The Citadel's artificial day was in its afternoon stretch, somewhat simulating the orange of the setting sun on the horizon, or what would now become the great hologram over our heads. The funny thing was that Kaidan and I were moving in the opposite direction to that, reaching the sun on the other side of the Citadel in what would be a race against Cerberus.

With rifle in hand, I was firing with the door open at the shuttles that were chasing us "Isn't this crap moving faster?!"

It was my fear that if Cerberus kidnapped me, he would find some way to extract my magic by examining my enchanted rings.

"I do what I can, they are very persistent" Kaidan replied with frightening calm, dodging gunfire "We need C-Sec."

"If they find out Cerberus is here, it will tarnish the image of the humans."

With a blast of ice spikes, I shattered the front glass of a car. It was so strong that it pierced the terrorists inside.

"Good! 1 for 4!"

A small victory that I was quite happy about, but there were still 3 to go and they would not give up so easily. I had to be careful with the collateral damage caused by my magic. "Damn! Follow the one I just took down!"

Fully trusting, Kaidan swooped down to the falling car. Just as he was close I used my telekinesis to make him crash into the water, continuing the chase high above as he finished.

"Let's call the commander! We're almost by the embassies!" Without another word, Kaidan activated his Omni-Tool, putting a call on speakerphone that Jane answered instantly.

"What's going on up there?" She asked, the murmur of many people also being heard in the background "The Council granted us an audience and we're on our way up there!"

At the sound of my name, I approached the Omni-Tool "We're getting our asses kicked, danger of collateral damage and- GRENADE LAUNCHER!"

"I'm on it-"

"Don't dodge it! Bound Shield!"

"What?!"

"What?!"

"No collateral damage!".

Climbing out of the Shuttle to position myself at the top, I intercepted every Grenade Launcher projectile that was aimed at our car or other people's cars, which luckily were few shuttles. It was not the first time that you threw balls at me that exploded on contact... remembering well, in those times I received more than I blocked.

Using my shield was a successful task so far, but what was not so happened almost as soon as I regained stability in the car.

A bad maneuver on the part of Kaidan who was trying to dodge an agglomeration, caused the blow of an explosion to deflect my shield, being the bright red of blood and fire in front of my eyes what I saw before falling.

A single projectile had hit me, powerful enough to destroy the poor armor that the Omni-Tool provided, and along with that my trench coat and chest, partially exposing some ribs.

Kaidan looked in the rearview mirror, watching as a body covered in fire and blood fell out of control, casually colliding with some cars before falling into the water.

"Commander, the boy is down, he was hit by a shell!"

"Dammit. Come pick me up! I'll be in the Flux with Ashley!"

Kaidan, having no choice, left to his fate what he believed to be a corpse, painting the water with his own blood every second.

With my heart beating faintly, I watched through the red water as the shuttles sped by, simulating a meteor shower from my sunken perspective.

~"After all... I'm still human, I never would have made it."~

Negative thoughts martyred me, being someone who tried to give it my all and even for the slightest failure gave up.

~"The commander is special, she will be able to unite the whole galaxy. I'm just a secondary"~

I don't know why I smiled, or as if the pain in my chest was big enough to knock me unconscious, but I did. Maybe I was happy to see her again, and angry at the same time.

~"You came back after such a long time?"~

The light created by the holographic sunset penetrated the water, forming from the transparent ripples the full veil-covered body of an adult woman who stared at me in disbelief.

"You exceeded my very negative expectations. It's amazing."

~"You said it a long time ago: 'You are my last option'. Then you abandoned me when I fell into Helgen."~

She shook her head, as if laughing at me.

"What I meant at the time was: 'Better is nothing, but since'. You're not special, Mijael."

That hurt, but a certain pessimistic part of me knew that, replying with what I thought would be funny at least to me.

~"Who are you? Circe; the goddess of insults?"~

The light made silhouette moved fast, mimicking my dying position under the sea, ignoring what I said.

