Smallville: The Black Dragon
A Skyrim/Elder Scrolls/Game of Thrones crossover
…
The Mages College of Winterhold. Skyrim.
Aegon Stormcrown swung his sword Blackfyre in a horizontal arc slicing through three magical anomalies at once. The spectral beings shrieked in pain as the Valyrian steel blade of Aegon's sword cleaved through, leaving them nothing but piles of steaming glowing magical ooze on the snow-covered ground. The town was under attack by the magical anomalies created when Thalmor agent, Ancano, had decided to take the Eye of Magnus, an artefact of immense magical power, for himself and using the power of the Eye, he expelled everyone from the College and even killed Savos Aren, the Archmage of the College, doing so.
The faculty of the College and the students, which included Aegon, had spent their efforts trying to break through the magical barrier Ancano had erected around the college whilst trying to stop the magical anomalies from destroying what was left of the town of Winterhold. Aegon had just returned from a trip to the ancient Nord city Labyrinthian after being told by incorporeal Augur of Dunlain to retrieve the one artefact that could stop Ancano, the Staff of Magnus. The Staff was the only object capable of containing the Eye's power and Aegon had fought his way through countless Draugr, an animated dragon skeleton and the undead Dragon Priest Morokei who possessed the Staff and had a history with Savos Aren who had travelled to Labyrinthian with some companions when he was a young mage. Savos had been the only one to escape the ancient ruined city alive as Aegon had seen through quite literally ghosts of the past when he made his way through the ruins.
Aegon took a moment to catch his breath when Mirabelle the second-in-command of the College shouted to him "Aegon! You must get inside and close the Eye! Ancano will be the ruin of us all!" the sorceress shouted as she blasted streams of lightning at magical anomalies.
Aegon gritted his teeth as he held Blackfyre tightly in his right hand and pulled from his back the Staff of Magnus. Tolfdir, an elderly but still very capable wizard, followed Aegon as they cut their way through the swathe of magical anomalies. Together they ran up the walkway until they came to the magical barrier keeping them from entering the College and ending Ancano's misuse of the Eye. Aegon levelled the Staff at the barrier and concentrated; a stream of aquamarine energy was expelled from the crystalline head of the staff and collided with the barrier. The barrier seemed to shift and groan as if in pain before finally the Staff's power broke the barrier. The barrier splintered and cracked like breaking glass before it broke completely and 'shards' of magic fell down to the ground far below the College like broken glass. Running into the College grounds before Ancano could conjure another barrier, Aegon charged in with his sword and the Staff raised and Tolfdir ran after him, his hands wreathed in mystical flames.
Like a juggernaut, Aegon broke down the oak and iron bounds of the College and smashed through the wrought iron gates leading to the hall of elements. Ancano stood facing the Eye as it pulsed and spun with raw magic.
"ANCANO!" Aegon bellowed and the Thalmor agent turned to face him. "Stop this madness! You'll destroy us all!" the Dovahkiin shouted.
Ancano sneered, clearly drunk with power. "Foolish boy! I know exactly what I'm doing!" he boasted "With the Eye at my command, the Thalmor has what it needs to wipe the board clean of the Legion and the Stormcloaks!" he declared.
"Ancano! Please! Listen to reason!" Tolfdir pleaded "There are magics mortals were never meant to meddle with!" he yelled.
Ancano sneered dismissively before replying "I tire of your prattle, old fool!" he said and with a wave of his hand, Tolfdir fell to the ground paralysed and unable to move anything but his eyes which rolled in their sockets madly.
"NO! DAMN YOU!" Aegon roared as he raised the Staff. Ancano's eyes widened in recognition.
"The Staff of Magnus?! YOU FOUND THE STAFF OF MAGNUS?!" Ancano screamed.
"And with it, I will end your schemes!" declared Aegon.
Ancano snarled like a beast and he raised a hand to the Eye and cast a spell at it. The Eye opened, revealing a swirling vortex of magic and Ancano was then covered in the eldritch power, encasing him like armour.
Ancano then raised his hands towards Aegon who had the sense to start strafing the room. This was a wise idea as Ancano's spells seemed to be augmented to invariably insurmountable levels and as each lightning bolt or fireball struck the walls of the room, the College shook under the force.
Aegon then took in a deep breath.
FUS… RO DAH!
