Cearbhail:
Ok, so I've been busy. You know, going to Japan and all that coming up soon. Had to book a hotel room for my three day vacation in Tokyo after my Shimane University course ends. Well, I didn't really know what to do for this chapter, but it wrote itself, and because someone requested some romance between Veselle and Talvas, which I was always going to do... just later on, I sneaked some in for you guys. Nothing serious but it's still nice.
Oh...and enjoy. ^^
Dear diary of shadows,
I don't know what day it is anymore. It was the 18th when we came to this mine. There was a small ladder and I was walking down it. Then Crescius threw a key at me, it bounced off my head, and I slipped off the end of the small ladder. Talvas grabbed onto my staff and he struggled to pull me up, but my hand slipped off my staff and I fell off the platform. I fell, and fell fast. I don't remember what happened, but when I opened my eyes, I was lying on my stomach at the bottom of the mine. Talvas is nowhere to be seen. I'm scared. I don't like this. But…even still. We were hired to clear the mines and I guess I will just have to do this on my own. I wish I had someone with me. I don't even see Kyuu. I hope he didn't die when I fell. I can't summon him for a day or so when he dies like that.
I guess I need to continue on.
Veselle.
…
I closed my book and slipped it into my back pouch. It vanished as it entered the small astral portal leading to some dimensional thing I didn't really know about yet. Master tried to explain it to me, but it was way above what I can comprehend yet. Either that or he just can't explain it correctly. When I asked for a dumbed down version, he pulled out a carrot and explained what a carrot was. "This is a carrot." I nodded when he said it. "Carrots grow in the ground." I nodded again. "This carrot came from a spectral part of the onmiverse where two centuries ago, the war between the Ayleids and the Nuances was quietly extinguished due to the potato shortage in the Bosmer Equivalence Exchange Program. This is important because the carrot represents the edges of the omniverse: thick on one end, skinny on the other, it is easy to realize exactly how the omniverse works, while simultaneously working against the dimensional rift brought on by the potato shortage of 2e 119. Dreadful year; went back in time to see it myself. How the omniverse was created and all that."
Even thinking about it now made my head hurt. He was good at teaching magic because he threw me face first into it. Unless he decided to chuck me inside my own pouch, I doubt I'd ever understand how the whatever it was called worked. I looked up the massive hole that I had fallen down. I could see a network of wooden platforms above me; a couple floors' worth. It looked like I fell down a mile worth of mine channels. I looked down at the patch of dirt where I hit. I saw the remnants of a circle that had covered me and faded away. The slight patterns reminded me of the levitator. That would mean that someone slowed down my descent. That would explain why I'm not dead. And why I don't have any broken bones.
The key that Crescius threw at me lied next to my boots. So, I bent down to pick it up. I looked around. There was a ramp leading up to the rest of the mine. I was half-heartedly ready to just turn around and leave, but…something was nagging me. I felt this little…tickle on the back of my neck and whatever I was feeling was drawing me toward the large hole behind me. The hole in the wall behind me was sloppily boarded up with some boards of wood. And I felt compelled to keep going. I don't know what it was, but it was calling me. It wanted me to find it.
I walked up to the boards of wood and snapped my hand out. Magicka started glowing all around me and I launched it forward at the hole. Flames roared off my body, easily consuming the boards of wood. After a few seconds, the boards burnt to ash and I stepped into the hole. I found a small room with an iron door. I looked down at the key in my hands. I needed this key…to unlock that door. And I just stepped up to the locked door and in a haze…I unlocked the door. I pulled the door open and looked ahead. A small dingy crypt lied beyond, and I could smell the rotten flesh. I bet this was where the draugr lived.
"Veselle!" I heard Talvas scream through the air. He sounded frightened. "Veselle!" He cried louder. "Where could she be? This is where she should have landed."
"She's not dead." I heard Kyuu's voice. "I would know."
