Nigel opened his eyes to see a knife pressed to his throat, a sigh of relief escaped from his chest – ‘It’s only a knife – you’re fine’. He then looked at the man holding it, he seemed human but nothing he’d ever seen in the Wasteland – he was clad head to toe in what looked like steel armour, and everything but his head was protected, a deadly-looking steel battleaxe hung from his back, ‘Who carries a battleaxe?’. The man has weathered, dirty blond hair down to his shoulders, a scar across his right cheek and a blue tattoo decorated his face as it spiralled away from his eye. Nigel also noted that he appeared blind in one eye as one was completely white. He had a beard not dissimilar than Nigel's controlled stubble, just with a little more hair and far scruffier. Then Nigel took in his surroundings, they were on a hill overlooking some kind of standing stone and what looked like a city, the city could be seen easily from here as houses that looked similar to Viking buildings, with thatched roofs and wooden walls yet still well-built and civilised . A camp stood nearby with a two tents made of various different colours of leather and a burning fire raged quietly in the background. The air smelt fresh and cool, not like the irradiated air he'd gotten used to that just felt wrong. A cool breeze could be felt across his face as Nigel took in how amazing this place was compared to the wastes he'd just been in ,it was calm, peaceful; there were trees and grass – just like the Institute before…
‘No’ Nigel thought, ‘Don’t think about that’, instead he looked at his attire, he was still exactly the same as he had left, black trench coat with a white t-shirt underneath and jeans. His right arm was still exposed from the attack a few days ago, wires could be seen under the skin and in some parts the metal endoskeleton was entirely visible. His eyes were still functioning, which was good, his bionic eyes had a tendency to stop working after being knocked out but now they worked fine. Some small part of him hoped his jet black hair was still in the quiff he'd spent ages trying to style one rainy evening.
The man continued to yell at him – breaking his chain of thought, “Answer me!”
Nigel sighed with a trace of sarcasm and said, “Fine, kill me – I don’t care” He smiled as he saw the confusion on the man’s face then watched his violent instincts clearly get the better of him as he struck him in the throat with the knife.
The clang of metal on metal was the only result,
The man stepped away in a mix of fear and confusion, looking down at the cut in the skin and the metal underneath it – sometimes Nigel’s second layer of salvaged T-60 steel skin came in very useful; the man stared at Nigel, sheathed the knife and said “The names Bjorn, what are you?”
Nigel stood up and smiled “I, my friend, am a Cyborg – now it’s my turn to ask questions”
*****************************************************
San-Kai woke up and immediately stood up and looked around him, he felt a little dizzy immediately and had to sit back down again – but his eyes remained open. He looked around in shock, this was not Skyrim, buildings were blown to pieces, the sky looked apocalyptic as ominous clouds crackled and thundered, an odd feeling came over him - like some kind of poison. Somewhere near him, he could hr the clicking of some kind of device, clicking faster every time the sky rumbled. Bizarre metal boxes that looked somewhat like waggons littered the grounds around him. A path built into the sky seemed to have crumbled nearby and off in the distance he could see some kind of village surrounded by water, the houses there looked wrecked yet so different to the houses in Skyrim. The wise Argonian with dark green scales still looked the same as when he'd left, his dressed simply in the dark blue robe that he'd enchanted himself to enhance his magicka abilities with mage boots that he'd been given on his trip to the College in Winterhold. His blessed tattoo of the triangle of Julianos remained perfect on the backs of both his hands, imbuing his spells with the powers of his God, he had received it from the School of Julianos - an organisation he still considered himself a part of despite not having gone to High Rock in a while. He looked ahead of him and saw a girl over a cooking pot, she looked Imperial to San-Kai and was dressed in weathered leather armour with a brown flannel t-shirt and jeans underneath all that protection; he went up to her and politely tapped her on the shoulder.
The girl immediately swung round, pulled out what San-Kai thought looked like some kind of crossbow and pointed it directly at his head, San-Kai had a clearer look at her - she seemed in her early 20's with short brown hair tied into a ponytail at the back, a small scar cut across her nose but was barely visible. He could see the pain behind her young eyes and for a moment wondered what had happened to her in this barren land, but then he was brought back to reality as the girl spoke. “Don’t move!” the girl sounded less confident than she appeared, “I have a shotgun and I won’t hesitate to use it - What are you, and where’s Nigel?”
San-Kai groaned internally and raised his palms, he cast a disarm spell – sending what he now knew was a ‘shot-gun’ flying off into the air. He then immediately cast a telekinesis spell that sent the shotgun flying back; straight into his hands. He did hate it when people tried to attack him; he was one of the most advanced mages in Tamriel, for crying out loud!
San-Kai pointed the shotgun at her head and said in the Argonian accent he had never lost despite spending most of his life in Skyrim, “I have no idea what this is, or how to use it – but I’m guessing the trigger does the same as a crossbow, yes?” He saw the girl’s immediate look of terror and knew he was right, “Good, now, where am I?”
*****************************************************
Bjorn sat around the roaring fire with Nigel, they were eating the last remnants of some sweetrolls, he asked more casually this time, “Listen, Cyborg, you can ask as many questions as you like, but first I want to know where San-Kai is and then I want to know what in Talos’ name a Cyborg is!”
“A cyborg is a man with machinery implanted in him, the majority of my body is machinery and not much left of me is man, heck, even my skins’ synthetic." Nigel's reply seemed rehearsed like he'd had to explain it before
“Right, so you’re a mechanical man with fake skin – got it, kind of. Now where’s San-Kai?”
