Chapter 3: Daylight

The stranger stayed low as she moved through the dark caves, her bow already drawn. As the corridor opened up she stopped, her eyes firmly locked on the Falmer on the opposite end on the room. It was busy carving the shell off a big insect like creature, the stranger held her breath. It hadn't noticed her. She carefully reached for the quiver on her back, slowly removing an arrow. As she tightened the string and took aim, she held her breath again as the world around her was reduced to the bow in her hands and the target ahead.

"Hey! Wait!", a loud whisper from behind.

The stranger flinched ever so slightly as she let go of the arrow. It flew straight across the room, missing the Falmer's head by a hair and shattering on the rocky wall behind it. It turned around and growled aggressively into the direction the arrow came from. The stranger angrily looked back over her shoulder.

Realizing what she had done, Brelyna put both her hands on her mouth. "Fowwy!"

The Falmer grunted again and began moving into their direction.

The stranger turned back around, dropped the bow and ran out into the room. As she rushed towards the Falmer, she grabbed her sword and raised it over her head with both hands. The Falmer heard her closing in and struck out for a swing to hit when she arrived. But the stranger jumped into the air while still a couple of meters away from him and brought her sword down upon the Falmer's head, splitting it in half right down to the neck.

She stopped moving and looked towards the opposite exit as the sword fell from the lifeless Falmer that was still stuck on her blade. As the sound of metal hitting rock wore off, silence returned.

She waited a second longer before putting her foot against the Falmer's chest to remove her sword. She quickly went back to where Brelyna was still crouching with both her hands over her mouth and widely opened eyes. She wasn't scared of the Falmer as much as she dreaded the wrath of her savior. The stranger crouched as well, looked her sternly in the eyes and put an index finger over her mouth. "Shhh!" With that she grabbed her bow and left for the opposite exit.

"That doesn't mean I'm supposed to leave you alone, does it?!", Brelyna asked after her.

The stranger didn't react, just disappeared in the shadow of the narrow tunnel ahead.

"I guess not." Brelyna got up and followed.

After a few twists and turns the tunnel opened up yet again, a bigger cave this time, there was hardly any light. The stranger remained at the tunnel exit and tried to make out the dark shapes as Brelyna caught up with her. After a moment she realized that she could be of help. "Oh! OH!", she burst out excitedly.

The stranger quickly turned around and looked at her with the same angry look, a split second later both her hands went up to cover her mouth again. Her right hand however left that position soon after to charge up a white glowing ball of light. The stranger's eyes were used to the dark so she shielded them with one hand as the bright orb flew past her and started to hover in the air in the middle of the cave.

As the cave was illuminated, both of them moved back into the tunnel a little to find cover. Five huts were built closely together at one end of the hall, makeshift wooden fences that looked like animal pens had been put up at the other. The stranger put an arrow into her bow, pulled the string tightly to her and slowly started to scan the room, her arrow pointing at whatever she was looking at. The inhabitants weren't there.

She relaxed her drawing arm and put the arrow back into its quiver. After quietly approaching the huts to make sure they were empty, the stranger got up from her crouching position, Brelyna did the same.

As the magelight dissipated, the stranger gave Brelyna a nudge as if to say 'do that again'. Brelyna sent another bright ball of light flying to the center of the room.

A trail of blood caught the stranger's eye. They followed it from the huts to one of the animal pens. They were all devoid of life, yet filled with blue glowing eggs, a good lot of them. The trail led to a dead Nord in the pen, his gut slit open, his insides chewed upon. The stranger gasped audibly and rushed over the waist high wooden fence. Brelyna stayed outside as she watched her kneel down and hastily check the body for signs of life, slapping him in the face, pounding on his chest, giving off whimpers every time her fist hit the lifeless body.

Brelyna put her hands onto the fence. "Were you close?", she asked with a sympathetic tone in her voice.

The stranger looked at her with pain in her eyes. She stood up, unsheathed her sword and brought it down with an agony filled scream, chopping the dead man's head clean off. Her scream echoed a while longer through the large chamber.

