-Welcome one, welcome all to the next chapter! A little heads up before we get into it, this one will be featuring the dragon language being extensively spoken by dragons (surprise). This also isn't simply rehashing the same dialogue that you've likely remembered hearing; I came up with original dialogue exchanged for this specific scene. To do this, I made use of the site 'Thu'um Generator *dot org'. Think of it as quite literally a Google translate for the Dragon Language that's exclusive to Skyrim! While the language itself is not all complete and some words don't have perfect translations to them, the site itself is still a fun little thing to mess around with; a testament that something ultimately unnecessary was still provided to fans for further enrichment of lore!

And now, on to what you came here for! Enjoy!-


The sky seemed to darken in an instant. The air above them also seemed to shift with a heavy whoosh. In that split second of a moment, the two Nord women were almost uncertain as to what was even happening. All they had heard was Illia's random outburst, followed by the distortion of air and sound. As a result, the two women themselves had stumbled on their feet, with Siffre even falling to the ground.

When just like that, it was over. The world around them was clear again. As Lydia was the only person remaining on her feet, she was left to shake her head and regain her senses.

"What in the... what just happened?!" she said. Her mind tried to register what possibly could have happened. All she had heard before everything was Illia suddenly calling out-

Lydia's eyes suddenly shot wide open in alarm. Her head snapped to the side ad where she was certain this winged terror would be seen.

The dragon could be seen, right there in the sky. The one positive thing that Lydia could note was the fact that it seemed to be flying 'away' from the three of them. It surely must have been providence that the giant creature must not have seen them. Just like the trio of black-garbed warriors before, this dragon appeared as black as night! Even from a distance the scales on its hide had pointed, spiked tips. A pair of massive wings outstretched on both sides propelled the monster forward through the air. Just how could something so massive move so fast?!

A roar could be heard from the dragon as it flew off. This roar was nowhere near as loud as the one that had happened right next to them a moment ago, but it was no less terrifying to hear even at a distance.

Lydia quickly rushed over to help Siffre to her feet.

"My thane, get up, hurry!" she urged. Siffre finally regained her footing and wiped off stray pieces of gravel from her front.

"I-I'm..." she tried to speak, "Was that... was that a dragon?!"

"Yes!" Lydia replied. She rushed over to the section of land they stood on that had no barrier. It was here that she was granted an unimpeded view of the land before them, as well showing the open air where the dragon itself had flown, "There! There it goes!" The two women looked out into the Skyrim sky where the dragon was flying away from them. From the speed it was flying, it appeared much smaller that it had just been mere moments ago. Had it really not seen them? And where was it going?

Lydia turned her gaze downward back to the land itself. Perhaps there was some landmark below that would indicate what was out there. Or maybe even something the dragon itself was attracted to...

"Lydia... look," she heard Siffre breathe next to her. The dragonborn pointed a finger out, in the general direction of the dragon. She didn't point directly at the dragon however, but rather much more south, towards the ground. There was in fact something there, about the worst thing that could possibly be in the path of a dragon.

There was what appeared to be a settlement; a rustic, man-made building upon the ground. It stood along a pathway that connected to the pathway the three women themselves had taken. The distance was vast, but a small number of moving figures could be seen around the structures as well.

Lydia and Siffre's wide-eyed gazes met each other.

"You said you needed a dragon, and one is definitely about to attack there..." Lydia said.

"We've got to get to that dragon, and quick...!" Siffre's volume-raised voice declared.

'Definitely not a sentence I thought I would ever hear in my life...' Lydia thought to herself before shaking her head, "I've got your back, my thane!" Looking down, the edge of the landmass they looked out over also held a steep, but short drop in height down to the bottom. It would be easy enough for the two of them to slide down without any trouble...

"W-wait, hold on!" Illia suddenly exclaimed from behind. The two Nord women had to stop themselves from dropping to turn to the Imperial, "You two... you're not actually serious, are you?"

"Deadly serious," Lydia simply replied as blunt as possible, "And you can either join us or don't; we are going to stop that dragon!"

"We are doing this... no question about it...!" Siffre replied with her own degree of firmness as well. Before Illia could get any other word in, Siffre and Lydia leapt to deftly slide down the side of the landmass's sedimentary hill-side. Both hit the ground with their balance maintained, and immediately ran forward in the general direction of the dragon.

"Wait-!" Illia called out, but it was useless. The two women were already running towards the monstrous creature to face it head-on, like the insane and 'battle-thirsty' Nords they were! But this was different! It had to be! That thing was a dragon! An ancient creature that hadn't been seen since the Mythic Era! Maybe even before that! Why were they so quick to rush 'towards' the giant harbinger of certain death!?

But more importantly, what was Illia herself to do?

With a final growl of frustration, she rushed forward towards the edge as well. She took more care and caution in trying to navigate down along the loose-gravel side of the landmass. This also resulted in much more wobbling back and forth to steady herself and maintain balance, especially in comparison to how much more flawlessly the two warriors before her had done it. Eventually, after sliding down and nearly losing balance herself, Illia finally skidded down to reach the very bottom ground. She took a quick moment to shake her shoe-covered feet from stray bits of rubble, then proceeded to run as fast as she could to catch up.

By now Lydia and Siffre had carefully navigated returning to the path they had broken off from initially. Once they were back on its course, they were able to run with much less reserve. This was both due to the path itself being much more secure and established than simply running around patches of hot water, but also due to the severity of the situation. They had to get to that settlement there, and stop that dragon! They just had to! No doubt the beast was flying over to it because it likely had people living in it, which could only mean they were in serious danger!

"Lydia..." the housecarl heard Siffre call out from beside her as they ran, "What's the name of this... this settlement up there?"

"I... I don't know," Lydia tried and failed to recall, "I didn't catch a look at what it was when I had the map out..." She then shook her head, "It doesn't matter now; let's just get there!" She didn't hear any sort of response from Siffre, so Lydia thought nothing of it and continued to run. In the back of Lydia's mind, perhaps running at full force with heavy armor like hers wasn't quite the best decision. In this case however, she would just have to suck it up; any sore muscles she'd just have to deal with another time. Her breathing and panting was something she'd have to consider however. It would hardly do anyone, or even herself, any good if she were out of breath when she got to the dragon!

