Kynesgrove looked a hell of a lot closer on a map.

Raven, even with all her conditioning, was beginning to feel the effects of exhaustion. Daren had almost passed out ten miles back. De'vohn, stoic as ever, showed no signs of being remotely tired, and Delphine's constitution was much the same. Amelia was noticeably tired, but seemed alert.

All in all, she was surprised they made it there alive.

It was nightfall, and the town probably would have been quieting down and getting ready for the night, if a dragon hadn't just flown overhead. So, instead, the townspeople were being herded into the mine by the few guards that had been tasked with defending the town from Imperial insurgents, not dragons. If the dragon had had any real intention of attacking the town, they would have all been killed already, Raven was sure. Delphine was sure that the dragon had been making for the tomb at the top of the hill behind the mine. Raven hoped she was right.

The group made their way toward the road up the hill, when they were stopped by a guard.

"The hell is wrong with you? Get to the mine!" she shouted, but after examining the five of them, quickly realized that they were running toward the beast on purpose. She nodded, silently wishing them good luck.

Raven again followed behind the main group, but noticed Daren was absent. Immediately concerned, she whipped around, and to her relief, found him leaned up against a rock, completely exhausted. His eyes met hers, and without speaking, he begged her for water. She decided to do him one better. Reaching into her pack, she dug around until she found what she was looking for: a vial full of blue, luminescent liquid.

"Drink this," she told him, handing him the vial. He looked at it in dismay. "Do it!" she hissed. Reluctantly, he obeyed. Almost immediately, his eyes lit back up, and his breath came much more regularly. A moment passed. "You good?" she asked, with genuine concern she hoped was noticeable.

He nodded, and the two made their way up the hill to join the others.

...

Amelia heard it before she saw it.

A deafening roar came from the top of the hill, stopping everyone in their tracks. Even Delphine hesitated, though she was the first to recover. The Blade motioned for them to take cover behind a boulder. Amelia needed no encouragement. After a tense few moments, she felt two people crouch down behind her. Daren and Raven.

"Took you long-" she started, before being shushed by Delphine and De'vohn.

She smiled nervously at her sister instead. Raven flashed a grin back, though it was noticeably devoid of feeling. A thundering voice went out in a language she couldn't understand, and Delphine craned her head around the boulder.

"...This is worse than I thought," she muttered.

Curious now, Amelia slowly peeked her head above the top of the boulder, followed by Raven and Daren to her left.

Immediately, she was acutely aware of why curiosity killed the cat.

The dragon had, until then, been obscured by cloud cover, so she hadn't been able to get a clear look at it. It was massive, easily dwarfing the inn in Kynesgrove. In color, it seemed darker than the night itself, as if it was the absence of all color. All except for its eyes, which she could only catch a glimpse of. Its eyes shone a bright red. The sight as a whole terrified her. A legend had come to life before her eyes, and part of her hoped this was just a dream, or an illusion.

"Sahloknir! Ziil gro dovah ulse! Slen Tiid Vo!" the great dragon yelled in a guttural language. (Ever-bound dragon spirit! Time against flesh!)

Amelia watched in horror as the skeletal remains of a dragon rose from the burial mound in front of them. It seemed to glow as fragments of muscle, skin, and scales grafted themselves to its frame, slowly forming another dragon, whose color was a dark red. As the last piece welded into place on its head, the beast gave a deep laugh, then spoke to the larger dragon.

"Alduin, thuri! Boann tiid vokriiha suleyksejun kruziik?" (Alduin, my overlord! Has the time come to revive the ancient realm?)

"Geh, Sahloknir," the black dragon replied. Then, it turned its massive head to stare down Daren. (Yes, Sahloknir)

"Ful, losei Dovahkiin? Zu'u koraav nid nol dov do hi." (So, my false Dragonborn? I do not recognize you as dragon.)

Amelia turned to her left to look at Daren, whose face had gone pale.

The great black dragon, Alduin, laughed. "You do not even speak our tongue, do you? Such arrogance, to take for yourself the name of Dovah."

Amelia felt a surge of hope as Daren's jaw clenched, the color returned to his face, and his eyes lit up.

Alduin made the closest thing to a sneer possible for a dragon. "Sahloknir, krii daar joore." (Sahloknir, kill these mortals.) Then the great dragon flew off, disappearing into the low-hanging clouds.

From the smile on his face, Amelia could see the red dragon had been waiting for the order. Turning to face the boulder, he opened up his gaping maw, and it glowed a bright yellow.

"Down!" she heard Delphine shout. Just in time, she obeyed, but still felt the searing heat of dragon fire through the boulder. After it died down, she drew Ashrune, but handed it off to Daren, knowing he'd need it to slice through the dragon's scales. Daren nodded in thanks, then crossed in front of her at a run to round the other side of the boulder. She went with her sister around the left. To her surprise, the dragon was nowhere to be seen. That surprise soon turned to terror as she heard it above them.

