The morning came and beckoned me awake, another day and one step closer to the hell that is Vault's new war. Waking up was difficult for a moment; I didn't want to leave the cocoon of blankets I was wrapped in, but managed to fight down the urge to stay in bed by reminding myself of the harsh reality of my current situation. If I fuck around anymore, then I'll get my ass handed to me.

I reluctantly got up and out of bed, dressing myself and strapping my armor on. I made sure to leave quickly and quietly, wanting to avoid any unnecessary conversations with the Innkeeper or her employee. I needed to work fast to get this job done quick, so I can warn Celestine, and then I can focus on trying to find proof against the Prime Minister… Hopefully, by then, I might have a lead on where Olga and Chloe were taken.

On my way out, I asked around for info about Rat's Nest Cave, and who better to ask than the one guy who's probably been all over?

Hey, if this is some weird blend of Skyrim and Kuroinu, then who better to ask for directions than one of the guys that can track you to the ends of the earth? Thankfully, Carl the Courier managed to fill me in a bit on what I was looking for.

"Rat's Nest Cave? It's east of here. Once you leave through the east gate, you just gotta keep going through the wildlands. It's pretty far, though, and the terrain isn't the greatest for horseback. You've got to walk it."

"Damn, guess I'll just leave the horse I don't own here," I said dryly. "How will I know when I've found it?"

Carl put a hand on his chin and thought. "Hmm, here." He reached over for a blank paper and began drawing. "You'll know you've reached it when you smell rat crap, but there are some landmarks you can use to identify it besides the smell. It's beside a pond, and rats will be surrounding the area en masse." He finished his sketch and handed it over to me.

I inspected it for a moment, taking in the details of the drawing, before folding the paper and pocketing it. "Anything else I should know about it?"

The Mailman nodded, turning around and sorting through some drawers, before bringing out a small red bottle. "I think it would be in your best interest to take this," he said, handing it over. "It's a bottle of Cure Disease; hard to come by, but useful for when you have to go somewhere that breeds sickness, like… well, rats."

"Thanks, I'll pay you back when I can," I said, pocketing it as well… It felt a bit strange to just have a bottle sitting in my pocket, but I didn't have anywhere else to put it. Once I get a bit more money, I really should get my shit together: Backpack, backup supplies, find another satchel…

"Well, I need to get going. I'll be back later to pay you, but until then, take care."

"Alright, sir. Do come back when you have mail to send!" he called out, waving as I left.

Thankfully, getting out of Feoh was less of a hassle than getting in, with none of the guards batting an eye at me leaving. If I had to guess, it was because they had orders to keep as many people out than in. After all, if there are people trapped outside the gates when Vault arrives, they're just easy pickings for slaves and prostitutes, aren't they?

Once I was out of the city and away from other people, I broke out into a run, aiming to get to this cave and get out as quickly as possible. However, I heard something that made me slow to a stop… It sounded like a dog whimpering.

I followed my ears to the source and found a terrible sight.

There, stuck in a bear trap a few yards away, was a lone dog, a German Shepherd by the looks of it, although probably not going by that exact name in this world, since Germany doesn't exist here. Its ears were flat, its tail was tucked between its legs, and it was trembling something awful.

"Hey," I said gently, approaching it slowly. "It's okay, I'll get you out of there." I tried my best to sound calming, hearing it let out more whines and whimpers as I got closer.

I was thankful it wasn't struggling that much to get away from me; I didn't want to freak it out or make it panic. It simply kept its eyes on me, watching me like I was some kind of dangerous predator. Despite its fear, it didn't growl, snap, or bark at me to try and scare me away; it simply whined and waited.

Once I was close enough to the trap, I grasped both of the jaws and pulled them apart as far as I could, just enough for the dog to get free before letting them snap closed again.

The dog limped a few feet before running off. I couldn't help but frown at that; I kind of missed having a dog around, but I guess I can't be too surprised. I had no doubt they were wild, after all.

Still, I hope they don't run into any more things like this. Bear traps are horrible to begin with. If you're going to hunt something, then hunt it, don't leave it out in the wild to spend its last few hours or days stuck in immense pain.

Once I was sure the dog wasn't coming back, I resumed my journey to Rat's Nest Cave. Thankfully, finding it wasn't as difficult a task as I thought it would have been. It was a distance into the wild, but Carl was right; rats were everywhere, and the smell was damn near vomit inducing.

Rodents the size of medium dogs swarmed me, but they were easy enough to take care of. A single sword swing was usually enough to kill them; sometimes it took two, but they didn't really pose much of a threat, besides the fact that there were lots of them.

Killing them was simple, and I couldn't help but wonder what exactly was the trouble that none of the other people who took this job never returned.

Then I tried to actually get into the cave and couldn't help but retreat from the smell.

"Augh!" I gagged hard, my body desperately fighting a battle against vomiting what little I had in it. "Fuck me!" I exclaimed between my retching. "No wonder people never came back! That shit is toxic!"

I continued to try and fight the urge to vomit down successfully, before looking back at the cave… Like it or not, I had to get in there and clear it out. It's a dirty job, but someone's gotta do it.

One hand readied a Candlelight spell and let it go, allowing it to hover around me like it did before. Once the light was up, the magic in my hand changed from light to fire, while I drew my sword from its sheath and began spelunking. Thankfully, the rats seemed to want to come and rush me, which was fine for the most part. Like I said before, they weren't particularly hard to kill, and thanks to the Flames spell I had, charring their hides worked in my favor. I remember that one Witch in Geofu asked me for charred rat hides, and where better to collect them than here?

After the first little 'wave' of them was dead, I set my sword aside and took out the knife I had taken from the Black Dogs the other day, and began cutting the hide away. The knife was thankfully sharp enough that it did most of the work, just letting it glide against the rat's skin so I could remove it. I cut the hide away as good as possible, without actually going any deeper than skin. I messed up a few times simply because this was my first time skinning an animal like this, but I got a few good pieces out of it, which I was satisfied with.

Putting the knife onto my belt and picking my sword back up, I began delving deeper in and found one of the poor fools that came here before me. He was dead, obviously, and it looked like these rats had been gnawing at the corpse for some time. I knelt besides the body, and began searching him for valuables, maybe something to identify him with, but nothing like that was found. I got two large red potions off of him, but besides a few broken halves of coins, he had nothing…

Well, almost nothing, I guess.

Continuing deeper into the next was a bit harder. The rats were getting bigger, almost the size of a large breed dog now, but they still weren't too awful tough. At least not physically, but the more I fought and continued onward, the more I realized these rats were sick, carrying illnesses, and god knows what else.

Good thing Carl gave me that cure, otherwise… well, I really didn't want to think about all the shit these guys were carrying. I bet they got something like the Black Plague 2: Electric Boogaloo.

Regardless of what they may or may not be carrying, I set forward to continue killing them. I was finding it strange that I hadn't encountered any small rats, at least until I realized that 'small' was about the size of a chihuahua, and I had been stomping on them this entire time.

