EDIT: Now with edits made by my great beta reader, DeathLord-92.
Such a short time between two chapters and yet I have a new review. How nice.
Guest - True, Morrowind deserves more spotlight. I deeply regret the fact there's no conflict between factions in Oblivion and Skyrim, which allows you to see almost everything the game has when it comes to quests in one playthrough. If I'll ever get to writing a story with Ted in Skyrim after I'm done with Morrowind and Oblivion, I'll be very annoyed if the last story will get the most recognition.
Let's get started.
"No, I do not know why were you sent here and your sentence was cancelled, however His Majesty Emperor Uriel Septim VII was the one who you can thank for this. He personally requested your release. As a captain of the Legion, I need nothing else."
Azirra's jaw dropped. It's not often that your life sentence is pardoned by the supreme ruler of Tamriel.
How in the world?! Why would he care? If he found out I was innocent, why would he release me here and not in Cyrodill?
"What I do know however is that there is a package that came with you. According to my orders, your sole condition of royal pardon is to deliver it."
Ah, here comes the catch. I don't know the details, but it obviously can't be easy if he picked up someone disposable for the task. As much as it hurt her pride to admit it, that's exactly what she was - disposable. She had no real skill besides some affinity for magic, but that was mostly thanks to her birthsign and her own curiosity about the local bookstore in her hometown, since she had no real education besides basic alchemy.
Thankfully, the delivery job in her opinion required only two healthy legs and the expository dump could wait a few chapters.
"Who has to get it?"
"A man named Caius Cosades. All I know about him is that he lives in Balmora. You can either travel there by foot with the aid of signposts or take a silt strider."
"...Take a what now?"
Captain Gravius sighed.
"Silt strider. It's a giant flea. Locals use it for travel."
"...They ride on bugs."
"Yes. They ride on bugs."
It's official. Sheogorath was responsible for the creation of either this land or those people.
"Here's the package. As part of my orders you are also going to receive money for most immediate expenses. After removing the tax it amounts to eighty seven drakes."
"Drakes?"
"Oh, sorry. I meant septims. For some reason locals can't stand that name. They started calling imperial currency 'drakes' since there's the imperial dragon on one side. Is there anything else?"
"Only one thing: are there any places of interest in this town?"
"Not really. Seyda Neen is a small, quiet place. The only other building of any importance is Arrille's Tradehouse."
"Ah, alright. Thank you, sir. I'll be on my way."
And just like that, Azirra left the office with only a set of poor quality clothes, but free as a bird... or as free as someone with only eighty seven septims to their name can be.
What to do, what to do... It won't keep me fed for very long. The silt strider will reduce my resources even more, I'm certainly not going to risk getting mugged on the road. I have to earn more money and then take care of that task. I suppose I don't have much say in this. The sooner I do it, the better.
Azirra nodded and walked towards Arrille's Tradehouse, standing out among other buildings for being the only one with the exception of Census and Excise Office and the lighthouse that had more than one story.
But first, breakfast. I'm starving.
A name is important, that's true... Even if I were to ignore what Akatosh said, I can't just meet someone and go 'Hi, I'm Ted'. It doesn't fit a flying death machine. Except I'm not exactly a death machine yet... or flying. But what had Akatosh meant by saying my name will affect my life? He also mentioned I need it to direct my Thu'um...
Let's see... First we have Al Du In. 'Destroy devour master'. Fitting. Then there's Paar Thur Nax, 'ambition overlord cruelty'. Yeah, doesn't make sense, he's anything but that.
...How do I know what all of that means? I looked up those names once, but I certainly had not learned them.
...
Ted looked up, as if directing his next words to the sky despite his underground location.
"Sheogorath... I blame you for all of this. You better hope we will never meet face to face, daedric prince or not."
It was then that his stomach decided to remind the world of its existence. Ted winced. Alright. That much he could understand. This handsome drake needs some grub. Ted made his decision and crawled over to the stairs - architectural constructions designed for humanoids' use.
It was going to be a wearisome experience.
