The Elder Scrolls: Excellion
-Llexsurs' Story:
Chapter 1: New Rebirth
"Stop right there, criminal scum!"
I couldn't believe what had happened over the last few days. Almost three days ago, I was with my mother and brother enjoying the fine peacefulness of the Great Forest, and now presently, I am being chased by an Imperial Legion Soldier on the road between Skingrad and Kvatch. Unfortunately, athletics had never been my thing and the soldier was on horseback. I guess High Elves were never meant for physical activity.
About 12 and-a-half seconds later, I was pinned to the ground.
"Alright you piece of dirt, you have three choices and you better choose quickly! One: pay the fine of 15,000 gold. Two: Rot in prison for the rest of your life. Three: Try to risist me. Personally, I'd have a bit more fun with the third option" the soldier chuckled.
My family was relatively poor. We didn't even live in any major cities so option one was out. Option three involved fighting, which unfortunately, I am both unarmed and unskilled in virtually every weapon. I knew a fireball spell but I really doubt that it could hurt a fully trained Legion Soldier. So there was only one option left.
"T…two," I breathed.
"That's too bad," said the soldier, "I was hoping that you would resist. Alright then, what is your name, scum?"
"Llexsurs,"
"Well then, Llexsurs, I hereby arrest you for the crime of mass murder, now rise and walk, you piece of dirt!"
I rose from my position. The guard them whacked me on the head and afterward was a complete blank.
The next moment, I was in the Imperial Prison.
I know that cells are supposed to look dilapidated, but it was obvious that mine hadn't been used in months. The wooden table was beyond rotted, and the dust covered almost every stone that composed its walls. I sat down in the barely functional chair that accompanied the room and thought to myself. I just couldn't believe what had happened. I mean, those people attacked me first, and then that man came, killed them all, and disappeared. And that soldier HAD to be patrolling the forest once he came to the scene to see me there, bloody knife in hand. I hit the cold, damp wall beside me, and the reaction force from my hit caused the seat below me to collapse.
"OAW!... Dammit!" I cried out.
"What is a prisoner doing here!?"
I looked up to see four people. Three of them, two men and a woman, were dressed in fine armor that looked different from usually Legion garb. The last man, who was ancient, probably 70-80 years old, was dressed in the finest of clothing I had ever seen in my life. He had a sure complexion, looking as if he was king of the world. I couldn't expect anything less from a noble, that's for sure.
"What are we going to do about him?!" the presumed leader, a Redguard, asked.
The noble walked closer to me.
"You," he said, "I've seen you before, in my dreams. Listen, you are going to do great things, I believe you are Cyrodill's hope."
"Me?" I asked, "And exactly who are you?"
Everyone in the room stared at me. They didn't know that I've never set foot in the Imperial City or anywhere except Chorrol and Skingrad before.
"Why, I am your emperor, Uriel Septim, but I fear that I am in grave danger. All of my sons are dead and I am next, so I am escaping with my Blades though this old secret passageway that by fate is located inside your cell."
"But wait, I can't leave…"
"It does not matter what you have done, my boy, for that is not what you will be remembered for," Uriel said.
"Um, excuse me your highness, but we need to hurry if we are to get to safety," the Redguard said.
"Yes of course Baurus," Uriel replied, and then he turned back to me. "What is your name?"
"Llexsurs Darkly, your highness,"
"Well Llexsurs, you should follow us. Anything as of now should be better than this prison cell, right?"
"Well, I guess,"
"Um, sir," the female said, "are you sure you want to do this? He could be a murderer or one of those whacked-out deadra worshipers."
"Yes, I'm quite sure, Captain Renault," he answered. I guess Baurus wasn't in charge after all. I just always thought all Redguards got the higher up warrior positions.
Baurus then pulled a hidden switch on the wall torch, causing the wall inside the arch to collapse, revealing a hidden tunnel. As they walked inside, I found myself walking with them. At the end of the short tunnel was a small door. I waited for them to enter, and then I went through.
The cave quickly transformed into an old, finely white, marble catacomb.
After going through the small door, we were now in an old path built to last. The walls were built solid, and the architecture was almost perfect. Definitely fit for an emperor's escape. I tried once to talk to Baurus. All I got was, "I don't know what the emperor sees in you, but I won't hesitate to kill you if you try anything funny." Nice guy.
