I was in a campsite, trying to enjoy being out of my home in my first time camping. It was good enough for me to just disconnect from everything. No messages, no phone ringing… You just could forget about everything outside of the camp and enjoy the calm atmosphere of the forest. The only thing I disliked was the heat, as it was summer. I really hated it, how I felt sticky and sometimes I couldn't even breathe properly because of it.
I sighed, as I started to walk around the campsite, in the direction of the forest. I wanted to explore a little before starting to cook up something to eat. The forest was very calm, with only the leaves making a sound as the wind passed them. It was really soothing. I stretched a bit my legs, trying to make them wake up a little. I considered myself a bit fit, but not by much. My hair was a bit long, of black colour, and normally it would enter in my eyes if I wasn't careful. I was wearing a tracksuit with brown boots, and of course the tracksuit didn't have the sweatshirt, as wearing it now would be suicide.
If I just knew what it would happen, I would have taken the sweatshirt, but alas, I didn't. While walking through the forest, I checked my mobile phone to check on the clock, but it didn't turn on… I cursed the batteries then, as I started to walk back, just in case… and then everything went really wrong.
First, it started to feel the place cold… really cold. Then, it started to snow, but no small amount precisely, it started to make a damn blizzard. I started trying to find my way in that blizzard, while trying to maintain the little warmth I felt. – What's going on!? – I asked to nobody, feeling rather scared and terrified. And I nearly freeze myself; literally and metaphorically, as I saw one of the trees. It wasn't the same type of trees. They were different.
- "If someone just gave me something to hallucinate… please, get me a medic…" - I shouted, but no one answered again. I continue walking, trying to avoid being stuck in one place, and fighting all the cold inside me, as it was making me feel sleepy. When I was going to fall to the snow from being tired, I started hearing something approaching. It was heavy, and soon enough, I recognized something, like horses.
- "This is a miracle." – I whispered, as it was the only thing I could do at the moment. I was feeling as my body would become ice in a moment, so I just approached the sound, trying to find some warmth to fight the cold, and maybe some stew or soup to eat, to bring some more warmth to my body.
No such luck.
As soon as I approached them, I found myself being threatened with swords, and some bows pointing at me. – "Please, help me… I don't know where I am, and I just want something to keep me warm…" - I pleaded, as I just put my hands up to signal that I had no weapon. I was so scared, and maybe about to piss myself… even though it would bring momentary warmth I sorely needed right now.
A guard; one of those with a sword, approached me, and grabbed my hands, before putting them together and tied them up. – "You are now a prisoner now, just keep your mouth shut." – The guard said, and I started to stammer, partly because of the cold, and another because I was in shock. Why was I becoming a prisoner now!?
- "I didn't do anything you might…" - I started to say, but then the pommel of the sword ended up in my face, turning everything black, and before the unconsciousness claimed me, I heard the guard say something that was among the lines of "told you".
I started to stir, with a pounding pain in my head. I felt like I was moving, similar to being in a car or a train, but much slower and in a bumpy trail. At least I had some more warmth in my body, and I could start to see like a less snowy trail… And me with my hands tied. Then, someone called me. – "Finally woke up. Nearly thought you were dead because the cold and that hit in your head." – A man said. It was a man really fit, with strong arms and wearing some type of leather armour. He had long hair, but it was brown going to blonde, and a beard of some days.
- "What…? Why am I tied?" – I said tiredly, trying to get my mind to work better, as it was fighting the damn pain. The man in front of me looked a bit sad at that.
- "We are prisoners… going for execution." – The man said, and my mind went into shock.
- "B-b-but I didn't do anything. I just wanted something warm…" - I started to choke up, feeling terrified. I didn't want to die, I didn't know what the hell was going on. I started to let some tears fall, as I curled. I heard the man who spoke to me speaking to another, but I just didn't pay any more attention.
Before I could even try to find something to use, or to try to plead, I received a hit in my head again, redoubling the pain I was feeling. – "Shut the hell up." – I heard, probably one of the guards. I just tried to stifle my cry of pain and suffering, but it was to no avail… I just sobbed, remembering the faces of my family and friends, and if they just gave me up as a disappearance where they couldn't find my body.
Then, the cart stopped, and the guards made us go down. I saw that we were in some type of medieval village… and some people were looking at us… at our execution. The guards started to just check us on our names, and my hopes rose up a little. Maybe if I wasn't on that list, I would be spared. It was a selfish thought, but I just cared now that I wanted to be alive. That hope took a massive hit when a man tried to run off, and ended up with arrows in his back, dead.
