3 Years Later…
The Imperial City was in ruins, the Ruby Throne fallen, and Tamriel was tearing itself apart with war. Should someone look at Cyrodiil with the eyes of a bird they would see five different factions waging war in the province. They would have seen the red banners of the Ebonheart Pact, the yellow of the Aldemeri Dominion, the blue of the Daggerfall Covenant all of whom were trying to take as much territory as they could. They would have seen packs of Daedra and the undead roaming the province killing all they could find. They would see the Imperial Remnant trying to survive.
Four groups who are trying to take the province over, and one who is trying to survive.
Amrissa didn't need to be a bird to know all of this, but she didn't care. Well actually she did care a bit, survival necessitated it.
But at the moment all she truly cared about was the meager breakfast of bread and cheese and her efforts to read Emyr grimoire. Except reading was proving to be quite difficult with all the distractions happening around her.
Looking up from the tome she looked across the common room from the corner she was sitting in the Wolf's head tavern at the two drunk who were arguing loudly. Unable to keep the glare off her face she Ripped a chunk of bread off of the loaf and folded it around a slice of cheese making a sandwich out of it and bit into it moodily.
It was far too early in the morning to be dealing with drunks. But that was what she got for staying in the cheapest tavern in Kvatch.
After Emyr died Amrissa escaped the sewers, exiting just outside of the walls of the Imperial city. She spent the next several days wandering around some forest just outside of the Imperial City not really knowing what to do. She did not know where to go, she may have been a Breton but the Imperial City was her home, Cyrodiil is her home. After getting her bearings straight she decided to make her way to Kvatch.
With the Daedra spilling out of the Imperial capital Amrissa had to go somewhere safe, and from what she remembered from her history lessons the Gold Coast had the massive wall that the Emperor built before he rebelled.
Returning back to the Grimoire Amrissa didn't notice the entrance to the tavern open as she dedicated herself into reading the page the Emyr wrote.
Through my studies of magic there is one thing that I feel is true when it comes to the true nature of magic itself. That magic is neither good nor evil, it is just magic.
I find that the very powers of Atherius are neither good nor evil. They are like the Daedric Princes. The Princes of Oblivion are neither good nor evil as we understand those concepts. Like a wolf is not evil for killing a deer, a child for killing a bug, or a mosquito for passing on a disease. These three examples are not considered evil because that is just nature in its simple form. As such the nature of the Daedra is not evil, all we have to do is look at Meridia as an example.
Amrissa couldn't help but lightly trace the words with her fingers as she read. It's been several years since Emyr died and she hasn't been able to read much of his Grimoire yet because of the magical protections on it. But this passage… This passage was her favorite because of how much it reminded her of him.
While yes there can be 'light' and 'dark' magic that does not mean that light magic is good and dark magic is evil. For there must be balance in all things. You cannot have day without night, life without death, good without evil, happiness without sorrow, the Aedra without the Daedra, joy without misery, you cannot eat without shitting, you cannot have the light without the dark.
No matter where you look you can find balance in the world, you can find balance within Magic, but I will talk about that later. It is this balance that should be the goal of all wielders of the arcane arts. For magic is not evil. No magic it not but we are. It is men, mer, beastfolk and all other beings that can be evil. It is we who decide to use magic for either good or evil. It is a balance that we must find inside of ourselves-
"Excuse me Lass."
Looking up from the book, a scowl of annoyance crossing her face from the interruption Amrissa examined the man who interrupted her. He was an older Imperial with a long Hawk like nose, chocolate brown eyes, and hair so brown that it almost could have been black. His leather armor was scuffed up but looked well cared for, but it was his sword that put her on guard, it was of the Akaviri design.
He could be considered handsome, she thought to herself with a slight blush before turning her thoughts back to the sword. The sword meant one of two things. Either the man used to be a part of the Emperor's Dragon Guard and wanted something from her, or he is good enough to kill one of the Guards and loot it off their corpse and still want something from her. Either way neither bode well for her.
Reaching underneath the table she gripped her staff which was laid across her lap with a single hand. "Can I help you?"
"I am looking for a mage by the name of Amrissa, would that be you?"
