AN: Hey, everyone, sorry it's been a while. This story is wrapping up soon, so I've been wondering which story to work on next. Check out the poll on my account to see the options.
Jul
Octavian
I frowned while I squared off with a Vampire, his gleaming golden eyes catching my own. Tora and the others had their own fights they were dealing with, and as such were nearby and unavailable to help me, just as I couldn't help them. For now, though, that was not what bothered me. This Vampire was not all that impressive of a swordsman, and could barely cast his spell used to drain life, and I doubted the others would be any worse. No, right then, I was worried about my father's orders.
My mind flashed back to the last few hours before the battle began, my father and his generals had been revealing the plan to the grand army, detailing troop movements, detachments, and what was going to happen. "And the Emperor," Dorthe announced for him, conveying the quiet whispers his voice could barely manage, "will lead a small strike team consisting of high ranking Blades up the mountain to obtain the relic and, if necessary, do battle with the Aldmeri pretender. The first through third detachments will cover the stairs to prevent any Vampires from ascending to steal it. The fourth and fifth will lead geurilla assaults through the line, while..."
"He can't do it," I whispered to Tora.
She looked over at me. "Do what?" she whispered back.
"Fight her. He can barely summon the Magicka to cast a Master level spell. He can't fight the Vampire Queen."
"Nice to see you believe in your father," Tora said dryly. "You do know he basically single handedly prevented... Athyn, how many?"
"Three apocalypses, two wars, and one genocide."
Tora nodded her head at him. "Exactly. He can deal with this on his own. He is the Dragonborn," Tora pointed out, as if that answered every question and worry I had. "Besides, it's his destiny, isn't it?"
"Bah," I muttered before I could stop myself. "Maybe, maybe not. All I know is Destiny needs some help sometimes." Tora chuckled at that, though didn't retort. In many ways, it was true after all. I looped my hand into hers. "I know I need some."
"True," she agreed simply, just to annoy me. It didn't quite work.
And her attempts to calm me didn't either. I barely heard the rest of Dorthe's speech on my father's behalf, concerned as I was. Once the orders were given and we spread out, I let go of Tora's hand and silently made my way to my father. "I don't like this," I told him, interrupting last minute talks with Delphine and Bryn, both on his strike team.
"Then... what?" he asked, teeth still stained with red from coughing up blood. Seeing that only deepened my frown, to the point that what worried me was plastered across my face. "Thought you... hated... me."
I tore my gaze from his. "The Empire can't lose you. This is just another battle, like the next one, or the one after that."
My father snorted quietly. "And you... would go?"
I frowned. "Yes."
"Hungry for glory, then?" Dorthe asked, butting in to the conversation, a rare grin on her face. "You sound like me when I was your age..." Her face grew serious once more. "But I do agree with your assessment. The Primus' condition suggests the risk is too great."
"You see, even –"
"But," Dorthe cut in before I could finish. "He is the Dragonborn, and the only one who can use the Voice. Injured as he is, if he does not go there is a far worse chance for victory." She turned her glare on my father. "Though, I do wish that he would take more soldiers with him. She is quite dangerous."
"Not... a child," my father said dryly. He shook his head. "Unlike... you."
I felt my features harden with annoyance. "At least I am uninjured. And have the deepest reserves of Magicka in the Imperial City."
That caused my father's bearded face to harden with annoyance. "All power... no knowledge," he grumbled hoarsely.
"Let me go. It will confuse her if you don't. She may refrain from attacking the bow," I proffered, crossing my arms over my chest, which was now adorned in a heavy ebony plate inlaid with purple and gold filigree. My family's cloak... I had long since given that to Tora. Useless for me, after all.
"Don't know her... like I do," Father retorted, though part of me suspected he simply wished to see this through in one form or another. He absently tightened his Daedric armor, which had the large Dragon symbol on its chest, before turning and picking up his Daedric helmet, a custom helm with a golden crown growing from the top and a golden sun etched into the face to make it more 'Aedric' than 'Daedric.'
I wanted to say something in response, but I didn't have anything. I didn't know her like he did. "I withdraw my request," I grumbled before giving a soft bow. "Primus."
