Dragon Tales
Loading Screen… The Dragontail Mountains reside between Skyrim, Hammerfell, and High Rock…
~Q~Q~
A few days had passed, and the boys were gathering their things to get ready to leave. They'd washed and dressed in some stolen clothes. Hadvar was wearing a backpack with provisions and some gold. The Nord was growing his stubble into a beard to compliment his new short hair while Gwendal's hair was freshly bleached gold.
"These new looks will throw off people from finding us," Hadvar said. "Stesha, you sure you don't want to change your look too?"
"I'm good," grumbled Stesha. His stomach was hurting from the lack of food.
"Alright, alright princess." Gwendal placated him with his hands held up. "I'm Stesha, don't touch my hair or I'll cry like a little girlie."
"Says the buffoon who snores like a pig." Stesha shook his head at his friend.
They left the farmhouse and stumbled back out onto the road. The weather was overcast, cloudy and boring. A forest of tall, dark green trees stood like a fence to their right, Halcyon Lake to their left. Salmon were swimming their way through the lake as farmers tilled the nearby soil. Fishermen casting their lines into the water as lumberjacks hacked away on firs within the woods. Stesha could see a lumbermill a ways away into the plantation. - Hadvar led the crew onward, and Stesha and Gwendal followed shortly behind. The group passed swamps and bogs where witches and monster hunters dwelt. They saw a forktail swoop over some encroaching trees and dawdled up the passage towards the mountains.
"Abandon all hope, ye who enter here," taunted Gwendal hauntingly, raising his hands to emulate a ghost.
"Why are you the way you are?" Hadvar frowned at the blond Breton.
"Hate the game not the player." Gwendal shrugged. "Or was it the other way around?"
The mountain pass was decorated with crags and twisty, ill-rooted trees. The further they went the more orange the foothills became. Gwendal had procured a walking stick from Akatosh knew where and was using it on their hike. Small lizards slithered around the edges of the gravel road.
I'll never see my parents and sister again, Stesha realized, tears welling up in the corners of his eyes. What am I going to do with my life? I have no purpose.
"You guys remember that one time over a year ago when we went hunting and Gwendal got injured when the deer hit him?" Hadvar seemed to try to lighten the mood.
Fog engulfed them as they rose over the hillocks on the mountaintops. Stesha saw crests with lakes nestled within them. Some bare pines littered the area as they weaved their way within the path that curved around.
Stesha wiped away his tears. "Yeah, and he got addicted to the healing potions they put him on."
"Davout Pharmaceuticals has the best potions I swear." Gwendal relished, clearly in remembrance. "Way better than Callowen's Chemicals."
"Why don't you shout it from the rooftops?" Hadvar shook his head, rolling his eyes slightly.
They continued their march.
"Anu does not burden a soul beyond what it can bear," said an unfamiliar voice. Stesha and the boys looked over and saw a Redguard-Imperial man in a yellow robe sitting on a small boulder.
Hadvar gestured for the Bretons to stand behind him as mist swarmed the area. Some dragonlings were battling atop a cliff a few paces above them. "Uhm, who are you?"
"By the Nine, I didn't see you there." The Redguard bowed. He had dark brown eyes, beard, and long hair. "I am Yeshur Darwesh. You could call me a prophet or seer of Akatosh."
"If you're a seer, why didn't you see us? Ha-ha, get it, guys, see us," Gwendal laughed to himself to nobody's amusement.
"Are you done?" Yeshur perked a brow.
Hadvar scratched his newly grown facial hair. "Can you tell us our fortunes?"
Yeshur pulled out a pipe full of what smelled like crushed nirnroot and started smoking it. He nodded and stepped over to the boys. Stesha took a shufti at the tree near Yeshur's boulder. It stood like a monument amongst all the barrenness.
Yeshur scratched his head. He put his hands on Hadvar's forehead. "You will meet a good woman soon. Hold her close."
Hadvar's face erupted into a smile. "Really?!"
