1Man. Exams are finally done, now i can get back to writing. Not much to say, let's get it on.
Disclaimer:
I don't own Skyrim. Bethesda Game Studios does.
Fod zeymah win kein meyz fundein
(An imperial and a stormcloak army clashes, when a shadow passes over)
Alduin, feyn du jon
(Alduin appears amidst an inferno)
Kruziik vokun staadnau
(Alduin flies into the sky where his wings cover the sun)
Voth aan bahlok wah diivon fin lein
(Everything turns blood red before Harkon appear in his vampire lord form)
Nuz aan sul fent alok
(the sun suddenly appears as all the flames from before die out)
Fod fin vul dovah nok
(Closeup on a shocked Alduin)
Fen kos nahlot mahfaeraak ahrk ruz
(A silhouette walks towards the two with the sun behind it)
Paaz keizaal fen kos stin nol bein Alduin Jot
(Random shots of Skyrim's landscape)
Dovahkiin!
(Thorkild flies through the flames and slashes Harkon)
Dovahkiin, naal ok zin los vahriin
(Random shots of Thorkild fighting)
Wah dein vokul mahfaeraak ahst vaal
(Thorkild slashes the side of Alduin's head)
Ahrk fin norok paal graan fod nust hon zindro zaan
(Alduin breathe fire towards Thorkild who returns with Unrelenting Force)
Dovahkiin, fah hin kogaan mu draal
(Thorkild faces of against Miraak)
Thorkild and Farengar quickly followed Irileth up the stairs to the second floor. Up there, they found Jarl Balgruuf, and a whiterun guard. Balgruuf was frowning at the guard, "so... Irileth told me you came from the western watchtower," he said. "Uh... that's right, my lord," the guard said, clearly uncomfortable.
Irileth looked at the guard, "tell him what you told me, about the dragon attack," she ordered. The guard nodded before looking at Balgruuf, "it showed up out of nowhere. It was fast... faster than anything i've ever seen before. I've never un so fast in my life, thought it was gonna come after me, for sure," the guard said.
"Well done, my friend," spoke Balgruuf, "go to the barrack for some food, and rest. You've earned it." The guard nodded tiredly, and went on his way.
"Irileth," Balgruuf said, looking over at her. "I've already ordered my men to muster near the main gate," she said. Balgruuf nodded, "good. Don't fail me," he said.
He then looked at Thorkild. "There is no time to stand on ceremony my friend, but i need your help again. I want you to go with Irileth. You were at Helgen so you have more experience with dragons than anyone else here," Balgruuf said. Thorkild nodded, and was about to leave when Balgruuf spoke again.
"However, that doesn't mean that i have forgotten what you have done for my city. As a token of my esteem, i've told Avenicci that you are permitted to buy property in Whiterun," Balgruuf then handed Thorkild a pair of steel gauntlets. "And please accept this gift from my personal armory," he said.
Thorkild nodded and left. On his way out, he heard Farengar talking about wanting to come see the dragon too. As he was running through the city, Thorkild looked at the gauntlets he had been given by Balgruuf. They were glowing with, what he recognized as, an enchantment. A Fortify One-Handed enchantment at that.
Thorkild grinned as he slipped on the gauntlets. They weren't improved like the ones he had, but the enchantment would make up for that. it would, especially, come in handy against a dragon.
He passed Irileth, talking to a bunch of guards near the gate. The guards yelped, and stepped back in shock when a blur, too fast for them to see properly, shot past. However, Thorkild could have sworn that, for a second, Irileth looked over, and nodded, at him as he went past.
After exiting the city, he looked west. Towards where the watchtower should be. And sped off in that direction.
Thorkild looked over when he heard a flurry of steps, running towards his position. It was Irileth with all the guards from before. Irileth crouched down next to Thorkild, the guards hung back a bit.
"No sign of the dragon," noted Irileth as she watched the skies, before looking at the surrounding area. "But it sure looks like he's been here," she finished.
It really did. The tower was in ruins, and what should have been the walls surrounding the fort was not any better off. On top of that. The entire area was seemingly completely scorched. Not a single tuft of grass in the area, and the ground was charred an, almost, pitch black. The whole area looked, for a lack of better term, dead.
Irileth turned to look at the guards, "i know this looks bad, but we must figure out what happened. And if that dragon is still lurking around somewhere," she told them. She then started running towards the tower, after gesturing for everyone to follow her. "Spread out, and look for survivors," she shouted.
