Hey guys, merry Christmas for however many days ago it was in your country, and happy new year for whenever it is for you!

So I finally got this one out, after about a month of absolutely no ideas. I only came up with most of this chapter last night, so sorry for uploading so late, but know that I uploaded it as soon as I could.

Now, I have something I want to ask you guys, because I feel like most of you would probably be able to figure it out. I was talking with one of my friends recently, and we started talking about how cool it would have been if in Fallout 3, you could convince The Mechanist and The Ant-agonizer to join you and start a cool superhero team like the avengers. This led to the topic on how the Lone Wanderer would have a superpower that fit in with both the canon of the universe and their circumstances with the story, and what that superpower would be. So what kind of superpower do you guys think the Lone Wanderers superpower would be, keeping in mind the fact that he was living in a vault for most of his life. Tell me in your reviews!

Also, just for the sake of variety, it would be best if it wasn't to similar to the abilities of other Fallout 3 characters...

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, lets get to the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Skyrim, because I'm too busy trying to get the rights to Dragons Dogma, which I'm super excited for the new PC release!

Also, please review so I can use the comments to slowly convince people that fanfiction IS cool Dad!


Chapter 12: The Journey After

I woke with a start.

What was that noise?

I looked around the snow-covered clearing I had set up camp in. There was definitely something there, and I hoped to god it wasn't another Manmoth.

"Master Joseph," I heard from beside me, "do you want me to go check it out?"

"Yes." I answered, as I turned to face the wooden soldier. "Take four and five with you too. If you it's human, try reasoning with them, and if that doesn't work, try to restrain them. If you feel like it poses a significant danger to you though, don't hold back."

"Yes sir!" The manikin said, before walking over to two other manikins around the fire.

I walked over to the campfire to sit down, most of my mind completely focused on the question of why these manikins, who are completely made out of wood, would decide to sit around the biggest danger to their entire being…

I was broken out of my thoughts by the sounds of fighting.

I looked to the area of forest the sounds were coming from, and I was able to see the figures of my manikins fighting… something…

And then a horde of draugr-like creatures burst from the trees.

They were completely unarmed, but they were fast, making it to the camp within a few seconds.

"SHIT!" I shouted, summoning two bound swords and leaping back into the woods as the other four manikin soldiers joined the three who were already fighting.

I sidestepped one of the draugr, which I remembered were actually creatures called Risen from a mod eloquently called 'ohcrapalypse', and swung my right sword at its neck. Thankfully, the risen were as weak as they were in the mod, with the main threat they represented being their large numbers. I doubted they'd be able to do too much harm to me…

And then one of them punched me directly in the nose.

"AH, SUD OB A BICH!" I shouted, dropping the sword in my left hand so I could hold it over my nose. "TAD SHID HURT ATHHOLE!"

I jumped backwards just as the mummified bastard tried to do it again, before swinging my sword up through its arm and kicking it away. I turned to face another, barely avoiding its lunge as I somehow managed to spin around its arm, and imbedded my remaining sword in the back of its skull.

The one that punched me ran at me along with a second one. I was able to trip one, which was totally on purpose SHUT UP, and step around it to clothesline the second one as it charged, before summoning two more swords and finishing them off mid fall, impaling them against the ground.

"Oh," I said, looking down at the two corpses that I'd effectively nailed to the ground, "it would appear that I'm getting awesomer. Well, better go help my poor soldiers."

I ran into the forest where my manikins had pushed the risen back to.

"Worry not peons! I am here to assi-…"

Instead of the epic battle I had been expecting to join, I emerged from the trees to see all seven manikin soldiers in the middle of a field of corpses, poking a single, dismembered yet still living risen with their weapons as it screeched and growled at them, bringing me a single, beautiful reminder from back home.

"But the risen are too skinny to have baby fat…" I mumbled.

"What was that, master?" Number three asked me, looking up from the raging undead creature.

"Nothing. Just a reminder of better times. Let's get back to the camp."

"Yes master." Three said, decapitating the risen with his sword as he got up.

I sighed in relief when we got back to the clearing, happy to see that there wasn't any real damage to the tent.

