Middas, 12:43 PM, 76th of Second Seed, 4E 202
Dragonsreach Great Porch
The two dragons were waiting at the far end of the porch, just as expected. They had landed side by side on the semicircular balcony at the porch's far end. That put them right in the midday sunlight. Their scales were shining beautifully in it. It was a magnificent sight to be greeted by.
Ria entered the porch with Erik, Njada and Athis all behind her. Two dragons, four Companions. That was the plan. They were all about to go off to Shor's Stone, to confront whatever was awaiting them at the site of their god's reckoning. And the sight of the dragons at the far end of the porch couldn't have been more fitting. This was the day of immortals.
She really hoped these dragons wouldn't take offense at her choice of armor. Dammit, how hadn't she thought of that before now? Anytime, maybe, before actually looking at the dragons right there on the porch? She'd be lucky if they didn't bite her head off for it.
In any case, she recognized the dragon on the left. That one was Odahviing. There was no mistaking his scale pattern. It was a brilliant, flaring crimson, all the more beautiful for being seen against the blue skies beyond. But the other wasn't one she recognized. Not Nosqoriik, definitely. Where Odahviing was red and gray, this one was green and gold.
That made sense enough. There were more than two dragons in the world. Well, three, counting Alduin. But that didn't really count. There were more than two friendly dragons in the world.
"Well, then," Athis murmured behind her. "That's new."
"I'm glad they're on our side," Njada said.
Ria ignored that for now. She was crossing the length of the porch at a brisk striding pace. This was no time for an idle stroll.
"Odahviing," she called out brightly as she approached. "I see you brought a friend!"
The green-and-gold dragon responded first. He opened his mouth and spoke in a predictably big booming rumble. "I am Ziilahmaar. I have come forth from my place of observation to offer my aid in this time of need, once again."
There were harder names to pronounce, Ria thought. She lowered her voice somewhat as she came closer. "Again? You've done this before?"
"Only once," Ziilahmaar replied.
Then Odahviing cut in. "Ria, is that armor made of the bones of a dragon?"
She tried not to really react at all, but the question still made her pause a little. This wasn't easy to talk about here. She wanted to pull her visor down so they wouldn't see her face. And then maybe turn her head so she wouldn't see theirs. "Yes. Yes, it is. Uh… We had Mirmulnir's bones here ever since the Dragonborn defeated him, so…"
"Good," Ziilahmaar said, very abruptly. "Mirmulnir was the most insufferable dovah of us all. Uncaring for others, unconcerned with loyalty. He fled the battlefields of the war with the mortals, and hid in fear until Alduin's return. Seeing his remains adorning your body gives me only satisfaction."
Odahviing changed the subject just as quickly. "We may discuss these matters at a later time. You must come with us to Northwind Summit. Events move quickly towards their final resolution."
Northwind Summit. The mountaintop for which Shor's Stone had been named. Farengar had been doing some reading about it on the Companions' behalf. Apparently, it was only safely accessible by an underground passage up through the mountain. The locals had set up a mining operation inside it at some point. That must have been going splendidly right now.
It was also entirely irrelevant, because climbing mountains was for people who couldn't fly.
"Agreed." Ria nodded, and gestured for Erik to follow her. She had a feeling this would be much easier than that time on the Throat of the World. For one thing, this time she wasn't half-frozen and half-soaked.
Ziilahmaar commented, "Perhaps Mirmulnir avoided death for so long because he knew Alduin would refuse to raise him."
Meanwhile, Athis and Njada were standing there staring at the green dragon with their mouths open. This must have been an awe-striking experience for them, really. Neither of them had ever been anywhere near a dragon of any sort before.
And Ria and Erik had now met three. At some point, they'd have to give all the other Companions a chance to talk with their big winged friends here.
It was simple business to climb up on Odahviing's back. The dragon lowered himself to the stone tiles of the porch, and Ria and her Shield-Brother climbed up on top from opposite sides. That left Athis, Njada and Ziilahmaar to follow by example. Which they did, however hesitantly and clumsily.
Once Ria was securely on top in front of Erik, she called over, "Hey, Ziilahmaar. Who'd you do this for last time?"
The dragon looked up at her slowly. "It was one of the Dragonborn's soldiers. I believe his name was Thorald."
At that moment, Odahviing pushed himself off the balcony, and they were suddenly in the air. There was nothing to do but try to hold on.
The drop beyond the porch balcony was like going off a mountainside cliff. In those first few seconds, they went from being about ten feet up to being over a hundred. Ria's eyes widened at the sight. If she hadn't been holding on tight before, she sure was now.
But Odahviing seemed to be well aware of his passengers' limits. He turned and flew on a slow, banking circle around Dragonsreach, making the entire city of Whiterun turn beneath them, until Ziilahmaar had joined them in the air. Then he broke off from the circling and flew due southeast.
It looked like they'd be passing the Throat of the World by its northern side. And that made sense. Whiterun was already at the mountain's northwest. But it also looked like they'd be coming very, very close by it. This must have been the closest the dragons could get to a straight line. Ria tried to keep her mind on those sorts of things, so she didn't have to think about how high they were above the ground right now.
The flight went by in total silence. Or, not really total silence—they were being blasted by a constant gale of deafening wind, just by riding on top of Odahviing at his usual speed. But they definitely weren't saying anything. And what was there to say, anyway? They were off to a battle whose stakes were higher than they could even understand.
Ria didn't even know whether to be afraid. She supposed she would have that question answered for her soon enough.
And so the flight did go by. The White River ran along them, far below through the plains of Whiterun Hold, and the Throat of the World turned ever so slightly as they came up close to its base. After some time—probably less than an hour, the sun was still high in the sky, Ria didn't even know—the river went between a pair of ancient stone towers, connected by a distinctive single-pillared bridge. And afterward was a drop. A huge waterfall down a sheer cliff, marking the transition to Eastmarch. And the sprawling caldera was indeed visible beyond.
These were the Valtheim Towers. Ria had seen them before, but never from the air. They were forlorn, broken things, probably half as tall as they'd once been. But they still stood tall over the river, despite seeing so many centuries pass them by. They seemed just as magnificent from up here.
She was a little disappointed that she couldn't see any netches out in Eastmarch from here. Maybe if there'd been one the size of a small mountain. That would've done it.
