Hello everyone,

I've had some dark thoughts about this story lately. In general, most reviews of my stories on this sight are overwhelmingly positive, with a few negatives. The more I read the reviews of this story, the less I like it. It's surprising because objectively, I actually like this story a lot.

In a way it is similar to 'Stronghammer', one of my completed fics on this site, but with the odds stacked against the main protagonist and arguably higher stakes. It is a way for me to practice my writing, with worldbuilding and other things. So I think I'll just go back to what I used to do, and mostly ignore reviews. This is for the story, because if I start to lose interest in my story, it'll worsen. And I need to finish it. So there.

Authors note at the bottom.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A hint of hopelessness flooded my body, for a moment. Once I stamped that out, it was replaced by anger. It was honestly annoying that there were not one but two dragons stacked against us. And my army was still fighting in the background.

We were winning, admittedly, but that could change quickly. Ariella and I would be exhausted trying to defend our troops from the constant shouts that dragons could rain on them. We had to kill them, or drive them away.

Killing them, I was fairly sure, would power up Miraak and Ulfric. It was the most annoying thing. As I watched Miraak's dragon land near him, so that he could climb on it's back, I made a decision. There was only one option, and that was to fight.

Surrender would mean embarrassment, and possibly losing the war before it truly began. I held the King's Blade, and the hope of the Legion in Skyrim. It would mean the High King made a bad decision and truly didn't deserve his position. The only way I could salvage that would be to die for the cause.

Could I willingly die for the cause? Why else would I be in this position? Of course I could. It would only mean sovngarde, after all. I would dine with heroes. Doesn't sound like a bad plan.

But I didn't want my story to die. Was it such a crime to want to be great in this land? I wanted to reach the heights I didn't in my last life. I wanted my name to be remembered. I would die for that to happen, but it wouldn't be today.

So as Ulfric and Odahviing close the distance, heading straight towards Ariella and I, I decided that long range fighting wasn't going to do it for me. That was Ariella's area of expertise.

My magicka had grown a lot during the trip from Solitude to Helgen. So had my understanding of Mages Downfall. I wondered how high I could jump, and if I could combine Mages Downfall with a bit of telekinesis.

Only one way to find out. My magicka gathered itself and as I gave it purpose, the world slowed as my perception increased. I sent the spell into the more advanced stages and crouched. To Ariella it must have been less than a second, but to me it was an eternity waiting for the right opportunity. And honestly, why was Ulfric getting this close? Just stay far away and Shout the army down with the elements and Unrelenting Force.

I sent some telekinesis to the ground below me, to hold the earth together as I jumped off of it. I didn't want my legs to just pierce into the ground after all. I wanted a solid base to use.

I jumped.

I did not expect to go as high as I did. Neither did Odahviing or Ulfric expect it. I actually over shot them in the air. As I watched them go by I realized I would have to change my trajectory to accomplish my goals.

So I grabbed Odahviing, and pulled. I kept my magickal hold around his body, to make sure I wasn't thrown off if my plan worked.

It did. I started falling toward the person on his back. It was time for Ulfric to die in my mind.

I twisted my body in the air as Odahviing snapped at me while I was passing his head. I barely got out of the way in time.

Ulfric met me, sword to sword.

I stood upright on the red scales of Odahviing, made possible by the magicka I was directing for that exact purpose.

Ulfric began to whisper shouts as I pressed my speed and strength advantage. Somehow, he managed to deflect my sword to his head and buy himself some time. His speed increased enough by the time I continued my attack.

In his saddle, on the back of the dragon, he was strapped down so that he wouldn't fall off in mid-air. I could have appreciated the quality of the material if I wasn't in the middle of a duel. I increased the amount of magicka, and my speed increased also.

With the time I had casted Mages Downfall, I only used about a sixteenth of my magicka.

I sent blow after blow towards the man below me, but Ulfric, realizing the danger he was in, went completely on the defensive. He didn't even bother attacking. What was he waiting for?

The answer became apparent when a shadow alerted me of a very big, very fast object heading my direction. I allowed myself to fall off of the dragon below me, with barely enough time to avoid another set of jaws, courtesy of Miraak's dragon.

I molded my magicka a little more and grabbed Odahviing's neck. Then I used the momentum of my fall to swing myself back around to his back. It took too long for me to get an attack off on Miraak's dragon to try and injure it.

And then Ulfric and I were back at it. His defense was impressive, as was his concentration.