A wave of energy that compressed the air to the point that it was almost visible exploded from Aegon's mouth and the wave of energy collided with Ancano and sent him flying where he crashed against the wall and slid to the ground dazed. Aegon then raised the Staff towards the Eye and poured forth the energy of the Staff in an effort to close Eye of Magnus before its power destroyed the world. The magic of the Staff splashed against the Eye and the Eye began to close. As the Eye closed, Ancano's magical body shield faded away.
"NO! DAMN YOU WHELP!" Ancano screeched as he cast a stream of lightning at Aegon, although without the power of the Eye boosting his power, the streams of lightning were weaker but still deadly. Aegon then rushed towards the Thalmor agent with Blackfyre ready to snuff out the Altmer's life. Aegon slid on his knees to duck under the jets of eldritch lightning and leaping to his feet and thrust Blackfyre into Ancano's chest. The Valyrian steel blade of Blackfyre sank deep into Ancano's chest and exited out the elf's back, stained with crimson blood. Ancano gave a shocked gurgle and slowly fell to his knees clutching at Aegon's sword to try and pull the blade out from himself. Aegon wrenched his sword free and flicked the blood of it, the scarlet drops splattering on the tiled floor of the Hall. Turning his attention to Tolfdir, Aegon saw that the elderly wizard was now recovering. That was Aegon's mistake.
Ancano still had enough strength and life left in him to raise his hand towards the Eye and with his dying breath, he cast a spell at it. Aegon saw the spell hit the Eye and he tried in vain to cast a simple ice spike at the spell to throw it off course. But it was too late, Ancano's spell hit the Eye and the artefact began to spin and churn and froth with raw magical energy.
His sense of duty kicking in, Aegon spoke to Tolfdir "Tolfdir! Get everyone out of range of the College! I have to try and close the Eye once more before it completely destroys all of Winterhold or even all of Skyrim!" he said to the old wizard.
"N-no! I can't! I won't leave you here!" Tolfdir protested angrily.
"I'm trusting you to do this, Tolfdir! Don't argue! Go!" Aegon commanded as he pulled the wizard up to his feet and shoved towards the doors. Tolfdir spared one last look at Aegon and quickly ran out into the College ground to do what Aegon instructed. Aegon faced the Eye which had now turned into a vortex and began sucking everything in. Pointing the Staff at the Eye, Aegon poured every last bit of magic the Staff had at the Eye; the stream of magic hit the Eye, but it only caused the artefact to spark out arcs of eldritch lightning.
The sparks of energy blasted off pieces of the hall, leaving deep scorched gouges in the stonework. Aegon continued to pour every last ounce of energy he had to close the Eye. Then one of the sparks of energy the Eye was causing seemed to latch itself onto Aegon and started to slowly drag him in towards the swirling vortex. Aegon tried to hack off the tendril of magic with his sword but to no avail. Soon Aegon was dragged into the vortex and he was lost in a kaleidoscope of colours, places and images and the Eye closed before blinking out of existence.
…
Metropolis. Suicide Slums.
The world's newest superhero, Superman flew above the rundown area of Metropolis known as Suicide Slums. To but a select few, Superman was mild mannered reporter Clark Kent of the Daily Planet. It was only a few scant months ago that Clark had revealed himself to the world as Superman, having finally accepted his powers, his origins and his destiny and learning to fly before pushing away the planetoid Apokalips before it crashed into the Earth. Other things had happened in this time as well such the return of Lex Luthor who had declared he and Clark to be enemies as well as the mysterious death of Tess Mercer which Lex had somehow got ruled as suicide. What was strange about Lex's return was that he knew that Clark was Superman but hadn't revealed it to anyone for some unknown reason. It was something that Clark wanted to look further into, but was hesitant to do so, if on the off-chance that Lex was waiting for a reason or an excuse to tell the world his secret.
So, for the moment, Clark had decided to use the wait-and-see approach regarding his resurrected enemy. Clark was now flying over Suicide Slums on a routine patrol. Clark sometimes worried that his presence as Superman would cause an escalation in hostilities as criminal organisations like Intergang were now upgrading their weapons to deal with the rise of metahumans and superheroes. A year back, a majority of the public were backing the Vigilante Registration Act or simply termed VRA. Granted the reason most people were backing such legislation was because of the Dark Force that was corrupting the minds and souls of people susceptible to it such as the likes of radio shock jock G. Gordon Godfrey or military general Slade Wilson who was responsible for the death of Carter Hall/Hawkman. Now that the Dark Force was destroyed, and Armageddon had been prevented, the public seemed to welcome superheroes and crime fighters with open arms, although there were some exceptions.
