Quest 24: Swan Song

Loading Screen… Alduin Satakal known as Qyslom Orgnum wrote the Book of Fate, but what he has seen that prompted this is thus unknown…

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The cloud of Stormcrown rained ethereal rain over his head and his snake-tail rested on his shoulder. Akatosh had used his slow time shout to trap him and Konahrik.

Talos stepped into the circle. "So, you were Konahrik this whole time? I just took you to be some annoying brat." Talos sat down on a rock as the world was stilled to a halt, white glistening portals circulating around them. "I spent seven thousand years searching for some idiot child. Seven thousand years." He massaged his face with both gauntleted hands. "You would've made a decent Nord, Armilius."

Alduin then stepped into the circle. "Oh, he has." A sea-elven figure with curly black hair and small but bushy beard, antlers resembling his mother Mara upon his crown.

"Grandfather paradox," Akatosh cut in. "Well, either way this time loop is self-fulfilling."

"Aaah, hello brother. We were just talking about you, only bad things of course." Talos cracked a smile at his fraternal twin.

Konahrik looked drained and defeated, darkening eye circles framed by long strands of hair. The brunette only had one eye remaining with words etched on his forehead that weren't there before: Ni Sahvot. Which meant, nonbeliever in dovahzul.Krest secured his Konahrik mask near himself, glaring at Alduin."I started all of this. And I'll end it all too."

Egomaniac.

"You two hypocrites created each other. You're equally to blame. You are both the source of your own misery." Akatosh stroked his beard. "Are you really so blind? This war over elves and men." Akatosh sat down on an old tree stump, enjoying the skyline as the stars stretched over the alps. "One has pointy ears, the other doesn't. So what!?"

Alduin twirled the book in his hand. "Hmm, perhaps."

What's he hiding in that bloody book anyways? Talos wondered.

Konahrik, or Krest, stared dreadfully at his deadened palm for a minute straight. "There are hundreds of books about you, discussing why you did anything, about your divine mind. Theorizing about all sorts of complex shit. And you're telling me, the whole time, it was just to get back at me? I didn't expect it to be so simple."

"The simple truth usually flies under people's nose." Talos put his face in his hand. "Though I had aspirations of usurping God once."

"You can't mantle Anu. No matter how you go about it." Akatosh untucked strands of hair stuck behind his ear.

Talos inhaled the scent of the crisp northern air, winds sloshing like waves. A solemn Dwarven Automaton stalked them from behind the time barrier. People outside the bubble frozen as chronos had come to a stop. Galmar holding his axe over the head of an elf like a statue. Another High Elf about to insert her dagger into an unsuspecting Nord. Seems elves and men would be killing each other until the end of time. Talos, enemy to elves, and Konahrik, enemy to men despite being one. Akatosh the only one in the center. Even then, a Dragonborn could never be a Shezarrine, and a Shezarrine could never be a Dragonborn. But this Konahrik, he was more polarized from him than even a Dragon, an Anti-Talos to Talos. Born in the corners of hell where none looked. Forgotten, ignored, and now here to get him as promised all the way back in the Dawn Era.

Almost like fate.

"I can't believe I was stupid enough to think I was you." Krest sniffed his nose as mucus flowed out.

"How could a maggot like you ever be me?" Talos almost laughed. "There will never be another Shezarrine aside from me. Just as there will never be another Dragonborn after Saadia. You, Armilius, are just a nobody. A stupid kid who tampered with magic far beyond his understanding. That's all you'll ever be. Not some Dark Lord. Just a delusional egomaniac. And you can never beat me; I'm a god. How can you kill a god?"

"Saadia," Talos continued, "I had to kill her though. She was the Dragonborn destined to defeat me. I thought momentarily she may also be Konahrik, seeing as there is no prophecy concerning the latter. But there is no definite fate and she died and this one, Armilius was Konahrik all along without even knowing it. Konahrik was no great Devil. He was just a crazy, arrogant boy who got ahold of a Divine artifact and an Elder Scroll. You chose to be that monster."

"I admit I also thought Konahrik was some Dragon priest or demon hiding out somewhere in Skyrim. Perhaps in Labyrinthian." Akatosh ran his fingers through his long, illustrious wizard beard. "Perhaps that is why Anu led us to meet, Krest? That mask is more powerful than you know however, son. It can summon monsters, allow you to transform into a Dragon, protect your eyesight, and disguise your voice or allow the mute to speak, and more."

