It was dawn, I had to pack the little camp I made next to a little stream. I was somewhere in the White Shore, not so far away from Whiterun hold. I went to Winterhold for a bit to see my mama's grave, and also to go back to my roots, I usually do that every once in a while. I had to hurry back to Riverwood or Seiya would again say that I lazed on my way back home.
As I got on my horse and started to make my way to Whiterun hold, I suddenly heard a huge roar coming from behind. I stopped my horse and readied my daggers. Nothing. I was wondering what creature could make such a roar, it wasn't a bear nor was that wolves. In case it was a troll, I made my horse gallop. Then on the ground, I noticed a huge shadow, this form, I knew it. I glanced at the sky to see it, the form of the shadow, huge and terrifying: a dragon.
The dragon had long noticed me and was after me, I probably was his next meal. As he roared, I could understand that he was getting closer and closer to me. My blood was rushing into my veins, and as fear started to get stronger, I made my horse hurry even more. The dragon landed in front of us, making me lose the control of my horse and falling. The dragon's throat was getting red, I understood quickly he was getting ready to breathe fire and ran behind a huge rock, my horse didn't have the time to cover itself and got killed in that attack. The dragon was starting to look for me after he'd eat my horse. I was hesitating between screaming out for help, or hiding here forever.
I then heard the noise of someone galloping in my direction, I tried to watch without the dragon noticing me, but the dragon seemed more interested in that person than in me. As I watched, indeed, someone crazy enough to go after a dragon was heading toward us. This person had his face covered by both a hood and a mask, his armor seemed very light but yet very resistant. The dragon started to fly as soon as it saw the man. The man then got his two swords, and made his horse change way as he got off to run by himself. The dragon breathed fire at the man, and I thought he got completely burnt since he was into the fire... Except in fact, the man was completely fine! He got out the fire as if nothing had hit him and removed his mask to shout dragon shouts back the dragon!
The dragon landed again and tried to munch him, but the man gave him a great blow on the muzzle. The dragon breathed fire at him again, the power of the breathe was so strong it removed the hood from the man and revealed his hair. Long and beautiful red hair, flowing in the wind like silk. I started to remember, I've already seen this man before. But before I could remember any more, the man jumped on the dragon muzzle to hit him and then pierce him with both his sword, defeating the dragon. After the man got off the dragon, it started to burn and to glow, the man was consuming the dragon's soul. I was taken aback.
The man drew back his swords and walked to me. "Are you okay?" he asked. I was still all surprised, hiding behind my rock. He reached his hand out for me, and I got up in surprise. "Ah! I remember now!" I yelled suddenly, "You are... The Dragonborn! Camus the Dragonborn!". Camus seemed surprised. "You remember my name?" he asked, "It's been so long since anyone called me that name...". He then walked back to get his horse, I thought he took badly what I said. "Ah... I'm sorry if what I said hurt you in any way..." I tried to apologize. He smiled at me, but his eyes were not smiling. His eyes lost every light, as if he had gone through the worst and couldn't see the brightest things in life anymore. He started to inspect the surroundings and noticed the rests of my horse. "Sorry about your horse..." I then looked at it too and sighed "It won't be easy now to go back home safely...". Camus remained silent for a minute before asking "Where are you going?" "I'm heading to Riverwood", Camus pondered and said "Oh you're from Riverwood, no wonder you saw already saw me then..." "Um yes!" I started "You saved our village by getting more guards to help us in case a dragon was coming! And you also helped the Jarl!". Camus smiled again.
He then hopped on his horse, "I'll take you to Riverwood, get on." he told me. I guess he saw I was hesitating since he stated "If you go by yourself walking, you'll meet trolls, bears, wolves, maybe also vampires and bandits..." I no longer hesitated and got on his horse.
