Tales of a Future Madgod
An Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim FanFiction story

FULL Story Summary:

So it looked like I just walked into the wrong place at the wrong time. Me, a High Elf this far from the Summerset Isle trying to make a fortune and name for myself, and I end up being the person destined to rid the world of some big-ass dragon who's trying to destroy the world. Add to that me ending up being the member of like what - four major factions in Skyrim, and the leader of three of them, maybe all of them at some point, as well as getting caught up in some Civil War conflict and I'm thinking maybe a trip to somewhere like Cyrodiil would have been a lot easier than here.

And what is up with these visions I keep having? Can I really be related to the Hero of Kvatch? And what interest can the Daedric Prince of Madness have with me? A pretty big and important one, it turns out.

My name's Lanterra Osidion, and this is my tale of my time in Skyrim. So enjoy it, or I'll set my Dremora Kynval on you all.

(This is my first Elder Scrolls story, so yeah, I'll look to other stories to get the text from the game itself which is relevant to the story, but most of it will be done by me. I don't appreciate flamers in any form, but hey, maybe the occasional helpful tip or advice if I do something wrong would be nice, or nice comment about this, would be nice for me to read).

DRAGON! (Chapter 1)

"Hey, you."

I blinked as I woke up, vision still slightly blurry. The braid of my brown hair flopped around slightly as I looked over at the man who spoke. A Nord, no question, with blond hair. For a brief moment, like most people happened to do, he stared at my eyes. Once a nice shade of brown, darker than my hair, they now were plain white. I could still see, it was just the effect of white eyes and hardly visible pupils of the same colour. No idea how it happened, it just happened one day.

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

"Trying to, but obviously failed. I try to travel, make some money. Next moment, I walk into an ambush and get caught up with everyone else!" I said in reply, looking over at the apparent thief he indicated, who happened to be another Nord, but wearing similar to clothes to what I was now dressed in, his dark hair brushed back.

"Damn you Stormcloaks." he said, obviously referencing to what I guess was the group this other Nord belonged to. "Skyrim was fine until you came along. Empire was nice and lazy. I could've stolen that horse and be halfway to Hammerfel."

"I reckon you wouldn't have gotten that far mate. You better have had some money on you, otherwise you wouldn't be halfway there. Far from it. Or maybe you should have had some food instead at least. Hope you had cheese. Lovely cheese..." I said, trailing off as I looked at him, an almost pitying but maybe slightly annoyed look on his face.

"You there-" he began, before I cut him off.

"The name's Lanterra. Lanterra Osidion. Lanti or Terra if you must."

"Fine, Lanterra then. You and me - we shouldn't be here. It's these Stormcloaks the Empire wants."

"We're all brothers and sisters in binds now, thief." the first Nord then spoke up, looking over at the one who just spoke to me.

"Shut up back there!" the Imperial soldier driving the cart called back to us, earning a glare from me.

"In the name of Sithis and the Divines, if I only had my hands unbound, the sort of stuff I could do..." I said to myself.

"What was that?" the blond one asked.

"Nothing, nothing..." I said, trailing off again, and looking into the distance in front of the cart, past the other cart in front of us.

"And what's wrong with him, huh?" the dark haired one asked, looking over at the Nord sitting next to me. Taking a look, he was definitely dressed the best out of us. And he was gagged, for some reason. I reckon I could quickly burn that gag off of him if I had use of my hands. If he didn't mind probable minor burns, of course.

"Watch your tongue. You're speaking to Ulfric Stormcloak, the true High King." the blond Nord said, sounding annoyed.

"True High King? What happened to the last one? What was wrong with him?" I asked him.

"Haven't you heard then?" he asked.

"Hey, I spend most of my time indoors. Or I did. I didn't hear much except what my father came back from guard duty hearing about and telling me and my mother. So no, I haven't heard."

As it looked like he was going to reply, the dark haired one spoke again, looking over at the gagged man.

"Ulfric? The Jarl of Windhelm? You're the leader of the rebellion. But if they've captured you... Oh gods, where are they taking us?"

