Author's Note: Fans of mine, you guys remember how I'm an avid gamer, right? Well, what gamer is complete without at least playing Skyrim once? Ahaha! Anyway, this is a small project of mine that I've been considering for a while. A few notes regarding the Skyrim sections: I'm taking all this as it is in-lore. Meaning that shouts, yeah those things that are only partially useful, remember them? Yeah, they are way more powerful in-lore. I read somewhere that the standard Fus Ro Dah shout can shout mountains out of existence. And they have no cooldown times in-lore (I'm sure about that one).
Yeah. So imagine that.
Anyway, we're going to use my Dragonborn in-lore, not in-game, as in-game I'm not nearly as strong as I'm supposed to be in-lore.
Oh! By the way, when I use shouts it looks like this.
When I use dragon words in a sentence (no shout) it will look like this
That should be it so, uh, disclaimer time.
Disclaimer: I don't own Familiar of Zero or The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, however I do own the plot of this story.
Sovngarde, was a beautiful place.
It was known as the Ultimate Nord Paradise, the greatest gift of Shor.
Huge mountains, icey cold temperatures, and the Hall of Valor- the place where the greatest of Nord Warriors could enjoy a bottle of Mead together.
It was unfortunate that it was being destroyed in such a way.
The forests of the area had been covered in a dark mist, where the World-Eater, Alduin, had been feasting on the souls of the dead. Speaking of the dead...
Three men and one woman, all warriors, stood together with their weapons drawn as Alduin landed in front of them. Alduin did not bother looking at the greatest of Nordic Heroes, and instead focused on his greatest enemy-his worst threat. The- "Dovahkiin, now we finally meet our Dez Grah, fated battle, tell me, are you prepared to die?"
The Dovahkiin, Dragonborn, stared at him through his dark mask. Long dark horns curled back from the mask, and the elongated front of the mask worked in tandem to give him the appearance of a dragon. His armour, originally Royal Vampiric in nature, now modified to give him better protection, shifted, allowing the darker colors to be clearly seen. Trailing down his back, you could see that, in his pants, just above his bottom, jutted out a pale green tail with scales that glimmered in the light. Truly Dragonborn indeed.
Beneath his mask he smirked and then raised his Vampiric Blade-a weapon that once belonged to Harkon of the Volkihar clan- and then he spoke. "Alduin, no, the question is: Are you?" In his other hand, the Argonian lit up a ball of fire.
Alduin laughed. "I see you are eager then! I will not keep you." Came the threat. And with that, Alduin gave a might sweep of his wing, and sent the four warriors aside, before taking off into the air.
"Mul Qah Diiv!" The Dragonborn roared, and from his body erupted a swirl of colors and lights. And when Alduin looked at him, he had taken the full Aspect of a Dragon. Beneath his mask, the Dovakiin's eyes glowed a bright orange, and thorns of pure energy jutted up his arms and legs, and his tail seemed to gain an ethereal point.
"Joor Zah Frul!" He added, and Alduin felt the mortals' damned shout tear into him, causing his wings to fold inward out of pure pain. He crashed to the ground, and before the World-Eater could react, his nemesis added yet another shout. "Fus Ro Dah!"
Alduin was sent sailing away, and as he was he cursed Paarthurnax for teaching humanity how to shout. Though it pains me, I will kill you for that, brother.
Alduin's claws dug into the ground, stopping his tumble, but just as he righted himself, as flurry of arrows struck his hide. But Dragonrend had warn off, they bounced off painlessly.
Alduin rapidly leapt into the skies and released a torrent of flames, along with the shout, "Yol Toor Shul!"
Fire burned at the dead heroes and the Dragonborn. His nemesis was the only one unaffected by this, as he charged forward, releasing a massive ball of fire.
It, like most attacks, failed to harm Alduin greatly, but such was the Dragonborn's plan. "Joor Zah Frul!" Came the shout that Alduin detested most.
As the blue energy surrounded the World-Eater, causing him to fall, Alduin let out a massive roar, which caused meteorites to rain down from the sky.
The Dragonborn's allies took cover to avoid the attacks, but the Dragonborn himself, foolish and arrogant as he was, continued to charge forward. Harkon's Blade collided with Alduin's neck, draining some of his life force and implanting it into the Dovahkiin.
