Well. Here we are. Hope you guys enjoy it. Special thanks to Philowen Aster for being the Beta
After his drink had settled, Hardvak said his final goodbye to Viviene and made his way to the gate. Once there he looked back up towards the keep to see Inquisitor Rayara standing just outside the main hall's newly refurbished door way looking down towards him with thankful smile. When he noticed her, she lifted her hand and waved. "Good luck!" she called, her voice faint from the distance. Hardvak chuckled and waved back to her before turning his back yet again and crossing the bridge. Once his feet had left the stone and once again started kicking up little clouds of snow from the ground, he let out a long sigh.
"So, stop a war huh? Well, I guess it'll be a good workout for when I get back home." He ran his arm along the back of his neck rubbing his almost pale white skin just as a bitterly cold mountain breeze swept through his ragged hood and scarred face. And just then, any doubts or second thoughts vanished as a new confidant youthful smile spread across his aging heavily scarred face. He took a deep breath, cracked his neck in a swift, relaxing motion, and let out a energized cloud of air. Starting his journey with simple phrase.
"WULD NA KEST!"
He exploded down the snow ridden path faster than any mortal should've been able to go before finally vanishing from sight. Specifically from the silver gaze of a bald elf who looked out towards the the Dragonborn's path from the battlements. His expression unreadable but his face paler than usual and as the snow settled back onto the mountainside, he tightened grip around his staff. His knuckles turning white at the force.
The days passed with little to no interruption as a newly alone Hardvak traversed the Frostbacks taking care not to take an ungraceful tumble or accidentally wander off in a wrong direction. No easy task for an adventurous one such as Hardvak, especially whenever he did meet another traveler. He was told of several cities in the world that were just begging to be seen for the first time. Cities of like Orzammar and Kirkwall, the palace of Halamshiral, and dozens of small villages in between all of which he wouldn't have been against putting a hold on his quest to see. It was an old habit that he had been trying to put to rest but always seemed to pop up when it was least wanted. Still though, he pushed that feeling back down and continued on. Promising himself once it was over, then he would go sightseeing.
The last traveler he had had such talks with had disappeared further into the mountains sometime go. Perhaps looking for the Inquistion or for a myriad of other purposes maybe. Either way, he couldn't be bothered to wonder as an ominous mass off storm clouds that had been forming over the horizon since dawn, finally billowed towards him just as the sun began to set over the snow capped peaks. Not really in the mood to traverse through a storm, he took a breath and began to speak a familiar Shout when suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, a small glimmer of light appeared from behind a swath of pine.
Taking a few steps, or rather strides towards it he saw the light was actually emitting from behind a window. A window that looked attached towards the outline of small wooden cabin. After a small debate with himself, he decided that it would be a decent place to spend the night in so he continued towards it. He came to the door just as the storm truly began to make itself known with snow flurries quickly becoming snow pellets. He knocked on the door. There was no answer. He did so again, calling out to anyone to see if they were home. Once again no response.
Here, the craftsman in him kicked in and he saw just how poorly made the cabin was. The building itself leaned too far to one side and the lack of a chimney would really become a problem if that small fire got out of hand. The wood was also not properly placed. Causing several holes and weak, bendable walls to occupy a majority of the supposed home. With a sigh he gripped the rather clumsily made door handle and pulled lightly half expecting a lock to kick in. Instead the door peeled right open letting him and a decent size wind into the cabin. Fearing the light from a few candles would go out, he quickly closed the door behind him and was surprised to see that there was no lock for it at all. Instead two wooden hooks horribly carved into the wall around the door and below one of them a large wooden plank that Hardvak assumed was to be placed the hooks to keep the door closed.
