[Spelling updated]
Author's Note.
First, I wanted to say first and foremost to everyone who loves this story and have been keeping up with the long awaited story since... fucking LAST YEAR?!
I!
APOLOGIZE!
I am sorry about the long non-explained delay of the story update, my mind was playing retarded at the most crucial of times, thus having a huge fucking writer's block that I couldn't solve for the life of me, my computer got fucked up with the hard drive being fucked, and turns off unexpectedly or at the slightest tap, and thankfully I had 2 back-up plans B and C for my shitty stories just in case I couldn't redeem my original copies (Thank god for one drive saving the day) and on top of everything, i am now getting adjusted to my new life in my new city, new job, and new way of living, since that my easy going life is now going to take a wild turn.
LOTS of stuff is happening for me in my life, and I once again, am sorry that all of this delayed the story(s) that you guys were waiting on… But I still haven't given up yet, so that is something to look forward to for those who still remember me! and for those who are new... ain't you lucky you don't have to wait as long as the others did...
Lucky bastards.
Without further-a-do…
Chapter 10:
Two minutes has passed by, and the tension was high. Isaiah was pacing back and forth around the center of the room campfire thinking of scenarios and location advantages and strategies to use against a flying beast while Jarl Balgruuf was at his gathering of what little soldiers, and he had rallied up in Dragon's Reach. Only 8 Whiterun Guards who were just being briefed on the incoming dragon up in the war room. Nora, Hadvar, and Ralof were standing worriedly at the sight of Isaiah acting so strange… Well, 'stranger' then his usual carefree/chaotic nature. Nora tried to talk to him but was met with a cold reply.
"Don't talk to me. I am thinking…" Jester said with a low tone as he continued to pace around the campfire in the room.
Despite the cold yet collective outlook of Jester, there was one thing going on in Jester's mind, and that was where the panicked guard that survived the dragon attack is at.
'Where is he? Where is he? Where is he? He was supposed to show, but he is not here yet. Did he die in the dragon attack? Or is he running late? Wait, 'Late'? A delay? Could there be time to spare for us to half-ass prepare-' Jester's eyes widened suddenly.
"Son of a-JARL BALGRUUF! I NEED YOU DOWN HERE, IMMEDIATELY!" Jester shouted at the top of his lungs summoning the Jarl down from the war room.
Many irked looks came from around the main hall, with the faces spelling out 'How dare this damn commoner adventure treat the Jarl with such disrespect.' The Jarl had a quicken pace with the guards following as he quickly met up with Isaiah, much to everyone's shock.
"What is it, do we make our counterattack on the tower now?" The Jarl asked in a battle-hardened confidence.
"No, there has been a change of plans. There was supposed to be a guard who lets us know about the dragon attack, but he hasn't arrived yet, which means that we have to act quickly, or we will miss our golden opportunity to set up while we still can! The dragon will attack the city soon!"
"I thought you said-" The Jarl then shook his head. "Bah never mind, what do we need to do, I can't give you everything, but say it, and I will do what I can to help." The Jarl gave me something that I was surprised to hear.
I wonder…fuck it, I am short on time as I am.
"Ok, my first request, we need a guard who will be on a look out for a guard returning, or the dragon coming over the mountains from the west outpost and have him have the loudest Horn to notify us all to gather at the gates of Whiterun. For sure that is where the dragon will come from."
"Done. You." The Jarl pointed at a random guard. "Take the horn that is in the war room and go to the front gates. Should you see an exhausted guard who was stationed at the west tower, you blow on that horn to let the rest of us know."
"Yes, my Jarl." Guard #1 saluted and took off to the war room.
"Secondly, we need bows and arrows. LOTS of arrows. Can't take down a dragon out of the sky without enough arrows. Maybe around a thousand, or 2 quivers filled with arrows per person. So like uh…" I paused trying to think of a reasonable number. "Fuck it, lots of quivers of steel arrows ready to go."
"Granted. You." The Jarl pointed at a second guard. "Gather from the armory as many arrows as you can carry, and get some help ready at the front gate, let every guard and citizen know to stay on high alert for a potential attack. And if you see Irileth, relay the information of the dragon attack to her and meet up with the platoon at the front gates."
"Yes, my Jarl." Guard #2 saluted and took off outside.
"And for my final request, I wish to have a certain prisoner to be released from prison."
"Gran-" The Jarl had to think on what I just said. "Uh… run that by me again?" Balgruuf asked in dumbstruck.
"I request that a certain prisoner to be released to fight with us against the dragon. He is an ex-bandit friend of mine who turned over a new leaf, and he can be trusted, you can ask them over for confirmation." To which I gestured my hand towards the 3 Nords as they nodded or gave a thumbs up. "A big Orc named Trok who was imprisoned for having relations to an infamous bandit group and will be an asset to have against the dragon. If he refuses, then he stays imprisoned until his day to be released."
The surprisingly cold ending response shocked Hadvar and Ralof.
"If you are sure… Then having extra hands fighting against this dragon would be worth having."
"That will be all. Now if you will excuse me, I need to talk to the Companions at Jorrvaskr." Jester said as he left the Dragon's Reach with his Nord Companions following.
During the way down the staircase, there was an uncomfortable amount of silence as Jester had hurriedly made his way to Jorrvaskr.
"Jester, are you ok?" Ralof decided to break the silence.
"No, I'm not." Jester replied continuing his bitter contemplating mood as he continued walking downstairs.
"Look, I am sorry about the dragon's stone if that is what you are mad about, I didn't know about-"
"We cannot change what has happened. All we can do is accommodate and make do with what little time we have left." Jester interrupted in a cold tone.
"Jester, listen." Ralof said as he grabbed Jester's shoulder as he was facing. "I think you are overreacting at-(POW!)" Jester's fist met Ralof's face as Ralof stumbled back, being caught by Hadvar and Nora with them both having a surprise look.
"HEY! What was that for?!" Nora said with a bit of anger in her voice at the sudden attack of one of her companions.
"I suggest that you all stop wasting precious time and gather willing warriors to fight against the dragon. Seek out Uthgerd the Unbroken and see if she is willing to help out. Spread out and ask around the Inn, stores, and other places to see if there are any other willing warriors that will raise their arms to fight and meet up with Trok and the other guards at the front gates for battle." Jester said with authority in his voice as he left the group to go into Jorrvaskr.
"What in oblivion got him so pissed off?" Ralof asked as he rubbed his nose clean of what little blood came out.
All that was on his mind was the ticking timer until the dragon attacks the city.
-Main quest start: A City to Protect-
(Objective: Prepare for the dragon attack in Whiterun.)
[9 minutes, 45 seconds remain.]
[Isaiah's POV]
Opening the hall of Jorrvaskr, home of the companions, the first thing to greet Jester was the heavy smell of booze as it escaped the boat-like housing hold, which recoiled Jester to remember his hangover event.
The whole area was a bit similar to the jarl's dining area, but narrower, with a fire blazing at the center with roasted pigs, chickens, and even parts of cow being cooked on a bar going through it as the cooks kept slowly cooking it. Some veggies and other types of food littered above the large grill.
Cheering could be heard from within Jorrvaskr, as a fistfight was being held at one of the fighting areas of the hall. A man and a woman who I assumed had a disagreement on something, but I ignored them all as I snuck down towards the opposite side of the place that held the fight, avoiding confrontations of the drinkers. I could have sworn that I saw some looks on me, as if they think they recognize me.
Getting down in the bunkers, I made my way towards the back of the bunkers to where the quote on quote, 'Leader' of the Furries is. Kodlak is the name of the old man who is having a troubled conversation of his curse with one of the other 'cursed' individuals, Vilkus who shares his burden of not wanting the curse.