Part of me felt a bit bad, but then again these were pests to be slaughtered, just like a lot of the non-human creatures in this world: nothing but wastes of flesh and bone that deserve nothing less than to be crushed under the heel of one infinitely their better.

I'm getting off track. Better to focus on clearing out the rest of these rats, go get paid, and see if I can't warn Celestine about the incoming war. Alternatively, see if I can get Alicia to prepare for a siege unlike any she had repelled before.

The cave only had a few side changers and paths, so I didn't have to worry about getting lost, since they all led to dead ends with no way to go but backward. Thankfully, I had the good sense to point the bodies in the direction of the main exit, so in case I ever got turned around down here, I could make a quick escape without running deeper into the cave.

Speaking of running deeper, though, I found another dead man. He was covered in cysts and boils, one of his arms was covered in bite marks, a part of his cheek was missing, and some areas of his skin looked like they were already rotting away.

Poor bastard. Still, I started checking his pockets for supplies and useful items-

His hand shot out and grabbed my arm.

"Wait…" he rasped out, as I tried to jump back.

"How are you not dead?!" I yelled out in surprise, leaning away from him and yanking my hand free. The not quite dead man slowly sat up straighter.

"I'm infected…" he said weakly. "The rats further in… the big one… It's got something." He raised his other arm and revealed a single large bite that didn't just look infected, but dead and decayed. "If it bites you, you need to drink a cure fast… If you don't, you'll end up like me."

"Hold on, I can help," I told him as I reached into my pocket for the cure disease potion, only for him to shake his head.

"Don't… I'm not long for this world anymore… I'll be in the embrace of the Goddess soon… " he said between gasps for breath. "You need to know that the rat up ahead… the big one isn't to be trifled with. The sickness it carries is deadly… so, so deadly… I arrived only hours ago… and the next thing I know, I am watching myself die."

"How did this happen?" I asked, crouching down next to him. I made sure to keep a distance away, just in case he began coughing or anything like that. I'd rather not catch what he's got if I can help it.

"I was fighting… Got distracted by the smaller ones…"

As if on cue, he began coughing hard, and even though he did it away from me, I could still see that there was a lot more blood in that than there should be.

"It…" he tried to speak in between fits. "It bit me when I was distracted… I…" He began sounding weaker with every word. "It took minutes to take hold… I… I hadn't… I didn't know it could progress so fast…"

When those final words exited his mouth, he fell into another coughing fit. This time, though, was much worse than the prior time. One final hard cough was all he could manage before his body slumped over, and he fell to his side, dead. Slowly standing back up, I simply sighed as I stared down at his body.

"Thanks for the tip."

Hopefully, whoever claims this place after I am done here can put these guys to rest; I still had a job to do.

As I continued and got further in, I heard the rats scurrying around in the next chamber. Before I entered, I changed the spell in my left hand from Flames to Ice Spike. If it can transmit its disease through bite or fluid, then I had better try to keep as much distance as I could from it, right?

As I turned the corner, I… was actually dumbfounded.

The rats were all dead. Some looked half-eaten, which made me think of cannibalism, but the big one was laying on its side, with glassy eyes and a smell coming from its mouth that made me seriously regret not coming in here with a mask or anything to help keep the toxic fumes out of my lungs.

Still, this makes my job easier. Maybe I ought to bring back something as proof that it's done?

An ear would be good proof, right? That's at least what I thought as I approached the biggest one and began sliding the knife against its ear. The instant it barely made the smallest cut, the giant rodent jerked up and knocked me on my ass.

It wasn't dead, it was just waiting for me to get close!

It let out a screech as it zeroed in on me, crawling towards me faster than I thought possible for something so big. But as it was right on top of me, something caught its attention.

*Grrr, Bark! Bark Bark!*

That sounded like a dog, but I wasn't too keen on letting myself get distracted like the rat was. It turned its head in the direction of the barking noises, but that was the chance I needed to shoot an Ice Spike straight through its jaw and into its snout, nailing it shut.

The rat let out a sound of pain, as it flailed its large body all around the cave. I had only a few moments to get out of the way of its pained throws, but I didn't plan on letting it run either. I launched another spike, but hit its body rather than its head. It let out another cry of pain, before rearing back and falling backwards while trying to dislodge the two frozen spears.

I let out another spear, impaling it again, and aimed to fire another, striking its body again. I was hoping for a quick kill, a simple spike to the head, kill it without any sort of fuss, but since it kept flailing around, it wasn't easy to get a good shot in. Thankfully, throwing spikes wasn't my only option, as I changed tactics from trying to kill it with frozen spears to burn it to death. It was probably best this way; as much as I disliked the idea of burning it alive, I needed it dead sooner rather than later.

The cold mist that radiated off of my hand was replaced by a flame that spewed forward like a hose, igniting what hair the giant rat had left and charring the flesh. Its screams were horrible, but death would be a mercy to a creature as sick as this one, regardless of how it comes to it. Once I exhausted what magic I had, I took out my axe and began repeatedly chopping it, as much as I could anyway, considering it wasn't exactly staying still.

Thankfully, though, it eventually let out one final cry, before dropping to the ground and finally perishing. I let out a sight of relief as it burned, before I heard the dog walk up beside me.

*Arf! Arf!*

I glanced down at my new canine companion as it took up a spot besides me. I hadn't been expecting it to follow me, especially not here. It was a surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one. It hadn't helped much against the big rat, but maybe it understood it was sick and didn't want to catch whatever it had?

Speaking of, looking at the rat now that it was dead, I couldn't help but think how unnatural it looked. It had mites crawling all around its body; fat ticks, boils, and pus filled sacks, all where hair was absent, and the places that lacked those looked dead and partly decayed. It almost made me feel sorry for it if it weren't a feral beast. Still, it needed to die, and just to be sure it was dead, I shot one last spike right between the eyes to put it down… I then found myself frowning.

"That was a bit anticlimactic," I said, before the whine of the wild dog got my attention.

"Thanks for the distraction, bud. That could have gone real bad if you hadn't grabbed its attention," I thanked it as I gave it an affectionate rub on the head. I was caught a bit off guard when I found myself having to push an especially happy dog off myself as he began trying to jump and lick me.

"Hey, easy there. I need to clean up before any of that. I can't have you getting sick now, can I?" I said happily as I pushed him off and began petting him. "Not that I'm complaining, but what made you change your mind? I didn't expect to see you again after you ran off earlier."

I know it was foolish to think I'd get an actual reply, but… I don't know. Something about this dog was special, I could just feel it as it let out a few barks in reply to my question.

Well, I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Alright then, how about we finish this up and get going?" I suggested to the dog, who barked at me in reply, but their tail wagged from side to side at a fast pace, so I assumed they were in agreement with me. I began inspecting the walls for any more side rooms or places rats might be hiding, and unfortunately found myself frowning as I found a crawlspace that a small rat could fit through.

"Oh god-damn it," I said aloud as I got down on my stomach and looked into the little hole. I had hoped it would be a dead end, and I could just use flames to clear it out, but my luck wasn't that good, it seemed.

