XiliriteJoin Date: 2009-10-31
Post Count: 6995 |
Demmres Septim walked through the halls of the White Gold Tower, her long robe dragging on
the floor. Her hood is up, but even so, her beauty is clear. However, the look in her eyes
is the look of a wise old woman, not of a fine young woman. Her hair was blond, almost white,
and her eyes shone blue. Her skin was fair colored, and she looked Imperial. She climbed
down many flights of stairs, never slowing down, speeding up, or making a noise. Finally,
she reached the bottom. She took a deep breath, and opened the door.
Instantly, the silence was broken by a loud argument. The council members were all out of
their seats, screaming at one another. Demmres cleared her throat, and the room went silent
. "Empress..." One of the council members, a young man with no hair to speak of. "I know
what is happening, Irian." Demmres said, in a gentle voice. She walked over to her chair,
sat down slowly, and sighed. "Dragons have returned, have they?"
"Yes, your highness." another council member said, this one with too much hair. "We have
gotten reports from Skyrim that Dragons have attacked, and are terrorizing the many cities."
It can't be! Demmres thought. Dragons do not exist...do they?
"Do we have proof?"
"Is thousands of people fleeing Skyrim at once proof?"
"No. It could be an invasion, or plague."
"They would've quarantined the whole region if that was the case, and they would've sent
everyone to the chapels."
"Yes, but..." Demmres stopped for a moment. "But dragons aren't real."
"What about that day, 200 years ago? When a dragon saved this very city from Mehrunes
Dagon, and in the process, Cyrodiil?"
"That was Akatosh, not a dragon. He simply took form of a dragon." She wanted this topic
to drop. Martin Septim was her great-great-grandfather. Him and the Champion of Cyrodiil
were in a relationship, and had given birth to Uriel Septim IX. She remembered those days
as if she was there, not just told of them...
After the attack on Kvatch, which had been rebuilt just a few years ago, there was a period
of silence, as other Daedric threats appeared. There was the incident with the Ayleids,
where the Champion became a Knight of the Nine to destroy Umaril, the Ayleid Sorcerer King.
After that, she went to the Shivering Isles, and became Sheogorath, Princess of Madness,
although she was quite sane. That was when Mehrunes began to create many Gates to Oblivion,
and the Champion destroyed them all, defended all of the cities of Cyrodiil, and became a
wreck. After the things she had seen, and seeing her love sacrifice himself for Cyrodiil,
she became more and more secluded, until she was found, dead, in the Shivering Isles. That
day, everyone in the Shivering Isles-From Mania to Dementia-Made a journey to Cyrodiil,
and buried her in her birth town of Anvil. Only a day later, Nirnroot grew on her grave,
a sign that in death, she had become a Demigod. That was her mothers history.
Demmres remembered her brother, Uriel Septim XI. He had gone to Skyrim to "Finish his
research on the Dwemer." He never returned. "Uriel, you... if you caused all of
this...
"Alright everyone. Skyrim is too the north, through mountains. We will have to sail there.
We must help them." There was a sudden buzz of conversation, and Demmres tapped her chair
seat twice. Silence resumed. "My brother is up there, and so are many Nords. If we stay
here, we will have a rebbelion on our hands. The Nords of Cyrodiil will cause ruin and
destruction. And Skyrim are our allies. This is a diplomatic and personal issue. We will
assemble twelve ships, each with one noble and a hundred Battlemages, Imperial Soldiers,
and a Beastslayer. I also want the largest ship to have me, and the Knights of the Nine on
it. Esbern!"
A young man with darker skin, but still clearly imperial, with short, black hair,
approached her. He was a blade-the last one. Only Demmres knew this, however. "You will be
the captain of my ship." He nodded. "Get the ships prepared." He nodded again, stood up,
bowed to her, and the council members, then left. Demmres took a deep breath.
"...Uriel, please be alive..."
Demmres landed in Solitude, the northern most Nordic City. Her small army began their long march to Winters Hold. When they finally arrived, it had been a month since the journey started. Demmres remained patient, even as others were not. They then began to comb the countryside, searching for a rock that looks like a flame, billowing upwards, with stairs leading to the top and a small platform there. Uriel said that was his destination, all those weeks ago. Demmres decided to leave herself, after a week.
