Chapter I
Darkness, heat and the feeling of thick warm blood rushing around me like a river during springtime. I open my eyes, feeling groggy, with a small pain in the back of my head, why I do not know. Im sitting in a clearing, surrounded by large green trees. The heat I notice is radiating from the flowers that surround me, they are burning, but strangely enough, not turning to ash. I remember the name suddenly, mountain flowers. I can see the colors of the flowers easily through the grey flames, red, purple, blue and pink. My eyes suddenly travels down to my arms resting in my lap as I feel something not feeling right with them, thats when I noticed the blood trailing down my arms like rain during a autumn rainstorm, sliding down my upper arms, down all the way to my wrists. My hands are soaked in the blood, and somehow, I know its not my own. I blink, and suddenly the pain I felt at the back of my head has traveled all over my body, making me feel like I am freezing over and then melting again because of the flames surrounding me.
A sound so utterly defining, I am afraid the very mountains in the whole world will shatter and the sea rise up to collect us like leafs in the spring. I do not know where the sound comes from, but I find my eyes widening and looking up at the trees surrounding the clearing. Suddenly, I see it, a humongous shadow rising to the air, beating its gigantic, dark wings up and down, moving towards me. As the shadow moves over the forest, I see the trees drying up and dying, losing their green leafs, like a plague has hit it in mere seconds. As it moves over the flowers, they suddenly starts to burn in a black flame, and they turn to ash, not even a minute has passed by as the shadow moves towards me, and I already know this is the creature thats death, consuming the world and all the souls in it, all the life that has ever existed, turning to ash as it passes by over it. A feeling of utter terror and hopelessness consumes me as I watches the very world turn to ash. I cant find it in me to move, to run and hide, hoping the flames wont take me, eat my body and soul whole.
Pain in my right palm suddenly makes my eyes trail down again, and into the light blue eyes of a wolf pup. Somehow I know this animal, its not frightening me, and I move my hand over to pat its head, feeling sorry for its eminent demise.
The blue eyes looking up at me with such utter terror I start to question if I am actually afraid meets my own. And suddenly I hear it talk to me, "Wake up! Wake up! You have to wake up, he is coming back! You have to wake up he has returned! The" I cant hear the rest as the creature once again roars, this time looking straight at me. I meet its blood red eyes, feeling my body freeze up once again. "Wake up Niiri!" I hear the wolf scream at me, before rushing around to my other side and biting my left wrist with such power I feel myself black out.
Pain travels from the back of my head, downwards from my neck and over my back, stopping at the start of my lower back. The pain is making me feel cold, as cold as the skin of a long dead man. "So your finally awake" a voice calls, masculine and strong. My head snaps up and I am looking straight at a tall Nord man sitting in a caravan. Around me sits other Nords, a tall muscular blond one with a gage tied around his face, his dark steel and fur armor speaks of strength, power and most of all, wealth. Right in front of him sits another Nord, a skinny smaller man with brown hair pushed out of his face. The Nord sitting in front of me on the other hand is dressed in a heavy looking steel plated armor, with a dark bear pelt around his neck.
The Nords eyes meet mine, strength and kindness radiates of them, and I suddenly feel myself unable to move my gaze, but a sudden bump in the road throws me back against the wall of the caravan. I get a painful reminder that I will have some nasty, violet bruises later. My eyes focus on the bindings around my wrists, making me unable to use them. I look up at the Nord in front of me, confusion hitting me like a potion recipe gone horribly wrong. "Who are you? Where are we?" I ask, trailing of as another bump pushes me back, and I can see the Nords sitting in the caravan having problems not falling on top of each other as well. My voice is light, almost like the chipping of a bird, only a little more raspy, I guess I hurt my throat. I guess it fits with what I am after all, a light skinned woman, light in weight. Although I cant see my hair, I feel it against my lower back.
"Ralof, of Riverwood. You were trying to cross the border to enter Skyrim, and ended up getting captured along side us in that imperial ambush, right?" he answered my first question, adding his own. Blinking a few times again, it dawns for me "I was? I … I don't remember, ugh my head is killing me, it feels like someone is trying to crack it open using an iron mace." I mumbled, confused and in pain, thats when it registered "Skyrim? But... Oh by the divines, who am I? Why cant I remember who I am?" I ask, starting to panic. Ralof seams surprised by my outburst. "I guess the blow to head did more damage than I thought. I guess thats what you get when you try to sneak behind an imperial, with a mace in his hand girl. But I apologize, I do not know who you are..." Silence fills the carriage once again, but only for a few moments.
It takes a few seconds before I notice Ralof have turned and is asking the name of the skinny Nord at his side. "Lokir, of Rorikstead" the voice of the Nord is wimpy, weak and frightened, not what I suspected to from a Nord male, but on the other hand, I am not sure he is the big bad Nord from the stories. He is a horse thief after all. Ralof has this irritated look in his eyes when I look on him, keeping his eyes at Lokir, where mine also travels. "You sound frightened Lokir. Are you not you a grown man?" I asks, my voice as cold as the frozen water of a river in the high snowy mountains surrounding us. I keep my eyes on Lokir, but didn't move my head away from where it was from the start, looking straight forward, and a little down tilted. "I-" he starts to answer me, his voice angry now, but the guard steering the carriage interrupts, telling us to be silent. I decide to be exactly that, silent.
The sound of the forest occupies my mind, calming me, blocking out all the other sounds around me like a nice warm blanket. My eyes drift down to the hands in my lapp, bound so good I cant feel my fingers anymore. I try to ignore the pain in the back of my head and back, but the sun is bothering me to, its to strong. I notice I am dressed in something that looks a little like a leather armor, or at least the remains, dark leather and cotton covers my body, but its torn and dirty, like I have been in a fight with a pack of wolfs.
