"It's been over a decade huh." He was impressed with the sight. Everything that he saw were previously just plans on the paper before he left this city to his journey to Solstheim.

Mortred entered the gates of Winterhold, but unlike kings and generals that entered their cities for a victory parade and welcomed by people through confetti's and flowers, he was instead welcomed by thousands of people, silently kneeling towards him. Others were crying, others were seemingly praying with their hands clasping together, and others where even prostrating. The entire sides of the main road towards college was surrounded by masses of people doing the same position. It wasn't just the nords and bretons, but he also saw dunmers, bosmers, and khajiits in the same positions. He felt his dragonic nature rising again, which he restrained with force and will.

He silently accepted their actions and galloped on top of a dark steed, along with the college battlemages and soldiers that held their heads high as they escorted him to his destination.

Mirabelle was not with him as she flew with other mages along with the strange girl in ashen hair towards the college to immediately treat the girl.

A god huh... He thought to himself. This was the first time he was ever welcomed like this by the masses after his ascension.

He shook his head and decided to think about it at a later time. He quickened his pace and arrived shortly on the gates of Winterhold College. Where he was also welcomed by the kneeling mages. The soldiers then stopped and quickly dismounted to kneel towards Mortred who was confused.

"Your majesty, we are not allowed to walk in the grounds of Magic." One of the soldiers who seems to be an officer said. Mortred nodded after understanding their situation and continued with the mages inside the Winterhold.

Winterhold itself changed a lot from it's former ruined state in the past. Now it was a true display of a civilization that's fully tied with the advancement of magic. Floating pillars chains and pillars of Magicka hummed in power. Arcs of lightning and fire consistently passes overhead, powering the lamps on the streets. Blue flames dances below the tall trees that divided the road, source of warmth for those who walked nearby. And clear, clean, heated water fountains across every road junctions.

Mortred could now appreciate the hard work that the mages did. Winterhold truly did come from a long way. He smiled as he arrived at the foot of the long winding stairs to the Winterhold Castle.

----

“Yeah, she accidentally teleported in the middle of a class last month, destroying much of the room. She was in coma when the students found her in the middle of the broken chairs and furniture. Since then, we took her in until she woke up. She slept like for two weeks straight.” a familiar female voice said while her ears kept ringing.

“And?” another voice asked.

“We decided to hold her inside the college until the day those army appeared just outside the walls.”

“Hmmm… by the way, how did you know that she has the Blood of Magnus?”

“Mariah’ Ziah was actually the one who sensed this from her. I realized only later after she told me.”

She could hear the voices, discussing something while feeling like she was underwater.

Wait are they talking about my Elder Blood again? She panicky thought.

Then as if the water pushed her out, she wake up with a panicking breathing. She found herself on a comfy bed in a room full of the same type of beds. She assumed that this was probably the treatment ward. What met her first gaze was a man who saved her life, drinking mead beside her bed along with the woman named Mirabelle who also saved her.

“Are you okay? Do you feel anything?” Mirabelle quickly sat beside her and patted her back. Ciri tried fixing her thoughts to know the state of her body as the last thing she remembered before fainting was the sight of her chest being ripped open. She quickly realized that the man drinking in front of her was the one responsible for kicking the Wild Hunt's ass out back to their realm.

She immediately exercised caution from the man.

“Thank you for saving my life.” she bowed and then she asked about the siege. “Was it over?”

“Thankfully, they are gone.” Mirabelle replied with a smile, assuring her.

“How long was I out?” Ciri asked.

“Just two days.” Mirabelle laughed lightly and added. “You really like to sleep for a long time.”

She agreed. When she first arrived in this world, she went into coma due to exhaustion. Ciri then turned her gaze to the man who also noticed it.

“This man is Mortred. King of Winterhold." Mirabelle stood and introduced the red haired man. The latter smiled and offered his hand which Ciri took and shook hands with him.

"Cirilla..."

Then she found the surveying eyes of Mortred from her feet to her body then finally to her head and eyes.

“It’s my first time to see someone like you among humans.”

“With what?”

“White hair, fair skin and with great aura of power.” he smirked.

Her cautious instinct kicked. Although she admitted that if she didn’t met the man on the battlefield or never saw what he did to the Wild Hunt, she would have underestimated him unknowingly due to his neutral aura or impression he exudes.

She could feel that this man was different from any sovereign she met previously.

