1Hello everyone. Just a new fanfiction author here with a story for you. I've had the idea for this story stuck in my head for a while so i decided to finally get it out. Now let's get started.
Disclaimer: I don't own skyrim Bethesda Game Studios does.
-o-
The darkness in front of his eyes slowly went away. As the young man looked around with his blue-green eyes, trying to get his bearings. He was on a wagon.
When his head was hit with a sudden pain he tried to bring a hand up massage his temple. However he discovered that his hands were tied together with strong rope. As the pain continued he gave out a small groan.
"Hey, you. You're finally awake." a voice suddenly sounded from one of the other occupants of the wagon.
He looked up and saw a middle aged man with blonde hair and a beard, wearing some kind of leather uniform, sitting across from him.
"you were trying to cross the border, right? Walked right into that imperial ambush, same as us, and that thief over there" the man continued. The young man looked right and saw to others, both also in binds. One was in rags with dark brown hair. While the other was wearing far more fine clothes and had blonde hair as well. Interestingly the last one was gagged as well.
"Damn you Stormcloaks. Skyrim was fine until you came around. Empire was nice and lazy" snapped the man in rags "if they hadn't been looking for you, i could've stolen that horse and be halfway to Hammerfell"
The horse thief looked over at the young man "you there. You and me - we shouldn't be here. It's these Stormcloaks the Empire wants."
"We're all brothers and sisters in binds now, thief" the first man said sagely. The young man couldn't help but nod at that.
"Shut up back there!" the soldier steering the wagon interrupted.
The horse thief turned to the gagged man, "and what's wrong with him, huh?", the thief was answered by the first man "watch your tongue. You're speaking to Ulfric Stormcloak, the true High King." The thief's eyes widened as he realised what this meant. "Ulfric!? The Jarl of Windhelm!? you're the leader of the rebellion. But if they've captured you... oh gods, where are they taking us!?"
"I don't know where we're going, but Sovngarde awaits" was the answer.
"No, this can't be happening. This isn't happening," the thief muttered weakly to himself as the young man realised that they were approaching a town.
Meanwhile the first man tried to get the thief to calm down, "hey, what village are you from horse thief."
"Why do you care?"
"A Nord's last thoughts should be of home."
"Rorikstead. I'm... i'm from Rorikstead."
"General Tullius, sir! The headsman is waiting!" The young man heard one of the soldiers yell. "Good. let's get this over with," a gruff voice answered.
"Shor. Mara, Dibella, Kynareth, Akatosh. Divines, please help me," the horse thief started muttering.
The Stormcloak scowled when he noticed a man with gray hair and elaborate armor sitting on a horse with his back to them. In front the gray-haired man there was a High Elf also sitting on a horse.
"Look at him. General Tullius the Millitary Governor" he spat, "and it looks like the Thalmor are with him. Damn elves. I bet they had something to do with this."
As the convoy continued through the town, the man spoke again. "This is Helgen. I used to be sweet on a girl from here. Wonder if Vilod is still making that mead with juniper berries mixed in," he looked around "funny, when i was a boy, Imperial walls and towers used to make me feel so safe."
The young man heard a young voice behind him, asking about them. However, an older voice cut in, telling the kid to go inside. The young man smiled slightly at that. Kids should be allowed to have their innocence for as long as they could.
The wagon started slowing down, signaling that they had reached the end of their trip. "Why are we stopping?" the horse thief asked, fear evident in his voice.
"Why do you think? End of the line."
They stopped.
The Stormcloak turned to the young man, "let's go. shouldn't keep the gods waiting for us," he nodded at that.
As they all rose. The horse thief cried out "No! Wait! We're not rebels!"
"Face your death with some courage, thief," the other man muttered annoyed.
"You've got to tell them! We weren't with you! This is a mistake," the thief continued. The young man shook his head. He sincerely doubted it would help, even if they did.
The group went before a female Imperial Captain. Next her there was a Nord in standard uniform.