"Well whoever built this was clearly new to the trade." Hardvak thought to himself as he looked over the rest of the cabin which only further proved his point. Inwardly, the place was even worse off. The cabin was one roomed save for a small door illuminated by the flickering fire of three small candles. The walls were barely holding together and he could hear and feel several holes that allowed small bursts of cold to get through. The candles that lit the one room were tucked away in a corner that was probably the only one that didn't have small leaks to the outsides. There was no bed instead just a pile of long dead leaves mixed with what looked like rags of varying degree of ware and tear. The pile lay on what should've been a floor but instead was just cold dry dirt.
"Talos' sake, this is pathetic." Hardvak grumbled at the state of the shack, rather than cabin.
"Get Out! I told you mongrels I didn't have anything!" A new voice yelled out. Looking to the side, he saw the previously close small door open up as a figure in rags appeared at the opening. He had a rather skinny build and spoke with a low voice that seemed to be male in tone and strangely enough slightly familiar to Hardvak. He squinted his eyes to try and see the occupant's face but the rags covered it completely.
"Hello there. I don't want any trouble." Hardvak said raising his hands. "I was just wondering if you wouldn't mind me waiting out the storm here."
"This look like an inn?!" He asked not dropping the hostile tone in his voice. Again, the voice stuck the Nord as familiar but for the life of him he couldn't place it. Instead, he bit back a smart ass reply that had been lingering on his tongue as the figure shifted into a poorly positioned fighting stance. Instead opting for a deal of sorts.
"Very well. I'll take my food to an inn somewhere." Hardvak said with a false finality in his voice as he turned his back. He slowed himself as he reached for the door bar waiting for the figure to speak up again. As soon as his hand touched the wood, he did.
"Until the storm passes. Not a moment longer." The figure grumbled with a strange sound of annoyance at himself rather than Hardvak. The Nord himself turned back around with a smile and dropping his pack onto the ground. That voice was really getting to him now. He had definately heared it before. It was gravely and surprising deep for his scrawny figure yet also evoked a strange tone of authority that he hadn't heard in decades. He put that to the back of his mind though as his stomach growled.
"Agreed." Hardvak replied with a chuckle pulling out a pair of dead snow white rabbits. He tossed one over to the figure who caught it with a interesting boost of energy.
"I'm hoping you have a fire place in that other room of yours." Hardvak said passing a glance at the two or three candles that lit the shack. "Unless you just intend on..." His words fell on deaf ears however, as the figure had started feasting on the carcass almost immediately after it landed in his hands. Biting into the hide and tearing it apart with a ravenous vigor that Hardvak hadn't expected. Though his curiosity grew, it didn't stop him from feeling hungry himself.
"Nevermind." He said taking out a small hunting knife from one of his side pockets. He took his time skinning the animal. Making sure every hair of fur was wiped away from the meat that lied underneath before roasting it with a small wave of flame that emitted from him hand for several minutes. Sure it wasn't as good as using a pot and some added herbs, but it got the job done. Finally biting into the roasted meal, Hardvak noted there really wasn't a huge departure in flavor to the snow hares back in Skyrim. Nothing really groundbreaking but still interesting to note. He halted his comparison however when he saw the figure staring at him from the other side of the room with the bones of what used to be a rabbit littering the ground around him.
"Hungry huh?" Hardvak asked pointing at the bones.
"Your gesture is appreciated." The figure grumbled sitting down on the leaf pile. His voice growing ever more familiar as he spoke. "I wish for more."
"Well, I wish I could offer some." Hardvak sighed. " Few catchings the past few days. Makes me wonder why your living up here on your own."
"It's no concern of yours." The man replied with a low defensive growl.
"Fine. Just trying to make conversation." Hardvak said with a huff swallowing a mouthful of roasted rabbit. "If your going to stay here though, I'd put some work into this shack."
"What's wrong with it?!" The figure the homeowner asked defensively. Which now sounded really odd as it contrasted with the power the voice invoked. Hardvak laughed replying.
"Nothing. If you like rickety wood, weak walls, and keeping in the cold that's supposed to be kept out."
"Oh so a mortal like you thinks he can do a better job?!" He yelled out in response.
