"YOL TOOR SHUL!" Red flames bathe vermilion fields and great boulders. Dirt become glass; wood becomes embers; stones become boiling sludge. The fires smote ruin upon the moutains and fields of the Dead.
Smoke bellows to the skies in thick belches. It darkens the Eye of Heaven; black tainting purple-blue. The screams of mournful passing echoes into the Dead Heaven.
"Araghh!" A great shield of golden-bronze is raised in defence. The hellish plume of red-white engulfs the Dwemer-made tool of war. The defensive weapon's owner is silhouetted in fire; a black shadow amongst Hell - Black Dread's Bane.
"RRRRRUUUUUUSSSSSSRRRNNNGG!" The mighty bellow of the Tyrant Wyrm rang out admist the Hallows of the Dead - World Eater's feast; Dread End to the hereafter. Winds did howl, earthen shores did quake, and all stood silent as the All-Devourer's black cry did ring into the Valley of the Honered Dead.
Spririts and the one possessed of flesh did stand proud. Weapons drawn, fell blood smitten, and ruin within sight did the youngest of four speak: "To Hell with you, foul Drake! I shall smote thee's doom as was foretold by powers far beyond you! You will meet your ruin within these sanctified lands! FUS RO DAH!"
The great Dragon, possessed of raw hate, did not cower. He stood tall upon his legs even as fresh wounds poured rivers of glowing ichor redder than blood. It was no mere liquid; t'was a stream - No, current - of pure Divine power. Something no Mortal should ever witness; treason against all Heaven and the many Hells. A Sin, in truth.
"RRRAAAGGGSSSRRRRKKK!"
"BBBBBBBRRRAAAGGGHHH!"
Mighty was the tremor of the Twilight God's fall. The earth splintered; monuments built by the Dead God thrashing to ruin. Dust betwixt flame-smoke; red God-blisters oozing out of the growing shroud. The Eldest Elder raged and writhed; tail whipping air as thunder wracked the Heaven that was smote with Hell. The Twilight God snapped his ebony maws; great echoes shockwaving into the infinite expanse.
"As thee did to thy; thy shall claim thee's life thy own! Vengeance's promise; smitten in blood!" Rang the red declair of the long dead Gormlaith. She stood atop a moutain of ruined stone; sword gleaming from purple-blue starlight. Her golden hair flustered as she did plumit down to meet her ancient foe.
Wind did scream past her ears and made her golden hair whip like a serpent's tail. She held her blade strongly; her spirit-flesh cold with rage. She held fury in her dead heart - ancient scars reopened in the End Harbinger's presence. The shape of the God-Dragon squirmed admist casle-sized debris; boulders the size of entire mammoths thrown through the skies. The Dragon's tail smote the earth; ground ripping as though victim to earthquake.
"Wuth hokoron! Zu'u al hi us, Zu'u fen dreh ful nu! Zu'u, Alduin, claimed thee's flesh; thee's soul will be no different!" The Twilight God's words were struck with wroth; and mighty malice coupled with viscous mockery. His voice did echo like that of thunder and of doom. His ruby-red eyes glared unto his ancient foe as he drew breath, "YOL TOOR SHUL!"
Red-white ruination did befall the air and skies of Heaven. Gormlaith; fleshless and only phatasm was unbidden by the fires save force. It threw her into a charred and smoking moutain of dead God-Bones - bridge of Guardian Tsun.
"Brrrroooossshhh!"
Alduin did hiss as his great raptor-claws were betwixted by ice and frost - curse of Felldir, Master of all Snow-Secrets. The Black Wyrm did turn and writhe as his ruby-eyes settled upon the weary Mage-Spirit. He stood clad in flowing robes of no renoun or import - only those of meagerness. He wielded a greatsword of ancient Dragon-fueled forge. His companion resided near: "On this day I do promise ye this! Mighty of scale you may be! Great of wing you may be! Immense of knowledge you may be! But of fate you are favored not; scorned Son of the trembling Heavens!"
"RRRRRAAAAASSSSSGGGHHHH!" Was all that Dread Alduin could retort in his ravenous rage. He arose from the cavern his weight carved unto the earth; great winged forelimbs clawing into stone-earth as the God-Dragon pulled himself unto smoten earth. His lightless hide steamed from fresh wounds, a horn severed, gashes of varying sizes lining his form. He shattered the meager icey cage around his raptor-claw. Ruby-red orbs lined with snow-white pupils gazed unto the spirits of ancient foes: "Dur hi! You will rot in thy's belly for eternity! FO KRAH DIIN!"
