Disclaimer: As of 22.2.2021, I have updated this chapter a bit to 1) make it more readable as I could not read it myself and 2) shape it into the same way most of my newer stories are written, as there are a lot of things I wanted to change while reading over the old version. I will update all of the other chapters over time as well and add a small note over the ones I have finished to rework. Although, since it takes a long while and I don't want it to take ages, I will only fix some grammatical errors for certain and/or larger parts, but there will also be some new, subtle changes…
I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 1: Imprisonment
'Ugh… where am I? What happened?' . A Nord male with long blond hair sat in a carriage with his hands bound. When he was a child, he had been living here in Skyrim, his homeland, but when he was five years old his parents moved to Cyrodiil and he lived in the Imperial City from there on. But now that he is 20 years old, he decided to go back into his homeland to finally live there once again. It was sad because his parents couldn't go with him but he promised that he would be alright and come back home someday. And now? He was sitting in a carriage as a prisoner with others. He was interrupted in his thoughts when another Nord male with long blonde hair, who was sitting in front of him, suddenly spoke up.
"Hey, you. You're finally awake. You were trying to cross the border, right? Walked right into that Imperial ambush, same as us… and that thief over there.", he looked at the Nord who was sitting beside him.
"Damn you, Stormcloaks! Skyrim was fine until you came along. The Empire was nice and lazy… if they hadn't been looking for you, I could've stolen that horse and be halfway to Hammerfell.", the thief looked at me with a bitter expression.
"You there. You and me, we shouldn't be here. It's these Stormcloaks the Empire wants.", he said before the other Nord spoke up again.
"We're all brothers and sisters in binds now, thief.", he said but the Imperial guard leading the carriage had enough of our talk.
"Shut up back there!", the guard seemed to be pretty annoyed but the thief didn't listen to him in the slightest and looked at me before speaking up again.
"You there, what did you want to do here in Skyrim?", the thief asked and pointed at me.
"I wanted to see my homeland again and start a new life here. But now I'm here, captured by the Empire. My name is Arcos.", I never understood why I have this name, it wasn't really fitting for a Nord, but my parents seemed to like that name. Then the Nord in Stormcloak armor looked at me as well, a sad and empathetic look on his face.
"I'm sorry for you, the Empire doesn't even care about such things. They are not what they were in the past and that is why I'm fighting against them. My name is Ralof, by the way.", for some reason my guts told me that I could trust him.
"And what's wrong with him, huh?", the thief asked and looked at the prisoner who sat beside me. He was also a Nord male but unlike as all, a piece of cloth has been put into his mouth. Still, he had far better clothes than we had.
"Watch your tongue. You're speaking to Ulfric Stormcloak, the true High King.", Ralof hissed. I had no idea what they were talking about and who the Stormcloaks were but they obviously had problems with the Empire.
"Ulfric? The Jarl of Windhelm? You're the leader of the rebellion… but if they've captured you… oh gods, where are they taking us?", the thief was getting more and more worried.
"I don't know where we're going but Sovngarde awaits.", Ralof muttered. Sovngarde, the place where heroes and Nords are going in the afterlife. A place where every Nord wants to be when they're dead. That was my wish too.
"No, this can't be happening. This isn't happening!", the thief had an expression with absolute disbelief.
"Hey, what village are you from, horse thief?", Ralof asked in a sad tone, the question managing to surprise the thief.
"Why do you care?"
"A Nord's last thoughts should be of home.", he said. I couldn't believe that this is how my life is going to end. Killed because of a mistake…
"Rorikstead. I'm… I'm from Rorikstead.", the question calmed the thief down at least a little bit. We slowly arrived in a small village, which I immediately recognized as Helgen. Suddenly, an Imperial guard spoke up.
"General Tullius, sir. The headsman is waiting!"
"Good. Let's get this over with.". The thief prayed to the gods, begging for help when Ralof spoke up again.
"Look at him. General Tullius, the Military commander. And it looks like the Thalmor are with him. Damn elves, I bet they had something to do with this."
"This is Helgen. I used to be sweet on a girl from here. Funny, when I was a boy, the Imperial walls and towers used to make me feel so safe…", Ralof said with a sad expression. I heard a child asking his father what is going on but the father merely sent him back into the house. I bet the child wouldn't want to see what is going to be happening now.
"Why are we stopping?", the thief asked with worry.
"Why do you think? End of the line. Let's go. Shouldn't keep the gods waiting for us.", Ralof said and slowly stood up when the carriage stopped. We walked out of the carriage but the thief didn't want to believe it.
"No! Wait! We're not rebels!"