"But it's amazing, you fell 11 times and got up 10. You didn't want to go on, you weren't chosen in anything, and yet, with a little courage you stepped forward in fear. You almost died as many times as there are stars in the sky, and-

~"Are you looking to cheer me up or make my death more miserable? It's confusing..."~

The noise stopped for a moment, making me perceive my death differently, more like a very long rest than the end.

"The point is... you're a nobody, but that doesn't stop you from emerging victorious. That strange strength called to me again, not bad for being from the younger universe."

~"Younger universe? What do you mean?"~

I wanted to speak, I needed to open my mouth because curiosity was killing me, she was so unknown to me at that moment. But when I opened my mouth, the only thing I swallowed was water relentlessly entering my throat.

"All right, I gotta go. I'll be keeping an eye on you, kid. And... I've left you a present, I'm sure you won't be quick to notice."

My eyes snapped open with the feeling of the watery bottom of the citadel, being surrounded by fish, and though the pressure wasn't too strong, I could feel my flesh shredding bit by bit.

~"Damn it, I need to breathe! I need to...!"~

Tearing at the flesh and muscles of my chest in desperation to feel the fresh oxygen, the idea of evaporating all the water that was on my mind no matter what the consequences, but I would rather harm myself than someone else just for my salvation.

I pushed my heart to the limit with a new transformation, one which helped level my wounds and allowed me to breathe in the water.

My body became a balance of muscle mass and fat, turning a very dull shade of blue that spread throughout my body. My head elongated into a triangular shape, replacing my teeth with sharper and more pointed ones, generating gills on the sides of a wide neck like my new appearance.

The bad thing about the transformations based on Hircine's curse is that my heart, and in general all my organs, are overexerted to accommodate well and overcome the human limit to that of an animal. At that moment my heart was a bloody bomb.

~"I'm a fucking WereShark"~

With terrifying speed and bloody momentum due to my own blood, I swam to the surface as fast as I could, feeling massive pain in my heart and chest. But something was blocking my view of the clear lights of the exit.

What seemed to be some shuttles floating on the surface of the water were those objects, most likely belonging to C-Sec, however it was partly them because I could recognize the voice of the commander and Kaidan even while I was underwater.

Now there were two life and death options: to get out of the water in my WereShark form, or to die drowning for not knowing how to swim in my human form and for my heart to explode. Because yes, it had seemed more logical to me to make a pact with a daedra prince to transform into a WereShark than to learn to swim.

Before I could touch the surface, I slowed my speed, slowly pulling my arms out of the water so they wouldn't be alerted, but something told me they knew it was me coming out. Still that didn't stop me from going at my own pace, now with most of my arms out of the water, I could feel the wind on the top of my head, spreading more and more as I went along.

Sooner rather than later, my eyes met those of the commander, who was watching me with surprise and concern from the shuttle window.

I moved my lips to remember how to speak in this state, it being somewhat more difficult because of my teeth.

"S-sorrrrr-y for e-very-thiiing."

I completely ignored the rest, pretending as if you weren't also the C-Sec agents pointing their guns at me.

"Don't apologize, are you okay? Kaidan told me you were injured" Shepard asked, opening the door for better communication.

I nodded repeatedly "Yes, b-but my hearth..." With my hand, I made a representation of something exploding "Not hu-human for n-ooww."

"We should get back then, Anderson has given Kaidan to meet with a Harkin. But you need a doctor"

"I wo-uld draw too mu-ch atten-tion to it, I can't. I wait."

I began to swim in circles around the car like a stalking shark.

The aching heart and the slowly regenerating wound was the only thing on my mind, keeping me alert until I could undo my transformation. "Cer-berus... Where ar-e they?"

"They're gone, don't worry do you have any idea what they might be looking for?"

It was very obvious that they were looking to use my magic for their own gain, most likely leaving me dead in the process of 'trying' to extract my powers.

"M-y story is too loo-ng to tell in a few w... ords, and in this form I can't s-peak weeeell."

At that, another shuttle, this time driven by Nihlus, came flying overhead behind me.

In a loud, authoritative voice, Nihlus brushed off the C-Sec agents.

"By order of the Council, I will take this case. You may all stand down!"

And just as ordered, it was done. Although some agents were seen to disagree, either because their years of C-Sec service were overshadowed or they disagreed about the Specters.

