Interlude: Firstborn of Akatosh

The accursed Kel sent Alduin adrift through time itself. Foolish Tongues. As firstborn of the God of Time, it only made Alduin stronger. Yet even with this strength, he could not free himself. He experienced all of time: eternity and the briefest moment, the shortest heartbeat, both combined into one confusing paradox. The only constant was himself.

After centuries as overlord of Tamriel, this exile through time reminded Alduin of his purpose: the World-Eater. His father Akatosh had the world undergo cycles, and Alduin's true purpose was to end each. In theory so it would begin again with the next world, but Alduin revelled in the power of his purpose. World-Eater and soul eater. Those precious souls in Sovngarde, his to devour. Let the next kalpa take care of itself. He cared nothing for it besides renewing his supply of souls, and there would be plenty from Nirn.

Time finally released His firstborn. Alduin emerged from the wound left in time, right where he had last been in Keizaal. On the summit of what mortals called the Throat of the World, where all of his dominion was visible from the peak—

"YOL TOOR SHUL!" Fire enveloped him. Yet the hottest dragon fire could only warm him. But it inflamed Alduin that a dovah dared violate tradition and speak first.

"You dare speak first?! I am the eldest—" Angry words died on his tongue. Alduin caught sight of the weathered features he only vaguely recognise as what had been the second eldest of all dragons: Paarthurnax. His wings, ragged. One horn on his chin broken. For a long moment he stared.

"How long did the accursed Kel exile your rightful Thuri?" Alduin demanded.

"Too long and yet never long enough, Zeymah." Paarthurnax roared the last word in his face.

Alduin roared right back at him: "You dare call me brother, traitor—"

A presence far below distracted him. Alduin turned his head, looking towards where he sensed it. A soul he had not felt since…

Miraak.

Had he returned to more than one traitor? The murderous Dovahkiin had fled into his temple on Solstheim rather than face Alduin, long ago now. Had Vahlok not dealt with him? No matter. Alduin would deal with both Paarthurnax and Miraak.

"I will return for more tinvaak, Paarthurnax, and my teeth at your throat. I have something far more urgent to deal with than an old dovah." Alduin took off with the last snarled word, leaving Paarthurnax behind him. Let him remain on his strunmah. For now.

Alduin soared through the skies of Keizaal, swooping down from the Throat of the World to where he felt Miraak's presence, within a mortal settlement under the shadow of the mountain.

As he drew nearer, Alduin felt the presence more clearly. It was not Miraak. No, it was another with a soul much like his. Another Dovahkiin. Not as powerful. Not yet. But the mortal had potential, as one blessed with the soul and blood of a dovah should.

Alduin landed on a tower overlooking this new Dovahkiin. He glared down at the mortal. He or she? Alduin found it hard to tell men and women apart by sight. His father Akatosh had made the dragons in His image. There were no females. Alduin breathed in. Scent told him this Dovahkiin was female. Miraak's counterpart, truly. Or would be. If she lived to fulfil her potential. Her head was on a bloodied block, a decapitated mortal's head in a basket next to it. Another mortal stood over her, axe held high.

No, this could not be borne. No mere mortal could be allowed to kill a Dovahkiin. It was Alduin's right to devour her, and only another dragon could be permitted to kill her. He blasted the executioner with his Thu'um, sending him to Sovngarde to await Alduin there.

Then he rained down fiery death on this settlement of mortals who dared attempt to put a Dovahkiin to the death. Several times he saw the fledgling Dovahkiin scrambling around. Several times he had the opportunity to kill her. But no. Let her escape. Let her gain power first. He would deal with her in time… When she was worthy.

Such a waste, that glorious soul inside a weak and short lived body. Pathetic. Insulting. What folly of his father Akatosh… At least Miraak had been one of Alduin's priests, traitor though he was. This one, though? Even more diminutive. But then women were smaller than men, were they not?

Alduin left the burning ruin of the town behind him. He could go back to Paarthurnax now and resume their tinvaak, but he felt something else pulling at him. He followed it to a burial mound in the south-east of Keizaal. The soul within called to him.

How dare they! The mortals dared kill his faithful servants, his sworn brothers! Then they encased them within the earth, as if that would stop their resurrection. Niid. No, it would not. He would follow the pull of their souls and find every single one of his zeymah. Then he would bring them back, one by one. Paarthurnax could wait.

The mortals would soon remember that they were made to be ruled and devoured, in life and in Sovngarde. Let the Dovahkiin try to stop him. She was no match for him, not yet.

