WOAH WHAT IS THIS. An update coming in a somewhat timely fashion? What is wrong with me? I'm never this productive! But, all my own personal astonishment at getting this darned thing done so fast put aside, this chapter was so much fun to write, and I really hope you all have as much fun reading it as I did with coming up with it! It doesn't really serve much of a purpose, other than giving Mél a semi-proper, if rather unconventional introduction, as well as potentially scarring poor Helvia for life, haha. And I definitely recommend listening to the above song with this chapter - if you like listening to music as you read - , as it really fits the mood. After all, I do choose to add music to these chapters for a reason!

Well, enough of that. Onto the chapter!

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All at once, I was in a thousand different places, experiencing a thousand different things. I was free-falling through memories that were not my own, and it was terrifying.

Suddenly, I jerked to a stop, landing on something hard, presumably stone by its lack of give. Momentarily disoriented, the sounds of battle all around me as I scrambled to my feet—sounds of anger, fear, and desperation mingled with the cries of dying men. I was standing in the midst of a horrible, bloody massacre, in a place whose architecture I could only vaguely identify as Imperial - but I could barely notice such details as I gaped at the enormous monstrosity at front and center of my field of vision, clearly the main source of the devastating destruction all around me.

They - presumably he - were so tall that it seemed to me that, if he tried, he could tear a star from its lofty place in the heavens, and his skin was the color of freshly spilt blood, with bizarre, otherworldly markings seemingly running across the entirety of his body, and he was dressed in odd armor that made no practical sense - though it seemed that the soldiers' weapons had very little effect even when they made contact with his exposed skin -, but perhaps the most terrifying aspects about him were his two pairs of arms, each armed with a different weapon of some sort and his luminous, bloodlust-filled aureolin eyes, currently focused on a battalion of courageous yet unfortunate soldiers scattered around him, attempting to do anything to bring this terror down. I tried to move, but found myself unable to take so much as a step forward as I saw the demon bring down an enormous battleaxe on one of the soldiers, splitting the man entirely in two before he'd even known what had hit him. I heard a shrill, horrified scream as I witnessed this happen, only realizing after that it'd been I who'd made such a noise. Suddenly, the otherworldly juggernaut's eyes locked onto me, and a pleased, vengeful look appeared upon his face; it was clear that I had just made myself his target.

However, before I could so much as get into a defensive position or call upon any of my spells, the world suddenly was ripped away from me, and I was falling through darkness yet again, not sure whether to be relieved or even more terrified.

My reprieve of sorts was short-lived, however, as I was thrown into another memory of sorts without warning, and, this time, there was no painful landing. However, that certainly didn't mean my current situation was any better than it had been before. I was now in a world seemingly entirely devoid of color, the sky a lifeless, dull grey as I glanced up, and I was surrounded by a cold-looking stone and wrought iron building with spikes on its roof, reminiscent of some sort of fighting arena. I couldn't help but wonder what the purpose of reliving this particular memory was until I realized someone that there was someone here with me, who was entirely a metallic grey, sporting odd, spiked, and slightly form-fitting armor the color and luminescence of liquid silver, and they had lifeless, light grey eyes that I could just barely see through the slits of the visor of their helm. Their expression, from what I could discern, was one of indifference - no, not indifference, but disapproval and cold, emotionless dedication - as they practically ran at me, their sword drawn and glinting in whatever light there was in this place.

Surprised by the suddenness of this attack, I lifted a hand almost instinctively to try and defend myself, and realized that I was holding a sword myself, gold in color and of a design entirely foreign to me, and just barely managed to counter my opponent's eerily well-aimed swing, and, despite catching their blade against my own, the impact of the force from theirs caused me to drop my sword and stumble back, and they didn't wait before they came at me yet again, sword raised with all intents to end me. Terrified and unable to make a dive for my sword, I turned and ran, sprinting towards the other edge of the enclosure, away from this strange being - and hopefully towards an exit.

