Chapter Nine: Alduin's Arrival
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As always, comments and constructive criticism are welcome!
17th of Last Seed, 4E 201, Morndas
Evelyn sat atop the outer wall of Whiterun, curled up with a spell tome in hand. She turned a page.
"One cannot detect targets with clairvoyance unless they are within the sphere of the caster's reach..." She heard some footsteps. Another guard on patrol. Hopefully, this one is fine with me staying up here and away from the preacher.
Seeing as Heimskr wasn't due to leave the Gildergreen courtyard until midday, Evelyn was prepared to be here for a while - she had brought her books.
She paused in her reading and listened. There was a distant sound of "Talos the mighty! Talos the-" she stopped listening.
Yep. He's still standing there preaching about Talos. I think I'll stay up here a while longer.
How does he project his voice so far? And how has he not lost his voice?
She huffed and returned to her task for the day. Memorizing the basics behind the spell tomes is harder than it looks, but it must be done. Who knows whether or not the Dragonborn will come in the next day or two, or the next week. I must be as prepared as possible either way.
Luckily, I've got enough spare coin for two more days - thank goodness those thick guidebooks were as valuable as they were. If the Dragonborn isn't due here for a week or so, though, I'm going to soon find myself sleeping in the dirt.
Evelyn shook her head and focused in on the next line. "Trace these symbols in the air with one's dominant hand..." She stopped reading and flipped back and forth between all the previous pages of hand-position instructions. More symbols for tracing, and she couldn't see any resemblance. Are they all related to clairvoyance? ...The symbols look so unrelated...
But- I feel like there should be some sort of underlying method to all of this 'wave your hand this way' madness. Something that I'm missing...
Hmph. Probably wishful thinking. I always loved the scientific equations. Those lovely numbers that you could play around with to predict the outcomes of phenomena, the measuring devices for precise results, the interconnectedness of all the equations... This place might not run on physics and chemistry.
I don't think my physics and chemistry would allow magic... But then again... What if there are fundamental rules beneath the mumbo jumbo? What if-
"Still here, miss?" She jumped a little. "I've seen you before. Do you come here every day?"
I don't remember her - but that could just be because all the guards wear the same uniform. She does seem familiar though, now that I think about it.
"Yes, or at least I have for the past two weeks." A sage nod from the armored woman. Evelyn wasn't certain, but she could've sworn she saw the guard flash a grin under her helmet. The guard turned to look Evelyn dead on.
"Heimskr?" There was a slight lilt to the guard's voice.
Evelyn rose an eyebrow before responding.
"Heimskr."
The guard wasn't even trying to hide her grin now. Evelyn smirked right back at her. "Hope you don't mind me hiding up here."
"Not at all. Just let me know if you need anything."
The guard took up position near one of the gaps in the wall's... wall? I need to figure out what these things are called. I can't go around asking 'hey, I'm going to be up behind the wall on top of the wall over there.'
...It sounds even more confusing when I put it like that.
She peeked her head over the top of the stonework, observing the surrounding landscape. Everything here is so much larger than I remember it...
There was flatland as far as the eye could see. She looked south - the direction she had arrived from weeks ago. Tilled fields gave way to rocky grasslands, and beyond the grasslands was a forest, a deep green swath of evergreens. She could barely make out what was past the trees. Jagged rock filled over half of the sky behind the forest. Rising above the cloudline, it was so far away that the colors were faint and faded, but she could still see that it was an absolutely massive mountain.
She couldn't see the top, as it was swathed in a spiral of clouds. The clouds blended into the white of the snowcap and moved inwards - towards where the peak should be.
The Throat of the World. The storm surrounding the peak doesn't look too dangerous from down here.
A chilly breeze blew past, and Evelyn huddled closer to the wall. She watched the clouds spiral in towards the peak. It was fascinating to observe.
Then a large group of clouds around the peak turned dark grey. The ground rumbled below her. A few clay pots set out to dry tipped over and cracked.
A meteor streaked down from the Throat of the World.
Alduin has arrived!
Adrenaline pumped through her.
That means that the game plot is underway! The Dragonborn will come soon!
Her excitement died as she watched a rogue meteor crash into the forest. Trees were thrown back from the impact, and soon there was a thick layer of smoke rising from that area. A guard shouted an alarm from the watchtower.
The World-Eater roared and another round of meteors streaked down from the peak. That sound. He wants to kill us all.
Another fire was burning through the trees south of Whiterun, and the smoke was engulfing some of the farmsteads. So much destruction and fire. There wasn't anyone in the woods thanks to the Jarl's quarantine, thankfully. But, if the farms burn, then where will people get their food? Will Alduin target more farms just to be cruel about it? She shook her head. No. Alduin doesn't care about people enough to specifically target something. We're beneath him, in his eyes. I hope.
The smoke still rose in the distance. Screeches of fury were easily audible, even though the World-Easter had to have been many dozens of miles away.
I know Alduin's arrival is necessary, and that I've been waiting for this for weeks, but I just can't bring myself to be excited now that he is here.