Suddenly, a thought struck me.

Why hadn't I driven the King's Blade into Odahviing's neck below me? No wonder Ulfric wasn't attacking. He was waiting for my magicka to run out. They had learned from the Challenge, when I crushed Miraak's windpipe. They thought they would simply outlast me.

I feigned an attack towards Ulfric one more time, and grabbed the King's Blade in a reverse grip. Before I plunged it into Odahviing's spine, I sent magicka towards it to reinforce the blade.

The runes glowed brightly, and slid through his scales like a hot knife would butter.

Odahviing did not roar. He did not have time to. Apparently dragon's have spinal cords, because I severed his, and he stopped moving immediately.

"Fus!"

I registered the words the same time the shout hit me. It took me by surprise, and my magickal hold on Odahviing slipped.

Flying through the air, heading ass over tit was extremely disorienting. There was no time to do anything. I thought I would hit the ground any minute and die from the speed I was moving. A cocoon of Magicka enveloped me. I recognized the feel of Ariella without trying.

The world was still upside down though, and I couldn't focus on a single thing. My stomach flipped and I worried I would throw up in mid air for a moment.

When Ariella righted me in the air, I did throw up, but the world began to make sense again. I floated right above the heart of the Stormcloak forces, near the wall. I must have been a hundred yards from the front lines of my own army. That was a problem, could Ariella bring me back to her?

I looked to find her. It was easy. She was a beacon of white-blue energy on the battlefield. In her hands was a staff, pointed right at me. From the distance I couldn't make it out. I knew it was the Staff of Magnus.

An unintelligible shout hit my ears, and a massive wave of force flew in her direction. She had no choice, and moved her staff to block the blow.

I fell like a puppet with its strings cut, as her magicka retreated.

Fuck.

Ariella POV

I loved, and hated, the Staff of Magnus.

It was impossible to describe the feeling of having unlimited power in her hands. It wasn't meant for me. I could feel how I didn't wield it properly. I lacked the experience with it to wield it how it deserved. It was nothing more than a magickal hammer in my hands.

But I called to it, regardless, as Hadvar flew towards the ground.

I didn't think I would have to use this at all, let alone this early in the war. Spacial magick should stay undiscovered. There is a reason the Psijic Order guards it's secrets so fervently.

The space around my hand twisted as I made a grabbing motion. The Staff fell into my waiting hand. Immediately, I felt the connection with the Eye from its location on Artaeum. Distance did not matter to the Eye. That's why the Psijic Order sought it so.

It was child's play to reach out through the distance and grab Hadvar. I could see he wouldn't have been able to stop himself from hitting the ground. What a way to go. Sacrifice yourself to kill a dragon? His people would hail him for generations to come.

Well I couldn't let that happen. He was too valuable to me.

"Fus Ro Dah!"

I turned back to see the biggest wave of force heading my direction, courtesy of Miraak and his serpentine dragon. I didn't know you could combine shouts with dragons. I loved that dragon in the games. Now I had to kill it.

I let the magick holding Hadvar go. He would be fine.

I whipped the Staff of Magnus, and an impenetrable barrier mimicked the motion, smacking the shout out of the air and sending it away. With another thought, a massive spear of ice formed in the air and I sent it toward the belly of the dragon. It bounced off.

Lightning it is.

I began to summon the lightning around my form to prepare it for use when it happened. I had my doubts of Ulfric being the Dragonborn. In fact, I was convinced it was Hadvar. He seemed to be the perfect candidate. He had done more, with less, than I had in a much shorter time in this universe.

I didn't think he knew just how handicapped he was. I wasn't sure, but our first meeting in Markarth couldn't have been more than a week since his transmigration. We never talked about it, but I was capable of deduction.

I had my body for close to a year longer than him, if that was the case. His progress was impressive, and shouldn't have been possible. That's why my thoughts produced him as the Dragonborn. But to do this as an ordinary man? My respect for him rose, as was common.

Nonetheless. Odahviing's body began to decompose, and the lights I was so familiar with traveled into Ulfric's body.

Another obstacle to overcome.

Hadvar POV

I wielded my magicka again, and immediately went into Mages Downfall. Luckily, nobody noticed me floating in the air above them, they were too busy about to face my army.

I started killing without thought.

The King's Blade killed the nearest five men to me in the span of two seconds after my feet hit the ground. Most by slit throats.