After a few seconds of appreciating that fact, I remembered something.

"Hey number six, could you go and collect the fallen souls from the risens corpses?"

"Right away master." He answered, running back into the woods.

Those souls would be helpful for later, when I inevitably sent more manikins back to Whiterun to mess with the armoury of fear and dark.

Of course, thinking about Whiterun just brought my mind back to the reason I was alone out here.

It had been about three weeks since I'd left Leone and the others, and set out on my own into the land of Skyrim.

I was beginning to regret what I'd done, or at least not telling Leone the plan, but in the end it was all for the best. If I had explained everything to Leone and the others, I had no doubt in my mind that they'd try to stick around and help me anyway like the stupid, honour obsessed idiots they were. If that happened, and people saw them keep following me, then the entire plan would have been for nothing.

These fears were confirmed when, in an odd departure from the game, news of my actions had actually spread fairly quickly, with most people who had heard knowing me by one of two names.

The Architect, based on my speech in Whiterun, or the Faker, based on my betrayal.

I particularly liked the second one due to the fact that, although for fairly different reasons, the man I always modelled my character after also shared the same title.

Thankfully, there was one place that I knew would probably get a lot less news due to its poor, isolated state, or even if they had heard of me, they were less likely to know what I looked like.

Winterhold.

And I had already planned to head there to increase my magical abilities too, so it worked out perfectly.

So, after a brief detour back to Riverwood to murder an evil witch, throw up in some nearby bushes, and steal her notes and research on the creation of semi-sentient wooden beings, I started heading to Winterhold.

Unfortunately, like many others, Jon the carriage guy had heard about what I had said in Whiterun and had refused to take me anywhere.

In fact, the only people who didn't completely shun me once I'd made it back from Anise's cabin were Alvor and his family, who somehow seemed to already have figured out what my plan had been.

Anyway, the point is, Jon didn't take me to Winterhold, which was why I was currently camping somewhere in the middle of the woods of Skyrim, alongside several manikin soldiers.

"Hey Three!" I shouted to the manikin, who I had a subtle feeling was growing to become my favourite of the seven. "Do you have any idea how far from Winterhold we are?"

"According to the map, it seems that we still have a day's walk before we get to the city!"

"Well, shit." I said bluntly.

In the distance, I heard the moans of a manmoth. I tried to pretend that they weren't rapidly increasing in volume, but then, when did that ever change my luck?

0o0o0

A lot of screaming, fighting, crying and running later, I sat a fair distance from the actual, honest to god crater that used to be my campsite.

The main reason I had abandoned my camp was the fact that it was in fact multiple manmoths.

Twelve, to be precise.

The good news, however, was that from the hill I was currently standing on, I could see what I was pretty sure was Winterhold, having apparently running most of the distance in my pants-shitting terror.

But like usual, the good news paled in comparison to the bad news.

Also, that part about the multiple manmoths was not the bad news.

The bad news was that, along with me and the three surviving manikins on the hill, there were a fair amount of anomalies.

Now, for those of you who never utilised the honestly kind of shitty magic system in Skyrim, and therefore never played through the College of Winterhold questline, anomalies are kind of like wisps, except they're caused by something with a giant, floating magical ball called the Eye of Magnus.

They're also invincible.

"You there! Run!"

I turned to see a figure running up the hill.

Not needing to be told twice, I signalled to my manikins to run and sprinted as fast as I could down the hill.

Unfortunately, due to my lower than average physical capabilities and the fact that I had recently run a distance that should have taken me a day to cover, I made it about ten metres before collapsing into the snow and rapidly rolling to the bottom.

As I rolled, the edges of my vision darkening, I noticed a few details of the figure that ran past me.

Things like how they had the Staff of Magnus, the one thing that could defeat anomalies, in one hand, and an ebony sword in the other, and that they were wearing both the arch-mages robes and Morokei, the dragon priest mask that you can only get in Labyrinthian late in the college questline.

All of this caused a single thought to flutter through my head before I lost consciousness.

Did I actually miss my chance AGAIN?

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I was getting real tired of waking up to strange ceilings.

