Corruption: chapter 3

After walking into the sanctuary he began to feel his back burn and groans a bit before approaching Astrid

"Both the merchant and the thane of Fallkreath lie dead by my hands"

She grins and hands him a coin purse of 750 gold septim's

"Again you have proven yourself to be a loyal born assassin, now this next contact you will need to meet in person"

Silent-Shadow keeps a neutral face but being argonian it was hard for him to show any sort of expression

"So where can I meet this contact"

"He is located in Iverstead, you have quite the journey ahead of you so pack what you need and see who needs to be sent to the void"

"Yes Astrid, I will leave immediately"

He walked down into the sanctuary and grabbed a black leather satchel filled with regular and poisoned apples, some steak, mead, two elven daggers and a cave bear bedroll on top. He grabbed a black robe and put it on hiding his dark brotherhood armor and put the satchel over his shoulder with the bedroll on top of it, he put on his bosmer hood and made his way towards the door when Festus Krex walked up to him

"Don't be stupid when you meet them, these contacts are very powerful, so watch your tongue"

"I'm not an idiot; I've been an assassin for more than enough years to understand how things work around here even if you don't follow the old ways anymore"

"Just get out of here"

Silent-Shadow left the sanctuary and began to make his way towards Iverstead; he looked around before pulling out a travel crystal and looked into it

"Take me to Iverstead"

The Crystal shined bright and he soon disappeared into the wind. Minutes later he arrived behind the inn and put the crystal away, he walked around the inn and entered seeing people drinking and eating food being drunk and stupid. He opened the door and sees a man paranoid as he looks at the lizard, Silent-Shadow knew he was the contact and closed the door behind him

"Who needs to die?"

"They paid me money to contact you, they want to meet you and speak with you"

Silent-Shadow sighs and takes the money

"Where can I find these men?"

"At the top of this mountain, they are very cautious about whom they talk to but why they want to talk to you is still a mystery to me"

"I'll talk to these men and see what they want"

He left the room and left the inn, he looked up to the top of the mountain and sighs

"Climbing a mountain, this should be interesting"

He pulls out the crystal and sees he has not discovered anything on this mountain then puts it away, walking up to the bridge he saw two men talking and hears as one of them says he was carrying supplies up to the greybeards who lived on the top of the mountain. He walks over to the Nord

"You're making your way up the mountain?"

"I am, the greybeards are paying me to bring them supplies"

"I can bring them up for you"

"Well thank you, here, just put it in the chest outside there temple"

Silent-Shadow took the sack of food and began to walk his way up the 7,000 steps. During the six hour journey he finally arrived, he did not expect to be attacked by frost trolls but he soon overcame them and took victory. As the winds got stronger he knew the top of the mountain as flashbacks of the fight with the dragonborn pops into his head then stops at the chest, opening it and putting the supplies into it. His scales began to feel the effects of the cold snow and wind as they got cold; he walked up to the door and watched as it opened for him letting in a blast of cold air and snow. Silent-Shadow closes the door behind him finding it heavy and walks into the temple seeing four men in grey robes slowly approach him, he pulls his hood back and takes off the robes showing his brotherhood armor

"You have opened the door to darkness, now tell me who needs to sent to the void"

"I am master Arngeir, I speak for the greybeards, but we don't wish to have anyone slain; we are men of peace"

"Then why summon me to this place old man"

"To talk; not many live when they fight the world eater, but it seams he has not claimed your soul"

"This 'World-Eater' wasn't my target, the man this dragon was fighting was"

"Do you know what you have done; you have doomed all of tamriel by killing the dragonborn, the only one capable of destroying Alduin"

"I did my job, he pissed someone off and I slew him"

"And because of this you have also slain the entire world"

"I don't have time for this, is this thee only reason you summoned me, to complain about the death of someone I was assigned to kill"

"No, how did you kill him, many have tried and failed to kill him, all but you"

"Deadly poison, I coated my dagger with it"

Silent-Shadow turned his back to them and began to feel a strong pain in his back; he ignored the pain as best he could

"I'm leaving, thanks for wasting my time"

He pulled out his travel crystal

"Take me to Fallkreath"

He saw as the light shined bright and disappeared arriving at Fallkreath, he noticed he forgot his regular clothes and drank an invisibility potion then made his way back to the sanctuary to rest. Silent-Shadow walked over to Astrid

"That was a waste of our time, they complained about the death of the dragonborn"

Astrid looked at him and sighs

"Who was the contact?"

