Ceabhail:

Ok, so, we're doing something a little different. It's been bouncing around inside my head, when all I want to do is finish Khajiit War Mage, Chronicles of Veselle, and the next chapter of Warlord, but... yeah... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

...

Oh, and enjoy =^^=

"Who are you?"

Boy, that's a question I never thought I'd see in person. And man, Hadvar looked good. I mean, I knew virtual reality was stunning at times, and our technology was getting better by the minute, almost to the point where I'm seriously believing that I'm standing here in person, but… to actually look at his rising and falling chest, his eyes blinking as he shifts on his feet. To actually hear the dirt shift under his feet, as well as my own… man, our technology is amazing. Not to mention, the ability to see my own body, in all its black and purple scaly glory. And I have feathers. Best day ever.

All the same, playing an Argonian, I thought about being a traditionalist and selecting a name befitting an Argonian: She-Who-Pulls-Weight, or something like that. But I thought I'd just go with my name for once.

"Talia Cearbhail." I said with a grin. Of course, I'm just saying it to myself. I doubt the voice recognition is able to force an NPC to actually respond back.

"Talia, huh?" Hadvar said, shaking his head in disbelief. And that… that was convincing. Really convincing. I wonder if the game read the name on my character sheet or if it somehow translated my voice into NPC talk. "You look Argonian, but you talk Breton, and have a Breton name." Uh, it's Irish, douche, but I guess it's all the same, kind of. Actually, my last name is Irish, my first name is my father's version of fanboying at the thought of having a kick-ass martial artist girl in the family. Yes, I'm named after Talia al Ghul, the assassin from Batman. Man, for him to even ask that question, I have to give it to the mods for this one.

Hadvar glanced from me over to the douchey Imperial woman, who always crosses her arms. "Ma'am, what do we do? She's not on the list."

And just like always, she smirks and will point to the line of Stormcloaks. And she'll say, "I don't know, we didn't plan on this." Huh… no.

"You're supposed to say, 'this one goes to the blocks.'" I think aloud, which causes both Hadvar and the woman to look at me.

"You wish to go to the chopping blocks?" The Imperial woman said bemusedly. She looked over to Hadvar, looking him over. "Is she a Stormcloak sympathizer?"

Hadvar glanced at me. "Well, are you?"

When I downloaded the 'new beginning', I wasn't expecting this. I just wanted Alduin to show up so I can see Randy Savage blow smoke over everyone. Nah, I'm kidding… I went with Thomas the Tank Engine. But they were asking me a philosophical question, one I was forced to answer with my brother a few years ago. My mind hasn't changed. "Well, since I love playing Dark Elves and Argonians, you'd be surprised to find out that, no… I don't sympathize. I don't worship Talos, per se, but… I do get the whole, fight for your honor thing, like my brother. I mean, I am a martial artist just like him, but I never took it to bushido. I'm more of a ninja, kind of."

The two NPCs just glanced at each other, and I started to think that my fourth wall breaking was breaking the game. Might as well just play the character. "No, I do not support the Stormcloaks."

Hadvar nodded. "Well, Captain, I do not see a reason to put her to the chopping blocks."

She nodded. "Keep her guarded. When we execute the Stormcloaks, we'll ship her to Solitude for processing." Processing, why? What mod was that under? Maybe the New Life mod I installed?

Hadvar grabbed me by my arm and started pulling me beside him, and… I felt it. I don't mean I felt a small tingling in my arm where the VR headset vibrates a small signal to my body letting me know I'm in contact with something, I mean… actually touching me. I can feel his rough callused hands on my arm, which feels scaly and oily against his. It's at this point that I'm starting to wonder if I should unplug, throw the game in the corner, and just forget this ever happened. Go back to working on my fanfictions and just pretend this episode of my life never really began. Not that I ever wanted the other life to begin either. I just kind of picked it up when my brother finished the Khajiit Battlemage.