I suddenly notice the small dagger wounds running up and down my body, some parts of it looking like they might fester and a bigger wound at the top my left tight. Lokir is talking to me again, but I simply ignore him, looking out of the corner of my eyes at the Nord sitting at my side. The Armor he wears is made out of steel plates, cotton and sea blue silk, and a great cave bears pelt handing over is shoulders, attached to the armor by two decorated buckles chained together.
My eyes move over to Lokir again, hoping my face tells him how little I wish to hear what he has to say, and luckily for me, he stops talking to me again. I close my eyes, hoping it will all be over soon. Opening my eyes again a short time later, I notice we are going inside a small town, the walls around us are clearly imperial and nordic fused together. In front of me, I notice a tall imperial sitting on a horse, his golden armor glittering in the sun, and the wine red color on the cloak he was wearing was catching my eyes more than the golden armor, that sign on the back, I knew it somehow, I don't know why tho. "Who is that?" I asked, Ralofs eyes snapped to me the same instance as I asked. "That is general Tullius, the military governor of the Empire. And by the looks of it the Thalmor´s are with him. Damn elf´s, I bet they had something to do with this." he answered me, looking at the man on the horse, General Tullius, the name do not tell me anything other than his status, I don't know him. But the Thalmor, something about that name makes me pull my shoulders down, closer to my neck and I feel myself curling in more on myself, why I do not know. I guess I should just listen to my instinct.
Ralof looked over at the area around us as the carriage moved us slowly along the road, and started talking about where we where, and that he used to be sweet on a girl from this area. "Rebels eh? I hope they become pray for the beasts in the hunting grounds of Hircine" a man whispers. The smell of wet dog suddenly surrounds me and I find my head turning to look over my shoulder. Looking at a man talking to a young lad maybe ten or eleven years old. The man is the smell emits from, but the boy has a weaker version of the same smell. I watch as the boy walks back inside the house. And my head turns back towards Lokir as he starts blabbering again, I sight, shaking my head a little, I notice a smile coloring Ralofs face for a moment as he notice my despondency towards Lokir ever stopping to talk. Suddenly the carriage stops up, and I feel my blood freeze over as it dawns on me, we are not going to jail or anything like that, no no, of course not. We are going to the headsman. The other gets up, all but me and Lokir move fast it seams like, and I get on my feet as soon as I can feel the air moving down in my lungs again, I think I forgot to breath for a moment. But I am not frightened because I know I am going to die, no thats not why. Something feels wrong, something feels very wrong, like something catastrophically is about to happened, but I don't know why. My feet feels weaker than melting spring snow, I guess I have been sitting there for some time. My eyes meets with Ralof´s once again before he walks over to the man calling his name from a list, before walking over towards the headsman, knowing his destiny was written in stone, this was the day he would die. Suddenly I hear Lokir talking franticly to the man, telling him he isn't supposed to be there, before he starts to run of, running past the men standing in armor in front of us. He is fast, faster than I thought, like a rabbit running from a wolf. I see the arrow before it registers in my mind, and I watch as he falls over, the arrow poking through his chest, blood splashing from the wound, coloring the dirt road under him dark red. The man in front of me suddenly turns and looks at me, asking me to come forward, hesitating a second before I walk forward, I end up in front of him, keeping my eyes at his brown ones. Kindness, warmth and sorrow meets my gaze, he seams sorry that he has to do this, he knows I am going to die, but he sees it as an necessary evil to keep the empire in control of Skyrim. "Who are you?" he asks, voice strong and kind, but with a kind of authority that makes me straighten up more. Confusion is the exact thing that must be read from my face. I don´t know who I am, how can I answer him? I don´t know, I really don't know what to answer him, I don´t remember who I am. What do I look like exactly? I can recall, I am not even sure what race I am, am I a Nord? No Ralof would have said so, Imperial? No that do not feel like the right thing. My mind try to recall what I do know so far, pale skin, so not a Redguard, not Argonian, Orc, Khajiit or any of the Mer races. I notice the wind moving some of my hair into my vision, Blond, long and a tiny bit wavy, but not curly. I don´t think I got bangs tho, I feel the hair move around my forehead to much for that. Thinking about what races I have left to chose from, I end up with Breton. That sounds right, I guess I am a Breton then. Blinking again, I look at the Nord standing in front of me, unsure about what to answer him. Thats when I remember the dream, the wolf pup called me something right? What was it? Niiri? Yes thats it, is that my name? I think so, it feels right, like I remember it, but I cant place it with any memories. "Niiri, My name is Niiri" I answer, knowing it wont do much to help me, unless I know a last name. But the Nord man nods at me and looks over the list. Looking it up and down a few times, before telling the centurion standing to his left, telling her I am not on the list, and asking what he is to do. I can feel Ralofs gaze on me, but he do not say anything. Suddenly I feel a painful icing at the nape of my neck, running up towards my scull. I feel my vision blur into a melted mess.
Before it calms down and I look up again, this time at a boy walking after me in a forest, "Niiri, oh Niiri? Where are you hiding little one? Come out, I don´t have the time to play hide and seek with you." the boy calls, I feel a shiver take my body, but I keep still in the place I am hiding, my eyes stay on him. I am hiding inside the hollow of a tree, high up from the ground, I do not know how I got here, just that the boy is going to hurt me if he gets to me. I push my back closer to the bark inside my hiding place, I am sitting in a abounded owl nest. The boy walks closer, and stops. "Niiri I know you can hear me, come here now and I wont have to punish you. You know I don't want to do that," he calls, before adding "just come out so we can go back home." he sights. He sounds genuine, but my mind tells me not to go. I feel myself stiffen as his eyes move towards the trees, and I feel myself curling in on myself as he calls and tells me he can smell me. I feel myself slowly uncurl and move forward, peeking out of the hollow tree and down at him, and I whimper as his eyes meets mine. And I feel myself falling forwards, the world turning into a blackness that engulfs me like water.
