The Throat of the World

It took Xander a few moments to remember he had to breathe.

He stumbled backwards with a gasp, collapsing onto his rear and putting a hand to his chest.

Heart still beating. Okay. Okay we're good…

Ahead of him, a swirling golden light hovered where Elenwen had been before she'd stopped…

Well. Stopped.

As he watched, it flew backwards, nestling itself within Paarthurnax's skeleton.

"IS EVERYONE STILL HERE?" Xander shouted, voice hoarse.

Slowly, weakly, assent filled in from everyone he could see.

"Yes!"

"Barely!"

"Ungh."

"I think you just gave my ghost a panic attack." Elisif said, dazed. "I didn't even know ghosts could have panic attacks—No, shh, Potema, its okay, calm down…"

"Xander, what did you do?" Hjar demanded, having reverted back to a singed (but fully clothed) Breton.

"I Shouted." Xander answered, getting back to his feet despite his protesting legs. "You know, people like to associate the Thu'um with Dragons, because they're the ones who normally speak it, but its not really a Dragon language. It's The Language, definitively. Words in Dovahzuul are inherently their own meanings."

"Did you just Shout the word for death?" Dulurza asked, still on her back.

"A reasonable assumption, but not quite." Xander walked over to Elenwen's body. "I Shouted the true name of Sithis, who as I have repeatedly been reminded, is not the God of Death. Sithis Is Not."

"So you Shouted…" Cassia shivered.

"Nothing." Xander said, not quite able to bring himself to smile. "Such is Sithis. The complete lack of anything at all."

He put two fingers to Elenwen's neck, and found he could smile after all. "Heh. Body's actually still alive, for now. But I don't need a soul trap to tell me nobody's home."

"…Remind me never to tease you about your facial hair again." Dulurza said.

Xander frowned, then snapped his fingers towards Elisif. "Uh, hey, Jarl fancipants. This may be a long shot, but what was it your tenant said about possible alternative hosts?"

Elisif blinked, then her eyes widened. "I believe her last update was 'equal or greater political power (or slightly less if she's pretty)'. Are you suggesting—"

"Well this one doesn't have anyone else using it right now," Xander reasoned, "and assassinating the First Emissary of the Thalmor is typically considered a bad idea. Meaning unless anything else would like to go wrong—"

"NAHL! DAL! VUS!"

The mountain rumbled for the five-hundredth time that night, the stars in the sky above changed, lit up, the constellations corresponding to the Warrior, Mage and Thief brightening to ten times their usual magnitude—

"OH FOR THE GODS' SAKE!" Xander drew his sword, everyone who could still walk summoning weapons to their hands as everything went white—

When the flash ended, there was someone else stood on the mountaintop with them. A tall, bearded Nord in mismatched armour, his shield in tatters, and his sword very familiar.

"…DB?" Xander exclaimed. "Are you…did you…"

"Killed Alduin. Saved the world." The Dragonborn looked between them, face scrunching up in confusion. "What in the name of Akatosh's left testicle happened to you?"

̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶̶ ̶{o ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶̶ ̶ ̶͜͡| ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ Ϫ 8˂ o ̶ ̶̶| ̶ ̶̶ ̶ ̶̶ ̶ ̶̶ ̶ ̶̶ ̶ ̶̶

Well...hot damn. Here we are.

Apologies to anyone who got thrown off by the formatting of the last few chapters. I wanted to play around with the admittedly lackluster toolbox FF gives me to make something as dramatic as possible. Farming views by holding the 'recently updated' slot for longer didn't hurt either.

DB is back! Elenwen is dead! The world is saved! Xander got in a genre-shattering Dragon Ball Z fight! Everyone can go take a nap now! Well, except for me. I still have to write the epilogues.

Yes, while the action of this story is over, there are a few chapters left. I don't know how many. Depends how long it takes me to get through all the scenes I intend to get through; probably two.

Either way, good lord, I have wanted to write some of the scenes in the last few chapters for so long. Recall I started this fic in 2019. Things like the avalanche, the Eye trick, Elenwen as the final obstacle and the Sithis Shout, have been in my head for years now. It was a real trip finally putting them in words.

See you all next week for the beginning of the end.