4E, 201, 20th of Last Seed

The trip to Rorikstead was, if anything, uneventful. After his skirmish with the justicars, and the subsequent capture of one of them, nothing else of great importance happened. The walk to the village was a long and boring one. His sights usually consisted of rabbits scurrying away from him and deer watching him with guarded gazes. But once the village was in sight, he was greeted by the sight of a bronze colored dragon, resting on a stone outcrop near the village. Imperius noticed that the snout of the dragon differed from Mirmulnir, and that the ridge of back spines were shorter, and were colored black instead of brown. Instead of fighting the dragon and making him submit by force, he wanted to try and see if he can reason with it. Granted it might seem crazy and highly unlikely it would work, but he will try nonetheless. He didn't want to fight every dragon that he came across, and frankly it was time consuming. Time that could be used to further his goal. However, there was one small problem. He couldn't think of a proper way to greet a dragon, since in his past lifetime he didn't really talk to many of them, but a suggestion by Akatosh seemed promising.

"Drem Yo Lok Nahagliiv, Zu'u Lost Aan Laan Fah Hi," Imperius said.

Nahagliiv, who seemed surprised, turned and said, "Wo Tinvaak Fin Tinvaak Do Dii Fron Ahrk Laan Wah Wahl Aan Laan?"

He was surprised that he said the words offered my Akatosh properly, though it sounded choppy and some sounds were hard for him to make, but he managed. Unless he spoke words of power, he usually butchered the dragon language, to the point that the Greybeards practically begged him to stop when he studied at their temple. But he wasn't complaining. Anything that made things easier. He would ask the dragons to teach him their tongue so he could speak it proper later down the line, as he didn't want to sound like a stunted child when he spoke the tongue of the dovah. As dragonborn, he supposed he needed to learn the language of the great drakes. It would make him sound legitimate to some, and he figured it was high time for him to learn anyhow.

"It is I, Imperius, and the offer I wish to make is this. You join my army and we will conquer Taazokaan together," he proposed, switching to the mortal tongue for convenience.

Nahagliiv seemed to be pondering for a moment. As he waited for the dragon's response, he was distracted by the sight of two drunken villagers fighting outside the tavern. He was silently betting on the beefier man against the smaller, thinner man. The beefy man seemed to be winning, landing a lot of hits on his smaller opponent. He soon cashed in his bet with himself when the beefy man slung the smaller one onto the ground and slammed the man's head onto the ground. The smaller man didn't get up, but he was still breathing. He was reminded as to why he was here when the dragon seemed to be coming to a conclusion.

"Zu'u Los Hin Wah Uth. Hin Uth Thuri?"

Imperius was stunned. He had thought that the dragon was going to fight him fiercely. Dragons never willingly submit to anyone or anything, unless they know it wields vast amounts of power, far beyond their own. He suspected that the dragon had heard of his clash with Mirmulnir from earlier by way of traveler, and had come to a decision to not oppose him, but he wasn't sure. He would ask him later. For now he would give him the order he gave to Mirmulnir. Minus the bandit killing of course. He needed to gather as much of his forces together in one place as soon as possible so he could properly execute a campaign of conquest

"Wahl Hin Way Wah Ahrk Saraan Dii Uth. Zu'u Fen Kos Til Maltiid," he said. It was becoming easier to say, but it still sounded horrible to his ears when he spoke.

Nahagliiv nodded. This mortal was powerful, if the rumors he had heard of were true. He didn't want to fight him to see if they were true. It was in his nature to avoid conflict whenever possible, despite most of his kin being the polar opposite. So when the outlandish mortal asked him to join him, he acquiesced without much fuss. Though the mortal sorely needed to work on speaking the dragon tongue a little more fluently. It was like metal scraping against metal when he spoke, his speech sloppy and broken.

"Hin fen los dii uth, wah Veyd Mah Staag Zu'u bo."

The dragon took to the air, breathing fire as he went.

