“Ruby! Are you ok? Did they hurt you?”
I felt Lidia’s hand on my shoulder, shaking me from my trance. Hehe, I suppose my little act didn’t quite go as I planned…
Telling the soldiers to stay behind while I supposedly went in and saved the day! Some fucking hero I am…
“They got away Lidia” Maybe I can still save this… “Ran when they realized I was too much for them!” I said, hope they believe this load of crap…
Lidia opened a large grin, and then turned to tell the guards how she was right all along. That I’m the Dragonborn of legend and that all those bad guys were nothing compared to me. I like Lidia; she makes me think higher of myself.
Zoe regained her consciousness and was trying to treat Sofia’s wounds, seems like Serana spared them. Probably because they aren’t “monsters”.
I heard a chuckle from behind, and saw Brennan. He was covered in his own blood, picked up his weapons and kept on laughing. This continued up until he was about to leave the building. He turned once more, pointed at me, and kept snickering while he headed towards the temple to get his wounds treated.
Lidia looked at me slightly confused. I just signaled her that it didn’t matter and told the soldiers to go check up on the Jarl. Don’t really care enough to do it myself.
My companion helped me down the stairs, bit hard to walk on my own with both the bruises I sustained during my previous fight and all these heavy plates. She guided me towards the temple of Kyne, where the wounded soldiers were being taken care of. I’m sure Brennan will call me to the battlefield once more, right after he takes care of his own wounds.
The streets were empty except for patrolling Imperial troops and priestesses carrying the wounded in and out of the temple. Lidia demanded that I was cared for immediately, honestly I was a bit embarrassed by it. She does seem to command some respect amongst the soldiers, as a bed was soon prepared for me.
After removing my plated set I lied down and awaited treatment. I figured some fractured ribs, maybe one or two broken. A familiar smell reached my nose, and as I turned my head I could see Shade’s mistress. I know that she has knowledge on the school of Restoration, seems like her orders were to tend to the wounded, although I doubt it’s just that.
“Nope!” I said as I started to get up once I noticed she was coming in my direction.
“Stay put dear” She replied while putting a wet rag next to my nose “Here, this will kill your pain, can’t have the Dragonborn out of action in this next battle now can we?”
Shit.
I felt my senses numb all over while my consciousness drifted. The thought of being knocked out and at the mercy of one of Shade’s lackeys’ disgusts me. Still, at least I wouldn’t feel a thing while she worked, and that’s a relief.
Don’t know how much time passed, but I soon started to feel groggy. A mild headache hit me while trying to rise, and my vision blurred. Standing up I felt the need to blink a few times, just to adjust myself. Wait a moment…
The ground felt, different, the air was filled with smoke and a feeling of desolation. As my sight grew closer to normality it became ever clearer to me that I was no longer in the temple.
The place stretched on for as far as my eye could see. It was, grey, for the lack of a better word. The ground was gravely, filled with gigantic crags, and enormous husks of trees sprawling around me. It felt empty, dead.
I turned to face an enormous wall of fog, so thick that I could hardly see what was beyond it. A great gust of wind soon blew the fog away, it sounded like a great beast, breathing…
A colossal castle appeared before me, as if carved out of one of the massive trees themselves. I inched ever closer, without really knowing why…
But then my trance was broken and I came to a stop. Looking at the ground I observed a line, and I nearly stepped on it. With closer observation it became apparent that this line formed a circle around the castle, followed by a smaller circle, and many runes in between them. Seems like whoever made this wants to keep something out.
The bellowing I heard before grew ever closer, right behind me…
I turned, only to be faced with an enormous figure, larger even than the dragon I fought before. In my panic I back stepped, tripping and falling to the ground. The figure noticed my fall and looked directly into my eyes, it was a shadow, impossibly large, and shaped like a massive bear. Its eyes were crimson, like orbs of flowing blood.
I felt fear to my very core, and couldn’t help but turn my eyes. I wish I hadn’t…
As my gaze twisted away from the monster I noticed what tripped me in the first place. A skeleton, not a normal one mind you, these bones were too big to be human.
Dragons.
The ground was littered with the bones of my kin. Instead of receiving the burial they deserved, their bones were simply tossed around, like if they were torn apart by the shear wrath of their aggressors.
The bear’s head neared me, and growled.
“YOU SMELL LIKE THEM” It boomed. It wasn’t shouting, but the sheer magnitude of his voice hurt my ears, I’m sure I heard this voice before…
It’s gaze locked with mine, and for a second I lost myself in it. He seemed to be showing me something, a vision, a great conflict, and chaos.
I saw fire around me, well, I say ‘I’, but my vision is being perceived from another’s eyes.
The first thing I noticed was the screams. The place didn’t change much; expect, instead of grey, there was only orange. The trees were set alight; smoke filled the air and suffocated those around it. Speaking of which…
I could see hundreds of people and they seemed like commoners. Small children with their mothers, scared men running from winged death. Humans all. They tried to find shelter inside the trees, in the caves, even on crevices in the ground. But every time one of them hid, a dragon swooped down and exterminated him. That’s right, dragons…
I couldn’t believe my eyes, there were hundreds, thousands of them! My kin rained destruction over everything in their path. Some of the humans were fighting back, even managing to wound the creatures. But the dragons were too many. Even when the humans managed to kill one of them, another simply swooped down and destroyed their chances.
