37: Tendrils

“No! Totally wrong!” Angry red lines shot over the surface of the staff as the Dark One’s thoughts berated my mind. “Focus on the target itself. Ignore the casting; you know how it’s done, just do it!”

I gritted my teeth and focused once more on the new spell the Dark One was teaching me. It was a much more powerful version of the fireball spell I already knew. I was testing it on the target in the basement that was enchanted to absorb spells, but the target was starting to get a little bit charred under the inferno the spell created. I concentrated hard on every minute detail of the target. I could see every variation in the grain of the wood, and I could sense the faint magical disturbance caused by the absorb spell. I breathed in and let the energy surge to my hand. I released the spell at the target, letting it find its own way.

A rush of heat washed over me and I heard loud popping and sizzling. As the heat subsided, I saw the impressive aftereffects. What was left of the target collapsed to the ground as its chains melted, and the paint on the wall behind it had cracked beyond belief.

“Whoa.” A rush of adrenaline pumped through me, and suddenly the world seemed like one big joke. I broke out laughing and looked at what my hands had done. The Dark Staff buzzed angrily and colors sprouted across its surface. His voice returned quietly to my mind.

“It will do for now. But you still have much to learn.” The staff calmed down, but I could tell he wasn’t pleased with my efforts. I took the staff from where it was leaning against the wall, and proceeded up to the main floor. As I was moving across the room, the staff began to glow bright blue. I looked around to see if anyone else noticed, but none of them seemed to care that the once ordinary, black staff was now emanating a powerful glow, as well as a magical field. I moved into a secluded corner of one of the side rooms, hoping not to draw attention to myself. The glow started to subside, and as it did I could feel myself being energized with magicka.

“What was that?” I sent my thought in the direction of the Dark One, but I could feel his massive amount of concentration, even through the boundaries he had put up between us. The glow faded away completely, and was replaced by the regular swirls of light deep within the staff. “Dark One? What was that?”

“The tear let loose another wave of energy. I wasn’t expecting it, so I had to catch up. That may be the way it will be, due to the unpredictability of the waves.” It sounded as if he was exhausted, but as he went on I could tell that he was recovering very quickly.

“Anything I can do to help?” I was a bit worried by the fact that he had been caught off guard.

“No, but don’t worry. I will be able to handle anything thrown our way.”

I nodded and stood up. Hunger was clawing at my stomach, so I went up to the dining area to see what I could find. I picked up a small loaf of bread and tore off a bit. I popped it in my mouth and chewed for a little while, before I realized that the loaf of bread was unusually heavy. I looked at it, and my eyes grew wide. Nestled in the loaf of bread was a thing which could only be called an abomination! It awoke and looked at me with thousands of miniature eyes. I stood frozen to the spot, and as it unfurled its tendrils and reached for my soft, unprotected skin, I began to scream…

“STOP IT!” A wave of thoughts burst through from the Dark One. “Let it go!” I released the loaf of bread before the tentacles closed around me. The Thing hit the ground and disappeared. I fell back into a chair. My mind was racing, although it was more because of the Dark One’s thoughts. “What is wrong with you? Terror was rushing through you, but there was nothing wrong!”

This puzzled me. Surely the Dark One would have seen, or at least sensed that thing! It was there, nestled in the bread like a swallow in its nest! I had seen it! Hadn’t I?

“There was nothing in the bread, Will…” Concerned tones were easily detected in The Dark One’s thoughts.

“I… I swear I saw…” I shuddered and felt my forehead. Could this be some sort of Fever dream? Or perhaps, was it something far more sinister?

36: Chorus of Thought

“So let me clarify… We establish a sort of symbiotic relationship with each other, and this in turn allows us both to stay alive?” I wasn’t speaking now, but my thoughts were picked up by the Dark One.

“Quite so.” The staff vibrated gently with his thoughts.

“So what will you contribute to me, besides keeping me safe from the tear?” A thought popped up in my head then, but it disturbed me, so I suppressed it.

“Advice, mostly… I can teach you in many arcane arts as well. And you know what they say, two heads are better than one.” The surface of the staff sparkled blue with every word he said, although I don’t know if it was just a light show for me or not. Once more the dark thought appeared in my head. I sighed and addressed it.

