Zerrer

The Spiteful (Learning.2)

AN: It's been a while, but I'm updating this project again! This chapter's been in the works for way too long.
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The scanning device was impressive. It was an advanced one, for sure. Gravitometers, densitometry, material analysis, multi-spectrum photography, everything. It was decked out to the nines, just sitting in the middle of this ...

Applying Exotic Metaphysics (Alien, 21.4)

We sat in a room furnished with too much gold and red, with too-large windows letting in too much sunlight. With me was the Prince of Firsthold… and a Mirror Logician, one of the altmeri super-mages that lived in the Crystal Tower.

The Landfall.

A part of me- a distant one- was warning me. This was something to worry about. <...

Applying Exotic Metaphysics (Alien, 21.3)

AN: I wrote this while crying to Young Scrolls’ newest song, Amulet of Kings.

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The street was quiet. I could feel a web of magic, carefully layered into the stones. Illusion magic, warding people away. Everyone except for me, Goranthir, and the red-and-golden robes the masked elves wore.

I smiled.

It wasn’t a nic...

Applying Exotic Metaphysics (Alien, 21.2)

Goranthir was young, for an elf. While the dunmer grew up quicker than their altmer cousins, that was more cultural than anything. Altmer tended to be kept home and trained slowly over time, cramming extra training and education for decades. It was one of the reasons behind their reputation of being long-lived, though the truth of the matter was...

Applying Exotic Metaphysics (Alien, 21.1)

The first thing I noticed about Firsthold was how beautiful it was.

There were swooping, golden ramparts that served as bridges between the towers, for those that didn’t want to descend to the ground floor. The tallest towers were made with impossible, rainbow-colored spirals, like stained-glass windows. The same glass used in weapons, p...

Applying Exotic Metaphysics (Changes, 20.5)

My head pounded, and my mouth was dry. The sunlight periodically blinded me as the wind rustled through the trees.

Slowly, carefully, I sat up. I was sitting amongst the ruins of an elk- one of the shaggy, oversized ones that lived in the druadnach mountains. I’d torn it apart- I could see the rents in its flesh, torn meat and flesh from...

The Spiteful (Learning.1)

Other people were looking for the Artifacts. That, I knew for sure. Not just Barrett. The Starborn- the Hunter- whoever he was or where he’d come from. He didn’t just want it, he knew I’d had it. He knew what it was, went out of his way to get there. He’d told me he was there ‘early’, for the artifact, like he knew I would be there. ...

Applying Exotic Metaphysics (Changes, 20.4)

The earth was alive. I could feel it shifting and moving, the trees pushing themselves aside as we moved. It was like a pocket of the Warp in the West was still warping. The terrain was alive. It was following the Witch’s will. She stepped through the vines and undergrowth as it moved aside. The breton behind her kept glaring at me, prowling l...

Applying Exotic Metaphysics (Changes, 20.3)

The ancient ruins still trembled, the stones and dust falling from the ceiling. It hadn’t caved in entirely, and the alterations I’d made to the internal structure would mean it wouldn’t collapse, at least for now. We had blocked off some of the lower tunnels, though I was pretty sure there was a cave leading to Blackreach somewhere in tha...

The Spiteful (Trapped.7)

I ran. I sprinted as quickly as I could across the surface of Kreet, uphill, back toward my ship. Over the regolith and sharp rocks, through the thin atmosphere. I could hear the static from the Hunter’s radio, his panting voice joining mine as we ran.

“Gonna fucking get you.” He snarled, panting and chasing me. 

His suit ...

Applying Exotic Metaphysics (Changes 20.2)

I could feel the thrumming magicka, the feel of the energy in the air. Dwemer spiders ambled around, little clay pots built into the mounts where soulgems once sat- and living nirnroot hummed as the spiders followed the sun shining in through the tower’s tall windows. Notes and papers were spread across the walls, a haphazard, disorderly mess ...

The Spiteful (Trapped.6)

Gravity drives- faster than light travel- involved more steps than just going from A to B. Technically speaking, you could just simply distort and invert space, giving the universe an aneurysm and a wedgie at the same time, effectively teleporting from one spot to another… But there’s an important problem that the smartest men in the world n...

The Spiteful (Trapped.5)

The Frontier- Barrett’s ship, an old Constellation craft- was a ship full of treasure. Loot of all sorts. Treasure maps to ancient digs full of alien technology. Deeds to so many credit accounts that Galbank would go bankrupt trying to cash it all out. That and more, ridiculous promises spewed from the pirate’s mouth.

The entire time,...

Applying Exotic Metaphysics (Changes 20.1)

“That is quite an interesting sculpture,” my guest said. “I can tell it has quite some symbology, but not the cultural origin.”

It was an oddity, to be sure. Sitting in Tel Veyond’s sitting room, upon the mantle. The small sculpture was made from some actual solid soapstone from the black marsh, and I’d used some of the skills ...

The Spiteful (Trapped.4)

As the airlock cycled, I heard an uncharacteristic hiss behind me. I turned- and the Constellation robot simply stared at me, sensors whirring.

“What are you doing?” I asked. Barrett certainly didn’t order him to follow me. So it must have been automated. Or perhaps he was sentient after all…

“I am equipped with self-def...

