Chapter III: Start of the journey *Edited*
Reyvin got up early the next morning and quickly busied himself with crushing the flowers he collected during his little hike using his alchemy kit, a rather simple mortar and pestle, in hopes of selling the low-level salves. They were not anything special but they would stop infections and heal cuts, something a bunch of farmers and the like were happy to pay for.
'This is surprisingly therapeutic' Reyvin thought with a hum as he made a nice red paste with his pestle.
"Morning mister elf!" The little girl from yesterday whose name he learned to be Sigrun greeted him loudly. She looked to be completely recovered from the previous day's events bringing an easy smile to Reyvin's face.
"Hey there kid, up early I see" He greets her.
"Well you said you would be leaving early so I had to say bye" She immediately states as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"How polite, well since you are here how about you show me around, I need to visit the store anyway" He packs his kit and slowly gets up while the girl almost attempts to drag him with her with how excited she was.
---
After being enthusiastically shown all around Helgen Reyvin managed to sell the salves he made for a dozen septims and bought enough supplies to last him the trip to Whiterun.
'It will take me about 2 days to reach Riverwood and another to reach the city, the real Skyrim is far larger than what the game had shown, which is honestly a good thing... though the traveling will be annoying.' He mumbles to himself as he looks over a rudimentary map before he simply shrugs 'Oh well guess it's time to break all those inane laws about mages teleporting around'
"You seem to be one of them mage types eh elf?" The shopkeeper asks almost politely by Nord standards, he and Reyvin were having light conversation as the elf looked over the man's stock.
"Yes, I dare call myself a practitioner of the arcane arts." Reyvin responds with a bit of dramatic flair.
"Hah, good to hear." The man chuckles at the elf's theatricality "Anyway I got an interesting little ring some time back from my supplier said it helps mages cast more spells or something"
"Let me take a look" Reyvin immediately turns serious, magical items were quite literally the difference between life and death and the old man turned young elf did not wish to die just yet if he could help it.
The shopkeeper takes out a simple silver ring with very tiny blue veins along the surface, and while Reyvin was not good enough to enchant items himself he was taught how to identify them relatively quickly and, much to his satisfaction, this appeared to be a ring of Magicka.
A lesser one, true but enough to fuel the flames spell for a couple more seconds at the very least.
"How much?" He asks the shopkeeper with a serious look.
"Well considering that you aren't an ass like your western cousins I'd be willing to part with it for a 100 septims" The man smirks.
'Huh, that is a surprisingly fair price who would have guessed' Reyvin mumbles before noding at the man "Sure I'll take it"
"Not even going to barter eh?" The Nord raises an eyebrow.
Only to get waved off by Reyvin "The price is fair so there is no need"
The man smiles seeming pleasantly surprised.
Reyvin quickly puts the ring on and gives him the money, immediately he feels his magicka rise by about 15 which is a pretty decent increase. "Thank you for this, might save my life"
"Sure thing, safe travels" The man nods.
Reyvin waves to him as he leaves back to the tavern. Soon after saying his goodbyes he leaves through the gate and starts walking down the road towards Riverwood.
---
The first day of travel goes relatively peacefully, the only interruption was another starved wolf, going from well done to congratulations in record speed.
He spends his resting time learning the next level of his pyromantic spells, specifically the firebolt which is far more complex than simply channeling Magicka through your hand and setting it on fire.
It required the Magicka to be condensed and sufficiently heavy for a lack of a better word to be launched in a straight line. Surprisingly as one advances through the ranks all spells seem to retain their relevance with flames becoming thicker, firebolts curving and fireballs exploding far more violently, at least that is what the notes he took from his father's journal say.
'I always did think that the spell system was far too rigid in the game' Reyvin nodded to himself, satisfied with the change.
----
The morning of the second day he finds himself walking next to a small forest between the road and the nearby river.
'The one leading into the big ass lake north of Falkreath if I remember right' He scratches his chin in thought as he walks and leisurely enjoys the fresh air.
He stilled completely and then quickly hid as he heard two men speaking in a brash tone just beyond the trees.
"What are we going to do to that Breton bitch?" One asks "she froze Thoralds foot off!"
"What do you mean "what are we going to do"" The other answers "She might be a bit young but we can have some fun before we off her kekekeke"
"I dunno man seems kinda wrong to me" The first shifts uncomfortably
His 'friend' spits on the ground "Well then you shouldn't have offed that dickhead in Whiterun and you wouldn't be here"
"Fuck you man I didn't run away so I get my rocks off"
"Eh more for me then, you little pussy"
The slightly more honorable bandit huffs and walks off
Reyvin hearing this gets properly pissed off as any self-respecting man should in this situation and starts sneaking behind the little shit that suggested something so vile.
