A/N: And here's the next chapter! Also this story has now been in progress for a full year! In celebration, I declare cheeese for everyone!
Oh, one more thing: I really did encounter a total of three dragons a single joureny from Riverwood to Sky Haven Temple.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Elder Scrolls series. I only own my original ideas.
Chapter 51: Sky Haven
Shouts-at-Suns POV
We continued down the road towards Karthspire, and soon arrived at a small mining camp that, according to the hastily-made sign, was known as Soljund's Sinkhole. Just as we were reaching the western edge of this camp, I heard a disincitve roar from the skies. I drew my sword, readied my magic, and cleared my throat. At that moment, the dragon came shooting up over the cliffs nearby, and paused to prepare an attack. As it did, I could see the dead look in its eyes. It was a Dovah Volaas… something I hadn't encountered in a while. There was something else as well: this dovah radiated with much greater power than any other than I'd seen before… other than Alduin, of course.
"Yol… Toor… Shul!" Shouted the dragon.
I was unable to avoid this attack. Instead, I ended up by its full force. The raw power behind its words burned me bady, knocked me back and nearly out. I desperately needed healing, and I knew that my normal magic and potions wouldn't suffice. For the first time since I arrived in Skyrim, and in fact the first time in my life, I needed to tap into my inborn regenerative power of Histskin. The burns caused by my foes harsh words quickly healed. I switched to my Ice Spike spell and ready to shout.
"Tiid!" I shouted.
My statement warped the world around me, slowing everything and everyone to a crawl. I then fired off Ice Spikes as quickly as I could summon them, taking as much advantage of this warped time as possible. Before too long, everything returned to its normal rate. The dragon was knock off balance a bit, and lost some altitude. It recovered, though, and swung around to prepare for its next attack. By this point, the guard that had been standing outside the mine and come over to fight alongside Lydia and I. The dragon returned towards us coming in lower. It landed quickly, forcing our impromptu group to scatter. We recovered from this, and rushed in to attack its flanks. The dragon retaliated by briefly extending its wings, bashing us aside. As I got back on my feet, I realized that the dragon was staring straight at me.
'Uh-oh,' I thought.
The dragon stated advancing towards me, using its wings to help support its body. As it got closer, it started snapping at me, its intent obvious. I backpedaled, launching Ice Spikes as fast as I could manage while readying some powerful words.
"Fo… Krah… Diin!" I Shouted.
My frigid Thu'um engulfed my foe, and when it cleared, I saw that the dragon had fallen. I approached the fallen dragon, and prepared for what I knew was coming next. The dragon's flesh burned away, and its soul poured into me. I stepped back from the dragon's skeleton, and Lydia and I continued on our way as the guard stared at the bones in shock.
We moved down the hill, and quickly encounter an odd scene: a Hagraven apparently experimenting on a dead Giant. Lydia and I managed to catch the Hagraven unaware, thereby allowing us to defeat in quickly. Unfortunately, this also caused us to lose the element of surprise with the large camp nearby. I looked at what we were facing: our new foes appeared to be Bretons, albeit ones with an odd manner of dress. They were wearing something akin to tribal garb, and wielding crudely made weapons. Some of them rushed towards us, while others began casting spells at us. We readied ourselves for yet more combat, when a fireball came flying down from somewhere above and behind us. I quickly glanced back towards its source, and spotted Esbern! The battle continued from this point, with Delphine joining us from the south. We fought on, hacking, casting, and Shouting our way through the camp. Eventually, the area was clear.
"I should have expected the Forsworn to have interest in this area," said Delphine.
"Forsworn? Is that what these people are?" I asked.
"Yes," said Delphine, "the Forsworn, also sometimes referred to as the Reachmen, are a tribe of people who have lived in this area of Skyrim as long as anyone can remember".
I examined our fallen foes, and noticed something odd on one of them: there was a hole in man's chest, and sitting inside was some sort of spiky plant.
"What is this?" I asked.
"I have heard of this," said Esbern, "but never seen it. Some Forsworn leaders apparently are known as Briarhearts. Some tales about them claim that they've had their hearts removed and replaced by a sort of magical replacement".
