Chapter 15: The Law of the Scrolls

Nora's Perspective

"You have it. The Kel - the Elder Scroll. Tiid kreh… qalos. Time shudders at its touch. There is no question. You are doom-driven. Kogaan Akatosh. The very bones of the earth are at your disposal. Go then. Fulfill your destiny. Take the Scroll to the Time-Wound. Do not delay. Alduin will be coming. He cannot miss the signs." The Dragon said, commandingly.

"Understood, Paarthurnax." The Dragonborn said, walking over to a weird looking column of distorted light.

"If one of you can shock me, I can take him out." I whispered. Ren put his finger in front of his lips. Oopsies. I was too loud. Oh well.

"No. Let's let this play out and see where it goes." Pyrrha said, keeping her voice so low, I could barely hear it over the wind. I went to ask what she said, but Ren quickly shushed me again. Ren looked at Pyrrha and nodded.

The Dragonborn walked over to the column of light and pulled the Elder Scroll off of his back.

"Steady…" Pyrrha said, her voice still low.

He slowly pulled open the Elder Scroll, causing a large flash of light to engulf the top of the Throat of the World. He closed the scroll right after reading it and fell onto his back. He didn't move at all after reading it.

"Now can I hit him?" I asked Pyrrha.

"Nora!" Ren whisper-shouted at me.

"Aw poo." I put away Magnhild.

"Good Nora." Ren said to me, causing my chest to flutter.

After a few minutes, the Dragonborn stood up and grabbed his head. A massive roar broke through the constant sound of the wind. Team RWBY shivered simultaneously.

"It's the dragon from Helgen…" Blake said.

"What happened at Helgen?" Pyrrha asked.

"This dragon destroyed the entire town in a few minutes. He just showed up and meteors rained from the skies. We met the Dragonborn not too far from there." Blake said, pointing to the Dragonborn, who was currently taking large swigs from a green bottle.

Finally a large, black dragon appeared and started flying above the Dragonborn. Once again, his words cut through the loud wind.

"Bahloki nahkip sillesejoor. My belly is full of the souls of your fellow mortals, Dovahkiin. Die now and await your fate in Sovngarde!"

Alduin, at least I think that's his name, flew overhead of the Dragonborn and he pulled his sword from its sheath. Meteors rained from the sky following the dragon's path, just like Blake said there was. As Alduin flew overhead of the Dragonborn, the second dragon, Paarthurnax I think, flew after him and sent waves of power at Alduin. So that's where the Dragonborn gets his power from! Then, when Alduin slowed, the Dragonborn sent a new wave of power at him. "Joor… Zah Frul!" It hit Alduin in the middle of his body and left a blue vapor-like thing around where it hit. Within a few seconds, Alduin's flaps slowed and he touched down on the mountain, the blue vapor still surrounding his body. The Dragonborn sprinted over and started hacking at Alduin's snout. Alduin roared in response, shooting out fire and burning the Dragonborn's shield. The Dragonborn, much like his character would suggest, did not even flinch and continued to hack at Alduin, even while all the snow within five feet of him had melted. The Dragonborn continued to hack at Alduin and after a moment, the blue vapor disappeared and he took off again, raining meteors from the skies. One landed behind the Dragonborn as he drank from a red bottle, throwing him into the air. One landed behind us, but it far enough away that we didn't get thrown like the Dragonborn.

The Dragonborn struggled to his feet and shot another wave of power at Alduin. "Joor… Zah Frul!" Alduin was moving too fast, and the wave hit Paarthurnax instead. He calmly flapped his way to the ground and continued to pelt Alduin with waves of power. Before long, Paarthurnax was back in the air and back to following Alduin. Alduin came to a stop in the air and began to shoot fire at the Dragonborn. He calmly raised his head and sent the wave of power at Alduin. "Joor… Zah Frul!" Alduin slammed into the ground and swept his head back and forth, spewing fire as he did so. The Dragonborn advanced behind his shield, which was now turning black from the constant burning. The Dragonborn reached Alduin and started hacking him again, and Alduin responded with fire. When Alduin took off, the Dragonborn muttered something under his breath.

"What does he mean 'He's only at half health'?" Blake asked, looking at the Dragonborn. She can hear like she's a cat!

