The Tale of the Hero

[Herculine]

I agree. If the words don't flow forth freely it's not good to try to force them. I'm enjoying this story, Shoren. Keep it up!

[ResidentWeevil2077]

Me too :D We're both eager to find out what's going on.

[Shoren]

Chapter VI

~To Anvil~

 

Rest of the day went peacefully and soon the new day rose with sunny weather. Celestian and Martin woke up when first rays of light came from the window of their room and soon were fully dressed. They quickly ate the breakfast in the inn and headed towards the mage guildhall as the telportation should be in use now.

 

It was quite warm outside even though the town was far in the north at Cyrodiil so even snow was in the ground around the year. Both of companion's steps were quite heavy so they left clear footprints on the snow which was on the ground thanks to all supplies they were carrying. Of course Celestian carried most of the load as Martin was already old and psychically quite out of shape so Martin only carried his staff, a spell book where he had written all spells he knew and ingredients for some spells.

 

As they entered to the guildhall the same woman as before greeted them and gave a positive reply so they could use the teleportation. The woman led them to the basement of the guildhall where middle of the the room was made a violet spell circle which was quite complex looking. There was a high elf mage sitting in a simple chair and reading a book. As the elf noticed Martin and Celestian he closed the book and rose to stand.

"Greetings arch-mage." The elf said to Martin with small bowing.

"Thank you that you allow us to use this." Martin said with warm smile as he leaned to his staff.

"Anything for you master as after all you have all rights to use it. So what is your destination?"

"Anvil."

"Alright then just step inside the circle and we can begin."

And so Celestian and Martin did. They stepped inside the circle and the high elf started to mutter a spell. The circle soon started to glow and wrapped both of the companion to bright light. It took about ten minutes to chant the spell and so Martin and Celestian were send to their journey.

 

It took only few minutes to transport or so it felt as they came to basement of the guildhall at Anvil. The basement was quite dusty as unlike Bruma this wasn't used for anything else but safe keep items of different sort. As both of them came out of the basement to main hall some of the mages looked bit weird at them.

"So what brings you here Arch-Mage?" A khajiit mage asked as she came towards Martin and Celestian.

"That information is something you do not need to know I'm afraid and I'm not planning sharing that information." Martin replied with slight coldness in his tone and started to walk towards the door which went outside and Celestian followed him.

 

It was warm weather outside as it even brought sweat to the skin only being in under this sun which radiated light and warmness to the earth. Martin directly headed towards the manor which was spoke in the scroll and knocked the door. Three loud knocks but he got no answer. To tell you the truth this place looked it was forsaken for quite many years. That was weird. The scroll directly told that a boy named Farael would live in here. Martin was sure that Nader wouldn't give false information as he has known that person from his birth as Martin was far older than Nader. Something was wrong.

[Herculine]

Something was wrong indeed!

 

I'm keeping my eye on this one...

[Shoren]

Chapter VII

~The manor and a child~

 

Martin slowly opened the door. It creaked as if it hadn't been oiled for years and as he stepped inside he smelled a scent which he knew very well. Actually Celeastian also was very familiar with this scent. It was scent of death and to be specific scent of rotten meat. Martin quickly covered his nose with his left hand as he held the staff on his right hand. Even thought Martin was familiar with this scent it didn't mean he was used to it. Also whole place was covered in dust and there was no marks of any footsteps so this place was abandoned long time ago yet Martin heard a voice. The voice was that of crying and it came from same direction as the scent of rotten meat. From basement. Martin made small light to tip of his staff to light their way and walked directly where the voice was coming.

 

When Martin and Celestian reached the basement a new scent came to play. It was scent of roses which was mixed into the scent of rotten meat and also they crying became louder and louder as they went further in the basement. They soon reached a secret door which was open and led to a some kind of small cave which had an altar middle of it.

"Hey look." Celestian said to Martin and pointed at a corner which was hidden in shadows.