I put my axe back onto my belt and began crawling into the tiny tunnel. Thankfully, it was big enough that I didn't have to worry about getting stuck, but the bad part was I couldn't really turn around. However, that wasn't too concerning, since if there were a rat behind me, I'm sure the dog could take care of it.

I was almost through the tunnel when I felt the ground underneath me shift and collapse. I didn't have time to back up before I began rolling down a steep, smooth rock surface.

"Oh shit!" I exclaimed before I came to a stop at the bottom. On the plus side, I was still on the other end of the tunnel; bad news, I couldn't go back up. I began dusting myself off before I heard a noise and realized the dog had followed me, and began sliding down the stone as well. As he came down, I opened my arms to catch him.

After the pup was set down, I looked back up at the stone we slid down from. Unfortunately, the rock was too smooth to climb back up. However, while I wondered about how we would get out, something got my attention.

There was a breeze down here. I turned around and began inspecting the walls, and sure enough, there was a tight little passageway almost hidden by the walls.

"Hmm…" I thought about my options for a moment. "I'm not sure where this will lead us, or even if we'd be able to come back, but the walls of the hole are too smooth to try to climb out… Not to mention, how would I even carry you out of here?" I asked the dog rhetorically. "Well, come on, let's see where this goes. Better than just sitting here and getting nowhere."

With my course of action decided, I began to squeeze myself into the thin corridor. Thankfully, it wasn't awfully tight, but I had to go through sideways to fit through it. The dog however didn't have the same trouble I had, simply following close behind me as I made my way through the small path.

When I emerged on the other side, I let out a sigh of disappointment. No exit, but more cave… yay.

We began following the tunnel, with the pooch walking beside me. For a wild dog, they sure seem trained.

"So… I'm going to need to think of a name for you," I said as we walked. "But first, are you a boy or a girl?" When I asked, I bent over to look.

"Boy it is."

Hmm… What would be a good name for a dog?

Tiny maybe? No, he doesn't really look like a Tiny.

Ranger? Too generic.

Max? Too normal.

Buddy? Too common.

Hmmm, Barbas? Nah, with how much shit I've been seeing from Skyrim here, I don't think I should tempt fate like that… But that does remind me of another famous Bethesda dog.

"How about Dogmeat?" I suggested jokingly, but the sudden rapid wagging of his tail gave me the impression he liked the name.

I'll think of something better later, but for now that'll do.

"Alright, we'll run with it for now," I told him. "But I'll keep thinking of a better name than that." Dogmeat barked at me. "What, don't want me to think of another name?" I asked, earning two quick barks in succession. "Hey now, I'll let you keep it if I can't think of anything better for you, how's that?"

He barked a few more times, so with a smile on my face, I leaned over and gave him a little head rub. We continued walking in relative silence for a while, but something was off as we continued, and that's the fact that I was beginning to hear things that didn't sound like animals further down the tunnel. I made sure to slow my pace and try to make as little noise as I could as I got closer to the sounds.

I gave a quick peek around the corner and saw a truly unwelcome sight: Black Dog Mercenaries and monsters.

After seeing them, I hid back around the corner and cursed lightly as my Candlelight spell vanished and Dogmeat began getting into a stalking position of his own. I really didn't want to start a fight without a sure plan in case things went south. So rather than rushing out and fighting, I crouched down and began eavesdropping, hoping for some useful information.

"So, how much longer are we going to be stuck down here?" I heard one of them ask the rest.

Another mercenary replied, "Until we can get the treasure buried in this ruin."

A groan came from the first one. "Ugh… Kin could have at least let us take a few whores before sending us into a damn hole." I heard the mercenary throw something that shattered on the ground, probably a bottle.

The other one growled at his companion. "Hey, you're the smartass who volunteered us to do this in return for the chance to fuck Alicia after that old bastard has had his fun!"

"Oh, give me a break, none of us knew Kin would practically kick us out the instant we agreed!"

Well, that at least means we won't have to worry about rescuing any slaves. With that tidbit of information, I was tempted to sneak closer to get the jump on them, only to hear more footsteps as a few orcs, ghouls and more men approached.

"Well, boys, we got good news and bad news," the leader of the group said, sounding suspiciously… young, and wearing what looked like legitimate iron armor; not just the breastplate, armored boots and gloves that I've got on. "We've managed to get into the ruin, it's only a matter of time before we'll get to whatever got Kin's interest."

"Finally, let's get this thing and go home, please," the first man sounded relieved as he stood up, followed by his compatriot.

The leader held up his hand. "Hold on, that's where the bad news comes in. It's not some small chamber like we were hoping for. This is a full on catacomb, and unfortunately we can't leave without it. Not unless you want to let the boss down and forfeit payment." I heard a collective groan of displeasure among the Black Dogs. "Enough, now let's move. We've got a lot of ground to cover, and I, for one, want to finish this job as fast as I can."

Hmm, if Kin thought it was so important to send them out here without any captives, then it must be important. I'll let them clear the way, take whatever it is they are looking for, and get out… ideally once they are all dead.

Once the leader finished talking, me and Dogmeat watched as they slowly began to leave their little camp. Once everyone was gone, we decided to help ourselves to whatever we could find here. My eyes locked on a small wooden chest, and to my immense satisfaction it was unlocked, everything inside ripe for the taking. But first, I ought to clean myself. After all, I got rat blood on me, and god knows what else.

That being said, I helped myself to some of their supplies to try to clean myself as good as possible. I washed everything I could without putting me at a disadvantage in case they came back; that meant washing mainly my torso area with a damp and warm rag, rinsing myself off with their water.

If it were anyone else, maybe a random group of travelers, I would be more conservative about this, but since these are the Black Dogs we're talking about here, I'll be as wasteful as I damn well please. Once I was satisfied with my state of cleanliness, I downed that Cure Disease potion Carl had given me, just in case I had been infected with anything.

"Alright now, let's see here. We got some jerky… I don't know what, but I'm not going to complain," I said as I bit into it. The moan of bliss that left my mouth as I ate it was embarrassing, but at least only a dog was around to hear it. "Hey, Dogmeat." I called the shepherd as I tossed him some of the other dried meat they had. It didn't even touch the ground before he had devoured it in its entirety.

The next thing I pulled out was another water bottle. This was good for me, because while I used a decent amount to clean myself, I was kinda thirsty. Once I had my fill, I set down one of their spare bowls and poured some more water into it. Dogmeat was probably thirsty too. I watched as the pupper immediately went for the bowl and began drinking like he hadn't done so in days.

"You were thirsty, huh?" I commented with a smile, before rummaging through the chest again. Unfortunately, it seems like most of it is supplies, so I looked around the camp for anything else of value. A frown graced my face as I realized they probably have the most useful provisions, like potions and the like, on them rather than in the little camp. While I wasn't exactly happy about that fact, I wasn't too upset, since I got breakfast courtesy of the Black Dogs.