It was as they passed these towers by that Odahviing and Ziilahmaar took a turn in their path. They were at the base of the Throat of the World now. It was seemingly a straight line upward from here to its peak. The dragons both banked gently to the right, and a new path emerged into view. They weren't going straight into Eastmarch—they were just barely crossing over its southwest corner, and then passing right back up into the Rift.
But there was still a brief time when they were flying over the low, flat expanse of Eastmarch's springs. The dragons didn't bother to change their altitude for it. Ria was just suddenly half a mile higher above the ground than before. She felt like the ground had just dropped out from under her feet. Except that she was still up here, perfectly safe and sound, on Odahviing's back. But she still felt like her heart was going to turn to ice.
Then she saw what was waiting for them in the Rift, and her heart just about did freeze for real.
It was directly ahead, far in the distance, all the way out on the horizon. There was a massive, pillar-like cloud, extending up into the sky like a column of smoke, from atop one of the distant mountaintops. The cloud was pure black. It stuck into the sky all by itself, like a splinter.
"Northwind Summit," Ria said aloud.
"He is there already," Odahviing replied, over the noise of the wind. "We must be swift."
Ria glanced sideways at Ziilahmaar. He was flying perfectly parallel to them, about fifty feet off to their left. Njada and Athis were there on his back, but their faces weren't really visible at this distance. That was too bad. Ria might've enjoyed their expressions right then.
More time passed by. The low ground of Eastmarch's caldera soon gave way to a forested incline, laden with cliffsides and switchbacks and dangerous drops as far as the eye could see. The dragons still didn't have to adjust their altitude. They had started out high up enough that the ground only came up to a hundred feet or so below.
And the whole time, the black cloud stood there on the horizon, growing imperceptibly larger with every minute of approach. It was, indeed, on a mountaintop, just as forested as everything else around here. And it quickly became apparent that it was taking up the mountain's entire upper half. The cloud must have been a couple of miles wide, to be that all-encompassing.
There was plenty of time to think about how to handle this. Ria was already fairly certain they wouldn't be able to land on the mountaintop proper. But maybe they'd be able to use the normal route instead.
As they came closer, and the incline leveled out into big leafy forests below, the cloud in the distance grew more and more visibly detailed. It wasn't just a static pillar over the mountain. It was a twisting writhing mass of raging black plumes, unnaturally confined to a cylindrical shape. And the entire thing was absolutely vast. It extended into the sky maybe three or four times as high as the mountain beneath. Ria had a feeling the top of it wasn't any safer to enter than the rest.
Actually, she had a feeling that this was all a terrible idea. If it weren't for the weapon hanging from her belt, she would've felt like she simply didn't belong here. But here she was, alongside her Shield-Siblings, and they were going to do this.
Whatever 'this' meant. If Alduin had already gotten his hands on the Heart of Lorkhan, there would be nothing they could do.
There was a new sound on the air. It was hard to tell what it was, at first. Some kind of faint, constant noise, barely audible over all the wind rushing by. But with the passing minutes, it became more and more pronounced, until there was no mistaking it. She was hearing the cloud itself. It was rumbling constantly, like thunder. Or maybe like an earthquake.
When they were about two miles from the base of the mountain, Ziilahmaar called out, "Odahviing! Do you feel it?"
"I do, Ziilahmaar!" The red dragon promptly began to slow down, and descend in altitude. The treetops of the forest were coming up closer.
Ria shouted, "What?! What is it?" After a couple seconds of no reply: "Talk to me, Odahviing!"
"Alduin is… disrupting our link to the flow of Time," he replied, his voice filled with strain. "We cannot come close, or else, risk falling out of existence."
Erik asked, "What about us?"
Before replying, Odahviing slowed to a gradual halt, then landed gently on an open path through the trees. A road, leading up to the mountain. Far from the worst place to land, really. "You are not bound to the currents of Time as we are," he said.
Ziilahmaar landed beside him a moment later, with a low, rumbling growl of discomfort. Athis and Njada were all too eager to jump off him.
"You must find your way up the mountainside," Odahviing continued. "Tread with care. Alduin has transcended his role as the World-Eater. He will fight you with terrible cunning."
"Whatever you say," Ria grunted, before climbing down from the dragon's back herself. It felt good to put her feet on solid ground again, she could say that much.
Erik followed her down a moment later. He was already looking up at the towering black cloud in the sky. "Well, this is going to be, uh…"
Odahviing and Ziilahmaar didn't wait around for any farewells. They just suddenly took to the air, one after another, and started flying off in the direction they'd come. That disruption stuff must have been really hurting them.
But there was nothing for the Companions to do now but proceed as they could. Ria gave Erik a brief look over, then went to check on Athis and Njada.
Naturally, the two of them were standing there with their mouths open again. Just staring at the big rumbling cloud, of course.
"Come on," Ria said. "He's not going to wait for us."
Just to make the point clearer, she proceeded to lower her visor, draw Selthrei from its sheath, and start walking up the path to the mountain. She left the others to follow behind her.
The road was on a fairly pronounced incline, and Ria was walking uphill. She could feel the warmth of her own breath beneath the steel visor. But even with all this armor on, she doubted she'd even break a sweat on this walk. Everything on her person was just so covered in magical enchants. She could probably have climbed the outside of the entire mountain in this armor, in the fashion of the Skybound Watch shortcut, without even breaking much of a sweat. That was the kind of equipment she was bringing with her today.
A lot of people had wanted her to succeed today. Personally, she would've preferred if the others had gotten the fancy priceless dragon armor first.
After a few minutes' walking, the road's destination became visible. It wasn't a very grand threshold or anything. Just a small doorway set in the mountainside. Probably one of those wooden double doors, like Nords liked to put at the entrances of mines. There was no way this was for any passage but the one they needed to get through.
"This is such an obvious trap," Erik said.
"Agreed," replied Athis, as he walked up by Ria's side. "Listen… Are you certain this is a good idea? I know we need to get up there, but…"
Ria gave it a few seconds' thought. But she didn't stop walking. "To be honest? … No, I'm not certain. But we're out of options, and out of time."
Njada asked, "What's our plan, then?"
This time, Ria didn't have to think before answering. "Easy. Send me in first."
With that, she sped up to a jogging pace, and focused on the doors. Those were either locked, unlocked or trapped. And normally, she might have been inclined to try to enter quietly, to maintain the element of surprise—but if Alduin had just fended off Odahviing and Ziilahmaar, that was meaningless anyway.