I started to move towards the front of my army, just as a wave of arrows dotted the air above me. Was my own army trying to kill me?

Then I realized they were doing the opposite.

The Stormcloaks that I ran between, killing, were facing the opposite direction of me. They ignored the calls from the men behind them trying to warn them of my deadly run back to my army. Instead, they began to raise their shields to block the arrows, leaving me perfect opportunities to deal very very nasty cuts along their midsections. Most died from these cuts, but all of them were out of the battle.

I raised a shield in the air to protect me from the arrows as I continued to run and swing my sword.

A hundred men died from my sword before I reached the front lines of my own army. When I did reach them, the lines parted for me, allowing me protection. I wanted to berate them, but they could afford it because of my affect on the Stormcloak army.

A brief moment of inaction happened as the sky lit up with a myriad of different colors. It was like a hundred rainbows swirling around a single point on the ground.

I used the opportunity to close the distance to Ariella. It was easy work with Mages Downfall. By the time I reached her, I realized what was happening.

"Dovahkiin!"

"Dovahkiin!"

"Dovahkiin!"

The Stormcloaks shouted out the word as if their life depended on it. Their lives might have depended on it.

Ulfric Stormcloak stood on solid legs from where Odahviing fell in the battle field, about two hundred yards in the direction of the fighting from where I stood. The lights flew from Odahviing's dead body, into his body. It was proof that Ulfric Stormcloak was indeed the Dovahkiin.

"DOVAHKIIN!"

That particular shout bounced off of the mountaintops, and drowned out all of the noise on the ground. It was the Greycloaks at the Throat of the World, calling out to the Dovahkiin. We were so far away, it was amazing the sound even reached.

"Fuck." Ariella said beside me, and her head turned to where the armies fought.

My men were actually retreating. Step by step, they moved backwards under the onslaught from the Stormcloak army. I never thought I would have seen the day when a simple rallying cry would change the battle completely.

"We have to do something." Ariella yelled towards me.

Miraak and his dragon were about to make another pass at Ariella. They were staying with their plan of wearing us down. I never would have thought it possible, but Ariella did look a little fatigued. Although her magicka hadn't changed in depth at all.

It must be mentally draining channeling so much magicka from the Staff of Magnus itself.

"Lend me your magicka."

Ariella didn't even bother questioning it. Instead, I felt her magicka envelope and pierce me. Although, it wasn't hers.

Visions of another place flashed in front of my eyes. It was an island, not the biggest I had ever seen, but a good size. Maybe two thousand, three thousand acres?

On a corner of the island, a massive gleaming castle sat. There were many towers, but one reached into the air and touched the sky. At the peak, a floating orb of blue and black sat. I could see a stream of blue light flying through the air.

The vision cut, and I was back on the battlefield of Helgen. I didn't have time to ponder the vision or what it was. That would be for later.

Instead, I tried my best to cast a spell that might turn the tides of the battle in our favor.

I molded my magicka to the highest quality restoration I knew, and sent it towards my army. My mind's eye seemed to follow the magicka, and it was easy to stop at my own men. Wouldn't want to heal the Stormcloaks, after all.

I didn't do any major healing to anyone. It was mainly stamina increases, and small wounds might have closed also. On such a grand scale, there was no way I could heal everyones wounds. I just couldn't achieve that amount of control. I wasn't sure if I ever would.

I don't know how much time I spent on the spell, but it felt like an eternity. Eventually, I decided that it was enough. My body was growing hot, from channeling the massive amounts of magicka.

As a parting gift, I sent a burst of 'Courage' towards everyone. Some might say I was the first person to successfully cast 'Call to Arms' in the last one thousand years. I wasn't so sure it was a successful cast.

All I knew was that I was dog tired when I opened my eyes.

As I looked around the battlefield, I realized a couple of things. One, my army was now running over the Stormcloaks as if they were children. Two, Ulfric was calmly walking towards Ariella and I. Three, Miraak was climbing down off of the back of his dragon. He joined Ulfric when he got close enough.

"Think they want to surrender?" I asked Ariella jokingly.

"Our surrender, maybe." She retorted with a smile.

"Good luck with that."

I continued to watch them approach us with a smile on my face. My army was in the background, getting alarmingly close to a rout of the enemy forces. Their numbers had been cut to below what remained my army. And we were still going.

But Ulfric and Miraak had a big smile on their face.

