Chapter 8

"What do you mean you're not going to Riften!?"

"All the rumors coming from that place, I aint going near it for the time bein."

I could only just sigh is frustration. "Look, if it's a matter of money—"

"It aint about the coin boy, did you not hear my words? I Aint going near it." The cart driver seemed adamant about staying away from that town for some reason.

"What exactly are these 'rumors'?"

"A dragon." He puffed out smoke from his mouth, tapping his pipe on the cart. "First one to be sighted in centuries. I wouldn't believe in the tales if I hadn't met the folks fleeing with fear still in their eyes."

[Oh, that sounds interesting.]

I don't think I'm adequately equipped to deal with a dragon at the moment, maybe if someone loosened the restrictions….

[How about, you fight the dragon and if you do good, I'll unlock it?]

Fuck off.

"Alright, so Riften was besieged by a dragon, that isn't the worst reason to stay away. Where am I supposed to go now…" I mean, I didn't really 'need' to go to Riften, it was merely a suggestion by those guys, if anything I'm not really afraid of being captured or anything. I was just kinda going with the flow and was curious about the land I found myself in.

"How about Winterhold?" The driver spoke up.

"Sounds cold, what exactly is worth it there?"

"The college. You looked like the learning sorts." He shrugged.

"A college you say?" Okay my interest was piqued; I wonder what I could learn there…

"Aye, just don't expect the towns folk to give you a good time, they don't like them mages very much."

Mages….a college for mages. A magical learning institute….sweet christ. "You sir, have just earned a bonus, take me to Winterhold."

I heard him chuckle, adjusting himself in his seat. "Climb aboard, it'll take about a day to reach there."

Oh joy, riding in a wooden cart for a day. My butt would be sore tomorrow, but it would be worth it, I guess.

Well, at least it would give me time to think, I had a lot on my mind right now.

Like, how the hell did I even end up here!? This isn't a parallel world of Earth, if I'm not mistaken this is a completely alternate dimension, separated from the world-line my magic should be able to access. I know for a damn fact that my Calculations weren't that imprecise, I should have at least landed on a line that housed the spirit of Gaia.

Something went wrong, something I did wrong. I know that my previous-self had some knowledge of the world I was born in, otherwise I wouldn't have the memories of the world-line's progression model in my head.

What did I feel when I left, almost like I hit something?

If I had to explain it, I was practically a fly being smacked by a car. No, that isn't quite right, that would imply I hit something 'moving' in the normal sense. I basically smacked into a wall and got knocked off course.

But what 'wall' would there be?

Think idiot, think. I just smacked my head in frustration. What was I missing?

[Heh, idiot is right.]

Not helping Ddraig. I thought you were asleep.

[Eh, I was too curious about your memories so I couldn't go back to sleep. Been watching them for a few days now.]

Joy….does that mean you have some insight to my current issue?

[Hmm, let me see, what race are you?]

Human-half-devil, what does that have to do with anything? My physical species shouldn't have a negative effect on either the casting or the effect on the actualization. If anything, my half-phantasmal nature should make it smoother, since I'm a being closer to the concept of 'magic'.

[And where do devils come from?]

I mean, their parents….but if you mean in a more philosophical sense, their demonic origins can be traced to the negative cumulations of dreams, desires and human imagination all catalyzed with the advent of the God of the bible. Good and evil, yin and yang, one exists so the other must exist to balance it out as a cosmic rule. Every culture, every pantheon has their own 'good and evil' though the terms can be more muddled. The Asgardians and the Giants of Jotunheim and Muspelheim. Olympians with their Titan counterparts and the various 'giants' that exist in their cultures too.

Asuras and Devas of the Indian pantheons –

The Youkai of the Shinto factions, with the Yamata-no-Orochi—

The Sumerian Gods and the children of Tiamat –

Hell, even –

I paused, blinking in realization.

[Thought you missed the point there, but you came back around.]

I'm a fuckin idiot, I face palmed

I didn't take into account all the secondary realms still attached to the 'world'.

To put it into perspective, if the 'world' was a house in the middle of the forest, it would be surrounded with trees, trying to run into a single direction, in a straight line, you would smack into a tree. The trees being secondary realms, like Olympus, Hell, Heaven, Asgard, Takamagahara, etc. Whereas my previous world basically had all the trees cut down, the forest only had a few sparse trees left because the Age of Gods had come and gone.

So, I smacked into another realm and got blown off course and somehow stepped out of the world-line I was accustomed to.

Okay, nothing I can't solve I can find my way back easily enough.

Well, that solves that mystery.

Truthfully, it would only take a few minor modifications to my calculations, if they were complete. I'll need to finish them proper at some point. Now that I think about it, I can probably find the stuff to make my mystic code here, no doubt there's going to be some interesting materials I can find.

Well, this trip wouldn't be wasted. It's not like I'm under any kind of time restraints, the opposite in fact.

I'm free.

No responsibilities, no one controlling my life. I can go wherever the wind takes me, speaking of wind, the scene here is breathtaking

I was bitching about the ride earlier, but once we started going, what a sight.

***

"Oi, old man, want a drink?" I was laying down in the back of the cart, watching the snowflakes fall from the sky.

