User:JohnB/Fanfiction/The Time Traveller

by JohnB

Yumiya

(Yesterday I was poking around in an old portable hard drive I found way back in a drawer of my desk to see if it had any earthshaking time capsules. There was most of the same stuff that I still have on file, but it was newer stuff at that time. Then I found an .ess file stuck away in a Morrowind folder, so I loaded it into may game to see if there were any surprises. I then began to wonder, what would happen if this character were to meet my present character? This story literally exploded in my head, so I spent the night pounding it out.)

Where am I? Why am I here?

Yumiya was going over her inventory after having moved from Caldera to Pelagiad. It was very late at night, but she was so excited about her new castle residence that it was impossible to get any sleep.

At first she thought it was only her imagination, but then she realized that the shape of a man was forming in front of where she sat. It was indistinct at first, but gradually it became clearer. Her first reaction was to think that maybe this castle was haunted, or else she was hallucinating from a lack of sleep. Actually, it was a teleportation gone terribly wrong.

The man finally appeared and turned this way and that as he surveyed the room he was now standing in. He wore the Masque of Clavicus Vile, a Royal Guard cuirass, and Her Hand’s pauldrons, greaves, and boots. He looked intently at the young woman sitting in front of him. She wore a store-bought T-shirt, store-bought jeans, and Her Hand’s boots. The contrast with himself was startling.

“Where am I?” he finally asked.

“You’re in my bedroom!” she responded coldly.

“And where is your bedroom?”

“This is Castle Vianden just outside of Pelagiad.”

He turned this way and that again. It was a very spacious square room with two arched doorways in two adjacent walls. The floor was laid with flagstones covered with carpets to keep out the cold. The ceiling was raftered. A canopied bed stood along a wall with three corbeled windows that had leaded green glass panes and wooden shutters to keep out the light of dawn. Near the bed was a large fireplace with a crackling log fire. Yumiya was sitting at a large table with two chairs.

“Men normally don't enter my bedroom, but seeing that you’ve somehow mistakenly warped here, maybe you should sit down,” she said nodding to the other chair.

“This castle...” he began as he sat down.

“Would you mind taking off that silly helmet?” she asked cutting him off. “It sounds like you're talking out of a tin can.”

He unlatched the sides and lifted it off his head.

“I used to have one of those,” she observed.

“One of these? This is the only one in Tamriel, and I got it directly from Sorkvild.”

“So did I, but I gave mine to the Museum of Artifacts in Godsreach.”

The man, a Bosmer, looked extremely confused.

“This...this castle, I believe you said it’s just outside Pelagiad!”

“Yes.”

“Lady, there is no castle just outside Pelagiad!”

“Well, excuse me, but come take a look!”

She stood up and opened the shutters and glass windows for him to see out. It was getting towards dawn, but the road to Vivec, the trees, and the houses of Pelagiad in the distance were unmistakable.

“What is today?” he asked.

“My last journal entry says Day 139, 1 Sun’s Dawn.”

“No, I mean in Earth time.”

“Well, a new day is dawning, which will be December 22, 2016.”

“Not August 9, 2007?!”

“B'vec, that was over nine years ago!”

What was JohnB thinking?!

The Bosmer looked as if he was about to lose his balance and collapse. She quickly pulled his arm up and over her neck as she maneuvered him back to his chair. She then brought a cup and a bottle from the sideboard to pour him a drink. She was becoming just as confused as he was.

“How did you come here?” she asked as he took a gulp and then breathed deeply to regain his composure.

“I was trying to use teleportation to get to Pelagiad, but it appears I’ve entered some kind of parallel reality nine years into the future!”

“What’s your name?”

“John.”

“John? How nice!” she smiled, “Just like my maker, JohnB!”

“Your maker is JohnB?!” he asked in disbelief. “So is mine!”

They looked blankly at each other.

“No way!” Yumiya suddenly laughed loudly. “He made you a freaking Bosmer?!”

“And a woman?! He made you a freaking woman?!”

“Hey, Buster, why do you object to my being a woman?!” she asked angrily.

