Alduin P.O.V
“Hoo, I suppose I can speak normally in this form.”
Alduin, like most dragons of legend, spoke in Dovahtinvaak or the Dragon’s tongue. However, the problem that they faced as dragons was that their words would sometimes work like the Thu’um, unintentionally destroying the surrounding area even if they didn’t wish for it to happen. Thus, when they spoke they generally had to use telepathy so as to not destroy Tamriel as a whole.
Stepping slowly into the temple, Alduin saw that the denizens that had inhabited his (yes his, let’s just say Alduin is in his male form), were nowhere to be found, though they had definitely been here a while ago.
The fire was definitely not part of the temple, though Alduin would have liked to use eternal fire or dragonfires to light the temple, this was just…uncultured.
Alduin clicked their tongue.
“Blasted mortals, doing away with our legacy like this…I should be incinerating them. Odahviing still has yet to return to me- it seems all has been lost.”
The dragons of the past had ruled over the men and mer as if they were ants, forcing them to listen to their every whim or face the deadly consequences of refusing. Alduin, who had just been at the end of the dragon wars, was obviously cast forwards in time though they didn’t know how forwards it was. It didn’t seem like much progress was made regardless, the Nords were still as primitive as always.
The sounds of his footsteps were the 0nly sound that echoed throughout the now empty main entrance of the barrow. In centuries past, the stone halls were stacked with polished, unblemished stone, now they were chipped and covered in moss. Years and decades spent on the project had been for nothing.
How the men and mer would have wept and wailed if they saw what their years of work had turned to utter rubble.
The sounds of Alduin’s footsteps echoed throughout the empty ruins, with only the faint crackling of the dying fire accompanying the sounds of otherwise complete silence.
“The men…they’re moving again as they should, but unnaturally, extremely so. The owner of this temple should have passed away centuries ago, so who are they listening to?”
Though far down, Alduin could clearly hear the sounds of shuffling feet and the occasional crashing of metal, possibly the draugr knocking something normal accidentally. They didn’t have much room to move around anyways.
Stepping towards the stairway that led to the underground catacombs, Alduin grimaced as he heard the screeching of skeevers underneath.
Dragons hated confined spaces.
For any being, dragons included, navigating through the winding underground hallways would be extremely claustrophobic. Only the dead, who lack a great deal of fear and sense receptors, would be completely fine.
“Guh, I’ll have to enslave some humans to fix this place up. Men will surely do what I say, even now!”
Clack!
Alduin immediately straightened from his leaning position, swiveling around to turn towards the main entrance.
“The Jarl said it was here right? He said some weird undead movement was happening but really didn’t specify.”
“Ack, who cares! We haven’t cleared this dungeon before AND we’re getting paid just to have a look. “
Alduin bared his teeth in a wicked smile at the approaching humans. Straightening up and shuddering with anticipation, he had been itching for a massacre, a killing, anything that brought him morbid happiness that all dragons longed to feel.
“Surely, a little detour wouldn’t hurt. They are intruding on MY territory after all”
As Alduin said this, his eyes started to let out a bright, amber glow as he started to levitate above the ground. Slender figure arching forwards in midair, long, silky hair momentarily scattered as curled up in on himself before unleashing a primordial, booming roar that shouldn’t belong to any humanoid species in all of Nirn.
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Charles P.O.V
“It’s times like this that I’m really glad to be a skeleton.”
Charles had a feeling that the rest of the skeletons would say the same thing if they could remember what it felt like to be alive.
Trekking along the riverside in the otherwise blazing summer heat, they probably would have long died of heatstroke from a combination of the long distance as well as the armor that they were wearing, though Charles had no problem with his armor.
The prime suspect for this situation was most likely a combination of his Daggerfall skills selection as well as the Skyrim skill tree he had back in the day. As such, the armor weighed nearly nothing yet maintained its hardiness and unmatched toughness.
With that, it was also enchanted a great deal, glowing brightly from the multiple magic and defense enchantments that were slapped on it.
As they continued their walk, he glanced at his surroundings. The whole road was surrounded by a lush, green forest with the river flowing quickly in a river nearby. It was almost peaceful in a way, though Charles knew very clearly that it wasn’t going to last very long.
This is all going to be nice and all before Helgen goes under…
Of course, the planned attack on Helgen was going to happen regardless, it just depended on what day it was. Helgen was attacked on the 17th of the Last Seed (Basically August), 4E 201 (fourth era), and was the start to the dragon crisis, one of the worst crises since the Oblivion crisis.
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“Sir, I think Whiterun is just up ahead.”
One of his soldiers that he had sent in advance to scout out the surroundings had rushed back. Charles breathed a sigh of relief, though Whiterun’s position hadn’t shifted since the first era he wasn’t sure whether he remembered the map of Skyrim correctly as it had been a while since he had played the game, though it was one of the most memorable afterall.
Though, with the roads that led to major cities it wouldn’t be too far fetched for them to just follow the road which would more than likely lead them directly to Whiterun but it seemed better to make sure that they were headed the right way.
The occasional weary traveler on the road kept their eyes on the marching army, almost as intimidating as a full imperial detachment of a hundred men walking through the area. They generally took one look before scurrying off, eager to get out of their line of sight.
“Alright, let’s- AUGH!”
Suddenly, Charles tensed up as, just like his gold balance, a sudden message popped up in front of his eyes. (Just think of him having an uncontrollable game hud)
Dungeon Threat Detected- returning owner immediately
“Wait, hold on! Crap- uh, Kralse get everyone to stop!”