Just as we entered a small room with a door at the end, out of a hole in the ceiling came three men in red robes. The Blades and Uriel armed themselves and the red robed men conjured what looked like black and extremely rough armor out of thin air. I had always been fascinated by the concepts of conjuration, but have never been able to use any of it. The men were killed quickly, but a quick slash from one of them decapitated Captain Renault, causing her to collapse to the ground, dead.
It was like that day before I was arrested…
"Damn! She's dead!" Baurus complained as he sheathed his sword and began using restoration magic on himself. The other guard did the same.
"Her death shall be remembered," Uriel said.
I was still traumatized by all of the familiar sights that plagued my memories. By the time I regained my footing on reality, they were gone. I ran to the door, but a trap mechanism had locked it just as they passed through it. Damn!
I looked around the room. I picked up Captain Renault's steel shortsword and the health potion that she had failed to use during battle. It wasn't very moral, but she wasn't using them. I then noticed a small crack in the wall that on the other side was a small cave. After all that had happened, I just wasn't about to simply go back to my cell and die like a good little High Elf. My one chance was that cave, and if that went nowhere then may I kill myself where I stand. I crawled through the crevice and made my way down the dark tunnel, hopefully toward the future.
It was so dark that I couldn't even see myself.
I was only in this cave for only maybe three minutes and it was already too dark to see anything. Looking through the spoils that I took from the red robed men and Captain Renault, I found a torch and lit it. In front of me was a giant rat, and it was not happy to see me. The rat spun its surprisingly powerful tail under my legs, causing me to trip. Then it head-butted me right in the stomach. No wonder I didn't do anything against the assassins, I can't even defeat a giant rat.
Or can I?
Right before it attacked me again, I unleashed my Flare spell at it, causing it to stagger back. I then took me sword and jabbed it straight into its body. After finally using swordplay and Destruction magic, I felt a little bit stronger. It was nice to know that I wasn't a little weakling who couldn't fight worth crap.
A little further into the cave, I discovered a small fire in a small corner of the pathway. There was also a table, a chair, and a roasted rat atop the fire.
Well, I am hungry, I thought. I sat down in the chair and took out a slab of rat meat. It was disgusting. I could taste my fatigue draining with each bite, so I scrapped it. Luckily, there was some normal food in one of the bags, so I turned to it. Halfway through a loaf of bread, I heard a low growl. I slowly turned to see an angry-looking goblin walking toward me. It took out a rusty axe and lunged toward me. I dived underneath, pulled out me sword, and gave it a quick strike to the back. The goblin cried in pain and then struck me in the face with its claws. I jumped back and launched Flare at it, knocking it back into the fire that it made to roast the rat. It was dead in a matter of seconds. I rose and used some of the potion to treat the scar on my face, and then continued down the dark caverns, torch in hand.
After maybe an hour of navigating, I came to a large room with a small rat pin in the center. I scanned the area: there were three goblins, two were similar to the ones I fought before, and the last was clearly the leader, a goblin shaman with a large staff with some magical ability. One of the regular goblins then turned its head in my direction. I quickly shot a fireball at it, causing it to fall into the rat pin. The other, who noticed his partner's fall, ran toward me and began hacking away. I ducked and stabbed it in its heart. The shaman then noticed me and shot a frost ball at the lock of the rat pin, causing the three or four rats to run toward me. I quickly disposed of them and then I ran to the shaman. It moved away and then began shooting lightning bolts at me. One hit me right in the shoulder, causing me to stagger back. I regained my position and knocked its staff out of its hand with a fire, and then I moved in for the final strike. Once the shaman was dead, I used the last of the potion to heal myself, picked up the staff for future use, looted the last of the treasure chests, and then entered through the door into a familiar marble ruin.
Once I was back in the escape route, I started to hear voices.
After going down the hallway, I saw that I was on a balcony overlooking the actual escape route. In the middle were Uriel and his remaining two Blades. I jumped down and started toward them. Baurus rounded around and tried to strike me down. I parried.
"You again!?" exclaimed Baurus, "Where did you go!? You're with the assassins, aren't you!?"
"Of course not!" I yelled back, "How could I be!?"