I figured that whatever they would be bringing up from there, they'd be carrying it with them. So, rather than getting lost in some old ruin, I'd just get shit ready to ambush them when they came out. I placed a few fire runes down between the double doors and simply sat there, waiting for them.

However, while I waited for them to come back and step in my trap, I encountered an unforeseen problem.

"I'm bored."

Dogmeat looked at me with a tilted head, as if he was wondering what we were waiting for.

I let out a huff of air. "You know what? Fuck it."

Standing up, I opened the supply chest again and began rifling through it. I found eggs, butter, bread, sausages, potatoes, cheese… "Hey, Dogmeat. You hungry?" I asked, and saw the shepherd wag his tail happily while he gave a bark of affirmation. "I thought so. How about I use some of this stuff to make us a nice meal? Probably the nicest you've had in a while," I said as I began pulling the items out and setting them up by the campfire.

Cooking was one of my favorite pastimes. Honestly, I never get the chance to cook as much as I'd like, but hey, maybe now I can have some exotic meals no one has ever had before. There's got to be some type of magical animal with an undiscovered taste, right?

First things first, though, I peeled the potatoes and dropped them into an iron pot of water that I set just over the fire. They needed to be soft to get shaved down into the skillet after the eggs. Once they were all inside, the next thing I needed to do was wait for them to soften… I'd rather not wait to shred them after my eggs were done, so I would make sure they were ready before I put the eggs in.

After I felt they were good enough, I drained the water and let them sit for a bit, making sure they were dry and soft, before I began dicing them up. The Black Dogs didn't have a cheese grater, so I had to make do with a clean knife. It took a bit longer than I thought, but since the Black Dogs hadn't come back yet, I figured it was alright that I took a bit of extra time cutting them up into small enough pieces to fry. Once I was done and had my potatoes ready for the skillet, I began making everything else.

I impaled the sausages on some skewers and set them up around the fire, buttered an iron skillet and placed it over the flame, cracked ALL their eggs into the skillet -which were like twelve- and began cutting up some cheese -that I totally didn't hack a chunk off of just to eat. Once I flipped my eggs (which was something of an ordeal, considering I had made so much) I began holding some sliced bread over the fire, trying to make some archaic toast. I could have just used it like normal bread, but I figured I might as well try making toast. If I fuck up, at least I have more bread to use.

While I was making toast, I had placed cheese on my eggs and watched as it melted into a delicious looking gold covering on already delicious eggs. I had to be careful rotating the sausages, since I was a bit preoccupied with my toast, but I was pretty good at multitasking, so it wasn't all bad.

By the time I was done, I had to cut the eggs in half, to be fair with Dogmeat. I also sacrificed a few sausages to him, and he seemed all too happy to take them. It made me smile, as he finished and looked positively adorable trying to beg for more.

"Nu huh, you got your stuff, the rest is mine," I said playfully as I buttered the toast and set it onto a wooden plate. Next was the hash browns, which after putting in a generous helping of butter in the skillet, I tossed them in.

As I waited for them to cook, I took bites of the eggs and sausage, putting some on my toast and eating them together. I ate half of my food when I finally heard the door open and the explosion of my fire rune.

"Ah, shit," I said as I stood. After setting my plate down, I began approaching the door. However, as I began to assess the scene before me, I was confused by the lack of people present.

A few ghouls and goblins were there, but evidently the detonation had made short work of them. They were bleeding out and dying all around, while the few men, four to be exact, stumbled out of the ruin and were clearly looking worse for wear. "Man, what kicked your ass?" I asked as Dogmeat took up a position next to me, teeth bared and growling.

"What the-?!" One of them looked at me with surprise and anger. "What the fuck are you doing here, traitor?!" he asked, pointing accusingly at me.

I shrugged. "Well, besides eating your food, and planning on stealing your shit? Not much… you're out of eggs, sausages, and butter, by the way," I mentioned as casually as one would. "Speaking of, where was the thing you guys were getting for Kin? I don't see it with you."

"As if we'd tell you where it is!" one of his buddies yelled out.

I nodded slowly. "Alright then, if that's how it is, I guess I ought to just kill you now and make sure my hash browns aren't burning." My hand grabbed the axe on my belt and slowly pulled it out.

Alarm and panic crossed their faces for a moment, which got me curious. "Wait, now maybe we were a bit hasty," the first one said in a tone that clearly said they weren't willing to die over this. "We never reached it, this ruin is one giant death trap! The Boss had us turn back to go and grab reinforcements in case he didn't make it."

Huh…

"Is it really that bad in there?"

"Yes," the other man replied. "I signed up for riches and bitches, not this bullshit!"

My hand came to my chin for a moment. "I appreciate the tip," I told him, before a flick of my wrist sent a spike of ice straight into his eye. "But you were going to die regardless."

As the man dropped to the ground, Dogmeat rushed the closest Black Dog. He was unprepared for the attack, and once on the ground and with fangs around his throat, there was little the mercenary could do to save himself. As Dogmeat bit his throat out, another mercenary tried to kick him off, but I wasn't about to let anyone hurt my friends.

A single chop to the throat, and the man was a goner. As for the last man, he tried running. He didn't get very far, and it actually wasn't me or Dogmeat that got him, but one of the traps. It was kinda funny and brutal at the same time to see a log swing down from the ceiling and cave in his chest in.

"Damn, talk about chest pains," I joked, but Dogmeat just whined in response. "What? That was funny!"

The shepherd made a small noise, and I gave him a few pats before looking down into the ruin. I couldn't help but frown as I recognized the architecture. This had Skyrim written all over it, and knowing what was in the last ruin I found? No doubt this one had something just as bad as a Dragon Priest. And unfortunately for me, I had the misfortune of knowing I couldn't just let Kin throw men down here to die. In the wrong hands, a Mask or a Staff could do a lot of damage.

"Alright boy, let's go exploring," I said as I entered the cave. Knowing these places as well as I did in game proved useful, since I was on the lookout for pressure plates and booby traps. There were many types of traps; the first, and most common, were poisoned darts that shot out of the walls. Those in game weren't a big issue to me, but here I don't think I want to risk getting turned into a living pin cushion.

The next big one to look out for were wall traps, giant spiked metal walls that swung from around corners and not only stabbed you, but hit you hard enough to kill you. Then you got your spike traps, pendulums, and of course the rare booby trapped floor.

Then there were also the magic traps, like soul gems that shoot fire, lightning, or frost at you, some flamethrower traps just around at corners. The swinging log that the unfortunate merc found out about, and I think that covers it. All pretty deadly if you let them catch you off guard, but so long as you know what to look for, they aren't much of a problem.

"Stay behind me, I don't want you stepping on a pressure plate and getting hurt," I told Dogmeat. If they got hurt or -God forbid- killed in here, I would just be ruined. I've only had them for… I don't know, a few minutes? Hours? Either way, if anything happened to them, I'd probably be inconsolable for a while. Dogs are honestly God's gift to mankind, and no one can tell me otherwise.

