Upon the cold hill covered with snow, Eredin gazed upon the city that was as majestic as their capital. Towering walls with almost the size that covered his sight on the cold seae behind it. Although it was not his first time to see such sight, it was his first time to feel the overwhelming power of a city. He could feel and sense the powerful ward that covers the entire city, a grand achievement for any civilization that dabbles with magic. He could sense that the ward was strong enough to resist the teleportation of his ship for an assault. A city on the pinacle of magic.
And it was also the first time for him to see the grand might of his army in formation on another world. Knowing that they cannot enter the walls without breaking it first, he had his mages transport siege weapons and reinforcements but never expected to outcome. The world that he was walking right now was so dense with chaos that his own mages was able to easily conjure enough portals to transport ten thousand of his army.
Giant ballistas with magically enhanced bolts and magical trebuchets pulled by his monstrous hounds. The cold wanted walked with them.
He fixed his gaze to his right hand. Snowflakes fell and melted on top of his skeletal gauntlets, but he could still feel the coldness of the harsh winter.
Then he sensed someone coming behind him. He turned and saw an armored warrior armed with a giant two handed hammer.
"(They are ready.)" His trusted lieutenant said in elder speech.
He raised his sword and issued a single command.
"(March!)" On top of his dread steed, he led his army towards the city.
--------
“Send more men to the eastern gate!” Lieutenant Gritts commanded as he saw several new portals had opened across the fields outside the walls of his city. This was the first time for Winterhold to be in a situation under siege. An army of skeletal armored soldiers were organizing themselves in formation amidst the cold pouring snow.
“Are the trebuchets and ballistae ready?” He asked the commanding engineer beside him that’s also busy making meticulous orders to his men was.
“Not yet, we need more time to deploy them around the walls. Give us several minutes.” the engineer replied in cold sweat after asking his own men through telepathic connections. The entire city of Winterhold was fortunately protected by magical barrier that blocks any external physical and magical assaults. This gave them enough time to set up defenses and siege engines on the walls. Gritts held back his frustration for a second then went back to one of the mage on the walls with him.
“How was the ward around the city?” He still had to confirm the stability. “And were you all able to evacuate the civilians outside?”
“It’s still standing so we don’t have to worry about any fireballs falling into the residential areas or buildings. Most of the people camping outside the walls were khajiit traders and dunmer peddlers so it was easy for us to quickly let them in during the initial assault. No one died fortunately.” The mage replied. Then she turned back to the army that was still consistently increasing in numbers. What caught her eyes was the flying barrage of fireballs that fell against the barrier. Impressed by their resolve to attack this city, she whistled. “That’s a lot of soldiers and mages they have.”
Portals kept on opening, bringing more soldiers to the grounds of Winterhold. Gritt could see that the enemy would probably not stop in their transport of soldiers. By his assumptions, they would be facing a fully equipped army of ten thousand.
“Were you able to confirm if they were flying Dominion standards or sent by the Dominion?” He asked again. He never heard any alert or have been notified by border guards that an army had cross the borders. And from the portals that he was seeing, most probably it was the enemy mages that brought their army. But the borders also had mages from Winterhold to help avoid such a thing from happening. No one could have conjured a portal without alerting the mages assigned on each border posts. He shook his head to take such thoughts out from his mind as he still have to focus on the present situation than mulling on who to blame.
He first thought that they were Dominion soldiers but so far he never spotted any Dominion insignia or armor. The snow didn’t help in spotting or reconnaissance. Thankfully, the mages on the other hand were able to see through at a distance with their spells.
“None of them was wearing anything that could be used as a basis that they were related to any group, cult or any country. But from their appearance alone we can safely assume that they are more likely daedric origin.” She replied. “Although I am confident with Mistress Mariah’ Ziah’s barrier, at worse there’s about more than ten thousand of them already in formation and still counting. It would be a challenge for us to repel them if the barrier breaks from their bombardments. We may have to send the civilians deeper in the second wall just in case.”