This curse is Lycanthropy, better known as the blessing of the Daedric Prince Hircine. The blessing basically allows the user to transform into almost every furry's dream come true. A Werewolf.
But that is just information details for those who don't know-Wait, why am I re-telling myself information that I already know about?
"But I still hear the call of the blood." Vilkus said wearily.
"We all do. It is our burden to bear. But we can overcome." Kodlak replied sounding reassuring to his shield brother.
"You have my brother and I, obviously. But I don't know if the rest will go along quite so easily." Vilkus sighed.
" You just leave that to me." Kodlak assured to Vilkus as he then took note of my presence.
"Greetings young lad, what brings you here?" Kodlak asked, probably expecting another trainee for the companions.
"I am here to ask you, the unofficial leader of the companions, to lead the entirety of the companions to take up arms to help defend the city. A dragon is going to attack this city soon, and we need as much help as we can get. Will you help?" I requested Kodlak.
"…I'm sorry, my age must be getting to me I must heard you wrong, you said a 'dragon'?" Kodlak said in a bit of confusion as he picked at his ears.
"The very same ones from the legends, they are coming back, but this is only the beginning. Will you help or not?" I asked again.
"Dragons… Sure lad. Where did you hear that hogwash, from the local drunkards, the kids playing make believe? Come back when you have an actual emergency. Like a giant attack or a pack of sabertooths." Vilkus said in a joking manner.
'Oh so that's how you want to play it…' I thought as tick marks grew on my head.
I looked back to see that there was nobody in ears shot of the conversation. "I know you assholes are werewolves, so stop fucking around like I don't know jack shit, ya furries." I bluntly said, to which they had a take back rection that would normally be pretty funny to see. The time remaining just hit 9 minutes.
"HEY! Watch your tongue of who you accuse and to who you are speaking to!" Vilkus demanded as he stood up rearing to throw a punch.
"I am short on time as it is, and I know of a way to cure your curses." Both of their eyes widened. "I would usually try to haggle with information on the line, but I could care less about ignorant men who doesn't believe in older legends, despite ironically trying to remake the Wuuthrad battle axe wielded by Ysgrammor, another old legend. You know what? I am wasting my time here. Forget I ever said anything." I interjected as I waved them off.
"Wait please!" Kodlak's voice stopped me. "I apologize for our ignorance. It's just that it's hard to believe…"
"Save it." I said much to their surprise.
"As of now, I had wasted enough time here. So listen well because I am only going to say this once." I said as I turned to Kodlak and Vilkus.
"To break the curse, you need to cut off the heads of the Glenmoril Witches and burn one head per person at the Tomb of Ysgrammor. Only until then, can you be free of the curse once you achieve the fragments of Wuuthrad, and reforge that key to enter his tomb. Good luck, and make sure Skjor doesn't hunt the fragments alone, for he will die a horrid death by the Silver-hands." I said as I left the bunker.
Even though I would like to have their help, not much is going to change, and most of them are drunk anyways, so they would be more of a liability then anything really.
When I stepped back into the mead hall, I was then greeted with the drunks that I saw from before.
'Oh curse my luck…'
"Hey! You are that legendary Joker drinker from last night! Here is a round on me!" One of the guys handed me a mug of ale.
"No I can't-"
"Wait, that Joker guy?! Hey, I demand a rematch!" Another guy said, saying my name wrong.
"Listen, there is a dragon about to attack-"
"Dragons? Now I know this Joker got drunk! Looks like the hangover got his ass!" Another guy said as a round of laughter echoed throughout the building.
"Please, I need to-" Cheering erupted and escalated as I was pressured to drink even more.
"Oi! Pud'at Joker to the test to see if 'es the real deal! Or just blatant, idiotic luck! Drink, Joker, Drink, Joker!" An older man chanted while he raised a pint as more and more people began to join and butchering my nickname, waving around their mugs, and trying to get me to drink as I can see the countdown seemingly continue to go down. I tried to speak over them or get by the cheering crowd, the mugs of ale the surrounding people had spilt onto me, I shoved back away from the door of escape as the grip on my mug gets tighter, and tighter...
"Joker! (tick) Drink! (tick) Joker! (tick) Drink! (tick) Joker! (tick) Drink! (tick) Joker! (tick) Drink! (tick)-"
…Until I finally snapped…
"SHUT THE FUCK UUUUUUUPP!" (SMASH) I yelled at the top of my lungs and smashed the mug onto the nearest person's head spilling the contents inside to splash everywhere and knocking down the first guy who gave me the mug fall to the floor as blood began to leak from his head.
People then died down from the abrupted smashing sound as everyone backed off to see what happened.
I was panting from my shouting when I realized that I had assaulted a companion member who was clutching his head in pain on the ground.
"What is going on here?" I heard more voices enter from the opposite side of the room. Skjor, Farkas, and Aela the Huntress came into the Jorrvaskr.
Judgmental stares befell me as I can feel the guilt overwhelm me as I then bolted out, shoving people out of my way who were in my direct path.
I bolted away like a cowardly assailant from Jorrvaskr with a very, very bitter taste in my mouth as I knew that I had wasted and sullied the opportunity to have the companions join us with the fight against the dragon threat.
[5 minutes remain…]
I found myself thinking on the top of a building across from the Warmaiden near the entrance of the Whiterun gates for 3 minutes just wasting my time thinking about how I could have just kept my cool and left that area. I just leaned onto a fence until the dragon came. The streets were practically empty from civilians, and there is a good amount of guards waiting at the entrance square for a signal with the guards armed with plenty of arrows. The numbering is in the fifties
Looks like one thing succeeded at the very least…
But even if I waited, I knew I could have been doing something to prepare more. Maybe get me at least a bow and a few arrows to at least have a countermeasure for the flying dragon.
I continued to once again to go over the plan in my head to kill the dragon.
When the dragon is flying, the guards will have the task of launching their arrows to it while dodging it's flame breath. When it lands on a house, arrows will be launched at it dodging its flame breath… and when it lands on the houses… arrows… dodge-"AAAARG! ITS NOT THE FUCKING SAME!" I kicked the wooden fence that I was leaning on in frustration.
"The attack was supposed to be at the west tower, by telling the guards were supposed to be stationed at the top of the tower, and the Companions near the broken tower wall! The companions were supposed to be to aggro the dragon around the broken wall to avoid being burnt to death, and once the dragon was at specific points of the wall, Nora, Hadvar, Trok and Ralof were supposed to all jump off the wall to cut into its wing membranes for it to not fly properly, then the tower guards could just lay down arrow shots as the ground troops lure it around the wall as it gets assaulted with arrows from above! EASY and a SIMPLE KILL PLAN! How am I supposed to develop a safe and effective strategy in a god damn city with innocent civilians lives and burnable houses are involved?! The streets are too big and too narrow, basically impractical for evading, and the dragon to land will likely be on the houses, and almost never the ground! WHY CAN'T THINGS GO AS FUCKING PLANNED FOR ONCE IN MY DAMNED LIFE!" I externally monologued, repeatedly kicking the fence in anger, gaining the attention of some of the guards.
"I thought I heard you complaining up here." A voice interrupted my train of rampage as I looked back to the sight of the female dragonborn, Nora.
"…" I just glared at Nora as I tried to regain what little composure I could muster.
"Why are you not with Ralof and Hadvar? Are you guys not gathering willing warriors from around town?" I scowled at Nora.
"They can handle that task themselves perfectly. They did win a few drinking games and are owed by some mercenaries. And Ralof had already paid Uthgerd in his own way. Heh, remember?" Nora slightly joked, trying to light the mood.
It failed to do anything for me as I was still scowling.
"What the hell do you want from me Nora, I am busy having a mental breakdown episode, and I don't need you beating the shit out of me to make things worse than they already are. So fuck off." I said grimly as I turned away from her.
