"Hey, wake up."
Edward awoke to a rough voice which he was tempted to ignore, at least until the owner of the voice nudged him with his foot in a way to was probably supposed to be gentle. He had learnt pretty quickly since coming to Skyrim that the people here weren't exactly the touchy-feely type.
He opened his eyes and saw what appeared to be a giant cat. A Khajit, if he remembered right, probably a male one, though he sometimes had trouble telling. He was dressed in clothes made of leather, and was carrying a bow and quiver full of arrows on it's back. He also had a sword sheathed at it's right hip, and a dagger sheathed at it's left.
"You don't look like a bandit, you want out?"
It was then that Edward noticed one other thing, that the barred door, which was previously locked, was now wide open. He scrambled to his feet.
"How did you open the door?" He asked, and the Khajit shrugged nonchalantly.
"Picked it. You coming or what?" And without waiting for an answer, he turned and started walking away. Edward followed him quickly.
"Thanks for that." He said, glancing over his shoulder at the trail of corpses, most likely courtesy of his new Companion.
"Not a problem." The Khajit replied, keeping his eyes ahead of him. "Keep your voice down, by the way. We don't want to announce our presence here. Anyway, you got a name?"
"It's Edward." He replied, his voice noticeably softer.
"Huh. That's an unusual name, where you from?"
"Amestris."
"Never heard of it."
"Yeah, it's pretty far away from Tamriel."
"That'd explain that then. So what brings you to Skyrim?"
"I want to study alchemy techniques from different countries, though from what little I've seen so far, the alchemy here is nothing like the alchemy from my country."
"Quiet." The Khajit was still now, and was staring ahead intently. Edward followed his gaze and saw a bandit that hadn't noticed them. The Khajit silently drew his bow, and Edward noticed that it had a distinct red glow. But before he had a chance to question it, the Khajit let his arrow loose. It found it's mark, and the bandit collapsed, it's body inexplicably on fire.
"What the...?" Edward breathed. The Khajit noticed his confusion.
"The bow is enchanted with a fire damage enchantment." He explained.
"But how does it work?" Edward questioned. The Khajit studied his bow for a second.
"It doesn't, at the moment. That was the last charge. I'll have to recharge it." He drew a dull purple stone from his pocket and frowned.
"Empty. Figures. I'll have to refill this first."
"What's that?"
"It's a... hang on just a second." The Khajit's ears twitched and he smiled a rather evil looking smile, in Edward's opinion. "Just in time."
The Khajit replaced the bow at his back, and drew his dagger. Edward noticed that this weapon had a purple glow to it, and wondered what enchantment this one had. He hung back as the Khajit crept behind the bandit and gently slit his throat. This time, instead of bursting into flame, the bandit was surrounded by the same purple glow as the dagger. Then the glow suddenly left him, seemingly drawn towards the Khajit's pocket. The Khajit then drew the same purple stone from his pocket as before, but instead of being dull like it was only a few moments earlier, it seemed to be filled with light.
"So to answer your earlier question, this is a soul gem." The Khajit said casually. Edward, on the other hand, felt like had been plunged into cold water. This soul gem reminded him of another stone.
"A soul gem? So you just..." He trailed of, not wanting his suspicions confirmed. The Khajit continued on regardless.
"Yep. My dagger in enchanted with a soul trap enchantment. It fills a soul gem with the soul of whoever it kills, and then I can use that soul to do this." The Khajit sheathed his dagger and unsheathed his bow. He then held the soul gem next to the bow. The soul gem became dull once more, while the bow glowed even brighter than before.
"Before, you asked how enchantments work. Now you know."
"So, it's powered by human souls?" Edward asked, staring at the now dull stone. It wasn't exactly the same, but it was too similar to a philosopher's stone for his liking. It was a rechargeable philosopher's stone, and by the casual way it was being explained, it seemed that soul-stealing was common practice here.
"It doesn't have to be a human soul. Any living creature would work. Hey, you look pale. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, it's just, this is more similar to the alchemy in my country. Too similar for my liking."