Chapter 9 – Changes

Hidden deep in the southern mountains of Skyrim a man stepped out of the ruins of Valthume. What power hid in the ruins was gone now, the Draugr all lay dead on the ground, the sacred tomb was empty, even the apparition that guarded the ruin had vanished. The man smiled adjusting the armor he wore before placing an iron mask on his face and striding away from the temple. The specter's last words rang in his head, "I failed".

Within the ancient temple Ragnvald a wanderer places the skull keys into their holes. When he was a child, his grandfather warned him of this place. Of the so-called evil locked away, and the power it held. He planned to take the mask off the withered corpse and sell it to the highest bidder. The Draugr had proven no problem. If they were meant to be guardians, the evil couldn't be much more difficult. As the black iron bars receded a dry cackle rose from the sarcophagus.

A Khajiit shivered alone on an icy peak. He knew that the peak was meant to be secluded and only accessible from the ruins below, but he cared more for rock climbing than dungeon diving. He was unsure about what it was that drew him here, whatever it was had been incessant. Now that he was here though, he questioned what to do. He looked around the peak to find a wall and one of those boxes the Nords bury their dead in. Looking inside he found what called to him: a mask.

On the icy northern shores, a woman sat staring out to sea as if she had never really looked at it before. She had just escaped from the High Gate Ruins with the answers she had been seeking for years. She felt great, better than she had in years. She fell back as the waves crashed before her. With a start, she jumped out of the sand, feeling her body as if checking for anything missing. A grey mask rested by her side as she laughed at the irony of it all.

High over the frosty peaks, a dragon flew. It felt odd. The dragon could not describe this feeling all it knew was that this feeling was not present when Alduin resurrected it. It stumbled a bit in its flight when it heard the rumble again. The dragon could not pinpoint the source, the skies were clear and no one was following it, but the rumble followed it regardless. It considered returning to the new Zeymah and asking the small thing about this feeling.

Govegein cursed as he lifted the Krosis mask from the burial site. He did not appreciate being played the fool like this, it would seem Rolor was finally able to pull one over on him. Behind him Aela paced angrily while Reysi sat in the snow. Aela kept muttering to herself, something about how could he not tell them. Govegein didn't really care, he focused on what this would mean. Rolor willingly left his mask behind, but Govegein would not wrap his head around why. Did he believe he no longer needed the mask now that it did not respond to him? Was he trying to tell Govegein that he would not be a problem in this time? Not that Govegein would actually believe that. Could Akatosh be alright with him getting away? His note was rather sparse on instructions.

Govegein heard the crunch of snow as Reysi stood up and walked towards him. "Okay, so now you're immortal too, I guess." He turned around, Reysi's vampirism often slipped Govegein's mind along with its inherent benefits and detriments. Reysi looked around nervously, she was still processing Govegein's apparent divinity. "We can explore that later. Right now, can you just explain, in a little more detail, what it is we are up against here?" She had a point, Govegein had never been very open with information. To be fair he never had to tell anyone anything more than who to kill, his troops never asked questions, one perk of being a cult leader.

"Alright," Govegein said. Aela stopped her pacing, her wolfish eyes locked onto his. "A very long, long time ago I was friends with some people who later betrayed me, which you have gathered from our encounter with Raghot. They are immensely powerful mages who prepared for the eventual return of the dragons. Now that the dragons have been revived, so have they. As far as I can tell, they planned to revive themselves and regain their rule over the land. I'm no longer even sure what exactly they can do, they continued to grow their power after I was banished."

"So what, they're still just withered corpses aren't they?" Aela interjected.

Govegein donned his wooden mask before continuing. "That was before they were fully revived. They were little more than Draugr then. By now the five remaining priests have returned to full strength, however they went about revival. I can feel the four remaining masks moving."

"Where are they?" Reysi asked before a bellowing roar called down from the sky.

The ancient dragon practically fell out of the sky as it landed. Snow flew everywhere, covering the three on the mountain, "What is happening to me?!" it shouted.

Govegein pulled himself out of the snow pile. "I don't know," he replied, "Why don't you try describing the problem rather than SHOUTING AT ME!" Govegein's eyes glowed red and the snow began to steam as he finished getting up.

"I-I'm sorry. I meant no disrespect," the dragon's head was bowed, it's jaw almost touching the ground. Govegein's eyes reverted and he gestured for the dragon to continue. "As I was flying away I felt a burning pain in my . . . chest? No it was closer to my legs. Then there was the growling that followed me through the sky, it was always behind me but there was nothing following me. Then I found the second tail." The dragon reared up on his hind legs and Govegein shielded his eyes at the sight of the 'second tail'.

"Oh, Gods. Please put that away," Govegein shouted. The dragon fell back onto one wing and tried to hide the new organ with the other wing. "I-I think it should, I don't know, slide under some scales or . . . something. Okay, now that that is away, I can tell you that everything you're experiencing is normal. The pain and sounds were hunger, just go eat a cow or something. The uh, second tail, as you put it is mainly for reproducing."

"It's a boy!" Reysi shouted from under the snow.

The dragon cocked its head. "You're mortal now. You are going to have to eat and drink, and make children . . . and not come back to life after dying." The dragon's eyes widened as mortality set in. "Heh, Dragonrend."

"I'm going to die one day?" the dragon asked, dumbfounded.