It had gotten rather cold as we started going north, luckily, I had some stuff packed away inside my storage space for the cold weather when I grabbed practically everything I could from that cart of 'confiscated' goods earlier.

"What is that, Black Briar?" He hollered.

Well, the man knows his drink. "Yup, got some Honningbrew too if you want that."

"None of that pisswater stuff, a real nord drinks Black Briar or something a bit stronger." The old man snorted, I just laughed and handed him a bottle.

It seems like no matter the world, people will defend their drink brands. "What's the word around Skyrim, recently?"

"Besides dragon attacks?" He took a swig.

"Well, I wouldn't mind hearing more about that, but I'm a bit out of the loop for everything."

"Hmm, there were stories that Meridia's statue near Solitude has been acting up." He scoffed. "Folks gettin rightful panicked too. Them Daedra are never up to any good." He turned back towards me. "Never let some fool tell you nothin about a 'good' Daedra, you hear me lad? Nothin good comes from assorting with them things."

"Aye, grabbing the eyes of higher powers never ends well for mortals." I didn't know what a Daedra was, but I could guess it was something 'godly' in nature or something like that.

"Damn straight, you got a good head on your shoulders." He nodded. "I also hear the war is heating up after Ulfric escaped some Imperial ambush or somethin. Heard they had him bound and ready for the block, only to escape from right under their noses. Got them Imperials up in a frenzy trying to look less foolish to the masses."

What? It's only been like three days….how? Atleast there was no mention of associates or anything jeese. Well, I wouldn't be surprised if this man was spreading half these rumors, he sure travels enough to do so.

He started talking about some other nonsense but I didn't' really pay much attention, I think he was rambling about some elves or something. Frankly, I think I would have fallen asleep if the lights in the distance didn't draw my attention.

"Looks like we're here" The old man said.

As we got closer, I could see the swaying of torches. The snow made it kind of hard to make out, but the outline of buildings started to come into view.

"Welcome to Winterhold."

It was a town, to be expected from what I saw of Riverwood yesterday, but a bit in the distance I saw it. A massive stone structure connected by a small bridge.

Beautiful.

The college of Winterhold.

"Halt, outsiders." My attention was taken by one of the guards coming towards us. "State your business."

"I was going to check out the College." Was there any reason to hide it?

The guard scowled under his helmet. "Another mage." His voice practically dripping with venom.

"I'm sorry?" I said in confusion. "I've only been in Skyrim for less than a week, did I do something wrong?"

The guard looked me over once before sighing. "Look, just…..the Mages in the college have caused a lot of trouble for the town. Experiments gone wrong.....or right, magical accidents and such aren't uncommon. Try to keep your nose clean if you join them."

"That sounds incredibly irresponsible. Even disregarding the morality of such things, do they not realize they rely on you all for even the basic necessities?" They're in the middle of nowhere, the town is the only reason they can probably even operate without constant supplies coming and going. The logistics would be an absolute nightmare for something of that size.

I think he was about to respond but we both got distracted by a sudden shout.

"ICE WRAITHS!"

"Shit, get in formation!"

The guard looked at me again. "Some assistance would be appreciated, mage."

Well, I wouldn't mind helping fix the disconnect between the mages and mundane folk here. Especially if I'm going to spend any extended time at the college.

I nodded, following behind, they make a quick shield wall at the town gates. I didn't know what an Ice wraith was, but it looked like some kind of elemental mixed with a scaled sea creature.

The old man had hurried into town, good. I didn't want to have to worry about him, he was good to me.

They all looked nervous, even I felt a certain chill as a few dozen of those things approached. I quickly grabbed my sword out of my hat and drew it from its sheath.

A few of the creatures in the front spewed frost blast from their mouth. It seemed like the guards were somewhat used to this because several shields pushed together and blocked it.

I'm not the most moral person in the world, I can be petty, vindictive and I usually care about my needs over others….but I'm also not heartless. Seeing them fight like this…..I just sighed and drew upon my mana

My circuits opened and I felt my magical energy swell into both hands, and I pushed it together "Distort."

A moment later, a hundred more guards formed up along side us and rushed towards the incoming mass of ice wraiths.

They were nothing but facsimiles, lifeless illusions that dissipated at the slightest touch, I was concerned that the snowstorm would break them before they could do anything, so I overloaded the spell a bit.

I was taking several guesses here, but it seemed like the Ice Wraith's sensory organs deemed them 'real' whether it was sight or something else. Maybe they sensed the magical energy that all life forms have, their "od' so to speak and confused the mana I implanted in each copy as that?

Questions for later, I began drawing my runes in the air.

If I were a betting man, these things were most likely weak to fire.

I withdrew a few talismans from my hat, I didn't have many left and I was unsure if I could craft more outside of Earth, but it felt like a good time to use them.

The spell I wanted to cast required five specific ones, but I was missing two of the required elemental talismans, I would replace them with a corresponding rune.

"Metal Enriches Water. Water Nurtures Wood. Wood feeds Fire. Fire dries Earth. Earth refines Metal."

A pentagram formed, suspending, and connecting them all in the air. Using the creation cycle to bolster another spell to an absurd level, even my sword bolstering it by a slight degree.

