Chapter 4: Of Ghouls and Ghosts

Ruby's Perspective

The first thing I saw when I walked in was ice. Ice. Ice everywhere. Ice on the floor, the ceiling and the walls. I noticed a black stone tub-looking poking out of the ice. I pointed it out to Weiss and Blake. They didn't know more than me. We kept walking past skeletal hands and torsos. We saw skulls and more stuff like the tub that I saw earlier.

We turned the corner and Blake's hand shoots out and stops us. I go to ask her what's wrong, but she had her pointer-finger resting on her lips. When Weiss and I nodded, showing that we were going to stay quiet, she moved the finger on her lips to point at a figure walking around in the hall ahead of us. I looked at the hall and saw wood on the ceiling that was supported by other pieces of wood on the walls. I then looked to Weiss. She had her hands covering her mouth and her eyes showed fear. I turned my head and my eyes located the figure. I saw very old armor, very old swords and bows, and most importantly: deathly gray, tight, yet wrinkly, skin and bright blue eyes, almost glowing. Wait, the eyes are glowing. The figure was mumbling in a language I have never heard before. When he spoke it, I felt the power of a language long forgotten. It pulled at my gut and reinforced just how old this… this thing was.

"Do we attack it?" I whispered to Blake.

"That seems to be the only thing we can do." Blake whispered back.

"I'll go center, Weiss you go right. Blake, I am going to need you to go left. Hopefully we can flank him and take him down fast." I whispered to them, pointing in the directions I wanted them to go to. They nodded in response.

"Okay, let's go take this thing down." I told them, bumping fists with both of them.

I leapt up and ran towards the thing. It turned its glowing blue eyes to face me, raising its decaying longsword to meet my attack. Before he attacked, an arrow arched over him, landing in front of me. The arrow, much like the other things in this cave, was very decayed and appeared to be on its last leg, in terms of strength. The thing shouted "Sovngarde saraan!" and lifted its left hand. It shot some kind of material out. Or was it a substance? It struck my right shoulder and suddenly everything was very cold. The thing it was shooting was ice. Oh goodie! More ice! I felt my legs move more sluggishly than before I was hit by the ice. Was this the Arcane magic the woman in front of the college was talking about? I whipped out Crescent Rose and swung her towards the thing. It caught him in the upper-left shoulder to lower-neck area. He crumpled onto the floor, glowing eyes seemingly leaving a trail of electric blue in the air. I knew he was dead when he hit the floor because his eyes no longer glowed. The eyes, that just moments before was bright blue, was a dull grey that looked more lifeless than its already-dead body. Another arrow arched down and hit my chest, but it bounced off. I looked at my chest to see what blocked it. It was the ice that the thing shot at me. Blake closed in on the archer, that I assume was farther in the hall. I heard a momentary sound of battle before Blake screamed and scrambled back to where I was crouching.

"There's a ghost." She said, her face pale and eyes as big as my magazines.

"There's no such thing as ghosts." I said to her, stifling a laugh.

"Then what gave me this?" She asked, pointing to a rip in her clothes and a splatter of blood around the torn edges. I gawked at the tear.

"Are you sure it wasn't from the archer you fought?" I said, trying to rule it off with an uneasy laugh. She simply shook her head. Before I could reply I heard someone say "You shouldn't have come here!" I looked to where it came from and saw a blue, clear figure running up to Blake and I.

"Ghosts are real." I said, jumping up and swinging Crescent Rose at the ghost. I was shocked to feel severe resistance from the strike.

"Weiss!" I called out after I knocked the ghost to the floor.

Weiss flew down from wherever she was hiding. She jammed her sword through the ghost's chest. If they are ghosts, are their body parts still named like they were when they were alive? After stabbing, Weiss glyphed out and back to where she was before. I went to call Blake, but saw that she was fighting with another ghost. I told Weiss to help Blake and I as best she could. She responded by flying in and stabbing the ghost Blake was fighting. The first ghost had closed the gap between us and stabbed with her dagger at my abdomen. I twisted my body to avoid the attack and struck her with the blade at the bottom of Crescent Rose. The ghost, which I just realized was a woman, was staggered by my attack, which opened her up for a strike from the large blade of Crescent Rose. It struck her, but this time went through her. She dissolved into light, leaving behind a pile of ash and a steel dagger. I looked at Blake and saw her standing before a pile of ash as well.

