Cearbhail:
And we have another chapter. Tomorrow I will finish the first arc. I'm happy that it's finally ending. I'll be happy to move onto the second arc where she's fifteen and dealing with Miraak and Asger. I really cannot wait for that. Anyway, I'll finish this up tomorrow. I'm tired and I'll only make mistakes if I keep going like this.
Oh...and enjoy. ^^
Dear Veselle,
In my final moments, I want you to know something. I really tried. I was barely hanging on to sanity before I found you. You gave me the strength to fight the demon inside me, but she has worn me out. I feared sleep because sleep draws her closer to me. And I knew that if I slumbered she would take the opportunity to take over my body. Once she has it, it's hard to get it back. And each time I fight her, she grows more powerful while I lose part of my soul against her. The Ash poisoning has pretty much claimed my whole body by now, and soon I'll look like nothing but an Ash Spawn. If you ever find this letter, I want you to know that I'm sorry. It was my fault you were taken from your father in the first place. I'm sure you already know that, seeing as how I unlocked your memories. And the sad thing was that I wasn't all that crazy back then. I just wanted you back from him, but I was paranoid that he would try to kill me if he knew I was still alive. Or try to save me. I liked the power at the time, I reveled in it. But I still wanted you, and my demon wanted you too. I think some part of her intention is what sent me back for you in the end.
But anyway, I can feel her coming up again. She's making one final assault on my mental barriers set up to keep her out. Two days without sleep are taking their toll. I'm sorry, but I know thi sis the end for me. The final assault for my mind. You have to leave, have to find Neloth. Show him what you learned. Silver must be the key; it has to be! Gwen is almost back to normal, and my demon knows it. That's why she's pushing so hard. She'll try to stop you, so you'll have to stop me first. Just know that I will let her take me, so that at the right moment…right when it matters most, I will hit her with everything I have. I'll let you kill me. It's the only thing I can do to save you and Gwen. Tell Neloth I'm sorry, but never forget what you learned here. As a final gift from me… I want you to keep my staff. It has healing magic in it. It can create a protective circle that heals you and your friends while repelling negative forces, including humans.
Ildari Sarothril.
…
I watched with horror as Ildari carried my floating body into the carving room. The first time I was in here, she had been dragging me by my arm, and I had been using Flames to attack her. The attack had done nothing and I had gotten nowhere doing it. Now, I was floating in mid-air with no ability to move my arms or legs. My magicka was Silenced to the level that I couldn't even summon a spark of a flame even if I felt like my heart was going to explode with fear, which was pretty much true right now. If I could get to my magicka, this entire place would have melted to the floor.
"Mother…" I heard Gwen call into the doorway as she poked her head through. She had that twisted smile on her face. "Mother, Veselle won't play with me."
Ildari continued to drag me through the air, but turned to look back at Gwen. "Veselle is busy right now."
Gwen smiled. "Ooh! Is she finally getting her heart stone implanted?" She jumped up and down. "Will I be able to kill her now?"
Ildari nodded and slammed me onto the table hard enough for my lungs to blast out all the air I had. My head spun as I lied there. I felt the invisible force surround me as Ildari floated up to me. "Yes, Gwen. Right after her operation, you may play with her as you see fit. If she gets too mangled, I'll just use Restoration magicka on her heart stone and she'll be good as new…every…time…she…dies." She glared down at me with eyes so empty and calculating that I think I wet myself a little.
I glanced at Gwen, who looked at me with eyes wide and joyous. She motioned to her red palms, covered in her blood. "Hear that, Vessy? Soon we'll be able to play all the games I love. You'll see how great they are. Dying is so much fun." Fun, huh? Oh gods I hope it's fun. I'd rather die than go through this anymore.
I looked up at Ildari as she waved her hand over me. My robes started undoing themselves. With a flick of her wrist my overtunic flew off my body. My body had been levitating just enough to make that easy for her. Once it was gone, Ildari untied my keikogi. She exposed my chest and then reached out for one of those really old rusty knives that looked like it would be more painful to use just because it was broken, dull, and had more than one sharp edge on it. I struggled to move, but as she bent down to slice into me, I felt the tower around us shake. Ildari paused, as did the joyous Gwen. Ildari snapped her head up like she was sniffing the air. She flicked her wrists and the straps on the table wrapped around me, securing me to the table. I struggled to summon my magicka, but these straps were draining my magicka. I couldn't do anything.
