Chapter 3: Stay Alive, No Matter What
I knew in the back of my mind that I was walking along a path. I just could not focus on where the stone-paved trail was leading me. In despair, I had just walked out of the forest in a sort of spectral trance. Nothing around me seemed to exist. I just saw my friend, my scale brother, die right in front of me just now…. were my thoughts. I held myself accountable for his death. I could've taken that bandit down had I been more agile and attentive. As I walked, I looked down at my chilled scale-studded skin. I ran my fingers across the indents between each separated scale and crevice. I knew I had to try to think otherwise to at least survive the night. Every now and then I could swear that I heard a growling behind me, but I never even checked. After what I had been through, I'd welcome death with open arms. Sometimes, during that trip, I wished that creature would've killed me. It never did. The divines must have other plans for me. My role is still as a pawn in their oversized game of chess on our land.
After quite some time of walking, I didn't know how long, I saw Dawnstar in the distance. With the might I had left in me, I walked into town and up the steps to the Windpeak Inn. As I walked inside, all eyes went towards me. All laughter faded away at the sight of me. My first reaction was that they were appalled at the sight of an Argonian. I said in a spiteful but shivered tone,
"W-w-what, never s-seen an Arg-g-gonian before?"
I myself silenced after hearing myself. My voice was hoarse and broken. I sounded like the noise that a horse and a Skeever would make if they were both on fire, if you can picture that. Apparently, it was not only my voice that was astonishing. Once they made no attempt to say anything and just stared at me, I looked down. My skin and face were covered in frostbitten blisters. My once shadow-colored scales were now an unhealthy and pale bluish-white. Seeing myself in such a state put me in a panic as well. How could I have been so stupid to let my depression hinder my common sense! I had read about the effects of the cold in Skyrim and conditions caused by them. The bartender started to shuffle through different potions trying to find one that would work. The windy frozen air must've frozen my ear-holes because I only saw moving mouths. They were talking about something to do with the potions, as the woman bartender kept pointing at me and then to the potion, then to a map in a Northeastern area. The male bartender nodded and took me by the arm in the direction of the door. Not being in my right mind from the settling Hypothermia, I yanked my arm from his grip. My mind interpreted it as them trying to throw me out. Again, I saw moving mouths at me, trying to explain or inquire something. I heard the rumbled muffling of me saying that I couldn't hear them in my head. The male bartender must've cursed and then hit a table. The woman bartender scowled at him and got me a bottle of mead. It was thrust into my hand, which immediately dropped the bottle. It shattered and a piece of glass must've lodged into my foot. I did not even feel it until I was told to sit down and actually saw it in there. At that time, I knew I was fucked up. Once more, the female bartender put another bottle of mead into my hand and moved my fingers around it to clench it. I stared at it, wondering why my fingers were of their own state of mind. This puzzled me dearly, but I still managed to start taking gradual sips of the mead with the help of the female bartender. I could feel my insides starting to feel warmer as I drank more and more. I soon found myself gulping down the mead hoping for the chill to go away. I was given a blanket and was wrapped around. I regained some of my hearing back, but still had damage to my hands, feet, and body. My ears picked up a small chatter from the male bartender,
"Not…..king….no pot…ons…taki… to Winte…..ld."
He put on a jacket and went outside to do something. His muffled saying made no sense. I didn't know what to think. I could hear a carriage pull up with some horses. The man walked back in, freezing cold even from being out there for more then a minute. I, again, took to looking at my own hands. I could hardly even recognize them. Their fingertips and knuckles were swollen and disfigured. My fingers were clenched into a messed up claw shape that even I thought funny. I chuckled to myself at the thought and found everyone to turn towards me.
"Mus…..tting deliri….s" was heard by me from a Nord on the other side of the room.
My shoulder was shaken by the male bartender, whom I struck at thinking him to be an enemy. I quickly realized him to be the same person he was a couple minutes ago and stopped. He found me an old torn blanket he had laying around in an old wardrobe of his. I was wrapped in it along with the 1st blanket I was given. He pulled me by the wrist outside into the mid-Winter snow. Upon leaving the confines of the Inn, the horrible front of freezing air hit me in the face with enough force to put an Orc on his ass. I was rushed into the back of the coach and the male bartender took the reigns. I put two and two together from the conversation before. He had been talking about potions and something about Winter. My first idea was that I was being taken to some town that had potions, however I knew not what town it was. Winter could've been mistaken for the man to have been talking about the season. It was currently the middle of Morning Fall and the weather was at its peak.
My eyes started to get heavy under the pressure of being in the cold. The torn, ripped blanket I was given didn't do much to keep me warm. My breath could clearly be seen with each huff. I noticed that the clouds of my respiration were not that big. I didn't think about it at all, but I found myself to have a shortness of breath. Our buggy came around the bend of a path built into the cliffs. The ocean was to our left and I made out a faint structure in the distance. It seemed to have its own island. That was when my brain decided to kick in. We had rode from Dawnstar to Winterhold. I was now looking at the College of Winterhold, with its blue dimly colored beams and array of bridges to the ruins of the town below. If we were heading to the college, I knew something must be seriously wrong with me. Before I had anymore thoughts on the matter, I fell to a sleep right where I sat.