Worlds Away
At the Throat of the World in Skyrim, Paarthanurax looks down upon Raiden and Gandalf curious but also cautious. Raiden unlike his ally has had mostly positive experiences with dragons so he steps forward and speaks to the dragon.
Raiden: Great dragon! I am Raiden, God of Thunder and protector of Earthrealm. With me is Gandalf the White a noble wizard hailing from Middle Earth. We seek the warrior in these lands known as the Dragon Born.
Paarthanurax: You seek Dovahkiin... Neither of you are Joorre, mortals. You are capable of defending yourselves why seek the Dov?
Gandalf: He possesses an item of interest to us and our allies, Good dragon where might this warrior be?
Paarthanurax: He dwells below this mountain, the Monahven in the village called White Run. What the Joorre call the Throat of The World. He comes here from time to time and is an ally of the Greybeards. Sorcerers like you White Wizard who was once grey.
Gandalf: You know who we are?
Paarthanurax: Of course I know who both you and your closest allies such as Fujin and Galadriel and I know others such as the little green one have protected many worlds for many centuries. I know that one day you call upon myself and many noble Dov of this land to combat a great threat.
Raiden: This is true, one day soon we will call upon the many warriors of these lands both as you say Joorre and Dov. Will you accompany us to meet with the Dragon Born great dragon?
Paarthanurax: Nay for I am needed here at Monahven as you are needed below. But if you truly need me you may call upon me and the greys and we will come in your time of need.
Raiden and Gandalf both nod at the dragon and begin to climb down the mountain. The God and the Wizard make their way to White Run and although they were allowed into the village the looks they received from guards and citizens alike made them think other wise they arrive in town square and walk up to a guard standing near the soldier of Talos.
Gandalf: Pardon me brave warrior, We seek an audience with the custodian of this city. I don't suppose you would know where he lives.
Guard: That would be the Jarl but what makes you think you are worthy of requesting an audience with him.
Raiden and Gandalf both look at each other than look at the guard. Raiden shows his hands and begins to generate electricity and Gandalf taps the butt of his walking staff on the ground and the gem in the staff begins to glow. The guard raises his sword and then begins to escort the two to the Jarl of White Run Balgruuf the Greater. The Jarl is sitting in his throne room when the guard brings Raiden and Gandalf forward
Guard: These strange but powerful travelers seek an audience with you.
Balgruuf: You seek an audience with me?
Raiden: I am Raiden, God of Thunder and Protector of the Earthrealm with me is Gandalf The White hailing from Middle Earth. We have come very far and we seek the Dragon Born we are told he lives here in White Run.
Balgruuf: The Dragon Born has not been seen in weeks, I do not know where he is.
Gandalf: What were the circumstances of when you last saw him? Perhaps we could find him.
Balgruuf: The First Dragon Born Mirraak had been resurrected by his God and wanted revenge for being bested by him. The Dragon Born assembled many of the finest warriors in Skyrim including many of the guards you see before you and even the other provinces of Tamriel. The two dragon born warriors fought with all their might and eventually a spell was cast that threw them both into the realm of Mirraak's master Hermaeus Mora and they have presumably been locked in combat for sometime now.
Gandalf: The Dragon omitted that detail.
Balgruuf: If you speak of Paarthurnax that he doesn't come down from the mountain too often I'm afraid even if there is a threat that could destroy all of Nirn.
Raiden: This band of warriors that was assembled where could we find some of it's more well known members?
Balgruuf: Many of them could be scattered across Skyrim as we speak that I cannot help you with. But I can help you enter the realm of Hermaeus Mora. There are rumors of an Oblivion Gate North of here, I'm sure two well traveled mystics such as yourselves can figure out how to use it. I am sorry I cannot be more help but with the Dragon Born missing I must stay here as Skyrim is at it's most vulnerable it has been since the return of Alduin.
Raiden and Gandalf walk out of the palace with a feeling of dejection. They make their hike to the northern part of the province.