Demmres rode through the forest at a trot, observing the forest she was in. Snow was everywhere, and yet there was still a sense of warmth to the place. Golden sunlight poured through the gaps in the leaves, and the wildlife was friendly. But then it all changed. The sunlight dissipated, and the wildlife disappeared. Demmres was wary. “Nine Divines, what is going on?” It had suddenly become deathly cold. Her bodyguards were equally disturbed by the almost instant change. Then, with three huge pulses of winds, all twenty riders fell from their horses. As they rose, dust swirled around them, as two huge flaps of leather beat the air. A gargantuan creature stood there, with black scales gleaming in the light generated by the flame it blew into the sky. Demmres froze in her spot, staring at the monstrosity in front of her. It was a dragon. A huge, angry dragon. And it was looking at her. But Demmres noticed something in its eyes. Although it was much larger then her, it was afraid of her. It seemed to snap out of its sudden fear, and roared in rage, running straight towards the group of men. “Everybody run!” Demmres screamed, and they obeyed. As they sprinted through the forest, the sound of trees being crushed and blasting flame mingled with heavy breathing and shouts of terror. When they started the journey, there were twenty of them. The huge dragon started slowly picking off the men. Soon, only five of them were left, and they had reached a cliff. They couldn’t turn back, they couldn’t climb up the cliff face, and they couldn’t fight the dragon. As they slowly realized what had just happened, the sound of the dragon got louder and louder. They turned around just in time to see the huge dragon crash through the trees. It stopped as it realized that it had finally won, and just as it was about to take their lives, it froze. Both sides didn’t move an inch. The dragon suddenly whelped, and turned around, about to run off. At the same time, a scream of rage came from atop the cliff, and a man, with a horned helmet and armor made of leather, fur, and iron, dove from atop the cliff. He was glowing slightly, and Demmres realized he was using a spell. With a huge sword in his hand, and a shield falling down the cliff with him, he landed on the dragon, shouting strange words in a language Demmres had never heard before. A huge wave of energy burst forth, hitting the dragon, who screamed in pain. Then the scream got louder as the sword buried itself in the dragon’s skull. It writhed and thrashed in pain, as the man pulled out another sword, this one shorter, and stabbed that one into the dragon’s forehead. It crashed to the ground, twitching slightly as rivulets of blood poured downs its face. Then it stopped moving, with a gasp of pain emitting from its mouth. A flame engulfed the dragons body, moving towards the man, as a strange essence also followed. The essence engulfed the man for a moment, and then it disappeared. The flame that had passed over the dragon had left it unscathed, as if it had never even been there. The man slowly stood, and wiped the blood off of his face, and looked at Demmres. He jumped off the dragon, and landed on his feet. He walked towards Demmres, and studied her for a second. Demmres felt that she had seen this man before, but she couldn’t tell. It was something about the eyes, something that felt so familiar. The man wiped the dirt and ashes off of her face, and then smiled. “My my, Demmres, see how you’ve grown since I left?” Demmres finally realized why the man was so familiar. “Uriel!” The two embraced, and the guards cheered. Demmres looked on top of the cliff. Sure enough, there was a rock that looked like flame. “We found you. We finally found you.”
Uriel invited the six into his house, a small cabin on a cliff, overlooking the sea and a large mountain range that bordered it to the east. The only window faced directly north. There were two rooms, and two floors. On the top floor, there was a large assortment of bedrolls, some of which had been ripped to shreds, others burnt, and the rest covered in dirt and blood. Uriel had cleaned six of them for his guests. The bottom floor had a table with a few chairs, a fireplace, and nine huge armoires, each filled with weapons, and pieces of fur, leather, and metal. There were no replacement parts for the helmet, it seemed. It must’ve had sentimental value to Uriel. Demmres made a mental note to ask him about it later, to find out exactly what happened in his absence. However, it was night by the time they had reached it. The guards went to sleep, but Demmres stayed downstairs with Uriel. The two sat in front of the fireplace for a while. Neither spoke. Finally, Uriel cleared his throat. “So, you’re probably wondering why I never came back.”
“Yes, that would be accurate.”
Uriel sighed. “It was because of the dragons. I was going to return, but the dragons attacked my ship. I almost died, and I had spent all of the Septims I had brought with me on that boat. After that, I tried to go south, but dragons attacked me then as well. Every time I tried to return home, they appeared and stopped me. However, I had heard that many others had left Skyrim and made it Cyrodiil. I think that it was because of my lineage. Something about being of Septim blood made the every single last dragon in Skyrim keep me here. I can’t be certain of that however. I eventually decided to find a way to hunt dragons. I found one who could. She would only call herself Savior. She looked familiar, but I had never seen her before in my life, me being holed up in the White Gold Tower back in Cyrodiil. Speaking of which, how is father?”
