And yes, for anybody who want's to recommend what comes next or follow where the story is leading to just look at a Skyrim map. I'm serious, I read the map every time so I can make sure where they're going makes sense. \

Hahhh, so this is where we ended up.

Pushing through the large stone doors, Ivan’s Daedric armor gently clinked as he, for the first time since he was here, finally saw the blue sky.

Kralse and the others had already made it past the doors and first flight of stairs, Ivan had stayed behind to deal with the guards but now he finally got a good look at where they were.

The sprawling blue skies could be seen through the large stone arches that towered over them, partially shielding them from the blinding lights that were shining down on them.

Long sets of stone steps trailed down from the structure they were on, ending at the snowy dirt that led to wherever they were, though Ivan was pretty sure that he knew where they were at.

“It makes sense now, that entrance area, that staircase, all of it makes sense!”

His skeleton companions just tilted their head as their liege almost sounded hysterical, or maybe hallucinating. They just kept quiet as Kralse looked at their king and then back at them.

“Is the Underking cursed? Why does he seem to be struck by some sort of illusion spell?”

One of the skeletons shook its head.

“The Underking has always been considered…unorthodox and thinks differently than us. I suppose we just don’t question it, everything works out in the end after all.”

“I..suppose?”

They continued watching him have some sort of divine revelation before turning to them, seemingly out of breath even though he was an undead. His bones displayed expressions that shouldn’t be possible for a skeleton.

“Have any of you ever heard of Bleak Falls Barrow?”

“ If that is where we are, then no. We do not remember much from our past lives after we have died, only how to speak and move.”

Ivan walked down from the stairs, motioning for the rest of his men to follow, which they did. All of their weapons were sheathed now, considering the fact that there wasn’t a noticeable danger and, even if there was, they could probably kill most of them was reassuring to say the least.

“Sorry, I guess I’m..just a history nerd of sorts.”

Jesus, I almost said gaming nerd. Can I even say Jesus anymore?

They made their way past the large, arcing stone structures and finally down towards the mountain where the former temple resided. Cracks in the structures from hundreds of years of negligence trailed down throughout the ruins.

“Damn, this place really brings back memories. It really is different seeing it in real life, I don’t remember it looking this cool”

For the moment, Ivan had taken his helmet off to turn back and look at the view. It was the same, yet different to him when he’s actually looking at it in its entirety. Though, thanks to being in such a famous in-game location it’s quite easy to know where they were if the tall, snowy mountains weren't already a good enough indication.

“I guess it’s a good time to move out. There’s a few people that I want to meet, though I don’t think they’ll be too happy to see me. But first…anyone got a map?”

All he received were a bunch of head shakes and silence from Kralse, which made Ivan let out a sigh. He didn’t expect any of them, most of which were from High Rock and Cyrodiil, to have a map of Skyrim to begin with.

“Well, I guess we’ll have to guess our way along. Where we’re going won’t be too far away anyways…hopefully.”

—--------------- Time Skip—--------------------

“My king, if you will permit me to say something”

“Yeah?”

“Am I correct in understanding we are lost?”

“Very”

They had headed out with high hopes, but they had quickly gotten lost. Ivan knew to stick near the mountains but had ended up very, VERY lost. It seemed that heading directly behind Bleak Falls Barrow was a terrible mistake, as they soon found out.

(Flashback)

“DODGE!”

Kralse hit the ground right before the giant club could send him into the upper orbit, making the giant stumble a bit as each swing took huge amounts of momentum.

He still got pushed to the side from the wind force of the club alone, along with a few other skeletons that weren’t wearing heavy armor.

“Legs, go for the legs!”

Ivan had managed to somehow block one of the giant’s swings with spellbreaker, albeit he skid across the ground like an ice skater but he held on and didn’t get launched.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“Artifacts are no joke! Now, while it’s stunned!”

The giant that struck him had gotten off balance as he leapt forwards to strike, which gave the others a chance to completely trip it.

The skeleton that was carrying Auriel’s Bow pulled the string back, letting out an almost silenced gunshot sound as it released the bow.

The resulting arrow went straight through both kneecaps, shattering them and making the giant yell out a guttural groan of pain as it felt its knees fail it.

“Die!”

Kralse took the chance to swing his axe, slicing straight into the giant's Achilles heel which caused it to completely fall forwards.

BOOM!

It hit the ground in a cloud of dirt and dust, right in front of Ivan, who raised the Ebony Blade up high, right over its head.

“Nothing personal, just bad timing”

—-----------------------------------------------

“We were already lucky that it didn’t manage to wipe us out! Armor strength doesn’t matter when you’re flying through the air! Anyways, now I know for sure that it was the sacred giant camp so we’re heading the opposite way now.”

The only thing they had taken from that encounter was the scattering of change, since septims were much more useful than the assorted low-level armor that was laying around considering they had much better items.

