-Magic won’t work against me kid, trust your steel!-
Julia was on the training ground with Ruby, they both had their weapons out and were having at each other. Ruby was more magic oriented so she was trying to use her magika skills to have an edge against Julia’s dual wielding setup, which at a glance provided no defense, but Julia had her own magic, and as an expert use of restoration she had the strongest wards I ever saw. They also had a special property; she was able to completely absorb the spell thrown at her and generate raw magika from it. Unfortunately, she had problems with her magicka regeneration, and obtained most of her magic reserves from absorbing hostile sources.
-“Fus” (Force)- Shouted Ruby to throw her of balance.
Julia quickly brought up her ward and absorbed the shockwave, and then she ran up to Ruby, touched her in the stomach, and released a shock that dropped her to her knees. Lucius is right; she definitely needed to improve her martial skills, she was near useless without her magic.
-Brennan, show Ruby how its done, to give her an edge how about you go unarmed, that should things interesting - Said Lucius from his seat.
-Great, I’m sure that will make it all different - Said Ruby with a faint, tired expression.
Ruby’s position was good surprisingly, she had a strong solid base and kept her arms at a defensive stance while she analyzed Brennan’s. It was part of his training, the unarmed combat, but Ruby had her vampire blood to her advantage, so she was stronger and faster than him. He assumed a scorpion position, with his feet separated one in front of the other, while one of his hands was limp to his side and the other arm was held in front of him in a ready position. He advanced quickly and pushed her attacks to the sides with his raised arm. Then with his limp arm he used two fingers to push the pressure points in her left arm. Unfortunately for him she managed to kick him in his ribs, throwing him against a nearby pillar. It left a crack and we could hear the sound of some of his bones breaking, he did not let that beat him though, assuming his position once more and without making a sound he advanced, dodged two of her strikes and hit her right arm, leaving it at a limp state. With both arms paralyzed she started to panic, but then she regained her calm and used her vampiric reflexes to jump up and kick aiming for his head. He wasn’t slow though and managed to duck, but she used her newfound voice to knock him back into the end of the room.
-Not bad girl, but it will take more than a few broken ribs to stop me-
He jumped up and dashed to her ducking on her first kick, blocking the second one and dodging her shout, finally he managed to hit a pressure point in her neck that paralyzed the rest of her body. Having won the brawl he undid the paralysis technique and requested Julia to tend his broken ribs.
-Impressive, seems that you really shine with the unarmed combat, being a vampire you definitely have an edge, are you sure you don’t want to give up that shitty mace of yours and use some caestus instead? – Said Lucius
-I already said no Shade, its vey difficult for me to give up something I worked so hard to obtain, and most of all, I like it- Answered Ruby.
-Well, you earned a treat for the day, I shall teach you a new set of words, and give you your first contract. Are you ready? -
-Bring it-
-Lets upgrade your first shout first, “Fus, Ro Dah” – He whispered, and I could feel a powerful essence being transferred to Ruby.
After absorbing the knowledge she stood still for a couple of seconds while the newfound power took root, after all was quiet she broke the silence by shouting with all her might on the target dummy, it wasn’t pretty. That was impressive for a newbie, but I guess that this was expected from the dragonborn, still, took me fucking years to be able to use that shout, and I still can’t pull a target dummy apart into tiny little pieces. She is going to pass me in the shout department fast…
-Hohoho travelers, I’m a fucking BADASS!!! – Gloated Ruby.
-You are showing remarkable progress, you earned a bit of gloating on your part. But I’m not done yet, I will give you two more shouts, you have not learned to use them as whispers yet, so there are some others from my repertoire that will be useless to you. Are you ready? – Said Lucius.
-Bring it bitch! –
- “Gaan, Lah Haas” (Stamina, Magika Health) – He whispered, after she was done absorbing the knowledge he followed with another one- “Fo, Krah Diin” (Frost, Cold, Freeze). –
After she was done absorbing the power of the two other shouts she let out an arrogant smirk.
-I’ve got to say Shade, you’re a little better than old Bal, it’s been only a couple of days and I feel myself growing immensely! – Said Ruby.
-Don’t think this is free Ruby, soon enough you will start repaying your debt with work, but not worry, I’m sure you will find great pleasure in this job, for now its been a long day and I have some papers to attend to – Said Lucius as he got up and left the room along with Julia.
-Well, I’m of to Falkreath; I could use a drink and some company for the night - Said Brennan as he headed for the sanctuary’s exit.
For the current lack of space in the sanctuary I had to share a room with the new girl. I enjoyed her company, even if she did have a daily quota of about one million questions about us, yet refused to talk to anyone about her own past.
