Failure...

I have failed...

You can't fail when you are a hero.

Every passing day, I am reminded that I can't be a hero. Oh please, can someone just give me a chance?

Selvia lays, eyes closed, paralyzed on a dark, cold floor. Many dead bodies are around and she figures that she is next. A person with a knife comes up to her and kneels down beside her.

"Some hero you are. You have failed to save many. You have failed to stop me. You have failed. What made you think that you can become a hero without making an enemy?" The person said, taunting.

Selvia opens her eyes and sees a woman she has not seen before. The woman looked Imperial, with dark blonde hair with red eyes.

Vampire...

"How could I have made an enemy with you if I don't even know you?" Selvia asks.

The woman chuckled, "Oh, you don't need to know someone to make an enemy with them. But let me entertain you before finishing you off. Want to know why I hate you? Heroes are always a bother and it irks me so when they go after the one thing that is mine." The woman looks sternly at Selvia, as if wanting Selvia to answer or say something, but Selvia doesn't. The woman just gives off a sigh. "You were always a trouble keeping track of. You and your luck gets in my way. The item that is mine is the one thing that can turn any person into a Mary Sue."

"What's..." Selvia starts, "what's a 'Mary Sue'?"

"You'll find out later. But now it's time to wake up."

What?

"Yes, you are asleep. When you wake up, just go back home. Do us both a favor." The woman picks up Selvia's head by her hair and puts the knife on Selvia's neck.

"Wait!" Selvia exclaims.

But it was too late, and the knife quickly comes sliding.

Normally, Selvia would get abruptly wakened by someone else, but this time, it was by herself. That dream jolted her awake.

It felt so real. And how did she know I was asleep? I thought people in dreams are how I perceive them...

Selvia's vision clears as she wakes up more. She looks around the room they had rented at an inn. As she sits up, she sees both Hodlin and Allimir staring at her. "Is everything ok?" Hodlin asks, looking a bit worried.

"Uh, yes. Everything's fine. Why?" She replied, looking confused.

"You were mumbling in your sleep, and it sounded like you weren't having a good dream." Allimir said, looking bored as usual.

"I'm fine." Selvia put on the same bored expression Allimir had, which made him a bit annoyed.

"Shall we continue on our current 'quest'?" Hodlin asks.

"Uh, yeah. Let's go." Selvia says, getting up.

Because of some money issues, they had to share a room. They all decided that Selvia would get the bed and the two men get the chairs that were in the room. Their current quest that they were doing was to clear out a tomb of dragur, and they were getting paid a lot of money for it. They got their stuff together and head out to the tomb. It was a nameless tomb, just another building that held dead bodies of ancient Nords. It had been about a month since Selvia's first Nordic tomb adventure, so she had a lot of practice in the art of magic.

It didn't take them long to find the nameless tomb. Once they had arrived, and finished searching for any nearby bandits, they went inside. Clearing out the dragur was fast and easy for the group. They advanced more inside the tomb, killing the undead, finding magical items laying about. The group reached the last room of the tomb, but it's different. Of all the rooms in any tomb, there'd be a wall with strange words on it. There would be a more tough dragur waiting for an unsuspecting adventurer to walk in. This room is different.

It was... Bare.

There was nothing in the room except a podium, a treasure chest, and a door leading the way out. The guys just walked past the podium while Selvia lingered around it. A strange book filled with strange words rests upon the top of the podium. Selvia couldn't read what its contents said.

"Hey, is this some weird language or something?" Selvia thought out-loud, still inspecting the book.

A few seconds later, Allimir comes up next to her and looks in the book as Selvia flips through the pages. "It doesn't look familiar. We could maybe take it to the Mages' College and find out what language it is and how to read it." Allimir says, taking the book and putting it in his pack.

"You could have asked for that book, you know," Selvia says, slightly annoyed.

"But I didn't want to," Allimir turns to continue going through the treasure chest.

Selvia just rolled her eyes and walked along.

I'll change him. He'll start treating me better. I'll see to it.

After they were done dividing some of the prizes, they left the tomb to go find the man who gave them that quest to clear it out.

A long walk and then some, they come upon a little cabin in the middle of the woods. With the guys behind Selvia, she approached and knocked on the door. Without missing a beat, the door instantly opened, showing a Dark Elf. "Oh, come in, come in! So glad you came back!" He says, moving out of the way to let the group come in. The group walks in the little cabin and just stood around as the Dark Elf closes the door behind them.

"Did- Did you clear out that tomb of dragur?" He asks.

"We did. It was quite easy." Selvia says.

"Yes, yes, I know. I'm just not skilled in ways of combat. Thank you," He hands each member of the group gold, "Oh, I don't want to be a bother, but... Did you find anything... Useful?"