Nigel paused for a moment then asked, “Where are we?”
Bjorn looked somewhat surprised at the question and said, “Skyrim, the Old Kingdom”
Nigel pondered this for a moment and asked, “It’s not on Earth is it?”
“What is Earth?” Bjorn replied
“Earth is where I’m from,” Nigel said, and then groaned, “and I think it’s where San-Kai is now”
*****************************************************
“The Commonwealth!” the girl said immediately then repeated it a few times
The girl stood paralysed with fear as San-Kai continued to point the shotgun at her, he felt some pity for her and lowered the gun – he wasn’t entirely sure he’d had it the right way round anyway.
“I apologise; I should’ve just asked you” San-Kai tossed the shotgun back at her, careful not to touch the trigger, “I am San-Kai, the greatest Argonian mage in Tamriel – what’s your name?”
“Lucy, I’m Lucy” the girl stammered slightly, still recovering from recent events, and then she continued, “What are you, some kind of mutated lizard? Did you get injected with FEV or something?”
Sae-Kai looked surprised, most people knew what Argonians were, although he had never been to ‘The Commonwealth’ and he wasn’t sure where it was on Nirn and how he’d got there.
He answered her question, “I am an Argonian, not a mutated lizard or injected with FEV, whatever that is – any more questions?”
“Yes,” Lucy continued to enquire, “Where’s Nigel? He was standing right where you were”
Sae-Kai pondered this then as he asked another question, “Where is this on Nirn?”
“What the heck is Nirn?” Lucy replied
“You mean we are in a different world?” San-Kai’s eyes lit up with such a possibility being real
“We’re on Earth, lizard man” Lucy responded
“I prefer Argonian, actually” San-Kai snarled, but then continued, “If I am no longer on Skyrim and your friend is no longer here” San-Kai gasped as the idea hit him. I’ll bet we have switched and he is with my friend Bjorn, where I was – let’s hope Bjorn hasn’t bludgeoned him with his battle-axe”
This reply troubled Lucy slightly, but she knew the Nigel would likely win any confrontation thanks to his augmentations and experience in combat.
*****************************************************
Meanwhile, in a dark realm of Oblivion, Calcelmo rushed around trying to find the necessary parts to repair the Crossover, he needed a quantum harmonizer to put in the photonic resonation chamber but there wasn’t any and he didn’t even know what it was, the man had just told him to get one, something about the using the energy of the parabolic destabilization of the fission singularity.
The realm was a dimly lit as before, but the man who vaguely said his name was 'The Creator' had turned on a few lights using some kind of technology. He could now see that the realm was, in fact, some kind of Dwarven workshop, with tool benches and blueprints littered around. then at the far end of the room stood the glowing orb that was The Crossover, then nearby stood the device that operated it.
Calcelmo approached the Creator and said “My Lord, there are no quantum harmonizers – The Crossover cannot run”
The Creator screamed in annoyance and barked orders at Calcelmo “Shut the Crossover down!”
“But what of those we have crossed over already? Calcelmo enquired
“Send them all to Skyrim, It will be easier to track them down and there is less chance of them dying, so we can observe for longer” he ordered
“Yes, my Lord” Calcelmo obeyed and went to the machine; he used the controls to select San-Kai and Lucy, and then sent them both to Skyrim. He then walked away but noticed the Creator go over to the machine and cross something else over, but he didn’t dare ask.
*****************************************************
Nigel heard a crash behind him as San-Kai and Lucy appeared behind, looking bewildered
Nigel ran up to Lucy filled with concern, “You alright? What happened?” Lucy nodded in reply and said weakly, “Commonwealth, Lizard man, then here”
Nigel nodded in response and looked over to the lizard man next to her in confusion
Bjorn simply stayed sat where he was and said to San-Kai, “Rough ride, eh lizard?”
San-Kai glared at him, “I prefer Argo…”
Bjorn cut him off by laughing and said, “I know San-Kai, I do it just to annoy you!”
After they’d all recovered they sat down and discussed what had just happened, San-Kai gave a somewhat exaggerated description of what was apparently 'worse than the Deadlands' and then boastfully described how he'd used his advanced magic to avoid being shot then threatened Lucy. At this, Nigel gave San-Kai a wary glance but took no action.
Nigel spoke up, “So basically, somehow Lucy and I have teleported over to…what was it?”
Bjorn helped him, “Skyrim”
Nigel nodded and carried on “Right, Skyrim, it might be nicer over here than in the Commonwealth and I don’t know about Lucy but I have unfinished business there – I need to find a way back.
San-Kai gestured to the city off in the distance that Nigel had seen earlier, guards could be seen patrolling the outside and at that moment Nigel noticed a group of cats making camp outside the walls - 'because this world wasn't weird enough' Nigel thought humorously, his attention then turned back to San-Kai.
“That is Whiterun; there is a mage I know there who might be able to help us. We camp here for the night then travel in the morning?”
“I've been modified to only need sleep once a week so I’ll keep watch for the whole night” Nigel commented while everyone was already busy setting up tents. He stood on the edge of the grassy hill and looked off in the distance, the standing stone looked somewhat ominous in the coming darkness but the city of Whiterun looked better than ever, the inviting glow of the fire could be seen from their camp and Nigel immediately had a good impression of the city.
‘Don’t think I’ve given up,’ Nigel thought to himself. ‘I’m coming, you cold-hearted killer’
Comments
Are you open to some constructive criticism? I just always ask.