"Yes." Yeshur moved onto Gwendal. "You will help many people."
"Me, helping people?" Gwendal chuckled. "You sure you're a prophet?"
Finally, Stesha. Yeshur's warm hands rested on his temples, and he could feel his muscles relax. "This is… disturbing."
"What?" Stesha asked.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, what is it?" Stesha pressed as the Hammerfell native removed his grip from Stesha's head.
Yeshur sighed and grimaced. "You will be enlightened to the truth."
"What does that mean?" Stesha narrowed his eyes.
"I pity you, Stesha Jade. Once you know you can't unknow it," exhaled Yeshur.
"What is it?" Stesha grilled Yeshur.
"That's for you to find out." Yeshur put out his pipe and crossed his arms beneath his chest. "The three of you will be integral to solving the biggest mystery Skyrim has ever faced. But beware if you're blind sighted you will fail. You need to have tact and be ahead of your enemy. This is about intelligence, not brawn. You'll be in a chess match of wit with the enemy, figuratively speaking."
"Skyrim?" Stesha looked down at the ground. "What do any of us have to do with Skyrim?"
"Please no more questions. I'm exhausted. Let's set up a camp and get some rest for the night." Yeshur paced around the tree.
This guy is clearly on mushrooms or maybe that nirnroot he's smoking did something to his head.
Hadvar removed his backpack and unrolled it and they all set to work pitching the tent. Stesha put a tentpole in place and hammered it down. They attached the ends of the tarp and raised it up. Afterwards they grabbed the bedrolls and laid them inside the covering as Gwendal and Yeshur gathered branches and rocks to make a fire.
"We'll take turns keeping watch," Stesha said.
"If you insist," yawned Hadvar, his eyelids drooping.
The weather was still overcast. Grey clouds covering the entire mountainside. It was desolate here and there were barely any trees. Stesha took a seat on the same small boulder Yeshur had been sitting on and dwelled on the words the prophet had spoken.
"You will be enlightened to the truth."
"Once you know you can't unknow it."
What is the truth? The truth about what? Stesha stared down at his hands. The truth about me or the truth about the world? What could it be? Now I want to know it, but he said once you know it you can't unknow it. So, if I seek it out, will I end up regretting it? But now I'm curious.
The voice of reason cut through his childish hopes, what's more likely is that Yeshur is just lying. His prophecies are vague and weak.
"He said I'd meet a good woman." Hadvar beamed ear to ear.
"Nice," Stesha sighed sarcastically. He gazed down at his hand again, turning it up and staring into the lines of his palm.
Gwendal and Yeshur came trekking over, carrying some branches and round rocks. Yeshur placed the rocks in a circle near the tent and Gwendal tossed the firewood in the middle, lighting the brambles alight with a flame spell. The fire roared into existence and laughed uproariously at them, dancing back and forth with the wind, doing its tango with the air and lashing out here and there. The orange colour entranced Stesha into a standstill.
Hadvar set a pot and spit for roasting over the fire, pouring some water and sliced vegetables into the base. They stole the vegetables off the farms near Evermore the day before. Some water chestnuts, leeks, and tomatoes.
"No meat!" Gwendal pouted.
"If you want meat, we'll have to hunt for it." Hadvar stirred the veggies. "Might be a goat or some hares around here if we look."
Stesha and Hadvar set off while Gwendal kept watch with Yeshur. It was dry and arid up here, but also cold and lifeless. The rock outlined path led them to near where the dragonlings had been roosting earlier. Hadvar carried his sword in its hilt.
"Not sure why you brought me, Hadvar. Gwendal knows magic, I don't know how to fight or any spells. I'm good at literally nothing." Stesha clenched his fists in frustration.
"Precisely why I didn't leave you alone. At least Gwendal has his spells to defend himself." Hadvar gazed around. "You're my spotter, keep an eye out for any animals."
Stesha played with his braces. "I should send a letter to my parents first chance I get. I'll sign it as Matthew Motre to avert suspicion."
"Good idea."