Thorkild noticed some rubble forming a ramp to the tower's entrance, and went up it, followed by Irileth. When they reached the entrance a scared man in a guard uniform came out.
"No! Get back! It's still here somewhere. Roki and Tor just got grabbed as they were making a run for it," the man cried. Before either Thorkild or Irileth could say anything, they were interrupted by a loud roar. Eerily similar to the one Thorkild had heard in Helgen.
The man looked towards the mountain where Bleak Falls Barrow was located. "Kynareth save us... here he comes again," he mumbled as the dragon flew over the mountain. Visible even from such a distance. Irileth drew a bow, and prepared an arrow. "Here he comes," she shouted to the guards who were all drawing their own bows. "Spread out, and make every arrow count."
The dragon landed with it's hind legs on top of the tower, and raised itself to it's full height. Spreading out it's wings, and giving another mighty roar. It was not as big as the dragon in Helgen. Maybe a fifth as big, but no more than that.
The dragon had barely finished roaring before it was hit by a flurry of arrows. All of them bounced off, barely scratching the dragon's scales.
Thorkild exploded into action, jumping with enough force kick up a cloud of dust. Quickly reaching the dragon, he slashed it across the chest. Creating a small gash.
The dragon roared in response, and smacked him away with it's wing. He landed a bit away with enough force to smash a crater into the ground, and kick up a mushroom cloud.
Ignoring the pain, Thorkild got to his feet, and began throwing arrows at the dragon. They embedded into the monster's scales, but did not do any real damage.
The dragon ignored the constant flurry of arrows, and looked over at Thorkild. It opened it's mouth, and let out a roar that sounded different from the others. "KRII LUN AUS," sending a wave of purple energy towards Thorkild.
He didn't have time to dodge so he raised his shield to block. It didn't work. The energy went straight through the shield, and Thorkild. He collapsed to his knees. It felt like his very life force was being ripped out of him.
Looking up, his eyes widened at the sight of a sea of flames shooting towards him. Forcing his body to move, despite it's protests, he dissapeared, out of the way of the flames, in a blur.
Ducking down behind some nearby rubble, Thorkild sheathed his sword and began casting heal. The weird energy's effect kept going for a bit, but eventually stopped. When it did, he jumped up from his cover, just in time to see two guards be vaporized by the dragon.
It was hovering in the air with it's back turned to him. He, promptly, jumped up above the dragon, and prepared his sword as he was falling. Driving it into the dragon's back.
It roared, and began twisting around in the air. Trying to throw him off. Struggling to hold on, Thorkild began hacking and slashing at the spot where he had driven his sword into the dragon.
The wound he had made wasn't big enough to present an actual danger to the dragon, but if he could widen it a bit, or at least weaken the area around it. It could become a useful weak spot.
He couldn't hold on anymore when the dragon made a, wild, buck. Sending him flying into the air. It flew towards him, and swung it's tail like a club. Thorkild managed to block the attack, but got sent flying, towards the ground, in the process.
He landed with enough force to slam him several meters into the ground. The dragon flew towards him, a flame building in the back of it's throat. But before it could attack, a lightning bolt struck it right in the side. Throwing it sideways in the air.
Thorkild got to his feet, and nodded to Irileth who was standing nearby, her hand covered in electricity.
He went over to her, "thanks," he said, trying to catch his breath. Irileth glanced at him, "you're welcome," she said before looking towards the dragon who had righted itself. "We need to do something. Those scales makes it nearly impossible to hurt the damn thing," she said. Thorkild nodded, "do you think it has some kind of weak spot?" he asked.
The two quickly dodged out of the way of a blast of fire.
"The only thing i can think of is it's eyes," Irileth said as they stood next to each other again. Each, sending arrow after arrow after the monster. "But with how small they are, and how fast it's moving i don't think i can hit," she admitted.
Thorkild pondered the issue before speaking, "do you think you could hit it's eyes if i get it to stop moving so much?" he asked. Irileth thought about it, "if you somehow get it to stop moving, it would definitely help," she said with a nod. Thorkild also nodded before running towards the dragon.
"HEY! YOU BIG STUPID LIZARD!" he shouted as he flung one arrow after another at said 'lizard'. The dragon turned, and glared at him. It opened it's mouth, and roared, "KRII LUN AUS," sending another wave of purple towards Thorkild.