“So what’s stopping you from killing me?” Red lines of thought darted furiously about the staff. Obviously he was seriously considering the option.

“Hmm… Well, it’s quite simple. Number one, if you die, the tear will become stationary and I would be restricted to staying nearby for my own sake. If some enterprising adventurer should find me and think me a pretty little trinket, I would be powerless to stay near the tear, and so I would die. Number two, I simply don’t have the energy to do that… at this time.” The red lines coalesced into a soothing pulse of blue light.

“Well, that’s a relief.” I thought for a moment. “So how durable exactly is this staff you are in?”

He chuckled. “How durable is the wind?”

I thought for a second, and then proceeded with my well thought out answer: “Uh…”

A rainbow of colors fanned out across the obsidian surface. Suddenly the staff began to melt in my hands. I panicked and tried to pool the black goop in my hands. As the staff completely melted away, a new staff (identical to the first) rose from the pool and solidified in my hands. The voice in my mind took a bow. It was quite unusual for a sound to do that…

“Thank you, thank you.” The Dark One laughed at his own antics. “You see, I am not constrained to all physical boundaries. Just as the wind can shift and change, so too can I adjust my shape. Unfortunately, it is a temporary thing, as I must return to this shape quickly.”

“Fabulous.” I started thinking about where I was going to go, what I was going to do, and how I was going to do it. Already my mind had tired of this stagnation.

“Orders from the Blades should be arriving soon, I would think.” The Dark One had apparently been eavesdropping on my thoughts. “It isn’t eavesdropping!” Indignation resonated in his voice. “You’re practically yelling it through your mind!”

“So my thoughts are like a book that someone left open?” I pondered this. I probed into the recent coolness in my mind, attempting to read his thoughts in the same way. I broke through quite easily, but his mind was such a tangled web of information that I could only catch little snippets of thought. I pulled away from it, and then continued my thoughts of the future.

He was right; orders from Jauffre would probably be arriving here soon. In fact, the orders could have arrived during the period I was in the sphere universe, or while I was recovering. I stood up, staff in hand, and made my way down to the common area. Deetsan was out at the time, and so I would have to wait to see if anything had come for me.

Until her return, I will practice with my new handicap, as well as brushing up on my magical talents. Should be interesting to see what the Dark One thinks of my abilities.

35: Dark Staff

I read on worriedly. It went through some technical jargon, and though it was incredibly complex, I was able to decipher that the waves of magical energy would theoretically increase exponentially until they were powerful enough to mend the hole in space, ripping me apart in the process. I shuddered and finished the passage. It mentioned no solution to such a hole in space, as none had ever been witnessed on Tamriel before. I closed the book and sighed.

“I’m in trouble.” I threw the book to the ground and moaned. I stood and started to pace. I was in a very difficult position, compounded by the fact that my pacing was suffering from my inability to walk. Deetsan came in and saw me struggling with learning to walk again. She smiled and approached me.

“Having some trouble I see. Maybe this will help.” She pulled a tall, pitch black staff from behind her back and held it out to me. I pulled it towards me and gripped it. It was made out of a cool, light metal that warmed to my touch. I leaned on it gratefully, finding it much to my liking. I thanked Deetsan and she left quietly. I felt no magical presence within the staff, though something was familiar about it. Like it was an old friend.

I moved much easier with the staff supporting me, and I continued to pace. My mind did seem less troubled now, without having to concentrate on walking. In fact, a cool lightness had entered my mind. I smiled and sat down to inspect my new helper.

“Light, aren’t I?” I jumped when I felt the voice in my mind. It chuckled and continued. “Thought you could be rid of me forever, didn’t you?” The Dark One’s voice filled my mind, piercing and inescapable. I shuddered and stared at the staff. It glowed with runes momentarily and continued. “Yes, I am the staff now. See what you have done to me? You have shattered my connection with reality. Now I only exist as a shadow of what I was.”

“Uhh…” This was about the strangest thing I had ever experienced. In fact, I wondered if I might be going crazy.

“No, fool. It isn’t insanity. It is the nature of my talents that has created this situation. Now listen, by destroying my network of sphere universes, you ripped me apart. However, the resulting energy reversed my existence from physical into purely metaphysical. Fortunately for both of us, I was able to retain enough of my physical form to imbue myself into this staff. Still, my physical form was weak, and I could not maintain myself for long. So I persuaded your dear Guild Head into giving me to you as a gift.”