There was silence as I stared at the guards as I can see that Trok was being escorted to the front by the Jarl, suited in his battle armor and the jail keeper guard. Giving out an encouraging speech as Ralof and Hadvar soon joined with Uthgerd the Unbroken, and that one Nord in Heavy steel armor who wants to take over the guard positioning to make the guards better, That one 'artistic' dark elf spell-sword mercenary, and a few Battleborn family members who want to prove their steel against a dragon…
"I guess that Hadvar somehow convinced them and Ralof did his job as well…" I mumbled. "And I… just keep getting set-backs… after set-backs…" I gritted.
"…Do you need to talk about it Jester?" Nora asked.
"Go. The fuck. Away." I sternly replied as I turned my head to just send her whatever intimidating stare I can muster out.
Nora then had grabbed my shoulder, turned me to face her and punched me in the gut, making me buckle over gasping in pain.
'This Bit-'
Nora then gave me a tight hug.
'…Huh?'
I was confounded on what was happening. One of the rare occasions that Nora would show affection in her own surprising way. She had once again caught me off guard. And this time, it was more soothing to say the least.
I immediately struggled to push myself away from her, but the more I struggled, the more I didn't want to push away, as I felt a warm liquid coming from my eyes as I saw my vision blur.
"H-Huh?" I weakly let out as tears begun to fall from my eyes.
"It's ok Isaiah…" Nora said, using my real name for the first time since I came here... I honestly thought she didn't remember. "You don't have to shoulder all the stress by yourself. That is why we are all here. Even when things seem to overwhelm you, just keep in mind, that you have your allies to fall back on."
"I… I…" I tried to speak, but all was muffled out by the tears.
After taking a few seconds to get control of my emotions, Nora got my attention once again.
"Isaiah, let me tell you about my past life as a young and naïve teen… I haven't told anyone of my past, so listen to my story."
(Dark moment, short M rated short-story.)
"5 years ago, I was starting out as an adventurer to follow in my mother's and father's footsteps to being an adventurer. We had done a bit of mercenary work, like being bodyguards for caravans, or doing nature control from bears, trolls, and wolves." Nora started.
"One night, while we were guarding a noble carriage, we were heading down a path that was near a giant bandit fortress. We thought we were on a safe and secret route, but on that night, we were ambushed at that point by an enormous number of bandits, and everyone but my mother and I was killed." She continued in a strained voice, but she kept going.
"Night after night, we and a few other women were kept locked up in their fortress and ravaged by those ruthless bastards who kept coming in one after another. Two weeks passed by, and I soon found that my mother bit her tongue one night, and died from bleeding out, leaving me practically alone to the clutches of those mongrels. Somehow, I kept my sanity, hoping that one day, a savior would release me from my prison of torture."
"…But nobody ever did come to my rescue."
"Night after night, I lost hope of ever being rescued… and my despair turned to hatred. I bided my time for the time to escape from my cell. After 3 months of being raped repeatedly, I then realized that I was pregnant with a swollen belly of one of those bastards' children, but one night to my luck, the door to my cell was left unlocked and the last bandit that tried to have his way with me again, got overconfident in his strength and unshackled me. After making my resolution that I will die with what little honor I had, and not to be some diseased whore, I headbutted him, and choked him to death. After that, I took his weapon, I hunted one bandit after another. On that night, I killed 56 bandits, and hoped that at least one of them, would have killed me as I killed off most of them. I never got that wish as I was the last survivor standing in the fort of dead bodies with broken pride, a sullied womb, and a shattered will to live…" Nora took a deep and shaky breath, as she continued to hold me tightly as she went on with her story.
"I took a dagger and went to the top of the nearest mountain to commit suicide, so that nobody would know of what happened to me. I stabbed my stomach open repeatedly, tearing out my stomach, and killing the invader of my womb. I even felt some sort of relief to my grief. It was painful, but not as painful as the memory of violation that haunted me throughout my torment. As I lied down bleeding out from my stab wounds hoping to have death sweep over me and take me to Sovngarde, a light from the morning burst through the clouds, and covered me in a holy light. The light of a god had saved and blessed me with an unknown gift, known now as dragonborn, by giving me another chance at life that I did not ask for. The divine, Akatosh, just told me to get stronger and to not let this new life go to waste. Though the divine had healed me, not everything could be healed. And scars remained, both mentally… and physically." She said grimly as one of her arms rubbed her abdomen.
"From that moment on, I swore to myself, that I will not ever let myself, or any defenseless girl go through that awful experience again. And I upkeep that promise by killing shitty bandits any chance I could get." Nora concluded her sad backstory. "And now that I finally got that story off my chest, I feel a strange relief flow through me."
"…" I remained silent at her story, thinking about her conflicts with mine. To her, mine might as well seem like a trivial bad Monday. And thanks to her, I now have a surprisingly clearer mind then waiting for disaster to strike for the worst. Huh… strange…
"Nora…" I said as I wrapped my arms around her in a tight, but caring grip that lasted a few seconds…
(PUNCH!)
I felt a forceful impact towards my right side as I broke the hug, gaping in pain at the unexpected attack. A… 'rude awakening' if you will.
"Ugh! God damn it Nora, can't you go one damn day without being a bipolar bitch?!" I complained while clutching my stomach.
"That was for punching Ralof and making us worry about you." Nora cheekily said with a small grin.
"Oh, and I guess you want a fucking apology now that-(Smooch)-?!" I paused mid-sentence at the revelation that just happened.
Nora leaned in and gave me a surprise small kiss on the cheek.
"And that is for listening to me and getting that story off of my chest, as well as trying to comfort me, even after everything that happened between us." Nora said with a small blush.
I was speechless as I unconsciously raised my hand to my cheek to the spot that Nora laid her lips on.
A notification had just popped up that I barely registered.
-Quest completed: Scars of the past-
"W…what?" I asked dumbfounded at the new information being processed.
A roaring sounded off in the distance as I snapped back to reality and to attention. The timer was up, and I looked to the sky as a war horn sounded.
"DRAGON! JUST OVER THE-" One of the guards said from the walls as the dragon flew over the walls, grabbing the guy who announced its arrival with its talons, killing him immediately as his crushed corpse fell to the crowd.
My eyes widen at the sudden fatality.
"Everyone! Spread out and prepare to counter attack! Guards, fire when you have a shot!" The Jarl ordered his people as they did as they ordered as they spread out through the town.
Nora was about to take off to take the fight to the dragon, but I grabbed her shoulder.
"Nora, wait!"
"Jester, there is no time for explaining, that can wait till after the fight." Nora said with her usual serious attitude.
"No, it is not that. I am going to teach you a technique to fight against the dragon, It's the Thu'um but I need you to listen closely, or we won't fight effectively against this monstrous beast." I replied to Nora with urgency.
"Ok, I'll listen, but make it quick, I don't think that the people can do much against the dragon." Nora said as a loud booming voice in the dragon tongue sounded with fire lighting a house on fire in the distance with screams of the guards sounding off in the distance.
Hopefully… Nora can learn what I can teach her. She is dragonborn after all, and I hope that the knowledge I can give her can be used immediately.
"Hear my words and listen. The words for Unrelenting Force in the dragon tongue: Fus. Ro. Dah. Fus meaning Force. Ro meaning balance-" Pained voices sounded as the dragon landed over in the town square killing a few more people in the process.
I can see the look of worry in Nora's eyes. I am even more worried then Nora is, but only arrows can do so much against a fucking dragon that will eventually pick us off one person off at a time with each attack.
