This story takes place roughly a year before the events of LPO and is the chronicle of Nonoke and Mikuru and how they came to Cyrodiil. I will post one chapter at a time as I finish them.
It's written from Nonoke's perspective, so keep that in mind!
I hope you will enjoy this short story!
--
Velvet
Phantoms – Chapter I
''Stop
right there criminal scum!'' Was the last thing I heard before the
lone guardsman who decided to chase us, dissapeared back into the
darkness of the streets of town. It was a small settlement called
Greenhearth, far south in the Valenwood. A really sleepy and dull
town. A town runned and inhabited by nothing but superstitious
phonies. Our hideout is close to it though, so we like to sneak into
town atleast once a week when everyone is asleep and steal
foodsupplies and other necessities. Tonight's sweep didn't go too
smooth however.
''I'm
sorry big sis! I promise I'll pay more attention next time!'' Was
what my little sister Mikuru told me as we were making our escape. In
the middle of the town centre they had this mysterious crystal globe
that some big-shot adventurer appareantly found during one of his
''adventures''. We were sneaking around the town one day when we saw
this weasle of a man standing there on the steps of the local church,
preaching to all those fools who'd believe his tall tales. You should
have seen them, they were literally hanging from his lips. I'm sure
he was nothing but a charletan, he honestly looked as though he never
even saw a sword up close, let alone the kind of monsters he was
claiming to have fought. A really slimy guy that one, I didn't really
catch his name though... something Aurius? Anyway the Crystal Globe
he was boasting about interested Miku though, and she really wanted
to take it with her, I tried to tell her it was of no use to us, but
she wouldn't listen, once she's got her eyes on something there's no
way to talk her out of it. It simpy can't be done.
The
next night during our usual routine Miku noticed the Crystal Globe,
it was sealed away in the town centre in this glass display case. The
fact they'd sealed it away so poorly and left it there at night must
have been evidence enough that this thing was probably not even worth
more than ten Septims. Or perhaps it was just a testimony to the
ineptitude of the townsfolk. Nonetheless Miku was dead set on
obtaining it. She could have easily smashed the glass but she used
her lockpick instead, you can say what you want about Miku and her
sneaking skills, but if there's one thing she's good at, it's
cracking locks. She's always been better with those things then me,
ever since we were little, I used to be abit upset over it and I
remember breaking her favourite lockpick when we were kids. I'm sure
she still remembers that to this day. She opened the glass case and
carefully grabbed the Globe with both her hands. It was barely the
size of a fist but she still held it with both hands, she's like that
sometimes. She just stood there for a while, gazing into the thing.
However she got a little too interested in it and didn't notice the
night guardsman who was patrolling the streets. He spotted her just
as he came around the corner of the chapel. I couldn't tell by look
on their faces who was more startled, the guard or Miku. She held the
gem tight to her chest and ran straight towards me, there was no
avoiding it now, we were gonna have to make a dash for it.
We'd
left Greenhearth behind for a while already, the guard never bothered
to leave the town or even raise the alarm, I assume he knew it'd be
pointless to try and track us down in the thickness of the Valenwood.
As we were on our way back to the hideout we came across this small
Ayleid bridge that crosses a small lake, we always pass this bridge
on our way back from and to the village. As we were crossing the
steps Miku pulled out the Globe from her pocket again and started
looking at it, seeing it up close made it look even more phony then
seeing from a distance and in the hands of that so-called hero.
''Aren't you glad you have it now?'' I was barely able to finish my
sentence before she interrupted me. ''Hey big sis! I think this might
be one of those … Welkie stones? Didn't you tell me you need one of
those to unleash your magic?!'' She obviously meant Welkynd stones,
but I was more surprised at the fact she'd remember something I
mentioned so long ago. It might seem surprising to you but even
someone such as myself had dreams at one point, when I was younger I
always dreamt about becoming a magician of some sort, I think it was
because I saw this wizard perform some kind of show with his magic in
the town centre of Greenhearth one time. The townsfolk were concerned
he'd burn half the village down but I thought it was the most amazing
thing I'd ever seen, and it truly was! Ever since that time I wanted
to study magic. I've nicked countless spell books from traveling
merchants and have studied them from cover to cover oh I don't know
how many times. but I've never even been able to produce the smallest
spark from my fingers.
Perhaps
it is our unique nature that prevents the usage of magic for our
kind?
I
remember reading about the Welkynd Stones though, appareantly they
were some kind of crystals in wich the ancient Ayleids hid their
magical powers. And that the stones to this day still hold that very
power, wich can be easily be tapped. I told Miku about the Welkynd
Stones a long time ago and how they might be the key to learning
spellcraft. How they might break the seal in my body that prevents
any magicka from flowing through it. The only time I've ever even
laid my eyes on them was in the form of illustrations in these books
written by some old geezer who liked to travel to Ayleid ruins and
study them, you could tell from his writings that he was really
passionate about his work and all. Last I heard he got himself killed
in an Ayleid ruin somewhere up north in the Imperial Province.
Needless to say I'd long given up on finding one for myself, I
thought maybe some merchants that often come through town would one
day carry them, but I haven't seen a single one pass through. I had
all but forgotten about the things and now here was Miku remembering
them.
''Welkynd
Stones have a more cylinder-like shape, and they give off a sort of
blue glow'' She must have spent more time listening to my stories
about the stones rather then studying the books themselves. I could
see her smile dissapear in the blink of an eye though, I knew I
shouldn't have said that! She went through all that trouble just for
my sake after all. ''But I'm sure we'll find a Welkynd Stone
eventually, we just have to keep looking!'' I told her hastily. ''But
you're NOT looking! You just sit around and take the same stuff from
town day after day!'' She uttered with a pout on her face. It made me
chuckle even though I knew it wasn't the time, I just couldn't help
it. ''What's so funny?'' She asked while still keeping that same
particular expression. She even stopped walking and just stared at
me. ''Come on, we're almost home'' I told her. She started walking
again but not after letting out a loud grunt.