Brelyna removed her hands from the fence and backed off.

The stranger was kneeling motionlessly in front of the now decapitated corpse, her eyes closed, a tear running down her cheek.

Brelyna didn't know what to do. Part of her wanted to turn tail and flee right that second. Part of her wanted to know what that pain was and if she could ease it. "Fight or flight, Brelyna.", she whispered, "What's it going to be?". Her internal debate was interrupted by faint echoes of Falmer noises. She looked around to try to pinpoint which of the three tunnels leading to the chamber they were coming from. It was more than one, actually it was more than five, actually it was too many to estimate a number. She couldn't make out a definitive direction. "Definitely flight."

"Um... hello?" Brelyna had approached the fence again as the echoes grew louder. The stranger opened her eyes and looked at her. "Do you hear that? I think you woke them all up." The stranger looked back at the corpse. "We should probably leave? Probably?"

The stranger began checking the dead man's pockets as the mass of Falmer closed in more and more.

"I really don't think there's time for that." Brelyna started moving backwards towards the tunnel from which they entered. Finally the stranger found a small leather-bound notebook.

And then, like ants from a hive you accidentally stepped on, Falmer began pouring into the chamber from the opposite entrance. The stranger looked up and quickly ran towards Brelyna, who started running as soon as she was caught up to.

The tunnel was a bottleneck. The masses of Falmer were moving through in rows of two or three, sometimes franticly climbing over each other.

The Dunmer were moving backwards, looking at them. The stranger had her sword drawn, parrying the occasional thrust of the Falmer in front, occasionally killing one, making the rest climb over the corpse.

Brelyna kept checking over her shoulder to see where they were going. "I don't think this is where we came from! We should have left this tunnel by now!"

The stranger kept her focus firmly on the wall of Falmer that moved with them not more than a meter away. She whistled loudly to get Brelyna's attention. She pointed at the dagger on her belt, signaling her to grab it and help keep them at bay.

"Oh nonononono, I am no good with those kinds of things..."

The stranger parried another Falmer blow, then another one, then thrust forward to kill that excited Falmer that couldn't keep it's sword to itself. Then she pointed again at her dagger with an even angrier look on her face.

"I know nothing about sharp things!"

In resignation the stranger turned back to the task at hand as they were still moving backwards through the meandering tunnel.

"But there is something I know a little bit about." Brelyna's fearful facial expression relaxed as she tried to focus. The bandage on her head had slipped down, she removed it to not be distracted. "It's all in the shoulder, Brelyna."

The stranger looked at her with confusion, still blocking the occasional Falmer blow.

Brelyna's right hand began to emit an orange glow as she moved it back as if she was preparing to throw an invisible object. As she thrust her hand forward, fire erupted, shooting towards the Falmer, setting the first couple of them aflame. The eruption was over in under a second.

The Falmer stumbled and fell, burning, screaming, stopping the approach of the entire group as they tried to figure out how to get over the flames.

The stranger stopped and looked at the chaos unfold. Then she looked at the young mage at her side who looked back at her with an uncertain smile. She gave her a quick pat on the back then turned around and ran the opposite direction, Brelyna followed.

They reached a crossing in the tunnel, three openings besides the one they came from.

"I think...", Brelyna was out of breath, "...I think we are lost..."

The floor rumbled and masses of Falmer appeared squeezing through the tunnel on their left, having the both of them instantly run into the one to their right. Yet again they closed in so fast they had to turn around to fight them off, walking backwards.

The stranger looked at Brelyna expecting another show of fire.

The mage focused and cast fourth another ray of flames, which this time hit a greenish blue shield that appeared in front of the enemy as soon as the fire reached them.

The Falmer had moved one of their mages to the front.

"That is a ward!" Brelyna remembered her first lesson at the college, it seemed ages ago. She also remembered Master Tolfdir saying that you had to keep it up as long as you are hit. So it was ultimately a battle of will. A matter of who could keep their spell up longer.