After many curses in multiple languages, the human turned dragon finally squeezed through the entrance, this time without any damage.
"Stiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin!"
Ted immediately shut his jaws.
What the hell? I wanted to say that in English!
Whatever he wanted to speak next was quickly forgotten - right ahead was a coast and only now Ted realized the only thing he knew about his new body was the proper name of the species. In a few seconds he arrived at the edge and looked upon the unnaturally undisturbed surface of the sea. His reflection stared back.
He wasn't a Revered Dragon and that in itself was a relief - those were as ugly as dragons can get, even if you include Durnehviir. His golden scales and pale underbelly left no doubt about his species.
"So, an Elder Dragon, huh? That puts me in the middle of the hierarchy, I think. Unless we take this purple splotch as a reason to count me as a unique type."
Indeed, scales above his green, glowing eyes were not golden, brown or anything in between, but purple of all possible colors, which clashed terribly with the rest of his body. This discoloration covered the top of his head and horns. It kind of looked as if someone poured out a bit of paint on him.
The dragon decided to ignore this oddity for the time being and instead turned around, hoping to spot something edible in his surroundings. Food was closer than he expected.
"Hello there!" he said with a smile, observing a fish which foolishly tried to bite off his tail, even after so many hours. Slaughterfishes were known for their stubbornness, but not for intelligence.
"Now, how to cook you..." started Ted, but then stopped. "Ugh, I don't have a way to do that. I suppose eating things raw will have to do until I find dragon-sized cooking equipment." He shrugged. "Come to daddy!"
With those words Ted teared most of the fish away from his tail (stubborn monstrosity refused to let go and ended up severed in two), tossed it into the air and let it fall into his open mouth. Sad part? He was still hungry.
Eating is going to be problematic, thought Ted. Fishing won't do and there aren't that many big creatures in Vvardenfell. Guars, alits, bigger kwama... I think that's it. Even worse, I won't catch anything as long as I'm grounded.
Ted sighed.
I'm going to regret this, he thought, unfurling his wings.
Ted was, without any doubt, the most pathetic dragon of all times.
Getting a lift? No problem. Gliding? Easy. Turning? It was tricky, but eventually our hero figured out his tail served some purpose during flight. Landing?
Gods, landing.
"No, no, no, NO!" *THUD*
It doesn't matter how hard he tried, he always ended up kissing the ground. Also, as if his lack of skill wasn't terrible enough, for some unknown reason, powerful gusts of wind sooner or later disturbed his fragile balance in midair. In all honesty, it was to be expected - with so few trees in this land it was a miracle the air currents were gentle enough to fly at all.
"Alright." Ted said to himself. "One last time. I must remember to not fly too high." With one strong flap he was back in the sky.
Dragon tilted his wing slightly, increasing his altitude. Once he found himself high enough, he relaxed and glided towards the mountains. From his previous flights he knew that, if he were flying in the opposite direction, he would see a lighthouse in the distance (it was probably the one in Seyda Neen). He decided against turning his head - this kind of movement would end badly.
It was still beyond him how exactly was a massive lizard capable of flight, but he decided it was pointless to wonder about that - more likely than not the answer was 'magic'. Flying wasn't about how much energy he put into flapping or about finding a good air current. It was about the position of the body. Even the smallest change of posture could alter his speed and direction, so precision was necessary. Slowly, but surely, Ted was learning what movements he couldn't afford.
Good advice: if you ever find yourself turned into a dragon, never attempt to tuck in one wing while keeping the other fully open. That makes you spin out of control… if you are lucky. If you aren't lucky, well... let's just say you will look extremely stupid. Dragons are an amusing sight when they are flying backwards.
Ted successfully reached the ridge of the mountain range and passed it. That, however, was as far as he was going to get in this flight - from the opposite side raised a cliff racer, which apparently came up with the same idea.
Flying lizard crushed into tamrielic version of pterodactyl. Normally it would end badly only for the latter - just like only the cyclist ends up in the hospital after a collision with the car. Unfortunately, the cliff racer hit Ted right in the snout.
