Stars Aligned: Asmer

Prologue

Stars Alligned: Asmer

-Prologue-

Falling snow has never looked more beautiful. When shut in a stone monolith for centuries beneath the soil of Summerset Isle to keep my kind alive, the Sanctuary of the offspring of the Falmer and Altmer, which were indeed considered a lost breed of Mer even before we were truly lost, became a hidden place. Once called Sanctuary of the Asmer... it camed to be called Grove of the Lost, for it was seemingly impossible to enter. Those who did enter never made it out. The Asmer were dying off in war with the people of Hammerfell and to try and save our race, the Altmer sealed my people inside our sanctuary to try and protect us. It didn't work how they would have hoped. I now understand that in the time I have been trapped, the Falmer changed drastically from the beautiful pale white elves with the pinkish tinged skin and silvery eyes to the creatures lurking in the depths of Dwemer ruins. It may seem strange, how one could sleep for such a time, but due to the qualities of the Royal Four, as our people died of starvation and other causes, we simply remained trapped in what almost became eternal sleep. Inside a separate monolith, each of us slept, our royal blood which caused us to be almost immortal until we developed a passion in seeking death. With the exception of a few scholars, and the high ranking Altmer officials, it had been forgotten that we Asmer ever existed. The adventurers who found us and caused us to wake had not even the slightest clue what was going on, but we exchanged tales. The two caught us up to the current time period, and we explained to them what we were and who we were. Allow me to share with you our memories... beginning with the two who awoke us from our days in the sanctuary. We begin with the last surviving Akaviri Princess, Sakarine Bloodblade, and her partner... the half-elf thief Zavhi Oruvahld. They are where my new tale begins, and my old one ends. Oh! I almost forgot, you don't know me, nor do you know what I'm talking about. Fine then, I can start from the very beginning. It was... Oh, centuries ago. I was born to the royal family along with my twin sister. We were followed by the secondary royal family's twins, the boy... Auriel... he grew to be my best friend. Yet by the time the four of us had reached the age of fourteen, our parents had no more will to inhabit this planet and left the sanctuary. They died peacefully, having drank a large dose of poison together, the four of them. That is what we Asmer do when we wish to die before our divines call upon us. So I took over leadership, my time as a child gone, with no teenage life to help me transition into adulthood. The war began when I was seventeen, the very day it started... was the day I fell extremely ill.

I woke up that day, my head pounding. I was cold as ice, yet sweat dripped down my face. I did go through the usual morning routine, but with much difficulty. Walking out of my chambers that day, the first thing my sister did was force me back to bed and call the physician. When I say physician, I mean a highly educated alchemist. In modern terms, one could say I had a fever of near 104 degrees Fahrenheit, but at this time, that didn't matter. The reaction had more to do with the fact I was unwell and it needed to be fixed. We just so happened to be lacking in Cure Disease potions that day and I was told I would need to wait it out. And as my luck just keeps getting better, as I'm propped up with pillows and piled under blankets with all the shivering and the coughing, in comes the advisor, Lleril. With a voice shaky as a leaf, he informs me of war with Hammerfell and asks me what I feel should be done. When I opened my mouth to instruct him to ask Auriel instead, the words came out hoarse and painful, promptly followed by a bout of coughing. When my point had finally been made, of course my sister Evanna had to wander into the room and start trying to make me eat some foul mixture she had called stew. In attempts to be polite, I had eaten it and ended up making myself vomit from how disgusting it was. Thankfully, Auriel had been strategizing and came up with a plan for defense against Hammerfell's forces. His plans kept us from being defeated until the Altmer had to interfere with our work. They sealed our sanctuary away three years later when the four of us were at the age of twenty. The Altmer forces had placed the four of us inside stone monoliths in the deepest section of the sanctuary, the Moon Garden. As we had been forced into a slumber, we remained asleep as our people starved. Eventually all the Asmer had run out of food. Sealing the sanctuary had damaged the flow of energy and disrupted the balance, the very core of our existence shaken. The spirits of the Asmer, soured with resentment for the Altmer who forced them to an early death, began to wander the sanctuary in search of revenge, killing all who were unfortunate enough to wander in before they could reach us. The few who managed to vanquish some of the spirits did us an amazing favor, allowing those souls to rest fully. Dead once, only their hate rose. Having it destroyed allowed them to full enjoy eternal peace among the stars. But Sakarine and Zavhi made it deeper than anyone else, they made it all the way to the Moon Garden and freed is from the monoliths.