She calmed her breathing as she reassured herself that she was still in Winterhold. This was the first time Ciri landed on a world with rich magical knowledge than where she came from. During her stay in the past days with these mages, she found that the stream of chaos in this world were more stable and controllable despite ‘contaminating’ the air with its thick grasp. She would find herself always staying on the courtyard where students, scholars and mages would perform their magic without restriction. She tried talking to them but mostly they would just give her short talk before rushing to attend on their next classes or some were preoccupied in their assignments and thesis.

And it was a comfortable sight for her when she saw how mages were treated better by the normal people here than her world’s. It reminded her always of such difference when normal guards would talk normally with mages who were fixing what they called the ‘ward’ of the city or smiths asking passing mages to help cast some fire into their furnaces and merchants to request mages to preserve their products with freezing spells in exchange for coin.

Then she remembered something and asked Mirabelle.

“I actually forgot to ask you this and I hope you don’t mind it but… how old are you by the way?”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“E-eh?” Mirabelle was surprised on such question out of nowhere that she wasn’t even prepared to answer it but still answered hesitantly. “Umm… I would be 36 this year.”

“Mmm…” Ciri just mused, then sensing that Mirabelle felt troubled by her question, she cleared out. “Ah! Please do not worry! I actually wanted to know if Mages also use magic here to grant themselves eternal youth like from where I came from.”

“Pffft. Hahahahahahaha!” Mortred laughed at their interaction.

“Ummm?” Ciri frowned at his reaction, while Mirabelle just pouted.

“You should’ve just let your age show on your skin Mirabelle. You’re going to confuse others because to be honest you look a lot younger than your age. An appearance of an 18 year old maiden.”

“Well, excuse me for not having an immortal body! I don’t maintain my youth for beauty or something stupid like that!” Mirabelle blushed red. “I did not conjure this body to enjoy worldly pleasures but it’s all for the sake of magic!”

Most mages preferred to have sound mind and sound body that could only be gained in a certain age of a mortal life. As such, when they reached this age, they would use magic to ‘stop’ their aging. A healthy body would help them in their quest and research about magic and its mysteries.

“As you may have heard from her, Lady Cirilla. Mages here maintain their young body to study magic better with healthy body. An old hag with rotting brain would have a hard time remembering spells than a mage with a body of a teen. And almost all mages who manipulates the magicka would find their bodies, age slowly despite not casting any spell to maintain it. It’s a byproduct of making contact with the magicka every day.” Mortred explained which earned him another bigger pout from Mirabelle.

Magicka? I heard this word many times during my stay so they were probably referring to magic or chaos. Ciri thought.

“Now that everything is in order, with your mind now clearer, we have questions of our own also if you don’t mind.”

Mortred pulled his seat closer to Ciri and opened another mead.

“I’m all ears.” Ciri nodded.

“Where did you come from?” Mortred asked. “For now, only few have sensed that you are a foreign entity of this world. But it’s only a matter of time before others sniffed your scent and would come rushing towards you. Others that are not caring for your wellbeing if captured. And I also feel that those wraith-looking knights were the same.”

Ciri thought that he was probably referring to her pursuers. She looked at Mirabelle as if wanting to confirm that it was safe to open the things she told her. The archmage smiled and nodded. She took another deep breathe to clear her mind then answered.

“I will introduce myself again then. Haaa… I am Cirilla–” she paused for a sec as if in conflict to continue but remembered that she was on another world so it would not be of importance. So she continued. “I am Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon. I came from another world.”

“Those wraith-like pursuers of yours…” Mortred wanted to ask.

“Those…” Ciri shook her head and continued. “Those ‘wraiths’ you were referring to… were known from my world as the Wild Hunt and they come from another world.”

Ciri thought that this would earn her a surprise expression from Mortred like when she revealed herself to Mirabelle previously, but instead she just found him nodding as if he already understood it as a common thing.

“Why are you targeted or rather pursued by those wraith-like knights?”

“…” she didn’t reply instead just look hesitantly on the fur that draped over her lower body.

“Then let’s change the question. How did you travel to our world?” Mortred asked again. But Ciri silently did not reply making it obvious to both Mortred and Mirabelle that she was still not willing to answer some things, so they decided to change the subject again to ease the atmosphere.

“Mirabelle, I’m sure that you already noticed this.” Mortred turned to the Archmage.

“Yes. But stupidly enough, I just realized this when you arrived.” Mirabelle smiled awkwardly as if guilty on something.