"You may have picked up the weapons of my ancient foes, but you are not their equal!" Alduin shouted at the Dragonborn.

"They only defeating you by sending you forward in time, I am going to kill you now!" The Dragonborn yelled back.

Alduin did a 90 degree turn and buzzed the Dragonborn with fire. The Dragonborn raised his shield in defense and as Alduin passed overhead he released a shout. "Joor… Zah Frul!" The blue mist surrounded Alduin again, but instead of making him land immediately, he flew around for a bit before landing. Alduin's fire breath burnt the front of the Dragonborn's shield, but the Dragonborn did not seem to notice; he just kept hacking away at Alduin. Alduin took off again and the Dragonborn mumbled something.

"Now Alduin is at a quarter health, according to the Dragonborn." Blake said to us.

Alduin now pulled out all the stops as meteors rained from the sky at a higher rate than before. He roared and now shot fire at the Dragonborn on every pass he did around the mountain. The Dragonborn blocked most of it with his shield but the yelled as some fire got through and burned his shield arm and shoulder. The Dragonborn was grimacing, but otherwise held the shield up. Alduin stopped circling and stopped to taunt the Dragonborn, but got a face full of blue mist because the Dragonborn used the "Make Him Land" shout.

The fight went like the ones before it, but towards the end the Dragonborn shouted "One last swing, and you're dead!" When the swing came, Alduin did not die. Alduin curled up into a ball and began to speak.

"Meyz mul, Dovahkiin. You have become strong. But I am Al-du-in, Firstborn of Akatosh! Mulaagi zok lot! I cannot be slain here, by you or anyone else! You cannot prevail against me. I will outlast you... mortal!" Alduin said, his deep voice making him seem like he spoke louder than he did. After speaking, Alduin uncurled from his ball and took off.

Paarthurnax slowly descended to the ground in front of the Dragonborn and they begin to converse.

"Lot krongrah. You truly have the Voice of a dovah. Alduin's allies will think twice after this victory." Paarthurnax said.

"It wasn't really a victory, since Alduin escaped." The Dragonborn said, shame present in his voice.

"Ni liivrah hin moro. True, this is not the final krongrah - victory. But not even the heroes of old were able to defeat Alduin in open battle. Alduin always was pahlok - arrogant in his power. Uznahgar paar. He took domination as his birthright. This should shake the loyalty of the dov who serve him." Paarthurnax said.

"I need to find out where Alduin went." The Dragonborn said, the fire returning to his voice.

"Yes… one of his allies could tell us. Motmahus… But it will not be so easy to… convince one of them to betray him. Perhaps the hofkahsejun - the palace in Whiterun… Dragonsreach. It was originally built to house a captive dovah. A fine place to trap one of Alduin's allies, hmm?" Paarthurnax said.

"The Jarl might not think so." The Dragonborn retorted.

"Hmm, yes. But your su'um is strong. I do not doubt that you can convince him of the need." Paarthurnax said.

"Understood, I shall return with his permission." The Dragonborn said, turning around and walking in our direction.

I took out Magnhild and waited for him. Ren tried to make me put it away as he tried to drag me away, but I kept Magnhild out. Ruby pressed up against the rock, Pyrrha pulled out Miló and Akoúo and prepared for the Dragonborn to reach us, Yang crouched before the rest of her team so that none would get hurt. The rest of us were too terrified to move. Paarthurnax seemed to notice us scuffling around because he said something very loud.

"Dovahkiin, there are more among us… Come out and reveal yourselves! Waan hei dreh ni ruz zu'u fen fus hei!" Paarthurnax yelled. I started to stand, but Ren pulled me down with a shake of his head. Yang stood up instead.

"What purpose do you have on my strunmah? My mountain? For you should have none." Paarthurnax said. All the while the Dragonborn was staring at her with a mix of confusion and anger.

"We are friends of the Dragonborn." Yang said, emphasizing friends as she stared at the Dragonborn. "I hope you'll permit friends of the Dragonborn on your mountain." Yang said to Paarthurnax with a very subtle taste of anger to her courtesy.

"Is this true Dovahkiin? Are these intruders your fahdiins? Your allies?" Paarthurnax asked.