This time, however, he was ready, and managed to get out of the way. He, then, jumped towards the dragon, and bashed it in the face with his shield, throwing it's head backwards. It snapped forward again, and unleashed a sea of flames at him.
He blocked the flames with his shield, but it was slowly getting more and more hot, to the point where it was nearly unbearable to hold on to. He then threw his shield, like a frisbee, at the dragon. Hitting the area that had gotten wounded from Irileth's lightning.
The dragon roared in pain as the shield breached the weakened scales, and burned it under them. In the meantime, Thorkild had landed on the ground, and jumped towards the dragon again. He then grabbed it's tail, and pulled.
The dragon was too disoriented by it's pain to fight back, and was swung around in the air. Thorkild roared in effort, and flung the dragon to the ground where the impact kicked up a large amount of dust.
The dragon slowly got up, shaking it's head, trying to get it's bearings. However, before it could do so, Thorkild fell from the sky, driving his sword into the wound on it's back. Slamming it back into the ground.
Thorkild then shot forward onto the dragon's head. Pushing it into the ground to keep it in place. As he was pushing the head down, Thorkild got a little worried. He hadn't really aimed when he threw the dragon so he didn't know whether or not Irileth had a shot. Hopefully, she was as fast as the fact that she reacted to his speed earlier would imply.
Luckily, she was, because no less than a had passed before an arrow flew straight into the dragon's eye. The dragon flung it's head back in shock, throwing Thorkild as well, roaring in agony.
Thorkild hit the ground, getting the wind knocked out of him in the process. Irileth suddenly materialised next to him, and helped him to his feet. "Good job," she said when he got up. "But even with one eye down, that thing is still dangerous," she noted as they watched the dragon breathe fire towards a guard. It's aim was a little off so he managed to duck behind some rubble. The guard behind wasn't as lucky.
"We'll need to get the other eye too," Thorkild stated. Irileth nodded, "think you can do that again," she asked. Thorkild grinned confidently, "keep it distracted for a bit, and i'll take care of it," he said, and went to retrieve his shield.
Irileth ran towards the dragon, charging a lightning bolt in each hand. Putting her hands together, she fired them at the same time, hitting the dragon right in the chest. The impact pushed it several feet back. She charged at it again, firing off one lightning bolt after the other while dodging around all of it attacks.
Suddenly, the dragon felt something tugging at it's tail. It looked down to see Thorkild who had realised that his shield was beyond saving, hanging from it's tail. It opened it's mouth, but was struck by a lightning bolt before it could attack.
Thorkild took this chance to swing it towards the ground again. But this time, the dragon was prepared, and curled up, making a full flip, it opened it's mouth, and sent a blast of fire towards Thorkild.
Thorkild's eyes widened, and he quickly crossed his arms in front of his face in a desperate attempt to protect himself without his shield.
The blast hit him, causing a large explosion that flung him skywards. "Well... crap," muttered Irileth when Thorkild landed like a meteor, just a little out of view. She then looked up to see the dragon charging towards her. She drew her sword in one hand, and charged a lightning bolt in the other, and charged at the dragon.
Thorkild groaned weakly as he tried to get up. Managing to stay on his feet for a couple seconds before collapsing again. Groaning, Thorkild began casting heal, but even after his magicka was depleted, he was still not healed enough. He took a healing potion out of his bag which had, miraculously, survived. And took a swig.
He could finally get to his feet, and stay there. He growled, and shot off towards Irileth's fight with the dragon.
Irileth, meanwhile, was fighting tooth and nail to keep the dragon off her. Slashing desperately with her sword to keep the dragon's bites at bay. Thorkild jumped into the air, and brought his sword down on top of the dragon's head. Breaking through the scales, and cutting deeply into the dragon's head.
It, unfortunately, survived, but it was slammed into the ground, disorienting it. Irileth took her chance, and fired a lightning bolt straight into the dragon's good eye.
The dragon roared, and began thrashing around, breathing fire in all directions. Thorkild and Irileth quickly jumped away, and called for all the remaining guards.
The group took refuge behind some nearby rubble. Keeping an eye out in case the dragon's wild thrashing came too close to their hiding spot. "Okay. We've got it's eyes... what now?" questioned Thorkild. "Now we need to finish it off," answered Irileth. "But how?" Thorkild asked.