“For the same reason you object to my being a Bosmer!” he shouted back. “Besides,” he added hoping to bank on his male achievement, “I happen to be at level 63!”

“Is that so!” she chuckled derisively. “I happen to be at level 72, so suck it up, Honey!”

John blanched.

“How far are you into the main quest?” he asked fearing she may be way ahead of him.

“I’ve started jumping hoops for the Ashkhans to become their Nerevarene, but that’s still pretty far into the future. Anyway, what’s the rush? I’m having too much fun going hunting in the Grazelands, dungeon crawling, and sailing.”

An awkward turn of events:

“What’s your name?” he asked.

“Yumiya.”

“And what happened to your ears?”

“What do you mean?”

“They don’t stick up the way mine do.”

“Well, that’s because I’m not an Elf!”

“You could fool me. So what are you?”

“I’m a Nakan from Akavir.”

“No kidding! There were no Nakans back in my day.”

“Well, a lot can happen in nine years.”

“If all Nakan women are like you, they must all be very pretty!” he said resting his chin on his hand.

She could see from the wistful look in his eyes that the drink was having a good effect calming him down. But it was problematic hearing this from somebody who was technically her brother despite their difference in race.

“JohnB is doing a very nice thing for me,” she informed him. “He is writing a story about me.”

“Really? All about you?”

“Well, not all about me,” she admitted. “It’s really about Decumus Scotti and how I become the second love in his life. He’s such a gentleman!”

“Who?” John asked facetiously, “Decumus Scotti or JohnB?”

“Both actually. Am I boring you?”

“I’m just wondering what’s nice about being the second love in somebody’s life,” he answered drily.

“You’re not jealous, are you?”

“No,” he responded and shifted uneasily on the chair, “we guys don’t take to hearing a girl carry on about her boyfriend.”

“Anyway,” she continued a bit haughtily, “that story is my claim to fame. So tell me about yours.”

One-upmanship gone wrong:

He removed the Fist of Randagulf and held up his right hand.

“This.”

“Holy Azura in Heaven!” Yumiya gasped when she saw the Moon-and-Star on his finger.

“That’s right. I am the Nerevarene,” he said triumphantly.

The whole world seemed to go black.

“Mmm, uh, ng!” Yumiya mumbled as John held a foul-smelling substance under her nose and she tried weakly to bat it away with her hand. She still lay sprawled on the floor. Never before did he have to lift a semi-conscious girl from the floor, so he tried to find a way to grasp her around the body and pull her up. He could feel from her muscle tone that this was not the soft squishy type that some men like to dream about, but a fighter just as qualified to do what he had set out to do. He finally got her back on the chair and patted her cheeks.

“Yumiya, are you okay?”

“What happened?” she murmured.

“Listen, Yumiya,” John said contritely kneeling down beside her. “I really didn’t mean to blow you away like that. The fact is you’ll be the Nerevarene too, but not while I’m in this reality parallel to my own. I’ve got to find a way to get back because my quest is by no means finished, and I have no intention of usurping yours. Can you help me? I don’t know what to do!”

She was fully conscious now but very drowsy. She nodded her assent.

“Can I lie down for a moment? I still feel weak.”

He helped her stand and walk to the bed where he pulled the covers back and maneuvered her to sit down. She plopped down like a rag doll, and standing backwards to her, he put one leg between his knees and jiggered the boot off her foot. He did the same with the other boot. He wondered what to do with her tight jeans and decided they would have to stay on. He undid the fly buttons, so she could breathe easier, then let her flop sideways onto the pillow. He pulled the covers up over her shoulders, and she rolled onto her side to face the wall and promptly fell asleep. He gently kissed her on the head and wished her a good night.

Curiosity killed the cat:

Actually, the day was already breaking, but John’s curiosity to see how this reality differed from his own was too strong for him to take his own rest, so he found his way out of the castle. He was familiar with the road to Balmora, so he set out in that direction.