However, while I could go on about how dogs are the best, I do have to focus on not triggering any traps by accident. Thankfully, regarding the traps I did find, while hidden underneath vines and roots coming in from the walls, I managed to avoid their triggers. No pressure plate is going to get me, no sir!

It did evidently get one of the Black Dogs, if the nearby corpse was any indication. He only had a few darts stuck in his body, but the blood leaking from his mouth, the dead eyes, and the fact he was sitting in a corner made it evident the poison got him.

I checked his body, and thankfully, unlike the last guy I checked, he was dead as a doornail. Nothing of value except a couple of coins, thirteen, to be exact.

You know, since these guys aren't really carrying around any large amounts of money, I wonder if they have a bank somewhere where they deposit their money in. It's hard to imagine someone walking around with pocket change and still going "Vault is going to make me rich," if this is the amount his guys carry around.

Traveling further in, I found a few more dead mercenaries. One was impaled on a number of spikes on the roof from a raising platform, and the next was roasting in a small amount of burning oil. I would have looted their bodies, but something tells me I had best not tried, because as much as I wanted to check, I like living more.

Thankfully, while this place was indeed longer and deeper than the Dragon Priest's ruin was, it lacked the undead guards that would have normally guarded a ruin like this. However, while I was thankful that I hadn't encountered anything particularly bad yet, I could not shake the feeling I was going to walk into something worse when I finally reached the main chamber.

Continuing forward, I found a metal trap door, and while I avoided stepping on it, the splashing noises that came from it piqued my interest.

"Hey, is there someone up there?" I heard, which made me stop and turn around. Leaning over, I peeked down inside and saw an orc, a human, and three ghouls stuck down there with the trapdoor just out of reach. "Oh I am so glad to see you man, we got stuck down here and can't get out!" the man told me.

"Ah, yes! Good human, let us get out, right? You open the door and help us, right?!"

Aw, ain't that cute. They think I'm going to help them!

"I don't know, you guys are looking like you're enjoying the swim," I said as I kneeled down to get a better look. I wasn't dumb enough to put myself at risk for falling in, but looking down at them was fine.

"Ha ha, very funny. Now get us out of here. I think these guys are peeing in the pond, if you know what I mean." I fought the urge to laugh at his misfortune.

… And failed.

I barked out a laugh at the man. "Sucks to be you, but I have to go," I told him with a small wave as I began walking away.

"Hey! Don't leave us down here! HEY!" he called out, but I didn't turn back. After all, I would have needed to kill them anyway if I did let them out. Might as well leave them to think about their actions until they eventually give up and drown.

Wet left them behind and began delving deeper into the ruin, but came to a rigid halt as I noticed that the spiderwebs that had been present before had begun getting larger. Normally, I wouldn't be too concerned with it, but there is that small part of everyone that screams at them whenever they become more than just acutely aware of spiders.

Webbing ran along the ground and over the walls, and I found myself hesitating going forward. If my hunch is right, these aren't going to be normal spiders, and the prospect of encountering any bigger than my fist was a bit terrifying, to say the least….

I won't lie and say the temptation to turn around and call it here, to just go back to the entrance and leave, was very, very prevalent, but unfortunately that wasn't an option. I needed to get to the center of this ruin and take whatever Kin was looking for here… even if that meant fighting giant spiders with fangs as big as my biceps.

Thankfully, the webs weren't too sticky when I stepped on them. They barely gave any resistance at all when I lifted my foot, and Dogmeat wasn't stuck either. Maybe these are old webs and have lost their stickiness? I am no expert on spiders, so that's how I'm hoping it works. I decided I would use my sword for this, and took it out, as well as igniting a fire in my hand in case I ought to burn this stuff away. Thankfully, all was quiet for the most part…

However, as if fate was trying to curse me, when I turned the next corner, I found some more members of the Black Dogs. Orcs, ghouls, goblins, and some men were bound in thick cocoons of silk, and were trapped. However, there was a special type of sadism that these spiders had in their bug brains, and that was that they left just enough of their victims exposed to see themselves get eaten or drunk, or whatever it was spiders did.

As I walked past them, each one of them had their eyes on me, begging for a release that I would not give them. While I walked slowly through with Dogmeat at my side, one of the Goblins began shaking themselves, as if trying to get my attention. Unfortunately, shaking and moving was exactly the last thing they should have done.

The events that unfolded were slow, but felt so horribly fast that I barely had the time to brace myself for what I saw.

The goblin in the cocoon shook, and that shaking brought down a spider, about the size of a medium dog. The alarm and horror in the eyes of the monster were downright haunting, as the spider sunk its fangs into the monster's body. It struggled harder as the spider bit down on it, but after a few moments, its body went limp and died.

By now, my body reacted on instinct, and I swung my sword at the spider, feeling a pang of surprise when it didn't cut into its chitinous body. Considering everything else I had fought had been able to get cut, this was both shocking and terrifying to know that the attack did little against the large arachnid.

Dogmeat began growling at my side as the spider flailed its legs as it righted itself. I only had a moment to dodge the venom it spat the instant its eyes focused back on me. The beast spat and bit at me, but thankfully Dogmeat was there to distract it when it got too close to biting me, by biting it instead.

Our fight was overall brief, with me finally managing to break through the tough shell with a strong downward stab. Unfortunately, that was not the worst of my issues. Once it was dead, it let out a final cry to the world. Originally I had believed it to be a wail of death, but I soon learned it was not a death cry.

It was a call.

More and more began emerging from almost impossible locations around us, almost entirely blocking our way back. I knew they were herding us deeper into the cave, but there were too many to get through, not without risking getting envenomed or caught in a cocoon like those poor sods.

"Run!" I told Dogmeat, before fleeing deeper into the nest. It was a foolish idea, but we didn't have many options. At least if we go further, we might get lucky and find a way out that isn't swarming with spiders.

Dogmeat ran ahead, with me following close behind, spiders emerging all around us while we navigated the nest. We were lucky, all things considered, that they hadn't swarmed us while we were fighting the first spider, but with how the situation was panning out? I think we're lucky not to be spider chow right now.

I eventually stopped by an old iron door and forced it shut, before throwing down a wooden barricade bar to block it. When I turned around to run, I realized this wasn't just any normal chamber. This was the heart of the den, but curiously there were no spiders here.

"Hey, you," I heard a young voice from the other side of the chamber.

There was the leader of the mercenaries stuck in webbing. He was covered head to toe in Iron Plate armor; his helmet must have kept him from getting his mouth bound.

"Hey," I calmly addressed, cautiously approaching the cocooned man. "How's it hanging?"

"Very funny. Cut me down quickly before she comes back!"

"Who?"

"The broodmother of this nest. She caught me when I tried to get through the webs. These things are unlike any spiders I've ever seen. Please cut me down, and we can get out of here!" he pleaded in a hushed tone. I would have left him to his fate, were it not for the fact he was blocking the exit. Going back wasn't an option, and I wasn't about to leave whatever is here alone, especially after coming so far.

