This chapter concludes the end of Book one!
Thank Christ, since that thing was torturous to copy from...
Niall awoke, two days after slipping into his deep sleep, his eyes opened as he enjoyed his two seconds of bliss, where the morning haze scattered his memories of who he was before reality came crashing down on him and the disappointment kicked in. He slowly sat up, like one of the Risen, yawning as he did so.
This got Mona’s attention as Niall was the least predictable thing in the room and, by default, the most exciting.
The Dunmer began to rub his eyes, immediately wishing that he hadn't woken up as he got up on shaky legs.
"Morning, Happiness." She mocked swivelling her legs around and turning to face him.
"Mornin,' Lady Etiquette..." He grumbled under his breath, rubbing his stiff neck as he knelt up, sighing heavily as he did so, depression hitting him like a tidal wave, a million voices whispering
'It's you!'
'Your fault!'
'Lianne's dead, because of you!'
'Her cousins, aunt and uncle are dead, because of you.'
'Should've kept on walking...'
'Spoke up sooner!'
'Coward!'
He sighed again and looked back to Mona as she giggled, bringing her hand to her mouth as she did so.
"How long have I been out?" The Dunmer asked, rubbing his aching neck as he did so.
"About two days, I'd say." HIs half-breed cell mate shrugged, looking back to the window.
"It's hard keeping track in here, to be honest."
Niall nodded, taking her word on it, he didn't care enough to open up some sort of enquiry.
"I feel kind of lucky, missing those two days. Seems like sleeping is the most fun that you can have around here."
Mona tiredly nodded in agreement, finding herself looking back over to the window, longingly. She found herself doing that a lot lately.
Niall noticed how cold it was; prompting himself to wrap his arms around his knees and shiver a little. It was strange but he found himself very easily cold, his fingers were already numb and in pain, a little."
"Where... Are we?" He shivered, moving over the door, where there wasn't as much breeze.
"Dunno... But the air's so cold; I'd guess that we're in Skyrim."
"S-Skyrim?" He shivered, curling up in a ball and hugging his knees.
"Yeah... The 'land of the dead?'" She sighed, longingly.
Mona was the last generation to see Skyrim in its former glory, she remembered going up north, to visit Aunt Aerin as a kid, Aerin was a strange woman, not very talkative or expressive...
She and her friends owned an inn, up in the Whiterun hold. Her mother and father sometimes took them up to visit. Jaryl wasn't all that close to his sister, apparently they didn't know each other at all until a few months before Mona and Rik were conceived and Jaryl and Isis met. This and the fact that Aerin wasn't very talkative made their relationship a little... rocky... like any contact between them was forced.
Still, even though Aerin's conversations were short and a little awkward, she still somehow enjoyed visiting her more than she enjoyed visiting Telim. You see, the girls could barely keep the place going, so Mona and Rik often had to pitch in and help out around the inn. It was never a holiday, it was an adventure.
She wasn't a damn princess, who got a breakfast brought to her in bed. No, she was a lodger, who had to work off her debt and get the approval of the beautiful inn owner, who took her in after she recovered from being show with an arrow and left for dead by her partner.
Well, it might sound delusional and childishly silly but it made scrubbing floors fun, so who could argue against it?
"I went here once... before..." She gestured to the window to illustrate her point, not that she needed to, who could forget the Fallen? The nightmarish creatures that dwell within the mass fog that is Skyrim...
"This..."
Niall nodded, to show that he understood, hating the idea of being trapped in a land full of undead monstrosities.
"What was it like, back then?" The Dunmer decided to ask, hoping ot get her talking and hopefully tell him something about herself. The truth was that Niall wasn't exactly the most confident person, his shyness and self hatred crippled his communication skills.
"It... Was okay, kind of like Cyrodiil is really." Mona explained, giving him a smile.
"Is that where you're from?" Niall asked, relaxing a little more as he began to notice his surroundings. There wasn't anyone else here or anything else for Mona to do, so she was pretty much stuck with him, which gave him some comfort.
"Yeah, near Skingrad." The Bosmer replied, giving him a weak smile, she wasn't so much homesick as she was feeling bad. If she died out here, her family wouldn't know.
"Shit... That's where I was kidnapped." Niall grinned, finding it hard not to laugh at the coincidence.
"Really!?" Mona asked, in disbelief."
"Pfft... Knowing my damn luck? We were probably right over my house."
Niall chuckled, continuing to smile at her.
"So... How'd they get you?" Mona asked, her guess would be that Niall was from Morrowind. Perhaps was Tib's child out of wedlock, who Landyt kidnapped, in the hopes of holding him to ransom. Niall sighed, asking this himself as he hung his head, memories flooding back to him.
"I... Don't know..." He admitted, with a sigh.
"The Captain knew my name, said he wanted me and that he'd spare my friends if I came quietly."
Niall found himself drifting off into space as tears welled up in his eyes.
"I gave up... and he killed them all anyway..."
Mona fell silent, seeing how much this affected him, she couldn't helpt but express her sympathies.
"Oh Niall..."
The Dunmer sniffed and dragged his sleeve across his nose, swallowing and gasping to keep any pity at bay.
"I'm okay... It's just..." He paused, realising that he really couldn't say anymore than that...
"Y'know...?"
"Yeah..." Mona nodded, glancing over to the side, finally seeing why he was so upset.
She felt even guiltier now...
----
Sorry, I didn't realise until after posting all of the chapters in the The Fall of the Aubeanic Reign (The Unused Chapters): Book 1 - Landyt's hospitality compilation but apparently there is a huge chunk of this chapter in book two.
I've added it as a bonus to the end of book one, so you might want to check it out, if you're trying to keep up with the story. I guess it also gives people an insentive to visit the page.