He was deeply shaken by what he saw. Balmora had a harbor with a ship at dock. His beloved Grand Abode was gone from the mountain overlooking the Guild of Mages. Gone with it were not only all his treasures but also Keening and Sunder. During his absence, the Grand Abode had gotten in the way of the City of Balmora public works project to create a shipping dock, and it had to be removed. His treasures may have contributed to the financing of the project, but the situation now made it impossible to complete the main quest. It was to be hoped the Grand Abode would still be intact if and when he returned to his reality and time.

He wandered around looking for signs of recognition from the people he’d seen day after day, but to them he was just another adventurer who’d come to town just this morning. He decided to go call on Caius Cosades.

“Hello there, how can I help you?” Cosades asked.

“Caius?”

“Yes?”

“It’s me, John!”

“Good to meet you, John.”

“Don’t you remember me?”

Cosades looked at him trying to place John into some kind of context.

“John who?”

“What do you mean John who?!” he answered roughly.

“I’m sorry, John,” Cosades laughed embarrassed, “either I was very drunk or high on skooma, but you’re going to have to jog my memory somewhat.”

“I met you here in this very room, over nine years ago.”

Cosades’s face hardened.

“Excuse me, Sera! You must take me for a fool! I wasn’t in Balmora over nine years ago!” he answered sharply. "Good day, Sera!"

“But if you would only contact Yumiya...”

“I said good day, Sera!”

John stumbled out of Cosades’s home. He’d seen enough, and he wanted out of here.

There may be a solution after all:

Yumiya was breakfasting on bread, cheese, and fruit when John entered.

“Ah, John, good morning!” Yumiya greeted him cheerily.

There was no response as he plopped onto the chair. Yumiya surveyed his downcast look.

“Ye gods! You went to Balmora!”

He nodded abjectly.

“What in Azura’s name made you do that?!” she whined like a distraught mother to her problem son.

“I don’t know!” he responded, and bitter tears began rolling down his cheeks. “Nothing is the same! I want to go back and find everything as it was before!”

Yumiya sighed, knelt down next to him, and put her arms around him.

“Poor brother,” she said gently, “let’s go up to Ald’ruhn because I think somebody might be waiting there to fix this.”

Sure enough, there he was in the lower lobby of the Guild of Mages, just like he was last time, puffing on his Turk-head Meerschaum pipe. He was about average height and big-boned, which gave him a massive appearance. He had white hair flowing past his shoulders, a large nose, and blue eyes. He had a grandfatherly way about him, but he really didn’t look his age. He smiled readily and laughed loudly.

“JohnB?” Yumiya asked as they approached him.

“Ah, Yumiya! So good to see you again!” he stood up, took her hands in his, and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“JohnB-B-B-B?!” John asked overawed.

“Yes, John...Junior! I understand you have a bit of a problem. How it happened I don’t know, but we can fix this in no time.”

He fumbled about in his pockets and pulled out a device about the same size and shape as a pack of playing cards. In the center was a button and the words “To reset, press here.”

“But please understand that this is not a time machine and will not take you back to where you left off nine years ago.”

“You mean it will erase everything I’ve done?”

“Yes, you’ll be back to your first arrival. Everything you lost along with the Grand Abode will be as nothing. Everything will be as it is now, even the castle just outside Pelagiad, and you won’t remember how it was nine years ago. There will be no regrets.

"The up-side is that you will remain in this reality because this is where you are now. You won't remember your sister at first, but she will remember you, and I can help the two of you reconnect. Then if you want, you can join her in her quest against Dagoth Ur."

John's face beamed.

"That is a capital idea!" he burst out in delight.

"John, Castle Vianden is your home as well!" Yumiya exulted. "Let's go for it!"

"When you've arrived again in Vvardenfell, Sellus Gravius at the Census and Excise Office will give you an envelope exactly like this one. Not being the future Nerevarene, you will continue to be a Bosmer named John. Go ahead and read now what it says."

John took out the paper and read.

"John, find your way to the Guild of Mages in Balmora, there join the guild, and make yourself at home in their dormitory. I will meet you there and take you to your sister Yumiya. JohnB"

John could hardly contain his joy. He handed it to Yumiya who was dying to read it as well.

"Well, are you ready?" John B asked.