"Face your death with some courage, thief.", Ralof replied calmly.
"You've got to tell them! We weren't with you, this is a mistake!", he yelled but was utterly ignored by everyone. I felt sad for him... but I was going to die here as well, so whatever. In front of us were standing Imperial soldiers with lists and a captain, who spoke up.
"Step forward to the block when we call your name. One at a time.", she said. I never had something against the Empire but now I'm seeing a whole different side of them.
"Empire loves their damn lists.", Ralof said with a glare. I stood beside Ralof when the soldier with the list spoke up.
"Ulfric Stormcloak, Jarl of Windhelm.", the man known as Ulfric walked to the block when the soldier finished the sentence.
"It has been an honor, Jarl Ulfric.", Ralof said. The soldier merely continued.
"Ralof of Riverwood.", with that, Ralof walked to the block, too.
"Lokir of Rorikstead.", so his name is Lokir.
"No, I'm not a rebel! You can't do this!", what he did next shocked me. He tried to run away as fast as he could, but was quickly stopped with an arrow that hit him in the back of his head.
"Anyone else feel like running?", she said with a smirk and a mocking tone. I already hated this captain. From all Imperials here I hated her the most. However, the soldier with the list suddenly had a confused expression.
"Wait… you there. Step forward.", he ordered and pointed at me. I did as I was asked before he spoke up again, eyeing me closely.
"Who… are you?", he asked with a questioning look.
"My name is Arcos. I wanted to cross the border to see my homeland again when you captured me.", I tried to hide any emotions, that wouldn't help me right now.
"You have picked a bad time to return here, tribesman. Captain, what should we do? He's not on the list." I prayed that this was just a mistake and they would let me go…
"Forget the list. He goes to the block.", she said with a smirk. And with that one sentence, all my hopes were crushed. Thank you, dear captain… I hope you can sleep well tonight.
"By your orders, captain. I'm sorry, at least you're going to die in your homeland. Follow the captain, prisoner.", the soldier said and gave me a sympathetic look. He was kinda friendly, but that captain… I did so as ordered and followed her to the block where everyone else was standing already. And it was then that General Tullius spoke to Ulfric the moment I arrived.
"Ulfric Stormcloak. Some here in Helgen call you a hero, but a hero doesn't use a power like the voice to murder his king and usurp his throne!", he said but Ulfric gave him only a glare and growled slightly.
"You started this war, plunged Skyrim into chaos, and now the Empire is going to put you down and restore the peace!", he continued when suddenly a noise from the mountains was to hear, echoing deeply in the air. What was that…?
"What was that?", the soldier who had the list asked, almost straight out of my mind. But Tullius didn't seem to care in the slightest.
"It's nothing. Carry on.", he ordered.
"Yes, General Tullius!", the captain replied and turned to the priest who was standing beside the headsman.
"Give them their last rites.", she said and the priest started to pray for everyone who was going to lose their lives on this day. But she was quickly interrupted by a Stormcloak soldier who was more than irritated by her words and stepped forward.
"For the love of Talos, shut up and let's get this over with!", he shouted while glaring at the priestess.
"As you wish…", the priestess replied while returning the glare.
"Come on, I haven't got all morning!", the soldier said while the captain walked behind him, pushing him down to the block.
"My ancestors are smiling at me Imperials. Can you say the same?", he said as his last words before the headsman cut off his head with his giant axe. It failed to land within the small basket that was placed in front of the block, and I could witness with horror as the head stopped a short distance in front of me, it's dead gaze staring back at me.
The same would happen to me as well… I heard some people shouting that this was nothing but murder, and that the Imperials were bastards for their actions, or in other cases, that this was simply justice. But how could this be justice…
"As fearless in death as he was in life…", Ralof muttered.
"Next, the ragged Nord!", the captain ordered and pointed at me. Why thank you, again… from all the people around me, you're picking me as the first one. I would die either way, so it did not matter… I'm sorry mother, father… I can't hold my promise to you.
I walked to the block while looking to the ground when I felt the captain pushing me down to the block. I don't regret anything, I had a wonderful life… and I'm only twenty years old.
I saw the headsman slowly readying himself, preparing to cut off my head… when I suddenly saw a black thing flying from a mountain right into our direction.
"What in Oblivion is that!?", I heard General Tullius shouting. That giant thing landed on top of a tower next to our position. The impact knocked the headsman from his feet, causing him to fall to the ground. I shivered at the mere sight, but it changed into absolute shock once the black monstrosity looked back at me. That… is a dragon! Something out of legends! It stared intensely at me, until suddenly, it shouted something which was letting the earth shake and the sky started to change. And then… it was starting to rain meteors…? It shouted again and this time, it knocked me from my feet before I fell from the block. I lay there for some seconds until suddenly, somebody talked to me from the side.