Besides, what would a few sore muscles be when facing against a dragon? Again?

Looking up and along the path they ran, Siffre and Lydia could see that the larger path now began to veer a little to the left. However, a sharp break to the right was where they would be going, as the building itself was already there. They had reached the settlement! Coincidentally, a few flecks of snow could be felt falling from the air upon their arrival.

"This... is it..." Siffre said in between pants of her own. The two women could see the settlement in much clearer detail. It was a fairly large building, with a straw-covered roof and sturdy wooden walls. A sign hung out and in front of the main door reading 'Braidwood Inn'. Off to the side of the building, an expanse of land with various crops buried in the ground could be seen. One puzzling thing about this was that everything appeared to be largely intact. Hadn't this dragon attacked anything here?

It was also at this garden area that a figure was also identified. A blue-garbed guardsman suddenly rushed around the edges of the fence surrounding it and was making his way towards the front of the building. In the midst of his run, he head twitched up and he noticed the two women.

"You two! Get inside with the others, quickly! We're under attack!" he said, motioning his arm towards the door of the inn.

"By the dragon...?" Siffre asked, "Where is it?"

"Ysmir's Beard, yes it's a dragon! It was just circling over the inn a moment ago! Last I saw, it was flying up and around the old dragon burial mound, just over the ridge!"

'So that's why everything looks undamaged,' Lydia thought, 'But, why would the dragon 'not' try and destroy the place...?'

She and Siffre looked up and over both the building and the rising cliff that stretched up well past it in height. It looked like a natural cliff wall on their end, with the inn building itself nestled within its shadow. Over the cliff edge however, the unmistakable sound of the dragon's roar could be heard. However, the two Nord women more than just heard the dragon over the cliff's edge; something else could be seen as well. A strange column of clear blue light, rising up towards the sky. From their position, it was impossible to know exactly what this light was or where it was originating from.

"Dragon burial mound...?" Siffre said, before looking to Lydia, "I don't like this... Lydia, we have to get up there...!"

"Did you two not hear what I said?!" the guard cut in, "You need to get inside! You have a better chance of surviving a dragon attacking that way!"

"Guardsman, is there a way up to this 'dragon burial mound'? How do we get to it?" Lydia asked, complete defiance to what the man was ordering them do.

"By the Gods... fine, if you two strangers really have such a death wish..." with a resigned sigh, the guardsman pointed a finger to the left, in the same direction he had just come from, "To the left is a pathway that will lead up, more or less straight to the burial mound itself! But that's all I can afford you two; I aim to keep the people of Kynesgrove safe, not sway you and your suicidal tendencies!" With that the guardsman spun around and through the door to the inn. The two Nord women could hear the clamoring of anxious peoples' voices within before the door slammed shut.

Siffre and Lydia looked back at each other. Snowflakes were beginning to fall in thicker quantity by now.

"Siffre... this dragon 'isn't' trying to attack people?" Lydia said.

"I have no idea, Lydia..." Siffre replied, "I really don't know... but it doesn't matter!"

"I know, I know," Lydia dismissed, "I just find it rather odd is all-"

"HEY...! Hey you two! Wait...!" The two women looked off to their side to see Illia behind them, running along the path that they had taken. The mage quickly rejoined them, stopping to pant heavily while bent over with her hands on her knees, "You two are... absolutely... insane!"

"There is nothing insane about this," Lydia spoke, channeling the housecarl mentality within, "Innocent people are under threat of a monster, and we aim to stop it! In fact, isn't that what you were so opposed to yesterday? 'Innocents being killed'?" Her remark caused Illia to halt whatever words she was planning to say.

"Well- y-yes, obviously..." Illia stammered, a mix in trying to find the right words as well as slow her exhausted breathing, "B-but still! A dragon?! How can we possibly hope to stop such a monster? Much less kill it?!"

"We've... we've done it before..." Siffre spoke softly, "We've killed a dragon before... It can be done..."

"My thane," Lydia looked at Siffre, "You shouldn't forget: YOU were the one who killed it! You proved to everyone that it was possible! That even something as mighty as a dragon can be slain!" Illia's shocked eyes darted over to the dragonborn. So it really was possible, wasn't it? She wasn't just called 'Dragonborn' for show? She was some 'all-powerful dragon slayer'? Her breath caught in her throat, and Illia was reminded of how winded she still was.

"That... that's right, isn't it...?" Siffre breathed, "I did it, and... I'll do it again! I'll slay another dragon!" She looked back and forth between Lydia and Illia, "Are you two with me...?"

"My thane, wherever you go, I follow," Lydia spoke professionally.

"Um, I..." Illia stammered. Her breathing had fallen back under control, so there was little to mistake the tone in her voice for other than nervousness. This caused Lydia to shoot her a stern face.

"Look, this is no time for doubts or uncertainty!" she exclaimed, "You either know what we mean to do and are with us, or you can hang back like a coward!"

"I-I am not a coward!" Illia returned Lydia's glare with a glare of her own, "I'll prove it to you! I'll go up there with you two-"

"Enough! Both of you!" Siffre's voice suddenly exclaimed. Latent vibrations rippling through the air from her mouth effectively silenced both companions completely, "We've wasted enough time already! Let's get up there...!" Without waiting for any reply from the other two, Siffre spun in place and practically bolted off towards the directed path. Behind, Lydia and Illia spared one more look at each other before rushing on to rejoin the dragonborn.

Just as the guard had described, the path before them was a sharp incline, taking the trio straight up along the cliff wall. Off to the side, the Braidwood Inn building grew smaller underneath them as they ascended. Memories flooded back into Lydia's mind from not too long ago: climbing up rising passages, buildings growing smaller beneath her, even flurries of snowfall all around her. Unlike last time though, she wouldn't be letting anything stop her, like some ferocious frost troll. Not when there was an even more fearsome creature that must be slain!

