Part XXVI: Kogoruhn

By Dagoth Nevena, Acolyte of the Sixth House

The days move slower without Milos’ lessons to break up the monotony of walking. He would always make sure that when we took breaks to eat, that they would be used as much for education as for sustenance. I guess it’s just one of the things I never really appreciated back when he was still alive. It’s been—I don’t even know how long—since everything happened at Sanurdipal and the emptiness in my heart, it hasn’t gone away. It just clings to it like a web and no matter how much I try to bat it away, it won’t go. And I know it won’t. I just wish I could have a break from it, but I can’t. Perhaps this is my penance for having abandoned him—maybe if I hadn’t left him then things would’ve gone differently. Maybe it would’ve been Eno who died, not him. But these thoughts—these hypotheticals—they don’t matter. What’s done is done and now he’s gone. I only wish I could change the past, but nobody can—no matter how much they wish they could.

But I know regardless of everything that has happened, he would be proud of me as I gaze upon the grand fortress of Kogoruhn. I can’t deny that looking upon it leaves me awestruck and as I sit out here, composing myself before my descent into the bowels of this place and into the Red Mountain itself, I feel a sickness from this place. What I feel here isn’t what I expected. It is hot like the warmth of a festering wound and the voices I hear of my brethren are not like those of Sanurdipal or Milos. There is something wrong here. Deeply wrong. But I have no choice but to brave the depths of this place if I am to reach the Red Mountain and Dagoth Ur.

There is something more wrong than this place though and I feel it. It is Uthol. Even from here, I feel his mere presence eating at me. It hurts. My skin feels hot, my blood feels cold, I feel bumps starting to form all along my body. I fear what is to come as I delve into this place, but I must reach Lord Dagoth. I must. Only through him will I become what it is that Milos saw in me and I will not fail Milos, not again.

-Dagoth Nevena, Acolyte of the Sixth House