She studied the man for a few moments longer before she slowly answered his question. "I am she, what do you need?"
Nodding at her words the man pulls a chair out from underneath her table and sits down across from her. "I am Darian, I work with a group of individuals and we are looking to hire a mage to assist us in retrieving an artifact. We are willing to pay you well. "
Slowly closing the grimoire, Amrissa mulled the Imperial's words over.
"Before I accept a job from anyone, I need some more information than that." Amrissa began. When the man nodded in consent, she decided to take a shot into the dark. "What does the Akaviri Dragon Guard need my help for?"
Darian leaned back with a short, but loud laugh. "huh, we should have known Emyr's apprentice would have been quick to notice, was it the sword that gave me away?" When Amrissa didn't reply the man continued as if he was not expecting an answer.
"Look, I will be honest with you. When the Imperial City fell all across Tamriel the Dragon Guard fell back into our many strongholds. The stronghold here in Cyrodiil, Cloud Ruler Temple, fell two weeks ago."
As the man began his explanation Amrissa slid Emyr's grimoire into her bag, then idle picked up her cup of jasmine tea and took a sip.
"Normally that would not be a problem, we had time to remove all of the important artifacts and tomes out of Cloud Ruler."
"I hear a but in that sentence." Amrissa broke in when the man's sentence trailed off.
"Aye" the man nodded with a grimace. "We got everything removed and were preparing for a long siege; you see, our scout spotted the Daedra horde approaching but as they arrived, so did a caravan from the Imperial City. It was a caravan of Moth Priests with an Elder Scroll in tow."
"Please don't tell me that the fort fell and the scroll is still there!"
"That is exactly what happened lass." The Dragon Guard member nodded solemnly. "From the message that we have received we understand that the men there were able to put the scroll under a ward so nothing could remove it from where it was, but the ward will run out of power in five days' time."
Leaving his sentence hanging Darian signaled the barmaid, asking for a mug of Colovian Brandy. The two of them sat in silence until the maid brought his brandy and the man took several long swigs out of it.
"Why me?" Amrissa finally asked. "I know that the Dragon Guard had a good number of mages at their beck and call, so why me?"
"Had is the keyword there Lass." Darian answered. "Between the battle for the Imperial City, and the defense of Cloud Ruler Temple the majority of the Dragon Guard in Cyrodiil is dead. As far as we are aware there is none more alive that focuses mostly on magic."
Lifting his mug to his mouth he took another long drink out of. "Frankly if we had more time, I would try to find a mage who is a member of the Guard, if not here in Cyrodiil then outside of it. But we don't have time."
"Why me specifically? You could probably find several fully trained mages in Cyrodiil, let alone the Gold Coast that could help you." Amrissa couldn't help but to be baffled that they were asking her to help them, a mage who never made it out of her apprenticeships over anyone else.
Amrissa watched as Darian finished off his drink before he continued. "I spent a while as a guard at the White-Gold Tower. I got to know Arch-Mage Emyr while I was there." The man explained. "He not only trusted you with his life, he also said that you have the potential to be a great mage one day. I trust Emyr, so I am going to put my trust in his belief."
The familiar flash of sorrow clenched her heart at the mention of Emyr. She knew that it wasn't her fault that he died, but deep down inside of her, she couldn't help but blame herself. What if she helped him fight Mannimarco? Or blocked his spell before it hit Emyr. What if she knew more magic? What if she could have stopped the Emperor from trying to use the Amulet of Kings?
But what ifs would not help her now, they would not bring back the man she considered to be a father.
"You said that the ward will be collapsing in the next five days?" When Darian nodded Amrissa continued with a thoughtful frown. "Bruma is nearly two weeks travel from here if we push hard, and, from what I have heard, Cloud Ruler Temple is another day's hike from the city. How would we get there in time?"
"This is where we decide if we truly want to hire you." Darian said looking grim faced. "Are you capable of any travel spells?"
Understanding exactly what the man was wanting, Amrissa nodded thoughtfully. "I know a couple, don't expect me to do any planer transportations but I could get you across Cyrodiil. But you are aware that transportation spells are expensive, especially transporting more than a couple of people."
