~X~

~ Bleak Falls Barrow ~

Bell Cranel

"How about you take point, Bell."

That's what Ashe said to him before they entered the… ruin? Ashe said that thousands of years ago, this place used to be a temple to the dragons when they ruled the world.

He entered the front door as quietly as possible, and Ashe silently followed under an invisibility spell.

Bell knew what this was. It was another test for him. Earlier, he noticed Ashe take out the archers fast enough that she could've helped him with the bandit, but she didn't. Instead, she observed his fight. Maybe she was trying to measure his skills against other people, or maybe she was trying to see if he would kill if needed.

This test was also a way for him to gain experience with delving into the ruins.

There were a couple of bandits up ahead sitting around a fire. Bell snuck around the left side and got as close as he could, hiding behind some rubble. When the bandit who was facing him turned around to a chest, Bell struck.

He rushed to the one closest to him and slammed one of his daggers into the back of the bandit's neck. The other bandit turned when she heard the body hit the floor, just in time for Bell's other dagger to finish its flight through the air and into the bandit's skull.

Hmm… Again… Just like last time, he didn't feel a thing when he killed these two.

Bell retrieved his daggers and moved to the chest close by. He tried to open it but found that it was locked.

"Here," Ashe handed him a lock pick. "It's good if you get some practice with this."

It took a few tries, but he got the chest open and it had some gold.

Bell carefully went through this place, solving puzzles and killing zombies, or draugr as Ashe called them.

"Is… is someone coming?" he heard the voice of someone. "Harknir? Bjorn? Soling?"

Bell carefully moved forward and saw a room covered in spider webs. He could look past some tree roots blocking an opening and into the room. He saw an elf that was wrapped up in some webbing.

Ashe came out of her invisibility and stood beside him to look in the room.

"That's the thief we're looking for," Ashe said and pointed at said thief. She then knelt and pointed at an opening in the ceiling. "Take a look up there."

Bell knelt down to get a better look into the opening and let out a sharp gasp at what he saw. Because latched on the inside of the opening was the biggest spider he had ever seen in his life.

"You're going to have to fight that," Ashe said. His nervousness must've shown because Ashe spoke quickly again. "Relax, Bell. I know you can handle it, and I'll be right behind you, ready to step in, in case you get overwhelmed. Don't get bit."

With that, Ashe disappeared in blue particles.

Bell took some calming breaths before he cut his way through some webs to get into the room. As he entered, the spider descended. Bell quickly noticed this spider differed from the ones he usually saw and he was not talking about its size. This one seemed to have ten legs, and the spider raised the front two in the air like it was ready to swing them down.

"Oh no! Here it comes!" the thief shouted. "Kill it! Kill it!"

The spider raised itself a bit and shot a web ball at Bell. He quickly dodged it and moved as fast as he could to the spider's side to attack from the flank. The spider quickly moved to face him but Bell sidestepped to its side again and attacked. The spider yelled in pain as its leg was cut off.

"Since when do spiders shriek?" Bell whispered to himself before he shook his head and focused.

He noticed that the dagger Ashe had made easily cut through the spider as if it were butter. So, he came up with a plan.

Bell used his speed to keep to the spider's side and cut off all its legs on the left. The spider, with no support there, fell to the ground. It tried to use its other legs to move but it was just flailing around. Bell jumped onto the spider from behind so he could avoid the two front legs and drove his daggers into its skull. The spider shook violently for a second before it stopped moving.

Bell pulled out his daggers and jumped off as he took a deep breath, looking at his kill.

"Very well done," Ashe whispered, still invisible. He smiled a little at the compliment.

Now for the thief.

"You did it! You killed it!" the thief sounded relieved as Bell walked up to him. "Now cut me down before anything else shows up."

"Give me the golden claw you stole first," Bell said.

"Right, the claw… Well, I would give it but, as you can see, I'm kind of tied up here. You'll have to cut me down first."

Bell frowned. He didn't trust this thief one bit, and had a feeling that he would run once he cut him down. He could try to only cut enough webbing to get the claw and leave him hanging, but the way forward was through him. So, he would have to cut him down, regardless.

"Fine, but no funny business."

