Author's note: Hey guys! It's been a while, I know, but I've had school projects, midterms and internship interviews breathing down my neck for a while. I've finally managed to get away from all of that long enough for me to finish this next chapter. Enjoy! I don't own Skyrim.
The Elder Scroll
I must have gotten better at this, because by the time we reached the top of High Hrothgar, my legs were not screaming as they did before. Lydia and I had traveled as fast as we could from Karthspire. It had taken us a day and a half to get to High Hrothgar. I pushed open the door and Lydia and I stepped into the torchlit warmth of the temple. I looked around for Arngeir, but none of the Graybeards were in sight. "They're probably praying." Lydia suggested. We went down corridor on the left to find Arngeir and several Graybeards kneeling in a row.
"Wind guard you." He greeted me from his position. "How can we be of service to you, Dragonborn?"
"I need to learn a new Shout." I told him.
"Certainly." Arngeir responded. "The Art of the Thu'um is open to the Dragonborn. What do you seek? The ability to change the weather? Detecting all that is hidden from you? Speaking to animals?"
"I need to learn the Shout that was used to defeat Alduin." Arngeir's face went dark and his pleasant demeanor vanished.
"Where did you learn of that?" He demanded coldly. "Who have you been talking to?"
"I learned of it from the records on Alduin's wall." I replied, a little taken aback by Arngeir's sudden cold demeanor. Shite, I hope he won't throw me out, I thought "The Blades!" Arngeir spat. "So you know them?" I asked innocently. "They specialize in meddling in matters they barely understand." He answered, seething. "Their reckless arrogance knows no bounds! They have always sought to turn the Dragonborn from the path of wisdom."
"Turn me?" I nearly shouted. "They need my help! People are in danger because Alduin is back! He is bringing the dragons back from the grave and wreaking havoc upon innocent lives. You would rather I stand idly by?"
"Have you learned nothing from us?" Arngeir rose in anger. "Would you simply be a tool in the hands of the Blades to be used for their own purposes? They are not helping this land! They only seek to destroy what they cannot understand! Killing every dragon that has ever lived will solve nothing! Our order is founded on the teachings that we have learned from Dragonborn and dragons alike, and they would seek to tear it to pieces! They will twist and turn you to suit their purposes and you would be an empty shell of a man doing their bidding. You're just a weapon to them!"
"Even still," I responded, "innocents are in danger. I understand what this place stands for and I am grateful for all that you have given me. But I must defend this land from the dragons that are destroying it. The Blades are helping me with this task. I am not their puppet. Do you doubt me?"
"No, no, of course not." Arngeir began to calm down. "Forgive me, Dragonborn. I have been intemperate with you."
"All is forgiven, Wise Master." I said with a smile. Arngeir returned the smile in thanks, but dropped it a second later.
"But heed my warning." He said."The Blades may say that they serve the Dragonborn, but they do not. They never have and never will." I nodded in respect.
We began to walk down the corridor, all of the other Graybeards and Lydia trailing behind us. "So can you teach me the Shout?" I asked.
"No." Arngeir said sadly. I opened my mouth to speak, but he raised his hand to stop me. "I cannot teach it to you, because I do not know it."
"What?"
"It is called 'Dragonrend', but its Words of Power are unknown to us." He continued. "We do not regret this loss. Dragon rend holds no place within the Way of the Voice."
"So there's no way I can learn this Shout?" I asked in depression.
"Only Paarthurnax, the master of our order, can answer that question." Arngeir replied. "If he so chooses."
"Paarthurnax?" I echoed. I looked around the other Graybeards for this master of theirs. "Why haven't I met him yet?"
"You weren't ready." Arngeir told me sternly. He paused. "You still aren't ready." He sighed "But thanks to the Blades, you have vital questions only Paarthurnax can answer."
"Where is he?" I asked, still looking around for this mysterious leader of theirs.
"He lives in seclusion." Arngeir answered. "At the very peak of the mountain." He turned to face me. "He speaks to us only rarely, and never to outsiders. Being allowed to see him is a great privilege." He opened the great doors to the courtyard of their temple, where I last learned the speed Shout. The snow and wind roared in my ears and all around us as we approached a gate beyond the courtyard that led to a slope up the mountain.
"Is this how I get to the top of the mountain?" I shouted over the noise of the roaring blizzard.