“And what’s to stop me from simply throwing you out?”

“Because we need each other. Your poor little toes are now part of a tear in space. Surely you’ve figured that out by now. From it will emanate waves of magic that will rip you apart. I am fading away, slowly but surely, and only magical energy can sustain me. So you see, we complete each other. You create the energy, I stop it from destroying you, and you in turn stop me from fading away into nothingness. So, we need each other.”

The staff hummed in my hands, energy skimming across its obsidian surface. I contemplated my position. The injury I had received was equally as unpleasant for the Dark One. We truly were opposites, but we needed each other for the sake of survival. I examined the humming surface one last time, breathed deeply, and made the only decision I could.

“Okay, I guess I have no choice.”

“Well, that is certainly a relief to me. I must explain to you the conditions. I can suppress the magical bursts to a certain extent, but you may still experience influxes of it. I don’t think you will mind once you learn to predict and control them. From each wave I shall draw a certain percent of the energy, and a further percent will be spent to repair the tear. Slowly, but surely, we shall repair the hole, and then go our separate ways.”

“How long will that take?”

“Difficult to say, but, depending on the size of the tear, anywhere from two weeks… to two centuries.”

“Ah.”

34: Miscast

I immediately reached for my foot upon awakening. I pulled it to a place where I could survey the damage and make an assessment. It didn’t look good, but it wasn’t hurting that bad. I instinctively tried to wiggle my toes and winced. The area where my toes once were was scarred and ugly, but it wasn’t anywhere near as gruesome as it had been. I felt a strange pain in my foot, it was quite unreal. It felt as if I had stubbed my toe, and it wasn’t especially pleasant, but the weirdest thing was it originated from where my toes used to be. I had heard of the so called “phantom pains” that some amputees experience, but never felt them before. It was quite odd.

A soothing spell calmed the pains and I attempted to stand up. I put all my weight on my good foot, yet I almost fell over when I tried to take a step with my toeless foot. “Whoa!” I exclaimed as I caught myself, “This is going to take some getting used to.” I practiced walking around without my toes for quite some time, never quite getting the hang of it. I was starving, so I pulled myself downstairs to see what I could mange to scrounge up.

I was greeted by a dozen smiling faces, all sitting at the main dining table. I greeted them all as they made room for me at the table. I plopped down into the chair and reached out for what I could get. Without realizing, I used my telekinesis spell to bring a platter of toast to me when I put it back in its original spot I recognized what I had done and chuckled. They all talked quietly around me, and though I was not questioned I knew they were curious about how I had lost five toes. I gorged myself on the glorious food, but as I began to slow down I started chatting with my fellow diners. They skirted the issue, and I was glad, as I wasn’t quite ready to tell everyone at once. Every once in a while I had to heal my pain and the people I was talking to would draw breath sharply.

One particularly interesting plate of sausages on the far end of the table drew my interest, and I let my telekinesis spell into it, aiming to draw its deliciousness to me. Curiously, the plate had a larger magical profile to it than I would have expected, but I dismissed it as being part of the wondrous meatyness. However, when I attempted to lift the plate, half of the plates on the table were thrown several feet in the air, and their contents were thrown everywhere. I jumped a bit, and so did half of the people at the table. The room went to a somewhat stunned silence, and I looked ashamedly around. I began cleaning up the area with my hands, so as to avoid another mishap with the spell. I stood up and bent over to pick up the food on the floor, but I felt a hand on my shoulder and the others all cleaned everything up. I sat down, pondering what had gone wrong.

It wasn’t like any other failed spell I had cast. Generally when a spell is miscast it simply fizzles out. This time it was amplified to an extreme magnitude. In fact, telekinesis is specifically designed to effect only one object. My miscast had affected probably close to twenty objects! I was a bit confused by this, and I resolved to read up on miscasting spells. I finished my food and began to puzzle over the curious miscast. After a while I noticed everyone was staring at me, and I looked around nervously.

“What?” I asked anxiously, I’d had my fill of surprises the last few days.

“You, uh…” A Breton said, “You have a sausage on your head.”