Ildari waited for a few seconds before turning back down to me. "Must have been nothing." She mumbled to herself before she slowly brought the knife down on my sternum. I felt a sharp flash of pain as the knife started slicing into me. I took a deep breath and tried to scream, but my screams were suddenly contained inside of me, much like my breath had. My body froze again, and I knew it was Ildari's work. She didn't try to numb the pain I was feeling though. Didn't even try to knock me out like last time.
I glanced at Gwen, who bounced as she looked at my wide eyes. "I'm so jealous." She reached down and started touching my chest, pulling her fingers away with my blood on them. She looked at it for a few seconds, saying, "It's so beautiful, Vessy. So red and vibrant." I'm going to go crazy, I just knew it. Watching Gwen stare at my blood was going to drive me crazy. Not to mention after this whole thing was over, I was going to be handed over to Gwen to be horrendously murdered over and over again as part of some sick and twisted game. And there wasn't anyone coming to save me either. At least not before I had the heart stone implanted. This was happening…it was really happening.
I felt another tremor and the knife plunged thicker into my body, drawing an actual scream from me. I could feel the knife hit my sternum, and thankfully that was the furthest it could go. Ildari pulled the knife out and turned to Gwen. "That was an attack. We're under attack."
Gwen nodded. "Do you want me to play with Veselle while you check it out?"
Ildari growled at Gwen, saying, "I want you to go check it out while I attend to this surgery."
Gwen's smile faded away, but she nodded. "Ok…I'll go kill our intruders." She looked down at me, grabbing my hand with her bloody ones. "I'll be right back, Vessy. And then we'll play tag. The fun way." She winked at me and then ran off towards the exit. I was actually happy to see her run off. That just meant I didn't have to watch her poke her fingers in my exposed tissue and pull out a rib bone or something to play with.
Ildari looked back down at me and steadied her knife hand as she started reaching down at me again. I felt more tremors hit, a lot more. It was becoming more of a continuous streak of thumps instead of isolated ones. I felt so relieved that the room was shaking as much as it was, because Ildari looked incapable of working while the room shook. There was a louder boom, one that sounded like it was coming from inside the building, and it drew Ildari's attention away from me. "Someone has breached my enchantment. Two…four…eight." She growled and looked down at me. She dabbed a cloth at my bleeding chest and threw some Restoration at my bleeding wound. "Don't die before I can implant your new heart." She hissed at me before quickly vanishing out the room like a serpent shadow.
As soon as she exited the room, I saw a flash of lightning so thick that it covered the whole room. Ildari was tossed back immediately, crying in alarm as she was tossed aside. "You dare hurt my apprentice!" Neloth roared. "Where is she?" He screamed and I saw more lightning flash down the hallway towards Ildari. I felt the pressure holding me still vanish and I started struggling against my straps. I still couldn't use my magicka, but I'll be damned if I let someone like Talvas walk in on me shirtless and strapped down to a table.
"Anari!" I screamed to the sky. And just like that, she morphed right beside me.
"I managed to get Neloth." She announced to me in her sing-song librarian voice.
"That's great." I replied and started struggling. "Can you…how can I say this… UNSTRAP ME FROM THIS TABLE?" I screamed to her.
She backed away from me, crossing her arms. "With that attitude, I don't see why I should."
I groaned and bounced against the table. I hoped the straps would just let go and I could get up. No such luck. "Ok…I'm sorry. I'm just a little on edge because two crazy people are trying to cut me up, pull out my heart, and throw a rock in its place."
"If they do that…I won't be your spirit anymore." She mused for a second, rubbing her tentacle chin. Damn…she had a good point. She didn't exactly like me, but it was her mission to protect me, so I didn't know why she was even bothering with this act of hers. She finally nodded and then started undoing my straps. "Ok then. I'll unstrap you." She touched one of the straps and was welcomed to a shriek of pain as lightning coursed through her. Anari was suddenly thrown back into a wall where she drifted down to the floor, her eyes glazed over. The strap must have been enchanted with an attack of some sort. She managed to loosen one of my hand straps before it happened though. I started twisting my hand through the loosened strap. It wasn't much room, but I could pull it off without breaking my thumb or something stupid like that.