"Veselle!" Talvas cried and I saw him poke his head through the hole. When he saw me, he looked so relieved. He ran up to me, wrapping me up in a hug. "Thank the gods, you're alive." He was actually squeezing me hard enough to kill me if he didn't release me soon, so I patted him on the back, trying to scream in pain.
"Talvas? Can't breathe!" I cried as loudly as I could through my crushed windpipe. I started pushing him away, but he kissed me on the forehead before I could break contact with him. That stunned me to where I stopped pushing. His warm lips lingered on my forehead for a few seconds before I felt him break contact and back up. "What? What was that for?" My voice barely even registered to me, and I still felt stuck in my spot as I felt the warm spot on my forehead where he kissed me.
He hugged me closer again. "I thought you had died." He said softly to me before letting me break loose from him. I took a few steps back, but he just looked at me and smiled. He finally sighed and said, "I don't know what I would have done if I found you lying dead on the ground."
I continued to stand there. There was something in his eyes, some…I don't know what to call it. But it was creeping me out, so I ignored it. "Right." I said, trying to draw us back onto our mission. "I found this door."
He nodded. "Right, but our job was to clear the mine. I just did that while trying to find you." He reached out to grab my arm. "And that means our job is done. Let's go tell Crescius the good news." I felt that… whatever it was at the nip of my neck again. It felt like something was standing behind me, trying to grab me by my shoulders and pull me deeper into the mine. When Talvas turned around and tried to pull me with him, my feet stayed rooted to the ground. He paused as I didn't move. "Veselle. We're done. Just lock up that door and we can go back."
I shook my head. "Talvas…I feel something. It's deep inside the mine. I… I think we're not done. We haven't even found Crescius's great-grandfather's journal either."
He arched his eyebrows. "Oh yeah…he did mention something about that, didn't he." He mumbled and looked away. He sighed and started walking to the open cage door, handing me my staff back. "Well, let's go. Stay behind me and cover my back. I'll take the front." Kyuu smiled and jumped onto my shoulder. I'm glad you're ok, partner.
I followed behind him as we started walking through the ankle deep murky puddles into the obvious crypt. I looked around at the bed slabs where bones of ancient Nords rested. Some of the decomposed bodies still had skin and muscle on them, their bodies carefully glazed over with some ancient oil that preserved their bodies, as well as their souls. We called these creatures draugrs. They were still perfectly preserved, if not a bit rotten and bony from centuries of natural degradation of their muscular system. Their souls had become feral, their minds only fixed on attacking whatever they saw that wasn't one of them. They waited for us, they wanted to consume us. They were always hungry, always angry, and always patient. They could stand in one spot for years without moving, hoping to find some lonely traveler to feast on. And I hoped we didn't end up a meal.
We traveled silently through the crypt. The silent draugr didn't move from their spots. Kyuu waited patiently on my shoulder as we snuck through the underground cavern. And we stayed like that for a few minutes; quiet as we carefully stepped through the ankle deep puddles. I wanted to avoid them altogether, but doing that would put me within sniffing range of the draugr. I didn't need them smelling my honey-scented shampoo that I used on my hair. I was carefully trying to keep up with Talvas, who was standing straight up. "Wait…what are we doing?" He asked as loudly as he could. When he did, I heard some moaning and some of the draugr started rustling from their stone slabs.
"What are you doing?" I whispered to him.
He looked back at me, smiling. "We're supposed to be killing them. What was I thinking?"
I didn't have time to argue with him because he was already snapping his head around to fight a few draugrs stepping off their stone slabs. A few ice spikes flew into their chests and they stopped trying to stand up. Talvas didn't stop there though. He actually walked up and started freezing their heads, snapping them off the necks. I guess that was a sound strategy, behead them. I didn't have time to say anything to him. I heard footsteps behind me; sloshing through the puddles I had just trudged through. I turned around to see a few draugr running up to me, raising their swords as they charged up to me.
"Kyuu!" I cried out. He nodded and jumped off my shoulder. "Um… Strategy 3 D." I said to him and he nodded. You see, in our time training with Master, and I had been forced to work with Kyuu as my fighting partner, we had to come up with several different strategies to fight different kinds of enemies. Plan 3 D was a Defensive plan, as all D plans were. Plan 3s are a variation of using Wards and Kyuu's Telekinesis to help throw off our opponents. He mostly watches my back while I push the attack with my flames and my staff.