"Just stay next to me prisoner, if you want to stay alive, that is." He said with a small grin on his face, like he meant it as a joke. Man… I guess they had to fit in the dialogue somewhere. I wonder, if I said I support the Stormcloaks, would it have begun with the standard opening? This is weird. Maybe I should go back, and select a different option. I can always do that later though.

I turned my attention back to the soldiers lining up for the chopping block. "On this day, I go to Sovngarde." Say 'hi' to my brother for me. I turned my head away as the axe came down. I heard enough to make me gag in the back of my throat.

"Not much of a warrior, are you?" Hadvar asked from beside me.

I shook my head. "Nope. I know some martial arts, but I've never had to use it for a real fight." Huh… why did I decide to do this anyway? I guess my friends were bragging about the Skyrim VR experience, and I wanted to try it out myself. See why they like it so much. I'm pretty convinced by it, so far. Everything seems real, down to the chill I'm getting on my bare arms. I can feel the holes in my pants too, as well as the tail sprouting out of my butt, which is weird because I'm able to make it flick with a single thought. Gods below… this is intense. Maybe I should have chosen to play a Dark Elf after all. Feeling my pointy ears would have been a highlight of my life. But having scales and a tail is nice too. Might try out the waterbreathing function later. I wonder if I'll actually feel cold and wet. That's something to consider. It would be weird if I actually got wet in real life too, so I should be careful I use the bathroom before going into any wet areas. And knowing Skyrim as well as I do… there are a lot of wet areas.

"Up next, Ralof." The Captain pointed to Ralof, the only Stormcloak I kind of appreciate. He's not a total racist asshole. No matter which race you play as, he just likes you. I almost played a Dark Elf and supported the Stormcloaks just to make him value the lives of elves, but seeing how his nature as an NPC doesn't really change, it would all just be head-canon. I went with Argonian because I wanted to play the closest thing to a dragon I could play as, and I have an obsession with dragons. And the colors: black, purple, gray, and white. So, my Argonian is Black and gray scaled with purple facial areas, as well as some purple underbelly and arms, as well as neck. Man, mods these days. And I can see it, with my own lizard eyes. My scales are perfectly represented as I moved my arms around. Too bad I'm stuck in first person; I can't figure out how to exit out to third person. I think I'm stuck like this until Hadvar or Ralof cut off my binds. Then I can see myself in third person, maybe. That might be too disorienting, and it kind of defeats the purpose of VR in the first place.

Ralof started walking up to the chopping block. "On this day, I go to Sovngarde." And I looked up in the sky. Wondering when it would begin. And I heard it, like an echo on the wind. I wonder if Recorder is somewhere up in that tower, listening to the same sound as I was.

"Did you hear that?" Hadvar asked me.

I nodded. "Yeah, it's a dragon." I said with a hidden laugh. I was so excited. Ok, I didn't put Thomas the Tank Engine in my mod list, but I did make Alduin pretty beefed up. Twice as big, Shouts loud as possible. This should be epic. He should seem like a real threat now.

Hadvar glanced at me, as if I just told a joke. "A dragon? Ah, to see such a fine creature. Surely, it would be a miracle." Nope. Try the destruction of the whole world if this game ever had a sense of urgency. Too bad it felt too… unnecessary. I mean, yeah, Alduin: big bad guy who will destroy the whole world. But I could just as easily ignore him and the game would never get worse while Alduin claimed soul after soul, burning town after town. Zombie mods are better at that. And I have one installed.

"Never mind the sound, let's get back to severing Ralof's head from his body." The Captain said as she looked over to the headsman.

"On your orders." The headsman said as he raised his cleaver up. Huh… is the game really going to let Ralof's character die off? I mean, I did say I don't support them, which means I pretty much threw myself over to the Imperials. That would mean I wouldn't be joining the Stormcloaks, but all the same… I could change my mind, or just be lying. This can't be real.

"It's up in the sky!" Someone screamed.

And I looked up, and there he was… a big as a town, and slowly soaring down to the city. Alduin: the World Eater. He actually looks like a world eater now.