"IT'S EATING MY FACE!"
While Ted gained some new, draconic instincts with his new body, he still had many that belong to the humans. Attempting to remove with hands whatever sticked to his face was sadly one of them. His subconscious move pulled his wings close to the torso. The proper name for this action is called "diving".
Which is not a good maneuver to do when the ground isn't that far.
*THUD*
The only creature more miserable than Ted at this precise moment was cliff racer, now splattered on the rocks, and an alit, which a few seconds earlier decided the future point of impact was a great place for a nap.
At least now Ted knew just what to eat.
"I deeply regret my life choices!" howled Ted, withholding an urge to puke.
At first he was hesitant to feast upon the thing. He was used to meat that in the last days spent more time in the freezer than breathing. Even preparing the food would be challenging, but he had to eat it raw. Convincing himself he was unlikely to find KFC out there and that he should fill his stomach at any price took him longer than the consumption itself - as soon as he tasted blood, everything went red.
Now though, when he came to his senses and noticed how badly he mutilated the corpse, he almost threw up his entire meal. For Christ's sake, the entire head was missing! Skull and all!
He wasn't sure whether he should be thankful or horrified about the primal part taking control for the time of his feeding.
"Ugh. At least I'm not so hungry anymore."
Don't think about it, don't think about it, don't... Dammit!
"I think I'm going to be sick."
With no other option left, Ted decided to take it easy and give his guts time to calm down.
Distraction, distraction... Where is a distraction when you need one? Ah, got it! I must pick a name... and my main objective. According to Akatosh they should be connected. But why? Does the name somehow empower certain traits or skills? I guess so. It sure fits Alduin to have 'master' in the name. And now, when I think about it, Paarthurnax was said to be cruel and ambitious before he felt remorse and decided to change his ways. Wasn't easy for him to do so too. Even Durnehviir's name fits perfectly. Yes, there must be a connection.
Looks like I need to find some purpose. Dragon I may be, but it's not going to be something about domination or destruction, thank you very much. I'll leave it to Molag Bal and Mehrunes Dagon. But what else could a dragon do...? Let's try different approach. My objective will affect my name, my name will affect my Thu'um. What kind of Thu'um do I want?
An answer to that question was simple enough.
I want to have a great choice of shouts. I don't need mastery in any of them, just a wide selection. That's why the Last Dragonborn wins in the end... that and because they have a shit ton of healing potions. Well, maybe it would be nice to have a bit more advantage at more hilarious shouts. I'm not going to give up good old Fus Ro Dah.
There, that's my preferences. If this is what I would like to do with my Thu'um, what kind of career should I choose? ...Fuck it, I don't know. No dragon would like to have no field of expertise.
Ted frowned. He had trouble picking what to eat for breakfast each morning and now he had to pick the purpose of his life. Fun.
Just like that, it dawned on him. His frown slowly turned upside down. Yes, that makes sense! In fact, this is perfect! Who said the name has to describe everything, if it can simply reflect the most important talent? A dragon that learns many shouts just for the sake of variety and curiosity... Yep, that's me. Now all I need to do is find three words that fit the best.
...I've got nothing. Oh well. I'm sure something will come up. I speak Dovahzul even when I don't mean to and Mr Let's-Give-My-Children-A-Permit-To-Enslave-Anything-They-Wish-To said the understanding of dragon language is natural to all of them.
With his long mental monologue over, Ted decided it was about time to find a good place to rest. He wasn't planning on returning to the tomb, he wasn't a masochist.
"I'll need some decent altitude to spot something suitable. If I won't, I'll have to fly all the way to one of those big mountains to the north." muttered Ted to himself, taking to the air and soaring south.
Five minutes later the grumpy dragon decided he must take the longer trip - in this area there simply wasn't any cave not placed right next to the road and more likely than not most of them were filled with thugs.
"Of course, just my luck."
"...aaaaAAAAARRRRRRGGG...!"
