"Chosen for what?" Mike asked to the approaching figures. He wasn't sure why he was still conscious and able to think. He had died.
"Chosen to restore balance to Nirn," explained a voice that seemed to come from a man with the head of a dragon.
"Oh please, when has Nirn been anything but chaotic?" Asked a man in white gold trimmed robes. He wore a large triangular pendent around his neck, a very simple yet elegant design along the three sides.
"If we don't intervene Alduin will succeed and all the races of Nirn will be enslaved to him and his followers." Argued another man with an amulet centered on an anvil. "This is your fault; you set him free without the power to control him. You know we can no longer directly intervene with the mortal plane."
"I am well aware of what my actions brought about, as I am aware of our limitations; however I have foreseen great promise in this mortal."
"You may be the Aedra that was foolish enough to dabble with something as chaotic as time but we all know you cannot see the future." Chided a woman who held a flower.
"You are correct, I cannot see the future. However this one will play a pivotal role in the return of Alduin. He is the one I have been searching for." The dragon headed man retorted.
"How much longer am I going to be kept waiting? I just want to die!" Michael shouted. He didn't have Cass beside him or his brothers in arms; he just wanted to die. All eyes turned to him
"Do you not see? He does not want to live, so allow me to help him cross over." This time an old man supporting himself with a staff spoke. His eyes were a uniform pane of white. The staff was topped with an eight pointed star.
"He believes he is hallucinating because we are not part of his world." The flower woman spoke.
"He does not see us for what we are…"
"Oh for the love of-"Michael pulled out his revolver, put it to his temple, and pulled the trigger. His hand closed on itself. The revolver was no longer in his hand but back in the holster. "What the fuck?" Michael muttered in disbelief. "So I'm trapped listening to you fuckers argue for the rest of…fuck."
"…Than I will make him see." The dragon headed man reached out and touched his thumb to Michael's forehead, melding his mind with the Aedra's. Memories of thousands of years of watching Nirn flooded into Michaels mind.
He was not dead. He wanted nothing more than death, but he was not dead. "Why are you keeping me from death?" Michael pleaded. "I just want to see Cass again." Tears brimmed in his eyes. "Why?"
"I have foreseen the return of Alduin-"
"Once again, your fault."
"-and you are the catalyst I have been searching for."
"I. Don't. Want. To. Live." Michael growled through his teeth. "I've lost the only people I care about." A tear slid down his cheek.
"Are you all too blind, deaf, and dumb?" A woman in golden robes walked from behind Michael. Reaching out and wiping away his tear. With an angelic voice she whispered, "His heart is broken…and there is only one way to fix it. Arkay, I believe you know what must be done."
"Indeed I do!" The old man yelled, "But that doesn't mean I'll do it!" He pointed his staff at the woman in golden robes. "I am not at your beck and call whenever a loved one dies!"
"Will you do it?"
"Oh for the love of," He mumbled "Boy! Come here." He waved Michael over with his hand.
"You're the one who's in charge of the dead? Can you speed it up; I'm getting tired of this bullshit."
"You and me both," He grumbled. "The four that you died with will be brought with you to Nirn," he looked over his shoulder at the dragon headed man, "IF you accept. Cass, Mitch, Ashley, and…" His brow scrunched up in thought. He muttered to himself for a time. "What was the other one's name again?" He asked Mike.
"Neil."
"AH, yes, of course it is." He straightened himself on his staff. "Cass, Mitch, Ashley, and Neil will all be brought to Nirn with you if you choose to accept Akatosh's offer." He turned himself to the woman in gold, "Very well Mara, it will be done." As he walked away he grumbled quietly, "I'm getting too old for this."
"What offer…?" Michael asked hesitantly. If they had sent him to Nirn without the mention of Cass and his friends it would only be a matter of time until he found a rock sharp enough to kill himself with.
"Your lover and your friends will be sent along with you to Nirn to handle the return of Alduin." The dragon headed man stated matter-o-factly.
"Mitch and Cass are both on their death beds and-"
"I suppose I am to negate the life threatening wounds on these three as well?" Arkay asked holding his head in his hands.
"If you can do it."
"OF COURSE I CAN." He roared, "I am the god of LIFE and DEATH. I control the passing of souls everywhere." He seemed to lose his steam, "Very well…they will arrive unharmed and healed." Then in a condescending tone, "Can I get anything else for you Mara?"
A small smile tugged the corners of Mara's mouth, "Thank you Arkay, you have done more than asked. You have my thanks."
"Whatever." Arkay replied before vanishing.
