Resh POV

He had reached Whiterun now. He didn't know why he continued on with this god-forsaken quest for these animalistic creatures that could be so hateful towards their own kind. It sickened him that he was around these dishonourable animals for so long and hadn't realised that he should have killed them on sight. Above all of this, when he had actually saved the female human from that monster masquerading as a person she had screamed at him and cowered in fear from the very one who had saved her.

If his race were not sworn to honour promises he would have turned back long ago and returned to his homeland to tell his people of sentient filth that needed to be cleansed. And even if he couldn't do so right now, after his mission in Whiterun was finished he would carve a path through the empire and back to Akavir, bleeding out all who tried to stop him.

At the gates he was addressed by the Nordic savages wrapped in fur that call themselves guards. Resh didn't even offer them the dignity of a reply. Their lesser kind doesn't deserve respect from the likes of him. He almost felt compelled to kill them there and then out of sheer hatred but he held himself back for now. He had things to do.

When walking up the pathways in this town of humans, all the citizens seemed insistent on talking to him, and commenting that he looked like a fighter. He didn't care what they thought. If he wasn't injured he would have killed them for trying to judge one of such a higher kind than them.

Resh just ignored all the humans he passed on his way and walked up the steps to Dragonsreach. Humans are so feeble-minded, why would they name their strongholds after the very creatures that used to wipe out their kind. 'I guess it's just another sign of human weakness,' he thought. His kind feasted on dragons. They would never name something of importance in honour of the prey they devour.

However much Resh hated to admit it, the main hall itself was magnificent. It was filled with banners and tables with a large fire-pit in the middle and the skull of a dragon at the end of the hall. 'I guess that's why they call it Dragonsreach.' Even though the hall was nice, it didn't compare to some of the buildings in Akavir. Comparing height and structure would be like comparing an anthill to a mountain. The skulls were a change to the decorations seen in Akavir though. All the parts of a dragon in his land were either eaten (even the organs and bones) or fashioned into armour.

Sitting underneath the dragon skull, in a large decorated chair, was who appeared to be the Jarl of the town. The seat itself was on an elevated platform making the Jarl seem higher up than he actually was. "Typical humans, trying to appear important when they are little more than sentient apes, like the equally savage Tang Mo from my own continent."

Resh tried to explain his story to the Jarl as quick as possible so he wouldn't have to suffer through much time being around him and his kind. But he just kept asking more questions. He seemed so interested, even though Resh was trying to explain his story in the shortest way possible.

Just as Resh finally thought that this was all over and he could at last leave this cesspit of Nordic scum, a man in guard's armour ran into the hall shouting out, "There's a dragon attacking the western watchtower! We're going to need some serious guard reinforcement if we are to kill that thing."

Murmurs echoed throughout the hall at the mention of a dragon attack so close by. Many people, up until then, had thought that dragons were creatures of myth. The Jarl quickly assembled who he said were some of the finest guards in Whiterun into a soldier troop to go off to the tower. "Like the finest humans could kill a beast like a dragon," thought Resh.

He was about to offer to go himself. There was no way he was going to miss a chance at killing an actual dragon, even if he did have to go with humans. But the Jarl beat him to it and said that as he knew the most of dragons, he had to go. Although Resh resented taking orders from a human, he wasn't going to argue if he was going to be able to kill a dragon.

When the group arrived at the tower there was no dragon to be seen. There were signs of the dragon's attack, as shown by the charred corpses on the ground and the flames burning on the debris. But the dragon itself had left. It would appear he had walked all this way over here for nothing. Just as he had been thinking that he heard a loud roar from the distance as a dark, huge winged silhouette came from behind a mountain and blocked out part of the sun.

The dragon was extremely quick, darting over to the tower in mere seconds releasing a jet of flame, killing two of the warriors already, and then turning around again so it could prepare to release another deadly scream of fire. This time Resh jumped to the side avoiding the fire and launched his own magical projectiles up at the creature as it swooped down, although the beast was not in the right position for him to hit it properly. He had no time to aim. And it was so quick; his lighting based magic missed its target by a longshot.

