Beyond the Wild, Impartial Skies
First piece of anything written, for any reason, whatsoever. And I decide out of the blue to write a Skyrim fanfiction. What am I, deranged or something?
To wit, I've read a lot of books from ages ago. One of the first to get me into 'fantasy' was actually, of all the things, the Dragonlance saga. So, I muse, twenty years later and with a raging itch for some more Skyrim (damn, they coded that with pure crack and heroin, didn't they?), instead of sitting down and playing, I had a better idea.
And this is the result.
The field the knight lay upon was the sort often found in the rolling hills, where the grass was high enough to create the impression of a rolling ocean in a good breeze, not high enough that one lying down would be totally obscured, and thus open to being trod upon, by an incautious passerby.
He lay, in his full armor, upon a hill in this seemingly endless grassy field, and looked up. Eyes the color of the sky gazed back, a strike against the ancient adage about gazing into the Abyss. A gentle smile, framed by a mustache showing both great care, and premature age: full one quarter of it was white as snow, the rest very mouse-like in color.
He wasn't alone upon that hill: a woman lay next to him, holding his hand, her eyes closed. Her ears and eyes would immediately give any knowledgeable observer the hint that this was an elven woman, though if she were resting or just closing her eyes in simple joy would only be known to the two of them.
The knight heard the approach more than saw it, the only visual cue he had when his eyes reflected the sky plus an old human, white of beard and cloak, with a smile upon his face. The knight knew immediately who had come to visit.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I have need of you. Can you come walk with me for a while?" With this, the elf woman's eyes flew open. "Fear not, we shouldn't be too long, and you will be reunited again." With that simple reassurance, she closed her eyes again, a gentle squeeze her only farewell to the knight as he stood and dusted himself off.
"So be it, Lord. Let us be off." With that, the knight and the wizard (for with all those obvious signs, what else could he be?) set off down the hill, towards the horizon and a star twinking in the advent of an early twilight. Aged though he may look, vigorous the wizard was as he not only kept pace with the younger knight, but easily took the lead.
"What, pray tell, am I needed for? I had thought my work had ended with my life?" The knight looked over at the wizard, with quirked eye and faintly amused smile.
In response, the wizard slowed down a bit, looking at his grand beard, allowing the knight to pull abreast of him once more. "I have been contacted, by another like myself. Negotiations have taken some time, as we got to understand each other, but it was made known that a great dragonslayer was needed soon. You are, now and forever, the very best who ever walked Krynn. There could be no question.
The deity we are to meet has stressed this, and that living or dead is of no impediment to him in finding his champion. For you, I suppose, the only reward he could probably give would be a nice summer home for you two, when all is finished."
"So I am to live again?" The knight slowed as well, taking this in.
"Aye", the wizard replied, twinking in his eye. "You'll fate no dooms walking through the world we're going to as a ghost or shade of the departed, after all."
The knight paused, taking it all in, swishing the ramifications around in his mind, before sighing and walking forward. "She's going to have your hide, you know."
"Maybe, maybe, but I assert now this will be well worth it in the end." with that, the wizard resumed his brisk pace across the grand plain, and the knight followed.
Some time (what time? Now time? Why time?) later, they came across an impressive tree, not far from a forge upon a hill. Others were gathered here, and a smile and brief nod were spared as they walked to the center of the tree, to a crudely marked door marked in the tree. The wizard reached for the knob, then turned and addressed the knight.
"The pathway between here and there is a bit...unusual, for us. Pay no heed to what you see as we make our way, curiosity will serve no purpose than to delay us, and I have little intent to be late!"
With that, he opened the doorway, and they stepped inside, closing it behind him.
The journey through to the next doorway would forever remain in the knight's mind as one of the strangest, through sterile metal halls with strange cords glowing with their own light, turns and hallways that looked sharp enough to cut flesh, and many eerily perfect doors of metal. And that ever present, bright light that suffused every step he took.
Soon enough, they arrived at their destination, another door at the end of another hallway. The wizard took a moment to compose himself, then looked to the knight with a smile.
"Would you be so kind as to hold the door for me? It would be somewhat undignified if I were to walk in only to have the door smack me in the behind on the way in."
