Briani P.O.V.
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I had expected to find something along the lines of a dusty old corpse when I opened the coffin. What I didn't expect was for it to growl at me and reach for the great sword at its back.
A surprised shout escaped my lips, and I jumped back when the corpse sliced at me with its sword.
"Draugr!" Cayn cursed. "I should've realized! Use fire, they burn easily!" His and Tolfdir's coffins had also produced the horrible creatures. I clenched my fist, summoning a ball of flame, and thanked the Eight that Cayn seemed to have experience with these things. I blasted the draugr in the chest, and the force slammed it back into the coffin. I stood, letting relief wash over me, when to my horror, it struggled to its feet moaning and snarling.
"Its head!" Cayn yelled. His draugr lay on the ground, its skull frozen in ice. "Destroy the head!"
I summoned another ball of energy, this time crackling with electricity, and blasted it hurriedly towards the struggling draugr. There was a flash, and the draugr went down, lying still this time. I wrinkled my nose as the smell of burnt flesh began to fill the room. I swiveled quickly, ready for any more to appear, but Tolfdir and Cayn stood over their own defeated draugr, and no more coffins seemed to be opening.
"Is… is everyone ok?" Cayn asked cautiously.
I let out a pent up breath. "Yeah. I think so." I looked around the room again, and noticed that one of the coffins had an open back. "Look." I said. "Another doorway. And it's been hidden again. Whoever sealed up this place meant business."
"I guess there's no other way to go." Cayn said. "May as well see what's down there. Be careful for more draugr though." He cringed, as if remembering something nasty. "They tend to come in larger groups than three."
Tolfdir nodded, his eyes focused on the air, and I could tell he was trying to analyze the situation. "Hmmm. I can't fathom why this would be hidden away like this." He muttered half to himself. He followed us through the door. We walked through another dark tunnel, but now, alerted to the presence of strange forces, we were completely silent. Our footsteps echoed in the hall, and the air seemed to become thicker and warmer.
We came upon a gate, similar to the one that had trapped us in the chamber with the amulet. This time there was a pull chain, and Cayn pulled it, opening up to a much larger room. I couldn't stifle my gasp when we entered. It wasn't particularly large or grand or ornate, but I had never seen anything like it. A raised platform rose above the floor, connected and supported by four bridges stretching to the stone ground. Under the platform the floor was made of woven metal, forming a mesh-like covering over empty space. But far below I could make out spires of some kind, rising from the dark like tendrils reaching from oblivion. Cayn tensed next to me, and I noticed the multitudes of coffins lining the walls.
"Oh gods…" I muttered. Then the coffins cracked, and a swarm of draugr erupted from the walls.
"WATCH OUT!" Cayn yelled, bringing up his hands which were now both crackling with freezing power. I leapt forward, narrowly avoiding a wickedly sharp axe to the shoulder. I blasted a fireball into the offending draugr's face, and it shrieked hoarsely, collapsing to the ground. Good. Only a million more to go. I thought bitterly. Cayn was whirling to dodge an ancient sword, and Tolfdir was blasting two draugr with deadly sharp spikes of ice. I blasted the draugr attacking Cayn, and at the same time he sent a ball of electricity flying right over my shoulder, and I whirled to see one of the things collapsed behind me.
"Thanks." We both said at the same time, and I smirked. He rose a mocking eyebrow, and I laughed, momentarily forgetting the chaos. Then another draugr rose up in front of me, and I was forced back head first into the fray. The sound of battle filled the room, dominated by the explosions of magic on stone and flesh. Minutes stretched to seem like days, and the only thing I was conscious of was the magicka inside of me and the enemies that were my target. After what seemed like years, we stood panting over the fifteen or twenty draugr that became the victims of our magic.
Cayn downed a health potion, while I patched up what small wounds I had with a healing spell. Tolfdir looked around the room, intrigue clear in his eyes.
"I… I've never seen anything like this! This is nothing like any Nordic ruin I've ever seen…" He turned to my and Cayn, an apologetic look on his face. "Do you mind if I stay here, and study this for a bit?" He gestured towards another door at the other end of the room. "I'll catch up with you later."