The dragon wasn't landing for him to use his sword and there was no way Resh would have been able to hit it with magic from the ground. He wouldn't be accurate enough to hit it directly with magic and he didn't have a bow on him that could fire quickly. His only shot at doing any real damage to the beast would be from higher ground. Running up the steps of the battered watchtower, ducking to avoid small flame reaching through cracks in the walls, Resh made it to the top of the watch tower and began his hail of magical projectiles.

The flying beast, who must have thought it was winning this battle as the Nordic 'warriors' went and hid behind rocks, obviously wasn't expecting the elemental assault coming from his side. Resh fired burst after burst of lightning and fire at the creatures' wings. The attack was becoming too much for the creature to bear and it was forced to land in front of the watchtower, just in time for Resh to run out of magica. This landing put it in a perfect position for the weak humans, who had previously been hiding, to take their opportunity and attack the beast from all angles with their swords and close range weapons.

Resh couldn't allow these pitiful creatures that had hid from the creature most of the battle to slay the first dragon that had been seen in centuries when it was he who had done most of the work. Knowing that the creature would most likely be dead by the time he ran down the stairs, Resh did the one thing he could think of. He dove off the edge of the tower towards the dragon. He knew he would sustain injuries from the fall but it would be worth it to earn the title of 'Dragon-slayer'.

Driving down with all of his strength and momentum from the fall, Resh buried the blade of his sword into the top of the dragons' skull, causing it to roar out in agony. Resh hadn't had any personal skill in killing dragons but he didn't think that the fight was over yet. So he wrenched the blade out of creature's head causing a slightly quieter roar and buried it in the same cut again trying to cause some more damage. The humans watched in awe as the man drove the sword into the creature head three more times before it finally fell.

As the adrenaline left his body now that the fight was over Resh realised what he had done. He had actually killed a dragon. He was a dragon-slayer. He would be a hero among his kind, although the dragon is prey, he had still killed the most powerful prey that existed for him to hunt; even his own kind had some respect for the extinct until now species. Only now though did he notice the burn marks on him from stray flames that he had passed and the severely injured (possibly even broken) shins he had received from jumping of a tower.

Gritting his teeth in pain Resh rolled off the side of the dragon onto the ground before him, gasping at the impact of the fall Resh turned to see what his efforts had produced. The dragon's head (or at least what left of it) had huge deep gashes carved into the top of it from where his sword had struck, causing blood to seep out of its head over it face. The creature's skin on its face had been flayed from when he had slashed at it over and over with his blade.

Just as Resh was going to turn away and attempt standing to see if his legs still worked, the beast he had just slain started to peel away and smoulder. Its skin looked like it was burning as it came free from its bones leaving the dragons skeleton bare. The weirdest part was that the fire seemed to be of more than one colour and it seemed to burst out of the dragons' body and travel into his. It was a disturbing yet somehow peaceful feeling, like he was resting but had warm water that wasn't there seep into him, making him feel whole.

The Nords, who had tried to help him fight that monster but in reality had not helped at all, seemed as shocked as he was at this odd spectacle. They pointed at him when he was on the ground and whispered to each other. He couldn't catch all of what they were saying until the leader of them walked over to him and told him exactly what had happened.

Apparently Resh, after killing the dragon had absorbed it soul. In Nordic legends there was said to be a hero with this ability who had the soul of a dragon. The guard leader told him that this hero was called a Dragonborn, or Dovahkiin, and when the dragons returned from extinction another Dragonborn would be around to fight them. And that he, a species whose kind hated and devoured dragons, was the Dovahkiin. A man born with the soul of a dragon.