"That was…" Blake tried to find words to express what just happened, "interesting." She decided.

"Who'd have thought that we'd find ghosts and really old dudes in this place?" I asked them.

"I certainly didn't." Weiss commented.

"Ruby, you are covered in snow." Blake told me, just now noticing.

"Indeed you are." Weiss confirmed.

I didn't even have to look down to know what they were talking about.

"Yeah, it came from the first old dude. That's the stuff that he was shooting from his hand. Strangely, it slowed me down a lot and I tired faster." I informed them.

"Could it be the same Arcane stuff that one woman tried to make me do to get into the college?" Weiss asked herself more than us.

"Maybe. But we need to keep moving. That helm isn't going to transport itself to the Jarl's feet." Blake responded.

Blake walked in the front of the group as we walked farther into the weird cave that we entered. The ice dissolved into half ice, half stone and old artifacts. I was walking when something crunched and cracked, sending my right foot to the floor. I picked up my right foot and looked down at what cracked. It was a skull. Where did these skeletons come from? We turned a corner and saw another old dude. This one looked stronger than the one we saw before. He seemed to have a little more armor and held himself higher, whereas the other slouched. It was the same plan of attack as before; Blake on the left, myself center and Weiss on the right. He seemed to see Blake first and shot the ice at her, opening him up to an attack from Crescent Rose. I was stopped by two ghosts. Weiss flew in and killed one, and I slashed the other, thus producing two flashes of light and two glowing piles of ash. I looked up and saw that the old dude was still kicking, so I slammed him with the business end of Crescent Rose. He crumpled to the ground with his blue eyes leaving the trail that the other did.

"Are you alright, Blake?" I asked Blake, not even looking at her.

"Not really." She responds.

"Why?" I asked her, now looking at her. "Oh." She was covered in the ice that the old dude shot at her, and she was walking extremely slowly towards us.

"I couldn't move out of the way after I first got hit…" She trailed off, too embarrassed to continue.

"Let's just stick close to here and wait for Blake to thaw out." I told Weiss.

The ice thawed out rather quickly, considering the sheer amount that the one old dude hit her with. We came across a room with two chambers off to the left, and one leading straight forward. Blake snuck around the corner of the first room, but quickly turned back.

"More ghosts and old dudes, seemed like a dead end as well." Blake said, relieved.

"Alright then, let's keep moving." Weiss said, still partially in shock.

Blake quickly moved in and out of the second room as well, informing us that it too was a dead end. According to her, the only things of possible interest in that room were some ornate urns. I decided to go look for myself, and right next to an old stone coffin thing were two urns. I opened the one on the right with extreme caution, in fear that it might break, to find that it was empty. After closing it, I moved to the left, and found a bottle with string wrapped around the top of it, filled with some type of red liquid. I checked the label on the front, and it read "Potion of Healing". I quickly tossed it to Blake, who almost dropped it out of confusion.

"What's this?" She asked.

"Read the front of it." I said, plainly.

She read the front and her eyes lit up, but at the same time, a look of concern grew on her face.

"You sure this is safe?" She asked.

I was about to respond before Weiss cut me off.

"It says 'Potion of Healing' right there! How could it not be safe!" Weiss said, raising her voice slightly before quickly lowering it again.

At that point, Blake shrugged and hesitantly drank the potion until the bottle was empty. As soon as she dropped the bottle, she was enveloped in trails of light that circled her slowly, whilst giving off a yellowish glow. When the light cleared, the cut and blood that was present before was completely gone. Me and Weiss looked in awe as the wound that was clearly present before simply vanished. We quickly got over it and began moving forward again, while Weiss was muttering about how we should stock up on as many of those as possible. Quite a good plan, if you ask me.

After exiting the side room, we turned quickly into the next room. We immediately noticed a pillar stretching from the ceiling to the floor, with what looked like the two sides of a broken bridge on the pillar itself and where we were standing.

"Great, now what?" Weiss asked.