The group just looked at him, and then Allimir's eyes looked at him narrowly. "What do you mean by useful?" Allimir asked.

"Oh, well, I mean, anything that one can use. Did you find any weapons, potions... Books?" He had said the word "books" as if there was a certain book he was looking for.

Was he looking for the book we found?

After he had said the word, the whole group felt uneasy.

"Well-" Selvia starts.

"No, we didn't." Allimir interrupts Selvia.

The Dark Elf looked at Allimir, not believing him. He was starting to get a little agitated. "Are you sure? Not even some old tomes of magic or anything?"

"We did not find any books. We cleared out the dragur, you paid us, we should get going. If you are looking for a book, try going in the tomb yourself," Allimir says, still narrowly looking at the Dark Elf, "I'm sure it's safe now."

The Dark Elf looked Allimir the same way, then made a sigh like he wasn't going to try to continue. "Fine, leave then. Our business here is done."

He went and opened the door, motioning for the group to get out of his cabin.

The guys starting walking forward before Selvia saw a little booklet in the corner of her eye. It had the same strange words like the book they found.

It's the same language! Do I try to take it?

Hodlin was the first one out the door, and Selvia watches as she realizes that her window of opportunity is closing.

To be hero, I must not harm others. Stealing is wrong. But this Elf didn't seem friendly after Allimir lied to him about the book. Is something being kept from us?

Allimir was the next one to leave. Selvia would have to make up her mind either now or never.

Now or never. Now or never! Be a hero Selvia! Make a choice!

With that, she quickly grabbed the booklet and stuffed it down her pocket before the Dark Elf turned to look at her to tell her that it's her turn to leave. Selvia walked forward, nodded him goodbye, and left the cabin. The Dark Elf shut the door pretty loud once they were all out.

"Well, at least we got paid." Allimir says.

"Selvia stole..." Hodlin says.

Allimir turned and stared at Selvia. "You what?"

Selvia started getting a little nervous. "It- It wasn't so bad, really! He was being really rude to us about not finding a book, but I figured that the book we found was the book he was looking for. Besides, you lied!"

"Yes, we all are not perfect. Now what did you take?"

"A little booklet that has the same words on it as the book..."

Allimir held out his hand, and hesitantly, Selvia gave it to him. Without looking at it, he put it in his pack along with the book.

"Let's just get to Winterhold now, shall we?"

The group turns and leaves the area to go to the College in Winterhold.

They arrived in Winterhold when the sun started to set. They entered the College, and headed straight for the Arcanaeum, where books reside. Allimir has been there before, so he lead the way while Selvia and Hodlin just looked around while they were walking.

I've always wanted to come here! I could learn so much! I could meet other people! I can explore this place! This is too real!

They reached the Arcanaeum, and Allimir told both Selvia and Hodlin to wait while he went to figure out the book.

Hodlin just sat at one of the tables and read whatever book was nearby while Selvia was reading some magic tomes.

There's so much knowledge here! I feel more powerful in my magic than I have been before!

After some time, Selvia has increased her ability in Destruction magic, Restoration magic, and Alteration magic. While reading a completely unrelated book, Allimir finally comes up to them.

"Well, I figured out what it's saying, but not the language." He says. He handed Selvia a translated copy of the first few pages of the book.

"Was it difficult to figure it out?" Hodlin asked.

"Not very, but it would have been more difficult if Selvia hadn't grabbed that booklet from the cabin. According to the book, there is an item that can both help you and destroy you. A desired item to most."

"An item:

The color of gold,

More ancient than the ancient,

One can wear,

It's touch is soft,

Once it's found and donned on,

Both good and evil you can call upon,

And when you think you've had enough,

You can never turn back,

You've gone too far, too deep,

You can't come back,

It has been too late,

And you will soon be facing the Divines' gate..."

As Selvia read the pages, a voice interupts her. "Where and how did you find that book?"

The whole group turns and sees a Nord woman, who just spoke those words. Selvia recognizes the woman.

It's the woman who killed that dragon and took it's soul!

"Do you know this language?" Allimir asked.

"It's the dragon language. I speak it." She said.

"Wait, your name is... Infinite, right?" Selvia asked.

"Yes."

"Infinite? Is that some kind of code name or something?" Allimir asked.

"I'd rather not give out my real name. It's not important. What's more important is the fact that you even have that book," Infinite's eyes narrowed, "It should have been destroyed."

"We found it when clearing out a tomb of dragur." Selvia said, feeling a little uneasy.

"You seem to know a lot about this book," Allimir starts, "Why not tell us more about this item?"