The cliff face was barren of scenery other than some Orc huts they could spot across the canyon. They were round shaped with closed roofs, tiering down the mountainside. Forges and mines with rope bridges to connect them. A small wall surrounding it as well.
"Don't suppose they'd invite us in?" Stesha gestured to the Orc settlement with his thumb.
"Do you see anyway to cross this canyon?" Hadvar threw him a pointed look.
Fair point.
Stesha returned to his sightseeing, trying to spot a goat or wild boar they could eat. The two searched for an hour until finally they saw a huge rabbit hopping around the cliffside. Stesha approached it and petted the little thing kindly, stroking its fur to snuffles of appreciation from it.
"I'm sorry." Stesha clinched his teeth.
Hadvar stabbed the bunny through, ending its short-lived life. Stesha wiped his visage and stood up. They carried the animal back to the campfire and set to skinning and removing its innards, followed by chopping its meat into pieces then sliding them into the water pot. The vegetable broth from before smelled divine already and they didn't even have any spices. Yeshur stirred the pot as the exhausted boys took a seat around the firepit.
"What say we tell some campfire stories?" Yeshur smiled. "Have any of you heard of the Champion of Cyrodiil or the Nerevarine?
"I believe so." Nodded Hadvar. "But why don't you edify us a bit more."
"The Nerevarine was the reincarnation of Indoril Nerevar, he was a Dark Elf named Thase Eldrara. He saved Morrowind from the Blight and stopped Dagoth Ur, the Tribunal, and Hircine before sailing off to Akavir. The Champion, however, was just an ordinary Imperial named Caius Meridius. He helped Martin Guice stop Mehrunes Dagon and the Oblivion Crisis and reunited the Knights of the Nine. Now people say he might be the new Sheogorath, but you didn't hear that from me." Yeshur stopped briefly before continuing, "who knows, maybe one of you will be the hero to save Mereth."
"Sure." Stesha cringed.
"Gwendal? You did say he was going to help people." Hadvar grinned. "Though, no one in Skyrim is in need of saving as far as I know."
"Why do you smoke nirnroot? Aren't you a holy man?" Gwendal clasped his fingers together.
"It elates my mood, and connects me to the great Father, Anu, and his son, Akatosh." Yeshur loaded up his pipe with more nirnroot.
Stesha warmed his hands by the fire as the stars above bled through the nighttime sky, lighting up the world in a cosmic array of splendor. Twinkling through the firmament, the shadows of the Magne Ge.
"Food's done!" Hadvar chirped, grabbing bowls and soupspoons for all of them.
They each poured the rabbit and vegetable soup into their bowls and began chowing down. Stesha was mesmerized at the taste of the tomato and hare. They were easily going back for seconds and thirds. There was plenty to share.
"So, care to share anymore stories?" Hadvar gulped down some more of the stew. "Or perhaps you can tell me more about this woman I'm destined to meet?"
Yeshur rubbed his beard sideways. "Hmm, trying to think of one… Well, there's the tale of Saint Pelin Bendix but that would take far too long to recount now. Suffice it to say, he was a great man. But other than that, got nothing left to tell that hasn't already been told."
Stesha crawled into the tent and rolled up in his bedroll next to Gwendal who was in his own sleeping bag. Sleep swirled in on him, devouring him over a waterfall as he fell thousands of feet, going down, down, down…
Stesha awoke in a dwarven laboratory, a door at the end of the hallway. He walked over to it but before he could open the door the crow-masked man appeared again, pushing him back.
"You'll perish just like the rest of them if you continue to live in ignorance," said the crow-mask, dissipating into nothingness. "I won't hold your hand. If you lack the ability to reflect and think, you deserve what's coming."
Stesha screamed, closing his eyes until he was floating in the clouds, hovering near a Golden Dragon.
"Well, hello, young one. It's not your time yet, don't listen to that man. You belong to someone!" The friendly dragon explained.
