"What have you become, when even nightmares fear you?" — Nessa, Path of Exile

"There is darkness inside all of us, though mine is more dangerous than most. Still, we all have it—that part of our soul that is irreparably damaged by the very trials and tribulations of life. We are what we are because of it, or perhaps in spite of it. Some use it as a shield to hide behind, others as an excuse to do unconscionable things. But, truly, the darkness is simply a piece of the whole, neither good nor evil unless you make it so." — Jenna Maclaine


When the Dragon Breaks 2

Aeros and the others arrived at the Frost-Veins' farm just as night fell. In the failing light, they could see all that remained was ruins. The farm was nothing but ashes, and the stables had been burnt to the ground. The house itself was a blackened shell, still smoking. Even some of the surrounding trees had been reduced to charred skeletons.

They all dismounted, tying their horses to some of the few trees that survived the catastrophe. Once the horses were secured, they all lit their torches and began picking their way through the wreckage, searching for any signs of Havard or the stranger. It was slow going, as they had to be careful not to trip over anything in the dark. Finally, Aela turned to Aeros.

"Aeros, I know you don't want to, but perhaps we should split into pairs, that way we can cover more ground," she suggested. "The longer we spend searching, the less the chances of survival for Sera's husband."

Aeros frowned, reluctant to split into smaller groups, but finally agreed. They began splitting into pairs, until Aeros realized something.

"We're an odd number," he realized aloud. "One of the groups is going to have to be a group of three." Before he could decide who would be part of that group, Serana spoke up.

"No need," she said. "Just have everyone else split into pairs."

"And what about you?" Aeros asked. He had a good idea of what she was going to suggest and didn't like it.

"I'll stay by myself," Serana replied. Aeros started to object, but she stopped him.

"It makes sense, Aeros," she said calmly. "Out of all of us, I have the best night vision, even compared to when you're transformed. I'm also the quietest of us all and have no problem slipping in and out of shadows. While the rest of you search the surrounding area by torchlight, I can search the shadows. Maybe if we're lucky, I might spot something the rest of you missed, or if this stranger is still around, maybe he'll be drawn to the torchlight and I can sneak up on him, or at least warn the rest of you."

Aeros looked for an argument he could make, but she was right. Plus, she was more than capable of defending herself.

"Fine," he said begrudgingly. "But don't do anything rash."

Serana smiled sweetly and kissed him on the cheek. "Don't worry, I won't," she said reassuringly. "That's what I have you for." She winked at him before disappearing into the shadows.

Everyone else split up into pairs. The twins stuck together, and Aleiane went with Aela, while Aeros and Lydia partnered up, easily falling back into a familiar pattern of things.

Everyone moved a ways off from each other and once again began searching the farm.

After another half hour of fruitless scouring, they all agreed to expand the search to the surrounding forest, since that was where Sera had said she had last seen Havard, when he had tried to hold off their attacker.

The forest was even darker than the farm, and to Aeros and Lydia, it felt like the shadows were continuously trying to creep in on their small circle of light.

While carefully avoiding roots and low-hanging branches, they found something; tracks.

Aeros crouched down to get a better look, examining them worriedly. Lydia also took a look, craning her head over Aeros's shoulder to get a better look.

"Are those-?" she began to ask.

"Werewolf tracks," Aeros confirmed grimly. "Big ones too. And they can't be more than a day or two old. The odd thing is, I can't pick up a scent."

"Nothing at all?" Lydia asked with surprise. Aeros shook his head.

"No, it's not that. There's definitely a scent, but I can't seem to pick up on it exactly, All I'm left with is a vague feeling that it's somehow familiar.

The two of them shared worried glances, but before they could discuss it more, a shout was raised nearby from Aela and Aleiane.

Aeros and Lydia hurried over, along with the twins, while Serana appeared seemingly out of nowhere to see what they had found.

They found Aela and Aleiane crouched down next to a limp body lying against the base of a tree. As they drew closer, the others saw that it was a Nord, a man.

Aeros crouched down next to Aela and Aleiane, and realized that the man was covered in multiple deep cuts and lacerations, and looked like he might even have several broken bones.

"Is he…?" Aeros started to ask before stopping.

Aela shook her head. "No. He's not dead yet, although he's damn close to it."

She looked over at Aeros. "Can you do anything about this?"