So as she ran ahead, Ria threw Selthrei straight at the doors. It stopped with its blade buried deep in the wood. She closed her fist only a split second later.
The burst of lightning was enough to tear the doors to blackened splintered shreds. There was nothing left afterward but an empty doorway to a dark interior. Ria summoned her weapon back into her hand as she came close to the threshold. This would be the part where Alduin would fight back.
Well, unless he planned on letting Ria get inside a bit more, and then closing the way off behind her and keeping her Shield-Siblings out of the fight. That was possible too.
She wondered if now was the time to be afraid. It probably was, by this point.
The inside of the tunnel seemed to be empty. It was a crudely carved thing, with a messy dirt-and-gravel floor and bare rock walls. A few torches stood here and there, illuminating it with dim orange light. The air inside smelled like dirt. And death. It absolutely smelled like dead things in here.
If Ria had been unsure about this being the right tunnel, she had all the proof she needed right there. She walked in with her sword up on guard, scanning ahead as best she could through her visor.
The tunnel opened up to a large open chamber, just as rough as the opening tunnel, but with wooden scaffolding and platforms all around the walls. The ramps led up from the left wall and turned out of sight, continuing at some higher place. But it was totally empty in here. And besides some faint noise from the torches, it was as silent as the grave. Which certainly fit the context, but this was… this was wrong. There were supposed to be enemies in here.
Then, all of the sudden, out of nowhere, a guttural undead voice spoke aloud: "The prized champion of Shor."
Ria whirled around with her sword leading the way. There was nothing behind her but the tunnel entrance. Nothing anywhere in the room. Just to make sure no one was invisibly in here, she raised her sword In the air and flashed a brief burst of all-reaching lightning through the room. It singed some of the scaffolding a little, but that was it.
The voice seemed to be coming from the ground beneath her. It must have been being sent magically from some other location. It kept talking as though she hadn't done anything. "Late is the hour in which you have come to save your master. Perhaps you were taking the time to amass some more convenient gifts from those who are better than you?"
"Shut up and fight me," Ria called out to nowhere in particular, before shouting down the tunnel entrance, "Come inside, we're in for a warm welcome!"
"You have brought your Companions to join you in death," the undead voice said. "Shor must appreciate how quickly your guild has been filling the halls of Sovngarde of late."
Apparently, the mythical World-Eater wasn't above petty taunting. There wasn't much to do but wait for the others to come in. Ria didn't want to start going up the ramp before they'd even gotten inside.
But she didn't have to wait long. Erik appeared in the tunnel only a few seconds later, followed closely by Athis and Njada. They all had their weapons drawn.
"Welcome to the mine," Ria waved politely to them with her free hand. It probably looked a little silly with the gauntlet on.
Erik scanned all around the room, squinting suspiciously, before focusing back on Ria. "What is this?"
"A mine, obviously," Athis said as he walked out around Erik. "Right?"
Ria never got to reply to that. She was interrupted by the sound of boots sprinting on wooden boards above her.
She had just enough time to look up and see a dark-armored figure jumping off the platform, straight down on top of her head. The last thing she saw of it was a glimpse of two glowing red eyes.
The draugr's boots came smashing down on her shoulders, right between the pauldrons. It was unstoppable. She collapsed forwards onto the ground, just barely managing to hold onto Selthrei, but it didn't matter because the draugr was standing on her back.
Gods, she couldn't breathe. Her chin was in the dirt, her ribcage was getting crushed—this armor wasn't enough, she was getting crushed anyway. This wasn't going quite how she'd hoped.
Above her, the draugr's voice shouted, "Fus… ro DAH!", and a crack of thunder reverberated through the chamber. It was so loud, Ria had no idea what had come of it. She just reached up behind her back with Selthrei, as best as she could with this heavy armor on, with all the weight standing on her—she realized the draugr was down on one knee, pinning her to the ground with its lower leg. She just had to reach back there and hit something.
Her sword hand caught in a painfully tight grip. The draugr had stopped her swing halfway.
She couldn't even use her lightning in here, could she? Not in an area burst. It would hit her Shield-Siblings. Wherever they were.
Ria turned her head to the side, towards the cave entrance. Athis and Njada were on their backs. Erik was already getting up, struggling to his feet, holding tightly onto his sword.
Then, all of a sudden, he yelled, "Ria, watch out!"
There was no real line of thought. She just twisted herself to the side as hard as she could. And a split second later, a sword blade plunged into the earth right across the side of her neck. It grazed hard against the Skyforge steel mail in the way.
She could still see Erik. He was doing something with his sword. Adjusting his grip, twirling his sword the other way, holding it up like a javelin—and then it left his hand. He'd just thrown it.
The weapon went out of Ria's sight quickly. But she heard the blade thud into something above her, and the draugr rolled off of her a moment later. She wasted no time in pushing herself back to her feet.
The sword had hit the draugr right in the side of the ribcage, under the arm, where there wasn't any armor. Ria took the liberty of pulling the thing out and tossing it back to Erik. He caught it effortlessly by the blade, no problem there, and returned it to his grip.
By this point, Athis and Njada had gotten back up as well. Njada said, "That couldn't have been the only one."
"Well, let's not wait for them," Ria grunted. Her neck ached a little where that sword had run by it.
Then she took a closer look at Njada. She was looking awfully dark right then—
"Get down!"
Njada instantly crouched down and raised her shield over her shoulder, protecting her back. The draugr behind her swung its battle-axe down through the air at the exact same moment. The head just barely glanced off the shield's rim.
Ria just pointed Selthrei at the undead creature's face, and let loose with a bolt of lightning. It actually managed to take the bolt with the middle of its axe, in a perfectly precise block. But the haft still exploded apart. Splinters went everywhere. Some of the lightning got through anyway.
That definitely stunned it for a second, at least.
"Son of a bitch," Athis spat. "They were hiding out front too!"
Njada came up and around with a devastating uppercut of her shield. That steel rim caught the draugr right in the chin. There was a sickening crack of metal on bone. Then she put her sword through the thing's exposed throat, before it could lower its head again. "Aye, tell me something I don't know!"
There were more draugr in the tunnel after it. But Ria couldn't pay attention to those right now. Footsteps were sounding on the boards above. More footsteps. Lots of footsteps. She had about one second to get ready for them.