A torrent of compressed ice, frost, and feezing mist spewed from the Black Dread's beak-shaped snout; flames were snuffed, earth smote with sheets of blue-white snow-glass, melting moutains and statues suddenly encased in unthawing ice.
"Hurry, Dragonborn!" Felldir did erect a spectral Ward from white glowing fingers. His arms were spread aloft as his finite Mortal Magic sheltered he and his comrade from the End Bringer's frozen wrath. His meager power would not hold against the Dragon, "HURRY!"
Ice swirled about the mystical barrier; crystaline shards forming about it. Snow darkened the skies as great wings rose sky-bound. The Black Dread's chest puffed, eyes smoldering like fell cinders, jaws wide. Each step did make the world shake. He stood like a mighty beast not so distinct from those of the dead-ages - held aloft by two mighy claw-legs, wings held high, neck curved like a serpent ready to strike.
"NAH QO STRUN!" Crackling bolts of azure energy smote the fell Dragon. He roared out like an earthquake; shockwaves forming from his hate-cry. The Tyrant Wyrm fell unto earth and split apart great moutains; stones the size of castles impaling through the fields of the Dead, "MUL QAH DIIV!" Gold-blue-red light poured forth from the Dragonborn's very heart. It encircled his flesh; transmuting the armored bones of Dragons into true hide; glowing are his eyes a brilliant white-gold. He stood betwixt Dragon and man - claws, fanged, horned, as all of the Dragons ought to be, yet he was wingless, tailless, and scaleless; facsimile of true Divinity.
Alduin had fallen onto his back in his struggle. Arcs of fell lightning harassed his hide; muscles spasming. He hissed as eyes of ruby-fire hardened into white slits. His growl was thunder. His left forelimb rose up and it's claw-thumb did grasp unto the high moutain of the oafish Gormlaith's abandoned perch.
The Dragon arose from the smoking chasm of fire and into the frozen wastes of Heaven. The Harbinger of the End leveled malicious eyes upon his destined foe; silver eyes met his ruby ones. The Dragonborn, tall and mighty, stood clad in bones of slain Drakes. He wielded aloft the Dawnbreaker - sword of the All-Life and the ultimate enemy of the All-Dead. The sword was but a mere trinket to great Alduin, yet it's power grew; it feeds upon Heaven's hate for the Dread Wyrm.
"I hereby vow to never know true life whilst you breathe, fell Wyrm! I shalt never know peace! Rest! Warmth! Love! Or death until I smote thee's ruin!" Golden Dawnbreaker leveled high to Heaven's sky as he roared. Alduin hissed. He spied the Dragonborn's flowing black hair admist ashen ice-ruin. The World Eater watched as a bolt of red lightning smote the sword - it's source the Eye of Heaven. The God-Dragon seethed at the arrogant Mortal playing at Dragondom.
"Sahlo joor! Hi los nid zos nuz dii bormahro tozein! I am Alduin! Firstborn of Aka, and Master of all Men, Beasts, and Souls! Who are you to defy my mandate of flame and frost? You who kills thee's own brothers for nought but power; I will curse thee's soul in death! Blight upon thee's desecendants!" Mighty winds did darken Heaven as the God-Dragon rose high. he lorded over all - Shor's Hall, the statues of the watchers, and even the moutains of icey ruination. He bid his foe challenge: "RRRRRRRRRSSSSSSSSRRRRRRRRRnnnnkkkgsgsgsgsgs!"
"AAAARRRRAAAAGGGGHHH!" Scarlet lightning acred across the golden blade as the Dragonborn did declair his acceptance of the challenger. Both warrior and God alike prepared for their clashing - Silver against crimson; white against black; all that seeks to remain against the one who seeks to erase the all. Long was their silence as wind howled, ice cracked, and fires bellowed.
"BBBBRRRRRGGGHHSSSS!"
Then, with no warning, the Dragon struck. His tail - A whip of Divine wrath! - sundered the moutain-perch of his mortal foe. Earthen wounds were smitten across the calamity-stricken Heaven; smoke clouding the collapsing moutain. From it fell the great man-Dragon with eyes smoldering with furious contempt - but a pale shadow of the Eldest Elder's own malice.
