AN: This is a new fanfic that I had been thinking of for a long time. It's a cross between IC and Elder Scrolls:Skyrim. Those of you who haven't played the game, don't worry. I will explain everything in detail.
Here Eragon and Murtagh are twins born to Brom and Selena. Like in my other story, they are both princes and Carvahall does exist. The story begins before the events of the Fall. Here the Fall wont actually occur. The brothers will work hard to stop it and will manage to save some riders. Arya will make an appearance as will some other characters and there will be ExA as well.
Chapter 1: Legends
"Eragon, what are you doing? If we get caught, its off to the stables with us," a young boy whispered to his twin as the two rummaged around in the darkness of the Library of the western tower of Castle Carvahall.
"Stop being a worrywart, Murtagh. We will be fine as long as you keep quiet. Do you want to know the stories or not," the brother replied, "and seeing as none of the elders are willing to tell us anything, I say we learn of them ourselves."
Eragon could see his brother's brow furrowing, well almost, the darkness in the room wasn't abated that much by the red werelight he held aloft in his left hand.
"Fine, fine but if anybody asks, its on your head."
"Traitor" Eragon grumbled but led onwards towards the far wall on the other side, which were stacked full of books and scrolls.
Murtagh brought a ladder from where it was resting against the wall and leaned it against the wooden shelves.
"Which book do you think will have what we are searching for?" he whispered.
"Try one of the old books on the Dragon War. I have also heard that the Domir abr Wyrda has a true account," Eragon replied in an equally low voice.
Murtagh ran his finger through the spines of old books, their gold and silver letters emitting a strange glow in the red werelight that his brother held aloft in his hand.
"What about this one: Dragonborn by Arngeir Greybeard?" Murtagh asked.
"Arngeir is one of the old monks of the Order! That must be a good source. Bring it to the table over there and quickly before anyone comes up from the party in the Hall."
The two brothers eagerly carried the thick book between them to one of the many reading tables scattered in the circular room.
Setting the dusty tome on the table, Murtagh whispered, "brisingr" lighting a few candles. The golden light revealed the red lettering on the cover, "DragonBorn". Sharing an excited glance with his brother, he opened the book.
"WHAT DO YOU TWO THINK YOU ARE DOING?" a voice thundered making the twins jump in fright.
"Istalri!" the voice muttered and the whole room became awash with soft warm light revealing an angry old and bearded man and his two frightened pupils.
"OFF TO NO GOOD AGAIN ARE WE? Lets see what you've got here! OH! Wait, so…." the old man was interrupted by the twins.
"Sorry Master Tenga. Its all my fa…fault, I con…convinced Murtagh to come along. Don't punish him." Eragon said.
"No, Master. I ag…agreed to come along be…because I wanted to do so."
Tenga's face softened as he looked at the brothers exchanging confused looks. In a kind voice, he asked, "what were you doing with this old book? I thought you had come up to look at the weapons in the armory."
Perhaps realizing that they wont likely be punished, Eragon replied, "We wanted to know of the stories of our namesakes. But since nobody would tell us, I thought we could come here and read it from one of the books."
"Well you certainly chose a good book! How old are the two of you?" Tenga said.
Eyebrows rising in confusion, the brothers replied together, "twelve, sir."
"Twelve, hmm? A bit young but perhaps that is the whim of Lord Akatosh. You wanted to know the story then? Fine! I will tell you of a story the likes of which you'll never hear again. But first the both of you must get comfortable, for it is an awfully long one."
Taking each of their hands, the old man guided them to his bedroom two floors above. Once the twins were seated on comfortable seats, he gave them two glasses of warm milk, sweetened with hone. The old man began.
"Well then, before I begin I want to know how much do the two of you know of the Great Dragon War?"
Eragon answered, "the Dragon War was fought seven thousand years ago in the First Era by an alliance of Men, Wood-Elves and Dragons against Alduin, the Tyrant."
"The men were led by Murtagh Dovahkiin and the Elves were led by Eragon Shrutgal and his bond, Bid'daum while the rebel dragons were led by Paarthunax, brother of Alduin, " Murtagh picked up.
