Cearbhail:

And we're back everyone! Great chapter, really great chapter. I want you to think of the Battle of Normandy. D-Day and all that. ;) Enjoy.

[Davilia]

Dear journal, 4e003 20th Mid Year

It was a real long wait, waiting for the Sload to finish collecting their army. We planned on attacking Alinor two days ago, but we had to wait for our reinforcements. Our troop had to wait underwater for the past two days on the shores of Alinor's beaches, waiting in secret two miles from the beach. We spent that time preparing our armor and weapons. Since we had to rely on crystals to draw in energy and put it into our weapons in a way similar to magicka weaving, we didn't get a lot of energy done. Some of the battlemages spent most of their time relaxing and chatting. I spent a lot of time with Erandur. We hadn't really had time to ourselves so I was more than happy to have two days with him before our big battle

When the Sload were finally ready to leave, Erandur called the attack and we started our advance. We had a quick meeting where we discussed our current objectives. We were going to invade Alinor and find a room that could transport us to the moon base run by the Aldmeri Dominion. Since the Aldmeri Dominion started in Alinor, we believed their main base would house the teleportation room. All we had to do was actually get there. Once the brief was over, we started our advance. And now…we go to war.

Davilia Modryn…

…

"Everyone, we are gathered today to…well…invade Alinor. I will not lie to you: this town has been heavily fortified ever since the Daedric Gate incident. The minute we break the surface of the ocean, we will be facing magicka cannons, automatic exploding arrow fire…and battlemages just as tough as us. They will be protecting their town, and we will be viewed upon as the bad guys. We are doing this to find and destroy the world mapping system that lets the Dominion see everything and everyone in the world. That power is too great for any one organization to control, so do not get discouraged that we are invading this town." My boyfriend screamed to all of us as we lined up ten feet from the surface of the ocean, where it met the beaches of Alinor.

A giant sluggish creature called a Sload swam up to Erandur. "Our magicka is low, our necromancy poor. Even so, we estimate a victory in 35 days."

Erandur smiled. "We'll have the base taken in less than 12 hours. One day at most if we hit complications."

The Sload stood there for a few seconds before saying, "You mer work too quickly. Patience is the key to true mastery of necromancy."

Erandur scowled. "I don't do necromancy." He turned around and reached for his two prized katanas. "Ok, everyone. Advance!"

The Sload held his hand up. "Necromages…first wave will ascend." The team of maybe Twenty Sload held their hands up into the air. I don't really know what they were doing, but they started singing in a humming voice that seemed to hum with its own life. Was it some sort of spoken invocation?

I swam up to Erandur. He was looking back at the Sload with a disgusted scowl on his face. When he saw me swimming up to him, he turned to smile at me. "Hi, Dav. Are your Shields ready to go?"

I checked my bracelets. They were fully charged with Shield magic that block several blasts from a magicka cannon if they needed to. I don't know how many arrows they'll deflect, but I'd spent the past two days making sure these enchantments were as strong as possible. And if that wasn't enough, we spent most of our trip down here enchanting our stuff for the very same battle. I had plenty of wands and staffs ready for this battle, and many charms and potions ready as well. I looked back up at Erandur's eyes. He looked so worried for me. I nodded. "They're ready."

"Are you?" He asked me gently as he reached out for me. He wrapped me up in his arms, hugging me close to him. He held me for a few seconds before whispering. "Do you think it will rain tonight?"

I was suddenly hit with realization of what was going on his mind. Raining…it was our code word for my prophesized death. The Mages Guild Arch Mage had said that everyone in the room would die. I had been in the room when she said it, and Erandur had heard it from outside in the hallway. Every battle we went into since then, Erandur kept me by his side, making sure I would stay as safe as possible. I loved the thought, and I loved that he wanted me beside him at all times, but I hated seeing him worry. "As long as you keep an umbrella with us, I'm sure I won't get wet."

