"Outside, the sky is clear blue," mom always says. Although she fails to explain what 'blue' looks like.
According to dad, blue is a color between purple and white.
I know purple. The sky is purple/black in here. White is the color of the mist that always hangs around. But I don't see any other color in between.
I wonder how she knows blue isn't simply a shade of purple. The lower sky is purple, while the upper one is black, but mom never named the infinite colors in between making the transition smoothly. There is no transition for the sky and the mist hanging on the ground, but if there was, wouldn't her so called 'blue' simply be a part of that transition?
Every once in a while, she asks dad to use transmutation to create something blue, but he never does, saying this is a bad place for experiments and he never did anything like that before.
Bored, I go back to counting them.
152 Bonemen archers, 169 Bonemen warriors and 56 Wrathmen. Their numbers slowly increased over the years. It's the only thing that ever changes in here.
According to the books of Valerica, a dragon used to roam this place. His name was Durnehviir, but I've never seen him. He was bound to serve the Ideal Masters until Valerica's dead. But since she was a vampire, he was trapped for quite some time. I guess Valerica is dead now, slain by the Dawnguard.
I like vampires. Their eyes glow orange and they are masters in sneaking and magic. According to dad, my skills in magic already exceed any human he ever saw, but I wonder where he ever saw another human. This 'outside world' they are always talking about. Just where is it?
Is it beyond all those monsters? And if so, what are we doing here? The longer we wait behind this barrier, the more they start gathering. If we wanted to stand a chance, we should have attacked way earlier.
"I'm hungry," mom announces, breaking the long silence.
"I'll make some food," dad says.
The three of us gather around the low stone table.
Dad grabs some dust from the ground and closes his eyes. A purple glow appears in his hand, and the dust changes into one of the ten types of food dad can make. He never says which ones he'll make, trying to surprise us.
The dust changes color to a dirty white.
Oatmeal.
Well, it could have been worse.
Mom deftly puts a bowl carved out of stone beneath his hand and catches the dust. He continues filling the bowl while I grab the waterskin.
We add water and heat up the bowl, stirring it with a stone thing which mom calls a 'spoon'.
The magic he uses for heating it is Destruction-magic, but I've never actually seen him destroy anything with it. It would be cool if he could use that fire on one of the Bonemen outside, but I guess he would be hit by 152 arrows before he could do anything.
When he's done, he places the bowl in the middle of the table and the three of us empty it using spoons.
Apparently, in the 'real world' people differentiate between meals based upon 'time', which is measured by a floating ball of light in the sky. I know, I know, sounds really crazy. Light only comes from the ground in a glow, but mom tells crazier stories than that, believe me.
Whatever the case, when the orb is low, they call it 'breakfast', when it's in the middle they say 'lunch' and the last meal is called 'dinner' or 'supper'.
After that it gets 'dark'. I know what light is, and I can cast a magic light so I know what 'more light' is, but apparently dark is 'less light'. I have no clue what that's supposed to mean, but dad says it's similar to the upper sky, except everywhere. So everything is black, as if your eyes are closed.
When we're done, dad walks to the wall and uses magic to put another marking.
By putting markings whenever we've eaten or slept, they try to measure how much time has passed since we've been here. Whenever they reached their 365th sleeping mark, it's my 'birthday' which is a big deal for some reason. 365 seems like a random number to me, but it seems to carry some significance for them.
According to the marks, when I wake up another time, it will be my nineteenth birthday.
Dad told me kids get presents on their birthday, but they don't have much to give me, obviously. And there is only one present I want anyway.
I look back at the Bonemen. If only someone would give me a sword like that for my birthday. Then I could kill them all and finally leave this building. But I never got any presents for my so called 'birthdays', why would this one be any different?
/
/
I open my eyes. Something is different. I can tell I have only slept for a couple of hours. In a manner of speaking, it would be 'night' right now.
The Bonemen never rest. They keep standing there, preventing us from leaving.
…
Holy crap.
This time, someone else is present. A human. No wait, a vampire.
She's crouching down behind one of the pillars so the Bonemen can't see her, just outside of the barrier.
She beckons me closer.
I throw a glance at the Bonemen. They don't seem to be paying me any special attention.
As silently as possible, I sneak closer to the girl.
By now, any doubt about her vampire nature is cleared up. Her eyes are fierce orange and she's clad in what I recognize as vampire armor. It's black/red and leaves a part between her neck and chest bare. Her cloak is fastened with a silver pin. On her hip is an elven dagger. She raised the hood of her cloak, but her eyes glow fiercely beneath it.
"I need your help," she whispers.
"My help?" What on earth is going on here?
"The Dawnguard took the castle. I had to flee somewhere."
"Calm down. You need blood first."
I take a deep breath and crawl through the barrier. Why am I even doing this?
"Can I borrow your dagger?" I ask.
Stunned, she hands me the elven dagger.
I bite my lip and make a small cut in the palm of my left hand. Blood wells up.
Softly, she takes my hand and drinks my blood.
Look at that, I'm holding hands with a girl.
The fierceness in her eyes subsides and makes way for a soft glow.
When she's done, she lowers her hood revealing a smooth face and black, partly-braided hair.
"Thank you, I wasn't able to feed for days. My name is Serana."
"I'm Dawn."
"Would you mind telling me what three humans are doing in my mom's laboratory? How are you even alive in here?"
"Modified soul trap. My parents study soul gems, but the Ideal Masters tried to kill us when I was born, so they raised this barrier."
"When you were born? How long have you guys been here?"
"About nineteen 'years', I guess."
"Why didn't you conjure up something to distract this army? Surely a Dremora Lord could-"
"Yeah, funny story. Actually, they both suck at Conjuration."
She raises her eyebrows. "Seriously?"
"Pathetic, I know."
"I was planning to hide in my mother's hideout, but it seems I can't cross this barrier. This feels very nostalgic."
"It's designed to repel the undead, obviously."
"I can't stay out here. It's only a matter of time before those Bonemen find me."
"You should retreat to the portal. The Soul Cairn isn't safe."
"The portal isn't safe either, I already told you. The Dawnguard have captured the castle. They'll be waiting at the portal."
"Seems like you're in the same situation as us then. Well, reversed...wait a minute. Can you distract these Bonemen?"
"Of course I can, undead are stupid. Just conjure up some atronachs and they'll be distracted for a couple minutes."
"These Dawnguard have weapons designed against vampires, right?"
"Obviously."
"Seems like we can help each other out then. You distract these Bonemen, and I'll take out the Dawnguard. Do we have a deal?" I extend my hand.
"Deal," she says, shaking my hands.
Holding hands with a girl again. I'm on a roll today.