When I first opened my eyes, I thought I was still dreaming. My clothes had been traded for something that couldn't even be clothes, my hands were bound in front of me and there were three men in the cart with me - one of them was even gagged. But the worst thing was Esmelc was gone.

I began to struggle, clawing at the bindings on my wrists. Where was my little brother? "Hey, you. You're finally awake. You were trying to cross the border, right? Walked right into that Imperial ambush, same as us, and that thief over there." One of the men, a Nord, said, his voice monotonous before the man next to him, a Breton like me or another Nord I think, snapped, "Damn you Stormcloaks. Skyrim was fine until you came along. Empire was nice and lazy. If they hadn't been looking for you, I could've stolen that horse and been halfway to Hammerfell by now. You there.." He turned to look at me, "You and me, we shouldn't be here. It's these Stormcloaks the Empire wants."

"We're all brothers and sisters in binds now, thief." The Nord shot back. "SHUT UP BACK THERE!" The yell from an Imperial soldier startled me and I jumped, unwillingly feeling my eyes tear up. Why was I suddenly so scared? The thief turned to the gagged man, "And what's wrong with him, huh?" The Nord, who I just realised was wearing a Stormcloak uniform, snarled, "Watch your tongue. You're speaking to Ulfric Stormcloak, the true High King." I blinked; who was Ulfric Stormcloak?

"Ulfric Stormcloak? The Jarl of Windhelm? You're the leader of the rebellion. But if they've captured you… Oh gods, where are they taking us?" Well, that answered my question. Was Windhelm one of the Skyrim Holds our tutor was teaching us about before we ran away? Was a Jarl like the equivalent of a lord? "I don't know where we're going, but Sovngarde awaits." The thief seemed to become hysteric, and I myself felt panic creeping up slowly from my groin and settling in my chest. "No. This can't be happening. This isn't happening." I had to agree with the thief. This needed to be a nightmare, I needed to still be running from High Rock, Esmelc needed to still be with me.

"Hey, what village are you from, horse thief?" The Nord asked, only receiving a snapped "Why do you care?" in reply. "A Nord's last thoughts should be of home." The Nord explained. "Rorikstead. I'm… I'm for Rorikstead." The thief muttered, just as we pulled through a gate to an Imperial village I didn't know the name of. "General Tullius, sir. The headsman is waiting." I heard an Imperial soldier shout to an Imperial general wearing a set of armour I so desperately wanted. "Good. Let's get this over with." I heard the general answer. "Shor, Mara, Dibella, Kynareth, Akatosh. Divines, please help me." The thief whispered to the sky. "Look at him, General Tullius, the Military Governor. And it looks like the Thalmor are with him. Damn elves. I bet they had something to do with this." That felt offensive. The Nord turned to me, "This is Helgen. I used to be sweet on a girl from here. Wonder if Vilod is still making that mead with juniper berries mixed in... Funny, when I was a boy, Imperial walls and towers used to make me feel so safe." I jumped when a small boy was heard saying, "Who are they, daddy? Where are they going?" Much to my relief, the boy's father replied, "You need to go inside, little cub."

"Why? I want to watch the soldiers." I began to shake my head. "Inside the house. Now." His father answered. "Yes, papa." The cart began to slow down. "Whoa!" An Imperial soldier shouted and a captain yelled, "Get these prisoners out of the carts. Move it!"

"Why are we stopping?" The thief asked, looking around for a possible explanation. "Why do you think? End of the line. Let's go. Shouldn't keep the gods waiting for us." The Nord answered calmly. That terrified the thief, "No! Wait! We're not rebels!" He gestured to himself and me with his bound hands. The Stormcloak snarled at him, "Face your death with some courage, thief." The thief turned to him, "You've got to tell them! We weren't with you! This is a mistake!"

"Step towards the block when we call your name. One at a time." The Imperial captain said clearly. The Stormcloak muttered, "Empire loves their damn lists." The soldier next to the captain began reading off a list of names. "Ulfric Stormcloak. Jarl of Windhelm." He said first. The so-called Jarl grunted and walked towards an execution block. "It has been an honour, Jarl Ulfric." The Stormcloak called. "Ralof of Riverwood." The Stormcloak wandered over to stand behind the Jarl. So Ralof was his name. Okay. "Lokir of Rorikstead." I turned back to the Imperials. The Rorikstead thief, clearly Lokir, said, "No, I'm not a rebel! You can't do this!"