Bell used one of his daggers and easily cut the Dunmer down. But, despite his mistrust, he didn't foresee the thief throwing a web ball at Bell's face.

Bell easily dodged it but the thief used the distraction to take off running.

"You fool. Why would I share the treasure with anyone!" the thief shouted as he ran.

"Hey! Get back here!" Bell chased after him.

The chase continued for a short while until the two ran into a room where some of the draugr rested. With their rest disturbed by intruders, they immediately rose up and started attacking the two. Bell was slowed down by two draugr cutting him off, while the thief kept running forward. He managed to dodge the sword of the last draugr and kept running, turning behind him with a smirk seeing as Bell was stalled.

However, because his attention was behind him, he didn't see the pressure plate in front of him. He stepped on it and a swinging spike trap suddenly came out, killing him instantly as he splattered against the wall.

Bell noticed this but quickly focused back on the draugr. It took a bit but he was able to defeat the three of them with no injuries.

He jogged up to the thief's body and grimaced at the mangled mess it was in. Bell took a deep breath and found the golden claw on the body. At the same time, Ashe appeared in a shower of blue particles. How does she do that?

"So, mission complete. You got the claw," she said.

Bell simply nodded and continued to stare off into the distance.

"You okay?" Ashe put a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm okay," Bell said. "I don't know… Should we head back now?"

Ashe allowed the change of subject.

"We could head out the way we came, or we could continue forward through this temple," Ashe said. "See what that claw is used for."

Bell didn't have to think long. He was an adventurer after all.

"Let's move forward."

Bell continued slow and steady through the temple, checking every corner and picking through every locked door and chest. He would have to fight the occasional draugr and avoid the traps. Sometimes he would get hit as the further in he got the stronger the zombies seemed to get, but it was nothing a potion couldn't take care of.

After traveling through ruins, caves, and more ruins, Bell finally made it to one of the most important rooms.

It was a stone hallway with beautiful carvings on both sides of the wall. And at the end of it was a puzzle.

"Wow…" Bell said as he looked at the carvings on the wall. He was looking at the one that had some kind of bird when Ashe appeared in her usual blue particles.

"The Hall of Stories… Want me to explain what these carvings mean?" Ashe said and Bell eagerly nodded. "This depicts a hawk spreading its wings over a woman. That woman would be Kyne, Goddess of the Sky and Storms."

Ashe moved on to the next wall. This one depicted another animal. "The Fox, a symbol of Shor. …Hm…"

"And who's Shor?" Bell said when Ashe didn't continue.

"Hah… Shor is known by many different names; Sheor, Sep, Shezzar, Lorkhaj, and Lorkhan," Ashe said. "Depending on who you ask, he is either a Trickster or a Hero. He is the one who is said to have created Mundus by either tricking or persuading the Aedra to create the World as we know it."

"And who are the Aedra?" Bell said.

"The Aedra are… Well, that's a complicated question with a complicated answer" Ashe said, grimacing. "I'll tell you another time because it's a long story."

Bell nodded, and Ashe moved to the last carving on the opposite wall.

"And this… is a Dragon Priest… Hm, it makes sense a carving of one would be here," Ashe said. "As I told you earlier, this temple was built during a time when the people of Skyrim worshipped the Dragons. The Dragon Priests were the ones who ruled over the land in the name of their dragon overlords."

Ashe narrowed her eyes and looked closer. "It looks like this one actually has some Dovahzul carved here. Oh, and Dovahzul is the language of the Dragons."

"The dragons here could speak?" Bell widened his eyes at that.

"Yes, they had their own spoken and written language. In fact, you heard the language; I and the Black Dragon spoke it."

"Oh yeah… That's right…"

"Anyway, the word written here is Krosis which means Sorrow. Out of all the Dragon Priests, why would his name be written here?" Ashe said and looked to be thinking. "...It doesn't matter in the end. Let's move on."

Bell nodded and moved to the door. He was excited about what he learned and resolved to eventually find some books on this subject.

"You should be able to solve this easily," Ashe motioned to the door.

It was a very weird door. There was no door knob or keyhole. But there were these rings, and testing them out, Bell learned they could spin. Each ring had three different symbols on it. In the center of the door was some sort of panel with three claw marks.

