AN: Apparently, shirking off of studying works. I made a perfect score on the Hamlet unit test! Anyways, on to the new chapter!


Something was wrong. About halfway to Riverwood, we began to smell smoke. Thinking that there had been a bandit attack on a village or hold, we went to investigate. The small settlement of Helgen had been obliterated. From outside of the walls, you only saw thick plumes of smoke whirling through the air. We reached the gate and noticed there weren't any guards, and that the gate was locked. I pulled out a lockpick and made quick work of the lock. We weren't prepared for what we saw on the other side.

There were charred remains of buildings and people scattered all around, along with the rubble of the towers that had collapsed. The damage looked to be less than a day old, as there were still fires burning on some of the buildings. If there were any survivors, they had already fled the ruins. We investigated the ruins, searching for the cause of the destruction.

Vilkas and my father went in one direction, while my mother and I went in another. After about twenty minutes of searching, I found a large black scale. My stomach dropped to my toes; I knew what this was.

In a worried voice, I said, "I know what happened."

My mother quickly came to my side. "What was it? What could do this?"

"It was a dragon." I said simply.

"Like the one that attacked Whiterun?" she asked.

"Possibly worse. It only took four of us to take that one down." I said without thinking.

At the widening of my mother's eyes, I realized my mistake. I neglected to tell them that I had been involved with the killing of the dragon, because I knew my parents would freak out. I wasn't disappointed.

"YOU KILLED A DRAGON?! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" she shrieked.

Wincing, I tried to calm my mother. At her screaming, Vilkas and my father came running to us.

"...COMPLETELY IRRESPONSIBLE! DID YOU EVEN THINK BEFORE ATTACKING A DRAGON?!" she continued, ignoring the arrival of the other two members of our party.

I saw my father's eyes widen, and I knew that he had heard my mother. Instead of exploding, he had a strange look on his face, almost one of resignation.

My mother stopped to take a breath, when my father touched her shoulder.

Father had a placating look on his face. "We knew she would be endangering her life to protect others when she became a Companion. You can be killed by a bandit or a bear just as easily as by a dragon. There is no sense in yelling at her for doing her job."

I gratefully smiled at my father, while he just smiled sadly at me. After calming herself down, mother apologized.

"I know. I know! You want me to still be your little girl, not a warrior. I understand. Apology accepted!" I said trying to console her.

Vilkas spoke up for the first time. "What caused this argument? I'm sure you didn't just come out and mention the dragon for no reason."

My smile immediately dropped as I remembered the big black scale. Instead of speaking, I just raised the razor sharp scale to show him.

"By Ysgramor! I thought that was the only dragon! I can't believe it; they are returning." he said in a troubled voice.

"There isn't anything we can do here. Let's hurry back to Whiterun; I'm sure Jarl Balgruuf will want to know about this." At that, I turned and began walking back to the gate. The scale felt like more than just added weight; it felt like a burden that I knew I would be forced to carry.


We arrived in Whiterun in record time. The sun had gone down an hour ago, casting tall shadows all across the city. I directed my mother and father to the Bannered Mare to rent a room for the night. As soon as I knew they were settled in, Vilkas and I headed to Dragonsreach.

As soon as we entered Dragonsreach, we were met with the Jarl's housecarl, Irileth. Irileth, a Dunmer, had the usual pale blue skin and piercing red eyes. She also had leather armor on.

"What is the meaning of this? The Jarl isn't taking visitors!" she said in an authoritative voice.

"We have very important news to share with the Jarl about Helgen." I said in the strongest voice I could muster.

"Well, that changes things. Follow me." She turned around and began to ascend a flight of steps.

We followed her, and came upon the sight of the Jarl arguing with his steward about sending troops to Riverwood in case of another dragon attack. When the Jarl noticed us, he motioned us forward.

"What do you and Isabelle know?" the Jarl said, going straight to the point.

"We were returning from a job in Falkreath when we smelled smoke. We went to investigate and found Helgen completely destroyed. There were no survivors there, as they had probably fled;" he stopped to take a breath, "we searched for any clue as to what had happened when Isabelle found a large black scale, just like one from the dragon a few weeks back." he finished.

I pulled the heavy scale from my bag and handed it to Balgruuf. The scale glinted in the light of the torch.

"I want you to speak with my court wizard Farengar. He specializes in the study of dragons." Balgruuf rose from his throne and led us to a room of the side of the main hall. There was a man that looked to be a Nord dressed in blue mage's robes pouring over some old tomes.

"Tell him what has happened, and he'll tell you what to do." with that, Balgruuf handed me the scale, and left the room.

After Balgruuf left, and we filled in Farengar in on the Helgen attack, he told me about a "dragon stone" that he wanted retrieved. He believed it would help us, so we agreed to get it for him. I told Vilkas to go on ahead to Jorvaskr, as I still had unfinished business to attend to. He nodded and left me.

I turned to Farengar and asked him what kind of spells he had for sale. He just pointed me to a bookcase in the corner of the room that was overflowing with spell tomes.

If I can handle summoning a frost atronach, I can probably handle some higher level destruction magic. I thought as I sifted through the spell tomes. It wouldn't hurt to get an armor spell, either. Vilkas is right, I need some type of protection.

After twenty minutes, I found four spells that I thought I could handle. Three destruction spells on the adept level of destruction magic, and a novice level alteration spell called oakflesh. Pleased with my purchases, I headed back to Jorvaskr.

As I got closer to Jorvaskr, it hit me that Viranus would still be there! Deciding that I didn't want to deal with him yet, I headed to the training yard in the back and lit some torches. Now is the perfect time to practice those spells I thought while pulling out the spell books.

Starting with the easiest, I began to read the oakflesh spell book. After memorizing the basics, I tried it. I immediately felt a stiffening of my skin; what an uncomfortable feeling! I put the book off to the side after casting it a few more times, just to be sure.

Next was the lightning spell. I read the first page and realized that the lightning would jump from target to target. That will be great for crowd control I thought before charging the spell. Being a higher level spell, I could feel my magicka dip lower than usual as I charged it. The crackling of the electricity and the clap of thunder always had made lightning spells exhilarating to cast. The extra loss of magicka was definitely worth it, though, as I watched lightning jump from one practice dummy to another. I felt like I could cast it one or two more times before I would drain myself of magicka. I managed to cast it three more times, before giving out.

I sat down at a table and took a break. I can't believe that there is another dragon. What if there are even more? I have a feeling that I am going to be seeing more dragons in my future. With that depressing thought, I rose from the chair and grabbed one of the two books that were left.

I opened it and learned that I had grabbed the fire spell. The spell was pretty easy and straightforward to learn, but it still drained my magicka rather quickly. When the spell hit the dummy, I wasn't expecting an explosion. The dummy rattled pitifully on his pole, as did the others. Maybe all of the adept level destruction spells are crowd control...Trusting that I could cast it without extra practice, I set the book aside.

All that could be left was the frost spell. These had always been my favorite type of destruction magic. As I read the book, I wasn't surprised to see that it was also a spell with an affected area instead of just a concentration in one place. This one was the most complex to learn, but the most rewarding to cast. I focused the required amount of magicka, charged, and released. The spell was like casting a small moving blizzard. It swept up everything in its path mercilessly. I think I'll be using that regularly I thought with a satisfied smile.

I gathered my books and my bag and headed inside, but not before turning to look at the mess I had made of the practice dummies. I'll have to remember to ask Kodlak to have some made of stone for metal I thought with a bit of embarrassment.


AN: Sorry this one was short, but I needed to get the plot rolling in a specific direction. I realize that it kind of was just floating from one thing to another, without any sense of direction. Thanks for reading!