Three words hit Alduin.
Joor Zah Frul. To be mortal, to know that life was only a limited span of days. To feel the body weaken, to feel bones become brittle and muscles weak. To face death every day, every second of the existence.
Three little words tore his soul.
The dovah was unable to control his movements. His wings that had taken him to the edge of skies and even beyond failed him now. Somehow Akatosh's son managed to land on his belly. The thick snow took most of the impact.
With a surprisingly powerful roar, the mortal woman jumped at him. She boldly attacked his snout and for a few seconds, Alduin could do nothing but take the blows and trust his thick scales. When he had gathered his senses again, he Shouted fire on her. Most of it was blocked by her huge shield, but the flames left her confused for a tiny moment – this was all he needed.
His jaws, big enough to swallow a goat, closed over the woman's upper body. Her bloodied sword hit his head a few times. Alduin didn't care. Instead, he bit down. Hard. The muscles on his neck strained, but he managed to raise his head and the mortal with them. Her agonized screams becamed louder and he could taste her fear when he shook his head once, twice, then let her fly. For a few heartbeats she probably felt the freedom of a dovah, then she hit the rocks with a satisfying sound that clearly indicated she would never feel anything at all.
Alduin turned to face his two other enemies. One was an old man – measured at the lifespan of the joore -, the other was younger and had obviously mated the dead woman, if his stench and fury were any indications. The young one was hacking wildly at the dovah's wing, but Alduin's skin was thicker than a lesser brother's.
Almost lazily, he thrust the limb in the man's ribcage and felt bones shudder and shatter under the impact. The mortal collapsed and Akatosh's son grinned excited. The three humans had killed dozens of his brothers. First he would tear the dead woman apart, consume her flesh and soul alike. Her mate would be the next to die, and when the last one's spirit was broken, the traitor's name would be revealed to Alduin.
He still remembered Silahven's torn body, limbs broken, the skull carved in by hard blows with an iron warhammer, wings reduced to bloody ribbons, neck burned by the Thu'um of a mortal. He remembered the furious oath he had Shouted; yes, Shouted, and the use of Rotmulaag made it even more binding than honour, revenge or duty would have. Even Paarthurnax had cowered before him in fear.
Silahven had been the first to die, but too many followed. 'Dovahkiinne' appeared, as the Dov called them, and devoured the sille of the dead. Alduin could not bring the fallen back, as much as he tried. But all of this would end now! The traitor, the joorre, Kaan and tahrodiis bormah – Akatosh himself – would burn together with the world.
Suddenly, Alduin's blood-demanding thoughts were interrupted by a presence he had not felt in centuries. The old man held a long – stick? No, it was a Kel, a fragment of creation!
"Hold, Alduin on the Wing! Sister Hawk, grant us your sacred breath to make this contract heard! Begone, World-Eater! By words with older bones than your own, we break your perch on this age and send you out! You are banished! Alduin, we shout you out from all our endings unto the last!"
"Niid!" This could not be happening. He had been so close…but the Kel started to tear at him, like the Shout but much stronger. Lights in all colours danced in front of Alduin's eyes. A last time he tried to Shout fire at his foes, but he didn't know if it was followed by success of failure. The dovah's soul felt being twisted, ripped, torn in every direction – up, down, left, right, back, forth, Voidwards, to Oblivion, tomorrow and last century – while agony seared through every fibre of his body.
The strange sensations stopped as suddenly as they had come, and the dovah found himself back in Taazokaan's skies – falling! He opened his wings and they stopped his fast descent heartbeats before he crushed on a mountain's side. The abrupt halt ripped at his shoulder joints, but this pain was nothing compared to a crash on the hard rocks.
Alduin gained height with a few beats of his wings, then he tried to find out where he was. It was a crisp autumn day, probably in the south of Keizaal. The Monahven was near, her top surrounded by white, soft clouds. Nothing unusual. Except…
The Dov were Akatosh's children. They could feel the time like the currents of air or the smell of prey. It helped them to navigate after week-long sleep or to keep their memories in order. But now, Alduin did not feel anything familiar.
"Od-ah-viing!" he Shouted, trying to summon one of his most loyal Dov. "Paar-thur-nax! Sah-lok-nir!" No, the latter was dead, slain at the top of the Monahven.
Fury filled him, seared through his veins like the fire had entered him, and with a wild roar, he looked around for something to tear apart, to unleash his power at. Deep under him, he saw a city. He couldn't remember the joor living near the sacred mountain, but it didn't matter. The muz would die!
He dived down through the skies in a dangerous speed, crashed on a building and stared at the mortals under him. They were doing an execution – a joor was kneeling on the floor, another stood with an axe raised and ready. For a moment, everything froze. The men and women stared at him with wide eyes and Alduin felt better at the thought that the joorre still feared the Dov.