"Alright, just give me a moment. This might get a bit hot," I warned as I began holding my hand around the webbing, lighting it on fire in very small amounts to try to get him free. I wasn't about to start hacking at him with my sword, as much as I would like to, since I didn't want my sword stuck in case I had to start fighting this 'Broodmother'.

The fire seemed to work, with him coming free in a few moments after I started. "Oh, thank the Goddess…" he said as he dropped to the floor on his hands and knees, throwing off his helmet as if it had been suffocating him.

"Thank the Goddess for you, James…" I frowned at the mention of my name.

"Thank the Goddess for you, James… Now I don't have to bother hunting you down!"

He reached for his battle axe and tried to take a swing at me, but that was a very heavy and slow weapon. His first swing was an overhead charge; and to be honest, compared to Vault, this guy was moving in slow motion. Whereas the leader of the Black Dogs was deceptively fast and strong, this guy clearly was exactly as you would expect for someone wearing heavy armor.

Slow.

It wasn't hard to dodge his swing, and he clearly wasn't ready for a weapon of that size, as he stumbled very far after the swing. "You really want to do this now?" I asked as he attempted to recover, Dogmeat getting into an attack posture while growling the entire time. "We're in the middle of a spider den right now, and you want to try and fight me?"

The Black Dog commander stood straight. "Yes I do. Do you know what you took from me when you stole those Dark Elves from us?" he asked rhetorically. "You stole my chance to lose my virginity to a Dark Elf bitch! I was saving myself because I knew I would have that chance, and you took that from me!"

I couldn't help but look at him with a disbelieving expression. "How old are you?"

"I'm seventeen winters, why?"

Oh, for the love of God.

"How the fuck are you a captain?" I asked in disbelief.

"My father," the 'man' answered. "He brought me into the Black Dogs a few months ago, took me away from my bitch of an aunt and the slave labor she put on me." My face adopted an expression that clearly told I wasn't buying it. "She had me clean the stables, made me water the crops… I'm a man! That's not a man's work!"

I didn't know if I ought to be surprised that he thought that or not… No, I guess I shouldn't be, considering the people of this world will look for any excuse to rape and pillage. "When he brought me in and told me that we'd be defeating the Dark Queen, I knew I wanted my first time to be in her tight virgin cunt," he told me as if I had committed the biggest crime in the world.

So, nepotism exists in the Black Dogs…

"Give up, you can't win," I told him directly. The armor he wore was too heavy for him, his weapon too big and unwieldy for someone untrained with it.

That however didn't stop him from trying, seeing as he swung too close to my body, the blade missing me entirely. The shaft of the axe was caught easily, and a kick to his chest sent him back down on his ass. Once he was on the ground, Dogmeat was on him quickly, teeth bared against him, biting and scratching his face before I felt it was enough.

"Dogmeat, over here," I called the German Shepherd back, and he obeyed without protest. The boy was wailing on the ground in pain, and… it was just pathetic. I would have killed him, but he's an idiot teenager. I wasn't about to start killing kids, even if they were stupid.

I refocused my attention on the webbing and began burning it again. This time I wasn't bothering with trying to be careful, instead focusing on clearing the way. I wasn't going to stick around waiting for the broodmother to arrive.

"Oh Goddess no!" I heard him scream, and I only had a moment to turn around to see the biggest spider I'd ever seen in my life descend from a silk strand on the ceiling. It was as big as a carriage and easily just as heavy.

"Kid, get over here!" I shouted at him, but he didn't listen, and began cowering in the corner as the spider advanced on him. I let out a groan, and took the young man's axe, swinging it as hard as I could down on one of the arachnid's hind legs.

The benefit of a war axe over a sword is that it was a lot heavier than the latter, and once the weapon came down on the leg, it severed it quickly and without much resistance thanks to the weight. The beast let out a cry as it shifted focus towards me, and I found myself swinging the axe to deter it from trying to bite me, and doing my best to avoid the venom it spat occasionally.

"Goddess, get me out of here!" the Black Dog commander yelled, as he went for the door I had barricaded. My eyes widened in alarm for a brief moment as he lifted the wooden bar and tried opening the doors.

The door barely cracked open before venom splattered directly on his face. In his panicked state, he threw the bar back down to re-seal the door and ran for the burning webbing, broke through it with ease, and still kept running. I groaned internally, as I continued fighting the giant spider. I had better get paid extra for this.

Dogmeat bit down on one of its legs, distracting it for a moment and giving me a chance to give another powerful overhead swing down right between its eyes. With it embedded in the Giant Spider's head, I began using the Sparks spell, electrocuting it as good as I could manage. I might not be as quick as a bug zapper, but after the spider fell limp, I couldn't help but feel a bit proud that I managed to kill it.

I gave Dogmeat an appreciative pet. "Good job, a lot more useful than an ASSHOLE IN PLATE MAIL!" I called down the newly opened pathway. I sighed, hoping to God that there was an alternate exit in this ruin. There's got to be one, right?

Before I left the broodmother's chamber, I made sure to grab the helmet the boy had discarded. It looked pretty good all things considered; very new and untested, but I could tell this was made for maximum protection. Maybe I could see if he wanted to trade clothes when I caught up to him. After all, if he is going to be a dumb shit, I at least want his armor.

Thankfully, the traps were few in number, and the ones we did encounter were easily avoided. However, as I continued following the passageways away from the nest, I found the kid lying face down. I checked his body and found he was dead. A part of me regrets that he could've survived if he weren't so god damn stupid.

As I stared down at the body, I realized it must have been the venom in his face that did him in. It had gotten into the wounds that Dogmeat inflicted and killed him. I found myself frowning at him, and then at myself for what I was about to do.

"Sorry, but I'm going to need this more than you are," I said as I began taking off his clothes.

Should I be concerned that looting corpses of the old and newly dead isn't nearly as haunting or disgusting as I was thinking it would be?

Probably, but I'm not sure if I can bring myself to care.

This armor was more protective, not a simple chestplate, shin guards, gloves and a rounded helmet. The chestplate was layered, the padding was studded, it had shoulder pads, the gauntlets were larger and uneven -one had plating on the back of the hand while the other did not. Some plates were on my waist, and offered some protection there. He also had a better belt than I did, and after transferring everything I had between his and mine, I put on the helmet and examined myself for a few moments.

"Thanks kid…" I said to the body. One thing was for sure… I needed these washed after I got back to Feoh. This thing carried a funk I wasn't exactly pleased with, but if that's the cost of protection, then so be it.

Once I was all dressed, we resumed our journey through the tomb.

Thankfully, it was uneventful for the most part. No spiders, no rats, no Dogs. A few traps, but we managed to avoid them… for the most part. I might have given in to the temptation to look into a very fancy chest, and not only was it empty, but I got shot at with darts for my trouble. Thankfully, the armor was sturdy, and nothing actually penetrated deep enough to poison me or whatever these darts did. It was a bitch to get them out, though, since I sure as hell wasn't going to leave them in.