That's when I realized that I wasn't there alone, there were several soldiers dressed in gold fighting ones armored in that strange, spiky armor - and I seemed to be on the gold warriors' side, judging by the gold sword I'd and the fact that they were completely focused on fighting the grey people - and I just barely managed to stop myself from running in between two of them locked in combat, throwing myself back with more strength than I thought I had. I somehow managed not to stumble as I tried to find a new escape route. However, I was far too slow and a spotless silver blade sliced towards my face -

Suddenly, I was ripped from that scene and the darkness returned yet again; this time, however, it was far from relieving, as I felt as if it was slowly suffocating me, like I was drowning instead of falling. I attempted to regain control of myself, thrashing around in the empty oblivion around me and trying to go against wherever I was headed, but the invisible current pulling me downwards was too strong, rendering me entirely helpless.

It was then I realized that I, in fact, was in water; deep water. My lungs began to scream for breath as I fought to swim towards where I thought the surface was, though everything around me was hard to see and I wasn't quite sure which way was up. My arms and legs were tiring quickly, too, and I couldn't keep myself from inhaling suddenly and violently, water filling my mouth as I did so. I coughed in response, unable to keep myself from doing so, and that action worsened my current situation. Gods, what is this? I wondered to myself as I began to feel strangely light-headed, and my eyelids began to feel like lead. Then, I was sinking yet again, too tired and too oxygen-deprived to do anything about my impending death.

"Just what do you think you're doing!?" I was ripped out of this bizarre and very morbid dream sequence by the sound of Mélisande's voice, and to say she sounded irritated was an understatement.

I was in the darkness yet again, save this time, there was seemingly solid ground under my feet, and I found myself facing a very ticked off purple shade. "You're messing everything up! I share my experiences with you, and you've screwed up colossally every time! I guess I should just be glad that botched memories won't change the outcome of things that happened in the real world, but-"

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize I that your idea of 'help' was throwing me through every memory of a near-death experience you've had," I shot back hotly, crossing my arms as I glared right back at my ancestor, showing my own dislike of the current situation.

"By Tiber Septim's left foot, this was meant to be beneficial to you, but, until now, you've been too terrified to even notice what I've been trying to say, and keep running away from your problems like a coward-"

"Did you consider the fact you failed to explain what your so-called help entailed? Because, as you mentioned yourself, I have no idea what I'm doing. How is this supposed to do anything except make me feel worse about myself? Honestly, what did you think was going to happen?"

"... Oh. Well, that certainly explains what all that was," Mélisande trailed off suddenly, her angry features becoming more thoughtful than anything else as she continued, "Seems this didn't work quite as I'd planned-"

"Yeah, no kidding," I cut in sarcastically, but refrained from further comment as my ancestor gave me an exasperated look.

"As I was saying, I intended this to be very different than how this turned out. I was expecting you to spectate rather than re-enact my memories, and you might be able to gain some insight from them. But as can clearly be seen, it's apparently not going to work that way, though this isn't something we can just 'undo'. Although, perhaps I started this out far too intensely. I was so focused on sharing important bits of family history and tactics that I doubtless threw you into something at an unfair disadvantage, especially seeing as you seem to be able to change what has happened, to a degree..." Mélisande frowned suddenly at that, seeming worried, but she shook her head slightly, taking on a more neutral expression, "Perhaps we should start with something a bit... calmer, if this is how things are going to work. We're going to have to revisit the things you saw before, though - for many reasons, so let's not go there. Just warning you. But, seeing as we're both stuck in your subconscious at the moment, I should have no problems offering you advice and guidance should you be in need of it."

"... Thanks, I guess," I responded uncertainly, eyeing the shade distrustfully as I waited for her to continue.

"Actually, I have something worth mentioning now - you're taking control of my memories far more than you should. Try to just let things happen, rather than feeling the need to react yourself and superimpose your own reactions. Things will probably go a lot more smoothly if you can do that, and you might be able to get something out of this experience like this was originally planned to be."

"I can try," I responded noncommittally, not sure I could actually control something I didn't even understand.

"Right then," Mélisande announced, smirking slightly, "I think I know just where we ought to start."