"So…I'll see Cass again?" Hope flickered across Michaels face, but it slid off as quickly as it had arrived. "What about our-"
"She is with child." A smile spread across the golden robed woman's face. "I can assure you that no harm will come to the unborn, and you will have my blessing when the time comes for the child to arrive."
"Michael could feel the warmth of happiness radiating off of her. "Thank you." He muttered out in a whisper as tears of relief slid down his face. He and Cass could finally settle down. He and Mitch could finally put down their weapons and hang up their armor. He took a big breath to clear his head. Turning to Akatosh he declared, "If it means I can see Cass again, as well as my friends. What would you have me do?"
"Akatosh smiled, or at least Mike thought it was a smile, "Time will tell."
"There was a blinding flash of light followed by a sense of weightlessness. Mitch's side was on fire. He rolled over and felt for the gunshot wound but found nothing but dried blood.
"MITCH!" he heard Ashley scream his name. "Neil I found him!"
"Where?!"
"Over here dummy!"/p
Mitch felt Ashley's hand on his side, "You're not bleeding?" She asked clearly confused.
Getting to his feet, "Nope, no gunshot wound, just a lot of dried blood." He took in his surroundings. "Where are we…?"
Fully grown trees and bushes surrounded them; a squirrel was jumping from tree to tree and paused to look at the three; a small creature with long ears bounced out of a bush grabbed a few berries and scurried back into the brush.
"Well," Neil said looking all around him, "We're not in Kansas anymore that's for sure." He slung his rifle around his back, "I'm gonna do some recon and scout out a perimeter. Ash I want you to hold up here with Mitch until I get back, both of you keep your coms open."
"Why do I have to babysit him?" Ashley demanded, "Why can't I scout a perimeter."
"Because he's a Desert Ranger with almost ten years more experience than you." Mitch countered.
"Fine," Ashley relented, "Let's get into some cover, or at least not out in the open. Neil, good luck."
"I don't need luck Ash, you know me."
"Yeah she does; that's why she's saying it." Mitch said with a smirk.
He shook his head, "I'll be back in two hours, you two stay put." He ordered as he disappeared into the brush.
The two sat in silence for almost five minutes before Mitch sighed and asked, "Am I dead?"
"Nope, we're still alive, somehow. Neil and I've been looking around for the better part of a day to try and figure out where we are." Ashley responded taking out her water canteen. "Neil says we're in Canada…I think he's full of shit, but I don't have a better answer so for now,"
"We're in Canada."
"Yup." Ashley replied as she held her rifle loosely in her arms. "He said that Canada didn't get hit because there's nothing to bomb but trees." She cocked an eyebrow and looked at Mitch.
"Fuckin' Canada."
With one last heave Neil pushed himself up and over another boulder. He had crossed the tree line and was into the snowy peaks that looked over valleys and rivers below. He sat down to catch his breath and looked to the east as the sun was setting behind him.
What he saw rendered him speechless. In the distance he saw snow capped mountains and forests; he saw a great stone fortress off in the distance. He scanned to his left and did a double take fast enough to make his neck stiff. There was a massive natural stone archway that stretched across the rivers end with a castle on one end and a city on the other. He took off his helmet to make sure he wasn't seeing things.
"Canada."
He heard noise coming from over the other side of the peak. He looked down over the edge at a small village. There were children running through the streets, men were chopping wood at a lumber mill, guards were at their posts on either ends of the town. He made a mental note to check out the town after he was finished with his recon.
Neil pulled his helmet back on and completed running a perimeter, but didn't find anything else in the mountains.
"There's a town." Neil said stepping through the bushes back into the clearing where Mitch and Ashley were. "And there are people in the town. It actually looks like a nice place; it's got guards and everything."
"Canada?" Mitch asked not bothering to sit up. Dusk had fallen on the forest and with it the night sky was pulled over the canopy like a blanket. "Does Canada have that?" Mitch pointed to the sky.
Neil didn't have to follow his finger far; a massive moon and some kind of glowing colored clouds that were waving like a flag in the wind.
"Let's get to that town and ask around, see if we can find out where we are." Mitch suggested. "But first I want to do a supply count; see what we've got to work with."
"I've got my battle rifle," Neil patted the stock of his weapon that was slung over his back, "with ten magazines and a full ammo belt."
"Any explosives?"
"Who are you talking to again?" Neil asked with a grin. He shrugged off his utility pack and laid it down on the ground. "Five grenades, four bricks of C-4, and five fragmentation mines." He smiled proudly down at his unloaded pack.
