Skyrim's wildlife is timid and prefers to avoid people whenever possible. Skyrim's Grimm, on the other hand, are some of the most ferocious in Tamriel.
"I still think we should've stopped in Ivarstead."
"But Yaaang this way is faster. By skipping Ivarstead we can get to Helgen the end of the day. Then we can take a carriage to Whiterun, where we'll get to meet the Companions!"
Yang Xiao Long shook her head at her sister's eagerness, making her long blonde hair sparkle in the Skyrim sun. She walked with a relaxed confidence born from many victorious brawls. Her face seemed set in a cocky grin, lavender eyes sparkling with mirth. She was wearing leather armor and an orange scarf with one shining addition: her pride and joy, Ember Celica. The golden gauntlets could encase her hands and fire explosive shotgun shells. She dressed head to toe in a leather armor covered in a variety of belts and pockets. She needed them for all her ammo and hair care products.
Her half-sister by blood, full sister by all other measures, Ruby Rose was quite different. She was walking alongside Yang, behind her, cradling her weapon like an infant. Crescent Rose was a high-impact sniper-rifle that transformed into a scythe. With that weapon she had become a prodigy at the Imperial Hunters Academy. She wore furs from animals she had hunted down, and like her sister had pockets and belts everywhere. Hers were all dedicated to her weapon; ammunition for the gun and whetstones for the blade. Finally, she wore a red cloak, hood currently thrown back to reveal a childish smile and a pair of silver eyes.
They walked in an amicable silence, simultaneously carefree but alert for the possibility of Grimm on the road. The worst case scenario was probably an Ursa over the hill just before Helgen, but it never hurt to be prepared.
They were not prepared for the sudden earthquake strong enough to knock them over, nor for the deafening roar the accompanying it.
Yang forced herself to roll in front of Ruby, a force of habit born from many years as a big sister, to shield her from anything the tremors might send their way.
Yang felt a gust of wind and saw a familiar trail of roses, letting her know that Ruby had just used her Semblance to dart off and investigate. She looked up and saw that her sister had stopped at the top of the hill. There was also smoke coming from over the hill.
Yang leapt to her feet and fired Ember Celica behind her, propelling herself up to the top of the hill where she landed next to Ruby and immediately understood what had made her stop.
Helgen lay in ruins. Its once mighty stone walls and towers were crumbling, allowing Beowolves to swarm in, and the burning homes within sent plumes of smoke high into the air. But what had made both Huntresses-in-training halt was not the destruction, but the clear cause of it.
Overhead a jet black, honest-to-the-Divines, dragon circled through the smoke. Its scales were blacker than midnight and when it paused in midair to scan the ruins below Yang could see that its eyes were blood red.
Seemingly satisfied with its work, the dragon let out a final roar and flew off into the distance.
Yang was first to snap out of her stupor. She placed a hand on the Ruby's shoulder, but the younger girl didn't move.
"Yang… can you hear that?"
"Ruby, there's nothing but Beowolves and–" then she heard it too.
The Beowolves were snarling and howling, but they were also yelping. There were still survivors fighting down there.
"We have to help them!" Ruby pulled away from her sister's grip and once more activated her Semblance, charging into battle leaving a trail of rose petals. Yang didn't even hesitate to run after her, she just ran towards the now-loudest concentration of Beowolf whimpers.
One of the Grimm leapt out of the smoke cloud to ambush her. Yang halted and swung her fist, punching through its armored mask and firing her gauntlet, the projectile carrying the monster away. Alerted to her presence by the shot, a small group of them broke away from the main pack and rushed her. An overhand strike smashed the first one to the ground, and Yang used the force of the impact to launch herself over the survivors. She rotated her body in midair and fired Ember Celica, killing them, and then ran towards the sounds of combat.
As Yang expected, Ruby had done her best to get to the center of the horde. She slammed Crescent Rose down on a monster close to her, striking with the handle rather than the blade. Then she fired the weapon, blowing apart a different Beowolf's head and cleaving the first one in half. She then darted side to side, whirling her scythe around herself to clear a larger area to work with. One of the Grimm tried to stop her by clawing at her legs, an attack Ruby easily evaded by jumping and shooting, throwing herself across the clearing she'd made into the other side of the pack, but inadvertently exposing the people she had been protecting: a wounded Imperial legionnaire, a frail-looking old man, and a small boy.
Yang leaped into the air and pulled her arm back, slamming the ground with enough force to scatter most of the canine monstrosities, several even landing in the flaming ruins and burning away. Before they could recover and mount an attack she jumped toward the nearest one and performed a flying kick that drove its head into the ground. She immediately swung a left hook into another's stomach and fired, launching the disintegrating corpse away. She fired at the next and instinctively ducked and performed a leg sweep to trip one behind her.
A large Alpha attempted to maul her and got a mouthful of explosive ammunition for its trouble, and Yang saw Ruby go flying past her with Crescent Rose, drop-kicking a Grimm in her path and then planting the scythe's blade in the ground to begin sniping others.
"Yang, watch out!"
