Something In The Way
Loading Screen… The Tsaesci are a race of vampiric-snake folk who hail from the eastern continent of Akavir…
~Q~Q~
"Well, hello," said a Tsaesci.
Stesha and Gwendal jerked back; their eyes wide with horror.
The snake raised his arms and waved his hands about. "Please, please, there is no need to be alarmed. I am Savoss Arran, Arch Mage of this institution." He gestured around the floating island they were on that contained the College.
Savoss had gold scales like Gwendal's bleached hair and a long body, a human torso and a serpentine lower portion that formed into a tail. He had kindly gray eyes and a crown shaped like a cobra's hood. An old Nord wearing long silver robes and a pointy wizard's hat came ambling out to them. Silver, long hair and a beard to match which was knotted and tied, wearing a pair of spectacles, and chewing on a piece of taffy.
"Aah, this is Headmaster Tolfdir Ealhwine. He runs the student activities while I attend to the college's business matters." Savoss smiled. "You two are new, yes? Tell us, what are your names?"
They introduced themselves as the two headteachers led them through the campus, into the main building. Aside from the water garden present there, encased in whitewashed stone, there were Dwemer pipes interconnected and spanning the perimeter. A few fairies tinkered about summoning water to feed the plants. The architecture of the ancient academy seemed to be a fusion between Atmoran, Snow Elf, Dwemer, and Akaviri. Strange indeed.
Stesha squinted. "Sirs, why is the structural design so…?"
Savoss looked down his nose at Stesha. "Well, you see nobody knows. My hypothesis however is that a splinter group of Nords, Falmer, Dwarves, and Akaviri left their squabbling comrades and built this place as a monument of peace. Of course, their brethren would never allow such peace to remain. Around the First Era Arch Mage Shalidor Long-Beard moved in and thus the school began."
"Intriguing… but highly disturbing." Gwendal rubbed his chin. "I jest. But no, that really is intriguing."
Red and white flagstones decorated the floor of the interior, and a gate led to the main lecture hall which had rows of seats rising back and around a circular vestibule. Two doors to classrooms on each side of the entrance hall.
Savoss and Tolfdir stopped and reviewed the boys' classes and pointed out to them which rooms they were located in. "The dining hall is to the right, and the dormitories are to the left. With that welcome to The College of Winter Hold! Help yourselves to some food and drink and please get a good night's rest." Savoss clapped his hands together before slithering off.
Tolfdir then spoke up as he was turning to leave, "remember boys, happiness can be found in the darkest of times. If one only remembers to turn on the light." He winked and flicked a small candlelight over his fingers.
Gwendal yawned, "well, we have a few days before our next class. What say we get some sleep and explore tomorrow."
"Sounds good to me." Stesha covered his mouth as he exhaled his own chasmal.
The duo tucked away their schedules and headed over to the sleeping quarters. The white marble hallway was lit with infused candlelight charms over pools of magicka, while animated portraits slept on the walls. They came upon the left building adjacent to the right one and saw the circular tiered sleeping rooms. The women slept upstairs and the men downstairs. A big pool of magicka rested in the center with doors to the neighboring apartments spun around the crux. – A few of their colleagues were discussing amongst themselves, a Nord boy, and a snot-faced Breton.
"Bookkeeping with Urag's never boring if you're looking for work, Andelun." The Nord pulled his pointy hood over his skull.
"Oh Onmund, when will you learn." Andelun waved him off.
The Nord had black hair and a plain face while the Breton had slick, combed brown hair and a neckbeard. – Stesha and Gwendal shrugged at each other and moved towards the two.
"Hey, we're new here. I am Gwendal Opal, and this is my friend, Stesha Jade." Gwendal slightly bowed when Andelun stared down his hooked nose at them.
"Oh, welcome!" Onmund chirped. "You showed up right at the beginning of the fall quarter, so perfect timing. What brings you to our little corner of Skyrim?"