Despite that disappointment, I kept going, reaching a pair of large iron doors that I managed to push open after a bit of struggle to reveal a cave chamber that was big. No, not big, an absolutely MASSIVE chamber, housing a statue of a dragon far bigger than any shown in Skyrim. We were deep underground, but there were holes in the ceiling allowing sunlight to bleed through and down into the chamber.

It… to be honest, this was beautiful. And if I had to guess, whatever Kin coveted was close to the statue.

"Come on, let's see what the Black Dogs were after; then how about we go get a bath, and some grub, huh?" I gave Dogmeat a little head rub, and got a happy-sounding bark in response.

We followed the little stone path towards the statue, and-

There is nothing here.

I mean, literally, the base of the statue is empty; there is nothing here, just the statue, and… yeah, that's it.

"What the fuck?" I asked as I looked around.

Was this like a puzzle or something? I was honestly at a loss here.

Maybe the statue has something I need?

Inspecting it, I couldn't help but admire the craftsmanship; the level of detail was phenomenal. But what would I need to do to unlock its secrets?

Should I Shout at it?

Well, not like I've got many options here, so I might as well try.

"FUS!"

The Shout was loud inside this cavernous space, my voice echoing off the walls and all around the chamber. Thankfully, Dogmeat wasn't too affected by it, other than the look of alarm he gave me afterwards. And as the last echoes of the Shout faded, I indeed discovered the mystery of the statue.

The secret was that it wasn't a statue at all.

As the echo faded from the chamber, one closed eyelid opened, and the amber serpentine eye locked directly onto us. Its neck craned backwards, shaking dust and dirt off with every small movement. And as it brought itself to full height to stare down at the two of us, I did what anyone in that situation would do.

Run like hell.

Dogmeat ran first, straight to the entrance of the chamber, where he cowered with his tail tucked. I only managed to get halfway before the dragon placed itself between me and the door. I watched in awe as it reared its head back and let out a roar that felt like it was going to shatter my eardrums.

I had to hold my hands to the sides of my helmet to try to keep my ears from bursting from the noise's sheer volume. Once its roar ended, though, I reached back for the new war axe on my back and prepared myself for the fight of my life.

Thankfully for me, this cavern gave me a slight advantage in that it was too small for the dragon to fly in. While I had no doubt that, since I woke it up and pissed it off, it could break through the ceiling and escape, it seemed more focused on me than leaving to terrorize the new world it had found itself in.

The large creature reared its long serpentine neck back, before throwing its head forward. Its maw was wide open and ready to eat me, so I did the only thing that came to mind when I realized there was no way I'd be able to avoid it in time. I shouted again.

FUS!

The Thu'um left my mouth in a massive wave of pure force, and while it was only one word, it was enough to halt its advance, blowing loose and old scales from its body, leaving small bits of flesh exposed. Parts of its neck, jaw, and the top of its head now had some… bald spots for lack of a better term; not large enough to really exploit, but I at least had some kind of strategy forming in my head.

As it shook itself from the rather sudden force that left my throat, the Dragon locked its gaze on me and reared its head back again. Every instinct in my body screamed at me to get behind something, and I wasn't too inclined to ignore the feeling. I bolted behind a large rock just as the Dragon threw its head forward with a Shout of its own.

YOL!

Just as Unrelenting Force was much more powerful in reality, unbound by such things as game engines and balancing, that same logic extended to their Shouts, their Thu'um as well as mine. A massive wave of fire was expelled from the Dragon's mouth, and for a few long and painfully slow moments I felt like I was being cooked in my armor, even though I was safe behind a massive rock. Flames soared all around the boulder, the dirt was scorched, and despite the fact logic would dictate otherwise, it still burned even when the flames stopped.

When I emerged from behind the boulder, I realized it hadn't just burned the ground or was just a really hot fire… That Shout was an inferno. From the rock I was hiding behind, and all the way to where the Dragon had shouted that single word, the ground was molten; hell, the rock itself was partly melted into lava.

If just a single word could melt rock… what could all three do in tandem?

That was a question for later, though, as I refused my attention on the threat. It neared for another bite, and I wasn't about to let it get away with turning me into a morsel. As it came in close, I swiped at one of the small scaleless spots I had made on the snout. It wasn't a deep cut by any means, but you know what they say, an animal won't stick its nose where it hurts…

But in this case, I realize that might not be the best figure of speech to use in this situation, since I'm trying to kill it before it can break out of here and start burning down villages. And I need to get in close to actually hurt it.

While my small attack deterred it from taking a chunk out of me, that wasn't nearly enough to completely dissuade it from trying again. It closed in on me, and I had to be mighty careful to keep from accidentally getting anywhere near its mouth. If it tried to shout at me again at this range, I wouldn't have time to duck and cover, and that isn't even beginning to cover why I don't want to be too close should it start snapping its jaws at me any more than its slow attempts to bite me in half.

Its size might have been intimidating, but it very clearly was a detriment in this regard, since I could easily avoid most of its attempts to bite at me. They weren't particularly fast bites, one might even argue it was trying to toy with me, like one would with a bug or a very angry mouse.

Our fight lasted a short while; with me hacking at any place I could, chopping at the bits of exposed flesh with my war axe. Unfortunately, the first time I tried to do that at the scales themselves, alarm and panic flooded my body as my axe got stuck. I didn't even have time to try to pull it out before the dragon began raising its head, and pulling me up with it.

I held on as best I could, using my free hand to try and maybe hurt it some more: shooting spikes of ice into the places I had been hacking away at, burning them, shocking them; nothing seemed to get a great reaction from the dragon other than pained annoyance.

It glared at me with the eye that I was closest to, before it began shaking its head back and forth, no doubt trying to throw me off of it before I could do much else. My grip however was tight, and despite its borderline violent shaking, I held fast onto the handle of my axe and the scales I could grab in the brief moment before it began trying to get me off.

As it realized that my grip wasn't going to give so easily, it stopped briefly and began winding its head back. For a moment, I was confused, until I realized what it was about to do.

It was about to crush me against the wall using its FUCKING HEAD!

In the span of moments, I went from no momentum to having ALL OF IT.

There was no way I could drop in time to avoid hitting the wall, and no way I could climb up on top of its head. So as much as I knew this was a bad idea, I opened my mouth and Shouted right at its head.

FUS!

Once again, the Thu'um left my mouth, and a number of things happened in a very short span of time.

The first thing that happened was that I got flung. It may come as a surprise to some, mostly me, that suddenly introducing a counter force with enough power to halt the dragon's momentum might not have been a great idea, since I wasn't ready for that, and promptly lost my grip and flew through the air.

The second thing was that being point blank had stripped many of the larger and harder scales from the dragon's face. Although some remained, I had managed to strip half of its face of its best defense, so yay for that.

The third thing was that my axe was thrown as well; and to be honest, while not as interesting as the other two, I lamented that I might have just lost one of the more effective weapons against this thing. While I could use my Battle Axe or Sword, they weren't as effective at making many chopping attacks in succession.