"Baurus, Llexsurs, only unsheathe your weapons for actual combat, not petty squabbles," said Uriel. We both quickly sheathed our swords.
"You're lucky that he favors you. If he didn't, I would've let you rot in prison," Baurus muttered as he walked over to join Uriel and the other Blade. As we continued walking, a couple more assassins appeared. This time I was a little more useful. While the Blades protected the front, I stayed back and guarded Uriel. This time no one was lost.
"Not bad scum," said the other Blade, "maybe I'll extend a Blades invitation to you in another hundred years." He started to chuckle.
"At least I'll still be alive then," I smugly said, for once proud of my Elven heritage. The Blade turned away. Baurus gave me an evil look, and then we continued through another door. Before going through, Uriel turned toward me.
"Tell me Llexsurs, which sign were you born under?"
"Umm…" I thought for a second. "The Mage I think."
"Interesting," he said, and then he went through the door. I quickly followed.
"We're almost there, just though here and we'll be in the sewers," Baurus said.
I kept my hand near my blade at all times, ready so that I could attack at the first signs of danger. I notice that the others, except Uriel, were doing the same thing. The way Uriel always spoke kind of irritated me. It was almost as if at the first chance, he'd let himself be killed. It was almost as if he wanted to die. We stopped in front of a gate.
"What the hell?" asked the other Blade, "the gate's locked?"
"Damn! We'll have to circle around," said Baurus. As we walked to the other entrance, a thought popped into my head.
"If one gate is locked, that means we can only go through one way, wouldn't they wait for us there?" I asked. Baurus stopped, wide eyed. He and the other Blade drew their swords as the red robed men rained from overhead.
"Thanks for the heads up!" the other Blade yelled; now take Uriel and run!" I quickly took Uriel's hand and ran to the small room at the end of the hall. He then stopped.
"Your highness, let's go!" I said.
"No, you leave me, but I need you to do something for me."
"Why can't you just run and live?"
"My dreams have been foreshadowing this moment. Everyone eventually dies Llexsurs, fate has just chosen that today is the day that I die, now here me out. I need you to take this to Weynon Priory." He took off his amulet and put in my hands.
"What's this?" I asked.
"That is the Amulet of Kings, passed down from the Septim family since our first ruler. You must take this to Jauffre at Weynon Priory, he will tell you who to give it to."
"Wait, there's another heir?"
"Yes, now hurry!"
Just as he finished his sentence, a man in red landed behind Uriel and stabbed him in the back. Just as he started toward me, Baurus ran in and sliced the man in the stomach and then pierced his forehead with his blade. He checked Uriel's body and then looked at me.
"Where's the Amulet of Kings!?" Baurus yelled at me.
"He gave it to me to take to Jauffre at Weynon Priory!"
"Why?"
"Because there's another heir!"
Baurus stared at me for a long time, and then spoke.
"His highness must've seen something in you, something that I can't see as of now. He's been having these dreams for a while, of meeting you. Well, I trust his judgment, so I trust that you can get the amulet to Jauffre."
"So now what?" I asked.
"You need to get out of here. I got the gate key from one of the assassins. You then need to go through the sewers until you get out to City Isle. Then head west in the direction of Chorrol. You should reach Weynon Priory in a few days."
The word Chorrol unleashed a pool of painful memories into my head at once. I shook it off and asked:
"What will you do?"
"I'm going to watch the body until the Legion gets here. We need to investigate who in Tamriel could've done this. I trust you can get out, you look like a very good…"
"What?" I asked?
"What class are you exactly?"
I learned about what classes were from one of my old books. They basically were ways to tell what the best skills one could learn were and how quick he/she would learn them. I couldn't go with which one to be so I ended up creating my own for when I played with my brother.
"I'm an Excellion, sort of like a spellsword," I said.
"Really, would've never guessed," Baurus said sarcastically, "Anyway, you need to leave now!"
I took one last look at Uriel, whom even in death, looked utterly content, and then I turned from Baurus and exited the room. I looted the bodies for anything useful, unlocked the gate, and then climbed down the manhole into the sewers. While climbing down the ladder, I kept playing something Uriel had said through my head over and over:
"It does not matter what you have done, my boy, for that is not what you will be remembered for."
Yah right old man, if only you knew...