Returning the smile, the knight opened the door, stepping to the left of the entryway and allowing passage to the wizard. "I understand, dignity can be at times a scarce enough resource as it is..."
Casting a sideways eye to the knight, the wizard merely stated, "I have dignity enough for the both of us, friend, observe!", and with that and a quick harrumph, he strode into the doorway...
..and in an unusual display, through a shimmering white portal, through which on the other side emerged a grand head and forepaws, gleaming in the dim light of the room he stepped into.
I suppose the door slamming on your behind would make the Platinum Dragon's entrance rather undignified, thought the knight as he waited for his lord to clear the entryway so he could follow, taking great care to close the door behind him as he went.
He took a moment to take in the room he found himself in. The impression was that of an once-grand temple reduced to ruins, violently if what he saw gave truth. Columns of marble, shattered and thrown around like mere sticks, the roof itself ripped apart, and the night sky open to all above.
The centerpiece of this marvel of devastation, however, was a flawless statue of a dragon, unlike any the knight was familar with, two legs, two wings that also served as arms, if what he saw was any indicator, more reminiscent of wyverns of his home than any dragon, but no wyvern had such proud bearing, even in stone, immortalized. The bearing of a weary but proud victor.
Which made the moment when the statue lit up with a ghostly, orange flame unsurprising to the knight.
{{Is this the one of which you spoke, Paladine?}} A question, but no voice to speak it, radiated through the room.
"Aye, my greatest champion, Akatosh. If he cannot perform the necessary tasks, none can." The deep, bassy voice of the Platinum Dragon reverbated through the hall.
A sigh, echoing through. As the knight looked around at the gods in dragon form, the ruins of the temple around him, to the night sky above, he realized he wasn't actually alone there. Dragon gods not withstanding, there was another some small distance away also watching these proceedings. It seems, however, the other had been awaiting his arrival and presence for some time, if the gaze focused upon him from under a hood was any indication.
The knight wasn't unused to hoods, the magi of his world often wore them, in the colors of Good, Neutrality, and Evil, but he never expected a hood to be accompanied by burnished steel armor.
"Something the matter?" a very...feminine voice came from the hooded, armored figure. The knight blinked, once, twice, and looked closer. He could start to make out under the steel curves he wouldn't associate with any of the knights he'd served with.
At a loss, he stammered, a bit. "A-are you a knight? A mage?"
A laugh, again, noteworthy for the very femininity it exuded. "A fair bit of both, actually. You are addressing an Imperial Battlemage, of the Empire of Tamriel."
"A strange world I must be in, where I come from, magi are forbidden from wearing armor or bearing arms beyond a dagger or their personal staff."
"That...really?" She sighed. "That's not going to make my life much easier. Battlemages are used to walking around wearing armor, not having that is going to be a real challenge." She spared a glance over to the deities, lost in conversation outside of normal hearing. The knight couldn't help but note that not only was she as feminine in visage as she sounded, but dare he say it...
A girl, cute, no less, and she's a warrior mage? This is a strange world indeed.
She glanced back, stating, "I know a deal when I see one. Any tips on why you're here?"
The knight looked down, reviewing the past events in his mind, and only one thing stuck out. "My lord said, as we were walking here, that I was the greatest dragonslayer of my world. 'Now and forever', was his exact quote on the matter."
The battlemage blanched on those words. "Oh, no...no, I thought those were just myths?" Again she glanced over to the curled up platinum dragon and the statue he conversed with.
{{Then with that, our business is concluded.}} With that, the Platinum Dragon rose from it's sitting position, acknowledging the statue with a lowered head, the draconic form of bowing to an equal, the knight noted, having seen similar before during his life.
"Indeed, Akatosh. I wish you luck in your endeavor."
{{And I for yours, Paladine.}}
"Looks like this is parting for us," the battlemage said, "though I never gave you my name, nor heard yours. I am Arielle Jurard, Imperial Battlemage." She said this as she straightened up, the classic form of attention every army everywhere has used.
The knight smiled, also bringing himself up to full attention.
"I am Huma, Knight of Solamnia."