"I guess you could say that, though when I last saw them I had them within a breath of death." The Dragonborn said, a tiny hint of pride in his voice.

"There was a misunderstanding about which Elder Scroll we needed and the one he needed." Yang said, very nervously admitting failure.

"If you had simply taken the time to research, then there never would've been a misunderstanding." The Dragonborn said.

"I thought we did." Yang said angrily staring at Weiss.

"The mere fact that you were so incompetent to not research and arrogant enough to not listen to reason shows that mere children shouldn't handle such objects. Perhaps you getting trapped here was to make you realize how stupid you really are." The Dragonborn said.

Ruby stood up immediately and said "Please, Dragonborn we need your help to get home! I'm sorry we attacked you, but we were just desperate to get back to our homes!" Ruby said, tearing up.

The Dragonborn stopped and instantly turned to face Ruby, conflicting emotions present in his face, yet he remained silent.

Ruby wiped a tear from her eyes and sniffled.

"Your actions here in Skyrim only further prove that the Scrolls damned you to this fate, and nothing can change that. Who knows? Your Scroll is probably not even here in Skyrim." The Dragonborn said, the conflicting emotions slightly leaking into his voice.

Ruby sniffled again.

"We do need your help, Dragonborn." Yang said to him.

"And what makes you think I'm going to give it? My resolve is strong enough to resist the pleas of ignorant fools. With only a few exceptions, but still." The Dragonborn said.

"Well," Ruby wiped a tear from her eyes "I guess I'll never see my family again." She began to cry more.

"All four of you, because I assume the others are with you, are ignorant children that deserved what they got. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to speak with the Jarl Vignar Gray-Mane." The Dragonborn said, starting to make his way past Yang.

Ruby collapsed and the sound of her sobbing could be heard over the constant sound of the wind. "Please." Was all she said, barely audible over the wind.

The Dragonborn stopped, put a moment's thought to it, then continued walking. He was about to turn the corner and see the rest of us when Paarthurnax called to him.

"Dovahkiin! You dare leave these children, who need your aid, to suffer damnation? What is wrong with you?!" Paarthurnax yelled, his voice echoing through the heavens.

"Paarthurnax, they deserve the fate they received. Not only that, I spared their lives only for them to follow me here, to this sacred place of yours, and defile it. Perhaps the only way the could've learned was to take the journey to Sovngarde." The Dragonborn said. What happened? He wasn't like this a few days ago.

Yang turned to us and began to speak. "Well guys, I guess we aren't going home. We can just wander the in the plains of Whiterun until we all die. Come on Ruby, our beloved dog, Zwei, will be okay. Come on everyone, let's all just go await Sovngarde." Yang said sadly.

"Hold kiir! - children! I wish to speak with you." Paarthurnax said.

"What do you need, sir?" Yang asked politely.

"Come, there are some questions I would like to ask you. Dovahkiin, I expect the same from you." Paarthurnax said, with a bit of a harsher tone towards the end.

"All of us, or just me?" Yang asked.

"Pah do hei - all of you." Paarthurnax said.

First, Ruby stood up and followed Yang, then Weiss, Blake, Pyrrha and Jaune. Then Ren and I stood up and followed them.

"Hmm… I did not expect such a large number of outworlders. Eight in total, all children… interesting." Paarthurnax said.

"We traveled together." Pyrrha said.

"So it seems." Paarthurnax said. The Dragonborn got down on both knees in front of Paarthurnax. We copied him, expecting it to be the norm.

"I would like to hear what happened in full detail, to best clear the air between you all. Zu'u fent gon voth hei - I shall start with you, outworlders." Paarthurnax said.

"So, Weiss" Yang pointed at Weiss "read about a Elder Scroll. When we were sent to this world, it was explained to us that we had read an Elder Scroll to go home. In our desperation to get home, we ran to get the first Elder Scroll we knew about, which is the one that the Dragonborn currently has. We... uh… we got a little too riled up. Just a little. And tried to make the Dragonborn give us the Elder Scroll. However, the actual fight began when the Dragonborn kneed and smashed Ruby" Yang indicated Ruby "into a wall. From there, we nearly died but were left alive by the Dragonborn and saved by our other four friends." Yang pointed to my team as she finished her side of the story.

"Is this true, Dovahkiin?" Paarthurnax asked.