Naturally, she spent that second running away from the scaffolding, towards the far side of the chamber. She wasn't getting jumped on again.
The first draugr to come down was a big hulk of a warrior, probably once bearded, with a fearsome war hammer in both hands. It stared at Ria with its expressionless red eyes for a moment, then began to close in.
At the same moment, Erik joined her side. The other two Companions were busy fighting things off already. This was a workable tactic. One pair of Shield-Siblings for each entry route. Assuming there weren't any draugr hiding under the ground in here, that would work just fine.
Ria brought Selthrei up for another strike. But the draugr cut in, "Fus!", and a big bluish wave of energy shoved her back hard. She barely even saw the hammer coming in.
Her head was shoved hard to the side by a sudden, huge downward impact. It felt like being landed on all over again, except this time focused all on her helmet. A loud scraping sound traveled down past her left ear. Then the hammer caught on the ridge of her pauldron, and stayed in place.
That didn't even hurt. It'd just pushed her around a bunch.
Erik helpfully brought his sword down on the red draugr's right arm, directly on the elbow joint. Everything below it was instantly cut clean off. There was just a blackened stump left on.
Oddly, the severed limb stayed attached to the hammer. The hand just hadn't let go. Ria pondered that as she stabbed the draugr up through the bottom of the ribs, and let off a bolt of lightning in there just to be sure. She had just enough time to pull her blade free in time for the next two draugr.
The next two? When had they come in?
Ria and Erik closed in at the same time. The left draugr had a fearsome ancient greatsword, the right draugr an axe and shield. Ria went for the one on the right. It was just nearer by.
Her first move was a lightning attack to the legs. The draugr jumped out of the way of the bolt, leaving it to blast a line of gravel off the ground. Ria followed it up with a lunging stab, which the draugr deflected with its shield—and suddenly leapt past with its axe outstretched. All she had time to think was that this draugr was far too fast.
The strike came down hard on top of her helmet. She felt the impact, just like before, but it still didn't do anything. The metal edge just ran harmlessly down her visor, right past her eyes, and fell back away. In that same span of time, Ria managed to bring her sword back around from the missed thrust, and try again with an upward stab. This time, it hit the shield straight on, and actually got stuck in the wood. Dammit. That wasn't right at all.
She let off another lightning bolt, just for opportunity's sake. But the draugr had already wrenched its shield aside, and the lightning struck the wall above the far tunnel instead. Which was where her Shield-Siblings were holding off the other attack. That was close.
From somewhere over there, Athis' voice shouted, "Careful! We're not storm atronachs here!"
Another draugr landed on the ground behind Ria. She looked just long enough to see that it had a sword too. But her own was still stuck. It was unusable.
Time for a change of plans. Ria kicked the axe-wielding draugr hard in the knee, and let go of her sword entirely. While it was recovering, she used her free right hand to grab onto her left bracer, where a sleek metal knob was set into the upper plating. She only had to give it one firm twist.
Three shining steel hooks sprang out from the bracer's outer edge. Three thick, angular, blade-like prongs, in a neat row, each about an inch long. Compliments of Farengar helping design the suit. They'd taken less than half a second to deploy.
She turned around just in time to see the sword-wielding draugr taking a stab at her lower back.
All it took was a swift, downward motion of her left fist, like a punch. The blackened ancient sword ran straight across her bracer, and promptly got itself stuck under the middle hook. For a split second, the draugr just stared down at its weapon, visibly confused—and for a creature with no facial expressions, that really was a feat.
Ria threw a dragonbone-knuckled punch into the draugr's lipless jaw, then twisted her whole body back away. The sword wrenched out of the draugr's hands and flew out over the ground.
That was just in time for the axe-wielding draugr to strike again. It had pried Selthrei free from its shield, and tossed the sword under the wooden scaffolding nearby. Now it was coming in with its axe in another vertical strike, holding its shield out to protect its arm.
Ria jumped to the draugr's right, just enough to let the axe strike glance off her shoulder. The shield wasn't protecting it on this side. As she moved, she summoned Selthrei back into her hand, and brought it around in an upward chop, right into the draugr's axe arm.
The arm came right off. Selthrei always did cut things cleanly. Ria followed it up with a lunging slash to the back of the neck. It wasn't with quite enough force to take the thing's head off. But it sure did break the bone.
Then, above the din of the fighting, she heard a singularly ominous sound.
"Fus…"
It was the draugr she'd disarmed. It was standing there, fists at its sides, taking a deep breath in. For lack of anything faster, Ria flung her sword at the thing's face. The blade shot unerringly forward and skewered it right through the mouth.
Just a couple yards away, Erik was still fighting his greatsword-wielding draugr. Ria turned in time to see Erik stab the draugr through the belly, just above the hip—only for the draugr to completely ignore the injury, and smash him in the face with the pommel of its greatsword. It managed to get right through the central gap in Erik's visor.
Ria winced. That looked like it hurt.
The draugr followed it up with a kick that sent Erik flat on his back. Now it was raising its sword up high, preparing for a finishing strike, even with the steel blade still stuck through its middle. Nothing seemed to deter these things. It was madness.
Again, Ria had to be fast. Selthrei would take a second or so to summon, and she didn't have a second. So as the draugr raised its sword, she did the sensible thing, and jumped up behind it to grab the overhead blade in both hands.
It was surprisingly easy to pry free. She had such better leverage, with her hands farther apart on the weapon. With just one good pull, the draugr was disarmed.
Ria dropped her left hand a little farther down towards the end of the blade, nearer by her right. This would do.
Before the draugr could even turn around, she had smashed the guard of its sword into the side of its head. No helmet on this one, just an exposed head. That one strike was enough to drop it to its knees. Ria followed it up with a strike to the other side, and then a third, downward swing at the top. She felt the bone break under the last hit. The draugr fell instantly.
Erik was already back up and drinking a healing potion. There was a lot of blood on his face. Must've gotten him in the nose. Ria dropped the greatsword and summoned Selthrei without really thinking about it. Pulled Erik's sword free, held it out to him. He took it with an appreciative nod.
Over by the tunnel entrance, the draugr were still fighting. Athis and Njada seemed to be doing well enough for themselves. A few new corpses littered the ground by them. At the moment, they were doubling up on a draugr, guiding it out into the room so they could outflank it.