In the middle of her run, Lydia drew her sword from her scabbard. In front of her, she could see that Siffre had already drawn her great-sword and was running with it in hand. Gods only know what she must have been thinking; having officially slain a dragon before, and now about to slay another one.

Of the dragon in question, the three women couldn't hear anymore roars from the creature. However, the constant, almost rhythmic flapping of wings on the wind were a constant reminder of its presence. There was also the question of that strange column of light from the ground. What was that-?

Having reached the end of the path, and the end of the ascent, the three women halted in place. The snowfall fell in force by now, blanketing the air in white and partially obscuring their vision. There was even an overcast of thick clouds in the sky that obscured the sun, which only made the world around them appear that much darker. However, even with how dark this midday was at the moment, there was something else that managed to be even darker, blacker than night itself.

There, hovering up in the sky, was the dragon. Scales as black as night and sharpened like gardening sickles. Each flap of its wings produced strong gusts of winds that could be heard even down below on the ground. Even with the gray clouds in the sky darkening th world below, somehow the image of this dragon almost appeared as a silhouette. A single glowing red eye could be seen at this creature's head. Likely only one could be seen due to the dragon was turned to its side. From off to her side, Lydia could hear a small 'eep' noise from Illia, cut off abruptly by what must have been the mage clamping a hand over her mouth to silence herself.

The giant monster apparently hadn't taken notice of the trio of women thankfully. It remained flapping in the air while looking down on something below. This something turned out to be the strange column of light itself, the one bright spot amidst the surrounding darkness and stinging cold. This light rose up from a single 'bump' in the natural ground. Was this the old dragon burial mound the guardsman had mentioned?

A completely different voice suddenly rang out through the air. A deep, chilling voice, that chilled all three women to the core, harder than any snowfall possibly could,

"Sahloknir, ziil gro dovah ulse!" A deep voice. A growling voice. A voice as demonic and evil as any creature that could've crawled from the depths of Oblivion itself.

A voice spoken by none other than the black dragon itself.

"By all the Gods-" Illia could be heard muttering beside Lydia, but was cut short when the black dragon continued to utter more words-

"Slen... Tiid-VO!"

The massive maw of the black dragon opened wide, barring likely what was only half of its many sharpened teeth before the three women. However, it was also the sound of an explosion that burst from the creature's mouth. A burst of noise that caused them to stumble in place, with Illia even falling to the ground with a yelp. Lydia and Siffre managed to hold their balance on their feet, allowing them to barely watch what exactly was occurring. What they did see however, was a nightmare made reality.

The lump of the dragon burial mound suddenly exploded in a small cloud of rock and dirt. The column of light also suddenly appeared to shoot straight back down from the sky and directly into what lay beneath the ground.

A massive skeleton burst from the ground, stretching its massive form to reach for the sky as far as it could. The 'wings' on each side of its body were little more than bone as well, yet still made the body appear so much wider than it appeared. There was no mistaking this skeleton for any other creature; a dragon! And it was letting out a roar like any other kind that bore flesh and blood!

The massive creature of bone pulled itself out of the mound completely until even its tail had cleared the dirt. It somehow was moving, despite being little more than bones! The moment it did however, and was bare to the world, a number of small flakes suddenly began to flow from all around and nestle upon the skeleton, covering every inch of bone possible. As if the very snowfall itself were drawn to the dragon's skeleton, yet they were not exactly snowflakes. The more of these strange flakes coated the bones, the more the image began to change from a simple skeleton to something else...

"Alduin thurii!" the dragon's head suddenly looked up towards the black counterpart hovering above it and spoke. The voice that emanated from its maw was not as deep nor demonic sounding as the black one's, yet was still frightful to hear, "Boaan tiid vokriiha suleyksejun kruziik?" The words that echoed from the dragon's mouth were equal parts indecipherable as they were horrifying. Lydia could only watch on in awestruck fear, occasionally remembering to tighten her grip on her sword when she sensed it would slack.

"Geh, Sahloknir, kaali mir." the black dragon could be heard speaking in turn. Neither of the two dragons seemed to even take notice of the three women still standing to the side.

"This... this isn't possible!" Lydia could suddenly hear Illia's voice from beside her. This broke her from her fear-gripped trance and allowed her to look to her side at the mage. She caught sight of Illia, having rushed further off to the side and taken to hiding behind a nearby rock. She was peaking her head over the edge of the rock at all that was transpiring before them, her eyes widened in terror as well, "That's necromancy! It has to be! B-but, how could a dragon know and perform resurrection spells?!"

"Quiet! Keep your voice down-" Lydia harshly tried to hush the mage. Both women instantly silenced themselves however, upon looking back up. The two dragons' heads had slowly turned in roughly their direction. The one on the ground had somehow regained a semblance of a scaly hide in appearance, with the strange flakes flowing on to its body appearing less and less. It now looked more and more like an actual dragon, bronze-colored in appearance.

"Hmmm... Ful, losei Dovahkiin?" the black dragon could be heard speaking again, "Zu'u koraav nid nol dov do hi." Lydia practically stiffened again, at first from both dragons turning their heads in their direction, but also when it felt like she was being personally addressed. However, in the midst of her thought, she picked up something. That dragon had said some word- 'Dovahkiin?' She'd heard this word before, back when she'd been at High Hrothgar! It was the word that the Greybeards had addressed...

Her head shot to the side at her thane immediately. What she saw there however, made her own blood freeze.

