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ALEX CASEY
We had all eaten and our plates were empty in front of us. It had been pleasant but now we had to focus on the problem at hand: why had Alan Wake come here looking for my husband?
I needed to focus on that problem as what Scouts had asked earlier made me feel uneasy. Why the **** had he thought Alan and I had slept together? And why couldn’t he have kept his mouth shut?
“Why are you here?” I asked. “We can’t wait for Jash to come here.”
“Why can’t you contact him through the Mountain?” Alan asked.
“Jash is fighting a war, Alan. Men could die if I contact him at the wrong time. The Thalmor could win and destroy this reality.”
Alan nodded in agreement.
“I don’t know if I have the time to explain everything.” Alan admitted.
“If it takes all night, it is ours to listen.” Scouts replied gently.
“If it’s as complicated as what happened in Bright Falls, we might need a few months.” I retorted. “We can spare a night but I doubt the explanation would take that short of a time. After we help him fix this problem, he can spend an eternity giving us the full explanation.”
****. I did trust Alan more than I had thought. If I still held any resentment for the writer I would’ve demanded he find a way to tell us everything even if it took all night.
I hated not hating him. I hated how easily I trusted him. How had he gotten under my skin like that?
“I managed to, well, diminish the Dark Presence.” Alan began.
“What the **** does that mean?” I asked.
“What is the Dark Presence?” Scouts asked.
“The reason why it would take longer than tonight to explain everything is because of the Dark Presence.” Alan replied.
“The Dark Presence is this ancient force that feeds and manipulates artists.” I replied.
“Basically.” Alan said with a nod. “The easiest way I can explain it is I cut off one of its arms.”
“Was there a point to that? I’m sure the Dark Presence can just reattach it.”
“I’m sure that would be true if Alan didn’t have plans to destroy the arm.” Scouts pointed out.
“That’s why you needed Jash.” I guessed.
“Exactly.” Alan said. “I sent the arm here and planned to contact Jash. He’s one of the few people with something as powerful as his By My Soul Shout. I should have appeared close to him and we could’ve destroyed the arm in a minute.”
“You should have appeared on the battlefield with Jash.” Scouts said.
“Since Jash, Alex, and Hircine are connected by powerful energies I must have accidentally followed Alex instead of Jash.”
I didn’t hate Alan. That old comforting hatred for him had been completely burned away. I should have been furious that he had brought the Dark Presence to Skyrim but I wasn’t. He would never have brought something that like here on purpose. And he would always clean up his mistake no matter the personal cost to himself.
Was this why Scouts had asked if Alan and I ever slept together? Did Scouts have a point?
“I just hadn’t counted on Jash being away at war.” Alan said.
“Shortly before your arrival, the dryskin Tim Breaker appeared on a battlefield where Jash was fighting the Thalmor.” Scouts said. “Did he arrive in your place, Alan?”
Alan took a moment to consider and I had to resist drinking more wine in the silence. Not only because of the Dark Presence being a threat once again but to attempt to drown my feelings.
“If Tim had still been in the Dark Place when I cut off one of the Dark Presence’s arms then it’s possible.” Alan replied.
“The Dark Presence is trapped in the Dark Place.” I explained. “It’s his realm of Oblivion.”
“The Dark Presence can influence things outside of the Dark Place, but it can never truly escape.” Alan continued as Scouts nodded. “It possessed me and others in order to try and escape.”
Scouts leaned back and closed his eyes briefly. I noted how he had to spend a minute calming himself before he could talk again. I hadn’t ever seen him in so much pain. It hadn’t seemed possible he could even when I knew he had tried to end his own life before.
“Was it you?” Scouts asked with an eerie calm to his voice.
“Was it m-“ Alan began.
“Was it you who tore my soul from the Hist?”
“I don’t know.”
“But it’s possible?”
“Yes.”
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