"Elsera!" The sharp voice of an elder Dunmer caused the younger to look up from her work briefly. She heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps closing in on her quarters, and sighed wearily. Her hand lowered the price of charcoal she'd been holding, and rummaged through her pack instead. "Did you-" By the time his voice had reached the entrance to her quarters, she had a grand soul gem resting in her palm and outstretched toward him, not even bothering to spare a glance.
She'd done this before. Master Neloth of Tel Mithryn gave her free room and board, had even deigned to take her on as an apprentice - even if he never taught her anything. He allowed her to do whatever she wanted, no questions asked; all that was expected of her in return was to do the odd job here and there. Typically, this entailed filling grand soul gems with the appropriately sized soul. The first couple of times she'd done it, she had tried interrupting his own work long enough to hand the gem over, but he chastised her for it, saying his work was far too important to interrupt.
Apparently, hers wasn't, because he never had problems interrupting her incessantly. He had even interrupted a rather delicate experiment once, and was not willing to wait for her to finish it.
Within a month of living in Tel Mithryn, she had called him the most selfish, egocentric bastard to have ever tainted the face of Nirn. He had responded only with suspicions that calling him such was her way of saying she hadn't filled the soul gem as he'd requested.
He never thanked her. He never told her she'd done a good job. He never expressed any sort of gratitude. He would just impatiently take the soul gem from her, examine it briefly, then go about his business without another word to her.
This time was no different. She felt the soul gem depart her hand, and immediately brought it back to the charcoal, ready to get back to what was more important than his soul gems.
The charcoal had just barely touched the paper when she heard Neloth ask, "What in blazes are you working on, anyway?" She froze a moment; he had never expressed interest in her work before. The sudden interest, coupled with the unmistakable sound of him stepping closer to her desk, almost made her cover the paper with her arms. She decided against it, though; not only would it seem suspicious if she did, but she also thought that a fresh perspective might help... even if it came from an insufferable Master Wizard. She simply sat back in her seat and turned her eyes to Neloth, now standing next to her, hands tossing the soul gem back and forth, his own eyes upon the paper.
She knew it may certainly look peculiar. There were various diagrams, each of which looked quite like a magical gate or portal. Arrows pointed at seemingly random points in each diagram, and small notations written in Dunmeri were everywhere.
She had never once given up her endeavors to find a way to help Ulfric Stormcloak repel the daedric threat. She hadn't been to Skyrim in a few years, and as such had no idea what the portal to Vile's realm looked like. That meant she had no idea how to identify potential weaknesses.
"That," he commented, reaching out to tap one gated diagram, "won't work. If you try to remove the framework of the gate itself, the portal will destabilize and expand rapidly, certainly much too fast for you to stop. Unless that's what you're after, in which case..." He fell silent after a moment. "That won't work either." He was tapping another diagram, this one of a pillar of light emerging from a metal lattice. "If you're going to seal a portal in metal, you can't use anything other than solid metal. The energy will escape from-"
"Do you have anything constructive to offer?" she interrupted, shooting him a withering glare. "Or are you just going to tell me what is and is not possible?"
"I can do both, and am doing both." He examined the paper closer, sparing Elsera nary a glance. Before she could question his definition of 'constructive', he spoke again. "None of this is to open a portal, is it? You're trying to close one... or several."
"Just one," she muttered.
"Skyrim?"
"Skyrim. I made a promise to the High King that I'd do whatever it took to put a stop to this daedric threat."
"I don't suppose you've seen the portal in question? That would certainly help you find-"
"No, I haven't seen it," she snapped at him. "If I had, I wouldn't have so many different diagrams, now would I?" She was rapidly losing her patience with him constantly treating her like a... a novice.
"Then why are you still here?" he sniffed. "You won't see the portal itself just sitting here in Solstheim."
She shot him the fiercest glare she could muster. She was annoyed when he only looked amused in response.
They both knew that there was a portal in Skyrim - and that it was heavily defended by daedra, as well. She knew he knew, as he had commented on it a few times in the past. They also knew it was exceedingly dangerous to brave the wilderness of Skyrim alone; while the daedra were easily the greatest threat, the Thalmor were also threatening - and deterred many from visiting the province. In fact, word of Thalmor checkpoints denying people entry into the province - unless said visitors had a particularly good reason for entering Skyrim - had reached Solstheim very quickly. For Elsera, who visited Raven Rock, it wasn't really news to her anymore.