Ria was about to go over and help, when something huge slammed into her back.
It was like nothing she'd felt before. The sheer force sent her sprawling on her chest once again. Her sword left her hand. It felt like something had hit her between the shoulder blades, but… not quite? Her armor had absorbed the impact.
That hadn't been a shout. Maybe a very heavy war hammer. Ria groaned and started laboriously pushing herself back up.
Sure enough, Erik was locked in a grapple with a hammer-wielding draugr. This felt like a good time to summon Selthrei. But Ria's head wasn't feeling right. Everything seemed a little swimmy. Something about that impact must have really jolted her. She had to take a second, here.
Athis closed in on his draugr from behind. He had daggers in both hands, ready to strike. But the draugr elbowed him in the ribs, then struck him in the jaw and kicked him back. That put him on the floor too. Ria appreciated the solidarity, at least.
Still, that left the draugr open for Njada to chop its head off, in true Companion fashion. But there was one more of the undead creatures standing in the doorway, ready to replace the last one. It seemed to be unarmed.
Ria focused on summoning Selthrei. She could bring it back to her hand now, she was sure. Njada obviously had this under control, but maybe Erik didn't. That grapple couldn't go on forever.
Njada turned to face the tunnel entrance, her shield up in front, and her sword aimed over it, ready to strike. This wouldn't take long. At worst, the draugr would use some shout or other, and Ria would have to step in.
But the draugr spoke aloud in its guttural undead voice: "Let's settle this like true Nords!"
It then proceeded to step back away from Njada, and start moving around in place. Or, not moving. It was dancing. Not only that, it was dancing very well. Its boots were stomping and scraping rhythmically on the ground, audible even from over here. It sounded surprisingly nice.
Njada made a perplexed noise. She had her guard up still, but she was just staring. "Uh… What is this?"
Ria finished summoning her sword, and struggled back up to her feet. She didn't have time for this. The Heart of Lorkhan was still waiting for them.
Then, with no warning at all, Erik's draugr shoved him aside, drew a dagger from its belt, and threw it into the nape of Njada's neck.
It was like the flow of Time had frozen. Ria stared, just stared in silence, as Njada fell to her knees. The handle of the dagger was sticking out of her Shield-Sister's neck, sticking out of her body, while the blade was buried deep within. It had been a perfect throw. A perfect kill.
Athis screamed something out loud.
Ria blasted the unarmed draugr with a bolt of lightning. It fell to the ground. She wasn't even thinking. She had to think, but she wasn't thinking.
Erik had used the moment of distraction to stab his opponent up through the chest. But it was too late. Njada was falling limply to the ground. Falling to the ground, never to get back up.
More draugr were appearing in the tunnel. Footsteps were audible above. More of them, so many more. They were all going to die in here.
"Let's move!" Ria shouted at the top of her lungs. "Up the ramp, now!"
Another draugr was jumping down to the ground. Ria struck it with another bolt of lightning, midair. It landed on its front, and stayed there. Then she threw Selthrei down at the tunnel entrance, where the draugr were emerging, and closed her fist.
She didn't even bother to look at the result. She was already running for the ramp. That had just been to give Athis enough time to follow them out.
Erik was right at her side. They bounded up the old wooden ramps and platforms, one after another, as the draugr poured in from wherever they were coming. One of them confronted Ria right on the second ramp. She charged into it shoulder-first, then grabbed it by the back and hurled it over the edge behind her.
It landed just by Athis. Good, he was following along. They would need him soon. Ria couldn't do this all alone. They had to keep each other alive.
She waited just long enough for the dark elf to catch up. Two more draugr came at her from up above, in that time. This time, she summoned Selthrei as they approached, and swiped the blade through the air in front of her. A crescent of lightning spread out and hit both of them at once. That was enough for Ria and Erik to finish them both off, one draugr each.
They had to keep fighting. This was no time to think. Ria couldn't think. They were down to three Companions. They had to fight.
Once they were together again, Ria continued the path up the ramp. It led to a sort of ledge at the top of the room, and then another tunnel, wide and rectangular, held up with more wooden beams. She ignored everything but the path ahead. More draugr were coming. There was no telling how many of them were here, but Ria couldn't wait for them to attack. None of them could.
Another draugr appeared around the next corner. This one had a pale blue spell aura in both hands. Before they could get even close to it, it sent a huge white cloud of frost down the tunnel, steadily coating everything around it in ice.
Ria just swiped her sword from left to right again. Another crescent came forth and dissipated the spell halfway. Their advance continued at a fast walking pace.
The draugr drew a mace from its belt, and began to walk down towards them in kind. Its other hand still had a spell aura on. It raised that hand first—and then, all of a sudden, a sword flew past Ria's shoulder and bounced off the thing's ancient breastplate.
That was Erik. He'd just thrown his sword, again.
Ria turned and gave him a glance through her visor. "Erik. Just because I can throw mine—"
At that moment, the draugr met them, with a stream of stinging frost magic and an overhead mace strike. Ria charged straight in and slammed their assailant back with her left shoulder, before turning and slicing its neck open in the same move. Not much of a challenge.
Erik quickly went and picked his sword back up. Then he glanced behind them and cried, "Athis, look out!"
The dark elf leapt forwards onto the ground without looking, like he was supposed to. There was a draugr right behind him. In fact, there were a few draugr behind him.
Ria turned and threw Selthrei right at the first one in line. A direct hit, as always. She waited just long enough for Athis to scramble out of the way, and then closed her fist.
The blast of lightning didn't just tear apart the draugr nearby. It hit all the scaffolding, too. And a moment later, with an ear-splitting grinding crash, the ceiling down there promptly caved in on them. It looked unreal. A whole bunch of dirt and rocks poured down, and… that was it. The tunnel behind them was suddenly a dead end.
That was a fast cave-in. Ria was sort of surprised. Maybe that was saying something.
Athis had just barely managed to get out of the way. He pushed himself back up to his feet and gave Ria a rueful half-smile. "Guess we won't have to deal with them from that direction."
"That's true, we…" She started to reply, but then she just stopped again. This was horrible. They'd lost Njada just now, and they didn't even have time to think anything about it.
"Come on," Erik said suddenly. "More are coming. We're cornered down here."
Ria nodded silently, summoned her weapon again, and gestured for Athis to follow. She led the way like before, but now at a more controlled pace. They didn't have to flee anything. They just had to fight through whatever was waiting for them.