Konahrik didn't say anything. Then, "Krest… some cruel choice of a nickname… my real name is Khrystianos." Krest glared hatred at them all, shaking with barely contained contempt. Rage resonating from his clenched fists and standing figure. "That's the name my mother gave me."

"Even then it was Khrystianos, cousin." Alduin's expression popped open wide when he saw just how rage-filled Krest had gotten.

"You mean to tell me the Nord man with the blond hair and studded armor I see in the mirror is me?" Konahrik questioned. "I'm an elf in spirit, no filthy dog."

"Shut up, you delusional brat." Alduin waved off. "Racist hypocrites, the both of you. If only you could see."

"Talos and me are nothing alike other than the fact we breathe air," Krest defended himself.

"I'm sorry, Krest, but you'll be dead within the hour. Transforming into a dragon will have damaged your vitals. What's worse is that Talos used Soulkiller on you." Akatosh pointed to the black staff with a bluish-purple soul gem lying on the floor. "Which means once you die, Krest, you'll Zero Sum like Cuhlecain and Reman. You will never go to Aetherius, once you die you won't exist anymore. It'll be like you're in an endless, dreamless sleep. Even I can't save you anymore, so pray to Anu while you can." Then Akatosh looked to Talos. "Your fate is arguably worse, brother. Once you're defeated, you'll be placed in Hell, a pocket realm of Dagon's Deadlands in which you can never escape or influence Nirn. You'll burn forever inside a lake of fire, inside an ice block where you're freezing below zero when not being roasted alive. A fitting punishment for you at the deepest of the depths of Oblivion."

"If you think I'm gonna let that happen, you're dead wrong. Red Mountain and death itself couldn't hold me down." Talos glanced over at the snow covering the ground beneath their bubble. He scooted closer to Krest and the cliff. A willow tree that stood there like a monument against the dark canvas of mountain. Careless city around.

Konahrik looked down. "I don't really care anymore," his intonation came out dry, drained, and lifeless. "You think life's a romantic fairytale when you're a kid. Then you grow up and watch all your dreams die before your eyes and eventually nothing affects you anymore. It just is what it is."

"You stupid virgin," snorted Talos. "You never achieved your dreams because you were just too weak to reach out and take them."

Brows raised, Krest's words came out number and hollower with each sentence, "at least I don't have to abuse women and kill helpless elves to feel good about myself."

Clouds surrounded Talos in the bubble.

"Amazing how the most powerful men are the most childish and territorial." Akatosh rolled his eyes. Then the Dragon god looked at Konahrik. "I know Talos could never truly love a woman for her heart. But you, for all your sanctimony, have you ever loved anyone at all, Khrystianos? You're so filled with hatred."

Krest looked like he was having difficulty breathing. "That's because all I've ever received from other people my whole life was hatred. So why would I know anything outside of it. I was born to hate."

Akatosh stroked that beard of his again. "Hmm, I had thought momentarily perhaps you held some interest for Dibella. But it seems I was—"

"THE FUCK DO YOU KNOW. YOU KNOW NOTHING!" Konahrik marched over and eyed Akatosh face to face. "YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHNG. SHUT UP. ALL YOU DO IS TALK OVER US BUT I DON'T SEE YOU HELPING. IF YOU'VE GOT SOMETHING UP YOUR SLEEVE, LET'S HEAR IT. IF YOU'RE GONNA HELP, THEN TELL ME WHAT. MAYBE IF YOU PAID ATTENTION TO ME, I WOULDN'T HAVE GONE DOWN THIS DARK PATH." Konahrik broke off into sobs then, babbling and crying like a brat. "I love Dibella. I want to be in her heart forever. But if I'm not hers I don't want to live. There's nothing else I want." His face flooded in an ocean of tears as he fell back first onto the ground, his hands holding him up. Akatosh held a palm to Konahrik's throat. "Even when I die I want for her to never forget me," he continued crying, his speech sounding distorted in the tears.

This is so utterly pathetic, Talos sighed exasperatedly, this is supposed to be Tamriel's big bad 'Dark Lord'? This fucking virgin cuckold.

Akatosh heaved a sigh. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you loved her that deeply. You've been suppressing it all this time. Many men lead lives of quiet desperation, I suppose."

Talos wasn't sure what to say, standing there awkwardly as the kid bawled his eyes out. Don't console him you fool.

