An Eerie crackling noise.

Something else was making a noise, it didn't sound like a bird, or the wind, it was like a crackling noise, you couldn't really identify it. You perk your head up and look around, Nacius looked alert as well, whatever that sound is, it's obviously nothing good...

"What is tha-" Nacius cuts you off, putting his hand over your mouth.

"Shh, sorry." He whispers.

The noise sounds like it's getting louder, it's coming from deeper in the ruins, Nacius nods and moves his hand away from your mouth.

"What is that?" You whisper.

"No clue, but listen closely, no more birds." Nacius say's pointing upwards.

You listened, he was right, the chirping from earlier has disappeared, leaving only the noise of the wind and whatever that crackling noise is.

"Get up, stay behind the statue, okay?" Nacius asks you.

Your heart began racing, you felt like you did before Nacius went after those two bandits on the roads, you slowly got up and Nacius stood up, holding his dagger.

"Do you have your dagger on you?" He asks.

"No, Sanna never takes it with her." You reply.

Nacius shakes his head.

"You have to get in the habbit of taking it with you, no worries, just stay put." He says before he starts walking.

You grab his shoulder, getting his attention.

"No! Let Sanna come with you, she doesn't want another situation like before!" You said, loudly.

"Shh! I promise if it's something bad, I'll run back here, get Whiterun ready to move, try to make it quiet okay? Watch yourself love." He says before shaking off your hand and walking off deeper into the ruins.

You felt your heart sink as he walked off, but he gave you a task, you focused on getting everything cleaned up as quickly as you could, trying to make as little noise as possible, Whiterun was looking spooked, you pet him on the snout and whispered in his ear to get him a bit calmed down. As you put the last of the food into the saddlebags, you looked off to where Nacius walked off too, there's no sign of him, that crackling noise however, is still somewhere out there, and it sounded like it got much much closer.

It almost sounded like breathing, but every time there was an inhale, it sounded like small rocks falling down a hillside, you gave Whiterun one more pat and told him to stay put before you began following the noise. Your heart felt like it was about to explode, you still saw no sign of Nacius, you walked through the ruined white arches of the ruin, keeping low and listening for any other noise, you heard the grass behind you move and you quickly turn around, it was Nacius, he looked upset.

"What in Oblivion are you doing!? I told you to stay put!" He said, barely whispering.

"Sanna was afraid you had hurt yourself, let her come with you, at least you won't be alone." You reply.

Nacius sighs and moves closer to you, putting a hand on your shoulder.

"Fine, but stay close, and don't make any noise, got it?" He asks.

You nod and make a gesture of you zipping your lips shut. He leans in and gives you a quick kiss.

"Okay, good good, now follow me." He says.

The two of you walk through the ruins, while it would be nice to study how beautiful everything was, you're currently too busy trying to stay quiet and keep your eyes peeled. The noise was getting louder, you swore you could also hear shuffling as well, like someone was dragging their feet through the dirt, whilst you were looking around Nacius held his arm out and stopped you.

"There it is." He says, pointing.

You look off to where he was pointing and you saw it, a reanimated skeleton, vines had seemingly grown all through its body, it was holding a rusted and broken sword, it was probably ancient by how it looked.

"You said that it would be safe here, no?" You whispered.

"I've never seen anything like this out here, it must've come from inside of the ruin..." He replied.

The skeleton aimlessly wanders around, dragging its skeletal feet through the dirt, it looked like it was having trouble standing straight up, the vines dragged against the ground, getting caught on bushes and parts of the ruin.

"Let's go before it sees us." You say.

Nacius didn't budge, he just kept looking at it.

"I can get it." He says.

"Are you crazy! You have a dagger, you don't have your armor, there could be more down there that you just don't see!" You whisper, loudly.

"What if it stumbles out onto the road? Hurts a passerby? It's my job to fix these things Sanna, you know that." He says.

"You aren't equipped Nacius! We can head back home, you can grab your equipment, and then we can come out here and put the thing down." You say.

Nacius sighs and looks at his dagger, running his thumb over the edge.

"I have to Sanna, look at it? It's barely able to walk! You could probably chuck a stone at it and it'll collapse." He says.

You rub your eyes, Nacius was adamant about going down there, despite your complaints.

"Fine! But let Sanna come down there, to watch your back at the very least." You say.