On the other hand, Nihlus' sudden appearance surprised Shepard. "I thought the Council would keep you away from us and Saren's case?"

"For now it is quite the opposite. I was asked to escort you, boy" With that last sentence directed at me, he opened his car door.

"Please do-n't, I want to goooou with the comman-der"

Before doing anything, Jane explained to him how we got into this situation with Cerberus, and asked him if we would have consequences even though it was self-defense.

"A Pro-Human group hunting their own kind... This can be passed off as a battle between criminals" Nihlus said, giving a solution to what was a very far-fetched situation.

He called out from his Omni-Tool to the various ship checkpoints looking for suspicious activity or any ships that had departed 1 prior to the current time.

The information of ships leaving was overwhelming to review in a single day.

"Were they looking for something specific? Or just you?"

I thought about it for a moment as I slowly untransformed. "I think just me, my stuff is still in its place" Raising my hand towards the commander "A little help here."

She took a very long moment, only understanding what I said as she saw me slowly sinking back to my human form. "Gotcha. I can't believe you can't swim."

Looking around for a prop, I found the comfy seat the missing help to pull me up as she made moved to the pilot's seat.

~"Autopilot, it's great to see you again."~

I leaned back in the passenger seat, letting out as much air as I could, just letting myself be driven by the beating of my frantic, aching heart. "Please, no more battles for today..."

Regretting myself for being here, for my tattered clothes, for all the trouble generated so far. All I wanted ha was to sleep until the commander becomes a Specter.

I looked at my hand full of rings, remembering each one and how I got it, but my eyes lingered on The Bond of Matrimony as I remembered what it meant to me along with the promise I made to Lydia.

"When the sun comes up...". It was only a small whisper in my ears that gave me the idea to bring her here so I wouldn't feel so out of place.

~"Do I need it?"~

A ring forged from the metal of over 8 rings, a symbol given by Lydia in the name of all of them. Each girl who helped me in her own way and taught me so many things that I felt overwhelmed at the time.

I felt the nostalgia as I remembered those moments, until I slowly felt a powerful spell coming from the ring.

I concentrated my magic on the ring, creating small cracks of faint light that seemed to want to break the ring, or perhaps release, or help me remember.

Every ounce, every small amount of magic in my body was absorbed by the ring, making clearer a whisper I had heard a few minutes ago.

"Please

Come back

Safe and sound."

As if I received my own shout of power, my body shook in a shimmering air that healed every possible wound. So strong that it took even the commander by surprise.

Following the blow, the most voracious hunger for magic contaminated my brain, making me feel weak both physically and mentally.

"Are you all right? What happened?" asked the commander, going with the flow of shuttles.

With a weak smile, I responded by showing her my ring "Just... fantastic people who want to see me again."

She understood instantly, and was a little surprised to see me with a wedding ring. I let it slide this time though "I guess that's a story for another time."

I nodded slowly, tilting my head as my eyelids heaved "Now there are more important things to-" with a loud yawn I could not continue, dropping to rest my head on the commander's shoulder "May I... just 5 minutes... please."

Without magic and like an ordinary human being, I fell into the most pleasant sleep possible.

~2 hours later~

What do people feel when they are asleep but don't dream anything? Why do we wake up in the middle of the night? That used to happen to me for no apparent reason or when I wanted to wake up, I called it "Mental Awakening"

But now, what wanted to wake me up seemed to be a person, a human much older than me who was threatening to take my life with a single shot. I didn't realize this until my eyes slowly opened.

Danger was what every cell in my body screamed as I noticed that I was being used as a hostage by a mercenary.

Looking in front of me was Garrus guarding Dr. Michel, while Wrex, the commander and Kaidan were looking for an opportunity to take out the mercenary without harming me. Clearly, I still looked like shit from the loss of magic and physical exertion.

I could feel the cold metal of the gun barrel on my head at times as the mercenary exclaimed Dr. Michel's life for mine. An unfair trade since she is a doctor and I am me.

I wanted to get it over with quickly, I wanted to keep resting, my brain could not take any more. Until I remembered something so simple and so difficult.