A glow in the clouds was all the warning they got. Thankfully, it was enough. Raven was able to throw a shield over them both in time, and Amelia got a firsthand look at dragon fire as it spread over the shield of magical energy. She could almost feel the heat through it anyway. Raven dropped the shield after she was reasonably sure the dragon had flown past. Amelia heard Delphine shout to no one in particular.

"Get it on the ground!"

"That would be helpful," Daren and De'vohn agreed in unison.

Amelia looked at her sister and cocked her head, gesturing to her arrows.

Raven shook her head.

"I'm on it."

Amelia saw her eyes glow for a second before she turned away, scanning the clouds for a sign of the beast. She watched as her sister's right arm became engulfed in crackling, blue lightning, and, finding what she was looking for, the mage loosed a bolt of energy into the clouds with a thunderous crack.

A cry echoed, and the dragon came crashing down from the clouds, trailing smoke. He hit the ground left wing-first, with an open, sizzling wound on the other, where the wing connected with his torso. He recovered almost immediately, shaking his head to get his bearings, then locking his violet eyes on Raven.

Thinking fast, Amelia nocked an arrow and aimed at the smoldering flesh on the dragon's wing. She exhaled and fired, praying that the arrow hit its mark.

The dragon let out a guttural growl as the arrow pierced its now unprotected skin. Its right wing fell limp to the ground. She'd severed a nerve. The beast stared her down and gritted its teeth, trying to conceal the glow in its mouth. She started to backpedal, but her heart sank as she realized she'd never reach cover in time. A shout rang out, startling Amelia and staggering the dragon. Seizing her chance, she dashed towards her sister, and into the safety of the shield. From there, she saw that the shout had come from Daren, who was now advancing on the dragon with more confidence than she had ever seen in anyone. He was, almost literally, taunting death itself. Then she saw De'vohn move around the dragon's left side - and understood.

As Daren closed the distance between him and the beast, De'vohn prepared to pounce. The dragon, Sahloknir, she now remembered, spoke.

"Mortal." He all but spat the word. Daren only grinned in response. Infuriated, Sahloknir began, in the guttural tongue Amelia had heard earlier, "Yol T-"

The rest was lost to a growl of pain as De'vohn jabbed his sword into the beast's remaining wing. She couldn't see the damage from where she was, but it must have been severe, because the dragon used that wing to throw De'vohn over in their direction, and the simple action elicited a cry of pain. Raven reached out to catch De'vohn with telekinesis, but dropped the shield protecting them in the process.

Amelia froze as the dragon once again stared her down. Its eyes flashed, and the glow came back to its mouth. But then she smiled.

In the confusion, it had forgotten about Daren.

The Nord had closed the distance, and slashed Ashrune upwards through a sizable chunk of the dragon's neck. He sidestepped to his right, and a crossbow bolt she assumed was shot by Delphine hit the same place he had cut. Instinctively, the dragon whipped its head around to face Daren, but the action only made the wounds on its neck worse, and it cried out in pain.

"Cover your ears," Raven ordered. Amelia did as she was told.

A thunderous CRACK! rang out, and a bolt of lightning hit the dragon in the right side of its face, horrifically scarring it. It roared in agony as the area that was hit bubbled and oozed, with its flesh and scales deteriorating into a mess of blood. Daren, though visibly disgusted, seized his chance.

The Dragonborn stabbed Ashrune into the top of the dragon's skull, forcing its massive head to the ground. It gave a startled gasp of air, then fell silent. For a tense few seconds, the only sound was the ragged breathing of the group and the wind. Amelia fell to her knees, exhausted, and, if she was being honest, a little shell-shocked from seeing her first dragon. The next thing that happened made her sure she was delirious.

The corpse of the beast was engulfed in flames as Daren absorbed some sort of energy from it. He glowed for a moment with a vibrant white light that illuminated the area. Then, night returned, and, with it, the silence.

After another few moments, Raven started toward Daren, meeting Delphine. A quick glance at De'vohn, and Amelia made for the others. She stood in awe of the skeleton, and nearly missed Daren handing her Ashrune. After she sheathed the weapon, she smiled at him, unable to hide the wonder in her eyes. He smiled back sheepishly, evidently still uncomfortable with his power. De'vohn seemed impressed as well, staying a few feet back to admire the group's handiwork. Her sister was trying her hardest to keep a grim expression, but her eyes betrayed her excitement. Delphine made no such effort, and was visibly blown away.

"Well," the Blade said into the silence, "I guess I owe you some answers."