Intermission I, Part I: The Abomination Lives

By Dagoth Milos, Former High Priest of Kirinibbi

My mind rolls around in the silence of the emptiness since the Abomination disappeared. It was at first as crippling as it was when I began my ascension, but I know that these scars are temporary and that I will be reunited with him once they fade. I have been damaged, but not severed from him and things will be rectified—of this I know to be true. It must be true. There is no alternative universe in which it can not be true, but things must be rectified and I must be the one to rectify them as I should have at Kirinibbi.

I sense the Abomination lurking beneath the Vivec’s monument of his own vanity; I feel his presence radiating from it, but I am perplexed. I do not know how he came to seek refuge within the Betrayer’s City, but he has. And worse, his influence grows. I feel his presence seeping out beyond its walls and deep into the ashlands and I find myself intoxicated by it, sickeningly so, just as it had been before. It is fainter this time though. He is weak from what happened and that is fortunate for me, because I will be able to do what I should have done at Kirinibbi before it blinked out of existence. I will unmake him. I will destroy the Usurper and free myself and my house of its abhorrent nature, but I do not want to. I must, but I do not want to.

I am conflicted and perhaps that is why I have gone deaf to the words of Lord Dagoth, because he senses within me the divided soul.

He senses my doubt.

My fear.

And worse.

My hope.

I hate the Abomination. I should have killed it before it had a chance to grow into what it became; it would have been so easy, but I was weak. Even then, it had this aura that I could not pull myself from. It had this supernatural serenity about it and it spoke to me of the future of the House. It spoke to me of our prophesied fall and of the importance of making our peace with our apotheosis not being one of shedding the trappings of flesh but of shedding the trappings of consciousness. Of the freedom found only in non-existence.

But it is a hypocrite.

It saw its death coming for it at my hand and it vanished and scurried to the beneath the Betrayer’s City, but I do not know why it would go there. What did it expect to find there? What hopes does it have? What goals?

I do not know, but I will find out and when I do, I shall unmake the Abomination and cast away the doubts that it placed upon me. I shall become whole again when it is forced to attain the apotheosis of death it spoke of and I will be welcomed again to partake of Lord Dagoth’s communion. I will no longer be left to hear only my thoughts rattle around an empty cage, but will be welcomed back into the fold and I shall experience oncemore the infinite glory of the Sixth House, for this is my penance for failing to do what must be done and when the wrong is righted, so too will the penance be alleviated, for Lord Dagoth forgives, even when we are not worthy of being forgiven.

Lord Dagoth, know that I will bring glory unto you and unto our house in these coming days. I swear this to you on all that I am and all that I ever shall be knowing that these things are only because of the gifts you have bestowed unto me and I shall show you that your glory has not been wasted. I swear it.

The Abomination will die and Kirinibbi will be avenged. This too, I swear.

-Dagoth Milos, Former High Priest of Kirinibbi