The rain had passed, leaving the world damp and smelling of pine sap and wet earth. My boots squelched against the softened road as I walked, cloak tugged tight around me.
Every step eastward felt heavier. The road stretched endless, bending around hills, threading through patches of fog. Solitude was behind me, Dragon Bridge felt like a scar I didn't want to remember, and Windhelm was still days away.
For a while, it was quiet. Just me, the wind, and the caw of a crow somewhere above. My thoughts circled back to everything—Taarie's smile when she handed me the amulet, Aldia's bloodied sword flashing in the smoke, the family I'd saved on the road. Each memory stacked like stones in my chest, pulling me down.
Then the weight shifted.
A glow, faint at first, lit up the corner of my vision. I froze, glancing down.
It was the Beacon.
That damn Beacon of Meridia, the thing I thought I'd been rid of after Kilkreath. The orb pulsed faintly in my pack, light seeping through the seams. I cursed under my breath and pulled it free.
The moment it touched my hand, the voice hit me.
"Chad Michael."
I groaned, tilting my head back toward the sky. "Oh, for the love of—can't you wait until I get to a city? Or, I don't know, when I'm not walking through mud?"
"Be silent. You will listen."
Her voice was sharp as glass, cold, commanding. And yet… it carried something else. Irritation? A strange edge of impatience.
"Your path veers uselessly east. There is another step you must take first. A place of power calls, marked for you now."
The Beacon's glow intensified, and like magic (literally), I felt the weight of a new mark settle on the map tucked in my satchel. My pack shifted, parchment edges prickling against my back as though reminding me it was there.
"Yeah, great," I muttered. "Just what I need. Another detour."
"The Apprentice Stone waits. It lies not far from here. Its power must be claimed, or your journey will end before it begins."
I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Meridia, with all due respect, every time I do what you want, I nearly die. Remember Malkoran? Remember the Shade? Because I sure do."
Her voice deepened, rolling through my head like thunder.
"Do not test me, mortal. You live because of my light. Without it, you are nothing. Do you think your steel alone will stand against the First Dragonborn? Against the Black Book's master?"
The mention of Miraak and Mora twisted my gut. My grip on the Beacon tightened until my knuckles ached. She wasn't wrong. I hated that she wasn't wrong.
"I was actually planning to get stronger the normal way, you know. Train. Fight. Get some levels under my belt before marching into another death trap."
"There is no time for your fumbling mortal pace. Take the stone. Claim its gift. Without it, you will fall."
I sighed so hard my chest hurt. "And if I don't?"
"Then my voice will not leave you. Not for a moment. It will fill your every waking breath, whisper into your dreams, grind against your sanity until you submit."
I froze on the road. The Beacon pulsed in my hand, its glow bright enough to paint the trees in ghostly silver. My eye twitched.
"...You're blackmailing me."
"I am ensuring your survival. Call it what you will."
I closed my eyes. For a second, I imagined hurling the Beacon into the swamp, watching it sink into the muck where it belonged. But deep down I knew better. It would just show up again. Or worse, Meridia herself would drag me back into her blasted temple for another "audience."
"Fine," I spat. "I'll go. Happy now?"
"You choose wisely, at last. The path is marked. Go, and do not tarry."
The glow dimmed, leaving me in silence. My ears rang in the absence of her voice, like the echo of a bell after a funeral toll.
I shoved the Beacon back into my pack with more force than necessary.
"Every damn time," I muttered, setting off toward the side road she'd shoved me onto. "Can't ever just let me live. Nope. Got to drag me halfway across Skyrim for glowing rocks."
The map's mark tugged me north, toward the hills. I adjusted my pack, tightened my belt, and started the climb.
Another detour. Another risk. Another mess not of my choosing.
But this one I couldn't ignore—not unless I wanted Meridia's voice gnawing at my skull every second until I cracked.
And so, grumbling, sword at my hip, I left the safety of the main road.
Toward the Apprentice Stone.