Suddenly one of the guards spoke up, "the scales on it's belly are much weaker, and you're pretty strong... maybe you could break through if you land a strong enough hit," he said to Thorkild.
"Me and the others could, maybe, hold the dragon still long enough for you to hit it, but we can't get close when it's spewing fire everywhere like that," the guard finished.
"I can take of it's firebreath, but Thorkild do you think that you could land a strong enough blow?" Irileth said. Thorkild, at first, didn't say anything before his attention was drawn to the still standing watchtower, and he nodded with a grin. "Yeah... yeah, i can do that," he stated, and ran off to the tower's entrance.
"I'll call for you when it's time," Irileth told the guards, and began walking towards the dragon. A lightning bolt already charged in her hand. The dragon, meanwhile, had, had enough of the fight, and was about to take to the air.
Irileth didn't let it.
The second she saw it about to take off, she jumped forward, and brutally slashed at the dragon's wing. Tattering it, and forcing the dragon to land. "Not so fast!" she declared to the dragon who whipped it's head around to face her, and opened it's mouth. Fire ready to be unleashed.
It never got the chance as Irileth shot her lightning bolt the second the dragon opened it's mouth.
Lightning clashed with fire in a fiery explosion of flame and sparks of electricity. Horribly charring the inside of the dragon's mouth. It staggered back, and Irileth took the chance to slash her sword into it's chin. Slamming it's head up, and forcing it onto it's hind legs.
"NOW!" shouted Irileth to the guards who had been getting ready in a safe distance. As one, they charged forward. Jumping into the dragon, and pushing it on it's back.
On the top of the tower, Thorkild had seen the whole thing, and when the group of guards had tackled the dragon, he had jumped far into the air. When he had reached the peak of his jump, and began falling towards the dragon. He started rolling. Faster and faster. Until he looked like a blurry circle, falling rapidly towards the struggling dragon.
When he reached, he plunged his sword down into the dragon's chest so deep that the blade was buried up to it's hilt. Going straight through the dragon's heart.
A violent shudder ran through the dragon's body. In that moment, the dragon felt something. As if ...something was being forcefully ripped out of it. It knew this felling, almost instinctively, and just before it lost consciousness. It spoke.
"DOVAHKIIN!? NOO!"
And then it went limp. Thorkild stared down at the dragon, surprised. He snapped to attention at the sound of Irileth's voice. "Wait... what is happening?" she asked, just loudly enough for him to hear.
When he looked in her direction, he saw what she was talking about. The dragon was, for a lack of better term, bursting into flames. Thorkild quickly jumped off, and landed near the others.
His eyes widened when he saw streaks of energy shoot off the dragon's body, and towards him. He brought up his shield to defend, but the streaks of energy wen right past the shield, and began rapidly circling around him.
The intense glow from the dragon reached it's apex, as did the energy circling around Thorkild. Then the light died out, leaving nothing more than a skeleton left of the dragon.
Thorkild suddenly felt oddly lightheaded. He felt ...enlightened. The word he had found in Bleak Falls Barrow resounded in his mind.
Force... he understood now.
He couldn't stop himself from opening his mouth and speaking. He had to say it out loud. "FUS," the single word sent a blast of blue energy rolling in front of him like a wave. Throwing several unlucky guards, who had approached the dragon's skeleton, out of the way.
Thorkild grinned sheepishly at the glares he was getting, "uhh... sorry about that," he said awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. One of the guards, however, didn't seem angry or annoyed, instead, he seemed shocked.
"I can't believe it... you're... Dragonborn!" he said in awe. "Dragonborn?" asked Thorkild. "In the ancient times, when there were still dragons in Skyrim the Dragonborn would slay dragons, and steal their power. That's what you did right? absorbed that dragon's power," the guard said.
Thorkild looked at the guards, who were all geting back on their feet, and nodded, "that might be it," he said. "Well, you can shout now, you couldn't before, right? That means you must be Dragonborn. Like old Tiber Septim himself," the guard said.
"I don't remember hearing of Tiber Septim killing any dragons," another guard commented. The first guard gave him an annoyed look, "there weren't any dragons then, idiot. They are just coming back now for the first time in... forever," he remarked.