Siffre stood in place. In that moment, the only feeling she could feel... was cold. There was cold from the surrounding snow flurry sure, where flakes of snow constantly whipped at her skin. A cold, stinging sensation that battered her from every angle, and effectively prevented her body from so much as twitching involuntarily. However, it was not just cold she felt outwardly. She felt cold within as well. This wasn't a physical cold, one that the surrounding snow would likely have made her. She felt a deep, chilling, overwhelming cold within her very core. A cold, cold fear that gripped her as tight as death itself. It gripped her as tightly as her one hand gripped her great-sword's hilt, with the tip lowered and piercing the soil a little. Her weapon actually felt a little heavy to move. She was certain she tried to budge it a little, but to no avail. She couldn't recall her weapon being hard to lift, even with one hand, but for some reason she simply could not move it at all. In fact, she could not move any part of her body; her arms, her legs, her open hanging mouth, but worst of all, her eyes.

Her eyes remained glued to the black dragon in the sky. Its head had turned to face her completely, and Siffre's eyes met the eyes of the dragon's. Two slitted eyes, fiercely glowing red as any blood ever spilt. The very same eyes that had haunted her nightmares for the last several days. The eyes that guaranteed there would always be pure evil in this world, if such evil was ever given physical form.

Even though Siffre could not peel her eyes away from the flying dragon, she was certain she felt something out of her peripheral vision. Snow all around her appeared brighter, like fire, with heavy smoke darkening the air completely. Her blood chilled even colder than she thought was possible; somehow she was back! She was standing back in that settlement, that had been reduced to fire, smoke, rubble, and the smell of burnt flesh. The sting of the smoke met her eyes, and Siffre could feel tears beginning to well up. Her nose was assaulted by the familiar scent of flesh being burned, and she was almost certain her breathing would stop, though whether from trying to stop the smell in response to it she couldn't tell.

Siffre was suddenly aware of her left hand, or rather where it was in that moment. Her left wrist was lowered down at her waist, directly behind her right wrist. She tried to move it away, but she simply couldn't. Her hands were still bound in front of her, there was no way she could move them even if she wanted to! Cold, fear, bound hands, everything weighed down on her in that moment. There was nothing she could do except stare back up into those eyes. Those eyes of certain doom, staring back down at her...

"F-f-f..." she was almost unaware of her own lip twitching just then, much less that something was actually emerging from her mouth. How could that be though? She couldn't speak, her whole life she had never been able to-

Siffre's eyes blinked once, and in an instant, the surrounding burning settlement she stood in faded back into the present. She was not in Helgen, and this was not back then. She was not the person she was at that time, and she was not so defenseless either. This time, she had the means to do something!

Siffre took a deep, haggard breath before attempting to speak again,

"F-fus... Ro- huh?!" she spoke the Words as she had done before, this time even allowing herself to speak as loud as she could. But nothing happened! Why hadn't she produced the Thu'um?!

Her mind suddenly shot back again. Not to that horrific day of tragedy, but to a later one, of lessons and discovery,

'Your inner spirit and your outward body and actions must be in harmony and in union with one another.'

Arngeir's words echoed in her mind. That had something to do with it, didn't it? Her inner spirit was gripped with fear, while her body felt frozen by a combination of snow and fear.

"You speak our Words, but you know not even the very tongue you speak, do you...?"

The deathly cold fear gripped her ever harder, especially as she slowly came to realize something. Siffre refocused her eyes back upon the black dragon, still flapping its wings in mid air directly above her. There was no doubt at all- that voice that had just spoken was the same one that she'd heard speaking before. But it was completely different from before, in that she wasn't hearing some strange language she'd never heard of before...

The dragon spoke directly to her, in Cyrodiilic.

"Such arrogance! To dare take for yourself the name of Dovah! Los ni balaan!"

How... how in all the Realms was that even possible?! How could such a creature capable of 'that' level of destruction and death be able to speak, much less a language she could understand?!

Lydia... and Illia; had those two heard it just now?

"... ne! My thane!" she was faintly aware of the familiar sound of Lydia's voice, calling out to her. For a moment, she almost figured it to be imagined, just as how she had seen Helgen a moment ago. That is, until she heard it again, much clearer,

"SIFFRE!"

The Dragonborn could finally move her head, after what felt like an eternity. The cold grip of fear loosened itself ever so slightly, and she slowly inched her head to turn to her side. There, standing tall and in place, was Lydia. Her housecarl, her protector, her... her friend. The one who had been with her for all this time, and promised to stand with her through whatever else might come her way. Her widened eyes held pleading in them; she must have been calling out to her repeatedly, desperate to get her attention.

Having been able to move her head, Siffre was suddenly aware of her hands. For some strange reason, her wrist was held low and crisscrossed to her right one. Her right hand still held her great-sword, but it had drooped so that its tip was wedged into the ground before her. Slowly, Siffre mustered strength she had forgotten she'd had into her right arm to lodge her sword tip from the ground. She then reached her left hand to grip the handle as well, bringing it well up before her. The flat of the blade lay before her, and even in the dark, snowflake filled air, Siffre could still see the reflection of her own face in it. It occurred to her in that moment that she had so rarely looked at her own face, whether in mirrors or other reflective surfaces. This was the face that other people, like Lydia, saw her as Dragonborn; the one destined for great things. Not the least of which was continuing to stand tall, not just from strength of one's own body-

She looked back at Lydia, the proud Nord warrior who always had her back. Her eyes narrowed and she met her gaze with a nod of determination. So long as Lydia was there with her, she was not truly alone, and thus not as much to fear. They would face any challenge head on, and overcome it! She hefted her great-sword back up in front of her in the grips of both hands, and leveled a challenging glare back at the dragons before her.

Neither dragon before her seemed to regard her newfound renewal of spirit. In fact, the only further movement made was the black dragon turning its head back down to its grounded counterpart.

"Sahloknir, krii daar joorree!" it commanded. The other dragon did not immediately reply. Its only action was to slowly turn its gaze back down and towards the three women. They watched anxiously with painful anticipation for what would happen next, if anything would happen at all.

The dragon then spoke again,

"Yol... Toor-SHUL!"

A burst of light and heat suddenly erupted from the dragon's maw and shot towards the women. Siffre quickly summoned as much willpower as she could to force herself to jump to the the side. The breath of pure fire did not burn her completely, but at the close proximity that she managed to dodge it, her skin still felt greatly singed by it.