Raiden: I have fought along side the gods of these lands many centuries ago before the Oblivion Crisis, Shinnok made an alliance with the Daedra and we rallied the people of both Tamriel and Akavir. We pushed back the Daedric monsters many on the front lines were nords of Skyrim. If you told me all those years ago that their descendants would be too paranoid to fight alongside us today I would have thought you foolish.
Gandalf: Although many noble warriors come from this world I fear they've become too dependent on the Dragon Born. Our realms have been lucky that despite their many champions we have not fallen victim to the same struggle. You have been to this land once before thunderer, take us to this Oblivion Gate.
Raiden nods his head and teleports them both to the Oblivion Gate. It has been weathered by time, chunks of it missing, and runes that have been engraved on it appear to have been altered. Gandalf and Raiden however to work both using their powers to energize any lingering energies. A portal then forms but is consistently fluctuating to different worlds they first see Raiden's Temple back on Earth and The Shire back on Middle Earth but then it fluctuates with visuals of Edenia, The Combine Homeworld, Hala, and finally the plane of Oblivion Hermaes Mora calls home. Despite being magic and divine powerhouses they struggle keeping this portal open. Through the portal they see the Dragon Born and Mirraak fighting with neither holding back. The temple they are fighting ruins each shouting Thu'umes, casting spells, and getting up close and personal with the other. Tentacles that slither through the portal and push Gandalf and Raiden into the trees before they could stabilize the portal.
Hermaes Mora (telepathically): I am not sure why either of you are here but my realm does not fall under either of your jurisdictions. Try to enter again at your own peril...
It takes a moment but Raiden and Gandalf get up and gather their senses, the portal then closes only and the gate then crumbles.
Raiden: I don't suppose you could open a portal to Oblivion?
Gandalf: The realms of Oblivion are quite difficult to navigate even for a wizard such myself. It could be done but it would take time we do not have.
A voice coming from the trees then says "Perhaps M'aiq can you help" then down from the trees jumps M'aiq The Liar.
Gandalf: We aren't ones to turn down help, but who are to help us?
M'aiq: M'aiq is M'aiq. M'aiq has recently spoked with powerful being and was told on this day at this time... to give you this
M'aiq then shows them both a shiny rock with weird groves and holes in it. The rock is pulsing with some strange energy.
Gandalf: How did you acquire this? Better yet why are you here?
M'aiq: M'aiq was told to come here.
Raiden: By whom?
M'aiq: By Gods, Akatosh and Talos. You must go if you are to save the Dragon Born.
Raiden and Gandalf exchange looks but decide to trust M'aiq and take the rock from his. They put in in the center of the Oblivion Gate and blast it with their combined magics. The portal then reappears and has been stabilized, The wizard and the Thunder God walk through the portal which closes behind them destroying both the gate and the magic rock. M'aiq then glances behind him to see the man who ACTUALLY gave him the magic rock, Geras, the enforcer of the Titan of time Kronika.
M'aiq: Did M'aiq succeed?
Geras: Yes, Thank you M'aiq. You will be rewarded greatly soon.
In the realm of Hermaes Mora, Raiden and Gandalf are in a temple dedicated to the Daedric prince and step outside and see the two dragon born warriors still duking it out. Mirraak sends the Last Dargon Born flying with a powerful magically imbued back hand. Raiden then blasts Mirraak with lightning but Mirraak catches it and begins to combat Raiden while Gandalf goes to the Dragon Born.
Gandalf: Are you alright warrior?
Dragon Born: Who are you?
Gandalf: I am Gandalf The White, with me is Raiden. We are not from Tamriel but we are allies to any noble warrior of any land.
Dragon Born: I will take that answer, if you have come to assist me you shall do so by helping me repel this would be Tyrant.
The Dragon Born stands up and shouts "Fus Ro Dah!" which catches Mirraak by surprised this gives Raiden the upper hand as Raiden flies into Mirrak and cracks his mask. Mirraak his shattered mask not covering the part of his face that is scaly and one reptilian eye.
Mirrak: My lord Hermaes told me that I would be expecting a white wizard and a thunder god from other worlds. Once Nirn belongs to Hermaes Mora, I will come to your worlds and enslave your peoples.
Gandalf: You shall do no such thing!
