Chapter X: Blood Of Snow And Sun
(Reyvin's POV)
I turn from the burned field stoically and speak up once more "Double the patrols for now, we must be prepared if they decide on another attack." The adventurers and armed laborers salute as I pass by them, expressions of fear and awe on their faces.
As I descend I am greeted by the sight of Tolfdir looking down at the piled up thralls with a mix of anger and sadness splayed on his wizened face. I stand next to the old man "How do you plan on helping them?"
He remains silent, almost as if he didn't register my words, but just as I am about to shake him to grab his attention he answers with a tired voice "I have a lot of wealth saved up, I will commission Hakan and Colette to help me find a way to bring them back to normal."
He takes one last look at the thralls before looking up at me "Why exactly are you gathering those things behind your tent?" His tone is terse but lacking any judgement.
I shrug and point my hand at the hole "Much like they do not deserve their fate, neither do the Falmer."
Tolfdir's eyes narrow before ultimately softening, a proud smile replacing his tired frown "I am happy you do not use your power exclusively for yourself." He taps my shoulder "You truly make this old man proud."
Deciding not to be contrarian I accept his praise in the spirit it is given and smile back at him "What is the point of having all this magic at the tip of my fingers and not helping where I can?"
He nods happily and when I turn to leave he calls out to me "Oh and Reyvin, I think you have proven yourself responsible enough for your next lesson."
I turn back just in time to catch a duo of spellbooks he tossed my way. Blinking in surprise I look at the titles and barely hold back a satisfied giggle as I read the words 'The Art of Transmutation' 'The Art of Corporal Transmutation' Both penned by Tolfdir Ebon-frost.
Instead of acting like a child, I give Tolfdir a deep bow "I will not betray your trust Master Tolfdir." I seem to have passed some kind of hidden test, or well he thinks I did and I only convinced him through literal divine intervention... well, Daedric intervention but my point stands.
My musing ceases when I reach my little corner of the fort and walk into the secluded space behind my tent, being positioned in a crook near the great lift. The sound of light growling and Dunmeri cursing can be heard as I pass through the doorway I had built and into the grounds housing my current projects.
To my left lie disassembled Dwemer automatons, their total number long since forgotten as I had dozens of them tossed my way on the daily. To my right lies my current destination, about a dozen Falmer, a couple from each of their presumed castes, lie either paralyzed or surrounded and immobilized by my halberd-wielding guards.
Davos notices my presence and speaks up, having to shout over the growls of yet another Falmer who got hit by a paralysis spell, courtesy of a very annoyed Edrassa "We got them as you requested boss, the chiefs were a bit harder but I managed to get through their poison resistance with an increase in dosage." He tosses an ear in his hand and catches it lazily "Had to go through four of them to get it right though."
"Not that they will be missed" I snort, as he also finishes mocking the dead I ask "And has Scorch had any luck?" He goes to respond but I raise a hand "Never mind he has arrived."
As I say this we all suddenly feel a wave of heat as Scorch passes through the ward I had set up with little resistance and deposits his steaming prey onto the ground. I look up at his smug face "I do believe I told you to get it as unharmed as possible."
He pompously waves me off with his wing "The degenerate stunk to Oblivion pops, you can't expect me to debase my divine self to that extent so I had it cleaned."
"Uh huh" I nod dumbly "With fire."
He nods rapidly "Indeed, no better pesticide than fire." the sarcasm in my voice going completely over his tiny head, or maybe he ignored me on purpose, he IS me... technically...
I groan "Just go and stalk your next target" His eyes brighten, literally, and just as he is about to take off I add "And don't burn them this time, I just want to know their every move."
If a bird could scowl he would, and as he flies off I swear I hear him grumble "Stinking pops can't leave a crumb of burning to us poor peasants"
I turn back to the rest just in time to see Maren whack a Falmer into unconsciousness with the but of his halberd as the foolish goblin managed to get through the Paralysis by way of sheer rage.
The twitching near-corpse of the Falmer shaman alerts me to its expiring life and I quickly get to healing up the damage as best as I can while Edrassa goes to grab her research notes.
As my guards finally manage to shackle the prisoners I finish restoring the Falmer shaman, and to my great surprise, after she manages to calm down from the agony she was no doubt placed under by my psychopathic bird boi, I hear the creature croak in broken Tamrielic, its voice a scratchy and barely legible thing "Yu" it looks in my general direction and I feel if it had eyes they would narrow in hatred "Yu are one that burn my kin?"
Immediately deciding to not take any chances with this one I press down on her with my telekinesis while ignoring her question and asking one of my own "How are you able to speak Tamrielic?"
The Falmer mage's face contorts into a facsimile of a proud grin as she simply croaks out "Liv long, learn much."
"You should not be capable of even understanding a complex language, what did you change?" I press once again, my telekinesis bearing down just a tad harder.
"An' why shud ai tell?" She tilts her head, completely ignoring my attempts at intimidation "You killed kin, and soon kill me." She states with certainty "Why shud ai help?"
I realize that there is no fight left in the old Falmer and lift my telekinesis, causing her to drop to the ground clumsily, much to my amusement, and answer "I plan on restoring your people's original forms and freeing them from the Dwemer's curse, and having you all serve me as your sole master." My answer surprises both the Falmer and my own subjects.