Everyone burst out laughing, even me. I swiped the sausage from my head and threw it at the Breton. I then mocked being indignant, and refused to talk to anyone. We all had a good laugh, but then I excused myself to read up on miscasting spells. I hobbled back upstairs to look through the small library there.

I spent the rest of the day reading, though I found little about miscasting. Mostly it was just consolatory words about how it happens to everyone and “Just keep practicing!” nowhere did I find mentions of anything like my mishap. I then began pondering about magical fields and their effect on spells. Perhaps a strong influx of Magicka had influenced my spell. I checked through the books I had available, but none of them mentioned magical fields, save one. It mentioned that magical fields are generally only seen after strong spells have been cast, or around powerful objects. Also, it made mention of the stars, and how they are simply holes in space through which magicka flows. “Likewise, tears in space can be found much closer to us all, as those who are not careful with truly powerful magic can create such holes, though on a much smaller scale.” I read, on deeply interested. “Such holes can release waves of magical energy, but are often invisible to the unaided eye. Be wary, as these holes could be considered extremely dangerous.” I glanced down at my toes, and a wave of terror ripped through me.

33: Diamonds

My dreams were dark and troubling, but fascinating all the same. Visions of the sphere universe clouded my mind, and as I watched I saw it split and multiply. The Dark One appeared and pulled at the spheres, molding and shaping them into large, multifaceted diamonds. From these diamonds he drew energy, and as he poked and prodded at them green light flew from his fingertips. It was the same green light he had used on me, and the diamonds screamed with insane laughter. The Dark One laughed himself, and continued his vile business.

Then a new diamond appeared, yet it remained spherical. He poked and prodded at it, and from it he drew more of the energy. He chuckled and dove into it. The sphere began to resolve itself into facets, but when he returned from his business they began to break down. The sphere shimmered and destabilized as a scream of true pain came from it, and from it a bolt of red energy struck out towards the Dark One. He attempted to sever his connection, but the red light struck him and he screamed in agony. From this the red energy spread to the other diamonds, destabilizing and shattering them in turn. He screamed as he was enveloped in the light, and yet he worked frantically to put control over his failing efforts. Soon the red light became overpowering, and the ground he was standing on broke apart. The Dark One fell into the cracks and disappeared. With his death the energy dissipated, and my dream ended.

I awoke painfully, aware of the dull ache in my body. I automatically went to get out of the bed, but when I put weight on my left foot I screamed and collapsed. Suddenly I remembered what I had done to myself. I sent a small burst of healing magic through my leg, but it had no effect on my pain. I writhed on the ground for several minutes before I was able to gain control of myself. Deetsan came to my aid with a powerful restorative potion. I thanked her and felt my pain subside slightly. I pulled myself back onto the bed and moaned. I looked at foot, but it was so tightly wrapped in bandages I couldn’t make anything out. With nothing better to do, I looked at the bottle of the potion Deetsan had given me. I was a bit shocked at the label. It was the most powerful restorative they had on stock at the Guild. The only thing more powerful had to be ordered directly from the Arcane University, and even then it took quite a long time to procure. A curious thing I noted was that the potion had some powder of diamond in it as a catalyst. My dream immediately came to mind, but I dismissed it as coincidence. Suddenly I realized that my foot was wrapped in bandages. I had seen it before, but not understood the implications. Bandages are almost never used, thanks to the powerful healing spells available today. Only in the direst of circumstances are bandages and magic used in tandem. I was a bit shocked by this, as I didn’t think my toes could be damaged beyond repair. I had only cut them off with a semi-sharp disc. Those wounds ought to have been easily closed via magic. This worried me, but my inquiry was forced to wait, as Deetsan had to go mix another potion for me.

In the mean time, I attempted to heal myself with some of my own spells. Oddly enough, the pain in my toes increased instead of diminishing. I winced as the pain blossomed, and I grabbed at my leg as the pain began to subside. Finally, I couldn’t stand it anymore, and I reached for my foot to unwrap it.