"Step towards the block when we call your name. One at a time," the captain declared. "Empire loves their damn lists" snorted the Stormcloak as he jumped down next to the young man, who shrugged in response.
The Nord spoke up, "Ulfric Stormcloak. Jarl of Windhelm."
"It has been an honor, Jarl Ulfric!" the Stormcloak stated as Ulfric went to join the other prisoners.
The Imperial Nord spoke again, "Ralof of Riverwood." The Stormcloak now identified as Ralof smiled slighty to the young man and went to join the others too.
"Lokir of Rorikstead." The horse thief now identified as Lokir went forward and shouted, "no, i'm not a rebel. You can't do this!" Having said that Lokir suddenly sprinted past the captain, ignoring her order to halt. The young man looked on stupified, as Lokir ran down the road. "You're not going to kill me!" he shouted. Unfortunately he didn'y hear the captain's call for archers. One of the archers quickly put an arrow on the bow and shot it. Hitting Lokir right in the back.
"Anyone else feel like running?" the captain challenged. No one did.
The Nord then remembered the young man, "wait. You there. Step forward," the Nord said to him. The young man did so. "who are you?" the Nord asked the young man. The young man stood as tall as he could and spoke for the first time since he woke up.
"I am Thorkild Jomungand," the young Nord stated, as a sudden breeze caused his somewhat long spiky brown hair to flutter.
"And here i was wondering, if you could even talk," noted Ralof from the side before being told to be quiet.
The Nord sighed, before continuing, "you picked a bad time to come home to Skyrim, kinsman," he turned to the captain. "Captain. What should we do? He's not on the list."
"Forget the list. He goes to the block," the captain answered.
"By your orders, Captain. I'm sorry. Atleast you'll die here, in your homeland."
"Wait!" Thorkild spoke up. "Could you make sure my body is returned to my village? It lies a few miles south of the Imperial City," Thorkild asked somewhat desperately. The Nord smiled sadly and nodded, "don't worry. I'll take care of it. Follow the Captain, prisoner." Thorlkild nodded and did so.
As Thorkild stood with the others, Tullius started talking to Ulfric. "Ulfric Stormcloak. Some here in Helgen call you a hero. But a hero doesn't use a power like the Voice to murder his king and usurp his throne."
'The Voice huh? I think i've heard of it,' Thorkild thought.
Ulfric simply gave some muffled grunts in response.
Tullius continued, "you started this war, plunged Skyrim into chaos, and now the Empire is going to put you down, and restore the peace."
The atmosphere was pierced by a distant roar.
"What was that!?" the Nord from before asked. "It's nothing. Carry on," Tullius waved him off.
"Yes, General Tullius," the captain declared before turning to a priestess, "give them their last rites."
The Priestess riased her arms and started praying, "as we commend tour souls to Aetherius, blessings of the Eight Divines upon you, for you are the salt and earth of Nirn, our beloved..." the priestess was interrupted when one of the Stormcloaks started walking forwards with an annoyed expression. "for the love of Talos, shut up and let's get this over with," he snapped.
"As you wish," the priestess spoke in an offended tone. She left as the Stormcloak went to the block, "come on, i haven't got all morning," he challenged before the captain pushed him on his kness and then down on the block completely.
As the headsman lifted his axe, the Stormcloak decided to have the last word. "My ancestors are smilling at me, Imperials. Can you say the same?" the axe came down and split the head from the body. The headless corpse slid of the block, amongst an odd mix of insults and cheering.
"As fearless in death as he was in life," Thorkild heard Ralof say sadly.
The captain then pointed at Thorkild, "next, the nord in the rags!"
Another roar, this time it was closer.
"There it is again. Did you hear that?" the nord asked.
The captain didn't budge, "i said, next prisoner!"
the nord sighed, "to the block, prisoner. Nice and easy."
Thorkild sighed as he went to the block and got pushed down on by the captain. This was it. 'Mom. Dad, i'm sorry' he thought somberly to himself as he turned his head as much as he could towards the sky with a despondent look.
