The Last Dragon Priest
Well technically she was a priestess. But Sonaak was the last living of her kind. She'd been slumbering for thousands of years but something had woken her. She'd felt it deep in her bones and her violet eyes snapped open. She saw perfectly in the dark as she pushed the lid up, away and sat up out of the sarcophagus. Dust flew everywhere and she wrinkled her nose, determined not to sneeze as her first experiance upon awakening. Sonaak was mostly shaven headed, with long dreaded black braids at the top and trailing down her back. Her tanned skin from head to foot had been tattooed, scarred, burned and branded to resemble dragon scales. A dragon symbol had also been tattooed on her right cheek, a symbol of dragon devotion upon her face. She wore revealing Dragon Priest armor, the cloth pale purple to match her eyes. She wore dragonhide gloves, boots and she carried a dragon priest staff and dragon priest dagger. She'd been an acolyte in the dragon cult. She collected her thoughts, trying to remember what had last happened...
She'd been an acolyte, training to be a Dragon Priest when the dragons had been overthrown. Man had learned Thu'um and were striking back at their scaley overlords. When it became inevitable that all the dragons were dying and Alduin might be defeated they put their last plan into motion. Her. Hidden deep in a small tomb lost to the ages, the remaining Dragon Priests had cast a sleeping spell upon her that would last until it was forseen the dragons would rise again. She would be first to serve the dragons and revive the cult long gone! She would be remembered by all, just like Miraak the first Dragonborn and High Priest of their cult. She had idolized him from afar as he never noticed a lowly female acolyte like her. When he'd betrayed his dragon masters she'd hated him yet still couldn't help but admire his power. But first she had to find a dragon, for that'd been the reason she'd woken up from the spell...
She sputtered awoke floating in water. The Skinny Horker must have crashed in the storm. She swam, navigating inside the ships water filled cabins. She found the redguard and monk floating dead in the water. She looted what supplies she could salvage before finally reaching the surface through a hole in the ships hull. The water was frigid cold as the ship was surrounded by icebergs. She swam and swam, the water was beautifully crystal clear and you could see the icebergs underneath as well. She finally reached a patch of ice large enough to stand on. She looked around. The land looked like a frozen, barren wasteland full of snow and mountains.
She kept going until she reached the first civilized town. Ships lined it's coast as sea gulls called to one another in the chilled air. The men unloading the cargo of one of those ships stopped dead in their tracks and stared open mouthed at her. They were burly men with long hair and beards. Clearly they had never seen the likes of her before. She stalked right up to them, intruding their personal space.
"Where am I?" she asked in a no nonsense tone.
"Dawnstar, ma'am." He swallowed nervously. She had no clue where this 'Dawnstar' was at. She grabbed the front of his shirt and hauled him up to her height (for she was tall!).
"Where...am...I?" she growled inches from his face.
"Sk-sk-Skyrim!" he whispered in fear. She dropped him and smiled a toothy grin.
"Aaahh the motherland..." and left them to their devices.
Sona trudged along the road in the direction she'd heard a dragon roar. The people of this land seemed to not remember much of dragons, dismissing them as myth. She was in warmer land now but there was always a hint of winter in the air. She passed strange soldiers in red and silver armor with prisoners. They all tried discreetly to stare at her and she decided to ignore them, concentrating on her goal.
She reached a sleepy little town in the middle of nowhere pratically astride a river. She almost spent her last gold on a room at the local inn when she heard an old woman's voice pipe up.
"A dragon! I saw a dragon!" she turned in the direction of a little old lady on a porch.
"Oh mother, what is it now?" her grown son stated angrily.
"It was as big as a mountain and black as night!" she spoke loudly.
"Dragons is it? If you keep that up, everyone in town is going to think you're crazy!" his face turned red.
"You'll see, it'll swoop down and kill us all and then you'll believe me!" she shook a bony finger at his retreating back.
A few miles away she heard it again, unmitakably the roar of a dragon but closer this time. She took a turn and headed right down another road. She could just view a fort in the distance when she heard an earth shattering roar. Instinctively she knelt in a servants pose, but the beast did not even see her so many miles above. He roared mightly again, circling lazily back the way she'd came. She squinted. By Akatosh that was Alduin the World Eater! He'd survived and unscathed by the looks of it. And he'd left behind a scene of carnage and wreckage. She shoved open the huge wooden gates to survey his handiwork. Fires still burned, buildings smashed to pieces. Even the stone keep had been destroyed. Bodies burnt to a crisp melted into the very earth itself still smoked. She inhaled the scent of burnt flesh and sulfur. The town was utterly destroyed and it was a beautiful sight indeed.