Lydia also moved to the side to avoid the blast of fire. Unlike Siffre though, she held her shield up to protect most of her upper body from the blaze. Though she shielded herself well, Lydia could not help but wince from the attack. It was not simply the heat of the fire itself, but there was also a 'force' behind it, pushing hard against her and her shield! It wasn't enough to actually 'push' her, and Lydia kept her feet firmly planted to prevent sliding. But still, that there was such force behind it at all was shocking!

Illia on the other hand hadn't needed to move, as she was both out of the pathway of the fire, as well as behind the massive rock she hid behind. Nonetheless, with a yelp she ducked herself tighter behind the rock for good measure. The amount of fire being produced was infinitely greater than any fire spell Movera could ever produce; yet Illia took very little comfort in that knowledge.

The breath of fire finally ceased, and the three women were able to veer out back to the dragons. What they could see was the black dragon by now flying higher into the sky, away from them. The bronze dragon on the other hand, 'Sahloknir', began flapping its wings and taking to the sky in its place.

"Alduin thuri wuth hin dinok! Zu'u fen thaarn!" it suddenly declared, letting its voice ring out through the air. The bronze colored dragon then let out a roar, more akin to what a 'non-speaking' dragon would sound like.

Unfortunately, Siffre's attention was not focused on the bronze dragon, but rather on the black dragon that became more and more of a speck against the gray, cloud-filled sky. Her eyes began to widen in horror, mixed with extreme frustration.

"No...! NO!" she exclaimed. Her voice stretched out towards the sky, as if letting it trail after the black dragon. In that moment, she cared not for any caution regarding her own voice. What just happened was absolutely far more important compared to that; that very dragon being allowed to leave, right now, felt as great as any loss she had felt before-

"My thane! We must focus!" Lydia's own voice rang out to reach her. Siffre looked over again to see both Lydia and Illia, their own eyes locked squarely on the only dragon present before them. They did not seem to care at all about the other dragon having left; but why weren't they? Did they not understand the severity of that?"

"B-but..." Siffre spoke, her own voice much more softer and controlled. With a pained exhale, she lifted her great-sword back up with both hands at the ready and turned her own attention back to the bronze dragon.

Sahloknir looped around the air in a dramatic show. Minimal light in the air due to the gray, darkened sky kept its scales from shining, leaving it to appear dull colored. The bronze color still was enough for the three women to see it as more than just a silhouette in the sky.

"Zu'u los Sahloknir. Hon dii zul ahrk faas!" it could be heard declaring across the air. By now it was looping back around towards the trio, its head turned in their direction. It bore no facial expressions, yet its eyes seemed to stare at them menacingly.

"What- what do we do?!" Illia cried out, "What can we do!?"

"We've got to bring it down! Ground it somehow!" Lydia called out, keeping her eyes trained on the massive winged lizard flying low and towards them, "You've got magic; try hitting it with some of your fancy ice spells!"

"My magic?!" Illia said, dumbfounded, "I-It wouldn't possibly be-"

"DO IT!" Lydia practically screamed. The dragon flew ever nearer, bearing down on the women fast. Illia pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes on the dragon. Somehow her own body acted of its own accord. She drew her hands to one side and allowed the magic energy to coalesce within her palms. Admittedly the surrounding snowfall would help a great deal...

Right before the dragon was set to swoop over them, Illia let fly her concentrated single ice spike. It shot out and straight through the air, and for a split second she was certain she would miss-

Until the ice spike managed to collide with one of the dragon's legs. The only discernable sound was the familiar noise of ice shattering. All other sounds were muffled from the massive whoosh of the dragon flying completely over their heads. None of the three humans could tell if the ice spike was successful in piercing the dragon's scales, if it even registered pain, or even if the dragon even dignified the attack with any sort of response. On top of that, all three women felt a small rush of air trailing behind the dragon, causing them to stumble a little.

"Did I hit it? Did I hit it?" Illia frantically spoke aloud, "I don't think I did..."

"Nis pruzaan, kro!" the dragon's voice suddenly rang out again. This speech was followed by another echoing roar from the dragon's maw.

"This is no good! How can we get it down here...?!" Lydia exclaimed. She wiped her brow of sweat and melted snowflakes with her right arm. She could hear footsteps to her side. From the sound of metal boots dragging on dirt, and the fact that Illia was already on her other side, she already knew it to be her thane.

"I have... I have an idea..." Siffre spoke. Her voice was spoken at around the volume that Lydia herself would usually speak, which the housecarl definitely noticed. One other thing she noticed however was the amount of vibrations in her voice were... not as latent and strong as they tended to be at other times, "Illia... we'll do it together."

"Huh? Do what?" the mage asked.

"We'll attack it," Siffre spoke, "You shoot your magic at it, and... I'll Shout at it." The other two women turned to look at Siffre. The Dragonborn on the other hand did not return their looks; instead she kept her own gaze trained on the bronze-scaled Sahloknir, making yet another aerial loop.

"But, my attack hardly did anything to it!" Illia protested, "What good would it do a second time?!"

"Just... we have to try. Trust me," Siffre spoke softly yet forcefully. She turned her head slightly to regard Lydia, "That dragon... it flew in low... we've got to hit it when it does..." Lydia silently nodded, holding her sword and shield at the ready. Her outer expressions were held sharp and focused. Inside however, she couldn't help but recall days ago when she'd fought a dragon before. How striking upon the scales of these creatures felt similar to striking iron itself. She shook her head before her thoughts could take over her primary focus; there would be no time for doubts now.

"You Nords... you blood-thirsty, battle-obsessed Nords...!" Illia could be heard muttering, "Oh I hope I've got enough magicka for this..." Lydia couldn't see it, but she could hear the familiar sound of Illia's spell charging up in her hands, just as she had done before. Here's hoping she could keep her nerves and wits about her...

"Here it comes...!" Siffre called out in warning. It was true, Sahloknir had looped around by now and was flying towards them at high speed again. Just as before, the massive form grew larger and larger the closer it approached, "Get ready... NOW!"