"Dah, meaning push." I continued, ignoring the outside world of chaos. "As you use this shout, you push the world, but so does the world pushes back, as the laws of physics declare. Think of the way force can be applied effortlessly. Imagine but a whisper pushing aside all in its path. That is what Unrelenting Force is. For you will push harder than the world will push back. Remember what that draugr did to us back then at the caverns and use it against the dragon."
"…I…got it?" Nora stood for a moment to process the information before shaking her head in slight confusion that she understood what Unrelenting Force is.
"Now let's get that fucking dragon that terrorizes our favorite town!" I declared.
But before we could move from the area. The dragon was flying towards us, readying another shout as I can hear the words being made.
"Yol-Toor-Shul!"
"Shit-!" I panicked as I was left in shock at the sudden surprise attack, flinching as I tried to use my arms as a useless shield.
Nora immediately acted on her instincts and spoke the words I just taught her.
"FUS-RO-DAH!" The shout came from her mouth naturally as I can see the force projecting from her as it collided with the fire breath shout.
Nora's shout had canceled out the dragon's and even bypassed it slamming into the unexpecting dragon as it stumbled and lost its flight and crashed into the building below us, making us fall into the collapse of the building burying us all in the rubble of the destroyed building.
"Ugh… Nora, you ok?" I said as I moved some of the rubble off of me, I felt that I was surprisingly ok despite being in a crashlanding of the dragon.
As I got up to look around the destroyed area, only to see a pair of glowing angry eyes from the rubble.
"SHIT-SHIT-SHIT!" I ran out of the destroyed area following my preservation instincts to live as another fire breath shout had then followed after me as I dived to the ground, barely dodging the fire breath.
Emerging from the rubble, the dragon stood tall over me as it gazed down upon me, smoke coming out of its mouth from the recent fire shout.
"Damned joors, you will pay for your defiance! Feel your eminent death, Hin Dinok!" The dragon spoke in anger with his mixed version of English and the dragon tongue as he stared down upon me.
"Krii-Lun-Aus!" [Marked for Death]
I didn't have any time to react, as it was basically point blank as a purplish aura like wave washed over me, like water over a rock...
The shout of Marked for death is said to weaken the lifeforce of the target, and an unmistakable phantom like pain is supposed to take over the nervous system as a weight of unimaginable pain that your soul is being attacked-Why am I not feeling anything?
"...Uh..." I stared dumbfounded at the dragon who also seemed to have been dumbfounded at the idea that I might not actually be in any pain.
"Krii-Lun-Aus!" The dragon shouted at me again with the Marked for death shout.
I flinched at the wave of dark energy that flowed over me again, only to feel nothing affect me…
"Impossible! How are you not screaming in pain?! Ni Zaan Ahst Faaz!" the dragon said aloud.
"…aaAHHHHHHH!" I yelled in 'fear' as I got up and fled the dragon to hide behind a nearby house.
Just as the dragon was about to lean after me for a bite attack, a large piece of wood was thrown to the side of its head as the dragon shouted in pain.
The dragon hissed at the attacker who was none other than Nora, who was brushing off dust from the house rubble as she brandish her axe and a shield she found.
Arrows soon followed afterwards as the guards came in shooting another volley at the dragon. The dragon was fed up with the assault, it flapped its wings as a gust of dust blew some of the arrows away from itself as it was once again flying around the city.
[Nora's POV]
Damned dragon crashing into us was a huge surprise turning point. Isaiah was hit by something that I barely understood was 'something-something-death', but I doubt that he is really hurt that much since he is running like the usual idiot he makes himself out to be. And as much as I would want to check to see if he is alright, protecting the city comes first.
Something to note is that unrelenting force shout that I did against the dragon was something else though. A bit harsh on the throat, but that is something that I can definitely use against the dragon at a moment's notice.
As I stepped to greet the guards that forced the dragon away, I also found that the ex-bandit Trok is with the small group of guards, armed wielding a greatsword with a single hand, as he approached me.
"Trok saw Jester panicking. Trok is worried." Trok told me.
Shit, I almost forgot that he spoke like that.
"The idiot's fine. We need to focus our efforts on the dragon. I am sure that Jester has something cooking up in his head to stop the dragon." I replied trying to keep a neutral face.
"Trok is having trouble fighting the dragon, dragon flies too high, lands on top of houses that are too high to climb up. Its hard. Bows are too small and fragile to use for Trok, if only Trok had a catapult…" Trok started to spout off nonsense-Wait…
"Catapult? Ah, catapult! Trok, you gave me an idea!" I spoke in exasperation to beat the dragon.
"Trok did?" Trok said unsurely as I ran up to a Whiterun guard who was firing arrows at the flying dragon.
"Guard! I have a question!"
"Kinda busy here as should you guys be, what do you want?" The guard said while firing another arrow at the flying menace, ultimately missing another shot.
"Would we get in big trouble for breaking barrels upon the dragon?" I asked the guard, to which he responded a bit angrily.
"Property damage?! During a dragon atta-!?" The guard paused for a moment. "…What are you planning girl?" The guard asked like he was catching on to the idea.
"Trok, how strong are you to throw these barrels?" I asked the Ork who then grabbed a nearby barrel to feel its weight.
"Uh, Trok can throw pretty far, maybe from here to the blacksmith shop there?" Trok said pointing 30 meters away to the blacksmith house.
"You think you could smash the barrel the dragon's head if it landed on the houses?" I continued.
"…Yes?" Trok nodded unsurely.
"Good enough I suppose…" Holy shit, he is strong… "Ok Guard, listen up, and gather your friends to get barrels for Big guy to throw at the dragon, these tiny arrows aren't doing the trick!"
"I have a name you know, its Boris, but ok, we will see how this plan of yours works out." The guard said unsurely as he then gathered his squad to tell them the details.
I took notice that the dragon was circling the town and was about to reach this area again in about a minute. I got Trok to help me set up barrels him to throw along with the other guards, and we soon got 6 barrels set up.
Just as soon as the dragon was coming from the main square, and landed on the Breezehome house facing towards us, Trok took up a barrel. And just as it was about to use its fire breath attack, I once again used my dragonborn powers against it.
"Fus-Ro-Da!"
Just as the attack hit, I heard it roar in pain, as it flinched from the attack. And it glared at me with almost distain, and a hint of fear.
"Dovahkiin…" The dragon growled.
(POW!) A barrel smashed upon the dragon's head as it howled in pain. And the barrel had a glistening like substance splashed over its body from the barrel.
"Welp, there goes the lamp oil barrel…" Boris said with a bit of annoyance.
"Lamp oil? I just thought of something good then." I grinned as I readied a firebolt spell in my hand and fired at the dragon.
Before the dragon was able to react, it was then set alight as it roared in pain from the fire damage, along with the house it was on.
"Ni Ag! Ni Ag!" The dragon shouted as it panicked and fell from the house onto its back trying to put out the fire by thrashing its body on the streets.
"The dragon is down on the ground! Attack while you can!" The guard said as the crowd of guards came from both sides of the dragon hacking and slashing at it.
The dragon suffered a decent amount of damage, but it then unleashed a frost breath upon the Nord guards as it rolled over off of its back.
"Fo-Krah-Diin!"
A breath of frost shot out of the jaws of the dragon as it spread out to itself, and to the surrounding Nord fighters, essentially putting the fire on itself, and making room for it to escape into the sky as the Nord guards were shaking the ice off of themselves.
"Brrr, that was cold, is everyone alright?" I asked all the guards as I shook of the ice that formed on my armor.
"We have 2 guards down, but not out, I'll get them to safety." Boris said as he dragged two of the nearly frost covered guards to a nearby house and under a roof to recover.
I can see the dragon attacking near the town square, but I was a bit hesitant on leaving the area if the dragon comes back immediately.