"Dragon!" The Stormcloak woman screamed. Alduin came crashing down on top of that one tower so hard that it started cracking and breaking as he landed on it. And wow… talk about dramatic atmosphere. I could sense his power from where I was standing. And the way he was looking down at us all… that's amazing. I was legitimately ready to pee myself.

And right as the headsman looked up at Alduin, the dragon opened his mouth, and Shouted. I felt the force of his voice slam into me, hard enough that I was thrown off my feet and onto my butt. And… I felt that. I mean… really felt that. My back was hurting. My tail was hurting too. Real pain. Not some vibrational fake pain. Real pain. What's going on?

There was another Shout, one that echoed up to the sky, and the sky began to darken. The sky turned red and violent as a tempest started to grow, swirling in the daylight sky. "And this is where it begins to rain meteorites at us." I mused to myself, half convinced that I was really in the game. The pain in my body seemed too real to me. And I wasn't ready to feel flaming exploding rocks the size of me falling down on top of me.

Hadvar glanced at me. "Are you a seeress?" He reached for my arms, looking me in the eye. "You knew about the dragon, and now… you know how it will attack?"

I nodded. "Sure… let's go with Seeress." Man, I have a headset on, but I never thought I'd be able to talk to NPCs like this. This is getting too real. The feeling in my arms is real; he's really holding me tightly. And I can feel the turbulent air. That's it… I need to pull this headset off. I'm getting too worked up. This is too much stimulus.

I reached up for my head, trying to feel for the headset, and all I felt were earholes, which I could hear and feel my scaly fingers inside my ear, and the lilac feather I had attached to my head, as well as the small horns and bumps. But… no headset. Nothing. And I tried grabbing where it should have been, feeling nothing, and pulled it straight up. But… nothing happened. I was still in the game.

Hadvar was glancing up at me. "Oh, let me cut your binds." He reached out with a knife and cut the binds on my hands, letting them get free. I tried to access the menu. "B button." Nothing happened. "Start Button. Cortana, shut off Xbox!" Nothing happened.

Hadvar looked at me like I was crazy. "Who's Cortana? What's Xbox?"

Oh no… please no. This has to be a joke. I did not just insert myself into Skyrim, for real. I mean… how is that even possible?

"Look out!" Hadvar started to shove me out of the way, and I looked up, right as a giant sheet of rock was falling down right on top of me. Shab. How did I even get here?

…

I remember setting the VR on my head as I loaded in my new character. I was using the one mod that always started out in a cell room, and there's this statue of Mara. So, first I scrolled through the various races. Khajiit… nah. My brother always played Khajiits and Bretons. Once he even played an Orc saying that he was going to recreate the Mandalorians by building an Orc Settlement based on one of the mods.

So, I didn't want to play a Khajiit. I scrolled down to a Dark Elf. Hmm… that was my favorite race, ever since Morrowind. It would be interesting to play with the Stormcloaks as a Dark Elf, but… I always play Dark Elves. Not to mention, I've been kind of on this dragon obsession for a while now, and I want to satisfy that need to be one. So… Argonian this time. I'll just make her black-scaled with purple. My favorite combination. Maybe I'll call her Raven, or Morrigan. Nah, too obvious.

After spending a few minutes setting her up, I came to the last thing. Her name. What to call her? What kind of class was she even going to be anyway? Brother installed that Way of the Monk mod, and those items are all throughout the game. I could always play a monk druid thingy. But that doesn't help me choose a name, except for Morrigan or Raven. Both of those people don't do much physical combat though. But… I do. Why not? It would help me feel like an actual Argonian. Just plug my name into it and BAM! Instant gratification.

Talia Cearbhail. Ok, Cearbhail wasn't actually my last name, but it's very close to me. Very personal. Someone should honor it these days. I should write more too. Eh, once I'm done with his gaming binge I'll work on something.

Once I hit enter, I felt like I was in control of her. I walked her over to the scrolls, collecting all three of them, opening them up so that she had the ability to learn the contents in them. All the Monk items were collected, and I even chose my spell list: Shock, Oakflesh, Fury, Healing, and Conjure Familiar. There we go, the basic spells are done. All that's left is to approach the Mara statue and select my new life.