Krest choked on his tears as more drizzled up and swelled out from the wells of his eyes. "It's all so goddamn maddening." He batted his brain, hitting the side of his head. "I can't take it anymore. Why can't anything ever be simple in this excuse of a world. This useless purgatorial existence. To think this was it." Akatosh's gold eyes were lost on the drab of black across from them. An iron helmet was lying nearby, with horns that pointed down on each ear. Konahrik wiped the sniveling tears from his view and got up, grabbing the helmet, and placing it over his brow, kicking the Konahrik mask away. He spoke in the dying moments of Anu's Light from under his iron brow, "keep your stupid mask."

Alduin picked up Konahrik the mask and handed it to his Father. "This was a mistake. I'll have to kill you both now."

Talos mock smiled. The four of them stood there awhile, appreciating the scenery and vistas of Skyrim, dreadfully dark as it was. "Men have long been slaves to elves and Dragons alike. It was I who created this world for men and mer as Lorkhan Shor. It was I who freed the Nedes from their Ayleid oppressors as Pelinal Whitestrake. It was I who liberated Skyrim as Ysmir Wulfharth. It was I who guided Reman as Zurin Arctus. It was I who united Tamriel as Tiber Septim. It was I who protected men from the Dominion as Talos Stormcrown. Were all these facts conveniently omitted by Akatosh? And it shall be I who rules this world as god-emperor Caesar Apollyon; Shor incarnate. The Doom Drum reborn."

"Your good deeds don't excuse your means of achieving them." Akatosh's gaze was fixed on the view. "And most of what you mentioned isn't even good."

"No, but I am the Last Tower. If you kill me, you unmake reality. I refuse to surrender to a Heaven made by Anu. I will live and so will this world. This will not be the last kalpa, for when that bell tolls my army in Sovngarde will join me as we herald in a new age. A paradise for the Nords where I sit on my throne."

"You really think I'd let that happen?" Akatosh did his best to bite back a laugh. "You are a disgrace to the races of men and now you've been exposed. Everyone on Tamriel and elsewhere is aware of your horrible deeds at last. And once the Nords realize this, they will never worship you again, Shor. You will wither away in your hellish prison." Akatosh stood up and took ahold of the Konahrik mask, melting it, the brassy metal drooping off and melting the snow beneath into steaming liquid. The mountaintop's weather increased, and the snowstorm died, only a few flakes drifting by like ropes being batted at a training center. "An item this powerful should never exist again. Though I will not make the same mistake as young Armilius, I won't tamper with the past. With you two gone, a new, hopefully happier future awaits Tamriel."

Talos crunched his knuckles. "What now? Your hourglass run out?"

"Now, you'll be coming with me to your new home." Frowned Akatosh. The sheek of his red robes glinting from the light of the Elder Scroll he pulled over his shoulder. "Or Alduin will kill you both."

A spear thrust through Alduin's ribcage, his blue blood splattering across the ashy wall. Krest had used his mantis blade to kill the world eater. "Damnit, second time you've gotten me, Khrystianos," muttered Alduin in his dying breaths as his elven form greyed away into dust.

The next time Alduin is reborn, he won't be an elf or dragon, but as a world eating cataclysm.

Talos glanced at Konahrik and nodded.

Talos and Konahrik rushed Akatosh, elbowing the Dragon god onto the ground as time resumed at normal speed and the world swam back into view. A battle ensuing in the broken, wooden remains of Hrothgar. The high, old, scaled building with mountain lifts still intact. A gathering storm on the horizon, rumbling with thunder. Nou Varlor was thrashing and throwing aside many of the fighting forces with its centurion style mallet. Black smoke billowed over the peaks of neighboring vertical world spines. A water tank exploded, and waves spilled down the hillside of the city. Dibella skewered a Son of Septim with her blade while Galmar swung his battle-axe at her, missing as she ducked and kicked him in the stomach.

And then there were two.

Krest, or Konahrik, he wasn't sure what to call him anymore, turned his head from Dibella towards Talos from beneath the unique helmet. He pulled out a Septim coin and looked at Talos' inscribed expression that was on each tamrielic penny, before tossing it aside off the cliff face.

"Kinda sad how even I've slept with your dream girl, and you probably haven't even received a kiss from her. She used to be my bitch, in fact." Talos mock pouted, puckering his lips. "Weird, you hate Nords yet you love a Nord whore."