Then, he ran. "Halt!" The captain yelled, but Lokir ignored her. "Archers!" She shouted, and I squeaked as the thief was shot down by a marksman's arrow. "Anyone else feel like running?" I shook my head rapidly. "Wait. You there. Step forward." I slowly obeyed the soldier, terrified of what had happened to the thief. "Who… are you?" I wet my lips and gulped. "Tristac… Tristac Ashve of Daggerfall." The soldier nodded, turning to his captain. "Captain. What should we do? He's not on the list." The captain snarled at me, "Forget the list. He goes to the block." The soldier nodded again,"By your orders, captain." He turned back to me, "Follow the captain prisoner. We'll make sure your remains are returned to High Rock." He said in a horrible attempt to be empathetic. I gulped again, following the Imperial captain, just in time to hear 'General Tullius' speak to the Jarl of Windhelm, "Ulfric Stormcloak. Some here in Helgen call you a hero. But a hero doesn't use a power like the Voice to murder his king and usurp his throne." Ulfric's grunts seemed muffled. "You started this war, plunged Skyrim into chaos and now the Empire is going to put you down, and restore the peace."

An unsettling roar echoed through Helgen, but the Imperials didn't do anything about it. "What was that?" The soldier, who tried to feel sorry for me before, asked. "It was nothing. Carry on." Tullius said, the Imperial captain nodding; "Yes, general Tullius. Give them their last rites."

A priestess raised her arms and shouted, "As we commend your souls to Aetherius, blessings of the Eight Divines upon you, for you are the salt and earth of Nim, our beloved - "She was cut off as a Stormcloak soldier growled and stormed up to the execution block, "For the love of Talos, shut up and let's get this over with." The priestess shrugged, "As you wish." The Stormcloak rolled his shoulders, kneeling down and resting his head on the block. "Come on, I haven't got all morning." The headsman cracked his neck and began to lift the heavy axe. "My ancestors are smiling at me, Imperials. Can you say the same?" The axe hit his neck and his head launched forward into the basket. Another Stormcloak yelled, "You Imperial bastards!" A Helgen Nord yelled back, "Justice!" echoed by "Death to the Stormcloaks!"

"As fearless in death as he was in life," Ralof murmured. "Next, the Breton in the rags!" The captain shouted. A second roar quite possibly burst my eardrums. "There it is again! Did you hear it?" Yes, I did hear it. "I said, next prisoner!" I whimpered softly, feeling the soldier behind rest his hand on my shoulder, "To the block, prisoner. Nice and easy." He, somewhat gently, moved me down against the block, moving his hand to my neck and turning my head towards the tower behind the headsman. I could feel the hesitance in his grip, so maybe he wasn't just trying to be empathetic. I wanted to close my eyes, but the soldier told me to keep them open. I whimpered again and I felt the soldier rest his hand against my back, muttering something to himself before leaving. A third roar erupted and I stifled a gasp as I saw a dragon fly from the clouds and land on the tower I was looking at. "What in Oblivion is that?!" Tullius yelled, stumbling backwards. The captain shouted, "Sentries! What do you see?"

"It's in the clouds!" An Imperial shouted back. My body wasn't reacting like it should've been doing. I couldn't move at all. "Dragon!" Someone yelled. The dragon roared, knocking the headsman off balance, "Hunh.."

Tullius began yelling again, "Don't just stand there! Kill that thing! Guards, get the townspeople to safety!" Ralof stumbled over to me, "Hey, Breton. Get up! Come on, the gods won't give us another chance!" What happened next was a blur. Imperial soldiers and Helgen Nords alike were hit by meteors and fire. The next thing I remembered was Ralof and I were in a watchtower with Ulfric Stormcloak. "Jarl Ulfric! What is that thing? Could the legends be true?"

Ulfric grunted, "Legends don't burn down villages. We need to move. Now!" Ralof nodded, "Up through the tower, let's go!" He grabbed my arm, trying to get me to move, but my gaze was transfixed on the three Stormcloak soldiers on the floor of the watchtower, two of them injured badly. The soldier tending them caught me watching and smirked, "They're hurt, but they'll live. Another second out there with the dragon and they'd both be dead." I gulped, closing my eyes, wanting all of this to be a nightmare even more. Ralof sighed, tugging harder on my arm. I turned to him, his features softening when he clearly saw the fear in my eyes. "Let's go. With me, up the tower." He said, starting to push me up the stone stairs. My legs slowly started moving by themselves again.