I walked her over to the statue and selected it. Welcome, child. Please select your new life.

This was always where I had the hardest decision. I kind of wanted to watch the beginning of the game in VR. Experience it in all its glory. But… I've gone through that beginning so many times I just usually run downstairs and make a sandwich while it's playing. Alduin can't even kill you until you get past the ruined inn, so it wasn't like my character was in any real danger.

I shrugged as I scrolled down to the bottom. Where there was usually the 'surprise me' option, there was a new one. 'Create one'. Create one? That's new. Must be an update.

I clicked that button, and that's when I heard it… Mom's voice. She appeared from the statue, sticking out her hand for me. I was so stunned that Mom was appearing in the statue of Mara that… well… I just couldn't believe. She placed her hand on my character and that's when I felt it… I felt it for the first time. I felt like I was inside my character. "Be well, honey." Mom said as she kissed me on the forehead.

I was still shocked that Mom was even here. I didn't have time to process it though. She was already vanishing inside the statue. And that's when I felt the world around me start to break apart. No! I wasn't ready yet! I needed more time. I needed to talk to her.

...

I slowly started opening my eyes. My head was throbbing; my vision blurred. My hands felt weak. But I felt this warm presence in my body. "Sir, she's waking up." I heard Ralof's voice, muffled in my ears.

"Good. Take her and run for it!" Jarl Stormcloak screamed to Ralof. "We need to move, now!" He waved to Ralof. "Get her out of here, and protect her with your life. I hear she's a seeress."

Ralof scooped me up into his arms, nodding to me. "And so we meet again. What was your name again?"

I almost grinned, but I think my head was still spinning. "Talia."

"As in tail? You Argonians aren't very creative." Ralof grunted as he shifted me in his arms.

I almost chuckled as Ralof started carrying me up the staircase. "It's no worse than Talizza." I mused. My character in ESO. I can't believe someone actually used my name. I should have just thrown my last name up there, but that's too much for a character, I think.

Just watching Ralof carry me, and feeling his sleeved arms rubbing against my scales reminded me that I'm… I'm in the video game. Like really in it. This is some Gwenpool osik right here. But, I guess it's possible. I remember seeing Mom, and she's been dead for years. And she managed to make this a reality. But… why? Why do this to me? I haven't seen her since I was eleven.

I guess this is real then. I've played this game before, so… I know how to stay alive. Stay away from anything evil. But… zombie mod. Fierfek. That's not good. And I selected Patient Zero. That means… one person in this country is carrying the disease. If I can find that one person and kill them before they spread the virus, the better off we'll be. But… at this very second, they're probably already infecting someone. It's probably already too late. Soon, Whiterun, or Windhelm, or wherever they might be (might even be a random cave or castle), will be overrun with zombies. And they'll be programmed to find me, try to turn me too. And it's totally possible too. I've seen it with playthroughs. Jeez, why couldn't have I been sucked into some other game like Stardew Valley or Pokemon?

I sighed as I looked up at Ralof. "I'm ready to walk now."

He nodded, lowering me down. "I'm glad to hear it, Talia. So, is it true then? Are you a seeress?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, pretty much. I know what's going on, and mostly… what will happen next."

He crossed his arms. "Prove it."

We were almost up the base of the tower. Up next was Alduin's grand entrance. Where he punches in a section of the tower and breathes fire onto an unsuspecting NPC Stormcloak. Well, this is real life now. Let's change some things.

I pointed up at the wall where Alduin comes through. "The dragon, Alduin, will appear in that wall, busting it down and killing the Stormcloak. There is no way we can help him."

Ralof grunted. "We'll see about that." As he charged up, I followed behind me, yes… way behind him. "Come up, let's hurry."

"We just need to clear some of this rubble…." I heard the generic Stormcloak say as he shifted rocks around.

And that's when the wall exploded, and Alduin threw his head in, launching a wave of fire into the room. I quickly grabbed Ralof by the scruff of his neck and hauled him down the stairs with me as the hallway quickly filled in with more smoke and fire than the game ever animated. Jeez, real life is scary when dragons are involved. I wonder what Fire Breath is going to be like. Oh wait… that means I'd be throwing myself into a crypt of zombies. Yuck. I hate zombies. I mean really fear zombies. It's something my brother and I had in common.