“I already sent some of my captains to initiate an evacuation.” Gritts cleared up. “At first I thought we were facing an undead army, but I just realized that they were all just wearing armors that had an appearance of skeletons. Do you know any province that uses such uniform in their army? Or some kind of mythical army sleeping near Winterhold that awakened due to the adventurers' raiding?”
He couldn't take out the possibility that the dungeon raiding of the adventurers' in the area could've caused this. Not to mention the excavations being done by the Winterhold College in Saarthal.
“I don’t know to be honest. If my knowledge about each provinces are still to be trusted, none had any sort of appearance for their armor. Even the Dominion would never use such armor as they hated to be connected with the infamous elven necromancer. These soldiers were wearing such armor for intimidation maybe?” The mage replied. “And talking about mythical army, I heard some stories that the King himself had hidden some army around Skyrim to protect the province for any possible future daedric invasions like during the Oblivion Crisis. Winterhold was not an exemption if I heard right.”
“Then-”
“But these army seemed to have come from somewhere else. I already finished my scan of the streamway from their portal and their origin is not from Tamriel. That’s why I said that they probably have daedric origin.”
“A foreign invasion of daedra?!” He was shocked at such possibility. Skyrim or most especially, Winterhold was still reeling from the devastating daedric assaults during the Civil War.
“Most likely.” The mage nodded. “But our immediate problem for now is the army that surrounds the city. If they knew that they will not be able to break into the city, it is more likely that they will plunder the nearby settlements and villages instead.”
Then the enemy army would attack other holds, creating another chaos. It was something he will not permit as the province was still healing from the scars of Civil War. They must stop it right here on Winterhold.
“And we can’t have that! I already sent messages from all of the commanders on each gates to prepare for a signal to sally out. We will simultaneously attack their army from different locations.” He said as he immediately walked down the stone stairs of the walls, heading to the armored horses below that were prepared for their counter assault.
“Of course! We will also-”
The mages about to suggest something but was interrupted.
“No! The city is more important and the civilians that lived nearby are also the priority, I want your fellow mages to help evacuate them to the city with your portals. Can you do that?” He asked as he resolved himself that can’t allow any civilian death on his watch.
“The college was already preparing such measure to receive many portals at once. They already have assigned mages to handle that. So we will assist you in the counterassault. Especially when the enemy have a large number of mages on their own.” She replied.
“Tha-”
Before he could answer back, a massive lightning struck the enemy army and within the blast crater, few mages appeared armed with staffs and swords. They were all in their armored black cloaks. In an instant, they quickly pushed through the enemy formations in groups, creating chaos and mayhem. The enemy army only realized too late that they were being attacked.
“The battlemages have started! Support them!” the mage shouted to her colleagues nearby and launched several bombardment spells that passes unobstructed through the barrier. It landed through the formations of every skeletal soldiers with precision that it caused massive damage and destruction. Several trees and even snow melted in the fallout.
Gritt didn’t expect that the barrier could let such spells pass through but he decided to ignore and shouted several commands to send a signal flare to initiate the sally order.
“I will head out with my men, Captain Orth will be leading the southern assault, we will both attack each sides of the enemy army to create a pincer that will disallow any remnants to escape. Support us with artillery spells!” He yelled at the mage as he mounted and rode with the cavalry, to the direction of the northern main gate.
But before the mages could start casting their spells, they felt an impact on the wall they were standing. They all checked and found someone on the ground, wounded just below them. The wall was still intact, which made them assume that the person flew into the wall and suffered the effects from crashing on an indestructible structure. It was a white haired woman. Probably in her teens. But before they could even help her, a tall armored warrior suddenly appeared out of nowhere and grabbed her. He raised her to look into his eyes and spoke something undeciferable to their ears, then he threw her back to the ground, creating another crater on the cold frozen soil.
She quickly rolled away to dodge an incoming stomp from the skeletal warrior then spat blood and she disappeared in a bluish blur and appeared behind the warrior. She struck his head with a slash of her sword but he was able to block her strike by raising his giant axe. After safely landing on the ground at a distance from her attacker, she felt a stinging pain on her abdomen and found a bleeding wound on her stomach.
Injured badly that made any movement painful, she limply stood and raised her sword.