There was a half second delay in between Siffre's sudden cry, and Lydia almost feared Illia would not follow through on her end. Before she could snap her head to the side to look at the mage, Illia's hand's had finally shot forth yet another enlarged ice spike towards the dragon. The white spike of pure ice stuck out against the dark gray of the sky relatively easily, making it easier to track its movements. Not a moment was wasted after that as Siffre followed through as well,

"Fus... Ro-DAH!"

With a calm breath control, tempered spirit, and well planted feet, Siffre Shouted. This time the Thu'um was properly produced, which confirmed her suspicions as to why it had failed before. She was no longer scared... no, she was scared still. There was still plenty to fear in this moment. But this time, she did not let that fear and terror grip her so tightly as it had. This time there was a determination within her, more fierce than she'd ever felt before. She knew what she had to do.

The wave of the Thu'um travelled out, cutting through the air and blowing away all tiny snowflakes in its path. With its positioning, it was directly behind Illia's ice spike, with Sahloknir closing the distance incredibly fast. What followed happened in the span of mere seconds-

With the Thu'um travelling faster, it essentially 'pushed' Illia's ice spike, making it travel even faster than before. It was also at this point that the dragon had flown close enough that its form could be seen in clearer detail again. The ice spike this time travelled out and sped forth even faster due to the Thu'um pushing it. When the sharpened icicle made contact with the scales of the dragon's leg, it definitely pierced through the scales.

In between its forward flight path, Sahloknir quickly grunted in pain from the ice spike. In addition, the still-moving Thu'um itself 'collided' with the massive dragon, throwing its body into disarray. Its head and lengthened neck were bent to the side against the unrelenting force energy, and wings began to flap completely out of rhythm. These combined effects produced the additional result of its massive form dipping a little through the air, even while it still flew towards them!

"B-By Juliannos! It worked!" Illia called out, "Oh wait- I-It's still coming! A little too low now...!"

"There! Now's our chance!" Lydia called out, "Siffre! Let's do this!" Without saying a word, the dragonborn mirrored Lydia's actions. The two Nord women ran back to put distance between the two of them. They then cocked their weapons back and to their sides, poised to strike...

They then swung their blades with all their might at the passing dragon's form. The dual sound of steel clanging on a hard material rang out through the air. Each woman knew in that moment that they had struck true! They were also awarded with a small splatter of blood across their faces in addition. Neither one of them in their heavily panting state could find any need to care about that however. Their sights were trained on the dragon's rapidly descending form.

The a mighty thud that nearly shook the world itself, the dragon's body slammed into the ground and skidded a great distance. It finally came to a crashing halt against one of the nearby larger rocks that jutted out of the ground. The larger stone halted the dragon's forward skid, but not without a massive spider-web of cracks forming at the point of impact. Sahloknir gave another grunt of pain as well, then struggled to pull itself back to its feet.

"In... incredible! It's downed!" Lydia declared, looking back and forth between Illia, then Siffre, "My thane! How did you... how did you know to do that?!"

"I... I didn't..." Siffre replied with a shake of her head, "I had no idea 'that' would happen! I was only trying to..."

"It was still unbelievable!" Illia spoke up, "Your voice magic, or whatever that word was you called it, provided forward augmented momentum to my own ice magic! Truly inspired!"

"Wait... you two..." Siffre suddenly spoke. The low tone of voice suggested caution to them. She directed their attention back to the dragon. The massive lizard had regained its footing and was shaking its head. It then slowly turned its head in various directions, finally settling upon the three women...

"This is it... let's end this! Here and now!" Lydia pounded the gripped hilt of her sword against her shield before charging forward, "Let's go my thane!" The two women let out varying cries as they rushed forward towards the grounded dragon, leaving Illia to rush after them at reduced speed compared to them. Not only did it leave a trail of sliding along the ground, but a couple lines of blood trailed behind it as well.

"Dii zul lost nahlot lingrah!" Sahloknir spoke, eyeing the two charging Nords completely. Its slitted eyes seemed to flash in an instant. They were nowhere near as threatening as the black dragon's glowing blood-red eyes, but still held a measure of anger of their own. As it took a few steps to crawl towards them as well, it opened it's maw again,

"Yol... Toor-SHUL!"

Fire again burst from the dragon's mouth again, the sound of its own Thu'um declaration being carried on the snow-filled wind. This time however, Lydia and Siffre were completely prepared to jump to their respective sides to avoid the fire breath completely. This left the fire to keep travelling down, in Illia's direction...

"Oh no, oh no...!" the mage desperately pleaded. In her moment of fear-gripped indecision, an idea came to her mind. An idea so absurd and crazy, she could sworn one of these two Nords must have told her to do it! She held her two magicka powered hands closer to each other in front of her, and concentrated. She had created wards before, but dual-casting a single ward with both hands into a stronger version? Her magicka would suffer for this, but the rapidly approaching fire before her promised her infinitely more suffering if it failed!

Slowly but surely, the familiar circular, transparent image of the ward appeared before her. As expected, the edges of the ward appeared thicker than the previous lesser wards she'd produced. Her entire world directly in front of her brightened considerably as the fire made contact with the ward. By all the gods, it was working?! Unbelievable, she was being spared being burnt alive by a dragon's fire! She quickly shook her head of petty distractions; maintaining this stronger ward would take as much concentration as she could-

The familiar sound of shattering filled the air, yet it sounded so much louder in Illia's ears. Her eyes registered that her ward had broken under the sheer 'strength' of the fire, but her body somehow seemed to be moving slower in that moment. Illia watched with widened eyes and mouth as the fire pushed forth to try and engulf her. She mustered strength she never knew she possessed to spin herself backwards, desperate to avoid the worst of the blaze. It was not enough however, as she felt the all-too familiar feeling of intense heat upon her front, and her left arm as well.

"Ahhh-!" she exclaimed while tumbling backwards to the ground as a result.