"Maybe if you actually looked around, you'd notice that we didn't need the bridge anyway." Blake said, pointing to the path that winded downwards towards the floor.

We stuck close to the wall as we moved our way down the path, being careful to not bump into each other. After we made it down, we noticed a chest tucked away in a corner behind us.

"What do you think's inside?" I ask.

"I don't know, could be anything, considering how strange this world is." Weiss said, yet I could tell by her voice that she was hoping for an item of value. Blake slipped past both of us and opened the chest while we continued to speculate. She came back with an odd assortment of items. She had a pouch of 15 gold coins, some green gem (probably an emerald), a scroll that had weird symbols written on it, and an ornate yet crude green bow that was the same size if not larger than Myrtenaster. Weiss went for the gold, and fell face first into the snow when Blake sidestepped.

"I hope you guys don't mind, but I'll be holding onto this stuff for now, for safe keeping." Blake said, more to Weiss than me.

Once Weiss stood back up, we kept moving forward into the tunnel that was in front of us. After making both a right and a left turn, we noticed a table off to the side of the tunnel. I moved over to investigate, and found an axe that looked like it was used to chop wood, another incomprehensible scroll, and a small red book. I began to flip through the book, and I immediately threw it across the room towards Weiss and Blake, whilst doing my best to tell them not to read it through hand gestures. That didn't work though, and they both reacted the same way I did, and chucked it back at me before moving to where I was.

"Ok, that Jarl guy never mentioned anything about a necromancer. And he especially didn't mention anything about a necromancer who's a necrophiliac!" Weiss said, still disgusted.

"That necromancer, Arondil, seems to have been here awhile, considering that he keeps track of the days. Do you think there are more of these somewhere?" Blake asked.

"I don't know, and I especially don't care. Let's just get that helmet and get out of here." Weiss said.

Weiss started to move up the tunnel and into the room ahead when she quickly scurried back to us in a panic.

"There-are-two-old-guys-and-two-ghosts-in-that-room!" She said, whisper-shouting.

"Alright, calm down, we got this." I said, giving her a thumbs up.

The old-dead-dudes walked from around a bend in the tunnel and noticed us right-off-the-bat. "Qiilaan us dilon!" The one that had more armor shouted at us. At, seemingly, the same time that the old-dude shouted in his old language, one of the ghosts shouted "You shouldn't have come here!" whilst swinging her translucent dagger towards the person closest to her -that being Weiss- and promptly missed as it was dodgeable.

"Do what we did last time!" I called out to Blake and Weiss, causing them to scatter to their battle positions.

Blake was to my left and Weiss was somewhere above both of us. Blake was facing the old-dude assault, whereas I got the ghost-ladies. They stood in a column-like formation with the one who attacked first standing behind the other. She then raised her arm and ran towards me, throwing her arm forward in an attempt to cut me. I blocked her strike with the lower half of Crescent Rose, staggering her. I swung the blade of Crescent Rose at her upper-body in response. I was shocked again by the hardness that her body held when I struck her. She fell to one knee saying "I yield! I yield!", so I turned my attention to her friend, who was already in her dagger-in-the-air attacking position. I turned the lower part of Crescent Rose to catch her body during the strike. She didn't seem to notice the movement, so she ran right into the blade, skewering her on the spot. She looked at the wound, and then at me. She looked deathly afraid and shocked. Before she could say anything, she dissolved into the bright light and ashes that seems to happen when you kill ghosts here. I didn't have time to stare at the ashes, because the one who yielded stood up off the ground and nearly lost her balance in doing so. "I'll rip you apart!" she shouted at me. A silver blade protruded from her chest before she could even raise her dagger. Weiss came into view after the bright light dissipated.

"Got her." She commented, before glyphing off to God-knows-where.

Blake jogged over right as Weiss left.

"Those dudes were a piece of salmon." She joked.

"I think you mean 'cake'." I responded.

Her face screwed up in confusion. "What did I say?" She asked.

"Salmon." Weiss said from the rafters.

"Whatever, let's just keep moving." Blake told us, hiding her blushing.

We made our way through the room, and after finding another desk with another red book on it, we came across an iron door with an ornate carving of a bird on it. Weiss wasn't happy about it for some reason.