She fired. This time it wasn't over quickly, instead she focused hard to keep the flames running, continuously hitting the ward the Falmer mage had cast. The Falmer slowed down but so did Brelyna as they had to concentrate to sustain their spells.

The stranger relaxed her stance realizing that no swords would come their way for the time being.

The temperature in the tunnel rose significantly, pearls of sweat formed on Brelyna's forehead. "I can't keep this up forever you know!" She looked to her side, then over her shoulder, then quickly back forward to not lose control. "I don't believe this!"

The stranger had vanished.

"She left me here!" She kept slowly moving backwards, her face showing signs of pain and exhaustion as she reached for her last reserves of strength. She knew she would be cut down the second she let the spell go. "Azura, this is hot..." Had she been anything other than Dunmer, her hands would have already been burnt to a crisp.

She saw the masses of monstrous faces behind the yellow flickering that streamed from her extended hands. Sweat was streaming down her face, she stopped moving. Too weak to keep standing, she fell to one knee, her hands still extended, spewing fire, the Falmer still not daring to move past the ward in front of them. She was breathing deeply and quickly, everything became a blur. She squeezed her eyes shut and quickly opened them again to try and get her vision straight. Just faces of terror, screaming at her unintelligibly. "Maybe I should just... lay down... for a minute..."

The flames stopped as she got violently pulled to the side and vanished into a narrow chasm in the tunnel wall.

"You came back!" She was grinning at the stranger as she leaned against the rocky wall.

The stranger held her upright, realizing the toll the spell had taken on her. She threw Brelyna's arm over her shoulder to keep her upright as they were moving through cracks in the rock until finally reaching a corridor.

A properly built corridor this time, walls of brick and gold, ancient but still very much standing. They began moving towards a golden door at the end of the corridor as noises from the other side indicated that they wouldn't be alone for long. As they reached it the Falmer were already spilling out of the shadows.

The stranger pushed the heavy door open with her right arm as her left was still holding Brelyna up.

Once inside she put her down beside the door and began to close it up as the Falmer horde rushed towards them. There was no lock on the door so she pulled the dagger from her belt, shoved it under the door and kicked it until it wouldn't move. Then she turned around, leaned against the door and finally slid down to the ground. A loud metallic knock let them know the Falmer had reached the door. A knock that was followed by many more as they tried to break it down.

The stranger looked at Brelyna who's hands covered her face as she tried to recuperate.

Finally she opened her eyes and looked around. It was a small room with a single door, the one that constantly shook under the impact of Falmer weapons trying to break it. Ancient furniture and dinnerware was still around, covered in thick layers of dust.

"Oh this is a Dwemer ruin!", she said, letting her arms fall to her side. "One of my teachers is obsessed with them." As she examined the room, she took note of the fact that there was only one door yet again. "Um... so what's the plan?"

The stranger looked to the ground in front of her.

"There is a plan right? Another exit?"

The stranger slowly shook her head.

"...dead end?", Brelyna asked hesitantly.

The stranger now looked her in the eye. Didn't shake her head this time.

Brelyna closed her eyes.

"This is the third time today that I have to come to terms with the end!", she said with anger. "The THIRD time! And I don't want to die!" She looked at the ceiling. "Stop teasing!"

The stranger looked at her with surprise. "My name is Brelyna. What's yours?"

No reply, just a continuous stare of bewilderment and fascination.

Brelyna usually wasn't this straight forward. Maybe it was the heat, the imminent death or the exhaustion or whatever, she didn't care anymore. "If we are going to die here, together, least you could do is tell me your name."

With that a particularly loud knock shook the door, Falmer screaming at the other side.

"Well?" The anger in her voice had given way to fear. She was almost pleading.

The stranger suddenly jumped back to her feet and started scanning the room. With purpose she walked to the opposite wall. She listened, then moved along the wall a few steps, then listened again.

"What?" Brelyna looked at her, then the ever more violently shaking door, then back at her. "What are you doing?!"