He reacted violently to this fact.
"Unhand me Sos Sivaas!" Alduin commanded, swinging his wing and sending the Dragonborn into a group of rocks. Before Alduin to reach his target and press his advantage however-
"Wuld Nah Kest!" He shouted, striking forth from the rocks, Harkon's blade at the ready, and slicing through Alduin's left wing. It wasn't enough to incapacitate the World-Eater of course.
It just pissed him off.
"Yol Toor Shul!" Alduin screamed when the Dragonborn came into range. As a Vampire, the fire definitely harmed him more than if he were an ordinary Argonian. Alduin followed his attack up with a- "Fus Ro Dah!" But as the Dovahkiin went flying, Alduin caught him in his jaws and threw him into the further woodland.
His allies of course rushed forward, swinging their swords and firing their spells off, but the Bane of Alduin had worn off, and they held no effect.
Alduin took off and followed his prey expediently, he couldn't afford to let him recover, his allies could wait.
Meanwhile, deep within the hole that he'd been thrown in, the Dragonborn was healing. He downed potion after potion, as well as utilized the healing spell, trying to heal his broken limbs, cuts, and burn marks. Unfortunately for him, Alduin could see the light of his spell spilling out of the crater.
The crater he'd created shook as the light from the outside was blocked out, and all the Dragonborn could see were two piercing red eyes.
"Now I know what you're thinking.." The Dragonborn said trying, as he had always done, to calm his opponent through wit and sarcasm, but Alduin had none of it.
"Do not attempt to save your life through wordplay, Dovahkiin, It will not work on me as it has for so many others."
"It was worth a try- Joo-" His shout was cut off, when Alduin blasted him with a shout of his own.
"Fus!" He roared, knocking the Dragonborn off enough to stop his shout. Then Alduin began to dig, using his black, leathery wings to tear the crater open more, allowing him to get to his prey. The Dragonborn released several bursts of incinerating fire, trying desperately to stop Alduin's descent, but it was no use, the World-Eater was inches from his face when he started to hear something...
Another Time, Another Place
Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière, or "Louise the Zero" to her classmates, took a shaky breath as she stepped up to the field, and began to speak. "My Servant that exists somewhere in this vast universe!" She lifted the wand above her head
"My Servant that exists somewhere in this vast universe!"
Which one of you is it now? Bal, Sheogorath...Hermaeus? I told you fools that I'm not you're servant! Also, I'm in the middle of something incredibly important! He thought, struggling now to hold back Alduin, who had opted to crunch The Dragonborn with his mighty jaws.
"My Divine, beautiful, wise and powerful servant, heed my call!"
Once more she spoke, feeling the power well up inside her, perhaps...maybe, this spell wouldn't be a failure like she feared. Maybe, she could find, truly, a perfect familiar.
"I wish this Servant from the bottom of my heart, answer my guidance and appear!"
Alduin had had enough. "Fine then, Dovahkiin, if you refuse to die at the hand of my jaws, then burn as Sos Sivaas should! Yol...Toor..." He was holding the words back, charging the shout. The Dragonborn, the Legendary hero, knew. He would not survive.
Serana, my one wish is that I could say goodbye to you, my closest friend. The one I love the most.
Louise cast her wand forward, hope filling her eyes and her heart, maybe it wouldn-
An explosion rocked the entire academy.
Like every time.
The Dragonborn suddenly felt himself being pulled, how odd, was this how it felt to have your soul eaten? In all honesty it was nicer than he would have thought.
Wait, he could still think, and he was pretty sure Dragon Souls didn't think when they were absorbed into him, so..
Opening his eyes, he could see Alduin staring to rise away from him. Or rather, he was leaving the World-Eater. "NO! DOVAKIIN!"Alduin screamed from high, high above him, there was a small green ring just around the World-Eater. It remained for another instant, before disappearing.
Wonderful, let's see where this takes me. He thought, before he began to feel very, very...drowsy. "Wait, why am I tired...? My wounds... I...healed"
The one that They fear, the one They call Dovahkiin, Dragonborn, fainted into a dreamless sleep...