"Well yes actually, I…..." Hardvak stopped himself as he noted the word the man had used. "Mortal?" Something clicked inside Hardvak's mind. Was he having a dinner with some Daedric Lord or Divinehe had forgotten about? He ran through all the ones he had come into contact over the years struggling to remember their voices. After going through all of them he was back to square one. None of them sounded like the figure opposite of him.
He looked back to said figure who with a sigh began to remove the rags that concealed his face. Not really knowing what to expect, Hardvak just sat there in anticipation. When the final rag fell to the ground, The Nord's face's contorted in shock as his eyes gazed upon the face of a overly dark scaled Argonian face riddled with small scars and horns that covered his face like a spiked mace which somehow complimented pure blood pupils colored only by small black slits. Eyes so red, that a river of blood looked pale by comparison. Eyes that also seemed way too damn familiar. A painful knot began to form in Hardvak's stomach as one creature started to keep up from the back of his mind that had such eyes.
"Ah…..stunned I see." The Argonian replied showing his grey blood splashed teeth with a smile. "Many are."
Hardvak didn't respond keeping his throughly shocked gaze on the lizard like man instead as his mind raced back to the monster that currently occupied his mind trying desperately to match his voice to his. A dam burst inside his wasn't just his voice that matched. The face, the eyes, the scars. It was all coming back to him at once.
"It's humiliating of course. As if being cursed with this worthless form isn't enough, but the mortal glares of worthless horror are more annoying then ever." He said growling low and clutching his hand with such anger that it might as well have pulled some scales right off. Right there, Hardvak's mind clicked as the words of the long gone World Eater returned to his mind began to malfunction one small part at a time. It couldn't be. It shouldn't have been possible. He was supposed to be gone. Banished from both life and death. Lost in a realm not fit for Divine or Daedra. And even if he did return, why was he an Argonian? None of it made any sense! Yet here, in Thedas, sat an Argonian with the look and voice of King of the Dovah. He forcefully stopped those thoughts in their tracks. No. Before he did anything else. He needed to know for sure.
"Alduin?" Hardvak whispered. The Argonian froze for a good amount of time before raising his head back towards the Nord his face twisted in confusion and surprise.
"Yes…..How do you know that?"
Hardvak's eyes narrowed as his brain screamed for him to stop and think about what to do next. His body however wasn't listening. He moved his hands up towards his hood and before he could stop himself, he pulled it back over his grey hair presenting his full face towards his host. If there had been any calm atmosphere in the room, it vanished with that act. As hazel eyes met crimson, a look of disbelief spread across their faces and remained there for what felt like several eternities before disintegrating into the purest form of rage each had ever shown to another.
"YOU!" Alduin bared his teeth in a roar that shook the flimsy cabin walls charging towards the Nord with surprising speed. Hardvak's sword was halfway from its hilt when Alduin smashed into him with a strength that belied his scrawny frame. Smashing him against the barred door with enough force to not only break the bar but also the door it held, tumbling them out into the blizzard in a grappling heap. After a struggle, Alduin managed to wrap hands around Hardvak's neck, trying with all of his might to strangle him. He didn't get far though, Hardvak grabbed Alduin's thin wrists with his much bigger hands and squeezed. Bones cracked and Alduin bellowed in pain, his grip faltering. Hardvak didn't let up, lifting his opponent slighty away from his body before planting a shockingly powerful kick into his stomach. Alduin was hurled over his head and crashed back down into the heavy wet snow afew yards away. Gulping air, Hardvak staggered to his feet, peering through the screaming wind and swirling snow. Alduin was a dark patch through the white, struggling to rise despite being winded by the kick. Hardvak gave him no time to recover, charging toward him and landing another solid kick right in the middle of his back. Alduin rolled and flopped through the snow, trying to get his balance back and rise. Grabbing him, Hardvak yanked him up, hurling a barrage of punches towards his opponent. Every time Alduin started to fall one way, Hardvak swung the other way with a powerful punch that knocked him right back to his feet. Any type of counter offense that Alduin offered fell apart almost as soon as it started. His failed attacks returned a hundredfold, obliderating almost every bone that held the Argonian's face together. Finally, after minutes of a nonstop beat down, Hardvak slammed his opponent into the trunk of a pine tree and held him there by the throat. His eyes peered deep into Alduin's taking in all the damage he had just dealt him. Alduin, somehow still conscious, strained to open his rapidly swelling eyes to glare at Hardvak.
