ab potentiā arcūs sagittarumque

A/N: PLEASE READ MY OTHER STORY (not really a story) 'Lore of ab potentiā' FIRST SO YOU CAN UNDERSTAND THE STORY BETTER. THANKS

So this is new…a new story for a very old game. This should (hopefully) evolve into a whole story, and (hopefully) people will enjoy it. If you do enjoy it or have any suggestions please let me know through the appropriate communication networks. Writing this I realize I sound like a robot of some kind :P. Also rate this story and follow and all that good stuff.

This chapter should hopefully create a backdrop for the main character, Cassia, and her circumstances. If some of it is hard to follow please message me and I will explain it as best I can.

One final thing, I plan to write all the titles in Latin, you know to give the story a unique quality. I will say what the titles mean in these author's notes (for example today's title 'iter puellae quaedam iuvenis' is 'A young girl's journey'). If you want an explanation of the grammar and whatnot you can message me. I doubt you will be it's nice to offer ;)

Anyway, let's get started. spero ut id gaudeās!

Crown Prince Geldall's Quarter's, White Gold Tower, Imperial City

8.09 am, 10th Last Seed 433

Alexander knocked on Geldall's door. After a few seconds he called him in.

'salve, Alexander, good to see you.'

'You wanted to see me, sire?'

'Yes…my father, in his delusional old age, as ordered me and my brothers to 'secure' locations across the empire. Ebel has gone to Markarth, Enman to Sentinal and I have been ordered to Mournhold.'

'All the way to Vvardenfell? Why?'

'Father is convinced that we are all to be killed, so, following the advice of the Blades, he has sent us to each of the provincial capitals to confuse the assassins. Trust me, I'm just as unconvinced as you.'

'Well sire, I would be happy to accompany you to Vvardenfell, I've been there several times as a soldier and I know my way around; I even dined with the Nerevarine.

'Yes, yes very good. We leave in 17 days, on the 27th, so prepare a few guards and some horses. You're dismissed. vale.'

'vale domine,' he responded, and then shuffled out of the room.

Alexander headed for the Feed Bag shop for breakfast. Despite being the commander of the palace guards he was on a low income. He was sending most of his wealth to his wife in Black Marsh, who was forbidden to leave the service of the one of the local chiefs until she paid off her huge debt, created when she slaughtered his hatchling as an act of vengeance for his burning of her village, which killed her whole family. However she had nearly paid off her debt and soon she would be able to come and live with her husband. Alexander rarely thought about her now, for it was too painful. He instead considered it a tax he sent, he even stopped writing letters to her, just sending a stipend and perhaps a flower.

'What would you like today, Xander?'

'Bread and a tomato will be sufficient thank you.'

'Nothing to drink?'

'No thank you, Delos.'

'sicut vis imperator.'

Alexander coughed into his stale roll and then ate it in one. He chuckled bitterly, imagining the life he should be having with his beloved wife, instead of the life he was having, serving a haughty crown prince, eating gruel he wouldn't feed to a dog and sending 80% of his wealth to some Argonian warlord. 'The gods really have blessed the Ellanites, haven't they?' he thought to himself.

Lord Tertius' Estate, Colovia

'Cassia, darling, come down for breakfast!'

Cassia pulled her head out of her wardrobe to respond to her mother.

'I'll be down in a second!'

'I really hope that girl knows what she's doing. I don't think I could handle losing a child…'

'Mother! That's a terrible thing to say.'

'I agree, Iulia sweetheart, you need to calm down. Cassia is a woman now, beautiful, strong, intelligent. She will be fine.'

'But Lucius, you here so many stories of babies dying before birth and dying in their first few years, and we've raised four beautiful daughters, none of whom have died or even been ill to any great degree. Surely our luck would run out here.'

'Or maybe we're so blessed with luck that their lives are so secure that the gods watch over them and care for them like babies. Even if that's not true, can you really name a creature that could take on Cassia?'

'I could name several!'

'Mom stop worrying! Cassia will be fine. You were worried when Flavia left home to become a merchant, thought she'd be murdered by loan sharks and whatnot, and now she's one of the richest merchants in the Empire. You were worried when Laelia went to the Imperial City to find the man of her dreams, and within eight months we were standing at her wedding. And now you're worried about Cassia becoming an adventurer, if the past holds up to scrutiny she should save the world!'

'Aurelia, when you have children you will understand my anxiety.'

'I would appreciate it if you talked about me while I am in the room.'

Iulia looked up to see her daughter in the doorway with a smirk on her face, wearing travelling clothes and holding a bow and quiver in her hands. Her hair was long and silky, kept together by a headband around her temple. Her face was bright and jubilant, her big green eyes screamed excitement and her tanned Imperial skin glowed with a desire to explore.

'Hey sis, they got Mitsuko to make your favourite breakfast.'

'Really? You didn't have to do that.'

'Hey Mitsuko was the one who cooked it. Where is she anyway?'

Mitsuko was their Nihan housekeeper. The Nihan are one of the human races enslaved by the Tsaeci in Akavir.

'I think she's chopping wood for the fire. Sit down sweetheart, you're eggs are getting cold.'

Cassia sat down at the table to her breakfast; poached eggs on brown bread with a blackberry sauce. She ate them quickly, she was starving and also she hadn't had eggs in months. While eating she noticed her whole family were looking at her; her mother Iulia, her father Lucius and her eleven year old sister Aurelia.