I'm a failure. Louise thought. Even one simple summoning spell..I couldn't cast it. I truly am the Zero they call me." The only thing keeping the student from breaking down right there, was her mother's rule. The Rule of Steel.
She couldn't hear her classmates talking over the sound of her heart pounding in her ears. So...That is what destroyed dreams sound like, hmm? I have heard it too many times before to be certain.
As Guiche the Brass assisted Montmorency, his (current) girlfriend up, Louise stared into the clearing smoke, hoping, praying that she had merely assumed the worst.
When nothing more than a massive crater filled with sand graced her eyes, she knew, she knew that she had failed.
Dropping to her knees, the Zero took in several shaky breaths, desperately attempting to calm herself. It seemed to be working fine enough.
Her teacher, Colbert, approached her from behind and laid a hand on her shoulder. "It's alright, Louise. Though you do know what it means to have failed the-" He cut himself off as he stared into the crater. He saw something that Louise, due to her short stature, had missed. "No-wait, Louise look!" He commanded, causing her to look up from her breathing, and from her new angle, overlooking the crater, she too saw it.
It was the figure of a man.
He seemed to be well-dressed, something of a cross between true nobility and a common soldier. But there were two things Louise could not place. The first was the black mask he wore, it seemed to hold a kind of darkness to it that chilled her to the very bone. The second, and potentially more glaring, was the long lizard-like tail that came from behind the man. Had she summoned some kind of Dragon?
Quickly standing back up, hope renewing, Louise de Vallière, charged down the crater. She nearly stumbled over due to the steepness of it, but she made it to her future familiar. As she did, she spoke. "My name is Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière. Oh pentagon that rules the five powers, bless this individual and make him my Familiar." She approached the Dragon-Man, and leveled her wand at what she presumed to be his head, and looked for an open spot on his clothes. She found none, at least none that a true noble would dare to put their lips upon, except in the most private of company.
Just as she was about to give up, Louise noticed that the man's neck peeked out from the mask, perhaps she could remove it? Moving to do just that, Louise felt the edges of the mask and began to lift upwards, sliding it off his face. She felt the weight of the mask the very instant she pulled it off, and suddenly realized that it was less of a mask, and more of a helmet. What kind of Noble wears a helmet this large? What kind of commoner for that matter? She thought as she fell backwards from the weight.
Setting the helmet down next to her, Louise finally had a chance to really look at her familiar. She was surprised, though she shouldn't have been. He looked just like she would have expected a Dragon-Man too. His skin was unusual for a Dragon, it was a pale, sickly green, and his scales were sharperthan normal. Speaking of sharp, impossibly long and pointed teeth jutted out from his mouth, most certainly, these were the jaws of a predator. What have I summoned? Louise asked, but before she could get an answer, a call from the top of the crater caught her attention.
"Go on, Louise! Complete the ritual! Ahahaha!" Zerbst called, mocking her and her Familliar's appearance.
"Quiet Zerbst!" Louise replied sharply, before leaning over her Familiar and taking a short breath. All she had to do was...kiss it.
Yeah. Easy for the Daughter of Karin Vallière. She would complete the ritual, no matter what.
Without another moment of hesitation, Louise pushed her lips against the creature's, sealing the contract.
With the contract fulfilled, Louise pushed herself up into a sitting position and brushed some of her hair away from her face. That wasn't as bad as she had expected. I mean, it was like kissing a frog, but it could have been worse. The Dragon-Man was at least dressed partially like a noble.
Hissssssss
What is that sound? She thought, looking around for it, before noting that it was coming from her...familiar.
"Duinal! Erweh ahs ee!?" He demanded, and before Louise could react a hand grabbed her neck at lightning-fast speeds and lifted her high into the air.
"F-Familiar! You will release me at once-ACK!" The Dragon-Man clenched his fist down on her throat, not enough to completely prevent her from breathing, but enough to silence her. He then rose to his feet.
"Easpk Learcy!" He demanded furiously. Before shaking his head. "Loyn ah Lidch, ei dene ah Dulta." He said, before looking upwards toward her classmates, and grinning...
He wasn't quite sure why his lips were tingling when he woke up, nor was he sure why there was a girl with pink hair -pink hair for Akatosh's sake!- sitting next to him, but there was one thing that the Dragonborn knew, or rather needed to know. "Alduin! Where is he!?" He'd demanded, and, seeing as he wasn't getting a reaction from the girl, he got angry. Then she started 'speaking'.
