1

.~~~.

Elyna sat on the balcony of her manor, watching as the crisp morning sun peeked over the horizon and tall mushrooms dotting the landscape. In one hand she had a fresh cup of Canis Root tea – brewed to absolute perfection according to her tastes – and in the other a copy of her favorite story, The Cake and the Diamond. The pair of slippers she was wearing were an old pair - made from snow fox fur that had a hole she could poke her big toe through - but they were softer than her other pair.

The chill of the morning was there, as it always was in the winter time, making her bundle up under a thick blanket. It wasn't particularly cold – the Ascadian Isles rarely were – but Elyna didn't want to be sniffling for the next few days. Oh, it would nip at her hands and try to make her fingers ache, but with the rudimentary Destruction magic she'd learned over the years, the cold would have to try much harder than it usually did. Between that and the piping hot cup of tea warming her on the inside, it didn't stand a chance.

Elyna read through the lines of her book and despite knowing the ending already, she enjoyed it as much as she always did. Trickery, fictional or otherwise, was something she enjoyed. That was why she preferred Illusion magic above all other Schools – how she'd met her husband, coincidentally.

He was more than a match for Elyna when it came to every other School of magic, but he wasn't quite so sharp as to grasp the complexities of Illusion. It wasn't so simple as overwhelming another with raw power like Destruction nor was it about precise application of large stores of magicka like Restoration. It was about subtlety. It was about suggestion and, when wielded by someone who understood those concepts, it was stronger than most wanted to believe. Years prior, before she left the Mages Guild and began privately mentoring the students of her own choosing, Elyna taught many an eager novice the intricacies of Illusion.

To enchant her husband, however, Elyna was proud that she didn't need to use her magic. It was a stellar conversation starter, however. And the rest, she decided, didn't matter much.

Elyna sipped her Canis Root tea and set it back on the table, catching sight of the empty seat across from her. She sighed at the near-silence surrounding her. Yes, the lush greenery around the manor – the flora she'd cultivated herself from seeds and spores to towering trees and mushrooms – teemed with creatures making all sorts of sounds. It was, however, their unfettered symphony that made it cross over from a welcome song to irritating dissonance.

Elyna knew she was alone. She had been for six months now. Six months of uncomfortable silence at the dinner table broken only by the clanking of her eating utensils against her plate. Six months of waking up in an empty bed with her arm reached out as if instinctually looking for a body to wrap it around. Six months of waiting for him to cross the little creek in front of the manor and come up to the door with that cocky swagger of his on full display.

Nothing had come of all that waiting other than engulfing loneliness. When they wed, Elyna was horrified to think of being plagued at all hours of the day by visitors, be they reputable or otherwise, seeking her husband for nearly any reason imaginable. That was why they chose to elope instead of throwing a party that every god in their lofty places would marvel at the sight of. They didn't settle into Vivec and instead moved out to the countryside, letting everyone believe they'd disappeared without a trace. However, now that Elyna had neither visitors nor her husband, she was beginning to regret being so far away from contact.

He was never one to shirk the burden that had been placed on him, however. That was why he wasn't there with her now – nose buried in one of those lengthy tomes about topics much to dry for her that he obsessed over. However, Elyna didn't regret marrying him – not even a little. What she regretted was how long she had spent hoping he would abandon his old life and its gallantry for a less extravagant one with her.

She supposed she regretted all of her failed attempts to convince him that it was time to grow their little family of two into three, as well.

Elyna stifled a humorless laugh. At least he wrote to her while he was gone. A courier would arrive every other Morndas, two hours before midday, with a letter in hand addressed to her. The letters were always long enough that she didn't care to read it in one sitting and instead read it in several. He would tell her about how his quests were going, likely leaving out the harrowing bits so she wouldn't have to worry more than she already did. Elyna would write back, usually running out of things to say because of her comparatively hum-drum life and settle for the truth that she hoped would finally get through that dense skull of his;

"I miss you."