“Leave this people be! You wanted me here I am!”
-----
Eredin didn't expect this time for their prey to voluntarily come out to meet him and his army. But before he could do anything, he sensed a sudden blast of space. His lieutenants who attacked their prey earlier teleported back in front of him to guard incoming assault.
"Ciri!" A woman in red hair teleported behind her.
"Mirabelle?! You should've sta-" the white haired girl was surprised at her arrival.
"Don't worry about me! Did you forgot what I told you? The city of Winterhold will protect you! Don't try to do things alone!" The woman just smiled in anticipation as she unrolled her long sleeves. "For you are already one of us!"
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Then as if it was the signal, many mages followed suit, teleporting beside them in full combat alert. Some were armed with long staff with a blade or shield on their other hand. Most of them were wearing armored red cloaks. A uniform awarded only for battlemages. Then the red haired woman step forward while her mage companions covered Ciri who was obviously worried for her actions.
"Y-you don't know about them Mirabelle! They aren't the type to leave you alone once you got involved or obstructed their way with me! This is-"
The red haired woman just ignored her and casted a spell to Ciri, a red stream of magic flew from her hand towards the injury of Ciri while maintaining her attention towards the enemy.
"Rest Ciri, we will talk about this later." The woman after treating Ciri's wounds, walked towards Eredin who was interested in the strange human that have the guts to face him personally. Then she stopped as soon as she felt it was enough distance for a dialogue.
"My name is Mirabelle, the Archmage of Winterhold College and Stewardess of this city. I don't know who you are but you are trespassing the holy grounds of our home. I will be giving you an hour to leave this place along with your entire army." She yelled with her voice echoing across the massive formation of the army with her spell. Then both of her two arms burst in a magical explosion as if her limbs had destroyed itself, but was was displayed after was the glowing purple spectral four arms in the place of her former two flesh limbs. "I will only say this once."
She saw another large skeletal warrior that also step forth from the formation while mounted on his seemingly undead horse. This one was different from the one who attacked Ciri. Mirabelle could feel the frosty aura and power emanating from this individual. The warrior spoke several lines in some strange language until he probably realized that Mirabelle couldn't understand him. Then he laughed with a cold raking voice.
"So you are probably Eredin... The one Ciri was talking about. I expected something more but... You're a disappointment." Mirabelle grinned at the figure which she remembered the features from Ciri's tales, taunting him.
"What arrogance and ignorance... Humans. Ants trying to fight fire. I thought I would be getting something new or interesting in this world rich with chaos...but also with such a disappointment... Still that's quite brave for embeciles who could only speak the common tongue." He mocked.
Then he raised his sword and pointed it to Ciri.
"Knowing that you will still try to escape our grasp even if we captured you... I will let you have this lesson." He stabbed the sword on the ground and yelled. "Kill everyone except her. I want her to see these people die in front of her eyes."
With those words, the entire army moved in a disciplined charge. Sending massive quakes in each step.
The mages then prepared to conjure spells to repel the incoming assault. Their hands glowed in different colors for their respective Schools of Magic. Ciri could feel the danger that was coming but she also saw the faces of anticipation from the mages that was trying to protect her. As if they wanted this fight to happen.
She raised her sword in a combat stance, preparing for the incoming clash.
But before the mages could even start their artillery bombardment, something clashed with the frontal formation of the enemy. The skeletal horses and riders started tumbling into the ground as if they were stopped by an invisible force. Ciri herself was confused as well as Eredin who saw his army crumpled to the snow. They all struggled to stand up and reform ranks due to the unstopping charge of the mounted warriors behind them. It took several moments before those in the back noticed the chaos on the front.
Eredin turned and saw that countless arms had sprouted from the cold ground. But he realized something and leapt from his place where he stood. He saw clumped skeletal arms reaching out for him which he just barely avoided. Then a massive ice pillar sprouted from the ground which he landed. It was the skeletal arms that that stopped the charge of his army. Then they went back underneath the cold snow.
"Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!" Mirabelle laughed suddenly as she sensed the cause of such interference.