She immediately whirled and threw a powerful right hook that launched a newly arrived Ursa away, crushing several Beowolves as it landed. A second one burst out of a collapsing house and rushed at her. She delivered a leaping uppercut to its jaw and then kicked it in the ribs, causing it to land beside the first. She took a quick glance back at how Ruby was doing, and seeing that she was a tornado of gunfire and severed Grimm limbs, aimed a quick shot at a Beowolf trying to sneak up on her. This propelled Yang backwards, allowing her to slam her elbow against an Ursa's back. She felt it snap and knew it would dissolve at that point.
The survivor used the smoke from its vanishing kin as covered for a claw swipe Yang narrowly dodged with a backflip.
She laughed, "Are you even try–"
Then she saw it.
A strand of her hair was caught on the creature's claw.
Her hair.
Her eyes narrowed and reddened, and her hair burst into flames as she triggered her Semblance. If she didn't know better, she'd have thought that the Ursa looked frightened.
She launched herself at it in a frenzy of punches any pugilist would be proud of, finally striking it so hard that it slammed into the stone rubble and burst into smoke.
Yang took a breath and let her eyes go back to their normal lilac before turning to check on Ruby. Her sister shot one last Beowolf before making eye contact and then darting over to check on the three survivors.
"You two are Huntresses, right?" The soldier received a pair of nods in reply. "Thank you. I don't know how much longer I could've last against that many Grimm. Gunnar, how's the boy?"
The old man said, "He's in shock right now but he'll recover. You have my thanks ladies. I can't take a horde like that anymore, but I can get Haming to his grandfather in the Rift. Gods guide you Hadvar, Huntresses." The man then took the boy's hand and began walking the way Yang and Ruby had initially come from.
Yang reached for Hadvar's hand and he gratefully accepted her help up. His imperial scout armor, meant to brown with read highlights, was instead an ashy gray with black soot in some places.
Ruby moved to help him support himself but he waved her away. "I can walk on my own, I think, I just need to get to my Uncle's house in Riverwood and rest up a bit."
"We'll make sure you get there!" Ruby announced and Yang smiled. That was classic Ruby – out to save the world one good deed at a time.
The trio started walking down the road leading to the village, and Yang asked, "What happened back there anyway?"
"By your accent, you're from Cyrodiil, right?"
"Yeah."
"Uh-huh."
"Have you heard of the civil war in Skyrim."
"…Maybe?"
"Ruby!"
"I fell asleep in Oobleck's current events class okay!"
Hadvar chuckled and continued his explanation. "Well, here's some background, when the Emperor signed the White-Gold Concordat, one of the concessions he made to the Thalmor was outlawing Talos worship. Not much of a big deal in Cyrodiil between everything else that happened, but it causes a lot of resentment here in Skyrim. Native son and all.
"The civil war started because of the ambitions of one man: Ulfric Stormcloak, Jarl of Windhelm. He whipped the more traditional Nords into frenzy and turned them into a private army. They call themselves the Stormcloaks and they mostly caused trouble on the outskirts of the holds, until Ulfric murdered the High King. Then they became a full blown rebellion."
"Okay, but when does the dragon come into the story?"
"Yang!"
"Soon. After months of him slipping through the Legions' fingers, General Tullius staged an ambush and Ulfric surrendered almost without a fight. We had them in Helgen about to be executed, and that's when the dragon attacked and just wrecked the place, tore down the towers, shattered the walls, mass death and confusion. Then the Grimm attacked and I thought it was all over… you came just in time. Any sooner and the dragon would've killed you, and any later and there wouldn't have been anyone alive."
They walked in silence for a time, each processing the day's events in their own way, until Hadvar stopped and pointed.
"See that ruin up there? Bleak Falls Barrow. Growing up, that place always used to give me nightmares. Draugr creeping through my window at night, that kind of thing. Come on, we're almost to Riverwood.
They followed the road downhill and then turned to see a trio of standing stones at the edge of the path overlooking Lake Ilinalta.
"What are those?" Ruby asked.
"The Guardian Stones. Three of the thirteen ancient standing stones that dot Skyrim's landscape. Go ahead, see for yourself."
Yang and Ruby approached the stones and carefully examined the insignia on each in the afternoon light. On the left was cloaked figure clutching a sack of goods – the Thief Stone. In the center was a robed, bearded man holding a staff – the Mage Stone. Finally, on the right was a figure in armor, bearing a shield and axe – the Warrior Stone.
Both Huntresses in training touched it, and a light seemed to flicker and fire into the sky as it blessed them.
"Warrior, good. I knew you two were warriors the minute I laid eyes on you."
As the three of them set off down the path once more, Hadvar said, "You know, we could use people like you in the Legion. A pair of Huntresses would be really useful in the war effort, and if the rebels have a dragon or woke one up, General Tullius is the only one who can stop it."
Whether Hadvar expected an answer or not, he didn't press them for one as they walked.
As the sun was beginning to set they came upon a small village surrounded by forest, and Hadvar said, "There's my uncle, the blacksmith. I don't know where you're going, but once I tell him what happen I'm sure he'll help you out. Uncle Alvor! Hello!"
Author's Note: The only mods that could feasibly apply to this chapter are the various ones that provide a different start. My 2 favorites are "Alternate Start – Live Another Life" by Arthmoor and "Skyrim Unbound (Alternate Start)" by chinagreenelvis. I suggest checking them both out – they manage to do the same thing in some dramatically different ways.