Namund the alchemist Journal 2: The end of Helgen

• Posted by Louis the fourth January 31, 2012 - 823 views
  Slowly I regained my consciousness. I opened my eyes. The world swam before me. " I see you're finally awake" I heard a voice in the void. Had I spoken? And who was I? I tried to remember while the voice kept on talking. There were two of them now. Then I remembered. I was Namund. An alchemist. After crossing the hurdle of my own identity, the mist in my mind disappeared and I could see clearly. I was surprised at what I saw. I was on a horse-drawn wagon, my hands bound. I was a prisoner of the empire. With me on the wagon was a stormcloak soldier, a scrawny Nord dressed in rags like me and a nobleman, his mouth bound. The scrawny nord, who was a horse thief, addressed the stormcloak "What's wrong with him?" He asked, nodding towards the nobleman "Watch your tounge. You're speaking to Ulfric Stormcloak, the true high king of Skyrim." The horse thief turned pale."Ulfric? But you're the leader of the rebellion! If they've captured you then... Gods! Were are they taking us?" At this moment I stopped listening to the conversation and pondered the thief's question. Where, in fact, were we going? I looked at the mountains, the trees, the road. With dread I realized we were going to Helgen. "We're heading to Helgen." I stated. Everyone on the wagon looked at me in disbelief. Then we rounded the bend and there was Helgen with her walls and towers. We passed through the gate, the sentry shouting something about the headsman. The thief was praying fervently, as if he had been devout all his life. "You're from Helgen?" The stormcloak asked me. "Yes, I've been born here. Vilad's my da." He looked of in the distance. "I used to be sweet on a girl from Helgen. I've always wondered if your father still makes the mead with the juniper berries." I tried to answer him, but a darkness passed over me as I thought of my family. I could not remember much of what happened thereafter. I remember my head on the cold chopping block. A mighty roar. I remember a dragon blacker than the night itself. Fire raining from the sky. One moment I recall with clarity. I had just jumped into the inn. My father's inn. Fervently I sought him, whether he was dead or alive. I found nothing but flames and carnage My memories once again fade thereafter. I remember entering the keep. I tried to fight, and I think I may have killed an imperial. Before I knew what had happened, I was standing just outside Helgen, the dragon well away over the mountains. Ralof, the stormcloak who was with me on the wagon and who has helped me through the keep was telling me something about riverwood and his sister. I was paying him no heed. I only had one thought in my mind: Where was my father? I decided to head back to Helgen. I sneaked through the gate. When I was sure there were no more soldiers, I searched every house and even the keep for my father, finding nothing. I was filled with joy and sorrow at the same time. My father was not in Helgen, so he must have escaped and was still alive. But now I was on my own. I had no home and no one who I could trust. I headed back to the inn to see what I could salvage. There was not much left and I was giving up hope of finding something useful when I saw a few floorboards missing. The ground was perfectly flattened, as if by human hands. I started to dig. Finally I got to a chest. It was locked. I fumbled for the inn's key. To my surprise it fitted. Was this my father's savings? Or was it something more valuable? I opened the chest and then my life changed for the worst. I've always pushed the memory of that chest from my mind and I swore a solemn oath never to name it's contents. Never have I seen something more nightmarish. I stumbled out of the inn and fell on my knees. I started to cry. Sobbing at first, but then shouting in an inhumane tone. It was raining. Water and tears flowed together and ran down the streets of a place that had once been my home. Only one thought stayed in my mind. A thought that I could not dispel. My father was a necromancer.