He shrugged uncertainly. "I'm not sure. He looks like he's lost a lot of blood, other injuries aside, and in the state he's in, I doubt we'd be able to get a potion down him. That means I'll have to use restoration magic. But I'm not an expert in this school of magic, and I'm nowhere near as good as someone like Colette or a priest. Still, I should be able to stabilize him, at least enough to get him out of here, but it'll take time."

Aleiane spoke up at this point. "I'll help too," she said, causing Aeros to raise an eyebrow at her in surprise. She explained further, "We lived in a dangerous portion of High Rock, so my mother made it a point to teach me some minor healing spells, in case I was ever on my own and got hurt."

Aeros mentally kicked himself. He couldn't believe that he had forgotten about Aleiane's Breton bloodline. Bretons were known for their natural aptitude for magic. He made a mental note to start teaching Aleiane when they got back to Whiterun. Perhaps he could even convince Danica Pure-Spring or Farengar to continue her lessons when he was not in Whiterun.

If he could teach her how to actually use magic, Aleiane would be a tremendous boon to the Companions. Probably due to their Nordic roots, the Companions were renowned for their skill in combat. However, magic was the one area in which they were severely lacking. The fact that they hadn't gotten their asses handed to them yet by a mage or group of mages was probably due to sheer luck as much as it was to skill.

Still, those were thoughts for another time. He nodded to Aleiane. "Alright. The more healers, the faster this process will go." He looked back up at the others. "While we're healing Havard, I need the rest of you to keep searching for this man, whoever he is. Remember, he can use Shouts, so if you do spot him, try not to engage. Just keep an eye on him, or fall back here."

The others nodded, dispersing back into the surrounding woods. Aeros turned back to the task at hand.

Seeing as they were going to need both hands for this healing, Aeros extinguished both torches, setting them against the tree. Focusing a small amount of magicka in his hand, he cast a magelight spell, directing it so that the little orb of light floated in the space between the two of them.

He motioned to Aleiane. "Kneel over there on the opposite side of him from me." She did as he directed, and he began explaining how a healing worked. "Now, I'm assuming you've never healed someone other than yourself, or worked with other healers before?" She shook her head. "Alright then. There are two main problems with multiple healers working on the same patient. The first is that magic tends to work on different wavelengths or frequencies. It's very rare for two mages to be able to cast magic at the same frequency without practicing first. So if if their magic isn't in sync it can cause the spells to cancel each other out or for the healers to inadvertently wind up in a contest of wills. Still following me?"

Aleiane nodded. "I think so."

"Good. Now, to prevent that, it's important for the spells to be at the same frequency. That means that I'm going to need you to focus on harmonizing your magic with mine." He paused to let that sink in.

"Now, the second issue is overlap. It's incredibly easy for multiple healers to try to heal the same spot, simply because they don't realize it's already been gone over. It's not as big of an issue as the first problem, as it doesn't cause any adverse effects to the patient, but it can lead to a huge waste of magicka, which can be an issue later on if the healing takes a long time."

"So, to make sure that doesn't happen, we'll divide roles. I'll focus on the more major and life-threatening injuries while you take care of the more minor ones, which should also work better for the amount of magicka you can draw on. Got it?"

"Got it," Aleiane replied, her face set in determination.

"Good," Aeros said, gathering magicka in his hands. "Let me know if you feel like you're running out of magicka; I have a number of magicka potions you can use to recharge."

With that, the two of them got to work. It was slow going. Aeros first healed the more visible life-threatening injuries, including a jagged tear across Havard's stomach, and what looked like a stab wound that had just barely missed his lungs. The fact that the man was even still alive was a testament to the stubbornness of Nords.

After those injuries were healed, he used his magic to delve inside the man's body, checking to see if there were any damaged organs. It looked like the cut on his stomach had avoided slicing his intestines, which was a good thing. A tear in those and there would have been a serious risk of infection. However, there seemed to be some substantial internal bleeding. He healed the source of the injury first. He then tried to disperse the blood as best he could, but it was difficult to heal internal injuries without actually being able to see them.

Next was the stab wound, which looked as if it had nicked Havard's left lung, causing blood to slowly leak in. He dispersed the blood first, so that Havard didn't drown in his own blood. After that, he focused on healing the actual cut, making sure the new tissue wasn't weaker than the rest of the lung, as that would make it liable to tear open again.

