Mori Pro Imperio: The Story of Pliton Calleius

My head was whirling; I had almost no idea what had just happened. I exhaled, and ordered out everything in my mind. First, I had died outside Stros M’Kai, but Clavicus Vile took away Twilight’s magic in exchange for raising me from the dead. Second, the Divines had agreed on sending an Aetherial Army to help us; but they will wait to see who will win the Battle of Stros M’Kai, probably to see how much they should send. Third, Talos himself would be leading this army, and I would be in his circle of high-ranking officers, along with the Hero of Kvatch and Martin Septim, both of which have experience fighting the Daedra.

But so do I. I smirked, and got off the table I was lying on. I realized I didn’t have any shirt on, but I was wearing ragged pants. I put on a new shirt, and walked out of the room.

“Legate Calleius, sir!” An Imperial woman saluted me, “My name is Quaestor Pelena Puruseius, I have been instructed by General Calleius to be your Executive Officer and get you acquainted with the undergound levels of the castle.”

She showed me the undergound bedrooms and washrooms, and she showed me where I would sleep. She then showed me the Training Arena, where we could spar and be as ready as ever should the Daedra try to assault Stros M’Kai again.

“Alright,” I said after we left the Arena. “Where might I find my armor?”

“The entire set is in the armory, sir.” Puruseius said, “Sir, might I ask, how did you acquire a set of Daedric Armor?”

“That is a long story that I would prefer to keep to myself, Quaestor.” I said. “Show me to the armory.”

“Oh, yes sir.” Puruseius said, “The underground levels can accommodate most of the Imperial and Alik’r forces here, and there is a tunnel system going through the entire island, which we can use to ambush Daedric forces above.”

“Intriguing,” I said, “What is inside the armory?”

“We have a full smithy inside the armory,” she replied, “You can make an entire set of armor and weapons down there, provided you have the resources. It has been relatively unused since we got here, so if you wish to make something, that shouldn’t be a problem, sir.”

“That is very good.” I nodded, “I shall make myself some more arrows. If you can, I will need three Ebony ingots, two pounds of chopped firewood, and three Daedra Hearts.”

“Yes sir,” she saluted, opening the door to the armory, “It will be here within the hour.”

“Thank you Quaestor.” I said. She nodded, and walked out of the armory.

I walked over to my armor, and put it on. I sheathed my sword, and put my bow onto my back. With my quiver, I put it next to the forge. I looked, and found instructions to craft every type of armor known in Tamriel.

“Let’s see,” I mumbled, looking for Daedric. It was on the very bottom, and I looked even longer for arrows. I found the instructions, and put on the workbench next to me.

“Alright,” I said, “With one ingot, a half a pound of firewood and one Daedra Heart, I can make twenty four arrows. It says that I should put the Daedra Heart in at the last parts of the crafting. That doesn’t seem too hard.”

I practiced making Iron Arrows, and they weren’t too bad. I figured that finding the perfect time to put in the Daedra Heart into the arrows would be the hardest part.

In half an hour, Puruseius returned with the requested materials. I thanked her, and dismissed her. She threw a sharp salute, and left my company.

I cracked my knuckles, and began to smith. First, I chopped the firewood, and put an Ebony Ingot into a mold, and placed it over the flames. As I waited for it to melt, I chopped the rest of the firewood, and looked for the arrow tip mold.
I found it, and poured part of the melted ingot into the mold. I grabbed a Daedra Heart, and cut a piece of it off, and placed it into the mold as well. I saw the ingot harden, and glow red. Success! I had made my first Daedric Arrow!

“And now for the rest,” I mumbled. I spent the better part of two and a half hours making seventy two arrows. Once I was done, I placed them inside the quiver, and left the armory.

I walked through the halls, and made my way to the Great Hall; with the help of signs pointing me in the right direction, of course.

I came up, and found Twilight sitting alone, with a bottle of mead by her side. I felt incredibly sympathetic, and sat down next to her.

“Hey Twilight,” I said, “How’re you doing?”

“Terrible,” she said, banging her head onto the table. “I can’t fight, Pliton. Without my magic, I’m worse off than a child.”

“No you’re not.” I said, “You watched how I fought right? Maybe I can teach you a few pointers on how to fight and live with a sword and shield.”

“How can you?” She asked, “I’ve never picked up a sword before.”

“I’ll teach you,” I said, placing my hand on her back, and rubbed it back and forth. “Hey, I would never, ever, leave you defenseless. Now, come on, let’s head to the training arena. You know where that is, right?”

“Yeah,” she said, sniffling a tear, “I spent the entire time you were dead exploring the caves.”

“How long was I dead?” I asked.

“A few days,” Twilight replied, “Why?”

“Well,” I said, “It felt like I was only dead for a few hours.”