"Come on! We have to go even deeper?" She complained.

"This just means were one step closer to getting the helmet, now come on." Blake said, once again dragging Weiss through the doorway by her collar.

Once we all got through the doorway, we noticed that most of the ice had cleared on the walls and revealed what remained of the barrow. Incredibly well designed stone walls with wooden supports to keep them stable, covered in some sort of circular or wavy pattern. These walls didn't last long though, as they soon gave way to another icy tunnel. What we saw on the other end of the tunnel, took our breath away. We saw a large room, mostly rocks and ice, but the back wall was made of the same stone that we just passed. A set of stairs lead to a throne that sat in between two pillars that supported the roof. The throne was occupied by what appeared to be Arondil, and he had a ghost standing next to him. There was a tunnel off to the left, most likely the way out, and a doorway behind them a bit to the right, most likely where the helmet is.

"You shouldn't have come here!" he shouted at us we entered. Before we could split up, he sent out a large crystal that was steaming. It slammed into Weiss's shoulder and stuck there.

"It's cold!" She screamed in pain. Go figure, the Ice Queen getting struck by ice.

We fell into chaos after that. I charged at the dude and Blake went after his ghost-lady-friend. He charged up another icebolt-thing and threw it at me. I swung Crescent Rose like helicopter blades and shattered it. "Impossible." he commented after I broke his icebolt. "Possible." I say to him while I slash him with Crescent Rose. He used his left hand to use some kind of magic. It sent out white-yellow smoke that trailed around him, much like the kind that came from the potion of healing that Blake drank. I slashed him again and he stopped healing himself with magic. He instead shot another icebolt. It hit me in my chest. I gasped from the cold and the pain. I grinned at the thought that he might think that this would stop me. I let out a strangled gasp that was supposed to be a laugh and swung Crescent Rose at him again. It caught him in between his shoulder and head causing his head to jerk to his right, throwing him to the ground. He forced himself to his feet and met my blade once again upon standing. He fell flat onto his face in a small flash of light. Does everything flash when it dies here? He never stood up again.

"You guys ok?" Blake asked, panting.

"Yeah, I think so." I say, looking at the spot where one of those ice spike things was, wondering how I would get it out.

"Hmm...where's Wei-"Blake paused before yelling "Weiss! Show some respect for the dead!"

Weiss, who I just noticed wasn't next to us, was off searching Arondil's body.

"Oh come on, show respect for this creep? Besides, he could have something useful on him." After a moment's pause, she held up a key "See? I bet this will come in handy later."

"Fine, let's keep going then." Blake said, moving to the doorway.

We pushed the iron door open and two things immediately caught our attention. The first was a large, ornate wood and metal chest that was practically right in front of us, and the second was a bed that had a ghost sleeping in it. Not only that, the bed had many red flowers scattered around it. That Arondil guy really was sick. Blake quickly moved to the bed and plunged Gambol Shroud into what should have been its heart, and it quickly faded into the same blue ash pile as the others. We then turned our attention to the chest, which had a red and gold staff with some type of blue gem on top of it placed next to it.

"That helmet has got to be in there." I said, pointing to the chest.

"Only one way to find out." Blake said, moving quickly to the chest as to block Weiss from it. And after a moment of rummaging around, she pulled out a steel helmet that had two horns on either side, and chainmail around where someone's neck would be. The helmet was open, so you would be able to see the person's face, and it had a spike sticking out from the top of it.

"This was the only helmet in there, so I guess this is it." Blake said.

"Great! Now we can finally get out of here!" Weiss said, relieved.

"What else was in there?" I asked.

"Not much, about 200 of those 'Septim' coins, this purple book with whatever this symbol is on it, this…" She paused as she picked up an axe that had a gold handle, but the blades and pommel were made of some type of green, slightly transparent crystal like material. "axe that has a blue glow to it, and these gold colored gauntlets."

"Well, I'll take that staff and the book." Weiss said, grabbing both not a second later.

"Hey! Shouldn't we wait until we get out of here to divide stuff up evenly?" Blake said and asked.

"I'm sorry, were either of you planning on getting either of these?" Weiss asked.

Neither of us responded.

"See? Now what's in this book…" She said, moving over to the table, taking a seat in the chair.