"What was that?" The guard stood tall but her voice wavered. She raised her shield as if a meteor might fall towards Whiterun.
"Get inside, citizen, I must report this to the Jarl. He needs to know what is going on."
As an afterthought, the woman added softly: "It could be another Oblivion Crisis."
Evelyn scrambled down from the wall. Away from the burning countryside.
She was one step closer to going home but couldn't celebrate. Not with this destruction.
xXxXxXxXxXx
A lone figure stood overlooking a great lake.
They walked to edge slowly, drifting around the larger rocks.
The figure kneeled down and laid their hands over the thin ice. They waited.
Time passed - the sun bore down on the ground, casting harsh shadows upon the snow. There was no movement around the lake until late evening. No creatures disturbed this location of desolation and purity.
A distant cry. Fury and outrage incarnate. The shadows danced.
The figure tilted their head, listening. The ice beneath their hands shifted and cracked, but did not break.
The cry came again. Louder, but still an eternity away from the lake. The figure smiled.
Rising to their feet, the figure walked away from the lake just as silently as they had arrived.
The time has come.
xXxXxXxXxXx
"What do you mean, 'there wasn't any change in the excavation?!' I just distinctly felt the ground quake!" This is impossible, did something activate in Nchuand-Zel when I wasn't paying attention?! Inconceivable! "I will not be happy if I find out that one of you has touched a button or lever that I didn't check over first!" These idiots don't know how difficult it is to keep everything going smoothly in the excavation! They can't just frolick around when there are exacting measurements and notes that still need to be recorded!
...Of course, I didn't hire them for their brains.
But what if they have irreparably damaged something of great importance?!
"Aicantar!" "Yes, uncle?" "Make sure that the museum is exactly as I left it this morning, I need to speak with the Jarl."
"Yes, Uncle."
He called out after his assistant "Make sure that no nosy types are trying to steal my research!"
With this setback, he needed to be certain that no one else was close to reaching his level of detail in his notes and theories. The only way to be certain of that was to make sure that no one could steal his life's work out from under him. Opposing researchers didn't have the expertise or resources that he, Calcelmo, had access to. So long as they kept to their own research, they would be no threat to his work.
After his nephew was out of sight, he locked up his things and cast several wards over his workstation. One can never be too careful.
He stood up and strode off to the main hall.
His legs were a bit stiff, but he got into the swing of walking by the time he reached Faleen.
Of course, his words failed him when he tried to say hello. In the end, he settled for simply getting his point across.
"Jarl. N-now. Me- I- I must speak with... the Jarl" She was quiet for a little while.
She's so beautiful when she squints her eyes like that all suspicious-like... With a tilt of her lips, she could almost be smiling! At me! He shook his head clear of daydreams to see her leading him into the Jarl's throne room.
Ah! can't get left behind! He trotted after her.
And almost ran into someone leaving the throne room. A Thalmor Justiciar. They spared him a curious glance before moving on.
Upon making eye contact with Jarl Igmund, and Faleen's reappointment to entryway-guard, Calcelmo immediately delved into how he was not responsible for the earthquake and that his museum and research were as profitable as ever. "I'm telling you, some thief probably thought that causing a ruckus would draw me away from guarding my research!"
The Jarl just nodded continuously without pause. Yes! He agrees!
xXxXxXxXxXx
So that was the famed Calcelmo.
Interesting.
I do not think that I have seen him outside of his lab before. Too absorbed in his work to be concerned about the goals of the Aldmeri Dominion - he is lucky that he has not said anything incriminating yet.
Ondolemar strode out of the main hall area to meet up with the new members of his elite group.
They had arrived from Alinor only in the past week or so, and as such would require supplemental training in order to adapt to Skyrim. It is very different here than in Alinor. People do not respect our station in this freezing rock of a region.
That does not mean that we should not act as expected of a Justiciar Officer of the Aldmeri Dominion.
He checked his posture to be certain that it was perfect - of course, it was. He also made certain to school his expression into careful blankness. These recruits must prove that they are ready for this war that First Emissary Elenwen is concocting. Our task will be to root out the worship of Talos throughout Skyrim.
We must not let the natives here believe that they can defy the Aldmeri Dominion.
Ondolemar pulled a letter out of his sleeve, scanning it one final time.
The new recruits: the Caemaerith siblings - all three are at the tops of their respective classes. Good. We will need their skills if we mean to keep Markarth under our jurisdiction. He read further.
Estormo Larethorin and Enddilwe Adahl. An extra mage and a spy. That makes five recruits to fill in for the five lost a month ago. Ondolemar scowled.
They had left on a patrol and never reported back in. His field team, all of them, had disappeared.
And just a short time before Torygg was killed. When Jarl Ulfric was supposedly on his way to Solitude.
His eyes narrowed. If the Dominion's plan did not rely on the Stormcloak surviving, I might have hunted him down myself.
The search would have been much shorter, at least.
Reaching the door to the Thalmor quarters, he smoothed the anger off his face before entering.
