All I could feel when I regained consciousness was intense pain. My body was sore and my muscles were throbbing. I could feel each individual nerve and it felt like they were screaming. I hadn't even opened my eyes, but something about the environment was off. Instead of the cold stone and drafty breeze of the cave we were in when I fell unconscious, I found the warm embrace of heat, and the softness of a bed.
I cracked my eyes open, and found myself in an unfamiliar house. Not that it was that shocking, I had already figured that out. What was shocking was the size of the house, four people sat around a table eating, while a fifth awkwardly sat nearby, also eating. The bright light caused me to unintentionally let out a groan, which alerted one of the inhabitants.
"Sodrius!"
He got closer to me and I could make out the large figure of Hadvar, peering down at me, concern decorating his face.
I groaned again, "Where are we?"
Hadvar helped me up into a sitting position. I ignored the pain flaring in my ribs at the movement. I looked around the room, it was a modest sized home, sitting at the table was a big man, around Hadvar's height but with fairer hair and burn marks up his arms. Probably a smith of some sort. Next to him was a beautiful woman, with long red hair and fair skin, probably the man's wife. Sitting next to the empty chair Hadvar vacated was a young Nord girl, with her masculine facial features and blonde hair she looked a lot like her father. At the other end was a quiet woman, an Imperial with long dark hair and elegant facial features, but a steel behind her eyes. That was probably the captain.
"We're at my uncle Avlor's house in a settlement called Riverwood."
I nodded, "Where are the others?"
A strange look came upon his face, but it vanished as quickly as it appeared, "They are with Gerdur last I heard. Ralof had a… rough time after you went down."
"He's not hurt is he?" I asked, looking at the Nord.
Hadvar shook his head, "No, no. He's in fine condition physically."
"Then what's the problem?"
Hadvar was about to open his mouth, but the captain beat him to it, "He saw Ulfric for what he truly was."
I nodded. I didn't have a lot of stakes in this Civil War, at least not really. I intended to see the kindly Nord man later, but for now I was in too much pain. Alvor's wife looked at me with a sullen expression.
"I'm sorry, I didn't make any extra for you because I wasn't expecting you to be awake." She said.
I waved off her concerns, "Don't worry. I should be going anyway. I appreciate that you were willing to house me, someone you've never met before."
Alvor chuckled, "Couldn't let you die out there. What kind of people would we be if we did that?"
I was silent. Honestly, I didn't know if I would help some stranger that my nephew brought in. I wasn't going to say that, so I just nodded. Silently pondering my next move as the family returned to eating their dinner.
To be honest, I couldn't go back to Cyrodiil. I was not going back to Morrowind for much of the same reasons. Maybe I could just hide out in Skyrim? Make a house in the mountains and live off the land. They wouldn't be able to find me at that rate. But my concern right now shouldn't have been about them. I was in a land who hated the entirety of my race. At least most of them did.
With a grunt, I stood up.
"Woah, woah. Be careful Sodrius." Hadvar said as I stood slowly, "I don't think all the poison is gone from your system yet. It's probably better if you take another day or so of rest. Then you can head to Whiterun with Bellona and I."
"Bellona?" I cocked an eyebrow.
The captain nodded, "Now that we are in less extenuating circumstances, I am Captain Bellona Semelamantis."
I nodded back, "Sodrius Tedayn, no rank."
I tried to keep the sarcasm out of my voice. Based on the slight grin from Bellona, I did not succeed that well.
"Well, that could change. You could help the Legion out in this war." She offered, "I know that we did not exactly get off on the best foot, but I-"
I snorted, "No offense, captain. But I'm not interested in being a soldier. I'm not exactly good at following orders. If you need a sellsword, I'm very good at being that, but I'm not military material."
She opened her mouth to respond when there was a crash outside. Everyone in the house rushed out, the soldiers both grabbing their weapons. Ralof was on the ground next to a tipped over cabbage cart. The vegetables rolled along the ground. The s'wit stood over Ralof, a sneer on his face. Sapri hung around in the crowd, her arm in a sling and a long gash now ran down her face.
Ralof pushed himself to his feet, his eye was now bruised. Presumably from the s'wit punching him in the face. He glared at the other Nord.
"It's not treason, Einvaul! You saw what he did! He's no paragon, and I'm done pretending he is!" Ralof roared, "He told us to leave the elf behind, and when we refused, he shouted at the cave and brought it down to prevent us from leaving!"
"There has to be another explanation." Einvaul said calmly. Deceptively calm considering this argument had already come to blows. "There's no reason to betray your Stormcloak brothers and sisters, Ralof."