John turned toward the device. He placed his finger on the button, pressed, and he was gone.

"Yumiya," JohnB said, "I'd like to stay and chat, but I have to go meet your brother and bring him back to you. Shall we meet in Pelagiad?"

Postscript:

Unfortunately, there was still a down-side to this story for Yumiya. Rumors flew that there was a person who had arrived in Vvardenfell and might have been the genuine Nerevarene. People began wondering if this slip of a girl was an impostor. Was she planted by the Sixth House to sabotage the quest against itself? This was extremely vexing and embarrassing to her mentor, Caius Cosades. A press conference was called at the Vvardenfell Press Club in Ebonheart.

“Are you ready?” Cosades asked turning to Yumiya outside the door to the press club.

The poor girl was shaking like a leaf. She shook her head.

“Don’t worry, let me do the talking,” he reassured her.

She nodded.

The hall was full of sleuths and scriveners from every province in Tamriel. An “Oh!” went up as Cosades led the pretty little woman to the chairs at the table in front of the reporters. Artists quickly sketched her, some only her face, others her full figure.

“Master Cosades,” a spokeswoman for the press began, “we would like you to explain exactly what happened on 2 Sun’s Dawn that has sown so much confusion in our province.”

“Thank you, members of this distinguished club for granting us the opportunity to clear things up. It was in the morning of that day that a man named John approached me at my residence in Balmora and inquired if I remembered him. Of course, I’d never seen him before in my life, but he addressed me using my first name and claimed to be very familiar. I asked him to identify himself more clearly, and he claimed he’d met me there at my residence more than nine years ago. At that time, I was still with the Imperial administration in the capitol, so I immediately suspected he was an impostor and requested that he leave immediately.

“Later the same day, I used the mage guild to teleport to Caldera and seek out Yumiya only to find that she’d removed to Pelagiad. I made my way to Pelagiad where I learned a new resident had moved in to Castle Vianden. I tried calling on her, but she wasn’t at home. All I could do was remain at the inn in Pelagiad and await her return.

“I found her the next day and asked who this John was, and she explained that, strange to say and I still find this very hard to comprehend, that nine years ago this John was attempting to teleport to Peladiad in another reality and somehow crossed the boundary between his reality and our own.”

A torrent of questions suddenly arose among the reporters, so the spokeswoman requested silence.

“Master Cosades, this is an incredible assertion. Is there any evidence that this is true?”

“Yumiya, I think this question is for you.”

She took a sip of water to relieve the dryness in her mouth.

“The evidence was unmistakable,” she began. “He was wearing the Mask of Clavicus Vile. I told him I used to have one as well but donated it to the Museum of Artifacts in Godsreach. He retorted that he’d gotten his directly from Sorkvild, and I responded that’s how I’d gotten mine. The question now is how there could be a second such unique item in this world. It had to come from somewhere.”

The hall was silent as the assembly wondered how such a thing was possible.

“Where do you think?” a reporter called out.

“He kept talking about a parallel reality. I think he meant here in Vvardenfell. There is another Vvardenfell somewhere, but I can’t say. I’m sure he doubted this as well, which is why he approached Master Cosades that morning.”

“Where is this person?” the spokeswoman inquired.

“I took him to an extremely powerful mage who reset him to this existence.”

The hall erupted with “Who?” and “Where?”

“I’m terribly sorry I am not at liberty to divulge any more. I can only reassure the members of the press that John is still in this reality but starting his life in Vvardenfell all over again.”

“Is he still the promised Nerevarene?” the spokeswoman asked pointedly.

“In his reset, he lost the Moon-and-Star ring from that existence. There can't be two such rings in this existence. I will receive the Moon-and-Star ring from the hands of Lady Azura herself because I am the chosen one!"

“I would like to thank the members of this club...” Cosades began.

The rest of what he said was inaudible in the eruption of shouted questions. The two stood from their chairs, bowed to the assembly, and left the hall.

Yumiya sighed in relief when they were outside the hall.

“How did I do?”

“Splendidly, my girl, splendidly! We’ve laid this controversy to rest, so let's go celebrate.”