I blink, suddenly I am back in Helgen. Or I was always here, I just, I don´t know, was that a memory? But of what? Who was that boy? My eyes widen as I see the axe swinging down, decapetating the Nord in front of me. Blood splattering around his neck, all the way over to us, some of the small blood droplets hits my face, and I feel myself stiffen, the heat of the blood on my face freaking me out. I cant stop myself, I move my bound wrists up to my face and try to wipe the blood off with my lower arm, needing to get it away. Looking down at the head lying there in a casket, face turned towards me, eyes wide open. I know he is not resting, far from it, he is where all Nord warriors believe they go, Sovenguard. I look around me, I can see the snow that is promised from the north, covering the great mountains around us. Grand pine trees that stretches for the clouds, hoping to one day touch the sun.
I think this will be my final resting place, it is beautiful here, in its own cold way. I don't feel at peace tho, something is wrong, the hairs at the back of my neck is standing up. A sound I recall I heard somewhere before, a horrible roar coming somewhere over the mountains. Right after Tullius had yelled at Ulfrik. I am surprised I noticed this while I wasn't truly aware of what was happening around me. In front of me, the female centurion suddenly looks over at me and calls for the the next death "Next, the Breton in the rags" she calls, the same sound reverberate around the keep, making my head hurt and my ears feels like they have gotten boiling oil poured into them. I am confused by the sound, its malevolent and chilly, on the darker side of the voiceband of any creature, almost guttural. At least now I know I am a Breton. Again the female centurion calls me forward to the block, and I find myself resigning to my fate. I kneel down, looking in front of me for a moment, a single mountain flower with a light purple color is growing against the wall. Before I can stop myself, I hear a voice that do not sound like me, but it is clearly me talking. "May Akatosh descend into this plane once again to burn these mer that call themselves Thalmor apart, and those that escapes his wrath, be hunted down during the next Bloodmoon by Hircine´s hounds, and be torn apart as the weak people they truly are." I say, moving my eyes over to the Thalmor agent hiding in the shadows. I bend down and place my neck on the block, turned towards the headsman, I keep my eyes open, watching the headsman with cold eyes. I don´t know why I said it, or why I feel like it was true. I truly do not know what to think. The headsman raises his huge double edged axe, ebony I think, dripping with fresh blood down on the snow. I find my eyes travel up to the mountains, wishing to see them one last time, longing to be up there, running in the snow, looking for adventure.
Thats when I see it, a big black creature moving towards us with godlike speed, roaring at the town, making us all know he is there, as he lands on the keep. The ground shakes at the impact, some of the wall it landed on crumbling under its massive claws. The headsman suddenly gets knocked to the ground, the axe lying next to him, but I cant move much from my position at the ground, halfway fallen of the block from the force of the mini earthquake the creature created. Huge, blood red eyes that speak of power, pride, wisdom and malevolence and what I can only explain as the knowledge that you are pray, that you are beneath him. All this I read from the eyes of the creature in front of me. "Dragon" I hear the female Centurion call out as she flees around the corner, hiding from the creature in front of us all. The Dragon I suppose, looks at us a second longer, before pushing its body upwards and roaring at the sky, somehow it sounds like the dragon said something in the roar, but I do not know what. I try to get up on my knees again, managing it just barley as the Dragon takes of to the sky again. I hear Ralof calling out to me, telling me to get a move on and run with him to safety, I get up on my feet, my eyes watering from the smoke of the burning buildings and smoking stones. I start to run after Ralof, unable to fully understand what is happening. The Dragons have been extinct for centuries right? This had to be something ells, maybe an Illusion spell or a Deadra summoning gone wrong. I enter the tower after Ralof and look around me franticly, outside the dragon is roaring at the imperials trying to shoot it down.
I lean back against the wall, trying to catch my breath again, Ralof is discussing what is happening with Ulfrik a little to my left, I watch them in the corner of my eyes, keeping my hands still, hoping someone will have the thought to maybe cut me lose. Suddenly one of them yells that we have to move, my head hurts to much to care who it was, its an order and I am closest to the stairs, so I start to run up them, keeping close to the wall, but slowing down as I hear the voice of an imperial soldier, I feel Ralof and Ulfrik moving up past me and I half yell at them to wait, but they don´t listen, ready to fight with the empires soldier. Thats when I hear the roar of the dragon right outside, the beating of its wings, and I feel the tower shaking like its about to get torn out of the ground and dropped into the ground. When I look up again, I can see the dragons scaly head inside the tower, it had broken off a big part of the tower, seeming angrier than before, it moves out and breaths burning hot fire at us. For a moment, I understand how an iron ore so easily gets turned into an ingot, smelting in a fire like this? No wonder, the dragon where seen as gods in the old times. It pushes itself out of the tower and glides towards the keep once again. I move over to help get Ralof on his feet again, dragging him up after his arm, making sure not to say anything as they start screaming at each other, before they tell me to jump out of the hole left by the dragon. "Are you two completely mad? Jump out of the hole just made by the dragon that sett fire to the building I am told to jump into? You god damn Nords and your need to be warriors, your gone hurt yourself more than what you need to. " I yell at them, my eyes trailing down to the blood-soaked floor under me, the Imperial is gone under the stones left by the wall, but I can see an arm, or what I guess is an arm, horribly burned by the fire, almost unrecognizable. I look over to the hole again, Ralof telling me to just do it if I wish to survive this, before moving down the tower to help the ones that got hurt. Ulfric kept his steady gaze on me, seeming a bit angry at the way I talked to them. I meet his gaze, not afraid f him, what is he gonna do? Throw me out of the tower? As I see him move towards me, I back towards the wall, suddenly unsure, my instincts tells me to run, to get out of there, so I turn, back up a bit and takes of, running and jumping out of the tower, landing hard on the floor of the burning inn. Suddenly I hear a malevolent voice call out "Daar Lein los dii!" above me, and looking up I see the belly of the dragon for a second, before it flies of towards the soldiers. I watch as he lands at the wall they are standing on, and turns its head towards them. The soldiers cant get away fast enough, I recognize what is about to happend as I see the fire burning in its mouth, ready to burn them to unrecognizable crisps. I turn away as I hear the fire shooting out. And crouches and starts to move in the inn, getting down unnoticed as fast as I can. Before moving out and into the street. Suddenly I feel the wind pushing me forwards, but I manage to stop myself from toppling over completely by putting my hands in front of me. When I look up, I see the dragon flying higher in the sky again. My eyes trail over to the imperial running in front of me, he stops and looks at me "Your Niiri right? Follow me and I will try to get you to safety!" he calls, and once again I find myself running after another Nord.
