Chapter 2
My body hurts. Did my bed became stone? I haven't done any workout these past few days. Groaning in pain, I opened my eyes. Instead of the white ceiling at my room, I saw... wood. Wood? I got up and looked around. My eyes might be adjusting but my senses can still do their work. I can hear crackling and I smell something burning. A fireplace.
"Please don't get up, dear." The woman's voice cleared my blurry vision as it focused on her. Her eyes are glowing. Vampire? Wait... Am I? Glancing down my body, it still the same thank goodness. I looked around and saw the interior of a surprising familiar house. My attention went back to the woman, holding out a cup. Or tankard in terms I think. If I'm thinking right.
"I am Hert and this is Half Moon Mill. My husband and I lived here."
Hert... Half Moon Mill... Fuck... I'm in Skyrim? How and why? Wait... Half moon mill is where two vampires. One will be killed during the Dark Brotherhood quest. Damn. Are they going to eat me?
"My dear, I got deer for lunch." The door of the house opened revealing what I assumed must be Hern. He's smiling and the same as his wife, his eyes are glowing. He went inside the house and closed the door before sitting on top of the table across the room. The woman gave her husband a smile. She forced me to hold the tankard in my hand. She looked at me before covering my body with the sheet.
"I hope you are not trying to seduced my husband." My face grew red and pulled the sheets over my body with my free hand. Because of the embarrassment, I looked down at the tankard in my hand. I am not sure if I should drink it since they are vampires. The deer he's talking about means something else for me though. I'm not sure if it's a deer or... A human... The knock on the door startled all of us. The two vampire's looked at each other before the other hastily walked towards me. He picked me up causing me to dropped the tankard and spilled everything on the floor. I clutched the sheet over my body and wondered what will happened next. The woman opened the wardrobe and the other placed me there. Hert gave me a weak smile before gently patting my cheek before fixing the sheet, tucking it inside.
"Well protect you, don't worry." She slowly closed the wardrobe with me inside. I see nothing but darkness. Only the small light coming from the opening of the wardrobe. I am not claustrophobic but I can feel that I am slowly slipping out of consciousness. Then there was nothing but darkness afterwards.
"She's alive Hert. Calm down." They're noisy I give them that. Hern's voice is so calm at this point.
"What if they saw her? What if... what if they take her from us?" She's worried. For a vampire, worrying is totally unbelievable.
"Hert... You know she doesn't belong to us. If they take her then, at least we wouldn't lose the mill." Alright Hern. I wish for the Dark Brotherhood to kill you this instance.
"How dare you say that? You're the one who brought her here in the first place. How can you let her go just like that?" Now that is something.
"She's not our daughter Hert! Our child is dead!" The woman drew a gasped. Now it is getting hard to pretend not to hear those things. These two having a kid is totally not in the Skyrim Wiki. I guess they are not acting their program? Then that means... I am totally living in this world? Not some Jumanji thingy wherein NPC's are NPC? That's...bothering.
"I'm sorry Hert please." I can hear the woman crying. I guess the Hern is hugging her. How dare he though? Even for a vampire, losing a child is too much to carry. I guess it's time for me to enter the drama. Slowly, I drew a breath. Opening my eyes, the first person I saw was Hern.
"Do not worry anymore. The guards are gone." Hert, who has her back turned, finally faced me. Tears were streaming down her cheeks when she approached me. I feel bad for this NPC. I shouldn't since they are feeding on lost travellers but do I blame them? Should I prefer those that attack the night or those that were trying their best to survive while doing their job serving those who wanted to kill them? I don't know. This is just a game. Not the reality. I feel bad. That's the fact. Slowly, I raised my hand towards the woman. Her eyes widened. More tears streamed down her cheeks as she accepted my hand and kissed my forehead repeatedly.
--
"Dear do you mind getting water from the river? Just one bucket please." I nodded my head and grab the bucket Hern was holding. When I was able to get out of bed on my own, I started to help them around the house. Though I kept myself from going to the shed because I know the bodies are there as far as I can remember when I was playing Skyrim. I never bother before. Now I regret not bothering at all since I'm starting to forget everything I know on this game.