Ciri was confused at their statements then Mortred once again asked.

“Ciri- may I call you Ciri by the way?”

“Of course, I don’t mind.”

“Then Ciri, if you are from another world… how can you speak our language fluently?”

This also surprised Ciri as she never thought about this after she woke up in this world. She just felt like it was natural that it didn’t even enter her mind and just took it for granted.

“I actually checked your blood while you were still unconscious.” Mortred drank from his mead before continuing. “And I sensed traces of Nordic traits in the depths.”

“Nordic?” She still doesn’t get on where they are going with this. Though the word seemed familiar.

Mirabelle looked into her eyes and said.

“Ciri… you probably have descended from the ancient humans of Atmora. The frozen continent situated on the north of Tamriel, this continent.” Mirabelle patted her shoulder.

“Uhhh… does that mean anything?” she was confused on what she would feel on hearing such a thing.

“Other than the proof that our people have successfully travelled to other worlds. Yes.” Mortred laughed. “It’s also the proof of what you said, that you came from another world. And proved one of the ancient theory that some humans in Atmora had left their homeland to other worlds.”

“Uhhh… okay?” she still doesn't know how important that was for them and for her. Ciri then felt that she may have been different due to her jumping on different worlds as normal. Although, she felt that they were referring to something important but she just still didn't know it yet. It's even strange on how quick they were in believing her, not even doubting her words. Not that she was lying but if it was her, she would give some allowance of doubt on some stranger's words.

“By the way, you carried yourself way better than an average mage during the assault.” Mortred praised her. “To be honest, I never saw anything like it before… it seemed that you were jumping through space.”

Ciri immediately went back to her cocoon to ignore their possible questions again on her power. But Mortred had another plan to make her spill the truth.

“Even if you hide it young lady, we all knew what you did there. We are mages. Such a thing is something that will be questioned by us.” Mortred shrugged but sighed after seeing her silence again. “Seeing that you will not open up. I will show you something else.”

Mortred took an apple from a bowl of fruits and stood. Then suddenly he threw the apple, aiming at her face. Ciri, immediately knowing that something was heading towards her, she raised her hands in defense and to catch the apple. But before she could, out of space almost touching her face, a hand appeared in front of her catching the flying fruit, then disappearing from her sight. As she squinted her eyes, she found the apple on Mortred’s hand on the same position where he was standing earlier, unmoving.

She frowned at the strange thing that happened. Musing if he used some kind of spell to grab the apple midair but then she felt stinging pain on both of her cheeks and immediately touched them. She looked around her and found no one except Mirabelle and Mortred. Although she noticed the smirking face of Mortred.

Then Mirabelle struck Mortred on his shoulder.

"I told you to stop doing that!"

"It was just a harmless fun. I just pinched her cheeks." Mortred pouted.

Ciri then realized that Mortred somehow pinched both of her cheeks on the same time he grabbed the apple.

“Teleportation? No this is different, this is–” Ciri immediately recognized the power he showed her. She could still sense the traces of stirred space around her. But unlike what she could do, the man in front of her did it without making a tear on reality. She thought that this man was probably same as her.

“Yep this is the same as what you did.” He grinned at her and took a bite from the apple. “Although I stopped time as I bended space.”

That confirmed her thoughts. Ciri now knew that there are others like her. But...

Stop time? What the hell? Ciri couldn't just blindly believe his words without rationalizing the meaning and how it happened.

“I am surprised that you can still use such power inside the college.” Mirabelle said.

“The ward doesn’t restrict me from doing so.” Mortred just shrugged. “It was probably powerful to stop most of the intruders who uses the magicka but not those who could naturally bend space.”

Ciri was shocked to be honest in knowing for the first time that she was not alone with this power. Many thoughts came flooding her mind.

Maybe he could teach her how to control it.

Maybe he could help her with her world’s problem.

Maybe he could provide an alternative to the Aen Seidhe that was chasing her.

Maybe he could advise her on what to do.

But all of it were interrupted when another voice entered on their discussion.

“I will take that as an insult.”

“Oh you’re finally here.” Mortred tilted his head.

“The countless worlds were once again trying to meet each other, starting another Union.” Ciri saw a beautiful pale skinned elf. Her skin and hair were like snow, pure and white. She curtsied to Ciri and added. “It’s my first time to meet another person who have the Blood of Magnus.”

She mumbled amidst eating a white cake on a plate she was holding.