Chapter 4: Before the Storm
I turned back to see Elenwen with her petite hand over her mouth, covering her laughing face.
I bumped into Hadvar, who had abruptly stopped in front of me while my attention was on Elenwen.
"Wolves." As I heard him say those words, I retracted the sword from my inventory, and Elenwen took notice of the sword materializing in my hand out of nowhere. Interesting.
We were surrounded by a pack of wolves, around 12. I activated my Sparks spell, immobilizing the closest one with the spell and stabbing its throat right after. Hadvar and Sonia took the front, Lokir stood in the middle, and I was 'protecting' Elenwen.
"You know I can handle a few dogs," She said, looking at me.
I turned to her. "I highly doubt that," I said, propelling the sword right at her face. The sword went past her cheek, killing the wolf lunging at her from behind.
Her reaction time was a joke. She touches her cheek, where the sword passed. For a moment, she said nothing, eyes flicking to the wolf corpse before regaining her composure. She turned to look at me, but I was gone, helping the trio clear the path.
'Perhaps I misjudged your competence, A rare occurrence.' She mutters to herself, a grudging acknowledgement.
I huffed a breath after killing the most wolves. Boy, they were fast. 'I should have increased my Stamina instead of health,' I sighed, cleaning my blade on the dead wolf's fur.
System prompt: One-Handed 25 -> 26
Sonia and Hadvar were more on edge, while Lokir was a bit more agitated; having to watch out for the sky and the ground terrified him.
'Wait.' I opened my system.
System Prompt: Quest:
Unbound: (in-progress)
Reward: 20 Attribute points:
When is it going to be completed? I wondered and sighed.
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I was walking alone, well not anymore, as Elenwen was walking along side, on her own accord.
I didn't pay much mind, I needed her to be the one to ask questions—if I pried too much, I'd come off as suspicious.
While waiting for her to start her investigation, I was lost in the Sytem's map function, It was currently useless, as I couldn't see anything but fog surrounding the 3d visualization of Skyrim's map, except for Helgen and the path we have already traversed.
I closed it when I heard Elenwen speak, "Thanks for the help back there."
I imagine her to be struggling to say the word Thanks, I scoffed, "I don't like seeing women die…" I leaned in just a bit, she didn't back away, too curious to know what I had to say. "Especially when they're as beautiful as you."
She paused for a moment but quickly regained her composure. A small, almost amused smile crossed her lips. "No one's ever said that to me before," she leaned in slightly, her voice dropping just a fraction, "Especially not a manmer."
She was still assessing me, testing out which kind of animal I was—whether I swayed with hate, battle, money, or lust.
I met her gaze, letting a cockly smile tug at my lips. "Never met a Thalmor like you," emphasizing the word you with my eyes analyzing her curves. A front. I let her believe I was the type swayed by lust. Which was, to some degree, true, but there was something else I wanted.
She smirked, stepping just a little closer, lowering her voice, "Careful, your admiration might be mistaken for loyalty."
"What can they do?" I said, glancing at the trio walking ahead of us. Elenwen chuckled. 'Arrogant and carefree,' she thought.
…
We could see the snow-draped mountains like a sleeping giant in the distance. The jagged black stone structure that formed the ancient Nordic ruin, Bleak Falls Barrow.
We soon reached the Guardian Stones. "What are you going to choose?" Hadvar asked me. Lokir had chosen the Thief stone, gaining a burst of laughter from the group along with Elenwen, which honestly surprised me.
I stepped forward, standing in the middle of the three stones. My mind raced; I had the gift of Swordmanship and Magic Mastery.
But the Thief stone was out of question. I didn't want to use Talk-no-Jutsu on my enemies. The stealth skill tree only had two good things aside from Speech, Light Armor, and Sneak.
I placed my hand on the Mage stone as a ray of light came from above, and landed on the stone and then it passed through my body.
System Prompt: Mage stone added: You can learn magic skills 20% Faster
I removed my hand from the standing stone, which stood at 3 meters tall, and stepped back.
We began our journey again as we saw Riverwood from the distance, and behind it was the Throat of the World, a mountain so big that the one I saw a few minutes back looked like a small hill. It's summit lost to the clouds.
Again, Hadvar and Sonia took the lead, and behind them, Lokir, followed by me and Elenwen.
"Mage?" Elenwen said in a low voice, her tone one of surprise. I glanced at her. "Are you that surprised?" I asked her.
