Chapter 1: Cave in

Time stood still, the air felt thicker as Nyla drew in her last breath and held it in. The executioner held his heavy grip on his axe, moments away from swinging down. Mikael looked away. Suddenly, an ear splitting screech stopped everyone in their tracks. Frightened, the executioner fell forwards, dropping the axe at an awkward angle next to Nyla. Confused and dazed, Nyla lifted her head toward the sky. Before her, was the terrifying image of a monster blocking the sun light; with scales as well as wings it stud in midair and growled at the towns people, flames escaping though its gaping mouth. The people of Helgen, panicked. A handful of imperials gathered together in a foolish attempt to fight the beast away while the rest fled. Nyla slowly stud up and remained in the middle of the mess, frozen. If this horrid beast hadn't arrived, she'd be dead.

Amidst all the chaos was a distraught Mikael. He couldn't believe what his eyes were seeing! He had no time to process any of the events that had just unfolded; he needed to flee, quickly! The house behind him was torn apart by the monster, leaving only ashes and smolder. The gates were all closed shut; they were all stuck in the thick stone walls of Helgen. Mikael quickly remembered about the guard barracks; he knew about secret tunnels that were created in the old days to be a strategic exit in and out of town in times of war, and not even a second later, he bolted! As he sprinted towards the guard barracks, he spotted the girl from the execution, standing still in the middle of all the commotion. He had no time to debate and out of instinct he switched directions and ran towards her. Roughly, he pulled on her frail arm. "Come with me!" He yelled at her, although amongst all the screeching and screaming it was barely audible

The pull on Nyla's arm snapped her out of her daze. She stared at the man who held her arm for a brief second before he pulled on it again. She saw his mouth moving, but there was a loud ring on her ear that deafened her. She felt as if her soul was hanging on her body through a thread.

"We have to leave, come with me!" He repeated to her but she wouldn't move. Mikael was in no position to carry anyone and have him be slowed down. He pondered for a moment whether to leave the woman to her fate; this was no time to be chivalrous! Then, he saw her glossy hazel eyes and remembered her horrible cries from before. How can a woman be so sacred of death one moment and so completely oblivious the next? He saw the monster getting closer, Nyla lifted her hands to her ears and Mikael wrapped one arm around her waist and placed the other on her back and forcing the woman away with him. With a groan, he pulled into the guard tower and pushed the woman inside, closing the wooden door behind him.

Reality suddenly hit Nyla, she felt her soul slam back into her body when the door slammed equally hard behind her. She had nearly been killed twice and this time out of her own doing. She shook her head briefly, trying to keep her nerves about. She examined the Nord that had saved her life and was almost awe-struck as he towered before her. He stands a fair amount of inches taller than her. He was of strong built and had enough scars to resemble the physique of a warrior. His eyes were apple green, and his wavy neck length hair was a dirty blond, light brown color. Messy braids adorned parts on his hair, framing the strong nord features of his pale face. "I-I-I'm-"

There was no time for her to finish her sentence since Mikael had already made his way up the steps. "Up here!" He yelled at her, she quickly followed up the steps. Then a loud crash hit the stone wall beside them. The monster had hit the tower and opened the wall, revealing the men on the inside. "Careful!" Mikael yelled running back down and pulling Nyla down the steps with him, as soon as they were clear, a burst of flame entered the exposed area, burning a few imperials to a crisp. The two of them waited for the monster to continue on, before reaching the new hole in the wall. "You see that roof over there?" Mikael pointed at it, Nyla nodded with tears in her eyes. "You need to jump to that roof!"

Nyla looked at him with fear. "You want me to jump? I'll never make it all the way—"

"You either jump, or you die!"

Nyla had already played with death twice; she had no intentions of testing the reaper's patience again. With a sharp inhale and with what little courage she had left, she leaped from the tower to the rooftop, landing on her knees and hurting herself badly. She screamed in pain the second she landed, Mikael landed shortly after, rolling over to lower the blow. Mikael struggled to get on his feet and struggled even more to try and get Nyla up.

"Get on your feet!" Mikael instructed her, trying to help her up. "Stay close to me if you want to live!"

It was hard for Nyla to keep up when her hands were still bound, ever more so with the pain shooting from her knees. She stumbled across the town of Helgen, following every one of Mikael's steps while the monster brutally attacked the town. Equal parts of houses and people were flying all over the place, some town's folk on fire screamed across the town, the shadow of the monster on everyone's tail. The sight was hideous! Nyla followed through the destroyed houses, in between dead bodies and through broken walls until finally; they reached the sturdiest building in the town:

The guard barracks.