'Why are looking at me like that?' Lucius was the first to speak.

'I suppose we can't believe it, that you're leaving I mean.'

'My little Cassia has grown up into an ambitious adventurer.'

'My big sister is going to be an adventurer!'

'Yes she is. I think 19 years as a noble's daughter is more than enough time spent being a noble's daughter. It's time for me see Cyrodiil for its true self, find fortune and all that good stuff.'

'Well what are you're travelling plans?'

'First I want to go to the Imperial City and surprise Laelia. I'll stay with her for a few days so I can get my bearings about the city, you know, find out about which dungeons are good for loot, who wants to buy said loot and so on. Then I'll go dungeon crawling and see how it goes from there.'

'That sounds very methodical for you, Cassia,' said Aurelia.

'People can change Aure,' she beamed back at her sister.

'Okay, so by Mitsuko's suggestion we've all got you a little farewell gift, apparently it's an Akaviri tradition among its humans, I think actually she wants to give her gift first. So after we've all finished breakfast, we'll go into to the drawing room and give them to you.'

'You guys didn't have to do all of this! I'm not dying or anything.'

'We insist, you might find them useful.'

Cassia walked into the living room and reclined on the sofa, with her family close behind. Mitsuko came in from the garden and smiled warmly at them.

'Ah good, you haven't left yet. I've got something for you, from my homeland.' She came closer to Cassia, reached into her pocket and pulled out a small wooden block tied through a string. The block had three Nihanese pictograms carved on it.

'This is an Ommora, a special pendant the Nihan give to people upon reaching adulthood or upon them setting on a daring journey. This one is very old, over 100 years old in fact. My father gifted me this before I escaped from the Tsaeci. I cannot have children of my own, they sterilize every other child, so I wish to pass this on to you Cassia.'

'Oh wow, it's so beautiful, but Mitsuko, I cannot accept this, it's part of your heritage, your link with Akavir and…'

'No, I insist, please, take and wear it with honour. My heart bleeds for my people at home, but nothing would make me or them happier than to see a brave and honourable person bear this talisman. I wish you well in all your travels Cassia, it has been so wonderful to see you grow up into such a woman. Oh look, I'm rambling now,' she said smiling, but teary eyed.

'I'm really gonna miss you Mitsuko, you've been…so…great now I'm crying!' she responded. They both held each other close and wept for a while. Eventually Aurelia, being somewhat disdainful of uncontrolled emotional outpouring, interjected.

'Can you equally distribute the sadness between everyone in the family? This is just unfair…'

'Sorry Aure, come here,' Cassia snivelled.

'Right, so you know my drawing has been getting really good, right? Well, what does every adventurer need? A map!' Aurelia pulled out a huge map of Cyrodiil, made with thick papyrus paper. It was gloriously detailed with the individual roads and paths inscribed on it, and the cities were very accurately depicted

'It's got all the cities and their districts drawn on. I did my best to show hills and valleys on the map as well. I mean I've never left the estate so I have no idea what any of these places look like but you know I've given it my best shot. Also I got Dad to enchant the paper, so it is waterproof, so you can use it in Bruma or Leyawiin without it getting ruined.

'Wow, Aure…this is lovely, and so useful. I had a pocket map which had the major cities on, but this is going to be so much more useful.'

'Well it was nothing…plus you would be fucked without this map.'

'Aurelia!' their mother scolded. 'Adults shouldn't use that language, let alone children.'

'Oh lighten up mom, your daughter, my sister, is leaving us for greener pastures of ogre slaughter and I can't engage in a little Breton? Oh and Cass, I almost forgot, I've got something else for you.' She reached into her pocket and pulled out an A4 sized piece of papyrus. On it was Aurelia and Cassia hugging close with a line of dialogue at the bottom reading 'amor amicarum, sicut in monarchiā rex, nunca moritor'

'Now my Empirical isn't very good, it took me hours to write it, so I don't care if it's not grammatically correct, you can appreciate the sentiment behind it, right?'

'Yes sweetheart I can, god I love you and I'm going to miss you and your dry humour and refusal to even be remotely sad.' Aurelia smiled and hugged her sister tightly. She tried holding in the tears, but Cassia heard her anyway.

'Are you crying?'

'No.'

'Are you sure?' Aurelia pulled away to show her blank face.

'See, I'm not…crying,' she faltered.

'It's okay to cry you know.'

'I'm not crying…I'm just allergic to…you know the papyrus paper…' she welled up and started crying, and Cassia hugged her tightly.

'No, stop, if I keep hugging you I won't let you leave…Mum, Dad, come give your gifts!' Aurelia called.

Her mother and father's gifts were much less notable, 100 gold and a copy of 'The Warp in the West', also they're goodbyes were much less notable. Cassia and her parents had already shared a very heartfelt farewell when she told them she wanted to adventure, so this wasn't as emotional as one would have thought.

So, after another hug with all the family, Cassia picked up her belongings and headed for Kvatch. There would be a carriage available to take to the Imperial City, where her adventure would truly begin. What Cassia didn't count on was a divine plan taking her idea of an adventure and tossing it aside, replacing it with a different, much more gruesome reality.