"I never took you for a scholar with all those muscles," Elenwen said, glancing at my well-built arm.
I flexed my bicep. "You don't like them?" I said to her, trying to derail the conversation away from magic. I knew she was inquiring about my ability to 'conceal' items.
Sonia and Lokir heard me and looked back. Elenwen was flustered for a second. "What are you guys talking about?" Sonia asked.
"Nothing, short stuff," I murmured, and as she heard me, she stepped toward us. "What did you just call me?" she said with a frown.
"Nothing," I said with my hand up in surrender. I glanced at Elenwen. "Did you hear me say anything, miss?" I asked her.
She gave me a wicked grin and said in her musical voice, "Short stuff."
Thalmor and their habit of starting conflicts, I shook my head. The betrayal. I received a light punch from Sonia on my shoulder before she turned away and walked ahead of us.
I clutched my heart instead of the shoulder, looking in Elenwen's direction. "Ouch! That hurts."
Elenwen chuckled, "I never thought that I would say this to a human, but you're quite the charmer," she said before going ahead of me.
I stared at her bountiful ass that swayed left and right with each step, feeling my stare she turned back, her steps halted for a moment as I reached next to her, my hand hovering on her curves, craving a touch.
"What are you doing?" I heard her say, and I quickly straightened my back, "Trying to touch the Dawn." I replied smoothly.
Elenwen's eyes widened for a moment. "You understand so little of what that truly means." She said,
I grinned, letting my gaze linger. "Maybe… but I do know it's something worth reaching for." I glanced at her rack.
A red hue took her golden flush, and she slowed her walk, now walking only a step behind me.
System prompt: Speech 21 -> 22
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The five of us entered Riverwood as the afternoon sun bathed the town in a golden hue. Unlike the game's condensed level design, the real-life scale made me gasp in surprise. The wooden house stretched along the dirt road, smoke curling lazily from their chimneys. The sound of the river was louder here, its rushing waters weaving through the town like music.
Hadvar led the way, visibly relaxing as we stepped into what was, to him, familiar ground. Sonia walked beside him, her sharp eyes scanning the surroundings, always on edge despite apparent safety. Lokir, ever the jittery rogue, kept his hands close to his weapons as if expecting trouble at any moment.
Elenwen, however, was out of place. Her Thalmor robes and natural elven arrogant grace clashed with the simplicity of the town. The few residents out and about glanced at her with wary eyes, some stiffening at the sight of an Altmer in such fine robes. She ignored them, walking with the same regal confidence, yet I could tell she was analyzing everything—taking note of the people, the layout, the potential threats.
As for me, I simply took in the scenery, I couldn't feel this in Helgen because the life threatening events taking place, but this place was different, it was peaceful, the chattering of people upon seeing us made me feel like I wasn't really in a game, but I coudn't let go of that feeling outright, I could very well be in a dream.
Hadvar walked toward the third house from the entrance of the town. On the porch was set a blacksmith workplace, and behind it stood a fat man with dirty blonde hair and a beard.
He wore a blacksmith's apron on top of a red tunic and brown braies underneath. He looked towards our collection of misfits but recognized one familiar face.
As Hadvar turned toward his house, Alvor called out, "Hadvar, what are you doing here?" He asked, walking toward the front og his house. "Are you on leave from-" He paused, noticing the blood and dust on Hadvar, "Shor's bones! What happened to you, boy? And who are these people?"
Hadvar shushed him. "We should talk inside," Hadvar said, gesturing Alvor to look at the people stopping behind them.
"First, tell me, who are these people?" He asked, glancing at us one by one, his gaze stopping at Elenwen. I stepped in front of her. "Just an Altmer passing through Helgen."
Alvor squinted his eyes, his gaze shifting toward me as if he caught my lie.
Hadvar turned to me and was about to say something but stopped himself, No, this is better, though my uncle is supportive of the Empire, the same can't be said for Thalmor, He thought, and turned back to Alvor.
"They're friends of mine. Saved my life, in fact, I'll explain everything, but we need to go inisde" Hadvar pleaded.
Hadvar exhaled, turning toward the door of his house. "Fine, come inside. Sigrid will get you something to eat, and you can tell me all about it." Hadvar said and stepped inside his house.
"Sigrid! We have company!" Alvor yelled, entering the house.
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