"I am sorry... my son."
I turned and stomped away, rage simmering under my skin. He was going to die on that mountain, leaving me without any parents, an orphan in charge of an Empire that would be losing a war to a new god. And besides, if she didn't die now, I would be killed for the bow any day.
And that leads me back to now, with my back to the Thousand Steps, defending it from evil. I had not yet seen the Aldmeri monster, but that didn't mean she wasn't coming. Her dragon had engaged Durnehviir above the mountain some time ago, and were still trying to tear each other apart. Me? Stuck with the same Vampire. I jumped forward, slashing the sword out of its hand before lashing out with a Sunball that turned its head to ash and continued on to leave a horrible burn on the shoulder of another that one of our soldiers was dealing with, giving her more than enough time to take it out.
I ran past him towards Tora and blocked an ax rushing at her back, shoving the Vampire assaulter back before decapitating him. "Having fun?" I asked while she slammed her ax into her opponent's face, sending blood, brain, and bone flying everywhere. It bathed her advanced steel plate, turning it red.
"Ha ha ha! More!" she shouted to the Vampires, causing a few to jump back in fear, rethinking their attacks.
"There's your answer," Athyn stated, his mage robes flashing with the power of Ebonyflesh as he unleashed flame spells upon the Vampires. "Though, I now think that you expected that."
"Really?" I asked with a laugh.
"I dunno, I think he's surprised!" Fen shouted as he literally disarmed a Thrall.
"Still wallowing about – er, the Emperor?" Niramo inquired, his standard issue Legionnaire light armor scratched and covered in other people's blood.
"I'm not wallowing!" I shouted defensively. I struck at another Vampire, slicing through her wrist, catching her blade, and burying it in her chest."I'm... Gah!"
"Articulate," Tora mocked in a brief moment of sanity.
"This is getting old," I growled.
"Then let's just follow him."
I cast a confused glare at Fen. "Just what?"
"Follow him," Fen repeated. He took a momentary breath. "It'll be fun."
"It would be a better fight," Tora said manically.
I shook my head. "He said to stay."
Athyn even scoffed at that. "And you're planning on listening?"
"I – I mean – Just shut up and follow me," I grumbled, turning and carving my way through the battlefield with my friends at my back.
Tora laughed and ran ahead of me, slashing down our enemies with little effort."Yes!"
Fahiil
Thera
The battle below had just started when I climbed upon Odahviing's back, the dragon growling angrily as the screams of death began to ring out. "Anxious for battle, then?" I asked him while I began to attach my specially made dragon riding armor to his scales. The thin but sturdy layers of enchanted dragon scales likely gave Odahviing pause, but the spoils of war with those that challenged me were my right to wield. He would have to cope.
"To rake my claws across the Blades that murdered me is a dream I have yet to make reality, Dovahkiin," he replied, lips curled back to form a massive snarl.
Babette ignored the dragon, instead opting glance up at me. The giant spiders, mutated by magic and deadly poisons, chittered as she said, "The bow rests at the top of the mountain. As you requested last night, I sent the signal to our agent in the monastery. The monks should pose no challenge upon your return."
"Very good, Babette," I complimented her earnestly. I looked over and smirked. Over the past decades she had become the closest thing to an acquaintance I had ever had, something that confused me because of her human heritage. "Tonight we will dine on the blood of a Dragonborn."
"With how you describe the taste... I must admit that I am excited," the child Vampire said, licking her lips.
I had to agree, salivating at the thought. The unique fire of Dragonborn blood was a flavor that I wished I could savor forever, but disappointingly it was likely never to appear again for me to feast upon. Perhaps once I mantled the King of Gods I would send some to my most loyal of worshipers. "After the battle, I think we should let the soldiers choose from those that surrender. Any blood they desire," I said, nodding slowly. I turned my head back to the mountain. "You will be sending the secondary squad up to catch him from behind, of course."
"I have a squadron all picked out. Former Dawnguard that underwent the Breaking like Isran. None are quite as effective, but they are still very dangerous," Babette affirmed.