We move fast, keeping an eye on the sky as we don´t fully know where the dragon is. Moving down a sett of stairs, I hear Hadvar as he told me his name was, call out to stay close to the wall, and I do just that, moving fast but still silent and in a crouch like position. I am ready to run up the next sett of stairs as the world suddenly shakes, and when it calms, I hesitantly look up to see the scaly neck of the dragon. Hearing it roar before breathing fire at the imperial standing there, shooting at him. It rises up again after finding the man dead, snorting at the sight of the dead body, before taking off again, calling out "Fen du hin sille ko Sovengarde". I swallow, feeling more afraid than before, "He can speak" I whisper. I see Hadvar moving again, running to the stairs, passing by the remains of the soldier. I find myself running again, my feet hitting the ground, but not sounding much. Moving fast around the corner, into the last room and jumping over some fallen debris on the floor. Moving forward again, getting out of the burning building. I feel myself stumble on my own feet and I fall a bit forward, just as the dragon flies overhead of me, breathing fire at the area around him. I feel the fabric around my throat take fire, and I pull it of, looking at it in horror. Its some kind of cloak, with a crest sewn into the back, its some kind of animal. Its thorn and I cant do anything as I watch it turn to ash in front of me. My eyes move up to the sky again, searching for the dragon, its on the other side of the keep now, so I get up on my feet and run after Hadvar again. I find him yelling at a man and a boy, I recognize them when I see the mans face, the ones that smelled like wet dog. I watch as the boy runs screaming and crying towards us, the dragon landing behind him. I watch as the fire move up its throat, lighting up its scales, dark like ebony, with small specs of midnight blue in it. I do the only thing I can think of, moving in front of Hadvar, looking at the dragon, I yell at it as I move to the other side of the road. "Hey, you big fat flying lizard, your supposed to be dead, go back to whatever graveyard you crawled up from! You are in the wrong age!" I call out. The dragons eyes move to me as I scream at it, moving its head, but not letting the fire out, it looks irritated, but moves its eyes back to the boy, and starts breathing fire as soon as I start running again.
I feel lucky as I manage to catch the boy, pushing him towards Hadvar and his father, making sure he don´t get hurt, as the fire hits my right leg. I cry out as I throw myself forwards, just managing to land on my face in front of Hadvar, he pulls me up abruptly, but makes sure I do not putt any weight on my hurt foot. He looks me over. "You sure are a crazy one, girl. Running in front of a dragon like that, have you lost your mind? Do you have a death wish?" he yells at me as the dragon takes of once again, circling around and flying off towards some archers who managed to hit its wings. I look at Hadvar, feeling my face pull down into a frown "No I am not crazy, I saw a way to save his life, and it was worth the cost" I growl at him, angry that he acts like I am a lunatic. I pull away from him, managing to walk over to the boy with minimum difficulty. "Are you alright boy?" I ask, making sure to check for any wounds on his visible skin. He looks at me with wide eyes "T-Thank you, you saved my life" he whimpers, still crying. His father nods at me, but dosent say anything, and I notice he and Hadvar are talking, before Hadvar tells me to follow him once again. He sets out, running down the street, and I look behind me at the boy, feeling like I should stay, before I hear Hadvar call for me once more. This time I turn and run after him.
We keep running, eventually ending up in the area outside of the Keep. I keep my eyes on the sky, but as I hear Ralof yelling at Hadvar, and Hadvar answering, my eyes travel over to them for a moment. Anger is burning on my inside, I am angry that they use this place to settle their disagreements. Im about to yell at them that I will knock their heads to the wall if they keep on like this. But I hear the horrible roar of the dragon as it swoops down towards us, picking up a soldier on the wall in its claws and carrying him up into the sky. A horror filled scream leaves the soldiers mouth as he is dropped and falls towards the ground. He hits the ground and blood splatters all over the area, at least he is dead now. My eyes move back to the Dragon, this time hovering a little to my left, calling out "Zu´u Alduin, zok sahrot do naan ko Lein!". My eyes widen, "Alduin?" I whisper, to quiet for anyone to hear. But I keep my eyes on the dragon. And once again it flies of, but this time breathing fire at us, I move away, staggering backwards and looking after Ralof and Hadvar, both going to the keep, but each to a different entrance. I stand there, looking from one to the other, both calling on me to run to them. I feel like running the other way. But once again, the dragon flies overhead of me, but this time it looks at me, angry blood red eyes watching me, making me know I am next to be tossed into the air. I start running forward, unsure who to run to, but I don´t have much choice as to who as the dragon swoops down and barley misses me as I throw myself forward and into the ground.
I feel my leg getting more hurt, the burn marks and I think I have cut my leg on a piece of stone. But I don´t have time to be bothered by that, I push myself up and keep running, this time closer to the ground, steered towards Hadvar, as he was the one closest to me. I cached Ralofs eyes as I got to the keep, mouthing "Sorry." He meet my eyes, clearly feeling betrayed. My mind tried to find a way to get back to the blond Nord inside the keep, but I soon found myself unable to think about it anymore.