At least when I sat up this time, I didn't have to worry about opening up any old injuries.

Soreness, on the other hand…

When I finally managed to stop my shrieks of pain from all the muscles in my back clenching at once, I decided to see if I could turn my head without pain.

The answer was a very insistent NO.

After a second bout of pained screeching, I realised that this place wasn't so strange after all, noticing a large, light emitting well in the centre of the next room.

I was in the college of Winterhold.

"Wait FUCK!" I shouted suddenly. "Now I can't get the flame atronach in the entry test! I'll have to buy it at full price! FUCK!"

"Well well, isn't that interesting?"

I turned around to see the figure from before sitting in a chair next to the bed. From their voice, I could tell three things. The first was that I was pretty sure it was a female. The second was that she had a strong accent I couldn't quite recognize from the games. The third was that she sounded like she was teasing me, or was at least mildly amused by what had happened. I couldn't really figure out anything else thanks to the obscuring nature of her clothes. Still, I needed information on the situation, so I decided to take a leap of faith.

"I'm guessing you're the Arch-mage?"

"Right you are," she replied, "although I was only recently promoted to the position when my predecessor was killed. But more importantly, you've caught my interest. What exactly is it you were doing all the way out here, Mr Faker?"

I swore inwardly.

"You know?"

"Of course I know!" She said dismissively, as if my attempts to hide my identity never stood a chance against her in the first place. "I've had my eyes on you for a while now, ever since you parted ways with the dragonborn, as matter of fact."

"You were watching us?" I asked, tensing up. All the muscles I had apparently pulled running from the manmoths made sure that I instantly regretted it, but I managed to hold it in.

"Don't try it." She said, all the amusement from before leaving her voice. "I can guarantee you that I heavily outclass you, both in magical and martial abilities, and I will not hesitate to kill you if you become violent."

We stared at each other, although her mask definitely did a better job of being intimidating than me…

"Fine." I said finally, trying to relax a bit. "So who are you anyway? If you want me to trust you, never showing me your face is a pretty crappy way to go about it…"

"Oh!" She said in a surprised voice. "I forgot about that. Hold on, let me get this damned mask off."

And I stared into the face that emerged, newly realised horror sending chills through my entire body.

"I am Arch-mage Sofia. Nice to meet you, Mr Faker!"

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Of all the fucking mods that could have had such a heavy impact on the events of the world, why did it have to be the one with SOFIA.

For those of you who don't know the Sofia mod, she's a follower, and honestly not a very good person. One of her hobbies is essentially to torment men using her looks, which are admittedly quite nice, and her skills at manipulation, which where amazing.

Sure, at times, she might seem like a good person, and I'm pretty sure she at least tries to work on her shittiness in the game, but she still seems to lapse into being shitty from time to time.

Time to time meaning that the chances of her trying to manipulate someone into doing something horrible are essentially fifty fifty.

On the other hand though, she had no carry weight limit, so she was instantly one of the greatest companions I'd ever downloaded.

"Are you alright in there Mr Faker?" Sofia asked in obvious fake concern. "I mean, I know I'm attractive, but you've been staring at me for at least five minutes now, and you haven't blinked either…"

"Sofia…"

"Yeeeeeeesss?"

"Weren't you meant to get kicked out of the College of Winterhold? Something about a spell which made other people naked?" I asked, grasping at one of the few memories I could actually find through the ever-present layer of 'ITS SOPHIA, GET THE FUCK OUT OF THERE, BEFORE SHE DOES SOMETHING SOFIA-LIKE' that came with the task of interacting with her.

"Ah, memories…" She said, seemingly drifting into her own little world for a second, before looking back at me. "That was the plan… Well, not the getting kicked out part, but the prank… Anyway, just before I finally unleashed it upon the world, something happened that made me realise how stupid it would be to endanger my chances here."

Her eyes lost their softness, shifting from the happy-go-lucky expression that she usually wore to a much harder, more piercing look.

"I learned how to create aurum based spells, which no one else has accomplished in over a century."

Oh.

Wow.

It looks like things are changing, and very rapidly getting out of control.