"They've already betrayed me." He then turned and walked for the mill.
"Don't you turn your back on me, Ralof!"
He was ignored.
"RALOF!"
Still, Ralof truly put the Nord in ignored. He walked up next to Sapri and shot her a look. She nodded quietly, and together the two former Stormcloaks walked away. Einvaul left to simmer in his rage. An angry Nord is an irrational person, they typically turn on the first thing that draws their ire.
Which just so happened to be yours truly.
His eyes locked onto mine and he growled. He moved with a purpose, pushing through the crowd towards me. Luckily I was still on the porch to Alvor's shop, so I had many weapons to choose from if he decided that it was time to attack.
"This is your fault, elf." He pushed his finger into my chest.
I couldn't help it, I grinned. I had tried to save this fool more than I should've. If he continued to push my buttons, I would kill him and leave his corpse to rot in the street.
"What's so fucking funny, gray skin?" He practically produced steam with how angry he was.
"That if you keep acting like this, I will kill you now and beg for Azura's mercy later." My grin did not disappear, if anything it got wider. I leaned close to his face, "And we both know I could. So I'm saving you one more time when I tell you to get lost."
His frown deepened, and he rested his hand on the hilt of his sword. Now was the moment of truth, did he have any modicum of intelligence in that skull of his? Short answer?
He did not.
His sword came undone from his belt and he swung it at me. I had my hand resting on a steel sword behind me the entire time during that conversation. So needless to say I was ready, I parried his blade, and shoulder shoved him over the banister and onto the rock of the street.
Alvor cried out in anguish as I used one of his blades.
"Worry not, Alvor. I will be purchasing this weapon."
I stepped down the stairs. My injuries throbbed in pain. But I needed to ignore them, this fetcher needed to be taught a lesson. I looked for Hadvor and Bellona, they both drew their blades as well, probably waiting to act. They wouldn't need to act if I had anything to say about it. And I did.
Einvaul stumbled to his feet. Probably concussed because of the blow to the head from the fall. I would give him one last chance.
"Azura must be shining on you today, friend. Because I'm feeling very merciful. This is your last chance. Get. Lost." I growled.
Part of me, the part I don't like to talk about, really hoped he knocked the olive branch from my hand. I wanted to kill him. The hidden part that I haven't thought about in many, many years.
The concussion must have knocked some sense into him, because he spit on the ground. And started walking towards one of the gates. The one on the far end near the cornerclub. He had a look in his eyes as he glared at me. It told me everything I needed to know. This wasn't over.
I looked back at Bellona and Hadvar. They both sheathed their blades, and walked towards me.
"Change of plans, Sodrius. We're leaving now." Bellona ordered.
"Why are you ordering me around?"
"Because you can't stay here. You will be safer in Whiterun proper, the city is neutral in the war and you'll be under Jarl Balfruuf's protection. We also have to tell him of the beast that attacked Helgen." She calmly explained.
I grunted. Looks like I wouldn't be moving into the mountains and living the rest of my days as a recluse. I was now going to be placed in a city. What could go wrong?
The journey to the outskirts of Whiterun was not very eventful. Before we left I purchased some heavy iron armor and actually did buy that steel sword I used. I am a man of my word after all.
We had to camp for the night, and kept moving. Upon journeying closer, that was when the excitement started. There was a loud roar. I ran around the corner and saw a massive creature that stood maybe fifteen feet tall, with a loincloth and strange carvings on its body. It swung its giant maul at three people. A red-haired Nord with very revealing fur armor and a bow, a big Nord man in heavy metal armor and a massive greatsword in his hands, and a lithe Imperial woman with two shortswords in her hands. They each moved out of the way, the Imperial woman, nearly not fast enough.
Hadvar gasped next to me and I turned towards him with a raised eyebrow. Understanding my silent question, he began to explain.
"Those are the Companions. They are an order of warriors who operate out of Whiterun, they are an ancient presence in Skyrim. Been around as long as the Nords have been here, rumor has it even since the days of Atmora." He explained.
"Ah, similar to the Fighter's Guild in practice?" Bellona asked.
Hadvar shrugged, "Probably."
"Well whoever they are, they're getting thrashed by that big pale fucker over there. So I'm going to help them." I said, and then dashed forward.
My sword was drawn before I even made it to the slightly injured giant. I did not know how I was going to deal with this, but I would figure it out. I heard Hadvar cry out as I ran. He said something about me still recovering. Hogwash, I felt fine. The adrenaline rush I had right now was enough to let me ignore any pain I could've been feeling. Lightning sparked around my left hand as I twirled my sword, and kept the momentum. With the smell of ozone I shot a bolt of lightning towards the massive creature.