Alduin travelled throughout Keizaal, finding every dovah burial mound. He recognised each soul within, knew which name to call; only by name could he Shout each of them back. If he so desired, he could have devoured the souls. But he did not. It was one thing to devour a mortal's soul, quite another to do so to one of his own brothers. Only a Dovahkiin like Miraak would sink so low… and this new Dovahkiin, growing in power by feasting on dragon souls.

Alduin felt a rare moment of doubt. Perhaps he should have killed her when he had the chance, or allowed the mortals to execute her. But no. His father Akatosh would not have wished it, and even now he followed His will, at least in this. For now. Unless he defied Him…

He was on the way to resurrecting a fallen dovah when a golden opportunity for such defiance walked below him: the Dovahkiin. Alduin swooped low, jaws open wide. Akatosh could provide him with another Dovahkiin to face. He had felt the dovah sos call faintly from other mortals, watered down by centuries of mingling. His great father could elevate one of them.

The Dovahkiin heard him coming too late, turning to face him. Her eyes widened, seeing her death in his maw. His jaws snapped shut. His teeth clacked together. Empty?! He realised what he had seen right before taking his defiant bite: another mortal appearing out of nowhere, diving at the Dovahkiin to push her out of harm's way. Was this his father's will, robbing him of the satisfaction of consuming the Dovahkiin when she was not yet strong enough to fight back?

Alduin flew on to perch on a fortress where his servant had fallen. He Shouted his servant's soul back into his body, knitting torn flesh back together, resurrecting one of his dovah. He ordered him to kill the mortals and prove himself Alduin's champion.

Alduin watched the Dovahkiin approach. He resisted the temptation to stay and mock her beyond a greeting he did not mean. He had other servants to resurrect. Before the Dovahkiin could reach them and take their souls, rendering them impossible to bring back. He could have remained and eaten every mortal there of course, but they were beneath his notice. There was his father's will to contend with too. It was clear: leave the Dovahkiin for now. Her fate lay elsewhere and elsewhen.

For the Dovahkiin was still not his equal. Her soul shone ever brighter with every dovah she devoured. Soon she would be a worthy opponent, only then would he approach her for battle. She would fall to him, as was her destiny, and he would consume her soul. Their last defender gone, he would kill every mortal on Tamriel. Then he would venture through the portal at Skuldafn to devour the souls in Sovngarde. Finally he would return and perform his duty as World-Eater and consume Nirn.

Time flowed onward. His father's eye, the sun, rose and set many times. Alduin raised more dragons than the Dovahkiin consumed. Yet she conquered more dov and devoured more souls. He felt it with each one, one less dovah at his command. Gone forever. Was this truly his father's will? For His mortal daughter to wipe out most of His immortal sons? Or would they be freed once the Dovahkiin fell? Miraak, curse him, had fled before Alduin could try to free the souls of the dov killed by him.

The day finally dawned when the Dovahkiin became worthy of battle. Night had fallen when Alduin felt the disturbance in the flow of time. He snarled. The Kel! The accursed Kel! She had used it! She must know Dragonrend. This was what he had been waiting for? That accursed twisted Shout to be known once more?! He had hoped it had been lost with the deaths of the mortals who blasphemed by making it. Alduin cursed himself for not ensuring the Dovahkiin died before she could learn it. His father was against him in this; he should not have trusted in the will of Akatosh.

Alduin had been on his way to raise a dragon he had sensed in the far north-east on Solstheim. He wheeled about, abandoning his quest. His secondary purpose would have to wait too; checking for any signs of Miraak's return.

He soared higher and higher in the skies of Keizaal until he was level with the peak of the Throat of the World. Even at this distance his keen sight discerned the Dovahkiin holding the Kel. He roared a challenge, yet the Dovahkiin did not even blink. Beside her stood a taller mortal, the same one who had kept the Dovahkiin from his jaws. Perched on the Word Wall near them was the traitor dovah, Paarthurnax. Alduin found himself glad that Miraak had not returned to ally with this new Dovahkiin. But then Miraak's treachery had been different, and he did not seem the sort to accept allies. No, Miraak wanted slaves. Miraak wanted to be Thuri. Miraak had been corrupted.

Alduin's wings fast closed the distance between him and his foes. He hovered before them. He could feel something different about the Dovahkiin's mortal companion. A woman? He sniffed the air, bringing the scent to him. A woman, yes. But also a vampire. Still mortal compared to a dovah.

He glanced at Paarthurnax and blinked at the Word Wall. Strange, it had been unfinished the last time Alduin had seen it on emerging from the Time-Wound. Now he could hear the whispers of Words of Power from it. Fire Breath.