"Nora." I heard my name being called out from Trok. "Trok can handle this area on his own." Trok said as he lifted another barrel over his shoulder. "Nora should continue to yell at dragon to put a stop to its rampage. Trust in Trok." Trok said a toothy grin.
"Fine, but this doesn't put you in the clear just yet." I said as I took off to the upper parts of town towards the inn.
Despite Trok used to being a part of a band of bandits, he does have a certain quirk about him that makes me want to try to put a bit of trust in him… just a little bit.
[Isaiah's POV, on the city walls]
Ok, with me taking the high ground on the walls, I can confidently state that I am... still fucked with my chances since the dragon still takes the skies. The official high ground. I will have to thank Nora for the chance to escape from my death.
But that is for later, and for my new plan to come to light!
Get one of those fucking wings!
With the wings giving the dragon the advantage, we cannot deal significant damage to it, and the less damage we do to it, the more damage we suffer from it. And how do I do that accomplishment without getting myself killed in the process? My guess is as good as anybody's as of right now.
Carefully traversing on the walls of the city and making sure to keep my eyes on the dragon (so I don't get swooped down on), I had made it to one of the arcs that was near a house, but before I jumped to a roof, I saw that the companions were just assembling just outside of Jorrvaskr being led by Aela the Huntress and Vilkus as they charged with swords, bows, and shields into battle with the dragon approaching from the air as the recently attacked party of mercenaries were now recovering, and reorienting for the next attack.
Looks like we will have that reinforcement after all… guess that my intervention with the companions was meaningless in the end.
Shaking my head from focusing on useless information, I did take note that for the past 5 minutes, the dragon was landing on particular houses and in a certain cycle. Like it picked specific houses, not like the inn and tall houses, but the flatter looking roofs to quickly fly off of. And for the place to counter attack… just so happens to be a jump off of the near top of the inn…
I think now might be a bad time that I have a small fear of heights and dragons that can instantly kill me…
Spotting a good jumping point from wall to roof, I jumped from house, to burning house, to house while the dragon was attacking the companions side of town as I made my way to the inn. Guards and mercenaries alike were doing their best to put out the fires around the city with buckets of water. As I landed on the inn, I could hear more shouting from the people as the dragon was now flying towards the entrance area where the dragon first crashed at, only to get a barrel hurled to its face, breaking open upon impact against its skull as it staggered as it was once again fell out of the sky, and crashed landed in the streets…Heh.
As I struggled to climb to near the top of the inn by the ledges of wood that stuck out of the inn. Taking a look back at the sounds of another shouting attack, I saw that the dragon had set the area that it was in ablaze as it rose through the air, with a good chunk of the soldiers' forces getting caught in the fires of the dragon's attack as some of them did not make it out of the fires. By my immediate count, we lost 6 soldiers burning to death.
I had self-doubt in my planning just then, if it was really worth me wasting time to get up here just to do a nose dive on a dragon that has a high possibility of failing knowing my odds than just asking Nora or any of the other Nords what I should be doing. But in the end, I can see them telling me to stay out of the way with the way I am and putting the fires out being basically useless without contributing to the fight.
I cannot stand the thought of that happening when I know I can do more than just let everyone else do the heavy lifting.
As I made it to the near top of the inn, I let myself get comfortable with the site of the fall. What I need to do is to somehow take the advantage away from the dragon for Nora and the others to effectively kill it. I looked down to my waist to see my Blades sword that I have yet to use.
"If I am going to do this, I better make it count…" I said as I unsheathed my sword and dagger, as I sat patiently and waited for the moment to finally strike…
[3rd POV]
Nora was getting a bit tired, as much as she was getting annoyed with the fleeing dragon, she was seeing the casualties getting higher and higher. 28 guards and mercenaries dead, and 18 injured. 3 houses burnt down/crashed into with an unknown amount of civilian casualties…
She didn't want to think about them now, but she needed to work fast on the next landing.
Nora had gripped her newly acquired bow from a fallen guard with anger as she notched another arrow and released it onto the flying menace only for it to miss as it once again shouted another flame breath upon the newly joined faction of the Companions of Jorrvaskr.
Many shielded the breath, but some of the unlucky few had suffered an unlucky fate to be burnt alive as the dragon flew away from the scene with half of the survivors of the swift attack going into panic retreat and the others trying to rally the others.
The dragon was swiftly reapproaching Nora's group at the town square as she notched another arrow and released for it to hit the body, but overall, less than effective.
Once the Dragon has landed on top of the alchemist store, the dragon bellowed once more at the group that stumbled the group of Nord fighters that fell to the small shockwave of the landing dragon.
"Foolish Joor, your defiance will be your end, Hin Oblaan!"
As the dragon was about to ready another breath attack on the masses in the town square with Nora preparing another unrelenting force to counter the attack, a pitched screaming came from above the crowd, above the dragon, who all stopped to look what was making that gods awful noise.
"Isaiah!?"
"Jester?!"
"Joker!?"
"aaaaaAHHHH! I REGRET MY LIFE CHOICES!"
Isaiah came down flailing about with his weapons reaching out as he fell on the back of the dragon, stabbing the blade's sword and the dagger into the back of the dragon with a rough landing as the dragon roared out in pain at the sudden surprise attack.
"ARG! Huh!? YOU AGAIN!" The dragon roared in anger as he looked upon the rider.
"Shut up! (Stab) And let us! (Stab) Kill you! (Stab)" Isaiah said as he repeatedly stabbed the dragon with the dagger, as the sword was embedded into the dragon's hide, stuck.
With another deafening roar, the dragon took off into the air, taking Isaiah into the sky with him barely hanging on to dear life.
"ISAIAH!" Nora shouted worriedly as the dragon flew to higher altitudes.
"Get… OFF OF ME JOOR! YOL-TOOR-SHUL!" The dragon shouted as it created a breath of fire, which it flew into the shout burning them both.
"FU-AAAHH!" Isaiah shouted in pain as the fires enveloped him, burning his leather armor and forced him to let go of the heated metal weapons that were the only things kept him from falling.
As Isaiah started to fall while he was tearing away at the armor that was slowly cooking him and ripped off the now useless protection exposing his upper body. After getting a hold of what just happened, he could see the dragon start to circle around through the air to him for a dive as he realized that he was now falling to his death.
"You are an annoying little mortal! I will snack upon your very being!" The dragon said as it dived down towards Isaiah with its mouth agape.
For what seemed like minutes, Isaiah was panicking at the mere sight of the giant flying lizard swooping down at him as he was flailing his arms in rapid succession as his.
"I don't want to die! Not like this! Why couldn't I have been stronger and held on dealing with the pain in the ass?! How come I couldn't have come up with a better plan!? THIS ISN'T FCUKING FAIR! I was supposed to be on the back of the dragon stabbing the shit out of it! I want to be back on the dragon, I WANT TO BE BACK ON THE DRAGON!" Isaiah yelled as the runes on his stomach had suddenly started to glow faintly as one of Isaiah's hands also glowed.
During the panicking flailing, Isaiah had torn open a rift with one of his hands that sent him back behind the dragon, landing upon the spot he was just at as he wanted to be, just before he was eaten.
The dragon was suddenly perplexed at what it just witnessed as the falling human disappeared from thin air. Isaiah had gotten a grip of his still warm weapons and held tightly onto the dragon as he was in revelation of what just happened as it stopped in the air maintaining its altitude.
"I…I lived?!" Isaiah had wondered aloud.
"What did you do mortal?! And get off of me!" the dragon bellowed as it shook itself turning about as Isaiah once again hung on to dear life.
'I did it again! That thing to… warp myself to a different location?' Isaiah had a pause in thought. 'Doesn't matter what it is. I think I know how to use it now!' Isaiah cheered internally.
'I hope to the nine gods that I know what I am doing…' Isaiah took a breath of air to assure himself.
