//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 - Winter Wonderland [TESV] // Story: The Riftwalker // by Eruedraieth //------------------------------// "Well, everyone's here. Do you believe me now when I said that they came from another world?" I asked Robin and Shervin. Both of them walked outside, looking at the environment. Then, they noticed the ponies. "You weren't kidding about them being something else." Robin said. " 'Course I wasn't. I made my point now, do you want to go back or do you wish to stay for longer?" I asked. " I think I'd like to go back. Honestly, I'm slightly freaked out by all of this. " Robin said. " That's fine. Hey Twi, we should go see Celestia to report to her after we got these two back. After we reported to Celestia, we could re-configure the teleporter to a completely new world! Pioneers, like you said! " " If you two are going world-travelling, I would like to accompany you. I do not believe the ponies can ever see me as friendly. " Night said. " This way, I can provide help while not having to deal with angry ponies. And, my powers could prove useful. " " If they work, yes. We don't know where we'll end up. If Twilight lands on a magic-resistant world, she's practically useless. " I said. " Aand thank you. " "You're not the Element of Magic for nothing. We should consider training you in other ways, though. " I suggested. " Will I be human? " " It's probably for the better if you are. A talking pony is less common than a talking human. " " Says you. " "Says the seven billion humans compared to your what, a million ponies? " I stated. " Ehhhhh you got a point there. " "Guys? Can we go back now? " Shervin asked. " Yes, gimme a sec. Twilight, could you give me a hoof with charging the portal? " I placed my hands on the portal stone, the dark yellow magic liquid flowing through the system. Twilight added her own purple magic, and both combined and siphoned into the portal. It lit up again. " Well here's your exit. I hope I'll see you again in the future. " I said. " Thanks though, for showing us this. " Robin said. " My pleasure. Safe journey guys. Oh, and eh, take the keys to my car. It's yours if you want it. I'll probably won't be around on Earth often. " " Serious? " " Uhu. What point is there to a fancy car if it won't be used? Just make sure you don't get caught with it. If they ever ask about me, tell them that I'm either missing and considered dead, or let them visit my mother. She'll know what to do. " "Right. See ya around." Shervin said. "Good luck to you dude. " They went through the portal, and it closed shortly after. " Well, I don't know what you want to do, Luna and Michelle, but I want to go back to travelling as soon as possible. " I charged up the portal again, this time towards Canterlot Castle. " Someone'll need to protect Equestria while Twilight is gone.... I'll take that up, both in honour of you and Twilight. " Michelle said. " Noone can replace Twilight, but if things get too tough and she's needed, send for us. " "Sure. Luna? You coming too? " " Yes, my sister will require my aid. Let us go. " The five of us went through the portal, ending up in Canterlot palace's portal room. Once everypony was there, I made my way to wherever Celestia was, Luna guiding us to her. " She is in here. " I knocked on the door, and stepped inside immediately after, not waiting for a response. "Oh, hello. Back so soon? " " We were gone for a day, but time got distorted, Princess Celestia. " Twilight said politely. " Was your visit exciting? What did you see, what did you learn? " Celestia nearly couldn't contain her curiousity. " Many things, Sister. I will tell you all about it, but I think Primal here is itching to go on his next adventure." I was impatiently bouncing around when everypony looked at me. " Can you blame me? There's an infinitum of possibilities out there! Just think of all the things we'd discover! " " Alright. I am re-assigning you to be The Rift Walker. Together with Twilight, you will venture forth and discover new worlds for us. If you can take back anything, do so. " "Excuse me, Princess Celestia? " Night asked. " I would like to join them on their adventures. This way, I can help out without causing issues. " " Hm.... " " It is probably for the better, sister. You saw how they reacted to her before. I do not think that could be changed easily. " " You are right. Okay, Nightmare Moon. You can accompany the Rift Walker and my student on their adventures. But make no mistake; If any of them get hurt, I am blaming you. " "You'd rather blame me for not protecting Night enough. " I casually inspected my blades. " Just... stay safe, all of you. And come back soon. " " If you find