Riding with Camus reminded me that he wasn't alone before, since Riverwood is in Whiterun hold, we sometime had the visit of the huscarls from Whiterun, Aiolia, Aldebaran and Milo, the latter became Camus's huscarl after he got named thane, from what I've heard. But Milo was nowhere to be seen. "Where is Milo?" I asked while looking around. Camus didn't answer and dodged my question with another one "What is your name?". I didn't make any remark towards that and simply answered, "I'm Hyoga." Camus thought for a second and then said "You're one of the orphan from Riverwood, aren't you?" "Yes, I am." Before I could say anything, Camus continued "What were you doing out of Whiterun hold?", I knew he was trying to get away from my question but I still played the game and answered his questions, "I got to my mama's grave." Camus then remained silent so I thought it was a great time to ask him question. I knew I shouldn't ask him anything about Milo since he seemed so moved by something, so I thought I'd ask him something else, I wanted to know about his adventures, but how to ask that without being too general?
"Hey, could you tell me about your adventures?" "Um? What do you mean?" "I mean, you must have been traveling a lot, fighting and all as the dragonborn, didn't you? Can you tell me about those adventures?" Camus smile and then started to think. "What can I tell you... I can tell you how I got to Whiterun hold, no, how I was born." I wondered if he was born in Whiterun or either if him being at Whiterun was like a reborn. "Yes, tell me please!"
It was years before, at that time Helgen was still a decent little village where the Imperials would execute prisoners. Camus was one of those prisoners. He didn't quit remember why he was here, nor from where he came from. He woke up, sitting in a cart, because he heard people talking around. "Ah, look Caça, he's awake." A blond man who seemed to be Nord said spontaneously when seeing Camus waking up. The man named Caça then started staring at Camus, "He doesn't look that much awake" he laughed "He's totally beat." The blond and Caça laughed so hard the guards told them to be quiet. "Hey, why did you get arrested?" asked the blond. Camus was wondering why he was there and noticed his hands were tied, he then understood he was really arrested.
"When did... When did I get here..?" Camus said softly. Caça laughed even harder, "Guards! Are you sure this guy is to be arrested? He's simply lost!" The guards chose to ignore Caça. The blond then told him "You got arrested for entering Skyrim illegally from Cyrodiil." Camus was completely lost, he didn't know any names the man would tell him. "Skyrim..? Cyrodiil?" The blond sighed "He's a lost cause, I can't do anything." Camus started looking around and all got to his mind was asking the blond his name. "My name?" said the blond shocked, Caça then started loudly "This is Riften's Jarl! The one and only, Jarl Kanon!" The said Kanon smiled proudly and then started "Yes, I'm Jarl Kanon, I was arrested because people said I wasn't the legitimate Jarl, and Caça right there got arrested because he's in my court." Camus simply nodded.
Camus then glanced at the entrance of a village. "Where are we going?" he demanded, "We are going to Helgen." answered Kanon, "What fort?" "I don't know, probably to join Sovngarde." Camus wasn't afraid of dying, he didn't even know where he came from, when he was born, why he was there nor why he would die.
The guards started to park the carts and made the prisoners hop off. All the prisoners with long hair where caught to get their hair quickly cut, thus Camus and Kanon got their hair cut. "Well, I hope I don't look too bad like that..." sighed Kanon. Camus looked around, it was a nice village, but all he would see was a tower and huge walls. The guards started to read the names of the prisoners before noticing that Camus didn't have his name on the list. "You there, who are you?" Camus took a while before noticing they were talking to him. "Camus..." the guards were looking at their lists "He isn't in the register... What do we do?" "Behead him first, it'll be easier." Kanon laughed lightly "Well, isn't your day of luck, 'Camus'?".
Camus got brought to the front, the guards placed him so he'd get decapitated. The Imperial headsman slightly removed the hair from Camus's neck in order to cut him cleanly. Before getting his hands on his ax, everyone started looking around as they heard a huge roar. "What was that?" "Don't mind that!", the guards didn't care and wanted to finish the execution quickly. The headsman finally got his ax up, before noticing a huge shadow that was up the tower next to them, a dragon was on the tower. "A dragon?" "Dragon!" "What is that?"