His blade cleaved through lightless scales of night-black. The flowing plasmas of Divine ichor bathed him in hellish red; smoke as black as sin betwixting the flesh of a God. The dragon's tail struck earth like thunder; Dragonborn thrashing to hold onto his God-perch as the limb writhed.
"RRRRAAAAGGGGG!"
Fangs the size of Giants clamped shut around the prophesied Hero; scales sundering from self-inflicted wounds. The dragon tore free his own muscles as his jaws crushed obsidian-clad bone and night-black scales.
The Dragonborn impaled his blade into the Tyrant Wyrm's pointed tongue - baleful whipping of the red muscle thundering the mighty Demigod against dragonic flesh. He grappled amongst tree-sized fangs and smoldering smoke. Alduin did raise back his head as he swallowed his prey in one effort.
With fangs glinting red, scales bleeding Godly energies, and wings sundered did the Black Dread decree: "Dir nu! Voth sil do hin fron. Mindok tol Zu'u, Alduin, fent vokrii vahzah drem wah hin lein! Shelter despair in thee's hearts knowing that thee's savior is thy meal... Obey! Or be consumed!" His great cry did echo into Heaven and beyoned it. The eyes of the souls of the honered dead and Divines alike gleamed unto this hallow plane; betwixt life and doom.
With thunder in stride did mighty Alduin, Firstborn of Aka, rise unto sinless skies. His neck reared as he let loose the roar which had split the Devil of Fire and Ruin from his Toad-King in a world long since dead. His claws sundered earth as his wings clasped Shor's Hall.
Golden spires were crushed under blackened raptor-claws. Bat-like forelimbs crumbled mighty spires; doomed structures collapsing. Ruby-red eyes seethed from atop Heaven's Domain as black wings darkened the blue-purple sky. Darkness befell the Dead.
"Fear you we do not! Smote ye's ruin before, thy shall do so again! Fear me, foul Drake! Fear thee's death-clad foe!" Hakon of the Bears did bellow towards Heaven's golden cathedral. It shook as the Dreaded Bane of Kings smote ruin unto perfection; the Hall shaking as claws sundered gold.
He loomed over the Spirits of Honor as he darkend Heaven with wroth. His claws did ruin the tops of towers, his forelimbs crushing great domains, his tail coiling about Shor's Spire.
"Rrrrrrsssssss...! Dir joor, Zu'u Dovah! Only thee's ruin shall be smitten here! YOl TOOR SH—"
"JOOR ZAH FRUL!" Dreaded Words of Blasphemy did sound within the Tyrant Wyrm's furnace-heart. Alduin clasped his bleeding chest as his neck reared to Heaven's Heaven. He roared out in Mortal agony as tendrils of Death did enshroud his form - immortality stolen by Man's Third Sin.
"RRRRRRRRRRAAAAAGGGGGSSSSSSS!"
"BBBBBBRRRRRRRGGGGGGKKKKKKKKKKKK!"
The Gate of Shor's Hall was crushed as Alduin fell. His black form did smote the earthen shores of Heaven as his body bridged the chasm between the Lost Dead and Chosen Dead. The cliffside did ensnare ruination as stones splintered into craigs. His tail toppled one of Heaven's spires.
"Rrrrrrrggggsssss... RRRRRRRGGGGGGGG!" The Wyrm writhed in unending pain as false-blood spewed from his maw. He writhed in place as his wings crushed monmuents and flattened great swathes of Dead Lands. His chest did pour Divine ichor as from within the chosen Hero severed bone and split tendons.
"FUS RO DAH!" Scales, muscle, and flesh exploded in a shower of gore. Alduin rose upon great forelimbs as the Dragonborn leapt from the gaping wound in his chest. Alduin roared to Heaven as red lightning thundered: "YOL TOOR SHUL!"
Alduin was smote with orange flames. He attempted to devour it's source; blade cleaving into eye. The Dread Wyrm pulled back as his claw-thumbs raked his mauled snout. The Demigod did slice a digit clean off - dragon's wrath his reward as he smote Alduin's right eye.
"VEN RIIK STRUN!" Baleful winds repelled the Dragonborn away. The hurricane-force currents did raise stones, rip trees from their ancient holds, and upended mighty masterworks of the Dead. The Heros of Yore and their master-leige Dragonborn were swept unending into the galeful blast.