The vampire stepped in front of the Dovahkiin, spells gathering in her palms. Alduin ignored her. No mortal could cast spells of any concern to him.

The Dovahkiin looked up and dropped the Elder Scroll, drawing her sword.

"Bahloki nahkip sillesejoor. My belly is full of the souls of your fellow mortals, Dovahkiin," Alduin taunted. That he had not been to Skuldafn and its portal to Sovngarde since his return to Tamriel she need not know. "Die now and—"

She dared interrupt him, in the worst possible way. "JOOR ZAH FRUL!" Her Voice was contorted with hatred, as those of his old enemies had been. The shockwave of the blast of those twisted words crashed into him, cramping his wings. He fell to the mountain top below, senseless to anything but his torment.

Some distant part of him acknowledged her Thu'um was greater than the Tongues of old, grounding him with her single Voice alone when it took three before, but then she was Dovahkiin when they were mere Tongues.

He trembled in the snow, struck by the cold as he had been only once before. His other senses returned to him, weakened by that accursed Shout. But weakened or not, he could sense the hate and anger in the Dovahkiin swell after using Dragonrend. Clearly it was not without consequence for her too.

'May it twist her will to power so that she loses her mind to it.'

"Lost funt. You are too late, Alduin!" Paarthurnax said, his words muffled by the snow coating Alduin. "Now, Dovahkiin! Now he is vulnerable."

Alduin raised his head from the snow and shook it off. Every movement hurt, his very bones aching. He could hear the Dovahkiin and her companion approaching, but he still had time for tinvaak with Paarthurnax before they reached him on their puny mortal legs.

"Suleyki mulaag, Paarthurnax. My power has waxed, while yours has waned," Alduin said, not allowing his boiling inner rage to show in his voice. "Aav uv dir. Join me or perish with your mortal friends."

"Unslaad hokoron! Never again!" Paarthurnax said. Unending enemy, was it? So be it.

"Then perish, traitor." Alduin heaved himself up on his wings. Unfortunately not into the air; the abhorrent Shout still grounded him. No, he had to move on his wings as if they were the limbs of a mortal. Humiliating! They would all pay for this. Every mortal on Nirn.

The mortals reached him a little sooner than he expected. An irritation. The Dovahkiin slashed at him with her sword. To Alduin's surprise it penetrated his hide. Not even the ancient Tongues managed to hurt him, not physically. Not even Miraak had dared try. Perhaps no other weapon had been able to; he felt a twisted enchantment on it. Still, it was the merest cut. The surprise hurt more than the wound.

The vampire hurled spells at him, shards of ice. Alduin did not even blink, confident that they could not harm him. They bounced off his eye. The most they did was make him itch. He laughed, mocking the foolish vampire. She was no Dovahkiin. She could not harm him, it was not her fate. The vampire tried some lightning next. Alduin roared his annoyance. It only tickled, but he did not like the feeling.

Paarthurnax swooped down low overhead, claws and teeth raking the top of Alduin's head. He snapped up at the traitor; his teeth missed their mark. Paarthurnax moved swiftly even on age withered wings.

Alduin looked away from Paarthurnax, realising he was trying to distract him. Let Paarthurnax try to swoop down on him. It did not matter. His traitor brother had no true power in this fight. Nor did the vampire. The Dovahkiin was the main threat.

Alduin lashed out at the Dovahkiin, knocking her head over heels with a blow from his wing, drawing blood with the claw there. She lay there on the ground, senseless for a moment. Alduin lunged forward. One bite would do it—

"No!"

The vampire got in the way. She was transformed into a larger form, more bestial, still puny compared to him. Her claws sunk into his lower jaw. The audacity! How dare this beast touch the Thuri of all true dov?!

The vampire pushed, her feet digging ruts into the snow. She slowly pushed his head away from the Dovahkiin. How dare she get between him and his rightful prey? He glowered balefully at her.

She reacted to his glare by raking her claws up to his eye. He doubted she had the strength to gouge it out, but her intent was clear. The attempt could not be permitted. He shook his head violently, shaking off the impudent vampire. A blow from his wing knocked her flying into the Word Wall. To his satisfaction she left a dent in it when she fell to the ground. She shrunk back into her original smaller form, coughed up blood, and slumped to the snow. Not dead; she still breathed.

He turned back to the Dovahkiin to find her glowing with golden healing magic. She pushed herself up onto her feet, sword in hand. "Your hide is mine, worm!" she snarled. "You'll never touch her again."

Interesting. Knocking the vampire out provoked such an interesting protest. What would slaying the vampire do?