Everyone started to panic, and the dragon started to spit fire on the village. The dragon started by burning the headsman. Camus got scared and tried to get up but failed and so the dragon started spitting fire on him. Kanon, who managed to free his hands, tried to head to Camus but Caça stopped him, "Leave him, Kanon, he's dead! The gods didn't save him in the end!". Kanon stared at the fire and saw that Camus was alright. The dragon flew away from the tower, and Kanon rushed to Camus, trying to extinguish the fire around him. "Come on, on you feet!" he pulled Camus, who was still astonished. Caça was flabbergasted, "How the hell did you survive that?", Camus was so pale he seemed to have seen death, "I-I have absolutely no idea..." he answered. "Later for the questions!" yelled Kanon trying to make his voice heard in the panic of all the villagers, "We have to flee right now!".
Kanon grabbed a dagger he found on a dead body and gave another one to Caça, he made his way through the destroyed village by going through the house that weren't entirely burnt. "This way, Caça!", "Kanon, why are you keeping this bloke with you? He's slowing us!" yelled Caça, "Shut up, Caça!". Thinking about it today, Camus wasn't sure if what Kanon did was to get Camus indebted or because he felt he had something inside him special, but he saved him anyway.
During their fleeing, Kanon made Caça and Camus go upstairs in a house. "Now what? You want us to grow wings and fly to the Riften?" screamed Caça, "Jump you idiot!" Kanon pushed Caça to a house which had no more roof in front, he than grabbed Camus and jumped with him. They then rushed out of the house, when Kanon suddenly yelled "Against the wall, now!", the three pressed against the wall and avoided the flames of the dragon. "This way!", Kanon kept leading the little group until they arrived inside the Keep of Helgen.
"Ok, we should be safe for a moment now", Kanon and Caça were trying to catch their breathe again. Camus was looking around, "What is this place?" "Helgen's jail, we can't stay here any longer though, the dragon might land on this place and... Shh, hide all of you." Kanon then hid from the gates, so did Caça, but Camus stayed in the middle of the room. Two guards came to the gates and saw Camus, "You there! Prisoner, don't move!", the guards opened the gates, Camus didn't know what the do as the guards were starting to approach him, but Kanon got out and sticked his dagger right in one of the guard's chest, Caça then cut the other guard's throat. "Teamwork", "I know right." Kanon and Caça were both pleased with what they did, "Well now we can go this way! Hopefully it leads us to Skyrim." "I believe there is a way, since the guards have to throw the bodies out."
Kanon, Caça and Camus found their way to the jail, where there were hanging jails, and corpses everywhere, "Caça, can you lock pick this jail?" "Of course, why?" "I see money." Caça then grabbed some picks that were left on a table and got to look at the lock, but before starting to lock pick, he told Camus to come, "Watch, and learn, you may need to lock pick in your future. And that day you'll thank the good Caça for teaching you." In no time, Caça managed to find what he called "the hot spot" of the lock and was able to unlock the jail. Camus was impressed as he saw the jail gate opening, he told me that everything was new to him and that everything seemed impressive. Kanon then shared the money from the cage with Caça and gave a little part to Camus, "You'll need it when we get out of here. Trust me." It was the first time Camus owned money.
They continued on their way, and reached a cave. In the cave, there were many imperials, and as the crew was still dressed as prisoners, there was no escape, and the imperials had to kill them as soon as they saw them, thus Kanon stopped everyone each time he spotted a guard. Kanon would stop everyone, get them to hide, analyze the situation and watch around anyway to pass the guard or to avoid any fight. "A dagger, three guards, with arcs... I can take them, but the last one is too far and I don't have a bow..." said Kanon desperate. "Kill the first one, get the bow, and then handle the last, I'll take care of the second one!" "Yeah, I guess there is no other way." as Kanon finished talking, Camus suddenly got up and caught Kanon's dagger. "Wait, Camus what are you doing?!" Kanon and Caça didn't have the time to stop Camus from running suddenly to the first guard. Kanon and Caça both got out of their hiding place, but Camus arrived first to the guard and sliced his throat before he could even notice Camus. The second guard ran to him, but Camus caught the bow and hit him, the last guard shot an arrow at Camus but he caught it as it flew in his direction and shot it back in the guard's face. The guard who was still alive tried to get a hand on his dagger but Kanon arrived and broke his arm. After making sure the guard wouldn't get up, Kanon stared at Camus and finally said "Um... If you wanted to... take care of it, you should have said so, you know?" Camus was a bit surprised, he acted on the spot, and he couldn't explain to me the urge he had to suddenly go and kill them. All of them three had a bow now and a few arrows and dressed as imperials in order not to get attacked again.