Stesha didn't like to speak much; his words came out frayed and nervous in the presence of those he didn't know well.
Gwendal bit his finger. "Well, I want to continue my magical education and Stesha here wishes to learn to defend himself."
"Oh, yes that would be a wise idea." Andelun's face elongated into a knowing look. "Don't want to be wandering Skyrim without some sort of self-defense in your arsenal."
"What about you guys?" Stesha itched the back of his head.
"I'd rather not get into it." Onmund frowned slightly.
"I believe I'll keep my reasons to myself as well," Andelun hmphed. "Anyways, let's return to our room, Onmund. It's getting late."
We have a bunch of sensitive snobs for classmates. Great.
Stesha and Gwendal then ferried into their bedroom. It contained a bunkbed to the side along with a knapsack, bookshelves, and a lectern for spell books near the door. They changed into their night clothes and put their belongings away, locking the door. Stesha took the top bunk while Gwendal slept in the bottom one.
Thankfully no dreams haunted Stesha that night. He held his doll close; it protected him.
They spent the next day mostly preparing for class by studying and practicing spells. Gwendal went over the early coursework and syllabus with Stesha, teaching him the basic hand movements for the simplest of spells. The time they spent off, they searched the clay and sludge mountains for a skooma dealer. Stesha could feel his nerves clawing into him from his withdrawal. He needed a steady source of the liquified moon sugar and fast… he also needed more guice to feed his vice.
That afternoon, they sat against a sludgy hilltop, sipping on a bottle of skooma after having found a Khajiiti dealer.
"What do you think Hadvar's up to?" Stesha tilted his head to the side as his gaze became hazy.
"Probably out doing missions with his new friends," Gwendal hiccupped. "When Aela isn't riding him of course."
Stesha coughed at that. "Don't worry, Gwen. We'll see him again after this quarter."
"He really found his soulmate." Gwendal uncorked another bottle of skooma. "Yeshur was right. What about you, Stesha? You ever like any girl?"
"No."
"Same here, I was always too focused on school to care," Gwendal admitted. "Though it sucks that we're both nineteen and we've never even kissed anyone."
"I kiss my mom and dad," Stesha proclaimed weakly.
No girl would ever want to kiss me anyway. He stared at his reflection in the small clay puddle beneath him. A pair of buckteeth like a rabbit covered by braces. Stesha shook off his self-pity and dwelt on the uneasiness that nestled itself in the pit of his stomach. Why did it feel like something wicked was coming their way… Something in the way. Who are you? He pictured Seracles behind the eye of his mind.
Stesha was walking alone to his conjuration class the following morning. Students were filing into the main lecture hall at the heart of the college. The professor was a bald Breton with tufts of black hair on the sides and back of his head. He was seated at the center desk as Stesha sat down in one of the chairs. The baldie drank some greenish liquid out of a vial the same color as his emerald eyes. Files and books stacked on his desk. Stesha on the other hand, sat near two redheaded Nord twins as the conjuration teacher began his lecture.
"Welcome to Apprentice Conjuration. I am Professor Phinis Gestor." He paced around the lecture hall, tapping his foot in intervals. "Conjuration is the art of summoning creatures or items from the plane of Oblivion for a short time. Whether you're in need of some water or an atronach to aid you in battle, conjuration can help you. Now, who can tell me what Oblivion is?"
A Dunmer girl raised her hand.
"Yes, Brelyna?" Phinis nodded.
"Oblivion is the realm of the Daedra, outside our realm of Mundus," she riposted quickly.
"Excellent answer." Phinis flicked his fingers and textbooks appeared across their tables. "I want you all to write down each Daedric Prince and their corresponding plane of Oblivion. There are currently seventeen known princes."
Stesha pulled parchment out of his knapsack and cracked open the textbook, copying all the names of Daedra in random order as they came up. Then he went back and pasted their planes along with a summary of each Prince's abilities.
Molag Bal – Coldharbour.
