By: The Orange Mask
I couldn’t focus my thoughts. I couldn’t remember anything. I started to panic. Then I opened my eyes and gazed upon a strange room. The room was fairly large, and lacked any décor. I was leaned up against a wall, and noticed that the room’s surfaces were purple, and appeared ethereal, but not transparent; much like the appearance of a summoned weapon. There was no discernible source of light, yet there was some dim glow that lit my body. Memories came flooding back as I took in my surroundings.
I scanned the room, looking for anything that might’ve helped me determine where I was. To the left of me were Kharjo and Bjorn, still out cold. Both were crumpled in separate piles on the floor, breathing, but not much else. I breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly, I heard something move. The sound echoed, so it was hard to place its location. Rather, I scanned the room quickly, preparing a fireball spell in one hand and wincing in pain as I tried to move the other, forgetting my injuries.
“Damn…” I mumbled.
Once again I heard the sound, and this time I was able to place it as distinctly coming from one of the unlit corners of the room. I managed to stand up and hobble over to the corner, remaining as quiet as possible. I heard yet another sound, this one different, as a small spark flickered in the dark corner. I decided to switch tactics, as I knew I’d been spotted. I sprinted toward the corner, the flame in my hand growing in size as I ran. I wasn’t going to take any chances. I shouted, just about to blast whatever was in that corner to pieces. A bright light flew upwards from the corner, and I stopped dead in my tracks. I looked upon my assailant in the full light, only to find a thin Imperial woman in black leather armor smiling at me, small fangs showing. It was Claudia.
“Claudia? What are you doing here?” I asked, confused and exhausted as I cancelled my spell. Claudia didn’t answer, but stood up and sprinted to me, tears in her eyes, but smiling the whole time. I couldn’t help but smile back. In the light I could see that her eyes and skin were rather yellowed. She probably hadn’t eaten for days.
“I suppose I should explain...” Claudia sat down, and beckoned me to sit down beside her. She continued her story. “I’ve been lonely for a long time, even before I met you. Really, I’ve been lonely since I was forced to leave my home. After you left, I decided to do something about it. I sent a letter to a vampire den to the south; you don’t want to know what happened to the courier. They invited me to their den, so I went.”
“The vampires worshipped Molag Bal, the creator of vampirism. While I wasn’t a worshiper myself, I thought I could still fit in. Then they invited me to join their clan. I should’ve known something was wrong, but I was just so happy to be part of a family again. As soon as I stepped into the den, they took me as a prisoner, saying I wasn’t good enough to be a part of their clan; that I was under them. They put me in a cage and tortured me for days…” Claudia broke down, and I put my arm around her to comfort her. She continued after a few minutes.
“Eventually, their leader, Tullius, said that I wasn’t good enough for this world, and that everyone was under his clan. He sent me to this place, and I’ve been here ever since!” Claudia broke down once again, and leaned her head on my shoulder. I started to explain myself while trying to comfort her. She looked at me with eyes red from crying.
“You mean Tullius is going to destroy Tamriel?” Claudia asked.
“Unless we can stop him, yes. But frankly, I’m not even sure how to get out of here, or even where we are!” I slammed a fist into the wall in frustration, causing Claudia to jump. I grunted from pain as the shock went up my right arm. She looked at me, worried.
“I’m fine, I’m fine…” I said, trying to regain my composure. “Look, the only way we’re going to get out of here is by keeping calm. If we can figure out where we are, maybe we can figure out how to get back.” I smiled at Claudia, and she smiled back. She looked weak, emaciated even. I was truly worried for her.
“Don’t worry,” Claudia said, probably seeing my worry. “I’ll be fine, as long as I don’t go into the sunlight. Just focus on getting us out of here.” I could see her worry, even through her smile and cheeriness.
“All right,” I said. “Have you seen any-“
“No. Do you really think that I’d be here if I’d seen an exit?”
“Any idea what this room is made of?”
“No. I’ve already tried to break the room with spells, but it just absorbs them.”
“Absorb… Give me a few minutes.” With that, I ran back to the other side of the room, grabbed my pack, and ran back over to Claudia. Bjorn and Kharjo had come to, but were still trying to get a grasp on their surroundings. I unrolled some parchment and held it down at the corners with some books. I was in a flurry of activity, while Claudia just sat there, confused and curious. She reached over to touch the lines I had drawn on the parchment using some charcoal, but I slapped her hand away.
“Don’t touch that!” I yelled, in a frenzy of motion. Claudia pouted and turned around. I caught glances of her out of the corner of my eye. Gods, I had forgotten how incredible she looked…
I caught myself just before touching one of the charcoal lines, which most likely would’ve blown me to bits. The magicka feedback would’ve been intense. I continued with my work, more focused on the task at hand. Within about ten minutes I had completed my creation and stood up to admire it. I grunted, and Claudia turned around, her curiosity getting the better of her.
The work didn’t look that impressive: it was a roll of parchment, held down at the corners by rather heavy tomes. Drawn on the parchment in charcoal was a grid, marked with arcane symbols. Both the lines and marks were glowing a faint blue, which reflected off the iron dagger and soul gem placed in the middle of the parchment.
“Claudia, my dear, you’re going to be an enchantress…”
To be continued…
Comments