As Martin pointed the light at the corner a small boy was revealed. The kid wasn't much over ten years by looks of him and his skin was pale and even his ribs were shown through the skin as if this boy hadn't eaten in ages. The boys hair was long enough to reach the ground from his sitting position but it was messed up. The boy had only pants and they were worn out with many holes in them. His face was lifeless yet the source of crying was unmistakably this boy. As the boy looked at Martin slowly Martin flinched by surprise. This boys eyes were unlike any human he had met before. They were crimson red.

"Who are you?" Martin asked from the boy.

The boy said something but the voice did not reach Martin's ears. This was most likely because of condition which this kid was.

"Do you wish to come with us and leave this place?" Martin asked as he pitied this boy.

The boy nodded and tried rose to stand yet he could not so Celeastian came and took him to his back.

"We should leave this unholy place." Martin said and pointed at a corpse which had only small amounts of meats here and there. The corpse was covered in pedals of red roses.

This kid who Martin and Celestian found only rose many questions for Martin but he was sure he could find answer to these questions when the kid was back in good condition. There was two questions which especially he wanted to know. First one was what was this kid. He wasn't clearly fully at least human or any other race which Martin knew. The second was how did this kid survive for so long in there for at least four years by looks of dust.

 

As the companion were about to leave the manor a man walked who's face was hidden in shadows which was laid by his black robe's hood. The man had a staff and a sword.

"This is where you shall die I'm afraid." The man said and raised his free hand to point at Martin and Celestian. The man started to chant a spell which was quite mistake as to cast a spell caster must go to a state which they did not notice anything from outer world as the chants are needed to spell and emphasis must be exactly correct if you wish to cast a spell. If even one letter goes wrong the spell will not work and in worst case it might backfire or cast some other spell. This also meant that mages were quite easy pray for warriors if mages were alone so soon this black robed man found a longsword through where his heart was and died.

"Really... Is this best assassins these days can do?" Celestian stated as he wiped the blood from his sword and sheathed it.

"Well in any case we should leave." Martin told Celestian and walked over the corpse of the assassin.

[Herculine]

The boy isn't at all what he appears to be, is he?

[Shoren]

Chapter VIII

~The boy of crimson red eyes~

 

Martin and Celestian quickly went to local inn and bought lots of food for the child. Of course the boy started eat at same second as the food was brought front of him after all he was hungry and thirsty. The child ate and drank for about an hour non-stop. Finally he stopped. The boy fell asleep soon so Celestian carried him to the room which they rented and placed him to a bed. After that Celestian went back to bar side of the inn where Martin was already drinking a goblet of beer.

"So what you think of that child?" Celestian asked as he sat down to same tablet where Martin was.

"Well I can't say much but I'm sure he is not human nor any race I know of... I would say he is ether half-human or completely some other race." Martin said and sighed as he put down the goblet from his lips.

"Don't dark elves have same kind of eyes? He might very well be half-dark elf." Celestian suggested and shrugged.

"No... Dunmers have more darker red in their eyes and also every half-dunmers I have seen haven't had red eyes they have been always from other parent. Also there is that this child survived without food or water for at least four years which is impossible if you aren't immortal but immortals don't have signs of starvation like this kid had. That kid is total mystery to me."

The warrior laughed. "Well that something new."

"Even thought I'm ranked as the arch-mage it doesn't mean I know everything."

"So what are we going to do now? Go back to Imperial City and report of this child to Nader?"

"I think it's best until we know about this child more we don't report about him as after all Nader said that there was seventeen years old boy living there which there wasn't so this quest failed."

"Why you wish to keep this boy as secret?"

"Well first reason is that normally Nader doesn't give false information but the information in the scroll was totally wrong. That child hadn't moved from his place for four years but he said that there was living seventeen years old boy. Then there is that lousy assassin. How did he know that we were there in first place and why did he target us."