Both the Eredin and Ciri were confused on Mirabelle's reaction. The other mages beside Ciri smiled and laugh lightly also. Although what happened to the soldiers may seem funny but they both felt like these people were laughing for different reason.
"Behold!" She was looking at the white cold sky.
Then Mirabelle kneeled towards the figure she sensed that was coming from the above. The mages around Ciri followed suit much to the corner's confusion.
"Our King has returned with all his might and fury!" Mirabelle yelled.
And with those words, a booming sound came from what looked like a meteor between the stand off of Mirabelle and the Skeletal Warrior.
A lone figure was in the middle of the crater.
"Damn I missed that kind of entrance!" It was another person with red hair but both Eredin and Ciri could see that it was a man due to his large stature and deep voice.
---
Mortred raised his arm halfly to stop the planned counter assault of the defenders of the city. Mirabelle understood his intention and gave out mental orders to city soldiers while he faces Eredin. He didnt want anyone to be in the crossfire once he signaled the mages for an attack.
"Now who the hell are you to trespass my kingdom?" He asked.
"Another human trying to intimidate Death? It seems human arrogance are typical in this world." Eredin laughed.
"Another elf trying to be god? How unique." The red haired man in front of him replied with sarcasm.
"Now that's interesting." This shocked Eredin. Afterall, he was still wearing his armor. No one except Ciri could've known that. Either she told them or this man could sense them. But it didnt matter though. For him, they're all just petty obstruction to his goal.
“And i that’s funny. I thought you were just another daedric chickens who just lost their way… but seeing that you don’t know me and you don’t know which city you are attacking… I can only think of one possibility, you are not of this world…” Mortred grinned with bloodlust. “It’s been a long time since I felt this feeling of being… insulted. So allow me please to send my equal treat in return.”
Mortred weighed the choices. From what he saw while flying, an army attacked the city for a girl which the college mages and Mirabelle was trying to protect. He made mental note to prioritize in knowing the identity of the girl and their reason.
"Human-"
Mortred raised his hand to stop Eredin from continuing.
"Ah nevermind. I don't want to hear another elven hubris. By the way, Mirabelle just gave you a chance to pack up and leave. They didn't even bother closing your portals. But it seems you are persistent and ignorant of your situation." A bright green colored aura suddenly covered his body. “I may use you as the new members of my vast undead collection.”
And in an instant, he unleashed a pure unfiltered bloodlust towards the entire army. Their commander who was the nearest on Mortred, saw how his human eyes turned into something else. Something that he would always see when traveling across space and time.
The encroaching dark void.
The bloodlust alone made them suffer in pain and agony as they struggled to keep standing in formation. The horses themselves already yielded and gave up standing on their own, accepting their coming demise.
Mortred then stomped his left feet, sending another small quake towards his surroundings. The trees on the furthest corner of their sight started shaking, the soil began to rumble and the frozen ground cracked.
"You fucking shits. Wake up! You have a job to do!" He cursed.
Then as if the cold earth below had answered him, it began erupting around him, skeletal arms sprouted from the snow and freezing ground. And in the wooded area outside the city, the dead clawed their way out of the ground. Nord Draugrs have answered the call of their master. Armed with rotting armors, shields and rusted swords and axes, they rose from their cold grave. Swarms of undead kept pouring outside from the woods around them and the freezing grounds outside the city walls. The undead slowly marched around, making it obvious that they were trying to surround them. But it was too late, their point of retreat was now closed as undead pikemen and shieldwall formed to close the gaps. In the past, Mortred buried thousands of soldiers that died during the Civil War in the freezing soil of Winterhold. The very souls he casted out of Sovngarde. And he was now calling them for their service once again.
Mortred smiled at Eredin who now have a burning red eyes glaring towards him.
“It won’t be an equal ground if you’re the only one here who has an army.”
Eredin felt that something had gone very wrong. And as he was still trying to understand what just happened to him and his army, several more earth shattering eruptions appeared around his army It was continuous rumbling, shaking and rocked the entire terrain around the city and their formation. He could sense the massive amount of chaos thats being used to summon an undead army, and they were still increasing in numbers. His lieutenants asked mentally for further orders on the unforeseen development. He commanded them to reform their formations which they immediately followed.