"Illia...?" Siffre almost stopped to spare a glance over her shoulder back towards the mage. She stopped herself at the last minute however, reminding herself of the more pressing goal directly before her. She and Lydia finally reached the dragon up close. The thick, over-cast sky cast the creature in a veil of snow-fall and darkness, yet not enough to be completely unseen to their eyes. The non-shining scales of the creature's hide still remained visible to the two women.

"Zu'u faas ni, Dovahkiin; hin zul los nid ronit fah dii!" the words that the dragon uttered were completely alien, unknowable to Lydia's ears. Deep down, they chilled her somehow in the lack of knowing just as much as the snowfall outwardly chilled her skin. This would need to be ended quickly.

Siffre first began by swiping her massive great-sword upwards and to the left, catching the tip of the creature's lower jaw and forcing it to look in the corresponding direction. Sahloknir was quick to recover however, and lunged its head to snap at the attacking Lydia. The Nord quickly jumped back a little so that the massive maw snapped at mere empty air instead.

The dragon wasted no time however in roughly shoving its head to the side, effectively throwing off Siffre's attempted strike. The dragonborn stumbled a few steps backwards as a result, a grunt of of pain heard from her lips.

Lydia watched this occur, including seeing her thane get knocked away a few steps. Rather than call out for her in fear for her safety however, she made the split-second decision to follow up with her example. Now was the best time to do it too, while the dragon's head, and its attention, was not completely on her! She cocked her sword arm back and carefully planned where she'd swing; a well placed strike at where the smaller patch of scales on the dragon's head looked vulnerable. Or, as vulnerable as could be considering what this creature was made of-

Time seemed to slow for Lydia as she suddenly caught sight of the dragon lurch its head back to face her. Its eyes seemed to squint a little as they refocused back on her. The maw opened again, with the rows of razor sharp teeth presenting themselves to her. In that moment, Lydia suddenly felt something... a feeling; as if history were to repeat itself... She was poised to attack another dragon in a similar manner to when she had fought the last one a few days ago. However, on that day... she had lost her sword.

The sword she gripped in her hand at present was far more valuable...

Gritting her teeth, Lydia quickly pulled her sword arm back, even while the dragon's mouth attempted to snap towards her again. This time, in a split second change of tactics, she thrust her shield outward so that the entire tool was perpendicular to the ground. She might end up regretting what she was doing, but risking losing the sword Balgruuf gifted to her would be far more regrettable

The jolt of motion was felt almost instantly. Sahloknir's mouth clamped down hard upon the edges of Lydia's shield, thus keeping it 'propped' open. The dragon began to jerk its head from side to side while still keeping a firm 'bite' on Lydia's shield! The housecarl felt the muscles in her left arm screaming at the rather unorthodox exercise they were receiving. She planted her feet as wide and firmly into the ground as she was physically able to, desperate to root herself. Before her and in between the dragon's noises its mouth made, there was a very small, subtle sound of groaning, from her shield! The maw was clamping down hard enough to nearly destroy it! She needed to turn this around quickly!

"Siffre! Hurry!" she called out while looking to her side. The dragon itself was not able to turn its head to see the dragonborn charge back towards the massive horned head. Siffre ran forward, both hands gripping the hilt of her great-sword, and tip pointing directly forward towards Sahloknir as she charged. The dragon itself suddenly thrust out its massive wing on her side to try and hinder her approach, but Siffre deftly jumped out of the way to avoid being hit without breaking her forward momentum.

"You'll... die... this day... dragon!" Lydia slowly struggled to vocalize. She raised her sword-holding arm up and brought it down as hard as she could, striking true against the dragon's long snout. The sound the dragon produced was definitely one of pain this time, as well as widening its mouth just enough to let Lydia slip her shield and arm out completely. Now free, Lydia could see that her strike had indeed managed to pierce the scales of the dragon! Just enough to draw a little blood, which now coated the dragon's nose area.

Suddenly, a vocal grunt filled the air from the other side, and Siffre made her move. Mustering all of her strength, she drove the length of her great-sword straight out towards the dragon's unguarded neck. There was resistance at first, but her weapon actually managed to pierce its intended target, as well as emerge out the other end completely blood-coated. Sahloknir's cries of pain were quickly cut short, followed by death rattles. Finally, it slowly slumped its head and neck downward, and its eyes slowly closing.

Siffre grunted loudly as she practically ripped her great-sword loose. A little bit of blood splattered on her boots, and she let the tip of her sword slump down to touch the ground again. With the exception of heavy panting, the two women were silent, nearly at a loss for words of any kind.

"It's... it's done..." Siffre finally spoke. Her words seemed to bring Lydia back to reality. The reality of what just happened; what they'd managed to do!

"I'll say!" she said, "We've actually done it! 'You've' done it! You killed another dragon!" Lydia could scarcely believe it herself: another dragon had fallen! It was just like at the Whiterun watchtower all over again.

No.

No, this wasn't like back then. Not anymore. Back then she 'attempted' to fight the dragon, nearly gotten bested from it, and someone else had to save her. This time was different: she did fight the dragon, both herself and her thane, side by side, and ultimately had completely slain the beast. The best part about this was Lydia herself was still standing with all of her equipment still intact! Pride began to swell up within her, which only grew more as she looked back down at the now dead dragon's head.

Her pride momentarily subsided however. There was something else that was yet to occur.

Lydia and Siffre watched then as the dragon's body began to change. The two of them remembered before how the dragon's skeleton took on a fleshy, 'living' form after having those strange surrounding flakes coalesce upon its bones. This time, the dragon began to disintegrate, with those same flakes leaving the body and joining the casual fall of snowflakes. The more of these 'skin flakes' left the body, the more the skeleton of the dragon could be revealed underneath. This knowledge left both women with slight grimaces on their faces, as well as slight disgust for what these 'flakes' now actually were.

Unlike before however, the now exposed bones of the dragon appeared to glow, instead of being covered by any sort of blood. Lydia found herself taking a couple steps back, while Siffre only took a single step back. There was one rather important thing yet to do...