"Shh!", was the short reply.

Brelyna shrugged in resignation and let her head fall onto her knees.

The stranger stopped and began to closely examine the segment of wall she looked at. She blew some air at it, revealing an old crack. It was running up and down, left and right, something heavy must have hit the wall a long time ago. She smeared a drop of Falmer blood off her clothing and made a red mark on the wall where all the cracks converged before turning around and moving as far away as possible, drawing her sword on the way.

She turned back around, facing the crack and held the sword at her hip, pointing forward. She gave off a short aggressive scream and began to charge the wall full speed until embedding the blade halfway into it.

Brelyna looked back up, realizing what was going on.

The stranger grabbed hold of the sword handle with both hands and started to bend it left to right, then right to left, then left to right again. She threw her entire body weight into it, giving off noises of exertion with each movement.

"Look at her arms...", Brelyna whispered faintly, "Those are nice arms to have..."

Finally the cracks began to extend slowly, dust falling out of them. The stranger looked up with hope in her eyes, almost as if she hadn't expected this to work. Reinvigorated she threw herself back onto the sword handle, left to right, right to left, the cracks widening further, until she found herself on the floor with the broken sword in hand. It had snapped clean off in the wall. She got back up and examined the problem. The bit she was holding was neither long nor pointy, she wouldn't be able to get it back into the wall. She threw it across the room in frustration. Then she looked at Brelyna.

"What?" She had been daydreaming, but the stranger's stern look interrupted her. Had she smiled? Inappropriately? She felt like she was caught doing something embarrassing. "I... I was just looking!"

The stranger moved towards her at a brisk pace, she braced for impact. She was picked up and led over to the wall. Her legs still wouldn't support her weight so the stranger held her upright. She was moved close to the wall. "Shh."

Brelyna listened. "Is that... water?"

The stranger didn't answer but instead led her to the opposite wall and pointed at the center of the crack. "What am I supposed to do about that? I can hardly stand!"

The stranger took an arrow out of her quiver and threw it at the wall like a dart. Then she nodded at Brelyna.

"I told you, I'm not good with... good with... sharp things... ohhhhh!"

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and raised her hand as it began to emit a blue glow. She moved it back and thrust it forward with all the strength she had left. A short flash of lightning hit the ground in front of the wall where a purple ball of light began to form. It extended to a half meter in diameter and then imploded, revealing a rabbit, that had been summoned. It looked confused and finally hopped away behind some furniture.

"That... that is not what I meant...to... meant to..." Brelyna collapsed onto the floor. She was dizzy, everything was twisting and turning, her breathing was erratic, the knocking sounds from the door seemed very far away. Suddenly she felt weightless, elevated, like she was flying. She turned her head and realized that the stranger had picked her up, carrying her in both her arms.

Their eyes locked, Brelyna smiled.

She felt so safe, her sweat smelled like an old library for some reason, she felt right at home. She raised a hand and pointed it at the crack in the wall. She wasn't looking, she kept eye contact with the stranger that held her. Her eyes were a very warm dark brown, very rare for a Dunmer.

She kept staring as her breathing calmed down like it had before. How did she do that?! An Ice spike formed in front of her hand and hovered there. Brelyna's eyes were wide open. She felt very awake, a lot more than she should, given the amount of mental reserves she had spent.

The stranger didn't break eye contact either. She made a quick head motion towards the wall.

In a barely visible change of gesture Brelyna released the spike which fired into the wall with tremendous speed. It hit the broken blade that was still stuck in it and pushed it further until the ice spike itself had moved halfway in.

The stranger looked at the speed and precision with which the magical projectile was cast in disbelief. The spike finally shattered in a powerful icy explosion, ripping the cracks in the wall wide open, eventually making the wall collapse.

The stranger looked back at Brelyna who was still staring at her face. A puzzled "Huh." escaped her.