"A group called the greybeards; I need to get some rest"

He made his way into the sanctuary and down towards the bedding area where he fell into a bed and drifted to sleep

After waking up he looked around the sanctuary to find it empty, he got out of bed to see where everyone went. Looking around the sanctuary he found no clue of where they went but instead found a shining travel crystal

"Odd, these don't shine unless they have a destination to travel to"

He slowly picked up the crystal and felt a powerful explosion freezing everything including himself, as time had subsided he saw he was on top of the Throat of the world; the snow had been stopped and everything staying still

"This doesn't make any sense"

The snow and everything then took effect and became normal as the chill filled him again, but deep into the snow he sees all four of the greybeards dead along with the brotherhood and a dragon, all the blood leading to his own hands. His eyes went wide as he saw his fingers covered in blood along with long sharp claws

"This cannot be, I would never kill my family"

A dark voice then spoke inside the roaring winds and snow

"You did well my servant"

He looked to the sky and didn't see anything then felt a large pain rise from his back as he was forced into the snow as something landed on him, he felt the claws dig into him and yelled out feeling each inch of pain as the claws dug deeper into him. He knew this was the dragon and hears it speak again

"Time to make you mine Siigonis"

He lifted his claws out of him and breathed a clear blue and white essence into his back having it enter the bleeding wound, pressure filled his whole body and he groaned through the pain knowing its nothing he can ignore. As the dragon had finished he used his histskin to close the wound and stood up drawing his daggers seeing the black dragon, he spoke in an angered tone

"What did you do to me?"

"You are mine… Nahlot-Vokun"

The dragon shouts at him with a powerful force having him fly off the mountain to his death.

He shot out of bed breathing hard and held his chest as if he couldn't breathe, Silent-Shadow saw as Gabriella was sitting by his side with her hand on his ankle glowing blue

"What are you doing?"

"I tapped into your subconscious to see what you could be having nightmares about, it certainly wasn't a pleasant sight, is that the dragon that you faced?"

He put his hand on his head and calmed his breath

"Yes, the greybeards called him World Eater"

He sat up and she took her hand off his ankle

"He called you Nahlot-Vokun; it appears you're his slave in your nightmare"

He stood up and went to turn when Gabriella saw his armor torn on his back and a large scar on his back; she remained quiet and made her way up to Astrid

"Astrid I have news about his progress"

She turned to Gabriella and gestured for her to follow to the room where she closed the door

"What did you see?"

"The dragon marked him; soon he will be completely overcome with this essence the dragon filled him with"

"How is this possible?"

"The mark on his back isn't just a burn; it's a gateway into his body"

"I hate to release him from the brotherhood but it's the only way to keep the others safe"

Gabriella nods and leaves as Silent-Shadow walks in

"What's going on Astrid, do you have a contract for me?"

She sighed and hands him a scroll and remains silent, Silent-Shadow looked a bit concerned and took the scroll. As he walked towards the door he slowed down and stopped

"What's the meaning of my release?"

"Its time to let you go, I am sorry but it's what must be done"

"Astrid… what's going on, you can't release me; I was bound to the void as the rest of you were. The only way to leave the dark brotherhood is death"

She turned to him and nodded

"I'm giving you a chance to go free, you're a powerful assassin and my best, and I would prefer you not to be laid to rest"

"Astrid I… I have nowhere else to go, this place, the brotherhood, this is my home; it's all I know"

"Please leave my sanctuary, change your armor and get out"

He sighs in sadness then heads down into the sanctuary to see everyone look at him, he walked over to the armor bench and finds iron armor resting on it along with iron boots and an iron sword. He started to undress and put the iron armor on as the young vampire girl walks up to him

"Where are you going, you can't leave I still have poisons for you to test"

"I'm sorry, but Astrid's orders"

He made his way out of the sanctuary and looked at the world around him not knowing what to do or where to go. As the night fell he stayed at the inn in fallkreath and sat at the table drinking ale, the alcohol hitting him hard as he tried to drown himself in it. Silent-Shadow sat in the dark corner at the far end where he saw the door open and an Argonian wearing green armor along with a akavirii blade and a green hood, a long black cape that flowed down his back and over his tail, his scales were green and his blade full of blood. The argonian orders a few meads and looks around seeing one available seat next to Silent-Shadow, he sat down and looked him over

"You look like me three years ago, drowning yourself in mead to conceal pain"

Silent-Shadow looked at him and gave a small nod before drinking some more

"What brings you to this quiet little town?"

"Hunting"

"You don't look like an archer or a hunter"

"Not a regular hunter, I'm a dragon hunter"

Silent-Shadow leaned in forward

"Interesting, I didn't think an egg brother would be hunting dragons"

"This dragon I am hunting destroyed my life, he destroyed my family and brothers, and I seek him for revenge"

A grin broke Silent-Shadow's face and he took a drink

"I just got kicked out from my family, they got rid of me and they didn't tell me why"

"Well it seams we have something in common"

"It appears so, I'm Silent-Shadow"

"I'm Orobas-Black-Fang"