Then, so fast that Thorkild almost didn't see it. A massive black blur shot up over the furthest away mountain. "What in Oblivion is THAT!?" shouted Tullius. The blur suddenly shot down on one of the closest mountains, instantly leveling it completely. A gigantic dark figure slowly rose from the smoke and loomed over the entire town.
It was a massive black dragon.
"...Holy crap..." muttered Thorkild with wide eyes, as he stared up at the monster. "DRAGON!" he heard someone scream.
The dragon suddenly gave a loud roar. But this time an intense wind picked up, causing the clouds to circle over the town. Then meteors started falling from the sky. Some were easily the size of a small house, others were roughly the size of a person.
Several of the meteors landed in random places around the town, causing the headsman, who had been frozen in shock, to stumble and throwing Thorkild off the block.
The dragon reared back it's head, a dark red glow visible from it's mouth. But before it could unleash whatever hell it had imagined on the town, a human-sized blur shot up from the crowd and smashed straight into the dragon's head, throwing it sideways.
It was General Tullius, who hovered in front of the dragon's face, glaring at it. The dragon roared at him, releasing a massive burst of dark red flames. Tullius quickly deflected the attack into the air with his sword. However the force of the attack forced him backwards and he landed a little out of town, scowling at the dragon.
The dragon growled before taking to the sky, followed by Tullius.
Meanwhile, back in the town, Thorkild was trying to get to his feet.
"Hey, Thorkild. Get up! Come on, the gods won't give us another chance!" Thorkild heard Ralof shout next to him. With some effort Thorkild managed to get up as the sounds of explosions echoed above him.
Following Ralof, the two ran to a nearby tower. Inside the tower, Ulfric and several other Stormcloaks were holed up.
"Jarl Ulfric. What is that thing? Could the legends be true?" Ralof asked somewhat frantically.
"Legends don't burn down villages," noted Ulfric as he stared out at the carnage outside. Thorkild didn't say anything, but that was certainly a dragon, so in this case legends did burn down villages. A warcry from Tullius was heard worrisomely close to them. Well with the help of crazy strong generals apparently.
"We need to move. Now!" Ulfric interrupted Thorkild's musings. "Up the tower, let's go!" Ralof called to him. They began running up the stairs. Unfortunately, on just the next floor further progress was stopped by a large amount of rubble blocking off the stairs. A Stormcloak was trying to clear it off. Thorkild moved to help.
But in that moment the wall of the tower exploded. Burying the Stormcloak in rubble and throwing Thorkild and Ralof against the wall. Through the smoke Thorkild could see Tullius get to his feet. He looked a lot worse for wear. His armor was severly damaged, and he was covered in burns, bruises and even a few cuts. Growling, Tullius flung himself out of the tower towards the dragon.
Thorkild groggily looked through the hole and saw a hole in the roof on the building next to the tower. It wasn't that far. Thorkild turned to Ralof, "i'm going to take the jump. Will you be alright?" he asked. Ralof nodded, "We'll be fine. Get going!"
Thorkild jumped from the tower, through the roof and landed on the second floor in the building. He ran through the burning building before jumping down a hole in the floor.
Upon exiting the bulding, Thorkild saw the nord from before, another older nord and a kid kneeling near an injured man on the ground. "Haming, you need to get over here. Now!" the nord shouted to the kid, who shakily got up and ran to him. Immediately after, a stray blast from the battle obliterated the man.
"Still alive, Thorkild? Stay close to me if you want to keep it that way," the nord said when he noticed Thorkild. He then turned to the older nord, "Gunnar. take care of the boy. I have to find General Tullius and join the defense," he said. "Gods guide you, Hadvar," the older nord replied.
The nord now identified as Hadvar ran through the destroyed town alongside Thorkild. After a little bit, they saw that the road in front of them was blocked off. Luckily, there was a way past the blockade, between a burning house and a large stone wall.
