This work is based on a roleplay thread with my friend, who wrote a significant portion of Alduin's perspective and breathed life into him for the first couple of chapters. You find them over at dovzeymahhe . tumblr . com , if you are interested!
crossposted from my account on archiveofourown org / works / 14557716 / chapters / 33638007
"ALDUIN !"
Something called out to him. A voice that ripped the morning silence asunder. Blood began to boil, claws dug to the stone tower, his fiery anger rumbled deep within — he could recognize whose thu'um it was, he had heard it before. She dares.
A deep growl escaped him. To Alduin, this challenge - as the dragonborn would perhaps call it — would be naught but a little game, to kill time. The black beast took wing without any question and headed to the direction of the shout. He recognized the area. Bleak Falls Barrow, if he was not mistaken. Her soul screamed to him, kin in a way he would never acknowledge.
There she was. Shield and sword left behind on a boulder, no armor discernible. Crashing down Alduin landed, clawed wings curling around the cold stone arch for balance.
"Drem Yol Lok, Alduin!", she cried out to him. She was unarmed, and her voice trembled ever so slightly, though she tried to seem collected and fearless. Shoulders tensed and high, neck stiff and arched, with a roar the demonic crimson eyes slowly turned to face the mortal. Deep within Alduin's within he could feel a tickle of pleasure — it felt good to see the Dovahkiin respect him, to fear him. To Alduin it didn't matter for one bit whether she was unarmed or not — being so was a sign of weakness , defeat, automatic surrender. Being too scared to face the challenge. Moth to a flame, Alduin was always ready for new challenges — would she be prepared for one at all? Like a spring his back legs shot him forwards as Alduin glided right in front of her, sending dirt, dust and rocks afloat, spiny snout barely missing from piercing her face. Mightily, he towered over the dragonborn's meager human body.
He felt a faint satisfcation when she jumped back from him. He could smell her fear.
"You are foolish to call the king of the dov forth like this… Inane — just like the rest of your filthy kind." He would not recognize her heritage by treating her like his own — her blood wasn't pure , she didn't deserve the honour and respect the word 'dovahkiin' would bring her. "You called me, yet you are unarmed, begging to be killed. What do you want? Answer me," the World-Eater demanded, his voice sharp, low — more like a growl than speech. A set of teeth bigger than one-handed swords revealed themselves with a cloud of foul breath surrounding the woman's figure. Those teeth could rip her sorry being apart. That maw could open itself full and shoot a jet of flame at her, at any moment — any wrong word and it would be done.
"I have called you here with a proposition to offer!" She clearly tried to swallow her tension - Alduin's foul breath against the dragonborn's face, he almost eagerly waited for her to make that one and single mistake… His mouth watered simply from the thought of ripping her to shreds, her moist flesh and crunchy bones. It was rousing his hunger, the hunger that had been screaming even before he arrived. But, unlike Alduin fantasized, that fatal mistake never came…
"In the past, your kind has been hunted to extinction, even without a dragonborn. Your followers have been slain, every single one down to the last. Your temples have crumbled until next to nothing remained of their former glory. Your name has been forgotten and the terror you once brought turned into the echo of a memory." A brow arched upon her words, her voice suddenly unwavering, loud and strong, full of determination. In a way, the monster briefly admired her ambition. Despite her attempt to seem credible & stand-up, to the dragon king her words still seemed more a scared lie to save her from trouble than a genuine attempt to win Alduin to her side.
"Paarthurnax believes dragons must abstain from their power and this world altogether. But this is not what we were born for. I was not born to sit down and watch this world move on, and neither were you."
"… Paarthurnax tahrodiis !"The woman had barely finished her say when Alduin suddenly roared, a jet of hot air sending her golden locks afloat in a straight line backwards — it was barely a mistake, one that still could be forgiven. One should never mention Alduin's traitor brother to him. "You think quite highly of yourself, joor, to think you were born to rule… To think you are one of us," Alduin sneered, taking an intimidating step forward, ground shaking from the force of it. Snout almost against her face he continued, hissing between his teeth:
"Not too long ago you conspired with my traitor brotherr, and sought to annhilate me from this world. Why the sudden change of mind ? Fah lo — to deceive me again?Do not think me as weak & gullible as Paarthurnax — couple of kind words change nothing!"
The dragonborn, again, did not succumb to the force of Alduin's dominating words, his constant subconscious attempt to bring her down the more he spoke. Instead, she still stood tall and steady . Any other, even of the dragon blood, would've fallen on their knees to swear loyalty, begging for mercy from Alduin's brutality . Was it her strength that kept her on her feet, or was it her ignorance ? Alduin voted for the latter.
Even if she desired to flee - she certainly must know she would not make it for the safety of the Temple, a stone's throw away from her. Stood before him, she could do naught but face death incarnate, armed with nothing but a silver tongue. Though she tried to stand strong, his hot breath drove tears into her eyes. The violent drumming of her heart was completely audible to Alduin, the saltiness of the tears in her eyes further arousing Alduin's already barely controllable hunger. He could sense her fear, yet she was brave enough not to show it. The claws of his wings dug to the ground as his body stiffened, its hardness from frost completely irrelevant to him. Those said claws were stronger than any weapon ever forged in the entire world.
"The Dragons will follow only one king… or die without their king..."
A sharp exhale through his nose as the imperial woman spoke out, her first words seeming more like a honeyed flattery to soothe Alduin than something out of sincerity. "They indeed do. &who would be there to rule them ? You?" His voice echoed of pure mockery. "How do you propose to do that ? You ridicule yourself," Alduin laughed.
Then, Alduin stepped forward again, neck bending, the hot hide of the bridge of his nose pressing against Janna's face, intimidation stronger than ever. "I left Skuldafn because of you. My subjects need only hear my growl once and they obey blindly. They need only hear my roar, & Taazokaan will burn . If you truly were of dovahsos, should you not do the same !?" Scale-clad lips arose, the gums dark red visible, & fangs even more so.
Alduin's patience was slowly running out, & perhaps, in a way, he was becoming desperate to get her to bend to his will. Barely ever before had he engaged in a conversation with a mortal for this long, barely ever before had he been faced with a foe with such courage , even without a single weapon.
Finally, her gaze rose to met his. Such determination!
"If I cannot call this world MINE , I might as well let it burn in your fire! The only one who deserves to be … the only one who CAN be the ruler of all mortals… is me. "
