Author's Note:

Happy New Year!

I hope you all enjoyed the celebrations and now are excited to nurse your hangover in bed with some stories :D Or no hangover, whichever it is, I hope you'll enjoy :) I wish you all good health and a lot of joy into the new year :)

And I hope you either enjoyed or at least survived all the fireworks. Here's a little firestorm to top it all off ;)

Chapter XXXI – Firestorm

Aeyrin hadn't felt that well rested in months.

Granted, her sleep was still troubled to some extent and she couldn't escape the occasional bad dreams, but it had definitely been an improvement.

Maybe it was because whenever she awoke in the middle of the night, she didn't try to fall asleep with the anxiety-inducing uncertainty of just how bad the following day would be. This time she woke up cradled in Bishop's warm, comforting arms, actually eager to go right back to sleep just so that she could spend her conscious hours with him already.

It also helped that his light sleep usually made him wake up along with her for a brief moment and he always pressed a soothing kiss on the top of her head.

After that night, she felt more confident than ever that her easy and undisturbed sleep was not merely a thing of the past.

It would get better. Gradually.

When they woke up, they indulged in a brief breakfast and packed up their camp right after.

After some deliberation, however, they determined that they, in fact, could not 'go anywhere'. So many places were still barred to them for various reasons, so eventually they agreed to return to the meadery to report back on all their missions properly and to suss out the current situation.

They needed to know which places were safe for them, what amount of influence Mercer held and where and who they needed to be careful around.

Hopefully their enemies weren't as numerous as they feared.

Karliah was making good progress.

…

"So, are you still on those caravans?" Bishop asked idly as they marched through the western edge of Eastmarch towards the Whiterun Hold border, along a familiar large waterfall.

"No, actually," Aeyrin shook her head in response. "After the last one, Maven has officially withdrawn her funds from Mercer. She's not exactly offering them to Karliah, but at least the immediate threat is taken care of. I hope…" she gulped inaudibly. The whole thing about involving the Dark Brotherhood still unsettled her. She really hoped that those were just unfounded theories and idle talk.

"Really? I haven't heard that," Bishop raised his brows. He wasn't sure why he expected to be in the know on this. He knew that Karliah rarely divulged all her operations. She wasn't exactly keeping them a secret from him, but she didn't really offer up the information right away.

"Yeah… it's a good thing too. Last time was… rough," Aeyrin sighed.

Bishop threw her a concerned look right away.

"The dragon…" she began to explain with another sigh. "You remember that Shout I learnt? I haven't really used it much yet. The one that created that strange… storm with lightning."

"The dragon did that?" Bishop's brows shot up. It probably shouldn't have been that surprising – theoretically the dragons could do every Shout that she could. Still, that one was disturbing on its own already without a dragon wielding it. He didn't even want to imagine one of them stopping the time and crushing them instantly while they couldn't even react.

"Yeah. Thank the Gods for my armor," Aeyrin muttered. If she hadn't been wearing it, she would have ended up like that merchant – burned to death by lighting within a second. "I… I passed out again after."

Bishop scowled deeply. He hoped that it wouldn't happen again after she had persevered when they killed another one of those smaller dragons. But she did say that the absorptions were getting worse. Not this much worse though.

"You were alone?" his scowl deepened even more.

"By that point… yeah. I came to a few hours later on my own," she nodded somberly. She wasn't sure if she should mention that she instantly contacted him to meet her at that cave and take her mind off things. Besides, it didn't seem important anymore. Somehow, that day felt like it happened ages ago.

Bishop shook his head regretfully, although he didn't even have it in him to be angry at himself for not being there anymore. At least it was hopefully for the last time. If it happened again, he'd be there with her and he'd take her to a temple instantly. It was lucky that she woke up on her own, but that may not be always possible without healing.

"So… any new missions after that?" he changed the subject after a spell. She seemed to be still a bit rattled from the experience and the topic didn't exactly keep him in a good mood either.

"Only one. I helped with the assault on that smuggler ring in Winterhold you told me about," she smiled at him, somewhat relieved that she didn't have to think about dragons anymore.

"Yeah? That's great – one more threat off the list. I suppose there's just a pile of ash where the smugglers used to be now?" Bishop smirked at her.

"Not the way you imagine it," she chuckled. "I was just helping Raven and his backup force, not laying waste to the place single-handedly."

Instead of a laugh or at least a smirk in return, Bishop was silent for a while and his brows creased again.

"You went with Raven?"

"Bishop…" she let out an exasperated sigh. She should have seen this reaction coming. But, still, she had to admit to herself, she kind of loved that jealous insecurity of his for some reason. She had no idea why it had always felt kind of endearing in a way.