something related to moons on one of those worlds, tell me. " I flipped my blade into the air, catching it with my other hand and slicing the air in front of me with my back hand menacingly. " Will do, Princesses " I turned on my heels and got to the door. " You two gonna gawk all day or are you coming along? " Snapping out of their trances, they quickly followed me. " We could go to Ponyville first, or we could configure this portal to instantly go somewhere new. " " We'll be back soon, right? " " If we don't get stopped somehow, we should be back soon. Plus, time distortion could be a thing again. Damn, I can get used to being called 'Riift Walker'. " "I will not be calling you that, if you do not mind. " " Neither will I. Primal's good enough for me. " "A'ight, let's get this party started. " I reconfigured the portal matrix for unknown coordinates, and poured my energy into it. " This'll require more than just my power." Twilight and Night placed their horns on the stone, adding their magic into the mix. The portal lit up, a shiny silver hue this time. " Shall I take the lead, ladies? " " If the world is magic-less, you're better equipped than us. " Twilight mentioned. " Cool. Here goes nothin'!" WWWWW " AAAH! PLEASE NOT THE HEAD AGAIN! " I faceplanted into a thick layer of snow. I heard Twilight and Night crashing next to me. " Lucky we didn't fall to our deaths, or teleported into an ocean. Where are we? " I asked, standing up. " Hey, you're both hybrid-humans. " I helped both of them to stand up, being careful not to damage Night's wings. " We landed on some snowy plains, by the looks. Hey, there's smoke coming from over there! Wait, what do I hear?" A low growling noise was audible, and getting louder. A few seconds later, a black dragon flew over us. "They have dragons here? I have not seen those in Equestria for centuries!" Night said, bewildered. "That dragon looks familiar... somehow. Hey, there's someone over there." I walked over to where I saw the person, guiding Twilight and Night. "This place feels.. non-magical.." Twilight said, shivering in the cold. "No, I think you're wrong there. I can sense an energy, all around us. It's faint, but there is magic around here." We walked up to what looked like a human, with chestnut brown hair, near-black eyes, and a slightly tanned skin tone. He was wearing a guard-like blue armour, and had a one-handed sword with a shield on his back. "Hello, what's your name?" I asked. "I'm Sawyer. What's your name? And your... friends... they look odd. No offense." "None taken. He's Primal Dagger, my name is Twilight Sparkle and hers is Nightmare Moon." "Yeah, what she really means is that my name is Joshua, hers is Tracey and the woman with wings is called Nicole. I don't know why they look so odd." Ofcourse I knew why, but I wasn't going to tell a random stranger... "Ahehe, yeah. I get a bit confused sometimes." "That's okay, Tracey. I'm kind of figuring out what I'm going to do right now, what with that dragon burning down the town back there." Sawyer looked back at the burned town, but I could tell he did not feel sad about it. "What's wrong with that tree over there? Why is it completely filled with baubles and lights?" Twilight pointed to a tree standing not so far from here. "That's a Christmas tree, I think. From what I know of this place, it's a celebration around these parts where they open presents because of some guy being born or something like that. It's a bit pretentious, if you ask me." Sawyer rubbed his hands, shivering slightly. "It's awfully cold out here. How about we go find either some shelter or some civilization? I don't want to freeze here." I suggested. "We could go back into that cave, but there's not much point to that. It's always cold in this land, and besides, there's a bear back there." "A bear? How did you manage to get past that?" I asked. "It was sleeping. I managed to sneak past it. There was someone else with me, but I have no clue where he went after that dragon flew over. He just ran away!" "Did he have the same kind of armour you have?" Night asked. "Yes, he did... How did you..?" "Just a feeling I had. That was probably your friend then, who I saw running away in the distance there, when we fell down." She pointed towards the direction of the mountain in the distance. "I think he took the path leading that way." "Do you see that too, on the mountain there? There's some odd looking stone archways there." Twilight pointed to the strange architecture. "It's pretty obvious to see, if that's what you mean." I remarked. "Let's check that out then. I don't think we should see any other humans, considering what we look like." Twilight pointed to her horn and Night's