As everybody stopped at Charles’s sudden claim, a bluish-glowing light started to surround him which eventually expanded into a spell circle of sorts.
The magic circle started to let out a low hum, which started to increase in volume as the circle started to spin. Charles looked around him to see that he was starting to glow as well, a very concerning fact as he had no idea how this was going to work. He hadn’t tried his hand at magic yet, too preoccupied to deal with any mystical arts.
“Just stay here, I’ll deal with it soon and I’ll be ba-”
And, just like that, he disappeared right in front of their eyes back to what he assumed was going to be Bleak Falls Barrow.
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“What in Oblivion is She!?”
“Put it out! AHH!!”
Aela, Farkas and Ria were the only ones available for the day. The other companions were away on various missions but these were some of the best that the companions had to offer.
Though nobody knew, Farkas and Aela were both werewolves which meant that they should be able to take on most enemies, probably even a deathlord or a vampire. Ria was an exception as she was the newest member of the companions, but all of the companions were formidable and could more than likely take on dozens of enemies at a time, except they were extremely outmatched this time.
The companions that had been dispatched to Bleak Falls Barrow were currently in various states of disarray. Aela had been launched across the room with an invisible force after their assailant shouted something that they couldn’t understand, Ria was on fire, while Farkas was in a blade lock with the assailant who was wielding a gauntlet made out of some sort of leather, except the sword couldn’t even scratch it.
“Guh…Aela, get Ria out of here and put out those flames! I’ll deal with her!”
“Ha! Cubs, you want to deal with me? Even your wolf form can’t even take off a single one of my scales!”
Farkas fell back onto the floor, narrowly avoiding getting his face sliced off. However, his skyforge sword wasn’t as lucky as it was cleanly cut into two pieces by the sharp “claws” of the gauntlet, the two halves falling to the floor, now completely useless.
He flipped himself around, pulling out his spare steel dagger just in time to parry another attack from Alduin, causing the “blades” of the gauntlet to stick into the ground.
“Hoh, perhaps the level of one of those Akaviri crusaders. Quite an accomplishment for someone of this age…however, not nearly enough.”
Wiggling the blades free, Farkas soon came to the unpleasant realization that the things on her hands weren’t weapons, but her actual hand. Scaly and monstrous, this seemingly innocent female (At least that was what he presumed) was something way beyond their scope.
He glanced back behind him, seeing that Aela and Ria had slipped out the door. He sighed in relief before a solid punch from the girl sent him flying straight out the open door.
“...So these are the great Nordic warriors? How has society evolved backwards, they have the strength but have their minds gone? This is much too boring, though I suppose I shall consume your souls after such a long period.”
Ria was out of commission for good, while Aela had broken ribs and likely a torn tendon or two. Farkas was down to his secondary weapon and was hit hard in the chest, nearly with no effort and all, yet he was nearly sent flying down a mountain.
“Aela, you need to take Ria and run. This “thing” is going to kill us without even trying.”
“Are you crazy!? She’s going to butcher you in a few seconds, she was literally playing around with you a few minutes ago, everybody could see that!”
They turned back towards the former temple as their assailant had chased them outdoors. They could clearly see the hunting instinct and bloodlust emanating from that small, teenager-like figure that was emerging from the depths of the structure.
“Mortals, you are just delaying your inevitable fate. It would be better to just submit and-”
“Curse you!”
Without letting them finish their monologue, Farkas gripped his dagger before chucking it at the demon, spinning through the air before stopping mere inches away from their smiling face.
“Useless”
Somehow, one way or another she had caught the dagger right out of the air and flipped it in the air before throwing it right back at him, this time at full force.
Farkas turned around, shielding Aela and Ria from the nearing dagger.
CLANG!
The sound of steel hitting steel made Farkas pause. He slowly looked back, finding a giant figure, nearly a head taller than him, in front of them. Covered in scaly, black armor that didn’t look too far from the gauntlets, he had just taken the dagger without even using his shield.
The dagger had simply hit his chest before falling harmlessly to the floor, which the man picked up and dusted off before handing it back to Farkas.
“Tell your Jarl that he doesn’t need to send adventurers after me, I will come to him soon enough. Get out of here”
They didn’t need to be told twice. They booked it down the snowy mountain while Charles, who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, turned to face the looming danger.
The person, who Charles could make out to be quite petite, gave him a glance and smiled. Their eyes glowing a bright amber before going back to normal.
“A Lich…. If you came out of the temple, why would you be defending the humans and disobeying me, your master?”
“I have no master, just allies, friends and enemies.”
She scoffed, shaking their head in disbelief. They unfurled their wings to their full extent, making Charles hesitate as the person took to the skies.
“There are tools, and then there are unusable ones. Which one would you be?”
Charles stared them down while gulping inwardly. This was definitely some kind of morphed deity or creature, maybe one of the daedric gods had come down and decided this was the day for Skyrim to explode.
Nevertheless, He readied Spellbreaker on his left and the ebony blade on his right, angling both up towards his now confirmed enemy.
“Well, I guess you’ll have to find out now won’t you?”
There’s chapter 8! And yes, it is theoretically much easier to assert her might in dragon form but also easier to eat, sleep, and…well.. Everything else in human form so that explains the switches in-between them.
Anyways, see you guys next chapter!
W.O.V