Authors notes:

First off, those that have been following my Fallout fanfic, I apologise for the slowdown of updates; however, a case of writer's block has hit me when it comes to the Fallout universe. Rather than simply not write, though, I've decided to have a go at one of Bethesda's other universe. The Elder Scrolls series and Skyrim, their latest installment. (Shades of Steel will continue, I will stress here! 26/01/2017 It's being re-edited slowly.)

I don't own the series or the characters within, Bethesda owns all and thankfully hasn't sold out like Bioware, and it's three coloured space magic... ahem anyway. This is non-profit and entirely for my amusement and creativity as well to give readers a chance to see what world my imagination creates.

Reviews are appreciated and welcomed. Both positive and negative if the criticism is constructive, I shall try my best to take on board what people say and in doing so improve my future chapters and stories as a whole.

This story will be POV based (for the most part). Akin to George R.R. Martins Song of Ice and Fire series but will also follow the narrative style of Frank Herbert's Dune, in that the events being chronicled have already transpired.

The population of Tamriel and its provinces will also be realistically represented as will the distances and sizes of cities, towns, villages, etc. for a supposed Continent near the size of Australia.

Chapter One: A Jewel in the Crown

"Child of the Sky.

Scion of Red Mountain,

Daughter of Akatosh,

Maiden of Dawn and Dusk,

Bride of Talos.

The founder of the Fifth Empire was all these things and more. Lest we all forget, the Matriarch of Tamriel's royal dynasty held the given name of Merilis and unlike many of her Nordic kin held a middle name also, Talia. Talos in female form. This is the name her family and friends knew her by including the author of this book.

Many in the years since have been known to call her Tiberia paralleling the hollowed Talos' own plethora of titles and epithets. Namely Tiber Septim, the founder of the Third Empire and the name given to him by his Imperial Cyrodiilic subjects.

What most people now fail to remember is her last given name, the one her father gave to both her and her mother. Indoril of the Dunmeri house of the same name. The saviour of Nirn from Alduin's fury was no mere daughter of Man but one of Mer too. A union of both that would reforge Tamriel anew."

- From "A History of the Fifth Empire" by Erandur Marvani.

Whiterun Hold: The Throat of the World. High Hrothgar

"...As for myself, you've proven your mastery twice over. Thuri, Dovahkiin. I gladly acknowledge the power of your Thu'um. Zu'uOdahviing. Call me when you have need, and I will come if I can."

Her voice spoke out then, it appeared meek to Talia's own ears, but the Dovah towering above her heard all the same.

"Odahviing... I have a need... of you now. I need to get off... here."

She coughed painfully between every word, her fight against Alduin had been hard-fought and punishing. Divines only knew how she'd survived intact. The Dovah had bitten the shield she bore in half, the Aegis of Ysgramor himself had saved her left arm from being ripped asunder. The blade now at her side was also broken in two. The Ebony and Golden Akaviri sheath that rested aside her left thigh housed only a full third of the katana. The rest remained in Alduin, the one Dov whose soul had remained intact after death...

"Krosis. You are injured Dovahkiin."

"No, no... I'm all right." She lied.

"Noks. Lies Thuri, I smell... Sos. Your blood and hurt. Ov Odahviing, trust me. Vaat. I swear Dovahkiin. My wings will lead you from Monahven." The Dovah stated in what Talia believed to be a serious manner.

It wasn't like she'd be able to succeed in another battle. Talia was near defenceless, only her Thu'um remained, and even her voice wouldn't be enough to defeat yet another Dragon. Odahviing could end her at this very moment, his kinds one danger would then be destroyed forever.

Yet despite her own thoughts. Talia relented and began her first steps towards the dark crimson Dovah...

...before collapsing onto the ever fresh falling snow below her aching feet.

Talia Indoril lost consciousness before hitting the ground.

'Praan. Revaksaviik ahrk Thuri Briinah. Kiin do Bormah Akatosh. Praan.'

Echoes of the conscious world made Talia's sleep uneasy, yet her needed respite did not cease until her own mind and body believed it was necessary. Upon waking one thing, she noticed immediately was her new surroundings. She was no longer face down upon the throat of the world but propped up gently against a hard yet warm object that rose gracefully every few seconds. The snow was about her still yet the sun had changed its position considerably. Dawn had begun to take hold after her return from Sovngarde, yet now dusk was quickly setting upon her surroundings, bathing the once bright sunlit surface of white with the melancholy glow of moon and starlight.

Talia realised she was still upon the heights of High Hrothgar, yet a great jagged crimson construct curved protectively around her. A scaled wall that nestled her from the worst of the Throats continuous, near infinite and deadly tundra conditions.

"Dovahkiin. You are awake. You are rested now?" It was Odahviing once more.

She moved her head cautiously to the sound of the Dovah's voice, looking above to see the Elder Dragon peering straight back.