"I wonder why you run out of food so quickly" Ashley deadpanned.
"Ash, it's your turn for show and tell." Neil teased as he reassembled his utility pack.
"I've got my sniper rifle with nine magazines, my silenced .45 with six magazines, and a full ammo belt for each. I've also got two clay more mines."
"Alright, I've got my shotgun, a full ammo belt, three grenades, and a silenced 12.7mm pistol with four magazines." Mitch summarized his gear.
"I still can't believe you put a silencer on that hand cannon," Neil joked. "Muffling that beautiful explosion should be against the law."
"Well explosions give away the element of stealth. I like to avoid making noise." Mitch stowed his gear in his pack. "Alright, let's go make nice with the locals."
"Ash you've got a good view of the town?" Neil asked into the short wave radio.
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""As good as I can get, you've got two guards at your twelve."
"Mitch you're free to go." He gave Mitch a hand signal to move into position, "Give me the signal when you've got eye's on the inn." A green light winked on Neil's HUD.
"Evening Gents!" Neil called out to the guards. He wanted them to know he was there before they saw him. He'd made first contact with enough tribals back in Utah to know that seeing a Desert Ranger in full combat gear for the first time could be a bit of a culture shock.
"Greetings traveler, what brings you to-" The guard stopped mid sentence when Neil came into view. The torch light reflected off the riot helmet's visor and gave it an eerie red glow. "What in oblivion are you!" He yelped in surprise.
The first guard half drew his sword, and a second guard had an arrow knocked on his bow string.
Neil raised his hands in a nonthreatening manner and spoke clearly, "My name is Neil, and I'm a Desert Ranger."
"Your name is Neil?" the second guard asked, unable to keep the shake from his voice.
"Yes sir."
"Is that a helmet Neil?" the first guard asked, his hand still gripping his sword.
"Yes it is, I'm going to take it off now." He said moving his hands slowly to his helmet, he flicked off the external speakers, "Ash, weapons ready."
"Got it." She replied through the COM line. Neil heard the safety flick on her rifle as he took the helmet off and tucked it under his left arm.
"By the nine," The guard laughed releasing his grip on the sword. "You almost gave me a heart attack!" The second guard held his bow loosely in his hand and slid the arrow back home into the quiver. "Now, what brings you to Dragon Bridge?"
"I'm looking for some hot food and a place to spend the night."
"Well if that's all you're looking for then you'll want to head over to the Four Shields Tavern. It's just down the road on your left, you can't miss it."
"Thank you, have a nice evening and stay safe." Neil replied.
He walked in the direction the guard had pointed him in and slid his helmet back on. "Mitch are you in position?" the green light flashed once, Mitch was in position on the roof of the inn. "Ash you're clear to move up."
"On my way, and Neil...nice work with the locals."
Michael's senses slowly started to return to him. He opened his eyes and was greeted with the sight of Cass sleeping in the chair beside the bed he lay in. She had their guns and ammo in her lap, protecting them from anyone who got too curious. He felt his side where Jabsco had stabbed him but found only dried blood.
"Cass," he croaked. "Cass, wake up." His voice was gravelly and rough.
Her eye's fluttered open as she took a second to get her bearings, "Mike?"
"Hey, can I get a cup of wa-" The wind was knocked out of him by Cass who jumped onto the bed with him.
"Mike, I was so worried, you've been out cold for a day and a half now." She pulled her head back. "Where are we?"
"Cass, I'm so glad you're alright." He held her face in his hands, "I don't know how we aren't dead. We should be by all rights, that missile was big enough to turn the Citadel into a smoldering hole in the ground."
She kissed him pulled him upright, "We're in Skyrim," Cass. "That's what Orgnar keeps telling me."
"Who's Orgnar?"
"That would be me." A large barrel chested man wearing a tan tunic with a dirty rag hanging from his belt came through the doorway. "Welcome to Riverwood friend, you've been out cold for a while." He leaned against the door frame cleaning a metal tankard with the rag, "A hunter that stops into town to trade said you came from sky on a bolt of lightning; He's always been an interesting fellow."
"He must've had one too many to drink that night." Cass countered.
"Not any of my business anyway, but now that you're awake I'll have to charge you if you're looking to stay the night again."
"We won't be staying the night; if you have a map we can look at we'll be on our way." Mike grunted as he got to his feet and began putting his armor on.
"Certainly, I'll put it out on the table for you." Orgnar said with a nod and walked out of the room.
Neil opened the door to the inn and was pleased to see people laughing, relaxing, and generally having a good time with neighbors and friends. He made his way around the fire pit in the center of the room to the bar.