"You want me off your scaly ass, fine, but only temporarily! Catch me if you can, you stupid lizard!" Isaiah mocked the dragon as he got one last slash across the scaley back with the steel dagger drawing blood that resulted in a satisfying roar of pain as Isaiah jumped off the dragon's back going into a skydive.
"YOU INSOLENT PEST! ZU'U FEN KRII HI!" The dragon roared in anger as he once again resumed his dive towards the seemingly foolish human.
As the dragon dived after Isaiah, Isaiah had dived towards one of the crash sites that the dragon created from before.
As Isaiah homed in on a location, he looked back to the dragon, that was getting too close for comfort, and imagined where he wanted to be as the familiar power came to him from within.
Knowing where he wants to pop up at, he focuses in on that image in his head, and slashed in front of him to once again open a rift that took him to the left wing of the dragon, to which Isaiah had immediately drove his dagger into the upper base of the wing membrane and started to cut down the wing. The air pushing up at Isaiah, assisting the cutting the wing with abnormal ease like a hot knife through butter.
One swift cut, and the wing of the dragon was cut with a painful roar following. Isaiah had finally got what he planned out to do with the dragon now falling head-first to the ground. But another problem arose…
...How was he supposed to land safely?
With one more drowned out girly scream overshadowed by the dragon's roaring struggle, they both crashed into an already crashed into house with a big shockwave shaking the city and spreading dust and dirt through the surrounding area.
The fighters surrounded the house with shields up, and bows drawn at the dusty rubble where the dragon laid.
"…Is it… Is it finally dead?" One of the guards asked.
Nora pushed through the crowd to peek over their shoulder to see that in the rubble, there was a small shadowy figure raised up in the dusty debris.
As the scene cleared, it revealed to be a bloody hand that was from the ground, lifeless as the sudden wind cleared the dusty haze.
"Jester?!" Nora shouted in fear.
"Move it!" Nora burst out from the crowd, shoving those away from her path as she dug through the debris. Followed shortly by Hadvar Ralof and Trok who assisted in helping, albeit with caution, and raised weapons at the bigger pile of rubble.
"Jester… come on, I know you must be alive, you are a lucky son of a bitch, something like this won't kill you… plea-Huh?!" Nora said as she uncovered more and more of the body, only to identify that Isaiah was all battered and bruised.
Weakly, Isaiah groaned and opened his eyes.
"...N-Nora...?" Isaiah with a bit of surprise in his voice.
"Yeah... it's me..." Nora said as she pulled him in for a hug for relief.
"Oh god... I really did die and go to hell." Isaiah muttered jokingly.
For one moment, Nora's face turned dark, but forgave the comment as she carefully helped Isaiah up from the rubble and casted Healing hands.
"Idiot... Don't scare me like that again." Nora said softly.
Trok, Hadvar, Jarl Bulgruff, Irelith, and Ralof had approached them smiling, glad to know that they finally stopped the dragon threat with cheering about to start.
"We... we won... Right? Dragon is dead?" The Jarl asked unsurely as Isaiah held a light smile of relief that he can finally relax-
"...You Foolish Mortals..."
The deathly voice echoed from where the toppled building rubble was, and immediately a dragon's head quickly shot out at Nora and Isaiah who just barely turned to see the surprise attack.
But suddenly, something shot down from the skies that made a sickening crushing impact upon the dragon's head as a shockwave of kinetic force made Nora and Isaiah fly back a few feet since they were the closest, as everyone else raised their arms to shield their faces to guard the dirt and dust that was kicked up from the impact.
A demonic voice was heard.
"Thirty-one minutes and fifty-three seconds... (sigh)... and even with time to prep totalling up to about 45 minutes, you still managed to end up as this sorry excuse for a win and parts of the town destroyed. If you can even call it that a win since I had to intervene." The voice said as it sighed in disappointment.
When the dust settled, everyone got a good look at the speaker who had killed the dragon and stood atop of its crushed head. A Daedra with fancy clothing that looked like a war leader. The daedra had its arms crossed, and a look of pity on its face.
To almost everyone, this was just a random Daedra. But to Isaiah, he was Quin.
For those who don't know me- (Quin winked at the original group)- I am Quin, the new and recent, Daedric Prince of entertainment." Quin dramatically bowed his head and resumed his posture. The dragon that was beneth Quin started to flake and heat up, almost like it was being set alight in flames.
"I really am disappointed in you all, you know that?" Quin stated as he walked off the dragon's head without a care as he continued his talk. "No big plans other than shooting arrows at the flying bugger, and being petty distractions only to be eaten crushed or burned is too 'generic' for soldiers for me to watch with a straight face i mean, what can you expect from ordenary guards who are there just to be death fodder? I mean, Mages would have been more effective than those losers." Quin criticized the Whiterun guards which one of them got out a bow and notched an arrow.
"YOU BASTAAAARD!" The guard yelled in anger of his deceased comrades in arms as he shot an arrow to Quin, who caught the arrow without batting an eye, between his thumb and pointer finger.
"Generic angry guard who is angry about the loss of his friends and lashes out... So-(Snap!)-Predictable." Quin said as he snapped the arrow in half, much to that one guard's surprise.
"But I am not here to talk about you useless bunch, i am here for the main cast." Quin turned his head and outstretched his hand towards the all too familiar group. "You guys."
"Huh?!" Everyone widens in shock.
"Most of you guys were a major disappointment." Quin stated in a flat tone. "Oh, except for you Trok. Good throws." Quin complimented the Orc, who didn't know how to take the surprise compliment.
"Enough of this farce, ATTACK!" Jarl Balgruuf shouted to rile up his men and unsheathe his sword, ready to get into battle.
"-Stop-" Quin Commanded as an aura had flared up that washed over everyone, who suddenly stopped moving, or dared NOT to move any closer.
An aura of killing intent was emanating from the Daedra as he shook his head.
"I'm not going to tell you guys this again, but don't be stupid and charge at me. Otherwise, your soul will be forfeit and your body to rot who knows where when you take another step. I'm not here to cause much trouble just yet." The prince monotoned as the pressure was eased away.
"Without any further delay, lets get started with the not so obvious... Hadvar and Ralof." the two exchanged looks with each other. "You guys played too little of a role and did practically nothing but try and put out the fires when you should have been doing something better, like trying to regroup with the Companions who were basically nonexistent in battle or too scattered and in disarray. But I forgive you guys for focusing on what you needed to do. So, I really can't complain much on your end." Quin shrugged his shoulders as he looked at Isaiah, who was still on the ground hurt.
"Jester. You played too little and too big of a role in the dragon attack and even with what the outcome, you would have died for not doing better and realizing your powers sooner and more effectively. I would have gone for the eyes if I were in your shoes. Aside from that, you did well, except for one tiny thing... You interfered too much with her power progress. And that is a very naughty thing for you to do young man. But you do get creativity points for surprising me with your out of story order teachings..." Quin said as he wagged his finger in a belittling way that pissed me off.
"And for the biggest disappointment with the biggest expectations. Is you, my dear Dragonborn." Quin finally pointed at Nora, who was staring daggers at Quin.
The one who was shocked the most was Isaiah. since he thought that Nora didn't do anything wrong. Why would he care about the Dragonborn if he was supposed to he Quin's plaything to tease and mock?
"Despite gaining a severe advantage with your early access power, you still played your part pitifully in your role as the main heroine. You let your narrowmindedness cloud your growth and relied too much on your allies to do all the big turning points when you should have done so without the help of everyone. You grew soft recently." Quin criticized "Without Jester to help you learn the shout, without the others to help deal most of the damage, without the solders that surround you to help with putting out the fire and stop the growing chaos. You would have died a pitiful death. For a lack of better words, you are far TOO WEAK for this stage of the play." Quin berated the stunned Dragonborn.
