AN: These are the interludes voted on a while ago! Next chapter in 2 days because of the extra chapter poll
-/-
Six soldiers huddled together in their unity tent as the one with the fanciest insignia, a golden double knot on his shoulder, opened the package that had arrived this very morning.
The glowing cube that emerged from under swathes of cloth and shined its purple light onto the flowing walls of the tent.
“Bloody hell, finally,” one of the soldiers muttered.
“Five long years we’ve waited for this,” the officer of the six-man united said with a sigh.
“Wouldn’t have mattered if it’d come earlier anyway, didn’t have the money,” one of the rougher-looking soldiers commented.
“Fucking expensive innit, half the savings of seven men from five years of serving.”
“Do you think… Do you think it will make one of us go up?” a soldier asked hesitantly, looking around the circle as if looking for confirmation.
“Ye Yer straight up fucking ascended after the previous one, and he was an old cunt with five daughters,” another one answered. “Checked around camp back then, The Last of Us didn’t have that effect on many, but a few did grasp that last bit of something they were missing.”
“Willpower, likely,” the officer commented, quickly identifying the crux due to having received an education.
One of the soldiers spat on the side, quickly getting a knock on the head from another.
“Not in the tent, you lard!”
The one who’d spat, slightly pudgy, nursed his growing bruise. “None of us failed to cultivate due to a lack of effort or willpower,” he growled. “I want it more than anyone! Immortality, money, women!
“Everyone wants to cultivate, but it doesn’t mean they have the willpower to give it everything they have,” the officer continued his claim. “The zombie crisis and the fact that many soldiers have daughters at home was the perfect breeding ground for situational enlightenment, or at least, situational encouragement. It pushed a few over the edge; maybe this one will push more.”
“You sure we got the same creator, right? Hoy’s unit ordered an Illusion Room from the sect and ended up having to fight a swarm of flying worms in a terrain no larger than our cantine. Biggest waste of coins I’ve ever seen.”
“I specifically inquired,” the officer reassured. He rummaged through the clothes and pulled out a letter. He read it for his illiterate subordinates. “Look, it says so right here. From the creators of The Last of Us, Jin Fan, Hashimi, Francis, with additional input from Da Bendan and Ting. Skyrim, an entire world in a box.”
“Here’s to hopin’ it ain’t too long. The Last of Us took me half a day.”
The office continued reading. “Expected completion time, sixty days…”
The tent fell silent.
“Are you fuckin’ serious!”
“Bloody hell.”
“Son of a whore!”
The officer raised a hand to silence the group while furrowing his brows. “We all have responsibilities as soldiers, although with the current peace time… those have lessened. Disregarding sleep, we have 18 hours a day. Sleeping in shifts means the Room can run for the whole time. Divided by seven… that’s two hours per person and four hours for me. We could finish this in… two years?”
“Why are you getting four hours, huh?”
The officer snatched the Illusion Room and cradled it like a babe. “I had more savings and paid more than all of you, didn’t I?” he argued.
“Hand over the bloody thing!”
A fight erupted, and was quickly calmed lest it summon an army enforcer.
Eventually, the officer did prevail and sank mind first into the scenario.
“Hey, you. You’re finally awake.”
-/-
Xiao watched with a sneer as the dragon terrorised Helgen, forcing him to run like a rat.
Just from half an hour, he could already tell that this scenario was going to be much more diverse than Outlast had been, although of course Jin Fan would never be able to create anything without the smell of burning human flesh or its equivalent.
Regardless, to defeat an enemy, one always had to first understand the enemy.
Perhaps due to not perceiving Skyrim as an experience, but a means to an end, he ran through the experience at record time during the next weeks, uninterrupted since he’d bought his own Room, as much as it galled him to put money in the demon’s pocket.
It was only as he reached the initiation ritual of the Dark Brotherhood, three captives with their heads covered by sacks and Astrid behind him, that he stopped to think.
His original pre-supposition -that he was merely to slaughter the demonic sect- proved itself wrong as he was instead presented with a choice.
Putting together the information previously presented to him and the free-choice environment of the scenario, Xiao quickly reached the conclusion that had previously been alluding him.
Instead of taking or rejecting the metaphorical hand being offered by the brotherhood, he started muttering to himself, drawing increasingly queer looks from Astrid, and increasingly confused whimpers by the three captives.