"Hey, tribesman! Get up! Come on, the gods won't give us another chance!", I quickly headed his words and noticed that it was Ralof, who had stayed behind.
"This way!", I couldn't agree more with him and followed him to another tower. There were dead bodies on the ground, the headsman included. When we both entered the tower, Ralof quickly closed the door. Jarl Ulfric and some other Stormcloaks were in here too, some of them gravely wounded from the chaos outside.
"Jarl Ulfric! What is that thing? Could the legends be true?", Ralof asked.
"'Legends' don't burn down villages, we need to move, now!", he replied. Outside, I could hear the meteors still smashing down onto the village, as well as the shouts of the dragon. Ralof turned to me and spoke up again.
"Up through the tower! Let's go!", he said. I ran up the stairs with Ralof following right behind me, but the stairs were blocked with some stones, where a Stormcloak soldier was already trying to remove them.
"We just need to move them so-", suddenly the dragon broke through the wall of the tower and the stones killed the soldier in an instant. I froze on the place when the dragon looked me in the eyes once more with it's golden gaze
"Dovahkiin…", it could actually talk…? Or whatever it was that it said. I couldn't understand the word… but… it had a female voice. You could hear it clearly! Or… perhaps I was growing insane, that would be an explanation too…
And yet, I was torn out of my silly thoughts when suddenly, the dragon's eyes changed into a red colour.
"Yol Toor Shul!", she breathed in and unleashed a mighty flame while I was still frozen and shocked in place. Suddenly Ralof grabbed me from behind and pulled me back before the searing flames could wash over me.
"Everything alright?", he asked with concern.
"Y-yes… thanks.", I muttered, I definitely owe him something. I could hear the dragoness growling out of annoyance before she flew away again. However, once I stared at the spot where I had been standing a mere moment ago, I came to realize that it was entirely untouched by the flames, instead, they had impacted against the wall just a bit to the side…
"See the inn on the other side? Jump through the roof and keep going. We'll follow when we can!", Ralof said and I did so without another question. I took a step back and jumped right through the roof, and even though my lading was ungraceful, I was more than glad to be unharmed. I kept running out of the burned house when I suddenly heard another voice.
"You're doing great kid!", I saw the soldier from before with the list, who spoke to a kid with another old man, hiding behind a destroyed house. The dragon landed directly in front of them but they quickly moved away when the dragon unleashed yet another torrent of flames. But this time, he could witness that they were entirely directed upon the young child, barely missing the young boy by mere inches…
She flew away again once the soldier noticed me.
"Still alive prisoner? Keep close to me if you want to stay that way.", he said.
"Gunnar, take care of the boy. I have to find General Tullius and join the defense. Arcos, follow me!", he said and ran towards the street towards a wall behind a house. I followed quickly, all the while witnessing multiple Imperial soldiers who were dead on the ground almost everywhere.
"Stay close to the wall!", he said and I did so before suddenly, the dragon landed just on top of the wall, her right wing being pushed against the stones directly in front of me, almost brushing against my nose as I stared at the black texture with horror.
She focused her fiery breath at some Imperial soldiers before taking off into the sky again, and he could hear their pained outcries of agony.
"Quickly, follow me!", the soldier said again. We ran into another burned house and when we exited it, we saw many Imperials trying to fight the dragon with fireballs and arrows, along with General Tullius situated right in the center. When Tullius noticed the soldier he quickly turned to him.
"Hadvar, into the keep! We're leaving!", he ordered. So his name is Hadvar. I followed him down the street.
"It's you and me now prisoner.", said Hadvar. But then I noticed Ralof coming from the left side of the street as well, and their eyes met with unspoken hatred.
"Out of the way, traitor!", Hadvar shouted.
"We're escaping, Hadvar. And there's nothing you can do to stop us!", Ralof replied back. Hadvar ignored him and walked further down the street while Ralof took the right part of the street.
"Arcos, come, into the keep!", Ralof said to me and ran towards an entry.
"Come with me, Arcos! Go!", Hadvar said and ran to another entry. With whom should…? Suddenly, the dragon landed directly behind me and I quickly turned around, for once again, I was frozen in place as her eyes seemingly bore into my own, almost as if they were keeping me in place.
And if I wasn't completely insane, I noticed that she had an amused expression. She breathed in again, heat gathering in her maw even as she smirked.