"Gwen?" I heard Talvas call in the hallway. I looked out to see him standing in the dining room. Gwen was standing near the fireplace. She looked uncertain, like she was afraid for a second. I thought about calling out to Talvas, but I was still half naked, and he was the last person I wanted to see me like this. So, I started twisting my hand, getting more than half of it out of the strap, only to stop to catch my breath and try again. My wrist made a small pop a few times but I managed to pull it out. I almost smacked my own face doing it too, but I was happy to have my hand loose. I still couldn't use any magicka, but it's a start anyway. I reached down to my other hand strap and pulled on it. I felt a course of lightning course through me. I screamed in pain as I felt my body burn me. "Veselle?" Talvas screamed as he snapped his head back towards me. "Veselle!" He screamed again and started running towards me.
"Don't turn your back on me!" Gwen screamed and charged at him, throwing black fire at him. She slammed a wave of fire right over the exit of the dining hall, and I was unable to see what happened next. "You think she's cuter than me?" Gwen screamed. "Is that the kind of girl you're into now? Is she the one you moved onto once you left me behind? Did she make you happy?" She sounded so crazy that I couldn't even understand what was going on. Was she mad or laughing? I don't even know.
"Gwen…" I heard Talvas say. "I'm sorry; I didn't know you were alive. I thought Ildari killed you."
"Mother saved me!" Gwen screamed. "She saved me from the reavers, while you saved yourself!" I heard and felt more fire landing all around the dining area.
My head stopped spinning from the lightning that coursed through my body and I managed to slide my hand out of the loosened strap. Ok…two hands down. If I can just get my chest and ankles loosened, I should be able to just slide out. But…I couldn't reach my ankles without leaning up. That would mean that my chest strap would have to be all the way off. That…would be hard to do with the Shock enchantment. I looked down at Anari, who was now starting to wake up. "Anari!" I screamed to her.
She shook her head and looked up at me with her beady eyes. "Yes, Elle?"
"I have a plan. You have to loosen my ankle strap enough that I can slide my feet out. Think you can do that?" I pointed to my ankle straps. "I will loosen my chest strap and then…you'll have to drag me out. Should be easy."
Anari nodded. "I think I can do that." She glided up off the floor and over to me. She reached over to my ankle strap, took what I guessed was a deep breath and pulled on the strap. I saw lightning course through her, but she managed to pull the strap out enough that I could slide my feet out. She let go of the strap and drifted back a few feet, taking a few labored breaths before shaking it out of her. "Since I knew what to expect, it was easier for me to deal with. It caught me by surprise the first time, not anymore." She said to me as she drifted over to my head.
I took a deep breath as I reached for the strap pressing down on my chest. I closed my eyes as I reached for the strap and pulled it straight up. My arms turned to jelly instantly as lighting coursed through my body for a second time in a minute. My body started to spasm and I think I bit my tongue. I didn't have to suffer too long before the pain stopped. And that's when Anari grabbed me underneath my shoulders and pulled me out of the operating table. I was so done that I didn't even try to catch myself as I tumbled out of Anari's arms and onto the floor. I barely felt the collision too. My arms didn't want to move, my legs were useless. I struggled to stand up, struggled to move. What I did do was stretch out my hand and warm up a Conjuration portal. I visualized a link to Kyuu and tossed the ball out in front of me.
The ball popped into a portal. It sat there for a second before Kyuu padded out, looking down at me with sad blue eyes. "Nice to see you again." He said cutely as he looked down at me. "Wow…ok, maybe not so nice to see you again."
"Heal me." I said to him. He nodded and walked on top of me. His ears flicked up and I saw the white light embrace me like a welcomed hug from Mom. I felt the hole in my chest heal up, my brain cells regenerate from being shocked a few times, not to mention my little drinking contest with Talvas when I fought the dragon priest. I felt new life wash over me and I took a nice deep breath. I sat up, wrapped my hands around Kyuu and squeezed him to me, saying, "Thanks, Kyuu…I'm never letting go of you ever again."