"F-Familier! Vous allez me libérer à la fois-ACK!" Seeing as he wasn't in the mood for gibberish, The Dragonborn reached up lightning-quick and grabbed her throat.
What even is that? He'd thought, confused, usually even gibberish utilized familiar sounds. "Speak Clearly!" He'd demanded, before realizing it: This was a child, a teenager at most! "Only a child, I need an adult." He then looked up, and spotted a group of teens. One teen, seeing what he had done to this girl turned and ran, causing the Dragonborn to grin. He was smart, and was likely to do what all children inevitably did when they were threatened: Find an adult.
Dropping the girl -he had no use for her- and using telekinesis to lift his helmet back to him, The Dovahkiin put it back on and began scaling the crater.
"Familier! Obéis-moi et arrête!" The pink-haired girl said, picking herself back up from the ground he had dumped her onto. "Familier! Écoute moi!"
"Cease your incomprehensible language already girl! Either speak one of the languages of man, or stop speaking to me." He commanded as he rounded the hill. Upon reaching the top the Dragonborn found exactly what he was looking for, an Adult male, seemingly a teacher of some sort, stood in front of a group of students defensively.
The Dragonborn made himself quite clear.
"Duinal, erweh ahs ee? Nad erweh ahm ei?"
Whatever Louise had summoned must have been mad, or perhaps simply dumb. Rather than to try speaking with the creature, Colbert turned to Louise. "Mrs Vallière, is it true that your Familiar attacked you?" He asked.
"Indeed Professor, but I was able to get him to drop me, perhaps he was merely afraid?" She was desperately trying to convince Colbert that she control her Familiar.
"Meha! Easpk Learcy, ei cnat undanderdst yoo!" Her Familiar said, getting agitated.
"Hmm, it appears to be trying to speak, amazing, Louise, very few have ever been able to summon a talking Familiar!" The genuine pride in Colbert's voice mirrored Louise's own bubbling pride rising in her chest
"Opts norigein moi!" Her Familiar shouted, opening his palm and-
Colbert nearly had a heart attack. Wandless Magic. Louise's Familiar is preforming Wandless. Magic! Only Elves have been shown to do that! Has Louise summoned an Elf!? No, it can't be, Elves don't have tails.
Looking at the Familiar warily seemed to get him to laugh. "Ahahaha! Nowe yoo stilen? Godo! Erweh ahm ei?" He demanded, pointing his hand at Colbert. Who now understood the danger of the situation they were in. This creature, possibly some kind of Elf, was demanding answers of some kind, but Colbert could not give him an answer he would understand. Nor did he understand what the Familiar was asking in the first place.
Colbert held a hand up to placate the Familiar, and began to recite a spell of translation hoping that he'd let him finish.
The man crossed his arms and growled, irritated but willing to go along with Colbert for the moment.
Once Colbert had his spell ready, he prepared to fire it. He knew that he'd only have one chance to hit the Familiar with it, failure would be disastrous.
He launched his staff forward, firing the green burst of magic right at the Familiar!
He reacted with shock and attempted to move, but the spell's aim was true, and the Familiar staggered backwards, having expected an attack, it seemed. When he realized that he hadn't been attacked, he glared right up at Colbert.
"What was that? A calming spell? Hah! My mind is like steel! You'd have to be a Daedric Prince to get in here! Now, for the final time I will ask you humans. Where am I? The location of Alduin would also put me in a better mood."
"I don't know who this Alduin person you're talking about is, but you are in Tristain, on Halkeginia, and more importantly you attacked my student!" The Dragonborn didn't bother with most of what the man had said, and instead focused on the words he spoke.
"Oh, so now you wish to speak the language of man!? You should have started with that first, else I wouldn't have attacked the child." He replied. "Now, where on Nirn is "Halkeginia"?" He asked, crossing his arms again.
"FAMILIAR!" The pink-haired girl shouted again. "You shall apologise for attacking me!" She demanded.