"STAY CLOSE TO THE WALL!" Hadvar suddenly shouted as they went around the burning house. Deciding to trust him, Thorkild threw himself as close to the wall as he could. Just in time, as a massive burst of flames went over the wall. Torching the Imperial soldier standing nearby.
After that, the two went on. Through the burning remains of a house. Out to a large open field, where a lot of soldier were trying to shoot arrows at the dragon.
Hadvar and Thorkild took a second to stand and watch the battle between Tullius and the dragon. Or try to watch, as they could at best see blurs.
Hadvar remembered what they were doing and gestured for Thorkild to follow, "it's you and me, Thorkild. Let's get to the keep!"
As the two approached the keep, they both noticed Ralof also approaching. He quickly noticed them as well.
"Ralof! You damn traitor. Out of my way," snapped Hadvar.
"We're escaping, Hadvar. You're not stopping us this time," Ralof simply remarked.
"Fine! I hope that dragon takes you all to Sovngarde," Hadvar stated angrily. The two then went towards two different entrances, calling for Thorkild to follow. After a little hesitation,
Thorkild followed Hadvar.
The two entered the keep. Thorkild quickly shut the door behind them, somehow sealing of all the noise. Leaving them in silence.
They were in a large room with some tables, chairs, shelves and a couple chests strewn about. There were a bunch of beds lined up along one of the walls and a gate in the other end of the room.
"Looks like we're the only ones who made it," Hadvar noted as he surveyed the empty room. He turned back to Thorkild, "was that really a dragon? The bringers of the End Times?". "It sure looked like one," noted Thorkild.
Hadvar couldn't help but chuckle dryly and nod. "Sure. Come here. Let me get those bindings off," he said. Thorkild nodded and stuck his bound hands towards Hadvar. Hadvar quickly cut the bindings with a small knife.
"There you go. Take a look around. Theres probably some gear around to choose from," He told Thorkild. Thorkild nodded and began searchin in the chests around the room.
He ended up finding some imperial armor, some boots to the armor, a helmet and a couple iron swords. "Get that armor on. Give the swords a few swings too," he heard Hadvar say.
Thorkild changed into the armor. But ended up stuffing one of the two swords he had found into a bag, that he had found laying around. Dual wielding simply wasn't as effective, as the people who fought like that would want to admit. Fighting with one sword was better until he found a shield.
After Thorkild had gotten ready. Hadvar pulled a chain in the wall opening the gate. The two continued through the hallways until they came to a large circular room with a metal door in the other end.
As they approached the room, Thorkild and Hadvar heard voices. "Stormcloaks," noted Hadvar, "Come on. Maybe we can reason with them.". Thorkild nodded, he hoped that they could.
The two entered the room and approached the Stormcloaks, trying to look as non-threatening as possible. Thorkild even held up both his hands to show that they meant no harm.
However, the Stormcloaks wasn't interested in the attemp at a peaceful approach. Both the Stormcloaks, a man and a woman, each drew their weapon. A warhammer and a battleaxe respectively, and ran at the two.
The man ran at Thorkild, and swung his hammer. Thorkild quickly rolled away and drew his sword. So much for peaceful solutions.
Running up to the man and slashing his sword. Thorkild successfully hit his side. Giving the man a medium sized cut. The man quickly swung his hammer in retaliation. Thorkild couldn't get away in time and instead blocked the strike with his sword. The force of the blow sending him skidding along the ground on his feet.
The man ran at Thorkild. Hoping to press his advantage and delivered a downward swing with the hammer. Thorkild dodged to the side as the hammer came down. smashing a small crater into the floor. Thorkild slashed at the man again. scoring another, larger cut to the man's other side.
The Stormcloak stumpled back. Resolving to finish the fight. Thorkild delivered a strong slash across the man's chest. He fell backwards to the ground with a weak groan. Thorkild took off the man's gauntlets and put them on.
Thorkild was joined by Hadvar, who had made quick work of his own opponent.