wings and horn. "Yeah, good point actually. I just ran to Sawyer here without thinking of any possible consequences." "Other than stealing from and killing a few Imperials back there, I don't mean much harm. You three look friendly enough, other than those menacing blades of yours... Where did you get those, anyway?" "Oh, these?" I drew my blades, inspecting them closely to see if my enchantments were intact. They were still on the blade, but were.. inactive, for some reason. "A friend made these for me. They're made from a rare material called Magesteel, I think it was. Has some rare properties on them which allows the blade to drain it's victims of magic." "I've never heard of that kind of material before.. Are you from around these parts?" "No. Let's just say we are not native to this land, and leave it at that." I sheathed my blades, and only then noticed that my gear was not out-of-dimension as it usually was. My hood was off, luckily. "Alright, c'mon. The women are freezing, and I much prefer some warmth over this chilly atmosphere." We walked for a short while, following the dirt path leading out of the bear cave. We reached a signpost not long after, at an intersection with a cobblestone road. "Helgen... Riverwood... Falkreath... So, Helgen is the destroyed town back there with a dragon flying away from it.. Riverwood is probably the place where your friend ran off to after seeing the dragon... and Falkreath?" "Falkreath is the capital of this 'region', Falkreath hold. Aptly named. Riverwood is part of another region called Whiterun hold, also aptly named after its capital, Whiterun." Sawyer informed us. "How do you know so much of this land..? You sounded like you were not from around here either." "Correct. I'm from a province called High Rock. The land we're now in is called Skyrim, and I've read up on this place from the various books we had back at the libraries in High Rock." "You have libraries? How big?" Twilight nearly couldn't hold in her excitement at the prospect of books. "I think most might be the size of the architecture on that mountain. The biggest one, and most famous, is the Adamantine Tower. It survived countless ages and is probably the longest standing tower in High Rock to date. We don't have as dedicated a mage's guild as here in Skyrim though. Winterhold is quite active, last I heard." "Told ya they'd have magic here. It doesn't fully explain why I sense magic nearby, though." "I can sense it too, and I'm supposedly resistant to magic. You two both look magical, why don't you feel it?" He pointed at both women. "I... I am not sure, Sawyer." Night answered. "Odd. Let's keep moving. I don't want the Imperials on our back, otherwise they may send me back to that chopping block, or somewhere else where they can execute me." "Execute you? Why?" Twilight looked curiously at Sawyer. "I got caught in a border patrol, together with a Stormcloak party with the leader of the entire Stormcloak faction, Jarl Ulfric. They taught I was one of them, but I was merely passing through. When they found out I had stolen some food to stay alive from my long journey here, they took me along for execution aswell." "That is quite a heavy punishment for theft. I would have sentenced you to jail at worst." Night remarked. "They had the leader of the Stormcloak rebellion in their hands. I wouldn't blame them for taking out potential threats along the way. They couldn't risk sending me away, with me knowing that Jarl Ulfric would be executed for stepping up for his people." We walked down the snaky path that headed towards the river. I could gradually feel the sense of magic getting stronger and stronger. We came upon three standing stones, each inscribed with an image. "The magic seems to be emanating from these three stones.... They don't look so special to me." I said as I inspected the one on the left. "I think these can be activated somehow..." Sawyer walked up to the right stone, with a depiction of a fierce warrior on it. When he touched it, the image in the stone lit up, and a small beam shot to Sawyer. "What happened? Are you hurt?" "No, on the contrary. I feel... stronger.." Sawyer drew his sword, and hacked the air in front of him. "I feel like I can pick up skills much quicker now, for some reason." I touched the stone I had inspected aswell, but nothing happened. "Seems that these either only work once, or are only attuned to you for whatever reason. These other two must me a mage and a rogue, and the one you touched must've been something to do with a warrior." "Odd. Why don't you try the last stone? Maybe it works on one of you?" Twilight stepped over to the mage stone, and touched it in the center. Again, nothing