I've been sleeping next to a Dragon... that's... okay... that's well... different.

"How... did I get here?" Not to mention how come you didn't eat me? Talia fortunately, failed to articulate her last thought.

"I moved you Thuri."

Ohh, Gods.

"With what?"

"My mouth Dovahkiin."

By Azura! I shouldn't have asked! Unabated and completely oblivious to Talia's new-found, yet quickly diminishing sense of horror, Odahviing continued.

"You wished me to get you off here, Tiid Vod. Some time ago. Are you ready Thuri?"

"Yes, I need to go to Solitude. To Castle Dour." She said with a sense of conviction.

The Empire needed to know of Alduin's fate. Talia also needed a proper sleep. One in her bed, which was no doubt waiting for her anxiously in Solitude.

"Hin Hind Dovahkiin. If it is your wish, then my wings will take us to this place of Solitude."

Odahviing lowered himself further, allowing Talia to mount his scaled back once more. It was the second time she'd done this but by no means was she an expert in Dragon-riding. Yet it mattered not, the first rule was to hold on tight, and she would do that with gusto and zeal. When Talia was finally comfortable, she signalled to the Dovah that she was ready. His reply came with the veritable flapping of his great weathered wings.

Talos guide me and make sure I don't fall.

A few minutes passed while the pair were in flight before another word was spoken again. Odahviing broke the deafening and thunderous silence that was the frozen rattling winds of Skyrim.

"The sound... Dinok ahrk Dwiin. Your Fron, your kin, they kill themselves Dovahkiin. Death and Steel, I sense still."

"Where? Has the ceasefire been broken so soon Odahviing?" Talia bellowed over the chilled weather that accompanied twilight.

The answer came back again slowly, in both Odahviing's native tongue and her own Tamrielic. It was a credit to her own hearing and the Dovah's booming voice that she took in his speech at all considering the fierce winds around them both.

"Ulfric, your Fron, broke the mortals peace. The Dov see things mere Julahrk Fahliil cannot from above. Time in your Sovngarde moves slowly too. Many Sul... days have passed, and he has used them to great effect. The Mir of the Stone City has changed. Daar Strunlahvu took the place of my capture, and now they advance upon the place of Solitude. Many Grah... battles have occurred. Krosis, much sorrow too."

Her own curiosity got the better of her after the Dovah's statement. She'd only been in Sovngarde a few hours, a day at the most. Talia knew she couldn't have slept for that long either, many hours perhaps? Yes. A whole day? Divines no. Yet many days had apparently come and gone. This reckless and idiotic civil war had simply continued in her absence or maybe even because of it.

"Do you know what date it is?" She questioned curiously.

It had been the 2nd of Morning Star before departing for Skuldafn if Talia remembered correctly.

Had a week past? Two weeks? A month?

"Geh." The Dovah only replied, much to her own confusion.

"Geh? Sorry but I still don't know your language."

"Yes... Dovahkiin. I know your Taazokaan... Tamrielic dates. Shul... Sun's Dawn. The sixteenth."

Impossible.

A month and a half couldn't have past; that just felt wrong. Odahviing had no reason to lie however or at the least, not any reason she would comprehend. Not after he'd failed to take the opportunity to kill Talia in her most vulnerable state, mere hours before. She asked anyway, just to be certain, as well as to sate her own disbelief.

"You're sure about that?"

"Geh. Now, do we continue onto Solitude, Thuri?"

Her answer came back quickly in reply. There was no doubt in her mind of what she'd do next. It was something that should have happened a long time ago.

"Geh, we shall. I'm stopping this madness now."

Haafingar, Solitude, and this infernal rebellion beckoned. As did Ulfric Stormcloak's reckoning. Her rest would wait.

"Long has the Stormcrown languished, with no worthy brow to sit upon it. By our breath, we bestow it now to you in the name of Kyne, in the name of Shor, and in the name of Atmora of Old. You are Ysmir now, the Dragon of the North, hearken to it."

- Welcome of the Greybeards to the Dragonborn.

Haafinger Hold: Solitude. Castle Dour.

The situation was dire.

No, that's being optimistic Valens! By the Gods... by the Nine!

"General Tullius, sir! The Stormcloak's attack on Uriel's gate has been repulsed, but they're building another battering ram after we destroyed the last. It'll impede their offensive actions for a time."

The progress report jarred the Imperial General out of his hopeless and sombre mood. It happened to be the first bit of bright news since the rebel offensive began.

"By the... Eight! Some good news for once. Legate Rikke, have Tribune Vernius rotate his men from the Uriel to the Kintyra gate, who knows if they'll attack again at such an hour, I want my soldiers fed and rested as much as the Divines allow it. The Uriel gate must not fall, understood Legate? Watch the skies for Dragons to Rikke. Keep the Ballistae's armed and ready."