"Are you saying this thing was this man's heart!?" I exclaimed in shock.
"It seems so," said Esbern.
I looked down at the Briar Heart in my hand, then at the body it had been inside of, then back at the Briar Heart. I then threw the horrid thing as far away as I could.
"Let's just… keep going," I said.
"Are you alright, my Thane?" asked Lydia.
"I… think I will be," I said, "Once I manage to banish the very concept of that thing from my mind forever".
"We should be getting close," said Esbern, "According to my notes, our goal should be through this cave".
Our group of four entered the cave, Delphine lighting a torch. A short distance inside, we encountered another small group of Forsworn. After fighting past them, we came to some ancient structures built into the walls of the cave. Something about this stonework seemed vaguely familiar… I just wasn't sure why. We continued up the stairs as Esbern began to ramble on about how he recognized these structures as Akaviri in design. We soon reached the first puzzle blocking our path. In basic design, it was fairly similar to the runic pillar puzzles I'd seen before. The symbols were different, though.
"Interesting," said Esbern, "there are Akaviri symbols. This one means 'King', this one, 'Warrior', and this one here, it's the Akaviri symbol of 'Dragonborn'".
"This temple," I said, "the Akaviri built it to honor the Dragonborn, correct?"
"Yes," said Esbern, "That's correct".
"In that case," I said, "I believe I know the solution".
I rotated the left and center pillars until the symbol they displayed matched the symbol on the right pillar. As the last pillar locked into place, the adjacent bridge lowered into usable position. Our group progressed across the bridge and up a staircase. We soon came to a large room, the entire floor of with appeared to paved with pressure plates.
"Another puzzle it seems," said Esbern, "Well Dragonborn, since you appear to be somewhat of an expert on this sort of thing, why don't you try and solve it?"
I took another look across the room, and on the opposite wall I spotted a pull chain. Between that point and our position, there was a single line of tiles with the 'Dragonborn' symbol on them. I left Lydia with the Blades, and started picking my way carefully across the room. After a few minutes of cautious movements, I reached the pull chain. I used it, and then decided it would be best to check to make sure it actually did what I thought it had. I pulled off one of my gauntlets, and tossed it onto one of the other tiles. The pressure plate clicked down, but nothing happened.
"It looks like it's safe now," I said, retrieving my gauntlet.
We regrouped near the next staircase, and progressed up the passage. We soon arrived at another obstacle: a wall with a large bust carved in its center, and an ornate design on the floor in front of it.
"Yes… just as the book describes," said Esbern, "this must be a depiction of Reman Cyrodiil… and this design: it must be the blood seal!"
"The blood seal?" I said.
"Yes, the ancient Akaviri seemed to revere Reman Cyrodiil… this temple appears to be dedicated to him," said Esbern, "the blood seal will supposedly react to the blood of the Dragonborn… your blood".
"I see," I said.
I pulled out a small knife, the same one I used for lockpicking, and gently cut into my arm just deep enough to draw blood. It dripped down into the seal, and rapidly spread across the sigil. I heard the sound of grinding stones, and saw that the giant bust swinging up and out of the way.
"Divines," said Esbern, "it's open… you should be the first to enter Sky Haven Temple, Dragonborn… you've earned it".
Lyida and I took the lead, and pushed open the doors to Sky Haven Temple. Inside, we ascended yet another staircase, and arrived in a large, dark chamber. I cast my Candlelight spell, providing some illumination. Once more, I was struck with a sense of déjà vu… I knew this place somehow. I felt myself drawn to the left side of the chamber, where I discovered a small side room. Based off the items lying on the table, this was the armory. There were multiple pieces of armor, as well as several weapons here, but my eyes were drawn to one in particular: it was a fairly thin, curved blade, with a cloth-wrapped hilt. I picked it up, and immediately felt the raw power of this weapon. Part of me was telling me to take this weapon, while another part of me wanted the to put it back where I found it. I pulled it from the sheath, and saw the energies of captured lighting crackling within the finely crafted metal of the blade. I could feel another power embedded in this blade: this sword would especially strong against dragons.