"I suppose…" Cayn said, but he fidgeted nervously, glancing down at the draugr at our feet.
"Excellent!" Tolfdir exclaimed happily, returning to studying the room. I walked over to the door with Cayn, and reached out, pulling the wall chain.
The door slid upwards, and a sliding of metal on stone and a dull 'thwump' sounded behind us. We whirled simultaneously to see that the way we had come in was now blocked.
"Um." Cayn swallowed next to me. "Guess there's no going back the way we came."
I nodded solemnly. I stepped into the short hall, and we walked in edgy silence through the ruin. The next time we came to a room, we both crouched, scanning the room for more coffins. I only saw a few of them, but what I did see a lot of scared the daylights out of me. Hollows in the walls, tons of them, each holding a withered corpse. Most of them were little but skeletons, obviously completely dead. But every few hollows a corpse appeared strangely preserved, still wearing armor and holding weapons in their stiff, bony hands. Definitely draugr.
"Stay absolutely quiet." Cayn whispered into my ear. "And try your best to sneak past them, and they may not notice us. If you see one start to stir, kill it quickly and the others may not wake." I nodded to show that I had heard, and let him step in front of me. I waited for him to reach the first corner before following, deciding that one person would be harder to detect than two. When we reached a narrow doorway leading into another empty hall I let out a luxurious sigh of relief. It was the next careful step that nearly killed me.
"Oh god!" My panicked whisper accompanied a hasty step back. Cayn was stepping forward as well, and I put my arm out in front of him in alarm. "Step back!"
"What?" Cayn's voice responded just as panicked, his broad chest stopping just short of my arm.
"There." I pointed slowly at the eerily glowing mark on the ground. Familiar but mysterious symbols glared sickly yellow at us. "A lightning rune. Don't touch it. Just… step back." I warned. He sucked a nervous breath as I summoned a magelight. No use adding more destruction to the already powerful spell. We both took two steps back, and I released the spell. When it made contact with the rune the section of hallway exploded with shock magic, hissing and glowing while it flickered from wall to wall. I held my breath, ready for a draugr to wake from the noise, but after a few minutes everything remained still and the rune died down. Cayn sighed next to me, and I let myself relax.
We continued through the ruin, narrowly avoiding traps, runes, and several more draugr. Our next challenge was more perplexing. A puzzle, with pillars with different glyphs spinning to create a kind of combination lock. I studied the pillars, looking for clues, but Cayn appeared to already know where to look. He stepped around the pillars, and let out a triumphant whoop. He pointed to symbols on the back, matching the glyphs on the pillar.
"Spin them so that they match the corresponding symbol." He said. "It will open when we pull the lever. If we do it wrong…" He shook his head. "Step away from the door. They'll be a trap. Poison darts, or spikes." He cringed as if remembering a nasty encounter with said traps.
I gave him a questioning look, and he seemed to understand. "I've been in ruins like this before." He replied. "Part of my… uhhh… job." He averted his eyes, and I dropped the subject, finishing the puzzle. The door opened, just as Cayn had promised, and we continued through. The next room was large and relatively easy to sneak through. But then there was another set of pillars. We found the solution quickly, hastily spinning the pillars to match. But when I pulled the lever Cayn grabbed my arm with a yell, pulling me hard away from the door. I watched, wide-eyed and pressed uncomfortably close against him, as darts tinged a sickly green whipped across the space I had just occupied. I felt the blood drain from my face. "Huh...?"
Cayn looked just as startled as me. He pointed, and I saw that one of the pillars had spun again, no longer matching the solution. "It was a trick. Some of them spin in sync. We have to be careful now." He said, uncharacteristically stony-faced. We went through again, testing and double checking before we pulled the lever again, although this time I stepped away just in case. To my relief the door slid open with a groan, and we entered the small room on the other side. I whipped around when I heard footsteps, but it was Tolfdir, who had finally caught up with us.
"Finally." I said, the stress uncontrollably clear in my voice. "We had a bit of trouble."
"But you made it through." Tolfdir assured, infuriatingly cheery. I sighed, and turned away, continuing down the hallway.
