The Dragon of the Empire
Disclaimer: I own nothing in this work, the Elder Scrolls series belongs to Bethesda Game Studios and Bethesda Softworks
Chapter 1
Screaming, crying, and roaring. All these sounds came out of the Imperial City, which was beset with complete chaos. And there was nothing Nadiya could do about it.
She was restrained, lashed to a wooden stake atop much firewood in a small, shallow pit, and she struggled vainly against her bindings. All around her were many others in the same position, ranging from common farmer to high-ranking noble, all about to suffer the same fate. All of the captives were lined up in long rows facing the faraway City, and even from this distant location one could hear the battle cries of soldiers from both the Dominion and the Empire. Sometimes great fireballs, powerful lightning bolts, howling ice storms, and other displays of terrible and devastating magic could be seen and heard in this awful night, all occurring in the nightmarish distance which is the battle for the City.
Thalmor agents were going about lighting each pit one at a time, smiling in a manner fit for a bloodthirsty dremora, savoring and relishing the pain and suffering that the fires inflicted upon the unlucky soul. At most it took several minutes for the fire to wholly consume the victim, which was marked by the cessation of screaming; at this point, the agents would move on to the next pit.
It didn't matter what the race of the victim was, nor their background; the only thing that mattered was that everyone here had some kind of tie to the Empire, and this fact alone was enough for the Justiciars to condemn one to the stake according to their twisted logic.
Madness! Utter madness, this whole affair with the Dominion and their claims of superiority over the other races in Tamriel. If only the Divines were able to intervene in this dark hour of the Empire. But that won't happen unless a Septim were to appear and turn into an aspect of Akatosh, like Martin did so many years ago in another era. To the misfortune of the Empire, the great Septim dynasty is extinct, and has been since the end of the Third Era nearly two centuries ago. And despite his godhood, Talos didn't seem to be one that directly intervened in the affairs of mortals. As for the other Divines, it would be the end of Nirn if they moved from their place in the sky. No, it seems like this war will be decided by mortals, and mortals alone.
Nadiya continued to struggle against her bindings, trying to block out the surrounding chaos that was causing her much distress. At one point, she looked around to see how far away the agents were, only to realize they were coming for her. In fear she cried out, begging for them to stop this atrocity. Upon arriving, the agents looked at the young woman with an air of incredible contempt and decided to humor themselves for a moment. They asked her why they should treat her any differently than the others, thinking that she was asking her to let her go. Nadiya became furious at this suggestion and condemned them viciously, saying that she valued the lives of the others around her more than herself and that she'd give her soul to ensure that others would get away safely. She then deplored the actions of the Thalmor and their heartless killings that had taken place while the City was under occupation. Finally, she spat at them and said that if the Thalmor were so willing to commit genocide against the races of man to prove their superiority, then they better be willing to prove themselves against the Divines, especially Talos, for surely they wouldn't stand for this madness.
At this the agents howled in laughter, and when they collected themselves the agent with the torch stepped forward and mocked her for her 'archaic' views on the Divines, like the rest of the inhabitants of the Empire. He continued with more of their outrageous claims of lost divinity and their intent to put all the races of man to the sword once the battle was won. He finally finished by calling the Breton girl a traitor, a betrayer for deserting from the Legion, and that her death would in fact be a service to their great enemy. Upon finishing his mad diatribe, he took his torch and went to light the pit on fire.
As the torch approached, Nadiya thought about how everything had gone wrong, and how right he was about her being a traitor. About how she foolishly decided to attempt an escape from the City instead of rejoining the Legion to fight against the elven invaders. She shouldn't have given into the fear that controlled her the moment she decided to flee. Fear is what got her into this whole mess, and now she was bound to a stake to be executed like a criminal, a pest even if the words of the Thalmor were to be taken literally. She would die undignified, at the hands of the tyrants she thought she escaped from.
She started to sob uncontrollably. She just had her 21th birthday several days ago, and now her life was about to be cut short. How could the Thalmor be so cruel? Do they honestly view humanity as little more than animals? How could the gods let all of this happen? All these questions and many others overwhelmed her, and very shortly she came to accept her fate. Time slowed down as she waited to be engulfed by fire, and it took a moment for her to snap back into reality when a lightning bolt struck down the agent about to incinerate her.
