Desmond rushed down the street, his sight blurring gray around the edges. Shit, is my Eagle Vision turning on by itself? A guard came into view and was tinged red. Shit, it really is. Desmond shook his head to try and clear it, but to no avail. Shit shit shit, this isn't good. My brain is utterly fucked.

He screeched to a halt back at the well and pulled up a bucket of water. Splashing it over his face had a calming effect, bringing him back to himself and cranking the world around him back into its usual coloration. He leaned over the well's edge, trying to steady his frantic breathing.

He couldn't believe the violent urge that had welled up inside him, just from being startled by someone with a weapon. The last time it'd happened, when Shaun had accidentally tripped and come flying at him with a knife and fork, his defensive reflex had nearly broken the historian's glasses. The other Assassins did forgive him for this, citing the Bleeding Effect, but if it happened here in Skyrim, that excuse wouldn't be recognized.

Is it really even the Bleeding Effect? he wondered, wiping a damp hand over his hair. Or am I just getting overly jumpy and paranoid?

"All right there, Desmond?"

He straightened up and turned around, trying to hide the unease he felt. "Yeah, Kayd. I'm fine."

Kayd tilted his head, his mouth a thin skeptical line. "You seem a bit shaky."

"Well, I-" Desmond cleared his throat and stepped forward, lowering his voice so no bystanders could hear their conversation. "I'm still getting used to this world, I guess."

"Ah. Foreigners often say that they find Skyrim a strange place. This strangeness must be magnified ten times over for someone as foreign as yourself."

Desmond nodded. "Hell, just dealing with everything going on back home was pretty difficult at times. And now I'm here..." He glanced around the town square, up into the sky and into the horizon. "...forever, maybe."

Kayd was silent a moment, fingering his axe handle, then... "What say we go hunt our lunch?" He put on a bright smile. "A sated man's happier than a hungry one, no matter what realm he's from."

They spotted a couple deer out on the rugged plains west of Whiterun, but utterly failed in hunting them, for the animals were quite keen of ear, and galloped away whenever either man tried to sneak in for the kill. Desmond wished to hell he'd had enough money for a bow and some arrows. "Dammit, I'm a good sneaker! How do these friggin' deer keep detecting me?"

"A shame there are no large trees about here," Kayd lamented. "One of your 'air assassinations' would do the trick, I bet."

"Yeah, that's what I usually did when I was hunting as Conn- um, when I went hunting back on my world. Way faster than setting a snare and waiting around." Desmond sighed and adjusted the strap on his knapsack. "Man, I can just hear my dad's voice now: 'Patience, son, patience. The fastest way isn't always the best.'"

In the end, they opted for less fleet-footed prey: an ugly grey-brown thing that scuttled along a meandering brook, almost, but not quite blending into the mud and rocks. They upended it over a quick campfire and soon it was cooked in its own shell.

As they munched on mudcrab, Kayd said, "Perhaps the mage of Dragonsreach can magic you back home, once we've done him this favor."

"Ya think so?" Desmond hadn't considered this possibility. He wasn't sure what all this place's magic was capable of. Hell, the very concept of "magic" was still new to him. He thought about his potion-healed muscles, that disappearing book in Helgen, the enchanted rings Kayd had spoken of before. All those were things of wonder, sure, but they were a far cry away from a 'Voip Back To Earth' spell.

"If he cannot, then you should make the College of Winterhold your next destination."

"College?" Desmond quirked an eyebrow. "Do they offer, like, a master's in dimensional travel?"

Kayd looked similarly confused, but managed to reply, "A Master of Alteration perhaps could do it."

"Uh, are we talking about the same thing? In my world a 'college' is a... place of advanced learning."

"It is the same thing, then. The most knowledgeable mages study and teach at Winterhold."

"Oh, it's a magic school." Desmond tried not to think of Harry Potter. "Yeah, that sounds promising. I mean, if they're not too busy freaking out about that dragon heralding the End Times, then... Oh." He dropped his head into his hands.

"Oh?"

"End Times." Desmond laughed bitterly. "Just reminded myself of... what happened in my world."

"Oh... In your world, you died," Kayd recalled, the words slow and somber.

"Yeah. A sacrifice to save everybody else. But maybe..." Desmond turned over his right arm, inspecting it. Same as ever since he'd found himself in Skyrim, the skin showed no trace of the Eye's searing heat. "Maybe I didn't die? Maybe Minerva did something, sent me here so Juno wouldn't get out."

These names were of course unknown to Kayd. "Who are they?"

Desmond was more talking to himself now, though. "But if Juno didn't get out, then the thingy didn't activate and that means- shit." He felt a choking pain in his chest at the possibility that his homeworld might have been burned to a crisp by the solar cataclysm. "Fucking fuck." Had all his and his teammates' work been for nothing? He shook his head. "But no, I definitely remember this arm felt like it was getting burnt up. Maybe... maybe that wasn't really me? Maybe I'm... a clone or something? Shit, man."