"You run? This… is your answer?", I couldn't understand the meaning of her words, but even as I all but stared at her mighty form with nothing but widened eyes, she didn't unleash the searing flames upon me.
Until suddenly, an axe hit her at the wing. She barely noticed the wound but ceased to focus on me just in that moment.
"Quickly, now's your chance!", Ralof shouted. He had thrown the axe to distract her…? I owe him again. I quickly ran towards the entry where Ralof stood and entered with him quickly following behind.
Within the keep, I could for the first time take some minutes to breathe again. Ralof closed the door behind us and walked towards a corpse from another Stormcloak soldier.
"We'll meet again in Sovngarde…", he muttered before turning to me.
"Looks like we're the only ones who made it.", he muttered under his breath.
"That thing was a dragon, right? Something out of legends and stories…", I said, with my hands still bound.
"Yes, the harbingers of the End Times. I can't believe it… but at least this thing saved our lives from the headsman. Anyway, come here, let me see if I can get those bindings off.", he said and pulled out a little knife, cutting through the straps which were holding my hands together.
"There you go. We better get moving, you can take Gunjar's gear. He won't need it anymore.", he said and pulled the knife away.
"Just.. taking it? I don't know…" I said with obvious hesitation, the very thought seeming to be a disgrace for the lost soul.
"Don't worry, it is no shame borrowing a friend's axe.", he said and smiled slightly. I took the gear and the iron axe before quickly putting it on.
I looked like one of them, something I was definitely not comfortable with, much less with the fact that it had belonged to somebody who was now dead. I'm quite good with swords, but I prefer axes, and this one was still perfect for me right now.
"I'm going to see if I can find some way out of here.", he said while walking to an iron door, trying to open it.
"This one is locked. Let's see about that gate.", he said and walked to another gate on the left side while I was swinging my axe a bit to get used to the feeling again.
"Damn, no way to open this from our side.", suddenly we heard another voice coming from the other side of the gate, one that I had come to know so well in such a short amount of time… an Imperial soldier and the captain from before walked towards the gate.
"It's the Imperials! Take cover.", he whispered and pulled out his two iron axes. I don't know where he got those from but I was hiding on the right side of the gate before I pulled out my iron axe as well.
"Get this gate open.", the captain ordered the soldier. When it opened and the two Imperials walked into the room, Ralof slashed his two axes against the soldier who came in first and the captain didn't even have the time to pull out her sword, for I quickly slashed my axe into her face, killing her in an instant.
"You reap what you sow.", I said with anger in my voice. Ralof laughed a bit and put his axes back.
"So I'm not the only one who hated her. Maybe one of the Imperials had the key.", he said. I looted the corpse and found a key by the captain.
"Perfect! Let's see if it can open that door.", I said with a smile. I walked towards the iron door with Ralof behind me and tried the key on the lock… and the door effortlessly swung open.
"Great. Come on, let's get out of here before the dragon brings the whole tower down on our heads.", Ralof said and walked in front of me while I followed. We walked down some stairs into a room with a door on the left side. We wanted to take the way in the middle when suddenly the dragon shouted outside again and big stones fell to the ground, blocking the way just in that very moment.
"Damn, that dragon doesn't give up easily.", Ralof said out of frustration.
"I would have been killed two times today if you wouldn't have helped me.", I replied, conveying my gratitude.
"No problem for a friend. Let's try this door.", he replied back and opened the door on the left side.
"A storage room? Maybe I can find some potions, they would certainly help us.", I said and searched in some barrels.
"Good thinking, I'll wait by this door over there.", he said back and pointed at the door which led out of the room. I could find some healing potions and magicka potions but since they wouldn't help both of us, I only took the healing potions. I quickly made my way to where Ralof was waiting for me.
"Finished? Then let's get out of here", he said and opened the door and walked down some stairs. We came to a room where we could hear Imperials fighting against some Stormcloaks. Ralof suddenly pulled out a bow, making me wonder Where he had found it as well…
"Troll's blood… it's a torture room!", Ralof mumbled.
An Imperial torturer and another soldier were fighting against one of the remaining Stormcloaks who was still alive, for another one already lay dead on the ground.
I quickly pulled out my axe and helped the other Stormcloak soldier. The torturer attacked him with lightning spells, which the soldier tried to dodge with his sword. Before the torturer could notice me, however, I slashed my axe at him and killed him after a couple of strikes while Ralof killed the other one with his bow.
"Was Jarl Ulfric with you?", Ralof asked the soldier but he only shrugged in response.
"No, I haven't seen him since that dragon showed up."