"Funny. Because I recall you running away from Dibella like a scared mouse last time you fought her. She told me she always hated you. And you were once a Manmer, yet you hate elves." Krest shrugged. "You are but a dog, Septim," he whispered to himself in the limited vestiges of speech that stayed, "and I am your master."

"Yes, I'm sure Dibella will be thinking about just how much she loves you while Tsun is putting a baby in her after you're dead," Talos drawled sarcastically, dusting his Imperial Dragon Armour and facing his nemesis. He got into sprinting position and Konahrik did the same, staring at him with his one bloodied eye.

They charged simultaneously. Talos swung his fist at Krest who screamed like a banshee and dodged, shattering Talos' eardrums. Krest knocked his knuckles straight into him, sending Talos flying. Talos crashed into the snowbanks. This motherfucker got stronger.

Krest gleamed up at him from under his iron helmet. "Let's do this, Tiber."

Talos got up, dusting off his armor and squaring his shoulders. Krest, who was slowly beginning to resemble the elven demon from his dreams more and more, brought his hands up and screeched insanely. Then the Evil One sprinted at him. Krest's helmet rammed into his chest and crashed them both to the ground. Talos flung the Imperial across him and jumped on top, but Krest tied his legs around Talos' waist as they struggled on the cold pavement. Krest reversed his calves and smashed Talos through the neighboring sediment. Aching and groaning, Krest swerved around and submitted Talos in an armbar. Krest's legs locked around Talos' head as the former pulled his arm and smashed him back and forth into the pavement.

"DIE, DIE, DIE," chanted the Devil.

Talos broke free and knocked Krest down. Krest swayed quickly left and right on the floor, doing his best to avoid Talos' punches before he grabbed Krest's skull and shook him around.

"I am the hero of this land," Talos taunted, "and the Hero always wins. Just give up and die. You've fought long and hard enough, Khrystianos. Go meet your mother." Krest's scowl threatened to rip his face apart and he shook with anger. Talos forced the little devil into the snow, bent him over and curb stomped Krest into the ground. Talos quickly grabbed Krest's sword arm and pushed his head into the ground with his foot. "JUST DIE ALREADY," Talos yelled. "I'm far superior to you in size and strength. You can't win."

Krest retreated his arm and rammed his hand into Talos' mouth as the god of war lowered himself to force the Evil One down. Krest used all his strength to shove to the point Talos felt the roof of his mouth begin to crack.

Krest, at the top of his lungs, SCREECHED as Talos began to feel dizzy from the pressure. The boy's screams echoing off every mountaintop, silencing the city, breaking windows with the decibels and destroying Talos' eardrums moreso. The screams of a child silenced all his life finally unleashed, rivaling the Thu'um in ferocity.

If one of us doesn't let up soon, this pressure will cave in my skull. Krest wasn't showing any signs of letting up. Talos saw tears streaming down Krest's red face as he hardened his nails deeper into Talos mouth, seeping into his skull-lining. With a burst Talos softened his foothold and was sent flying into the boulder.

"How in the hell?" Talos recovered, standing back up.

This motherfucker may actually beat me. I have to step up my game. Talos tightened his brass gauntlets and pumped his fists.

"BEAT THAT THALMOR DEVIL, TALOS!" Screamed a Nord woman from a rooftop. "YOU'RE OUR HERO! SKYRIM IS FOR THE NORDS!"

Damn right.

"Don't you see! Elven supremacy is the only truth!" An Altmer argued with the woman, casting electric spells toward her. "Talos is the real Devil here."

Krest was in blocking position as Talos rammed fist after fist, punch after punch into the Stalhrim lace of his enemy's bracers. The fiend kept walking backward slowly, blocking every strike Talos sent. Talos shuttled more energy into each blow, but the Thalmor kept his arms held up elbows down, deflecting it all like a seasoned boxer from the Imperial Arena.

I have to charge my punch and break his gauntlet. If I can do that, it'll expose his arm and if I break that this fight's over. He can't fight with just one arm. Talos' mortal form had drained all his divine energy and he now relied solely on his physical strength. He was killable now.

Talos cocked back his shoulder and swung his arm into Krest. But at the last second the Thalmor's Messiah swept aside and grabbed Talos' extended appendage. Krest's boney knuckle crashed straight into his nose.