"For the most part, yes, it is." The Dragonborn said.

"'For the most part'?" Yang asked.

"After I cleared Alftand and traversed Blackreach, I arrived at the Tower of Mzark. Once I reached the Elder Scroll, I began retrieving it when the four in question arrived. I tried to talk them down but they refused to listen, to the point where they blocked my only escape. So of course my only option was to force my way out, after which they assaulted me, and I had to defend myself. I did what I did in hopes that they would learn their lesson and stop meddling with forces they don't understand. Clearly that didn't work, and now we're here." The Dragonborn said.

Yang opened her mouth to speak, but Ruby stopped her with a shake of her head.

"Hmm… so both sides are at fault here. However… I believe the Dovahkiin is right in saying you acted far out of turn, if you had impeded him even slightly longer than you did, Alduin would have been one step further ahead of us." Paarthurnax said.

"We didn't intend for that to happen. I'm sorry that I nearly caused the world to fall to him." Ruby said quietly.

Paarthurnax lifted his head higher into the air, seemingly in thought, before bringing it back down to us.

"You claim to seek an Elder Scroll, yes?" Paarthurnax asked.

"Yes." Ruby responded.

"Hmm… perhaps I may be of some freyend - assistance." Paarthurnax said.

"That would be great!" Ruby said happily.

"First, a gelaarend - an explanation to clear some misconceptions. Whilst the Scrolls all look to be the exact same, their contents vary widely. Do not trust them by their looks alone, for it could be dilos - be deadly." Paarthurnax said.

"How will we know which one's the right one?" Pyrrha asked, speaking up for the rest of us.

"You must know where you're looking, which brings me to my second point. Some of the Scrolls have the ability to shatter time, or reality itself. When this happens it creates a tiid ahraan - a time wound." Paarthurnax said, using his head to motion to the "Time Wound" behind us.

"Well, we are trying go to a different world." I said plainly.

"I was getting to that. Now, us Dov can sense these wounds, and we are able to locate them." Paarthurnax said.

"But…" Pyrrha prompted.

"Ah, krosis, time has ravaged my body and mind. And my ability to locate these wounds has deteriorated over the ages." Paarthurnax said.

"That's alright." I said.

"Yeah, you gave us information on the-" Pyrrha was cut off.

"I wasn't finished. Whilst my ability to locate them may have deteriorated, I can still give a somewhat… broad location." Paarthurnax said.

"Where is the general location?" Pyrrha asked.

"The Scroll you seek is somewhere in the Velothi Mountains!" Paarthurnax yelled, and with that, he took off towards the sky, rocketing out of sight.

"Where is that?" I asked, looking at the sky.

"It's the mountain range that borders Skyrim and Morrowind, located east of here." The Dragonborn said, standing up.

Everyone but Yang and Pyrrha stood up and began talking amongst themselves. I heard Pyrrha grab Yang and ask a question quietly.

"Remember back at the lift you said no when I asked if this was how the Dragonborn treats his friends. What did you mean?" Pyrrha whispered into Yang's ear, causing me to nearly not hear it.

"That is not how he treats his friends normally because we provoked him." Yang explained. Pyrrha nodded and we all bunched up.

"Sorry I blocked your way out in Alftand!" Ruby said to the Dragonborn.

"No need to be so dramatic, I let my Nordic blood get the better of me, if anyone should be apologizing, it should be me." The Dragonborn said, putting his hand on Ruby's head. Ruby smiled in response.

Yang put her hand on the Dragonborn's free shoulder. "I understand letting anger get the better of you. You should see what I do when my hair gets messed up." Yang said jokingly.

The Dragonborn grimaced at the thought, but quickly recomposed himself before continuing.

"And you four, the new arrivals, I would once again like to apologize for my behavior in Hjaalmarch. There were plenty of other ways we could've gone about that." The Dragonborn said.

"It was warranted. We killed your brothers in arms. I would've done the same." Pyrrha waved off his apology.

"Wait. You killed Stormcloaks?" Yang asked, shocked.

"The Stormcloaks are alright people." Blake commented, her bow twitching.

The Dragonborn looked at Blake in confusion. I guess he saw her bow twitch.

"How do you make your bow move on it's own like that?" The Dragonborn said.