But nothing confronted them. They turned the corner, and headed on up an empty, inclined tunnel, which turned another corner, and another. It seemed to be going in a sort of spiraling pattern. Everything was completely silent, except for their own footfalls.
Then, after the third corner, the directionless undead voice returned.
"I almost miss my old form. I spent quite a while in Sovngarde, using it as my hunting ground. Your precious Nord warriors spent their afterlives in my belly. I would have sucked down the strands of Njada's future like any other. It's almost a pity that I'll have to settle for simply killing you all."
This gods-damned voice. Ria gritted her teeth and kept going. She didn't even have anything to say to Alduin anymore. She was just waiting to get to kill something.
And the voice just kept going. "Then again, if you decide you'd like to beg—"
Something snagged on Ria's foot. Like a rope snare. She never even saw what it was. But she felt it, and it was… actually, not a snare. That was a tripwire.
There was a loud metallic noise as some mechanism released. Then the scaffolding above them dropped open.
Ria had just enough time to jump towards the left wall. Then an impossible force crashed down on her. The noise was so loud, she couldn't think. She was in pain. She couldn't control her own motions. Everything was broken. Everything…
Her ears were ringing. That was bad. She pushed herself back up slowly. Nothing made sense right now. But she had a feeling she was about to be attacked.
Somewhere, Alduin's voice said, "You're all very easily distracted, aren't you?"
Ria's left bracer wasn't the only one to have interesting things on it. The right one had a small, hinged steel square on the inner forearm, with a dwarven metal button underneath. She flipped the steel cap open with her thumb, just long enough to press the button once.
All of the pain in her body—from the hammer to her back, from the frost magic, from the boulders—instantly went away in a rush of mellow warmth. Supposedly, this was based on the Black Machine's designs. Ria just appreciated not having to mess with bottles for her healing potions now.
"Erik?" She called out to the tunnel, nowhere in particular. There were so many boulders in here, she couldn't even tell where the others were. "Athis? Where are you?"
"I'm here, Ria," Erik called back shakily, from somewhere farther down the tunnel. "I think my arm's broken. Give me a minute."
At that moment, three draugr came around the next corner. Ria extracted herself from the boulders as quickly as she could. This wasn't something she wanted to mess with right now.
Selthrei wasn't in her hand anymore. She summoned it back just as the middle draugr let off a shout. There was just barely enough time to swipe the wall of force away. It still kicked up a whole lot of dirt at her. Distracting.
Naturally, she retaliated by throwing Selthrei right at the middle draugr. No lightning burst this time. It wasn't worth the risk of a cave-in ahead of them. But it still punched straight through the draugr's chest, and extinguished the light in its eyes before it could even begin to fall—in other words, it hit its target like normal.
The other two didn't hesitate to come down at her. They were already preparing to attack. One had a war hammer, which was already bothering her. The other had just a sword. She wondered what the odds were that one of these draugr would end up killing her. Probably higher than she'd have liked.
Of course, this wasn't helped by the fact that Selthrei was twenty feet away.
The sword-wielding draugr came in first, with a quick downward swing. More of a feint. Ria just stepped back away from it. But the draugr was obviously prepared for that, and followed it up by reaching out and closing its hand around Ria's neck.
That was definitely new.
Ria tucked her chin down on reflex, trying to lessen the pressure on her throat. Then she put her right hand on the draugr's wrist, and brought her left arm up just in time to block the next sword strike. It caught in the lower hook on her bracer, and with a little pressure on the blade, stayed there securely. But she still had a draugr trying to strangle her. She could barely breathe right now. Even with all the armor in the way, this was still hurting.
This thing was right up in her face. It looked repulsive. Its red eyes were just staring right into her. And it was still trying to maneuver its sword down into her neck, despite the blade being trapped.
She'd been planning on summoning Selthrei again for this. But there was no time. The other draugr was already coming around behind her with its hammer up. It was going to attack her. It was going to do it right now.
Ria let go with her hand, only to raise it up high and twist her whole body away. The draugr lost hold of both its sword and her neck. She pulled the dark steel weapon off her arm just in time to parry the incoming war hammer with it. And in the same motion, she spun back around and chopped the blade hard into the first draugr's neck.
As she came around once again, she finally called Selthrei back to her hand. The draugr was preparing for another strike. Maybe she could parry this one too, if her weapon came back to her quickly enough. Or she could just grab the hammer by the haft right now.
She ended up doing neither. The draugr just dropped its hammer and fell limply onto its front. A feathered arrow was sticking out of its back.
Erik was standing upright amid the boulders, his recurve bow in his hand. He shrugged innocently. "Didn't feel like throwing the sword again."
Ria nodded slowly. They were probably going to be attacked again in a matter of seconds. But, first things first. "Is Athis still with us?"
The Nord shook his head grimly. That wasn't much of a surprise. "It's just the two of us now."
"How's your arm?"
"Fine, now. Healing potion." He sighed and started stepping through the rocks, shouldering his bow and switching back to the sword. "We need to keep moving. Just… keep me alive, all right?"
"Great idea." There wasn't much more to say than that. Ria continued up the tunnel with her sword at the ready. But she wasn't sure if she'd need it anymore. They weren't getting attacked much at this point.
Maybe Alduin had left the majority of his force down outside the tunnel. That'd mean they'd cut most of it off now.
Probably not. That would've been too lucky.
The two of them walked ahead in silence for a little while. They were just waiting for Alduin's next move, and it wasn't coming. No doubt, something was waiting for them somewhere, but… it just wasn't here. There was nothing to do but carry onward.
As they did, the rumbling noise of the cloud pillar became audible once again. It was barely a whisper at first, but soon enough it was unmistakable. Ria couldn't do much besides try to ignore it. But there was a lot she was trying to ignore right now. If she got too distracted by the feeling she was having—the one where her heart was in her throat, and she could barely keep these thoughts in one piece—it would only end with her joining her friends in Sovngarde.
She didn't say anything now. Neither did Erik. They just kept walking.
Eventually, the tunnel straightened out into a single, straight ramp, with some kind of arch at the end. It wasn't short at all. And Ria wasn't looking forward to climbing it. Her legs were already burning, even with the enchants on her gear keeping her going. This was just a lot of climbing, and she did have heavy armor on.