Finally it was my turn, asking for my name. – "Karsein…" - I said, and soon enough, the ward started checking and double checking the list, trying to find my name somewhere.
- "You are not on the list. What should we do, captain?" – The man said, and my hopes afterwards were definitely crushed by the answer.
- "Send him to the execution line." – The captain said, and the man just sent me a pitying look. I just walked to my position, and started to hear some woman spout some prayer for our souls. I barely remembered something of the medieval ages, being so religious and so on. I just didn't care anymore, as I was just focusing on my family and friends, and thinking of things I should have done before I died.
I cringed and nearly spewed out vomit out of horror as I saw a man being beheaded with an axe. I was letting my tears flow freely again, and I saw another man going to the execution. It was another one with strong muscle, but with rags instead of a leather armour, and with dark hair like myself. Then, I heard something and looked up… and my jaw dropped.
It was a black dragon… and started to roar before it breathed fire that started burning everything on sight. I felt like I could only see it, my body wasn't answering my mind call of run like hell. I was paralysed because of the amount of fear, shock and everything in between I was feeling. A shout broke through my mind, and I started to run, in the direction of the shout. I entered inside a tower, and the door closed, muffling everything outside.
- "We should be safe for now. Let's see what we should do about those bonds." – The man who spoke to me in the cart said, and started to loosen up the bind in my hands, and soon it fall, and I started to move them.
- "Wh… what is happening? Was that a dragon? Wh… what should we do?" – I said, sounding in every word how much I am scared of this situation. I just wanted to be back home, with my friends, playing videogames and laughing, complaining about the exams, bad teachers, how restricting were sometimes our parents…
- "Breathe. In… and out." – A voice said, and I followed it, feeling better after doing it a couple of times. I felt hands on my shoulders, and I discovered I was looking directly at the man who was going to be beheaded before the dragon. His face looked touch, with a scar across his face, a beard of a couple of days, and brown eyes who spoke of kindness.
- "Now, we need you to gather all the courage you have, and follow us. We will go upwards, and go to the other side of the village. To the fort. I am Raerek. Tell us your name." – He said, and I gulped, breathing again and tried to feel courageous… the best I could think is that it was a better plan than just trying to wish everything was a dream.
- "K…Karsein." – I said, and he nodded, sending me a smile before shaking my shoulders in gentle support, and then starting to go up the stairs. I gulped, and followed him, trying to run along him. Soon enough, we reached the middle of the stairs and I was gasping for air… I wasn't as fit as I thought, or I was still not recovered enough. But it was lucky that we stopped, as I saw how the top was destroyed… and the guards there roasted alive by flames. I covered my ears and shut my eyes close, trying to keep at bay my feelings of just running everywhere else but this place.
- "No other way. We are going to jump." – Raerek said, and I looked at him like he was crazy.
- "What!? But it will kill us!" – I said, looking down and feeling like the ground was so far from where we were.
- "Look, if we jump in that direction, we can get inside that house. Now let's do this." – Ralof said, and soon enough, I saw Raerek jump toward that house. I screamed in horror, but I saw him landing safely there, and made motions for me to follow.
- "I… I can't." – I said, but then I heard a roar… the dragon was approaching, giving no time to react to what Ralof would do.
- "JUMP!" – Ralof said, and I felt how he pushed me… into the air. I didn't know how I did it, but now I was falling toward that house… and losing height at the same time. I admit that my scream while falling wasn't exactly like a man should be screaming, but I didn't care. I just landed roughly on the house, and a crack was heard, before falling again. I felt more pain in my body.
- "Can you move?" – I heard Raerek say, but I could only make a groan of pain. Then, I felt like something was soothing the pain. I saw a golden light surrounding me, before fading, and a smiling Raerek with his hands extended on me. Did he just used magic? If so, I wanted to learn it… when I remembered where we were by more screams and fire being produced.
- "Let's go." – Raerek said, and I nodded, getting up. I was feeling better than before, my mind cleared of that leftover pain of being hit with something hard. But as a matter of fact, it also leaved me with clear understanding of what was happening… a damn slaughter made by a dragon.
We started running, being close to the walls to avoid being seen, and soon enough, it paid off as the dragon landed just on top of us without seeing us, landing on the wall, and sending more fire toward the guards, which were trying to kill it with arrows and some type of spells. The problem was that it wasn't doing a thing to the dragon.
