Chapter 3 – Terrible News
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Selena and her mother lived in the Temple District in a small room on the second floor in a building across the street from the Temple of the One.

Selena's mom, Camilla Erana, a pretty middle-aged woman with brown hair, met her at the door and invited her to sit down at the table and have dinner.

"How are you feeling, Mom?" Selena asked, sitting down at the table.

"I don't have any pain, dear, but still, I'm afraid to upset you, I don't have good news," she replied.

"Did you find out something about your illness?"

"I found out a long time ago, but I just didn't want to tell you, and besides, I was hoping for some kind of miracle," mom said with a heaviness in her chest.

"Oh, no," Selena sighed and lost her appetite in the blink of an eye.

"I'll need to leave the imperial city..."

"How is that?", - Selena was surprised.

"Perhaps I'd better start from afar...", - said my mother, pushing the plate away from her, - "In my youth, about twenty years ago, I was in the guild of slavers. Yes, it's hard for you to believe it now, but it's true. We mainly worked in the Black Marsh. Now the slave trade is illegal, but it has not yet been completely eradicated. One of the counts in Cyrodiil, who previously led slave trading expeditions, still keeps torture chambers in the secret rooms of his palace. But I won't go into details. These are the pages of my life path that I am not proud of at all. After all, I gave up the slave trade and became a servant of Meridia when you were born..."

She interrupted her story for a second, suppressing the tears that were coming, and then continued:

"During our operations in the Black Marsh, as it turned out, a curse was imposed on me, which acts almost imperceptibly, but continuously and inexorably. This curse is nothing but a progressive decline in health. Ordinary potions or recovery school spells were powerless. Potions only work on known diseases, for example, on "Helljoint", but they do not affect my curse, only temporarily restoring my health reserve.",

"And what will happen now? What to do?!", - Selena gasped.

"Ah, dear... I can't consume potions anymore. We're running out of savings. You have recently graduated from alchemy school and should be able to find a use for yourself in the imperial city. I spoke with the magician Raminus from the MAGICAL ARCANE UNIVERSITY. He promised to place you, if not in the imperial city, then at least in one of the branches in other neighboring cities. And I... I will go to the sanctuary of Meridia."

"Can she help?"

"Meridia? I don't know. If she wants to, she can. I was already a servant of the cult of Meridia, and once looked after her sanctuary near Skingrad. Then I moved with you to the imperial city. I'll go back there and entrust my life to Meridia. If I die, like-minded people will bury me near the sanctuary."

Selena, stunned, sat in disbelief at her own ears. Her mom pulled her chair closer and took her hand.

"We don't have much money left. I'll leave part of it to you, dear, and part of it I'll have to pay to be escorted to the sanctuary. With my reduced health, I can't even cope with a wolf or a rat, so I paid a merchant with a guard to take me with him to Skingrad."

"Can Meridia help you? You pray and serve her with all your might!".

"Oh, I'll try, dear," Mom said with a sad smile.

"This room is our property, but you have to pay for security and pay taxes, otherwise it will be confiscated," she continued to say, "So you should contact Raminus and ask him to find a job for you. I hope you will be able to avoid my mistakes that I made in my youth, and you will not embark on a criminal path."

"Can I go with you?", Selena asked.

Her mom squeezed her hand tighter and replied: "Most likely, this is a one-way road for me. And if you leave, these fraudulent bureaucrats can take this room for the slightest delay in payment. My savings during my time working in the slavers guild were enough to buy this room to pay for your education, and to buy these potions endlessly ... it is possible that the moment is near, dear, when without drinking another potion, I will simply die, because my health level will be zero. If you come with me, I'm afraid you'll lose even this miserable room. And having this place, having a job, you can live in the imperial city until you make a career or get married."

"How am I going to be alone?"

"Oh, dear... I'm very worried about you myself... I tried to protect you, as far as possible, from the horrors of our world. You lived in the imperial city, safe, without encountering a lot of disgusting things. You studied at the alchemical school at the University, where a benevolent and peaceful atmosphere flourishes...