Gandalf then slams his walking staff down sending shock waves that destabilize the ground. Raiden blasts Mirraak with electricity while the Dragon Born decides to use Mirraak's body as target practice with arrows. The Dragon Born shoots Mirraak both in the should and one arrow in the knee for good measure but the ground begins to crack and strange lovecraftian monsters emerge.
Raiden: I have no power here and the portal is closed, Gandalf can you open a portal back to Nirn?
Gandalf: Yes I can! But I will need sometime to open a portal.
Dragon Born: You will have all the time needed wizard!
The Dragon Born then cuts one of monsters in half and shouts "Yol Toor Shul" and creating a ring of fire around the three of them to give them a buffer. Raiden and The Dragon hold back these creatures as best as they can but Mirraak then rises from the ground and begins to march over and behind him a portal slowly begins to open.
Raiden: Gandalf! Are you close?!
Raiden the turns to feel the light of the sun on his shoulder, the Thunder God turns to reveal Gandalf has successfully opened a portal back to the Throat of The World. Raiden and The Dragon Born quickly run through the portal but Mirraak and his monsters try to follow, the three heroes get ready to fight them on the mountain top only for Paarthanurax to swoop in and breathe fire into the portal. Gandalf then quickly closes the portal. Back in the realm of Hermaes Mora however Mirraak turns to see Geras and Kronika come out of the portal with the many eyes of Hermaes Mora peaking from that same portal.
Mirraak: Forgive my lords I have failed. I was unable to defeat the Dragon Born.
Mirraak bows to Kronika and Hermaes. Kronika walks toward him and pets his head.
Kronika: No you have not failed us Dragon Born, you have actually succeeded.
Mirraak looks up and is confused how he has succeeded when The Dragon Born and his allies got away.
Mirraak: Forgive me, but I do not understand.
Hermaes Mora: You were brought back to the realm of the living to ultimately yes, to conquer Nirn but there were other goals in mind such as confirming what our enemies are planning... And you Dovahkiin have caught them in the act.
Kronika: You have confirmed that Raiden, a Thunder God from the Earthrealm has aligned himself with heroes from other worlds and is creating a coalition that will cause a great power shift in the universe. Heroes of the present will ally themselves with heroes of the past, future, and histories that may or may not happen. Heroes of multiple worlds, heroes of that have been dead for sometime. They will all unite under the banner of this council that Raiden is apart of.
Mirraak: Then we must stop them before they all come together!
Hermaes Mora: Have faith in our plans Mirraak, you and Geras shall be our enforcers when the time is right. Besides Kronika of all the Titans, Gods, and Daedra knows all too well that the future has never been set in stone.
Kronika: Indeed, we are not the threat that unites them all. That threat is coming and it will ravage this universe like no threat has ever attempted. You will be called upon again in the future but until then rest and meditate Mirraak. All that has been promised will be yours.
Back at the Throat of the World the warriors are catching their breath. The Dragon Born nods at Paarthurnax thanking him and turns to Gandalf and Raiden.
Dragon Born: While I am truly thankful for your assistance in repelling Mirraak and his monsters I must insist that I require answers from the both of you immediately. You are not the first other worlders I have encountered so start talking.
Gandalf: My dear boy, we are apart of an alliance of like minded individuals who have sworn to protect not just their world but all worlds. Raiden and I forged this alliance many centuries ago, it has come to our attention that this other worlder that you have hinted is apart of a much bigger puzzle.
Dragon Born: You speak of the round machination that speaks of the stars.
Gandalf: The same.
The Dragon Born opens a portal to his house and enters, he opens a chest and grabs the Aperture Space Core and walks back into the portal and hands it Gandalf.
Space Core: Where are we going? Space?! Where in Space?!
Gandalf: Back to the Earth, you are needed to help us solve a puzzle that will save the space you love. Thank you Dragon Born and good dragon for your assistance today.
Dragon Born: Safe travels back to your world. May Talos watch over you!