"The Thalmor-" she began.
"Work to protect the weak and powerless from the daedra, yes," Neloth cut in; to his credit, Elsera noted the mildly mocking tone in his voice that hinted at his own disapproval of the Thalmor. Did he truly dislike them, then...? "You, however, are not weak and powerless."
"They won't let me enter just because you send me on an errand," Elsera said flatly, sensing where the conversation was going. "If they won't let me enter, I won't see the portal. If I don't see the portal, I'm stuck with..." She gestured wordlessly to the diagrams.
"Then sneak by them."
Elsera wasn't sure she heard him right. She blinked several times, and once the initial shock passed, she studied his face closely, looking for any hints of a joke or sarcasm. Finding none, she shook her head slowly.
"They'd kill me if they found out I-"
"Then don't let them find out." He set the grand soul gem down upon her table, then crossed his arms. "They never found out you snuck out of the College, did they?"
"I don't think they were so concerned with keeping people trying to escape Skyrim in Skyrim," she pointed out. It was true; Elsera had heard stories from Raven Rock about the many citizens of Skyrim who had fled from the province the moment the pillars of light started to converge. "They're more focused on keeping people out."
"And who's to say they succeed in that all the time?"
Elsera stared at Neloth a moment longer. There was one question forming at the front of her mind now.
"Why is this so important to you? Why do you want me to slip into Skyrim undetected?"
"Well, as you're well aware, I'm an avid collector of Azra..."
She simply tuned him out from that point forth. She'd done this before: seek some staff or another of a long-dead enchanter, retrieve it from the treasure hoard it was hidden in or pry it from the deathly still fingers of whatever corpse clutched it, and bring it back to him. In short, it was to be another errand - except this time, it seemed it would take her to Skyrim.
Lovely, she thought bitterly, shaking her head gently. I'll be lucky to survive the months to come.
These Thalmor take their duties way too seriously. Were she not hiding from their scouts, the Redguard hidden within the branches of a particularly tall tree would have uttered the words aloud instead of simply thinking them.
Sure, the rumors had suggested the Thalmor maintained strict security checkpoints that kept people out of Skyrim. Sure, she had tried to lie her way in - and been denied. Sure, she had snuck past the laziest guards she could find.
And sure, she had been spotted by one of the more vigilant guards, and was presently running away from them. Or, to be technical, she was hiding from them; she had stopped running, figuring it would work out better if she wasn't on the ground.
She shifted slightly, trying to liberate a small twig from its place lodged against her right thigh. It wouldn't have been as big an issue if she had been wearing her armor, but unfortunately, it tended to glint in the sunlight, and made a little noise besides when worn. Tucked away in her pack, which she had wrapped in her sapphire-blue cloak, her old but trusty mithril armor made far less noise.
Why Skyrim, I will never know, the Redguard thought bitterly. He couldn't have sent me to Cyrodiil, or Elsweyr? It just had to be the region currently infested with daedra and Thalmor scum?
As if the thought were a cue, a high elf clad in the ugly elven armor appeared far below her, eyes scanning the ground ahead of him. She remained motionless for a time, determined not to move even slightly; the one thing she knew about all elves was that, to varying degrees, they had sharper hearing than humans. Her employer certainly did; she had lost count of the times she'd tried muttering her dissent with one decision or another, only for him to chastise her for 'backtalk'.
The elf below her turned his gaze upward, prompting her to inhale sharply. She had no doubt in her mind she would blend in with the foliage somewhat well, but the blue cloak she carried wasn't exactly a natural color. She hoped he was nearsighted and couldn't see her.
Her hopes were dashed as he drew his blade and pointed it up at her. Well, damn; she'd been found. She heard him shout something, but didn't pay much attention to it; she was more preoccupied with trying to figure out how she was going to escape from this predicament. She watched as the high elf looked at the tree's trunk, then began trying to find handholds and footholds he could use to climb the tree. She watched him climb about a few feet up.
Then she watched - in horror, admittedly - as something golden moved as a blur, ripping him away from the tree. She heard the sound of something like nails screeching against metal, then heard the unmistakable sound of metal being punctured. A split-second later, a blood-curdling scream flooded the air, and was later replaced by a rather wet gurgling noise; she imagined he'd just had his throat ripped open, and blood was filling his lungs or... something. Either way, she knew it was likely a grisly scene.
