Stepping outside the cave into the warm summer air and bright afternoon sun the trio of one
Imperial soldier and two former Imperial prisoners quickly duck behind a nearby rock as they hear a roar above them. Looking up they see the dragon that attached Helgen fly past and over a mountain across the valley from them. "The beast is gone let's hope for good. Let's go the closest village is Riverwood, my uncle is the blacksmith there." Hadvar says standing up and beginning to walk down the path with Vivian and Matthius close behind. Silently they walk along the road leading to Riverwood. Along the way Hadvar stops at a clearing in the trees to point out Bleak Falls Barrow an old Nordic tomb up on the mountain adjacent to them before leading them to three large stones each with different figure carved into the face of them. "These are the guardian stones. There are numerous stones like these that dot the Skyrim landscape. Each one in parts a blessing that helps you learn different skill faster when touched. You can only have one blessing bestowed upon you at a time. The on the right is The Warrior stone, it helps you learn combat skills faster. The one in the middle is The Mage, it helps you learn magic related skills. And the last one is The Thief, it helps learn stealth related skills." Hadvar informs them. Walking up to The Warrior stone both Matthius and Vivian touch it feeling a tingle shoot through their bodies. "The Warrior huh? I knew you two shouldn't have been on that cart when I first laid eyes on you. Let's get go Riverwood is just a bit further down the path" Hadvar says to the two of them.
Making their way down the road a little further they come across an abandoned cart on the side of the road which Matthius makes a mental note of to check out later. After another ten minutes of walking they finally come to Riverwood. Walking into the village and up to house on the left right against the river Hadvar calls out " Uncle Alvor" to a man working at a forge under a covered porch on the side of the house. Turning around the man notices Hadvar and his messy appearance responds "Hadvar my boy. My God's what happened to you, you look like you got into a fight with a cave bear. Who are these two and Why aren't you" only to be cut off by his nephew saying "Uncle I will explain everything shortly but first let's go inside so we can talk in private". "Okay follow me" the blacksmith responds leading the group inside his house calling out "Sigrid we got company" upon entering and sitting down at the end of the table just inside the door. Walking over to the table Hadvar takes a seat next to his Uncle while Matthius and Vivian each take a seat across from each other at the end closest to the door. Not even ten seconds after the three survivors from Helgen and the Riverwood blacksmith sit down a woman and a young girl around ten come up from the cellar. Looking across the table at Vivian Matthius zones out again trying to go over everything that has happened to him that day. Noticing Alvor turning his head to look at the two former prisoners Matthius looks over at the man. "I know you two have been through a lot today but we need your help. Riverwood doesn't have any guards of it's own we are defenseless if there really is a dragon on the loose in the area. Could you please get word to Jarl Balgruuf in Whiterun see if he can spare any soldiers to help defend the village should the dragon come back this way and attack us?" Alvor asks them. Matthius looks at Vivian receiving a nod from her before responding "We will gladly take word to the Jarl and ask for his help. But first I think we need to get some rest as it has been a long day. We will head to Whiterun at first light tomorrow". "Of course there are some spare bedrolls down in the cellar that you can sleep on tonight and you can take them with you in the morning." "Thank you for your generosity" both Matthius and Vivian and say at the same time.
Heading downstairs the two of the each grab a bedroll from a shelf at the bottom of the stairs. Laying them out at the far end of the cellar the two of them lay down to get some much needed sleep. After thirty minutes of laying on the floor Matthius manages to fall asleep.
After two hours of travelling across the open desert the four squads of First Platoon arrive at an abandoned Iraqi village where they meet up with a supply convoy coming in from neighboring Suadi Arabia. Being ahead of schedule the squads split up to secure the area and keep an eye out for hostilirs and the convoy. First squad takes up position on the north side of the village. Covering the Northwest from the roof one of the houses stand Private First Class Matthew and Private Vivian Jansen. "Well Viv you excited to finally be going home after a year in this place". "Damn straight. The sooner the convoy shows up and we get it to it's destination the sooner we can start getting ready for the unit to ship back stateside in two days". Noticing a cloud of dust to the West Private Jansen raises her binoculars to her eyes and sees the supply convoy coming their wayand calls out to the Platoon leader " Lieutenant convoy inbound from the West two clicks out". Which the Lieutenant replies back "Good to know. Everyone mount up I want to be ready to move out once the convoy arrives".
With Alpha Squad taking lead guard the supply convoy moves out heading east consisting of First Platoon and forty supply vehicles. Twenty minutes into the journey the column passes through a small village where the residents ignore them as they pass by. Shortly after leaving the village a group of people are spotted on the roadside up ahead.
"Look alive down there possible hostiles on the roadside front right two hundred meters" comes a call from the fifty gunner in the turret hatch above. PFC Jansen moves in closer to the door to direct his rifle out the window and to the front. Keeping the weapon pointed towards the unidentified people on the roadside PFC Jansen is overcome by a blinding flash of light, a searing wave a heat and an intense pain over most of his body before everything goes black.
Shooting up to a sitting position breathing heavily and drenched in sweat Matthius looks around and notices Vivian next to him sitting up on her bedroll covered in sweat and breathing heavily as well. Standing up he notices two rolled up pieces of paper, two bundles wrapped in cloth, two filled waterskins and a folded piece of paper between them. Picking the paper up he sees that is a note that reads, As you two will be helping out by going to ask the jarl for troops Sigrid and I thought it would only be right to help you by providing you with some useful supplies. In the parcels is some fresh bread, cooked venison and grilled leaks. The rolled up paper are each a map of Skyrim. And the last item is are a waterskin for each of you that I have already filled.
Alvor
Noticing Vivian up and next to him reason the now in his hand Matthius hands it to her "How about we get our stuff together and start making our way to Whiterun? I have a feeling we won't get much more sleep tonight. You load these supplies into the packs while I go roll up the bedrolls" She nods as she begins to put the supplies into both her and Matthius' packs while he rolls up the bedrolls before handing hers to her and strapping his to the bottom of his pack. Unrolling his map the two of them study it identifying the route the will have to take to Whiterun. With all their gear and supplies packed and the route they will be taking planned out they quietly make their way upstairs past the sleeping form of Hadvar laying next to the stairs and out the door past the blacksmith and his wife and daughter into the cool predawn air.
After passing through the villages North gate Matthius looks at Vivian and asks "You had a bad dream just like I did last night didn't you? We can talk about it if you want.". "Yes I did. I will tell you about mine if you tell me about yours first" comes her reply as she stops at the end of the bridge and leans against a sign post. "Fair enough" comes Matthius' reply before telling the redguard all about his dream from the night before. Just after concluding his telling of his dream and before he can ask Vivian about her dream Matthius finds the woman wrapping her arms around him and placing a passionate kiss on his lips. Pulling away from his lips Vivian stares lovingly into his eyes and says "It is so nice that even though we are stuck here at least we are together Matthew. I don't know if I could have been able to go on for very long without my handsome husband by my side". Wrapping his arms around his wife Matthius replies "My beautiful Vivian I feel the same way. I am still not sure what is going on here but together we hopefully will figure it all out. From now on my name is to be Matthius. But untill them let's see where this adventure takes us". Letting going of each other the two soldiers continue their journey to Whiterun hand in hand.
That concludes chapter two.