A smile began to form on Brelyna's face as her eyes closed and her head fell back. The stranger shook her to get a reaction but it was no use. She had lost consciousness. The stranger looked up to the dark brown dust cloud that filled the hole in the wall and then back at the door, the hinges of which began to rattle and crumble under the constant hammering from the other side. She made sure she had a good grip of Brelyna and began to run.

The tunnel was very dark, she just followed the sound of flowing water. Eventually she reached the end of the road, a cliff in a huge naturally formed cave. An underground river was flowing far beneath her, she could see sparkles in the water. She couldn't tell how far down it was though, it was too dark. She put her ear to Brelyna's face to make sure she was still breathing. She was. A loud rumbling and angry Falmer screams behind her let her know they had broken down the door. She jumped.

It was a sunny afternoon. Butterflies were swirling around flowers, a young couple showered under the waterfall that dropped into a serene little lake. "So, um...", the young man said as he produced an Amulet of Mara.

The young woman grinned excitedly from cheek to cheek.

"As harsh as life can be in Skyrim... we'd have each other at least."

The woman opened her mouth to answer.

SPLASH! And another one. Two heavy objects had fallen into the lake from the waterfall overhead. One of them emerged shortly after, spewing water, coughing, a Dunmer woman, the couple stared at the scene in bewilderment.

The stranger hastily looked around then dove back down. She got back to the surface shortly after, dragging Brelyna to the shore, resting her on her back. She listened again to check for breathing, this time there was none. She raised her fist and started pounding down on Brelyna's chest.

The couple approached slowly.

"Can we... help you?", the man finally said.

The stranger didn't react, just kept pounding.

SPLASH! And another one. Two Falmer had jumped in behind her. One of them floated lifelessly, the other one made its way to shore.

The stranger quickly got to her feet and faced the shore. She hastily looked around for weapons. Her sword and dagger were gone, bow and quiver had been taken by the strong currents of the river, she was unarmed.

The young woman let out a short scream as the Falmer rose out of the water, the man took her hand and they ran off.

The stranger braced herself as the Falmer reached the shore, still holding its sword. It grunted and tilted it's head to the side as it slowly moved closer.

The stranger focused on its movements and got down to one knee. In the bright sunlight she could see it clearly now, it had no eyes.

She grabbed a small stone and threw it into the water.

As the Falmer turned around, she charged it, ramming her shoulder into its side. They fell and struggled, finally coming to a halt in the shallow water, the stranger on top. She held the Falmer's sword arm to the ground with her left hand and had grabbed it's neck with her right, keeping both submerged. The creature kept struggling franticly as it ran out of air, but the stranger held her pose. Finally the bubbles stopped, so did the creature's movements. The stranger let go and took in a few deep breaths.

She gasped, remembering the mage lying motionlessly on shore. She sluggishly forced herself to Brelyna on hands and knees, breathing heavily and lay down beside her, checking for breath again. Still nothing. After a couple of weak, exhausted hits to Brelyna's chest, panic sunk in on her face. In a final act of desperation she took a deep breath, pressed her lips against Brelyna's and exhaled.

SPLASH! Water erupted from Brelyna's mouth and hit the stranger in the face. The panic on her face quickly subsided as she helped her into a sitting position, holding her steady while she coughed the water out of her lungs.

Finally Brelyna began to breathe normally. She looked up into the sky as a warm sun dried the cold water off her face. She looked back and smiled upon recognizing the stranger sitting behind her. "My hero.", she said and laughed.

The stranger fell back, flat on her back, Brelyna lay back down as well. They stared up into the bright blue sky for a moment, watching white, fluffy clouds pass by slowly, until both their exhausted breathing returned to normal.

"It really is a nice sunny afternoon, isn't it.", Brelyna said after a while.

"Nephiah."

Surprised to hear the voice form a word, she turned her head to see the woman lying in the sand beside her.

She was pointing at herself. "Nephiah.", she said again.

The smirk on Brelyna's face turned into an all out grin, followed by a giggle. She turned back and looked into the sky. "Nephiah and Brelyna...", she said still smiling. "There should be a song."