone armor you wear now."

"And yet, I only feel this after my service to Mora."

"Maybe you were protected, as if you still had a role to play, and that role is over."

"Wouldn't Mora protect me now, then? I imagine that in the politics of Oblivion there is much a Daedra Lord can do to protect his Champion."

"Maybe Mora is doing this to scare you into loyalty, under the pretext that he will protect you from it."

"It won't work," Ysmir declared as he reached into his bag. He pulled out seven black books and put them in a nearby bookshelf.

"These are your problem now. Herma-Mora is your problem."

Ysmir stared at himself in a nearby mirror as Valerica looked on at the black books. His eyes narrowed.

"TIID KLO UL!"

Valerica's glowing scarlet eyes shot at the source of the sound. Time stood still around the power-throat, and Ysmir saw the dulled crimson color slowly fading from his eyes.

"Internal. The source of the change, it's internal," Ysmir posited.

"How do you know that?" Valerica blankly asked.

"I shouted at time, so that I could react, think, perceive, and move at ten-times the speed. And I saw my eyes return to their original blue color at a faster rate as well. If another entity was doing this to me, their work would slow down when time did."

"How are you doing it without being aware of it?"

"I ate him, Miraak. He was stronger than Alduin, and I ate him. His energy, my energy, forces my body back to life. Even in spite of Molag's power, it forces my body back to life."

Note that YSMIR wanted to be immortal, not a vampire, and that his will to forever be among the living breathed life into his newly immortal body. So it goes with YSMIR, who is master of his own fate.