Sona headed towards the huge settlement perched high on the rocks where she'd last seen Alduin had headed. It was growing dark and unlike her undead counterparts, she needed to rest. More and more settlements popped up; meadery's, farms and the like. She passed a stable with horses and paused to admire the navy sky melting into a lovely shade of pink as the sun vanished for the night. Already thousands of stars twinkled high above.
A guard barred her entrance, claiming the city was on alert for dragons. She persuaded him she had information on the dragons (which she technically knew all about them as a Dragon Priest) and learned the place was called Whiterun, and was instructed to the very top palace named Dragonsreach.
The town was decorated all over with dragon carvings on each house and building of business. Even at this late hour people strolled to and from the taverns and their homes. She passed the statue of some strange god while a priest preached at the top of his voice. The palace was built atop the highest perch of the mountain with rushing water surrounding it. Dragons adorned its every peak. It seemed humans still idolized their previous masters in a way.
Sona was on a quest to fetch one of the dragonstones. Oh the things she could have told their so called 'dragon expert'! Still, it had pointed her in the right direction. She climbed higher and higher having to don her dragon priest hood. Dispatching of a few bandits she finally reached a nordic tomb and slipped inside.
She knelt down and retrieved the golden dragon claw from the man she'd just burnt to a crisp to get. An enormous smoldering spider corpse lay behind her. She'd heard of these sacred keys. There were many. They kept out intruders and guarded the treasures within.
She knew exactly how to use the key when she reached the door. The hallway depicted events that had happened just yesterday to her, yet were faded and covered in dust as if ancient. She reached an underground cavern with a stream running in it. Bats flew past her at her intrusion. She saw a familiar word wall that contained the dragons knowledge. She could read every word on the wall. But she had never heard chanting while near one before...
The chanting got louder and more intense the closer she got. A single word stood out amongst all the rest; Fus or Force in the dovah tongue. It glowed a fiery blue as it seared itself into her very brain. What was this strange sensation?
After battling a draugr overlord that was no match for her staff she held the dragonstone in her hands. She dusted it off and placed it on the altar before her. She copied it, keeping the original and giving the fake copy to the wizard. The housecarl interrupted them, claiming recent sightings of a nearby dragon! This could be her chance! The others were planning on killing it of course, but if she got the chance, she was going to talk to it...
When the others were busy springing into action, she knelt in an acolytes' pose. They thought she was preparing a spell but she was praying that the creature would hear her. It was a lesser dragon and not Alduin like she'd hoped. The dumb beast didnt even seem to see her! When it landed infront of her and tried to chomp her for breakfast that's when she got pissed! He roared in agony as she struck him again and again with her staff. She realized she'd gone too far when he threw back his head in agony; screamed "Dovahkiin...nooooo!" as he fell foward and died. But that couldn't be right. Dovahkiin meant dragonborn and she hadn't been born with the soul of a dragon as far as she knew. And that's when things got weird...
The dragon's body burst into flame and as it burned away leaving nothing but a skeletal husk she saw tendrils of...something rise from the dragon and rush into her being. It was exhilerating and felt as natural as breathing air. She'd never experienced anything like that before!
The men rushed up to her, exclaiming that she was, indeed dragonborn. They dared her to Shout and she remembered the Word she'd learned in Bleak Falls Barrow. Taking a deep breath she shouted "FUS!" and the men staggered back several feet in astonishment. But this was impossible, wasnt it? Her with the soul of a dragon! But she'd been around word walls all her life and never once felt the calling... Perhaps her thousands year slumber had something to do with it?
On her way back to reporting to the local Jarl, massive thunder shook the earth and voices shouting 'Dovahkiin' in mighty Thu'um unison. Apparently the very few humans who could Shout had started a little cult...the Greybeards. So that's why she was climbing this 7000 step mountain, to see why she of all people would be dragonborn.
Sona wasn't sure how she felt about it. On the one hand, it was cursed to betray your masters and slay them like Miraak had done. His temple had been destroyed and his name blasephemed upon his actions. But on the other hand, there had to be some reason Akatosh had seen fit to gift her with a dragons soul upon her 'rebirth'.
She remembered this mountain. The Throat of the World. It was where Alduin had been defeated by those 3 dispicable humans. There'd been no steps winding up the mountain then. They'd also recorded her time's story on tablets and the frost troll at the top was no match.
These so called 'experts in the ways of the Voice' nearly put her to sleep with their droning on and on. Every child in the dragon cult before the age of 10 was taught the basics they kept acting was so hard to accomplish. They did not tell her anything she didn't already know. They did give her extra shouts and parts of their knowledge so that had been a bonus at least...
It came as a shock to her when she was gathering supplies in Whiterun when 2 dragon cultists approached her. They seemed quite angry calling her a liar when they asked if she truly was Dragonborn, then attacking her on Miraak's behalf. Why would Miraak want her dead? Again she wished people would allow her to explain herself. Well then let them have a taste of her Thu'um!