Soon enough, we started running again, toward the fort. I heard someone shouting at us, but we ignored him and entered. The sounds of the battle outside were muffled again and I breathed, feeling better now that we were inside sturdy walls of stone.
- "Now, let's grab some weapons." – Ralof said, and soon enough, I just puked everything I had as I saw a man dead, killed by something.
- "First time seeing corpses? Better get used to it, we are going to see much more until we can flee this place. At least take this." – Ralof said, and gave to me a dagger… an iron dagger. I felt the weight of the dagger in my hand, and I gulped. I couldn't even think of using it to kill another person. Maybe a monster or an animal, but never a person.
- "We are going to take the brunt of the battle, so don't worry. It's just in case." – Raerek said, while stripping down the corpse as it was nothing, and putting himself the armour. It was something I never expected him doing it… Well, I remembered doing it in some games, but it was different seeing it on a videogame, and the gravity of seeing it in person. When he finally put the armour, I heard some steps
- "Someone is coming." – I said, and soon enough, we hided… A door opened and two guards appeared, heavily armoured and with swords sheathed. Then, Raerek and Ralof attacked, Ralof chopping the head of one of the guards with his axe and Raerek puncturing the heart of the other guard with a sword. I just put my hand in my mouth to stifle a scream, and resisted the feeling of wanting to puke again.
- "Just take some of the armour. Forget the breastplate, just take the boots and the bracers." – Ralof said, removing those parts of the armour and giving them to me. I just nodded, possibly looking rather green, as I put them on, strapping them on my arms and removing my shoes, to put the boots instead. I felt rather heavy, and wished for some kind of light armour instead. I followed them, reaching a room that looked like a store room.
- "We can take what we need from here before going. Let's rest a little." – Ralof said, and I sighed in relief as I sat on the ground, breathing hard. I felt exhausted, wishing for everything just to end, instead of just a respite of what it was a hell on earth… or whatever I was now. Because one thing was clear. I wasn't in my own world anymore.
- "From where do you come, Karsein?" – Raerek asked, while sorting through some type of bottles, and picking some to keep. Now I was in danger, because I couldn't spout the truth. I doubted they would believe me if I said that I came from another world.
- "I can't remember. The only things I remember are that I was in that blizzard, trying to find something to keep me warm, and my own name. And then… all of this." – I said with a defeated voice, feeling bad for lying to the people who were saving my life. But I couldn't risk it, not yet at least. I needed at least some type of control to keep me grounded. Raerek nodded at that, and he went toward me, sitting beside me before giving me a bottle of something green, and some bread.
- "It will keep you until we reach to safety." – Raerek said, and I dived toward the bread, eating it quickly. It was delicious, but in a different way. It was made without all the things people put on the ingredients, like preservatives and additives. After I ate it, I drank the bottle. It tasted like mint, and I felt energised, much better than Red Bull or another mark of energy drinks.
- "This really wakes you up." – I comment, and a chuckle from Raerek was heard.
- "I know. Now, just keep going, and try to help us when you can. We aren't going to force you to enter the battle, but be careful." – Raerek repeated to me, and I nodded, feeling selfishly better knowing that I didn't have to fight. I didn't even want to think about trying to kill someone, even if it was for my own life.
- "We better start moving again." – Ralof said, and we got up, following him. Then, something made all of the fort rumble, and a distant roar was heard… It seemed like the fort wasn't going to hold much longer. I gulped, and continued with them, trying to avoid thinking of ways of ending up dead.
Then, we reached another part of the fort… that directly wanted to make me puke. It was a torture chamber, with even skeleton inside the jails… But there was fighting, between two men who were wearing the same armour as Ralof and Raerek, and by the way they looked, were the torturers. I just kept me hidden, avoiding to see the slaughter of those torturers, but I thought that those deaths didn't make me wanting to puke…
- "Let's check the area a moment." – Ralof said, and I nodded, making a salute with my hand toward the new members of our group, but they seemed more concentrated in looking around. But then, I looked at Raerek, who was doing something toward one of the cages. Then, a click was made and a grunt.
- "I never got the hang of this." – Raerek grumbled, having a lock pick in his hand, and guessing what he meant with that, it was to open the door.
- "Er… I can try." – I said, and he nodded, giving me one of those lock picks, and I just kneel toward the lock, starting to move the lock pick with care. I was always with a steady hand, so when I felt pressure toward the lock pick, I stopped, and tried the other way. Then, a click was heard, and the door opened.