"Never?" He questioned me as I squeezed him. "I think I liked Nrillia better." He groaned as he squirmed out of my hold. He bounded out of my hug and over to my clothes. "Come, partner. We should get you dressed before you go out to fight. Don't need you blowing up your rescue squad."
I nodded to him and ran over to my tunic. I redid my keikogi and my hakama before making sure the rest of my robes were perfect. And when they were on, I had Anari fix my twintails while I briefed them both on what I had learned and what I wanted to happen. "Listen, Gwen and Ildari are actually decent people. Their heart stones are killing them, and we can fix it. We just need to tell Neloth that I have a recording of a procedure that will save Ildari's life. Gwen needs some strong mental therapy."
Kyuu smiled. "I can do that. My Heal Beam can also fix mental illnesses."
It could? That seemed farfetched. "How?"
He smiled. "Duh…I'm an angel!" He squeaked. "I'm a healer from one of the Nine gods. I could cure cancer if I wished it. And a mental illness is still an illness. It can be cured." He looked up at me. "I just need to be close enough to heal her."
I nodded. "I'll get you close enough." I looked at Anari. "While Kyuu and I take on Gwen, I want you to tell Neloth about my memory. Can you relay memories?"
She stared at me for a solid three seconds. "Do I look like a telepathic spirit?" Huh…for some reason I thought that my plan would just go as…planned. Oh well.
"Fine, just tell him I have a way to save Ildari. Tell him to not kill her. Help him subdue her if you can." I said to Anari.
"I will tell and aid him immediately." She vanished like she always did.
I turned back to Kyuu. "Ok, let's go help Talvas fight Gwen. I'll try to help him get her to the ground so that you can heal her mind. Ok?"
He nodded. "Nice to be back with you, Veselle." He purred and jumped onto my shoulders. "Are you going to wear these black robes every day now?"
I looked down at my gray and black robes. I did like black, and it did look good on me. "Hmm…we'll see." I said to him. "My mom gave these to me, so…yeah, probably."
He sighed. "Just like Nrillia…" He stared off at the ceiling.
I flicked him on the forehead. "Yeah…I'm not some evil necromancer. Now…come with me. I'm going to assemble a bunch of skeleton warriors to help us fight Gwen." He just glared at me without saying anything as we raced out of the room.
"You learned how to animate dead things?" He sounded disgusted with me.
"Yup…I did it a lot. Like once, I had to sweep the dining room. I animated a skeleton to do it for me. I sat there and sipped on some chocolate milk while the skeleton did all the work." I laughed as I ran down the hallway. I heard fighting above us. It sounded like the Redoran guard fighting the Ash Spawn. "Oh…Captain Veleth is here too?" That was nice. I was hoping he was worried for me too. I paused as I suddenly realized…this was it. I was going home. Back to Neloth…back to Talvas…everyone. Life would go back to normal after this. And maybe we could have two more in our lives: Mother and Gwen. That would be nice. I could see us all living in Tel Mithryn, laughing at the rising sun, eating some apples. It was a nice thought.
"You just wanted to control me!" Gwen screamed to Talvas. "Use my body and throw me away! That's what all men want!"
"What?" Talvas sounded confused. "It wasn't like that! I loved you!"
Oh yeah…people could die if I didn't get moving. I reached the ashy arena and looked at all the skeletons that filled the place. "Kyuu…please don't hate me for this."
He glared at me, took a deep breath, and then sank his head on my shoulder. "Nrillia said the same thing once. She never went back." He looked at me. "It gets easier if you let it."
I shook my head. "Trust me, Kyuu. I'm not evil."
"Not yet." He corrected.
I reached into the ash, feeling all the bones just sitting there. I visualized all the bones in the room. I willed them to collect into bodies and then mapped out how many it would be. Twenty. Twenty bodies I had to create souls for. That was easy for me. Just like the Destruction training I did earlier. I brought my arms out and started creating twenty small Conjuration orbs filled with my personality traits and desires. I gave them all a little piece of what made me a person and I launched the orbs into the ash. Bodies started crawling out of the ash: skeletons with glass black magicka muscles that looked more like ligaments.
I looked back at Kyuu and smiled. "Did Nrillia ever do that?"
He looked away. "That's how she started."