"Nowhere good, most likely, if we're all apparent criminals holed up in carts heading for somewhere we have no idea of," I commented.

"I don't know where we're going, but Sovngarde awaits." the blonde one then commented. I mentally took note that I would probably be hearing that name of the place battle-worthy Nords went to after death a bit in Skyrim.

"No, this can't be happening. This isn't happening."

"Better believe it is, whatever it is" I said to myself, looking over at the dark haired Nord thief, with worry etched across his features.

After a few moments of silence, when what looked like the walls of a town were coming into view ahead of us, the blond Nord spoke up again, this time to the thief.

"Hey, what village are you from horse thief?"

You mean attempted horse thief, I thought to myself.

"Why do you care?" the thief replied, looking at him.

"A Nord's last thoughts should be of home."

"Rorikstead. I'm... I'm from Rorikstead."

"And you, Lanterra is it? Where do you come from?" the blond Nord then asked me.

"The capital of Alinor in the Summerset Isle. My family are pretty well off."

Nodding a bit, he, along with the rest of us in the cart, turned when we heard what I guess was another Imperial soldier close by talking.

"General Tullius, sir! The headsman is waiting."

"Good," Tullius, as I guess his name was, wherever he was, said, "Let's get this over with."

Wait - headsman? As in the sort of guy who beheads people for the serious sort of crimes you come across?

Oh boy, I'm guessing the odds were definitely not in my favour today.

"Shor, Mara, Dibella, Kynareth, Akatosh. Divines, please help me," the thief prayed out loud.

Like some of us hadn't sort of done that already. The Divines probably were too caught up in other matters to deal with helping us today though, so much help praying was at a time like this.

"Hey, before anything else happens, what are your names? I never asked." I then asked the two Nords opposite me.

"Not that'll do much help now, but my name's Ralof," the blond Nord said.

"And mine's Lokir," the thief then said after Ralof.

Looking in front of the cart again, I noticed we'd finally rolled into the town I'd seen approaching earlier. Looking at the houses, I wondered if this was really the sort of housing people in Skyrim had to live in. Where I lived in Alinor, yeah there was a lot of glass and stuff, but it was more appealing at the minute compared to the stone, wood walls and steps, and thatched rooves around us.

"Look at him, General Tullius the Military Governor. And it looks like the Thalmor are with him. Damn elves. I bet they had something to do with this," Ralof then said.

"You're not with the Thalmor, are you?" Lokir asked, looking over at me, with some look I couldn't place. It looked like a mixture of feelings, but I couldn't name each individual one. I shook my head in reply to his question, and settled back to looking at the place around us.

I pretty much tuned out the next bit of what Ralof said, but I picked up a couple of bits. The town we were in was apparently called Helgen. And there might be someone here who made mead with juniper berries mixed in with it. Oh, and he was apparently sweet with a girl from here once.

"Funny, when I was a boy, Imperial walls and towers used to make me feel so safe," Ralof commented.

As I looked around, I saw people standing in front of the houses, on the porch area and the steps, watching the carts roll on by to wherever they were going. One boy was sat cross-legged on the steps of his house, until his dad told him to go inside the house, that is.

I noticed the carts were definitely slowing down and stopping. Looks like we'd found our stop.

"Why are we stopping?" Lokir then spoke up.

"Why do you think? End of the line." Ralof replied, looking over at him with a tired air. Lokir looked more scared than before, if I could call it scared.

The carts finally stopped, the people getting up to climb off of them. They all looked so tired, some scared. Well anyone would be if they were about to become the next Headless whatever-race-they-were.

"Let's go. Shouldn't keep the gods waiting for us," Ralof said, looking over at me, as we all got up from the cart and began to disembark from it. Lokir was complaining about the situation, trying to get out of it. Wouldn't last long if he somehow managed to get out of this situation alive, which I somehow doubt he will.

"No! Wait! We're not rebels!"

