The journal of Jonathan

Entry 2

I can't believe I'm alive! Ok that's a bad way to open a journal entry I know but its true! So much has gone on since my first one and now ive finally got a moment of quite to write it all down! So when I made my last entry about three days ago I thought I was dead. I was freezing, hungry, and pretty much giving up but by some stroke of luck I woke up in the morning instead of drifting off into the long sleep like I thought. So when I woke up I did the only thing I could do, grab my remaining supplies and start walking. I went on for about an hour or two before I notice the snow had stopped. I could have cried tears of joy at that! The sky was clear and lack of snow meant I must have been close to the ground and therefore Cyrodiil. Feeling renewed I kept walking down the mountain with an actual smile on my face. By the afternoon I could see trees and by night I saw an actual campfire. I knew that I had made it; id survived and was going to live. I got so excited I started to sort of run for the fire. It was slightly difficult to run on a downward slope but I didn't care! I just knew I was safe and had done the impossible!

As I got closer to the firee I could see people standing around it. I saw some in red and could see the gleam of armor from the fire so I figured it was imperials talking with mountain men or something. I was about to shout a greeting to them when I made my first catastrophic mistake of the day. In my haste id stopped watching the ground and my foot clipped a stone sending me in a downward tumble face first. Thank the gods there was snow to cushion me but still it hurt like hell! The world went from normal into a constant state of snow, sky, snow, sky and a whole lot of pain. I was stuck thrashing around trying to stop myself and only succeeding to get tangled up in my cloak. It's a miracle in itself I didn't die or break anything. But finally my tumble came to an end when I felt no more ground under me and realized I must have rolled of the mountain and was in free fall. I would have screamed if not for the fact that my free fall lasted all of one second before I smacked into something very very hard that shouted in surprise and anger.

I looked groggily to find beneath me was a Redguard woman. She had a pinched face that I think was probably born in a scowl and stayed that way. She also had a blind left eye and a severe hair cut covered by her big imperial helmet which really pulled together the whole dangerous angry lady look I think she was going for. She looked up at me with a look that I think kills small children and I naturally smiled back and got off her.

"Sorry sister" I said politely but then it kicked in that she was an imperial and probably an officer judging by the helmet so I corrected myself. "I mean sorry ma'am this wasn't supposed to happen,"

I reached an arm to help her up when she rejected it and stood up on her own and took a nasty looking mace out of her belt.

"Um no need to be hasty there!" I said putting my hand on my sword. "We can all just go our separate ways and nobody has to fight anyone." Had I had any intelligence at all I would have noticed that the imperials and the other men were all staring at me and the tension was so thick you could feel it but instead I was focused on the scary lady who responded to my reasonable statement with "Shut your mouth Stormcloak!" and then proceeded to rush at me with her mace.

"The fucks a Stormcloak!" I yelled dodging her attack. She didn't feel like answering and was more focused on causing my demise. So I dodged around and then saw all hell breakout as the mountaineers who for the first time I noticed were all in blue attacked the Imperials. So of course I had to fight back against the crazy soldier woman so with sword in hand we battled. She was better trained then me but I was stronger and I thought id gotten the advantage when she swung and snapped my sword in two with her stupid mace. Like an idiot I looked at my busted sword and said "That's just not fair." But clearly she didn't share my sentiment and used my moment of shock to smack me upside the head with her mace. I fell down into the snow with my ears ringing barley conscious I could hear someone with a deep voice yelling "STAND DOWN STAND DOWN" and I looked up to see the woman looking over me with contempt I would have said something but she beat me to it saying "Filthy Stormcloak" and sent her boot into my face with a vicious kick. After that all I saw was black.

I faded in and out of consciousness for a day until I finally woke up with my things taken from me and my hands bound sitting in a cart with a blond man looking at me curiously. "Hey you. Finally awake?" he asked me "you were trying to cross the border right?" he gave a little laugh that had no mirth in it. "Walked right into that imperial ambush, same as us and the horse thief" he nodded back to a dirty skittish black haired young man who was in the cart with us. "What? Ambush? " I asked still groggy. He was about to respond when the horse thief angrily said "Damn you Stormcloaks! Skyrim was fine before you showed up! " he went on grumbling about some sort of escape plan to Hammerfell but I wasn't listening. I was in too much shock at the moment having his words sink in. I hadn't made it to Cyrodiil id gotten turned around and walked into Skyrim! And worse they thought I was some kind of criminal. I didn't come back to reality until I heard the blond say "A Nords last thoughts should be of home." That made the dark haired guy freak out. He started calling on all of the gods begging for them to save him.