After hearing this Resh knew it had to be true. He hated himself for what he was. His kind would kill him if they found out. They would probably devour him too, there was no way they would let someone with the soul of their prey into their society. Resh screamed in what the humans probably thought was pain but was in fact in rage and punched the dragons' skeleton out of anger causing part of the rib he hit to fracture and his own thumb to break. He screamed again this time in pain as he tried to stand up to run from this damned tower. That last outburst of agony pushed him over the edge and his injuries took their toll and he passed out, too weak to stay conscious any longer.

Resh awoke to even more pain as these insufferable humans dragged his body up the steps of Dragonsreach his legs smacking against each step. The worst part was he was too weak and injured to walk on his own, let alone push these pathetic creatures off him. So he had to just lay lifeless and allow these humans to drag him along like a captured deer while he tried to calm himself down.

Resh had recovered from his initial anger and hatred of himself when he first found out he was a dragon inside. But being less angry didn't make him any more accepting of his curse. Right now Resh would have done anything to remove it. But he doubted there was anything he could do so he just tried to build up his energy as much as possible so he could talk when he entered the hall. The moment he entered the Jarl started to speak.

"Thank you for slaying that dragon. Is it true what people are saying, that you're the Dragonborn? That you're born with the soul of a dragon?" Jarl Balgruff remarked as his new champion was dragged in by two of his guards because of his injuries, much to his displeasure.

"If death would take away this curse, I would take my own life a thousand times to rid myself of it," Resh bit, with spite and hate coming off every word.

"Yes… well it's an honour to have you as our thane of Whiterun," stuttered the Jarl awkwardly at the man's pessimistic response to what should be considered a gift, "I think it's time you should meet your new housecarl. Lydia has sworn her life to you and will follow you everywhere you go."

"Just what I need, a human following me," Resh thought sarcastically.

Lydia POV

"The new thane is very attractive," Lydia thought "I don't know if it's that ever angry, smouldering look he always has or the new position of power he has or maybe even the sheer fact he's a large muscular Nord, but I hope I don't get distracted when serving under him and can manage to get some work done."

He didn't like it here, surrounded by humans. The Jarl's mage was trying to heal Resh's legs using a combination of magic, and wine covered wraps to soak up and heal the wound .He had several onlookers, including the Jarl himself and the fully armoured woman who had been sworn to his service and who kept staring at him.

For the most part, the healing process was working and his broken shins were healing up. But even after the procedure he wasn't in fighting condition. When Resh tried to make a quick exit, he managed to walk a few steps before a biting pain coursed through his lower legs and he crumpled onto the floor, looking weak in front of the lesser beings who had all seen his failed attempt at walking. There was nothing more damaging for his pride than appearing helpless and unable to survive by himself in front of the very people he considered weak.

The Nord, who Resh believed was his appointed housecarl, darted over to him when he collapsed to check if he was okay and to help him stand, much to his annoyance.

"Get off me, Nord," Resh commanded as he pushed the woman off him, causing him to fall again, cursing the healer's failure at fixing his legs. "A Tsaesci healer would have been able to fix his shins completely, and in half the time it took this human."

"I'm sworn to carry your burdens. And if you are your own burden then I am sworn to carry you, as you clearly don't seem to be able to carry yourself." Lydia hadn't meant to cause offence with what she said but it seemed her thane had taken offence judging by the scowl he had given her.

The woman's logic with flawless but he still felt a pang of shame at the fact that he had to rely on the help of a weak Nord to be able to walk. So he grudgingly wrapped his arm around the woman's shoulders and rested his weight on her whilst limping out of the building.

"Where to then?" Lydia asked somewhat rhetorically as she was directing him towards 'The Bannered Mare' assuming that her thane would want to go to an inn to rest until fully recovered.

"Away from this cesspit of a city," the newest thane of this city replied. Lydia masked her offence at the man's hateful words towards her home town and continued to half drag the large man towards the inn.

