Still in a daze from seeing someone's head kindly removed from their body, I slowly stood to my feet. Carnage and chaos now consumed the once peaceful village.
Ralof staggered over to me, "Still got your head? Quick, come with me if you want to keep it like that!" He says, motioning over to a tower where Ulfric and some rebels had taken shelter.
I began following Ralof, dodging fireballs and arrows alike. Inside the tower was a contingent of rebel soldiers, all in various states of health.
Ralof walked up to the bearded man, "Jarl Ulfric, what was that thing? Could the legends be true?"
"Legends don't burn down villages," came the reply from the Jarl of Windhelm. What a badass, I absentmindedly think as I start towards the steps of the tower.
Ralof spots me and puts a hand on my shoulder, effectively stopping me in my tracks.
"You there, stop! How did you know this thing would appear? You were saying that he's right on time before they sent you to the block. What do you know? Are you some type of spy?" Ralof questioned me, a fierce look in his eye.
Thankfully, Ulfric stepped in and saved me from having to answer his impossible questions.
"Calm yourself Ralof, for now, we need to focus on escaping this place. Besides, if he knows something, perhaps he can help us." I gave Ulfric a relieved smile before turning to Ralof.
"I agree with him, right now I'd just like to get the hell out of dodge." Ralof narrowed his eyes but finally relented. "Aye, I still have questions, but for now let's get out of here."
Ralof started up the stairs to the top of the tower where we met a Storm Cloak soldier attempting to clear some debris.
"Quick! Help me with these rocks. We'll have a better vantage poi-"
He wasn't able to finish his sentence before Alduin smashed his head through the stone wall of the tower. The soldier fell back in shock as he looked up at the great beast.
"Get out of the way!" I shout futilely as Alduin lets out a great breath of fire that chars the man down to the bone before flying off.
"Holy shit, I'm gonna be sick," I mutter, stomach doing turns after seeing a man get roasted alive before my eyes.
"Snap out of it! Look out there, you see that house on the other side?" Ralof motions. I look over towards the house which is coincidentally missing a roof.
"Jump over and get out of here, I must go down and figure out a plan with Ulfric!"
"Yep, let the new guy jump out of a tower into a burning building. You sure you don't want to take my spot?" I said sarcastically.
Ralof glared at me, "We don't have time for jokes. Whether you do it or not, I need to see to Ulfric." He says, turning and leaving back down the stairs.
I looked down to the house, only about a one-story drop give or take. Well, it's better than being dragon food. I throw myself out of the tower, landing with a thud onto the burning floor.
"Oh fuck that hurt!" I pulled myself up using a nearby chair to hold to hoist myself. I felt a tingle in my brain as a little red bar in the corner of my vision popped up, draining to only 3 quarters.
Huh, so I do have a health bar. Kind of immersion-breaking, but what can you do. I stumbled out of the doorway to the house, just in time to see Hamming nearly get incinerated by Alduin.
"Close call boy! Almost ended up like that man over there!" I yelled out, causing Hadvar to turn around and glower at me. "That man over there happens to be the boy's father!" He said, turning around to reassure the young boy.
"Oh shit, uh my bad? I'm sure your father was a great man," I said sheepishly. I totally forgot that he just watched his father get turned into medium-rare steak by the world's biggest grill.
Hadvar stood and turned to walk down the street. He turned his head just enough and said, "If you want to stay alive follow me, I need to regroup with General Tullius and formulate a battle plan," clearly not happy with me.
I jogged after him, almost getting decapitated by a giant talon as Alduin landed on the wall beside us to turn an Imperial archer into one of his signature human steaks.
"Thanks for the warning asshole!" I shouted after Alduin had flown off, "Fucker almost took my head off!"
Hadvar turned to me, "You didn't know the dragon would land here? You seemed to know a lot about it earlier," he said accusingly.
Damn, maybe it wasn't the best idea to act all dramatic earlier when they were trying to take my head off.
"What do you mean? I don't know anything about this. Your crazy!" I accused back.
Hadvar scoffed, "Whatever. you know something about this dragon, and trust me, the empire will find out everything you know." He turned and began to jog his way through the remnants of a house to the pavilion in the center of the village.
"Well fuck you too Hadvar," I muttered, rolling my eyes.
When we entered the pavilion Ralof showed up, crossing our path.
Hadvar snarled, "Ralof! Out of the way, traitor! The prisoner and I are leaving!"
Ralof looked right at me, "So you were an Imperial lackey all along huh?" He yelled out.
"Um no, sorry Hadvar, but I'm with him," I shout, pointing over to Ralof.
"I'll be damned if you think you can get out of here without telling us what you-" Hadvar was cut off as a piece of stone the size of my torso smashed into his head, obliterating it and cutting off his speech.
"Jesus Christ, that's brutal!" I yell, looking down at the mutilated corpse that once was Hadvar.
"Over here! Follow me into the keep, we're getting out of here!" Ralof yells before running into the entrance of Helgen Keep.