Hadvar walked up to the door and tried to open it. Locked. Hadvar began muttering about how they could get past. Meanwhile, Thorkild went up to the door with a key he had found while searching for gear. Putting the key into the keyhole and truning, he heard a satisfying click. Thorkild opened the door and the two continued.
They went through some more hallways, and down some stairs. before they made it to a large hallway. there were people in the hallway.
But before Thorkild could see whether they were Stormcloaks or Imperials. The ceiling collapsed, burying them in rubble.
"That dragon is persistent," Thorkild muttered in annoyance as Hadvar went to a door to the side.
Behind the door was, what looked like a storeroom. Two male Stormcloaks were in the middle of raiding some barrels. Both of them were wielding a battleaxe.
The moment they spotted Thorkild and Hadvar. They both drew their axes and rushed at the two.
Thorkild ducked under a swing and stabbed his sword into the Stormcloaks chest. Miraculously, the Stormcloak kept standing and very slowly raised his axe for another attack. However, he didn't get the chance, when Thorkild punched him in the face. Sending him several feet into the air, before he crashed to the ground.
Thorkild looked over and saw that Hadvar was still locked in combat. When a shieldbash from Hadvar sent the Stormcloak he was fighting stumbling back. Thorkild rushed forward and quickly cut down the Stormcloak.
"There should be some potions laying around here. See if you can find them, we could probably use them," Hadvar stated as he walked through the room. Nodding, Thorkild got to work, searching through the room. He ended up finding a bunch of healing potions, a couple stamina potions and a magicka potion.
"Done?" asked Hadvar, Thorkild nodded, "okay, let's go," Hadvar stated.
After going through some more hallways with stairs. They came to a room with three cages up against the wall and something that was clearly for torture.
"The torture room... gods, i wish we didn't need these," Hadvar muttered somberly, confirming Thorkild's suspicion.
Two Stormcloaks was fighting the torturer and his assistant. Thorkild went slowly towards the fight between the torturer and the Stormcloak. The torturer was shooting lightning from his hands towards the Stormcloak, who simply charged through it, ignoring the burns she was getting.
Thorkild didn't reach them in time to help, not that he was trying to. The Stormcloak swung her greatsword, cutting the torturers head clean off.
However, she didn't spot Thorkild in time to avoid the strike that slit her throat.
"Thanks for the help," the assistant said after the other Stormcloak had been dealt with. While the assistant talked with Hadvar, Thorkild spotted a shield on the hanging on the wall. Grinning, he went over and took it. Finally, he had really missed the feeling of a shield.
He eventually joined the other two. They seemed ready leave, when Hadvar noticed something in one of the cages. "Oh! that, we lost the key a long time ago the poor guy took it hard," muttered the assistant with an ashamed expression. Hadvar gave Thorkild some lockpicks. "Try and see if you can't get that thing open, we'll need everything we can get," Hadvar ordered.
Thorkild nodded and got to work. He eventually got the door open, after breaking a couple lockpicks.
He ended up getting some gold, another magicka potion, a spellbook and soe magical items from the dead mage.
With that taken care off, the three continued on. On the way Hadvar explained what was happening.
After going through some more hallways they came to a large room with a hole in the wall leading into, what seemed like a cave.
After going through the hallway-like cave. The group found a large cavern with a small stream in the middle and broken building dotted around. Several Stormcloaks were patrolling.
Thorkild told the others to stay put while he got the Stormcloak's attention. They nodded at that.
When the closest guard had his back turned to their location, Thorkild moved. Rushing forward Thorkild slammed his shield into the guard's back before the other Stormcloaks could warn him. Thorkild followed up by stabbing his down into the downed man's back.
Looking around Thorkild spotted a few more Stormcloaks rushing towards him and in the back to Stomcloaks preparing bows. Thorkild figured it would be best to get rid of the enemy's ranged support and ran towards the two.