I got by the river and filled the bucket. Lifting it up, I almost spilled the water. It's heavy. I guess my body here is totally different from reality. I am out of shape in this game. Setting the bucket aside, I looked at my reflection in the river. My face is still the same so far. I don't have pointy ears so I am not an elf. I looked normal. A Nord. Aside from that, I noticed a mark on my forehead. Cupping a handful of water, I tried to washed the mark but it seems like a scar. The feeling of the mark is not different. The mark looks burned because it is darker than my skin. Leaning a little closer to the water, I realized that the mark is shaped as a dragon. The dragon symbol I always see whenever I raid a tomb that needs a claw. Does this mean I'm the Dragonborn? Or an aid for the Dragonborn?
"Sizaan!" Hert's calling. I need to go back then. Picking up the bucket, I slowly head back to the house. As expected Hert is dead worried. She practically ran towards me. When she wrapped her arms around me, the bucket almost fell.
"Where have you been?!" Her eyes are practically flowing and her nails are starting to become claws as I feel them digging into my shoulders. She was shaking and it started to hurt.
"I...went to fetch a bucket for Hern."
"Stop!" An arm shot out and grabbed me away from her. Hern. Since her claws are slightly piercing my shoulders, they started to bleed when Hern pulled me away from her. It wasn't pleasant especially you are aware that they are vampires. I shut my eyes, afraid that they might kill me right now. Instead of claws, gentle fingers caressed my head with a soft voice of apologies.
"You shouldn't go out on your own." Hert said while wrapping my wounds with linen wrap. After what happened, Hern picked me up and the three of us went back to the house. She cleaned my wound and I still want alcohol to sterilise the wound but it's not possible.
"I told her to go. Don't blame her for it." She didn't acknowledge Hert but her hands started to tremble. She still managed to finished patching me up before standing up and heading for the door.
"I'm going out." She said and left. Hern sighed. I suddenly feel bad. It feels like I'm destroying their marriage. I looked down at my hands.
"Don't worry. She'll be back." I didn't noticed that Hern placed one sweet roll on top of my lap. He ruffled my hair and walked away from me. I heard the door opened and closed. Probably the best if I stay here then.
"I'm going out to hunt a deer. Hopefully I'll be back before nightfall." Hern said while picking up a bow. He looked at me and smiled. "Do you want to come dear? "
"Absolutely not. We do not know what's out there." Hert... Well... She's becoming over protective of me as if I am made of glass. These past few days I've been trying to get back on shape. That would be lifting buckets of water on each side like a dumb bell. Kinda heavy but if I am the Dragonborn, I need to be strong. My stamina is still weak so I jogged around the house. Hert noticed this everyday and always scolded me. Hern didn't bother. He was proud actually.
"I want to learn how to hunt." I said gently grabbing her hand. I know she won't let me go but I have one trick up my sleeve.
"Or I can go grab a basket and dagger before going out to grab some flowers on my own." Her eyes widened with fear. That did it. It's a win win situation. Either she let me be on my own or be with Hern.
"No." One more trick.
"I won't stray far. Please?" looking her straight in the eye. This goes nothing. "Mother?" Her eyes went wide and her mouth slightly opened. I smiled. Yep that finalised it. I never called her mother but since she acts like one, why not?
"A little higher.. That's it... Then... Fire!" The arrow lose and it grazed the top of the head. The deer ran away and Hern was laughing his ass out.
"Haha... It is fine new blood." He gave me a strong pat on the shoulder. I sighed. Well... I was more with the gun rather than bow anyways. Clara is more of the bow.
"Come on. Let's track anoth—"
"Hello there... Friend." A voice from behind made Hern grabbed my shoulders... Hard. I winced and dropped the bow. Hern turned to the direction of the voice making me stumble and clutched Hern's chest armour.
"Who's this... Hmm... blood?" Alright Hern, my shoulder hurts already. Time to loose it. I tried to pushed him through his chest armor and guess what? He shoved my whole body to his. Nice. Though the source of the voice made me nervous especially if it is so familiar.