As Clark flew above the poorer part of Metropolis, a flash of light caught his eye. Looking up into the sky, Clark saw a massive lightning storm approaching. "Strange, the weather forecast was said to be clear skies tonight," Clark said to himself. Then with a massive crack of thunder, a lightning bolt streaked down from the sky and crashed into Suicide Slums.
Deciding to see if anyone was injured or if there some otherworldly threat, Clark flew towards the spot where the lightning bolt had struck. Landing at the spot where the lightning bolt had struck, Clark found a decent sized crater and laying down in the centre of it was a man wearing midnight black armour and well-armed with a sword and an ornate staff. Civilians were emerging to take pictures and videos of the crater and its occupant.
"Alright, stay back!" Clark ordered as he hovered down to the crater and gently picked up the strange man. Making to keep a hold of the man's weapons as well, Clark flew up into the air and towards STAR Labs where he knew that Emil would run a diagnostic on this stranger and give him some better answers.
…
STAR Labs.
Clark stood in an observation room, watching as an MRI scanner moved over the stranger that had crash landed in Suicide Slums after a lightning bolt had caused the crash. Emil then entered the observation room. Clark turned his head to look at the mild-mannered doctor and the first question to leave his mouth was "So, is he an alien?" Clark wanted to know.
"No," replied Emil immediately "From what I can tell, he's human for the most part," he said "But it's hard to get a reading since there's some sort of energy signature disrupting the scanners," he added.
"Could he be a meteor-freak or a meta-human?" Clark enquired.
Emil nodded his head slightly. "It's possible, but I would rule out the possibility of a meteor rock making our new friend what he is," he said. "I do have one theory however," he added.
Clark looked at Emil and the good doctor continued "It's possible our new friend is from another universe and his arrival and the energy he emits may be linked with magic," Emil said. "It seems a little bit of a stretch, but I think it is very likely," he then added shrugging his shoulders a little.
Clark nodded and said "For some reason, I'm thinking along that line as well. And I think know someone who can give us an answer," he said as he pulled out his communicator and tuned in on a frequency to call a friend who could give him some answers.
…
Shadowcrest Estate.
Zatanna Zatara had just arrived home after a sold out show in Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas and was looking forward to having a hot relaxing shower and some leftover Chinese takeout that was sitting in her fridge. Just as Zatanna prepared to use a spell to make her clothes disappear, her Justice League communicator vibrated.
"Always something," the raven-haired magician muttered to herself but she picked up her communicator and answered the call.
"Hello?" Zatanna greeted cautiously.
"Zatanna, it's Clark," came the reply.
Zatanna smiled widely. "Clark! How nice to hear from you!" she proclaimed, "For what reason did my favourite super-man decide to call me?" she asked flirtatiously.
"I've got a new 'friend' here at STAR Labs who I'm thinking is from another universe and arrived here by magic," replied Clark "Emil and I are hoping you can come by and do some tests yourself," he said.
"Of course, anything for you, Clark," Zatanna said. "Matter of fact, I did feel a little vibration in the mystic ether just a short while ago," she added.
"So, our new arrival did get here by magic?" asked Clark.
"I'll need to come by and do a test to confirm it," said Zatanna "Just give me a moment to port over to you," she added before she chanted an incantation.
"SbaL RATS ot em tropelet!" Zatanna chanted and in a flash of blue lights, Zatanna was instantly in the observation room where Clark and Emil were. Emil gave a startled little jump on the spot at seeing Zatanna teleport in the room so quickly.
Clark for his part didn't look surprised. "Zatanna, good of you to come so quickly," he said as he turned off his communicator.
"Well, I must say I'm intrigued by who it is that has entered our little dimension," replied Zatanna as she enveloped Clark in a warm friendly hug. Clark was a little surprised, but he hugged the magician back, albeit hesitantly as he still remembered the time Zatanna had tried to enchant him into falling in love with her. It was only because of his love for Lois that made him resist the enchantment, but Zatanna had taken the rejection quite well, all things considered.