And that's exactly what we did. As the first draugr took a swing at me, Kyuu hopped up where the other draugr couldn't reach him and he raised his long ears. The draugr's sword suddenly curved away from me; making him surprised and giving me an opening. I stuck out my hand and tried to pull as much restraint as possible as I collected fire into my palm. I formed it into a ball and let it go. A normal looking firebolt flew out of my hand, slamming into the draugr's chest. The armor covering its chest absorbed the impact, but not before it was launched off its feet and into another draugr behind me. I took my staff and snapped it over the draugr's head. The head bounced off the ground once, but the draugr didn't get back up. I must have killed it with the slam. I turned my attention to the next draugr coming at me. As he came close, he was suddenly lifted off his feet and into a wall. The dead draugr's sword launched from the ground, impaling the pinned draugr to the wall. He groaned for a few seconds before the sword flew straight up, slicing the very thing in half. I had to admit, having Kyuu to help me was wonderful.
I jumped past those two dead draugrs into the nest of six more running up to greet me. I let my martial arts training take over as I rolled past a spear thrust. I came right underneath the draugr's legs, jumping up as his buddies started attacking me. I put my back to the draugr behind me and waited. An archer was taking aim at me, while two more sword wielders came at me. They slashed and I danced around their sluggish attacks. Say what you want about how scary draugr look; they were slow and brainless. Mjoll fought me with so much speed and ferocity, as well as well-planned attacks; while Karliah taught me graceful dodging and evasion. Together, they turned me into a one-girl army. And now I had magicka to help me balance out. Sure, I wasn't strong, and I didn't use any real weapons…but now my hands were legitimate weapons. And my staff.
I threw my back to the spear carrier and waited. The brainless draugr didn't even notice their buddy behind me. The archer released his arrow and I ducked under it. It slammed right into the spear carrier and I took that as my cue. I ran forward as the archer started reaching for a new arrow. I ran right up to the draugr with the sword. I planted my foot on his kneecap and pushed down while enforcing it with some flames. That's right; I can use flames through my feet. Jealous? His friend started coming at me with his massive claymore. I stuck out my hand and blasted him back with some telekinesis. He tripped on his own feet, falling straight down. His claymore just happened to land right in his head because I forced it to land there with my spell. Yeah…I'm getting the hang of this. Give me time and I'll be a great mage after all.
But…that telekinesis drew most of my concentration. The sword wielder may have crumbled underneath my flaming foot, but he still had his sword. And he got me. He slashed at my outstretched hand and he scored a hit with the very tip of his blade. It sliced right through a part of my arm, cutting me pretty deep too. And I lost all concentration as my arm lit up in pain. I jumped back as blood started dripping down my sleeve and down my hand. I stopped like an idiot to look at it and I heard the archer's bowstring pull back. I looked in time to see the archer release his arrow. I was so frozen I didn't know what to do. The downed draugr suddenly flew up and right into my face. And just like that, I was splattered with the draugr's blood as an arrow flew through his eyeball, stopping just an inch from my forehead.
"You ok, Veselle?" Kyuu called from above me. "I'm running on low here. I can't do this for much longer."
I heard more draugr running up to meet me and I looked down at my arm. Blood was still gushing out but slower now. I tried to make a fist with my injured arm but it was still pretty shaken up so I couldn't do it. I couldn't hold onto my staff like this. So, I did what I could. I reached up and tried to pull Talvas's arm bracelet off my left arm. It was hard with my hurting arm to grasp, but I had it off before more draugr got to me. Right as the archer pulled back another arrow and the other three sword wielders ran up to cut me down, I screamed out in pain and rage. Fire roared all around me and I pushed it forward. I wanted my flames to kill that archer and anyone in the way of getting to him. My flames rolled off my body, consuming everything within my sight. The draugr probably didn't last too long but I kept willing more and more fire to continue flying out. An arrow whizzed through the flames, missing my ear by a few inches and I stuck my left hand out, my staff already glowing with flames. I pushed it forward and a cyclone of fire launched from my staff, rolling through my already building wall of flames.