The Spiteful (Trapped.3)

“You look like you’re in pretty good shape, all things considered. I’m not seeing any contusions or wounds. No swelling, no concussion.”  Lin says. “You sure you smashed your head?”

“Pretty sure,” I said. “There was a lot of blood on the inside of my helmet.”

“Likely a nosebleed.” She said. “A damaged p...

The Spiteful (Trapped.2)

I landed on my feet, somehow. My hand was resting on a chunk of rock to steady myself. I didn’t remember moving, at all, or the gravity returning to the moon’s normal.

The first thing I thought was that the pain was gone. My head wasn’t throbbing anymore, and my mind was clear. Everything moved smoothly in a way it hadn’t in years...

The Spiteful (Trapped.1)

Pain.

My eyes opened, but that didn’t help me see much. Most of my view was dark, a few flickering lights. I was too woozy to see properly. The indicators on my helmet’s display were fuzzy, all yellow and flashing red lights. Very little green. My head was in too much pain to think too hard about it, but I knew that wasn’t a good si...

Applying Exotic Metaphysics (Truth, 19.5)

So.

That was it.

That was the missing piece. The Mystery I needed.

“... It’s KINMUNE all over again.” I said. “Thot-box. I’m the Thot. Lorkhan is the Box.”

“I’m afraid I don’t know what that means,” Sotha Sil said. I just focused.

Lorkhan was nothing. Had nothing. It was a hollow shell. Mindles...

Applying Exotic Metaphyiscs (Truth 19.4)

 “Forgive me for not knowing of you, dear guest,” Sotha Sil said. He brushed his skirt aside so it wouldn’t get in the way, and sat at one of the chair surrounding the table. “It is not uncommon for arcanists or mystics to come to the Clockwork City, seeking advice or knowledge. I am merely Sotha Sil.”

It was funny. When I�...

Applying Exotic Metaphysics (Truth 19.3)

The winds of Oblivion howled around me. The gate was barely stable, the path rarely traveled. But I was starting to feel at home, in Oblivion. So many Shiftgates and Recall spells had given me good practice with magical transportation. The hum of my staff stabilized the gate, and I found my feet landing themselves on hard stone tile.

The ...

Applying Exotic Metaphysics (Truth, 19.2)

The ancient dunmer facility had seen better days. Of course, it also had seen worse days too. I could see members of House Dagoth sweeping ash away, setting up chimes. Some had bowls full of painted clay, gently painting the stronghold’s walls. A hunch-backed priest carefully glued together chimes out of glass shards, repairing an old shrine.<...

Applying Exotic Metaphysics (Truth, 19.1)

A bottle of Mazte sat before me as I lounged back on the sofa, legs crossed. Sessalan was rummaging around, baking- his small, diverse bodies taking care of the tower as he had during my adventure.

“Sorry I couldn’t exactly bring you with,” I said.

“No offense has been registered,” He hissed back into my mind, “Your apo...

Applying Exotic Metaphysics (Return, 18.7)

Shadowrend flapped along my back as I soared through the Shivering Isles. I twisted through the clouds, the disturbing, twisted shapes they were taking. Tendrils reached out from the clouds as if to grab me, and I could see echoes of castles- things in the sky. Mirages. None of it was real, of course. But I didn’t want to focus on them too clo...

Applying Exotic Metaphysics (Return, 18.6)

I’d been wrong, from the very start.

I thought I was some kind of special badass, a human from earth. I’d gotten sick. My body was based off a wholly different kind of alchemy -a magicless chemistry-  and I’d gone on a quest to fix it.

But now, with all the changes I’d been through, after all the reality-warping shit I�...

Applying Exotic Metaphysics (Return, 18.5)

Sheogorath had a champion running through the land, already. Someone that wasn’t Emylee, it turned out. The bosmer’s bags were full, plump with what looked like armor and weapons. He was panting, sweating- face bright red from his labor. I watched as he just kind of stopped for a moment, before making another leap. Then stopped. Then leaped ...

Applying Exotic Metaphysics (Return, 18.4)

I stared into the eyes of a demon. Of a god.

He smiled back. I saw the twinkle of amusement, of manic cheer and a delight in my pain. He still hadn’t wiped off his face- my blood still splattered over a portion of his fine suit.

I was still reeling, slightly, from the suddenness of his attack. It hurt more than it should have… ...

Applying Exotic Metaphysics (Return, 18.3)

The air felt strange here. Chaotic. My shadows reached further, twisted through strange angles and it made the world feel more slippery than I was used to. Shadowrend twisted through my hands, coalescing into a halberd just long enough for the Gatekeeper’s enormous blade-arm stick into it. When he tried to withdraw it, the weapon stuck, sendin...

Applying Exotic Metaphysics (Return, 18.2)

Emperor Martin Septim and I sat out on one of the benches in Green Emperor Way. The birds were quite vigorously chirping around us, and they’d even started pecking and attacking at one of Martin’s bodyguards until he was forced to step away. The silence spell- bounded radius- made sure we could just sit in relative silence and peace, and kee...

Applying Exotic Metaphysics (Return, 18.1)

Tel Veyond stood. A shiftgate was wide open above it, an open portal to the Battlespire, raining magic down around us.

We were in the sitting room, relaxing- lounging- after our escapade. Eidoron’s Ward leaned against one of the walls, next to Emylee’s bound daedric armor. It was a little difficult getting the armor off of her, since i...