Well, everyone but Davos, he had learned this lesson by now.
The Falmer stills, seemingly unsure of what she had just heard. Finally, she tilts her head in confusion "Yu bring bak old blood?"
"Indeed" I answer simply, if the old crone had eyes I have no doubt she would be looking at me with doubt "And you will be given the chance to help me down this difficult path" I smirk "Aren't I generous?"
She remains silent for a very long time, seemingly battling her fury and her lack of understanding at the same time. After a good ten minutes, during which I was lazily reading through Tolfdir's book on corporeal transmutation, she speaks up again "To make mind strong, I pull on memory in blood." Her voice is slow and deliberate as she practically forces the words out.
I look up and blink in surprise, either she was able to pull on the mystical aspect of an elf's blood or she straight up dug into her DNA, either would speed the project up massively "And how did you manage this?" I ask.
She shrugs "Pull Blood with light, is simple." her voice is almost deadpan, making my eyebrow twitch violently.
I take a deep breath and force myself to be patient "Am I to assume you are ready to help me then?" She nods hesitantly after a moment "Good." I nod and finally ask "Did you give yourself a name?"
She shakes her head "No, but has name." I detect a note of sadness in her voice "Yu call me Nightshade."
"Very well then Nightshade" I drawl "Let us engage in some jolly cooperation and bring back an entire race of elves. What could possibly go wrong?" My eyes glint with a mix of expectation and mania, something I was kindly informed of by a smug Davos later.
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(Marco's POV)
I grunt as I toss another Falmer corpse into the pile, and to think I was afraid of the creatures as they stormed the fort.
"No." I shake my head, in a fight that even remotely came close to the concept of 'fair' they would have killed us or enslaved us all within minutes.
A calloused hand taps my shoulder and a middle aged Nord adventurer pulls my attention "You've done enough kid, go and take a breather." He says kindly but firmly.
I nod tiredly, wishing I could go back to my past self and smack him for volunteering to help with the corpses. As I take a seat on an upturned rock I can't help but wish for a fair maiden to help soothe my pains.
My thoughts drift to Minthara and I immediately shiver in fear, my body remembering what she did to me the first time I suggested something of the sort... even if my mind did not.
My eyes drift across the adventurers milling about, most of them immediately getting filed into the 'uninteresting' section of my mind. Just as I am about to get up and head back to camp I see a mature Dunmer lady approaching me with a glint in her eye... I guess she will do in a pinch.
(Gabriella's POV)
The target's first student is immediately captivated by my beauty, the scroll working as intended. "What is a young hero like yourself doing all alone after a battle?" I ask near-teasingly, easily pretending to be interested in him.
He smirks proudly "I just finished helping the men with the corpses, magic really does wonders sometimes." then he raises an eyebrow playfully "And what is a woman of your divine beauty doing down here?" He asks cheesily.
Ugh, does that even work on anyone? I hold back a wince and smile seductively while stretching and showing off hints of my curves "I need some help to move things around in my tent" I close in as his eyes light with interest "I was hoping you had the time."
He stands up and bows theatrically "It would be my pleasure madam" He looks up "May I have the honor of knowing your name?"
I giggle "Oh you can call me Gabby."
"And you may call me Marco" He says proudly "Adventurer and bard extraordinaire!" he places the feathered cap he pulled out of somewhere onto his head "Now lead the way dear lady!"
The urge to gut this fool grows with each passing moment as he keeps childishly bragging about every little thing he had ever done, to be fair to him if I still was a blushing child I could see myself being impressed by his idiotic showing off.
After what feels like a year we finally get to my tent. I sway my hips as we enter "I need you to help me fix this" I purr as I lean onto a small chest stacked onto another chest, making sure to give him a full view of my rear, and grasp the poisoned stiletto placed in a crook to its side.
Moments pass and I do not feel the young fool attempting to fondle me. I turn around with a confused smile "Are you no-"
A lute collides with my face with surprising force and bashes me into the ground, I try and get up but the lute once more lands onto my head.
My consciousness starts fading and I hear the boy mumble something about idiots approaching trained mages with shitty glamor spells.
By Sithis I am such an idiot...
(Marco's POV)
"Truly I am destined for loneliness." I sigh as I lovingly tap my dear lute, enchanted to oblivion and back to be as tough and hard as possible "At least you won't ever abandon me."
"I knew you were a degenerate but this is too much even for me"
"EEEEEK" I cry in surprise, most assuredly not screaming like a scared girl, and glare at Scorch, his eyes gleaming with mirth as he steps out of a nearby shadow, his flames lighting up slowly "Go fuck yourself Scorch you complete and utter waste of Magika!" I exclaim furiously.
After taking some deep breaths I finally calm down and ask the chuckling bird "Why were you in this tent anyways?"
The bird shrugs "Some dumb bitch decided to try and ambush pops with a tamed spider..."
I blink, yeah that would not end well for anyone. Slowly I turn to the unconscious, and bleeding, Dunmer on the ground "That her?" I ask.
Scorch bobs his head rapidly as he looks down "Yup, that is the degenerate n'wah" He slowly looks back up at me and cheerfully asks "Wanna burn her?"
Of course that is the first thing he asks...
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