I stumble thought the door into the keep. Finding myself knocked into the floor. My knees hurt a bit but I find the strength to push myself up again. My eyes move to Hadvar as he moves to the middle of the keep, having closed the door behind him. Outside I can hear the roar of the dragon, the raging fire burning on the walls of the buildings out there. And the scared shouting of the men outside, commands on how to attack, to seek cover from the fire and falling stones, and to help the civilians out of danger. Hadvar is looking at me I suddenly notice, he seems out of breath for a moment. "Looks like we where the only ones who made it to the keep." I nod, looking around me as he continues to speak. "Where that really a dragon? The bringers of The End Times?" My eyes move from the door and back to Hadvar. "I believe so, its flying, breathing fire and everyone seems to agree on it being a dragon. Its dangerous no matter what it is." I answer, looking him over, he don´t seem like he is hurt, other than a few small scratches on his left cheek and a few burn marks on his arms.
"We should keep moving. Lets me see if I can get those bindings off." I nod softly, moving over and giving him my hands, feeling the cold steel of he dagger he was wielding on my skin as he hurriedly cuts the bindings of me. "There you go. Take a look around, there should be plenty of gear to choose from. Im going to see if I can find something for these burns." I smile at him, before I spin around and start walking towards the chest standing behind some of the beds in the room we are in. Opening the top of it and looking down in the chest itself. I look over at Hadvar "I found some armor, but i am afraid it might be a bit to heavy for me, so I think I will just try the boots and the bracers." I call out to him. He looks at me again, but this time with disbelief. "You are truly something ells girl. Your going to walk around here without armor?" I simply nod. Before noticing an Iron sword hanging by the wall. I walk over and pick it up, before moving over and picking up some septims. They are cold in my hands, and I look for something to put them in at the moment, knowing I should not carry them in my hands. "Do you know if they have left any bags or anything I can use as one here?" I ask Hadvar, my eyes scanning the area, but not finding something. My eyes traveled over to him again. He was standing in the middle of the room, a hand on his cheek, his index finger tapping lightly at his cheekbone. I noticed a small amount of hair dotting his lower cheeks and chin.
"I think we might have a hunter bag here somewhere, the local hunter left one in here a few days ago." he mumbles, before going over to the rack standing up against a wall. A few seconds later he walks back towards me, throwing a medium sized bag towards me. "Thanks." I say as I capture it, dragging the strap over my head and resting it on my shoulder. I open the bag and drop the coins into one of the inner pockets of it, noticing a map, but not feeling the need to look it over at the moment. I push the bag itself back to rest at the top of my lower back. "Alright, lets get moving" I say, moving over towards the trapdoor. Hadvar nods at me, and moves after me, pulling the chain to make the door open. The sound of the mechanism working is familiar to me, but I do not know why.
I start walking, Hadvar walking alongside me. I feel myself instantly moving closer to the wall, looking for shadows. Hadvar watches me out of the corner of his eyes, before voices meet us and he looks forward again. "Hear that? Stormcloaks. Maybe we can reason with them." he whispers. I nod, hoping we can get out of here without any trouble. But from what I saw of Ralofs hatred for the Imperials, I doubt that we wont get in a fight, even with how dangerous it is here, knowing the dragon can simply crash into the wall of the keep to start tearing it down.
The trapdoor moved down into the floor and Hadvar stepped forward into the room. I walked in slowly behind him, keeping a bit back. The Stormcloaks had spun around at the sounds of us. Looking us up and down. I felt exposed in the ruined leather outfit I was wearing. ´i should have taken that armor, its better than getting looked at like this...´ I think, watching the men skeptically. "Hold on, now, we only want to..." he says, walking forward slowly, hands in the air, showing he is not about to attack them. I watch silently as the Stormcloak soldiers suddenly draws their weapons and charge towards him. "Hey! Stop it we should not be fighting each other, there is a flying giant lizard out there and you are trying to kill each other off?" I yell at them as Hadvar is forced to defend himself. I watch as one of the soldiers manage to hit his arm, cutting into his armor and drawing blood. I find myself moving forward, angry at the men attacking him. I find the sword I had picked up earlier moving forward, hitting one of the soldiers at the back of the head, blunt edge. I watch as he drops to the floor, knocked out cold. I watch as Hadvar overpowers the other soldier and pushes his sword thought his stomach. Blood splatters around us and a gurgling sound escapes the soldiers mouth. Hadvar rises up, pulling his sword back and looks at the soldier, shaking his head "Why do they never listen..." he mumbles.
"Please finish him, its no reason to let him suffer." I mumble, not looking at the soldier slowly bleeding out on the floor. "As you wish" I hear Hadvar reply, before the sound of a man drowning on his own hot blood flows in the room, echoing on the walls. "You don't like bloodshed I take it?" he asked, keeping his eyes averted from me as he moves over the the door.
I look at him, before Sighting "I guess not, I cant remember anything. Ralof said I took a harsh hit to the back of the head so he was not surprised." I mumble. Walking after him. I walk after him into the next room, looking behind me at the dead man. "Im sorry..." I whisper softly as I leave the room, obscuring my vision of him. I walk over to the wagon at the top of the stairs. Picking up the cabbages there, putting one in the bag "We never know when we will get more food." I mumble and place them in my bag. Before I start walking fast down the stairs, listening if I can hear anything. The dragon has gone silent, but something in me tells me its not gone. As I step of the end of the stairs I walk into a long hallway, dust flowing in the air, lighted up by touches on the wall. I notice a group of Stormcloaks standing down in the end off the hallway, one of them pushing a younger looking man backwards, towards myself. Their eyes travel from the boy and over to me, and I curse myself for stepping out of the shadows without making sure there are no people around. I start backing away as they start moving towards me, I can hear Hadvar still up in the stairs.
