Chapter 14
Hey so here is long awaited chapter, a bit shorter and this one is more full of dialogue, and less on action, also I wanted ton point out the comment I made was a typo and I meant to alude that drago's comments was supposed to be a snarky remark not saying he is innocnet.
It is the next day and the Hestia Família along with the Loki Família and Kaidan and Lucien are about to head into town and collect some supplies and when they entered with the exception of Drago who was here previously and to his surprise, he sees the skull of the dragon he slayed on the gate of the town entrance.
"Wow did someone bring back a dragon's skull, from the deeper levels and sold it to them?" Bell asks.
"It must have been, no way any of these guys could have done it, but still why would someone bring a dragon's skull? They are practically useless." Welf looks on with confusion at the skull.
While the others were talking Drago says nothing, to him killing that dragon was par the course for him, and he isn't the boastful type so he just continues to walk past them.
Parts of the Loki Família looks at Drago, wondering why he isn't taking the credit on killing the dragon, it isn't a feat most adventures would just ignore.
"So, I take it you killed that, Dragon?" Lucien asks while catching up with his friend.
"I did, Miraak summoned it and I had to deal with it quickly, before more people got hurt with my fight, but there was another with Miraak, someone who I think is just as dangerous as Miraak." He quickly explains
"No dragon is a match for you, but still who was that other person with Miraak." Kiaden asks.
"No clue, but when I arrived, I saw the women about to fight Aiz, she left me with Miraak." He briefly explains the situation.
"You should be on guard; we don't know how strong they are or if that woman and Miraak are the only two." Lucien advises his friend
"Ay, even with your strength, Miraak has been proven to be your match, and this woman could be just as strong." Kaidan said with worry.
Drago looks at both his friend "Guys, I've slayed Harkon and Alduin, surely one more foe that isn't a dragonborn couldn't be that hard."
"Still as strong as you are the best thing is for you to keep on guard and keep honing your skills." Kaidan gives advice to his friend.
"I will." The Dragonborn says.
While the three were conversing, Welf and Lilly were looking at supplies and are flabbergasted at the prices?
"1000 valis for this small pieces of sharpening rock!?" Welf said in disbelief
"3000 valis for a bag are you kidding me?" Lily said not believing the price.
"Take it or leave it kid." The dwarf said with disinterest.
"Yeah, the prices here are high, that is why we camped out in the woods." Tione explains her situation.
As Bell is walking, he bumps into someone "I'm sorry." He then realises it was the men that were harassing him just the other night.
"Hey its you." The guy grabs Bell by the ruff, and pulls him up, "You've got a lot of nerve to show your face around here."
"And you need to picks your fights more carefully." Drago grabs the guy's wrist and gives it a "light" squeeze, and the guy drops Bell out of pain and once that was done Drago lets the big guy go, "Now, I would advise you to get out of my sights." He says while giving an aura of death.
The three men run out of fear, not wanting to fight The Dragonborn, as he is a level six.
"Hmph, jokes." Drago says before heading back to his friend.
"Man, those guys are really petty." Tione says while seeing them run away.
"Yeah." Her sister simply replied.
"Oh Bell, how do I smell." Hestia walks over to the Little Rookie.
Bell takes a sniff and smiles nervously "Yeah it smells nice."
"You seriously bought that cheap thing down here?" Lillie tells of the Loli Goddess.
"Well, a stinky cat like you wouldn't understand I needed to get rid of my stink." Hestia defends her actions.
On the side lines Kaiden and Lucien look on with amusement.
"Is that normal in your Família?" Kaidan asks.
Drago rubs his temples "It is a common thing, Hestia is possessive of Bell, to the point she has ordered me, to quote on quote make sure other girls don't seduce him."
"My, she does sound like a deadra, one that likes one particular human." Lucien chimes in his thoughts.
"Lucien, I think you are pretty right on that front." Drago just sighs, and nods.
"Ay, she seems to over protective of Bell." Kaiden says.
As the three chat The Nightingale notices Hermes, talking with Bell, and leading him somewhere, "You guys stay here, I'm going to check on something."
After a bit of following Bell and Hermes, he sees them up in a tree overlooking the girls while Drago is in the hedge looking up at the duo, "So that is what that God wanted with Bell, to make him peep on girls." Thinking he doesn't want to be called a pervert, he quickly sneaks off, but until he sees Hermes, spin making Bell, fall into the river, but Drago notices that Bell isn't being slapped or being called a pervert, in fact most of the girls are smiling.
"Bell, you are either have so much luck that even Lady Nocturnal would be impressed, or the all the girls you meet have the hots, or perhaps it is a combination of the two." Drago thinks before slipping away.
As he is making his way back to his camp, he sees Maria leaning against a tree, he says nothing and walks past her.
"So how was the show." Maria asks while not looking up.
Drago stops and looks back "What are you talking about?" he pretends to fain ignorance.
Maria stands up and walk over to Drago, "Oh you don't have to play ignorant; I know you followed Master Hermes and Bell to see what they are doing."
"Well, I am surprised you noticed that, and pray tell, are you going to tell the other about me peeping?" Drago asks.
