After passing out, everything went black, though the darkness only lasted for a moment.
I'm not sure if it was a vision, or if it just was a dream. But the darkness receeded slightly, giving way to the light, but the light was only a dim void of gray.
A figure faded into existence before me.
A man.
An old man with long, graying beard and hair that flowed past his shoulders.
In his hand he held a golden cup, filled with oil.
"Stendarr?..."
He started speaking, atleast his mouth was moving, but no sound came out.
His presence could be felt, it was clear that it was powerful, but I could only feel it faintly, as if he were far away, not standing on right in front of me.
"I can't hear you!" I shout, raising my hands and shake my head, not sure if he can hear me as well.
He stops speaking.
*Bzzzt!*
The hologram screen that I saw when I came to Skyrim appears before me again.
So it was him who had sent it!
Quest:
- Become strong enough, and kill Mordyn.
Reward:
- Passage home.
I read the screen. Briefly after, it disappears.
Lifting my gaze, I meet his.
His appearance is stoic, strong and kingly. But his eyes... I couldn't shake the feeling that they were pleading with me.
"Why me?!"
Stendarr's shape begins to fade away.
"No, wait! Where's Mordyn?! When do I know when I'm strong enough?!!"
The echo of my shouted words fade slowly, along with the dim gray light—everything goes black again.
Why would he plead with me?... And how strong could this Mordyn character really be? That even a god would ask for help!
I open my eyes. My body aches, that last shockwave hadn't been gentle with me.
My fully regenerated magicka tells me that I've been out for at least 20 minutes.
"Esbern..."
I glance over at him, wondering if he was still alive as well. He was breathing, weakly. But at least he was alive!
There was no more frozen shards in him, and all his worst wounds I had already healed, but some smaller ones remained.
I heal him until every wound is closed. Esbern groans, his breathing slowly growing stronger.
I spend the rest of my magicka on myself, finally closing the painful wounds.
My left hand was the most demanding task, the wound it had received was especially bad. Even now, when no damage was visible, it still feels numb from the ice.
Oh well, I'll just have to wait for my magicka to regenerate again to fix that.
Moaning, Esbern opens his eyes. "Ngh... What happened?..."
Meeting his gaze, a tired smirk grows across my face. "We won"
He looks dumbfounded. "But... How?..."
I get up and head over to Sandor's body, pulling my dagger from his throat, I levitate it above my palm with a gentle spin.
"Like this."
He raise his eyebrows in surprise. "You could just kill him with that tele... spell?"
I shake my head. "No, not at all. Telekinesis is far too weak for that, at least at my level. But it seems that I'm able to guide thrown items with low weight, some luck might have been part of it this time... But a ranged attack like this would definitely come in handy, so I'm going to practice it!"
"I see..." Esbern says, before getting up, but the way he moves is slightly awkward.
"Hey, Ragnar..." He says, before staring down at his right arm. "You got any magicka left?"
"No, not any significant amount. I used about everything I had to heal us both, why?"
Esbern tests out his body, rotating limbs carefully, wincing slightly. "Just let me know when you can heal again, I'm not feeling right."
"Sure..." I answer, picking up that he might be worried about something.
"Let's look for clues... you check out that guy, Ragnar, see if he has anything on him that can tell us more about our enemies."
"Alright." Crouching down beside Sandor, I start checking his pockets for anything of significance.
On one of his fingers, he has a ring. I take it off to examine it. Tapping it gently makes it glow with a faint blue shimmer—it's enchanted!
Upon sliding it onto my own finger, I feel a difference. If the magicka within me was a well—then that well just got deeper! The water is still at the very bottom though.
"What's that?" Esbern asks.
"An enchanted ring, pretty sure it increases the maximum amount of magicka of the wearer."
"Oh," he shrugs, showing no interest in it. "Keep it."
"He only had that and a magicka potion... I'm keeping that one as well."
Esbern gaze meet mine. "Drink it."
"But saving it wou—"
"Please!" Esbern interrupts, "I'll get you another one!"
Esbern looks concerned, so I pop open the bottle and drink it all. The sensation of this potion too makes my mouth tingly, probably an effect potions have in general.
This one was more potent than my previous one, it even filled up my new maximum of magicka.
Esbern looks down at his shoulder, a grim expression has taken hold of his face. "Please... Heal it, my shoulder that is."
Without hesitation I lay my hand on that area, casting healing until I'm almost out of magicka again.
"Don't stop!" Esbern pleads.
"What's wrong?..."
His gaze doesn't shift, he's still staring at his shoulder. "I can't feel it..."
My eyes widen, again I focus and cast healing on him until I'm all out again.
Esbern shakes his head slowly. "Nothing." He says with a low voice.
I look down at my left hand, it's still numb. Is this the limit of healing magic?...