The barrow entrance sloped downward sharply, half-flooded with black swamp water. Ancient Nordic carvings lined the walls, but many were defaced — replaced with crude symbols of writhing tentacles and hollow eyes. The air grew thicker, heavier, pressing against my lungs like wet cloth.
Meridia walked just ahead of me, her radiant glow pushing back the darkness. Every few steps she would glance over her shoulder, as if making sure I hadn't been swallowed by the mire.
"Stay close," she commanded. "This place reeks of something older than simple necromancy. It feels… familiar, yet twisted."
I kept my sword ready, golden light faintly pulsing along the blade. "Familiar how?"
She didn't answer immediately. Instead, her fingers brushed against a wall carving. "Hermaeus Mora's influence has touched this land before. But this is different. Someone is trying to merge his knowledge with the dead. A foolish, disgusting ambition."
System Notice: Corrupted Barrow – Dungeon Detected Recommended Level: 32+ Anomaly: Daedric Interference Detected
We descended further. The water rose to our knees. Suddenly the passage opened into a large chamber filled with broken sarcophagi. In the center stood a raised altar, upon which lay a glowing black tome chained with greenish energy.
As soon as we stepped inside, the heavy stone doors behind us slammed shut.
"Trap," I muttered.
"Of course it's a trap," Meridia said, sounding almost bored. "Mortals and their childish theatrics."
Spectral warriors rose from the sarcophagi — not normal draugr, but something worse. Their bodies flickered with stolen starlight mixed with void energy. Their eyes glowed the same sickly green we had seen outside.
I charged the nearest one. My sword met its ethereal axe with a shower of sparks. The impact jarred my arms. These things were stronger than the ones on the surface.
"These are bound by stolen knowledge!" Meridia called out. She unleashed a sweeping beam of light, disintegrating two of them instantly. "Do not let their strikes touch you for long — they drain essence!"
One of the spectral draugr slipped past me and swung at Meridia. She blocked with a shield of pure radiance, but the impact actually pushed her back a step. Her eyes widened in genuine surprise.
"How dare you," she hissed, voice laced with divine fury.
I used Radiant Step to close the distance and cleaved the attacker in half from behind. "You okay?"
"I am unharmed," she replied haughtily, though I noticed her left hand flexing as if it stung. "Focus on your own survival, champion."
We fought in sync. I drew their attention with aggressive strikes and skill bursts while Meridia picked them off with precise lances of light. The chamber echoed with the sounds of steel, screams, and holy fire.
As the last spectral guardian fell, the altar in the center pulsed. The black tome lifted into the air, pages flipping wildly. A distorted voice echoed through the chamber — layered, ancient, and dripping with malice.
"The light-bringer and her pet… how amusing. This vessel will serve well."
A surge of void energy exploded outward. I barely raised my sword in time. The force slammed into me, throwing me against the wall.
Health: 54% Debuff: Essence Drain – Moderate
"Champion!" Meridia's voice rang with clear anger.
She flew forward, blazing like a small sun. The entity manifesting from the tome — a swirling mass of tentacles and stolen faces — lashed out at her. One tentacle caught her arm. Meridia cried out in pain as dark veins spread across her perfect skin.
That sight made something snap inside me.
I pushed off the wall, roaring as I activated Beacon's Wrath at full power. Golden chains erupted, wrapping around the entity and burning into its form. "Get your filthy appendages off her!"
Meridia seized the opening. She grabbed the floating tome with both hands and poured her full divine power into it. Golden light clashed violently with void energy, creating cracks of reality across the chamber.
The entity screamed.
With a final, desperate surge, I drove my sword straight through the heart of the mass while Meridia continued flooding it with purifying light. The tome shattered in her grip, exploding into harmless sparks.
Silence fell.
The doors at the far end of the chamber groaned open.
I staggered over to Meridia. She was breathing harder than I had ever seen, her usual flawless composure slightly cracked. Dark veins still lingered on her arm, slowly fading.
"You're hurt," I said, reaching for her.
She pulled away at first, then reluctantly allowed me to hold her wrist. I channeled what little remaining blessing I had into her. The dark veins retreated faster.
"Do not… fuss over me," she muttered, though she didn't pull away. "I am a Daedric Princess. This is nothing."
"Yeah, well this 'nothing' looked like it actually hurt you," I replied. "You didn't have to charge in like that."
Meridia looked at me, golden eyes narrowing. "And you did not have to roar like a madman the moment it touched me." A faint smirk appeared. "Possessive fool."
"Look who's talking," I shot back with a tired grin.
She huffed, but there was clear satisfaction in her expression. "This corruption was an attempt to create a new eye — a lesser watcher for Mora in my territory. Pathetic. We have only scratched the surface. The true source lies deeper, beneath Morthal itself."
I nodded, still holding her wrist. "Then we keep going. Together."
Meridia stared at me for a long moment. The tsundere mask slipped just a fraction.
"…Yes. Together." She gently pulled her hand back, but not before giving my fingers a brief, almost shy squeeze. "Do not die here, fisherman. I still have many uses for you. And I refuse to let some forgotten swamp god claim what is mine."
We stepped through the newly opened passage, deeper into the sunken barrow. The air grew colder, the corruption thicker, but the light between us burned a little brighter.
Whatever waited below, it would face both a champion and his fiercely possessive Daedric Princess.