The daedra. She had heard about them, but until now, she had never seen one of them. She wasn't even sure this was one of the daedra that plagued Skyrim nowadays, but what else could it be? This... thing... was certainly not native to any province of Tamriel, or so she believed.
She had seen textbook images of one of the daedra Mehrunes Dagon commanded, documented over two hundred ago, in the aftermath of the Oblivion Crisis. This golden-colored creature below her resembled one of the savage daedroth to some extents: elongated snout, a tail, long claws. She wasn't sure if the similarities ended there or not, though; she was too high up to see it closely, and was not keen on descending just to get a better look.
The dead elf's scream had drawn attention, as several other Thalmor soldiers burst into the area. The Redguard watched as the elves stepped back in clear fear at the sight before them, and knew the other rumors to be true: the Thalmor were afraid of the daedra plaguing Skyrim. For all their apparent bluster, they were not particularly brave when it came to facing these sinister denizens of Oblivion.
The golden creature snapped its jaws at them and flexed its claws menacingly. Its head turned to face each of the elves slowly; each elf it looked at stepped back instinctively.
One stumbled as he stepped back. That was the only opening the daedra needed. In one second, it was moving as a blur toward the elf; in the next, its claws pierced his armor with a sound like... well, nails rending metal. The elf screamed in agony, though his voice soon failed him, as did his strength; the daedra then withdrew its claws from his chest, holding something in its hand. It threw whatever it was holding into the air, then snapped its jaws over it, causing a wet squelching sound to fill the air.
The Redguard was fairly sure the daedra just ate the elf's heart while he still clung, barely, to life. He wouldn't last, though. In fact, she doubted any of the elves would.
As if the barbaric feast were a trigger for the rest, the other elves charged the daedra, shields raised and weapons readied in defensive stances. The daedra simply snorted derisively at the elves, then spun around in place. Its tail - covered with spikes, she noticed - lashed across the chest of one such elf; the spikes buried itself in his chest, causing him to slump to the ground weakly. A moment later, the elf was being picked up and hurled into the nearest advancing elf. Both fell to the ground clumsily.
One managed to close the distance and strike the daedra's leg with a fierce blow. The daedra howled in pain, then let it turn into a growl of fury. In an instant, the fiend's jowls were clamped upon the elf's neck; in the next instant, blood sprayed from the elf's neck and his head suddenly shifted to a very unnatural angle. Once the daedra let go, the Redguard noticed the elf's head roll off his body, and shivered in horror. Were these daedra truly so powerful that they could literally bite someone's head off...?
Powerful though the daedra was, this particular specimen was surrounded and outnumbered, five to one. Somehow, she didn't think it would matter in the end; sure, it seemed as if the daedra was frail to physical blows, but it was capable of killing its foes swiftly and efficiently. It would sustain injuries, but she suspected it would win.
As she watched the Thalmor batter the daedra with maces, war axes and swords, she noticed its movements slowing a little. The strength of its jaws and claws, however, remained unchanged: one elf had found his sword arm literally ripped from his body, then was thrown aside like a doll; another had tried to crush the daedra's head, but was surprised by the fiend's swift duck and following bite upon the elf's feet; a moment later, the elf was on his back, screaming in agony - his feet completely gone from his legs. A third managed to rain several fierce blows upon the daedra's back with his mace, but one such blow missed as the daedra evaded; the miss cost him his hand, which the daedra removed by biting right through his elbow and severing the limb.
The daedra was wounded, but the Thalmor were rapidly losing the fight. The last two hesitated, clearly weighing their options. They could either try to run and save themselves - possibly opening themselves up to death - or stay and keep fighting, and most likely die for sure. They decided the former was their best course of action, because they began to run away from the daedra.
Apparently, the daedra was not wounded enough to give chase. The Redguard watched it disappear from view, the foliage of other trees hiding it and the fleeing elves from view. She heard several sounds frequently associated with chases through forests: leaves rustling underfoot, rapid footsteps, twigs snapping... She knew the elves failed, though, when she heard the unmistakable sound of metal screeching slightly, telling her their armor had likely been torn apart. She heard the sounds of flesh being pierced, heard cries of pain being cut short. She could only imagine what the daedra did to them to kill them.