"I think this is it," Erik said. "We're almost there."
"Probably," Ria nodded. But there still wasn't much to say, so she just started on the way up, and kept on guard for Alduin's attack.
Because that attack was absolutely coming soon. It had to be.
Beyond the arch, there seemed to be nothing but blackness. But that made sense. If they were seeing the cloud from in here—if they were seeing it from the inside—there wouldn't be much else to look at. Ria hoped it wasn't actually solid all the way through. That would practically blind them out there.
It would've been nice if they had some kind of plan at this point. Every step Ria was taking up this ramp felt like a bad idea. She had no idea what to expect out there, but if she'd hoped this would end well… really, it was probably better that she not think about it too much.
And the arch was approaching. Something was definitely out there.
Ria wondered what exactly she'd be facing now. She almost had time to start imagining something for it. Some kind of grand final confrontation, some aspect of Alduin here to fight them. But then she got to the top of the ramp, and it all emerged at once.
The mountaintop was half-gone. The arch led straight to the outdoors, and beyond it was an unpaved path leading straight to the lip of an impact crater. Not a very large one—less than a quarter mile wide—but one end of it was filled with debris from higher up on the mountain, where the rocks had slid down after the shooting star had landed. And in every direction, as far as Ria could see, the sky was shrouded in rumbling black clouds, twisting and writhing in strange wispy shapes, leaving the ground below as dark as on a moonless night. She couldn't even tell how high up they were, because the clouds were all so close in on the mountainside.
In the center of the crater, there was a red glowing orb, maybe ten feet wide, made of strange web-like strands of magical energy. It was just sitting there, motionless, its lowest point just barely touching the ground. Several draugr were standing around it with their hands pressed to it, as though trying to will it to collapse. And inside it were a few big broken rocks, laid out messily around some… thing, in the center. It was hard to tell from here.
But Ria didn't have to guess what it was. She'd come all this way to set this right.
"Let's do this," she muttered, before giving Selthrei a twirl and stepping out into the open. The time to be afraid had come and gone.
And Erik was right at her side. They walked out and jumped over the lip of the crater one after another.
The draugr around the red orb didn't react. That was their mistake. Ria prepared Selthrei for one more throw.
Then a crack of thunder rippled down the mountainside, and a wall of force knocked her flat on her front. An instant later, another wave hit her, and Selthrei flew out from her hand, landing somewhere beyond her reach.
She pushed herself back upright as quickly as she could. But it was too late. The draugr were already upon them.
There were four—no, five of them attacking. Five draugr, and two Companions. Ria could barely tell what was going on. She grabbed a battle-axe by the haft as it swung down at her, kicked its wielder away, swung the axe wildly at another one—parried a sword strike, felt a blade bounce off her arm, felt something else hit her on the head—tried to just keep fighting—it was chaos. She could barely even think. There was just darkness and noise and frenzied combat.
At some point, she buried the axe in some draugr's neck, and stopped to summon Selthrei back to her hand. This really wasn't working. More of them were coming. She could hear the movement around her. But she couldn't stop fighting for even a second. Not for the tiniest moment. Or it would cost her everything.
Once she had Selthrei again, it went a little better. She put the lightning to generous use. Sending out one bolt after another, using the crescent waves to stun the ones she couldn't kill yet. The draugr kept hitting her back, but nothing was getting through her armor. It was just too strong.
Erik came into her field of view just as he was wrestling with a draugr for his sword. She obligingly helped out by putting a bolt of lightning into the back of the draugr's head. That gave him enough time to wrest his weapon free, and finish the thing off.
There was another draugr coming up behind him. Ria opened her mouth to shout a warning. But Erik already knew it was there. He turned around, raised his sword to strike outward—and the draugr thrust its own sword up beneath his arm.
The blade went in deep. Ria saw it happen. It went in right where the armor was weak, where the steel plate didn't cover. It went right into Erik's body, and stayed there.
Erik still managed to bury his sword halfway into the draugr's skull. The draugr fell first.
That was a fatal wound he'd just taken. There was a sword right through his ribcage, into his lungs. Maybe it'd hit his heart.
He turned around slowly, staggering slightly, to look Ria in the eyes. The sword was still in him. Blood was starting to trickle from his mouth.
Ria didn't know what to say. Or even what to think. The draugr were still coming. She stepped close just as Erik fell to his knees.
They were looking at each other still. She wanted to know what Erik was thinking right then. She wanted… she wanted something, anything, she didn't know, but no words were coming out.
Erik opened his mouth slowly. His words came as a pained whisper. "Tell my f—"
Then an arrow came flying in and hit him straight in the throat. His sentence died on his lips.
For a moment, Ria wasn't even aware of what she was doing. She attacked something, she hit something, she killed something. She forced herself to focus. She had to focus. What was going on?
Ria looked around. Took a deep, shuddering breath in, and looked around.
And she'd thought she was outnumbered before.
Draugr were appearing everywhere. Coming out from behind rocks and ridges, from every hiding place around this crater they possibly could. Everywhere Ria looked, countless pairs of red glowing eyes looked back. There must have been dozens of them. Hundreds. Hundreds of red draugr, under Alduin's direct control.
They were all here to kill her. And she had no one left to help.
So she did the only thing she could think of, and launched into a breakneck sprint towards the red orb.
Draugr were pouring in from every direction, chasing after her. She ignored them. Focused on her target. On the thing she had to protect. The few draugr around it were finally stepping away and focusing on her. Did they mean to attack her?
She pointed Selthrei vaguely forwards as she ran, and sent out a huge branching field of lightning, so bright and loud that she couldn't even see what it was doing. When it stopped, the draugr were all on the ground, and visibly smoldering.
When Ria reached the orb, she didn't slow down. It didn't matter. The draugr were gone, and this thing was still standing. It was obviously meant to block them out. But not her.
And sure enough, she passed right through it without even a bit of resistance. It was as harmless as being shone on with some magelight. She only stopped herself once she was inside.
From here, everything outside looked dark. The walls of this strange spherical web looked less like nearby confines, and more like distant constellations in the black sky. And the rumbling of the clouds was all so muted. It sounded like they were underwater. But none of that commanded her focus right now. She was busy looking at what was right in front of her face.
