Elder Scroll series 1. Chapter 1

Prolouge

180th Year of the 4th Era.

It was an ice-cold day, as the Great Bear and his wife, along with a small contingent of guards left Windhelm. They were heading to Saarthal, and his wife had in her possession a small bundle of furs. Within the furs was a child. Barely a week old, this was the first time the child had ever left the palace. The reason for their trip was ominous; they were to leave the child in the ruins as she could contest the throne for their son, Ulfric, who was a grown man by this point.

The Great Bear's existence was unknown to nearly all. Everyone believed that he had fallen in the Great War. That was not the case, his unit was overrun by the Thalmor, but he escaped. By the time he had returned back to friendly lines, the war was over. He met up with a small unit of Nords heading back home to Skyrim. He returned home to find his people believing he was dead, and his son Jarl. He accepted this fact, but his son refused to let him go to live in the wilds, and required him to stay in the palace with his wife.

The decision to abandon the child was not his to make. It belonged to Ulfric, and he chose to abandon the child for the sole fact that it shared his father's Piercing Ice Blue eyes. So jealous was Ulfric, that he ordered his guards to dispatch the child after his father and mother left. He also left them an optional order to kill all three members of the party. The guards, being the Nords that they were, chose the latter option. Upon reaching the ruins, the guards forced the Great Bear and his wife to place the child just within the entrance. Upon their exits, the guards cut the throats of the Great Bear and his wife. They sent the court mage, Wuunferth, into the ruins to kill the child, as none of them could find it in their honor to kill an innocent child. They expected Wuunferth, considering he was a mage; that which all Nords hated, to display no mercy and kill the child without care.

Upon his entrance, Wuunferth closed the door behind him. He picked up the child, and looked into her Ice Blue eyes, a trait that only the Stormcloak line passed on. The child was silent, and stared at him with extreme curiosity. In a rare action of mercy Wuunferth cast a ward around the child as he let loose his flame spell, leaving the child alive, but making it seem to the guards as if he had killed her. As he left the ruin, he cast a muffle spell on her to prevent the guards from hearing or detecting her still lingering presence. Upon exiting, he ordered the guards to start heading back to Windhelm while he removed the bodies of the Great Bear and his wife.

After incinerating their bodies and placing the ashes in an urn, he set off to follow the guards on their trek back to Windhelm, using his skills in magic, he rapidly caught up to them, and cast a speed spell over the whole group. They returned to Windhelm just as the sun began to set, the whole trip taking less then ten hours. Upon entrance to the palace, Jorlief, Ulfric's steward directed Wuunferth to go speak to the Jarl.

Wuunferth pushed open the door to the war room, to find Ulfric and Galmar, in a heated debate as usual.

"Galmar, we simply do not have the resources to support an all out war with the empire; which is exactly what this plan of yours will bring upon us!"

"Bah! Ulfric, the people support you, and they support Talos, we would be fine…"

"No, not at this moment, the empire would walk in and destroy us in one clean blow, and that's assuming we could even get out of Solitude in one piece. We are done discussing this for the time being."

"Fine!" Galmar shouted as he walked out in a huff.

Ulfric, only now noticing Wuunferth's appearance asked; "Is it done old friend? "

"Yes my Jarl, it is done. I believe you asked for these? " Wuunferth placed the urn of ashes on the planning table, and Ulfric's eyes grew wide in recognition of what had occurred today.

"Yes… Yes I did, I trust everything went well? "

"Yes, my Jarl, everything went accordingly."

" Good, it brings me pain that such a deed had to be enacted, but such is the way of politics. You are never to speak of this again, understood? "

"Understood."

With that, Wuunferth left the war room, and crossed the hall to go to his chambers. Upon entering, he removed his robes to change into something more comfortable to sleep in. He climbed into bed, and let Aetherius take him.


	2. Chapter 1: The Discovery

Chapter 1

180th Year 4th Era

Tolfdir awoke, in his bed at the college. He was eager for today, for it was the beginning of the excavation in Saarthal. He put on his robes, and nearly crashed into Urag, the librarian in the doorway. Tolfdir quickly apologized, and continued rushing to the ruins. He, being the most skilled alteration mage, had the challenge of opening the door, as it was encased with unknown magics from the Merethic era. As he left the college, and entered Winterhold, he projected ebonyflesh onto himself for shielding against what he would surely encounter on the hazardous trek to the ruins. As he was descending the pathway to the entrance, two Ice Wraiths quickly came upon him. He quickly cast some flame spells on them, and watched them melt in panic. Gathering the teeth, the only part that doesn't melt, he continued downward, and reached the door. He had spent the better part of the last three months purely devoted to opening the door, and today he knew he had his answer. In rapid succession, he quickly began to speak in the language of the Atmorans. After a few moments, the door lit up and he placed his hands upon it, channeling magic to it. Once done with this incantation, which would allow his life essence to mimic that of an ancient or their descendent, the door heaved open. Delighted with glee, he quickly stepped inside only to see something that shocked him… a bundle of furs sitting within the entrance surrounded by a powerful ward.