After Zatanna pulled away, she spoke "So, where's the patient?" she asked. Emil directed her to the observation window where she saw the mysterious man who was unconscious and had been stripped of his armour and weapons with a hospital sheet covering his modesty.
"Oh my, he's a dish!" Zatanna licked her bottom lip briefly as she saw just how muscular the mysterious stranger along with his pale silver-blonde hair and the numerous battle-scars on his body.
"You can ogle him later," Clark said to the magician "Now, can you tell us if this guy did get here by magic?" he asked.
"I'll need to examine him myself to be sure," Zatanna replied slipping back into a more professional manner.
"Very well, follow me," said Emil as he led Zatanna into the examination room. The mysterious man was still unconscious as Emil and Zatanna entered the room.
"Clark did air the thought that our new friend might be a meteor freak," Emil remarked. "But none of my initial scans showed any residue of meteor rock radiation," he said "And there's some kind of energy that our friend emits. Nothing actively harmful, but it does interfere with the scanners," he added.
"Well, it's a good thing I'm here than," said Zatanna as she placed her hands on the temples of the unconscious man. She then chanted a spell to see into the man's mind and feel his energy.
Zatanna suddenly gasped and snatched her hands away. "What is it? What happened?" Emil asked in worry.
"His power… it was unlike anything I'd ever seen!" Zatanna replied "I got a glimpse into his memories, his name's… Ay-Gone, I think?" she said.
"Did you see anything else? Like how he got here?" Emil asked.
"I did get a little glimpse of how he got here," Zatanna admitted "He definitely got here by magic," she said. "He was trying to stop some kind of vortex from destroying a palace I think," she added.
"But I think it's best that we wake him up and ask him ourselves," Zatanna then said as she prepared to wake 'Ay-Gone' up.
"Are you sure that's wise, Ms Zatara?" Emil asked cautiously "There's no telling if our new friend will be in an agreeable mood," he warned.
"Well, we can always ask Clark to help out in case our new friend gets a little rowdy," Zatanna smirked slightly as she placed a hand on Martin's temple and chanted "Pu ekaw,"
The man's flicked open revealing eyes the colour of amethysts and a frown creased his brow as he sat up and looked around. His gaze fell on Zatanna and Emil and he spoke in a deep almost guttural voice.
"Where am I?" he demanded.
"Sir, please calm down," Emil said to the man "You've obviously been through a lot, so if you'll please just calm down," he suggested.
"I am perfectly calm," the man retorted before his amethyst eyes swivelled to regard Zatanna "You. Are you the one who entered my mind?" he asked.
"I am but I didn't look too far," replied Zatanna "Can you tell us how you got here?" she asked.
The man then looked at his person and saw the hospital sheet "What manner of garb is this?" he asked.
"We needed to see if you were injured in anyway," Emil explained "Your weapons and armour are being examined while we checked you over," he said.
"You took my weapons and armour from me?" the giant of a man asked in a dangerous voice.
"Only until we finished examining you," replied Emil in as smooth a voice as he could manage "We don't intend to steal your belongings," he said calmly.
The man then stood from the examination table and the hospital sheet fell from his body revealing his naked body to Emil and Zatanna and Clark who was still in the observation room should things go awry.
Zatanna blushed furiously at seeing the stranger fully naked and she subconsciously licked her bottom as she practically ogled the man au naturel. He was very tall, she noted, easily towering over her by a good foot at least and his muscles were certainly something a girl could get used. Zatanna's gaze carried lower and she blushed even harder when she saw the sheer size of the man's phallus. Emil had a much calmer reaction to seeing people naked having examined patients and cadavers as part of his job as a doctor, scientist and forensic examiner.
"Sir, please calm down!" Emil pleaded with the man even as the man towered over him. "This is all very stressful, and I understand that you are upset, but we can't help you unless you talk to us first," he explained.
"Very well, let's talk," replied the stranger as he stood.
"How did you arrive here?" was Emil's first question.
"I was closing the Eye of Magnus before its power became too great to control," replied the stranger. "It was because that fucking Thalmor toady Ancano had decided that it would be a good idea to take the Eye for his superiors and use the Eye's power for himself," he said as he remembered what happened in the past few hours.
"And this Eye of Magnus is a magical object of some sort?" Zatanna asked while trying to keep her eyes focussed on the man's face and not anywhere near his manhood.