The Heart of Lorkhan was floating motionless in the air, upright, about a foot above the ground. The way it was surrounded by broken chunks of rock made it look like it'd been encased in them, before the impact. Now it just stood unsupported in the air, throbbing gently, despite being connected to nothing. It was such a bright, vivid red. It obviously belonged inside something living. There were holes at the top where it should have connected to a creature's veins.
And it really was gigantic. It was over half as tall as Ria was.
The draugr were approaching her outside, trying to get back in. Maybe they would, soon. This orb didn't seem like it was made to last forever. Ria ignored them for now, and focused on the heart.
Here she was, looking at the actual, physical, still-beating heart of her own god. It was just as Alduin had said. She'd come here to save her master. Now she just had to complete her mission.
Slowly, on a strangely curious instinct, she reached out with her free left hand, and laid her armored fingertips on the heart's muscular surface.
A memory flashed through her mind. A beautiful, silent memory of a soothing white light, cradling her with a love that ran deeper than her own soul. It was calling to her. Shor was calling to her.
It was time for her to answer.
With her hand still resting against the Heart of Lorkhan, Ria took a deep breath in, and pointed Selthrei straight up.
The bolt of lightning cut straight through the glowing red strands above. The entire orb disintegrated in an instant. Arcing waves spread out from her blade to the ground, incinerating the nearby draugr wherever it touched them. And the lightning shot upward, far upward, into the black sky above, shifting through brilliant jagged shapes with each passing second.
Ria could feel the energy coursing through her. This wasn't just her power. This was Shor's. The Companions were his warriors, and they always had been. The Nords were his people, and they always had been. And she felt all of them now.
The lightning's power was flooding into the sky above, burning through the veil of Alduin's darkness. A point of light was gathering, high above. Building up energy, spreading out slowly, preparing for the final deliverance of Shor's judgment.
Then, over the course of barely a second, a view opened up above to a very different sky. The whole mountainside, everything within the confines of the dark cloud walls, was filled with brilliant golden light. It was coming from a beautiful bright sun, a real sun, up at the very zenith of the sky, where Selthrei's lightning connected to it. And it was surrounded by swirling rings of vivid purple clouds, all shining brightly, singing with the beautiful radiance of Aetherius.
A single, massive bolt of lightning shot down from the sun, from the same point where Selthrei's beam connected, all the way back down to the ground. It struck not even twenty feet away from where Ria stood. The rocky earth burst apart in a shower of blinding white energy, leaving just the barest of a crater in its wake. And when the energy faded, someone was in its place.
The figure was crouched down on one knee, perfectly calm and steady in the smoldering crater. It was a man. A Nord man, of living flesh and blood, wearing armor of metal rings over layered hides. He looked massively strong, and his long-haired, bearded features were very well-aged, but not weathered. Yet Ria didn't recognize him. He was a stranger. Certainly not an aspect of Shor.
But she recognized the weapon in his hands. The sturdy dark steel axe, double-headed, with straight blades running parallel to the haft. She didn't even have to examine the designs on it to realize what this was. Any Companion would know Wuuthrad when they saw it.
As the ancient warrior Ysgramor rose to his feet, the beam of lightning coursed on, and another bolt struck the ground nearby. Again, the rocks shattered under the impact, and again, a figure appeared. This one was another wise-looking bearded man, wearing some sort of magical-looking hooded gray robes. Ria still didn't recognize him. But those robes were most definitely those of an elite mage.
The draugr inside the crater were all gathering outside Selthrei's reach. A couple of them tried to unleash shouts on the group, but the lightning arced out and dissipated the incoming energy before it could come close.
Seconds passed by, and Ria kept Selthrei high in the sky, as its blade carried on the connection of the heart's power. Again and again, lightning struck down from the brilliant sun, and every time, another person appeared on the ground. Ria could feel the energy running through her the entire time. It took her breath away like nothing ever had.
Ria didn't think she'd recognize these faces. But some of them, she knew from their present-day likenesses alone. There was the old Nord ruler Olaf One-Eye; and the famed dragon-slayer Gormlaith Golden-Hilt; and even Jurgen Windcaller, the founder of the pacifist Greybeards, wearing his signature gray robes. They looked all the more magnificent in person.
There were so many more that she didn't recognize. But they were all heroes of Sovngarde. And they were coming back to Mundus once more, to defend the god of creation in his time of need. All of them were standing completely ready and alert, their weapons out, all entirely confident in what they had to do.
Then one of the lightning bolts delivered another warrior, and Ria recognized him on sight. It was Kodlak White-Mane himself. The Harbinger of the Companions, slain in their own hall mere months after Ria had joined. She couldn't believe her eyes. Even after everything, she couldn't believe it.
Skjor came down next. And then Aela, and Farkas. And even Vilkas, Kodlak's successor, so close by Ria's side that she felt the rocks bounce off her armor. Every one of them was all fully armed and armored, just as they had been in life, down to the war paint on their faces.
Vilkas turned and smiled brightly at her, before remarking over the noise of the lightning, "Fancy seeing you here!"
The beam came to an end just a moment later, leaving Ria in silence once again. But the sun still shone brightly above. Sovngarde's sky continued to look down upon them.
"Well, let's not waste time," Ria replied, before stepping away and looking around at everyone around her.
The draugr were absolutely everywhere. They completely filled the inside of the crater, beyond where Selthrei's radius had kept them away. There must have been hundreds of them. Maybe thousands. Alduin must have put everything he possibly could into this day. He must have expected something grand to come for him.
Then Ria looked at the heroes of Sovngarde around here. They were already wordlessly moving into a defensive ring formation, centered on the Heart of Lorkhan. There were perhaps fifty of them here, if even that. Fifty, against at least a thousand draugr.
If Alduin wanted something grand, Ria didn't doubt they could give it to him.
She thrust her sword into the air once more, and cried out, "For Skyrim!"
An army of warriors from five eras joined her in her battle cry. Their voices were as one. "FOR SKYRIM!"
Perhaps this really was Ria's day to die. Perhaps that was her fate, to complete her sacrifice, to join her Shield-Siblings in Sovngarde. But if that was indeed true, if she was fated to die today, she couldn't imagine it being in better company.
At that moment, the horde of draugr began their charge. Their footfalls were a thundering noise to drown out even the column of clouds. They were already so close in. They'd be here in just a few seconds.
And Ria was ready for them. With her sword held high, she took a single step forward, and leapt straight into the fray.