At this point, Ivan wished that they were on horses or he was flying from the distance they had to go.

With all of them being undead, he didn’t feel tired in the slightest but since he really didn’t know how casting spells worked despite his character being extremely adept with it there was no hastening spell he could use.

Even his fighting skill was hindered, just from him being himself. He could’ve taken the giant himself in a few swings of his sword but he had hesitated, felt a reluctance to dash forwards and hit it.

Only when his comrades made the first move did he participate, but even he would label himself a coward where others would call him calculating. He still couldn’t adjust fast enough, maybe spells instead of blades would work better once he figured out how that worked.

“Sire, it looks like there’s a village up ahead. What shall we do?”

One of the skeletons he put up front reported back to him. Looking ahead, he saw that there was a small village or town ahead. He saw a number of townspeople outside going about their daily tasks. Some were shopping, others were cutting firewood or tinkering on an anvil. Despite its size, it was quite a lively town.

“Helmets on, Kralse use the one I gave you”

It was quite easy for the skeletons to hide their identities. I managed to find full plated helmets instead of the ones that exposed part of your face to make breathing easier since we were skeletons, we didn’t really need to breathe.

They were all made of the same material, even a daedric one which I put on. I made Kralse change parts of his armor out for new ones, mostly heavy steel or iron since a lot of his mummified flesh was still exposed. Since this wasn’t a game anymore, there wasn’t really an armor limit.

“Everyone good? Alright, let’s go.”

It only took a few seconds for the townsfolk to take notice of them. All of their weapons had been sheathed, but they looked even more menacing than both the stormcloaks or the empire. None of their faces were exposed, they were all heavily armed, and they were all quiet. Not acting like either mercenaries or regular soldiers. Though despite everything, the only thing the Nords knew was that they were foreign.

As they passed them, the people had stopped their daily work and whispers spread as they walked.

“What’s going on? Is the empire finally enforcing this area?”

“We’ve been living here for thirty years without a worry, looks like everything’s done”

“I guess we can’t complain too much, guards are always good though we do have our own”

In all honesty, the response wasn’t as bad as Ivan had imagined. Maybe because of their close proximity to Whiterun but their views on the empire weren’t nearly as bad as he thought it would be. Though, luckily, they weren’t here to enforce taxes or anything.

However, from the sidelines, a boy and his mother were standing there. The boy was pointing at them with an excited glint in his eyes.

“Wow! Mom, look! Cool soldiers!”

“Shush! Frodnar, don’t stir trouble”

Ignoring his mothers words (like most children) he ran right up to the soldiers, more specifically, the one heading the group of dozen or so heavily armed soldiers.

“Mister mister, are you really a soldier!? Why do you have so much armor?”

This made everybody freeze. They knew that some imperial recruits took it upon themselves to make life miserable for town folks if they even annoyed them just a bit and many especially didn’t like annoying kids.

Ivan paused a bit before kneeling down to eye-level with the kid. Though they couldn’t see, he was smiling at the kids' bravery. He knew he couldn’t do anything remotely as brave even if he tried.

“Well, I suppose in a way. As for my armor, well, I just don’t want to die. Simple.”

The mother sprang into action and stepped in front of her son before bowing and apologizing profusely.

“I’m sorry sir, he’s just a child he doesn’t know any manners. Please don’t increase taxes or anything, this is just a small town!”

“But...you aren’t under our jurisdiction.”

That made everybody visibly confused. They were very sure that those were heavy legionnaires at the least, elite soldiers or the Emperor's bodyguards at the most.

“But aren’t you people here to enforce law?”

Ivan tilted his head.

“But…we’re not a part of the empire? I mean, we’re from High Rock if that’s why you’re wondering about our armor but we aren’t from the empire”

“Oh thank the divines!”

At this statement, the tension around them dissipated. Though the townspeople didn’t inherently hate the Imperials, they did however hate the thought of conflicts if they chose a side. Though, even if they mistook the others for imperials, there was no way in Oblivion that they could mistake Ivan for a normal soldier.

Now thoroughly reassured, everybody that had gathered returned to what they were doing before. Though some looked back at the soldiers that had gathered, most went on with their daily lives.

“Oh! But speaking of which, is there an inn nearby?”

The woman nodded, while herding her son back towards their house.

“Right to the left over there, Sleeping Giant inn”

“Thank you”

With that, they headed towards the inn that the woman had pointed out. Though Ivan already knew what that inn was, and who was running it.

I was going to talk to her later on, but I guess this is as good a time as any to blackmail her.

Chapter 5 and they already got very lost. Luckily, they finally made their way to civilization at last! And no, I’m not planning on getting him to travel around with a small army in tow, this is only temporary until he meets more powerful people.

Thanks for reading, remember to leave comments!

W.O.V