"Um, word to Lokir. We got caught up in an ambush with Stormcloaks, therefore, they think we're Stormcloaks. Therefore if they think Stormcloaks are rebels, they think we are. Strange thing for me, I'm not even a Nord, so I'm not sure why they took me anyway." I said, looking over at him as he just gave me a look that just said he didn't really care about what I'd just said.

"Face your death with some courage, thief." Ralof said from behind me as we finally got off of the cart, with Ulfric in front and Lokir in front of me.

"You've got to tell them! We weren't with you! This is a mistake!"

"Why not tell them that yourself then, instead of expecting someone else to do so for you on your behalf?" I then spoke to Lokir. He didn't even glance back at me this time.

We all began to gather in a small sort of crowd as we waited for what would happen next. An Imperial Captain, definitely a woman, was saying to everyone to step towards the block, one at a time, when our name was called.

"Empire loves their damn lists."

I looked over at Ralof, standing next to me, as he spoke. I gave him a bit of a weird look, before looking in front again. The Imperial Soldier with the list looked like he might be a bit nicer than the rest, but then again, I could be wrong. I can mess up a lot with that sort of thing. It's got me into a bit of trouble back home more times than I would have liked, I can tell you.

"Ulfric Stormcloak. Jarl of Windhelm."

"It has been an honour, Jarl Ulfric!" Ralof called to him as he was walking towards the block. He didn't turn his head to acknowledge him.

"Ralof of Riverwood."

I gave him a pitying look as he walked towards the block, along with someone else from the other cart who had just been called by someone else.

"Lokir of Rorikstead."

"No, I'm not a rebel." Lokir began, stepping forward, "You can't do this!"

He then began to run off away from the Imperials, rebels and me even after the Captain called for him to halt. The Captain then called to the archers, who with a couple of well placed arrows knocked him dead to the ground.

"Anyone else feel like running?" she said. Not a word sounded.

"Wait. You there. Step forward." the Imperial with the list addressed me. I obliged. "Who are you?" he then asked me.

So I wasn't even on the fancy list of his! So what the hell was going on here?

"Lanterra Osidion of Alinor in the Summerset Isle. Daughter of a Royal Guard, if you could call him that, and -" I said, before being cut off by him checking his list before addressing me again.

"You're not with the Thalmor Embassy, are you high elf? No that can't be right..."

If I was with the Embassy, which I'm not by the way, for anyone wondering, then I wouldn't let myself get caught like this. Hell, I wouldn't try and get caught up in anything at all!

"Captain. What should we do? She's not on the list." he asked the Captain, who still stood right next to him. She'd, weirdly enough, had her eyes on me the whole time. I couldn't tell exactly how bad of a thing that was. If it was bad. In a situation like this, it probably was bad, no question.

"Forget the list. She goes to the block." the Captain told him, finally taking her eyes off of me to look at him as she answered. He reluctantly agreed, it so seemed, before looking back at me, with pity.

"I'm sorry. We'll make sure your remains are returned to the Summerset Isle."

So wait, my remains will be returned? Was I in remains when I first got here then or something? Then again, he was only trying to be somewhat nice about the situation.

He then told me to follow the Captain, which I reluctantly did. I ended up standing with the rest of the rebels, as well as Ulfric, who was in front of the rest of the group, and being addressed currently by Tullius.

"Ulfric Stormcloak. Some here in Helgen call you a hero. But a hero doesn't use a power like the voice to murder his king and usurp his throne."

So that's how he got here in the first place with the rest of us. And what exactly was the Voice anyway? All Ulfric could do was give a few muffled grunts as a reply to the general, who then carried on addressing him.

"You started this war, plunged Skyrim into chaos, and now the Empire is going to put you down, and restore the peace."

So now he's saying about putting him down. Makes him sound like an animal. But in the eyes of the Empire, that's what he probably is, so that's probably accountable for his use of language. Just then, before he could carry on, a weird sound filled the distant air. It sounded like the screech or roar of some large creature. Hope it didn't come any nearer, whatever it was. The man with the list turned to Tullius, but he just said to carry on with what was going to happen. Apparently noises in the distance didn't faze him on a job like this.