With that, she vanished, and my surroundings changed yet again, though this, for once, was a welcome change.

~~~~~

The first thing I was aware of was that I was in a dimly-lit, cheerful-looking tavern, seated on an old yet comfortable wooden stool at a table with three other people. One of them was a young man, clearly of Imperial blood, with rich-colored, loosely curly dark brown hair that was in moderate disarray as he threw his head back in laughter at something one of the others had said, his bright grey eyes shining with mirth as he grinned at yet another individual who was a stranger to me. They were clearly an Argonian, presumably female, with scales the color of shadow and carnelian eyes - though she looked friendly; her pupils were wide and round, unlike some others of her kind, and she was grinning as well. The third person at the table was silent, but seemed like he was enjoying himself - and, with a start, I realized said person was Nightbrook. Though there weren't many obvious differences in how he looked from when I'd seen him personally, the scar on his face I'd seen earlier was absent, his hair was quite a bit shorter, and he looked a bit more open and oddly relaxed, though he still had a reserved and private air about him.

"Walks-in-Shade, that was a bit... vulgar, even for you. I think you've probably had enough-" The mer started pointedly, though it was clear he wasn't angry or put off with her, just amused, presumably by whatever she'd just said before.

"Lighten up, 'Nir," Walks-in-Shade, the dark scaled argonian replied, her speech somewhat slow as she continued, "An' it's not like we get this kinda chance often; you should be takin' advantage of it like me an' Atellus are."

Atellus, the Imperial, nodded vigorously, clearly deep in his cups himself, perhaps even more than Walks-in-Shade was as he turned to grin at me, his eyes looking slightly unfocused as he added, "Yeaaaah, it's nice to get a break. Whaddya say, Mél? I'm sh-suuure she'll agree."

I realized he was waiting for a response, and I was at a loss of how to respond, seeing as I didn't even know these people. However, what Mél had said about not trying to control her memories came back to me again, and, not sure it would work, I did my best to mentally disassociate myself with the current situation, and, with that, I felt the dull buzzing of alcohol running through my veins and dulling my mind as I - or Mélisande, rather - responded of her own accord, sounding a bit out of it - though not in an overly drunk way - as she said, "Mmhmm... this is nice..."  before promptly downing another gulp of ale from a rather sizeable tankard.

"Seeee?? You need to stop being shuch a prude, Nighty," Atellus remarked mockingly, turning his attention back to Nightbrook.

"... Oh, gods. Why did you have to-" Barannir started, sounding somewhere between resigned and exasperated, but was cut off by Walks-in-Shade bursting into laughter.

"Nighty? Tha's a good one! We gotta make sure that sticks," The Argonian said approvingly, causing Nightbrook to put his head in his hands, clearly embarrassed.

There was a slight pause in the conversation, and I felt myself - or Mél, it was incredibly confusing to try to tell who was doing or feeling like what - grow somewhat uneasy, pushing her tankard away as she laid her arms on the table, looking down at the old, well-worn wood of the counter.

"Something on your mind, Mél?" Nightbrook spoke up suddenly, looking at her with a hint of concern.

"Yes, actually..." she sighed, moving one arm so that her elbow was still on the table and propped her head up on her hand, continuing tiredly, "I'm having... reservations about joining the Mages' Guild..."

"And why on Nirn would that be?" Nightbrook seemed surprised by my ancestor's response, and in that moment, I could definitely relate to her. I wasn't sure I was quite ready to go to the College myself, especially after learning how inadequate my skills were compared to most.

"I don't know if I'm ready for this, to be honest. I have very little experience, and... I just really don't want to leave you guys, and I know none of you are interested in magic-"

"To Oblivion with our own interests, we did not just travel all over Cyrodiil to help you get all those recommendations for you to back out now, Mélisande Abgrall," Walks-in-Shade spoke up suddenly, seeming to sober up a bit as she grew more irate, "And to Oblivion with your ridiculous self-doubt, too. The only thing that'll ever do for you is see to it you become a beggar, so for the love of the Hist, get over it, please. And you don't need to worry about us being around; yeah, we won't be going to classes, or whatever it is mages do with you, but we'll drop by to visit and chat. At least, I know I will."

Atellus chose that moment to give Mél an exaggeratedly wide smile, nodding in agreement with Shade's statement. However, he'd moved a bit too exuberantly as he'd nodded, and leaned back on his seat too far, falling backwards with a crash and bringing the barstool down with him.

Despite Atellus' comic contribution to the conversation, Walks-in-Shade had made a very good point, one I realized I'd do well to take to heart myself. Maybe I was a far from decent mage, but that didn't mean that I couldn't be a master wizard if I tried hard enough. And, despite being a cautious person, I'm not the type to give up so easily.

Nightbrook flinched and let out a disappointed sigh at Atellus' reckless fall, but he promptly turned his attention back to Mél, saying, "You can count on seeing me frequently as well. After all, I wouldn't be much of a friend if I just forgot about someone just because they wanted to follow their dreams. And, though it's true we all have our own goals and aspirations, perhaps, once we're through with training and such, we'll be able to do things like this again."

"I'd not be adverse to that," Walks-in-Shade agreed, adding, "You'd better not still be worried about going to the Guild, Mél."

"I - Yeah. This is going to work out. I'll make it work."

"Now that's the Mél I like being around!"

The world began to fade away, and the last thing I saw before everything was lost to darkness again were the smiling faces of the three individuals who had clearly been some of Mél's closest friends, and, for some reason, I felt strangely touched by experiencing this memory of hers, one which had clearly been very personal.

Thank you, I thought, hoping that Mél could hear me as my vision went dark.

