Hello dear readers, I mass-released ten chapters because I already wrote up to twenty and felt like I should share my creation for the fun of it.
I hope you enjoyed the story; do leave a comment with your criticism, please.
I know there is plenty.
I wrote this story for fun, and due to boredom, most of the plot was made up by me while staring at my screen at work.
The word count average is 1500 per chapter, and I already pre-set the release date up to chapter 20 to be once a day at this very hour every day.
Anyway, do enjoy your reading time, cya.
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The sun was high up in the sky, a rare sunny day in Skyrim.
Septimus had left Falkreath early in the morning; he chose not to follow the roads but to climb the hills to get to Lake Ilinalta faster.
He was currently walking on an animal trail, the mountains to his right and a steep hill to his left leading down to where the road was.
In his left hand was his bow, which he chose to keep out just in case, and in his right hand was a half-cast conjuration spell, shining in deep purple.
‘This is really complicated; it’s like fiddling with the shower temperature trying to get the perfect warm water, only instead of hot and cold it’s volume and pressure, hmm’
Since learning how to cast the Summon Familiar spell, Septimus was entranced; half-casting the spell, only a fraction of his magicka was used, as the spell was only novice level and the magicka cost was negligible, he could keep casting and canceling it over and over again.
‘I’ve gotten better at this; the casting speed went down to just 5 seconds, it doubled just from fiddling with the spell for a few hours!’
Deciding he played with it enough for now, Septimus let the spell complete and summoned his familiar, a very basic, as far as game logic goes, wolf.
“There you are, bud.
I want to name you, but I don’t think I should; my intuition tells me you will be dying a lot, so better not to get too attached”
The familiar just stood there, staring at him.
“Now, I summoned you to figure out your duration, so just follow me for now.
I want to see how long you last when not doing anything”
Silently counting in his head, the familiar was dispelled just after reaching 250.
“Just over four minutes then, now onto the next experiment.”
When Septimus reached a wide open area, he summoned his familiar again.
“Now, run forward, don’t stop, go!” The familiar launched itself into a full sprint.
‘It definitely runs much faster than I do, that’s for sure’
After running for about 15 seconds, the familiar desummoned.
“So that’s the distance limit.
I feel like I can cast it a couple more times; let’s go again.”
“Now, start running around me and don’t stop, go!” The familiar began running circles around Septimus, who counted to 254 this time before the wolf desummoned.
“So the duration is fixed; exertion doesn’t affect it, that’s good to know.
Hmm, I still have one more test, but I feel like I only have enough magicka for one more cast; better save it.”
Septimus continued on his way until he eventually saw the Falkreath watchtower standing on an opposite cliff over the top of the trees.
‘So that’s how far I walked; the distances are all kinds of strange when compared to the game.
In the game version of Skyrim, both the watchtower and the Pale Pass are barely a minute run away, but here the pass was several days away while the watchtower wasn’t even half a day out.’
Realizing that he can’t fully trust the game map he had in his mind, Septimus kept walking towards the lake.
When the sun started to set, he lifted his gaze to the horizon; there he saw it.
“Is that really a lake?
It looks like the ocean!” Lake Ilinalta was large in game, but here, it stretched from one end of the horizon to the other; the lake waters shone in the golden light, the clear skies making it seem even brighter.
Septimus stopped walking and looked around.
He was now descending the mountain; the trees became sparcer and the ground rockier.
He spotted a rock forming a natural outcrop.
‘I will set up camp here tonight and reach the lake tomorrow.’
While he still had daylight, Septimus used his hatchet to cut some dead branches into manageable firewood.
Once he decided there was enough, he quickly started a fire using the flint gifted to him by the fellow adventurers guarding the caravan.
With the sun fully set, the surroundings became eerily quiet; all he could hear was the crackling of wood and the whooshing of the wind.
Septimus focused for a moment and cast the Summon Familiar spell.
“Go and take a look around, quietly.” The wolf complied; it went low to the ground and darted into the darkness.
Waiting silently with an arrow knocked on the bow, Septimus only relaxed after feeling his connection to the summon fade naturally.
Seeing there was nothing more he could do, Septimus did as taught and placed some minor traps around him, strings connecting metal ornaments that made noise when moved; then he went to sleep.
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The first thing Septimus felt waking up was how cold it was; even fully clothed, inside a sleeping bag, it still felt freezing.
Focusing, he summoned his familiar and groggily ordered it.
“Go, patrol the surroundings.” Seeing the wolf leave, Septimus started packing up camp.
He had just rolled up his sleeping bag when he felt a strange sensation; he instantly knew what it was: his familiar found something!
Dropping everything, he rushed to pick up the bow and quiver.
With an arrow waiting to be shot, he walked over to where he could feel the familiar waiting.
It was not far away; just behind the rock, he saw the familiar standing extremely still, staring at a low bush.
When Septimus walked over, he realized what the familiar detected. The source of this chapter is g.com.
It was a white and fluffy creature grazing.
‘A rabbit?
That’s good.
Let’s see if I’m good enough to hit it; more food is always better’
Taking a deep breath, Septimus aimed his bow.
The rabbit was quite far away; thankfully, it was a Skyrim rabbit, which meant it was huge, larger than a small dog.
Letting the arrow fly, he could almost feel the kill cam; the arrow hit the rabbit’s center mass, instantly killing it.
“Nice!
Go bring it over, careful not to crush it!” The familiar rushed over, gently picked the rabbit in its mouth, and got back to Septimus just in time for it to despawn.
Grabbing the rabbit carcass up by the ears, he pulled out his iron dagger.
“Today is a good day; I just secured breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”
With the rabbit unprofessionally skinned, Septimus chopped it into pieces and cooked it over a hot stone.
Eating a few bites, he found the meat tough and bland.
‘Note to self, buy some salt’
With everything prepared, he started on his journey to the lakeshore; it was an uneventful journey.
Even if the lake looked far away on the horizon, once he started walking due to him descending the hills, it got closer very quickly.
Passing through a final barrier of trees, Septimus had finally reached it: Lake Ilinalta in all its freezing glory.
The first thing he did was take a look around; seeing no danger, he dipped a hand in the water before removing it with a hiss.
‘It’s freezing cold, no bath for me then; I don’t have the Nord resistance to cold!’
Taking a moment to orient himself, Septimus looked left and only saw a line of trees on land, and blue water stretching far; he couldn’t even see the other shore.
Looking right, he could see a large rock in the distance and a dot on the lake, probably an island.
Imagining the mental map he had of Skyrim, he felt that right was almost certainly the correct direction.
‘I think the lake starts narrowing the further right, or I guess east I go; the only points of interest that come to mind at this lake are the daedric artifact, Azuras Star held by some psychopath, and the standing stone somewhere on an island in the middle of the lake’
Septimus turned and walked east, towards Riverwood.
‘Thinking of standing stones, I wonder if they work like in the game: walk up to one and unlock its powers.
On my way to Riverwood, there will be the three beginner standing stones, one for each of the specializations.
I’ll make a detour and check it out!’
With all the important decisions made for the moment, a full stomach and another goal set, Septimus happily went on his way, humming as he walked.