Demmres didn’t answer. Uriel’s expression darkened. “Assassins?”
“No.”
“Sickness?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“Suicide."
Uriel froze. “But why?”
“We don’t know. There was no note. Well, there was one, but it was thrown into a fire. It was enchanted, and we’re having trouble restoring it to its original form.”
Uriel’s expression darkened even further. “Uriel, continue.” Demmres said, quietly.
“No.”
He stood up, and went upstairs. Demmres sat there, staring at where he was sitting. She knew she was going to have to tell him, but she didn’t expect this. The old Uriel would never have acted this way. Something happened to him here in Skyrim that changed him. So many questions spun in Demmres’ head. Who was this Savior? Why were the dragons hunting Septims? What had happened to Uriel that changed him so much? How had dragons come back? Why Skyrim? Why now?
Demmres sighed in confusion and frustration, and fell asleep right there on the wood floor.
Armland woke up to his brother throwing a sword onto his bed. “Get up! Dragons are attacking!” Armland instantly jumped out of bed. “Taryn, where is my armor?”
“There’s no time! We have to hurry; they’ve already caught half the town on fire!”
The two of them ran out into the village, and he was met by a blast of heat. It had been hot inside, but outside, it felt as if the whole world was on fire.
Looking around, it might as well have been.
It seemed as if every building in the town was on fire. He smelt burning flesh, and he saw bodies filling from the sky. One of them-only one-was a dragon. It crashed into the Woodsman’s Solitude, the only tavern in town. He heard screams coming from it. “Come on, Taryn, this way!” He sprinted towards the tavern, almost tripping on the dragons dismembered wing, and burst inside. He saw that a few people had survived. “Quickly, everyone! Outside! We’re going to head to the fort!”
“We are?” Taryn had run in. “At least tell me your brilliant plans before you execute them!”
Ignoring Taryn, Armland told the survivors “Find as many survivors as possible, then meet me at the town square, by the ballista! Go!” They all scattered. He reached the ballista with Taryn in about ten seconds. “Taryn, you help my load this thing, I’ll shoot down the dragons!” He could see that there were about nineteen dragons in the sky. They normally only attacked with two or three. It seemed as though something had triggered this.
The medallion! He fingered the odd crystal coin on my neck. He had been wearing it as a necklace this whole time. It had a strange symbol on it. It looked like a dragon, in the shape of a diamond, flying upwards. He had sent it to a scholar, and he said it was the symbol of Alduin, god of destruction. He figured it was just some bizarre cult necklace, and he had kept it as a good luck charm. Now, it seemed as if there was something much more to it…
Wasn’t Alduin a dragon? Does that mean that this medallion was of worth to him, and he had sent his minions-the Jill-to attack them and retrieve the medallion?
Was all of this his fault?
“Armland! The ballista is loaded!”
Armland snapped out of his thoughts, and manned the large siege weapon. He shot at one of the dragons, and watched in dismay as it missed. He had never used a ballista before. He knew how to shoot it, but only by watching the actual crew practice. The guards were probably using the better, metal made ballistae-the ones with magical enchantments and the like-while the townsfolk were stuck here with this one antiquated weapon. He growled, as Taryn armed it again. “Ready!”
Ka-Chunk!
It fired a bolt straight through a dragon’s wing. It screamed, and started to fall to the ground, very slowly.
“Ready!” Taryn shouted.
Ka-Chunk!
The next one hit its tail, and it started to simply fall to the ground. It seemed to, halfway through the fall, accept its fate, and curled its wings up, allowing the pain to end swiftly. It almost made Armland sad, to see it die like that. Then he remembered how many villagers-how many of his friends-this one dragon probably killed. “Arm it again!”
“Ready!”
Ka-Chunk!
“Ready!”
Ka-Chunk!
They went on like this for what seemed like hours, only occasionally shooting down a dragon. There were still five dragons left. The guards were busy defending the fort, and they only had about seven bolts left. They must have killed only about two or three. The rest were attacking the fort, however. Five more, and then the village was safe.
They fired, and fired, and fired, until there was one dragon, and one bolt. This dragon realized the threat, and went down to finish it off.
The threat was Armland and Taryn.
Taryn loaded the ballista, and Armland took aim. He waited for just the right moment, so that the dragon wouldn’t crash into them, and yet he would still hit. It got closer and closer, and then…
Ka-Chunk!
The bolt lodged itself in the dragon’s throat. It gagged, and started to fall.
“Quick! Run!” Armland screamed, as he realized it was about to kill them. He jumped out of the ballista’s seat, and sprinted away.