~~~~~

Water.

It was all around me, suffocating and deep and dark -

No.

This is not real.

I have been here before. It is not real. Let go. Let Mél take care of this. You don't know what you're doing, but she survived this. Let go.

It was harder to relinquish control of my dream-self or whatever it was this time around, most likely because I felt like I was in actual danger, but I managed to detach myself from what was happening, repeating that what was going on wasn't real and that it wasn't my place to do anything.

Suddenly, I realized that I hadn't been as far from the surface as I'd thought, and located which way was up rather quickly. However, I was unable to move, and I was beginning to get a bit of a headache, which I realized was bleeding over from this particular memory. Well, that certainly explains why she's not moving, I thought to myself, But if she didn't do anything, how does this work out with her still being alive?

My questions were answered rather quickly, as a humanoid shape emerged from the all-encompassing gloom, seeming to have no qualms about running out of breath when they spotted Mél, making a beeline towards her. It was then I caught a flash of black and a bit of red as Mél's already blurry vision began to fade, when the stranger suddenly grabbed one of her wrists and started swimming upwards, clearly a very experienced swimmer by the power behind their strokes despite being burdened with another person.

They broke through the surface, pulling Mél up with them, the latter of the two coughing and gasping for breath, breathing heavily.

"Come on, let's get to solid land, and then you can explain what just happened," a kind but reptilian voice rasped, and I realized that the individual who'd saved her was Walks-in-Shade, though she looked considerably younger than she'd been when I'd seen her previously.

"All right," Mél replied breathlessly, sounding rather young herself, though I couldn't see her face to affirm just how much younger she was.

They started towards the docks, presumably the ones Mél had fallen off of in the first place, as the world took its cue to change yet again.