"Wait, it looks like there is something in this cage.", Ralof pointed at a cage with a corpse of a mage and some gold in it. The soldier looked around for something useful and while Ralof tried to open the cage, I found an interesting looking book.
The title said: Book of the Dragonborn. There was some kind of prophecy written within, but I had no idea what it meant and I couldn't understand a single word... Ralof managed to break the lock from the cage before he walked over to me with some gold in his hands.
"Here, we could need the gold when we get out of here.", he said and gave me some of it.
"Thanks, I'll be sparingly with it.", I said while looking at the gold. It was enough to live for some days.
"Good, now we should get out of here.", Ralof turned around and walked into a litte entry into a cave. I hope this is the right way… but on the other hand, there was no other way. The Stormcloak soldier was staying behind just in case, so we continued without him. We came to a small bridge which we quickly crossed but suddenly the earth started to shake again and I could hear the shout of the dragon once more. Big stones were falling to the ground, blocking the path behind us.
Now there really was only this way left.
"We can't go back anymore. The others will have to find another way… let's move on.", Ralof said. In front of us was a way where a small brook ran down. Since it was the only way, we took this path until the way was blocked with stones again. Ralof tried to remove them but I quickly found another way on the right side.
"Here is another way, I hope this one is the right one.", I said before going first with Ralof following behind me. The area in front of us had many spiderwebs and it was obvious which enemy was waiting here. On the ceiling were many spiders which fell to the ground when we entered the little area, ready to attack.
"Oh no no no, not a spider. Please don't.", I muttered. Luckily, Ralof couldn't hear what I just muttered and we both slashed at the nearest spiders. Yes, I'm afraid of these things, but can anybody blame me for the fact that they can haunt your dreams forever?
After some minutes, the spiders were all defeated and I just wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible, barely able to hide my fear. We walked out of the area and came to a little place where a bear was sleeping in the distance. The way out of here was on the left side, while the bear was sleeping just in the middle.
"Wait, there is a bear. Do you see him? We could try and sneak past him, slowly… or if you think that today is your lucky day, you can take this bow instead. Maybe we can overwhelm him.", Ralof whispered beside me. But I didn't want to try and kill something without a reason, so I decided to sneak past the bear. He didn't notice us until we could finally walk again. Some minutes later, we could see the sunlight shining through the exit of the cave.
"Here is the exit! I knew we would make it!", Ralof said with a smile and I couldn't stop from doing so as well, for we have truly made it out of here alive. Thank the gods…
When we walked out of the cave, we suddenly heard the dragon again, flying into the distance.
"I think this time it is truly gone for good.", I slowly muttered to myself. Ralof turned to me before he spoke up again.
"Let's hope so, but soon there will be more of the Imperials. Down the street is a little village, Riverhood, my sister can surely help us there. We can split up if you want but we can also go there together, your decision.", he said. And after everything that happened today, my choice was easier to make.
"We can go there together, but you have to lead the way, I… I can't remember it exactly.", I replied. While we walked down the street, Ralof suddenly spoke up again.
"You know, you should consider joining the Stormcloaks. We need people like you and without you, I surely wouldn't have made it out alive today as well.", he said, something that I couldn't really believe.
"I would have died two times today if you would not have helped me.",, I replied back. But now that Ralof mentioned it, I did have many questions about the Stormcloaks. Or rather…
"This dragon wasn't on your side, right?", I asked with curiosity.
"What? No, I highly doubt that. Even Ulfric can't just summon a dragon at his will. But the beast appeared just in time, right? I certainly didn't need a haircut from that headsman.", however, joining anything was by far the last thing on my mind now. I wanted to return home for other reasons… to see the land again, to live peacefully, but now all of this seemed to be so far away. And thus, I thought of something that would allow me to be as neutral as possible.
"I… have to think about that.", I muttered carefully.
"Of course, I understand that. But in the end, I'm sure you'll make the right decision.", he replied back and we both continued to walk towards Riverwood. But still… that a dragon appeared… and everything I had witnessed, the image burning itself into my mind… it looked so mighty and beautiful…
I shook my head slightly as I caught myself, feeling as if I was simply lightheaded, and surely more than confused and exhausted after everything that happened.
Life could be strange sometimes.
And that's it for now. As already said in the little description, this will be a female Alduin x male Dovahkiin. When I first saw this idea, I really liked it. The name Arcos just came into my mind.
And here is a translation to some words. Later I'll use dragon language more often.
Yol Toor Shul / Fire, Inferno, Sun / fire breath shout.
Dovahkiin / Dragonborn