"I mean this as no insult my thane but you should really rethink your plans. You're not in the condition to travel at the moment," Lydia informed him, knowing that the man could be easily insulted as shown earlier when she first offered to help him.

"I don't need your help; I can get by perfectly on my own. I don't need help from you, or any other Nord," Resh replied pushing the woman off him and taking two staggering, but successful steps, "Leave me be and go home. I don't need you here to look after me like a child," Resh grunted in pain as he crashed into the ground again after taking another step, cursing as he was unable to pull himself back up.

"I'm sorry but I can't do that. I am sworn to be your housecarl and protect you. I have no choice but to follow you wherever you go," Lydia said helping her thane off the ground for the third time in the last hour.

"Fine!" Resh snapped, causing the battle hardened woman to almost jump at the viciousness in his voice, "I'll stay here a few days. But once I heal, I'm going. Preferably without you following. When I do leave, if you manage to keep up with me, don't try to talk with me. If you don't, don't expect me to wait for you."

She wasn't sure why but her thane's spiteful words and the fact that he didn't care about her, instead of making her hate him, actually made her infatuation over him stronger. She knew it probably wasn't the best thing to be turned on by guys who treated her like dirt but she couldn't help it. She didn't let her feelings show and just kept on her usual cold as stone emotionless face.

The next few days dragged on slowly as she had to look after bedridden Dragonborn and bring him in food that he never seemed to eat. The worst part was it turned out her thane, Resh, had no money with him so she had to pay for the room and the food with her own septims.

Luckily for her Resh didn't ask for much, as he thought of asking for help as a sign of weakness. The only thing he did when he was recovering was drag himself out of his room every so often and sit in front of the fire in the centre of the inn for a few hours.

After only one day here she could see that Resh didn't like being cooped up in his room all day, as he started to get irritable and would snap at her whenever she tried to talk to him. Although this wasn't much different from when she had first met him. "Perhaps when he gets out into the open and leaves the city he will be like a different person." It would make sense that he doesn't like cities considering the comment he made on Whiterun before.

She also noticed that Resh didn't seem to sleep very much. And when he did it wasn't in his bed like a normal person (so spending money on two separate rooms was pointless). But he would sleep near the fire, so close that it should have burned a Nord like him. He only slept for about an hour or two and then spent the rest of the day wide awake conjuring flames in his hands and then extinguishing them to pass the time, much to the innkeepers' displeasure.

Lydia unlike most Nords had always wanted to know how to use magic. It had seemed like such a practical skill, not just for fighting but to stay interested when you're not doing anything. Much as Resh was doing now, casting little magical globes and hitting them away with his hand as if tangible when they floated near.

It was getting quite late now so Lydia got into her own bed to sleep, wondering how her thane could spend the whole night filling his room with wisps of glowing magic and not want to sleep.

They were now on their third day in this inn and Resh's leg seemed to be better as he could now walk around by himself without wincing all the time. It was just as well he was ready to leave, as Lydia was starting to run out of coins to pay for their stay.

Lydia could see Resh stand up now and walk towards the door about to leave without her. But before he left, he paused at the door, turned around and looked at the woman who had taken time out of her own life to look after him, even though he didn't want to be looked after.

"I'm going now, Nord," he told her, and then he left. She would have followed him even if he had gone without telling her. But she swelled with pride at the fact that he decided to tell her before he left the building. She knew it wasn't much but after being around this man for a few days, she felt she needed to learn how to get by on little victories like this.

She ran ahead to catch up with him as he strode out of the city pacing quickly. He didn't even turn when she started to walk alongside him.

"Why do you call me 'Nord'?" Lydia asked.

"What?"

"You are a Nord yourself so why do you call me 'Nord'?" she asked again. If he had heard he chose not to listen as he continued to walk on without turning to face her.

"Just call me Lydia from now on," She said ignoring the strangeness of the Dragonborn's lack of response. Resh just continued not to listen and carried on walking into the night, regretting alerting the woman of his departing.