Author's Note: Skyrim belongs to Bethesda, and they did a damn good job with it. However, Kaius, Stenar, Jag, Virali, and more are my OCs. You shall not have them!

Don't worry, the next chapters won't have much to do with questlines except for flashbacks. Enjoy, and remember to write a review to either bash it or encourage me!

This fic will feature lots of action and minimal fluff. Divines know there is enough fluff on this website without me contributing. D:

Lastly, I promise that things get better. My early chapters have iffy writing, unlike the masterpiece of the later ones. Stick with it and you won't be sorry.

1

Morndas, 1st day of Morning Star, 4E 201

"The beginning is the most important part of the work." - Plato

How It Began

Kaius' vision was hazy. Dimly, he wondered where he was. He was aware of movement. A carriage. He was sitting along a bench in a carriage, bumping along a broken cobblestone road. Then his memory returned. He had been traveling into the Skyrim Province, to seek an apprenticeship from Beirand, an old friend of his father's, in the city of Solitude.

Then came the ambush; Imperial warriors with flashing blades, and the insurgent Stormcloaks trying in vain to protect a man in fine dark clothes. Kaius just deflected blows with his smithing hammer and tried to stay in one piece. Despite he himself being an Imperial, a soldier had contemptuously disarmed him, delivered a sharp blow to his head, and there was darkness…

Now he was awake in this wagon, his hands bound and all of his equipment gone. He was wearing clothes made of some rough spun material. Prison garb. He looked around, taking in his surroundings. Sitting to his right was the man in the expensive-looking furs. He looked miserable, but there was still nobility to him. Strangely, he was gagged. Kaius frowned at this and figured that there must be more to this man than met the eye.

To his left was a blonde Nord, a large muscular man who was talking quietly to the Stormcloak across from him. They looked alike, but the man on Kaius' left was larger, and not dressed in the blue-gray light armor that Kaius had come to associate with the Stormcloaks.

He craned his neck at other wagons in the procession. He could see a High Elf with a trickle of blood running down her forehead, an onyx-colored Khajiit with claw scars on his face who returned Kaius' gaze with hostility, another burly Nord with stringy brown hair, an unconscious Dunmer, and more Stormcloak troopers.

The Stormcloak soldier saw Kaius was awake and engaged him in conversation. Kaius learned that the regal man sitting next to him was Ulfric Stormcloak, the "High King" of Skyrim, and that they had all been captured in the same Imperial ambush. As they talked, the convoy arrived in a small town called Helgen. The prisoners piled out of the wagons and waited as Imperial soldiers read names from a list.

A few people turned out to not be on the list, including himself. They were asked their names. The Altmer said, "Virali", in an even tone. The ebony Khajiit replied in a hiss, "Jag." The brown- haired Nord replied that he couldn't remember. A reasonable legionnaire named Hadvar asked the officer in charge what to do with the misfits. The woman thought for a moment, then shrugged and decided to go with the simpler yet crueler option. "Forget the list. They all go to the block!"

"By your orders, Captain." Was Hadvar's reluctant reply. Kaius watched grimly as the first defiant Stormcloak was beheaded by an impassive executioner, prompting screams and cheers and verbal abuse from the gathered crowd of townsfolk. His neck shivered in anticipation, as if it couldn't wait for the axe to come neatly down.

"Next: The Nord in the rags!" The Imperial captain's voice snapped like a whip.

The large brown-haired Nord walked up to the chopping block, his back straight and his gait even. His bravery made Kaius smile grimly. Then he gritted his teeth and shut his eyes tight as the man was forced on his knees in front of the block.

But then there came a roar of some huge beast from above. Imperial, Stormcloak, and townsfolk alike froze and shrunk down, a primal sense of fear making them feel like a mouse under a hawk's eye.

"What in Oblivion is that?!" Yelled an Imperial clad in the shiny armor of a general. From behind a mountain, winging its way towards Helgen, came a dragon as black as night. At least, that's what Kaius thought it was, as it matched most of the descriptions found in old legends of dragons. It was covered in spikes and its eyes glowed a demonic red-orange. The beast landed on a stone tower and perched there, glaring down upon its prey. It roared in some strange tongue, and a maelstrom formed above it. Chaotic clouds swirled and fireballs rained onto cobblestone, forming craters and blackening corpses of people too slow to get out of the way. Everything was a confusing muddle of sound and movement with the citizens of Helgen screaming and running every which way, the Imperial soldiers shouting orders, and the prisoners seeking cover.

Kaius just had time to slit his bindings off using the executioner's dropped axe, still stained red, before he was running toward another stone tower with the blonde Nord prisoner. As he ran, he glanced around for the other prisoners he had noticed from the wagon. He caught a glimpse of the Altmer burning her own shackles off with bursts of mage fire, the noble Nord grabbing an abandoned war axe from the street and running after the dragon—the fool, what was he thinking?—and the dark elf making a beeline for the far side of town. Something nagged at him. The Khajiit! Where was Jag? Kaius didn't have time to search, though, before the now-liberated Stormcloaks slammed the door closed.

Wounded rebels lay on the floor, moaning, and outside there was the terrible sounds of fire and screams of dying men and above it all, the bellowing of the gigantic dragon. Kaius and the Nord prisoner, who hastily introduced himself as Stenar, decided to climb the tower to get a vantage point. They were halfway up the stone steps when they came upon a Stormcloak digging in some wreckage that blocked the stairs. She saw them and motioned for them to help her.

"If we can just get this cleared awa-," She was cut off by the dragon landing on the outside of the tower. They all staggered as the tower rocked. The dragon snarled something like "Us Ro Ah," and the wall exploded inward in great chunks and small shards of rock. The Stormcloak was crushed under the rubble so fast she didn't even have time to scream. Kaius and Stenar lurched back; Stenar lost his footing on the stairs, but the Imperial caught him before he could tumble any further.

They both retreated down the steps as the dragon drew back and painted a stream of fire onto the wreckage, scarring the stones black. Smoke gusted as the dragon let go of the tower and soared away.

"By the gods…" Stenar turned to see Ralof, the Stormcloak from their wagon, staring at the debris with grief written on his face. Nothing was visible of the female rebel except a blackened arm sticking up out of the rock and a few scraps of charred blue uniform. Ralof shook his head dazedly and ordered, "See that inn on the other side? Jump through the roof and keep going! We'll follow when we can."

Kaius turned to Stenar and rasped, "Let's go." He ran to the pile of boulders; he could feel the heat radiating from it. Stenar joined him and asked, "What if we don't make it?"

"We'll make it." Kaius took a running jump out of the hole in the wall and plummeted through the smoke.

P.s.- There will be a number of easter eggs in this series, such as character's actions or various quotes from Halo, etc. In the reviews, tell me which ones you recognize and I will give you a shoutout and a really big smiley :D