SENTINEL: Chapter 1: Death & Rebirth
*Disclaimer: This story was inspired by the video game Shadow of Mordor. The story may sound similar in this chapter, but in the next chapter the two diverge.
4E 500: Rafkas
Skall Village
I stood, stunned at the sight of the burning remains of my village. Bodies, all Skall, lay on the ground, unmoving, the snow beneath them stained red.
"Who did this... WHO DARED TO DO THIS?" I shouted, drawing my steel sword from its scabbard.
"Rafkas!" A voice cried out, "over here!" The voice called out again, but a little less loudly this time. I looked over to the direction of the sound, my sword hanging at my side. A body, propped up against the grindstone with a sword in hand, seemed to still be alive, if barely. I hastened over to him, sheathed my sword, and crouched. It was Ulfgar, the village smith. "Rafkas, the Thalmor, they... they attacked. They have a vendetta against all nords, regardless of their beliefs. You must flee from here, you hear me? Anywhere Thalmor are to be found is not safe for our people. Here, take my blade and... And redeem our people. Survive, promise me, you will survive."
"I... I will survive, I promise." I reassured him, and he let go of my hand, and passed on into the next life. I rose, and upon hearing the crunch of snow behind me turned. A robed high elf stood in front of me, an orb of fire in hand.
"Hmm... Must have missed one." The Thalmor spoke only once before hitting me squarely in the chest with the spell. I flew backwards, and luckily, landed on the snow instead of the mountain. I rolled onto my chest, extinguishing the spell. Nevertheless, however, I was in an immense amount of pain, and unable to fight. Crunch, crunch, crunch, the sound of the snow getting crushed the someone's I raised my head up just in time to see a spectral figure clad in some strange armor inscribed with various runes before me. He appeared to be an elf, from the looks of his pointed ears. A bow was on his back, and a spectral sword was sheathed by his side.
"You too, have unfinished business." His voice was clear and strong. He crouched before me. He extended a hand, and somehow I knew that if I took it, I would be making a choice that would change my life forever. But it seemed that I faced my demise, and the All-Maker was calling me back to him, so I took the elf’s hand. As his hand gripped mine, there was a glowing light began to emit from our hands.
Our voices began to merge, and we spoke as one. "Nalmë erëa!" Somehow, I understood the words to mean 'We are one.' There was a large burst of light, and a small group of Thalmor, led by the mage that had hit me with the firebolt came running as I stood up. The elf had disappeared, along with the pain in my chest.
"Do you know how to fight?" The ghost elf's familiar voice seemed to come from within my own head.
"Aye, I don't think I can take them on though." I spoke aloud, unsure if I should think my words back to him, or speak them.
"Allow me to take over then." The elf proposed, as I unsheathed my sword for the second time in the last couple of minutes.
"Go ahead," Just as soon as I gave my consent, my perspective changed, not so much visually, but it seemed that I was watching everything through someone else's eyes. I- my hands sheathed my sword. Then the elf thrust my left arm thrust out, and opened my hand in a grabbing gesture. A spectral bow materialized in my hand, and my right arm nocked a spectral arrow from a spectral quiver. It was now that the Thalmor attacked, their four swordsmen charging, and their last remaining wizard firing all sorts of elemental projectiles at me. Time seemed to slow down, and I began to see not the Thalmor's physical bodies, but a collection of some sort of atmosphere, all of which were golden.
The ghost elf began to fire ghostly arrows one after another, ending the lives of the Thalmor soldiers charging me. His ethereal quiver, however eventually emptied, but not before enabling the elf to kill all of the Thalmor except for their wizard, who was guarded by a ward. The ghost elf's bow then faded from my hand. The ghost elf drew my sword and then engaged in a charge, a ward emanating from my left hand, protecting my body from the magic projectiles the elf didn't manage to dodge.
The elf then jumped, going over the wizard, and a blue energy appeared in my left hand. The ghost elf thrust my left hand open in the air, and electric blue stream trailed out of the wizard's back. The firebolt that the wizard had been preparing disappeared, and he raised his hands in surrender. The ghost elf lowered my hand, and stepped forward.
"Who commanded you to come here and do this?" The ghost elf shouted, my mouth speaking in his voice. He raised his sword to the Thalmor's throat to make sure that the man spoke.
"It, it was Sanyon, he told us to wipe out the village!" The man was stuttering, fearful for his life. A shadow of the man he had been just a few moments ago when he faced me with my life in his hands.
"Where is this Sanyon?"
"The battle camp, down in Raven Rock, that's all I know, now please let me live!" The elf pleaded for mercy, like a hypocrite, like a coward. He deserved to die.
"It's your choice," The ghost elf said calmly.
"Allow me to do the deed." I responded, eager to let out some of my rage at the death of my kin. The elf answered by handing over control of my body back to me, and causing the spectral blade to fade just as the bow had done. As I regained control, I saw my eyes also fading back to their normal blue color. I took a two handed stance with my sword, and delivered a swift strike to the wizard's neck decapitating him. I then dropped my sword, ambled over to Ulfgar's corpse, and picked up his stalhrim blade.
I turned and walked over to the path. I stopped, and looked back, sure that I would never lay eyes on this place again. I began to walk back down the path, determined that I would find and kill Sanyon. But first, I had questions to find answers to.