"Y-You…B-Bastard." He managed to growl out weakly as blood leaked down from the his nose and into his mouth.
Hardvak tightened his grip on the throat of the lizardman and clenched his empty hand. His entire body shaking with a rage that was thought to be lost to time. His scar littered face seemingly began to burn as the memories of his long dead friends' dying screams came back to haunt him. His gaze narrowed as all evidence of heroism and mercy left it and his mouth curled up in a showing of pure rage and disgust. He was going to end this now. Once and for all."I don't know what Divine or Daedra you made a deal with but that ends now." Hardvak stated as he began to mouth the words that would end his opponent.
"Y-you d-d—" Alduin's words stopped in his mouth as Hardvak grip intensified and he spoke again.
"What is it monster?! Want to grovel for you life?! Beg for mercy like so many countless others you took from the world?! C'mon! Let's here it." The Nord yelled as he yet again tightened his grip and clenched his teeth. The Argonian's failed attempts at words shifted into choked breaths trying desperately to break out of the Dragonborn's grip. "I didn't think so." Hardvak growled as he once again looked over the body of the creature he held there against the bark his lips warping into a dark smile. "Look at you. The once great King of the Dovah, feared throughout life and death. Now choking under my hand." Hardvak sneered in a rather un-heroic tone. "Pathetic." The Nord held him there for a while longer seemingly enjoying the sight of the rapidly blacking out lizard. Just when had finally decided to end it however, his captive mouthed two words that shattered his expectations.
"…E-End it."
Hardvak hesitated, thrown off by two word command. His rageful glare cracking somewhat. "What?"
"E-End it...Dovah-kiin." Alduin stammered out. His voice losing almost all the power it had commanded before. In its place was a far weaker, pitiful voice that pleaded for an end. Before Hardvak could ask "what" again however, Alduin finally slipped into unconsciousness, his previously flailing arms falling lifelessly to his sides. Hardvak sneered. This was a trick. Any second now, Alduin would wake back up and the pair would finally end this. The seconds passed however, becoming minutes and Hardvak's determination began to waver as he continued to stare at Alduin's seemingly lifeless frail body. Many of the rags that covered him were lost in in the scuffle so now Hardvak could just how malnourished he aactually was. He scaly skin was dangerously close to the bone and his muscle was almost nonexistent. It must've taken everything he had to push the to of them out of the cabin.
Then there were the two words. Two words that shouldn't have left any impact at all. But nevertheless kept repeating themselves inside Hardvak's head. Alduin had never sounded like that. He had never sounded so broken, or tired before. The sound of it was so off putting that Hardvak breifly worried if he had just beaten an innocent. He then remembered how this fight actually started. No this was definitely someone who answered to the name Alduin and had a raging hatred for Hardvak.
But still, not even at there fateful encounter in Sovngarde did he sound so pitiful. He tried to fight back this feeling. His brain screamed at him to. He should just finish the job here and now. Wipe this scourge from existence permanently. Hardvak took another look at the creature though and all that resolve vanished. His incredibly sappy heart had once again clouded his judgment. The creature was just too damn pitiful. With a roar of frustration he dropped his enemy who collapsed into the snow and started punching the bark of the three. His fist smashed into the bark several times, each time leaving a bigger indent on the wood before finally smashing through the trunk completely with another yell and sending the tree hurling towards the ground. It hit the snow with a loud thud leaving Hardvak the only visible figure standing in the storm.