Once he was certain there was no more internal bleeding, he moved on to knitting back together the Nord's broken bones. In addition to suffering substantial injuries elsewhere, he also had numerous broken bones, some shattered in several places. If Sera's story was to be believed, then the broken bones were no doubt the result of being hit with one or several Thu'ums. Aeros had seen firsthand what his Unrelenting Force was capable of doing to people caught in its path.

Meanwhile, Aleiane worked at healing the man's other injuries, slowly healing his various cuts and wounds. She was concentrating more than she ever had, as a result of trying to maintain the spell and trying to keep her magic on the same frequency as Aeros's. A couple times, as the healing dragged on, her magic began to falter, but Aeros would hand her a potion, and after gulping it down, she was able to continue.

It was grueling work, and Aeros and Aleiane drained through several potions, but after over an hour and a half, they were done. They had healed everything they could, and it seemed to them as if Havard was breathing a little more easily, although he was still unconscious.

As they ceased the flow of magicka, they both nearly collapsed from exhaustion. Aeros tiredly reached over and handed Aleiane a stamina potion to help them get their breath back. At that point, the others begin to return.

"How is he?" Serana asked, seeing they were finished.

"Better," Aeros sighed. "We've healed most of his injuries, although not to the extent that I'd like. Unfortunately, there's not much more Aleiane or I can do with our level of skill. He's still unconscious, but I suppose that's probably a result of trauma."

He slowly climbed to his feet. "Right now, the only thing we can do is wait for him to wake up. Did you manage to find any sign of the stranger?" he asked them.

All five of them shook their heads.

"Nothing," Aela said. "We couldn't find any sign of someone else being around, and no clues as to where the Frost-Veins' attacker might have gone. However…"

"What?" Aeros asked. "You found something didn't you, Aela?"

She nodded. "While we were searching, I did come across some tracks. They looked as if they might have belonged to a werewolf, although it was hard to tell, as they were partially erased by rain."

Aeros knitted his brows in worry. "Lydia and I also came across tracks like that, and they definitely came from a werewolf, a large one at that." He glanced over at Aela. "Have you heard anything about werewolves moving into the area?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. And if there was a werewolf so close to where the Frost-Veins were living, I would have thought either Sera or Havard would have noticed it."

"Hmm…" Aeros said, frowning. "Did you at least manage to get a scent?" he asked. "I tried to earlier, but I couldn't really make it out."

She gave him an odd look before replying. "I did manage to get a scent, but that's the odd part," she said slowly. "It smelled like-"

"Harbinger!" Farkas interrupted. When they glanced at him, he pointed to the stretch of forest behind them. Following his direction, they turned and found two glowing red eyes staring malevolently at them from the darkness. A low, bestial growl emanated.

"Serana," Aeros said quietly, not taking his eyes off of the glowing orbs. "Can you make out what it is?"

Serana stared intently at the beast, before nodding. "Yes," she replied in a whisper. "It's a lycanthrope, a werewolf. It looks like it's maybe seven, eight feet in height. Beyond that, I can't make out much; you all look alike in that form."

Aeros nodded. "Aela, is that the same one you smelled earlier?" he asked.

Aela grimaced. "Yes," she said tersely. "But that's what I was trying to tell you. The scent is…"

Abruptly, the eyes disappeared, and they could hear the sound of the wolf speeding off into the woods.

Aeros swore. "No you don't!" he growled, sprinting forward.

"Aeros, wait!" Aela said, trying to stop him. "There's no way you can keep up with him on foot, and it's too dark for us to move safely through the forest on horseback."

"Which is why I'll just have to follow his example," Aeros replied shortly. "You can track us both by scent, can't you? Just follow along as quickly as you can."

With that, he hunched over, drawing on his beast blood. He felt the power surge through his body, and heard a loud crack as his bones broke and reshaped themselves. He could feel fur sprouting from his hide, and his mouth extending into a muzzle, lips drawn tight over razor sharp canines, while his nails lengthened into claws. At the same time, his senses increased tenfold. The forest was suddenly illuminated in a pale light, as clear as day to him, and his ears were filled with the nighttime sounds of the forest. His nose twitched as it picked up a multitude of smells.

He focused on the one he had smelled earlier, the one he was unable to place exactly, but smelled vaguely familiar to him, as if he had smelled it before.

