Chapter 8 – Questions and Answers
"Are you still not going to accept the fact that you are now a Dragonborn?" Reysi asked as they scaled the mountain. It had been days since the incident at Forelhost and Govegein led them northwest at an unrelenting pace. In the few fleeting moments that Reysi and Aela could get him to stop, they would mostly sleep. Aela took to sparing with Govegein when she could and any time that he was not fighting or sleeping, Reysi would press about the storm.
"I'm not a Dragonborn," Govegein said for . . . he had actually lost count. They would go through the same loop of questions and answers a few times every day, but it would just push Govegein to walk faster, away from his annoying companion.
"But you didn't know how to shout before," Reysi argued. Aela had grown bored with the cyclical tendency of the interrogation and scouted ahead of them as a werewolf some days and trailed behind them on others. Today was a day she trailed behind them.
"You don't know what I knew before we met," Govegein countered.
"Then explain your eyes becoming red!"
"I have no proof that that happened to my eyes!" Govegein's eyes had returned to their normal state shortly after Reysi saw them.
"Actually," Aela called from behind them, "I saw them too. Your eyes were glowing red. They faded in the darkness after the bolt of lightning, but they definitely glowed."
Govegein sighed, "Either way that is not a side effect of being a Dragonborn." No, he knew what he was. He knew ever since Raddin killed Alduin, ever since Vengeance had addressed him as such. Govegein just refused to admit that he was Alduin's replacement, the next World Eater.
"You told me that you were rebuilt by Akatosh!" Reysi said. "He's the god that first made the Dragonborn a thing. Do you think that he wouldn't do the same to you?"
"No, our time dragon has other plans for me, I'm sure," Govegein muttered. He didn't know what the god had in store for him, but he guessed that it had to do with the end of a world or two.
They reached the peak and Govegein took the wooden mask from his face, this was where the next mask was. Looking around, through the falling snow, he didn't see any signs of a tomb. Far off, across a kind of pass was a word wall, atop which sat a dragon. It seemed to watch the approaching mortals, unsure about whether to attack or not. Surely enough, as Govegein approached the wall the dragon rose into the air.
Govegein readied a spell and took aim at the circling lizard as Reysi and Aela began to launch arrows at it. The trail shivered as the dragon dodged the flying arrows, but Govegein knew where to aim to hit this dragon. He released the spell, cloaking his body in fire and launching him into the air. Govegein's body burned at the blatant disregard for magika consumption, and he flew before the dragon, reaching the peak of his flight above the beast. He landed on the dragon's back and grabbed its black horns. Twisting, he was able to force the orange lizard into a tailspin downward.
They crashed into the snow, launching Govegein off of the dragon. This one was an ancient, no telling how long it waited in hiding. Aela rushed in then, recalling her Harbinger's tale of dragon killing, and drew her blade. She began to cut at the blackened leather that comprised the wings, but it was tougher than a normal dragon's. Unlike Mirmulnir, this one was a fighter and could not be kept down so easily. Govegein found himself wishing that he was a Dragonborn and that he had learned Dragonrend.
Regardless, Govegein drew his sword and axe, charging towards the dragon who replied with a fire breathe shout. Govegein swung his axe into the Ancient's snout when he reached the source of the fire. The resulting strike cracked the scales that covered the Dragon's nose. It tried to bite back at Govegein as he cut again and again at the same spot, tearing away the scales with fire and ice. The dragon had had enough and rose into the sky again. Putting Raghot on his face Govegein said, "Not right now Rage, we'll talk later," before the entity could drag him into another vision.
"Get to cover," Govegein commanded. Aela glared at him as Reysi obeyed. The Orichalcum armor encased Govegein as he repeated the command to Aela. She shot another arrow at the dragon before following Reysi past some discarded mammoth bones. Govegein stood still, letting Raghot do its work compounding is strength. As the dragon circled again, it shot another blast of fire at the stationary warrior. Govegein watched the dragon through the flames as he gauged his strength.
The next time the dragon circled to shout, Govegein jumped towards it. By the time it attempted to open its mouth, Govegein was already holding it closed between a hand and a leg. Govegein stabbed the dragon through the scale opening he had made earlier, the tempered ebony and bone cutting through the dragon's maw with Govegein's enhanced strength. The two fell again through the snow towards the mountain. The dragon's flesh evaporated before they hit and when they did, Govegein landed on his feet with an audible crack of stone.