After we cleared the fire and smoke, Ralof was breathless, staring at the charred walls. "That was too close." He looked over to me. "So, it's true. You're a seeress."

I nodded. "Yup. And here's how we're getting out of here. In the bottom of the garrison hold is an old tunnel that leads out to the mountainside. The dragon won't follow us, and we'll safely get away." As long as this is like the game anyway. But hey… I'm Dragonborn. I'm totally going to save this world. And if I beat the game, maybe I'll get to go back home, like in Jumanji. So, my end goal is to go to Sovngarde, find and eliminate Alduin, and then see if I can go back home. If not, then… well… I guess I use my status as Dragonborn to live up the royalties, perhaps live with the Blades in their fortress. I should start thinking of the three people I can recruit to become Blades, if I'm even limited to just three. I mean… this is real life. I should be able to recruit my own army. In fact, I think I just might.

Ralof nodded. "That sounds like a plan. Should we head down to gather the others?"

I shook my head. I looked at the opening. "Not yet. You should do whatever you feel is right, but I need to jump through that massive hole, fall into the inn on the other side, do a sick combat roll, recover, and then sprint over to Hadvar, who will be trying to convince a small boy saying his final farewells to his father who will be burned to death by Alduin. And it will be a bittersweet moment. And then, Hadvar will tell me to stay close to him, and then we'll navigate through the town, dodging Aldiun as he slowly picks off the Imperial Legion, all while General Tullius is screaming at me, calling me an idiot, and then we'll finally arrive at the fort, where we'll bump into you, and then the two of you will come to friendly terms, each of you heading to a separate door, and try to convince me to pick one over the other."

I'm so not doing that, though. "But… that's how the game plays out. This is real life; you're a fucking adult." I jabbed my finger into Ralof's chest. "And this is some real shit we're in, so the two of you are going to pull up your pants, and stop wagging your dicks at each other, trying to figure out which one's is longer."

That visual I implanted into Ralof's head made him blush over. Ha! I knew it, they're in love. Head-canon: confirmed.

I continued jabbing my finger at him, actually pushing him back. "And so, I'm going to find Hadvar, and I'm going to give him the same speech, and when the two of you meet, you're going to put this whole war behind you, and we're going to work together. Got it?"

Ralof cocked his head to the side. "Why does this matter to you?"

"Because… Skyrim is better than this. Sure, fighting in a war was fun for the first few campaigns. Even with some mods, it became better. But still… the two armies fighting each other when there's so much more going on around it… is absurd. I mean, I get it. Your god is being slapped around by some elves, and you can't even legally worship Talos without a noose around your neck, and being Pagan… I totally understand that. I do. Your god won't forget you, if you don't forget Him, and I'm sure he understands. We both serve a god of war. For me… it's the Morrigan. For you, it's Talos. So, I get it. You want to defend His honor, but killing His people to do it… I don't know. And doing this while dragons are destroying everything, it seems like you're missing the point. Skyrim needs to unify, not… not this. Not war."

Ralof's eyes hardened, and I honestly forgot that I was an Argonian, just a walking lizard to him. And Argonians are treated like crap in Windhelm, even worse than Dark Elves. The only thing keeping me alive right now was that I was a 'seeress'. Gods, why didn't I pick a Nord or something? And normally, I'd be just as tall as him, but I had that 'lore scale heights' installed, and I was only coming up to his chest. Man, he's tall.

I tried to puff out my chest and stare him down. It's just like handling my brother. I just have to puff out my chest a bit and remind him that I can still take him to the ground if I needed to. "I have the high ground, Anakin." I muttered as I looked at Ralof. Not to mention my Shocks spell, a Familiar, oh… and I'm a Monk class. I could probably punch a hole in his chest and pull out his heart.

