Chapter 10: Another Adventure
The Glass Army (10)
Skyrim, 4E 203, 7th of Second Seed, Today
"...and legend has it, that after that, every century, the Sea of Ghosts would freeze over, and men from various provinces would come and cross the ice to join them. Many would go, none come back."
Soran finished with a final strum of his lute. Valer sat up and looked him dead in the eye.
"Wow...I have never heard someone talk so much in my life." He said.
Serana jabbed him in the rib, and Soran just smiled. Valer had fallen asleep numerous times during the story, which resulted in her scolding him with quick, unobservable punches to the gut.
"Okay, okay, fine. But really, that's deep."
Soran nodded.
"Did the Psijics try to cross the ice?" Serana asked.
"A few tried. However, whenever one of them tries, the ice breaks beneath their feet, and they drown."
Valer had met a few Psijics when he was on a mission to stop the destruction of Winterhold. He never really knew what they did. They'd been more of "beneficial acquaintances".
"So the people of Skyrim have gone to see them?" He said, roughly.
"Yes. I might go myself. When the horn blows, it signals the start of the freezing." Soran said.
Valer exhaled, stood up, and held his hand out to Serana.
"Where are we going?" She asked, taking it and standing.
He pulled out a coin purse full of septims and dropped it in front of Soran. "Thanks."
Soran spluttered when he saw the amount of gold. "T-this is so much! I can't thank you enough!"
"I think you just did. Come on, we're going to see them."
Serana's eyes lit up. "Them?"
Serana always loved adventuring Skyrim. It gave her the chance to see its beauty again.
"Them." He said.
-Winterhold-
On the beach of the Sea of Ghosts stood nearly every citizen of Skyrim. Apart from them were people from other provinces. They were all packed onto the beach almost touching the icy cold water, only the water was ice.
"We are here, Dovahkiin." Odahviing said, circling over the crumbled city.
"You can drop us off at the college. We'll make it on our own, for now." Valer said.
Odahviing perched on top of the entrance archway of the College of Winterhold. The few guards that were still patrolling the half-city ran away, dropping their weapons.
"I wonder who hired them." Serana said, smiling.
If Odahviing had more facial maneuverability, he would have too. Valer never really paid any attention to how the townspeople react to his "entries", and even if he did, he wouldn't mind. The guards, however, attempted to arrest him the first few times before being discharged for attacking a higher ranked officer, such as himself. They never tried again.
"Until the next time!" Odahviing flew off, making the guards run further. He chuckled in the distance.
They both walked down the hill, trying to squeeze past the people crowding the beach. When they reached the ice, their breath caught in their throats. Soran wasn't exaggerating about the water freezing over. It was COMPLETELY frozen to near rock status. They could see a blizzard in the distance. But through the blizzard, there was an immeasurable amount of, as it looked like, soldiers, warriors marching across the horizon.
"Wow...I guess it's not all legend." Serana said, and immediately regretted it.
Valer smiled. "I wonder if the rest is legend."
"Well, I don't. And I don't think you sho-"
By then, Valer was already sprinting across the ice. People gasped, some even cheered. Serana's eyes widened and she bolted after him.
"Wait! What are you doing?!" She shouted. But the blizzard drowned out her words.
To her surprise, Valer stopped to wait for her. She was about to scold him, when the blizzard grew stronger.
"Hey! Hey!" Someone yelled in the distance. They both turned to see Soran on the beach. The only problem was, the beach was farther than it was last time.
Then, the blizzard grew to unbelievable intensity, making it impossible to see farther than a few feet. Valer held Serana so she wouldn't fly off or get too cold. Even vampires had their limits.
Then, as abruptly as it had started, the blizzard stopped, and the air was cleared. The shore was nowhere to be seen.
Serana looked up at Valer. "Did you do that?" She was referring to his clear skies shout.
He shook his head. They sighed in partial relief that the storm was now over, but when they turned around, their hearts skipped two beats. Standing there, all identical, save their weapons, were men in Glass armor.
They just stood like that for a few seconds, just staring at each other. There were close to a thousand of the armored people, all of them facing Valer and Serana. One of them walked up to the two. He had an elder scroll on his back.
"Another recruit already?" He said, sighing.
They didn't respond.
"What are your names?"
Valer fully snapped back into the real world. "I-um...how?" He said, pointing towards where the beach once was.
"We'll get to that later. Now, your names?"
Serana stepped forward. "S-Serana. I'm a mage."
"Valer. The Dragonborn."
The knight's demeanor changed.
"The Dragonborn?" He said.
Another knight walked to his side. They whispered some words to each other, then they all stood at full attention. The first one walked closer to Valer, and held out his hand. Valer looked at him warily, then took it. Immediately, a strange golden aura swirled around them, just barely visible, and the ice beneath their feet started to crackle.
"So...it's finally time." The knight said.
Valer blinked. "What?"
Suddenly, there was a loud cracking sound behind them. They turned to see the ice breaking and sinking.
"Time to go."
They all bolted away from the breaking ice as another blizzard crept in. Scratch that, it devoured them, quickly blocking any sight beyond their own feet. Again, as quickly as it came in, it was gone in a heart beat, and yet again they were in a completely different scene. They were now on a frozen beach.