Then he Shouted at them.
Chaos started to spread like wildfire, while Akatosh's son displayed his power. He killed the people with Thu'um and fang, while they tried to poke him with arrows and swords. None of them had a chance. In his unleashed fury, he didn't think of keeping them as slaves; no, they had to burn for the betrayal of their ancestors.
When he had reduced the buildings to rubble and the joorre to ash and no other living being was near, Alduin settled on a half-collapsed tower and tried to think again. The muz had recognised him as a dovah, but their fight had been weak. They had not known how to deal with him and none of them had unleashed the Thu'um. This meant that they knew the Dov only from tales; probably all of Alduin's brothers were dead. He would have to find their bones and hope that not every sil had been devoured by Dovahkiinne.
The dovah's thoughts were interrupted by a sudden wave of fatigue. This day had been long, with too many fights. First he had been wounded at the top of the Monahven, later he had suffered pain from the Kel, and some of the arrows the joorre had shot at him had bitten in his flesh. None of these injuries threatened his life, but they drank the last of his strength.
With a sigh, the dragon took flight again. He found enough prey in the woods to end his hunger, then he searched for a comfortable sleeping place. Something tugged him to the Monahven, but Alduin didn't trust the mountain anymore. Instead, he settled on the peak of an ancient temple. For the first time in he didn't know how long, the spires were used for their ancient purpose: to keep a dovah in the sky even when he slept. He closed his eyes and sank in a deep sleep.
Nearly fourteen hours later Alduin woke.
"Drem Yol Lok, thuri", a friendly, familiar voice said.
Akatosh's firstborn turned his head around and saw the dovah, perched on a smaller peak to Alduin's left. It was Mirmulnir.
The small, brown dovah was one of the weakest and last creations of Akatosh, but where his muscles and Thu'um lacked strength, he used his wits to succeed. He was known for his cunning, speed and elusiveness.
Mirmulnir bared his throat to Alduin, then he waved his head to the ground. Three dead mountain goats were lying between the stones. "I heard your arrival, thuri."
"Drem Yol Lok, zeymah." Although the bigger dovah had hoped for a mightier ally to arrive, there could have been worse. "I thank you. But answer me a few questions first: How long have I been gone?"
"Lingrah. I did not count the years, but the tides of times have fully changed eight times, as you might have noticed."
Alduin felt a lot worse than before. This was long. Too long. "Are any other Dov left?"
"Ahbiilok, Nahfahlaar and a few others survived, but as far as I know, most of them were slain later. Lokiizyah flew for Akavir; I doubt he has heard your call."
"What about my lieutenants? Paarthurnax, Odahviing? Numinex?"
The dovah seemed uncomfortable. "Odahviing died on the day you vanished. Numinex was caught by a bron, became mad and died."
"And Paarthurnax?" When the Mirmulnir didn't answer, Alduin arched his neck. He spread his wings and Shouted flames that barely missed the young dovah. "Zu'u Alduin! I demand an answer!"
The other hissed, defiance, hate and fury in his eyes. "Tahrodiis Paarthurnax sits on the top of the Monahven, where he gives joorre the suleyk of Dov! Tahrodiis Paarthurnax is the reason you see only me before you, for the others are slain and devoured like mere beasts! Paarthurnax, our zeymah, communed with Kaan and gave the Thu'um to the muz!"
"Niid! You tell nok!" This could not be true!
"Zu ni nok. Paarthurnax is a traitor. We found out in the last fight, shortly after you vanished. Did he ever tell you the tey of his shredded wings? He sold us for his own life!"
"What?"
"He fell from the lok when the joorre's arrows hit him. But he betrayed us and traded the secret of the Thu'um for his life. Then we started to die."
Alduin could not – didn't want to – believe him. But all he could smell on the other dovah was fury, not deceit. The sos in his veins started to boil. "I will kill him!"
"Geh, thuri. Will you call our brothers?"
"Were some not slain by the Dovahkiinne?"
"I can scout for you. The smell of their sille should still linger with their bones. If I find a unharmed dovah, I will call you."
"Do so, Mirmulnir. And kill every joor you see."
The smaller dovah nodded, then he launched himself from his spire. With a few rapid beats of his wings, he vanished north. For a moment Alduin looked after him, then he flew down to the goats and started to feed.
He had to become stronger.
I don't think Alduin was stuffed in a dark corner for a few millennia. He was just here and *poof* there and no time passed for him at all. And I don't think dragons were hatched from eggs but created by Akatosh and Allie was made the first and strongest on purpose.
This sense for time was made up by my mind after Paarty's comment about 'even we who ride the currents of time cannot see past time's end'
If you like this, tell me! If enough people want more, I'll write the whole main quest from Allie's POV.
Everything's Bethesda's, of course.