Thank goodness I have a long weekend the day after high school resumed! I want to keep writing so it's perfect! (But I gotta say, Friday is a really strange way to start school. :u.)

I've been planning this story ahead and I got most of the bigger details sorted but I'm stuck with one significant part of it – and this is where you come in! I'm trying to decide whether Sage is going to side with the Empire or the Stormcloaks, and I need your help deciding what side. Even leaving a review with a one word answer is perfectly fine I'm leaning more towards the Imperial Legion

How Sage had not collapsed from exhaustion stunned her.

As a result of the horrendous events she over-watched, the young imperial woman had no other thought in her mind but run. She did not run in fear from the looming danger swallowing up a town in fire and fear, but to warn. "The people of Riverwood must have been able to see, or at least hear the dragon," she thought. "But Whiterun needed to be informed immediately." Sage knew that people will call her a coward, a liar just trying to escape a near death, and she intended to prove them wrong or ignore their snide remarks. They hadn't seen what she saw, and eventually with time she knew that others would be one to spectacle the monstrosity that was a dragon.

Thinking deep about the chaos only brought more blunder, Sage tripping up on rocks and other miscellaneous items in her mad dash. The imperial droned out any screams of pain her body sung with the sound of shallow breath and rapid beating of the heart. Sprinting on such an uneven terrain only caused the ache in her muscles to moan loader, cuts and forming bruises proving such. Her fur coat was heavy and hot, slowing her down considerably but she was too hesitant to discard it as quickly as that. Regardless of the coat or not, she soldiered on.

She eventually found steady footing on what appeared to be a main road. Sage was too focused on the pace at which she ran to pull out her map for good measure and make sure she was headed in the direction. The size and quality of the path must stand for something, she thought – even if she wasn't aware of what trains of thought drawled on in absent mind.

To her luck, a single silhouette further down the road etched into vision. She picked up her speed, almost crashing into the stranger when they did move closer. Having ceased running, only then she noticed the excruciating pain tingling through the fibres of her body. Regardless Sage simply put the pain to the side, knowing that in good time her stamina will slowly be what it used to be, and that the ache & fatigue in her muscles will be no more. She bent down, hands on knees and her breath irregular and heavy. Sage glanced upwards at the figure, a rather confused Nord man staring back down. He had no weapons on him, and wore simple clothing.

"Something wrong stranger?" With a thick Nordic accent, he spoke.

Sage was only able to say a handful of disconnected words between her panting, "Be careful…..dragon…Helgen"

With raised eyebrows, the man inquired, "Excuse me?"

Sage stood there for a minute, regaining her breath and taking hearty swigs from her water bag before she dare speak up once more. Now more composed, the Imperial warned, "Be careful and don't stray near Helgen! I know this is entirely absurd but you have to believe me when I say that Helgen was attacked by a dragon"

"Dragon?" he scoffed, his tone of voice tinged in condescension, "Have you hit the Skooma, imperial?"

"No no! You must believe me! Walk further down the path and you'll see the smoke from Helgen, and maybe then you'll realize what I'm saying is true!" Sage had no time and patience to convince this one Nord that there truly was danger further up the road, and she began to run once more without fare-welling the stranger. As much as the thought of another dying to this dragon worried Sage, she would rather see one man die than hundreds. Having spotted the man only reassured her hopes that Riverwood was near and with that confirmation, she pushed onwards.

Sage shortly arrived in Riverwood to the sound of a conversation

"I saw it! A dragon! It came flying from the west! I saw it with my own two eyes!"

"I'm sure you did Hilde." A man and an elderly woman were speaking out on the porch of a house, the man obviously not soaking in anything she said. Sage's heavy panting gave her arrival away, the two halting their conversation to eye the stranger.

"Greetings traveler. We don't normally see people like you pass through town." The Nordic man greeted Sage in a welcoming manner that was a nice change of pace to the Imperial compared to the previous Nord she encountered. A smile tipped the corners of his mouth, "looks like you've been on your feet for a fair while."

With a small, sheepish grin, she laughed, "you could say that's the case but," Sage paused, regaining her composure, "the dragon this lady over here was talking about was what I was running from"

Hilde stood up from her seat on the porch, pointing directly at Sage as she spoke, "see? Even this stranger-"

"Sage, miss"

"This stranger – Sage- saw it!"

With a crooked smile the man ushered Hilde back into the seat, "I'm sorry, you must forgive my mother Hilde. It's best if you don't indulge her by going along with her wild stories"

"No, the dragon is well alive. The Empire was holding an execution for the rebels when a dragon appeared out of nowhere and turned Helgen into something out of the planes of Oblivion!" Sage insisted, brows furrowed. Unlike the previous Nord she talked to, she did intend on convincing this one that the dragon was alive, and was very much a threat to the safety to him and Hilde.