- "Good job." – Raerek said, and I smiled, feeling better with myself of being able to help, but then I saw him grabbing all the clothes of the poor dead man inside, and giving me those clothes and a book. It wasn't something I read everywhere.
- Try these clothes, and read that book. Should give you a spell to defend yourself. – Raerek said, and I looked like he was out of his mind, but I nodded, grabbing the clothes and the spell book, and hide myself to change. I put on top of my clothes the robe and then, I put the hood. Afterwards, I put the dagger in my belt, falling nicely sheathed on my left leg. Then, I opened the book, starting to read it.
It was an interesting book, and I thanked to God that I was a quick reader, so I just picked the most meaningful things of the book to try the spell. I tried to concentrate like it told me, putting my hand outwards and trying to feel like the magicka gather around my hand, just so I could send them out like lightning. No such luck, and soon enough it was time to move again.
When we reached the next place; it was starting to look more and more like a cave instead of a fort, we saw three guards… with bows and swords. It was clear that they were prepared, so they started sending out arrows toward us. Raerek went with a shield he picked up somewhere, covering himself with it, as he hit on the neck of the guard with his sword, making him fall. Then, it was a matter of time before the others guards fell too.
I picked the bow with all the arrows I could find, and put them in a quiver of those dead soldiers. I sighed, trying to avoid looking at those dead eyes as I finished putting these on. At least, now I could help from the back line… even though I doubted I could make a killing shot. It's not like I was an expert archer or something, only things I picked up when I was little and let me try using a bow. Most of the arrows didn't hit the target back then.
When we crossed the bridge, another roar was made present, and then, to my horror, the two people who were helping us back then, became trapped on the other side. I tried to remove the rocks, but they were impossible to move.
- "We have to move… Sovngarde may claim them." – Ralof said, and I nodded… and prayed that they would reach paradise for them, with a tear falling off my face. It was time I tried to start sobbing less… Our life still were at risk, and I doubted it would be well for them to have me sobbing all the time.
Then, we reached like a place where Aragog from Harry Potter would be at ease… and damn man eater spiders. – "What the hell!?" – I screamed in horror, before trying to put distance between us, and had an arrow in my bow. I started tensing it, as Ralof and Raerek started to kill the spiders with their weapons, but a spider was starting to move toward me. I just breathed, and let the arrow fly toward the spider, hitting it in the mouth, killing it.
- "Nice shot!" – Raerek said, with a smile on his face. I breathed, trying to keep myself from going to the ground in relief that I made a good thing in the battle. Then, I saw Raerek gathering something from some type of big open clamps, and had some type of eggs, and then started to milk the spiders from their fangs, possibly because of their venom… I tried all the way to focus on other things, but the place wasn't helping exactly.
When Raerek finished, we started to move again, through an underground river it seemed, toward another cave, where a bear was sleeping or so. We crouched immediately and started to make signs of silence. – "If we go around it without making a sound we could bypass it. But if you hit it well with your bow, we could kill it and have the meat and skin for later. But… is your decision if you are able to make the shots." – Ralof said, looking at me and I gulped. This wasn't like trying to kill a human being, so it was only trying to make a good shot. I nodded, and they positioned themselves to ambush the bear so I could make the shot.
I put two of my arrows on the ground, and one of my bow, starting to tense the bow and pointing toward the bear. I breathed, trying to steady my hands because they were trembling of nervousness. Then, I let the arrow fly, and hit the bear in his head, on one of his eyes. The bear roared, and started to go toward me, but I already had another arrow on my bow, but it fell because my hands failed me. I tried to scramble to gather the other arrow, but Ralof and Raerek went and hit the bear with their weapons, finishing it.
- "You did well." – Raerek said, giving me back the arrow that hit the bear. I nodded, grabbing the rest of the arrows and returning them to the quiver. Meanwhile, Ralof and Raerek were skinning the bear, having the pelt ready and soon enough, and the meat in their backpacks. I sighed, and started to follow them again, finally reaching the end of the cave where the light was entering the cave, which leaded to our freedom.
- "Finally outside!" – Raerek said, and we ran outside, feeling the cold breeze again in our faces. I smiled, thinking that we were finally safe, when another roar sounded, making us hide. The dragon appeared briefly on the sky, before flying away.
Finally we were safe from the horror of Helgen.