Then the undead army started stomping their feet, causing the ground to tremble as they all move in unison. Then they continued by battering their shields, armors, bodies and skeletal remains. At first Eredin thought it was just a random skittering but as it grew louder, they all realized that the army of the damned was chanting. Making a loud echoing war chant that would be terrifying for those who would hear it. It lasted for several seconds before a mighty battle cry broke the air which was then followed by a shrieking screams of the dead, waiting the command for slaughter.
Mirabelle quickly realized what's going to happen and she immediately used her magic to cover the entire city, mages and Ciri under the deep haze of snow, covering their sight.
Then with a grin, Mortred muttered a single word.
"MUL!"
It was an unknown word to Eredin yet he immediately felt the power behind it.
For countless of years that he had travelled across space and time, raiding and pillaging across various worlds. In the first time of his long life, he felt...
...pure fear.
In the place where former red haired man stood in front of him, now showed nothing but a unknown and explicable sight for him to comprehend easily. An unknown entity.
Eredin immediately sent a mental command to retreat through back to the portals that were already opened. His lieutenants quickly realized the degree of their situation with his single thought of panic and fear. They quickly helped those who were still disabled by the bloodlust that was unleashed and led their fellow soldiers into the portals. And as quickly as they appeared, they disappeared back into the opened rifts and closes the portals. Eredin didn't even looked back. No, he just couldn't.
For he feared to see the entity to glance back.
As the last of the portal closes, the cold wind of winter resumed in their gale to the bow empty field. The only traces left of the vast foreign army earlier were the dead corpses of beasts, horses and deep footprints in the snow.
"That was quite anticlimactic." Mortred said in disappointment, now returned back to his human form.
Ciri on the other hand was shocked to see how the situation escalated from own thing to another. She didn't see what happened that caused the sudden retreat of the Wild Hunt, but she felt the tremendous power that appeared on the field right after her vision was covered with white cold dust. Then as if remembering her current predicament, she immediately groaned from pain and exhaustion. Mortred turned and saw the unconcious ashen haired girl beig carried by the mages until he felt a painful smack on his right cheek.
“What the hell are you doing?” Mirabelle angrily slapped him as she witnessed the entire ordeal.
“Sorry, it seems I got carried away.” He scratched his head awkwardly.
“You should’ve just waited! The mages were already deployed, you should already note by now that any normal person who will see that are more likely to get struck by blindness or madness!” Mirabelle then turned towards the mages to send mental commands to treat the girl for any injuries and bring her back to her college.
Mortred then focused a mental command on his recently summoned army of the dead to stand by and create a perimeter around the city. He still did not know if the enemy would return to strike back with larger army. He had them stand outside the walls, in formation.
"Mirabelle, send some mages across the hold. We have to make sure everything is clear and they left nothing problematic." He said then as he turned his attention to the white haired girl that was now floating with the spells of the mages, on her way to the gate of the city.“So you know that girl?”
“Yeah.”
“Who is she? I’ve never seen such instantaneous teleportation before, like what she did earlier.” Mortred saw her actions and fighting skills from the sky while surveying the place.
“Mortred, do you still remember the thesis that I failed due to the lack of proof when we were both still students?” Mirabelle asked.
“Uh huh… I forgot.” he awkwardly scratched his head.
The Archmage glared at him then sighed in disappointment.
“It’s a theory that after the Magna Gee left, some of them left to create their own worlds.” She looked at him.
It was actually mentioned in the Elder Scrolls about the existence of other worlds but he mentioned something else instead.
“Yes. That black squid once mentioned that to me. But from what I know, the contact between worlds would still be far from the future. Why? Is that related to this event?” He asked then slowly realized that the army that he faced earlier never used magicka. True, they were manipulating space in their portals but it actually felt more of a disturbance than an actual result of using magicka. “Don’t tell me…”
“She is not of this world. That includes those knights that attacked us… she called them as the Wild Hunt. And all of them are not even from Orbis.” Mirabelle said. “Her name is Cirilla. And she carries the blood of Magnus.”