'From what I remember of my previous time here, there should be one more dragon around here somewhere. Maybe near one of the giant camps,' he thought.

He wasn't sure if this was the area that the dragon could be found, but he had to start somewhere, so he set out in search for the beast. He walked around the village, searching for any sign of dragon activity, garnering a few strange glances from the local villagers. He couldn't blame them. If he were tending to his farm and saw a strangely garbed man walking around the village for seemingly no reason, he would think them strange too. But after what seemed like an hour of pointless searching, he finally found some signs of a dragon. On a hillside were deep, claw like furrows dug into the hill itself. Puddles of blood filled the bottom of the furrows, clumps of hair from what appears to be a cow lined the trench. He then looked to his left and saw scorched grass and a skeletal smoking tree. Lying next to the burnt tree was the mangled body of a giant, its face shredded beyond recognition. He saw a trail of scorched earth headed towards a nearby mountain, and decided that he would pay this dragon a visit.

Imperius followed the trail of burnt foliage and corpses to a word wall, the dragon sitting atop it staring at him with veiled anger. At the foot of the word wall lay the corpses of a few cows with blue markings. Usually the giants only had cows marked like this. The dragon must've killed the giants guarding the cows and took them here. It explained the giant corpse he found near Rorikstead. As to why it was stockpiling cow carcasses, he didn't know and didn't care. He was here for one reason.

"Drem yol lok, Zu'u los Imperius, aal Zu'u mindok hin faan?" Imperius said.

The dragon stared at him for a second, contemplating, and finally spoke.

"Zu'u ahney lost nid faan, uv Zu'u nis dahmaan nii. Druv dreh hi laan, joor?"

Imperius nodded, for in his past life, no record the blades kept had a name for the dragon, only a description of the immortal creature. It was blue, different shades at specific points of his body, from a light blue covering the underbelly, to a dark blue at the base of its back spines, which were pure black and long, like spears protecting him. It was large for a dragon, larger than most he's seen. It was well muscled, bulky in some areas while lean in others. Its maw dripped blood onto the stone floor, most likely from the pile of cow corpses, making a pool of the red liquid at the base of the word wall. He suspected that this one will fight him, and fiercely in fact, but nevertheless he would try to be diplomatic.

"Well, in that case I have an offer to make you. Join my army, submit to my thu'um, and we can conquer Taazokaan together," he proposed.

The dragon reared its head back, as if offended by the offer. He knew that the mortal had power, it was clear to anyone who wasn't a fool. But to submit to a lesser being was intolerable. His pride as a dragon, an immortal being who will outlast every mortal on this continent , wouldn't allow him to accept. However, there was one way that the mortal could make him serve. He hadn't fought in an actual battle in a while since his resurrection by his master Alduin, and he was itching for a fight. He had the perfect excuse. He couldn't lose anyway. He was a dragon, the most perfect being ever in creation. Nothing could best him. This mortal will help him with his combat skills somewhat, but he will fall.

"I can sense your power of your Thu'um, but I will not go willingly!"

The dragon opened its maw and spewed forth an ice storm, Imperius dodging just in time, ice spikes stood erect where he once was. If he had been a second slower he would have been impaled on the icy spears that stood where he was moments ago. This dragon was fast despite its size. He made a mental note to watch for that during the battle to come.

"My pride will not allow me to accept the offer, unless you defeat me in battle joor!"

The dragon lowered itself from the word wall and he snapped his jaws at Imperius, who blocked the deadly strike with his tower shield. The mortal was lasting longer than he expected. He didn't think that the mortal would survive his initial attack. Before his death most mortals would fall like wheat to a scythe to his might. Child's play. This mortal however, was standing up to him and is actually making him put some effort into this fight. This mortal is interesting. But alas, he will die, and he will return to utter boredom.

"Gol.. Hah Dov!" Imperius shouted, the dragon wincing slightly when it hit. The dragon used his head like a mace, swinging it back and forth, catching Imperius and nearly flinging him off of the platform. But the imperial caught onto the edge of the platform and pulled himself up and rushed back into the fray. As the battle dragged on, Imperius was mentally thinking of a name for the dragon, whilst simultaneously blocking shouts and the snapping maw of the dragon.