Thinking about what to do, he rushed to the bundle, and saw what was inside, a baby. He pressed two fingers to the child's throat to see if it was alive, and to his astonishment, it was. Not knowing what to do, he gathered up the child, and cast his most powerful spell, one of teleportation, to take him back to the college. He quickly rushed to find Colette, the restoration master, to ask her what to do, as she was a master of the healing arts, he assumed she must know how to care for a child.

Sprinting into the Hall of Countenance, and rapidly ascending to the second floor, he found Colette in her room. She was incredibly startled by his sudden appearance, and asked him why he had come her chambers.

"Colette! I need your help!"

"Oh, great, did you get burned by the door again Tolfdir? "

"No, this is something of far more importance, I opened the door, and this was the first thing I saw upon entering." With that, he thrust the bundle of fur into her hands.

Upon seeing what the bundle was, she inquired "Come now Tolfdir, you know as well as I that there is no way that this was in the ruins, you spent three months trying to get into those ruins, and you're telling me a week old child was found inside?"

"Yes! That is exactly what I am telling you, you know the legend of it opening only to heirs of Ysgramor and the kings of old, so someone of their descent must have left it in there!" (Tolfdir is ranting at this moment so he is talking really fast)

"Tolfdir!" she snapped at him, "quit calling this child an "it" it's rather insensitive." With that she began to unravel the child, to see if there were any physical issues, and to see what gender it was. "It's a girl Tolfdir."

"OK then, what should we do with her? We can't send her to that orphanage in Riften, none of the students who came from there ever had a single nice thing to say about Grelod the Kind!"

"You know as well as I do that this college is by far not a place to raise a child, and that's even saying the Archmage would allow it."

Disillusioned, he asked her if there was anything wrong with the baby girl.

"No, she is perfectly fine, but have you seen her eyes? They are a shade of blue I have never seen or heard of before."

Tolfdir quickly walked around to see what she was referring to, as he did so, the baby girl began to reach out for him. With the girl seeming so eager to be held by Tolfdir, and not Colette, he was handed her. As he took hold of the baby, she looked up at him expectantly. He was shocked by what he saw in her eyes. They were the palest shade of blue he had ever seen, and strongly reminded him of glacial ice.

"Colette, what should we do, if my notion of magical gifts is correct, this child possesses incredible amounts of power within her."

"As I see it, you could take her to the Archmage and see what his take is, or you could go down into the midden and talk to the Augur, and see his opinion."

"Yes, I should go see the Archmage, hopefully I don't run into Mirabelle on the way to him.

With that he was off, carrying the newly wrapped fur bundle with the girl inside it. As he left the hall, and began to walk towards the hall of the elements, he was Mirabelle, and the newest "addition" to the college, Ancano, in a heated debate. He began to walk the other way, to go around them, but before he could, Mirabelle spotted him and drew him into the conversation.

Ancano opened with "I demand to be allowed to enter the ruins! Actions such as these will only serve to cause you more issues."

"No" stated Mirabelle, "Tolfdir would you like to explain why it would be unwise to allow any Mer, much less an Altmer into the ruins?"

"Well, as you may know, Saarthal was sacked by the Snow Elves thousands of years ago. There were only three survivors, Ysgramor and his two sons; Yngol and Ylgar. Upon their return, Ylgar cast a powerful ward on the ruins to cause death to all elves who enter them. So, you would likely die upon entrance, therefore we cannot allow you or any other elven members to enter."

"Fine, But I demand to be informed of every single thing that occurs within the ruins." With that Ancano stormed off in a massive Fury.

"Just in time Tolfdir, did you get the door open this time?"

"Yes, I did, but I found something rather unsettling."

"Oh, what did you find if I might ask?"

"I will show you, but you must promise not to let anyone know about it until I have at least discussed it with the Archmage."

"Very well Tolfdir, What did you find?"

He unraveled the bundle of furs, and as he did, Mirabelle's eyes grew wide with astonishment. "You found a child inside the ruins!?"

"Yes, I did, now I would appreciate it if you kept your voice down."

"But… How, how could anyone put a child inside those ruins?"

"Mirabelle, I don't have time to discuss this right now, she may freeze to death out here."


End file.

Elder Scroll series, Romance, Tragedy