"Good... now, it's time to make me a god. Odahviing."
"Yes, Thu'ri," the Dragon agreed with a half bow before tensing his massive wings and pushing us off the ground, soaring higher and higher until the air grew cold and I had to pull my scarf and cloak around my face, the chill even biting into my undead bones.
The dragon I sat upon slowed and began to flap in place. "Thu'ri, something smells... wrong. I am unsure what it could -"
Odahviing was cut off, a mass of oozing gray slamming into our right flank. I pulled out a dagger and sliced through one of the cables holding me to Odahviing so I could lean back, barely managing to dodge the massive jaws that slammed shut in front of me. "Ruth! Unviig rek!" the dripping creature hissed as it turned its jaws on me again. Purple energy began to coil in its throat, Words forming on its tongue. Odahviing reacted first, however, burying his teeth in this creature's neck. The energy died and the creature shrieked in rage, raking its hind claws into Odahviing so they could move away from one another.
"Ah... Durnehviir. Daal mey. The fool returns," Odahviing rumbled beneath me. I moved my dagger to cut off the other rope, having just noticed we hung a large distance above my desired location. The wind was wild, rapid. It would have to do. "I thought you had become a slave, stripped of your kah Dov."
"The only slave I see is you, Odahviing. Always so young, so quick to bow. You never had any pride," Durnehviir retorted, his dripping flesh making his grin even more disturbing. "More a lizard than a Dov."
Odahviing snarled and breathed in. "YOL TOOR SHUL!" he snapped, burning flames echoing forth from his throat. Duurnehviir dropped down, twisting out of the attack's path.
"Kill him, would you?" I ordered Odahviing as I stood up on his back.
Odahviing smirked. "That was the plan, Thu'ri." Then he angled to the side and tossed me off his body. I growled and plummeted down, out of control for a moment because of how the dragon had tossed me.
I snarled and reached into myself, forcing blood to pour out of my pores and my second skin to open. My wings spread wide, not truly doing anything, though once the magic kthat pumped through my veins finally reached its peak, the energy spread across my wings. The air caught the thin membrane of power, letting me drift down to the mountain at a pace that, while fast, was not deadly. I glanced around, catching sight of the roaring dragons crashing into one another, clawing and biting in an attempt to exterminate their opponent.
I hit the ground, snow exploding around me. Blood stained the white when I made the decision to pull my second skin around me once more, giving my body resistance to the brilliant power of Sun that the Bow would give out when I touched it. I looked around and, quickly found the weapon. It glowed so bright and with such heat that the snow around it melted away, leaving grass that should not exist to grow beneath it. I scoffed and walked towards it, wrapping my hand around the Bow's grip.
"Today the Bow and my Jokaar. Tomorrow a Daughter. Then the gods themselves," I whispered, fingers tracing along the weapon as it hissed and pulled against me.
Well, I suppose it was time to pay the monks a visit. I could use a snack before killing the Slave. I wrapped the Bow around my shoulders and placed a hand on the Imperial Pendant that graced my neck, spoils of my assassination from so long ago.
Jul
Lucius
When my allies and I entered the huge monastery atop the mountain, the first thing that hit us was the smell. Blood, so much blood. It didn't take long for us to see it, filling every crack between every stone. Flesh was strewn about, fingers, toes, and more just... there, a silent threat. I readied Dawnbreaker in front of me and motioned for the Blades with me to look for survivors while Bryn and I remained at the front door. One of the groups screamed not long after, but were quickly silenced. I readied a spell of the Sun in my off hand and aimed it at the corridor the screams had come from.
"Ah, Lucius," Thera said, stepping into the doorway with a young man dressed in Greybeards robes at her side. An initiate... with golden eyes. "You're just in time."
She leaped towards me, her twin blades flashing. "Kill him," I ordered Delphine and Bryn as I unleashed my Sunbeam towards the Vampire queen. She twisted out of the way, though the distraction gave my friends the time they needed to rush past her and engage the other Vampire. As my blade collided with Thera's, I hoped the other Blades would realize they should not cross blades with Thera.