He was going over the conversation before the dragon attacked him.

'He's brave, I'll give him that. To be able to sense my power and still challenge me, that takes bravery found in soldiers, albeit arrogant soldiers. His pride is a major part of his personality if his previous words were of any value. He needs a name, I can't refer to him as dragon and frankly, I don't want to. Aha, I've got it!' he shouted mentally.

Imperius dodged the snapping jaws of the dragon, bashed its head with his shield, and shouted "Gol.. Hah Dov!"

The dragon stumbled backwards, seemingly stunned and disorientated by the combined force of the shield and the shout. Despite his incredible speed, the dragon provided little to no challenge. It was predictable. It was clearly out of practice if his attacks were any indication. He needed to rectify this if this dragon is to serve in his army. Pretty soon the rest of the factions on Tamriel will train fighters to try and deal with the dragons under his command. He needed to make sure that no one besides himself can best them in battle.

Imperius shouted again, and it was over.

The dragon bowed its head in submission and said, "You have bested me in battle, therefore I shall join you. What are your commands thuri?"

He paced for what seemed to the dragon for hours, but in reality it was just a couple of minutes. The dragon watched the mortal with amusement, finding his pacing and expression funny. This mortal proved himself in combat and amused him, he was starting to take a liking to this mortal, even if he is a lesser being.

"First, you need a name, and I think I have the perfect one for you. From this day forth, you shall be known henceforth as Krilkahjot."

The dragon looked up at him, pondered the name for a bit, deciphering the meaning of the words. Bravery Pride Maw. Flattering, in a strange way, but nevertheless flattering. He couldn't really argue with the name, unless he felt like being petty about it but he wasn't. He nodded his acceptance of the name to his new master and asked him if he had any orders.

Before Imperius could answer, a sound of rushing wind filled the area, followed by the flapping of leather wings. Krilkahjot looked at the dragon hovering above them and cowered in fear, whimpering slightly, while Imperius looked at him with a bored expression. He had expected to see the black drake later on in his quest, but it wasn't altogether unsurprising that he was here. In fact, him being here was helping him. Now he didn't have to go searching for the dragon. He could make sure that the drake wouldn't be a hindrance to his plans without the effort being put in just to find the beast.

"Such disloyalty amongst the Dov nowadays, to join together with a mortal is a disgrace amongst our kind. Like the treacherous Paarthurnax, who taught the joor to use our own power against us," said the black dragon.

The dragon turned his gaze towards Imperius. The sight of the mortal making dragons bow to him disgusted Alduin down to his very core. It was unnatural, that a lesser being could best and control a dov, the rightful rulers of the world. This needs to be rectified immediately. Starting with the evisceration of this impudent mortal and the execution of those who failed to resist him.

"Don't think I haven't taken notice of your actions of late, convincing three of my kin to join you and betray me. It is an act that cannot go unpunished," he said.

Imperius turned from Krilkahjot towards the black dragon, his scales twisted and bent as melted pieces of metal in a forge. He didn't fear the black drake. All of the legends surrounding the dragon would make anyone think that the beast was nigh invulnerable. When he faced the dragon atop the highest mountain in Skyrim, he had hoped that his thirst for battle would finally be sated. But his hopes were shattered when the dragon proved to be not much more of a challenge than a regular drake. So when Alduin threatened him, he paid it no mind. The dragon's threats were empty to him.

"You stand no chance against me Alduin. Stand down and you will not suffer the humiliation of defeat at my hands."

Alduin laughed, the sound echoing in the plains of Whiterun, grating to the ears. This arrogant mortal actually believes that he has a chance against him. How precious. He will prove to this mortal why he is named the World Eater, and soon all will cower before him as he devours the world. It was his destiny.

"You, defeat me?! You are a stupid mortal to think yourself worthy of challenging, let alone defeating me. I will show you my power, and you will regret challenging me!"