Embossed on the sheath, I saw what must have been words in multiple different languages. Amongst these, I spotted draconic runes. They read: Dragonsbane… a fitting name for such a weapon. I put Dragonsbane back into its sheath, and strapped it to my hip. By this point, Delphine and Esbern had reached the main chamber. Delphine used her torch to light up a series of brazier around the room. Soon, these braziers provided sufficient illumination to let us to properly view the room. Across the right side of the room, there was a huge bas relief, depicting seces of battle, as well as a very familiar dragon. It looked just like I had seen in my vision! This had to be it: Alduin's Wall!
"This is it!" said Esbern excitedly, "here, this first panel depicts Alduin, and him lording over the races on man, with the other dragons at his side. This next panel, it shows the people of the land rebelling against the their draconic overlords. The third panel it speaks of the coming of the Dragonborn, and how he is fated to battle Alduin".
"While all this is interesting," said Delphine, "Is there anything here that can actually help us?"
"Patience, Delphine," said Esbern, "the Avaviri were not a straightforwards people… everything is concealed in allegory and mystic symbolisim. However, it do thing I have something: look here, on the center panel, they depict the ancient Nord, with the Akaviri symbol for 'Shout' coming from their mouths. It seems that they may have used a Shout to battle Alduin… a way to force him from the skies".
"I had worried it might be something like that," said Delphine, "Dragonborn, have you any knowledge of such a shout?"
"I have not," I said, "However… it's possible that the Greybeards might know.
"I had hoped that we could avoid involving them," said Delphine.
"Alright," I said, "what's your problem with the Greybeards?"
"Isn't it obvious?" said Delphine, "They have the power to change the world, end the war easily… but do they do anything? No, they don't. they just sit up there on their mountain, looking down upon the world".
"Let me get this straight," I said, "you think that the group of pacifist monks should run out and fight a war".
"Exactly!" said Delphine, "They have a responsibility to the land yet they do nothing!"
I had no response for that, I instead cluched my forehead and shook my head in frustration.
"Let's go Lydia," I said, "I don't believe there's anything else we need here".
We exited through the nearby door, and found ourselves standing on in a courtyard. As soon as we reach this area, I realized that it was the same one from my vision. It was at this point that another vision came.
I was on the very balcony that was in the present. I was a Dovah once more, and was in chains. The men and women of the Dragonguard were arrayed in front of me, cheering at my capture. In front of the group, was the same man I had been speaking to in the previous his hands, he held a very familiar sword. Just behind him was another man, this one appearing to be a commander.
"Well," said the commander, "What are you waiting for? Slay this foul beast!"
The man didn't reply… instead, he simply stood there looking sad.
"Do not fear," I said, "this is not the end for me: you are not Dovahkiin, so you cannot permanately kill me. My soul will live on, in one form or another. Besides, If you don't do it, your 'friends' will kill you as well".
"Do you have anything to say for yourself, dragon?" said the commander.
"Geh, I do," I said, "I leave this message for the future. If you are hearing this, then you are on the right path. Continue following with what you feel is right, and you shall find what you seek. Do it now, I am ready".
The man drew back his arm, and stabbed Dragonsbane directly into my chest. I felt the lethal power of his strike, the power contained in the sword tearing through my body, and the strength quickly drained from my limbs. The commander of the Dragonguard stepped over to my fallen form, and drew his own sword.
"So ends the life of another dragon," said the commander.
Just before the blow was struck, the vision faded…
My mind quickly snapped back to the present, and I found myself having to catch my breath after what I had just seen.
"My Thane!" said Lydia, "Are you alright? what happened?"
"Geh… I mean, yes" I said, "I just had another vision… this one of what I can only figure was when the dragon whose soul I possess died".
"I… I do not know how to respond to that," said Lydia, "So… our next stop is visit the Greybeards?"
"Actually," I said, "I think before that, you should meet another ally of mine. Let's head out, and find a quiet place to call him".
The two of us left Sky Haven Temple, and headed off into the wilderness so that I could call upon Lokhunnonvul.
A/N: And there we go! Not much else to say today, so see you next time!