I watched as the skeletons walked over to me, waiting for me to give them orders. I waved to them and they all started forming rank files, all standing at attention like soldiers. One of the skeletons stood there, his hands behind his back as he addressed his troops. "Men…we have orders to save this girl…" He pointed at me. "and her friends. I will not lie to you. Some of you won't be coming back from this fight. What we're looking at is a suicide mission, but that's why they chose us. We're the Elite Guard. We take the impossible missions…the ones others call suicidal. Take a good look at those standing to your left and your right. Chances are…they're sharing your body parts. You probably have his leg or something, we don't really know. But what we do know is that we're all in this together…and one of us is probably made up of all of us. Probably me. Now…let's go out there and do what we were created to do." He turned to look at me. "Orders ma'am?"
I nodded. I pointed up above me. "The Redoran are fighting the Ash Spawn. Go kill those Ash Spawn and help the Redoran Guard with anything they need help with. Identify yourself as Veselle's Elite Guard to the Redoran. They will back you up."
The leader of the skeletons nodded. "On it, ma'am." He turned to face the other skeletons. "You heard the ma'am. Move like you still have flesh on your bones!" He screamed and then charged for the exit. The other skeletons screamed and charged out the door with him.
Kyuu looked up at me, nodding. "I take that back…you're nothing like Nrillia. She just made them into husks unless she modeled them after herself. You…you gave them personalities…didn't you?"
"Didn't seem right to bring them to life without a life of their own to live." I said to him. "Now…we have to something else we need to summon."
"Summon?" He asked me. "What?"
There was nothing I could do to fight Gwen or Ildari. I know that. I've fought her before. She used the same magicka I used. She would just blow through my flames and slash me with her sword. I wasn't good at holding onto Air, Earth, or Ash yet so that was off the menu too. There was only one thing I could do. I had to create the thing Mother wanted me to create: an Ash Guardian. I needed a heart stone to do that though. That's when I remembered the heart stone necklace lightly attached to my neckline. I reached down and grabbed it. It pinched a little when I pulled but it came off easily enough. I snapped the silver chain it was attached to and then looked at it. It had a lot of time to absorb my magicka. This thing must have been pretty powerful by now. I bet it could be used to create a powerful Ash Guardian. Too bad I didn't know the first thing about creating one. Oh well…I'll just make it up on the fly.
I stabbed the heart stone into the ash. And then I stood there like an idiot. What was I supposed to do next? I remembered that Mother kept a book she wrote on creating Ash Guardians in the training arena…the one Talvas and Gwen were fighting in right now. That would mean that I would have to run in there and grab the book while they were fighting. Or…or I could just make the Ash Guardian in that room. I could do it. I reached down and picked up the heart stone. I looked at Ash, nodding to him. "Ok, Kyuu. Gwen and Talvas are fighting for their love…and I'm about to create something so powerful that they both will fall on their knees to me."
He rolled his eyes. "Are you sure you aren't evil?"
I smirked. "Evil? No…jealous…maybe. Just a little." Gwen might be a lot of things, but she was still in love with Talvas, and I was sure of that. And Talvas never loved me because he still loved her. That was a problem. I had to save them both because I'm nice, but I still need Talvas to love me more than her. Not fair. I want to do the right thing, but at the same time, I don't. Doing the right thing and saving her life will only make Talvas love her again, and her love him. And...if I don't…Talvas still won't love me and he'll lose Gwen too. And Gwen will probably kill herself. Dammit! I can't win no matter what I do!
Cearbhail:
One chapter left to go. Wow...can you believe it? An entire arc just ready to come to a close. Next chapter...I don't know how long it will be. It might turn into two chapters where one is the aftermath chapter...but don't forget. Ash Guardian and Frost...I cannot wait to show you what happens. Well, I might disappoint you guys with what happens. This is one of the first times where I planned all this out...where I don't just go off on one of my famous finger misdirections, where my fingers decide that ... nah, we'll write this instead. I hate preplanning chapters, but my stupid head wouldn't shut up and said, "This is perfect, get up at one in the morning and go write this down...you won't regret it." Anyway, I might be the craziest person in this story. Kinda like Gwen, only not with blood and torture like her. Well...maybe when I was younger I was, but that was like a long time ago, way before my time in the army. Wow...didn't mean to share that. Have a nice day ^^