Alduin crashed to the ground, scattering the bones and corpses of Krilkahjot's previous meals. He shouted, and clouds swirled overhead, raining down small meteors in a fiery cataclysm. He snapped at Imperius, who danced out of the way of the dragon's razor sharp teeth. This will be practice for him. He can already tell that this will not be very difficult.

"Krilkahjot, attack him from the air, I will keep him on the ground," Imperius shouted.

As the blue dragon followed his master's command he pondered as to how he would keep Alduin grounded, but he followed the command. He wasn't one to question his master, who was clearly much stronger than he was.

Imperius surged forward, bashing his shield into Alduin's face. He then decided to give the drake a taste of mortality.

"Joor.. Zah Frul!"

A blue aura surrounded the black dragon, pinning his massive girth to the ground. Alduin felt different, more grounded, more mortal. The shout the mortal used sounded familiar, yet he couldn't quite put his talon on it. He tried to fly into the air, only to find to his horror that he couldn't. He turned towards the mortal, his body shaking with rage and disbelief. His jaws shook so much from rage that he could barely form words without roaring or growling.

"What is this, these twisted words you've created, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" Alduin shouted.

Imperius smirked. He liked seeing the expression on the dragon's face. An expression of rage, disbelief. And one, very important emotion. Fear.

"I have gifted you mortality, which means your vulnerable," he said, slashing his sword across his snout. Alduin shouted in pain, for he never experienced it before. He thought himself invulnerable to all attacks, especially from mortals. They couldn't produce any blade or arrow that could pierce his hide. Yet within a few minutes he was feeling the cold blade the mortal wielded slice through his scales like they were not even there. As this was happening, Krilkahjot strafed Alduin, spraying frost onto the black dragon's back, icicle spears tearing through his now mortal hide. He thrashed his body, knocking down trees, throwing boulders down the mountain, and scarring the earth with deep furrows and trenches.

Imperius charged forward, intending on stabbing his sword into the skull of the beast, but was hit by the thrashing head of his foe and was sent sailing towards the word wall, knocked unconscious on impact. When Krilkahjot saw this, his vision narrowed and he dived down towards the form of Alduin, latching onto his back, which sent both of them tumbling off the mountain. With the wind rushing past them, the two exchanged blows and shouts, neither gaining an edge over each other. Krilkahjot moved his head to the side, dodging the snapping jaws of Alduin. He darted forwards and clamped his jaws on Alduin's neck, his teeth tearing through the scaly hide, drawing blood. Alduin roared with pain and outrage and dislodged Krilkahjot from his neck and resumed trying to bite the despicable dov's head off. Krilkahjot spotted the rapidly approaching ground and dislodged himself from Alduin, flying back up to the word wall.

Alduin turned his body to look at the ground approaching, and for the first time in his immortal life, he began to wonder if he would survive this. But, during the last few seconds of his decent, the blue aura faded and he felt his immortality return, just as he smashed into the earth, creating a massive hole in the earth going a mile deep. He could feel boulders buried in the earth shatter upon impact with his body as he rapidly descended into the ground. He soon felt the earth give way to an open space before hitting the ground once again. This time he didn't go through the rock and earth. He didn't care about anything at the moment. All he cared about was getting through the dizziness and the pain. His consciousness was fading fast, and he could do nothing to stop himself from succumbing to the darkness.

Krilkahjot flew back towards the word wall, intent on finding out the condition of his master. When he reached the outcrop, he found Imperius rubbing his head and looking around, whipping his head towards the dragon when he heard him approach. He was relieved that his master had survived, if only slightly. He was a lesser being after all. He didn't care about him. He was secretly hoping that he died so that he could be released from his servitude. But alas, that wasn't the case. At least he is a somewhat better master than Alduin.