"You went killing scum with him! That's our thing!" Bishop threw up his arms in mock outrage. He still looked genuinely peeved though. Possibly because she had spent any time at all with Raven.

"Well… maybe it made me miss 'killing scum' with you all the more," she snickered at him and bumped him with her shoulder.

Finally the corners of his mouth quirked upwards into a smile, but he still rolled his eyes at her.

"You're not going to be abrasive to him, are you? Or… threaten him or something?" Aeyrin narrowed her eyes at Bishop. Finally they could actually talk to Raven and Karliah together without unnecessary drama, if only this meaningless thing wasn't looming over them.

"Sweetheart, you know I can't promise that," Bishop snorted, but the talk got suddenly interrupted.

There was a voice in the distance – a loud and booming one. They recognized it instantly, although the words were unintelligible.

A dragon.

Great. Aeyrin had almost put them out of her mind for a few minutes and now this.

There was no avoiding it. It was definitely right around the mountain and on the path towards Whiterun, even if they couldn't see it yet.

"Ah, shit!" Bishop groaned in frustration and reached for the bow on his back. They both threw their packs onto the ground in a second – it was always inconvenient to fight with them on and they would just come for them later. Bishop still stopped to throw a concerned look at Aeyrin before he would even consider running forth to get the creature into view.

"Let's do this. It's gonna be fine," she gave him a reassuring smile, but it sounded like she was trying to reassure herself just as much. "I've got you with me now," her smile turned grateful and genuine in a second as she unfastened her mace from her hip.

Bishop gave her one last fond look before he ran ahead to scope out the situation.

He ran around the mountain with Aeyrin in tow. He had to circle almost the entire thing before he saw the dragon. Its silvery scales shone through a small area in between the tall rocks, entirely covered in trees. The beast was barreling through them, felling them as it slowly crawled towards the road. Its scales were covered in dirt and Bishop spotted the distinct stone circle, a burial mound, behind the trees – only visible with some of them felled now.

He trained his bow on the creature as soon as he had a clear shot of it through the trees. The arrow hit the side of its maw, but it only let out a brief grumble of pain. It was still approaching steadily without as much as a stagger.

But then, suddenly, it stopped.

Bishop noticed Aeyrin finally appear by his side and the dragon just… stared at her, its eyes widening in realization.

Aeyrin stopped too.

It wasn't attacking, and after seeing Paarthurnax, it wasn't out of the realm of possibility that it would be… friendly? Or at least not actively hostile.

Bishop lowered his bow carefully, but he still kept another arrow notched.

This was… strange.

Nobody tried to attack, yet nobody spoke for what seemed like a long time. Not until Aeyrin finally gathered the courage to break the silence.

"D-drem?"

She wasn't sure if she was doing this right at all, but she thought so, at least. Paarthurnax said this a lot. And she looked it up after. It meant 'peace'. Paarthurnax said that when he tried to calm her or Bishop down, to prevent a conflict. She certainly wouldn't be able to say anything else to the dragon, but hopefully it knew Cyrodilic just like Paarthurnax did.

At that word, the dragon actually smiled.

But that smile did not look exactly friendly.

"THURI! ZEYMAH!"

The dragon bellowed and they started to frantically look at themselves and all around. It sounded like a Shout, but… nothing seemed to be happening. Aeyrin looked up into the skies above them in panic, but the weather didn't change at all. But that certainly wasn't the calm manner in which Paarthurnax always spoke to them. She expected an attack.

But nothing happened.

Until…

Another roar bellowed from behind the mountain where they could not see, steadily approaching.

That thing called for help. There would be two of them!

Aeyrin was conflicted, torn between lunging at the beast to get the battle over with or grabbing Bishop and trying to retreat, pointless as it was from a dragon.

But before she could make up her mind, the creature's ally soared from behind the mountains, spreading its wings to almost block the sun.

And to her horror, it was not just any ally.

The pitch-black scales gleamed, reflecting the glare of the sun, the fiery golden wings flapped menacingly as the red eyes fixated straight on her. Her breath hitched in her throat and she felt like she couldn't move.

"Is that…?" Bishop's voice sounded no less disturbed. He didn't need to finish the question and he didn't need to hear the answer.

Alduin.

They've seen him before, but somehow, he was much more frightening now that they knew who he was.

The dragon, the dirt, the mound, the voice they heard in the distance – it all made sense now. The beast must have just been resurrected, it knew that Alduin was probably still in the vicinity. It didn't really fit Delphine's theory on resurrection patterns, but that was hardly surprising.