They stopped about fifty yards from us, and turned to the north. I watched them for a moment, trying to understand what they were doing. Both of their eyes traced the sky, waiting. Patient.

What were they waiting on?

"Alduin." Ariella answered me with a whisper.

I didn't think I had ever heard a dragon roar, without shouting in this life. Alduin was not afraid of roaring. I couldn't help but think it was louder than any shout I had heard.

He was definitely the biggest living thing I had seen.

When he rounded the mountains to the north, he looked like a shadow. His scales were black as the night sky. Maybe darker. Obsidian might have been a better comparison.

Did Miraak and Ulfric know that Alduin was coming? This whole time?

Is that why Ulfric hadn't strained himself fighting me. Was he saving himself for the real fight?

What do we do now?

I looked to my army. The Stormcloaks had stopped fighting, and were now in full retreat mode. My army pursued, cutting them down. I waved another runner over. The exact same boy from earlier in the day arrived.

"Tell them not to pursue, get everyone in the city. Protect the civilians!" I told him quickly. The boy rode off to do as he was told and I turned to Ariella.

"Let's join them, yea?" I asked her.

"What use will we be?" Ariella returned. Her eyes were wide as she saw the first-born of Akatosh fly through the air.

I sent her a smile that wasn't nearly as confident as I wanted it to be. "Don't worry, you're with a dragonslayer." I told her as I took off running towards where Ulfric and Miraak stood.

She followed, and when I looked back, I saw that she ran with a surprising grace and speed. I blamed it on her heritage. A part of me hoped she was clumsy. I was glad to be wrong.

Miraak turned to me as we approached, but he noticed my sheathed blade and didn't react.

I started to slow down as I approached.

"I knew you were another." Miraak said as I walked up to him. He had his mask on. Did he want his old master to see him as he used to be? "How did you hide yourself from me?"

"I didn't." I answered him as I looked to the sky. Alduin was circling us in the sky. "Maybe your master hid knowledge from you." I responded.

"Nobody is my master, young one." Miraak retorted, with an even tone. He was much more level headed than I expected.

I noted that information. So why was he allowing Ulfric to make a bid for High King? Why wouldn't he want it for himself? What was above High King?

Emperor.

The answer hit me. Miraak didn't want the High King position, because it would be beneath him. He wanted to rule, but over everyone and everything. I wondered if he was chasing after Talos, for a moment. Sometimes, I felt as if I was doing the same.

"We will help you for this fight, but afterwards you will take your army and leave. Helgen is ours." I offered. I didn't want to admit it, but I wasn't sure that Ariella and I could defeat these two by ourselves just yet. I had already bridged the gap between Ulfric and I, but if Alduin was to be defeated now, then he would rocket ahead of me, no doubt.

I needed more time.

"You may have the city, it is of no use to us." Miraak answered me. "But I will not need your help for this. I have waited a millenia for this moment."

When Alduin got closer to landing, it was obvious he was at least three times the size of Odahviing, and Miraak's dragon. His massive orange eyes darted around, looking at the dragon behind Miraak, and the corpse of Odahviing on the ground.

The ground rumbled when he landed.

"Mi ra rak!" Alduin growled out. His voice was so similar to the games it was ridiculous. But it was more grating, deep, commanding. "Vahlok has failed, then."

"Vahlok was full of tricks. I allowed him to live, when I felt your absence." Miraak said. His hand reached up to the Dragon Mask on his face, and slowly removed it.

"You reek of Oblivion. *Unintelligible* has claimed you. One master for another. Always Aar! Like the Dovah behind you." Alduin's response cut into Miraak, I could tell.

Miraak let a growl escape his throat in response. His hands went to his robes and he peeled off the outer layer. His torso was in full view of the dragon. Tattoo's ran up and down his arms and chest. Most devoted to dragons or some aspects of dragons.

"My time as a servant has passed. It is time I rule." Miraak said.

"I will drown you and this world in my fire!" Alduin roared at Miraak.

It was like a switch flipped, one moment they were conversing, the other there were two massive fireballs colliding. Miraak's magicka skyrocketed, showing off his full capability.

It was higher than my own. It was higher than Calcelmo's, Mirabelle Ervine, and every other mage I had encountered. All except Ariella. She still dwarfed any and all I had ever felt.

Miraak's may not have been as big, or deep as Ariella. But it was easily more efficient and honed than hers. He had absolute control over his magicka.