The daedra plaguing Skyrim were every bit as lethal as the rumors had painted them to be. She was... quite sickened, in fact. If just one daedra could cause that much damage, how dangerous was the rumored army of them, situated in the ruins of Whiterun?
Her thoughts were snapped back to her present predicament when she saw the golden fiend step back into view, toward the greater number of corpses littering the ground beneath her tree. It bent down over one of the elves for a moment, then picked the elf up and, with strength that did not surprise her anymore, ripped the elf's upper body from his waist. From there, claws began to yank what the Redguard assumed were the elf's innards from his corpse and began to feed the daedra's snout.
It wasn't bad enough she was forced to watch it massacre an entire squad of Thalmor soldiers, but she now had to watch it feed? She was most certainly going to be sick before long; in fact, her stomach was already starting to protest the gruesome display below.
What choice did she have, though, but to watch? What chance did she have of escaping this swift and powerful predator of Oblivion? She watched as it began to gorge itself on the dead elves, turned her gaze from it as the fiend's claws tore muscle from bone. It was grisly... and yet, she couldn't bring herself to keep her attention completely away. The first elf, after all, had seen her in the tree; what if the daedra decided to look around - or, even worse, up?
Her gaze shifted to her cloak-wrapped pack after a time, and she bit her lower lip gently. Stashed within was her time-worn mithril armor, true... but also a pair of daggers that had seen her through some difficult encounters in the past. She highly doubted she could actually give this daedra the slip... if she was to die, she would at least try felling the fiend first.
As quietly and carefully as she could, the Redguard began to unwrap her pack. She heard the faint clink of her mithril armor within, and froze for a moment, sparing a glance down. If the daedra heard the sound, it didn't register it, for it continued its gruesome feast. She turned her attention back to the pack and carefully began to open it, trying not to make more sound than necessary.
To her credit, she succeeded in this, for the most part. She had managed to carefully withdraw one of her daggers from her pack without making too much noise, and had even managed to draw it from its sheath. The daedra continued to gorge itself as she readied her blade.
Then it lifted its head and glanced around. She knew exactly why it did, too; her mithril gauntlets had chosen just that moment to shift in her pack, clinking rather audibly against her chestguard. She decided now was the time to strike, and without much concern for her safety - she was probably going to die anyway - she allowed herself to fall from the tree, dagger poised to stab the daedra through the head.
At first, she thought she would get the stealthy kill after all; she had fallen halfway down and the fiend still hadn't glanced up. That changed, though, as she was mere seconds from landing the possibly fatal blow; its head turned upward to see her, and a brief growl of surprise and anger escaped its throat. Its jaws opened wide, anticipating the dagger thrusting down through its head - and was more than prepared to snap her arm off with its jaws.
It took her but a split-second to adjust her arm so that her dagger instead carved a deep gash in the side of the daedra's mouth, all the way down to the base of its neck. The daedra roared in agony and collapsed to the ground, its long claws ripping carelessly at the wound she had inflicted. She landed on top of the fiend, groaning in pain as the impact winded her and left her feeling rather sore. She was rolled onto the ground as the daedra thrashed away from her, still clutching rather pointlessly at the severe - hopefully fatal - gash.
She watched as the daedra's lethal claws, capable of piercing armor and ripping out hearts, slipped too far into the wound, watched as the fiend seized briefly... then collapsed seemingly lifeless. She froze for a moment, not daring to move. Was it pretending to be dead, or had it actually - and, admittedly, rather humorously - killed itself with its own claws?
After several long moments of holding still and holding her breath, she decided it was safe to move and breathe again. The daedra hadn't moved. It was dead.
Deciding not to leave anything to chance, she plunged her dagger through its skull, rather surprised at how easily the blade sank through its scales and the bone beneath. For all its agility and raw power, it seemed as if it was not meant to take a beating, and could die very easily if struck with a fierce enough blow. She tucked that tidbit away for the future; it was very valuable knowledge to have.
Once the adrenaline of her first daedra kill had worn off, the reek of the carnage around her reminded her of her present situation, and she fought the urge to glance about. She had to run away, and fast. No doubt more Thalmor would eventually find this gruesome scene themselves; she did not want to be anywhere nearby when they did.
Futile though it would be against the daedra, she nonetheless began to remove her mithril armor from her pack and began to don it over her simple clothes. As she did so, she examined the daedra closer.