Mikael held the wooden door open for the limping woman to stumble inside. He quickly bared the door shut from the inside out (not that it would make much of a difference to the monster).

Nyla threw herself to the floor, exhausted. Mikael smoothed out his hair but kept his hands on his head. "That thing was a dragon! I'm sure of it!" He looked around but saw no one there. The only noise was the heavy panting of the woman and himself.

"It seems like—" Nyla catched her breath. "—we're the only ones who made it."

Mikael pouted, looking around the barracks and indeed there wasn't a soul there. The barracks were dark and dingy. There was a strange musky smell probably due to the lack of ventilation; Mikael didn't wish to linger any longer. He approached Nyla and kneeled down next to her. "Let me help you with those." He took out his ebony sword.

Nyla cringed for a second. She didn't know why this man was helping her but she was glad that he did. If he wanted to kill her, he would have left her out in the field before, right? She stuck out her hands to him and with a quick slice her hands were free. "Thank you." Nyla muttered, rubbing her sore wrists with her hands. She looked up into his eyes, but they never met. Mikael got up from her side quickly. Nyla questioned this man's loyalty to her but she knew this wasn't the time for questions. She needed to stay on his good side if he was to help her further.

"Let's see if there's something here you can borrow that will protect you from that thing." He suggested, walking back into the rooms, Nyla followed closely behind. They found themselves in the resting area of the barracks. The room was large and dimly lit. Rows of beds stud on either side of the room while a large long orange and yellow rug adored the middle of it. In front of each bed was a large chest and next to each bed were bookcases, alchemy labs and some even had a worn out work bench. "There should be something useful in one of these chests, you should look through them." Mikael suggested, while he rummaged around the bookcases and the alchemy stools.

Nyla did just that. She went directly towards the large chests. The first one was empty, she luckily found a small dagger in the next one and an imperial armor and boots in the following other one. Nyla didn't struggle to get out of her clothing in front of the man, she had no memory of anything but her interrupted execution and now a giant monster was on her tail. Having someone ogle over her body was the least of her problems. Mikael, however, turned around while Nyla changed from her clothes to her armor. He had to admit though, he was tempted to peek over his shoulder. The woman, even covered in blood, sweat and dirt, was a true beauty. She had long dark straight hair that, although severely tangled at the moment, reached further than her waist. Her eyes were hazel, and her lips were full and dark pink complementing her similar pale skin. Her frame was small but he couldn't quite notice all of her 'attributes' since the sack she was wearing for clothing did no justice to her body.

"I couldn't find any useful weapons." Nyla said, which was Mikael's queue to turn around. She stud before him almost taking up more of his attention than before. The armor fit her big, but would hopefully fulfill its purpose. The boots covered up just below her bloody knees.

"Just stay close and you won't have to use that little thing." Mikael suggested, she nodded.

They both walked outside of the room and down the hall. "So, we bunker up in here until that monster leaves?" Nyla bluntly asked the man, unknowing of his plans.

"No. We're leaving this divine forsaken town." Mikael took a right turn, deeper in the barracks.

"Leaving? We can't just leave the barracks out the front door, that—dragon —, will murder us."

"Suddenly you're so chatty." Mikael grimly joked, Nyla scoffed as a reply. "Who said we're leaving out the front door?" Mikael flashed her a smile, Nyla shyly looked away.

A good fifteen minutes had passed stumbling through hallways and rooms, stocking up on stamina and health potions and even finding Nyla a descent enough weapon. Nyla felt the tension between the two rise. She wanted to speak to him, to thank him for saving her life but her tongue felt tied and she was scared of his reaction. Would he mock her again? Would he complain about her being so useless? She tried to muster up the courage to say something to him but as soon as she opened her mouth, Mikael slammed her against the cold stone wall, and lifted two fingers to his mouth, symbolizing to stay quiet.

"Imperial scum!" came from the room beside them, followed by clanking of metal, screams and groans. When the sounds ceased, Mikael sneaked inside only to let out a loud scoff. Nyla followed in. They were in a room with a doorway that was bared with thick metal bars. A rush of wind blew from the hole leading down; they could tell it lead to some sort of cave. "They killed themselves. Well—" Mikael passed through the dead bodies. "—saves me the trouble." Two dead bodies adorned the floor, one with armor similar to Nyla's, the other with a blue and grey one. Mikael tip toed over the bodies, paying little attention to them. His lack of emotion took Nyla aback.

"You'd think that with that thing up there, we'd stop killing ourselves down here." Nyla muttered, walking around the bodies.