"FUS RO DAH!" Hardvak screamed angrily into the sky sending a powerful wave of energy into the air. "FUS RO DAH!" He repeated again as frustration continued to grip him. He repeated the saying several more times, blasting the snow around him in all directions until he was drained of nearly all of his energy. Collapsing onto one knee, he stayed there in the cold for a long time remembering everything he could about his war with Alduin. All the pain and loss he had suffered because of him. The friends and innocents he had killed and devoured. The souls that would never find rest because of him. These should've been enough motivate him to walk back over and finish the job. It would've been for any other man. And he had doubtless killed many others for lesser crimes. So why couldn't he do it? What in Oblivion was stopping him?! He pondered the question for sometime before remembering one of his conversation with a certain woman on their way to Skyhold.
"Seriously?" Hardvak asked raising one eyebrow.
"Is that odd?" Giselle asked back simply.
"Well yeah. You worship a deity who doesn't get involved with world affairs when there at an all time high." Hardvak replied trying to make evident his confusion.
"I didn't say that." She replied.
"Doesn't get involved directly I mean." Hardvak emphasized. "Where I'm from, the figures who get worshipped usually have helped out a time or two in in the past. So we know they exist at least."
"Interesting." Giselle said rather enviously. "But if that's the case, how can you be sure that they're truly divine?"
"Well…." Hardvak went quiet as he thought about it. He thought of the Daedric princes he had spoken to in his life. None of them ever really felt like something divine. He then thought about his own power, the Voice he had the privilege of using. That certainly didn't come from a Daedric prince. Nor was it ever asked for. It was something that just happened. Whilst in his thoughts, he looked over the face of the woman who was appropriately named Mother Giselle. Garbed in chantry clothing that Hardvak still couldn't really get behind. Especially the hat. She looked and felt like some you couldn't really lie to. No matter how hard you tried. She was also one of the kindest people he had talked too in little over a decade so that helped.
"Huh. I guess I gotta give you that one." The Nord replied as the pair continued to walk among the dozens of other Inquisition survivors.
"Discussing the Maker is no simple task. Especially with one so different and who has seen more than I ever will." Giselle said with a knowing smile. "And perhaps you carry proof of the gods or god of your world which is more than I can say for myself. But if such figures were truly divine would they really get involved in the affairs of mortals? What do they have to gain or lose from our problems?"
"Fair enough, but if that's the case. How can you be certain that there is a true god or Maker?" Hardvak asked back.
"We can't know for certain. All one can really have is faith that there is one. And that he works in ways we can't possibly conceive or imagine." She said without a shred of doubt. "Guiding us and dropping obstacles and events in our way that we must overcome in a way only we can choose."
"Sounds more annoying then helpful if you ask me." Hardvak admitted with a chuckle that she surprisingly matched.
"It can be sometimes. But that's our lot in life. From chantry mother to Inquisitor to heroic warrior." She finished.
Hardvak looked back over to the unconscious figure in the snow and sighed rather then yelled. So this was it then. Looks like no matter where he went. Even if that place was a completely different continent, some otherworldly being would have always have a use for him. Looks like this "Maker" was next in line and Alduin was what he dropped into his lap. Fine. He'd see where this one would go.
He marched back over towards the Argonian and threw him over his shoulder like a bag of food before making his way through the snow and back to the shack.
Hours and a few well timed healing spells later, Alduin once again began to stir. Only when he fully opened his eyes he found himself tied up and sitting up against the wall of his own shack. He suddenly remembered what had happened to him and then not a second later saw the man who had put him in this position. Hardvak himself had taken the liberty of starting a small fire in the center of the room with a few dry sticks and leaves and was now staring directly into the cackling flames. Alduin struggled to break free for several minutes. Loudly growling and hitting the shoddily made wall behind him before finally stopping. Instead, he peered directly over to his captor and spoke.
"I shouldn't be surprised." He sneered. "You enjoy this don't you Dovahkiin. Seeing me in this disgraceful form. Stripped of my glory."