"Do you think Lilly was telling us the truth?" His voice nearly choked. The timeline as we know it has broken. Whatever prophesy you heard is meaningless now. Davilia was supposed to die in Kvatch, which we're avoiding anyway. I can't say what will happen, but her prophesized death has already been avoided.

I really hope she was correct. For more than one reason. The Mages Guild Arch Mage had said that the Guild would fall before the end of the war. If the future was spared, that would mean that the Mages Guild might be spared as well. If my death could be avoided, so could the destruction of our guild. Erandur still had me wrapped up in his arms, hugging me close to him. His hand rubbed the back of my neck. He was still worried about losing me. I loved him so much. I don't know how I would feel if I heard he would be dying before the end of the war. It must tear him up to see me in this war. Why did I have to volunteer? If only I had stayed at the Arcane University instead of coming to this war. Wait…what? No! I did the right thing. If I had stayed behind, nothing about me would have changed. I'd still be stuck behind a book, still too scared to talk to anyone. Or I'd be dead like the many mages that died in the very first few days of the Aedric War.

I brought my arms around Erandur, hugging him to me. I brought my lips to his ear, kissing him before saying, "Erandur, you worry too much. I'm not dying today."

We held each other for a few minutes longer before the Sload finished their singing. "We're ready for battle." The Sload leader said as he swam up to us.

Erandur pulled me away, staring me in the eyes for a few seconds longer. He finally turned to look at the other battlemages. "Watch each other's backs, and don't forget the basics. Shield's up, catch the attack, drop the Shield, and unleash Oblivion on your target. Understood? Don't stand still; don't let the enemy get your position. Invisibility, Shields, and Destruction magic." Everyone nodded. Erandur paused to let a deep breath slip out before turning to face the surface. "Stay beside me." He looked at me and started walking through the loose sand up towards the beach. I followed right beside him.

I held my breath as I broke the surface of the ocean. Not because I had to switch from breathing water to breathing air or anything like that. No, I can do that instantaneously by now. No, the reason I had to hold my breath as I broke the surface was because I did not expect to see a full-blown war in front of me. The beach of Alinor was a full bloodbath. Turrets lined the end of the beach, up on a battlement standing several stories up on some cement wall. Razor wire was already lined out along the beachfront, zombies littering the ground as lifeless corpses. I could see the bodies of innocent families also lining the sand. I held my breath because I didn't expect to see a dead boy, maybe six years old, glaring me in the eyes. And then his body jerked as necromancy magic overtook him. His lifeless eyes sharpened and he rose out of the sand. He turned to face the turrets firing arrows down at the beach. He maybe got three steps in before six or so arrows pelted him, his head and chest exploding as the arrows detonated.

"Get down!" Erandur screamed as he grabbed me and threw me into the sand with him. He held my head down as the ground around us started exploding. I felt the ground around us explode. "We need to get to cover, now!" He screamed to everyone behind us.

I looked behind me over to the ocean. I could see battlemages's heads poking out, the Sload right behind them. Battlemages roared as they readied their Shields; charging right out of the ocean. Arrows flew past us, crashing into the ocean. I saw explosions from deep in the water. The explosions were strong enough to sever our Shields and blow off our limbs. I had to be careful. I very well might die if I don't pay attention.

I looked up at the battlement. A Thalmor was aiming a turret at me and Erandur. He was still pushing me down, but I knew if we didn't move, we'd end up dead. "Move!" I screamed to Erandur. "Turret has us!"

He looked up, seeing what I saw. He grabbed my hand and jumped to his feet, using magicka borrowed from his enchanted boots to lift us up quickly. As soon as we got up to our feet, he jerked me off to the left with him, pulling me close to him as we jumped, spinning in the air. The sand where we were lying just seconds before exploded as several arrows slammed into the sand. As soon as we touched ground, Erandur gripped my wrist and pulled me with him as he broke into a sprint. More sand behind us started exploding as more arrows crashed into it. We came to a stop suddenly and Erandur stuck his hand out. I understood quickly enough that I could raise my own wristbands. I had to focus quickly and activate my Shield spell. Both our spells activated fast enough that a giant shimmering wall of energy flashed up right in front of us as several arrows rained down on us.

