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 Three
Bruma, 3E411

Astien rushed into the stables, glancing around to make sure that there was nobody nearby. A stable boy stood nearby, but he seemed distracted by a pair of Imperials fighting in the midst of the dark streets. Astien quickly jumped onto the back of a paint horse and quickly spurred it through the stable gates and onward, away from Bruma. They galloped past two suspicious guards, but Astien paid no attention.

Soon, they were well away from Bruma. Astien knew that he could not return--at least, not for a long time. Word would spread of his evil doings and practices, and his life would be constantly in danger. He put the thoughts out of his mind as they went on down the road. Astien had absolutely no idea where he was going.

Just as the sun was about to rise and greet the new day, he came across a strange shrine. With the aid of the coming light, he could see a group of people kneeling before a strange, stone figure. It towered many feet above him as he brought the horse to a stop and dismounted, intrigued by the mysterious statue. The paint horse began to wander away as Astien left it, but he didn’t care. He was mesmerized by the shrine, and the strange beings surrounding it.

A Dark Elf read from an ancient tome, and Astien was ignored as the other shrine-worshippers listened carefully. Astien realized that the statue standing before him was the statue of the Daedric prince of darkness, Namira. His mouth hung open for a second, then closed.

Suddenly, the Dark Elf slammed the tome shut and gave Astien a curious look. The elf was intrigued by this mysterious, cloaked stranger. Astien felt uncomfortable under the old Dark Elf’s stern gaze, and so he began to offer a greeting.

“Well,” Astien said, “hello. My name is…” he suddenly stopped. He wondered if it was wise to mention his true name. “My name is…” he continued, “Irbran.” He had blurted out the name of one of his distant uncles.

The Dark Elf nodded and replied, “I see. Well then, Irbran, why have you ventured forth to the shrine of Namira?”

Astien told him that he had been wandering through the forests and had stumbled across the shrine. The Dark Elf slowly nodded once more. “You are welcome here. Come, join us in worship of the great Namira!”

Astien sighed with relief. Perhaps this was where he could stay, and continue his study of necromancy. He felt around in his cloak for the grimoire that he had brought along with him. It was still there. He sat on a pew of rotting wood and listened to the Dark Elf reading from his tome.

For now, this was his sanctuary.

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I've had hardly any time to write lately, so I hope that this chapter
receives good feedback!

Chapter Four will be soon...hopefully...