Me and Blake were discussing how to divide the rest of the stuff when Weiss said "Found another of that guy's journals."

"Just toss it over here." I said, and I got smacked in the face by the book not a second later.

"Hey! No fair! I didn't understand any of it!" Weiss yelled.

"What happened now?" Blake asked.

"I opened that book, read all the pages, and it vanished! The only part that made sense was the title."

"And that was?" I asked.

"'Summon Flame Atronach' or something like that." Weiss said.

Me and Weiss continued to discuss the book and how it vanished when Blake interrupted us. "We should probably be going." With that, we exited the room and went to the tunnel that was now on our right. After turning the corner we saw a lever on the wall, and as we walked over to it, we noticed an iron gate.

"Think that this opens the gate?" I asked, pointing to the lever.

"Pull it and find out." Weiss said.

After forcing the lever upwards, the gate opened, allowing us to enter a room with an iron door. Once we took a look at the ground though, we were horrified to see three dead women lying on the ground.

"So this is where he put the bodies…" I said, barely able to get words out.

"This place gets more disturbing by the minute, can we please go now?" Weiss asked.

"Well, we aren't going this way." Blake said, pointing to the door.

"Why not?" Weiss and I asked.

"It's locked, can't get it open." Blake said.

"Locked you say?" Weiss asked with a grin on her face, moving to the door. She then pulled out the key that she got off Arondil's body, and used it to unlock the door.

"Ta da!" She said, clearly proud of herself.

Blake and I ignored her and passed her, which made her quite mad. We then began ascending a spiral wooden staircase that eventually lead to an iron door. After pushing it open, we found ourselves in another mostly stone room, with a passageway leading forward. After following it and turning the corner, we came to a wall with a lever on it. I shot a questioning glance to Blake and Weiss before forcing it upwards. Once I did, a panel in the wall in front of us moved towards us slightly before sinking into the ground. When we exited into the room, we were surprised to see that we ended up in the room where I found that healing potion. From there, we simply walked out of Yngvild. When we emerged, it was well into the night. We decided to divide the rest of the gear in the morning, and headed back to Winterhold. When we got back, we stopped by the inn, the Frozen Hearth, and got a room for the night. Thankfully it was only 10 coins, or '10 gold' as the barkeeper, Dagur, put it. We played rock, paper, scissors for the bed, which Blake won. Me and Weiss slept on the pelt rugs that were on the floor. Not the best way to get sleep, but it was nice to finally lay down and rest.

After we woke up and ate a small breakfast, we headed right across the road to the Jarl's Longhouse with the helmet. We were a mix of excited and nervous, I guess that's reasonable when you go to talk to a figure of great power. When we walked in, however, he seemed to be having an argument with his steward.

"But My Lord, if they end up being what rumor says they are, they could…" The gray skinned steward stopped talking when we walked in, and simply walked off into one of the rooms on the side.

"Ah! You've returned! Do you have the Helm?" Jarl Korir asked.

"Yep! Here you go." I said, handing it to him.

"Can you believe that this hold used to contend for the throne of High King? Now perhaps others will listen. Here, your reward as promised. You have Winterhold's thanks." Jarl Korir said, taking the helmet and handing us multiple bags of coins.

"A few things before we go, first of all, how much did you give us? And secondly, you never mentioned anything about ghosts, old blue eyed dudes, or a necromancer." Weiss said asked.

"The original reward was 1000 Septims, and each of those bags contains 250 Septims. As for the second part, I'm sorry I neglected to mention the Draugr, they tend to populate old barrows like that." Jarl Korir said.

"Draugr?" I asked.

"Aye. Ancient nords cursed with undeath for their service to the dragons in the old times. And as for the ghosts and the necromancer, I myself was unaware of them, so I couldn't have warned you." Jarl Korir said.

"It's ok, we just wanted to make sure you knew." Blake said.

"Wait, why did you give us four bags if there are only three of us?" Weiss asked.

"I thought it would be easier to split it into four bags so you three and your friend don't have to worry about splitting it later." Jarl Korir said.

"Wait, our friend?" We all asked.