Another Stormcloak yelled, "We just need to move some of these rocks to clear the way!" Then the dragon crashed through the wall as I reached the landing. I jumped back, still too hyperaware to be calm about all this. The dragon opened its mouth and I thought I heard it yell something, "Yol...Toor...Shul!" Fire exploded from the gaping mouth and I whimpered, stumbling backwards into Ralof's chest. I felt him grip my arms, heard him chuckle at the goosebumps on them and pushed me forward once the dragon disappeared. "See the inn on the other side? Jump through the roof and keep going! Go! We'll follow when we can!" Ralof yelled, pushing me closer to the edge. I gulped, breathed heavily and stepped back.

I ran forward and pressed my hands against the banister on the balcony. I rolled forward on my shoulder, pulling into a crouch. I thought I heard a couple of the Stormcloak soldiers whistle. Maybe that mercenary training back in Daggerfall did pay off after all. I jumped to my feet, continuing to run forward and I repeated the process from the first floor of the inn to the ground floor. Adrenaline and courage was slowly fuelling my blood, making air return to my lungs easier and my heart beat faster. I heard one of the Imperials yell to a boy, "Haming, you need to get over here! Now! Torolf!" A man the Imperial was shouting at suddenly got hit by a meteorite. The dragon's flaming breath erupted again, and the Imperial saw me. "Still alive, prisoner? Keep close to me if you want to stay that way. Gunnar, take care of the boy. I have to find General Tullius and join their defense." He was speaking to an elder that seemed to have a glassy eye. "Gods guide you, Hadvar." The elder muttered. The Imperial, Hadvar, ignored him, turning back to me and saying, "Stay close to the wall." He unsheathed his sword and led me carefully through the chaos. When we reached the stone wall, Hadvar pushed me against it, as the dragon landed on the wall above us. Once again, the fire breath was spewed and I tried to hide my face in Hadvar's shoulder.

The dragon flew off again and Hadvar stepped back, pulling on my wrists to get me moving again. "Quickly, follow me!" He said, starting to run again. I tried to keep up but I kept stumbling over burning corpses and debris.

"Hadvar! Into the keep, soldier, we're leaving!" The General yelled from the entrance to a stone tower. "It's you and me, prisoner! Stay close!" Ralof ran in front of us, resulting in Hadvar yelling at him, "Ralof! You damned traitor. Out of my way!" Ralof snarled in return to Hadvar. "We're escaping, Hadvar. You're not stopping us this time." Hadvar 'hmph'ed, "Fine. I hope that dragon takes you all to Sovngarde." He ran off towards the stone tower. Ralof looked at me. "You! Come on, into the keep!" I looked towards Hadvar as he ran off, and then to Ralof, who was waiting. I whimpered, stepping closer to Ralof and allowing him to take hold of my still bound wrists. Smiling softly, he pulled me towards the Keep.

"I'll cut you loose when we're inside. Come on." He said, as I continued to try and hide from the chaos around me, we entered the Helgen Keep and were greeted with the sight of a dead Stormcloak soldier. Ralof sighed, "We'll meet again in Sovngarde, brother." He turned to me, producing a dagger from somewhere and bringing me closer to him. He held my wrists together above the bindings and sawed through them. He didn't let go until the dagger was back in its hiding spot.

Where the bonds on my wrists had been, there were now bloodied, raw markings. I hissed as I rubbed them, attempting to return some normal circulation into them. "You might as well take his things. He won't be needing them in Sovngarde." Ralof said, suddenly over by a gate entrance. I knelt beside the dead Stormcloak, carefully removing his cuirass and fur boots and gauntlets. I quickly changed, leaving the ragged clothing from earlier in a pile next to him. Then I saw his one-handed war axe. I gripped the handle and decided it felt good for a temporary weapon. I stiffened when I heard voices, then footsteps. Ralof pressed a finger against his lips, his hand reaching for the hilt of his own axe.

The Imperial captain and a soldier came down the corridor just as I hid behind the pillar next to the gate. They barged through and I attacked the soldier, killing him after a few short blows and then aiding Ralof with the captain. I bent down, taking the captain's sword, dagger and a key. There was a gate across the room and I stood from my crouch, trudging over to the gate and almost laughing when the key caused it to swing open. Ralof ledme down through the gate and down the staircase, only to pull me into his chest when the dragon landed somewhere outside. The roof of the hallway caved in, cutting us off but leaving one door safe to go through.