The ground around me started shaking and I saw sand flying everywhere. I held my Shield out as long as I could before I felt Erandur grip my wrist harder. He screamed in pain and I snapped my head around to see an arrow sticking out of his left shoulder. Time froze for me. "Dav…run…" He pushed me out of his arms and raised a Shield in front of him. I didn't have time to respond before an explosion from behind the Shield threw me off my feet.

"Erandur!" I scrambled to my feet as soon as I crashed into the sand. I couldn't see him anywhere, but that didn't mean he was blown to bits. In fact, if I did see him everywhere, that would be a better indication that he was blown to bits. But I didn't see any trace of him. That was a good sign.

"Davilia." Primrose screamed as she ran up to me. Arrows crashed down around her, exploding new holes into the already blown up sand. She ran up to me, diving into the sand at the last second. I didn't know it, but I had found a small niche of cover in the whole beach. Primrose looked relieved to have a place to lie down. "The whole beach is a mess. We're falling apart out there. Where's Erandur?"

I started shaking my head. "He took an exploding arrow to his shoulder. I-I…" Tears started rolling down my eyes. "I think he's dead."

Her face flushed white. "No…that can't be right." She started looking around. "I-I can't feel his aura." She looked over at me. "Davilia…you're the second in command. What are your orders?"

"What?" I almost screamed to her.

She directed me to the beach. Battlemages and Sload had set up sand barriers and Shields against the barrage of exploding arrows. More than that, I could see black leather-clad Thalmor starting to advance down the long stretch of beach over to us, firing bolts of lightning at their Shields. We wouldn't last much longer like this. We had to do something. On top of the battlement in front of us was a giant cannon glowing with magicka fueled by some welkynd stones. That gave me an idea. I pointed to the cannon, saying, "Aim some magicka at that cannon." I looked back at her. "Remember what happened at Cheydinhal…you know, with the Daedric portal that created a giant magicka explosion waiting to happen? We fired some magicka at it and it exploded?"

Primrose nodded. "Yeah, I saw it from Cheydinhal with Vatu. It was a very big explosion."

I nodded. "That cannon will be like a smaller version of that. As long as we direct our magicka at it."

Primrose nodded again. "Ok, I'll go tell everyone." She pushed up onto her feet and flashed away from me over to a group of battlemages. They nodded to her and she flashed further down the line until every team of battlemages had nodded to the order. Some of the leaders looked over to me for some indication of when to do so. Why wait? If Erandur's dead, I don't have much reason left to stay here. Let's get the party started. I stuck my hand and released a small flare spell into the sky. It directed the gaze of most turrets and Thalmor at me. Arrows rained down all around me, so I started throwing a Shield up all around me as everything exploded.

The battlemages from every team, and the Sloads but only more slowly, stepped out from their cover. Magicka blasts of every element and form raced for the magicka cannon. Explosions from all around me pounded against my Shield and I wondered how long my enchantments would hold. It felt like my Shield was holding up fine, but I couldn't be sure if one explosion would rip a hole open or not. Explosions that had hammered me ceased as the Thalmor started targeting the exposed battlemages. As battlemages started screaming in bloody murder as their friends exploded all around them, they dropped behind their cover again. I looked up at the cannon. It looked ready to blow. If only we had a few more seconds to blast it. Too bad it was fully charged and ready to fire down at us. This was it…we were going to die.

"Hey, losers!" I heard from behind the battlement. It sounded like Erandur. I snapped my head over my cover to see him soaring up in the air. He was dressed like a Thalmor. Oh…I see what he did. He used Invisibility and a clone to cover his own movements. The thing that died wasn't him, but an Illusion spell. And there he was floating above the battlement, his golden hair flowing in the wind and the wings of his long black leather jacket flapping as he fell to the ground. "Good job, Davilia." He looked up at me, smiling. Lightning cracked on his fingertips. He stuck his fingers down at the cannon. A bolt of lightning roared off his fingertips, slamming into the cannon.