Not quite sure what the point of that one was, I thought to myself, thoroughly confused as to why any of this particular incident was relevant to my own experiences, but didn't have much time to think before I was back in a more stressful, familiar situation.

~~~~~

There I was, once again, facing off the soldier in bizarre silver metal armor, and, this time, I relinquished control of the situation to Mél immediately, not eager to have to deal with this again. She reacted to her opponent instantly, her sword drawn and bluish-white energy gathering in her free hand as she blocked the soldier's swing almost effortlessly, her sword arm not even shaking as she proceeded to blast her opponent with bluish-white lightning, causing them to drop their sword and shudder spastically as they disintegrated into a pile of ashes and armor. Just then, Mél whirled around, decapitating a silver-clad soldier who had been creeping up behind her, their arms falling to their sides as they crumpled, their head flying off and conveniently smacking one of their comrades in the back, effectively distracting them as one of the gold clad warriors finished them off.

Mél then chose that moment to jog up to the soldier in gilded armor, asking them, "Do you know if anyone's managed to knock out that Priest of Order yet?"

"No one's even gotten close," the gilded soldier replied breathlessly, "This one's tougher than the others, looks like."

My ancestor paused for a second before responding determinedly, "Guess it's up to me to put an end to them and their obelisk, then. Mind helping keep the Knights off my back while I deal with the big guys?"

The golden-armor wearing soldier nodded, and, with that, she broke into a brisk walk, making her way over to a silver and purple clad person, who, eerily enough, seemed not to have a face at all.  The minute they caught sight of Mél, they vanished, leaving her to bring her sword up into a defensive position as she tried to ascertain where the priest was.

Suddenly, a bright, glowing blue spherical light appeared, seemingly suspended in midair, and Mél dodged as the invisible priest cast the same spell she'd used to kill one of the knights earlier, the lightning bolt just missing the top of her helm by less than an inch. After this near miss, she quickly summoned fire in her free hand, thoroughly roasting the area where the priest had clearly just been, and she was rewarded with a shriek of pain and the flaming outline of the once-invisible priest of order.

Taking this time to reach into the small satchel at the belt of her robes, Mél grabbed a grey-colored object that looked disturbingly like a heart and tossed it into the center of an outlandish-looking metal structure, which the priest had clearly been guarding; when the aforementioned opponent noticed what she was doing, they let out a cry of rage and came at her, no longer on fire but now completely visible, sparks flashing in their left hand and the silver of a blade glinting in their right.

Mél took advantage of the priest's anger, sidestepping their frenzied charge and slicing them in the side as they ran past her, but, unlike she'd been expecting, they didn't charge past her, stopping the moment her blade cut through their robes and swinging their own sword at her. The Breton didn't have enough time to move her own blade to deflect the blow, and it plunged straight through her right shoulder, the force behind the stab so violent that the tip of the blade emerged from the back of it. Bone crunched and blood gushed as Mél's vision momentarily wavered, but she managed to back away from the priest quickly before he could pull his sword back out again, snarling, "Oh, no, you're not getting this back after what you just did. You've just made me very angry. And that doesn't bode well for you."

She then proceeded to hit the slightly stunned priest in the side of the head with the flat of her blade, the force behind it knocking him senseless. "Thank Julianos..." Mél sighed under her breath, taking two more grey hearts from her satchel and proceeding to toss them into the obelisk.

The metal structure then shuddered, and the unnatural purplish light it emitted seemed to have an explosion of sorts before dissipating, the floating spire collapsing into itself in consequence. Sensing that the obelisk had been shut down, the formerly unconscious priest began to stir, but, before they could so much as get to their knees, Mél's sword impaled them through the heart; they slumped lifeless against the ground without so much as a groan.

Letting out a long sigh, my ancestor looked around, seeing the rest of her gold-clad allies finishing off the last of the silver warriors - though not without a cost, she noted, as she saw that her side did have casualties, albeit fewer than those that had opposed them. It had come with a personal cost as well, as her shoulder currently hurt like all Oblivion, and it was taking every ounce of willpower she had not to let it bring her down. But it was one less obelisk to worry about, and that was certainly a victory. And they wouldn't have brought it down without her to lead them.

You are stronger than you think, descendant. No matter what you face, you will overcome, so long as you do not give up.

~~~~~

And now, I was back to the beginning, chaos and destruction throwing a once-proud city into shambles as I just stood there, numbly taking it in, and the added terror of the wrathful gaze of a bellicose daedra made me wish I could fall through the ground just to get away from all of this. I had no trouble whatsoever withdrawing from this situation, though, this time, Mél was just as frozen in place as I had been, simply staring at the red behemoth as they advanced towards her, disregarding the other soldiers attempting to bring them down as they swung back their axe, clearly intending to cleave Mél in two.

Before they could bring their battle axe down, however, an arrow hit them right in their right eye, said arrow causing that half of their face to be encased in ice as the other half's expression morphed into one of surprise and fury. Somewhat perplexed herself, Mél glanced back, and saw that a familiar hooded figure clothed entirely in black stood not too far away from her, the bowstring of their golden-colored bow drawn back in indication that they'd been the one to shoot the daedra in the eye.