Ted froze, at least as much as it was possible while flying. What the hell? It sounds as if it's coming from...
A green blur flied past him, almost startling him into making a maneuver that would surely end with him on the ground and a cracked skull. The dragon followed the falling object with his eyes. It was, no doubt about it, a wizard.
"...GGAAAAAAAOOOOOOoooaaaaa...!"
*THUD*
"Ouch. That must have hurt."
It was then that Ted realized what the presence of this particular wizard meant for him.
He appears only when a Nerevarine approaches the place of his impact! There's a hero nearby!
Ted squinted his eyes and smiled. Indeed, there was a small dot right next to the gory mess which a few seconds earlier was Tarhiel, the inventor of the Scroll of Icarian Flight. He couldn't be sure due to distance, but it seemed the mighty future hero of Morrowind, unlike himself, could not keep their lunch after such gruesome sight. Can't really blame them.
This is going to be interesting. I suppose this kind of entertainment will have to do without TV around, thought Ted while descending.
Blood. So much blood. Oh, and vomit too.
All Azirra wanted to do was go to the swamp and gather some ingredients. She wasn't very good at alchemy, but she knew a thing or two. One way or another, she had to get rid of all those mushrooms she picked up. She hated mushrooms and mushrooms hated her - such is fate of those cursed with an allergy to the spores. But nooo, it wasn't enough for the Divines to mock her with sneezing, she also had to end up covered in blood because it started raining mer.
It got worse. Something very heavy hit the ground behind her. The Khajiit turned around and almost died on the spot from shock alone.
"Sup. Beautiful weather, isn't it? Except for the Bosmer wizards. I could do without those."
Whatever the living legend said, it definitely wasn't in any language known to Ted. In fact, he would go as far as to claim she - he took a quick peek at the chest just to make sure he guessed right - spoke the same language unfortunate wizard did, Screamish.
Next part was a bit of a surprise to dragon - the Nerevarine pointed a shaking finger in his direction and, still screaming, shot a small lightning at his snout. It stung a bit, but did nothing else. At this sight, the Khajiit's screams got even louder.
"Can you please stop all this noise?" asked Ted. "I don't have ears and yet you still make me wish I could tear them off."
In response, the savior of land lifted her arms above her head and ran away into the swamp, still screeching like a banshee. Soon she disappeared in the bushes. Ted blinked.
"Nah. This can't be the Nerevarine. This whole land would be screwed." And with those words Ted took to the sky.
Dragon. There are dragons in Morrowind.
Azirra was making her way through the swamp as if it was a straight road of highest quality.
I thought they were a fairytale!
She jumped into a small pond on her way, too scared to waste time on walking around. Even Argonians would be impressed by her speed in the unfriendly environment.
Why, why, why, why...
She tripped and ended up with a mouthful of sand. After shakily standing up, Azirra noticed there was a cold mass lying behind her.
"Another corpse?! What's wrong with this place?!"
Ground rushed towards her head and everything went dark.
A/N:
Ah, Tarhiel... nothing screams "The end of the world" as much as wizards falling from the sky. People who played Morrowind and turned left instead of right on the first crossroad surely know his location, but just in case we have readers less prone to wandering or buing games that have over ten years: this unfortunate soul can be met in the swamp north of tutorial town of Seyda Neen. There's nothing interesting about him besides the spectacular way he smacks into the ground, Scrolls of Icarian Flight and famous pointy Colovian Fur Helm, known also as Nipple Hat.
As you can see, Azirra just found the body of Processus Vitellius, thus starting the quest "Death of a Taxman". Also, notice Azirra didn't robbed the Office like most of us did as part of the tutorial. I mean, seriously, what kind of person would give the guards reason to put them behind the bars right in the middle of acquiring an official pardon? Please, don't answer 'Khajiit', that's racist.
I think in the next chapters I'll focus more on Azirra and develop her character. There's simply not much going on with Ted at the moment - the phase of stumbling around comes to an end, however it's still not time for him to interact with other characters. Perhaps I'll change it, I have an idea, but we will see.