"Kahiizstrun, bo. Zu'u Fen Viik fin Dey Dovah," Alduin huffed with a disturbing sneer on his maw. The second dragon soared at his words instantly and it turned towards Alduin, with its tail to Bishop and Aeyrin. A second later it set off and flew past the World-Eater without any other reaction – it seemed to be retreating.

What did that mean? What was going to happen?

And shouldn't they attack? They still stood there, frozen in shock and uncertainty. Aeyrin couldn't help but see the images of Helgen flash before her eyes. She remembered what this beast was capable of, although the recollections had always been hazy after that ordeal.

"Dey Mey, Fent Mu?" the words bellowed all over the area, even across the gorge at their backs, bouncing off the cliffs. Alduin heaved within a second, flapping his wings and plummeting towards them. His maw had opened mid-flight as a familiar purple light appeared at the back of it.

It all happened much faster than they were ready for. They both jumped out of the way just as the purple orb flew to the exact spot they were standing only a second ago, but luckily it missed. Bishop quickly recovered and jumped back onto his feet, aiming his bow at the beast.

The first arrow missed – that fucking thing was so fast. Alduin circled above them menacingly with impressive speed and agility, always changing directions, always moving out of the way.

Bishop aimed again and this time, the arrow managed to hit Alduin's leg.

Or not…

The arrow was stopped by the dragon's scales, as if it was met with solid stone. It reminded Bishop of the ancient dragon priest that was residing in Saarthal along with that giant orb, but… there was no orb and no magical aura this time.

What the fuck were they supposed to do?!

"KRII!"

Aeyrin Shouted and she could have sworn that she managed to hit the fast-moving beast, but again… nothing happened. There was no red glow, no indication of the Shout taking effect at all. They were both starting to run out of ideas. And Alduin didn't seem to be planning to descend to the ground anytime soon, constantly circling above them.

Then Alduin finally stopped for a moment, hovering in the air. He instantly heaved again and a green light appeared at the back of his throat. That seemed familiar too.

A second later, a stream of what they still assumed from one of their former dragon encounters was some kind of acid, shot right at them. They broke into a run instantly, dodging the incessant splatter as it chased them all the way across the road and towards the Standing Stone perched atop of the side of the gorge.

Luckily the stream stopped then, leaving the green liquid splattered on the ground in a large trail, eating through the grass. It almost looked like it was burrowing into the soil too, sinking through it with a constant hiss.

But Alduin didn't leave them a second of respite.

He sneered and… it sounded like he laughed. He may have been enjoying the sight of 'lesser beings' helpless under his assault a little too much.

Aeyrin considered her options, her Shouts. She could try to cast the storm on him, but… that might just hit them. The red aura didn't affect him and she doubted that fire or frost would do any damage against his stone-like scales.

But before she could come up with anything, Alduin heaved again and this time… it looked like smoke came out of his maw.

He started to circle them again, but nothing else seemed to happen for a spell.

A few seconds later though, the sky started to darken menacingly.

Oh Gods, no!

"Bish! Get to the ground!" Aeyrin yelled at him to make herself heard over the sudden howling of the wind. A small storm was coming, it was obvious. She had seen this one before – she had just talked about it a few minutes ago.

And Bishop didn't have nearly enough metal on him to ground any incoming lightning if it hit him standing. He needed to get as much of his body onto the ground and prey that none of them would hit. She really, really hoped that her metal-clad form would draw it all. She would withstand it if she had to, as long as none of them singed him to a crisp.

Bishop dropped down onto the stone platform with the Standing Stone instantly at her command. He likely knew what the ominous clouds meant, but, much to both their surprise, no lightning came. Instead, the sky started to gleam with a strange red glare as the clouds gathered above them.

Within the next second, a large ball of fire shot through the clouds, plummeting towards Aeyrin. She quickly jumped out of the way, but another followed from a different direction, then another, and another, making Bishop stand up to his feet again instantly so that he was actually able to dodge them.

It looked like a meteor storm raged above the small area on the road above the gorge, but there were no celestial rocks from the skies, only hurling flames from out of nowhere.

Aeyrin remembered the red skies and the fire from Helgen, but she never really saw what was happening in the chaos and smoke.

Now she knew. She wished that she were still oblivious.

She dodged a ball of fire that plummeted towards her, only to appear in the trajectory of another, forced to roll out of the way frantically.

There was nowhere to hide from Alduin's incessant attacks and they had no way of stopping him. There was nothing that hurt him, nothing that slowed him down.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Bishop as he dodged another ball of fire and ran as fast as he could, but the flames seemed to be everywhere. He dodged another and jumped aside, but he ended up directly in the line of yet another fireball.