At the moment, however, I found myself slamming hard into the wall of the cave. While it hurt a lot, I had a feeling it didn't hurt as bad as it could have if the dragon had managed to crush me between itself and the wall. Still, I was thankful I wasn't dead, but this wasn't a great situation for me to be in. The golden glow of the healing spell filled my hands and swiftly began restoring my body. I hobbled behind a rock, and sat down to heal.

"Son of a bitch…" I muttered as I healed as much as I could, which unfortunately wasn't as much as I would like, considering I ran out of magicka.

Pushing myself up to my feet, I was hoping that maybe it was feeling as shit as I was after doing that. Seeing it held its head low to the ground, growling at me like a rabid animal, told me otherwise. I reached up and grabbed the handle of the battleaxe, steeling my nerves as its head shot forward to take a bite out of me. As it closed the distance, I swung and made a deep cut in its snout, now bare from most of the protective scales that protected it before.

It went in for a second chomp, but a swift overhead swing right between its nostrils actually managed to make it withdraw for a moment in pain. The instant I saw it start rearing its massive head, I instantly knew it was about to breathe fire at me again. I had half a mind to get behind the rock I was just behind, but at this range it could easily breathe around it or on top of it, and no matter where I was situated, it will catch me.

YOL!!

As the word left its mouth, I could already see the fire build up in its mouth. I only had a moment to react, so I did the only thing I could do to try to save myself.

FUS!

You would be forgiven for thinking I met its shout with my own. What I did was more accurately described as shoving its face away from me. It opened its mouth to immolate me, but Unrelenting Force more or less shoved its head to the side, burning part of the wall, creating some molten rock and charring the stone. While it was correcting its head, I saw it: the scales defending its skull were mostly stripped. If I could hit it hard enough, then theoretically I might be able to kill it here and now!

"Alright… COME ON!" I challenged, throwing my arms out, "YOU WANNA TAKE A CHUNK OUTTA ME! I'M RIGHT HERE!"

The dragon glared down at me, and with a brief growl, lunged its serpentine neck at me to try to snap me up in its jaws. As it closed in, I slashed it right across the face; it let out a brief noise of pain when I hit it, but that was my chance. While it was recovering from my hit, I quickly put the axe back on my back and ran up to the side of its snout. As it began turning its head back to where I was, I leapt onto it, and climbed on top of its head.

Trying to stand on top of it was hard; it shook itself violently, trying to get me off, but I wasn't so easily shaken. Once I felt I could, I stood up straight and grabbed the axe from my back. With a mighty swing, I gave a clean chop between the eyes. However, that wasn't enough, so I wrenched the axe out and swung once again. More pained sounds echoed from below me; one final swing would end this creature and end this struggle for me.

I wound back and chopped into its head again; however, this time the Dragon let out a roar of pain, and I instinctively let go of the axe handle embedded in its skull to try to protect my ears from the sound. As it roared, it shook its head, and without my hands to grab on, I fell backwards and off of the great beast.

While I was on my back, I saw it look down upon me with nothing but a seething hatred. As it reared its head back to breathe fire at me again, I only saw one option to save myself.

YOL!

FUS!

My shout and its connected; the latter was disrupted by the force, the torrent of flames losing their focus and aim. I felt like I was being cooked alive in my armor, but thankfully it ended sooner rather than later. Although its Thu'um was disrupted, mine continued forward and buried my axe further in its head. I watched its eyes widen for a brief moment, one final roar leaving its throat as it threw its head back and spoke what would be its final words…

"Dovahkiin… Thank you…"

My eyes widened as I heard its last words. It had both confirmed that I am indeed Dragonborn… but was also thanking me? For what?

The head of the once mighty creature landed just in front of me, while its body went limp. I couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief before I noticed its body begin to immolate…

I stood and got a better look at the body as it began burning up. It was almost sad to see such a mighty being burn up like that, but that feeling was overshadowed by the amazement I felt as those very flames began flowing into me.

The Soul… it was power, pure and true.

Absorbing it into myself rejuvenated me… no, not just rejuvenated, it made me stronger.

Everything I was before was strengthened or enhanced. The strength I got from training with Vault, it felt like I just went through all that again, but this time without the pain and all the gains. Hell, even my magic reserves felt deeper, and I know this is probably not true, but I almost felt… tougher, like there was some sort of added protection underneath everything.

But the most important thing however, was the knowledge that came with that power.

"Ro."

Balance in its purest form, no one can exert force without feeling it back. Understanding balance, and how it can make force stronger… it is an impossible concept to describe with the words of Man. Fus combined with Ro isn't just putting two words together, it… it almost feels that Force is nothing without Balance.

However, despite how good everything felt… there was something amiss about the whole situation.

Going to clear out a rat cave led to me facing a dragon, and I couldn't help but think something about this felt sketchy… Who was I doing this for again?

I pulled out the note I had gotten to clear out the Rat's Nest and read the name at the bottom…

A wheel of cheese awarded to whoever finds the hip of a friend.

S.G. Rath

SheoGoRath

Oh…no.


Special thanks to LittleWhiteMouse for helping out, couldn't have done this without you buddy.

Yikes, this is late… remember when I said 2 chapters a Month? I failed that super hard.

Sorry for the delay, January got way more hectic for me than I thought it would. Not to mention I caught the flu and was knocked on my ass for like 2 weeks because of it. Not really an excuse, but I am still sorry for the delay.

Next order of business is the Favorite and Follow count… Which is just blowing my mind whenever I see it. 700+ and 900+ respectively… holy shit you guys, that is just… I can't even think of the words that can convey how just blown away I am by that. Thank you all for your continued support of this fic. I know some of you have been… vocal about your dislike for James and how he is going about his quest to save this world, but I am just trying to make him as human as I can, and that includes every single mistake and misstep he makes on his road to becoming strong. But if it upsets you guys that much, I'll try making him better in the future.

Now I am aware that some of you might be a bit… upset with me regarding this last fight with the Dragon, but please hear me out. I am not going to be littering the story with Dragons, as that would be dumb, but there are certain shouts that have no genuine word walls that James is going to need to get, so I figured a good compromise would be to introduce Insane Dragons that Sheogorath claimed, and have them be the source of the words with no way genuine way to get them otherwise. Not every Dragon will speak to James, nor will they all be so easy to kill. (After all, this is the only one I had planned to fight in a cave, and so insane that it can't think straight)

When he encounters his next one, it will be a much more "Fair" Fight, or as fair as one can be when you got a normal guy vs an ESO size Dragon.

Now then, the next chapter should be out sometime near the end of the month, depending on if RL doesn't decide it needs me to put out 20 figurative fires all at once.

And I just want to say again thank you to everyone for your continued support.

Before I let you guys go, I've got something of a request: Now while James is getting a dog, its name won't be Dogmeat, that was more like a placeholder, so between now and next chapter I am going to put up a poll with some names for you guys to vote on, or if you have a suggestion of your own, PM me and I'll add it to the poll. Most votes is what the dog gets named as.

Thank you everyone, and I'll see you next chapter.