Reysi and Aela ran towards Govegein as he dispelled his armor and removed Raghot. He actually laughed, it had been a while since he could fly like that. "This guy," he said, patting the skull that lay next to him, "was quite the fighter." The skeleton shuddered, and from the spot where he touched the dragon, ash began to form. As the ash covered the skeleton, flesh began to form again, and Govegein drew his blade.
The Ancient's golden eyes formed and looked at Govegein, horrified. It shrank away from him. "Zuwuth Zeymah!" it shouted, "Alduin!"
"Well, that's new," Govegein said.
"But wasn't it dead?" Aela asked.
"Not really, unless a Dragonborn kills it, they can be brought back," Govegein explained.
"I thought only Alduin could do that," Reysi said, watching Govegein.
"Only our eldest can wake us," the dragon said. "I would feel your Thu'um, Zeymah."
"I am no brother to you," Govegein said. The dragon did not back any further though, and Govegein sighed. "Yol Toor Shul!" he shouted as an inferno left his mouth, burning away the snowstorm that was forming above them. He didn't know how Raddin put up with the burning throat. The dragon nodded before taking flight and leaving the trio that bested it.
"Ha! You can't deny now that you are a Dragonborn!" Reysi shouted.
"Can someone explain what just happened!?" Aela shouted.
Govegein sighed as he looked towards the word wall. "I told you, I'm no Dragonborn. But that does not mean Akatosh left me untouched." As Govegein approached the wall again, he noticed a stone sarcophagus. "When he made my new body, he made a vessel for all of Alduin's powers. When his eldest son died, he transferred those powers into his new vessel, his new World Eater."
"Does that mean that you will end the world?" Reysi asked.
"One day, yes. Everything ends at some point, my role is just to make it nice and clean. Alduin got greedy and impatient, you see how that turned out for him."
"What does this mean for you?" Aela asked.
"It means I have a plethora of new abilities that I can barely even begin to comprehend, one of which is compete mastery of the Thu'um. Yet I still can't cast a spell without risking a death bathed in magical fire. Now, however is not the time to begin experimenting with them, for my first assignment, Akatosh sent me to deal with the High Dragon Priests, as you've already guessed." The sarcophagus was empty, save for a rusted iron mask and an etching in Dovazul reading 'Not today, Boss,'. "Now that you're all caught up, I have some bad news. Krosis escaped."
Rolor was having a bad day. Now that he thought about it, maybe he was having a bad week. Month? Year? No, probably life. He was having a bad life. Rolor was an orphan, but not one of those lucky ones that got taken by a dragon to live with its servants, no he was one of the ones that had to group with others to survive. He grew up in a gang of kids like him. They stole what they could to survive, but it was never enough. As the kids grew older, most of them left to try fend for themselves and only themselves. Not Rolor, no he just had to stay with the kids, protect them, guide them.
One night they took what little he had to his name and left him in an alley way. When he returned to the hideout, it was empty. Rolor hates kids. Now he was penniless and wandering. Until today, when he found a well-dressed man carrying a hefty bag of gold. When he tried to take the gold, however, Beimiir twisted his arm, almost breaking it. Now he sat, tied up in front of the Dragon Priest who caught him. Beimiir asked Rolor why he tried to steal from him, to tell him the whole story. Rolor did, he figured that he was not going to get out of this alive anyway, might as well let someone remember him as who he was.
Beimiir listened to Rolor's life story, every word, at the end he nodded and said, "You seem like a good kid. Too old to be an initiate though, how about I make you my Acolyte? We'll just say that I trained you in secret." Rolor was stunned. The man was giving him a way into the ruling class. They didn't even know each other. This Beimiir was an idiot.
Yeah, that was an odd little chapter. I kind of put myself into a strange place and then kept going with it. Anyway, I don't actually plan on having Govegein and Krosis meet for a while, probably not even in this story. We'll see how this plays out. By the way, a side effect of Raghot's compounding strength is a lesser compounding weight.
In other news, we have Rolor as Krosis's original name and the story of how he met Beimiir. I know I didn't give any real indication of ages, but I figure Rolor is about Bedvatr's age, which isn't too far from Beimiir, who would be a new Priest at this point in time.