It did look somewhat like a daedroth, but only in places. This daedra had rows of razor-sharp teeth, whereas she was pretty sure daedroth simply had one row. Its claws were long and slightly hooked, as if they were designed for shredding more so than piercing - but they weren't so curved that they couldn't be used for such, as it had proven. Its tail was lined with spikes whose tips were as sharp as needles; that certainly explained how it managed to wound the unfortunate elf whose chest it lashed. Its chest and back appeared to be clad in thick scales, almost as if they were intended as armor; she stopped putting her armor on long enough to poke these scales with her dagger. To her surprise, the 'armor' was as soft and pliable as human skin, and when she pressed the dagger a little harder, she found the tip of her blade sinking into its body rather easily. Was that normal for this variety of daedra? It was clad in scales... did it shed its skin, like snakes did? If so, had she encountered one of these deadly predators in a more vulnerable state than most?
If that was the case, was it truly so easy to kill these fiends, or were they more resilient prior to shedding their skins?
She shuddered in horror; it was not a thought she wanted to entertain. She hastily finished with her armor and placed her daggers at her waist, then donned her sapphire-blue cloak. Her pack found its place beneath her cloak and upon her back, and she cast one last glance at the slain daedra.
"Why Skyrim?" Mianna sighed, shaking her head. "Of all the places my coworker could have disappeared in..." She grumbled incoherently under her breath as she stepped away from the grisly scene around her.
This was either going to be an adventure she'd prefer to skip or the death of her. She did not want to find out either way, but steeled herself for what was undoubtedly to come.
A.N. - No, I haven't died. No, I haven't forgotten about this or All In. Yes, I have a new computer. Yes, I have had writer's block.
Anyway!
I very highly debated reintroducing Elsera in the first chapter, but decided the second would be... better? That being said, I do feel as if her segment was a little weaker. Even so, I do also feel like it's the best way to get her going. Where would she go after the College of Winterhold 'fell' to the Thalmor? Wherever the Augur told her to, of course - and, from there, to a place where magic is... easier to study. Not that Master Neloth is an easy wizard to work with/for...
For those not in the know, Mianna the Redguard made an appearance for a couple of chapters in the story I Am Dragonborn. There's a little more background there, but not much else. For me, the focus was more on showing why she's on the run from the Thalmor, and perhaps more importantly (and maybe more impressively, let me know what you thought!), showing just how dangerous one of the daedra plaguing Skyrim can be... as well as give a scope of how dangerous the entire province is. Sure, they're centered in Whiterun, but what's to stop them from roaming around? I know I didn't specify a point of entry; that's kind of intentional, since I feel like it's just a small technicality. If you MUST have a location, then Falkreath Hold, near the border pass to the west-southwest of Falkreath itself. Leads into... I want to say it leads into Hammerfell, but I'd have to check a map to confirm.
So yes. New computer is awesome. It, of course, also came with the (actually expected) side effect of having a huge case of writer's block. See, now that I have a keyboard again, my mind is racing to type out all sorts of story ideas... and no one thought can hold the forefront of my mind for particularly long, unfortunately. I sit down to write, and my mind wanders to something else; I go to write that, and another thought takes the wheel. Maddening to say the least, but yes. I managed to break it by looking over the first draft of this chapter, and picking up where I (felt I) left off.
My job is keeping me fairly busy, too. My jobs, actually. One more than the other, but by the time I get home, I'm just feeling too tired to write and want to sleep. Days off? I sleep. (Or play Fire Emblem Fates, but I can go on and on and on about that amazing game another time.) That's not to say I like working my 'primary' job anymore; I don't. It's hard to care about a job when every last one of my coworkers - several managers included - just don't give a fuck about anything... to include health code violations (and this is a restaurant!). I'm definitely going to be looking for new work unless shit changes at this job, and REAL fast-like.
All In! I do have the next chapter in progress, but I've hit a speed bump. Do I take it the way I wanted to (and, in so doing, include something of an 'awkward' moment)? Or do I take it the... 'easier' way and further complicate the lives of Vex and Vess just a little? Both have their merits, and both have their downsides. I'm trying to decide which is best for the general direction of the story... but anyway. I haven't forgotten about it.
So yes, in summary, Elsera is back, Mianna is back. My (primary) job sucks, writer's block sucks. All In is at a fork in the road, and I don't know which path to choose.
Fun times.
-Spiritslayer