"Howdy miss," Neil said not removing his helmet.
The barkeep was a woman tall brunette woman with shoulder length hair behind the bar. She had a dagger strapped to her belt and was cleaning a metal tankard. "Hello traveler what can-" She stopped mid sentence when she looked into the red eyepieces of Neil's helmet.
Her eyes went wide but Neil quickly jumped on top of the situation before it escalated. "What's your name?"
The woman was silent for a few heart beats before composing herself. "Faida's the name, I keep the inn." she replied, never breaking eye contact. "I hope you ain't here to cause trouble."
"I wouldn't dream of it," Neil did his best to assure her. "I'm hoping you can help me out, I'm looking for a place to spend the night and a guard pointed me this way."
"We've got a spare room, it's ten septims for the night."
"He also told me this was the place to go for a hot meal."
"The meals I serve here ain't what you'd call a Jarls feast, but they'll fill your belly all the same." She answered.
"Good, now there's the matter of money," Neil began but was cut off.
"If you're looking for charity then you'd best look elsewhere, I've got bills to pay and I can't very well do that if I give out free meals." She countered.
As Neil continued to barter with the woman the door opened again. Ashley had arrived with a little less trouble from the guards. She took a look around and her gaze settled on an empty table which she sat down at and watched Neil argue with a woman who most likely ran the inn. She giggled when she heard Neil try to use his charm to convince her only to have her shout some choice words at him.
"Mitch it's safe to come in now." She said into the COM line.
"But I'm having fun watching this from up here."
She looked up and had to stifle a laugh. Mitch was perched up in the rafters, but was almost invisible without the NVGs that were integrated into her HUD. "How did you get up there?"
"Someone left a window open. I figured Neil would want eye's IN the inn rather than on it, so I let myself in." Mitch replied. Ashley could almost hear the smile on his words.
Neil walked back to the table with a bottle in one hand and a bowl of stew in the other. "I had to trade an extra combat knife, but she gave me two hundred septims for it. Tell Mitch to come inside, he's probably cold."
Mitch landed noiselessly in the dark corner of the inn, beside the table Ashley was sitting at, "On the contrary it's quite warm up in the rafters."
"How'd you get in?" Neil asked surprised.
"Someone left the window open." Mitch shrugged pulling out a bottle and popping the cork.
"And I'm guessing someone's going to wonder where their drink went?" Ashley laughed.
"A strong possibility." Mitch responded taking a sip. He let out a satisfied hum, "Tastes a lot better than two hundred year old beer too!"
"I bought some stew, a bottle of mead, and a map." Neil continued as he spread out the map on the table. "We're in Skyrim, that's all I could get without coming off as a total nutcase. We're in the town of Dragon Bridge, as I'm sure you learned from the guards, and it looks like the closest city is right here." He put his index finger on a large circle in the north western most part of the map.
"Well where are we then?" Mitch asked taking a swig from the bottle of mead.
"We are right here, about a day and a half away if we stick to the roads." He said dragging his finger to the smaller X mark.
"I say we spend a day here, get some info on what we can expect on the roads, and head to the city when night falls." Ashley offered.
"Sounds good to me." Mitch agreed.
"Alright I'll go check out the room, you two work on that stew and eavesdrop on conversations." Neil said walking to the back of the inn where the rented room was.
"This is so much better than squirrel stew." Ashley fawned as she dug into the meal. "I love it here already." She muttered out through a mouthful of food./p
"Mitch sometimes forgot that she was still a kid. Her home had been destroyed when she was seventeen as the Legion expanded to the west and she was forced into the Mojave area to fend for herself as a caravan guard for two years. She'd joined the Guardians at nineteen and served in the NCR/UMA war almost exclusively with Neil.
"Neil was twenty five and one of the last remaining Desert Rangers. His father and a few others didn't like the idea of being 'united' under a single banner and retained the title. The Courier had found Neil single handedly repelling a Legion slaver party that was attacking a new settlement a few miles up the Colorado river. Neil should have died from all the damage he'd taken. He'd joined up with the Guardians later that year, but still considered himself a Desert Ranger.
"Here," Ashley interrupted Mitch's train of thought, "You finish off the rest. I'm gonna turn in for the night." She said pushing the rest of the stew to Mitch.
"Thanks, g'night Ash."
The morning sun peeked through the window of the small room that the three guardians had shared for the night. They all had a good nights rest, probably due to the fact that they weren't camped out on the sunbaked ground of the Mojave.