Maria shakes her head, "Goodness no, I'm not one to rat on others, besides you are not the type to peep on others."
This intrigues Drago, "You seem to claim you know a lot about me, but yet I know almost nothing about you, outside, of what the others mentioned when we first met, so would you mind telling me?" he walks to Maria, trying to intimidate her.
Maria couldn't hide her smile, and then breaks down and starts laughing loudly, which confuses Drago, as most people are intimidated by his presence alone, but she is acting as if it is one big joke.
"Sorry, sorry, it just seeing you trying act all big and tough is cute." She composes herself and takes a deep breath.
Drago, looks on with even more confusion, "You are one of the weirdest people I know, and I've travelled all across Skyrim, and met all sorts of people, but you, you are an enigma."
She moves close to her and whispers in his ears, "And I'll be that enigma, until, you figure out who I am." She moves away and heads back to the camp and gives Drago a small wave, leaving the Dragonborn with a look of confusion.
Once that is over and done with, he heads back to the camp, to see Bete, trying to attack Bell, but Tione and Tiona restrain him, so Drago didn't need to rush and walks to Lucien and Kaiden who are just watching the whole situation.
"So, what did I miss?" Drago asks, showing his presence, to his friends.
"Apparently, young Bell was caught peaking on the girls while they were bathing, but it was Hermes' that led Bell, to where the girls were bathing." Kaiden explains.
"For a God you would expect more honour, but the fact he is like that, I would say he is closer to a Deadra then any of the Adrea." Lucien says.
"On that front, Lucien, I think you are right." Drago couldn't help but agree on Hermes' action.
Kaiden then leans in and asks a question "So, did you peak?"
Drago looks and Kaiden and simply says "No" he says nothing else and walks away.
Later that night the group are sitting around a campfire, eating meals and trading stories, Drago, Lucien and Kaiden are keeping each other company, and Hestia is fighting over who gets to sit next to Bell with Lillie, and Welf was sharpening some of the group's weapons.
Bell broke the silence and asks Drago a question.
"So, Drago, you never told me what gods your homeland worships." Bell asks.
Drago swallows his food, and looks to Bell, while the Loki Familia listen in, the action not going unnoticed by the Dragonborn's team mates.
"That is a complicated question Bell, because the continent I am from, their several gods, worshiped by different races."
"Like, the place you were born, what gods did your family worshipped." Bell clarifies.
"Well, me and my Family worshipped the Nine Divines of the Empire." He explains.
"Nine, you only worshipped nine?" Bell is confused on why so few gods.
This doesn't go unnoticed by Lucien so he decides to go into further explanation, "You see, in the Empire the official Religion is the Nine which are Akatosh, Mara, Arkay, Stendarr, Dibellla, Kynerathe, Zenithar, Talos, and Julianos, they are what make up the Nine, which was originally the eight created by Saint Alessia, and then with Talos became Nine."
When Lucien mentioned Akatosh the Loki Família decided it was time to press some more on the gods.
Finn decides to ask a few questions "Do these gods have any particular importance?"
"Well, yes, Akatosh for example is the chief of the Nine, as he represents Invincibility, Endurance and Ever Lasting Legitimacy, as well as the Dragon God of time."
Hestia and Hermes took interest in this talk now as they never heard of these gods
"Why would people worship a dragon as a god, and why time in particular." Aiz asks trying to work out why he shown as a dragon.
"Well in Tamriel, Akatosh goes by many names, but he is depiction is always a dragon in some form, for the elves he is Aurial, for the Kajhitt he is Alkosh dragon cat god, for the Redgaurds he is Ruptga or Tall Papa, and for the Nords he is Alduin."
At the last part everyone looks at Drago crazy at saying the Black Dragon's real name.
"But even I have some doubt about that, my theory is that Alduin and Akatosh are separate entities, even Alduin calls himself the first born of Akatosh."
"If Akatosh is so widely worshipped, why did he create the Black Dragon to cause so much pain and suffering." Aiz said with a bit of spite in her tone.
Drago notices it and can see her clench her fist in anger at the notion of a dragon being worship, "He wasn't supposed to do that, Alduin's job was to destroy the world and bring forth the birth of the new one, the destruction of the old will bring forth the new, and the way he would do that is by devouring the world, he forsakes his duty and rebelled against his nature."
Everyone is silent at the notion as Drago casually stated something so horribly, realising that, if that is true that means the Black Dragon would eat the world and destroy it.
"Why are you so calm about it, if you know something like that, why aren't you trying to stop it." Aiz, tells him.
Drago gives a small chuckle, "Just because you can do a thing, doesn't mean you should, as my master would say, in fact another one of my masters also say the often the wisest choice is to wait and see events unfold." He turns to see Aiz with anger in her eyes and smiles, "I see you let anger cloud your mind, is that hatred I see in your eyes, in particular to Alduin, I see he wronged you in the past, and you want revenge for what he did." Drago couldn't hold back his laughter, "Revenge will solve nothing, you may want to kill him and you may, but in the end would it be worth the fact you spend all your time in one singular goal and not realising it is fruitless."