Alduin's jaws clamped shut even as the now mighty wind-storm raged ever onward. It wouldn't stop them... This he knew. He was wise... Very wise. As much as his wounded pride was willing - he knew his victory would not come today. His chest was torn asunder; ichor pouring rivers of burning red into the chasm below. He could sense his strength leaving him. Even now his body did quiver and shrink; the Powers of Entropy fading quickly.
He was losing. He... He... He was dying. Like a Mortal. Like... A man. No! He IS Eternal! Everlasting! A God in Dragon-flesh! This is not how the story of the Bane of Kings shall end! Not here... Not now!
Breathing deeply Alduin did rear unto his mighty legs. He pulled his wings close, his body heaving with effort, tail whipping at Shor's Hall. He looked sky-bound to Heaven's Heaven with malicious ruby-red eyes that seethed hate. Betrayed... His Father has betrayed him: "Dur hi, Bormah! Zu'u fent lost dii nahkriin!" Alduin did vow under the Eye of Heaven. He seethed as his mind dug deep to find latent secrets... Hubris waned as fear birthed inside him.
"LEIN VULDAK LIF!" Swirling space did contort as Alduin melded into the phantasmal Void. He fell, floated, flowed... He ceased to have physicality altogether.
Within this swirling Void there existed not the Grace of Aka-Tusk - only Padomay's Nothing-Child. He could taste upon his phantom tongue defeat; pride bleeding malice unto fear.
He saw the flashing of many colors in but a instant; red, blue, green, purlpe, orange, yellow, and, of course: silver - that which marked this place no true Void, for within Void could be no silver - life's betwixting gift.
He saw the veins of what is, what was, what will be, and what should have been gnawing at his form. He plummeted through all senses - the self ceasing to have meaning here.
He harbored only wrath - wanton desire for vengeance. He seethed... Seething is all could do. He fathered within his heart but one sole desire - the suffering of all who wronged him.
His body bled Divine power; he had been wounded in more ways than one. He smoldered with ruination as he peered unto Nothingness Itself. He seethed at all he hated; which numbered tens of thousands strong. His wicked heart did harden even further. He felt only the pain of defeat; mother of all humilations.
He relinquished to the threat of slumber in his wroth. He let himself drown in ruby-red malice. He knew not peace or contentness; only unending hate as it drowned him. He hated with all of his immortal heart.
Then he became something that wasn't a mere phantom admist Void.
Firery wrath fell from Heaven admist a world not of Divine-make. Not the Divines he knew, that is. He could see blood-forests, vermilion fields, snow-ridden moutaintops - all of which was shielded by Kyne's wrath; azure thunder.
His body wreathed of flames as storms did darken this new Heaven. His eyes shut tight as he felt the whispers of dreamless sleep. He heeded not his great fall even as millions of eyes settled upon him. He knew only that his heart seethed with unending malice... And the pain of bitter betrayal.
Eyes of all watched the falling star race across Heaven like a wrothful God. Eyes of Kings and Queens gazed with greed. Eyes of Champions and Heretics gazed with contempt. Eyes of Wizards and Witches gazed with curiosity. Eyes of all gazed with fear.
And, of course, the Eyes of the Dragon Gods gazed with a mixture of offense and shock - fear of the unknown betwixting the faces of Light and Dark. They knew not what to do; so they opted to do that which they did best: watch and listen.
But... Yet another set of eyes gazed. Not of greed, or of fear, or of shock; but of childish awe and of naive hope. She did pray to the falling star as it arced across Heaven: "The Gods... It's a sign from the Gods!" She did whisper through clasped hands. Her eyes watched onward with curiosity not so distinct from that of a youth - though, in truth, she was a youth. One that heeded well the warning of time - bittersweet the mark of her innocence...
She took her vow then. To find the fallen star... To find the source of her hope, however foolish a venture. Her cloak flowed in the blowing winds as she saw the star dissapear behined a distant moutain...
"Bbbbbbrrrrroooooooosssshhhhhh!"
Dainty hands shielded silver eyes as the moutain was eclipsed in a white light. She could hear the thunder of the falling star kissing earth. She could see her bones light up through skin; such the intensity of the impact.
"Huuhh!" She gasped as mighty winds blew against her small form. She was thrown off her feet and unto earth as the shockwave reached her. Even if dozens of miles away, the force of the impact held mighty, threatening to crush her beneath invisble wrath.
Yet as the winds did die did she yet live. Her cloak had been caught upon a tree branch, most mighty of the oaken titans, and so she clung to it in her desperation; her life saved by simple cloth.