But then, something changed. From above the cloud of smoke, the scaled beasts started to fall. They were dropping like rain, countless of them. I couldn’t see anything past the enormous cloud of smoke, but that soon changed.
There was a man, well, he looked like one at least, but he was, different. He seemed to be wearing armor, golden scales, and a helmet shaped like the head of a lion, but looking closely I could see no flaws or joints in it, looked like, his very skin…
In his hands there was a massive lugged spear, cross guarded at the tip, and about five and a half feet to the shaft. He lifted the weapon up with one hand like it was nothing, and then he channeled an absurd amount of electricity from his body, into his weapon, and fired to the skies.
The force surrounding the electricity burst the smoke apart, opening an enormous rift in the skies. From there, a single figure dropped. He too, looked human, but his body was covered in, black fire. His eyes shined crimson, and his form, naked.
As he landed, his poise went all over the place, giving the impression that he was drunk and out of balance. The shadow laughed, a maniacal, extremely familiar laugh…
His shape grew ten times his size, forming into the silhouette of a colossal bear. The knight jumped back, landing a good twenty feet away. He signaled towards his opponent, and dozens of dragons immediately sprung to action, following his command.
The scaled creatures were dwarfed by the shadow, and circled it like wolfs. The fanged beast grew ever angrier, and as the dragons pounced they got decimated, one by one. His gigantic claws tore through their scales and broke their bones; his maw closed on their necks and broke them without effort.
Without sustaining any wounds it obliterated the dragons, and now turned to face the knight. Both assumed a combat stance, and lunged towards each other.
“Stop,” Said a softer voice from behind the beast, bringing me back from the vision “She’s a transient, this is no place for her”
The being came to my view shortly after, again, a shade. It was much smaller then the beast before me though, and its shape, different. A horse, with bright violet eyes. It approached me and stared into my eyes. A great feeling of fatigue came over me, and I felt unable to stay awake. Slowly but surely, I drifted into nothingness.
My eyes opened and I gasped for breath, it felt like I had just been underwater! Lidia quickly grabbed hold of my shoulders so that I wouldn’t fall from my bed. She looked worried sick.
“Are you okay my thane?! I got so worried! You stopped breathing, I thought you were dead!”
“What?!” I gasped.
“Yeah! The priestess was healing your wounds, and then you just started to have a seizure! She told me to restrain you, but once we strapped you in, you stopped breathing! I began to panic; she gave you mouth-to-mouth and tried to jumpstart you heart by shocking and healing you at the same time, while pressing down on your chest. After a few times we thought you were gone… We removed your straps, but then you just jumped up!”
I would have paid good money to see my face at that moment…
Looking around I could see Julia calmly washing her hands on a basin next to my bed, she looked in our direction and shooed us away.
“You’re strong enough to walk are you?! Then get out of my workstation, there are others in need of treatment!” She said while practically shoving both of us out of the temple.
The door slammed behind us and we stumbled out into the shade of the Gildergreen tree. We stood in silence for a short moment, contemplating our situation. I found myself enjoying Lidia’s company, and that surprises me a great deal. I’ve never really had friends, been rather lonely most of my life. But I now find myself getting rather lonely in her absence, something I never felt before…
We were soon shaken from our rest, a rather familiar face, followed by a strange, cloaked silhouette. Ricard looked pretty tired, his hair was messy, his armor and face were dirty, and he reeked of sweat…
“Dragonborn, you are needed…” He said, keeping his posture and charming demeanor even while looking like shit. “The troops are in desperate need of a morale boost, and I wager the dragon’s voice will be a powerful weapon to use against the Cloaks”
I glanced to the large hooded figure to his side. A small part of his mouth and chin were visible, and from that I could only see that he is a cleanly shaven high elf, his sharp features and golden skin pointing to that conclusion. Attached to his back I saw the handle of a massive, curved greatsword, black as midnight. The figure stood without moving a muscle, and as soon as Ricard noticed that I was staring he spoke.
“Oh, him? He’s your bodyguard, name’s Ganlon. I’m afraid he’s an elf of few words, so chatting him up won’t do you much good” He said while signaling to the direction of the city’s gates. “Well, what are we waiting for?”
I walked forward, without really knowing what I was doing. Lidia kept assuring me that I would do well, but I’m not sure about that… I mean, people get killed in wars, and their personal skill rarely affects the outcome. I could get separated from my squadron, get outnumbered, torn apart, or even worse, get captured. I heard about what the Cloaks do to Nords they capture, betrayers to their cause and country they say, deserving of a fate worse then death.
Didn’t take long before we reached the gates to the outer wall, Ricard’s battalion was waiting, all battle hardened legionnaires, waiting to be led into glory by the Dragonborn. They all looked at me while I approached, and as I walked by I could hear whispers, awe, distrust, fear and respect for my person, I didn’t quite know how to feel about it…
I assumed a position in front of the battalion, alongside Ricard, Lidia and Ganlon. The elf stood tall behind me, his hand ready in the hilt of his sword. Lidia and Ricard took my flanks, assuring me I would have nothing to sorry about. I looked back to see the setting sun on the horizon, its faint light hurt my eyes, but it could be the last time I saw it. Pushing away these thoughts out of my mind I looked forward, as the gates opened, and I led them to grandeur…
Comments
Oh I like it... An elf you!!! Ganlon... Yes this could be good...