"Keep...close…" he growled, before digging his claws into the loamy forest floor and launching himself forward.

Aeros pelted through the forest, chasing after the other wolf as fast as he could As he followed the scent through the undergrowth, ducking under grasping branches and leaping over fallen trees, he began to close the gap between them. Finally, through the shadows, he could make out a furred shape, flitting through the trees ahead, just barely at the edge of his vision. He put on an even greater burst of speed, but it seemed as if his prey knew what he was doing, and also sped up.

At last, after a seemingly endless chase, Aeros emerged at the edge of a clearing. The clearing was almost perfectly circular, stretching for a hundred feet or so before merging back into the forest.

Aeros skidded to a stop, looking around, but there was no sign of the other werewolf. He growled in frustration. How could the other wolf had gotten away from him?

Suddenly, movement at the other end of the clearing caught his eye. From the opposite side, a wolf emerged from the shadows, prowling into the open. The other wolf stopped about fifty feet away, and stared challengingly at him. Aeros growled, as did the other wolf, the hackles on their backs raising.

The other werewolf was similar to Aeros in height, standing close to eight feet tall when upright. Its fur, like Aeros's was a a jet-black color. Unlike Aeros though, whose eyes glowed a burnished gold, this wolf's eyes glowed a deep, malevolent crimson, giving off an intense feeling of bloodlust.

The two of them continued to glare threateningly at each other, refusing to back down.

Abruptly, the form of the other wolf blurred, and in its place stood a man. Aeros's eyes narrowed in suspicion, but he followed suit, shifting back into his human form.

He felt the weight of his armor and weapons settle back on him as he finished the transition. It had taken him a while after he first gained the beast blood to actually manage the transformation back with his clothes and armor still on. There had been numerous instances in the beginning where he had found himself standing stark naked with his armor scattered around his feet, much to Aela's amusement.

The other man was also wearing armor, which showed that he was experienced with transformations. As to what the armor was, Aeros couldn't be certain, as the moons were currently hidden behind the clouds, and the entire forest was blanketed in shadows.

The man didn't move, although Aeros continued to feel the pressure of his gaze on him.

"Who are you?" he asked. But the other man remained silent, continuing to watch Aeros.

Aeros exhaled angrily. "You're the one who attacked the Frost-Veins, aren't you?" he demanded. But again, the man didn't respond. The silence stretched on for several minutes before Aeros finally became fed up.

"Fine then," he snapped. "If you won't answer me willingly, then I'll force the answers out of you if I need to!"

These words seemed to finally elicit a response out of the man, although it was not one that Aeros expected. The man, hearing Aeros's angry threat, threw back his head and laughed, his whole body shaking from amusement.

Aeros grit his teeth, but managed to restrain himself, waiting until the man had finished.

At last, the man stopped laughing, returning his gaze to Aeros. He finally spoke.

"Oblivion, I never change, do I?" he said aloud, almost to himself. Aeros didn't respond, trying to puzzle out the meaning of the man's words.

The man took a step forward. "It would seem you need a lesson in humility," he said arrogantly.

Angered at the man's arrogant attitude, Aeros took a deep breath before vocalizing all of his anger and fury.

"FUS RO DAH!" he shouted with the full force of his Thu'um.

However, from the opposite side of the clearing, his Shout was echoed. The force of his Thu'um was met by another in the center of the clearing. The two Shouts crashed together in a collision of raw energy, canceling each other out and dissipating.

Aeros was stunned. Not only could the other man Shout, which was troubling in of itself, but his Thu'um was strong enough to match that of Aeros's, the Dragonborn. He couldn't think of a single being that could even hope to accomplish such a thing, besides the dragons.

"Who...are you?" he whispered, shocked beyond belief. He couldn't see it in the darkness, but he could sense the other man grinning in response to his question.

"I can be so slow sometimes," the man said with a shake of his head, again muttering nonsensical things. "Have you really not figured it out yet?"

He stepped forward again, and up above the clouds shifted, allowing the moon to shine through. Its light bathed them both and Aeros felt the ground beneath him tilt as all the breath in his body left him.

The other man was wearing the same armor as him, plate armor crafted from dragon bones. Even the swords poking out from behind his back looked to be forged from dragon bones. But what preoccupied Aeros's attention was the other man's face.