Talos was ready to uppercut with his other arm but Krest reverted, going overhead and smashing his fist straight down breaking Talos' jaw. Talos fell to one knee as Krest swiped another punch, but Talos ducked, enveloping the monster with his arms. Talos ran Krest straight through a building, smashing him to the floor. Cocking back another punch—

Krest kicked Talos straight through. Talos fell coughing to the snowy floor as the Imperial sat up, dazed, his hair curtaining him like a woman of the night. The impact of the kick sent shutters through Talos' abdomen and solar plexus. And vomit churned in his belly.

Something pounded hard into him, shoving him off into a ravine. Krest and him flew down gods knew how many feet. Krest's fist slammed him hard into the rockface. Talos ate dirt as they fell down the cliff, tearing his skin until they both crashed into the mist. Before Talos could get up. Krest sprinted full speed at him, jumping into the air and body slamming Talos with his elbows. The Evil One's fist pounded boney knuckles over and over and over into Talos' face. Krest screamed at him, smashing another fistful of metal into Talos nose. Talos' head going into and out of the snow with each forceful impact of Konahrik's rock-like knuckles.

Talos groaned as the much younger man's mantis blade ejected from his forearm and stabbed Talos' snake-tail, Zurin like a shish kabob. He yanked it off and threw it into the white puffs of snow. Talos elbowed Krest against the chin, which threw him back enough to give Talos the edge.

Krest stood up and walked over to the ledge, viewing the rolling hills and cascades of Skyrim as the darkest time of night descended. Talos used a feeble healing spell to mend his wounds and stifle the pain. "I'm a hero," Talos told himself, shivering in the wind. "I can defeat him."

The cloud above, Wulfharth, exerted its demon speech at Konahrik, "litrix mamiss svent." Ysmir the Stormcrown dissipated into dust as the inverted shout sundered Krest's helmet. Krest's horned Nordic iron helmet cracked in half and fell off, landing on either side of him.

Talos squared his shoulders and carefully approached as the noises of battle from above sounded off. Talos sprinted, hopping in long lunges, twisting a punch at Krest who dodged as Talos' fist flew straight into the air. He swiped left as Krest brought both his arms from under Talos' armpit and toppled them both back into the snow by tripping Talos. Talos rooked his elbow into Krest's face who bit down on it. Talos jumped up with Krest still attached to his arm, he threw the fiend into the blocks of ice. Talos got down on all fours and pounced. Krest sidestepped and thrust a kick straight into Talos' back. Talos spun around and ran at him again, logging at whack straight towards his enemy's stupid face. Krest evaded. Running a return jab straight into Talos' mouth, knocking him off balance. Talos roared in pain. Krest pushed everything into his punch, shattering Talos' cheekbone and sending him rolling into the mounds of whiteness.

Krest didn't relent. Talos guarded his face with his arm and Krest launched another assault straight into his guard. Talos crossed his arms over his face as Krest hammered fist after white knuckled fist into him. Landing one that ripped the skin off the side of Talos' face.

Krest lost his footing on some black ice and Talos jounced. Grabbing Krest by his armored legs he swung the Imperial over his shoulder and smashed him straight through a bush, dragging him up and thrusting his head down into the dirt, mixed with a punch surely sending the Evil One into a concussion. Talos' hulking figure dwarfed Krest's lithe frame as he prepared to struggle over him, but Krest grabbed his arms and tied his legs around Talos' back the last second. They grappled with each other in a slugfest, but Krest tightened Talos into a chokehold with his arm, clenching his legs around Talos' lower back. Krest screamed as he pulled Talos arm with everything he had in him, Talos' face kissing the dirt next to Krest's neck, roaring in pain.

"STOP."

Krest's screams became more and more demonic as he wrenched. Harder and harder until Talos' felt the Imperial was about to rip off his arm. Talos pulled his arm back. Aching as he tried to move under Krest's grip and leghold. Inch by inch he moved up. Headbutting Krest in the forehead and removing his arm. Socking the Nibenese square on the cheek, rupturing his zygomatics. Krest's eye flashed and he circled his legs around Talos' backside and choked Talos with his feet, throwing him off into the nearby aspen. The leaves juddering off. Holding his crackling face, Krest's left arm transformed into a crossbow, nocking a bolt and shooting it at Talos, knocking the wind out of the latter. The demon ran sideways and leaped at him, kicking him across the face but Talos reversed and shoved Krest repeatedly into the ill-rooted tree. Krest slipped out under and slugged Talos across the cheek. Talos surrendered to the floor, bloody and beaten.