"No." The Dragonborn replied sharply, before turning back to the Adult. "Remove this child. The Adults need to talk." He commanded, before suddenly giving a growl. "What is that!?" He demanded, pulling off a black gauntlet and scratching his hand.
The man spoke plainly. "I'm afraid that I won't be doing that, you and her are, as unfortunate as it is for the both of you, forever linked."
The Dragonborn looked up from his hand and glared at the man with predatory eyes. "What do you mean?" He questioned.
"Haven't you been listening to me!" The girl roared. "You are my Familiar now! And Familiar's are forever linked to their masters!"
The man was silent for a moment. Then two. And then, he rounded on the girl and snatched her by her collar. "I AM NO-ONE'S SLAVE!" He roared, tossing her behind him and into the Adult, who seemed prepared to use another spell. "I am many things..." The man turned, hands filling with flames, body shadowed by darkness. "I am The Dragonborn. I am a member of the College of Winterhold. I am Listener of the Dark Brotherhood. And I am Legate of the Imperial Legion-" He stood over them now, the hand he had pulled the glove off of extending to point the fire at them "-But I refuse to be anyone's slave, be they Man, Elf, Beast, Aedra or Daedra!"
"Wait! As a Familiar you aren't as much a slave as you are an...assistant!" The man said, desperately trying to convince him to calm.
It did not work.
But before the Dragonborn could Incinerate both teacher and student, someone reacted. A wave of fire struck the Vampire in the back, causing him great pain. And from behind him, some other girl had been the attacker. "Are you alright, Professor?" She asked, as the Dragonborn slowly began to pick himself up.
"I'm fine Kirche, try to get the other students to safety, myself and Louise will have to talk this...'Dragonborn' down."
'Kirche' nodded and fled, moving the other students along with her.
"I will destroy all my Paalle." The Dragonborn stated, rising to his feet. "None shall make me their Zaam." He then reached down and drew Harkon's sword. The blood red blade glistened in the sunlight.
"Calm yourself!" The man commanded, holding up a hand to placate him. "Being a Familiar isn't as bad as you make it seem!" He tried.
"You have seconds to convince me, an Argonian, why I should be enslaved to a child." The Dovahkiin stated, watching both parties very carefully.
Colbert sighed, he had a chance to calm Louise's Familiar. "As you seem to be far more humanoid than most Familiar's, you'll be held to different standards! We here at the Tristain academy of Magic would be happy to provide you with anything you could possibly need! And I can assure you that you will not be a slave, more like a lifelong partner! Of course, this is all saying that you follow most of the rules that other Familiar's have too." Colbert gave his best smile to help convince The Dragonborn, and it actually seemed to make him pause.
"And as a Familiar I'd have to obey that girl down there?" He asked.
"Y-yes, she was the one who summoned you and completed your contract." Colbert pointed at the marks on his hand. "Those runes on your hand prove that you're bound to her. Not that you have to always follow her orders, you are, of course, your own being."
At this the Dragonborn sheathed his sword. "I suppose I have no other real option, even if I killed the two of you, I have no idea where I am..." He glanced away for a moment, before speaking. "Forgive me for my brashness." He said, removing his helmet to reveal the very dragonlike skin underneath. "Let us begin again. I am The Dovahkiin, Dragonborn in mortal languages, but my name is...Heh, it's a bit of an odd name for an Argonian, I'm aware, but I am called Nightgon.
Author's note: Few! I am tired, but happy with the way it turned out. My new story is finally beginning! I do hope you enjoy, and if you have some thoughts about the story, and my choices that I made about my version of the Dragonborn (who definitely looks the part right?) and if you think the naming is weird...well you're right, but I have a reason for it in his backstory.
Speaking of which...
Things that Nightgon is:
Legate of the Imperial Legion (Death to the Stormcloaks!)
Member (NOT ARCHMAGE) of the College of Winterhold
(Failed) Dragonborn.
Killer of Miraak.
Lord of the Volkihar Vampire Clan.
Thane of all holds.
Listener of the Dark Brotherhood.
He isn't apart of many other important factions.
As for other important aspects of the character (Religion, Ambitions, Familial bonds, age, etc) We'll touch upon those as the story goes on.
Lastly, expect some romance, but not between him and Louise. I have a better option...
So, that all said
Until Next Time True Readers!