"Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?" – Garth Nix

Chapter One

Luke's POV

The crisp, early morning, autumn air of the Rocky Mountains blew through the small foothills where I was camped. The sky was painted with pinks and reds as the sun was starting to rise in the east. I worked my way out of the tent and began to stretch as I took in the view of the coming sunrise. Once stretching was over I started to walk towards the tree that housed my hunting gear, I took in a deep breath and gave my back one last stretch that resulted in my lower back giving a satisfying crack. I slowly started to lower my gear from the tree as I had thoughts and hopes about how the day was going to pan out.

Once my gear was on the forest floor I started to put on the camo vest over my shirt and then bent down to fully tie my boots. As I straightened out I picked up my compound bow and took stock of my remaining supplies. I had three days worth of rations left that I had prepared before I had left for this elk hunting trip just over a week ago. Slinging my backpack over my shoulder as I stood up, I glanced up towards the sky as the pinks and reds started to become more pronounced. I hope that I can find an elk in a couple hours, I thought, or this is going to be a really long day.

The sun was high in the sky by the time I stopped for a quick snack. I sighed to myself and sat down on a rock that was protruding from the moss-covered ground. Slightly peeved, I slung my backpack off of my shoulders and onto the ground in front of me. I removed a protein bar and munched on it for a bit. "I thought that I would have seen something by now," I mused out loud. "This is getting really annoying." I took quick stock of my surroundings and noticed a deer path heading deeper into the foothills. I put the wrapper from my protein bar into my backpack and zipped the pack shut. With a roll of my head, I stood up and slung the backpack over my shoulders once again and started to follow the deer path in hopes that it'd bring me closer to finding an elk.

As I followed the deer path deeper into the foothills of the Rockies, I glanced down at my watch and saw that it was 14:38. I needed to give myself enough time to get pack to the camp I had set up before the sun went down, otherwise I would be in a bit of trouble. A noise to my left made me snap out of my thoughts and I quickly swung towards the sound of the foliage rustling. Cursing in my head at my suddenness, I slowly started to crouch and remove an arrow from the quiver on my compound bow. Once the arrow was nocked, I scanned the area the noise had come from. There was nothing there at first glance and I slowly started to make my way towards the said area. Passing under a couple of birch trees I noticed a large hill with a creek at the bottom. The creek was running towards the west and I noticed that I was a lot closer to the foothills than I had previously thought. I saw some tracks on the far bank of the creek, but no signs of whatever had made the noise I heard. With a sigh, I took the arrow off of the string and placed it back on the quiver. I made my way down the hill and walked over to the set of tracks on the opposite side of the creek.

The creek was so shallow that it barely rose above the laces on the topside of my boots. I crouched down and inspected the tracks and my heart started to beat a little bit faster once I realized that they were elk tracks. I followed the tracks along the creek's bank and saw that the tracks led into a cave. That's odd, I thought. I've never heard of an elk bedding down inside of a cave before. I removed an arrow from the quiver once again and nocked it. With the speed of a turtle, but the haste of a rabbit, I took my first steps into the cave.

Oddly enough there was enough natural light in the cave somehow that I could see perfectly fine. The walls of the cave rumbled as I heard what sounded like a thousand voices shout "YAH DOVAHKIIN!" The walls stopped rumbling as soon as the echo of the shout ceased.

"That was weird," I muttered to myself as I blinked a couple of times in confusion. Was someone just screwing with me? The odds of that happening were a bit high, so I doubted that was the case. I didn't really have a rational explanation for what had just happened as I slowly made my way around the cave. The cave didn't lead anywhere so I decided to circle back, almost quite literally, to the cave entrance. I stopped in the middle of my walk and looked up at the cave's ceiling and frowned. This doesn't look like the cave I entered, I thought.

The ceiling of the cave was arched, more so than I remembered it being when I first followed the elk tracks in. The ceiling looked more like a dome, but with stalactites and moss hanging down. I looked behind me and became a little concerned when I saw that there wasn't anything but a wall of rock behind me. The most concerning part was that there weren't signs of a cave in either, just natural rock. A natural ramp led to the floor of the cave, where a solitary rock sat. There was a loud panting noise and I froze as a bear rose from beneath the ramp.

Taking a more careful stock of the cave, I noticed a human skeleton by the bear and the blood stained ground. Over to the right of the skeleton was what looked like a wagon, but a really old styled one, the kind that horses probably would pull, and a chest. The bear made a couple of grunts and started to move around the cave and I was glad that it hadn't noticed me yet. Once the bear settled down, I came to a realization that there was no way that I was going to get out of this cave with the bear lounging about, and I didn't have a bear tag, nor any bear spray. I'll just have to either explain this to the game wardens or not say anything at all, I thought.

I readied my compound bow and nocked an arrow. With a deep breath I drew the string back to my anchor point and readied the thumb release. Muscle memory guided the bow up and made tiny adjustments as I aimed at the kill zone. The bear once again stood up and that was when I released my breath and let the shot go. The thumb release let out a little click and the weapon gave a bit of a twang as the pulleys guided the string back to its resting place. The bear turned its head to look at where the sound came from, but by then it was too late as the broadhead sunk into its heart. The bear released a grunt and fell over on its side and let out one last rattle of air before death claimed it.

