Disclaimer: The Elder Scrolls and everything within it and its universe belongs to Bethesda.
Author's Note: This a continuation with my character, Dan Curint, involved in a Nerevarine story. However, he is not the Nerevarine. Thanks go to a friend of mine for help in creating this Nerevarine.
The Stranger:
Story of the Nerevarine
Hadlarf Ice-Wind awoke in his cell in the Imperial Prison. He grabbed at his painfully
throbbing head, the most sore part of his body from laying on the hard ground of the cell.
Perhaps in Skyrim he had been too accustomed to the soft feather beds that those of nobility
were able to use. In any case, the bedroll on the dungeon floor may as well have not been there.
The last prisoner must have thought so as well, because he had died sleeping on the side away
from the bed.
His mind wandered back to how he had ended up in Cyrodiil in the first place. A year ago,
he had been in Skyrim. There had been a killing of one of the Skyrim nobles. Hundreds of people
worked in the castle, but he had been a prime suspect. As a noble's son, and a friend of the king's
sons, he had access to almost everywhere in the castle.
Eventually, he became the only suspect. All others were proven to have some sort of alibi
or evidence they had not committed the crime. He, however, having no such evidence, simply
believed in the justice of the law to bring him through. However, when he was brought up to a
trial, held by the king himself, one of the other nobles, a Redguard, came forward with evidence.
He showed a knife owned by Hadlarf, with the blood of the noble on it. As soon as the knife was
presented, Hadlarf was as good as dead. He was sentenced to death, and was tossed into the
freezing dungeons below the castle as punishment.
He was saved by one of the princes, the youngest one named Engar. Engar had been
unable to defend Hadlarf, for he had been on a journey to prove his ability as a warrior, when
Hadlarf was accused. However, as soon as he learned of the coming trial, he had hastened to
reach Hadlarf in time. He arrived, however, too late.
The day before Hadlarf's execution, Engar had come down to the dungeon. The guards,
coming forward, asked if the prince required anything. Engar told them to get out, and stay out
until he had come back out. The guards quietly followed orders, returning through the doors to
the castle. Engar went over to Hadlarf, and asked him how he was doing. Hadlarf noticed in his
eyes a look of guilt, as though he blamed himself for what had happened to Hadlarf. Halfway
through their conversation, Engar had suddenly held a hand over Hadlarf's mouth, and pulled out
a key, unlocking the cell door for Hadlarf. He showed Hadlarf another way to leave the dungeon,
in the farther back, rarely used reaches of the dungeon. He had said, "Get out of here and go to
Cyrodiil. Stay low, don't attract attention, and wait until you are forgotten. Don't let them catch
you again, because I won't have the chance to help you if you're caught again."
Hadlarf had taken Engar's warning to heart, but even after that, he had still somehow
gotten himself caught a year later. He cursed to himself. Once Skyrim learned about him, he
would be deported to Skryim to be executed. He was dead for sure this time.
Suddenly, Hadlarf heard the door to his cell open, and a man who purposefully stayed in
the shadows walked in, escorted by a guard. Hadlarf started to stand up, but then the guard pulled
out the sword, and Hadlarf, catching the meaning, stayed seated.
The shadowed man stared at him for a long time, until he finally said, "Yes. Do it." He
left the cell, leaving the guard alone with Hadlarf.
Hadlarf suddenly backed up to the wall, realizing what it must mean. They're going to kill
me, he thought to himself, as he closed his eyes and prepared for the end.
Suddenly, Hadlarf heard the man's sword return to its sheath. He stared at the guard.
"You're not going to kill me? But I thought that's what Skryim wanted."
The man grinned at him. "That may be what Skryim wanted," he said. He pulled Hadlarf
up and knocked him out with a fist to the temple. "But it's not what the Emperor wants." He
tossed Hadlarf over his shoulder, and carried him outside the prison to the waterfront. There, he
was passed off to a group of guards, who brought him onto a prison ship, which then immediately
departed, leaving a group of Khajiit prisoners cheering as the prison wardens escorting them
stood dumbfounded at the early departure.
He awoke again later in the dark, but was rocked to sleep by the sound of the waves, his
body weak from the blow. He slept through the night.
That same night, in a Telvanni tower far, far to the east in Vvardenfell, Dan Curint awoke
with a start. He had the dream again, which showed the red lights and battles unknown. But this
time, they were more vivid, with more to them. He had seen several faces, all of which were
familiar and unknown at the same time, all important and impossible to understand. He had seen
the red stones again, all in different sizes and shapes, spread everywhere, all presented in an
incomprehensible way. He saw a hand on a cliff, and he reached for the hand, but then he had
shaken, and been awoken.
He got up out of his bed, sighing as he stretched. He wasn't sure why he tried to sleep
anymore. As a Telvanni Wizard, it was no longer required; he had the life extending magic to
depend upon. I suppose, he thought to himself, it's just something you get used to. He walked
over to a table, where a message lay on the table for him from Master Aryon. He opened the
letter, and read through it again:
Wizard, I hope you are willing to do a service for House Telvanni. A meeting has been arranged with a Hlaalu Councillor to...discuss, issues over a supply of ebony found in what is rightfully Telvanni territory. The meeting is set two and a half weeks from now at the Hlaalu Balmora Offices. Thank you, Dan.
Telvanni Master Aryon
Dan tossed the letter to the side, knowing that Aryon's asking him to do it was just a formality,
and not a question. As a lower rank, it was his responsibility to do whatever it was that Aryon
asked him to do. Therefore, Dan was the Telvanni representative. End of story. He sat back down
on his bed, and decided that perhaps his day would be best spent performing his studies. No point
in thinking about dreams that make no sense and dutiesare weeks away.
He left, not realizing that soon his duty and dreams would collide together, causing him to
be part of a story of prophecy, treachery, and friendship.
So, there's chapter 1...give me a good idea of how I did, it's been a while since I've written.
-Quirk