And it looked like he was out of time to escape it.

"TIID!"

The fire stopped raining and the menacing balls hovered above them, slowly, almost imperceptibly, descending to the ground.

She needed to get Bishop out of the way of the spell instantly.

And she needed a moment to think. At least a few seconds.

First she charged Bishop and toppled him to the ground. She made sure that he was in a currently safe space, although she knew that it wouldn't last long. When Bishop was relatively safe, she tried to look around, to come up with some plan. Anything, really.

But to her horror, she finally noticed that Alduin didn't stop moving the entire time.

The Shout… it didn't affect him at all! The time was slowed almost to a halt everywhere around her, yet he glided along the skies as if nothing happened.

How was this possible?!

She didn't get a chance to ponder as he caught her in his sights and opened his maw again. By now, every time he did that, a chill spread through her entire body. She didn't even want to imagine all the powers that he wielded.

Only a second later, he started to spew a steady ray of frost as he charged through the air, intent on catching her in the attack. The frost stayed frozen in the sky when it left Alduin's maw, but it only created another threat for when the time resumed flowing regularly.

Gods, he would freeze her to the ground and then there would be no escaping the fireballs!

She ran from him, but he followed and the frost steadily traced a line right after her. It only took a second before time started to flow again and all the elements came crashing down onto the ground instantly. Bishop looked completely disoriented with what just happened and where he was.

"FEIM!"

In panic, Aeyrin Shouted. She could barely make sense of what was happening anymore. The firestorm still raged on and now there was frost falling from the skies in a thick line, trailing wherever she had stepped before.

They couldn't do anything. They couldn't even try to attack! There wasn't any time for it.

"We need to hide!" she cried out at Bishop, fidgeting in her ethereal form as she felt it slowly dissipate while the fire rained down on her, through her. Alduin was already circling above the gorge and turning back towards the platform. He would soon attack again, only Gods knew in which horrible form.

Bishop jumped out of the way of another fireball and looked around in panic. At least the very little bits of frost that managed to fall on him didn't do any harm. Thank the fucking Gods for his Nordic resilience. But even that likely wouldn't help him if he got hit by a full blast of that Shout. Aeyrin was right. They did need to hide. He was almost spinning in spot as his eyes darted all over his surroundings.

Hide where?!

Aeyrin noticed another ball of fire plummet down towards Bishop just in time when her form dissipated and turned solid again.

"WULD!"

She lunged towards Bishop and threw them both out of the way. The impact made them roll right off the stone platform with the Standing Stone and onto a small pathway curling around and below it, leading into the midsection of the cliff. They were lucky that there was a path there, otherwise they would have ended up plummeting into the gorge. Although even that may have been safer than facing Alduin.

"There!" Bishop finally managed to take a scope of their surroundings when he got his bearings after the brief fall. He was barely able to believe their luck.

There was a cave! Set into the mountain, right below the platform that they were on previously.

It was their only chance.

Especially since Alduin instantly noticed their direction and charged down into the gorge.

They gathered themselves off the ground and ran as fast as they could, dodging the constant fireballs while trying not to slip off the pathway and down into the river. Although that fate really may have been preferable to this. The water seemed deep enough. And Bishop had already done that before in this very same river, even plummeting down the waterfall down the stream. He fucking hated that back then, but he hated this much more. He would go through that in a second if it helped.

But the cave was still much preferable, if only they could reach it.

Alduin didn't waste any time before he positioned himself right in front of their destined hideout, hovering in the air, high above the river. And just as they almost reached the entrance to the cavern he heaved again in another attack with a fiery light forming in his throat.

It was too late to stop the momentum as they ran down the path and the flames almost engulfed them.

Almost.

Aeyrin wasn't sure what happened, she barely even registered the dragon's Shout, but she felt herself reacting nonetheless as she suddenly stood firmly to face the flames in full.

"FUS RO DAH!"

The flames collided with the invisible force, scattering through the air above the gorge harmlessly. Alduin was unaffected by her Shout, but at least they were unharmed too.

But before she could realize what happened, Alduin charged at enormous speed, heading straight for her, maw open with another fiery light.

"Move!" Bishop's voice riled her and she was yanked by her arm and practically shoved into the cavern violently.

She didn't have time to take in her surroundings. She ran without a thought, only comforted about Bishop's presence as he pressed his hand to her back, rushing her further into the cave. She heard the next Shout, the crackling of flames and she could feel powerful heat enveloping her. Bishop grunted in pain, but he didn't stop, always pushing forward.

At least he was alive, they were both alive.

She dared to turn around briefly, only to see the dragon's head some distance behind Bishop as the rest of its body struggled to fit inside the cavern.