Then Talos in a last-ditch effort rolled around and got Krest in a rear-naked choke. He choked Krest out with his elbow, but the Imperial didn't relent. Krest started screaming and started pushing Talos up the chin until the pressure was too much and the latter gave.

Everything was sore. Unless he did something this vile creature would defeat him and continue to haunt humankind, allowing elves to take over. Allowing the world to end. I have to stop him and save the world. Krest's right arm unfolded the spired needle-like pincer contained within and he slowly sidled over to Talos, intent to kill written over his blood-stained face.

"Once I kill you, I'll kill the Nords, then I'll unmake this entire world. If I'm to die, I'll take everyone with me," his voice came out rash and satanic.

Krest's feet were behind him.

Talos overthrew Krest with his feet, jumping on him but Krest cocked his legs back and shoved Talos off him once more, hopping back onto both feet. He soared a punch through the air like a gliding eagle. But this time Talos sidestepped and grabbed Konahrik's mantis by the connector and broke it off. Pinning Krest to the tree with his leg. He ripped off the Imperial's right arm as Krest screamed his ear-piercing shriek once more. Bone and cartilage coming clean off. Then he grabbed Krest and threw him though a neighboring hut, smashing the wall. When he got there Krest was gone. A moment later something encircled his neck. Krest swinging wildly behind him, exulting demonic screeches as his bolt-arm fired a bullet that narrowly missed. Talos tossed him overhead but the once Black Dragon landed on both feet like a Khajiit. One arm and eye missing.

Even now he still fights. This won't end until either him or I die.

The house was bereft but a single, glowing two-handed katana lay on the floorboards. Talos grabbed Dragonbane as it was branded with both hands and aimed it at Krest. The electric sky above loomed and lightning struck, electrocuting Krest with a thousand volts. Now! Talos ran with the sword pointed toward Krest. The Imperial disoriented by the lightning strike.

Konahrik knocked Talos aside with one electrically charged blast. Now Krest was really beginning to look like a demon as his pale skin peeled off him, showing the bones beneath his face. Talos, fallen to his knees, heaved a sigh and thrust himself upward, his armor clanking. Talos flung the sword through Krest, pinning him into the wall.

Before he could give Krest a chance Talos ran at him and yelled, knocking his fist into Krest's mouth, hard into the ice. But Krest's jaws expanded like a snake and ate Talos' fist, biting down on it, refusing to let go as pain seared through Talos' nerves. Talos had no choice but to clutch Krest's thin throat with his other hand and hold down the Dark Lord's remaining arm with his leg. Talos choked Krest as Krest's satanic screeching threatened to make Talos' deaf, still biting down hard on Talos' other hand. Talos squeezed with everything he had as Krest convulsed. Blood streamed from Talos' knuckles as Krest's teeth began to rip into his bones.

Krest's head turned red, and his veins looked fit to burst as his blood and oxygen cut off, but he savored it. This son of a whore actually enjoys the pain, he feeds off it. Talos thrust Krest into the wall with his shoulder, pulling out the katana from the Imperial's gut and stabbing it through Krest's heart with everything he had.Krest's remaining eye blinked unevenly like an Argonian with his last moments, veins blackening. Talos dug the blade into the boulder through Krest's heart and twisted it to make sure he was dead. A gushing noise coming off him. Krest's arms slackened, and his gaze became solitary and downcast with nonexistence. Some blood gurgling out of his mouth like drool. Krest's head curled down, and his long hair spilled over the sides of his face.

Talos let go of the implanted katana, his shoulders melted as he fell onto his knees. He looked up at Krest's emotionless, deadened expression as it grayed with death. The wires in the boy's forehead melting out like tears. A giant mushroom was near them, moss growing on it with alocasia.

I guess the bad guys do always die in the end. Talos' skull was hot and his breath steamy. Damn Thalmor, I've become so weak from this lack of worship. He gazed once more at the lifeless, still figure of Konahrik stabbed into the wall. I don't feel as satisfied as I thought I would.

Dawn's first rays of light gleamed over the horizon and Talos fell backwards into the fluffy snow, relishing in its refreshing chill. The weather calmed and a few pleasant breezes whisked past. He put a hand over his missing heart and coughed violet ichor.

Three pairs of feet stood near him.

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A/N: What were some theories you guys had during reading the story? Did any come true? Were any false? Please leave a review!