And now, out of all the people who could have obtained that amazing power, Sofia was the one and only person who could utilise Midas magic other than me.

Wait, would I even have the ability to use it? What if it was like the dragonborn situation, and only a single, specific person.

"AAAAARRGGHH!" I shouted in frustration. It was all so confusing, and now I might have lost one of the only other possibilities to become powerful enough to survive.

Sofia, seemingly unfazed by my outburst, just sat there.

"But still, you are an interesting one, aren't you?" She said with a smug voice which did not help my mood. "You know about the test we have people take before they can enter the college, despite never having been here before, you know something from my past which almost no one else knows, and those people know better than to bring it up, and I even managed catch you murmuring the name of the staff I wielded last night, despite its specific identity being a well-guarded College secret."

She suddenly leaned in closer, causing me to almost fall out of my bed as I flinched back.

What she whispered next however caused me to freeze in place.

"And you use curse-words from another world entirely!"

"What did you ju-" I started, but she was already out of the door, giggling the entire way.

For a few moments, I just sat there, frozen in place.

"Damn it…" I finally said, looking down at my clenched hands.

I really should have expected this to happen…

After all, her skills in the arts of manipulation were amazing…

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Shortly after Sofia left, I decided to try and get some more sleep.

These attempts were interrupted part way through when three blurry smudges entered my room.

"Master, are you alright?"

"Oh." I mumbled in surprise, not quite recognizing them beforehand due to being half-asleep again. "You guys, I was worried that something would have happened to you three."

"Something almost did, master." Six answered. "Thankfully, we were saved when the arch-mage used her staff to defeat the anomalies somehow."

"She absorbed the magic they were made up of." I informed the manikin. "Her staff, the staff of Magnus, has the ability to absorb magicka from just about anything."

"I see." Four said. "That is a terrifying concept."

"It probably won't be the only terrifying thing about her…" I said grimly.

"Oh, do you know her, master?" Three asked.

"Kind of…" I replied. "It's kind of complicated…"

"Ah," he said, "an ex-lover?"

"Never say that again." I replied almost instantly, before thinking of something else. "And don't ever say anything like that when she's around."

"Oh, but I'm so flattered!" A voice came from just outside my door.

"You're still there?!" I shouted in a combination of surprise and fear. "Why?! You weren't planning to do something to me in my sleep were you?"

"Of course I wasn't!" She said as she walked back into the doorway.

And then she winked.

"No. Stop. Don't wink when you say that." I said.

"I don't know what you're talking about…"

Wink.

"It's not like I was planning to sneak into your room while you're sleeping.…"

Wink.

"And perform horrifying yet pleasurable experiments on your sleeping body!"

WINK.

"Please leave my room…" I said, shaking in fear.

"Sure…" She said. "But tomorrow, I want you to come and speak to me. I'll tell you what you want to know…"

She left the room again, leaving me, Three, Four and Six to stare in horror.

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I found myself the next day, freezing my ass off as I walked the tiny distance from the Hall of Attainment to the Hall of the Elements.

I had hoped that of all places, the college would be one of the places that were larger than in the game.

And it was.

But only by a tiny amount.

Tiny to the point where it might as well not even have mattered.

Which was bullshit.

As I walked through the door, panic began to set in.

Sofia was close.

I could feel it.

I was instantly on high alert, quickly looking in as many directions as possible. Where would she come from?

"Heeee~eeey…"

I shrieked and turned to stare behind me. Sure enough, she was standing right there in the doorway.

Neither of us spoke, and I even forgot about the cold for about a minute.

"… When did you get behind me?"

"Wouldn't you like to know…" She said, as she walked past me into the large atrium. "Now, come with me."

I followed her up the stairs, and we emerged into the arch-mages quarters. As soon as we got in, she shut the door and turned to face me.

"Alright, no one should overhear us in here. Now, I'm fairly sure you understood the things I was saying yesterday."