"Be that as it may," Irileth cut in, "it doesn't change the fact that the dragon is dead, and we need to get word to Whiterun. So Thorkild, get going," she said.
Thorkild nodded, and went on towards Whiterun.
Thorkild wearily opened the gates into Whiterun. About halfway there, the stress of the fight had hit him hard, and he had been forced to slow down. But he was finally there. Now he just needed to report to Jarl Balgruuf, and then he could rest.
However, the second he had set foot in the city. A collection of voices sounded, coming from, seemingly, all directions.
"DO VAH KIIN," the sound caused the entire city to shake. Several people, guards and civilians alike, got knocked over by the shaking. Thorkild was one of the few that managed to stay on his feet.
When the shaking stopped, Thorkild looked up into the sky, "what the hell was that?" he muttered to himself before shrugging and continuing on.
Thorkild finally made into the main hall of Dragonsreach. At the end of the hall he found Balgruuf talking to Proventus, and another man that Thorkild didn't know.
Balgruuf noticed Thorkild approaching, and gestured for the two others to stand aside. "Good, you're back. So what happened? Was the dragon there?" he asked.
Thorkild nodded, "the dragon was definitely there. The watchtower was destroyed, but we killed the dragon," he recounted. Balgruuf sighed in relief at the last bit, but frowned and looked seriously at Thorkild.
"I knew i could count on Irileth," Balgruuf started, "but there must be more to it than that."
Thorkild shifted uncomfortably before speaking, "turns out... i might be something called, Dragonborn," he said. Balgruuf raised an eyebrow, "and what do you know about the Dragonborn?" he asked.
"When the dragon died, i absorbed some kind of power from it. And... thats basically it," Thorkild admitted. Balgruuf looked thoughtful, "so it's true... the Greybeards really were summoning you," he said. Thorkild tilted his head in confusion, "the Greybeards?" he asked.
"Masters of the Way of the Voice," Balgruuf explained, "they live in seclusion high on the slopes on the Throat of the World."
"But what do these Greybeards want with me?" asked Thorkild. "The Dragonborn is said to be uniquely gifted in the Voice - the ability to focus your essence into a Thu'um also called a Shout."
That must have been what he did before. Thorkild realised.
"If you really are Dragonborn, they can teach you to use your gift," Balgruuf finished. "Didn't you hear that thundering sound earlier? That was the Greybeards summoning you to High Hrothgar," the man Thorkild didn't know cut in.
"This hasn't happened in... centuries. Not since Tiber Septim himself was summoned, when he was still Talos of Atmora," he continued, somewhat excitedly.
"Hrongar calm yourself. What does any of this nord nonsense has to do with our friend here?" Proventus spoke, gesturing to Thorkild, "capable as he may be. I don't see any signs of him being this, what, "Dragonborn"."
Hrongar got quite angry at that, "nord nonsense!? Why you puffed up ignorant... these are our traditions that go back to the founding of the First Empire," he snapped.
"Hrongar," Balgruuf cut in, looking and sounding a bit amused, "don't be so hard on Avenicci," he said. Proventus held up his hands in a comforting manner, "i meant no disrespect, of course," he said. "It's just that... what do these Greybeards want with him," he said.
"That's the Greybeard's business. Not ours," Balgruuf said before looking at Thorkild, "whatever happened when you killed the dragon, it revealed something in you, and the Greybeards heard it."
"If they think you're Dragonborn, who are we to argue?" Balgruuf said before smilling slightly, " you'd better get to High Hrothgar quickly. There's no refusing the summons of the Greybeards. It's an immense honor... you know, i kind of envy you. To climb those 7,000 steps again... i actually made that pilgrimage once."
"Anyway, you've done a great service for me and my city, Dragonborn. By my right as Jarl, i name you Thane of Whiterun. It's the greatest honor that it is within my power to grant. I also assign you Lydia as your personal Housecarl," Balgruuf paused before speaking again, "It is an honor to have you as Thane of my city, Dragonborn," he said.
Thorkild smiled and bowed slightly before turning to leave. On his way to the exit he noticed a young woman with black hair, wearing steel armor, waving him over. Figuring that that must have been Lydia, he walked towards her.
Finally done. Not gonna lie i'm kinda losing my interest in this story. So i've decided to start writing another story that i've had in my head for a while that i feel more strongly about. I'll probably get back to this sometime in the future, but i'm not sure when.
See you next time.