The fire in my staff started dying down after a few seconds, and I was left there panting in pain as I waited for the flames to die down. And it did in a minute or so. I meanwhile, sat there with blood dripping down my injured arm. I was trying to use my healing spells, but I… I couldn't focus enough to fix it. Kyuu jumped down from his perch as he could see that all the draugr were gone. And they were. They were nothing more than charred bones scattered across the floor.
"Veselle!" Talvas cried out as he ran over to me. "What happened?" He saw the charred room just beyond me. Then he saw my bleeding arm and went straight for it. He grabbed onto my hand and brought my arm up for inspection. He brought up his other hand and started feeding Restoration magic into my arm. It felt warm and tingly, but it also felt nice. It felt like an angel was kissing my arm and healing it. When the warm feeling disappeared, I felt Talvas's hand still holding gently onto mine. He was looking at my arm, sighing. "It will leave a scar, but…it doesn't look too bad." He looked at Kyuu. "Why didn't you heal her?"
Kyuu sighed. "I ran out of magicka. That last arrow would have killed her, but I diverted it at the last second. It took everything I had." So, that arrow that had whizzed past my ear was actually supposed to kill me. That shook me up.
Talvas looked from him to me. "And you're no better off on magicka, are you?"
I found myself shaking my head, still looking down at Talvas's hand. It felt so warm in mine that I almost didn't want him to let go. I looked at my arm, still seeing the blood drying on my sleeve, my hand still red with my blood. And Talvas was holding onto it, even though it was covered in blood. My blood. That was my blood. I couldn't get it out of my head. My blood. I had seen a lot of it before. I had been dying, an arrow in my stomach back in Riften. It stained my clothes, and my doorway. I had slid against my door when the whole thing had passed, and there had been a lot of blood on my back that I didn't notice. When I slid down my door to relax…I had rubbed all that blood onto my door. It was a constant reminder of how I almost died that day in Riften. I never wanted to see it ever again. And here it was…covering my whole arm and the end of my sleeve.
"Veselle, are you ok?" Talvas asked me as he squeezed my hand.
I looked up at him. He looked so concerned that I couldn't answer him. But I think he saw me blushing because he brought up his other hand to my forehead. And my heart raced. Why? Why was it doing this to me? I was suddenly thinking of that kiss Talvas gave me not too long ago and how it felt just as warm as his hand felt against my forehead now. My face started burning and Talvas noticed it. "You're running a fever. We need to take a break; catch our breath and get our magicka back." He looked at Kyuu. "Are you hungry?"
He nodded. "Boy, am I!" He cried as he jumped onto my lap. "Are we going to eat?"
Talvas nodded. "Yeah, let's take a break and get something to eat before we press on." He reached up for his backpack and slung it off his shoulder. He set out a picnic blanket in front of us, after brushing away what was left of a draugr's arm away from us. He set out the blanket and brought out some paper plates and a bowl for Kyuu. We always bring food with us for when we needed breaks. Talvas brought out two apples and cut them up, throwing them in Kyuu's bowl with an egg for his protein. Kyuu loved eggs and apples, and for some reason he loved to combine the two into his meals. I thought it was disgusting, but apparently foxes love eggs so…Kyuu loved it. He dug right into the bowl, happy as could be.
Talvas handed me an apple and I silently took it from him. I was still thinking about his hand and that kiss. I took a bite of the apple, happy to know that I wasn't dreaming or anything. Talvas was really sitting here with me, eating an apple. We carried a couple eggs for Kyuu, but Talvas only really carried apples and grapes with us. Sure, he had a few ash yams, but I'd just as well stay away from those for now on. He quickly finished his apple and took out an ash yam. He started passing it to me, but I shook my head and took another bite of my apple.
