It was dark. She couldn't remember anything prior to the cart that she is currently riding in. There were a few new faces in front of her that she didn't see before.

"Hey, you."

She looked up at him. He was strong, and obviously had a warrior type of build about him. His blonde hair swayed about with every bump and turn the cart made.

"You're finally awake. You were trying to cross the border, right? Walked right into the imperial ambush, along with us, and, that thief over there."

"Damn you stormcloaks," The thief scoffed, "Skyrim was fine until you came along. If the empire hadn't have been looking for you, I could've stolen that horse and been half way to Hammerfell." He turned to her, eyes pleading. "You and me, we shouldn't be here. It's the rebels the empire wants!"

"We are all brothers and sisters in binds now, thief," The blonde said.

"Shut up back there!" Grunted the imperial guard that was guiding their cart.

"What was that all about, hunh?" The thief said, looking at someone who strongly reminded her as hawk..or maybe an eagle.

"Watch your tongue," Growled the blonde. "You're speaking to Ulfric Stormcloak, the true high king!"

"Ulfric?" The thief blinked at his name, stunned. "The jarl of windhelm? You're the leader of the rebellion...if this is true, dear gods, where are they taking us?"

"I don't know where we're going," The blonde sighed, looking at his feet, "but Solvengarde awaits."

"No, this can't be happening, this isn't happening!"

"Hey, what village are you from, horse thief?" Asked the blonde, trying to keep the thief from panicking and steering the topic away from what was to come.

"Why do you care?" He spat at him.

"A nords last thoughts should be of home."

"Rorikstead," The thief answered pitifully, "I'm...I'm from Rorikstead."

Last thoughts? It was then when she decided to take in her surroundings while the two of them talked about what they missed. They had just went underneath the gate. She was looking for a chopping block; she was sure that was where they were headed. The blonde's remarks was a dead give away that they were prisoners about to go to their deaths.

"Who are they papa? Where are they going?"

"You need to go inside, little cub."

"Why? I wanna watch the soldiers!"

"Inside the house, NOW."

"Yes papa…."

Indeed, little one. Listen to your father, for a little cub shouldn't be watching the execution of others. Blood and gore, the father had every right to be strict on his cub.

Her breathing hitched in her throat as soon as she spotted the chopping block. She was right—they were going to their deaths. Maybe word of her stealing finally got wind of the imperials, and they were putting her to death because of it. She figured it was about time for her luck to finally run out.

"Get the prisoners out of the cart, move it!"

"This is our stop, we shouldn't keep the gods waiting for us." The blonde said with a smirk. He stood up from his seat, followed by the rest of the prisoners one by one, including herself.

"No! I'm not a rebel!"

"Face your death with some courage, thief!"

"You've got to tell them, we weren't with you!"

"Step to the block one at a time when we call your name, one at a time!" The captain ordered.

"The empire loves their damned list." Grumbled the blonde. They never did introduce themselves while they were riding on the cart.

"Ulfric Stormcloak, Jarl of Windhelm."

"It has been an honor, Jarl Ulfric." The blonde stated.

"Ralof of Riverwood."

Ralof was his name, hunh?

Kyra watched as he approached the chopping block. Nobody should have to die like this. It was the worst way to die. She tried to imagine what it would be like to get her head chopped off. Would she feel anything, or not? She was more curious than afraid of death. She was starting to wonder if there was something wrong with her for even pondering it. The others around her looked very bothered and frightened about the chopping block, while she just stood their wondering about it like a child.

"Ulfric Stormcloak," She saw the general standing in front of Ulfric, hands on his hips as he tapped his foot impatiently, "Some here in Helgen call you a hero, but a hero doesn't use the power of his voice to murder the high king and usurp his throne."

All he got in response was a grunt.

"You started this war!" Yelled the general, "Plunged Skyrim right into chaos. And now, the empire is going to put you down, and restore the peace!"

A strange call bellowed in the distance, echoing throughout the settlement and causing those in hearing distance to look up.

It was a strange sound, one that she has never heard of before.

"What was that?" Asked one of the imperial guards with the check list of names. His duty, it seemed, was to not only record names, but cross them off as well as they approached the block.

"It's nothing," The general huffed. "Carry on!"

"Yes, general Tullius!" Saluted the captain. "Give them their last rights."