There was no way he would fit… Right?

Alduin opened his maw again and a purple light started to form at the back of it. He could still kill them!

As panic enveloped her once more, she grabbed Bishop firmly by the hand and turned back towards the further depths of the cave.

"WULD!"

Everything got so confusing.

She let go of Bishop's hand when the lightning-fast movement stopped, but instantly she felt something hit her cheek with a nasty scratch – oddly sharp and dull pain at the same time spread through her entire face.

The force of the impact sent her tumbling down onto her back on the ground instantly.

Gods, how she hoped that they were beyond Alduin's reach. She didn't even really care about what just collided with her face. It did hurt like the Void, but she just hoped that there was no way in which the World-Eater could still attack them.

She could only hear the sharp thrusts of a sword, along with some monstrous pained grunts and light sound of crackling lightning.

Divines, how her face hurt! She couldn't even open her eyes!

She pressed her hand to her face and lit it up in magic to heal herself. What was that thing that punched her?

"Fuck… shit… sweetness?" she heard Bishop's exhausted heavy breaths, followed by a squeak of leather and a clattering of a weapon.

She felt his hand on her hale cheek instantly while she healed herself. When the magic dissipated and the pain got much milder, she finally managed to open her eyes.

She looked around – a small cave with one exit – the one leading straight back to Alduin. There was one very dead troll on the ground and a few gnawed bones by one of the walls. Otherwise it was completely empty.

She sat up slowly as Bishop's hand dropped from her cheek. They both looked back towards the corridor leading outside warily while still trying to catch their breaths from the exertions.

There was nothing – no sound, no rumble, no magic.

But he could still be waiting there for them.

They left their packs discarded all the way back by the mountain and they were completely cut off from everything.

"Fuck… fucking Void… what the fuck just happened?!" Bishop breathed out in disbelief and buried his head in his hands.

Her thoughts exactly!

She couldn't help but shiver at what they just went through. She always knew that Alduin would be powerful, but she could never, ever imagine him creating their own private apocalypse in the middle of a random road.

"Did this kind of shit happen in Helgen?" Bishop scowled as he slowly turned his attention from the cavern exit towards Aeyrin. His eyes still darted back there at times though. Who knew what Alduin was capable of?

"I… I don't know… some of it, maybe. It was too chaotic and I was dragged around by that Stormcloak constantly. There was smoke and fire and I couldn't really see a thing," she sighed. Sometimes she even forgot how harrowing Helgen was. That was… not a great thing, that such an ordeal wasn't as significant in face of her more recent terrors.

They stayed silent for a while, both plagued by the same question after what they had just witnessed.

"How do you defeat something like that?" Aeyrin finally put a voice to it, albeit a very quiet and rattled one.

"I… I have no fucking idea… an army?" Bishop shook his head absentmindedly. He still felt like he wasn't over the shock of it all. It was all so chaotic. Was there really fire and ice raining from the sky? And acid, of course. One couldn't forget the acid.

"Isn't he rising one of his own?" Aeyrin's voice trembled audibly.

Bishop had no consoling answer to that. If it weren't made clear enough to them before, this definitely did it. They needed an unconventional way to defeat Alduin. No wonder that Paarthurnax had sent them chasing after the Elder Scrolls.

"What do we do?" he asked instead. There was no telling how long the beast could wait there. Dragons were likely patient. Then again… Alduin didn't seem to be one to show himself too often to the people of Skyrim. Except for Helgen. The only other time when they had ever seen him, he left instantly. He probably didn't even consider them worth his attention back then near Kynesgrove.

Too bad the same wasn't still true.

"Wait?" Aeyrin sighed. "Then I can go see if he's still out there. I can at least turn ethereal if he is."

They would just have to sit in the cave there. They couldn't even camp or make some food while they waited. Well… unless they wanted to eat a troll.

Bishop only nodded slowly while his eyes still returned to the corridor on occasion. There weren't many other options for them. Not if they wanted to stay alive and away from their own private pocket of Oblivion in the middle of the road. Alduin could sure make an impression.

With a sigh, Bishop settled himself on the ground comfortably and kicked the troll's corpse away from himself a little more in the process.

"Then I guess we wait."

Another Author's Note:

By the way, just to let you all know, I have also released the first part (out of four) of the promised side story. I was going to wait a bit longer with all the angst, but nah :D It's not that angsty in the beginning and I'm just eager to share anything with you all :3 And if you're sick of tragedies for now, you can always read it later if you want. It's not going anywhere ;)

In any case, if you're interested in reading it, it's posted as the third chapter in First Book Extras :)