Stesha awoke once more, crawling out of his bedroll. Yeshur was sound asleep inside his roll to the side near Gwendal. Gwendal was snoring, nothing new there. Hadvar climbed in as Stesha sat watch. The night was arid and freezing up on the alps. Stesha rubbed his hands against the fire, dwelling on his dreams once more.
"A Golden Dragon… could that be Akatosh?" Stesha wondered aloud. "He said I belong to someone. Belong to someone? What in Oblivion does that mean?" Stesha sat there for a while observing the fire. "I'm not a slave, I don't belong to anyone."
Besides, Akatosh and the Divines have never done anything for me.
Stesha stared at the ground; it seemed tempting. Maybe if I just lie down for a little… He curled into a ball near the fire. His eyelids doing a down take… once, twice…
"You idiot," came Hadvar's voice.
Stesha shot up straight. "I was only lying down for a second."
"IT'S EIGHT IN THE MORNING!" Yelled Gwendal. "YESHUR TOOK OUR GOLD AND RAN OFF BECAUSE OF YOU!"
Stesha got up, dusting his robes. "Alright, let's relax. He can't have got too far. Let's look around."
"Split up, hurry!" Hadvar took off in one direction and Gwendal did another.
Stesha trailed back towards the small grassless field where they slaughtered the bunny, trekking up the hill pass. Rocks outlined passed him by on either side as he came into an alcove underneath the cliff. A shrine to Akatosh and underneath it a huge pouch of gold, next to it an attached note. – The shrine was crimson and shaped like a drake with prominent wings that melded in with the body over an hourglass. Stesha took the note and read it.
Thought I might double your gold for the trouble of feeding and listening to me. Good luck, Ta'Veren. – Sincerely, Yeshur.
Stesha grabbed the guice and the paper and headed back. Hadvar and Gwendal turned up short at the campsite, but Stesha was still in shock, handing over the note and gold coins.
They each read the small note.
Hadvar blinked rapidly. "Where did you find it?"
"At a shrine to Akatosh."
"Hmm. I believe him." Hadvar crossed his arms together, cracking his thumb. "Skyrim it is."
"I want to challenge fate. If this really is the will of the Divines let them prove it. Let's head to Cyrodiil. If we're really destined for Skyrim, we'll get there eventually." Stesha tightened his lip.
"Stesha, I don't necessarily agree with everything some seer says like Hadvar here, especially since he was so vague with our fortunes, but you don't always have to be such a bloody cynic." Gwendal crunched his knuckles. "But whatever, do whatever you want. I just wanna get off this miserable mountain. It's so depressing up here."
"Alright let's pack up." Hadvar set to work tearing down the tarp and rolling up bedrolls.
The other two joined him. Stesha put a cap on the pot of rabbit stew and placed it inside the backpack. Once everything was taken account of, they set off once more, trailing down the other side of the orange and grey mountain toward Hammerfell.
"Quite the dragon tale we had on the dragontail mountains," Gwendal punned.
Stesha stared flatly at his kinsmen.
"So where to next?" Gwendal queried.
Hadvar smiled at them both. "Dragonstar."
~Q~Q~
A/N: So, we're not heading to Skyrim just yet. This story will be just short of 30 chapters, so we have a little time, but you'll see how it all connects. On top of rewriting the main story of Skyrim, I'm also completely changing the College of Winterhold's storyline, the Thieves Guild, and the Dawnguard DLC. The Dragonborn DLC won't be a part of this. So, just a heads up before we get to Skyrim. Skyrim, its politics, its environment, literally everything is different. A very high fantasy Skyrim. Think of this as a hard reboot of Skyrim but a soft reboot of the Elder Scrolls. I took Skyrim and revamped it. For example, the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood work together and some other differences. Before y'all jump ship, I encourage you to read a bit and give it a chance, it's still Skyrim, just more creative imo than the generic Middle Earth - Westeros land we got in game. Even then you'll see mostly familiar characters like Aela, Serana, Balgruuf, etc. The OC's I'm using are only for the other provinces.