"Aye, an artefact from long ago of immense power," said the stranger as he looked at the magician "It was only with the Staff of Magnus that I could close the Eye before it destroyed all of Skyrim," he added.
"And Skyrim is the land you're from?" asked Emil and Martin nodded in reply.
"So, how did you end up here in our dimension?" Zatanna asked.
"I had managed to deal a mortal blow Ancano, but I turned my back on him for a moment and he cast a spell on the Eye with his dying breath and a vortex opened and threatened to swallow the College," replied the stranger. "I ordered a friend to evacuate everyone out of range while I tried to close the Eye again," he said. "And the next thing I was sucked into the vortex and the rest you know," he added shrugging his shoulders.
"So, next question; who are you?" Zatanna then asked.
"I am Aegon Stormcrown the Last Dragonborn of Skyrim," came Martin's answer.
"Dragonborn? Is that a title of nobility?" Emil enquired.
A small curve was on Martin's bearded lips as he said "No. Being Dragonborn grants me little sway in politics, other than with dragons," he said.
Zatanna and Emil's jaws did their best to drop to the floor before Zatanna managed to speak again "Dragons exist in your world?" she asked in a stunned voice.
"Aye," replied Aegon nodding his head. "Do they not exist here?" he asked curiously.
"Well, there's no evidence of dragons in this world," Emil said awkwardly. Aegon hummed thoughtfully in response.
"So, what does it mean to be Dragonborn then?" Zatanna asked.
"Being Dragonborn means I am born with the blood and soul of a dragon and innately gifted in the Thu'um, or the Voice if you wish to call it that," replied Martin.
"The scan I did of you before I woke you up, it was unlike anything I'd felt before," Zatanna said slowly "Are you… I mean, I don't know how to say this… but are you some kind of god?" she asked hesitantly.
Aegon blinked in surprise at the question posed before him before he replied "Well, dragons are essentially gods. Lesser gods, but gods all the same," he said, "And being Dragonborn means I have the power of a god but the body of a mortal," he added.
"I suppose I'm a demi-god in a sense, but I never claimed divinity as my right," Aegon then said shrugging his broad shoulders.
"So, is there any way you could perhaps return to your world?" Emil asked.
"That I don't know for certain," admitted Aegon "I do know of one who could perhaps know of a way to return to Nirn, but he might not be able to come here himself," he said.
"And who is this friend of yours?" Zatanna asked curiously.
"I need my possessions back first," replied Aegon looking at himself pointedly.
"Of course, you can't do it naked," Emil agreed.
Soon, Aegon's possessions were returned to him and he began to put on his armour and weapons.
"So, I've been meaning to ask; what kind of metal is your armour?" Emil asked "I've never seen any metal quite like it," he observed.
"It's ebony metal," replied Aegon. "A volcanic metal from my lands. Incredibly strong and durable and makes strong armour and weapons," he said.
"Then what about your sword?" Zatanna asked she looked at the large hand-and-a-half longsword. While Zatanna would admit weapons weren't her forte, the sword Martin had was clearly a masterpiece. "If your armour is made of a super-strong metal, then why not have a sword made of the same metal?" she enquired.
"My sword is a special metal," replied Martin "It's a family heirloom if you wish to know," he said guardedly as if he was hiding something.
"Does it have a name?" Zatanna asked "Looks like it has a name," she remarked.
"Aye, it's called Blackfyre," replied Martin. "It's a special kind of steel called Valyrian steel," he said.
"Valyrian steel," Zatanna repeated "Sounds very mystical," she commented.
"I suppose it does," agreed Aegon as he adjust his sword and held the staff he had in his left hand "Incidentally, this is the Staff of Magnus," he then said holding out the Staff. Zatanna could feel the raw magic coming off the staff in waves; she had never felt such raw magic before. She could most certainly believe that such a staff could unleashed untold power.
Then Clark came walking into the room. Aegon looked at Clark warily, his hand straying to his sword "And who might this be?" Aegon asked cautiously, his grip tightening on the hilt of Blackfyre.
"Relax! This is Superman, he's the one who found and brought you here," Zatanna explained. Aegon looked to and fro between Zatanna and Clark before he released his grip on his sword and extended his hand towards Clark.
"I suppose I should thank you for finding me," Aegon said to Clark who nodded and shook hands with him.