“You weren’t.” She replied, getting up, “Come on, you’ve got to teach me sometime. We’re moving out to take on Daedric forces in the Ogres Tooth Mountains in a few days’ time.”

We walked out of the Great Hall, and went down to the training arena. I stopped in the armory, and grabbed an Iron Sword and Shield for her.

“Alright,” I said as we walked into the arena. “The first thing about a sword fight is to never, ever, leave yourself open to attack.”

I handed her her weapons, and drew my sword and shield.

“Here,” I said, “Attack me.”

“Are you crazy?” She asked.

“No,” I said, “Attack me.”

She swallowed hard, and swung my sword at me. I parried it with my sword, whirled behind her, and held the tip of my sword behind her neck.

“You see?” I said, “You left yourself open to my counterattack. You have to watch your opponent’s movements. Here, I’m going to attack you, but you will block it with your shield, and try to launch a counterattack, okay?”

“Alright,” she said, “This is much harder than I thought.”

“It’s the price you paid for me.” I said, “And I intend to make you as good a swordsman as I when we leave. Now, get ready!”

I slashed my sword at her at half-speed. She blocked it, and tried to slash at my side. I blocked it with my shield, and backed up.

“Very good,” I said, “But remember, just because I attacked and was blocked, doesn’t mean I’ll let you hit me.”

She nodded, and we closed towards each other. I was on the balls of my feet, and whirled my sword around with my wrist. I went in to attack.

I slashed at her upper chest, and she blocked it with her shield. She slashed at my abdomen, but I parried it. I whirled around, and tried to strike at her shoulder, and she blocked it with her shield.

We sparred, with me giving her pointers every few minutes, for about three hours. When we finished, we were both tired and sweaty.

“Good job for your first lesson.” I panted, “To be frank, I thought you would do worse.”

“I watched how you fought.” She replied, “I’m not ignorant, you know.”

“You’re right.” I said, “And that’s why I love you.”

I kissed her on the cheek, and grabbed her hand. I held it, and we walked aimlessly through the halls, until we came to Twilight’s room.

“You know,” she said, “I thought I really wouldn’t see you again. That was the most unbearable thing about your death.”

“I know,” I said, “As good Aetherius was, you beat it every day.”

I kissed her, and picked her up. I kicked in the door, and laid her down on her bed. I laid down next to her, and invited her to come on top of me.

She complied, and kissed me. Our tongues joined, and my hands went to her rear. She took off my armor, and soon, only my ragged robes were on.

She kissed me, lifting me head off the pillow. My one hand began to grab at her robes, while my other still staid down at her rear.

“Oh Pliton,” she said, “You’re worth it, you’re worth it!”

“I know,” I said, kissing her shortly, “Let me thank you for doing that.”

And quite a welcome it was. For hours, we made love, and into the night, we continued to. No one disturbed us, and we had nowhere to be.

“Pliton,” Twilight yelled as we climaxed for the umpteenth time. This time, we relaxed, and laid in each others’ arms.

“That was amazing.” She said, stroking my chest with her finger. “That was quite a ‘Thank you.’”

“I hope so,” I said, “Because you were the best ‘Welcome back’ I have ever received.”

“Yeah,” she said. “So, what should we do?”

“It is pretty late.” I said, “Unless you want food, we should be getting some sleep.”

“I’ll get us some food.” Twilight said, putting her clothes on. “Maybe you can come with me, you need to speak with Princess Celestia regarding your letter.”

“Oh yeah,” I said, “I forgot about that she was here.”

We put on our clothes, and me my armor, and we walked out of the room. We walked back up to the Great Hall.

We got our dinner, and ate by each others’ side. We had beef and cabbage stew. We also had mead to wash it down with.

I saw Puruseius walk by, and I called her over.

“Quaestor,” I said, “If you are not too busy, I would request to see Princess Celestia.”

“Yes sir,” she said, “I will see when you could see her.”

“Thank you,” I said. I turned to Twilight, and said, “Maybe she can get you your magic back.”

“I hope so,” she said, “I like having you back and all, but I had no idea by lending him my magic, he would never give it back.”

“It’s not your fault,” I said, “He is known for making deals with mortals that they soon come to regret.”

“But that’s not it,” she sighed, “I don’t regret making the deal, the thing I regret is that he tricked me. If I had known he would have taken it forever, I wouldn’t have just said yes right away.”

We then ate our meal in silence, waiting for Puruseius to get back. She got back about ten minutes later, and pushed her dark brown hair away from her face.

“Legate Calleius,” she said, “Princess Celestia requests your presence immediately, sir!”

“Did she have any reason why?” I asked. She shook her head with denial, and I go off the bench I was sitting on.