Once her body no longer shook, and the ground did silence, was she content to unsheathe her meager dagger to cut herself free. A shame, really, that her cloak had to be sundered for her freedom from the tree-savior.
"I'm sorry," She spoke with mournful eyes to her oldest companion - her black cloak, "I'll fix you when we get home! I promise, ok?" She vowed to her torn ally. She did slowly level her gaze, however, unto the distance.
"Whoah...!" She felt a mixture of fear and awe at what her silver eyes beheld. The moutain, a Holy Site of the Gods, lay smoten across the earth. It's center bore a great hole belching red flame and black smoke. The forests around the moutain stood engulfed in crimson ruination - trees uprooted, fields turned to ash, and thousands of acres cleansed of all life.
She could see great rips and tears across the lands, craigs slithering through miles of newly smoten lands, chunks of earth turned into gaping chasms. She neared her cliffedge as her features were painted in the distant scarlet of baleful fires. Her silver eyes gleamed with infatuated awe.
"I... I... This is my chance," She whispered as a smile painted her lips, "This is my chance! Too prove myself..." She made her way through the now dreary forest to her home. She contented herself with gathering the necessary tools. She smiled as she passed under oaken giants, her home near, mind ablaze with naive desire.
This would be her final chance! They had always rejected her. The... Everyone had... Mostly everyone. Even the village cleric held no good-will with her! She was not born with the Gift of Destruction: Magic. None of the silver-eyed ilk were. Their curse... The only bloodline not to be gifted Magic by the Gods of Light and Dark.
And because of this they were shuned. Exiled. Despised. Some places, like the neighbouring village were welcoming, but... Even then they never trusted her. No one truly did. Rumors spread quick... Those of the Moonborn Eyes were cursed. Hated by the Gods! Why else would they not have the Gift of Destruction that was bestowed unto the first of men and women. They had... Somehow... Wronged the Gods. Surely it must be so! Or so the girl had been told so often that she had begun to believe in it.
But that might change... Sure, she'll never have Magic, but... Respect? The love of her peers? A place she could truly call home? Yes... If she found the star, and it's contents, then... At the very least no one could deny her bravery any longer! Magic she is not, but a warrior's soul persisted within her heart! She would find it... And they will respect her! Accept her... For her bravery in finding this God-Gift from the Heavens.
She will find the fallen star... Even if it kills her.
Aria of Ashes here. Hello. How are you all? Doing well, I do hope.
So... This isn't The King in Yellow story. Yes, well, after some deliberation I have decided to postpone that one. It's turning out to be much more... Taxing... No. Provoking? Sure... Let's go with provoking. It is more provoking than I initially thought it would be.
Other than that I should address this story. It's going to follow Alduin in ancient Remnant. Yes, at some point we will hit the 'modern' era, but... Not for a fat minute. Now this story differs from my normal writing process in... In almost all regards, really.
I did not create it. Well, I wrote it, but the concept behind it is not mine. That right belongs to Igotnothing92999299 - a sadly dead account. The original story this one is based upon is called RWBY: Rise of dread Alduin it you want to see it for yourself. The story was abandoned three years ago, sadly.
The original story is extremely short, but... Something about the concept and writing style hooked me. I can't let this story die, so I have salvaged it as my own - with all my little quirks and imperfections.
If the original creator ever returns, or reaches out to me, then I will end this. It isn't mine in the same way Black Stars is - so I do not, in truth, own it.
Onto other points, I suppose. I am using actual Dragon Speech in this story as they do have an actual alphabet behind them. It's also more interesting to me to try and, essentially, learn a new (if fictional) language. That'll be fun... If stressful.
Other points is the whole world building thing. Unlike Black Stars, this is not a 'merged' world. Remnant and Nirn are different realms with different rules and different Gods and different creation myths. I will not take that away from them unlike Marvel - namely because Marvel is already so prone to mutability and adaptation, whereas The Elder Scrolls is very much set in stone.
I will say this: my knowledge on the Elder Scrolls is quite vast though far from perfect. I have many unique takes on the Aurbis and it's nature. I also have many unique takes on Remnant, and it's Gods and monsters, the Everafter and it's own God, that I would like to explore. Other than that... Yeah, nothing.
For now, I suppose this is goodbye. Have a great day/night! And I bid thee farewell.
For now: I will return to the void and fade into ashes.