The bandages were still warm and sticky from blood, and they were difficult to pull apart without causing myself pain. When I had unraveled my foot, I found myself staring at the most disgusting thing I had every seen. The stump at the end of my foot had no toes on it whatsoever, and the bones protruding from the open wound were caked with blood. As I watched, my foot gushed a little bit of blood and I winced. I could see the effect of my heartbeat as I sat, entranced by the horrid scene before me. I snapped out of my daze and carefully sent a healing spell into it. To my horror, the magic from my spell was simply sucked away by a cloud of the Dark One’s mist. Through some strange phenomenon, the mist had fused itself with my body, and my toes were refusing to heal due to it. I looked at the bottle Deetsan had given me, and realized that the main effect was as a painkiller. For some reason, the mist was not sucking that up.

I took another look at my foot and gagged. I then flicked a magical flame between my fingers and held it near to my foot. The mist immediately reached out and stole away the energy powering the flame. I then proceeded through all the most basic of elemental and pure magical spells I could, and each one was sucked up by the mist. I grumbled and tested a few of the spells on other parts of my body, but each performed the desired effect, not being absorbed by the mist. So obviously this was a localized effect. In fact, on closer experimentation, I realized it was only the area where my toes had been that was affected by the mist. I pondered over this information, worried about my outlook.

Deetsan came in with another potion, this one of her own creation. When she saw what I had been doing she became a little worried and asked me to cover up my wound “for the sake of my stomach.” She administered the potion, and I felt the same painkilling effect as before. I told her about my discovery and asked her about how the potion could work when the mist sucked all magic away. She replied that the painkiller worked directly on the brain, and not the foot. It answered my question, but didn’t solve my problem. I thought for a while, and then asked Deetsan to extinguish all the candles and draw the curtains. When she did so, I saw the shape of the glowing mist itself. It was perfectly in the shape of my missing toes.

I then asked for a lit torch. While she was gone, I attempted to outline the shape of the mist on a piece of paper I placed beneath my foot. Deetsan returned with the torch and I took it from her. The mist ate the flames as I brought them near the wound. I sighed and asked for a non-magical torch. Deetsan ran off and returned with another torch. I Held it near my foot and the flames were not touched by the mist. I held my breath and pushed the torch onto my wound. I screamed as the wound was cauterized, but I knew it had to be done. I extinguished the torch and flicked a magical flame near the wound. The flame flickered momentarily, but it stayed alight. I smiled and sent a healing spell down my leg. The painkilling effects happened immediately, and I sighed with relief. I collapsed backwards onto my pillow and fell asleep, my mind and body heavily fatigued.

I awoke and immediately checked my foot. Deetsan had been kind enough to clean the area and heal it as much as she could. I sent my own healing spell into it to alleviate the pain, and laid back to rest some more. Maybe later I will attempt to get up, but not now.

32: Pain

The pain was what saved me really. Searing, blinding, horrible pain. My life is forever in its debt…

The mist that had engulfed me at the end of my encounter with the Dark One had become so thick that the sun itself had lost its potency. The bastard had trapped me in some sort of labyrinth, with moist, shapeless walls instead of solid stone. I felt my way blindly through the air, always being nowhere and everywhere at once. Whatever strange dimension he had trapped me in, it was impervious to my efforts. Soon after I was transported there, I felt my magicka reserves leeched away. I have felt magicka drain spells before, but this was nothing like that. The mist became charged with energy as I touched it, drawing it directly from my skin. I could not do much, and so I walked. Soon I felt that I was walking in circles, and so I scratched a mark in the dirt beneath me. I walked a ways and saw the exact same mark on the ground. I sighed and picked up a handful of dirt. I looked at it for a bit, and when I was satisfied it was normal dirt, I threw it directly away from me. I felt a spray of dirt hit the back of my neck. I screamed in frustration. I knew where I was now. Though I didn’t think it possible, I was trapped inside a reoccurring sphere universe. Essentially, I was restricted to a parcel of land about 4 meters in diameter. If I traveled outside of that area of land, I would simply be back on the other side of the sphere. Anywhere I went was mirrored backwards to where I began. I shuddered and collapsed from the overwhelming mix of weariness, anxiety and agony.