"Fus...

In just a second all the noise as well as my thoughts cleared up. And with one foot forward, I made the mercenary fall backwards with all my weight resting on my forearm. And before he could react

Ro Dah!"

The roar of my voice tore flesh and stone apart, leaving large chunks of flesh and pulp of what was once a human on the ground.

"Please let me sleep!"

I exhaled my last breath before getting up, still dizzy from the expenditure of energy and magic. I felt very empty of magical power, and I also felt the stares on my back, they weren't criticizing me but it was very uncomfortable to be the center of attention, I wanted to get rid of that quickly "Somehow he was going to die, right?"

Footsteps were heard behind me, so slow and cautious it was the only thing on my mind.

"Commander, you should be careful" Garrus warned, holding the edge as the commander walked towards me.

Relief was immediate when I felt the commander's hand on my shoulder. "Easy, you're safe."

"I know but... what about the others? Kaidan wasn't attacked by Cerberus?"

She shook her head "The target was you, and I think they got what they wanted. Kaidan informed me that in the fall, some papers flew out of your trench coat. Cerberus disappeared with those objects."

Within seconds, the deepest fear ran down my spine "The scrolls, they have them?"

I couldn't articulate well due to the rampage of emotions: fear if they know my origin, terror if they find out how to use it and Relief because they surely don't know how to extract magic. But what if they did.

I convinced myself not to care, but I didn't want to leave a magical trace of me in this universe. I wasn't even mad that it could be used for evil or hurt others, I was mad that allowing myself to not be the only magical being was complete bullshit!

"Is something very important to you? Any memories?"

Looking sideways, energetic to find my trench coat, I grabbed it from the headboard as if I wanted to tear it fabric by fabric. I found among the tugs of clothing a Fireball Scrolls.

I squeezed the paper as hard as I could in anger and rage at being the only thing I had left, and showed it to the commander "This... stores my magic in spells that others can use, Would you like to try? Commander."

~ Cronos Station - Anadius

The sun so close that imposing reflected off the glass wall sturdy enough to hold, partially illuminating the large main room of the Station.

A man in a suit was looking through the glass, was he looking for something specific? Was he looking for the answers to the great unknown presented before him?

He puffed on his cigar, turning what little remained into a large amount of smoke that vanished as soon as it came in contact with the oxygen.

"Has there been any news from our team at the Citadel?"

He asked that question to a female figure who was slowly approaching but wasted as much charm as possible.

"They've gotten some papers, they seem to be their source of power as they have a faint glow" Miranda wasn't sure what to say, it all seemed so surreal to her, and even more so seeing how the Illusive Man was 100% on the lookout for it "Are you sure what the boy is…?"

The Illusive Man moved to his seat as various screens formed around him showing of what he himself investigated. "There is evidence in the words he uses before the magic happens, his transformation into WereWolf and, as our contact in the Normandy reported, a powerful shout."

He finished his explanation by pointing to and enlarging a screen where he found the Skyrim logo.

But on the other hand, Miranda didn't quite believe it. "Is it even possible? It's just a game, and a very old one at that. Are we supposed to believe in magic or that he came from there?"

"Not necessarily. But even if he were just a fraud, a human with his qualities would be of great help to us. Contact Kai Leng for this mission. We must gain the boy's trust."

She hesitated a bit before obeying, wondering what her best assassin needed to do in this case.

"I need you to find out why he is here, how he came to this universe. I trust you'll get the answer one way or another."

"We won't be the first to contact him. And most likely the commander will have him under care."

Sitting down in a chair in the middle of the room, the Illusive Man lit a new cigarette "According to reports, the Terminus System has not yet received the news, but we must prepare for the worst, whether it is the Shadow Broker or the various gangs that lead that side of the galaxy. Even the Collectors may intervene."

"All this for a child." Miranda retraced her steps, ready for what would begin next.

"That boy is possibly the DragonBorn, a hero who fought against the worst we can imagine." Disappearing all screens with the wave of arms, she dropped the ashes of cigarette. "Although having the power is not equal to knowing how to use it, we should not underestimate him if he achieved his task instead of where he came from."