Elyna stood up, the blanket still wrapped around her shoulders, and walked to the edge of the balcony, leaving her book on the table. Through the mass of tree barks and mushrooms surrounding her manor, she could see the towering city of Vivec in the distance. The cantons and the streets of water that surrounded them were always the first things anyone saw when they traveled to the city. When she was young, it was what brought her there. Even then it was a busy place – always filled with out-of-Province visitors and, at the time, pilgrims.

She folded her arms on the railing and leaned forward. The last thing most would notice, despite being the most unusual, was the Ministry of Truth. The boulder had been floating in the sky for as long as she could remember, almost like it were a moon to the biggest city Elyna had ever seen, yet it always was one of the oddest sights she knew of. Never had she set foot on it – considering it was a prison for Temple heretics – but she always imagined what it would be like to see the city from so high.

Although, maybe it was for the best that she didn't. Heights made her queasy. But it truly was an odd thing, always hanging over the city like it wanted to land in the streets – so close she imagined she could touch it from the apex of the Temple.

Elyna pushed off the railing and strolled across the balcony as a chilly wind blew over. She left her book and teacup on the table where they were as she passed, heading back inside.

Elyna shut the door behind herself. Quiet. Not even the sound of the wind rustling the leaves could reach her inside. Elyna fell back onto her bed and curled up, her eyes looking at the little portrait on the nightstand.

The Dunmer depicted in it looked back at her. His hair was coal black and properly smoothed against his head. The ashen gray of his skin and jagged features were barely disturbed by the brash smile on his face – the one she fell in love with.

Elyna reached out and took the portrait in her hands and held it over herself. She missed seeing that face moving, speaking, but seemingly never growing older despite how many years they'd been married. She missed seeing it beside her as she fell asleep at night and seeing it first thing in the morning when she woke up.

Elyna held the painting, feeling as if her chest had been hollowed out despite his unflinching smile beaming down at her.

She sighed and set the portrait back down on the nightstand. He'll come home, Elyna thought as she sat on the edge of her bed. You only need to trust him. She traced her thumb over his face and smiled back. Not that he could see it. He always comes home.

Elyna pushed off the bed and onto her feet. She crossed the room again and headed back out onto the balcony. She collected her teacup and held it in both hands before taking a sip. The alchemy garden didn't need tending and none of her students would be coming for their lessons until the evening. Maybe, instead of wasting the day feeling sorry for herself, she'd go to Vivec and spend it taking in the sights.

She looked out towards the city and tried her best to smile, expecting to be met with the same beautiful view she had known for many years.

Something was different.

The sky above Vivec was clear.

Elyna gasped. The teacup slipped from her hands and smashed on the floor.

A crash to move the world knocked her down from the balcony. Her vision turned black when she hit the ground below. The bones in her body were throbbing when she came to – her legs refusing to move. Elyna propped herself up on her elbows. A scream caught itself between the back of her throat and her lips.

A wall of dust and fire swallowed her whole.

.~~~.

He tugged at the cloth covering his face as he ascended the ash-covered cliffside, sucking down a shallow breath. His legs were burning and his back was aching. He hadn't stopped climbing for what felt like days, long past the point of exhaustion, but he had to reach the top. There had to be something left out there; a tower, a building, a settlement, a single farmhouse nestled in the hillside. It couldn't all be gone. A proper vantage point – that was what he needed. It would show him the way - his way back home.

When he reached the top of the mountain and looked across the devastation, he felt that inkling of hope he'd been clinging to since he returned be mercilessly slaughtered. The rolling hills of green grass and rippling blue waters had been choked underneath a blanket of charred soot so tall that the treetops in the lowlands had been swallowed up. To his right, far in the distance, a boiling crater occupied the space where the cantons of Vivec City once stood tall and proud – now godless and lifeless. On his left, a plume of fire and smoke belched ash into the air. It rained down on him and the deadlands.

It was silent. There wasn't a sound to be heard except for the distant booming of the cracked mountain and his own stunted breathing. He wanted to hear a voice, a cry from an animal – even if it was hurt – or the trickle of a stream running down the mountainside and yet not a sound reached his ears.

The home he left was gone. In its place was the largest collective tomb he had ever seen.

He fell to his knees and buried his face in his hands, screaming his voice hoarse and begging for death to come to him.

Only the mute ash answered his call.

Nothing more remained.