The man nodded with a smile "Aye, I expected that to be the case you would have to transport about a dozen people. We will give you the money for the supplies that you would need for the transportation. We are also willing to pay you 2500 Septims; half when we get to the temple, and the second half after we get out of the temple with the scroll."
Amrissa's eyes widened slightly at the price that they were offering. Considering that it was 10 Septims a night for most taverns, it was an offer that she refused to let pass. "I guess we have a deal."
"Excellent. Gather what you need, we will meet you at the city gates at sunrise tomorrow. If all goes well, we should be back in a couple of days." Getting to his feet, Darien dropped a large punch of money in front of her, then left the building.
The next day Amrissa found herself doing a one last look over her now empty room that she spent a long number of months renting. Her flight from the Imperial City taught her what she considered to be the most important lesson of her life. It is that she should always carry anything that she considered to be irreplaceable on her. That way if she quickly had to go on the run then she wouldn't have to worry about losing the item. Slinging her bag across her head and over her shoulder, so that the strap laid on one shoulder and ran down across her chest and the bag settled at the opposite side of her body. She picked up her staff and walked out of her room.
Leaving the inn at a brisk walk, she got to the main gate just as the sun started peaking over the horizon.
"Amrissa, over here."
Turning to the voice she found Darien, now dressed in the iconic Dragon Guard armor, standing off to the side of the gate with half a dozen other men also dressed in the same armor.
"Are you ready to go lass?" The man asked as she walked up to the group.
"Yes" she muttered, trying not to squirm under the combined stares of the group of warriors.
"Excellent, now how are you going to do your spell?"
"It's more of a quasi ritual." she idly correctly as she looked around the gate for Kvatch's wayshrine. She then frowned to herself as she thought of the magic she was about to perform. "No, it's actually a ritual in its entirety." Noticing his raised eyebrow she expounded on her comment. "Sorry, that doesn't matter at the moment. I can get us pretty close to Cloud Ruler Temple, I'll be aiming for Bruma."
"Why won't you take us straight to Cloud Ruler?" One of the Dragon Guard members accompanying Darian asked a woman by the sounds of it.
Finding the wayshrine she quickly walked towards it, waving for the group to follow her. "You see, I don't know anything about Cloud Ruler Temple's magical defense. For all I know if I take us straight to it the Daedra could have a ward up that is designed to kill anyone who tries to travel straight in."
"Makes sense," Darien replied with a frown. "Then how are we going to get to Cloud Ruler?"
"Do you know anything about wayshrines?"
"Nothing much, only the common knowledge, that they are supposed to be warded areas that can be found in the wilderness and next to cities that give protection to travelers."
"That is just a mere fraction of what wayshrines can do." She declared as they reached the shrine. Lowering her staff to the ground she gathered magic at the end of it. Remembering one of Emyr's lessons she drew a 7 foot long glowing blue line off of the north end of the shrine hovering mere centimeters off the ground. She then drew a large circle and added three more lines to it. At the end of each of those three lines she finished by drawing a smaller circle.
"Now I need all of you to stand in the large circle." None of the Dragonguard members moved to do as she instructed until after Darien gave them a nod of assent. she gave Darien a look then sighed to herself. Of course they would hire her but not listen to her.
She then took three grand soul gems out of her bag, placing one in each of the smaller circles. Returning to the first line she drew she put the staff down so that half of it was in the line, and the other half was on the wayshrine. Around her she could feel the Magika filling the air, at first slowly then quickly building.
Using her magic and the binding pattern she drew she tied the soul gems and the wayshrine together. Finally with a couple waves of her hand she summoned a rune of the Mage constellation at the top of her staff to act as the director of the magic.
As the magic reached a crescendo and then seemed to freeze in the air. She glanced at Darian with a silent question, when he nodded she gathered a small bit of magic at the tip of her finger and tapped the mage rune activating it.
The magic exploded out surrounding them in a blue light and swept them away into the Aether.
Authors Notes: Wow it has been awhile since I last posted. I apologize for that. This story is not dead, and I have no excuse, I just got lazy. As always leave feedback! Thanks for Reading!