Okay, so yeah this is really late but I bought saints row 4 and that has taken over my life... This wasn't as long as I wanted it to be and there is a couple (probably more...) typos but I'm busy with all this course work but I'm not due any for another week so I'll try and get out maybe three more chapters... maybe.
I looked up at the mountain that towered above me; the clouds seemed to cover the very peak. I came here in a fit of rage and annoyance, it was expected of me to save the world, risk everything to do it and even my own brother believed that. He seemed to not understand I wanted to mourn, why losing him was so hard.
It seems like years have gone by since he passed but it has only been a week or so. I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck before beginning the accent of the seven thousand steps.
My mind flickered to my journey here, every hallucination I had, every time I thought I saw someone but I did not. Every time I jumped back thinking he was there but he wasn't.
As I walked up these steps I looked down at my hands, I had the power of destruction and healing at my fingertips, the power to rip away a life with a flick of a wrist or save a life at a motion of my hand but yet I couldn't save him, or the guard, I doubted I could even save myself. The world relied on me to save them but... is it really worth saving?
I have seen the terrors of this world; I've seen war ravage lands and people murder others in spite. These people taint our world; make it a bad place, safe for no one. I cannot talk nor complain on this matter, I have many people's blood on my hands and I have killed in cold blood. I am not worth saving.
I looked up once again, the stairs still winding out of site. I felt no closer to my goal, no closer to stopping this impending doom that was hovering above us all. With a heavy sigh I continued to walk up, fighting every wolf that stalked me and setting alight to every spider that crossed my path.
I stumbled over a jagged step, landing heavily on my knee. I groaned in pain as I moved to sit and let a golden light fill my hands as I slowly ran them across my bruised skin. The bleak whiteness surrounded me as I healed my knee; it was all white, no other colours to be seen around me. Until my eyes fell upon a splash of red, at first I assumed it was my own blood from my fall but it trailed into a passage coming off the steps.
I got up slowly, and then followed the trail of blood. I summoned flames to my hand; they kissed my palm with warmth that almost seemed foreign in this freezing desolate place.
I carefully walked down the passage, my eyes flickering around looking for movement. The blood patches seemed to grow larger and more frequent; someone or something was clearly bleeding to death.
Violent fits of coughing passed over the screeching sound of the wind steaming through the narrow passage.
"Has to be human – well maybe an elf or a beast folk." I mumbled to myself as I pressed further. The cold was bitter against my skin and the wind lashed at my body relentlessly, I found myself unwilling to press on but soon enough it seemed to stop as my eyes found a dying vampire.
"The gods have a funny sense of humour." The vampire murmured as he spat out blood, tarnishing the pure white snow that lay around him.
"I think its Karma personally." I replied dryly.
"Yeah, I almost killed that little boy of yours and he almost kills me." Michael began to laugh, blood dripping from his mouth landing messily on his clothes. "He'll be dead though, a mortal would never survive that fall."
"Oh." Was all I could manage, honestly I was shocked, I was so convinced he was dead and I'd never been wrong in that before. Maybe I was too swallowed up by emotion, drowning in sorrow to see that he was still alive. It could have been a good thing he wasn't with me, maybe then I could finally see straight without having to swim through foreign and unwanted feelings.
"Not the reaction I was hoping for, I thought you might shed some tears for your lost love." He smirked as I sat down heaving, using my cloak to protect me from the bitter cold ground.
"Love... it's such a strong word, does it truly exist?" I wondered aloud.
An almost genuine smile touched Michael's lips. "Your parents loved you, did they not?" He asked.
"My father sacrificed himself to save me..." I said quietly. "But I don't mean love between a parent to their child, I mean between a man to a woman – or the same sex but..."
"Tell me about your parents." He said simply, looking at me with blank eyes.
I sighed. "My father was a brave man, he cherished his children dearly, he loved his wife and would do anything for us. He fought to keep me from being the Emperors protector but despite his best efforts I still was inducted into the training. I passed it quicker than most, he was proud of me and gave me his bow as a gift to celebrate the occasion. I guess my favourite memory of my father was when he taught me about the Champion of Cyrodiil." I smiled a little. "He was in awe of her, she was just a simple assassin to begin with, not even with the dark brotherhood but even with her dark past she became the saviour of Tamriel."
"She was half elf." Michael said. "I saw her once, those two hundred years ago. I saw her as she prepared to enter one of the oblivion gates, how Martin held her before she went through."
"... Father did talk of her having a child with Martin but he said that the line died there."
"Tell me about your mother, she has been dead five years?"