I walked down the naturalized ramp and out of curiosity walked over to the chest that I had seen earlier. I knelt down and popped the chest open to see what was inside. I found a small bag and a book. The small bag clattered a little bit and I opened the drawstring. My eyes widened when I saw that the bag held gold coins. I plucked a coin out of the bag and turned it back and forth. There was an odd sigil stamped on one side of the coin and a man's head stamped onto the other. After putting the coin back in the bag I moved on to the book that read: Spell Tome: Lighting Bolt. With a frown, I shrugged off my backpack and set it onto the ground. I looked around the cave on last time and quickly put the bag of coin and the book into the backpack. With a grunt I stood up and both of my knees popped. I walked towards what looked to be the exit of the cave and made my way up the slight incline that was teasing daylight at the end of it.

Once I exited the mouth of the cave my jaw fell open in shock. There were mountains in the distance and a hill directly across from where I stood. A river was between the hill that I was on and the hill across from me. On the opposite bank there was a pathway and as my eyes followed the path there was a small town with houses built of stone and straw. I took a couple of steps forward and looked to my right to see a bridge made entirely of stone spanning the width of the river. One thing was certain; this definitely was not the cave I had entered in Colorado. I slowly made my way towards the bridge and towards the town.

As I crossed the bridge, I took a look to my left and followed the river down and was surprised to see more mountains in the distance. With a shake of my head, I turned back towards the town and took a quick note of the abandoned looking hut across from what looked to be a sawmill. As I got closer to the sawmill, I saw that there was what looked like a grain mill of some sort across from it in the town. There was a woman tending the garden as I approached the fenced in area. She was dressed in a brown and white dress. She turned and looked at me with a frown on her face.

"Who are you?" she asked in a heavy accent.

"Ah, my name is Luke," I answered, "Luke Porter. What's yours?"

"The name is Fastred," the woman answered. "You look strange, what is it that you are wearing?"

I look strange? I thought. You look like you've come directly out of a fantasy novel or movie. "I'm wearing hunting gear," I answered out loud. "Would you mind telling me where I am?"

Fastred seemed taken back with that question and replied, "You're in the town of Ivarstead in the Rift province of Skyrim."

I blinked a couple of times and repeated, "Ivarstead? Where is that in relation to Denver?"

"Never heard of Denver before," Fastred said. "Are you feeling okay stranger?"

"To be honest I'm not quite sure. I feel like I'm in a really fucked up dream."

"How did you come to Ivarstead?"

"Through that cave across the bridge," I answered and pointing at it with my thumb behind my shoulder.

Fastred's eyes widened and she asked, "Pinepeak Cavern? Did the bear not give you trouble?"

"Uh, yeah and no the bear wasn't any trouble at all," I answered.

Fastred's eyes now narrowed with my answer and her voice took an edge to it, "How did the bear not give you any trouble? It's been killing every hunter that attempts to get into that cave!"

"I don't know how it didn't give me any trouble," I replied with a sigh, "I just shot it before it realized that I was in the cave with it. Simple as that."

"It's not as simple as that! How did you get into the damned cave?"

"I have no fucking idea. Is there a place that I can get a drink?" I asked changing subject.

"Yes, Vilemyr Inn just down the road."

"Thank you," I said with a slight nod of my head. I turned away from Fastred and was about to head toward the inn when I heard Fastred say, "This is far from over traveler."

I made it to the inn after a short walk and entered through the door. This either had to be a reclusive commune hidden in the Rockies that no one has run across before or I was still asleep in my tent and this was all a really fucked up dream. If this was a commune, my satellite phone should work. If this was a dream, this would be the last time that I ate a protein bar before I went to bed. I approached the bartender, who gave me a weary look, and asked him, "What do you have to drink?"

"We have some Honningbrew mead or some Black-Briar mead," the bartender answered. "Are you looking for something to eat as well?"

"Yes please."

"We have some venison stew, cheese, and bread."

"I'll take some venison stew, bread, and a glass of Black-Briar mead please."

"That'll be ten septims."

I gave a quick nod and set my bow down on a seat next to me before I took my backpack off and set it down on the counter. I grabbed the coin bag I had found in the cave and counted out eleven coins. I handed them to the bartender and he gave me a raised eyebrow when he counted out the eleventh coin. I gave him a shrug and closed my backpack up. The bartender informed me that the food would be ready in a little bit and I quickly thanked him and moved over to a table in the corner.

The inn was pretty impressive in my eyes. The fireplace in the middle of the floor seemed a bit odd, but also made sense that it was easily the only source of heat for the building. As my gaze wandered around the inn, a woman came out from a room to the bartender's left. She was dressed in a strapless, deep red and white, dress. In her hands was a light brown stringed instrument, a lute perhaps. She took a quick gaze and looked a little disappointed that I was the only patron occupying the inn's dining area. She started to walk over to me when the bartender called her over. "Lynly! Do you have a moment?"

