Mage (A Skyrim Fanfiction)

Chapter 20: A Rude Awakening

WOAH WHAT IS THIS. An update coming in a somewhat timely fashion? What is wrong with me? I'm never this productive! But, all my own personal astonishment at getting this darned thing done so fast put aside, this chapter was so much fun to write, and I really hope you all have as much fun reading it as I did with coming up with it! It doesn't really serve much of a purpose, other than giving Mél a semi-proper, if rather unconventional introduction, as well as potentially scarring poor Helvia for life, haha. And I definitely recommend listening to the above song with this chapter - if you like listening to music as you read - , as it really fits the mood. After all, I do choose to add music to these chapters for a reason!

Well, enough of that. Onto the chapter!

__________________________________________________________________

All at once, I was in a thousand different places, experiencing a thousand different things. I was free-falling through memories that were not my own, and it was terrifying.

Suddenly, I jerked to a stop, landing on something hard, presumably stone by its lack of give. Momentarily disoriented, the sounds of battle all around me as I scrambled to my feet—sounds of anger, fear, and desperation mingled with the cries of dying men. I was standing in the midst of a horrible, bloody massacre, in a place whose architecture I could only vaguely identify as Imperial - but I could barely notice such details as I gaped at the enormous monstrosity at front and center of my field of vision, clearly the main source of the devastating destruction all around me.

They - presumably he - were so tall that it seemed to me that, if he tried, he could tear a star from its lofty place in the heavens, and his skin was the color of freshly spilt blood, with bizarre, otherworldly markings seemingly running across the entirety of his body, and he was dressed in odd armor that made no practical sense - though it seemed that the soldiers' weapons had very little effect even when they made contact with his exposed skin -, but perhaps the most terrifying aspects about him were his two pairs of arms, each armed with a different weapon of some sort and his luminous, bloodlust-filled aureolin eyes, currently focused on a battalion of courageous yet unfortunate soldiers scattered around him, attempting to do anything to bring this terror down. I tried to move, but found myself unable to take so much as a step forward as I saw the demon bring down an enormous battleaxe on one of the soldiers, splitting the man entirely in two before he'd even known what had hit him. I heard a shrill, horrified scream as I witnessed this happen, only realizing after that it'd been I who'd made such a noise. Suddenly, the otherworldly juggernaut's eyes locked onto me, and a pleased, vengeful look appeared upon his face; it was clear that I had just made myself his target.

However, before I could so much as get into a defensive position or call upon any of my spells, the world suddenly was ripped away from me, and I was falling through darkness yet again, not sure whether to be relieved or even more terrified.

My reprieve of sorts was short-lived, however, as I was thrown into another memory of sorts without warning, and, this time, there was no painful landing. However, that certainly didn't mean my current situation was any better than it had been before. I was now in a world seemingly entirely devoid of color, the sky a lifeless, dull grey as I glanced up, and I was surrounded by a cold-looking stone and wrought iron building with spikes on its roof, reminiscent of some sort of fighting arena. I couldn't help but wonder what the purpose of reliving this particular memory was until I realized someone that there was someone here with me, who was entirely a metallic grey, sporting odd, spiked, and slightly form-fitting armor the color and luminescence of liquid silver, and they had lifeless, light grey eyes that I could just barely see through the slits of the visor of their helm. Their expression, from what I could discern, was one of indifference - no, not indifference, but disapproval and cold, emotionless dedication - as they practically ran at me, their sword drawn and glinting in whatever light there was in this place.