It roared in pain as the lightning arced up its body. It twitched and turned to glare at me. Then began to growl. I grinned at it and resumed the dash forward. Just as it got close enough, I shot a smaller bolt at it and caused it to spasm. Seeing the opportunity for what it was I stabbed it in the leg and it howled in pain as it dropped to one knee. I was so focused on the thrill of the battle that I didn't notice the maul move for me at ridiculous speeds.
I did feel it though. I felt it quite well, actually. Thanks for asking by the way. My body was in agonizing pain as I was flung across the farm and slammed into the wall of what was probably some distillery. It cracked behind me and I heard a shriek from inside. It sounded like a man, so in my delirious injured state I chuckled. My entire body was burning and I couldn't feel my legs. But for some reason I was still conscious. With a grunt I pushed myself into a seated position and through blurry vision, I could see the three Companions attacking it with reckless fervor, and Hadvar and Bellona rushed in as well.
I channeled my magicka through my hand and it began glowing yellow. I didn't want to look down at my legs, as they were no doubt very mangled. I would need to see an actual healer after this. Fix my burnt back, fix my legs, and my ribs, and my… everything probably. The golden energy fused in my body and my legs made a disgusting crack as they realigned. I cried out in pain.
Oblivion, I would rather be stabbed fifty times by a Morag Tong dagger than feel this.
After what felt like hundreds of years of my body fusing itself back together in an agonizing way, I stood up. I felt my chestplate, it was dented and probably would need to be fixed. It's honestly a miracle that it didn't burst inwards from the force of the blow. They were still locked in combat with the giant, although they were beginning to wear it down. My vision wasn't completely back yet, but even I could see the amount of red that was on it.
I took a glance around for the sword but I couldn't see it. I probably dropped it back near the giant. Fine. I knew how I could deal with this. In my left hand I charged up a red spell that began to siphon my life from and convert into raw magicka. I did it until I was on the verge of death. The Equilibrium spell was my least favorite, and always made me feel sick afterwards. I then charged a bolt of lightning in my hand and shot it at the giant.
"Hey, I am not finished with you yet!" I yelled, "Now everyone else should probably get away and back up, this is a Master level Destruction spell. The only Master spell I know."
It roared and began to charge at me. In the time it took to dash at me, I had been charging Fire Storm. Both hands burned with pure scorching magicka empowered fire. And when it got within range, I unleashed the spell. A whirlwind flame surrounded me and burned away the giant's flesh. Once I was sure the giant was dead, I dropped concentration and grinned at Hadvar. Blood began to pour from my nose.
"I love that spell." I rasped. My voice raspier than usual due to the immense pressure my body was just put under, "Let's go see a healer before we talk to this Jarl guy, though."
Hadvar laughed incredulously, "Yeah, I'd say so!"
A/N: How's that for a return? I'd say it's pretty good. Now, for those worried about the level of power Sodrius has, don't be. All he's fighting right now are bandits and a giant that in the base game is supremely levelled down. And he got his shit stomped by it. I hope that I conveyed in this chapter why he doesn't constantly spam Fire Storm, too. Because it's honestly more than his body can reliably handle. He needs to use Equilibrium to channel his life into magicka so that he can cast it once.
QUESTION TIME
VtolxVenom; Good to see you again, glad you are invested in this story enough to leave consistent reviews, it means a lot and sometimes gives me stuff to think about that I hadn't thought of before. But you didn't hear that from me. I also very much enjoy and look forward to your analyses for each chapter, so yes I would say that this review style works well for me specifically.
But it's destruction magic that he's proficient in specifically, I was just showing off last chapter Shock specifically because Dunmer are the only race in game that start with that spell already prepared. If I had to give him a class, it would probably be the Crusader from Oblivion. Just read the description and you'll understand why lol.
As for whether he is a veteran of the Great War, technically. He was a sell-sword in the Alik'r desert before the Thalmor took over Hammerfell. Due to him being a sellsword he fought the Thalmor, but then escaped at the beginning of the Thalmor occupation.
wstiglet: Yes he does know more than just Novice level spells, as was showcased in this chapter. But he's not exactly a spellcaster by trade. He prefers a blade over using a spell, although he knows the pragmaticism of having magic.
I hope that your questions were sufficiently answered!
If anyone has any other questions don't be afraid to ask them. I will answer them to the best of my abilities. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter of Dragon of Ash. So long and goodnight!