Peryite Taskmaster – The Place Downstairs. He finished penning the prose of his piece and stoppered his inkwell as Onmund raised his hand.
"Sir."
"Yes, Onmund?" Phinis looked up from his sheets of parchment at his desk. His long feathery quill hanging out of his hand.
"Sir, I had heard a theory once that there must be two Daedric Princes for every one Divine. And when Charlamagne Guice became the Ninth Divine, an era later Jyggalag reappeared and took his role as the seventeenth Daedric Prince. Does this mean there could be another Daedric Prince out there that we don't know about?" Onmund postulated out loud.
"Hmm." Phinis uncorked his green wine vial, pouring it in a clear glass then drank the tinged liquid. "Very possible, my dear boy. But we simply don't know as of yet. Where would this extra prince even come from? Would their existence be facilitated simply because a new Divine had arisen? Is this an axiom? We just can't know. Though, excellent inquiry my dear boy. I would like to encourage this kind of conversation in class henceforth." The Breton clapped his hands. "Now, once your ink has dried, please lay your assignments carefully upon my desk. You are free to leave when you deem fit. The homework will be practicing the basic hand movements for the conjure familiar spell. Good work everyone."
Stesha shoved his seat in and put the dried parchment onto the desk and followed the redheaded twins toward his next class which was in the side room.
The two Nords stopped and looked at him. "I'm Borvir," one said.
"And I'm Rundi," the other added.
"Welcome to The College of Winter Hold!" They said together. "You can sit with us, new kid."
"Err, thanks." Stesha followed them into the next room.
This classroom was flat with desks lined up back and forth like a kid's school. A teacher's desk situated on the left-hand side. Stesha sat next to Borvir and Rundi as more apprentices poured in, carrying books laced together by a strap and wearing similar robes to himself. Lastly, the Khajiiti professor came in.
"Professor J'zargo Chowdru'Mane welcomes all to Apprentice Destruction." The Elsweyr native had dark grey fur with a ringed mustache and green eyes, wearing Master Destruction Robes. A grey overcoat covering a red undershirt. He took a seat at the front desk and pulled out a sheet of paper. "Now, this one must do role call. Rundi and Borvir Mead-Swiller?"
"Here," the twins called together.
"Brelyna Maryon, Andelun Mern, Onmund Ingvold, Yisra Khan, Stesha Jade, and Ilas Tei."
They all respectively raised their hands as their names were called. The lynx then went on a tirade in his foreign dialect about self-defense and the practical applications of destruction magic for doing so. It wasn't until about thirty minutes in that they started casting spells. Yisra was up first.
The Redguard girl approached the front of the classroom near the door and curled her hand together, going over the hand and finger movement for a basic flame spell. She shot it but it ricocheted off and nearly fried Andelun's perfectly gelled brown hair.
"My father will hear about this!" Andelun taunted as he gathered his things and swept them out of the room.
"Bitch," J'zargo meowed to himself.
Stesha was up next. He stalled near the door and crinkled his digits in the exact way J'zargo had instructed earlier, verbally reciting the correct incantation. A ball of fire bloomed in his palm, and he cast it towards their professor who blocked it with a ward spell.
"Excellent work!" J'zargo clapped.
Wow, I really just cast my first spell! Stesha suppressed the urge to pump his fist.
"AHHHHH!" Screamed Brelyna, pointing at something outside the window.
A giant amphiptere was swiveling around the campus grounds. A blue scaled snake with two wings protruding off its back. A black ribbed underbelly. There was a man riding its back, holding it by the reigns. Whipping back and forth. – The snake burst through the window and swallowed Ilas the Argonian whole. Stesha nearly dodged it and sprinted out of the classroom as J'zargo began casting spells left and right. The window shards splintering across the room as everyone evacuated.
