I stood with my back against the wall, gasping for breath. A dragon had been looking back at me when I expected to see treasures. Dragons had not been present on Nirn since the time of Tiber Septim himself – at least that's what I thought before I opened the ancient door that proved me incorrect.

Through the metal and stone door, I could hear the dragon within making a rasping noise that sounded as if he was laughing at me. I could not help but release a chuckle out of insanity myself; I had come here seeking adventure, and I had definitely found it. A slab of stone separated me from a living dragon! My humor in the situation at hand came to a quick end, however, as a raspy, booming voice echoed through the wall.

"Come, Fahliil, and tinvaak with a lonely dovah."

All I could understand through the vibrating sound and the dragon's odd language was "come". I was aware that a sane person would walk back through the ruin and to the surface, never to speak of this experience. But I was an adventurer, and adventurers were surely insane. Hesitantly, I reopened the door and peeked my head through. Languidly stretched on the floor was a shadow of the dragon I expected.

Ashy gray scales stretched over bony prominences and withered wings were folded against his thin frame. Flaky horns adorned his head, some of which had broken tips. Gray-green eyes inset in a long, thin face watched me as I edged my way into the large chamber. The dragon sat patiently as I took in my surroundings. Behind the dragon sat an altar with a dusty blade laid across it. The back of the alter rose up into a curved slab of stone, on which was scratched odd marks. To my right was a waterfall that streamed from a crevice in the wall and caused a small waterway to flow through a curving divot in the floor.

Once my eyes returned to the dragon, he started to speak again. "I am Muuntanum, vahlok – guardian – of Dovahkriid Tuz. I have seen neither fahliil nor mun in this sanctuary for far too long. The last follower of Hjalti that came across me became kip for an old dovah. I have grown lonely and I bahlok."

The confusion of his peculiar language must have been evident on my face because the dragon, Muuntanum, began laughing in his raspy tone again. "You are here for the zahkrii – treasure – are you not?"

I cleared my throat to speak, but words would not come. I shook my head side to side hoping he would not see my lie. His eyes thinned to slivers and I could hear the air harshly leaves his nostrils.

"Tafiir, you nok just as those who came before you. Do you know the tey – story – behind this blade?" The dragon's head slowly turned towards the antique sword sitting behind him. "It is called Dovahkriid Tuz. Forged in a thu'um of dovahyol – dragon fire – and created by a Dragon Priest and a traitor dovah during the dovah kein with the intention of controlling my kind. It can slay a dovah and a dovah cannot destroy it. The Kril brought the Dovahkriid Tuz to this Bron – Nord – temple with hopes of hiding it until a time came when it could be destroyed. Gro – bound – I was by honor and oath, and so I waited with the zahkrii.

"Now I sense that my zeymah are all missing, yet I am here. No dovah or mun came to relieve me of this curse. The dead outside this chamber were once alive. They were here to dein – guard – the blade and myself. They still wake to both keep the blade safe and to keep the Bron safe from me. Only tafiir will see me now. They come seeking the blade, or some seeking the blessing of Hjalti. Nuz, the Dovahkiin has no place here. Dovahkriid Tuz was here before Hjalti came to be."

"Who is Hjalti?" I blurted.

The dragon purred, as if pleased he could speak more. "Hjalti Early-Beard was the last Dovahkiin. Those who come seeking blessings tell me that he is now called Talos. I met the Strundu'ul once. He came to slay me, as only a Dovahkiin can truly slay a dovah without the Dovahkriid Tuz. However, once he learned of my drun, he let me live. The Dovahkiin saw that the Dovahkriid Tuz in the wrong hands could be more dilos – deadly – than I, an old dovah. Also, he could see that if the blade were here, I would be as well."

"Tiber Septim was actually here?" I gaped.

"Tiber Septim?" Muuntanum laughed again. "How many titles can one Bron go by? Yes, the Dovahkiin was here. He was the last one to leave alive."

My heart dropped. "You said others have come here seeking Talos's blessing?"

"Geh – yes – many have come. None have left. A dovah feels much bahlock – hunger – in this chamber with no food." The dragon began to release a slow, deep laugh as his lips rolled up into what looked like a smile.