Raiden then teleports Gandalf and The Space Core back to Earth. The lightning bolt strikes just outside of Rip Hunter's bunker. They walk in to see Rip Hunter at the computer and they see on his chalk board the drawing of black hole in space with the words "SHE'S IN THERE". Rip Hunter turns around to greet his fellow secret councilmen.
Rip Hunter: Greetings, I see you were successful in your trip to Nirn. I'll take him from here.
Rip then grabs the Space Core from Gandalf and plugs him into massive terminal. Rip Hunter is downloading the robot's memories and is creating a map of what the space core has seen after it got sucked out into space after Chell's fight with Wheatley. Rip then zones into a space sector to see a black hole that looks extremely similar to the one in his drawing.
Rip Hunter: That's the same one, from the visions.
Raiden: How will we retrieve her then?
Rip Hunter: I'll worry about that. I have to ask how'd it go in Nirn.
Gandalf: We fought alongside this Dragon Born one of the many on your list of warriors. He is powerful and ready to face the coming threat.
Rip Hunter: Good we will be calling upon him and his allies as well as his predecessors. If were going off of that list, Nirn has produced many warriors that will be called upon.
Gandalf: Yes of course but I am curious Rip...
Rip Hunter: Due tell wizard.
Gandalf: We have kept many of our closest allies in the dark about the truth of the coming threat. None of them know and we have created a network of many operators who don't know anything about this group. When will we start including them?
Rip Hunter: We will assemble everyone on the list in good time, once we retrieve Maxis, resurrect the fallen, and break time. Only once the circumstances will all of our allies and more know what's going and I have already begun the process of breaking time.
Raiden: Be careful I broke time and the Elder Gods despite helping were not pleased despite the outcome.
Rip Hunter: I don't answer to your gods Raiden, I do however know that the Gods of Olympus will soon be struggling to keep Taurturs at bay.
Raiden: What did you do? Does Arkantos know of this?
Rip Hunter: Arkantos and Athena are the ones that helped me plan this out. It's fool proof you need not worry. All we need now is are the Flashes in Central City and Keystone.
Gandalf: You are playing with forces you don't fully understand time traveler.
Rip Hunter: I know enough about these forces to help us. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a busy day first stop Central City and then a Black Hole...
Rip Hunter then enters his time bubble and disappears. Raiden and Gandalf both exchange looks with each other.
Gandalf: He walks down a similar path that Sauruman walked. He is leading us into territories that he might not be able to lead us out of.
Raiden: We elected him our leader so that Yoda could rest. I will do what it takes to protect Earthrealm.
Gandalf: And if that means misleading our allies into completing goals they would gladly help us with anyway if they knew? How much longer can you omit the truth too Fujin? Too Bo Rai Cho? To your prized pupils?
Raiden: As long as we need, Apathocan loyalists and cultists are everywhere and we are not a true army yet.
Gandalf: Very well, once Samantha Maxis has been rescued I think it's time the council reconvenes.
Raiden: Understandable great wizard.
Meanwhile in an apartment in New York City, Zeke Dunbar and Armstrong Anni Padda are watching a Johnny Cage movie marathon. They are currently watching one of Johnny's lesser known movies Kung Fu Cowboy.
Zeke: I'm telling you man it might not seem like but this dude has got one of the greats! The way he's able to blend drama and comedy it just doesn't make sense.
Armstrong: Dude I've met Shakespeare! The dude could shit out a play in a weekend. If Cage is such a good writer I would love to be in the writers room with him.
Zeke: Heh you gotta better chance than me man. You got connects at MI6 make that happen!
Armstrong: I'll see if Neville can get something going, any word from your contact at Brimstone?
Zeke: Nah man she explained it to me when Cole passed. It's less like a walkie talkie and more like a tracking device with recall on it.
Armstrong: Uh huh... you said she?
Zeke: Yeah man crazy ass vampire chick, saved my ass back in New Marias. She looked like she was an extra in an Evanesence video good girl but definitely got some daddy issues you knomsayin?
Armstrong: It better not be-
They both hear knocking from the window and look to see Rayne daughter of Kagan. Zeke gets up to open the window and let her in.
Armstrong: Exactly who I think it is...
