Backstory: Kor, the Beginning Part II

• Posted by Doug S November 9, 2011 - 1,019 views

  I am Kor the Nightbringer, and this is my story...

   

  My destination was the ruins of Cloud Ruler Temple and the road beyond that meandered through the Jerall Mountains. I had heard enough stories to know that this pass was hard to travel and dangerous, but the only way through the mountains and to Riverwood beyond nonetheless.

   

  I approached Pale Pass with caution. The evening sun was saying goodbye with every one of my slogging steps in the thick snow. The crunch beneath my well worn boots was the only sound for an hour of travel save the occasional falling branch or howling in the far distance. It was a lonely road, but such was much of my life for my part. “Some are meant to walk alone,” the old men in the tavern often repeated over a few ales.

   

  As exhaustion began taking a toll on my body, I stopped for rest as well as a small meal. My feast included the last of my meager supply of smoked rat meat and a few blood red wolf berries common to the evergreens of the Jerall mountains, but they provided little sustenance. Still, the brief rest did me well, and I rose from the rotted stump I sat upon and returned to the task ahead.

   

  The last of the sun set between two great pines, but I could not stop for shelter and fire. I had spent hard nights alone in bitter cold exposed to the elements before and did not want to experience that again. But this was different. I was determined.

   

  I pushed on as the snow began to fall. The going was slower, the way all up hill. A sudden and heavy snap of a branch on the hill to the east forced me to pay more attention to the potential dangers around me. A second twig snap served to confirm my suspicion. I was being watched.

   

  I could not reach the large double bit ax that hung over my back, but I had a large knife at my side that was easily within reach. In less than a second, my attacker was upon me while I spun in its direction with the blade drawn. I barely dodged the lion's claws, receiving but only a scrap to my left shoulder. I did manage a deep cut to my adversary's head in the fray, slicing the beast above its eyes. This gave me the time I needed to prepare for a second lunge once the lion returned from its stunned state.

   

  Using the ax as a shield, I gave the creature a heavy blow followed by a downward swing of the full blade of the knife, severing the lion's spine. As I regained my breath, my heart slowed, and the blood-rush left my head, I remembered: In this environment, I was both predator and prey. The title of winner usually went to who struck first. The loser would soon awaken in Sovngarde. The Divines were certainly with me this night.