This breaks Buffy's heart. Her life has been saved many times by Legion soldiers and she will always rush to help or heal them. Yet, a spriggan is a sister wood nymph and will not attack Buffy. Faced with a choice, she would help the soldier but, as I said, it would break her heart.
Well, it's not people's fault that spriggans attack indiscriminately to
everybody. As everybody says: "Nature guardians my foot" (and that having in mind that Cayo is "pro-Green" and follower of Kynareth...well, to a degree at least).
Speaking of him, Cayo has done a lot of things since we last knew about him, but his most remarkable one (after all, you surely don't want to hear how he spent an entire week decorating his two castles' personal bedrooms) was another Imperial Legion mission that he had assigned: this time the General ordered him to meet a certain High Elf in Skingrad, who apparently reported that several friends of him went missing for several weeks while exploring some ruins located inside an abandoned mine. At first it seemed a menial task, and the General himself admitted it, but he replied that he hadn't any other legionnaires to spare in that task, and knowing that Cayo was currently free of any duty, he sent him.
It was a matter of luck, really, as the ruins proved to be much more dangerous than it seemed at first sigth. Cayo found inside them a single survivor (from a group of 6), that explained to him how the ruins were plagued with some sort of terrific shadows that only a bow and a certain magical quiver (which produces endless brilliant arrows) could banish. Cayo went to the armory of the ruin (following the survivor's instructions), in order to retrieve the quiver. He found it, but something odd happened when he touched it...
As Cayo touched the quiver, he was taken out of time and an Ayleid spirit appeared in front of him. An Ayleid called Errno. They were both shocked to see each other, but after the initial surprise the spirit was kind to Cayo, after seeing his chivalreous spirit. Errno told him that he was once a great hero that managed to forge a quiver that produces endless brilliant arrows in order to slain those shadows, but sadly, after his death, the quiver was misplaced and ended up being guarded by the same shadows it was destined to banish.
"Now you can end my work, friend. I've got no ill-will at you or your kind for the past wars we had, (as I wasn't a slaver myself, and I even hated them), and I hope you neither. For you must help me, you must take the quiver and a bow and slay those creatures...forever""But how?" -Cayo replied-
"I'm a Battlemage. I've never touched a bow in my life...I don't even know the very basics about it""Close your eyes and trust me....", was Errno's answer.
He did, and suddenly, Cayo felt how an entire experience of hundreds of years of practise, combat and training swallowed him, and after several seconds (or what he thought it was "seconds"), he felt....ready. Ready to take a bow and use it at it's maximum proficiency. As only a true Master of that weapon would use it.
"I've given you my entire lifetime of experience and expertise using a bow. Use it well, and banish those monsters from Tamriel. I also have another gift for you: in this chest you'll find an excellent bow, you could call it a Perfect one even, made of a rare resin called Amber. It's light and durable, and it shall serve you well. It's also enchanted, so it'll probably do even more harm to those creatures. Now I bid you farewell. May the Light always follow you"Cayo thanked the Elven hero, opened the chest that Errno offered to him and took the bow. It was as good as he said.
"Now it's time for payback!", he said to himself with a faint smile. And the revenge didn't take long to arrive: As soon as Errno dissapeared and Cayo was returned to actual time, four or five shadows appeared from nowhere. Cayo grabbed the bow with expert hands (nearly as if they weren't his hands anymore), he put a brilliant arrow into it without even taking the quiver, and did a precise shot that hit in the closest shadow' head, banishing it instantly. With equal mastery, he managed to kill all the remaining ones in the room. Then Cayo took the quiver and left the armory.
After descending thought the dungeon, and slaying many shadows in the way, Cayo found again the surviving member of the expedition and agreed to team up, as there was a large corridor from where shadows didn't stop appearing, so the survivor took the magical quiver from Cayo and promised to keep the shadows at bay as much as he could, while Cayo were to investigate the source of them. Cayo reluctantly agreed, and went inside a buried cathedral of sorts. He didn't like what he found...the shadows were kept locked in those ruins by the same Keeper that kept locked THEM. Being unable to reason with the Keeper for their release, Cayo managed to slay him. But once done, the Great Shadow (a strangely appealing Shadow with the form of a giant wolf with blue eyes and some nice blue face tatoos) appeared in front of him. After a short conversation, he made a deal with Cayo: his freedom in exchange for the ability to call it to help in times of need. Cayo agreed with it (after all, he strongly believes that no creature should be incarcelated forever, and those Shadows weren't SO bad afterall...only "slightly malevolent"), and the Great Shadow teleported him out of the ruins.