It was his face, the one he saw every time he looked in the mirror or saw his reflection in a pond. There were a few dissimilarities. There were scars that he didn't recall, and a sneer that seemed permanently fixed on his lips. The biggest difference though, was that there was a hard edge to the other man's face, a harshness to his features that Aeros himself lacked. But those were minor flaws, unable to change the fact that it was Aeros's face staring back at him.

"No…" he whispered in disbelief.

The other him smirked mirthlessly, his eyes glinting coldly.

"Who am I?" the man asked, repeating Aeros's earlier question. He spread his arms dramatically. "Why, I'm you. Aeros Dragons-Bane, Dragonborn, Dovahkiin, the supposed savior of the world."

Aeros shook his head in disbelief, unable to even comprehend what the other man was saying. "How is something like that even possible?" he muttered. It went against everything natural in the world.

The other Aeros laughed at him. "Deny it all you want," he said with amusement. "But I speak the truth. You and I are one and the same. The only difference is the timelines we come from."

Aeros shook his head in denial, not wanting to believe it. Deep down though, he realized the truth of it.

"If we are not the same person, then explain how it is we are wearing the same armor and equipment?"

"Coincidence," Aeros growled. The other him acknowledged that with a nod of his head.

"True, that is a possibility," he admitted. "But that doesn't explain how you and I share the same face and voice. We both know that's difficult to accomplish even with magic. And even if it is a trick, how else do you explain what just happened when we Shouted at each other, when our Thu'ums canceled each other out? Who else has a Voice powerful enough to do that?"

"If we're the same person," Aeros said tightly, barely managing to rein in his anger. "Then how the hell could you have attacked an innocent family like the Frost-Veins? I would never do that!"

The other Aeros smiled cruelly. "I said it before, didn't I?" he said sardonically. "I'm you, from a different timeline. I'm what you would have become if you had taken different choices or if events had gone differently. As for that family of farmers, the Frost-Veins or whatever you called them…" He shrugged callously. "Well, they just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Although I will admit, they provided more sport than I've had in a long time."

"You-!" Aeros snarled, his hands reaching for the hilts of his swords. His doppelganger mirrored his movements, reaching for his own swords.

Before things were able to escalate any further, both of them heard the sound of footsteps hurrying towards them. Within a few moments, Serana, Lydia, Aela, Vilkas, and Farkas burst out of the forest, coming to a stop besides Aeros. All five of them froze, eyes wide as they saw a mirror image of Aeros standing across the clearing from them.

The doppelganger smirked at the sight of Aeros's bewildered companions.

"I see you've done a better job than I did in keeping your friends and loved ones alive," he noted. His face twisted into a sneer as he added, "That'll change soon enough."

His hand left the handle of his sword suddenly, releasing the magicka that had built up there unbeknownst to them. A large fireball zoomed towards them. Reacting instinctively, Aeros brought his own hands up, forming a ward.

The fireball crashed into the ward and exploded violently, obscuring their vision. When the smoke cleared and they were able to see again, the man was gone.


Author's Notes: Yep, so here's chapter two of When the Dragon Breaks. I'll admit, this was an idea I've had for a long time. We all know that by the time you hit level 60 or so in Skyrim, you are essentially a walking god, with very few things that actually pose a threat to you. So part of the main idea of this arc, is what would happen if your opponent was you?

Of course, it goes beyond that. The "dark" Aeros isn't a version of Aeros that was evil from the very start, murdering chickens and shouting guards off of cliffs, at least not in the beginning. Rather, he's more of a "what would have happened to the Dragonborn if something had gone differently, if things hadn't turned out so well?" But I'll expand more on that in later chapters.

And in case any of you want to try and say that this scenario breaks the lore, all I'm going to say is: It's absolutely possible within the lore. I'm not going to explain how, at least not yet, but it's definitely possible.

Characters:

Danica Pure-Spring: A priestess of Kynareth. She asks for your help in restoring the Gildergreen by retrieving the sap of the Eldergleam, the oldest living thing in Skyrim.

Farengar Secret-Fire: The court wizard of Jarl Balgruuf, with a fascination for dragons. Upon your capture of Odahviing, he attempts some *ahem* ill-advised experiments.

Dragon Language:

Fus Ro Dah = Force Balance Push (Unrelenting Force Shout)