Alduin flapped his wings, attempting to take off. When that only sent snow flying into the Dovahkiin's face, he pushed his way like a beast crawling on the land towards the Word Wall, intent on tasting undead flesh.

"No! Leave her alone, you bastard! JOOR ZAH FRUL!"

The renewed Shout made him feel even weaker. Everything ached more. Flight was far beyond him for now. His hide seemed weakened too; the Dovahkiin's sword bit to the bone in his tail.

Alduin roared and twisted around to face her, almost ripping the sword from her hands. He snapped at it. He could break the blade, or at least forcibly disarm her… If it took her hands off too, so much the better. The accursed sword! It inflicted a scorching cut on the roof of his mouth and chipped his teeth. Alduin roared his agony.

Paarthurnax swooped overhead again, clawing and snapping at Alduin. This time Alduin managed to bite at his tail in passing, but with his wounded mouth he could not hold on. At his best he would have ripped Paarthurnax to pieces by now. He would have devoured the Dovahkiin, body and soul. With the pain of Dragonrend wracking him, the most he could do was nip. The embarrassment was almost more painful than anything else.

Alduin raised his head to the heavens and unleashed his most lethal Shout; that which destroyed the mortal town. Meteor Storm. Yet even his Shouts were weakened by Dragonrend - the falling rocks were smaller and fewer of them fell. Still, he had the satisfaction of seeing them bombard his troublesome younger-yet-far-older brother, and one of them almost struck the Dovahkiin's head. If only it had been a little closer…

"LOK VAH KOOR!" Paarthurnax's Clear Skies put an end to Alduin's Meteor Storm, the earthshaking rumble of his Thu'um almost knocking Alduin off his bracing wings into the snow. The Dovahkiin fell to one knee.

Alduin felt the hold of Dragonrend on him ebbing, the ache lessening. Soon he would have his revenge…

"Dovahkiin, zu'u Thuri! Zu'u—" Alduin paused his stalling mockery at seeing irritation in the Dovahkiin's eyes. He contemptuously switched to mostly Tamrielic, as if mistaking her reaction for incomprehension. "Krosis. You still cannot speak as the dov do, my false Dovahkiin." Yet even as he said the words, Alduin knew they were not true. This Dovahkiin's powers were every bit as real as Miraak's had been.

Miraak. Alduin ground his teeth. The traitor priest, formerly his favourite. The only mortal with the soul of a dragon. The only one until this new Dovahkiin.

The Dovahkiin took advantage of his distraction. She launched herself at him, sword point first. She hacked away at him. Black scales showered the snow and soon bright red blood splattered the whiteness. Alduin stared. His blood. Was this a sign? Could he actually be vanquished? Was this Dovahkiin his dovahkriid?

The next thrust pierced his chest, angling for his heart. Alduin roared, his tail thrashing. He felt the brush of mortality, of death itself. Incomprehensible yet inexorable. Until the blade stopped short, the Dovahkiin striving to finish the death blow, the sword halting against some unseen force each time.

"Void take it!" cursed the Dovahkiin. She tried to hack through his neck next, more black scales flying and blood dripping until the unseen force stilled her blade.

Alduin laughed, blood trickling from his teeth. "Meyz Mul, Dovahkiin. You have become strong. But I am Alduin, Firstborn of Akatosh! Mulaagi zok lot! I cannot be slain here, by you or anyone else! You cannot prevail against me. I will outlast you… mortal!"

Dragonrend released him, yet the hurts he had received under its power sorely tried him. Much as he wanted to snap the Dovahkiin up in his jaws, he knew he needed to save his strength for the flight to Skuldafn. He needed to heal, needed to feast on his birthright. Souls would restore him. Mortal souls.

Alduin took to the air. He paused long enough for one last taunt: "I will await you in Sovngarde, feasting on the souls of the honoured dead. Find me there if you can before I return, stronger than now. Strong enough to return every wound you have inflicted on me. I shall devour you twice, Dovahkiin: flesh and soul."

He wheeled about, heading east before he remembered to lay a false trail. It would not do for Paarthurnax to remember Skuldafn lay in the direction he first took. At least his traitor brother showed no signs of following him, remaining on his strunmah. Let him. Alduin would return for revenge once his hurts were healed and his strength bolstered. For now he had a long flight ahead on weary wings, his wounds still bleeding.

He roared his rage, stifling it to a hiss when blood poured from the wound to his neck.

'My teeth to the Dovahkiin's throat! Next time she will die. It is her fate.'

He had lost this battle but the final victory would be his.

AN: Thanks to Gaunty for alpha reading. For the ease of readers not fluent in Dovahzul, Alduin's inner monologue and words have largely been translated.