"Come on…it's not so bad. You should try it with jelly, or honey. That would make it taste better." Talvas nudged the yam in my face.
I knocked it away. "Maybe later. I'm not really hungry." And I wasn't. We just ate maybe a few… wait… how long was I out anyway? I looked up at Talvas. "How long was I down here for while you looked for me?"
"An hour maybe?" He suggested. "I had to fight through a nest of frostbite spiders to get to you, you know. They just kept coming." Spiders? Good thing I hadn't been around for that part. I'm scared of spiders. And I think it showed on my face because Talvas smiled. "No worries, I killed them all. It was part of the assignment after all." He started spreading honey on the yam, taking a bite of it, over exaggerating how tasty it was as he offered me a bite. I still shook my head and went back for another bite of my apple.
We sat there for a couple minutes eating apples in silence. I got through two apples before Talvas pulled out a thermos filled with juniper juice. He poured me a small cup and passed it to me, while taking some for himself. I was so glad I started up my own garden. Eating only ash yams and canis root tea would get so old so fast. I kept thinking about the things Talvas did that I couldn't take not talking about it. "Um…Talvas?"
"Yeah?" He asked as he finished his cup of juice.
I thumbed my cup for a few seconds trying to think about what I wanted to ask. I sat there for so long that Kyuu answered. "She's wondering why you kissed her." He stated in-between bites of his food. "She won't stop thinking about how warm you were…it's really cute but kinda annoying at the same time."
"Kyuu!" I yelled, looking at him as he went back to eating. I looked from him over to Talvas, who just sat there, drinking another round of juice. Wait…that didn't look like juice. And the smell…that was sujamma. Alcohol. "Are…are you drinking sujamma?"
He nodded. "Yup. Need to calm my nerves." He said. "This place…I hate being in closed spaces deep underground. Ever hear of claustrophobia?" I shook my head. I had never heard of it. "Well, if I'm in a place that is small and surrounded by walls, I start feeling like I'm trapped and that I might die or something. So, I'll start freaking out and trying to escape. But…sujamma helps me override that fear. And it helps me lower my inhibitions." He said as he reached out for my cheek, brushing the backside of his hand against it. "Like touching your cute little face." It was then that I could tell just how slurred his words were. He was drunk! That's why he was acting this way. Damn alcohol. Root of all uncertain advances. He might not like me at all, but his drunken mind was telling him different. Figures. I almost wanted to kill him now. Talvas had leaned closer, gently grabbing me by my chin, pulling me towards him. "And those lips…"
My heart raced and my face flushed over as I thought of what I could do. We were inches away and I…I… I closed my eyes and felt my lips pucker up as I felt Talvas's breath on my face. Then something inside me snapped and I pushed him off me. "No!" I screamed to him. "You're drunk…this isn't right." I stood up and started putting the plates and stuff back into his pack. Talvas was still lying on his back, grabbing his head as if he was having a split headache. My heart was still racing and I felt that feeling on my face, my lips still ready to meet his. I…I couldn't think about this right now. We had a mission to complete. I took Talvas's thermos from him, sniffing it. A strong smell of sujamma flew right up my nose and it burned my eyes to the point where I started crying. I screwed the lid back on and threw it in the backpack. I was tempted to dump it out and throw the thermos away, but…I thought about his claustrophobia. I don't know what would happen later on, how much further in we would need to go. And I don't know how he would take it. Too many variables. And right now…I need him as sane as possible. Just not drunk as possible.
Cearbhail:
Did anyone even think that Talvas might be drunk the whole time? I hadn't really intended for it, but when I reread the chapter for problems, I noticed that Talvas could have been drunk the whole time, so I didn't change it. I actually think he started drinking while Veselle was having her conversation with Kyuu. Hearing that will make any man drink to forget things. And...don't think the quest is over yet. if you've played it, you know it's only started. I'm guessing five chapters for this, probably less though. Can't wait for the boss. Don't know what I'll do for that, but I'll try to make it epic, like I've done so many times in the past for other stories.