"I see... Well then we should go sleep too." The warrior said and headed to the bed with Martin quickly after him.

 

New day came and as Martin woke up he noticed the boy, who was now much more healthy looking than yesterday as his skin was tan coloured rather than pale like before, awake staring at him.

"What is it?" Martin asked from the boy with warm smile on his face.

"Why are you taking care of me?" The boy asked. Well it wasn't question which Martin didn't expect as after all it was quite weird that two men came to basement of forsaken manor and picked up a child without any second thoughts. On other note Martin was quite surprise how fluently this kid spoke common language.

"Well I guess because out of pity but also I have some interest in you as a mage. Oh yeah my name is Martin Farfield and you are?"

"I think my name was Tristan... Tristan Locksen."

"Well then nice to meet you Tristan. If this doesn't offend you too much could you tell me what race you are? I haven't seen anybody like you before."

"I... I can't remember... Sorry... "

"Well there is no need to try remember for now as everything will come back in time." The mage said with slight smile. "Oh yes before I forgot. Like I said I'm quite interested in you as a mage or wizard which ever term you wish to use as you have a gift inside you. A gift of magic so if we polish it you can become a mage like I am. So how about it do you wish become my apprentice?"

"I guess I could... I don't nothing to lose after all but are you sure you wish to take somebody like me as your pupil?"

"Of course I'm alright with it. Well then we need to get you new clothes and a haircut if you want one or if want we can keep the hair that way but we need at least wash it."

Tristan nodded and so Martin left the inn Tristan right behind him.

 

Martin headed towards the mages guild to buy a robe as after all now that Tristan is his apprentice Tristan needed a robe which apprentice mages uses. The robe was simple dark red one but did the job as it gave almost total freedom of movement. Tristan wished to keep his hair as it was now so it was only washed which revealed that Tristan's hair colour was dark brown. Also he did make a ponytail of from his hair thought he let bangs to be loose. Martin also got him a spell book where Tristan could write down the spells which he learns.

 

Now everything was ready for the journey to the Imperial City as this time they had to travel by some other means as Anvil didn't have teleportation circle. Martin and Celestian decided that a ship was best way to travel this time as that would have least chance of attack by assassins but of course even seas had their own dangers.

[Shoren]

Chapter IX

~The journey to the sea~

 

There was small warm breeze blowing on the dock. There was many noises such as sailors shouting that everything was alright in the ship, drunken people singing and so on. The dock had totally different atmosphere than the city itself had. It had become one of largest docks in the Cyrodiil over the years and it was important source of income to the country.

 

Martin, Celestian and Tristan walked through the dock to a ship. The ship was something what was not until late developed. It had something called steam engine and because of that it could say in any weather. Tristan's eyes widened from amazement as if he had never seen such thing. Well it was quite amazing looking ship in any case and the tickets were really expensive. These days each mage guild tries to improve the city where it was located by spells and new inventions. This steam engine was one of the inventions which Anvil's mage guild had developed.

 

This route was quite long one as they had to go along with borders of Valewood and Elsweyr then had to go up the the river of Niben Bay. The trip would take around a week and half according the ship's captain. Along the road it would take about four days. This was good time for Martin to teach Tristan the basics of magic so he would be ready to study at the Arcane University.

 

The companions were last ones to board the ship and so the ship left the harbour and to the sea.

 

"Ready for this journey?" Martin asked from Tristan with warm smile in his face as they leaned to rail at deck of the ship.

Tristan took deep breath. "Yeah... After all I wish to see the world with my own eyes."

"You got pretty nice follower for yourself Martin." Celestian said with smirk in his face as he ruffled Tristan's hair.

"Maybe I have... Maybe I have..." Martin replied with slight smile. Martin knew his own death would come soon as he was already about eighty years old so he wanted pass his knowledge to new generation.

[dezdimona]

please continue

[Herculine]

I'm intrigued and waiting anxiously for more.