“Alright then,” I said, “Let’s get going. Come on Twilight.”

She got up, and followed me, who was following Puruseius.

“What she did say,” Puruseius said, “Was that it was an urgent matter she needed to talk to you about.”

“Well then we know what it’s about.” I said, “Let’s hurry then.”

We then sped to a slow jog to the room where Princess Celestia was. It was a large room, with tables everywhere and various maps of Stros M’Kai, Tamriel and Equestria were on the tops of the tables.

“Legate Calleius,” Princess Celestia looked up from a map, “I’ve waited for you to come here.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, “It took us awhile to trek across Hammerfell.”

“That’s quite alright,” she said. “But what I want to know about is what you told me in the letter you sent.”

“I thought as much.” I said, “Now, Molag Bal has crowned himself the King of the Daedra, and has forged an alliance between himself, Boethiah and Hircine. Though it is presumed that Hircine is loyal to Molag Bal, Boethiah is working behind the scenes to sabotage Molag Bal, due to an age-old rivalry.”

“That is good,” Celestia said, “Maybe more Daedric Princes can ally themselves with Boethiah, and we could watch them destroy each other.”

“I doubt that could happen, Your Highness.” I said, “Unless she openly denounces Molag Bal as the Daedric King and begins to attack him. Until then, we should worry about fighting them here, and prepare for another invasion of Equestria.”

“Oh yes,” Celestia said, “Molag Bal also merged Equestria with Tamriel. But we must first find where it is here, before we can even think about preparation.”

“I agree,” I said, “Now, I have another thing to tell you, Your Highness.”

“Yes?” She asked, “What is it?”

“On the fields in front of Stros M’Kai, I was felled by a Dremora. I died, and I was taken to Aetherius, the realm of the Tamrielic gods. While I was there, I attended a meeting of the gods. They agreed that after the Battle of Stros M’Kai is over, they shall send an army from Aetherius, which I would lead in part.”

“Where are you going with this?” Celestia asked, “What do you mean by an army from Aetherius?”

“What I mean is,” I said, “We will have divine intervention in this war, Your Highness. Reinforcements will not be a concern soon, we will be able to actually win battles against the Daedra.”

“Alright,” Celestia said, “I believe you. I want this sent to General Rikke in the Imperial City right now.”

“Yes Your Highness,” a white Pegasus said, “I will leave immediately.”

He exited the room, and Celestia turned to me and asked, “Is that all?”

“Oh,” I said, remembering something. “No, Your Highness, I petition to you on behalf of Twilight Sparkle.”

“What is wrong?” She asked.

“Well,” I said, “I wasn’t brought back to life for free. To revive me, Twilight had to barter a deal with Clavicus Vile, the Daedric Prince of bargains and wishes. He revived me, but he took away Twilight’s magical abilities as a cost. She can no longer use magic, and we are hoping you can restore her powers to her.”

“Twilight,” she scolded, “I thought I told you to never mess with life and death, it is too large a force to be reckoned with.”

“I’m sorry,” Twilight said, tears welling up in her eyes, “It’s just that I couldn’t go on without him. Princess Celestia, I don’t think I could go on. I wished that I could save him somehow, and he appeared, saying he could save him. I accepted his deal, yes, but I don’t think that we would’ve lasted very long without him.”

“Us,” Celestia asked, “Or you?”

“I’m sorry,” she pleaded, “Princess Celestia, I love him. It’ not that he’s a good warrior, or a better leader, it’s that I love him, and couldn’t, wouldn’t go on without him in my life.”

“I see,” Celestia said, “Twilight, I am afraid I can’t give you back your magical powers.”

Twilight only hung her head. Celestia continued, saying, “But I see now why you did what you did. Love is a powerful feeling, but you shouldn’t let it take you over. Next time, you must find a way to say goodbye to him, because next time, you might have to pay the ultimate price.”

“Yes, Princess Celestia.” Twilight said, “I understand. Thank you anyway.”

“You may go now,” she said, “You are leaving for the Ogres Tooth Mountains soon, and you will need plenty of rest.”

We nodded, and left the room.

“What should we do now?” I asked her, “If Princess Celestia can’t return your magic to you…”

“I know what to do,” she replied, “I’m going to have to find Clavicus Vile, and have a word with him.”

Now Twilight knows what to do. She knows that the only way to get her magic back, she’ll need to kill Clavicus Vile. That’s the easy part; the hard part is finding him. Princess Celestia couldn’t give back her powers, so that only solidified her plan. Now Pliton and Twilight will have to travel Oblivion to find Clavicus Vile and take her powers back by force. Next chapter: the Equestrians, Imperials and Alik’r journey into the Ogres Tooth Mountains to combat the Daedra. Please leave a review and tell me what you think. Until next time, farewell!