I tried to turn back towards the door but the dragon released a freezing roar, sending me to the ground covered in ice shards. I unsheathed my sword, even though I knew I could never slay a dragon, and clambered to my feet. Once off the floor, I began to panic as I realized Muuntanum froze the exit shut.

I turned back towards the dragon and made a move that was crazy enough to work: I ran towards him and ducked under his neck. I continued past him, knowing his movements would be lethargic, and hid behind a column of stone. I could hear his raspy breathing coming nearer. I gripped my hilt tighter with my sweaty hand as I tried to figure out how to live through this. As another shower of ice streamed past the column and hit the stone wall behind, a horrible idea came to mind. With this attack, I clearly heard the word "fo". He wasn't breathing the ice, he was shouting it just as the Draugr had shouted me off my feet before. I could outrun his claws and teeth if he couldn't speak the ice into existence.

His slow steps stopped right behind me and I could nearly feel the wind coming off his breath. I readied my sword for I knew I would escape or die trying and there was no other option. He moved his opening jaw around the stone column and I saw my target. Before he could snap down, I swung my sword. In shock, Muuntanum backed up and shook his head side to side while blood was leaking out between his teeth. He let out a gargled roar, causing the stone to vibrate and dust to fall from the ceiling, as he realized his tongue had been cut out.

My only hope now was to get to the dragon slaying sword while he was distracted. I started sprinting towards the blade on the altar, but my movement caught the beast's attention. With blood dripping through his teeth, Muuntanum started swiping after me with his massive talons. Every angered step he took, he caused the room around us to shake. On occasion a stone would fall from the hard rock above and some of the columns began to shift.

As soon as my fingers touched the hilt, I was sent flying against the wall with the odd markings by one of the dragon's claws. I knew instantly that I suffered a wound to my abdomen, but refused to look down in case it was worse than I expected. Instead, I got to my feet as quickly as I could and began to move away from my pursuer. I glanced around myself as I moved and realized that when I was hit the sword must have been thrown as well. I could no longer find it and the amount of rubble on the ground was building by the minute. It was time for a new idea.

Was there any chance for a new idea to even work? No sooner had I begun to question – more so than before, that is – my chances of survival when Muuntanum released a gargled roar that caused the room to shutter more than before. A slab of rock above the waterfall across the room slid off the wall and onto the ground. The fallen stone create a ramp to the hole, now made large enough for me to fit through, in which the water was flowing out of. My escape was there, I only had to make it across the room.

I began sprinting across to the waterfall, keenly aware of the blood running down my side. Behind me I could hear the whistling of claws in the air as Muuntanum barely missed me with his strike. I finally reached the fallen rocks and scrambled up the wet stones as the dragon's footsteps came closer and closer. I pulled myself through the hole and into the small cave just as he hit the entrance. As soon as the sound of claws scraping stone ended, he shoved his snout into the hole and attempted to snap at me. I pressed myself against the cold, wet rock wall and prayed to the gods. Finally, he gave up and pulled away from me.

Back inside his prison, Muuntanum began roaring and clawing at the floor. The sounds of his anger and defeat sent chills up my spine. Before I could even catch my breath, the dragon suddenly began throwing his atrophied body against the wall behind which I was hidden. The ceiling began to fall in around me and I was sure that I was going to die, after everything, in that spring cave.

As a large boulder fell from the ceiling above, I ducked and covered my head. When my eyes reopened, I thanked Talos to see moonlight streaming through into the cave. I pulled myself out of the spring cave, my muscles screaming with every move, and crawled as far from the hole as I could. With a large crack, the ground finally stopped shaking and I slipped from consciousness.

I woke up some time later, the sun high in the sky and already making its dip back to the mountains on the horizon. In the campsite with me sat the priest of Talos and a couple of the worshippers, all wounded in some way. The priest explained to me that the entrance to the Inner Chamber of Wolf had collapsed, causing a rockslide that mortally injured several of the worshippers. They were on their way to get help when they found me unconscious. I told him my story, and although he believed me I knew how insane the words were. Despite the fact it sounded as if it were a farce, I had found my adventure. And as soon as my wounds were healed, I would find another.