Serana's head was spinning. She didn't understand a single thing that had happened. And the fact that it was in quick succession made it worse.
Valer, on the other hand, was excited beyond belief. He was at long last finally doing something different than his normal routine day. He hated routine. Nothing interesting happened unless he snuck away for a day or two.
The knight looked over his shoulder. "Follow me."
Without question, they did. As they walked through the frozen woods, they could see large walls in the distance. In no time, they were at the city...or what once was. It was even worse than Winterhold on numerous levels, starting with the addition of dead bodies littering the interior. The walls were weak enough to be broken down by a ram, and the rest...was the definition of ruined.
The knight held his arms out, presenting the "city". "Welcome to Yjergnheim."
As they walked through the ruined fortress, they passed by countless dead bodies frozen in ice. Serana gripped onto Valer's arm when she saw the skeleton of a little girl. When they reached the castle, Valer spoke up and asked the obvious question.
"What in Oblivion happened here?"
The knight turned around. "In due time. For now, it is our turn to introduce ourselves to you."
He took off his helmet, and underneath was a blond man who looked like he was in his early thirties. He looked like a Nord, but had certain qualities that didn't fit. "My name is Fenris."
Three others behind him did the same. One of them was a woman.
Valer held his hands up and shook his head. "Wait. I'm pretty sure I know, but just to boost my surety, who are you people?"
Fenris glanced at the others, then tilted his head up. "We are the Order of Anu."
All was quiet for a solid minute. Then, Valer's memory jumped in.
"W-wait. F-Fenris? As in Fenris Eraldsen?"
"That's right." He said, nonchalantly.
Valer shot a glance at Serana who was equally shocked. The Fenris from the myth, no, from the past. They were standing in front of a legend (not that Valer hasn't before).
"I-I-" Serana stammered.
Fenris smiled. "Well, before we explain things, I believe you're tired."
Without a signal, the other three knights that removed their helmets approached them. They took Valer's pack and led them to a room that hadn't really been damaged. The woman made a bed (which wasn't damaged either). She walked to them and took Valer's weapons. Just when she was about to take his dagger, he stopped her.
"I think I'll keep that, Ms. ..."
"Kirstia." She said, smiling. "Kirstia Eraldsen."
Valer and Serana's eyes widened. Kirstia walked out of the doorway, then turned back to them. "Tomorrow morning we'll explain everything. Just get some rest."
Then she left.
They stared at the empty doorway. After a few seconds, they both exhaled and plopped down on the bed.
"Wow..." Serana breathed.
"Yeah..." said Valer.
Then, reality shook them again. "How are we going to get back?!" Serana said, looking at Valer.
"I...I don't know."
She glared at him. "Why do you always have to run head first in every situation?! Look what we've gotten into!" She exclaimed, hitting him on the shoulder.
If she wasn't thinking straight, she could have broke his arm with her vampire strength.
"They haven't given us a reason to not trust them, and from what we heard, I don't think they'd hurt us."
Serana was about to scold and reprimand him, but decided against it. She just exhaled and laid down. He did the same, but they didn't sleep. When Valer did drift off, he had the dream, with the addition of increased pain in his abdomen.
An hour later, Serana couldn't take it anymore. She heard people talking in the room opposite theirs.
"Valer?" She whispered.
"Yes?"
She shifted her body to face him. "Aren't you curious about what they're talking about?"
Valer smirked. "Says the one who doesn't like it when I sneak around."
"Not funny."
He sighed. "I've got nothing better to do. Let's go."
They both got off of the bed and crept up to the doorway. They could hear them, but they couldn't make out the words. Valer did a silent roll and stationed himself at the entrance of the other room.
'Show off.' She thought.
Serana drank an invisibility potion and snuck over to the other side. She peeked around the corner and saw four knights around a table.
"...and now he's here. He's finally here." One of them said.
"Hold on. We're not even sure if it's him. Besides, there have been many of your kind over the centuries, right Fenris?" Kirstia said.
"Like me, maybe. But like him? No. He's the Last Dragonborn." Fenris said, solemnly.
The other murmured. "You mean...he killed the World-Eater?"
Fenris nodded. The others murmured even more. "How do you know?" Kirstia asked shakily.
"We have an asset in Skyrim. He's been keeping tabs on things."
They spoke more, speaking about Valer's other feats. After hearing it all again, Valer could remember those days as if they were a few hours ago. Actually, most of them had been a year ago. Then, something caught his attention.
"So...he's the chosen one." Fenris said.
"At long last."
"We don't have to wait any longer, brothers!"
"Wait!" Kirstia said, with fire in her voice. "Remember what Akatosh said? He'd be...different? We still have a long way to go until he's ready."
The others fell silent. Valer couldn't believe what he was hearing. They had been waiting for over five millennia for him? He may be special. Hell, he even killed a so called 'god', but he didn't know he was that important. When they started to walk out, he and Serana quietly ran back into their rooms and laid down as if they had been asleep. Nobody came.
Valer and Serana shot each other quick glances, and decided not to say anything.
Things just got interesting.