As they got deeper in the cave, they found the exit, but there was a bear on the way. "Two choices, we kill eat, or we sneak next to it, but in any case, warn me before doing anything." reminded Kanon before going while glaring at Camus. "I'm sorry about before..." apologized Camus. "I think we should just sneak, it'll be much easier." retorted Caça. All of them then walked very softly to try not wake up the bear and be able to reach the exit alive.
When they crossed the exit, Kanon and Caça started to run and jump around a bit, "We're free! We made it!" "I knew the imperials couldn't kill us, Kanon, the gods are by our side!", both of them held each other while celebrating, but they quickly stopped and got on the ground as they noticed the dragon from the village passed in the sky. The three were laying on the ground. "It's ok, the dragon is leaving..." stated Kanon. As they were getting up, Kanon got to Camus, "So, what are you going to do now? You have anywhere to go?" he asked. Camus looked around, "I know nothing about Skyrim, I don't even know where we are right now...". Kanon and Caça exchanged a look. Kanon then got his purse and gave it to Camus, "Kanon?" "I have a lot of gold waiting for me in my Kingdom, and what Caça has will be enough to reach it. There is a small village at the end of this path." he pointed a small route as he was talking, "The village's called Riverwood, they are known to be very helpful to stranger, tell them you come from Helgen and that you were attacked by a dragon, they will help you." When Kanon was finished, he started running with Caça, Camus who was still a bit lost needed more answers and ran after them. "Wait, Kanon! Where are you two going?" "Didn't I tell you? We're going back the The Riften, I've made my Kingdom wait long enough, I'm the Jarl after all." "The Riften..." "Well, come to see us someday, we'll feast all together around a table where we'll tell the tale of how we escaped Helgen!" "But where is the Riften?" "It's far away from here, we are going to Whiterun to get a cart, so we can get to the Riften safely.". Camus started to slow down, he had nothing more to ask them. "May Talos guide you, we'll never forget your help!", Kanon and Caça waved goodbye as they got further and further.
Camus was alone on the path, and was still wondering how he got there. He looked around, saw the stream, the trees, the large sky, and the large mountains covered of snow. He wondered what was going to happen after, but somewhere inside, he was glad he was alive.
"And that how you got to Riverwood." "And that's how I got to Riverwood. But we also arrived to Riverwood." I didn't even notice, I was so captivated by Camus's story I didn't even notice we got to Riverwood. We both got off Camus's horse and walked into the village. Seiya spotted us and started to yell at Shiryu and Shun, "Hey! Hyoga's back!". All of them started running to me, "You sure took your time, Hyoga!" laughed Seiya. "Where is your horse Hyoga?" asked Shun while looking at the entrance of the village to see if there was my horse. "Mh... My horse is dead..." "What?!" Everyone made a small jump. "Yeah, it got killed by a dragon..." They were all astonished. "A dragon?!" yelled Seiya, "You met a dragon on your way?!" yelled Shiryu. "Yeah, but, I was lucky! I met the Dragonborn as I almost got killed myself." I then showed Camus to them. They all stared a moment before remembering him. "Oh! You're the guy who saved Whiterun, with 'Lia and Milo!" started Seiya. "So you saved Hyoga and brought him back here, thank you very much." thanked Shun. Camus bowed to everyone, "I own no apologize." he then turned to go join his horse.
Before he got on his horse, I called out to him. "Camus! Will you tell me another more of your adventure?". Camus got on his horse, smiled at me and as he put back his mask and his hood said, "'l'll come back later to tell all of you more, but you know, Hyoga, my adventure isn't done. Being a Dovahkiin, I still have a lot to do. Koraav hi zuspein, Hyoga." He then made his way to Whiterun. As we all were watching him leaving, Seiya asked "What the hell did he say?"