-So what is your deal with Shade anyways? He is your father or something? – She asked.
-Well, no, I met Lucius a long time ago. You see, he was an imperial legate once, before the Great War. My mother was a captain that served under his battalion, and had me before the end of the war. I never met her, or my father, the bastard ran out on me the day I was born. She was a close friend of Lucius, and he respected her a great deal. He always said she was the most honorable fighter serving under him. He always says I remind him of her, probably because of my size, she was a Nord warrior like me. She died fighting the thalmor, and I was left alone. After that the white gold concordat was signed and being a part of the blades Lucius was forced to hide his identity and give up his rank. Instead of running away though, he stayed, for me. He was the only father I ever had – She said with a small warm smile.
-That’s sweet; I never imagined such a cold bastard like that would care for anyone – She said
-Haha, well, maybe that was true back then. Brennan is the oldest guy in the brotherhood after Capran, if you believe his stories he is about as old as dad, and he knew Lucius from the old days, when the blades were still the emperor’s personal task force. When I was little I used to love uncle Brennan’s visits, he would always bring me a present and spend time with me before discussing his business with dad –
-Hm, that’s nice, you must have had a happy childhood, well, it’s getting late – she said with a tired voice, I think its time to go to sleep – she is probably right, it is getting pretty late. I laid my head in my pillow and closed my eyes.
I opened my eyes and found myself in a snowy vale; I was without my weapon, surrounded by trees and close to the edge of a lake. The scenery was very peaceful, but I could hear the sounds of clashing steel and screams at a distance. I ran as fast as I could in the direction of the sound. The forest was thick outside the clearing and the branches scratched my arms and legs as I ran by. My breath was heavy; I kept running for several minutes and was about to collapse when I reached the end of the forest.
Horror. My first sight was uncle Brennan; he was on the floor, bleeding, with his chest caved in and ribs puncturing out his skin. Next to him was Julia, trying to stop the bleeding and with her own hand and leg broken. Laying next her was also Deestan and Ralthos both heavily wounded and desperately trying to pull Ganlon out of a broken tree that impaled him through the chest. I noticed that the trees of the edge of the forest were all destroyed, some cut in half with precise strikes, and others looked like a mighty blunt force tore them apart. I’m no mage, but I could feel essences so powerful ahead that I began losing my will to fight.
No. None of these coward thoughts now, as I began to walk ahead I saw them. At my front and turned with his back to me was Lucius, he was bleeding, and his clothes were burnt, frosted and torn. He was wielding his sword, but it looked different. It looked like a diferent sword, slightly curved, with its clouded metal, both black and crystal clear. Instead of having that dreadful essence of death around it, it also emanated a strong power, like the darkness and the light inside the sword were fighting for control. It was clean, free of any trace of blood.
Ahead were two figurers, looking at father with a dreadful, terrifying smile was a woman. She was a Nord, had a long mane of crimson hair, blood red eyes, and emanated an unnatural amount of energy. She was wearing a typical set of akaviri light armor and wielded a staff, it looked like the base was made of dragon bone, and the blunt tips of finely crafted and decorated ebony. Ahead was yet another woman, staring down into Zoe’s broken body.
-NO!!!!! – I shouted, desperate.
She had the back of her head opened with a wound that was beyond healing. Standing up next to the corpse the woman turned. She was wearing dark brotherhood armor, had dark black hair, and wielded Molag-Bal’s mace.
-Snap out of it – Said Ruby.
I felt a slap in my face and woke up; thank god it was all a nightmare. Ruby was standing next to my bed already out of her nightgown she seemed impatient.
-Well you are finally awake. Shade asked me to wake you up, and as soon as I enter the room you begin to scream your lungs out –
After assuring her everything was all right I got up and got dressed, picked my sword and got out. I took a small detour to Zoe’s lab. She was sitting on a chair facing my opposite direction and hearing me enter she got up and greeted me. I ran up, embraced her and kissed her softly on her lips.
-Well, that’s a pleasant greeting, what did I do for that, and how do I get some more? – She said with her pretty smile on her face.
-I was worried, I know this means nothing really, but I had a really bad dream, I just wanted to see you… - I said.
-Well, this is all fine and dandy, I really wanted to stay here and enjoy your company, but Lucius is waiting for us. He said it was very important –
We approached the main hall and we saw the rest of the brotherhood together talking to someone.
-Well it’s about time you lover girls came along – Said Julia.
-What happened? – I asked.
-Ralthos arrived – Said Lucius while pointing to the wounded, tired elf – There’s trouble in Riften…
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