Soon we rolled into a town and the blond looked around sadly saying "This is Helgen. I used to be sweet on a girl from here." He started reminiscing about how she made mead with juniper berries. When we stopped I looked and saw the Redguard woman from earlier looking at me still just as angry as before with another solider. The horse thief started to freak out saying "we aren't rebels!" But the blond told him to stop being a coward and face his death with dignity. Although he didn't listen anyway and went on yelling but the solider ignored him and started calling out names.

"Ulfric Stormcloak Jarl of Windhelm." A man stepped forward who I had not noticed. He was a big man and looked like he came from money. His mouth was gagged as he walked forward. I heard the blond say "It has been an honor." Then the called his name "Ralof of Riverwood." He walked forward silently and took his place in line. Then they called the horse thief and he panicked. "I'm not a rebel you cant do this!" he screamed as he took off running at top speed. The Redguard woman shouted "Archers!" and he was brought down instantly. She looked right at me and said "Anyone else feel like running?" daring me to try to escape. But I wouldn't give her the satisfaction I wouldn't die like a dog.

She frowned at my lack of activity and the solider called me forward "Who are you?" "I'm Jonathan." I told him simply. He wrote some things down and said "What was your business in Skyrim? Are you a mercenary or some kind of sailor?" I rolled my eyes at that. "Yeah because sailors walk through mountains. Just because I'm a Redguard doesn't mean I like boats." He nodded and said "Well you're not on the list…what should we do with him captain?" he asked the angry Redguard woman. "Forget the list. He goes to the block." surprise there I thought as I walked into line.

As we got into line a Priestess started to go through a prayer and some angry Stormcloak jumped up and said to execute him now. He walked up to the block arrogantly saying his ancestors were smiling at him. I heard mixed cries of anger and happiness as he was executed along with something like a roar in the background. Next the angry captain looked at me and said "Next prisoner." So I was forced to walk forward and kneel at the block. I thought of my family that id never see again, that red head, and all of the other things id never get to do again and I prayed that somehow there would be a way out of this. It turns out the goods have a strange sense of humor because at that very moment the heads man raised his axe a freaking dragon landed behind him and roared!

Then everything went bad like Oblivion itself had opened up! Fire began to rain from the sky somehow and people scattered. I followed Ralof the blond Stormcloak into a building with my hands still bound. There a few others in there including Ulfric himself. Ralof looked at him and said "Dragons! Could…could the legends be true!" he was obviously rattled and frankly I was too seeing your life flash before your eyes twice in 3 seconds is not fun. But Ulfric seemed to be fine. He looked at Ralof calmly and said "Legends don't burn down villages." A few of the others said we needed to go and I had to agree with them. As we headed up the tower though the dragon burst its head in and looked dead at me. Thankfully I jumped down the stairs in time before it blasted fire at us. Some of the others weren't so lucky though. It flew away and left us in a tower that now smelled like soot and charred flesh. We went to the hole and Ralof said I had to jump into the inn across from us. I looked at him like he was insane and told him the Inn was on fire! But he pointed out it was either that or wait for the dragon to come back so I did the dumbest thing ever. I jumped. The landing was jarring and hurt like hell but I had to keep moving I could hear the dragon roaring somewhere and I knew the inn was definitely not safe. So I ran into the chaos that had taken over Helgen. The soldier who had read the list found me and told me to stick with him. I did and we ran through the town trying to escape the insanity. The dragon was everywhere at once! Breathing fire, biting soldiers and throwing them wherever it saw fit to. Men shot arrows and mages shot fire and lightning at it to no avail. The dragon brushed it all off and kept on its path of destruction. It seemed like I was doomed anyway, I could hear it behind us now when we turned the corner and in front of us were two towers. The soldier Yelled "Either one will take us out of here! Come on!" I was about to follow him into one when I saw Ralof at the other opening the door "Wait!" I shouted and ran to Ralof he saw me and held the door open long enough for me to get in then shut and locked it behind him.