"In the last great battle atop the Throat of the World, Alduin was defeated and slain by Eragon and Murtagh. Eragon went on to create the Order of the Riders while Murtagh founded the Empire and brought peace and prosperity to all of Alagaesia." Eragon said.
"Good good. You remember well. But the true story is much more complicated and its beginnings lie far in the distant past and its end has yet to come," Tenga said, "to truly understand this story, you must know of its origins. This land that we call Alagaesia was originally inhabited by Dragons, Werecats, Dwarves and the Grey Folk."
"The Snow-Elves!" Eragon exclaimed.
"Yes they are indeed called such by today's scholars."
"Aren't werecats like other were-creatures?" Murtagh asked.
Tenga shook his head, "not at all. Werecats are a completely independent race. Werewolves are men or elves who have either been blessed or cursed by Hircine, the Lord of the Hunt."
"What do you mean?" Eragon asked.
"You see there are two ways a werewolf is created. If a warrior worships Hircine and He blesses him, then that person can chose to transform. In other words, he is in complete control of his wolf-form. But if Hircine has cursed you, then when you transform, you become a mindless-beast, savage and a danger to all. But we digress, we were talking of the original inhabitants of Alagaesia. The Dragons were all created by Lord Akatosh, the Divine of Time. His greatest and worst creation was Alduin. The Grey Folk were an extremely powerful and wise race that mysteriously disappeared a few thousand years before the events of the Dragon War. The Dwarfs were just the same as they are now. The Wood-Elves came here from their home continent nine thousand years ago, seeking refuge from their High-Elf oppressors, they were followed here by the Urgals. Around the same time, man came to Alagaesia for the first time, led by Ysgrammor and his five hundred Companions, seeking a land where they could be safe from the Ra'zac. Eventually thousands more came and settled all of this land, but Ysgrammor and his Companions built their great Mead-Hall here in Carvahall: Jorravaskr, where to this day Companions live and fight for Honour.
Now, Ysgrammor's people believed, rightly so, that dragons were majestic and noble creatures. In their awe of the dragons, some took to worshipping them, and one dragon was worshipped more than all others."
"Alduin," Eragon whispered, awe clearly visible on his and Murtagh's faces.
"Aye, Alduin. Over time, he and the dragons that followed him became obsessed with their power, they began to believe that it was their right to do as they please, burn villages and settlements, devour the very souls of our dead, even ransack entire towns, in search of a worthy soul. It is not lightly said that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Eventually the people tired of the excesses of the dragons. Most dragons themselves didn't like what Alduin was doing, his ways were against the wishes of their creator. Dragons had been created by Akatosh to prevent any race from overstepping its boundaries and yet the dragons themselves had become tyrants. So, in the years 51 of the First Era, Paarthunax, brother of Alduin and wisest of all dragons flew here to meet with Murtagh Dovahkiin, High King of the Spine and Emperor of all Alagaesia. He suggested that the humans and elves revolt and declare war against Alduin. Murtagh was nervous, of that you can be sure, for who can stand upto the power of a dragon?"
"Excuse me, but what exactly is a dragon's power?" Murtagh asked.
"Dragons are immortal creatures, blessed with a power unique to them and them alone. Other races can use magic in the form of the Ancient Language, but the dragons have no need for such crude methods. A dragon can use its voice, to manipulate the elements themselves! Imagine a torrent of flames created by your mere voice, imagine slowing down time, imagine creating a tornado!"
"That is impressive! All dragons have this ability?" Eragon said.
"Aye. But the older a dragon gets, the more powerful its thu'um or shout becomes. So never take on an ancient dragon, my young students! Anyway, Murtagh is convinced that something or the other can be done to defeat the dragons, so he calls on his old tutor, a wise man known as Jurgen Windcaller. Jurgen tells the King of a legend of a man born with the soul of a dragon, imagine that! A mere mortal born with the soul of a dragon."