"I was actually planning on it." He replies.

Nacius reaches down and picks up a chunk of stone that came off of the ruin.

"Take this, I'll distract it and you just hit it over the head with this, that should cause the whole thing to collapse." He says, handing you the stone.

It was heavy, you had to hold it with both hands, but you could manage, Nacius signaled for you to follow him and you both moved closer to it, it already had its back to the both of you, still clumsily wandering around, as soon as you two got pretty close to it, you and Nacius hid behind a low wall.

"I'm going to get in front of it, and like I said earlier, you bash the bastard over the head with that stone, got it?" He asks.

You nod and take a deep breath, anxious couldn't describe what you were feeling right now, you'd never had an encounter with an undead before. Nacius nods and gives you a pat on the shoulder, trying to reassure you.

"Watch me, when you feel the time is right, you do your thing, alright?"

You nod once again and before you know it, Nacius starts moving. He stays low and moves slowly, trying not to alert the skeleton too early. Your heart was beating in your ears, your chest hurt, you felt like you were about to throw up lunch! But you needed to stay calm, you kept breathing as you focused on Nacius, he was stone faced, completely focused on what was at hand, it was strange seeing him like this. Nacius finally got in front of the skeleton, which was now holding still, it didn't seem to notice Nacius yet, you didn't know if it could see or hear much at all, being a skeleton and what not. Nacius shoots you a look and a nod, you nod back, Nacius stands up fully and kicks up the dirt, getting the skeletons attention.

It lets out what you can only describe as a sort of crackly hiss, it stumbles towards Nacius, barely able to stay in a straight line, you take a few deep breaths and start moving, keeping your eyes locked on the skeleton. As it was moving forwards, Nacius was moving slowly backwards, still kicking up dirt to keep it's attention on him, you inch closer and closer, standing up slightly and preparing the stone, you try to quiet your breathing, your adrenaline was through the roof, your legs felt shaky, the sound of your own heartbeat was overpowering everything else.

"Stay on me you boney bastard." Nacius says, kicking up a bit of dirt at it.

The skeleton stumbled a bit, one of the vines wrapped around its ribs got caught on a nearby bush, it was now moving even slower. You were now almost right on top of the undead sack of bones. Nacius gave you a look, like he was asking if you where ready, you nodded and took a deep breath, readying the heavy stone. You held it like a club, you got it over your head and gave Nacius one more look, the two of you nodded at each other, you close your eyes and with all of your might, you swing the stone downwards.

CRACK

Down it went, you knocked its skull off and the whole skeleton collapsed into a pile of bones. You look up and saw Nacius running towards you with a wide smile on his face.

"Great hit love, great hit!" He yelled.

You drop the stone to the ground and Nacius almost tackles you, giving you the biggest bear hug you've ever felt. It took a moment to collect yourself, but after a moment, you felt it. You pull away from Nacius and throw your arms up to the sky.

"Haha! Sanna did it! She really slew some undead abomination!" You yelled out.

"You cracked that poor sod, you left a crack right down the middle of his skull!" Nacius said, examining the pile of bones.

You felt invincible, like you had just survived the eruption of red mountain! You felt thrilled!

"Oh moons, is it normal to feel this way after that? Sanna has never ever felt like this before!" You ask.

"Haha, I remember that feeling, I was a young lad and I had taken out a wolf that was stalking me and my uncle, feels good right?" He asks, chuckling.

"Good!? Sanna feels like she could take on a whole legion of dremora!" You say.

"Well calm yourself champion, we should head back home, we've had enough excitement for today." He says.

"You call your job boring Nacius? This was a thrill!" You say.

"Well, it is boring ninety nine percent of the time, I don't run into any trouble usually, I almost never see any sort of fighting, it seems that you are just a magnet for conflict, since I've started travelling with you, I've seen more fighting than I have in months!" Nacius laughs.

"Haha! Let's head home before Sanna gets us into anymore trouble then, yes?" You chuckle out sarcastically.

Nacius nods and laughs and the two of you head back to Whiterun, who was still standing underneath the statue.

"So, enjoy the picnic?" Nacius asks with a smirk.

"Eh, could've been more exciting." You respond sarcastically.

Nacius laughs and the two of you get back on the footpath, you watch the ruins slowly disappear behind a canopy of trees...