Adept's Prelude: Part One, The legend of Astien, the Breton necromancer. Options

[Azagthoth]

After submitting Adept's Descent, I decided to write a prequel to the story, and took more care in writing it. I feel that Descent was too rushed, and I didn't really like it in the end. Now that I actually have time to write, I am going to continue the story of Astien, many years before the events of Descent. And so it begins...

Adept's Prelude: Part One

Chapter One
Bruma, 3E411

The candle flickered as he carefully turned the page of the book. After a few moments, he closed the book and stood up. As he placed the book back on the shelf, the words on the spine of the book glinted in the candlelight: Necromancy Unveiled. The entire book protested against the use of necromancy, and offered several reasons why it was banned in the Mages Guild. However, the book had intrigued him; necromantic magic was very powerful, yet very dangerous.

To the Mages of Bruma, he was nothing but a petty apprentice. They all looked down on him as a fool, and all knew that he could hardly ever cast a spell correctly. One day he would show them. One day, all who lived on Nirn would know his name: Astien. His name would be whispered in fear; all would kneel for mercy before him...one day.

It would be difficult to find any books on necromancy that weren't insulting and protesting against it. Until he found something--or someone--that could teach him the powerful magic of necromancy, he would have to hone his skills as a spell-caster. He decided that tomorrow he would head to the Mages Guild and see if he could find any books or tomes that could help him to improve upon his casting skill. At the moment, he was exhausted from the activities and errands of the day. He blew out the candle and collapsed onto the bed, falling into sleep almost immediately.

* * * * *

The morning began early for Astien. He woke up just as the first light of dawn began to shine over Bruma, and quickly dressed to go to the Mages Guild.

Astien shivered in the cold as he began the short walk to the Guild. As he went onwards, he waved to and greeted the other inhabitants of Bruma; apparently he was not the only one up early today after all. He ignored the pleading beggar asking him for a coin as he finally arrived at the door of the Bruma Mages Guild. He opened the door and walked in, swiftly closing the door behind him.

The warmth of the building comforted him greatly. A female Dark Elf clad in fancy clothing walked up to him and greeted him kindly.

"Is there something specific you are looking for?" she asked, smiling.

"I'm just looking for some general spellbooks," replied Astien. The elf nodded and beckoned for him to follow her down a hallway and into a library.

"Take a look around," she said. "I'm sure you'll find what you need." The Dark Elf left him alone in the library, surrounded by hundreds of books.

Astien didn't know where to begin. He browsed the selections, picking out a few and reading the first few pages. Once he had all the books he needed, he stacked them on top of each other and carried them to the desk. He stumbled and nearly dropped them as he struggled to bring them to the Dark Elf so he could pay for them and leave.

The elf smiled and told him that he would need one hundred and five septims to pay for the books. Astien's face turned pale and he dug around in his pockets for the money. He pulled out a small handful of septims, but the elf shook her head sadly. It wasn't enough. Astien groaned inwardly. Just as he was about to pick one book out of the stack, a strangely dressed individual shoved him aside with his elbow and made for the door. It was a High Elf clad in black robes and with a wooden staff on his back. He hastily rushed up to the door and tore it open. A dark book engraved with symbols fell out of his cloak and onto the ground with a loud thud as he raced outside and out of sight. The young Imperial wizard who had been chasing him gasped when he saw the book, and staggered backwards.

"Who was that?" asked Astien, shocked by the event he had just witnessed.

"Another one of those damn necromancers," muttered the Imperial. "Just stay away from the book! It could be cursed!" The Imperial pointed an accusing finger at the dark book and took another step backwards.

The Dark Elf could barely speak. Astien finally understood; the book was a necromancer's grimoire, a powerful book of dark magic and knowledge. It was also the exact book he needed.

He forsook the petty Mages Guild spellbooks in favor of the grimoire, and bent down to pick it up. The Imperial yelled out as if he had been struck by lightning.