"I'm just glad that you didn't try to start a fight when you woke up," Clark replied. "You said you had a friend who might have a way for you to return home?" he asked.
"I did," admitted Aegon "We need to be outside for this work," he said as he looked at the examination room with a curious gaze, looking at all the machinery with cautious eyes.
"Why can't you just summon your friend here?" Emil asked.
"My friend is… quite large as you'll find out," Aegon said cryptically "Is there a large open space nearby?" he asked.
"yeah, there's the rooftop, that should be large enough to summon your friend, whoever he is," Zatanna said.
Taking the elevator up to the rooftop of STAR Labs, Aegon's amethyst eyes widened when saw the city of Metropolis and he said "I'm definitely not in Tamriel anymore."
"So, are you gonna summon your friend or what?" Zatanna asked.
"You might wanna cover your ears, this will be loud," Aegon warned and before anyone could ask why, he shouted three almost unintelligible yet powerful words.
ODAHVIING!
…
The Throat of the World.
Odahviing sat at the top of the tallest mountain in Tamriel with his mentor, the aged dragon Paarthunax. It had been a few hours since Paarthunax felt the magical disturbance at the Mages College of Winterhold. Paarthunax had known that the mortal magic users had discovered the Eye of Magnus as the Dovahkiin had told them. Paarthunax knew it was only a matter of time before one of the mortals there had decided to misuse the power and Paarthunax knew that if the power of the Eye was recklessly misused, it had the potential to wipe out all Tamriel. But the disturbance had resolved but seemingly at the cost of the Dovahkiin's life. Paarthunax and Odahviing knew that the Dovahkiin was not the easiest of mortals to kill and he often charged into battle against insurmountable odds and came out with only a few scars.
Odahviing had visited the Mages College to ascertain from the mortals there if the Dovahkiin was truly dead. The magic users had told the ruby red dragon that it was likely that the Dovahkiin was dead as there was no body to be found and the Eye had disappeared as well. Odahviing was certain that his friend was not dead, otherwise there would be a body to find. Paarthunax had aired the suggestion that perhaps the Dovahkiin had somehow entered one of the many realms of Mundus. It was a suggestion that Odahviing found himself agreeing with.
As Odahviing reflected on his life before meeting the Dovahkiin, he felt the vibrations of the Shout to summon him. Odahviing lifted his massive head to ascertain where the Shout had come from. Only one had the right to summon him and he was presumed dead.
Paarthunax had felt the vibration of the summoning shout as well and spoke "It seems the Dovahkiin may yet be alive," the aged dragon rumbled thoughtfully.
"Geh, it would seem so, brother," agreed Odahviing.
"Will you go to him?" Paarthunax enquired.
"Geh, I will," replied Odahviing as he prepared himself to fly to wherever the Dovahkiin "No doubt wherever the Dovahkiin has landed is interesting," he remarked as he flapped his wings and lifted himself into the air. Paarthunax watched as his fellow Dovah flew off into the sky before the ruby red dragon used a Thu'um to open a portal to where the Dovahkiin was undoubtedly was.
…
Back at STAR Labs.
"What the heck was that?!" Zatanna exclaimed as she rubbed her ringing ears "You wanna warn us next time before blasting out our ears like that?" she complained.
"I did warn you all," replied Aegon seemingly unapologetic. "And if I wanted to harm you with the Thu'um, I wouldn't give you any warning," he said as his amethyst eyes scanned the horizon.
"Was that a spell of some kind?" Emil asked as he tended to Clark whose ears were supersensitive to sound and sonic vibrations.
"Aye, that was a summoning shout to summon my friend here," replied Aegon "Let us hope that he chooses to answer its call," he said.
"And if he doesn't?" Zatanna asked.
"Then I'll have to think of something else," replied Aegon as if it were no bother to him. After a moment of waiting, his shoulders slumped a little and he turned to speak only for a loud roar to interrupt.
"What was that?" Emil asked in slight worry.
Clark scanned the skies with his supervision and his x-ray vision and what he saw on the horizon almost made his eyes widen in shock. A large flying reptile with scales the colour of rubies soaring at speeds well over three-hundred kilometres an hour.
"Magic," the Kryptonian mumbled to himself.