"Yes, sir!" Rikke intoned immediately after he finished speaking. The Legate dismissed herself soon afterward to return to her post upon the Inner Kintyra gate.

She's an exceptional officer. Shame Ulfric will have her strung up and quartered like he'd probably do to with me. Valens thought grimly.

"General Tullius, can your Legion hold these rebels off before your reinforcements from Dawnstar arrive?"

It was another voice, they appeared different every time to the Generals ears of late. Legates informing him of reports along the walls, Auxiliary bringing news of outside via Raven, information that was ever decreasing each and every day.

This one, however, was a constant pain in his backside. Elenwen, Thalmor Ambassador to Skyrim and its High King, of which there was none.

Bloody Thalmor. Heh, at least she'd be strung up first. Damn Elf. Valens wiped the momentary smirk off of his face before answering the Altmer.

"Yes. If we hold Uriel's gate. If we keep the rebels pinned at the outer gate long enough, they'll keep losing men, attrition will grind them down. Ulfric will want a quick resolution, their Captains will be eager to advance. Their rank and file will become even more impetus. The rest of the Fourth Legion is amassing at Dawnstar along with the Imperial fleet. When they hit the Stormcloak's in the flank, I'll have the Uriel opened-"

"What General? No! You'll keep the outer gate shut." The interruption from Elenwen continued to sour his already terrible mood. Tullius' temperament was shrinking every moment the High Elf spoke.

"Sorry Ambassador. But I command this garrison and this Legion. I take orders from the Emperor, no one else." His diplomatic acumen as ever was wanting, but the Thalmor was trying his patience even more than usual.

"An Emperor that's dead; need I remind you." The words she uttered held venom. That was abundantly clear, yet it was what Elenwen didn't say that happened to rile Tullius the most. The Altmer's thoughts were unmistakable.

Your Emperor's dead, your Empire will be too after the Thalmor invades again.

He knew, she knew it. Everyone did, no doubt even Ulfric knew also. Oblivion take them both! By the nine! Talos? Is this the price we pay for signing that damned treaty?

Skyrim in the midst of civil war, whilst being simultaneously devastated by Dragons. Hammerfell struck from the Empire. If Ulfric won in the coming siege, High Rock would then be cut off from Cyrodiil, only the Imperial Navy could send aid from the Breton's home province if the heartland were invaded once again. Which it would be.

Damn the Thalmor! Damn the Concordat! Damn Ulfric! And damn these Dragons to Oblivion!

Despite Valens ever-increasing wish to run the Altmer through with his blade, he chose to remain calm.

"The line of succession will dictate who's to become the next Emperor or Empress. There'll always be a figure to sit the red diamond throne Ambassador, have no doubt about that. Now I need to think, to plan for tomorrow's operations. I'm sure you require rest, yes? The city won't fall overnight." Tullius stated in a near cordial manner. That was an effort within itself.

Thankfully, however, Elenwen appeared to receive his underlying message and departed from his sight after a graceful nod and curtsy.

Tullius needed time to analyse the battle reports in front of him as well as the events of the past few weeks and months. It was something he couldn't do with a politician besides him at all hours. Especially not one of the Thalmor.

Talos guide me and give me strength because the Empire is losing it by the day.

An Imperial fleet with the Emperor himself aboard had arrived in Skyrim near the beginning of Morning Star. The Carrack Katariah alongside her sister ship Morihatha as well as their many escort Caravels had bought a further two cohorts of the rebuilt Imperial eighth Legion to compliment Tullius' own Fourth. The further thousand men and women at arms thankfully arrived in time to defend Solitude.

Only Elisif's garrison of three thousand souls and three of the Fourth's own cohorts had held the city on the 6th when Titus Mede the second disembarked. On the 11th Valens' Emperor was dead, three weeks later Ulfric and his Stormcloak's arrived in force.

Whiterun had already fallen on the 12th of Morning Star in no small part to Jarl Balgruuf refusal to Garrison Imperial Legionnaires in his city. Balgruuf's brother, Thane Hrongar of Riverwood along with the Jarl's children and a few dozen mounted guards fled to Haafingar to inform the Empire and himself of the events. The Jarl of Whiterun was dead, run through in his own throne room and thrown off Dragonsreach, one of the accounts had said. The dragon they'd captured had flown away ten days before, apparently ridden by the Dragonborn. She hadn't been seen since.

Not two days later Markarth switched allegiances after Jarl Igmund Karth-Stone's assassination. Reports after the event blamed the inability to defend the Jarl on a forsworn uprising, which happened within the city of Stone upon the day of his demise.

With Igmund found dead after the uprising was quelled, the Silver-bloods forced themselves onto the seat of the Jarldom, giving Ulfric Stormcloak the jewel of the Reach without a fight. Many believed the forsworn took Karth-Stone's life, but Tullius knew otherwise. It was someone else, something else orchestrating the plethora of deaths.