"Not too long after you three left, the blonde woman sleeping on that chair upstairs" He pointed to the upper level, and we all saw Yang casually sleeping on a chair. "came by looking for you. I explained that I sent you to retrieve the Helm of Winterhold, and I told her that she could stay until you got back."

The three of us rushed upstairs, hoping that Yang found out how we could get home. I shook her violently, and after a minute or two, she woke up with a "Sup?".

"Did you find out anything on how we got here and how we can get back?" Blake asked.

"Ah...funny story about that actually." Yang said, nervously laughing.

We all looked at her in a mix of nervousness and anger, mostly nervousness. After a long and agonizing silence, Weiss was the first speak.

"Well, what happened?" She asked.

"Well, it didn't take them long to realize that I didn't make the fireball, and my gauntlets did. After that, they told me that 'The magic is in the weapon, not you.', then they threw me out." Yang said, defeated.

"Well great, now how are we supposed to get home? I asked, angered and defeated.

"If I may interrupt for a moment, I have a question to ask you four." Jarl Korir asked, calling to us from his throne. We immediately made our way downstairs to see what he wanted.

"You four...you're not from Tamriel are you?" He asked, sternly.

We all exchanged nervous glances before I asked him "How did you know?"

"Aside from the difference in clothes, weapons, and speech? There's a rumor spreading around that you four appeared in Skyrim, supposedly through an Elder Scroll, the same day the dragons returned. While I think of it as nothing more, there are those who wouldn't think that that's a mere coincidence." Jarl Korir said.

"That was only a day ago, how could that spread so fast?" Blake asked.

"Important or strange news tends to spread fast around here, if you haven't noticed." Jarl Korir said.

"What does this mean though? Why are you telling us this?" Weiss asked, confused.

"While I don't mind your presence, as I've seen that you four are kind hearted women, others might not be so easily accepting. Be cautious on your future travels. Of course, you're always welcome here in Winterhold." Jarl Korir said.

With that, we left the Jarl's Longhouse, and began to plan our next move.

"So, where to now?" I asked.

We all went into thought as I pulled out my map. We each tossed ideas back and forth, trying to think of a place that could possible hold the knowledge we seek. Weiss was staying quiet the whole time, though.

"Weiss? What's wrong?" I ask.

"Well, I was thinking...that um...I could…" She kept mumbling and trailed off eventually.

"Weiss? What are you trying to say?" Yang asked, slightly nervous.

"I was thinking that I could stay here, and try to get into that college again." She said.

Me, Blake, and Yang's jaws dropped. After something like this, we should be trying our best to stay together, not split up. After seeing that the three of us weren't going to respond, she spoke up.

"Look, after I read that purple book, something changed. I'm not sure exactly what, but I feel different on the inside. I know I can make it in this time." Weiss said, confidently.

"Then we can just stay here, with you." I said.

"No, you can't. I'm not sure how long it's going to take for me to figure this stuff out, and I don't want you guys stuck in an inn the entire time." Weiss said.

"Teams don't split up, they stick together through thick and thin, we're not leaving you alone here." I said.

"Think about it like this then, while I'm here trying to find a way back home, you guys can be out trying to understand what this 'Skyrim' place has to offer. I would only be a day or two away at most, and if you really get lonely, just message me on my scro-...just send me a letter." Weiss said.

The three of us looked at each other before Yang asked Weiss "Are you sure you want to do this?". Weiss responded with a simple nod. After that, we all gave Weiss a hug before she headed off to the college.

We waited by the Jarl's Longhouse while Weiss went up and took the test. After a couple of moments of the two talking, Weiss, well, summoned something. She waved to us and walked down the path to the college. We agreed that she was fine and began to discuss where we were heading to.

"Well, where's the closest stables?" Blake asked.

"In a city called Windhelm, southeast of here" I said, pointing at it on the map.

"Let's get going then, we can decide where to go from there." Yang said.

And with that, we began our journey to Windhelm, it just didn't feel the same without Weiss, though.

/AN: Hey guys! So I have a bit of possibly bad news. I recently got hired at the place I applied to, so depending on my work schedule, the time between chapters may increase slightly. But hey, considering how fast and efficient my friends are, it shouldn't be too noticeable. So just hang tight and enjoy!