"What is a 'clone'?"

Desmond looked up. "Like, a copy of a person. A duplicate." He scratched his head. "I dunno. I don't feel... clone-ey. Not that I know what that would feel like, though. Maybe my arm just got magically healed?"

"Perhaps the only way to know for sure is to return home," Kayd suggested. "Ask this Minerva herself if she... interfered in your death?"

Desmond snorted. "Assuming she'd even give me a straight answer, and not just spout some cryptic Precursor bullcrap. But hey, she was at least more understandable than Juno."

Kayd tossed away the remains of his mudcrab claw, and they splashed into the brook. "Who are these... women?"

"I guess you can call 'em women." Desmond discarded the last inedible bits from his meal as well. "They pretended they were gods." He was thinking on how further to explain when he noticed Kayd looked suddenly upset. "What?"

"Do you perhaps mean they are former humans ascended to godhood?" Kayd said, his tone stiff and meaningful.

"Wait, what? They weren't ever humans; they're a completely different race. And not gods, 'cause they're definitely mortal. Powerful, but mortal."

"Oh." Kayd relaxed noticeably. "All right."

Desmond wondered what sort of nerve he'd nearly struck, but decided to maybe bring it up another time. "Anyway, their race- they're called Precursors, or the First Civilization- they were like the rulers of the world back a million years ago. But humans rebelled against them, so there was a big war, and then most of 'em died in a fiery cataclysm, but apparently there's a few still hanging around. Or maybe just their consciousnesses, their spirits or something." He shrugged. "I don't understand the whole situation myself, honestly."

"Hm." Kayd nodded. "They are your world's equivalent of Daedra, perhaps?"

Desmond shrugged again. "You'd have to explain what those are."

"I fear I could not explain their nature properly. They are... mysterious and powerful beings. Worshipped by some, but most definitely not Divine."

A silence fell then, a lull in the conversation. Desmond thought about bringing up the subject of those Standing Stones and how eerily reminiscent of Precursor relics they were.

But just as he was forming the thought into words, Kayd looked up at the sky. "We ought to get moving if we're to make it to Bleak Falls Barrow before nightfall."

Sure enough, the sun was well on its way downward from high noon. Desmond stood and kicked dirt over the campfire, and tried not to let the dying embers remind him of home.

The journey over rocky rolling hills was rather uneventful from there. To pass the time, Kayd eventually started up talking to Desmond again. "So, what is it like, your world?"

"It's... Hm." He threw back his hood and scratched his head. "Yeesh, where do I start? It's way different than this one, I'll say. The main difference is there's lots more technology."

"What are… tekna lajee?" Kayd split the word in two when he said it, the same way he'd done with "Brook Lin".

"Technology is, like... Machines. Devices. Contraptions."

Kayd nodded. "These words I recognize, but that doesn't tell me much. What manner of devices?"

"All manner. Like, for example... you know lightning, right?"

Kayd gave a tiny smile. "Yes, we have lightning in this world as well."

"Well, the machines are powered by lightning, and they do all sorts of stuff. For example, instead of horses and carts, we have wheeled machines that transport people and things on the roads." Desmond shook his head. "Wait, no. The wheeled machines run off fire, for the most part, not lightning. But actually, they're starting to make new ones that run on lightning instead, because of the environment."

"Because of the... environment," Kayd repeated slowly, clearly not comprehending.

"Yeah, because the fire-machines make a lot of smoke."

"Fire will do that," Kayd said with a smile.

"Yeah, but it's bad for the air. And with millions and billions of people, pollution is a big deal."

"Billions?"

"Thousands of millions."

Kayd rubbed his head.

Desmond didn't even give him a second to process this, for he was on a roll with the next thing already. "Oh, and I bet you guys have to write letters for communication, right? Well, we have little machines called 'phones', and you just talk into the phone, like talking to a person that's right there, but they could be on the other side of the planet; as long as they have a phone too, they can hear you."

Kayd's eyes had become unfocused as he pondered this concept.

"And the phones can do other stuff too," Desmond elaborated. "They can store music and books and games and all sorts'a stuff."

"I cannot begin to imagine," Kayd said, then nearly tripped over an exposed tree root in his absentmindedness before catching himself. "These 'phones'... What do they look like?"

"A little flat metal box, about yea big." Desmond formed two L shapes with his thumbs and index fingers and outlined a rectangle in the air.

Kayd stared through the emptiness between those fingers.

"I mean, some phones are bigger or smaller, but this is about the standard size... Also there's no magic."

Kayd stopped walking. "How's that?" he asked incredulously.