Titus Mede II was killed by them;

His aunt Alexia of House Vici and the Duchess of Colovia, as well as her eldest daughter Vittoria, were also assassinated. Vittoria at her own wedding while her mother mere hours afterward.

The Imperial Prince Caius and the royal grandchildren Emelia and Titus had also been murdered days before the Emperors demise.

Valens Tullius had two guesses for the perpetrators. Those who would commit such atrocity's and benefit were few and far between.

The Thalmor or the Dark Brotherhood. Probably both.

Currently, however, the who and why mattered little, considering the forces besieging Solitude.

Yes, it was true, his Empire currently had no Emperor, but the line of succession would put Leonara Motierre nee Vici upon the throne.

Yet it was her husband that made sure even more turmoil would surface.

Duke Amaund Motierre of the West Weald, the Earl of the Valen Marches and Count of Skingrad, held the same loathing of the Thalmor as Tullius himself. The General, however, knew a losing fight when he saw one. Motierre and his late father, however, did not. The elder and junior Motierre's believed in a continued war against the Aldmeri Dominion, one which Valens knew the Empire would lose in its current state. Then factoring in other claimants to the throne and if they pressed their claims, Cyrodiil and what was left of the Empire was heading for a civil war all on its own... It hurt Tullius' head just thinking about the future events ahead, ones which he most probably wouldn't be a part of.

Damn it! Damn it all to Oblivion!

"By the nine!" Tullius uttered aloud, despite himself.

"Sir?"

"The eight... by the eight!" His correction, of course, would be for naught but at least Elenwen hadn't overheard. Tullius turned his head right to see the new figure now before him. It was another Auxiliary donned in the fashion of an Imperial archer. A young male Nord, one of the recruits from Solitude to bolster the losses the Fourth Legion had already taken in the field.

Good; hopefully, it'll be news from the outside at last.

"Go on then soldier! What is it? What news have the Ravens brought?" Tullius questioned forcefully.

"No Raven sir... it's well, I think you need to see this yourself, sir."

The general's look turned draconian at the mere suggestion, but to the young Nord's credit, he didn't flinch at the sight.

"Divines take me! Fine, show me!"

With a swift salute, Tullius was ushered from the Imperial Castle Dour onto the battlements. The pair continued their march upon the crowded walls of Solitude before they had reached the Gate of Kintyra, Uriel's gate was now in sight. That's when the General's forbearance grew ever so thin. He had seen nothing or heard anything as of yet.

"Now, what's this news that's so important, soldier?" Valens inquired impatiently.

The young Auxiliary merely pointed towards the direction of Uriel's gate and the outer battlements, before finally answering the General with an almost inaudible whisper, one encased with a chilled reverence. His voice appeared near prayer-like in its intonation. Tullius noticed the same of the archers about him. Many had taken their helms off and were simply staring ahead in unabashed awe.

"She's here...just like..."

Tullius knew who he meant then. The torches along the ramparts lit up her almost ethereal beauty. The reflected light from her Ebony armour which she bore shimmered gracefully and regally all about and around her, despite the hour of the night.

Talia Indoril. The Dragonborn, by the Divines...

It wasn't just Talia however that his Imperial Legionnaires were staring unceremoniously at. The huge figure behind her was what held the majority of their attention.

"It's... a Dragon. A Red Dragon..." He heard himself say.

"The jewel of the Imperial Crown... just like... Tiber Septim."

Thank you Talos, Thank you.

Authors notes:

1. Dragon language translation... the majority of the words are uttered soon after the Draconian words however some are not. The translation of the sentence spoken by Odahviing before Talia drifted into sleep is below. As well as a few other words not translated by the Dovah.

Praan. Revaksaviik ahrk Thuri Briinah. Kiin do Bormah Akatosh. Praan. (Rest. Sacred saviour and Overlord sister. Child of father Akatosh. Rest.)

Julahrk Fahliil. (Man and Elf.)

Daar Strunlahvu (This Storm army.)

2. Dawnstar is in Imperial hands, and Falkreath is Stormcloak controlled in this storyline as the ceasefire compromise had the two interchanged. Talia killed Alduin without jumping into the civil war despite her apparent Imperial leanings. Therefore the events of the conflict happened without her involvement. Such is the case with the Emperors assassination also.

3. In regards to the Mede dynasty, the lore says Vittoria Vici is the Emperors cousin. I have made them first cousins, therefore making Vittoria's mother Alexia the aunt of Titus Mede II and the daughter of the former Emperor who I've named as Attrebus Mede the third. I figure the succession laws would be the same as that of the Septim dynasty and is, therefore, Absolute Cognatic Primogeniture, i.e. Eldest inherits regardless of gender.