"The DragonBorn" the brothers said together, their voices reduced to a whisper in awe.
"Aye, the DragonBorn or the Dovahkiin in the dragon tongue. Intrigued, the King asks Jurgen as to how to know if someone is a dragonborn or not? In response, Jurgen writes down on a parchment three words in the dragon tongue and shows it to the King, he said that if any person could understand the words without having learned the dragon tongue and then could go onto use them as a shout, then that person would be a dragonborn. And lo and behold, the King understood those words and he used them in the form of a shout!."
"Wait a minute, how did Jurgen Windcaller know the dragontongue?" Eragon asked.
"Jurgen was a very very old scholar who had travelled into the depths of the old Grey-Folk ruins and had climbed the highest peaks of the Spine in search of knowledge. Perhaps a dragon taught him the language, but we'll never know for sure. Continuing, Murtagh was now Dovahkiin, as soon as this came to light, the Wood-Elves readily agreed to join the humans in a bid for freedom from Alduin."
"Where does Eragon come in?" Murtagh asked.
"There lies the rub. In the first few years of the war, Alduin never really considered the alliance a serious threat. Very few dragons had joined Paarthunax in fear of Alduin. Prince Eragon of the Wood-Elf nation sought to change that. He wanted to send a message to Alduin and the other dragons, so he organized a raid on a dragon nesting site, which was home to dragons loyal to Alduin. The Nightingales attacked the…"
"The Nightingales! I didn't know that they had played a role in the War!" Eragon exclaimed.
"Many don't. Do you think that the Divines were happy with what Alduin was doing? Lady Nocturnal, the Goddess of Stealth and Shadows ordered her warriors, the Nightingales to help the Alliance in all possible manner. In fact, they still help the Riders. As I was saying the Nightingales attacked in the hour before dawn, when the night is at its darkness. They slaughtered dozens of dragons and smashed hundreds of eggs and yet for some reason Prince Eragon couldn't destroy this one white egg that he had stumbled upon. Instead he had taken it home, where it hatched and the dragonling bonded with Eragon making them the first rider-dragon pair."
"I have never understood this part, how could Eragon have bonded with a dragon? The very idea of sharing your soul with a dragon is inconceivable. It is well known that the Spectral Dragon had to create special magic to allow the bond. But the spectral dragon was a gift from the dragons after the War, wasn't it? So how could have Eragon and Bid'daum have bonded?" Eragon asked, a look of absolute perplexity on his face.
Tenga smiled widely as he replied, "because Eragon too was Dovahkiin."
"WHAT?" the brothers asked together.
"Yes, it had been suspected for a long time but proof has now been unearthed among the riders' archives on Doru Araeba that Eragon was indeed a DragonBorn. So, on with the story: the rebel dragons now took Eragon, Bid'daum and Murtagh under their wing and trained them in the use of the thu'um. Alduin had finally woken up to the threat of the Alliance. He and his supporters attacked and ransacked the city of Ceunon, killing all of its inhabitants. Enraged Murtagh and Eragon led their armies to High Hrothgar were they were joined by Paarthunax and the dragons who had joined him. Together, the Alliance advanced on Alduin's home: Bonestrewn Crest and their fought him in a bitter fight to the end. A battle of that proportion has never been seen since, thousands of soldiers died and many hundreds of dragons were killed but finally, the Dovahkiin used the combined strength of their thu'um to defeat Alduin and banished him to Oblivion."
"Banished? Not killed?" Murtagh asked.
"Aye, Alduin was never slain, his soul lives on like all other dragons, But he can't return to this plane, the shout prevents it from happening. Whether or not he will ever return is a question that only time will answer. Goodness gracious, its late! Your father and mother will be most upset with me if they find out that I kept the two of you awake for so long! You must promise me that you wont tell them!" Tenga said.
"We Promise. Not a word!" Eragon said as the brothers dashed off to their rooms. Tenga smiled fondly at their retreating backs but his smile faded as he returned to the library. The book was glowing bright red.
So what so you think? Don't worry I will not stop my other story, both will continue hand in hand.