"I did." I answered. "But I'm wondering just how much you know about this situation…"

"Well," she said, bringing her hand to her chin in a mock thinking pose, "I know that you're from another world, known by your people as 'Earth', which is a boring-ass name by the way. I know that in Earth, everything about Tamriel is a fictional universe created for some form of interactive story you call a 'videogame'. I know that until recently, you were a companion of the most recent dragonborn, Leone Vallius…"

She walked further into the room, and turned back to face me.

"And I know that you're not the first person this has happened to."

"Wait, what?!" I shouted.

There were others?

This could change everything.

How many were there?

How could I find them?

Could they help me get back home?

"How?" I asked her. "How do you know all of this?"

She grinned in a way that put even my creepy grins to shame.

"Let me introduce you to my teacher, and he can tell you himself!"

A teacher?

There was someone from Earth here in the college?

I looked around, but couldn't see anyone.

Hey Joey. I think I might have a theory…

"Yeah?"

"What?" Sofia asked when I spoke.

"Oh, nothing…" I replied, too tired from everything I had learned to bother explaining the whole 'I-have-another-personality-in-my-head-and-he's-kind-of-an-asshole-who-keeps-interupting-my-thoughts-at-the-worst-possible-times' thing.

"Oh well," she said before inner me could continue, "it probably doesn't matter anyway."

Before I could respond, she walked over to a long cabinet and opened it, revealing it to be full of long, wrapped up objects that looked like they were probably staffs. She rummaged through the staffs, before finally lifting one out with a grunt of success.

"Ah, hear we are!"

She turned to face me again, the staff-like-object in her arms.

"Now, before I set up this meeting, I'm going to have to ask something of you in return…"

Say no Joey! Get away from her before she ropes you into something stupid!

"Fine."

WHY?! NOW WE'RE BOTH FUCKED!

'Oh, stop worrying.' I thought to myself. 'She may be bad, but I'm sure it won't be too terrible.'

"I want to officially make you my apprentice."

See? SEE?! I hope you're willing to be the one in control when she gives up pretending they're experiments and just gives in to her horrifying sadistic impulses, 'cause I sure as hell won't be!

She must have noticed the slight trembling that had started, or maybe how pale I had gone, because she decided to clarify slightly.

"Throughout the time I was spying on you, I saw that you seem to not only like magic, you also seem to like the idea of experimenting in the field of magic to improve your own capabilities. This is the exact mindset that I've wanted in my students. Innovation could help save the image of magic held by the nords."

She looked up to the side for a second, as if she was remembering something else.

"And, I guess I also want to use the knowledge from your world for my own benefit. Now, if you accept this proposition, I'll introduce you to my teacher, who was once in your position, and is now even more powerful than I am."

She remembered something else, as I continued to tremble in fear.

"And… I suppose I won't perform any awesome experiments on you unless you agree to do so…" She sighed.

"Done!" I said quickly, before she could change her mind. "Now, I'm eager to meet your teacher. Is he close?"

"Heh…" She laughed, before performing a spell I'd never seen on the staff. "Not at all…"

And then she slammed the bottom of the staff into the ground, causing a strange, purplish sphere to expand out from it.

"Hey, Harry!" Sofia shouted into the sphere. "I've got the kid in here, so come and explain everything to him!"

"Ah, I see!" A familiar voice emerged from the sphere, and the pieces began to fall into place in my head. "I'm coming!"

"It's… It's you…" I said, as I realised what was going on.

"Yes, ME!" The voice shouted, as the outline of a person began to appear in the sphere. "Of course, that's only one of the many names I've gone by."

The figure became more defined, as if he was walking towards me through thick mist.

"There's Homicidal Maniac, Dragon Warrior, Snake Eyes…"

Yellow eyes became visible, shining from the purple sphere.

"Defender of the Last Septim, Archmage of the Mages Guild, Master of the Fighters Guild…"

I could make out his posture now, and it was… surprisingly badass considering who it was.

"Some call me God. Some call me Truth. I am all, and I am one."

The figure finally emerged from the portal, wearing a costume which was purple on one side and red on the other. White hair and a feral grin confirmed my theory.

"Most people just call me 'The Hero of Kvatch', or 'The Lord of the Shivering Isles', but you, my friend, can call me Harry King, the Fourth Being."