"Give them their last rites," he then addressed the priestess behind him, who then stepped forward as he stepped back. Just under her robes at the front, I noticed she was wearing an Amulet of Arkay. So she was a Priestess of Arkay then.

"As we commend your souls to Aetherius, blessings of the Eight Divines upon you, for you are the salt and earth of Nirn, our beloved..."

"For the love of Talos, shut up and let's get this over with," one of the Stormcloaks said, stepping forward and kneeling at the block.

We all watched as he knelt down, and a well placed foot shoved him onto the block.

"My ancestors are smiling at me, Imperials. Can you say the same?" he then said, and I couldn't tell what his face was like, as his face was faced away from me.

"Well I can definitely say the same for you, Lanterra."

I looked behind me. I swore I just heard the voice of what sounded like an older woman behind me, right in my ear. The voice seemed somewhat familiar, but when I looked, there was no one there. And by the looks of it, no one else had heard the voice I just heard. I turned back to the front. Just as the headsman bought his axe down on the unfortunate neck of the Stormcloak, chopping his head right off and making it fall into the box on the other side of the block. There were voices of protest and agreement at what was happening that suddenly rung out from the other Stormcloaks around me and the crowd gathered to watch, but none of that woman from earlier.

"Next, the high elf."

My breath caught. But then that distant sound rang out again. It sounded a hell of a lot closer than before. So whatever it was was definitely not far off. The list man mentioned it again, but this time the Captain spoke up.

"I said, next prisoner."

The air suddenly seemed to get colder as I slowly walked forward, towards the block. I got to it and knelt down, grimacing internally at the headless body right close behind me now. I felt a foot shove my head down onto the block, and all I could now see was the headsman and his axe, plus the tower behind him. He had just begun to raise his axe when...

"What in Oblivion was that?" Tullius asked. And I took a moment to glance. And I knew what it was. It landed on the tower and the headsman fell down, axe and all, from the shock of the landing. And then one of the Stormcloaks from where I was standing confirmed what I thought the creature was.

"Dragon!"

The headsman tried to get up, but the dragon shouted, I think, and he fell back down. The sky became full of swirling cloud, and flaming debris and rocks fells from it quickly like meteorites.

As I tried to get up in the sudden panic that filled the air around us, I must have hit my head, because the world suddenly blurred around me and I became dazed, trying to regain my bearings. As I raised my head, the world was still a bit fuzzy, but those few seconds had already caused considerable damage, from what I could tell.

"Hey, high elf. Get up! Come on, the gods won't give us another chance!"

It was the list man from earlier, and it sounded like he was trying to help me. In this situation, I guess anything goes, even if you were about to be decapitated. He began to lead the way towards a tower, and I tried to follow. But I began to feel tired, and my vision still blurred a bit.

"Aren't you going to get saved or not? You shouldn't arrive to meet me for a while yet Lanterra!"

The voice again. I quickly turned, but all I saw was debris and destruction. And then, it was like some other force pushed me towards the tower, making me move quick-like. As I finally got to the doorway, the door slammed shut behind me. I looked at the door as it closed, and for a moment I swore I saw some woman in a fancy-looking dress, with wavy hair reaching to around the bottom of her neck, smiling at me, almost a bit maniacally.

The door them slammed shut.

And I slid to the ground in front of it, my back to the door, wondering what the hell had just happened. And whether that woman I saw was real or not.

And knowing one other thing. Whether I liked it or not, my life had definitely changed and taken a turn.

Whether it's for better or worse remains to be seen.

Hope you enjoyed the first chapter! I haven't gone as far as how she manages to escape Helgen properly, and I probably won't be including that little section at all in this story, so the next chapter will be after she escapes the cave. With the Imperial who she ends up following. And you'll find out a bit more about her family and history, although not too much, mind you.

For now, bake me a cookie, because I'll be back in no time!
See you for now, courtesy of Mew Musica!

:) You like the smiles, because I like the smiles! :)