[Sinderia Aldmeri Alysaen POV]
I was sitting on the garden patio of my estate sipping a mild tea with honey alongside my mother discussing our ongoing efforts to chip away at the Thalmor parties influence in the court of Summerset. It was mid day and a lovely one by any standard though I found little joy in it.-
"Tap tap tap." three light sounds came from the patio's doorway.
"Come." My mother spoke calmly while a subtle spell sat coiled at the tips of the hand lightly holding her porcelain cup.
The door opened and one of the estates servants, Eldarion I believe, a thin impeccably groomed young Altmer man in the traditional red and yellow vestments of the house walked out.
"Milady a letter with a dragon tongue wax seal has arrived addressed to you." He said respectfully as he set the yellowed paper on the fine wooden tables edge with a bow before leaving.
"Dragon tongue? That's Alontar isn't it? Perhaps there's been a breakthrough with the resistance in Hammerfell?" My mother said intrigued.
A feeling I shared as Alontar very rarely sent correspondence. The last time he did so was months ago informing us of the outcome of a particularly important skirmish between the resistance and Thalmor.-
Curiously I curled a finger under the paper and lifted it to me before breaking the seal with a smooth flick under the letters fold. I drew out the two folded sheets of paper within the envelop out and unfolded them before reading. At first the letter began with the normal rehashing of minor details the man so loved to add to his correspondences. But soon I reached about halfway down the page and stiffened across my whole body.-
"What is it?" My mother asked with concern but I didn't reply as my eyes were glued to the paper.
I rapidly devoured the contents of the first page and moved to the second with a focus that must have greatly unsettled my mother.
"Sinderia, what does the letter say?" she pushed a little harder.
I finished the letter and dropped it onto the table while breathing for the first time since I came across the news of my child walking into Alontar's shop. My mother hurriedly snatched up the papers and started reading it herself and also grew still when she reached that point as well. -
"Oh." she eventually said as she finished the letter as well.
It was rare that my mother, archmage that she was, got taken so horrifically off guard. Considering the content of that letter however I couldn't say I blamed her for her reaction. If I weren't absolutely certain Alontar was sane I might have considered what was written there to be madness of the highest order. Had he described my child as merely a strong warrior or mage I would have been proud but calm. But what he described went far beyond the bounds of merely strong, beyond genius, beyond even prodigious.
Monstrous
A being of such breadth and depth of skill that it was practically like reading about a figure from legends past. Expert levels in almost every magical field, the legendary Voice, the equally legendary She` hai, an official place in the court of madness, dawn magic, Dwemer tonal architecture and a draconic mutated gryphon familiar. The letter goes on to describe the regiment of a thousand Thalmor coming to kill my child only to be slaughter almost to the last by only him.
Not a single other person.
One thousand versus one.
And the one won.
I couldn't even be proud of this like I knew I should be. I was too spellshocked by the incomprehensible information that had been unceremoniously dropped onto my lap. My mother also finished the letter, folded the papers and put them on the table silently.
"That is.... something." she eventually said breaking the silence.
"I don't understand, how? How did he become THAT?" I asked motioning at the letter in confusion.
"It MIGHT be a side effect of the spell. The one I used when he was but a babe. It split him into six possibilities. Possibilities that got folded back into him after he was safe. It's possible that the spell created six possible versions of him. One that learns the Voice, one the masters swordsmanship and obtains the she` hai, one that is a prodigious mage, one that is mad, one that is normal, one that obtained a strange familiar. It might not have made those versions vanish but all manifest at once." she said with a look that spoke of both horror and confusion.
"Would you make such a mistake?" I asked and she grimaced.
"No. I am absolutely certain the magic worked as it was supposed to." she said with a sigh.
"So without us he became THAT? What if he didn't get sent away?" I asked with a deep frown.
"I might know a little temporal magic but that's too far. The past is too stable, doesn't like it when you forcefully ask it to show you what if's. Still, by the gods. You really had to go and pop out a monster huh?" she said and it was my turn to grimace though I felt myself relax.
"I'm surprised you aren't jumping for joy that he's clearly inherited your magical affinity." I quipped.
"Bah, we already knew that though. We didn't know he had escaped his bottleneck and jumped from adept to expert yet. I'm more concerned about the Madgod adopting him as his nephew." she said with a deep frown I mirrored.
"Could there be some plot by the mad one? Or is it just a whim? There's no way to know." I say with a headache throbbing behind my eyes.
"If it's a trick it's a damned good one. Three divine artifacts. An entire regalia dedicated to the position of nephew of the Madgod. What can that even accomplish? And why Hammerfell of all places? Damnit! We're grasping in the dark!" she cursed with an expression of deep unwillingness.
How I could relate.