Mikael, while examining the bars, was silent for a few seconds. "Maybe their ideals are far more important than that dragon up there." Mikael paused, a little frustrated after examining the door. "It's locked." He turned around, with his hands on his hips and a contemplative look. "Maybe this Imperial has a key." Mikael approached the dead man and flipped him over, rather roughly. Nyla looked away, Mikael extracted a set bloody keys out of the man's pouch and proceeded to the door.

"You don't seem too fond of Imperials." Nyla bravely stated, approaching his side.

"I'm helping you out, aren't I?" was Mikael's reply. Nyla's cheeks burned with embarrassment. With a click, the door heavily swung open. "Come on, it's only a matter of time before the barracks come down on us."

Both of them walked through the doorway and down the stairs. It was starting to get pitch dark when all of the sudden, the ceiling shook violently, a muffled shriek of the dragon, echoed throughout the narrow passage. Mikael proceeded to grab a hold of Nyla's arms and sprint down the stairs as quickly as he could, dragging the woman down with him. He couldn't understand why he felt so protective of her at the moment. It felt as if it was his mission to bring her out of Helgen alive. The closer he was to her, the stronger he felt her pull, he could sense her; almost as if something was glowing inside her.

They eventually found themselves in a room built for torture. Cages with dead bodies, blood covered tables and tools of all kinds scattered about. Nyla felt overwhelmed. With all of the death she had witnessed earlier, the sight of a torture chamber was more than horrible. She could tell, as well, that Mikael was as disgusted as her. "Let's get out of here." Nyla said to Mikael.

"I'm sure you would like that." From the shadows arose a blond nord, with a blue and grey armor. She had a bloody nose; you could tell she had been in battle recently. The Imperial guards on the floor were a dead giveaway.

"We don't mean any harm, sister." Mikael spoke up. "We're just passing through." Mikael took a step forward, but the blond Nord mimicked his. She looked rabid, swinging her bloody axe softly on her side and clenching her teeth with a force that looked almost painful.

"Because I'm in a generous mood, I'll let you live." She pointed her axe at Mikael. Her devious eyes switched to Nyla. "The Imperial stays."

Mikael feared as much. It seemed as if death wasn't taking no for an answer, it was determined to take the woman with him but so was Mikael. He had risked so much already, he wasn't about to let one pissed off Nord kill her off because she felt like it. "I can't do that."

Nyla's heart felt as if was going to jump out of her chest. What in Dibella's name had she done to anger so many people? Her heart settled when the man came to her aid. Useless didn't even scratch the surface of how she felt at the moment. He was truly devoted to help her escape Helgen.

The Nord woman sneered. "You're willing to spill Nord blood for the same Imperial, who will eventually torture you in this chamber and stick you in the cage? This woman is scum! A plague on our land, a plague we have to exterminate!"

Mikael pursed his lips. "I'm not going to spill blood any blood of mine over anyone." His hand fell towards his ebony sword.

The Nord woman looked tired and weak; she was no match for Mikael but with anger as her drive, she swung her axe at Mikael who dodged her easily. The axe lunged itself on the ground and the Nord Woman struggled to yank in back out.

Nyla saw as Mikael drew his sword to finish her. However, the Nord woman was perfectly positioned in front of an open cage. Nyla knew the woman was no match for Mikael, the fight was one sided from the beginning. A shot of guilt and adrenaline spewed from the pitch of Nyla's stomach as she foolishly pushed the Nord woman away from Mikael's sword and into the cage. Mikael's eyes widened as is target suddenly changed to the mere woman he was trying to protect. Instinctively, he let go of the sword he was just about to swing and it fell right on his feet. Nyla swung the cage shut and a loud 'clang' indicated it locked shut.

"Are you insane?! " Mikael yelled, picking up his sword and approaching Nyla whom hesitated to turn around. She pretended to fiddle around with the metal of the cage while the Nord woman struggled to get up from the floor.

"S-She was going to die." Nyla stuttered.

"That was the point!"

"It wasn't a fair fight." She bravely spun around. "She was wounded."

Mikael stared at her, perplexed. She had just saved The Stormcloak woman who planned to kill her. This said a lot about the woman's odd character and Mikael remembered to make a mental note. Neither of them had a moment to settle themselves because the Barracks were starting to cave in. The structure shook, dust and stones fell from the ceiling while the faint roar of the Dragon echoed through.

"Let's go." Mikael softly said, trying to wrap his head around the recent events.

"Wait! You can't just leave me here, please!" The severely injured woman yelled.