"Rise and shine boys and girls." Mitch all but shouted at his two still sleeping friends.
"Fuck. Off. Mitch." Neil grumbled.
Ashley chuckled as she strapped on her combat armor. "Neil it's already nine o'clock, early to bed early to rise, leaves a man wealth and wise."
Neil grumbled something about a deathclaws ass and pulled himself off of the bed he'd slept on. He didn't know what kind of animal skin he was laying on, but it was the softest fur he'd ever felt. Even the highest quality blankets from the Mojave were still two hundred years old.
"Alright let's go make friends." Neil said reaching for his chest armor.
The sun shone brightly off the mountain tops covered in snow. The low rumble of a waterfall came from the other end of town, spinning the wheel of a sawmill. It all seemed so blissfully peaceful.
"Are you soldiers?"
The trio looked to where the voice came from. A small boy with a knife strapped to his belt was staring at them with wide eye's. Mitch and Neil exchanged looks with each other and then Ashley. Mitch bent down on one knee and took off his helmet.
"No, we're not soldiers little man, we're Guardians." Mitch grinned when the kid reached out to touch the helmet. "Pretty cool huh?"
"Ya, where did you get it?" He asked still looking at the helmet.
"My boss gave it to me." Mitch said with a smile, "Here, try it on." He put the helmet on the kids head. The look drew a laugh from Ash and Neil, the helmet was about two times too big for the kid.
"What's your name kid?" Neil asked.
"His name's Clinton," A young woman in a tattered dress said. "Is he bothering you?"
"Not at all," Mitch replied. He took his helmet off Clintons head before he could run off with it. "What's your name miss?"
"Clinton run along and patrol with Lucky." She told the boy.
"Fine, c'mon Lucky let's go."
"I'm Julienne Lylvieve, and that was my brother." She said with a smile. "He thinks he wants to be a soldier, so he patrols the town with his pet goat."
"Well he's certainly spirited that's for sure, have you-" Mitch was cut off by screaming from the north end of town.
A horse pulling a cart covered in blood was fast approaching the town. The guards managed to stop the runaway cart before it had entered into the town. The horse was spooked, it's chest was splattered with blood, and a man was being pulled from the back of the cart missing an arm and a leg. Neil was the first to arrive.
"Stormcloaks...attacked the caravan...killed everyone else...I...I'm the only one left." His chest convulsed a few times and then he was still.
"Damned Stormcloaks, how did they get this far into Imperial territory." Someone shouted from the town
"We've moved a lot of troops to the front lines recently, they're getting cocky." One of the guards mumbled
"They'll get away with it too. Bastards are probably hidden back into the forest by now." Another let out a shout of frustration.
"Who are the stormcloaks and what do they look like." Neil asked as Mitch and Ashley looked over the caravan.
"They're the damn rebels led by Ulfric Stormcloak, we think there's a small camp out in the forest somewhere but the brass won't send a scouting party. By the time we find the camp they've moved to a different location. They could be anywhere and it'd take too much man power to scout the forest for a dozen or so rebels. We try to arm the caravan guards with at least two soldiers and most of the time it's enough to keep them away."
"What do they look like." Neil growled.
The guard seemed taken aback, "They wear blue tunics over their armor. Why, are you going after them?"
"They killed these innocent people, you're damned right we're going after them!" Mitch shouted.
"Ash I want you to get moving, stay off the roads and stay out of sight. Radio in every half hour and try to trace the horse back to the scene where this went down. Mitch you're with me." Ashley took off running down the road but soon jumped into the brush.
"Mitch, equipment check." Neil turned back to the guards who were watching Neil with a mixture of surprise and curiosity. "Did you know him?" Neil asked gesturing to the man in the back of the cart.
"His name is Odfel, he ran the caravan from Solitude to Morthal, it's usually a pretty safe ride." The guard replied.
"Locked and loaded Neil." Mitch finished his run down of his equipment.
"Alright, we're going after these rebels." Neil told the guard.
"What makes you think you can find them?" The guard asked clearly skeptical of these new arrivals.
"Because I'm a Desert Ranger."
"And I'm a Mojave Guardian."
THEY'RE FINALLY IN SKYRIM! Thank you to the followers of the story who put up with all the changes and the long wait. It took FOREVER, but I finally found a way to get them here that didn't seem like bullshit.
This chapter was focused on the three OC's because they're just so god damned fun to write. The next chapter will have more of Mike and Cass, emhowever/em with a baby on the way they won't be traveling and looking for trouble, they'll be trying to find a home...but you know what they say. 'Like Father Like Son' mwahahaha.