"More than that." Arngeir answered. "Only those who've mastered the way of the voice can enter and reach the peak safely. We will teach you a new Shout in order to do so." Arngeir looked down at the ground and whispered, "Lok… Vah… Kor." Instantly, words I have come to recognize as the Shouts appeared in the ground. As always, the letters burned into my mind so that I may call upon them. "I have granted you my understanding of Clear Skies. This is your final gift from us, Dragonborn. Use it well." He began to walk up the steps towards the slopes of the mountain was the wisps glowed around him and latched on to me for the use of Clear Skies. "The Thu'um will remove the mist for only a while at a time. The path ahead is perilous. We wish you the best of luck."
He turned to see Lydia trailing behind me, and his demeanor shifted instantly. "No" He said sternly. Lydia and I stopped in our tracks. "We are already allowing one outsider to see Paarthurnax, I will not allow another."
"He is my Thane." Lydia responded just as sternly. "Where he goes, I follow."
"No." Arngeir would not budge. "I respect your position in service to the Dragonborn and the loyalty you have to him, but our word is law on this mountain. The Dragonborn goes alone." Lydia scowled and looked towards me. I glanced at Arngeir and then back at her.
"I hate to leave you, Lydia." I began. "But I need to learn-"
"Stop." Lydia put her hand on my lips. "I understand fully. Just come back in one piece."
"I promise." I responded and began walking up the steps, hoping she didn't see my blush at her touch.
The way was blocked by howling wind so strong, that I was pushed back when I got too close. This must be why I was given the Shout, I thought. I took a deep breath. "LOK… VAH… KOR!" The skies grew quiet around me and the wind stopped howling. I could now see the path before me. I stepped forward and began my journey upwards.
I don't know how long I've been climbing, but I began to wonder if there really was a top to this mountain. Every now and then, the skies would grow dark and I would have to Shout again to clear them, else the strong winds would toss me over the mountain's side like a child's toy. in addition to the climb and foreboding winds, There were some sort of elemental spirits made entirely of ice and a few mountain goats who were not shy about ramming me over the edge. Eventually I came to a clearing covered with rocks and snow and a single flag flapping in the breeze. Was this the mountaintop? Suddenly a dragon roar could be heard from above. I looked up to see a yellow dragon flying circles above me. I grabbed my sword, ready for a fight. The dragon glided down and landed only a few feet away from me. I was ready to swing my sword when all of a sudden it spoke. "Drem Yol Lok." It said. "Greetings, wunduniik. I am Paarthurnax." What? The master of the Graybeards was a dragon? And it spoke? "Who are you?" It continued as I lowered my weapon. "What brings you to my strunmah?" I gave a curious look at that last word. "My mountain." It answered, sensing my confusion.
"I am… Will Svennson." I spoke without thinking. "I'm sorry. I… I just didn't expect you to be a dragon." I finally stammered.
"I am as my father, Akatosh, made me." Paarthurnax responded in a playful tone. "As are you… Dovahkiin." Paarthurnax took a few steps closer. "Tell me. Why do you come here, volaan? Why do you intrude on my meditation?" I took a deep breath. This may be the master of the Graybeards, but he was still a dragon. I had no idea what he might do to me.
"I have come to learn the Dragonrend Shout, master." I said, humbly. "Will you teach me?"
"Drum." Paarthutrnax responded gently, but sternly. "Patience. There are formalities which must be observed at the first meeting two of the dov." He turned towards stones that were set like a wall. "By tradition, the elder speaks first. Hear my Thu'um! Feel it in your bones! Match it if you are Dovakhiin! YOL.. TUL… SHAL!" I burst of fire went from his mouth onto the stone wall in the most majestic fashion I had ever seen. "I have spoken. The Romulaag waits." I went over to the wall to see Words of Power scorched into the rock. The words burned into my mind and wisps flashed from behind me. "Now, show me what you can do. Greet me, not as Nord, but as dovah!" I took a deep breath.
"YOL!" Flames shot out of my mouth and all over Paarthurnax's head and scales. I could feel the scorching heat of the flames and it felt like they would melt steel without trouble, but Paarthurnax seemed undisturbed by it and relished in its warmth.
"Ahh yes!" He sighed. "Sossedov los mul. The dragonblood runs strong in you. It is long since I had the pleasure of speech with my own kind." Paarthurnax then took the moment to actually study me as if I were more than I appeared. "So," he finally said, "you have made your way to see me here. No easy task for a joor, a mortal. Even for one of Dovah Sos. Dragonblood. So, what would you ask of me?"