Thorkild dodged under an attack from the first Stormcloak to reach him. Immediately after that he brought up his sword and cut an arrow shot at him in half. Continuing towards the archers, Thorkild heard the sound of fighting behind him. Signaling that the others were distracting the Stormcloaks.
Thorkild kept going towards the archers, occasionally either blocking their arrows with his shield or, cutting them out of the air with his sword.
Eventually Thorkild got too close for the use of their bows, and the two Stormcloaks discarded them and drew a sword each.
The two attacked Thorkild at the same time. Forcing him to hold up his shield to block. Pushing the both of them back, Thorkild went for the one to his right. Slashing him across the chest, making him stumble back. But before Thorkild could finish the man off, the Stormcloak to his left swung her sword.
Their swords clashed in a shower of sparks. Thorkild them bashed his shield into the Stormcloaks face. Unfortunately the first Stormcloak had recovered and attacked. Giving Thorkild a small cut in his side. Ignoring the hit Thorkild kicked the still disoriented Stormcloak in the stomach to keep her away before headbutting the male Stormcloak.
Thorkild finished the man off with a powerful swing with his sword that severed the man's head from his body.
Thorkild then slammed the edge of his shield into the female Stormcloak's neck, breaking it. She fell limply to the ground.
After that he was joined at the exit by the two others. "You two go on ahead, i'll stay behind in case there's other survivors," the assistant told Hadvar and Thorkild.
The two nodded and went through the exit into a hallway with a raised bridge at the end. Hadvar pulled a lever on the ground, causing the bridge to drop, giving them passage to another large cavern.
As they were crossing the cavern, it started to shake. A deafening crashing sound went off as a large amount of rubble destroyed the bridge they had just crossed and blocked off that exit. "Damn, no going back that way," muttered Hadvar. "Come on, let's keep going. I'm sure the others will find a way," said Thorkild as he gestured for Hadvar to follow. Hadvar nodded.
They exited the cavern through a large opening into another hallway. Unfortunately they soon found the hallway ending in a dead end. Hadvar gestured to an opening to the side and they went through.
After even more hallways the two found an even larger cavern. But this one was covered in spiderwebs. Thorkild froze at the sight, sweat broke out all over his face, a chill went down his spine and the hair on his back stood on end. Spiders.
Hadvar also paused at the sight when they both noticed eight, eight-legged figures moving the towards them. The figures varied in size from roughly the size of a dog to almost the size of a fully grown man.
Hadvar was about to draw his sword when he was interrupted.
Thorkild screamed bloody murder and rushed the group of spider. He had discarded his shield and had drawn the sword he had put in the bag earlier.
Thorkild ran right into the group, swinging both swords wildly. Still screaming in a combination of indignant rage and mind-numbing terror.
After a couple minutes of this it was over. Thorkild stood panting, covered in spider-goo, the spiders themselves had been shredded completely. What little remained lay in a circle around him.
The stunned Hadvar couldn't help but give a quip about what he just saw. "What's next, giant snakes?" he asked with a smirk. "That would be swell," Thorkild stated, completely straight faced.
With that, the two continued through another hallway into the biggest cavern so far. In the middle of the cavern was a sleeping bear. Hadvar noticed it too. "Hold on. There's a bear up ahead, i'd rather not tangle with her right now, so let's see if we can sneak past," he whispered to Thorkild, who nodded.
Hadvar suddenly handed him a bow and some arrows. "Or, if you're feeling lucky, maybe we can catch her off guard," Hadvar noted. Thorkild looked at the bow and then at the bear, before putting the bow into his bag.
The two slowly sneaked around the bear. occasionally stopping when the bear seemed to move a bit.
Eventually they got around and moved on. Suddenly, Thorkild felt a breeze hit him. Realising what this meant, he picked up the pace, followed by Hadvar.
Rounding a corner they both saw a hole in the rock which sunlight was spilling in through. "Yes!" Thorkild declared happily with a grin of relief. "I was worried we'd be stuck in here forever," Hadvar stated casually with a similar expression.
Together they ran into the light, eager to get outside.