"Lord Harkon... It is a pleasure to see you... Here." Harkon? Shit. So this is the Skyrim Legendary Edition then? So that means...
"This... Please..." Hern then pushed me towards his back leaving me stumbling behind him. Now I am behind the man who can protect me but I know he will be nothing against Harkon. A vampire against a vampire lord? Of course not.
"Hern!" Hert? Oh no. The two men didn't even gave her attention.
"I never thought you will settle down my friend."
"I did my lord." That's when Hern finally gave Hert a glance though Harkon's gaze never left me.
"Hert... Take her home..." Hert nodded her head and motioned me to come to her. I didn't walked. I basically ran towards her, letting her arms enveloped me.
"I need to close your eyes now dear." She whispered and I did. Harkon... is terrifying in person.
"What is he doing here?" Hern got home from his talk. Hert got me a cup of milk, hoping I will sleep but I didn't. Hern and I hunted by lunch time, the sun was covered with clouds. No wonder HE was able to go out but then again, I do not know the perks of being a vampire lord yet since I haven't reached that level when I was still playing. Or... I didn't bother that time.
"I don't know." Hern gave me a glance and sighed. Hert saw this and shook her head.
"No! We can't give her to him!" She yelled. Hern yelled back. The two got into a heated argument because of Harkon wanting me... It's a terrifying thought but it only means that I need to seek the Companions for help. But if I did, Kodlak will die. I know the consequence but I'm here now. If I can make a difference then I will. I will help them from a far.
"You don't seriously think of turning her into a vampire?!" Hert lately realized I was there. Hey. You forgot i'm here, yehey. Wait... Me? A vampire? That's disturbing. You need to constantly feed and I am not down to people hunting me down.
"No." Thank goodness Hern. "I'll train her. First thing in the morning until she can be on her own."
"Always remember, put yourself in the prey's shoes. Before you let that arrow go, breathe and aim. Take your time... Then fire." It's been a week since Harkon showed up. Hern steered my training and let me tell you this, I kinda like using the bow. It's silent and easy to carry than the gun. Sure there are silencers and the aim easy but there are no guns in Skyrim sadly. Hern is well a great teacher. He teaches me couple of spells like Healing, flames and frost for emergency purposes. I got a sword from Hert. She said I need to practice with that too because unlike the gun, I can't use the bow to smack a heavy armoured enemy. The bow will break depending on the craftsmanship. The iron sword is a little heavy than the bucket of water though. Every once in a while I tried to hold the sword in one hand and swing it. One time I swung the sword and accidentally didn't hold onto it. The sword flew towards a nearby tree instead of the Dummy. You know what I think? If all didn't end well, at least i'mma try and throw some weapons hopefully I can hit the target. Instead of slicing the Dummy, I tried to hit it by throwing the sword instead. Takes time. The sword is damn heavy.
"Sizaan? Why are you throwing your sword instead of swinging it?" I gave Hern a slight smile before grabbing the sword from the Dummy.
"It's heavy. Better use it as an advantage, I think." Hern gave me a laugh with a hand resting on his stomach. His other hand is holding something that is wrapped in cloth.
"What's that?" I asked. Hern finally stopped laughing before he handed it to me. Sheathing my sword, I took the cloth and unwrapped it. It was a circlet. Silver and Jade Circlet. Back in my world, I never bother using this while I was playing mainly because I am not into magic. Mages wear this things. Me, I sell them. They're worth the money. Clara and Melody would have love this.
"We wanted you to have this." he said while taking the circlet and placing it on top of my head.
"It's enchanted." He smiled. "It looks good on you." I smiled back. An arrow went flew in between our faces. Hern threw a flame towards the shooters direction. A scream of pain was heard then footsteps. Hern grabbed my shoulders and looked at me in the eye.
"Run as fast as you can Sizaan." More footsteps. "Go! Now!" he pushed me and I did. I did ran. The adrenaline gave me the stamina and strength. I prayed to gods. Whoever is listening. Please keep them safe.