The cannon started to glow and then I felt the familiar pop of magicka exploding. Erandur was way too close to the cannon to survive the explosion. We spent days working on our enchantments, using other methods of gathering magicka other than our own to make the enchantments. There was only so much we could do without our own resources. Our malachite bracelets were strong, but one drawback was that with the Silence blocking ability, we didn't recover our own magicka as quickly, and we didn't have a lot to work with to begin with. And thusly, Erandur didn't have any enchantments strong enough to Shield against an exploding magicka cannon that close to him. So…when the cannon exploded, I knew he wasn't coming back to me this time.

As the cannon started expanding, magicka flowing out of it right before the pop topped, I felt a wave of magicka crash over me. It was like the air in the sky had become full of life again, like the gods were watching over us. Magicka poured through my being and I knew everyone else felt similarly. I could hear the relief in their voices as they looked over at each other in wonder. Before I could feel relieved about it… the magicka cannon exploded. I raised my hands, summing as much energy as I had to bring up a Shield to cover me as fire, frost, and lightning thundered over everything. My Shield held by only my willpower, and I was shoved back a few feet as the wave of exploding energy rolled over top me. Other battlemages had a similar problem as their Shields failed. I watched as some close friend cried out in bloody murder as they convulsed, flash froze, and then melted.

My Shield started to crack and I could feel shock magicka pouring through. My hands started tingling as lightning started pouring through them. More cracks in my Shield started forming and I was milliseconds away from being killed. "Dav!" I heard from right behind me. Arms wrapped around me and suddenly another Shield formed up behind my own. Erandur pulled me around to look me in the eyes before he hugged me close to him. "Sorry." He said as he hugged me close.

I felt uncontrollable tears stream down my cheeks as I started beating on his chest. "You idiot!" I cried. "I thought you were dead." And it was true. If it hadn't been for things around me trying to kill me, I probably would have been crying the whole time.

"I know, I know." I whispered reassuringly to me as he let me beat on his chest. He held me close to him, rubbing the back of my head as he tried to calm me down. I finally wore myself out and I looked up at him. He smiled down at me. "I'm sorry." He kissed me and I suddenly forgot why I was mad at him. Oh yeah…he let me think he had died for even a second …that was unforgivable.

"Erandur!" Primrose called from the middle of the battlefield. It drew my attention from his bright blue eyes. She was standing around several downed battlemages, healing them with a few other battlemages lending a healing hand. She directed our gaze up at the destroyed battlement. I looked to see there a giant hole where the wall used to be. Thalmor were struggling to get to their feet, already trying to get their defenses up. If we were to make any progress, we had to make a move up the beachfront right now. "Orders?" She screamed to us.

Erandur snapped right back into leader mode. He released me from my hug and walked up to the others. "Let the wounded heal their wounds and let the Sload take the front with their army of zombies." He looked around. "Did anyone else notice the shift in magicka ley lines? Is anyone else able to summon their own magicka?" Almost every battlemage nodded. "Great. Now we go on true offensive. Throw everything you have at the Dominion. Don't give them a chance to catch their breath. Now…we march straight through the hole, Shielders up front to take the brunt of the attack. Destruction artillery in the back hammering the attacking forces to take the edge off the Shielders. From there, we go straight to the Dominion base. Hopefully, we can get in without further casualties."

"Yes, sir!" Everyone screamed and started taking up their lines. The best Shield users were lining up, forming a massive Shield that we had practiced during our academy days with BI Hans. More seasoned Destruction users were starting to combing magicka to form massive exploding charms to bomb with.

I jogged to catch up beside Erandur. I hooked my arm in his. "Do I get to stay by your side this time?"

He nodded. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

Cearbhail:

A pretty short chapter, perhaps, but I only wanted to do one perspective so that I wouldn't make a chapter too long with both Davilia's and Ja'Daan's perspective. Oh yeah, his chapter is next. The great race will soon begin. in fact, a lot of battles much like this one are about to begin.