happened. "Hmm.. Hey Sawyer, test one of the other ones, would ya?" He walked over to the mage stone, and it lit up when he touched it. "Definitely attuned to you. What do you feel now?" "The same thing, but... more magical?" Sawyer held his hand up, and flames appeared. Making sure not to aim at us, he shot out a gout of fire. "Not all that useful yet, I feel... I only know this spell." "Damn, I suddenly realized! I know where we are!" I shouted. Twilight gave me a confused look, and Night looked at me expectantly. Sawyer was still busy practicing spells. "Remember that mark I gave you, Twi- Tracey?" "Yes, but I don't know what that has to do with this place." " It belongs to one of the six 'schools' of magic from... Skyrim! I knew it was familiar!" I jumped into the air in sheer excitement. "But this was a game you played, wasn't it? How are we here?" "That, I don't know. It was quite a long time since I played it, so I remember nearly nothing." "I can't sense magic, though." "Maybe you can, but you could be simply looking for the wrong kind of magic. Try changing that.." Twilight concentrated, and we could see her horn sparking slightly. "I think... I feel... I see what you mean now. It's not unicorn magic, it's those schools you mentioned. And these stones emanate an altered version of it...?" "I'm not sure how they emanate magic to begin with, nor can I sense what kind." "If you can sense magic now, maybe you can try casting magic too?" Night suggested. She concentrated again, her eyes focused on a nearby twig. Her horn sparked again, and lit up. The twig started levitating. "I did it!" "If you can use magic, I should be able to aswell. I will find out soon enough, I feel...." Night shuffled on her feet. "I'm probably versed in lightning destruction magic, and then I have my shadow powers aswell... I don't feel like testing out spells, though. I'll use them when I need them." I called to Sawyer, who was still burning down various plants and trees in the vicinity. "You done being a pyromaniac? Maybe you can keep that fire up in a non-volatile form so we can stay warm." He walked over, and held the little flame in his hand, heat emanating from it. "Gladly. We have to make haste to those ruins, there's a storm coming." He pointed to a dark and stormy cloud formation. We walked further down the path, leaving the stones behind. The river was gently flowing next to us, and the sun was still in the sky for the time being. " I think I see Riverwood up ahead. You wanted to skip it, right? " Sawyer looked at Twilight. " It may be for the better. The less people know about us, the better. " " We'll cross this river then. There's a lower part over there on the other side. " He pointed to a coast with a dead tree on it , next to a steep hilly area. "I'll take the lead. " He waded into the water, the gentle flow doing little to stop him. Twilight followed him, followed by Night, and I took up the rear of the formation. Drying our clothes as we reached the other side, Twilight noticed a hollow tree. " We could hole up in that trunk, or we could continue for the ruins. " " Or, that ruined watchtower over yonder. " I pointed to the watchtower that was further ahead in the same direction of the Hollow tree. " Something tells me we should look inside that hollow tree, though. " Sawyer made his way over to it. "I knew it!" I looked inside of the hollow trunk, to spot a wooden chest inside. "Wow, Sawyer. You got a sixth sense for loot. Go ahead, check what's inside of it." He opened the chest, and revealed it's contents: A golden ingot, an amethyst, a silver ruby ring, a copper ruby circlet, and a see-through crystal. "Wow, look at all of that! And that is simply in the trunk of a dead tree?" Night looked at the items with curiousity. "I don't know how it got here, but i'm taking it! Any of you want this?" "You found it, Sawyer. It's all yours if you ask me. Besides, I have no use for material wealth." "Me neither! I prefer books. If there's any books, I want them. What is that crystal, though?" Sawyer stashed the other items into his pockets (?), and help up the crystal. "This is what's called a Soul Gem. It stores the souls of dead things inside, which can be used for the enchantment of magical properties. I don't know why, or how, but that is what they are used for." "That is quite sinister." Night took the gem, and inspected it closely. "How would you fill such a thing?" "From what I've learned, you either use a certain spell, or enchant a weapon with Soul-stealing. Much like the way those daggers of yours work. Master Enchanters can get more out of these, and can even recharge their enchanted weapons without the use of these gems. " I could feel raindrops landing