“Alduin is a metaphor for the demons, a threat that the world is menaced by and needs to unite against,” Xiao started in a low voice and with furrowed brows as he twirled the staff in his hands.
“The dark brotherhood, like many other factions, can be joined or eradicated. The reputation system is fully integrated, and eradicating them would bring great honour all across Skyrim. However, if one instead joins them, one will eventually have the opportunity to become their leader, as was the case with the companions. If one follows that route, then one can gain additional allies in the battle against the dragons…” He narrowed his eyes.
“Jin is a devil; he is the dark brotherhood, or rather, he is worse. Was this message meant for me? No, others have also purchased the Illusion Room. He cannot fully propose a collaboration with demonic cultivators as long as it serves a greater purpose; he is too good at walking the tightrope of public relations, always insulting as much as he can without suffering the consequences…”
“However, simply suggesting it as a possibility, and then leaving the choice open to the individual, is already radical as an implication of political philosophy. It divides evils into greater and lesser, creating a future justification why he, as the lesser evil, should be suffered and even courted under the shadow of the greater evil…”
Xiao stopped in his tracks, not even having noticed that he’d started pacing, as he came to a startling realisation.
“He twisted the commission of the Mad Monks to torture mortals,” he said slowly and clearly. “But this is not a commission, so he doesn’t have to twist anything. His intentions become clear. He is trying to spread an ideological virus, start the process of erasing the line between orthodox and demonic cultivation, degrade the morality of the world by proposing a continuous compromise with the lesser evil until the demons have been defeated, which is unlikely to ever fully happen.”
He looked up at the ceiling of the shack, and though his surroundings were illusory, he felt like he was looking straight into Jin’s eyes.
“You’re trying to make accomplices out of all of us, aren’t you!?” he shouted at the sky while spreading his arms. “Those who abet evil for any purpose become complicit in its deeds. You would implicate everyone, so that everyone is the devil! One half of the world for the demons, the other half for the depraved! This is the purpose: to create hell on earth by making everyone a sinner and a judge! You won’t! I WILL STOP YOUUUUU!!!” he screamed himself hoarse.
“You’re clearly insane,” Astrid, the blonde woman, suddenly said from behind him.
Xiao extended his staff and whipped around, his blow being dodged at the last second as the woman backpedalled.
“You won’t get me!” he shouted as he went on the attack, the assassin clearly not used to honourable combat as she struggled against his might. “Foul temptress, designed construct of sinful ideology!”
They exchanged a dozen blows in that shack until Xiao super-charged his body to catch Astrid off guard and extend his staff straight through her forehead, killing her.
She dropped to the floor like a puppet with her strings cut.
Xiao turned his head towards the heavens again. “Justice will prevail! Jin!” he shouted, spittle flying from his mouth. “I will complete your so-called masterpiece and prove that Skyrim can be saved without compromising on moral grounds! Your proposed twisted ideology will be broken by the facts that I will manifest into this world through my power! I will prove that it is never necessary to accept the lesser evil, that instead of sitting at the table with justice you deserve to be kneeling and begging on its chopping block!” He heaved after his proclamations, assured and at peace through the knowledge that he was going in the right direction.
“U-uh, does that mean you’re letting us go?” one of the prisoners tentatively asked.
Xiao whirled around to glare at the three captives. “Do not talk to me as if you are free from sin! All elements present in this scenario are the work of the devil, created with the sole purpose of corrupting reality!
“I guess that’s a no,” the cat-person, the khajit, said with a tired sigh.
-/-
Tian defensively kept a palm behind his back as he talked to the khajit outside Riften.
“Here’s your missing amulet,” Tian said as he handed over the moon-shaped artefact.
“There it is. Ah.... Home.... If you ever need the skills of a Khajiit warrior by your side, I would be honored to travel with you. Until then, here. This is for you, in thanks,” feline individual said, handing over the reward.
The rest of the dialogue… Tian recognised that he’d just acquired another potential follower, but due to the animal nature of such, the hand covering his butt pressed down even more protectively.
The hideous imagery shown to him by that fiend still haunted him, five years down the road…
“That won’t be necessary,” he said quickly, before promptly turning around and running off, arm still placed in the awkward position.