"What do you see?" Zatanna asked him when she got her answer in the form of a roar and a whoosh of air. Landing in front of them was the giant flying reptile Clark had seen, a dragon. Zatanna and Emil's eyes bugged out of their heads when they got a good look at the beast. Aegon walked up to the dragon and spoke to it.
"Drem Yol Lok, Odahviing," Aegon said to the beast in some strange tongue. Clark could feel just how much power those words held, and he trembled slightly as he felt the power that the dragon emanated.
And what stunned Clark, Zatanna and Emil next was when the reptile spoke back to Aegon.
"Drem Yol Lok, Dovahkiin, it is good to see you alive, wo fahdon," the beast said broken English.
"It talks… It talks!" Zatanna exclaimed in surprise and shock at seeing a beast with a mouth that could in no way manipulate the sounds used for English. The beast turned its massive head to gaze at Zatanna with sapphire blues eyes.
"Of course, I can talk, joor!" the beast growled "Did you think me a mindless sivaas? A mindless beast?" it accused.
"What did you call me?" Zatanna asked.
"Joor. It means mortal in our tongue, the Dovahkiin and I," said the dragon.
"My name is Zatanna!"
"Don't take it personally," Aegon said to the magician. "Odahviing's hundreds of thousands of years old. Why would he bother to learn a single mortal person's name when they're dead in the blink of an eye?" he explained.
Zatanna was slightly miffed; she couldn't fault the logic, but she still didn't like the arrogant tone of the dragon.
Aegon turned his attention back to the dragon. "My new friends and I were just ruminating on my predicament. I don't suppose you have a way of returning back to Nirn, do you?" he asked. The ruby red dragon rumbled as if considering the question before it spoke.
"Perhaps there may be a way," the dragon said slowly. "Do you still carry the three Kelle on your person?" it asked Martin who nodded in reply.
"I do, would they have an answer as how to return to Nirn?"
The dragon rumbled again as if in deep thought. "Perhaps, but without a way to read the Kelle safely, it may be some time before we could return to Tamriel," it said.
"We? Can't you go back?" asked Aegon.
"Niid, not even if I wanted to," replied the dragon sombrely.
"Then why did you answer my summons if you knew you could not return?" asked Aegon.
"All that was left for me in Tamriel were your repeated adventures," replied Odahviing "I swore my service to you after you defeated the World-Eater. So, wherever you go, I will follow," he said. Aegon nodded in acceptance.
"Umm, sorry to interrupt the dragon-heart moment, but for those of us who don't speak dragon, what are the Kelle?" asked Zatanna.
"The Kelle are the Elder Scrolls," answered Aegon and he reached into the satchel hanging on his hip and pulled out three long and heavy looking metal covered scrolls.
"These are the Elder Scrolls?" Emil asked as he looked at the items in Aegon's arms "What exactly are they?" Emil's inner scientist was peeking through.
"The Elder Scrolls are powerful relics of the Nine Divines," replied Aegon. "Each Scrolls holds indefinite knowledge and can even be used to see into the past," he said.
"Why can't you simply read them?" Clark asked.
"The Scrolls would be too much for mortal minds to handle," said Aegon as though it were that simple. "It takes years of study and concentration before you can even read one Elder Scroll. The last person I saw try to read one went blind after a few days with only minimal preparation," he explained.
"But I'm guessing you a found a way to read them, right?" Clark said.
Aegon nodded and replied, "I was in a hurry and there are ways of reading an Elder Scrolls safely," he admitted "One way is to read the Scrolls is to use the Elder Moths," he said.
"Moths? How did a bunch of bugs help you read these Elder Scrolls?" asked Zatanna in disbelief.
"In Tamriel there are glades where the trees are millennia in age and flying around these glades of moths that emit a similar augur to the Elder Scrolls," Aegon explained. "If you can attract enough of these moths, you can use the augur the Moths generate to read the Elder Scrolls safely," he said.
"But somehow, I think it will be a long time to find anything similar to the Elder Moths to read the Scrolls," Aegon remarked.
"So, you're stuck here for the time being?" Zatanna said.
"it would appear so," agreed Aegon.
"Well, I think the first thing we need to do is set up some official identity for you," Clark said, "We can't really let you run around like this," he added looking over Aegon's ebony armour.
"What would you have me do?" asked Aegon.
"How do you feel about small-town living?"
…
TO BE CONTINUED
EDITED AS OF 04/6/2018