"I need to learn the Dragonrend Shout." I answered firmly. The words Paarthurnax said filled my heart with courage, and his voice was soothing, like hearing stories from Pa again.
"Ahh, I've been expecting you." Paarthurnax responded. "You would not come all this way for a chat with an old dovah. No. You seek your weapon against Alduin."
"So you know it, then?" I asked hopeful.
"I know of it, but I do not know it." Paarthurnax said after pausing for a moment.
"You don't know it?" I asked hysterically.
"Your kind, joore-mortals- created it as a weapon against the dov, the dragons." He answered. "It cannot be known to me. Our minds cannot even comprehend its concepts."
"If you don't know it, how am I going to learn it?" I was distraught. This was our one shot at defeating Alduin. What was I going to tell the Blades? What was I going to tell Lydia?
"You will learn it." Paarthurnax interrupted my thoughts. "All in good time. First, a question for you. Why do you want to learn this Thu'um?" He asked me with such innocence, it was as if he wasn't aware of the danger the world faced.
"I need it to stop Alduin." I answered as-a-matter-of-factly.
"Yes, Alduin." The yellow dragon sighed tiredly. "The elder brother. Gifted, grasping and troublesome as is so often the case with the firstborn." He paused. "But why? Why must you stop Alduin?" This puzzled me. The prophecy said only a Dragonborn could stop him. I told this to Paarthurnax. "True." He pondered. "But prophecy tells what may be, not what should be. Just because you can do a thing, does not always mean that you should." He smirked. "Do you have no better reason for acting than destiny? He taunted. "Are you just a plaything of fate?"
"No!" I shouted in rebellion. "I don't care about fate. I care about this land and the people in it!" I thought of my village, the town of Whiterun, the various places Lydia and I had traveled in the past few weeks, and then Lydia herself. "Destiny does not control me. I will stop Alduin." Paarthurnax said nothing, he just sat there taking in all that I had said. The he smiled.
"Maybe then, prophecy will be fulfilled. Who can say?" Paarthurnax said with a glint in his eyes. "Even so, destiny is elusive. Alduin believes that he will prevail, with good reason. And he is no fool. Far from it. He began as the wisest and most far-seeing of us all." He turned his head back to me. "But I've indulged my weakness for speech long enough. I will answer your question." He gestured to the surrounding pasture. "Do you know why I live here, at the peak of what you call the Throat of the World?"
"Why?"
"This is the most scared mountain in all of Skyrim. The great mountain of the world. Here the ancient Tounges, the first mortal masters of the Voice, brought Alduin to battle and defeated him."
"By using the Dragonrend Shout, right?" I said, catching on.
"Yes and no." Paarthurnax answered mysteriously. "Alduin was not truly defeated. if he was, you would not be here today seeking to defeat him. The Nords of those days used the Dragonrend Shout to cripple Alduin, but this was not enough."
"So how did they stop him?" I asked. "If he wasn't defeated, what happened to him?"
"They used the Kel, the Elder Scroll." He answered. "They used it to cast him adrift on the currents of Time."
"An Elder Scroll?" I was confused. "The old Dragonborn threw Alduin into the future? I don't understand."
"There is a lot for one to understand." Paarthurnax admitted. "I will say this. The Elder Scroll is an item of immense power that does not truly exist in your world. it comes from another outside of Time. You could say that the prophecy that led you here was birthed by this scroll. The Nords did not fully understand the power of the Elder Scroll and what it would do to Alduin. I knew better. Time flows onward, and one day Alduin would reappear. Which is why I live here. Thousands of mortal years. I knew where he would emerge, but not when."
"With all due respect," I said, "how does any of this help me?"
"Time was shattered because of what the Nords did to Alduin." Paarthurnax said. "If you brought that Elder Scroll back here to the Time-Wound, you could use that which broke time, to cast yourself backwards to when Time broke. you could learn the Dragonrend from those that cast it." That was it! That was how I would learn the Dragonrend! It was all coming together! Except…
"Where can I find an Elder Scroll?" I asked Paarthurnax. He looked at me curiously.
"I do not know." He answered. "My knowledge of the world beneath the skies is limited, I'm afraid you are better informed than I. Do you know of anyone who would know of the Elder Scrolls?" I immediately thought of Arngeir and Esbern.
"Yes." I answered. "I think I know of a few."
"Trust you instincts, dovahkiin." Paarthurnax said. "Your blood will show you the way."
"Thank you, master." I bowed before turning to leave. My journey was not over yet.