"And why would it be fruitless?" Aiz asked.
"Well, I'll let you figure that one for yourself." He decides to hide the facts.
The camp suddenly became very tense as no one would say a word, but Hestia quickly changes the subject.
"If they are gods, why haven't I seen them in Tenkai?" Hestia asks.
"Well Lady Hestia when Nirn was forming, they needed to sacrifice their powers to form the earth bones to maintain reality, so they were bound to the mortal realm which means they can be killed."
Everyone has a look of shock on their faces, they never thought gods could be killed, how can you call them a god if you can kill them.
"Why would they give up their powers if it would make them weaker." Finn asks not understanding the reason.
"It depends on you ask, I told you of Lorkan last night, Elves would say Lorkan tricked their ancestors in giving up their powers and confine the Et'ada to mortality, while humans and beast folk would say that they willingly gave up their powers in order to complete the world they wanted to create."
"Wow, for the same gods, different people have so many interpretations of them." Bell says amazed at the stories Drago tells.
"But while the divines are the accepted pantheon of Tamriel there are other gods that people worship, the Daedric Princess are the exact opposite, while the Aedra gave up their power the Daedra did not, and choose to create their own immortal plane in Oblivion."
"Why do people give the distinction if they are gods, shouldn't they be worshipped equally, they are gods after all." Aiz not understanding the difference.
"You can worship them, but many choose not to due to moral implications, take Molag Bal, Daedric Prince of Domination and Enslavement, as well as known as the King of Rape, tell me would you worship him? Or perhaps you would prefer Mehruns Dagon Prince of Power and Revolution, and of Destruction, a god who destroyed the Septim Dynasty."
Everyone looks horrified how can Gods have such violent and evil tendencies; Even Hestia couldn't believe that such gods could exist.
Drago couldn't help but chuckle, "Do not worry, not all the princes are not evil Azura for example is one we can call good, and to some extent Hircine, and even Meridia can be called good, heck the Dunmer Worship the three good Daedra."
"Who are these three gods that the Dunmer worship." Rivirea speaks up now curious.
"Mephala the web spinner, prince of lies, murder, sex and secrets, Boethia Prince of deceit, conspiracy, treachery and sedition and devourer of the Aedra Trinimac , and finally Azura Prince of Twilight, together they make the tribunal of the Dunmer, they worship those three as their god ancestor."
Lefiya took a moment to process the information, how could they be considered be to be good, none of the things they represent are nothing but evil.
"I can see how it seem confusing, but I talked with the Dunmer and the way say it is this, the three of them teach that life is a constant test, that only the strong survive a teaching of Boethia where she teaches that strength is where you can leave your mark on this world, where if you win a fight, know that Boethia looks down on you and has favoured your strength, Mephala teaches that one can deal with your enemy not without right combat, but through manipulation and assassination, and Azura thought the Dunmer to distinct to the Altmer, while yes it seems like the Dunmer live in a lawless land, Morrowind is far from it, in fact their society is very well build."
"But still the fact worshiping such evil gods, yet they call them good is so paradoxical." Lefiya says not understanding it.
Drago laughs again, "It may seem paradoxical, but I visited Morrowind and the place is a lovely place"
"By the way, what would Hermes and I be called?" Hestia asks curious
"Daedra, all the gods would be classified as Daedra, as you have manifest on the mortal plane, and not merged with the Earthbones." Drago simply states.
Hestia falls over in complete shock, but quickly gets back up "How could people call us Daedra, what just because those other gods sacrifice themselves, what makes them better then us."
"Some of the priests would say, that you didn't sacrifice anything to create the world we live in, or the fact that you like to medal in mortal affairs, whether you would like to cause problems for mortals is a case-by-case scenario."
"Your homeland seems rather difficult to live in, especially with Gods as dangerous as those Princes'" Hermes chimes in.
Drago looks at the fire, the situation reminding him of his travels in Skyrim "Tamriel is dangerous as she is beautiful, Monsters, Evil Mages, Daedra, Bandits, Undead, and even Dragons, all wanting to kill you, but to be honest, I wouldn't want to change a single thing about it."
"Here's to Tamriel and The Empire, may it live long." Lucien chimes in a bit drunk.
"I agree." Kaiden raises a mug
"By the way you mentioned Oblivion what is that?" Bell asks.
Drago had to take a moment; he didn't know the best way to explain it as Oblivion is complicated. "Oblivion is the plane of existence outside of Nirn it is the plane that is inhabited by the Daedric Princes, the best way we mortals can comprehend it is, the night sky."
Everyone instantly looks up thinking that those gods could just come down and destroy them all, with how violent they sound even the more veteran adventurers shivered at the thought of facing them.
"Ah don't worry, Akatosh sealed the jaws of Oblivion forever, they can't manifest in the material world anymore, so your worriers are unfounded." After that everyone relaxed and enjoyed the re4st of the evening, except for Drago as his stomach says something big is going to happen soon.
Well Hope you enjoyed the chapter and hope to complete the next one soon.