"Don't touch it!" he shouted. Astien ignored him and picked up the book in his hands. The Dark Elf crashed backwards to the floor, and the Imperial screamed for help. Astien took one of the Mages spellbooks and flung it at the panicking Imperial, knocking him unconscious. The Dark Elf could not find her voice, so Astien left her alone and ran through the door and out into Bruma.

The cold breeze blew into Astien's face, but he ran faster than ever, trying to get back home before any of the Mages could stop him. Once inside his house, he shut the door and locked it securely. Astien sat on his bed, fatigued, and lay the grimoire on his desk.

At last... he thought. I can begin my studies...

This post has been edited by Azagthoth: May 12 2008, 10:24 PM

[Azagthoth]

Chapter Two
Bruma, 3E411

Four days passed since the incident at the Mages Guild.

Astien closed the grimoire and placed it on his shelf right next to Necromancy Unveiled. How ironic.

He still had yet to master the powers of necromancy, but he had also been perfecting his skill in general spellcasting. However, the grimoire that had dropped from the High Elf’s cloak would take a while for him to fully understand.

It was eight o’clock, and Astien was so exhausted, he was already getting ready to sleep. Suddenly, a knock came at the door.

Astien sighed and strode over to the door. “Who’s there?” he shouted.

“It’s me, Selvia,” replied the visitor. Selvia! That was his cousin. They had both grown up in High Rock together. His thoughts drifted to High Rock, his homeland. Astien suddenly shook himself from his reverie and opened the door.

Selvia walked in, with a stern look on her pretty face.

“Hello, Selvia,” said Astien nervously. “What brings you here?” Selvia lived very close, yet they hardly saw each other since they were both almost always busy.

“I joined the Mages Guild a few days ago,” she said, “and found out that you were seen there, taking a necromancer’s lost grimoire.”

“I…who told you that?”

“Is this true?” Selvia asked angrily.

“Well…”

“You are practicing necromancy, aren’t you?” exclaimed Selvia. “Don’t you understand what will happen to you? You’ll only descend into evil, and eventually be killed by some adventurer looking for extra gold to fill his pocket. Tampering with dark magic is not something you should be doing, Astien. Why do you think it was banned by the Mages Guild?”

“I don’t care if it’s banned or not,” muttered Astien. “And what I’m doing is none of your business.”

Selvia was taken aback. “You don’t understand! I’m worried about you!”

“If you truly care about me, then leave me alone!” shouted Astien.

“I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

“Get out of my house!”

Selvia glared at him. “So you’re going to dedicate your life to horrible experiments like…” Selvia shuddered, “like Mannimarco?”

“Yes,” Astien said coldly, “and you’re my first example.” Astien took her by surprise with a blast of lightning, knocking her off her feet. She jumped up and attempted to run to the door, but a volley of flames was enough to stop her. She rose to her feet and grabbed a nearby painting, one of High Rock, and smashed it upon Astien’s head, still struggling to escape. Astien grabbed her by the arm and flung her to the ground. She staggered up again, and threw another painting at him, but Astien swiftly dodged it.

“What are you doing?” wailed Selvia, bleeding and bruised. She backed up further to get away from this mad necromancer, but tripped over a wooden chest and crashed to the floor, unconscious.

For a moment, Astien observed her still body, wondering what he had done. He had experienced a rush of hatred, and a longing to kill all living things that stood nearby. Astien solemnly wondered if this was only the beginning of his descent into necromancy, but he brushed the thought away: he needed to dispose of her body. He dragged her across the floor and out into the cold night in Bruma. Luckily, there were no witnesses to see him dragging Selvia’s comatose body behind his house and leaving it there.

I can’t stay here any longer… he thought. Selvia might inform the guards of my necromantic studies. Perhaps the Mages Guild will come for me…I will have to leave Bruma.

Astien gravely began the walk to the stables. Half of him felt remorse for mercilessly assaulting her, while the other half viewed it as justified. He tried to block the thought from his mind. The only thing he needed to worry about at the moment was escaping from Bruma.

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I threw this together rather quickly, so let me know what you think!