"Four years and three months... She died when I was 15, barely a week after my birthday." I sighed. "My birthday was a quiet one I spent with just my mother... I was never really with my parents so it was a time I'll always cherish."
"How was it?"
I laughed slightly at his enthusiasm to hear my story but I still broke into the tale.
I sat on the table, swinging my legs as I waited for my mother. My first clue of her entering the room was the faint sound of slippers hitting the stone floor then her words to me.
"Get down from the table." She said, lightly slapping my wrists, I rubbed them as she glowered at me.
"Sorry..." I mumbled.
"You were raised with better manners; speak up when you're talking. You know I dislike mumbling." She reached into the closet as I sighed and turned to look out of the window. "I can't believe you and your brother are fifteen today it seems just like yesterday you were little three year olds beating him up..." She stopped what she was doing and sighed. "So how is your friend, Tacitus?"
"Friend mother? I'd barely call us acquaintances if I didn't see him pretty much every day of my life." I said shrugging slightly. "Last time I saw him he was bitching about something."
"Language." She said throwing a sock at my head; it fell short a few feet. "Honestly, working behind a desk all day has made me soft."
"Maybe if you threw harder and heavier object that were more aerodynamic you might hit me." I suggested lazily.
She walked up to me, her dress trailing on the ground and her slippers kicked off to the side. She handed me a sword. "You were whining yours was unbalanced."
I took it and weighed it in my hands. "Wow, this is perfectly balanced..." I twisted it in my hands. "... And crafted; thanks mum it's beautiful." I smiled and kissed her cheek.
"Honestly most noble girls your age would stick their nose up at such a present and have that reaction with a dress." She tweaked my cheek. "Where are your brothers?"
"Last time I saw Geoff was yesterday and I had thrown him into the river. Axel might be at the University." I said taking a step back and shielding my head. "He deserved it."
Mother sighed. "I'm sure he did..." She then pushed me towards the door. "I've got things to do but I'll be finished in an hour, go play with your friends."
"... Really mother?" I asked as I walked out. I had placed my sword in my room before venturing into the broad day light.
Michael listened with interest as his breath grew more ragged and death moved closer to him. "You seemed to friends with your mother."
"Yeah I guess, she was a soldier... she knew the hardships of fighting." I shrugged a little. "I was horrible to my brothers sometimes and she'd give me hell over it but in the end of it all she loved me... I guess it's been so long, I don't really remember her. My memories of my father are slipping as well."
"He hasn't been dead for long." Michael said.
"How do you cope, being immortal knowing that all you love will die and yet you will live on? Maybe you chose that life but I didn't and yet it was forced on me. I have to watch my little brother grow old and die, I have to cope with Tacitus's death, how do you do it?" I asked, drawing symbols in the snow trying to calm my frustration.
He shrugged and began to cough. "What was Tacitus to you?"
I sighed. "Gods I don't know, we were friends, good friends I guess. He had known me most of my life, he probably knew me better than I did but sometimes we couldn't each other and other times we'd be friends. If I look back on it, it was stupid and confusing but..." I just shrugged. "Does it matter he's dead, you're dying and I'm alive."
"Did he ever have a family?"
"No, for as long as I've known him he's been an orphan, I truly doubt he ever remembered them. He always bitched about how lucky I was to have parents, or after my ma died, how lucky I was to know her but I guess the empire was his family. He was like family to me... it's kind of hard to imagine my life without him, he was always there. He was like that annoying little brother that no matter what you did you couldn't get rid of him, despite the fact he was older... and a different race."
Michael looked paler, his body finally giving up. I knew it wouldn't be long before he finally passed. "Did you ever love him?"
I was shocked at this question; he clearly saw the look of shock on my face by the smirk on his dying face. "... That's kind of an inappropriate question. I really don't know, what is love anyway?"
He didn't answer, he wasn't dead for him but he was on deaths door.
"I miss my family..." I sighed and hugged my knees.
Michael coughed. "I had a family once." Then he fell to the snow finally giving up and passing onto the next life.
I looked at his body and set it alight, burning him. "Your life a memory, your absence a silent grief, you fell asleep with no goodbyes but the memory of you won't die. Happy memories kept; there is no need for words because I'll never forget." I closed my eyes and sighed. "You might have killed him but I hope you find a better ending in the next life."
I stood and walked away, unable to finish my journey to the grey beards.
"I'm racking up a death count." I sighed at myself and walked back to Windhelm.
Hope you enjoyed, I really wish I could have made it better but this was the only thing that worked for me, I'm trying out 1st POV but I'm not too sure if I like it but it kind of helps us (me) see it from Arrows point of view. I'm going to go back to 3rd person but hey, thanks for reading see you next chapter... when ever that comes out.