"Yes Wilhelm?" Lynly responded as she turned her attention to the bartender.

The bartender leaned in towards Lynly and started whispering while occasionally glancing over at me and probably not noticing that I was paying them any attention. Lynly turned and looked at me before turning back to Wilhelm. She said something to him and then made her way back over to me. I pretended not to have noticed anything that was going on between Lynly and Wilhelm. I raised an eyebrow when she stopped a couple of feet away from me.

"How can I help you?" I asked.

"I see that you are a stranger here," said Lynly, "I was wondering if you'd like to hear a song? It's not often that Ivarstead gets any visitors."

"What are my song options?" I questioned. I really wanted to see if this was a dream or some type of commune, so I kind of expected an old bar song from the 1600's or around that time frame to be sung.

"I really only know the song of Ragnar the Red, to be honest with you," Lynly answered. "Otherwise I only play the lute."

"Well, how about Ragnar the Red?" I asked.

Lynly nodded and responded, "Alright, here it goes."

Lynly strummed a couple of chords on her lute and Wilhelm walked over with my food and drink. Once the bowl and goblet hit the table, Wilhelm was gone as quickly as his feet could carry him. I picked up a spoon and started to eat the stew as Lynly started to sing:

Oh, there once was a hero named Ragnar the Red,
Who came riding to Whiterun from old Rorikstead
And the braggart did swagger and brandish his blade
As he told of bold battles and gold he had made

But then he went quiet, did Ragnar the Red
When he met the shieldmaiden, Matilda, who said:
Oh you talk, and you lie, and you drink all our mead
Now I think it's high time that you lie down and bleed

And so then came clashing and slashing of steel
As the brave lass Matilda charged in full of zeal
And the braggart named Ragnar was boastful no more
When his ugly red head rolled around on the floor

That was definitely not a song that I didn't have knowledge about. I set down my spoon and gave Lynly a couple of claps for her performance. "Good job," I acknowledged before turning back to my meal. "Thank you," I heard Lynly say right as the sound of retreating footsteps quickly followed. I finished the bowl of venison stew, which I thought was perfectly seasoned and had an amazing taste. The stew was unquestionably homemade and something that I could appreciate. I let the spoon fall into the bowl with a satisfied sigh used the bread to mop up any remaining stew. I then turned my attention to the goblet of mead. The mead was of a decent quality, not anything that I would sing high praise about, and I quickly drank the contents of the glass and set it down on the table. I turned and looked around the inn once again and noticed that while I had eaten, a couple of more patrons had come into the inn.

I noticed a man with a bow draped across his back with a quiver of arrows staring quite intently at me. He was dressed in a very open outfit. Most of his torso was bare, the only thing covered was his left shoulder and collarbones. He also wore a leather cap on his head and it looked as if his entire outfit was made from leather and hide. Once the man noticed I had made eye contact with him, his brow furrowed and his eyes turned hard. He stood up from his chair and approached me with strides full of purpose. He stopped once he reached me and gave me a once over. "What are you doing here stranger?" he demanded.

"To tell you the truth," I replied. "I have no fucking clue. I was elk hunting and followed some tracks into a cave. I didn't find the elk that left those tracks, but I did find myself in a cave that suddenly didn't have an entrance nor exit." I paused and stood up to look the man in the eye before I continued, "What I find in a cave is a bear, human remains, and a chest. I kill the bear and exit the cave only to find realize that the cave I just came from was not the same one I had entered! So I came to this town and decided to see if I could find some information as to what the hell I'm doing here. I found no new information other than the fact I'm not where I thought I was and getting nothing but odd stares from people whom I've never seen nor met before in my entire life. So you could say I'm having a fucked up day."

The man's frown deepened as he took a step away from me. His eyes remained locked on mine and he spat, "I don't believe you! I think that you are an Imperial spy!"

"I know nothing about an empire," I snarled back. "I've told you that I don't even know where I am!"

"Just admit that you're a faithless Imperial bastard or you'll be sorry!"

"I'll be sorry?" I snorted sizing the man up. "Be careful who you threaten there buddy."

The man got into a fighting stance and said, "It wasn't a threat boy!"

"You're going to regret that if you throw that punch," I warned quietly.

"Barknar, that's enough!" shouted Wilhelm. "I will not have you antagonizing other patrons of my inn!"

"This whelp needs to be taught some respect," Barknar snapped.

"Respect?" I repeated. "You're the one that started this entire situation! If anything it's you who should be taught some manners at the least."

"Oh that's it boy! You've asked for this!" Barknar said venomously as he threw a right hook.

And here we go… I thought with some disappointment.

Author's Note:
Hello Elder Scrolls fandom. I'd like to thank whoever is reading this story for giving it a shot. This is my first time writing something in a couple of years, so I feel like I'm a bit rusty. I've only recently discovered this fandom a couple of months ago after having started the Skyrim journey about a year ago. I've become completely enthralled with this universe that Bethesda has created. I hope that I can do it justice and if I am not, please feel free to let me know. Please leave a review on your way out and once again, thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Porter-Fuzz