Thankfully he is dressed very light and had the good sense to leave his travel supplies behind on the road. The bandit doesn't take notice until it is far too late and the blade of a saber is stabbed through his neck. He gurgles and tries to struggle but a magic-empowered grey hand that seems covered in wood covers his mouth and stops him from alerting his buddies.
'I just killed a man but honestly, if I had to choose who my first kill would be it is definitely this kind of shitstain'
Leaving the body for later looting as he isn't a damn s'wit he continues stalking toward the tents he noticed a bit further in the forest. The other bandit he overheard appears to be thinking hard about his life choices, but unfortunately for him looking at the ground absentmindedly is of no help for seeing a dark elf swinging for his neck.
Overestimating the quality of his saber and the strength given by oakflesh Reyvin is surprised when while mortally wounding the bandit it is still not enough for an insta-kill. The man lets out a pitiful wail alerting the only remaining bandit who comes out of the camp holding a dark haired amber eyed Breton teen with a knife to her throat.
'She looks familiar...' Reyvin thinks absent-mindedly.
The bandit glares at Reyvin and yells "YOU FUCKING ELF SHIT! drop the sword right now or the girl gets it!"
Thinking quickly and remembering he didn't use any visible magic Reyvin sighs and drops the saber on the ground, spreading his hands to his sides as a sign of surrender.
The bandit thinking his plan worked tosses the girl to the side and starts running towards him ready to end him with his knife. Unfortunately for him in his excitement he seems to have forgotten that the girl he just tossed is a mage, quickly getting his entire back covered in frostbite for his trouble.
Seeing this opportunity Reyvin shoots the most powerful wave of fire he can and the bandit is turned into a charred spot on the ground.
Picking up his saber he approaches the girl slowly, she eyes him suspiciously but doesn't react. He raises his hand in a show of assurance and asks "Are there any more of these n'wahs around?"
The girl is silent and simply shakes her head.
"Sigh, ok good" And he promptly turns and starts retching realizing he just burned a man alive.
About a minute later he gets himself together and looks at the girl whose face shows an expression of curiosity almost as if confused by his reaction.
'Fucking kids shouldn't consider this normal'
"What are you doing in the forest anyway?" he asks her
She looks at him for a minute and says "I ran away from my people, and ran into these fools, if they didn't surround me I could have taken them"
"Ah yes because shooting nords with frost magic is a great damn idea" Reyvin snarks at the young woman.
She looks offended and huffs "Well do excuse my inability but not all of us can simply burn everything without tiring out immediately"
"Fair, fair, anyway why did you run off?" He asks as he takes a seat to rest up a bit.
"My mother wanted to sacrifice me to become a Hagraven" she says in a deadpan voice
"Well fuck..."
She seems to be a mage and has nowhere to go, might as well.
"Well I am traveling towards Winterhold to join the college of mages there, it's pretty far away but it should be safe from any persecution you might face if anyone finds out your origins"
She thinks about it for a bit and nods but looks at me with suspicion "While 'tis the best option I have I won't let myself be turned into one of your "Fetchers" elf, I will be watching you"
He looks at her gobsmacked, starts laughing, and then asks, almost unsure "I am fairly certain you aren't Argonian?" Shaking his head he heads back toward the first bandit he offed.
A silence follows for a good minute before Reyvin shrugs and says "Well I am looting the shit out of this place and will leave for Riverwood soon, you can stay here and be suspicious or we can get moving"
She narrows her eyes but quickly realizing her savior was right she soon starts packing things up as well.
The bandits are as expected poor as shit, all he manages to dig up are 50-ish septims two daggers, and a sword, all iron. One of the bandits has a silver ring so he takes that as well. "What is your name anyway? Mine is Reyvin"
The young woman stops her scrounging and packing for a second before continuing and saying "Morrigan"
'Fucking knew I recognized her from somewhere' Reyvin cheers inwardly 'Though there are subtle differences from what I remember that might just be because she is younger...'
"Well Morrigan we have quite some daylight left so we might as well start walking" He says with false cheer.
"Yes I wouldn't want to smell these fools for a second longer"
"Well make sure to wash your tent then"
"Ugh, can we swap?" she asks almost pleading
"Nope" He says popping the p
And now followed by the grumbling witch he sets off towards Riverwood.