As usual, Cayo returned to the Legion Fort in order to deliver his report...but that time he decided to be straigth with the General.
"Having the knowledge of an Ayleid Hero (and probably also traits of his personality), and being able to call the giant shadow of a wolf aren't things I could just shut up about them...I'll have to trust him", he decided. He told the entire story both to the General and to the First Centurion, and they both were very supportive about that.
"After all, no soldier ever has left unchanged after facing a battle. Battlemages are just a bit more...special in that matter", -the General said with a faint smile-.
"And it just happens that I have the perfect reward for you"He gave to Cayo a beautiful golden bow, and a quiver of red leather with golden details.
"This weapon is a part of a large collection -called the Phj-Sus, although people will commonly refer it as "Pegasus"- that has been in the Legion's posession for many generations. Some say that the Psijics themselves made them. The bow is of unsurpassable quality, and the quiver is enchanted, just the same way as the one you mentioned in your report, so you'll never have to worry about running out of arrows"Cayo admired the excellent craftsmanship of both, but he had doubts about accepting that gift. Maybe he could be a Master Marksman now, but he wasn't by far the most agile man in the world.
"I'm grateful for that, General, but I think someone else would make better use of i...""Shut up, Captain. There's nobody else more worthy of this weapon than you. You've faced lots of hells and saved all our asses more than once, so take it and keep it, period. And if you think it's too good for you, then even better: that way the raw power of the bow will compensate your relative lack of Agility. It's also quite a very rare sigth to even see enchanted arrow-making quivers, but after having two of them, it seems that you're definitely a lucky one, Captain""Indeed I am", he thought. Cayo accepted the weapon, which henceforth became a part of his personal arsenal. The General stated that he's now "worthy of being a General", as legionnaires, no matter their rank or specialization, are supposed to be all proficient with a bow...which sadly is a weapon that most spellcasters despise.
A few weeks after he left the Fort and returned home, a messenger came to his castle, calling him back to the Imperial City. Apparently another odd portal has opened in the middle of the city. As Cayo already had experience with dealing with them, he must go there to investigate it. When he had a closer look at it, Cayo discovered that in the past the Legion screwed it up and realized several tortures and even magic experiments with prisoners in a certain Fort, and that one of those experiments made the entire Fort to dissapear into nowhere, turning it into a spiritual prison for all the poor souls it had inside. As Cayo entered the cursed Fort thought the magic portal, a ghosty legionnaire explained the entire story to him.
"There's nothing here for you, hero" -the ghost stated when he finished-.
"You better turn back and flee while you still can"It was the second time that Cayo was called "hero" by that ghost, and both times he noticed it's sarcastic tone.
"I'm no hero" -replied Cayo, angrily, standing still and proud as if he were in a parade-
"I'm Cayo Artaria, Captain of the 1st Akatosh Legion Battlemage Regiment. And you're a Legion Soldier, even in death, proof of it is the armor that you spirit are wearing even now. And you're showing disrespect towards a superior. So STAND AT ATTENTION, SOLDIER!"The spirit reacted as if he were shouted by a commanding officer (well, that's technically what had happened), and when he spoke again, there was no trace of mockery in his voice:
"At your command, Captain. What I meant is that...that this place is dangerous, sir. Maybe even lethal for you, sir. And there's no exit as far as I know. We would have all fled long ago if there was one, but...""I still haven't found a place which you couldn't exit after you kill the thing or the bastard that keeps you imprisoned" -Cayo replied-
"And that's what I intend to do""Well...good luck on that, sir. I truly wish you luck and that you succeed, well..for, for the sake of all of us. Now I have to g..go. I mean no offense, sir, I'm just only being...called. And I cannot resist the..call"The legionnaire didn't need to say more, as Cayo understood what he meant.
"Dismiss, soldier" -he replied-. Then the ghostly soldier turned around, walked into a wall and dissapeared. Cayo sighed and walked towards the fort's entrance.