"It's dangerous and evil. One should never wear it. I'd suggest handing me the book so I can burn it. Only few can read the dragon language, and most of them turned down the path of evil."

Allimir held the book in his hands while Infinite held out her hand. Allimir refused. "How can we trust you? Let's say maybe you are saying this so we'd think we are doing the right thing by handing you this book so you can destroy it, only to find out later that you went and found the item youself. Maybe it is a good item to have that you want for yourself. How can we trust you?"

Infinite just stared at Allimir, then just closed her eyes and sighed. "I guess there is no way I can make you trust me. All I can do is hope you believe me."

"I believe you." Hodlin says, who was watching Infinite the whole time. To Selvia, it seemed like he couldn't take his eyes off her once he had laid eyes on her.

"Well, one out of three believes me."

"I sorta believe you," Selvia says, "But maybe we can go after this item."

"One and a half believes me, and I'd highly suggest you not to go after it."

"I..." Allimir starts, hesitating, "I barely believe you, but there may be a sliver of truth to what you say. How about we make a deal, shall we?"

Infinite thought about this for a moment, then nodded her head. "What deal?"

"You make a full translation of the book and do not bother us about whether or not we mess with the item when we find it."

"Let's negotiate, shall we? I go with you to find the item, I will hold on to the book to read it to you, and once we have found the item, we destroy it."

Allimir narrowed his eyes at Infinite and she does the same back at him.

"I agree with her idea," Selvia says.

"I do too," Hodlin said.

Even though Infinite's mouth is covered by cloth, they could tell that she slightly smiled at the two who agreed with her, and then looked at Allimir. "Your group doesn't agree with you."

Allimir, annoyed and slightly angry, turns to the rest of his group, "We can't even trust her! What use does she have for us other than reading the book?"

"It probably wouldn't hurt that I am Dragonborn..." Infinite states.

"Yes, it-" Allimir starts, then stops to turn around to look at Infinite, shocked, "You're what?"

"I am the famous Dragonborn."

"Why didn't you say so before?"

"I did not want to say that I am because I do not like using it as a leverage. I tend to use it as a last resort."

"Well, now we have to let her join our group!" Hodlin exclaims, standing up from his chair.

Allimir puts his hands up to calm him down some, "Whoa, just because she is Dragonborn does not mean she has to join us."

"But it would help to have the Dragonborn on our side." Selvia says, standing up as well.

"Three's a crowd," Allimir says, staring at Selvia narrowly.

"Lighten up, why don't you?" Selvia looks at Allimir and just smiles.

For a moment, Selvia almost thought that Allimir maybe blushed a bit, but it was quickly covered by his normal bored face. He then turns around to face Infinite. "Fine. We will go with your plan," Allimir then looks narrowly at Infinite again, "but if there are any signs that show that you are tricking us, I will not hesitate to kick you out."

"Deal," Infinite held her hand out for Allimir to shake.

Allimir just stared at the hand, thought for a moment, closed his eyes and sighed, then shaked her hand.

"Three's a crowd, and four makes it feel more crowded," He says to himself. He opens his eyes, "Shall we get going then?"

"Yes, of course, I know where to go to find more information on the location of this item." Infinite says with confidence.

"Let's go then." Allimir says, already walking towards the door. Infinite follows, and then Hodlin, who still did not take his eyes off of Infinite. Selvia stayed in one spot, lost in her thoughts.

A Dragonborn on our team! This is certainly exciting!

After the rest of the group left through the door, Allimir pokes his head back through the door. "Are you coming, Selvia?"

Selvia snapped back to reality. "Oh, yes!"

Maybe this will be my chance to become the hero I've always wanted to be.

Selvia walks towards the door where Allimir waited for her. "You keep getting lost in thought lately. You may want to pay attention more." He says.

"Don't worry, I pay attention enough to survive." Selvia flashes a quick grin. As Selvia walks past him, in the corner of her eye, she thought she saw a small grin from him.

Did I imagine that, or did he just smile at me? Am I... Changing him?

They both went through the doors of the College to meet up with the two others, who were waiting for them.

Just how lucky am I to actually have the Dragonborn in our group?

Once they had all regrouped, they all left the College grounds together.

I must really have a lot of luck to be able to have the Dragonborn on our team AND be able to slightly change the heart of Allimir.

I must really have remarkable luck.

Author's Note:

Hi all!

I'm here to explain something.

As some may notice, I have changed the names of the main characters. I realized a bit late that normal world names sound a bit ridiculous in the world of Skyrim. I have looked up a "Skyrim name generator", which gave me some names I deemed fit for the charatcers. Hopefully it's better than normal world names.

That's all.

Alrighty, thanks for reading. I hope you all liked it! -A.I