Nora was taken aback as she thought about the recent events.
"...Or maybe it's just me, who knows?" Quin shrugged his shoulders comedically. "Not every story is perfect, and you can't always trust a word of a Daedra. I don't know any more myself. I think I've been hanging around Sheogorath too much, you could say that he kinda... 'twisted my mind' a bit. Hehehe. You can take your dragon soul now." Quin chuckled at his joke as he turned around to open a portal as the dragon's soul was absorbed unintendedly by Nora who was too distracted to care about the dragon's soul.
And just as Quin was about to walk into the portal, he paused.
"Oh. I just remembered one very slight, teeny, tiny, detail of why I came here in the first place..." Quin said as he turned around to lock eyes with Isaiah.
"Isaiah... you remember what I said a few days ago back in that dungeon... Right?" An evil grin took over on Quin's face as he raised up his arm and snapped his fingers.
"It's time for me to claim you, Boy!" Quin shouted as a spiked spectral chain shot out from the portal towards Isaiah and lodged itself onto both of his arms and formed shackles.
"GAH!" Isaiah cried out as the chain started to pull him into the poral slowly.
"JESTER!" Nora and the others called out as they rushed to rescue Isaiah, trying to pull on the chain to slow down the process with little success, while Hadvar and some of the Guards had drawn their bows and aimed at Quin.
"Release him now, and you go unscathed demon!" Balgruuf said in a threatening tone.
"Threatening a Daedric Prince? How bold of you... But I wouldn't do that if I were you... (Snap)" Quin snapped his fingers, and the sky seemed to brighten up like the sun was was close... no, it even brighter. Many of the Nords looked up in shock and awe in what floated above their city.
"By the Gods..." One guard spoke out in hopelessness as the crowd viewed many flaming balls of fire that numbered in at least the hundreds.
"Now, I am sure that many of you are familiar with the spell fireball, correct?" Many were too distracted by the fire show to answer the question. "WELL, lets just say that just one of those miniature suns has enough firepower to eradicate one household with no trace."
That sentence regained their attention.
"WHAT?!" Many of them shouted as they had then withdrawn their arrows.
"And imagine the devastation if they were to go off simultaneously."
"Y-your bluffing..." A guard replied.
"Do you really want to test a strength of a Daedric Prince?" Quin asked.
The guard rapidly shook his head in denial.
"Now that you know this, let me give you one of the infamous choices where I come from, the trolly choice. Let me explain the rules of this engagement before you choose to save the dumb lad so recklessly." Quin began.
"Save one person at the cost of many more... Or save many people at the cost of one person. while the answer would seem obvious to save many, he has a special talent of knowing what and how certain events will play out... to some extent mind you, and an extremely powerful ability. Heh, you could say that he would be the hero of the city after he almost killed the dragon." Quin continued with a grin. "Knowing this and with the dragons returning, you could say that he holds the knowledge to stop the dragon threat that has already started spreading throughout Skyrim, endangering many, MANY more people than just one city in record time than any other person."
The Jarl looked disturbed with the information set out before him, and now knowing the choices more clearly, it was pretty much a lose-lose situation, but to him, there was only one obvious choice.
"Now with the choices laid out before you, what do you-"
"I choose to protect my city at the cost of Jester." Bulgruuf repiled.
Quin was silent for a moment. Almost stunned at the fast answer.
"Oh? And you are sure about your answer?" Quin had a raising smile.
"Do you promise that no other person in the land of Whiterun will be harmed by you?"
"Normally, you shouldn't trust a word or promise of a Daedra, but for this specific case... I will make one exception for you, my Jarl. " Quin said 'Jarl' with a bit of mockery in his voice as be took a bow. "But nonetheless, I swear by my name, Quin Ligma Balles, the Daedric Prince of Comedy and Entertainment, and promise that if you are willing to exchange the life of Jester here, I will spare, and not harm or endanger the lives of your people. No tricks and no hidden deception." Quin said with hand over his heart, and his hand in the air as he swore.
"MEN! Stand down, and let Jester pass on." The Jarl commanded.
Many confused looks were on the others, but all the guards understood what was at risk.
The only ones who still were holding the chains back, were Trok and Nora.
"Orc, Nora, you both got to let go!" The Jarl commanded.
"NO! Trok will not abandon his friend!" Trok yelled struggling against the chains.
"..." Nora said nothing but there was heavy conflict within her mind, and her eyes showed it.
"Trok. I know that you are a smart Orc, but you got to understand the bigger picture here, it's either we all die here, and that bastard still gets him, or we save the entire city. You are now a free man to live how you please. So please... Do me a favor and save the lives of hundreds." Bulgruuf asked Trok who ignored the Jarl.
"Nora, I don't have to ask you to do this, but why are you still holding onto the chains?!" Hadvar questioned Nora.
"I'll ask you a better one, why did you let go!? The choice was obvious that you can't trust the word of a Daedra, and for all we know, he could still be lying!" Nora said with focus in her eyes, glaring daggers at Quin who just summoned a bucket of popcorn out of nowhere.
"Now this is getting interesting..." Quin said as he started eating the popcorn.
"Nora, the lives of friends, families, and Innocence are at risk! If there is anything that the Legion has taught me to hold dear to my heart, is that we save the innocent!" Hadvar said with determination.
"THEN WHAT OF JESTER?!" Nora yelled at Hadvar, staring into his eyes. "Is he not a friend ours?! Is he not innocent like the others?! Why does he have to die to save the lives of others?! It isn't right, it isn't fair!" Nora argued.
"NOTHING IN LIFE IS FAIR!" Hadvar retorted back, and even Nora is taken aback.
"You think I also want to sacrifice that idiot who fixed my relationship of my lifelong friend and has saved me from dying at his blade back at Helgen!? FUCK NO! That is one of the last things that I want to ever do! But if we ALL die, then what is the point of saving the city if we will all die in the end anyways?!" Hadvar shouted at Nora, even breaking his character.
Nora stared at Hadvar for a few seconds and looked forward to focus on keeping her grip on the chains, still keeping it from taking Isaiah.
"...If you are not going to help... get away from me, traitor." Nora said in a low and cold voice.
Hadvar said nothing and stepped back to join Ralof, who was on the verge of shedding tears, and bleeding hands from clutching his hands.
"Trok... Nora... Please..." Isaiah finally spoke. "Let go of the chain."
""WHAT?!"" Both of them exclaimed.
"All I have been doing is causing trouble and annoyance for everyone since I first came to this world. But now-"
"Jester, shut up! You keep talking, and after I save you AND the town, I will beat you within an inch of your life and heal you up, just to beat you near death again! Now shut your trap and let me save you!" Nora said with a bit of shaking in her voice.
"NORA! If you die, then it is game over! If I somehow survive and you all die, then there is no fucking way that I can beat Alduin! You are Dragonborn, you are destined to get way fucking stronger and destroy the dragon threat!" i argued.
Nora had then let go of the chain and gave Isaiah a punch to the face to catch it again while being dragged a few feet more towards the portal.
"Ugh, you dumb bitch..." Isaiah replied while recovering from the punch.
"Trok! If you hold any sort of respect in me, get Nora away from me! I don't want the hundreds of deaths that will be on my conscious in the afterlife!" Isaiah pleaded with the orc.
"Trok, you touch me, and i swear, i will rip off your head." Nora shot back.
"...Trok...Trok doesn't know what to do anymore... Trok is only good at labor and fighting, not big decision making! Trok only wants you and everyone else to live." Trok's agonized with thinking.
"Trok, I will never forgive you if you don't let go of the chain! I'm helping you make a decision, so follow my last request, and LIVE!"