You have met many humanoids of non-human races in the city - elves, orcs and others. You might have thought they were nice and humane. But it seems so inside the capital, where behind every bush you can meet an imperial guard, who will always be a human.

But you'd better not meet them outside the city walls. Remember that most of them hate people. They are jealous of us, and they cannot accept that it is humans who are the titular race of the empire.

Our empire built on the racial principle will sooner or later decline, because the racial principle is the principle of SEPARATION, not SOLIDARITY.

The Imperials have risen above them and they cannot forgive them. Especially now, when the empire is going through a crisis, their anger is showing itself more boldly and openly. At the first convenient opportunity, and they are eager to take revenge for their historic defeat. Remember that, and don't turn your back on them. At the first opportunity, many of them will want to kill or enslave you."

"What about the Bretons or the Redguards? I just found out not so long ago that these are people who do not belong to the Imperial race. My friend Vesta, an Imperial, has a stepfather, Matthias, and he is a Breton."

"Of course, they are people almost like us, but they have a different political history and there are inhuman admixtures of blood. Basically, they are also unfriendly to the Imperials, as they would like to take their place themselves. This whole world is about lust for power."

"When are you leaving, Mom?"

"The merchant told me they were leaving tomorrow morning."

"So soon?! This is so unexpected!"

"I'm sorry, dear," Mom said and hugged Selena tightly.

"You have nothing to apologize for, Mom... But I just can't believe it...Such drastic changes..."

Selena could not hold back her tears and began to cry, burying her mother in her shoulder.

After sitting in silence for a couple of minutes, Mom spoke again:

"I'll leave you the goblin staff... You can sell it as a last resort, but actually it belongs to one person. This staff was a trophy of a female Nord Dolada. She was a colleague of mine while working in the slavers guild. Once we had to clean out a mine with goblins, and she took this staff from a murdered shaman. Then, simply due to circumstances, he stayed with me. If things go really badly for you, then as a last resort you can turn to her for help. Perhaps she will help you."

"Where does she live?"

"According to my latest information, she lives in Broome County on Gnoll Mountain. It is east of the city of Bruma. You can look at your map..."

"She's ten years younger than me," my mother continued to say, "... and she even held you in her arms when she was still a young warrior girl. You can show her this staff as proof that you are my daughter. Although..."

Mom paused and thought.

"What is it?" Selena asked.

"The curse was supposed to be put on both of us. I discovered my curse after I left the slavers guild. Perhaps she is also cursed along with me, and some of her attributes are irreversibly lowered. It is possible that she is no longer alive. Just don't go to Bruma, or anywhere else, alone. This is unacceptable. Either accompanied by mercenaries, guards, or teleport."

"Is it possible to teleport with the help of the University of Mysteries?"

"Yes, but it costs even more than hiring an armed escort. Moreover, the guild of magicians teleports not anywhere, but only to where there is an established teleport."

"Oh, what's going to happen now?" sighed Selena.

"I have lived a happy life, dear. If you act wisely, you won't get into trouble. Don't worry about me. Meridia will take care of me. If the Daedric goddess grants me healing, then I will let you know or return to the city."

"Meridia is an opponent of necromancers and undead! If you kill a necromancer, then maybe she will grant healing as a sign of gratitude?"

Mom laughed, although at the same time it wasn't funny at all.

"Oh, my dear. With my health reserve, it's pointless to engage in a fight with a necromancer! I don't advise you either, unless you're an experienced combat mage."

"What about the nine divines? What if we make a pilgrimage for the goddess Mara or in the name of Stendarr?"

"I swore an oath to Meridia. Therefore, I can't turn to other deities left and right, not to mention that I can't do such a pilgrimage alone right now, and it takes a fortune to hire a guard for such a journey!"

"I can't believe it's so hopeless!"

"Everything will be fine. I don't know how, I don't know when, but it will be."

"Tomorrow morning you will leave me...", Selena cried.

"Oh, dear. Tears won't help matters. Tomorrow I'll be on my way, and you go straight to the University and Β talk to Raminus Polus."

Selena couldn't believe the reality of what was happening. Yes, she knew about her mother's illness, but since she didn't say much about him, she didn't expect that everything could turn out this way...

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