Then he sent it to his throat.

Alduin didn't watch it happen, instead his massive black wings beat on the air and he jumped.

"Joor Zah Frul!"

There is a sense in every being. It tells you when something isn't as it is supposed to. Everything about the shout screamed wrong. As if it was a contradiction to life. I hated it, as soon as I heard it.

Dragonrend.

I questioned where Miraak learned the shout for two seconds before realizing that the knowledge must have been somewhere in Hermaus Mora's realm of knowledge. I wondered what Miraak didn't have access to there. Did he know where the Elder Scrolls were too?

The blue shout of Dragonrend smacked into Alduin's form, grounding him before he could ever take off.

Miraak channeled even more magicka to his throat, it was a massive amount. Maybe the same amount of magicka as I had used casting Call to Arms. All located in one point on his throat.

Miraak was increasing the power of his Thu'um with magicka? I didn't know it was possible.

"Zii Los Dii Du."

Miraak and Alduin both locked up, eyes on one another. I couldn't tell what was going on, both of them just stood there. Alduin twitched a couple of times, but other than that he did nothing.

Ulfric, who was watching the exchange with neutral eyes, moved towards Alduin's prone form. He drew his sword about half way.

There is no way. There is no way Alduin is about to be handled this easily.

My eyes looked around the battlefield once again. I had neglected it since Alduin arrived. Everyone stared at us. My own men were looking at the massive dragon on the ground. The Stromcloaks had actually started to kneel in front of the massive beast.

I wondered whether it was out of respect or not. Obviously, all of their men had been warned that Alduin would return today. Were they only here to allow their masters this opportunity? Had Miraak and Ulfric expected this outcome?

Everyone would see the Stormcloak's defend the entire realm from the World-ender. What would this do to swing the people's opinion on the rebellion.

'The Legion would have allowed you to die, or become slaves, by Alduin's hand.'

I could already hear the rumors spread in my mind.

'Hadvar and Ariella, heroes of the Legion, helped the dragonborn slay Alduin.'

That was much better for the Empire's cause. I fell into Mages Downfall quickly. Before anyone could react, I was closing the distance to Alduin and drawing my sword. Ulfric didn't have time to even hear my footsteps as I jumped.

I must have looked epic, in mid-air, with the King's Blade glowing runes on display for everyone to see. Before I knew it, I was hanging on as the sword plunged into Alduin's skull.

"No!" Ulfric's deep voice exclaimed behind me.

Alduin thrashed beneath me, and I planted my feet on his skull before yanking the blade out of his brain and jumping off. Alduin's body shook violently for a moment before falling still.

"Damn you." Miraak said. He must have been kicked out of whatever was going on between him and Alduin.

Did they not want Alduin dead? Isn't that the whole point of this?

Miraak barked something. I turned to see him climbing on the back of his dragon, just as Alduin started to decompose. I hated to admit it, but it was a beautiful sight.

His black body slowly started to become more and more orange, before small flakes started flying into the air and dissolving. The same colors from Odahviing began flying off of his form. I traced them carefully to see them heading towards Ulfric. Was that why they were mad at me, because Miraak wasn't able to devour Alduin's soul, instead of Ulfric.

"Ahh!" Ulfric fell to one knee as he started screaming.

Miraak's dragon flapped its wings twice, sending wind and dust in all directions. It reached a single foot down to where Ulfric was absorbing Alduin and grabbed him. Two more beats of his wings, and he was in the air.

The battle cry of a thousand Stormcloak soldiers hit my ears, and I looked to see they were charging my army. They were even more disorganized than before.

The cavalry Miraak commanded were already leaving the valley, headed back north. They must have been too valuable to let die. The rest of his men weren't. Nords did not surrender, I should have remembered. We would have to send them all to Sovngarde.

Ariella shuffled up beside me as I looked back to the retreating form of Miraak. Her question, I had no answer for.

"What now?"

A/N: Boom!

I had always planned on Alduin being handled fairly easily and early on. I didn't want the focus on the story to become the 'world-ending' type. I want it to be a war for Skyrim, and possibly beyond.

Odahviing is dead. Alduin is dead. Both by Hadvar's hand! What do we think? We got a little glimpse into Ariella and the Staff of Magnus too.

Does anybody know what island Hadvar saw in his vision?

Why are Miraak and Ulfric upset about Hadvar killing Alduin?

Let's talk in the reviews!