I know he wont be able to save me, they are to many. I hit the wall as I see them fully, dressed in light looking armor, blue cotton and dark pieces of leather, with some parts of metal chain under the cotton. I move the sword in front of me, ready to block an attack, putting one of my foots in front of me. My eyes move up to the roof as I hear the roar, I watch in shock as the roofs buckle under what I imagine is the dragon crashing down on something on top of it. I watch in horror as the roof buckles under the weight, and breaks and starts falling straight down, towards the men running towards me. I don't think about it, I just act. "Watch out!" I scream, moving forward, but is forced to stop as the air pushes me backwards onto my side, the ground shakes. Suddenly I feel someone dragging me up from my knees, and onto my feet, I screech and stumble backwards, not sure who it is.
But as I see Hadvar looking at me, having his hands in front of himself "Calm yourself Niiri, I am not your enemy!" he says, watching me as I try to calm myself down. "My ap-apologies, I am a little skittish." I answer, before lowering my sword and looking towards the derbies blocking our way out. "Damn, that dragon do not give up easily..." I hear from behind me, I turn and look over at Hadvar, who is shaking his head. "I guess not, it sure looks like it wants something, why would it attack here otherwise?" I answer. Hadvar looks at me, confusion in his eyes, and I watch as the confusion turn into understanding, and then horror. "By the divines, do you think Ulfric can have woken up a dragon somehow? If so then... We have to get out of here fast." he says, turning around and opening a door I didn't notice at first.
I hurry in after him, but stop dead in my track as I hear a man yelling something. ´Not again, are they everywhere? This is going to turn into a bloodbath soon!´ I think, I move forward, sliding a little on the floor as I try to stop. My eyes size up the Nord with the two hand double edged axe, how he got it I don't know. I guess they kept some prisoners who might have gotten out here somewhere. I suddenly hear a swishing sound and feel myself dropping down into a crouch, and I see some of my hair get cut of by the sword swinging just where my neck was a few seconds ago. Rage blooms in my chest, and I get up and kick the Stormcloaks feet out from under him as I do. "You don´t touch my hair! Im going to rip you apart!" I growl at the man trying to get to his knees, as I slash my sword sideways across his chest, it got stuck somewhere in the middle as it wont pass through more flesh and bone that way, so I putt the my weight on it and push it straight through his chest, like water. Blood Splashes all over me as the man screams.
I find myself yanking the sword out. Before pushing it down on his throat, sealing his fate fully. I pull my sword back and turn to look at Hadvar cleaning his blade on the leg of the other Nord. Before he turned to me. "I guess I looked wrong on you girl, you do know how to fight at least." he looks me up and down once again. "You should wash of that blood before it dries." he mumbles, before looking around himself. I nod, before looking around as well. "An old storeroom eh? Look around and see if you can find any potions or food, it might come in handy." I nod, looking around, noticing some food on the table. I move fast and place them in my bag, making sure I have enough space for everything. My eyes travel over to the racks by the wall. I move over and pick up the magic potion I found there, as well as a healing potion I found on the other, I look over the shelf once again, ignoring the tankards lying on one of the shelfs. My eyes stop at a bag of what looks like salt, I pick it up and place it in my bag next to the coins. Never know when I might have use for it. I walk around the room a little, looking at the bodies there. Before I bend down and take some of the armor one of them are wearing, just the boots tho. I stand up again, and my eyes land on some barrels by the wall, I move over and open them one by one, taking the few items I find useful. A few potions, a little food and ingredients.
I walk over to Hadvar once again. Looking him over, a few slash wounds and a good amount of blood. He nods at me, before turning and opening the door, before hurrying down the stairs. I follow silently behind him, having changed my imperial steel boots to softer fur boots, easier to walk silently in. "A torture room. Gods, I wish we didn't need these..." I hear him mutter ahead of me in the hallway. "Wait, what? Why do you have a torture room here? Why in Mara´s name would you do that? What good does it do but ruin someones life?" I answer, catching up with him as we enter the room. Its a chaotic battlefield pushed into a small room. Men screaming and yelling all around me, I take in the sight of the fight, watching as men from both sides get slaughtered. I am really happy I did not put away my sword as a Nord female runs at me, swinging a sword right at my head. Pain flows through my arm as I block her strike just barley, ending up with getting a small cut down my cheek. I push her sword away and kick her back by the stomach. But this time she seams to think more of me, moving in for another hit, but this time switching her path as I am about to block her, I just barley manage to turn away from getting my heart pierced. I whimper as she cuts a deep, bloody gash down the length of my upper arm. Pain makes me drop down to the floor as she once again tries to hit me. And I look up as the sword swings down towards my head.
I flinch as the sword is stopped by another one, before I see Hadvar pushing the female Nord back, before finishing her of by decapitating her. He turns and looks at me. Before shaking his head and hauling me up behind him. I notice a man clad in imperial armor and a hood standing there, watching me. "A new one? Well we certainly have the place now, just let me knock her out for a minuet and we can start" he says, and I watch in horror as the shock magic hits me. I fall backwards, hitting the floor hard. Getting knocked out as my head hits the uneven stone floor.
I hear voices around me, someone yelling angrily, another one sounding mad, but less then the one yelling. I groan and try to turn around, pushing myself up and suddenly the world is moving again, I drop down to the floor. Looking at the backside of a bar. I sit up, looking over the counter of the bar. I notice Hadvar standing there, looking at me. He sights, and walks around the bar and helps me up. "Are you alright Niiri? I am sorry, it was not supposed to be like this. But we managed to heal your burn wounds, I hope it will make for a small composition." I simply nod. Before I stagger out after him, looking at the torturer. "You do that again mage and I will teach you how to become a ghost" I mumble smiling, he looked surprised. But simply nodded. I move away, walking over to a table, looking at the book there. The book of the Dragonborn, I wonder what it says, anything about dragons is helpful. I decide to pick it up, and I slip it into my bag, before turning around and walking over to a shelf, looking it over. Behind me I hear them talking about me "yes I know you said she is not a Stormcloak. But the look in her eyes, she is a true killer, maybe even an assassin!" the man in the hood whisper growls at Hadvar, before looking at me over his shoulder, I can feel his eyes on me.