"Yeah."

"What is that like?"

"Not too fun while you're dying," Govegein sighed. "Then you float between planes of Oblivion for a bit before entering Aetherius, which is a rather peaceful few minutes. Finally, you wake up inside the realm of whichever Aedra, or Daedra, has a claim on your soul."

The dragon moved closer, examining the man that stood before him. "You sound like you speak from experience."

Govegein laughed, "I would say 'ask Alduin about that,' but we already repaid him in kind." Govegein looked over the dragon once again. "For now, we will have to think of the future. There will be more like you, once I make them, and I ask you to help them through this transition."

"B-but I am not even-"

"You will be," Govegein interrupted. He turned to the north east and pointed, "Go to Winterhold if you still have questions about being mortal, I have a friend there that owes me a favor. Not to mention the mages would be more than happy to examine you and likely answer any questions you have." The dragon shifted its weight nervously, still wrestling with this change. "I would ask your name, to call on you when another is to join you."

The dragon looked down into the snow before looking into Govegein's eyes and saying, "Nidhonmaar."

Govegein smiled, "A silent terror, are you?" He patted the dragon on his nose. "The mortals know me as Govegein. Congratulations, Nidhonmaar, the Diistkiin, firstborn of the second generation of the Dov."

Shocked, Nidhonmaar pulled back, "Th-thank you. For this honor. I will not fail you, Zeymah." He walked away tentatively, unused to walking the ground for so long, but afraid to fly. Govegein hoped he would get used to it soon enough, he didn't want to be responsible for stealing the sky from the dragons.

Looking around, he noticed Reysi sitting in the snow grinning that way she does, but Aela was nowhere to be seen. After some light digging, he found her laying in the snow looking exhausted. "Are we going to have to deal with this every time we fight a dragon?" she asked, unmoving from the snow.

Govegein sat next to her, "You are free to leave any time. Go back to Whiterun, hunt beasts, and put fools back in their place."

Aela sat up, brushing snow and dirt off herself. "Where is the next gods damn priest?"

In the south of Skyrim, a man wandered through the forest. His robes, though ragged, were unmistakable as those of a dragon priest. At least he thought so, any attention he got from the masses were in question of his appearance. He thought back to his past life as he approached a temple built into a cliff face. He walked its dark halls, hand tracing the carvings in the wall. This was the last place all nine of them were together. Come to think of it, he never saw the other seven at once after the ordeal either. It was more than the war, at least he thought. They all had changed too much. He finally reached the room he was looking for. The man smiled, looking at the nine alcoves. His voice broke the deafening silence, the first time he had spoken in centuries, "I wonder what you've been up to, Beimiir?"

To the north, a woman trudged through the swamps, she didn't remember them being this . . . swampy. She looked at the mask in her hands again. She could feel the power radiating from it, more than she could tap into when she wore it. She screamed in frustration, it wasn't supposed to go like this. In response to the scream she heard the scuttling of frostbite spiders, their cries as they prepared to spit poison at her. With a wave of her hand the air trembled and the spiders shuddered and died, liquified insides spilling out of their carapaces. The woman didn't even have to look up from the mask.

A Khajiit lead his new master towards Solitude, the man had asked him to go to the nearest city. The Khajiit remembered little of his life before the master, only that it was sad and unfortunate. He knew that the master would be pleased with Solitude, so many minds to influence. So much fear to feed from. Fear? No, his master was a benevolent man. He simply wanted to spread his benevolence to the people of Skyrim. A memory of his past life flashed through the Khajiit's mind and he fell over screaming. The man loomed over him, bronze colored mask flashing in the evening light. The Khajiit fell silent before rising out of the dirt, blank look on his face. A Khajiit lead his new master towards Solitude, the man had asked him to go to the nearest city.

A Draugr laughed manically as he stood outside a Foresworn encampment. His new armor gleaming silver in contrast to the dull green of his mask. He charged forward, warhammer raised high over his head with one arm. When the Foresworn warriors began to advance towards the lone warrior he slammed his hammer into the ground. With a surge of magika and a pulse driven through the loose dirt, the ground cracked open beneath them. The barbarians disappeared into the stone as the man began to laugh again. A shard of ice shattered against the warrior's shoulder. The green mask turned to see the decrepit form of a hagraven shuffling towards him.

A man sat on a throne of bones, smiling as he sipped at sweet wine. He looked over the town of Rorikstead, at the people kneeling before him. There was not one among them with unbroken skin or a beating heart. He would have enjoyed taking more time, getting personal with each of them. Alas, he was short on time. So much to do, reaffirm his power in Skyrim, unlock the enchantments of his mask, and of course to hunt down the traitorous bastard that started all of this. On second thought, that last one could wait, the outcast was coming for all the priests, it was only a matter of time. Though that only made the other two priorities more pressing. With a gesture, the corpses rose, going about their grim work.

Govegein looked around the frozen peak, feeling the wooden mask pull to last four masks. All to the west of where they were. Pulling Aela to her feet and calling for Reysi's attention he said, "I guess we're going west."

Hey, sorry I've been silent for like a year . . . again . . . I got distracted with school and junk. Also with the way the story was going, it was just turning into a tour of the tombs with some jokes along the way. It was boring to write and, I was afraid, boring to read. So, I hope you guys like where I'm going with the story now, and as always feedback is very much appreciated.