Chapter 302 - El Diablo (2) : Isha

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"So, let's get this straight, your name is Isha, you are a spearmaiden from Hammerfell and you came to Riverwood to rid it from a madness curse that was cast by Sheogorath on the whole town. That curse turned the people of Riverwood into a cult that… worship chickens."

"Yes. I know how crazy it sounds but it is the truth."

"You just said it yourself, Sheogorath is involved in the matter so it must be crazy."

"... Now that you say it that way… you just gotta believe me if you want your friend back."

Isha sounded confident and Jon sounded doubtful.

Isha was a Redguard girl with brown hair, eyes and dark skin. On top of that, she had muscular arms and shoulders that showed that she is a warrior invested in strength disregarding her femininity despite her beautiful face that looked way too middle-eastern and made Jon think back of his origins.

He sighed and shook the naughty thoughts away.

The two of them were hiding in the forest outside Riverwood as Isha briefed the matter of the town to Jon.

Jon was still wearing [Greed] as a long trench coat that covered him head to toe and his mask [Krilon] hid his face. He was completely a shady person but Isha was not much better, she held a long spear with a mighty appearance and covered herself with a large cloak and a hood.

"So, big man. Will you give a hand to rid the village of the curse?"

"... Call me, Krilon."

"Krilon? What kind of a name is that?"

"The name you need to know."

"... Fine, Krilon. Will you give me a hand or will you stay out of my way?"

"Tsk, my friend's wedding is about to start. I have only 15 minutes. Can you take away a curse put by Sheogorath in 15 minutes?" Jon asked.

"Don't ask me. You will ruin my Labour if you acted recklessly around Riverwood right now."

"Labour?" Jon caught a strange word.

"None of your business. I am to take away that curse from the town for my sake too, I'd rather be with my tribe for all that I care about right now."

"Fine, I won't get in your way but you better have a fast way to get my friend out of there." Jon said.

Isha didn't reply right away, she started thinking and sighed.

"Look, this needs some time. The Guards keep the troublemakers in a cell under the town wall on the other side of the village. You need to sneak in there and break yourself out, which won't be easy. Once you do that, you need to run as far away from here and return to where your friend's wedding is but something is telling me that all of this will take more than 15 minutes."

Isha made Jon's problem even more severe but he can just ride an Atronach Hawk or Teleport once he finds Jon Battle-Born. Still, it was hard.

"Fine, gimme a second."

Jon turned around and activated Telepathy.

{Can you guys buy me time?} He called Wulfur, Alina and Jullanar.

{What is taking you too long?} (Wulfur)

{Sorry, it will take longer. I have a lead on Battle-Born but it won't be easy to get him out of the trouble he's in.} (Jon)

{Fine, what do you want us to do?} (Jullanar)

{Buy me time, distract the whole Whiterun if you can. Be creative and improvise.} (Jon)

{Usually you are the creative one but I'll try something out.} (Wulfur)

{Don't worry, Jon. This young lady can distract Skyrim a whole.} (Alina)

{That's why I love you. Go for it.} (Jon)

The connection was severed and Jon returned to Isha.

"What was that?" She asked.

"I called my friends with [Telepathy] and told them to buy me time. We can have some time now." He said.

"Telepathy? You are a mage?"

"Yes."

"Damn! I thought you were a warrior looking at your size. And now that I look at it, you don't carry a weapon at all."

"... Yeah, whatever."

The reason why he doesn't carry weapons is that he keeps them in the [Haven Cube] which is in a ring form on his hand.

"Now, what should we do?" He asked.

"Follow me."

Isha walked inside the forest as she had been for days and she got familiar with the place as the back of her hands. Jon kept looking at Isha, how she moved and how impressive physique is. Even for a girl, she was a bit buff but still appealing to look at.

The two kept walking inside the forest and could see the town on their right, they went around it and reached the other side immediately.

"See that town wall, your friend should be locked near it."

Isha pointed at the southern wall of Riverwood, Jon cast [Scan] to search the place but a lot of unnatural signals were entwined.

"We need to get closer." Jon said and started sneaking towards the village quietly. Isha followed while trying to be vigilant and the two of them reached inside the village.

Jon searched again and again but something was wrong and his search was being scattered away once it reaches a certain place.

"I found something but I am not sure what are we facing. Still, this is the place we should start with." Jon said and pointed at a door in the town wall. Usually, the inside of the wall would be either the barracks or the prison so they didn't need to guess what is that.

There were two guards positioned on the door, Isha walked forward and pointed out.

"I'll take them out, you watch my back." She said and her eyes got sharper. Jon didn't say much and only nodded his head.

Isha kicked the ground and used her spear horizontally to knock out the two guards in one go. Jon was impressed at her speed but he didn't mention anything and just followed.

The two of them open the door right away and stormed inside, and for their surprise, there was nothing... nothing at all in the cell.

"How... how could this be?" Jon was positive that he will find something but there was nothing. Isha looked at Jon and questioned him but he only started looking around. He used his magic once again and found that the place itself has a unique ability to disperse the magic energy. Jon couldn't understand why but he was sure there's a secret about this place yet there was no time to investigate more, his friend needed to be found first.

"Is there any other place we can look into?" He asked.

"I have some places in mind… but these are all residential houses, it will be hard to find your friend there."

"Let's go anyway."

