Chapter 20: Helena

"Let me get this straight," I said to Proof. Dervis Neloron as we sat in the middle of the Hall of Continents. Some altmer preps dressed in pink slutty mage robes were staring at us from across the room but I ignored them this time because I was doing something importabt.

"Illusion magic is used to influence the minds of people around us?" I asked my instruction.

"That's right." Drevis Neoprene said. He was one of the senior wizards at the Collage and I asked him to help me with one of my exparaments with illusionist magic. I was gonna invent a new spell to bring modern conveniences I missed to Tamriel.

"Ok I'm gonna cast the spell now." I said and I looked down at the bowl of ice cream that I made.

My next quest was to make it taste like chocolate, but that doesn't exist in Tamriel so I thought I could use illusion magic to change it's flavor. So I put my hands up and they started glowing green. And then I shooted the green lights at the bowl of plain ice cream but nothing happened. Prooffesor Neoprene observed me intentionally with his blood red eyes.

"OMFG it's not working!" I excleamed.

"Your intention was to alter how one would perceive its taste, wasn't it? Why don't you give it a try?" He said and he handed me a Dwemer spoon, which looked like a modern spoon except it was made by Dwarfs.

I tried a spoonful of the ice cream and it tasted bitter and sweet just like covfefe.

"The taste changed but it's not what I wanted..." I said. "It tastes like coffee but I wanted it to be chocolate."

"Interesting. I've never heard of such things. Can I have a try?" Darvis Nelolen said so I gave the spoon to him and he had a taste.

When he put the spoon in his mouth his blood red eyes widened in delight and his spiky white hair spiked higher.

"This is amazing!" He said. "I'd consider it a success."

And then he had another spoonful, and then another.

"Stop it! I made this for Brenana!" I said and then he stopped.

"Sorry, it's just that I've never tried anything quite like it. It has a curious taste. And it seems that your spell gave it properties that influence the mind in other ways." He said.

"Like what?"

"For one, I suddenly feel more awake and alert after consuming this...strange delicacy you've concocted. I can't help but crave some more." He repleid.

"OMFG just like real coffee," I said.

"So this is the 'coffee' that you speak of" Darvis said curiously. "You must teach me this new spell! This is an amazing discovery!"

So I teached him the spell and he cast it on a bottle of wine that was sitting on the table. I opened the crok and smelled the inside and it smelled just like real coffee! I took a sip.

"I think it worked." I said.

"Let me see," Darvis Neoprene replied and took a swing of the transfigurated coffee. "This is perfect!" He said and chugged some more.

"Umm the spell?" I reminded him.

"Oh, right." He said. I noticed he was getting jittery by the time he was halfway thru the bottle. "Try focusing on the subtle nuances of the taste you might have missed. And think about the feelings and emotions that come with the perceived taste you're trying to achieve."

I closed my eyes and focused. And then I cast another spell on the bowl of ice cream, thinking about the sheer bliss that comes with eating chocolate and how it washes all your troubles away. A green light flashed again. And then I tried another spoonful of the ice cream and I was success!!!1

"OMFG I DID IT!" I exlamated. "I'm gonna show this to Brenana now. Thanks for helping Proof Neoprene!!!1"

Darvis nodded at me as a "yuor welcome" and he went back to drinking his magic coffee while writing notes about the new spell we made up.

"The Archmage is going to love this..." he muttered to himself and then he cast the coffee spell on every other bottle of drinks he found in the room.

xXx666xXx

I went to visit Barleyna in her room and she was reading a book quietly. She had black eyeliner smeared by her tears running down her bluish gray cheeks like two black rivers of sorrow and anguish. There were black stained teardrops in the page of her spell book that she was reading. Ever since she dumped Errornir for cheating on her with me, she has been distracting herself with homework and books the whole time. So she locked herself in her room studying magic all day.

When I told Brenana about what happened at the midden with the Dargonbron, she didn't belief me at first and she was angry at me for stealing her man. But then I showed her the letter and proved that it was Error's idea and I only went because I thought Erik wrote it. And then she forgave me and thanked me for telling her.

"Hey Brenana" I said.

"Oh. Hi, Raven," she said depressingly.

"I got you something."

"Oh?" Brenana looked at me confusedly and I put my transfigureated chocolate ice cream on her desk.

"What's this?" She asked and eyed the desert carefully. "It smells so alien, yet so appetizing."

"It's chocolate ice cream. It's a food from my world that girls eat after a break up," I explaineded. "I made it for you using illusionist magic with help from Neloron."

"Wow. I've never heard of illusion magic being used to recreate a food before, but I suppose I could use a break from all the studying" Barleyna shrugged.

And then we ate ice cream and cried and complained about our lives together while we drank through 6 whole bottles of Sujamma just shared between us. She complained about Error being a jerk and I complained about Erik and Onion being stupid. I whined about my life back on earth and she complained about her strict dad back in Soulshtime and how her family always pressured her to be an overachiever because she was in House Tortellini. I didn't know Brenana and I had so much on common!

"I honestly can't believe I expected better out of 'Nir. When we first met, he seemed so genuine... To think that he could deceive me and betray me like that..." Brenana sighed. "I suppose that's l what I get for trusting an illusion mage."

"Error is just an asshat, forget him!"

"I wouldn't be surprised if he's had other women all those times he was on the road without me," she started sobbing.

"OMFG Barleyna! All men are such jerks! The only thing they're good for is braking our hearts!" I complained as I took another bottle of Barleyna's secret Sujamma stash. "Who needs them?!" I started creing too and my black eyeliner flowed down my pale white cheeks.

And then Barleyna and I looked at each other in deep understanding. I got lost in her blood red eyes that sparkled in the mage light in her room. We leaned in closer to each other and then I kissed her for the first time.