Ancient History (Fyr)

 Sad old man gets sad old fic about being sad and old because Stephen has found another prompt list.

I have lived more lifetimes than even I can remember sometimes, and yet remember ancient history as if it were yesterday. Was it so many years ago that Mistress Dratha sold her soul, sending her down the path of isolation? How long has it been since Mistress Therana began her slow and steady descent into madness? Has Archmagister Gothren always been this much of an annoying bastard? The questions keep me up late one night, unable to sleep, and these old bones desperately need rest from time to time. Something keeps me thinking, and yet I am unable to identify what it is until the fact is so obvious I trip over it…literally. Valan sleeps curled up by the entrance to the study, the boy really is capable of sleeping almost anywhere, a skill I currently find myself admiring. He doesn’t wake despite being essentially kicked in the back and thanks to a bit of magic I avoid falling, levitation is quite a handy skill. During some adventure or errand for someone else he had uncovered two pieces of ancient history, one rather personal, the other simply fascinating. According to Dunmer legend, particularly the Ashlanders as they reject the tribunal temple in favor of the Daedra, Azura, Mephala, and Boethiah, the ancient warlord Indoril Nerevar will be reincarnated to fulfill the Nerevarine prophecy, and it seems according to the Ashlanders that Nerevar incarnate may take the form of the young blind man, who’s body weight is at least half made up by layers of clothing, and lays sleeping in my doorway. An unlikely hero, of course, but I’ve seen stranger in my time, like the soulless one who took on Molag Bal with their little band of misfits, that was an interesting time. More recently there was someone in Daggerfall, some strange things were brewing there in the west, and some say they died and were spat back out by aetherius- an odd way to become immortal. The other bit of history unearthed results from Valan digging into the information about Sotha Sil and his clockwork city, a more personal matter to me. Sotha Sil before his ascent to pseudo-godhood was a fellow student, peer, and close companion of mine, back in my far younger days when I could still keep up with the giant. He never explained how he became so tall, towering over even some Altmer, other than he was always that way, I have my own theories though they’ll never see the light of day. Those were the days before his mind turned toward cogs and gears and steel, and he would be consumed by rituals and thoughts of mechanics and magic over and over every day- like clockwork. Last I saw him up close was when his precious city was threatened, and the interaction was less than ideal, one old wizard angry at the other for reasons neither can fully express- loss of companionship, breach of trust, an unequal playing field, the list goes on. On one hand I’m glad Valan dug things up from the depths, and seems to have an answer to his sometimes strange behavior and the voice occasionally heard in his head…on the other the thoughts sadden me to some degree, I am old, and the world is so very changed. Sometimes I wish for the old days, before the fall, before the curse on the Chimer for the acts of the three, for the days where Seht and I could wander, me practically running to keep up, and discussing all manner of magical and scientific advancements. Coming out of my dreamlike state of thoughts I look around the study from where I’d plopped myself in a chair, daedric artifacts and other things I’ve collected over the years are displayed among books both new and old, the carpet needs cleaning, the desk is perhaps older than the current emperor, and Valan lays mostly unchanged- still asleep. As much as I’d like to get lost in my thoughts of the past, that’s ancient history, and I can’t do much to change that. Besides, I murmur to myself getting up from the chair and moving toward the sleeping figure of Valan, standing there for a moment and watching the calm even breathing, there are more important things to attend to now…Nerevarine.