Blake pulled her bow off, showing her cat ears. "Using these, I heard you call out the health levels of Alduin. What's up with that?" Blake asked.

"Well, you see-" The Dragonborn was cut off.

"You have cat ears?" Jaune asked, quite loudly.

"They look so fuzzy!" I said.

"So that's how you knew about Faunus nightvision in Oobleck's class!" Jaune said, connecting the dots.

Ren merely nodded in response.

"They look good on you." Pyrrha commented. The Dragonborn looked at everyone in my team with confusion.

"Aren't we getting a little off topic here? Sure she's part Khajiit but aren't there more important things at hand for you eight?" The Dragonborn asked.

"You're right." Pyrrha said, angrily, as she stared at us. "There are more important things we could be talking about."

Jaune and I nodded.

"Continue, Dragonborn." Pyrrha said politely.

"Whilst I cannot assist you in finding where Paarthurnax meant to tell you, I can point you in the right direction." The Dragonborn said.

"That's great!" Ruby said.

"What about the health thing?" Blake asked.

"Well, I see a compass like thing in the top center of my vision that shows places i've been and haven't been. But it also shows the health of any enemies and their names. On the bottom of my vision, I can see how much health I have, how much stamina and magicka." He explained. I only faintly heard what he said, catching a word here-and-there. None of what I heard made any sense. The wind had picked up and it was too loud for any of us to hear.

"Did you guys hear that?" Blake asked us, nearly shouting.

"No, the wind was too loud." Yang replied, cupping her hand around her ear.

"Lok… Vah Koor!" Suddenly, the wind stopped.

"This better?" The Dragonborn asked.

"Can you repeat what you said, Dragonborn?" Blake asked.

"No problem, I simply guess my enemies health based off the wounds I cause. Nothing more, nothing less." The Dragonborn said, plainly. The Dragonborn winked at Blake.

"So how can you help us find where we need to go?" Pyrrha asked, moving past the answer.

"There's a High Elf I met in Markarth who knows more about Dwarven Ruins than anyone else in Tamriel. He should know where to start searching for the ruins you seek.." The Dragonborn said.

"But that's on the other side of Skyrim!" Yang protested.

"What's Skyrim?" I asked.

"Look, he's your only means of finding the ruins that hold the Elder Scroll you seek. You'll just have to deal with it." The Dragonborn said.

"Well, I better get my hiking boots and get ready to go." Ruby said, undoing her boot laces.

"You four" The Dragonborn pointed to Team RWBY "should be fine. The others" he pointed at us "you may have to keep an eye on."

"We walked from Hjaalmarch to Cracked Tusk Keep and found this" Pyrrha pulled out the blade we found "before we showed up at Alftand. Plus we got a map from Kodlak." Pyrrha protested. "We know what we're doing."

The Dragonborn eyed the shards of the blade before snatching them from Pyrrha's hand, leaving her in a state of semi-shock.

"But-"

"This just proves my point from earlier, don't meddle with forces you don't understand." The Dragonborn said, a harsh tone in his voice.

"Kodlak said that's where Team RWBY was and we found it lying around." I explained.

"Yeah!" Jaune backed me up.

"The forces of the Daedric Prince of Destruction are far out of your realm of understanding." The Dragonborn said, harshly.

"Mehrunes Dagon?" Weiss asked.

"Simply put, yes. You're correct Weiss." The Dragonborn said. Weiss perked up at being right.

"Now then, you have a long journey in front of you. I suggest you get on your way." The Dragonborn said, and with that, he began walking down the mountain.

"Goodbye, Dragonborn! Talos guide you!" Ruby said to him cheerily.

We all waved and said varied goodbyes.

"Talos guide you!" He yelled back. It almost looked like he was grinning when he heard Ruby say that.

And with that, we followed after the Dragonborn down the mountain, but only once we had prepared for our trek.


/AN: Hey guys! Sorry for the wait, this chapter should've been up two days ago, but scheduling issues prevented me from doing so. Anyway, my friends and I are working our hardest to keep these chapter coming on a decently timed basis, and we're also trying our best to make sure the chapters are of good length as well. Our journey is nearing its end, and I hope that you'll stick though to the very end! See you in the next chapter!