Man had flourished well here in Skyrim. There was a college of mages, an assassins guild, a thieves guild and even a pack of werewolves/fighters guild. Civil war was breaking out but she didnt quite understand all the details of it, something about forbidding the worship of some man that had become a god? It mattered little to her. She had gotten wind of another dragon sighting.
She was sure the Dragon Priests had not forseen this, one of their own becoming a dragonborn. But then again it had happened before with Miraak. She would have to eventually answer his summons and travel to Solstheim. But Miraak was powerful and she'd need to grow exponentially to even come close to matching him. She laughed to herself as she shouted a pair of goats off the mountain. And to be able to withstand the Voice and not disentegrate...she'd passed their little test.
The weather turned into a blizzard in seconds. She'd donned her mask and hood this time so hopefully the dragon would have no reason not to recognize her. She reached a tiny town named Kynesgrove and locals running for their lives confirmed that indeed a very large dragon was lurking about. She followed the sounds of flapping wings.
It was Alduin himself, hovering around a dragon burial site. She watched as he Spoke a Word at the mound of dirt. A dragon skeleton burst from it in vengeful roaring fury. Flames engulged it as its scales regrew as it was made into flesh again. They conversed in the dragons tongue. This time she flung herself in plain view of Alduin and the other dragon in a servants pose, and shouted at the top of her lungs "Zu'u los hein aar! Zu'u los hein aar!" (I am your servant!)
"You know our tongue. Impressive." Alduin had recognized her as dragonborn and not as dragon priest! The next thing she knew, he was ordering the other dragon to attack and kill her as he flew away to more important matters! She cursed as she realized she'd have to strike down another one of her masters.
The first of her breathren that she ran into was Krosis, high on a mountaintop. A dragon was there too and both attacked her on sight. Krosis was of course undead. His name meant Sorrow and he hovered well out of reach, flinging powerful exploding fireballs at her while the dragon pummeled her from above. She had a powerful spell but it would use up all her magic. She cast it and summoned an fire breathing ancient dragon to aid her in the battle against the other dragon. And with the dragon off her back she could now focus on Krosis...
It was the one of the longest battles she'd had yet. When she'd finally defeated him she stripped him of his powerful mask and donned his cloak she felt a sense of accomplishment in defeating him. She also couldn't wait to use that staff of his that had made him so unapproachable.
Sona traveled the land, collecting dragon priests masks, chasing dragons and growing in power. She was exploring Darklight Tower when she met Illia, a mage. She was part of a hagraven cult but no longer wished to be and they would not let her leave. Sona walked in on her right as Illia was butchering someone to escape. Illia took one look at her, threw herself at her feet and begged her to help. Her mother was turning into a hagraven and was going to force her into becoming one too. She wanted to leave and go anywhere but there. And so Sonaak gained a follower. She slew her evil mother and Illia so impressed with Sona swore to follow her right then and there. Sona gifted her with cultist robes and a mask and also new dragonsteel weapons and a powerful staff. How times had changed, now she was the High Priest of her religion now and Illia her acolyte.
They found an old dragon burial mound, right below Lost Tongue Overlook. They turned it into a living space and dug a small basement beneath it lining it with slabs of rock dipicting dragon priests and she used a sacrophagus for a bed like she'd woken up in. She felt strangely comforted sleeping in it. The place resembled the other place she'd woken up in only this one had a throne! Outside the basement in the ring of dragon burial mound was a huge bonfire, an enchantment/alchemist area, blacksmith area and eating area. Many meats smoked above the fire and dishes of sweets, meats and other delicacies lined the table.
Sona was exploring the area nearby when she was approached by an imperial soldier. He went on about the dragon cult and trying to stop it. She had to get involved. He led her to Forelhost Stronghold. Instead of going in there himself he sent her in there but it was fine by Sonaak. She was excited that maybe some of her old cult had survived afterall...
She was dissapointed. The soldier hadn't been kidding when he'd said the place was haunted. Old dragon cultist ghosts roamed the place and they weren't friendly, not even to her a fellow dragon priest. One ghost even vanished after she Fus Ro Dah'd him. Also inside were the skeletal remains of the dragon priests, each with a bottle of poison next to it. They'd rather take their own life then be wiped out by imperial soldiers. She was rather impressed the cult had survived this long and was saddened that it had ended before she'd had the chance. At the end she had to fight another of her undead brethren, Rahgot this time. His name meant Rage and he was the last leader of the Dragoncult. King Harold's men had laid seige to their tower and the priests had commited suicide rather than die at the hands of the soldiers. She went to report back to the imperial soldier only to find him dressed in different armor, blue this time with fur trim. It was a set up! He'd been sent by the Thalmor to aquire the mask by any means necessary, and Sona wasn't about to give up any mask in her hard earned collection!