The two left the empty cell and snuck between the houses and the farms looking for any trace of Jon Battle-Born.

"You said you saw him coming, right?" Jon asked.

"I did, it was a bit after dawn and he was drunk. How in the world did someone cross the forest this drunk without being sniffed by wolves."

"Believe me, you watch be surprised if you know what drunken Nords can do." Jon spoke out of the experience.

"So… what is the story with Riverwood?" Jon asked.

"I am not sure. I was tasked to rid the village from the curse of madness and so I came and started to look around."

"Tasked by who?"

"None of your business." Isha became annoyed once Jon dug deeper.

"... You mentioned something about a 'Labour', is that it? Something like a secret mission or…"

"I really hate questions." Isha said and glared at Jon.

"... Wow! It has been a while since I got rejected this bad and by a girl at that." Jon shook his head and minded his business.

"You think you are some sort of a charmer?" Isha said with cold eyes.

"Of course, my only redeeming quality is my looks… even though I am hiding it for a good reason."

"Yeah yeah, Mr. Womanizer."

"What you don't believe me?"

"Womanizers die young so watch for your head, pretty boy."

"Huh? I don't think a muscle brain like you would know any womanizer to begin with, ever heard of Don Juan?"

"No."

"Casanova?"

"No."

"Jon Dare?"

"No."

"Then how on Nirn do you claim that womanizers die young."

"Are we going to argue or look for your friend?"

"... Oh! Sorry, I got carried away for my kind. So, what about the town?"

Isha was baffled by the rapid change of Jon's mood but only sighed. Even though she is a weirdo herself, she doesn't like tall and manly weirdos like Jon, her preferences would baffle even Jon but that's in the far future.

"The town was cursed by Sheogorath for some reason and the people now worship chickens. The thing is, they didn't lose their minds completely and still treat chickens as normal farm animals which didn't attract any attention, but things change completely if an outsider hurt a chicken."

Jon wasn't sure how to react. He didn't want to think of it at first but he remembered something from the game. Most of the player who plays 'TESV: Skyrim' for the first time come across Riverwood as the first settlement and there are chickens roaming around the street. Most of the player gets curious and kill the chicken for some weird and twisted reason but they would never foresee the consequences of that action. The whole damn Riverwood would go nuts and try to murder those players. Some said it is a bug and others said it is a joke made by the game creators but Jon didn't think that a Daedric Prince would be behind the scenes here.

Jon looked at Isha and spoke.

"How do you plan on breaking the curse, then?"

"I am not sure yet. I am still investigating the matter and there is a serious lack of leads. There is no center for the curse and there is no agent for Sheogorath around."

"Strange! So you're saying that other than the behavior of the villagers, nothing else is out of place?"

"I have been here for a week and I assure you that there is none. If only I could figure out what reason did Sheogorath have to curse the damn village, I would have done it already."

Isha's tone sounded desperate but Jon couldn't be the herald of good news.

"... I am not sure how to tell you this but as a member of the College of Winterhold, I have an idea or two regarding the Daedra."

"You have?"

"I do but I am afraid it is not what you want to hear… you see, Sheogorath is the manifestation of Chaos and the Good of Madness. Daedric Princes are the forces of nature they represent in the image of a person. Sheogorath is madness and madness is Sheogorath…"

"Get to the point!" Isha urged Jon.

"Sigh! The point is… there is no reason behind the actions of the Mad God, he is just screwing around to laugh at mortals."

"... What? What kind of… how twisted is… how can that be? Then how can I… how am I supposed to finish my Labour?"

Isha sat on the ground and held her head. The word 'Labour' was something like her trigger and Jon didn't want to treat the matter carelessly.

"To be frank, I am a Mystic and an Enchanter but a member of my family is the best Daedraologist in the land. Still, I have never heard the mention the word 'Labour' before? I can help if you explain." Jon's words were sincere and he was really interested in a term he didn't know.

Isha looked up to Jon and her head seemed to have come to a conclusion.

"Maybe… maybe you are right, Nord. I am indeed in a predicament and maybe 'Tall Papa' sent you in my way." Isha said.

[A/n: Tall Papa is Ruptga, the Chief of the Redguard Pantheon. He is called 'Papa' because he fathered most of the lesser spirits and 'Tall' because he was so enormous that he stuck the stars on the sky. A very different pantheon that we didn't talk about yet.]

"Okay… I am listening."

"I was tasked by a 'Prophet' to come here to redeem myself. There is a long story of why I had to do the task but I think you are in a hurry to save your friend."

"Yes."

"Then this is what I found out. The people here are waiting for the emergence of an entity they call 'El Diablo' that will…"

"Wait wait wait wait… El Diablo?"

"... Yes, you have heard of the word before?"

"Yes…" Jon was even more baffled than before.

Why does such a word exist in this world? He thought.

"I think it means the Devil." He said.

"Devil? I am not sure what that is but here's what I know. El Diablo is an entity that has something to do with the chicken worship and it is like a savior or a liberator of some sort. My 'Labour' is to rid the village of the curse by slaying El Diablo. That's all I know." Isha said.

'Slay El Diablo? What game have I got reincarnated in again?' Jon barely held it in.

"Okay, explain to me what is 'Labour'?"

Isha nodded and started talking. Every word she said made the heart of Jon bound like crazy. His eyes widened and cold sweat formed all over his body. The term 'Labour' was far worse than what he ever imagined.