on my face, ever so slightly. "We gotta hurry if we wanna stay dry. Let's make a run for that watchtower and hope that it will provide enough cover to wait out the storm." Sawyer pointed to the right of him. "There's a path there, behind those trees. I think that will take us up there." We ran as fast as our legs could carry us, and sprinted up the ruined stone stairs leading up to the watchtower. "Wait! I hear talking." I motioned to the others to stay silent while I took a closer look. I could see a leather-clad human with a shield and a sword standing outside of the watchtower, and heard two voices, one male and one female, coming from inside the tower. "They don't look friendly." Sawyer looked at the human standing outside. "I'll sneak up on that human outside, you three try to take care of the ones inside." I climbed over a few rocks on the other side of the bridge leading out of the watchtower, and carefully made my way to behind the human. I stood up slightly, and used my dagger to slice the human's throat open without making a sound. Meanwhile, Sawyer charged into the watchtower, shield raised and sword held high, followed by Night with her hands held high, and Twilight scurrying along behind them. An arrow flew over their heads, and narrowly missed me. Sawyer managed to take out the archer without much problems. A furious yell was heard, coming down the stairs. Paired with the clanking of heavy armour, a towering female human with a dangerously sharp Greatsword charged down the stairs, straight for Sawyer. He blocked the strike with his shield, but the force of the attack made him stumble. I quickly ran over to help in whatever way I could, and attempted to find a weak-spot in the bandit's armour. The bandit was too focused on taking out Sawyer, and Night and Twilight had taken cover near the opening of the watchtower, seeing as they had no weapons. "Take a weapon from one of these bandits, I'll help Sawyer eliminate her." Night ran over to the bandit I had killed outside, and looted his sword. Testing it with a few shoddy swings, she seemed content with her new weapon. Twilight stayed where she was, and motioned to the bow the other bandit had. I took her hint. Sneaking once again, I got behind the iron-clad bandit, and struck my dagger in between the joints of her armour, near her neck. She dropped to the ground, lifeless. "Thanks. That bandit had quite the power with that greatsword of hers." I moved over to the archer bandit, and looted his bow and a few arrows. I handed them over to Twilight. "You sure you can fire a bow, and not hit us in the process?" "I think I can guide the arrows enough to not cause collateral damage, thank you very much." "Just checking. I don't want to end up with arrows in my back." "This tower isn't much use for shelter. Maybe there's a better spot to take cover upstairs." I quickly bounded upstairs, following the rickety wooden stairs. It wasn't much better upstairs. "Hey Sawyer, how about your sixth sense?" "Further upstairs, at the top there." Sawyer went upstairs, and came back not too long after with a few iron weapons, and some gold coins. "Not much interesting things." "Well, we better head over to the ruins, then." "Wait, let me put on this iron armour." Sawyer took the bandit's armour, and strapped it on. Following the path out of the watchtower that winded around a cliffside, we got closer to the ruins. "There's more bandits. I can see two of them with bows, and one with a warhammer. Tracey, you got a clear shot on the archer on the left, I'll take the right archer back there, and you two can tussle with that warhammer guy." I could feel my magic empowering my stride, and I shadowstepped through the air silently, behind the archer. I saw the other archer fall in the distance, an arrow straight into his head. The archer in front of me saw it, aswell, and turned to shoot at my friends. "You're not shooting anyone today." I punctured his chest with both my daggers, and let the lifeless corpse fall onto the ground. I could see an iron-clad Sawyer charge into the bandit, knocking him down. Night delivered the killing blow by stabbing her sword straight through his chest. I walked over to them, and gave a few arrows to Twilight. "I'm surprised you two kill so easily, actually." "I am surprised, too. I do not feel pity for these bandits, strangely enough. It is what they deserve, looting old ruins." Night said. "I don't like it, but atleast they got swift deaths. They would not have shown mercy to us either." Twilight took the arrows I held up, and placed them in a quiver she looted on her back. Lightning crackled, and the sky erupted with a torrent of rain. "That wasn't me! Hurry, into the ruins!"