Taryn turned away to run to the right, when a burning building collapsed, blocking his way.
He turned to run the other way, and the dragon was getting closer.
“Taryn, look out!”
Taryn barely took two more steps before the dragon plowed through the ballista…
And him.
“Taryn, no!” He screamed, and ran towards him. He barely registered the fort in the background crumbling to pieces under the dragons relentless assault. Armland kneeled next to his brother.
“Armland…just run! The dragons…they’ll be here soon.”
Swallowing tears, Armland nodded. He knew that he would never be able to move the dragon’s body. He ran to the stables to find a horse. He picked the only one left-a young, grey and white stallion. It seemed like it was well trained. Armland was at least a little bit lucky. He climbed on, and galloped out of the city.
When he turned back, he saw nothing but fire. He thought about where to go. Winters Hold was the closest civilized place. He kicked his horse’s sides, and then galloped off.
Armland rode for hours, never seeming to get anywhere. His town was in the middle of nowhere. Nobody ever thought about it, nobody ever went to it, and nobody ever even bothered to put it down on a map. Even if Winters Hold was the closest place with human beings, it was still an incredibly long trip, even on horseback at this speed.
And it was cold.
Not just normal cold. Armland's sword was covered in a thin layer of ice in only an hour. Even as a Nord, he couldn't stand the cold. His horse suddenly began to fall. Armland scrambled to get off, but the cold had numbed his entire body, and the horse collapsed.
When Armland woke up, he found himself in a small wood cabin. A fire was blazing nearby, and he was under quite a few blankets. He looked around, and tried to identify where he was. If bandits had captured him, he would be dead by now, or tied up face down in the snow, not warm and comfortable. Suddenly a woman entered the room. She looked like a High Elf, and also looked quite old. “I see you are awake. I brought you some bread.” She put the bread on the small table behind me. “Go on, eat. I just saved your life, it's not poisoned. I wouldn't go through all that trouble just to kill you now, would I?” Armland looked down at the bread, and cautiously took a bite. It tasted like bread, thankfully. “Thank you. What's your name?”
“Ah, you don't need to know my name. I'm just a tired old elf. What is yours?”
“Armland Yls.”
“Yls?” The High Elf was surprised. “How did you survive the dragons?”
“We didn't. I ran away.”
The Elf sat down, a thoughtful look on her face. “Would you like to learn how to fight dragons?”
Armland was taken by surprise. “Fight dragons?!”
“Yes. I have learned how to fight them quite well, and I know how to teach others to do the same.”
Armland thought about his brother. If it wasn't for the dragons, he would still be alive.
“I'll do it.”
The Elf smiled. “Good.”
As they stood up, the Elf looked over her shoulder.
“My name is Savior. I hope you can handle a few bruises.”
Uriel stood atop a hill, looking out into the distance. The dragons were getting more accurate. They were hunting him. But why?
"Emperor Uriel?"
"I'm not an emperor."
"Sorry, Uriel."
The imperial soldier stood next to him. "What are you looking for?"
"Dragons. We need to leave soon. They know I'm here. They'll attack soon. Just because I can fight them doesn't garuntee a win. They can still kill me, with ease.
"Go. Pack up your things, and ready your horses. We ride to Winters Hold."
The soldier ran off. Uriel spotted a dragon, flying through the mountains. Although they were terrible beasts, he could not ignore their magestic beauty. They were no Akaviri Dragons, they still had a few similarities.
They had been riding for almost an hour. Winters Hold was in sight, although just barely. Once they got there, they would be safe from the dragons, for the most part. The fort had survived much worse then Dragons. Demmres, however, felt like they were in more danger then before. She felt like she was being watched.
"Uriel, I-"
"I know. Ignore it."
Demmres swallowed, and nodded. He must have a plan. She just wished she knew what the plan was.
They continued to ride. The feeling grew stronger, but she ignored, trusting in Uriel.
"Empress?"
Demmres turned to face Esbern. Demmres nodded. "Uriel has a plan."
Esbern nodded back."It had better be a good one. The King of Skyrim was assassinated earlier today."
Demmres' eyes widened. "What?"
"They might be hunting you, too. We don't know who did it. It might be the Mythic Dawn again."
"No..." Demmres knew that wasn't it. "It's somebody else."
Suddenly, Uriel jumped off his horse. "We'll camp here for the night." He approached Demmres. "Don't sleep. They'll go after one of us."
Demmres nodded. Whoever it was that was watching them, they were about to get caught. |