Then the laughter began; just a chuckle here or there, yet always outside of my sphere. When I moved to investigate, I remembered where I was trapped and gave up. I attempted to clear some of the fog with a vague wave of my hand, but it was impervious to my feeble efforts. Then everything began to glow green. Apparently the Dark One wanted to have some fun. Suddenly a bolt of green energy imploded on the ground in front of me. I jumped up and looked around, but there was only laughter again. Another bolt shot from behind me and grazed my side. A horrible feeling shot through my body, emanating from the blast. It spread to the rest of my body and I fell to the ground in a convulsive fit. It was overwhelming, but the closest feeling it could be compared to would be happiness. Raw, unchecked happiness tore through my body as another bolt of energy found its mark. I began laughing until I coughed up blood, and my body shook from the fit.

I moaned and rolled onto my back. The Dark One popped into existence a short distance away. He was holding a sphere of green light and I knew it was the horrible happiness. I reached feebly for my mace, and brandished it at him as menacingly as I could. He chuckled and my mace melted in my hands. The cool liquid ran off my hand and onto the ground, where it pooled and hardened.

“Welcome to your new cage. Quite nice isn’t it? I made it myself.” He spoke proudly and looked around at the dismal fog. He chuckled and kicked some dirt onto me.

“What the hell do you want from me?” I choked on the words, but they came out clearly enough. My head was still reeling from the happiness.

“Oh not much, the same things a botanist wants from his plants. The same things a child draws from his pet sparrow. The same feelings that a god draws from his worshippers.”

“You think yourself a god?” I wasn’t entirely surprised by this, but I didn’t like the implications.

“Hardly. Gods are beneath me, or they soon will be. Even the Gods are restricted to the few planes of existence they inhabit. No, I will be more; I will conquer hundreds of dimensions and bend them to my will!”

I almost chuckled at his egomaniacal monologue. Then I remembered where I was and realized I was in no position to mock him. He rambled on for several minutes (I think, it is difficult to tell the time when the only light you have is emanating from a silvery mist and a sphere of glowing green energy) but nothing meant much of it to me. When he realized I wasn’t listening he sent the energy at me and I screamed in delight.

When I had finished vomiting I moaned again. It was so unnatural, the happiness. I was vomiting blood and convulsing, yet I felt absolutely no pain, only horrible, wretched happiness. The Dark One chuckled and disappeared. I screamed at him, but there was no answer. I picked up the disc of metal that had been my mace until recently and examined it. The edges were quite sharp, and I cut my finger on it. It was like seeing the sun again. The pain was so natural and good. Obviously it hurt, but even pain can be a nice change of pace. The disc was quite slippery, and when I dropped it on my foot I realized how heavy it really was. I cursed myself for being such a klutz, but when the pain came through to my mind I saw a vision beyond the fog. I picked up the disc again and reluctantly dropped it on my foot again.

I screamed, but when the sun’s rays hit my eyes I realized the key to my escape. The vision of the outside world dissipated, but I smiled as I turned the disc to drop the sharp end of it on my toes. I readied myself, and this time I slammed the disc onto my toes with all my strength.

When I awoke from the daze, I was sitting on the same Mages’ Guild bed I woke up in after my first visit to Cheydinhal. I laughed and laid back. I continued laughing until someone came to see what was going on. Deetsan herself rushed to my side and started questioning me. The questions just flowed over me and I chuckled at them all. I was feeling very light headed when I answered them all with one word.

“Yes!” I giggled and fell back onto the pillow. Deetsan looked at me quizzically and sighed.

“Well,” the Argonian grumbled, “You’ve lost a lot of blood, and it is a shame about those toes, but you’ll live. You’re safe now.”

Im still here guys! Really i am!

Ok ok ok. I realize that there has been a severe deficiency in Bethesda-oriented Fan Fiction. All im asking for is a bit of patience. I don't know if any of you guys have ever tried doing this, but its hard. Mind boggling in fact. So extremely taxing on ones system that there are documented cases of people dieing at their computer screens, pushed beyond their breaking points.

All insanity aside, I would like to invite any of my readers (that are still here anyways) to join me in a little composition experiment. National Novel Writing Month is the name, 50000 word novel in one month is the game. It sounds insanely difficult, and I don't expect to finish it, but I think it will be a fantastic experience. It starts on November 1st, more details at www.nanowrimo.org.

After I've participated in NaNoWriMo, I PROMISE I will return to writing about Will's adventures. Cross my heart... Hope to die... Never spit in your mommy's eye... or something...