I sight softly, before I turn around and smile at them. Tilting my head a bit and looking at them. The torturer looked at me a bit shocked. Hadvar simply smiles back, before his eyes travel towards one of the cells. "Wait. There is something in the cell!" he says, moving over to it, trying to get it open. "Damn, its locked tight, do you have the key?" he asks, but I block out the answer, listening if I can hear the dragon. Ah, yes there, its still up there, tearing apart the town. I hear my name and starts listening to what is said instead. "Some picks. We will need all that we can get." Hadvar says. I simply nod and starts looking for something to use to open the cage. My eyes land on a small bag on the table I found the book. I move over and open it, finding a dozen lockpiks. I get up and keep them in my hands, moving over to the locked cage and sit down, folding my legs in under me. I look at the lock, placing the lockpicks on the floor besides me but two of them, and starts to work, careful so I don't damage the lock, I work slowly but can already now see the lock moving. I smile as a weak click is heard, and get up on my feet again, taking the lockpicks with me. Placing them in my bag again. "There you go Hadvar." I say, smiling while looking at him. Before moving away, towards the stairs, "Take what you need and lets get out of here, I don't like this place." I call, moving down the stairs, a soldier following behind me. Looking me up and down, I try to ignore him. Waiting for Hadvar to join us.
I nod at Hadvar, and he passes me to leads the way down, running at a soft pace down the stairs, and eventually into a porch like area. I hear yelling and suddenly a man attacks me, I manage to dodge the blade by a few inches. I swing my blade at instinct, hitting his arm, making him back down the stairs again. I watch as the soldier from before, the one from the toture room jump down after the Stormcloak. They had a short fight, before the imperial got the upper hand and stabs the Stormcloak in the chest. I turn around, knowing the Stormcloak is about to get killed. I start running after Hadvar, before jumping down over a small fence, into the water behind an archer. Bringing my sword up his back and forcing his blood out of his body. I know by now I must look like a red mess.
I crouch down, taking the bow from the dead Nord, dragging out a few arrows from his quiver, something about this feels more right. My eyes move over to the Archer standing furthest from us, closest to the door. I close my right eye, aiming for the archers chest. Dragging the arrow fully back and waiting a few moments, breathing slowly and deeply. He does not see me, none of them do, but who would look for me when they have two trained warriors running towards them, yelling and killing their comrades? I let my breath out, before letting the arrow go. Watching it spin as it cuts through the air. Hitting its mark dead on, I can see that the arrow went straight through his chest. I place another arrow on the string. Drawing it back, taking a breath, aiming and letting it go. It miss the target, but still hit flesh, I watch as his stomach gets pierced, I was aiming for the chest, but the fall went to fast. Heavier than he looks I think. I move to get more cover, knowing the other archer is looking for me. I watch as Hadvar advances on him, knocking him down and cutting his throat. But I keep still, making sure no one ells is here.
"Niiri?" I hear Hadvar call, looking around for me. I get up, and walk towards him, bow and arrows in hand, the sword at my hip in its dark leather sheath. I nod at him, and pull myself up on the fence I jumped down from. And keeps on walking on it until I got to the area Hadvar and the soldier who was left where. Hadvar eyes where on me. Confusion and a bit of amusement in them, as he watched me balance on the fence. I find myself jumping down and looking at him, before I go over and take the extra arrows lying on the ground, before dragging a quiver of one of the archers, throwing it over my shoulder and fixing it so it was securely attaching it, before placing the leftover arrows in it. I then decide to keep the bow at hand, you never know when something might come after all. "Ready to go?" I hear Hadvar ask, and I nod swiftly, before moving towards the hallway, looking behind me after Hadvar as I enter the room it leads to, I look around, but I cant see anyone who will attack us. The sounds I hear is a mixture between a waterfall , the sound of wings beating and the raging of the dragon outside. I start to walk down the stairs as I hear the roar, slipping as the ground shakes and ending up on my stomach at the end of the stairs, bow still in hand. I push myself up, before noticing the dust coming from the hallway I just left. I watch in horror as some of the dust settles "Hadvar? Hadvar!" I call out, hoping he did not get crushed under the stones. I feel myself moving forward again, but this time up the stairs, running to try and find him, to help.
I stop as I see him on the floor, standing on all fore coughing as a madman. I sigh, before bending over, putting my hands on my knees. My whole body hurts, like it has been pulled apart by rope and horses. I Take deep and steady breaths, before standing up straight again and helping Hadvar up from the floor. "well, no more coming back that way... I guess we´re lucky that it did not come down on top us eh?" he asks me, trying to smile, but it did not go into his eyes, so I know its not true. "I guess so. We should keep moving, are you alright with me going in front, ill keep to the shadows and try to see if there is any other Stormcloaks here that might try to attack us, and whatever ells is in this cave." I ask as I look around in the cave, sizing it up and trying to find the best places to leave from. "As you wish Niiri, go ahead, ill be behind you, just make sure not to get killed." he says and I nod, placing an arrow on my bow as I start walking forward, fast. I go down in a crouch as I pass by a highlighted area in the cave, moving faster so I can get back in the shadows. I take down a channel, noticing a bag of coins by the remains of a skeleton. I snag it up fast, slipping it into the pocket with my other coins. I keep moving forward, and enter another cave, this one bigger then the last.