She blinked in surprise, and through the chaos she saw the other Thalmor agents drawing their weapons and rushing away, towards what appeared to be… Legionnaires?
The Legionnaires, they had arrived! Gods above, she was going to be saved! And just in time too!
Nadiya smiled sadly as many of the other captives cheered. Glad as she was to see allies, she welcomed death now. It would be humiliating to be rescued from the Thalmor only to be sentenced or even executed for her crime by the Legion. Oh well, for the time being she can atone for her mistakes, assuming she gets freed before an agent decides to finish the job.
As the Thalmor agents and soldiers became distracted by the Legion, she saw a couple of darkly cloaked figures slip past the fighting and run towards her. Once they drew near, it became clear that her saviors were Milana and Kamilia, the Colovian twins, and they quickly went about cutting her binds. Thank the Divines they are alive, Nadiya thought. I wonder about the rest of the coven?
Once her binds were undone, they went about freeing as many of the other captives as they could, and planned to leave once the Legion had taken care of the Thalmor. As they ran around, a sudden calamity became apparent, precipitated by a powerful roar. Everyone in the area, Legionnaires, Thalmor, the captives, the twins, and Nadiya looked up to see something dark and ominous emerging though a kind of portal in the night sky. Despite the nature of the battle, everyone became bewitched by the strange sight and ceased fighting, if only for a brief reprieve from the battle.
Nadiya furrowed her brows and tried to make out what the thing was. Even though it would have been best to leave, something about it enthralled her. She felt it was almost familiar, though how so was beyond her.
After hovering in place for some moments, the thing started to descend towards the pits. As it did so, many people started to flee the area not wanting to know what strange thing is and will do, and within minutes the area was empty with only the dead accompanying Nadiya and the twins. Nadiya remained transfixed, ignoring the protests of the twins despite them trying to get Nadiya away from the area.
But she could not be persuaded to leave. It seemed that Nadiya had become hypnotized, and for some reason the twins could not drag her away due to her intense interest in the thing. There was absolutely no reason for Nadiya to find the thing familiar, and yet she knew instinctively that there was some connection that existed. That feeling intensified as it drew closer, and against all rational thought she decided to stay and figure out what made her so entranced. Even though she would likely die, what did she have to lose? She was a deserter after all. She deserves death, and she welcomes it.
As it came forward the skies became even more nightmarish than before, glowing like fire now and lighting up the land, and the storm clouds that were rapidly forming seemed to herald the thing's arrival. Its approach was becoming more rapid and obvious, even furious, though the form of it was still unclear from the ground. Despite all this, the battle in the background didn't seem to diminish, in contrast to the pits where the only noise came from the dying fires in their ash-filled pits. On the contrary, it seemed the battle became even more furious than ever, everyone there ignorant to the highly ominous thing whose form was now easier to make out, but still unclear.
When it became apparent that the thing was about to be upon them, the twins decided to find a nearby spot to hide and see what was going to happen, and hopefully take her away as soon as she snapped out of her strange behavior. Nadiya continued stand in place transfixed, and when the thing landed no one could mistake what the beast is.
Once it landed, Nadiya snapped out of her reverie, and beheld in front of her a massive, darkly colored reptilian monster with many sharp spikes on its body. It had eyes that glowed red with fury, and when they cast their powerful gaze towards Nadiya, she fell backwards, taken aback at the raw hate it radiated. The monster glared at her for several seconds before roaring with a rage that Nadiya felt in her bones. As it did, fires came down from the sky and began to destroy the world. It was then that the battle in the background ceased, and soon Nadiya could make out in the distance tiny forms trying to get away from the city as it was being bombarded relentlessly by the fires. People were crying out in fear, wondering why the world was being set on fire. Their pleas soon became indistinct from the chaos as the fires began to rapidly consume the land.
Nadiya stood up and started run towards the twins who were shaking with fear. Surprisingly the monster did not pursue her, its aspect making it appear amused by their retreat. When Nadiya felt a temptation to look back, she saw speaking in an incomprehensible language, and when he finished an enormous fireball shot down from the heavens towards her and the twins. Realizing they wouldn't get away in time, the three looked at one another sadly and hugged one another, accepting their fate. Just before it crashed, Nadiya heard the monster speak the common tongue.
"Not even you, Nadiya Atreides, can hope to stop what shall be so, as foretold in the Elder Scrolls."