Desmond turned back to face him. "We don't have magic in my world."

"Surely you jest. This 'phone' you speak of is quite clearly a magical device."

Desmond shrugged. "I know, it sure sounds like magic, but I'm pretty sure it's not. Just, um, computer chips and wires and stuff."

"Comm pitter chips," Kayd repeated, scratching his head. "Your world sounds quite bizarre."

Desmond smiled and shrugged again. "It is pretty bizarre a lot of the time. But in some ways, it's not that different then this place." He spun in a half-circle with one arm outstretched, indicating the flora around them, and started walking again. "For example, it seems most of your plants and animals are similar, and we understand each other's language near perfectly."

Kayd stepped up beside him. "If your plants are similar, then your world does indeed have magic."

Desmond cocked his head and gave him a doubtful look. "We don't have those glowy hummy weed things."

Kayd grinned. "Nirnroot are not the sole source of magic in the bounty of nature." Without pausing a beat in his walking pace, he bent down and snapped a cornflower blue blossom from a bush as they passed it. "Blue mountain flower."

"Flowers are magic now?" Desmond stared at the thing. "It looks pretty damn normal to me."

"Ah, but when you eat it..." -Kayd plucked a couple petals off, popped them in his mouth, and chewed briefly- "...it restores your vitality. A health potion is not always at hand, you see."

Desmond gaped. "You are punking me," he declared, jabbing a finger at Kayd. "I know you guys don't have reality TV or Ashton Kutcher, but I fucking know when I am being punk'd!"

Kayd was understandably thrown by the reference, but he didn't question it, just held the flower to Desmond's face.

"Sorry, but in my world flowers aren't for eating. They're for romance. You look like you're trying to, uh, court me."

"Lovers court with flowers here as well," Kayd said, tucking the flower away in a pocket, "but it is still good to make note of their magical properties. Some grant immunity to poisons for a short while, or resistance to foul magicks. The bounty of Mara is all around us for those who would acknowledge her blessings."

"Mn," Desmond said. "So... Mara is you guys' God?"

"She is the Mother-Goddess."

"Oh. Is there a Father God?" Desmond asked, feeling oddly awkward. It was important to get up to speed on the culture of this world, he figured, but he didn't really have experience conversing about gods and other religious matters. His upbringing had been mostly secular; though there were some religious Assassins on the Farm, those had been a minority. Plus the whole business of the Templars being historically aligned with church interests. But then again that was Christianity, he reminded himself. Whatever religion Kayd follows is clearly gonna be a whole different animal.

"Father-God? There is none titled as such, but if you mean the chiefest among the Divines, that would be Akatosh." Kayd grinned again. "Mind you, Talos is a close second."

"So there's lots of gods?"

"There are nine Divines. Though the Elves will say eight, as they detest Talos."

"Nine?" Desmond whistled. "Most people back home just worship one god."

"Billions of people, but only one god." Kayd scratched his head. "And a complete lack of magic. You're sure? There are no mages, no spellbooks, no plants with mystic properties?"

"Well... I guess some plants are used for medicine back on Earth," Desmond conceded, "but they're like, mixed up into pills first; we don't just eat them straight out the ground."

"Alchemy, then?"

"Nope. Chemistry. It's not magic."

Kayd shook his head and looked forward into the distance. "Perhaps your world's magic is just... different than ours. A world without any magic at all is hard to fathom."

"Well... I did run across some pretty fantastical stuff. Maybe you're right."

The landscape was growing colder and rockier as they went along the mountain path. Desmond glanced over the edge and saw they were already quite far from the flat plains of Whiterun.

"Not afraid of heights, I hope?" Kayd asked.

Desmond laughed. "Nah, not at all. This is like nothing."

In the distance loomed a stony structure. It loomed larger and larger with every yard closer they got to it. A thick mist of snow dusted everything, and the wind tossed it around like fog, making the whole landscape supremely stunning.

Desmond pulled his hood tighter over his face to try and block the powdery cold. "This is it, huh? One of the most badass-looking tombs I've ever seen." He slowed down and looked around. There was an ominous echo about the place, and the eerie sound was compounded by the usual rush of whispering static when he switched into Eagle Vision. A couple blots of red were visible milling around outside the barrow entrance. "Careful. We got enemies," he said quietly.

"Bandits," Kayd spat under his breath. "Here to plunder these hallowed halls for profit."

"That's not nice of them."

"Indeed not."

"The dead should rest in peace." Just saying the words reminded Desmond of Ezio, filled him with fighting spirit and remembrances of taking down thugs with ease and aplomb. For the moment, he could forget about his old home, about Precursors and prophesies. He unsheathed his sword and shot Kayd a grin. "What say we teach 'em a lesson?"

The Redguard already had his axe out and ready. "Gladly. Let's go."