My eyes travel over to the big spiders in front of me, they haven't noticed me yet, but I am still not inside of the cave itself, standing a little inside the channel. I pull the arrow back on the string, following the movement of the biggest spider, before letting it go, watching as it penetrates the spiders head, gore leaving the spider as blood, venom and flesh explodes from the back of the head, it falls over, curling its hairy legs in on itself, dead as a fly. The other one starts looking for danger immediately, and I watch in horror as Hadvar runs in to attack it. I pull another arrow out of the quiver and prepare myself to kill something ells, as two bigger spiders fall down from the roof. I let my arrow fly at the one closest to us without second thoughts. Placing my next arrow on the string and drawing it back, building on the speed the arrow would fly with, and letting it go, watching as the spider fell down on the floor. And placing the next arrow on as Hadvar slew the leftovers spiders. "whats next, giant snakes?" Hadvar asks me, I simply smile "Hope not" I answer him, before starting to go down the next channel, hoping we wont have to fight anything ells.
I find myself stopping a bit as I notice a bear lying sunbathing, sleeping completely as I watched it. Before it suddenly woke up, growling a bit and moving over, curling on its other side, head turned towards me. I hear Hadvar coming up behind me, he looks at the bear, but my eyes are turned away from it, looking for an exit, knowing that if its a bear here, then its an exit not far away. "See that over there? Thats a cave bear I think, maybe we should try to sneak around it, and look for an exit?" he asks, I look at the bear again, unsure if it will wake up from Hadvar´s steps. But knowing its not sleeping fully, I shake my head. "Or if you think you have what it takes to bring it down, here, have some more arrows." he says, handing me a dozen of arrows. I nod and accept the arrows, sizing up the bear, looking for the weakest spot, but also for a spot it wont go after me right away, I find myself moving a bit backwards, making sure Hadvar follows behind me, knowing all to well that he will rush forward as soon as I hit the bear. I find the perfect place, just right, dark enough that the bear wont see me just at the start, but not in a place I wont hit my mark, its stomach area. I pull the string back, feeling my arms arch as I do so. I take a deep breath, and let the arrow lose, watching in silence as the arrow spins towards the target, and hits it. Penetrating the skin around the stomach, going in deep, through winter fat and flesh, maybe even penetrating a vital organ, I am not sure. The bear lets out a startled and angry cry as it gets on its feet, looking around itself, looking for what hurt it, sniffing the air and looking straight at us. I have an arrow on the lose before I notice it truly, I watch as it hits the bears back leg, it roars at us, and rise up on its hide legs, bringing its massive paw down on Hadvars sword, and I watch as it pushes him back, forcing him to his knees by the strength and weight of the bear. But the bear lost its footing just enough from my third arrow, hitting it in the same back leg, knocking it just right so it stumbled, and fell sideways, trying to catch itself by placing its front paws and twisting its body, but it was to late, as the bear tries to stop itself for dropping fully to the floor, Hadvar rushes up, sword raised over his head, and shows it down the bears head, killing it instantly.
I raise up fully, out of my crouch, walking over to him. "Should we skin it? We might need it later, we never know so. And maybe get some of the meat to, I found some salt up in the keep so if we find a fire I know at least we wont go hungry tonight?" I ask. Hadvar looks at me for a few seconds, before he looks down on the bear. "Might be a good idé, Riverwood is about a days marsh from Helgen, and I am not sure exactly where we are going to end up now, how far to the south we will have gone." he says, looking the bear over, before getting a dagger out of his armor, going over to the bear and starting to skin it. I start walking around the cave, looking for areas where a possible exit is, knowing there had to be one here. I find myself walking back to Hadvar, "ready to go?" I ask, he nods and I watch as he rolls up the bear fur, takes what I think once was a belt of some kind and fasten the bear fur in it, throwing it behind his back and fastening the end of the belt on some piece of his armor. We start walking again, coming to an end to the cave "There is the end, I knew we would make it!" Hadvar says, smiling and looking at the outside, white light streaming into the cave, and outside, I could see trees, swaying softly in the wind. I start running for the exit, not answering as he calls my name, and runs after me.
As soon as I sett foot outside the cave, I start laughing, looking around me, trees, flowers in so many colors I cant comprehend it at the moment. The smell of fresh summer grass, blooming late summer flowers and pine trees calms me down, and I feel myself breath labored, trying to get in as much fresh air as possible. "I just want to lie down in a river and soak of the blood on my skin." I say, looking behind me at Hadvar as he comes out of the cave, smiling to me. He suddenly looked up, but I had lost interest, moving down the trail from the cave, intending to look at a flower that caught my interest. "Watch out, the dragon is coming back!" he yelled to me, before going into hiding, I simply stop and look up, watching as the giant dragon flies over us, roaring at the world. I find myself running after it as it flies towards the mountains so far away. Becoming a dark mess as it leaves my sight behind a mountain top.
Well, first of all i want to apologize for the wrong spelled words, english is not my first language. Secondly, thank you for reading, the story is far from finished, as you can see, and ill be going over from different pov´s, as i slowly write to the point that we meet these people. I wont update after a schedule, i write way to slowly for that, my apologies to anyone who wish for this, maybe one day i will get to that.
Thirdly, i wont write everything like its scripted to be, some dialog will be changed to fit with how my story progresses. And yes, most of the big major quests will be written, but it wont be Niiri in all of them.
and last but not least, as you can see, i have written as i see it, and my game is modded, so the story will not be like the vanilla game. I will add characters, places. quests, and other things from mods. And as the story progresses, you will see Niiri´s past and future. Who survives the deathly land of Skyrim? And who is already dead.
Thank you for taking so much of your valuable time to read this, and if you feel like it, drop a review, favorite of a PM, i will try to answer everything as good as i can, and as fast as possible.
- I