"As we commend your souls to the realm of Atherius, blessings of the eight divines upon you, for you are the soul of nirn, our beloved-"

"Dammit, shut up, and lets get this over with!" Barked one of the stormcloak prisoners.

"Very well," The priest lowered her arms, rolling her eyes at the stormcloak's anger.

Kyra didn't blame him for being angry. She was actually angry herself from being forced to watch someone's execution; she had a feeling they were all just there to be there. They may be stormcloaks, but they couldn't have done anything this serious to cause them to get an execution on them, would they? What could they have done to deserve such a punishment? Ulfric's reasoning was good enough, but the rest of them seemed to be nothing more than bystanders or followers of Ulfric Stormcloak due to being called "Stormcloaks".

"I haven't got all morning," The prisoner spat as he was forced down onto his knees.

"My ancestors are smiling at me imperials," He said, his head smashed into the block, "Can you say the same?!"

Then came the swish of the chopping ax, along with the fresh smell of blood, iron and boiling skin. It reeked strongly of death. She was starting to become afraid now; she could feel herself shaking.

"Next, the cat!" The captain shouted, kicking the body off the block and knocking it off to the side. The strange roar echoed through the area again, once again briefly interrupting them.

"There it is again," Said the guard with the notebook and quill in his hand, "What was that?"

"I said. Next. Prisoner."

"To the block prisoner," The guard said gently. "Nice and easy. There we go."

Taking a deep breath, Kyra held her breath to avoid the smell of rotting flesh, blood and iron, an awful combination that was enough to make her feel like vomiting. She closed her eyes as the executioner raised his ax high above his head.

She was told many times about the afterlife, that the Khajiit go to "Paradise" when they die. She wondered what that paradise was: was it this Sovengarde that Ralof was talking about earlier? Is that where she will go when she dies? Or will she simply cease to exist once the ax goes down? She didn't get a chance to ponder the rest of her questions when this hideous beast with huge wings landed down onto the tower the executioner was standing in front of. It was downright terrifying!

The beast took one glimpse at her, as if it was observing her before making a shout of some kind that summoned these fire balls all around her. The executioner lost his balance, and was killed by his own weapon. How ironic can you get?

"You there" Ralof called to her as she stood up, her head spinning due to the awful noise the beast had just made as it lifted itself up into the skies. "C'mon, get up, the gods won't give us another chance!"

She ran off into the next tower, crouching down as everything burst into flames. She's never seen anything like raining balls of fire before.

"Jarl Ulfric," Gasped Ralof. "What is that thing?! Could the legends be true?!"

"Legends don't burn down villages."

"Look out!"

The tower busted open, followed by an intense ray of flames, and the same roar from earlier above them. Kyra, Ralof and Ulric climbed up the stairs to see what was going on, but the beast had already flew off by the time they got there. Kyra looked behind them to find a dead Stormcloak lying underneath the pile of rubble. The whole place of Helgen smelled of burning flesh and flames. Nocturnal help them.

"See the inn from the other side? Jump through the roof and we will catch up with you!"

Kyra didn't have to be told twice, she jumped, scraping her knee from the rough landing. More flames flew across the sky and even more were on the ground. When she jumped again from the edge of the inns roof, she received another wound on her second knee.

"Torolf!" Shouted the imperial in grief. "Gods, everybody get back!"

A tear went down her cheek when she recognized the body underneath the beast as it landed, he was cradling his wounds, wounds that looked very bad. It was the boy's father from before, that had told him to go into the house so he wouldn't have to see the execution. Her eyes watered up as he told his son to make him proud. The fire roasted him alive, he didn't stand a chance. She gave a brief look at the boy who was hiding behind his damaged house. He too, had tears in his eyes. She wished the child well, who nodded in response to her as she took off, following the imperial soldier across the walkway near the sidewall in front of them.

"Stay close to the wall!" He commanded, just as the beast landed again to make another devastating blow to the team of imperials that were firing bow and arrows at it.

"Stay close to me, prisoner!"

"Hadvar, into the keep, soldier, we're leaving!" The general called from behind them as they took off through a burning house. They finally found a clearing and made it for the bridge, but before they got there, they were stopped by Ralof, who pulled out his ax as the imperial soldier pulled out his blade.

"Ralof, you damn traitor, out of my way!"

"We're escaping, Hadvar." Ralof placed his war ax up, "You're not stopping us this time."

"Fine, I hope that dragon takes you all to Sovengarde! C'mon, into the keep! With me Prisoner, let's go!"