Imperius stood up, popping his back, and walked towards Krilkahjot. As his vision was clearing up from the blow to his head, and his consciousness returned, he had seen the two drakes topple over the edge of the outcrop, and feared the worst. If the worst had came to pass, then he would have lost a dragon, significantly hindering his plans. It didn't help that the fact he had named the beast had made him somewhat attached to it.

"How does Alduin fare, is he alive?" he asked.

The dragon made a face, which he could only describe as a smirk and responded, "He created a crater in the earth that is practically a mile down. I think he will reconsider challenging you openly again, but he is still alive. When he was close to the ground, I saw the aura surrounding him fade, which means that his might had returned before he hit the earth."

"Our objective was not to kill, though it may occur if he continues to disrupt my plans."

Krilkahjot cocked his head to the side, as if confused.

"What was our objective then, if not to rid ourselves of the world eater."

"I planned on imprisoning him deep in the earth, away from anything so he cannot cause trouble or use trickery and guile to escape, which means we need to get to Bleak Falls Barrow and gather our forces and converge on the crater in the earth, if we hope to contain him."

Krilkahjot nodded, and turned his body parallel to Imperius', and motioned for him to climb onto his back. Remembering his dragon riding skills in his past life, he got onto the dragon and together, they made their way to his temporary base. When he got to Bleak Falls Barrow, he was pleased to see two dragons awaiting him, one brown, and one bronze. He landed in the middle of the platform and turned to the three dragons as Krilkahjot landed on a third pillar next to Mirmulnir and Nahagliiv.

"Drem Yol Lok, I see that you two made it here without issues?"

Nahagliiv nodded, while Mirmulnir said, "I cleared out the bandit infestation thuri, those mortals won't bother us for a time, until they work up the courage to try again."

He nodded, noticing that the justicar was still unconscious, and proceeded to describe the battle that took place between him and Alduin. Mirmulnir looked at him in awe. For someone to battle his former master and win was a remarkable feat. Nahagliiv looked on with a neutral expression, with Krilkahjot smirking with pride at his part in defeating his former master.

"Now, we have one opportunity to get rid of this problem before it becomes completely out of our control. I have a way to trap him beneath the earth forever. Unless I free him, he will be stuck down there for the rest of his immortal days, but we must move now in order to catch him before he escapes."

The three dragons nodded, with Krilkahjot and Nahagliiv taking flight and making their way to the chasm in which Alduin rested. Mirmulnir flew down to the platform, letting Imperius climb onto his neck, and flew in the direction of the others. Imperius missed flying. He remembered his first time flying on a dragon with Odahviing. He loved the winds racing past him as they do now. He missed the icy wind. He missed this feeling. His thoughts soon turned to Odahviing, his former dragon companion. Imperius wondered where the drake was, though it really didn't matter as he could call the dragon at any time and he would come rushing to see who had challenged him. But he saved those thoughts for later. Right now he had to focus on removing Alduin from the equation.

Alduin awoke from unconsciousness and took note of his surroundings, which were shrouded in darkness. But, he could see the faint outline of a rock wall a fair distance away, and when his eyes adjusted, he could see it was a fairly sized cavern, which could hold a few dragons at most, his size taking a quarter of the total space. He briefly wondered how he had gotten to be here before the flood of memories came rushing back to him, filling him with rage and indignation. His nostrils billowed steam, signifying his rage towards the ones who had caused this. But before his thoughts could go any further, they were interrupted by the flapping of leather wings near the top of the cavern where he fell in.

'I bet it's those traitorous Dov who allied with that joor. He isn't powerful enough to defeat me, he just caught me off guard, next time he won't be so lucky. I'll make sure he remembers me before he dies. I'll make sure he knows why it's folly to challenge the World Eater,' he thought.

With the sound of wings flapping virtually filling the cavern, he grinned maliciously at the ways he would kill the Dov and that mortal to whom they swore loyalty too. Oh there were so many delicious ways he could make them suffer. The only downside is which method he would choose. There were just so many, and they were all wonderful at inflicting pain and suffering.

'Prepare yourself, for you and your companions are about to witness the full fury of Alduin!'