Fire magecraft wasn't my forte, but I had thought about a few spells I wanted to create through the usage of the runic arts.

The runes swirled around my hand, invoking in the sequence I envisioned. Too many to say individually, it was simpler to link the sentence under a single spell name.

"Fires of Muspelheim."

The land was dyed red.

***

Infront of the gates of Winterhold, if you looked out, there was no fresh snow for about 80 yards, possibly more.

I think the guards were a bit surprised.

Surely, they couldn't think this was much? I mean, I felt this wasn't up to par with my standards. I noticed several irregularities when I cast the spell for the first time. I did make a mental note to fix them, but I lost maybe 30-40% power in the final cast.

"Thank you." A guard pat me on the shoulder, I recognized him from earlier. "You saved the lives of many good men."

I guess I did. "Why exactly were those things attacking?"

He slumped his shoulders, letting out a sigh. "It's that time of the year that they reproduce, I'm not sure the exact…. mechanism behind how they give birth, only that they need a source of heat. They usually swarm us when the sun is at its peak, drag a few people off then do it again the next day. This repeats for a couple weeks."

Oh…heat, I see what he means.

Eww.

Though I am a little intrigued. Does the act of reproduction need to syphon the heat from a living being in order for them to generate offspring?

Everyone around me looked immediately at ease with the large swarm gone. A large weight off their shoulders in the meantime. There were a couple sporting wounds, well a bit of ice got around the shields.

I one in specific rip a thorn of ice out of his arm. What a badass, that must have hurt.

"Oi." I clasped him in the shoulder, casting a Healing spell.

He just started at me, almost in utter confusion.

How can they be so surprised at my magic….magecraft, when they live next to a college of mages? Jeese, my terminology is getting all mixed up.

I guess they mean the same thing, contextually speaking.

"Thanks." The guard grunted out.

"No problem, though you may want to get yourself check, I don't know much about Ice wraiths, admittedly, if there are any lingering effects inside your body."

"I owe you a drink…..mage" The guard moved his arm around.

"Think we all do." The other guard, possibly the leader? He walked over and put a hand on my shoulder. "Thank you, truly. Many of my men were ready to die today."

"Well, I wouldn't say no to a mug, your Skyrim Mead has grown on me."

"Alright, you head him boys. Batur, Tolsmar, you both are staying on duty at the gate since you were both late. Otherwise, first round is on me, boys!"

There was some good-natured cheering

"My name is Svord and if anyone gives you problems in Winterhold, tell them my name." He practically dragged me off towards the tavern, his posse of armed guards following along, laughing and jeering.

It was, not unpleasant.

Seeing everyone make way as we pushed open the doors of what I presumed was the tavern. The locals greeted the guards happily, I guess they would have an applied interest in the guards returning back victorious.

"Dagur!" Svord exclaimed to a man behind the counter.

"Svord, it's good to see you made it, how were the….?"

"Every guard alive and accounted for, you can thank my new friend here." He laughed happily, clasping my shoulder.

"A mage?" Dagur eyed me skeptically. "You from the college, lad?"

"I came here wanting to check it out, saw they needed a hand." I shrugged. "Just did what anyone would do."

I took a quick glance around, the old cart driver was chatting up a woman in the corner, she looked about his age. He saw me out of the corner of his eye, I gave him a nod and smile.

"Aye, he's a good one, the college would do good to add him to their number." Svord added. "Now." He clapped his hands. "I promised a round for everyone, and Svord doesn't' go back on his word."

The place erupted in cheers; it was really lively. I wasn't used to getting this kind of attention when people all gave me acknowledgement and such. But…it wasn't an uncomfortable feeling.

"What'll you get lad, the hero gets the first drink." Dagur

"I've only had a few drinks from Skyrim so far, Black Briar, Honningbrew, what else you got for me?" I sat at the counter.

Svord and Dagur shared a look, a smile showing on their faces. "Let's get you a true Nord drink." He poured out a bottle I didn't recognize into a large mug.

"Alright, lad we won't laugh if you can't handle something a bit stronger than the milk you're used to…..at least not too much." Svord slapped my back.

"Oh, is that a challenge?" I eyed him.

He crossed his arms, staring at me, a grin on his face. "This is a man's drink, son."

I took the hat off my head, reaching inside to grab a handful of coins and slammed them on the table.

"The balls on this lad, eh?" Svord snorted in amusement we were gathering a little show. He pulled out a few coins and matched me.

"Bottoms up." I took swig, eyeing Svord as I downed the entire thing in one drink. Granted, a bit of it spilled out onto my shirt, and I almost coughed it back up when it first went down my throat, but I slammed the empty mug on the counter.

"Tasted like piss mixed with honey…" I coughed slightly, meeting the silence of the crowd. "Fuck it, give me another."

There were woops and laughter as Svord pat my shoulder. "Well done lad." He laughed happily. "You earned this." He pushed the gold towards me.

"Alright, just keep the drinks flowing." I waved my hand around the room, pushing both piles of gold towards Dagur.

More cheers and thanks were shouted my way.

It was a wonderful feeling.