We all entered the next chamber, and it was the grandest we had encountered by far. But the most impressive thing wasn't the room, but what was in it; A massive globe, glowing blue-green and covered in strange black symbols floated in the center of the chamber, taking up most of the room. I gaped at it, reeling. Magicka radiated from it, in such powerful waves that I felt I might collapse from the pressure. I was especially attuned to it, but I could tell Cayn and Tolfdir were feeling the effects as well. I was so focused on the globe that I almost didn't notice the massive draugr that charged us next. I saw it a moment too late and only just managed to avoid its sword, but the draugrs withered arm struck me in the shoulder, sending me crashing to the ground with a small cry. I heard Cayn shout, "Briani!" but then the draugr was on him and Tolfdir, and I scrambled to my feet to help.
The draugr was massive, a far cry above the draugr we had fought in the second chamber. It wore a huge horned helmet, and carried a tall staff and a sword. Cayn and Tolfdir were attacking it, but it had no effect. What was going on?
Tolfdir realized first. "There's a charm!" He shouted. "It's the globe!" He leapt away, towards the globe, and began siphoning power from it. "I'll weaken the charm, you keep attacking!" I nodded, and joined Cayn in the battle. Our foe was powerful, but it was still two to one. We spun around the draugr in flurries of magic and sound. At first nothing seemed to hurt it, and I felt nauseous panic spread through my chest. But Tolfdir's spell was effective, and soon the draugr was hissing with pain, and starting to collapse. With a final yell both me and Cayn shot balls of fire at the creature, and it collapsed dead with a shriek. I grinned, standing over the corpse.
"We make a good team, whether I know your last name or not." Cayn said with a raised brow. I let the second part go, nodding. "I suppose we do." I mused.
Tolfdir was enamored with the globe. "We need to report this to the College, and transport it back if possible." He turned to us. "Can you head back to the College and report to Savos immediately? I need to make sure nothing happens to this in the meantime."
"Of course." I said. "We should head back." I said to Cayn.
"No." He smiled mischievously. "Go to the back of the room. They'll be a way out, a shortcut."
I frowned, confused, but followed him to the back of the chamber. I was amazed to see there was a tunnel, leading out, hidden. I stared at it, shocked. "How did you know?"
"Like I said, experience." He said, shrugging. "Let's go." I let him take the lead, walking in companionable silence back through the ruin. It was interrupted by something perplexing. I heard faint chanting, and Cayn stopped, pure panic radiating from him. "No… no no no…" He whispered, his voice angry. "I should have known…"
A wall, fringed by strange plants, covered in scratchy symbols lay in a corner. A single symbol glowed piercing blue, and Cayn's eyes reflected it unnaturally. He stepped stiffly towards it, still mumbling under his breath. Another step, and light flashed. Streams of… something… flew from the wall, connecting to him. It wasn't magic. He collapsed, closing his eyes tightly, and I rushed to him, alarm spreading through me. His fist were clenched, and he was repeating a single word over and over. SLEN. Puffs of frost floated from his lips, and the temperature seemed to drop twenty degrees.
"Cayn? Cayn? Are you okay?" I cried, clutching his arm. His eyes opened, still glowing blue for a moment. Then they returned to their normal pale green color, and he shook his head as if coming out of a fog.
"I… I… yeah. I'm ok." He said, his voice hoarse. "It's never fun."
"What was that?" I said, noting how he seemed to have history with this. I wasn't the only one keeping secrets.
"A word wall." He said. "It… it gives me power. It's not magic, per say, but… it's dangerous. Please just forget about it." His voice was pained.
I wanted to say something. How he had collapsed, how it obviously was something, how the power could've come in handy back there, but I didn't say anything. I had things that could be "handy". I had secrets. I understood that however useful, he wasn't obligated to share. So I helped him up in silence, suddenly feeling like maybe I did have something in common with this good-natured, talkative man.
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Action! Slen means "form", and is the second ice form word, hence the frosty breath and temp. drop.
Hope you're enjoying so far! Please rate and review, I appreciate every one! Hasta la vista!
~ElderSkie