I shoved back and twisted my blade around her defenses, trying to bury Dawnbreaker in her throat. She twisted her head to the side, then brought her blades up and around to disarm me. I brought my foot up and slammed it into her gut, keeping her blades from hitting me and forcing her a step back, giving me time to spin and bring my sword down at her shoulder. She deflected it and countered, only for her attack to meet Dawnbreaker. "What's the matter?" she asked as she pushed against me. "You're looking out of breath. Is it a sore throat?"
I snarled and shoved back, knowing that I couldn't talk back in the way I wanted to. I had to save my energy for the battle. I pressed forward, blade twirling and sparking as it clashed against those Dragonbone blades in her hands. She scoffed and easily avoided my next blow, spinning so fast that I could barely react as my helmet was knocked right off my head. I gasped in pain when the metal clanged against my head and the world went blurry. I threw my free hand up to my head, casting a healing spell to try and clear it. "This is just depressing. Killing you is too easy. I didn't even need to bring my slaves." The door opened behind me. Her grin widened as I cast a glance over my shoulder, finding myself face to face with multiple former members of the Dawnguard.
"No, you didn't -"
I froze as a cold feeling spread throughout my body, starting from the wound in my throat. "Of course I did," Thera said from beside me, her sword piercing my throat. "And it was easy."
The door flew open again, spells exploding through the doorway before the Dawnguard slaves could react, turning the Vampires to ash. "Father, we're – NO!"
My eyes met those of my only child, and my heart fell. I had never wanted him to see what I saw as a boy, my mother and father killed in front of me. And yet, here he was. Having seen both. I staggered towards him, Thera letting go of the blade in my throat and laughing as I collapsed at my son's feet. "Your fake child is here, now? I have to say, it is a pretty good fake. Has the same eyes as your dead whore."
I grabbed my son's ankle and pulled him down to me. "Son... I -"
"You can't die, you can't die! No, I killed Mom, I can't kill you too!" He said, throwing himself to the ground and grabbing my shoulders. He lifted my head up to his, gingerly avoiding the blade still sticking out of my body. I smiled. He blamed himself? I pulled a dagger from his hip.
I tried to tell him the truth, that it wasn't him, but I couldn't speak. I wrapped his hand around mine on the dagger. He stared into my eyes. "N-no, I -"
I wished that I could tell him all the things that I wanted to say. I wanted to show him that I loved him, that I avoided him because it was me that was at fault. I killed his mother because I was weak. It was my fault she was not around for him, that his world had been torn apart. That he could never see the Skaal again, banished as he was for my actions. I wanted to hug him tight, and lie. Tell him it would be okay. That he would be a man with a happy life. But his life wouldn't be. It was cursed, just as mine was, to be that which was sent to protect others, to suffer so all of Tamriel would not. It would be hard. He would risk his love, his life, everyone he cares about for his world. He would have to sacrifice everything he loved. Even me.
"Can't... be... hers. You... Drag...on...b..." I felt the world slipping away, forcing me to fight off the Darkness. "My... fault. I love... you..." Then I buried the blade in my eye, the world disappearing with the swirling of Souls.
And then the pain was gone, the world was gone, replaced with Light. "Ah, Dragonborn. It's been too long. Tell me... have you completed your son?"
I turned to the massive Nordic god smiling down at me. "It wasn't my song. Never was, Housecarl of Shor." I turned away from him and stared up at the swirling skies. "I wish you the best, my Son. When you get here, decades from now I hope, I will have your mother waiting. I swear it."
Then I turned back to Tsun, drawing the simple steel sword that had come into being at my side. "I suppose we should begin our test."
"A test you long since passed." He smiled sadly at me. "Or do you not remember our past? Regardless, O Dragon blooded one, your oldest friends await. To find Lydia, Isran, and more just keep your path across the bridge straight. Your rest is here, so have no fear. Drink, eat, fight, be merry. No longer do you need to be weary."
"Hah... I missed your poetry, Tsun." I sheathed my blade, letting a sad grin come to my face. "I hope Lydia doesn't kill me for dying."