I crashed on the floor and caught my breath "Where are the others at?" I asked still wheezing. "We got separated. Come on we need to go." He looked at my hands and for the first time noticed my hands were still bound. "But first we need to get rid of those." He cut them off and looked at me seeing I was still in the prisoner rags they had given me. "Here take those clothes over there" he pointed at a dead Stormcloak. He won't need them anymore. I grimaced as I changed into the dead man's chainmail and blue leathers but I knew I needed something more protecting. Ralof handed me an axe and said lets go when we heard the sounds of two voices coming from within. He shushed me and hid behind the door that lead deeper into the tower and waited when the door opened and in walked the Captain and a random imperial. When she saw me she snarled and grabbed her mace while I reached for my axe and charged at her. The fighting was quick and vicious and was playing out like the last fight but this time I had a sturdier weapon. So when she hit the axe it didn't break. Instead I smacked her helmet distracting her just long enough for me to slam my axe into her stupid neck. She looked up at me with hatred as she died. I saw Ralof had killed the other one so I took the dead imperials sword and the two of us made our way through the tower going further and further down. We had to fight imperials along the way and Ralof kept making me do things like pick a lock or use a bow I think so he could see my skills.

Eventually we met up with some others who asked about Ulfric. Ralof told them that he had most likely made it out and that eased their minds. As we ran I noticed a small blue book and picked it up. I hid it away in a pack I had grabbed and kept moving. We were almost out when I found the Storage room. I told Rolaf and the others to wait as I went and looked around in it. Sure enough lying in a chest was my cloak! So I grabbed that and we made our way to the bottom of the tower which had a small bridge that crossed into an underground cavern. Ralof and I crossed but there was a big shake and it collapsed trapping the others behind. "Damn! Well make our own way out" one of the Stormcloaks shouted and Ralof knew we didn't have time to argue so we kept moving. We had walked for about 5 minutes when I began to hear a faint skittering noise; I looked up and saw a group of huge giant spiders looking back at me. They jumped of the ceiling and were on us like lightning! The smallest came up to my chest and the biggest two could have easily been as tall as horses. Their fangs were like glittering black daggers and I hoped they killed you before the poison did. Id seen what tiny spiders could do to people I didn't want to know what this kind could do. Ralof and I had no choice but to fight back to back to keep these things away but somehow we survived! I could barely believe it.

After that it was simply walking in the cavern until my final threat for the day showed up in the form of a big black bear that was sleeping close to the entrance of the cave. "Careful" Ralof said "We can sneak past her and be out of here." He said obviously worn out from all of the crap we had been through today. But me no I was angry. I was angry that everything had happened today, that I was even here in the first place and that now I couldn't even leave a cave easy a stupid bear had to get in the way after everything id done! So I told Ralof "No. fuck that I've killed 7 men today and three giant spiders. That bears going down." I grabbed the bow off of my back and notched an arrow. "Are you nuts!?" Ralof asked frustrated. "Nope" I told him as I fired the arrow at the bear. It didn't kill it only pissing it off but I had a good few arrows. It rushed at us roaring but by the 6th shot it went down. "Well I'll be damned" Ralof said surprised "let's go". We walked out of the cavern and into the sunlight.

After we walked out Ralof sat against a rock and Laughed "Woo we made it!" I couldn't help it and smiled "Yeah we did." He laughed louder. "Listen my sister is in Riverwood which isn't too far from here. Come with me, shell give you a place to stay. She's just up the river a bit"

I told him ok but to go on ahead I needed to rest. So he left me and I sat there thinking what the fuck happened? After a light rest I got up and followed the river like he said and found my way quickly to Riverwood. When I got there I asked a boy I saw for Ralof. He pointed at a house saying "His sister lives there." I thanked him and walked inside the house to find him sitting at a table with a woman and bearded man. Ralof laughed and said "Here he is now! The boy I told you about." His sister smiled and said "Thank you for protecting my brother. Was there really a dragon?" "Yeah" I told them "It was massive." "Talos save us!" she said "Listen you go to sleep you look tired. There's fresh clothes and food for you. We can talk tomorrow." So I ate some bread and cheese and then came into the bedroom they allowed me to sleep. But sadly I'm to wired to sleep and began writing this instead but now I have nothing left to write so I think I'll give sleep a try. I'm not sure what to think about all of this. It felt like that dragon was hunting me. Not just killing at random but it wanted me specifically. But that's stupid it can't want me. I'm just reading too much into things. Tomorrow I will need to start figuring out a way out of this place but for now I need sleep. Hopefully the next entry will be some good news.