Mikael quickly took a hold of Nyla's arm. She wasn't going to let her jeopardize both of their safety any longer. "She's shown you enough mercy. Sovngarde awaits, sister." Nyla looked at the Nord woman's pleading eyes and as she tore away from the torture chamber, she couldn't help but to feel guilt when sounds of the ceiling caving in behind her started to appear. "We need to hurry." He said once more.

The two suddenly found themselves being chased by the series giant rocks that started falling from the ceiling; it almost seemed like an avalanche of sorts. They both ran as fast as they could until the rocks stopped falling. The barracks had caved in and there was no way to go back now. The duo stopped to catch their breath once again. Nyla seemed to be on the brink of giving up but Mikael wasn't having any of it. "We have to keep going." He said to her, who wanted everything but to continue walking. However, she figured that she owed him at the very least, that much. She shook her head for a second and continued on behind him.

They were in a different area now; it seemed as if they were in a cave filled with wildlife, plants and potentially deadly refugees from Helgen. It took only but the sight of the two for the group to attack. Nyla grabbed a hold of her sword. The group was too large for Mikael to take on his own; Nyla knew it was her time to pitch in. Although she tried to remain in the background, a man quickly found his way to her, he swung his great sword once, Nyla swiftly dodged it. Again, and by an inch she dodged it again. Out of adrenaline, Nyla inexperienced swung her sword at the man, slashing through his arm, but not with enough force to make any real damage.

"Behind you!" Mikael yelled at Nyla, trying to finish off a duo himself.

Nyla turned around and in an instant a woman with two daggers charged at her, Nyla tried to dodge her, but ended up falling, a dagger made its mark deep into Nyla's exposed side. However, the woman who had launched at her has also lost her balance and fell right next to her. Nyla yelled and hissed in pain as she tried to get the dagger out of her side. She had no such luck and now both the woman and the man had joined and now charged full force to the wounded woman. Scared and in immense pain, Nyla lifted her hands towards the two and suddenly a bright blue light exploded from her hand, creating and arched glow around her that exploded into light the second the two enemies touched it. They fell back and from behind emerged Nyla's savior once more, from both of his hands flames blared out engulfing the two and burning them to a crisp.

Kicking the floor, Nyla managed to drag herself beside a large rock for safety, a dagger still protruding from her left side. She felt an odd feeling overtake her, a strange sensation of emptiness in her veins, whatever magic she had done on the two had drained her of all mana, and she was starting to feel the effects. Nyla lifted her hands to the handle of the dagger, and in one swift strong move of pure will power, she yanked the dagger out, a scream louder than any dragon could ever emit followed. A scream so loud it made the walls and ceiling creak. It was inhuman sound, almost like thunder.

It made Mikael's bones shutter and shake. The man turned around to what now seemed like an empty battlefield and below a bloody rock sat a weeping woman. She looked so defenseless, so weak but after what he just witnessed it seemed like she was much less fragile than what she appeared. Mikael was not used to dealing with a situation like this, he wasn't the most sensitive of Nords. He knew she was scared and hurt, he wanted to leave the cave as much as she did. He approached her, cautiously, and knelt down beside her. He saw the open gash on her shoulder. Thinking on his feet, he lifted his hands towards her.

"Don't touch it!" Nyla yelled, in between sobs, she inched away from him.

Mikael frowned. "We have to keep pressure on it or you'll lose too much blood." Mikael added regretting not attending to Restoration classes at the College. He didn't have anything to tie up her shoulder with so with his hands, he squeezed the wound in.

Another even louder screech of unrelenting force escaped Nyla's mouth. Mikael fell on his back and stared at her wide-eyed as she sobbed from the pain. It seemed as if she was unaware of the force that was projecting through her shouts. Mikael's ears rung but he could still hear the rumbling on top of him. Dust and rock started falling from the ceiling, the cave was giving in! With a swear under his breath, he ran towards Nyla. He had no time to play healer with her, so he picked her up in one swoop and started running. Behind him, the ceiling started to fall, the walls gave in just a few feet away from where he was. Nyla was bawling in Mikael's arms and she just seemed to get heavier and heavier in his arms. Just when he was about to give up all hope, a ray of light in the distance caught his attention, it was the exit! Mikael mustered up what little strength and stamina he had left and sprinted towards the end.

Suddenly, a rush of wind blew sideways on the couple, the loud noise of the destruction behind them was no longer a worry as the sunlight shined brightly on their faces. Mikael fell towards his knees, exhausted. He couldn't help but to laugh out loud in relief. "We made it!" He proudly said, but there was no answer. The joy that filled his heart suddenly sunk down towards his stomach and turned into worry. He could feel the warm, sticky liquid dripping from his hands, Nyla's lips had turned white.