Ralof's gaze finally drifted down. "I cannot abandon Talos, nor can I abandon my people. Surely, you understand the pain of finding your friends missing one morning, after hearing that they uttered a prayer. And then you see the flapping black leather jackets, and suddenly… Josh is missing. No one knows where he ended up, or if he'll return, but you know… you know…" He shook his head. "To live in constant fear of an elf coming to claim your child for praising the wrong god… when no god should ever be wrong to worship."

I redoubled my crossed arms, to double my emphasis. "So, if I said, all hail Mehrunes Dagon, you'd be cool with that?"

He looked shocked at the proposal. "The God of Destruction? Why would you worship him?"

I shook my head. "Talos is a god of destruction, to the elves, anyway. A god that represents the countless elves that died in his quest to populate the world with humans. So, to them, he is Mehrunes Dagon, just another version of the same corruption in the world. True, I agree with the Nords on this issue. I think it's wrong that they silence your ability to worship your god, and to fight a fucking war just to make it happen, it's wrong. But there's a difference between fighting for the right to worship your god, and just to legally be an asshole to anyone not your race. And I've been running around this country for long enough to know that most people waving your flag are racist against elves that aren't even in the Aldmeri Dominion, not to mention Argonians, Orcs. And don't even get me started on The Snow Elves, you know… the ones your Ysgramor slaughtered to start with."

Ralof shook his head. "You need to freshen up on your history, seeress. Ysgramor came peacefully to this land. It was the elves that acted first, and he retreated and rounded up the rest of the Atmorans, and then he returned to pay the elves back for what they did to him and his family. You see, the elves were always vile and treacherous, and we should have been paying attention to history. And so… we'll set things right."

"By starting the cycle all over again?" I said with a laugh. "This is where Jarl Ulfric plays the part of Ysgramor, and gathers up his 500 Companions: his Stormcloaks, and then cleaves a bloody path through Skyrim until he forces every Jarl to bend knee to him? And then what? Just invade all of Cyrodiil, destroy the whole Empire, as well as the Dominion? You really think this is what Talos wants? His loyal people dying in a war that will probably resume 200 years from now when some other idiot decides they want 30 years of looking down their noses at someone else? Another Jagar Tharn or something?"

Ralof just stood there. "You speak wise words, if not misguided and naïve, seeress." He turned around. "I will go tend to my Lord: Ulfric. You go jump through your hole and pray you survive. I know I will be praying." He glanced up at me. "Alduin, you say… you, seeress, will play a big part to be here, at the right time, at the right place."

"Or, I have placed myself here to see that history goes where I want it to go." Suck on that, Ralof. You grungy, not as cute as Hadvar, quasi-racist extremist.

Ralof nodded. "I hope you are here to help. I really do." He turned on his heel. "I will see to Jarl Ulfric."

I nodded as Ralof took off down the stairs. "Trust me, Ralof… I'm the only good guy in this whole campaign." Well, except for Recorder, Inigo, Lydia. Pretty much every companion I can think of recruiting. And with Hearthfire, I will build myself a home, oh wait… that won't be a 'gather and then it just appears' thing… will it? I sure hope I don't have to do it from scratch. I'm not a carpenter. Eh, I'll get Lydia to do it. Or just live in Whiterun.

I ran back up the staircase, coming up to the massive hole. The hole was much larger than I remember it being in the actual game. Just to test my theory, I set my hand on the glowing stonework. My hand was instantly burning like I would expect if I were to touch a hot pan. Yup… it's real. I looked at my hand, seeing my scales slightly charred and melted together. Yup. I'm real. This is my body now. I wonder if I shed? Can I dislocate my tail and grow a new one? Hmm… questions for later.

I looked out the hole to the busted inn on the other side. It's on fire, but there's one obvious landing spot. Ok, Talia. You only live once… or in your case… twice. Huh… if I get a game over, will I just revert to a previous save file? That's a theory I never want to test or verify.

Ok, Talia. I'm just going to take a step back and leap for it. What's the worst that can happen?

Cearbhail:

So... introductions, I guess, are finally in order. Um... hi. See you next chapter, if I even survive.