Instantly, bright and colorful waves of translucent energy flowed off of the skeleton, directly towards Siffre's head. There was no 'forceful' movement behind the flow of energy, and Siffre did not find herself being pushed by it at all. This time was vastly different from times before as well. When she slew the dragon outside of Whiterun, what happened to her was completely by surprise. When she learned from the Greybeards in High Hrothgar, there was no dragon slain, but she had a better understanding of what was happening to her. Now though, she had slain another dragon, and had a clear idea of what exactly was to happen next. She thus allowed it to happen, standing tall and calmly in place. The dragon's lifeforce and knowledge were flowing into her, and this time she closed her eyes and simply allowed herself to learn...

In her mind, she thought back to the Words of Power that she had learned: Fo and Krah. At face value both of them held deep relation to cold. But at its core, what really was 'cold'? If something was cold, then there was absolutely no heat, no warmth anywhere. This was how certain things like ice could thrive. There could be no ice, or 'frost', if any sort of warmth was present. Only through the purest of cold, much like Skyrim, could ice and even glaciers ever hope to exist. So this was for Siffre: for this Thu'um, she had to 'feel' the cold, the sharp, sting of cold deep within her. When breath exhaled outward, there could be no heat, at any point. Her breath had to be as cold as Skyrim's own. In a sense, despite not being from Skyrim, she was given the rare, if strange opportunity to 'know' Skyrim ; the very essence of the land itself. Skyrim was cold, even colder than the Jerrall mountains where she usually frequented in... her past life. She thus needed to 'breathe' Skyrim's own breath, in order to be true to this Thu'um. Her breath must be Frost itself.

Her eyes opened again, returning to reality after deep contemplation. The dragon bones before her no longer glowed bright yellow, instead faded into the dull, ordinary color of regular bones. The creature was dead, and now its knowledge and lifeforce were hers as well. Her eyes turned to the side to meet Lydia, who met hers with an expectant stare of her own.

"My thane...? Siffre...?" she slowly asked.

"I... I am alright," Siffre spoke. There it was again- that strange tone of confidence in her voice. There wasn't any wavering uncertainty of someone who knew little of their place in the world; it was the voice of someone who... who had purpose. And not only purpose, but the will and drive to see that purpose fulfilled. It was not a meek, shy, insecure voice. This was not the same Siffre Lydia had first met those days ago. She was now much more than the silent warrior with no direction in life.

She was Dragonborn.

And Lydia could not have been prouder to serve as her housecarl!

"So, you did it? You did... whatever that was, to this dragon...?" Lydia indicated to the skeleton. Siffre nodded.

"I understand it now," Siffre said, "Before, I only saw what the Words translated to. But now... Now I see they're much more than that. They can 'be' much more. Here, let me try this..." With that, Siffre turned to the other side of the dragon bones, opposite Lydia. The housecarl herself slowly made her way to the opposite side of her thane, curious to see what she would do.

Siffre took a couple deep breaths. Some snowflakes that continued to fall would land on her face, reminding her of what she meant to do. Cold. She must feel cold. She must 'project' cold. The world must know cold...

With one final inhale, Siffre spoke,

"Fo... KRAH!"

A burst of cold air practically burst out of Siffre's mouth. Lydia stumbled a few steps in surprise as she watched, but the dragonborn remained rooted in place. The two watched as what exactly emerged manifested as a miniature blizzard. Whips of transparent wind, colored both stark white and very light blue. The blast of cold stretched forth before lessening in strength upon reaching a nearby rock, about ten to fifteen feet from where the two women stood. Just as quickly as Siffre Shouted, the Thu'um itself faded. In the wake of the literal frost breath, Siffre and Lydia gazed out to see what exactly had just happened.

"Amazing!" Lydia breathed, "I could even feel the chill from here! That was... it was different from before, wasn't it?" Siffre looked at her, "Before when you Shouted, you'd blow away anything in front of you. Now you can Shout cold air out of you? You can freeze things in front of you like a blizzard?"

"I can. That's what I 'learned' from the dragon," Siffre said, pointing back to the dragon skeleton, "The dragon here knew about this Frost Breath Shout, and now I learned from it."

"Wait, hold on," Lydia suddenly cut in with a raised hand, "We only saw this dragon breathe 'fire'. So how could it have known about breathing cold- er, freezing, frosty air- urgh! You know what I mean!"

"I... I don't know..." Siffre said, putting a hand to her chin, "But it still held knowledge of Frost Breath. I definitely know this... I saw it. I... experienced it..." In her thoughts, Siffre was reminded of something else. Something that had happened before the fight that had chilled her to her bones: the other dragon. "Wait, Lydia..." The housecarl tilted her head a little with a raised eyebrow, "Did you, by chance... did you hear-"

"Ugh...!" The two women suddenly heard another noise. A grunting of pain, coming from behind them. They shot their heads around to find Illia, slowly walking towards them! The ice mage held her right hand over in front of her to grip her left arm. They saw this was necessary as not only did her left arm have burn marks, but also the entire upper left section of her black mage robe had been burned off! She stood before them holding her burned left arm and simultaneously shielding the exposed sections of her upper body underneath. From the look on her face she was not embarrassed by her current state, but rather she was haggard, tired, and likely in pain.

"Illia...?" Siffre spoke.

"Ow! It hur-" the mage's speech was cut short when she suddenly dropped to one knee, and then fell forward, face to the cold ground.


-I'm actually really pleased with how this chapter turned out. It's definitely a change from the Kynesgrove/Sahloknir encounter we're all used to, but given the beats I've taken this narrative, some things like this had to be changed.

Side note, if you like the sort of content you see with this story, be sure to also check out my RWBY story 'Team GALE' that I had devoted an equal amount of passion to. Huh, I just realized I'm writing a lot of action scenes where groups of women are fighting against a flying monster of some sort...

ANYway! Read, review, favorite, whatever may well please you, and I'll be back really soon I hope! Bye!-