"What are you waiting for, Mélisande? Let's take this four-armed tomato down, naktis*!"

"We'll cover for you, Mél, but you'd better not make us do all the work here!"

Walks-in-Shade and Atellus suddenly flanked her, and then proceeded to charge in front of her, the former of the two dual wielding daggers and Atellus charging forward with an ebony longsword in hand, fearlessly approaching the rampaging Daedric Prince who was clearly very ticked off about the loss of an eye, judging by their strings of threats and enraged, erratic attacks that very rarely hit their intended target. In that instant, a surge of renewed energy and strength filled Mél's being and her fear dissipated, changing into impassioned determination as she raised her arms, concentrating as she drew on every bit of magicka she could coax out of her reserves at one time, finally ready to face her fears and make sure no one she cared about got hurt.

Should your burdens ever become too heavy for you to bear alone, remember this: Your friends will not let you go through anything alone. You can rely on them to see you through hard times, and they will give you strength when you think that you have none, Mél's voice suddenly spoke up in my mind as that scene faded, leaving me to reflect on what I had just witnessed, or lived through, rather, in complete darkness and peace.

Perhaps this experience hadn't been entirely useless, after all.

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Whew, that chapter's the most stressful, most complicated, and longest thing I've written for Mage, totaling over 4600 words. My gosh I hope it turned out all right though, seeing as I haven't even played Oblivion yet and have meager Elder Scrolls Wiki knowledge of the two canon events I wrote about. ;-; For those of you who are hardcore Oblivion fans, please go easy on me if I've messed anything up, and, just so you know, once I get to playing the game myself (which will be this summer), I'll go back and fix any inaccuracies I can find.

That aside, what did you guys think of the new OCs introduced in this chapter? Who was your favorite of the group, if you don't mind me asking (though it's hardly fair to Atellus to ask that question, seeing as he had very few speaking lines and is the least developed as of now, ahah)? And, after I play through Oblivion myself, would you be interested in seeing Mélisande & Co. star in their very own fanfic?

Also, I'm practically restraining myself from writing the next chapter, ahah, as everything's going to be really fun for the next 3 chapters or so. I can't say anything now, but I hope you guys will like where I'm going to take this story in the near future! :3

I don't have anything more to say now, so onto the questions!

~~~~~

QUESTIONS:

Question: (From sweetrollstealer to Mélisande) How did you meet Nightbrook and do you have any advice you for Helvia on how to deal with him?

Answer: (By Mélisande) *bursts into laughter* Oh, gods, how did we meet? *quietly* He's gonna kill me for telling you this - or try to at least -, but we actually first ran into each other when I caught him trying to steal from me. Believe it or not, but he was a terrible cutpurse when we first interacted. He was so embarrassed by his failure he actually apologized, and then we got to talking. And the rest is history, I guess. And hm. Advice. Well, it's no secret 'Nir has a flair for the dramatic, but if you start acting all overly dramatic around him he'll get all frustrated and it's adorable. I recommend it. *thumbs up*

Question: (From Snuffles5 to Mélisande) WILT THOU MARRY ME

Answer: (By Mélisande) Sure thing. If you don't mind being married to the Elder Scrolls equivalent of a hologram. *shrug*

Question: (From Thunderphoenix to Helvia ) Are you going to start calling Nightbrook by his first name, now that you know it?

Answer: (By Helvia): *pauses* Not until he stops calling me Miss Abgrall. It's obnoxiously formal. Or would he be more likely to drop that title if I called him by his first name...?

Question: (From Lionrawrrr to Helvia or Helgir) WILL YOU GUYS GET TOGETHER? BECAUSE I SHIP IT OMG XD

Answer: (By Helgír) I won't deny that I do feel a ... fondness towards Helvia, but I fear any chance at a friendship, much less anything more has been damaged beyond repair. *angsty sigh*

~~~~~

If anyone has any more questions for anyone in Mage, feel free to ask them! If they've appeared in Mage at all, regardless of how long they were a part of the story, they're open to ask questions! ^^

Well, as always, please do leave a vote and/or comment if you enjoyed the chapter, and see you next time! Good adventuring, dear readers!

-AA