Trok was stuck looking back and forth at Quin and Isaiah.
"Nora! Forget about me, you need to get stronger!"
"Jester. Stop it."
"When you are strong enough, you need to find something called an Elder Scroll."
"Hm?!" Quin's ears perked up.
"It is found in Blackreach. That is where the Elder Scroll is located."
"What? What are you talking about?" Nora questioned gritting her teeth.
"Oh no you don't!" Quin said dropping his popcorn as he stretched out his hand, and out came another spiked chain that was headed towards the group of 3.
"FUS-RO-DA!" Acting fast to the sudden attack, Nora did an unrelenting force shout that merely did nothing to slow down the chain.
After seeing that the trajectory was aimed at Isaiah, Nora leaned over the chain to take the full attack.
"You need to go to-(Pierce)-?!" Isaiah's eyes widen at the sudden realization of that blood was splattered onto Nora.
His blood...
The pain soon followed as he looked down to see a spearhead through his chest that came from behind him, following the chain linked all the way back to the portal in a flowing pattern.
"Oi! Ever heard of spoilers!?" Quin shouted at Isaiah, who was coughing up blood.
"W-w-what...but...but I... Isaiah?" Nora asked confused as she was in direct shot of the chain and watching the life slowly fading from his eyes.
"Dragonborn... I have no interest taking your life, nor any of the others, and it is a spectral chain that I control. Therefore, I pick the targets." Quin admitted. "While I wanted to do an unveiling of me wanting to do a setup of me wanting to do essentially the same thing with a small twist of guarding a corpse and THEN killing the bastard, I wanted it to be on my terms... Not His..." Quin said darkly. "But... I'm not disappointed with this ending... Its rather... Oddly fitting..." Quin said quite pleased with the reactions viewed from the crowd.
"Welp. Like one famous fire-skeletal-ninja man said, GET OVER HERE!" Quin quoted as he took the two chains and yanked over Isaiah's corpse that flew into the portal.
Nora in a fitted rage charged at Quin who was surprised at the sudden speed. Nora then threw punch after punch, kick combo after kick, to no avail. Quin had blocked, dodged, and ducked every strike Nora threw with ferocity increasing with each swing.
"Hm... Not bad... for being self-taught I see. But you are overall wasting your energy with over swinging through the anger. maybe try to concentrate on focusing on one target, like the face-(POW)"Quin was interrupted by blocking a face punch that was WAY too close for his comfort.
But that was almost exhilarating for him...
"(Chuckles) You almost had me there for one split second, Dragonborn. But your strength and speed is not good enough." Quin then locked Nora down by bending her arm down and forcing her to the ground as she growled and grunted in pain and exhaustion.
"You might be able to take down most people, but even with the power boost from the dragon soul you just absorbed, it's still not enough to kill a god. Like the spoiler said, you need to get stronger to save the world first. Getting through the easy way and cheating with him isn't going to cut it." Quin whispered into Nora's ear.
Trok came in with a full swing of his great sword, but only to be caught by the blade by Quin with his free hand.
"Decent strength, but it isn't enough to avenge your friend." Quin replied as he broke Trok's sword and kicked him away, launching him into the side of a nearby house, embedding him into the wooden wall. "And as for you, why don't you join him!" Quin followed up by releasing Nora and power kicked her to Trok, making a hole into the wall.
"Well, since all good things must come to an end, I must also pop the mini-suns too." Quen said as he held his fingers out for a snap.
"But-But we had a DEAL!" Bulgruuf said flabbergasted.
"And who did you think was holding all the power behind that deal? I did it on a whim for my own entertainment." Quin said with an uncaring smile.
"It is time for the sun... To now set..." Quin said as he then snapped his fingers.
[SNAP!]
All at once, the fire balls exploded into a light show that nobody will ever forget as the suns blew up into fireworks that launched into the sky, a 'grand finale', one might say. with a massive picture of light spelling out-
"Get Mind fucked!"
""...""
After the 2-minute fire show, Quin was laughing hysterically at the reaction of everyone at the scene as the light died down to dusk. Nobody else was laughing.
"Oh my god, that was something to die for! [Laughing] I can't believe that you guys actually thought I would blow up everyone! HA!" Quin laughed. "But yeah, the Dragonborn and that guard were completely right, I was bluffing and lying to you all." Quin said as he turned to his portal. "Well now, i think it is best for me to go, i hope that we all meet again so that we can do something like this again, maybe i won't actually bluff that time, Who knows? Bye!" Quin said as he started walking into the portal with a bloodied Nora running to catch up with him.
"You are not getting away with this you bastard!" Nora shouted a Warcry as she charged in with her war axe as she threw it missing him as it flew through the portal.
With one more sly grin Quin gave one last cheeky remark. "Actually... Yes, I am." Quin smiled and winked at Nora as the portal closed at the last possible second with Nora diving into the dirt.
Nora laid in the dirt for a good minute thinking about what just happened.
"...He was within... my fucking grasp..." Nora cursed as tears had then built up in her eyes. "And he is gone... like he is..." Nora grieved for Isaiah.
[To Be Continued...]
Author's notes
FUCKING FINALLY! IT IS DONE!
Holy hell, you guys had no fucking idea how bad writer's block had got me. ive been stuck on how to end the dragon fight since fucking FEBUARY!
But all bitching aside, thank you for staying with me, and if you really appreciate me for coming back, drop a review on how much you missed me! ego feeding is always welcomed to help boost my low self-esteem, lol.
oh, and if you guys see any mistakes that i might have made, dont be shy and let me know, I will have it looked at. I love to know how i can improve this story. (Besides just killing off characters)
Now... it's been so long since i ended a chapter, i forgot how to end it...
[2 minutes later.]
Well, now that i looked back on my previous chapters, I will go ahead and state the obvious for those who might be clueless, but no, The Jester Is Not Dead.
Some wanted to kill off a character, and some wanted to know what kind of demon that the jester can fuck/seduce, in due time, all will happen... probably... probably not. we will see.
Just keep in mind that in the next chapter will be more or less game changing for the audience. More chaotic choices will be made by you guys, depicting weapons for the Jester to fuck around with, girls to go out/fight/bond with since I do have quite a few routes planned out for each storyline, trolling with his powers to fuck around with each faction. The Daedric quests to power up himself and allies, ETC.
But that will be for the next chapters, so hold onto your votes!
As for any Immediate storylines that I have in mind, I do have the vampire storyline thought out and that I have most (like 20%) of the stuff thought up on, as for the side characters, well, pretty much original characters from the story, but for the Dawnguard side. and i will say this for those who want to know a bit about the side character OC. She is planned to be a werewolf, so furries, rejoice! #VampireVsWerewolfWaifu. we will see how that shit show ends depending on when we get to it. LoL.
And now is a bit embarrassing to say as a person who has played Skyrim since 2013, buuuuuuuuuut...I have never once EVER played as a vampire... so my knowledge about their side of the story is... nothing. But if I get a wanting of you guys fighting for the vampires or whatever, I will... accommodate the best I can, though as a spoiler-wait, that will be reveled in the next chapter. That and I don't want to be 'Scorpioned' like that one annoying fucker did. But that can always be postponed for later by votes.
But for now, let me know your thoughts for now and if you want to send some weapon ideas, let me know, I defiantly have 2 that would work perfectly for the Jester's tricky ways and you guys would definitely love them, one for its famous reference for today and the other for its tricky ideas and uses.
This is RedTokyo95, coming back once again, to see you off till the next story or whatever. leave a review, favorite, and share my story to those who might be interested into comedy. and if you guys ever want to contact my lonely ass, My DMs are always open, and i do have a Discord, RedTokyo95#4424. And with that being said... This is RedTokyo95, signing out!
[Transmission End]