"First of all Alduin, I do enjoy seeing you like this. It's rather fitting for someone who sought to destroy all life." Hardvak said with a noticeable smile though his eyes never left the fire. "But it's not because of that, that you're still alive." Alduin seemed confused by the statement but kept quiet as Hardvak continued. "You're still alive because I want answers. How in Oblvion did you end up here? And more importantly why are you an Argonian?" He asked finally tearing his eyes away from the flame and looking over towards Alduin. The World Eater and Dovahkiin glared to one another and sat in silence for the longest time before finally Alduin spoke in the same tone he had when he asked Hardvak to kill him.
"You defeated me Dovahkiin. You managed to slay the mighty Alduin in your Nord afterlife no less. That was it. I thought you were going to absorb my soul like you did to many of my brothers. Instead, I found myself in an even worse fate." Alduin said utterly devoid of any emotion other than sadness. "After my defeat Dovahkiin, I expected to meet my father Akatosh. Instead I awoke here. Trapped in a mortal's body in a land where no mortal looks like me and stripped of all the graces of the Dovah. My language, my Thuum, my wings, my body. Gone."
Hardvak listened and took in his words. That explained why he didn't shout at him when they fought but it didn't explain how he got here.
"I once ruled all under the sky. Now, look at me. A lowly mortal who can barely fight. It's just as you said. Pathetic." Alduin said frustration finally kicking into his voice. "And it's all because of you."
"I didn't send you here Alduin." Hardvak replied. "Nor did I trap you in this body. I wouldn't have wasted the flesh."
"Well then, I don't know how I ended up here." Alduin growled back. "Or why in Akatosh's name you're here now."
Hardvak sighed at the answer. It made sense. Alduin did always know less than he let on. "How long?" He asked next.
"What?" Alduin asked back.
"How long have you been here. Like this." Hardvak specified.
"…Three thousand six hundred seventy days." Alduin finally admitted. " A little over ten of your mortal years."
Hardvak was shocked at that amount of time. And even more shocked that Alduin had somehow not been killed in that amount of time. "And you don't have any clue on what's going on in the outside world?"
"No. Most of my time was spent…..It doesn't matter." Alduin finished looking away from Hardvak in yet another move he didn't expect from the former dragon king. Hardvak sighed yet again and looked back into the fire. A long time passed between the two the only sound echoing around being crackling flames or loud gusts of wind. Finally Alduin spoke again this time with a sad defeated chuckle."How long as it been Dovahkiin? You've aged significantly since we last met." He said not bothering to look at Hardvak.
The Nord sighed at the question and looked up towards the barely holding together ceiling. "Twenty five years."
Alduin gave no acknowledgement of the number other than an angry nod before speaking again "So what happens now then Dovahkiin?" He asked spitefully. "What brought you here to this world?"
"The same as to what brought me to Skyrim. A sense of adventure." Hardvak replied before once again looking over to him. The images of two dead comrades appeared briefly one dressed as Imperial and the other as Stormcloak before vanishing almost just as quickly as they appeared. Hardvak shook it off. "You're the last person I expected or wanted to see here Alduin. And perhaps you're better of dead. But the gods have sent you here, and I doubt it's just to die at my hands again." Hardvak said stepping over to him. "So this is how its going to play out. I have a mission to complete. And since I'll be damned before letting you out of my sight, you'll be helping me complete it."
Alduin's crimson eyes widened at the statement before laughing loudly. "You're a fool if you think I'll do anything to help you Dovahkiin."
"I think we established that when I followed you to Sovngarde remember?" Hardvak replied stepping to the side and looking out towards the snow through a decent sized hole in the wall. "Besides, traveling alone gets boring after a while. If I need to entertain myself I'd like to have a punching bag."
Alduin growled at that last statement which then caused Hardvak to laugh. At the very least this was going to be entertaining.
And I think I'll call it a chapter here. Hope to see you guys here next time. But until then. Goodnight. Good work. And sleep well.