That's what that thing was.

Shaking her head of anymore thoughts, she followed Hadvar down into Helgen Keep, the main fortress of Helgen. It was a close call, too, she nearly got her fur burnt off from lingering around outside for too long.


"Looks like we're the only ones that made it," Hadvar gasped, closing the door shut behind them. "Was that really a dragon, bringers of the end of time?" He shook his head, "We should keep moving, come here, let me see if I can get those bindings off." He cut the ropes that were on Kyra's hands with his dagger, "There we go. Find some equipment, there should be some armor around here. I'm going to look for something for these burns."

As luck would have it, Kyra found armor. She found an Imperial Curias along with boots and a helmet.

She gathered all the coins that were sitting on the table by the front door, picking up a book about the empire afterward. She figured she might as well learn as much about Skyrim as she possibly can. "What is your name?" Asked Hadvar, "You never told me yours before."

Kyra shrugged. "It's a bit hard to introduce oneself when this one is about to get her head chopped off," She said, "Do you mind if this one has privacy?"

"Oh," Hadvar blushed. "Yes, of course."

"This ones name is Kyra," She explained as she put on the curiass, followed by the boots and the helmet. "Yours?"

"Hadvar," Hadvar sighed. "Is it safe?"

"Quite," Kyra turned to face him, "Now what?"

"Now," Hadvar paused, "We make our escape. The dragon is tearing down the whole keep." Kyra nodded, grabbing at least one sword near by. She wasn't much of a warrior, and knew she would need a lot of practice. She gave the sword a few swings.

"Watch it," Hadvar backed up, "Don't swing it about aimlessly, work on the feel of the sword."

"Sorry," Kyra apologized, "Not much of a warrior. This one needs practice."

"It's alright, you'll get plenty of that soon enough as we make our way through the keep," Hadvar smiled, pulling down the chain that lead into the next room.

Two Stormcloak soldiers were resting there, both got up, very aggressive, they swung their battle axes about, almost slitting Kyra apart in the process. Thankfully, Hadvar was there to stun them both before they had the chance to slice her in half. Kyra and Hadvar ran into the next room together, only to be greeted with more two more Stormcloak soldiers. One was looking for potions, while the other was begging for his partner to hurry and get out of here. As soon as they were spotted, the Stormcloak soldiers attacked. Once again, Hadvar jumped to Kyra's defense. She felt awful for having Hadvar do all the work, although she wasn't good at using any weapons, she could at least try, right? When Hadvar took down the first soldier, Kyra focused on the other by the barrels against the wall. She brought up her sword, slit him across the upper right of his shoulder, and stabbed him in the chest.

Using her right leg, she kicked him off of her sword, knocking him off to the side of her. She slit at his neck as he stumbled down to the floor. Hadvar raised an eyebrow; "Nice work."

"Thanks." Kyra blinked, "This one has no idea how she did this."

"You'll understand in due time," Hadvar smiled at her, nodding towards the barrel that the soldier she just killed had been looking through. "That barrel has some potions in there, take them, you'll need them."

Kyra grabbed six health potions, six stamina potions and six magicka potions. Once she gathered what she needed, she followed Hadvar into the next room. - Ugh. More Stormcloak soldiers. They were in the torture room; she didn't agree with torture of any kind, it made her sick to her stomach. After the two Stormcloak soldiers fell to their deaths, she turned and went for the main torturer, who was very snobbish. People with snobby attitudes irked her to no end, and as far as she was concerned, the Torturer was an enemy, and, so was the torturer's assistant.

After she killed both of them, she went to get a few more supplies: 17 lockpicks, 3 more health potions, a magicka potion and a spark spell book. She picked up the iron sheild on the wall, a strong feeling was telling her that she was going to need it later on. Two more Stormcloak soldiers, five frostbite spiders and a cave bear later, Kyra and Hadvar finally made it out of Helgen keep. They hid behind the bushes as the dragon flew over head, still making the terrifying roars that it had made when it first landed in Helgen. They continued to hide until the dragon disappeared into the mountains off to the east.

"That was a close one," Said Hadvar, standing up and dusting himself off, "We should make it to Riverwood. My Uncle is the blacksmith there, he'll help you out. It's probably best if we split up, good luck, I couldn't have made it without your help today."

"You're welcome, " Kyra nodded. She waved goodbye to him as he ran down the hill. -