The man was about to speak, but Sage got it quicker than he could, "look." She held an arm to the sky, pointing at distant columns of smoke towering high into the overcast sky. Sage mustered all the strength and charisma she could speak with, and spoke with authority, "tell me, what else could it be? If it were a forest fire, it would be far more spread out, only proving more that the smoke is from Helgen. That loud sound that you could hear before, that was the dragon. The strange black thing in the sky that could have been mistaken as a bird, it was the dragon. It could very well decide to fly here and do the same to this town. I swear on the Divines, it's out there and if you don't prepare yourself, you'll live a similar fate to Helgen."

Neither the two Nords could find the right words to combat what the Imperial said. The three of them stood near the borders of the humble town, furrowed brows and frowns shared all around.

The man cleared his throat, "well… if you really are right, someone must go inform Jarl Balgruuf in Whiterun. Thanks for informing us. I'm Sven by the way"

"How far away is Whiterun? How long do you think it will take me to get there?"

"About half a day's walk from here, maybe less than that if you run but please er, Sage, take some time to rest before you continue. You've ran quite a far distance"

She shook her head, "thank you but no. It's only midday and I still have enough time to reach Whiterun before sundown"

"Not even a half an hour break? You could buy supplies," Sven persisted further, but Sage was adamant with her decision at that point.

Sage smiled weakly, "I'll come back when I find the time and I'll get a drink at the inn or help out around the town, alright?"

"Okay, if you really are sure..." the Nord man frowned, now accepting of the fact that the woman would never change her mind. A smile smoothed out on her lips, "I'll come back later Sven! Take care of yourself Hilde and watch out for the dragon!" And with a brief wave, Sage was on her way once more

"Are all Imperials like that Sven?"

"No mother, but I don't think she's the bad kind"

Never had Sage ran so much in a day. Even back in her youth when she led a life of crime, the Imperial had no reason to run such a distance. She longed for a good meal, rather than small snacks she ate along way and a decent bed to rest her well-treaded feet. It was nearing sunset, the hue in the sky slowly morphing behind thick clouds. Whiterun was minutes from her, and she had already encountered some of the farms and stable in front of it. She slowed down her pace, much to the relief of her body. The seemingly impenetrable walls was a comforting site to Sage, bringing back somewhat pleasant memories from within the safety of the Imperial City. "No," she shook the thought out of her head. "The Imperial City doesn't have anything useful for me anymore, there is a change Norlan could be here. Then again, there's a bigger chance he is elsewhere." Sage groaned, this was not the time to ponder where Norlan could have possibly been.

She jogged up to the gates of the city, but to her surprise, they were firmly shut. One of the guards standing by entrance strolled up to Sage, halting her, "by the order of the Jarl, the gates are closed to all because of the recent dragon attack"

Irritation slowly bubbled up within her, "but I just spent the entire day on feet travelling from out of Helgen to here to warn you of the dragon! You could at least let me in!"

"Thank you Imperial but one of the survivors from the attack has already gone through the gates. Your effort is appreciated," he spoke briskly, almost devoid of any sort of emotion.

Nothing could describe the utter annoyance Sage felt – after having done something so exhausting and pain-staking, learning that it was all in vain was the last thing she wanted to hear. Even as calm and composed as she tried to be in that situation, incense trickled off her words, "will it hurt to let me in? If I were a criminal bent on stealing from Whiterun I don't think I would take the time to do a good deed for you and warn you of the dragon!"

The guard hesitated, 'well, ah. Hey Voorn!" He called over the other guard, and Sage began to fear the worst. She knew that he could be very well asking his fellow companion to assist him in pushing her away from Whiterun, but Sage wasn't going to let that happen. "What seems to be the issue here?" The second guard inquired

"This woman here says that she ran all the way from Helgen to warn the Jarl about the dragon attack"

"Didn't someone else go through saying the same thing already?"

"Yes but the imperial wants access to the city. She says she has no bad intentions but"

From behind his mask, Sage caught the second guard rolling his eyes, "look at her. She has cuts and bruises on her arms and her sword looks like it could do with a sharpening. Letting the imperial in won't do any harm"

Once more, the first guard spoke warily, "alright then. I guess it's your lucky day Imperial. I apologize about before"

Sage inwardly grinned, "Acting irritated does really work in some situations." She quickly regained the air of quiet confidence she had learnt to rely on, "thank you. I'll have forgotten this little ordeal by the time I find the inn and rent out a bed"

With a low rumble and a groan, the wooden gates slowly awoke and opened. Sage made her way into the city, leaving the guards once again by themselves.

"Stubborn imperials"

Welllllllll... I wasn't intending on writing that much in one single evening ._. Hey, I'm not complaining. I'm really sorry if this chapter ended up being a bit boring, I tend to drawl on sometimes for a bit too long. Things are going to pick up and get more interesting I promise c:

PLEASE leave a vote saying whether Sage should be a supporter of the Imperial Legion or Stormcloaks. If no one ends up voting(D:) I'll probably just end up flipping a coin or something

R & R!