Once he’d entered Riften, feeling safe once again, Tian cursed the Illusion Room Sect for being so preoccupied with anthropomorphised animals.
Cat people, lizard people and whatever the so-called dunmer were supposed to be, armadillo people?
Every interaction felt like a threat, forcing him to constantly guard his back door.
Considering the rotten fate of his ancestor, he dared not even use the human companions the scenario offered, refusing to trust the creator of Skyrim.
“Jin,” he spat as he made his way to the thieves' guild headquarters.
He was sure that Jin knew perfectly well that Tian would explore the entirety of his scenario so as to better understand his adversary. Filling the world with walking and talking animals to psychologically torture him as he did so was perfectly in line with the sadistic coward he’d faced back at the tournament.
“One day, I’ll become the consequences of your actions,” Tian muttered darkly as he descended into the sewers.
He needed that key; the sooner he defeated Alduin, the sooner he’d gain the power to exterminate all those hideous animals to release some pent-up stress.
Although, despite his thoughts of revenge, a flicker passed through his mind as he continued exploring this world, and yes, it was a world, for the 30th day in a row.
What kind of mind could create an alternate reality so utterly and completely foreign, but logical in this self-contained way?
“He must have gotten help from the Elders. This isn’t something an inner disciple is capable of,” Tian muttered harshly.
-/-
Xin Erwa curiously watched as the flame atronach in front of her aimlessly drifted around for lack of an enemy.
She noted curiously that the summoned elemental shared her approximate height, shape and even the horns she’d recently styled her hair into.
“A semi-sentient servant made of flames,” Xin Erwa said to herself curiously as she sat on the club of a dead giant, a dozen or so other of its kin, plus one dragon slowly rotting away in the background, as she contemplated.
Ever since Xin Erwa had been punished for her honesty at the tournament, no other disciple dared to team up with her for missions.
Had Jin predicted this, offering a simple solution in his scenario, styling the atronach after her to catch her attention?
If so, she’d have to thank him.
It shouldn’t take too much effort to rip the core of the behavioural guides of the atronach from the Room, although she’d likely destroy it in the process.
Once she had those guidelines, she could build on top of them and start creating her own summoned servants.
“Hmm, not including a mention of this in his letters so I could feel as if it was my own idea,” she said with a small smile. “How… quaint. Does he think I’m too prideful?” she questioned.
Then she got up, put her hands in the pockets of her enchanted robe and continued on her solitary journey towards Cradlerush Rock.
She’d faced so many different foes in this scenario that she’d lost count, her combat experience spiralling ever upwards and building on top of itself.
That and the novel ideas on the application of fire.
“It’s almost like you want to inspire me, Jin,” she muttered as she walked, snow crunching beneath her boots, leaving behind a trail of blood and ash.
“I will admit, with what you’re showing me now, you are starting to preoccupy my mind more and more.” The smile on her face twisted, became lopsided, haunting, containing too much context to belong to a young woman in her twenties. “I haven’t had this much fun since before the age of demons...”
-/-
“So, what exactly are you here for? I don’t quite understand,” Jin asked the yellow-robe-clad Kong Ching once he’d isolated the boy into one of the less-used archives full of outdated derivative works.
“Teacher,” Kong Ching started, bowing once again. “I have tempered my body, tempered my mind and tempered my spirit with your other works. Skyrim, clearly allegorical as it is, has shown me the path forward, yet I hesitate to walk it without consulting you first. The Stormcloaks and the Empire are a clear metaphor for the lacking unity of humanity in the face of eventual destruction. The demons encroach as we are eaten from within by greed and schemes, the few powerful simply wishing to amass enough resources to ascend to the next plane of existence and leave our problems unsolved. Please tell me, what is my role in this!?”
Jin stared at the blonde man, lips twitching, undecided if they should go up or down.
On one hand, his work had clearly impacted someone very deeply. On the other hand…
“Would you believe me if I told you that Skyrim is mainly a commercial product meant to entertain?” he asked rhetorically.
Kong Ching blinked at him before starting to laugh so hard he had to clutch at his stomach. “I did not expect teacher to also have a sense of humour!” he exclaimed happily through his guffaws.
“I thought so,” Jin muttered quietly before sighing and starting to try to think of a way to salvage this situation.