Zeke: Hey Girl! Long time no see don't worry about him he's cool this is Armstrong. He's an immortal warrior, member of Unity, and uh...
Zeke turns to Armstrong to see that he very clearly doesn't want to be around Rayne and then quickly turns to Rayne to see she has a very similar expression on her face. Zeke then realizes something and begins to laugh.
Zeke: Are you serious?! Hahahaha! You were with him too!
Rayne: It was a long time ago!
Zeke: Before or after Kessler?
Armstrong: After! I was the rebound.
Rayne: Fuck you!
Armstrong: You wish!
Zeke: Hey, hey, hey! Easy, easy people! As the only non immortal person hasn't lived passed a century I am just a little shocked at how small the world truly is. Now look we got a good reason to call you here Rayne.
Rayne: Good because I'm glad you called. I need your help Zeke.
Armstrong: Don't listen to her, this is how she gets you. "Hey I need help there is big mean cult of monsters out in the midwest, don't you love me still? Please help me!"
Rayne: I said I was sorry Aram!
Armstrong then gets off the couch and takes off his hat and is very visibly upset. He walks toward Rayne and points at her in anger.
Armstrong: You don't get to say that! Not after what you did.
Rayne: How was I supposed to know that-
Zeke: Alright look whatever happened in the past based off the fact that I know BOTH of your ages this event happened decades ago, I'm willing to bet a little before I was born at the absolute earliest. Now I'm sure when you live forever it's probably a lot harder to let go of emotional pain. But Imma tell you right now I don't give a shit about that, I don't give a shit about who broke up with who, I don't give a shit about what happened, and I don't give a shit if you guys hate each other after this conversation. The world has become a more dangerous place... and it escalates everyday... the world needs us man plain and fuckin' simple! Now Rayne... please give us the 411.
Rayne: I have been on sabbatical from Brimstone mostly focusing on figuring out what happened to time.
Armstrong: I'm sorry what happened to time?
Zeke: One day her dad a Dracula knock off took over the world, the next day it never happened.
Armstrong: Alright then I'm up to speed.
Rayne: Alright well I have been reading a lot but mostly breaking into a lot of advanced sciency places. STAR Labs, Black Mesa, Stark Industries, and a handful of others. Broke into Black Mesa read up some reports from Dr. Freeman you know the nerd that allegedly saved the world from an alien invasion with a crow bar? Well, in the report I read he said that on his way back from this alien world he saw ripples in the sky of that world and then BOOM. Back in the lab, He believed it was a "chronal energy" and that it altered time around him. He's been trying to look into this but only other place that have the means to do this are STAR Labs and Aperture.
Zeke: And Aperture's been out of the picture for sometime... Every since they went kablewie.
Rayne: That's where things get weird, I went up to Michigan the ruins of Aperture are there and STAR Labs has a big presence in Detroit. Went to Aperture a homeless man wearing a lab coat with the logo on it and everything runs out and then sky starts to ripple with crazy energy... a cosmic light show that goes completely unnoticed. Then I go STAR Labs, I am no expert with technology so hacking into their system was above my pay grade but Aram, I saw your brother Ivar with Rip Hunter one of the guys that joined the Justice League as apart of their big initiative to expand. Over heard Rip talking to Ivar about "I'm still getting visions, I just got one the other night about Aperture, the ripples in the sky. I should know what I did soon and then we can move to the next phase".
Armstrong: What are you saying that my brother is hiding something from me? You never liked Ivar or Gilad!
Rayne: Have you talked to Ivar recently? He's up to something, I don't know what but I can't help but think it's all connected. I've already called Severin and he's on his way to New York.
Zeke: Good, Armstrong do you think you can get a hold of the kid?
Armstrong: He's going to be in DC with Gilad and Ivar and not around crazy vampire skank assassins.
Rayne: Bite me fat boy!
Armstrong: You don't even taste when was the last time you cleaned yourself?! All that tight leather does not do your favors!
Zeke: Would you two shut up! Now!... Armstrong see if you can get a hold of Obie in the meantime I'm gonna make some calls of my own. I know Sev is coming here but how would you all feel about going to Seattle?
To Be Continued...