Stesha ran down the hall and turned into the heart, opening the gate, and hiding in the lecture hall as an advanced class was taking place, Gwendal's class. Savoss slithered smoothly through the hall, casting protective magics over the walls and windows as Tolfdir sent shock spells hurdling towards the flying snake and its rider. The amphithere swerved around the corner and struck Stesha and Gwendal. The latter was hopping down from his seat. Gwendal shoved Stesha away from danger and threw up a hard ward at the last minute as the creature smacked against it. Gwendal jumped away. As the serpent reloaded, Stesha caught a glimpse of its rider. An Altmer with long white hair and braced black armor. A crown with an encased gem across his forehead. – Savoss used some sort of telekinesis spell to drag the giant snake out of the hall and back outside, shoving it into the icy sea below. Then him and Tolfdir warded the college to supposedly prevent the attackers from getting back in. Stesha followed them out alongside Gwendal.
"Who was that?" Asked Gwendal. Sweat poured down Savoss' scales and he heaved many breaths, air visibly flowing in and out of him.
"Please everyone!" Tolfdir waved his hands in the air. "Everyone inside. We need a headcount to make sure no one was lost. You two." He pointed to Gwendal and Stesha. "I need to speak with you in the Arch Mage's office."
Stesha wiped his brow. "Listen sir, Ilas Tei was killed by the monster. I saw it happen."
Savoss and Tolfdir's expressions fell like an empire.
"Alright, we'll have to inform Mirabelle Ervine as soon as possible. But in order to prevent any more deaths, you two must come with us," Savoss instructed, ushering them in.
They navigated through the aorta of the college and upstairs into the Arch Mage's quarters. Savoss and Tolfdir trailed in after them. The locale was a circular circumference with various oddities speckling the expanse. A staff enchanter and spell-crafting table, an enchanting charter and alchemy slab with a mortar and pestle atop it. Shelves full of potions and in the center was a T-shaped desk behind which bookshelves stood, lined with tomes. A throne on which Savoss Arran likely sat in.
"Sir, we had nothing to do with that!" Gwendal defended as they all took a seat at the messy desk. There were some glass plates and pots on the surface when it wasn't littered with paper and knickknacks.
A pet parrot in a cage off to the side imitated Gwendal's words, "we had nothing to do with that!" It squawked mockingly. The window was open and Stesha was half tempted to toss the bird outside into the chilling waters below.
"Settle down, Chino," instructed Arran as he took a seat on his throne. "Professor Ealhwine, would you do the honors?"
Tolfdir adjusted his pointy wizard's hat and cleared his throat. "What you just saw isn't the first attack on the College. That black rider and his pet snake have assaulted us twice already. They always find some way of breaking our wards. Though, before today there has been no destruction done or lives lost. This is getting perilous and we must stop him."
"Who is he?" Stesha clasped his hands together, concentrating on the chair across from him.
"We don't know, although we suspect a member, or members of the College are assisting him. We believe there is a plot against the College at play. We can't trust anyone aside from you two since you both are new here. I took the liberty of doing some research on you both and while you seem to be quite the troublemakers in High Rock, your appearance in Skyrim is only causal of this." Tolfdir winked at them. "I believe we can help each other."
"Yes," Savoss hissed. "You two be our spies and we get your records set straight. Being Arch Mage of Skyrim brings that kind of power and influence."
Stesha and Gwendal nodded at each other, and the latter spoke, "thank you sirs, and just so you know we were wrongfully incriminated. If you check our records before that inciting incident, you can see they're basically blemish free."
"I believe it, now let us tell you the plan," Tolfdir nodded. "Dark and difficult times lie ahead. Soon we must all make the choice between what is right, and what is easy."
~Q~Q~
A/N: Okay, that's enough Harry Potter references for one day. But if you guys have any recommendations for any good Harry Potter fanfiction, I'd love to hear them in the reviews. I've read the vast majority of the popular Harry/Fleur ones a few years ago, but maybe there's something new I'm not aware of? Anyways, that's all for now, please leave a review.