It wasn't hard to figure that this had to do with the golden claw. So, Bell took it out and he noticed the symbols on the palm, they were the same one on the door. So, he turned the rings until the symbols on the door matched the ones on the claw from top to bottom. Bell placed the claw in the indents and turned. The rings spun until the same symbol appeared on all three rings and the door lowered into the floor.

Bell and Ashe walked forward into the innermost sanctum of the temple. Up on the dais were a word wall, a sarcophagus, and a dozen chests.

As they walked closer to the word wall, Bell blinked as he heard something but he couldn't make it out.

"Do… you hear that?" he said.

"You hear it too?" Ashe said.

"What is it? I can't make it out."

"Really? It's pretty clear that it's chanting."

Bell tried to hear that but he couldn't. It was just a low buzzing noise. He shook his head at Ashe and she frowned and stared back at the wall, reading the writing on it.

"Hmm…"

"Het nok faal vahlok

Deinmaar do dovahgolz

Ahrk aam FUS do unslaad

Rahgol ahrk vulom"

.

"And that means…"

"Here lies the guardian

Keeper of Dragonstone

And a FORCE of unending

Rage and darkness"

.

"That doesn't sound- Wait what?!" Bell started but interrupted himself.

It was because one of the words on the wall started glowing and misty tendrils came from the word and went into Ashe.

Bell was startled by that and went to speak.

"What-"

*BANG*

Ashe and Bell quickly turned around to see the sarcophagus lid fly open and an undead dressed in priest-like vestments floated out of it. They quickly pulled out their weapons.

"Oh, shit. A Dragon Priest!" Ashe shouted as she went into an Iai Stance. "This must be Krosis."

"Hin laas los dii!" the Priest shouted in a raspy voice.

"Hi fen funt," Ashe retorted.

Once again, Bell had no idea what they were saying, but he didn't have time to ask because the Priest gathered magic in his left hand and released it before him. A dark void formed and when it disappeared, a large, bulky ice monster appeared.

"A Frost Atronach," Ashe identified for Bell's sake. "Bell, deal with it. I'll take care of the Dragon Priest."

Bell nodded and charged the Atronach. Ashe moved so fast to the Priest that it was almost like she teleported. She hit it with a quick-draw slash that sent it flying off the dais and she chased after it.

Meanwhile, Bell had managed to get some slashes in on the Atronach, though he wasn't doing as much damage as he'd like. This would've been much harder if he didn't have these daggers. Especially since the Atronach was faster than its size would suggest.

Case in point, Bell took a big hit in the chest from its blunt arm and flew backward through the air. He cringed in pain as he quickly drank a potion and dodged the sharp arm that the Atronach stabbed at him.

Bell jumped to dodge it. He landed on its arm and jumped again toward its head. Unfortunately, Bell misjudged the Atronach's speed again as it quickly brought up its blunt arm as a shield to block his mid-air attack. It promptly pushed back as Bell had to fly through the air again.

The second he landed, he dodged to the side as his opponent quickly followed him with a huge downward smash.

He was about to get in close to attack but it suddenly turned into an icy mess on the ground. He turned to Ashe to see she had cut off the Dragon Priest's head. He also had to stop and stare at her side of the battlefield. Bell saw burn marks all over the stone and lots of frozen patches and water. There are also deep gashes on the stones from Ashe's sword.

"Nice job holding off the Atronach," Ashe said as she sheathed her sword and picked up the Dragon Priest's mask.

Bell nodded and moved to rejoin Ashe at the coffin. She picked up this giant stone tablet. Bell looked from her side and saw a map of some kind.

"Hmm, looks important," Ashe said and she put the thing in her pocket dimension inventory. "Come on. We're done here."

~X~

~ Riverwood - Ashe's Shack ~

"You did well in the Barrow," Ashe said as the two walked into the shack.

"Yeah," Bell said tiredly as he sat on the bed.

"Now, take off your shirt."

"What?!" Bell said, his face turning red in embarrassment.

"You took some hits while in there," Ashe said. "Even though you drank some healing potions, I need to make sure your injuries healed properly. Also, I want to mend your shirt."

Bell looked down to see cuts and blood on his shirt. The skin beneath looked fine but it was also covered in dry blood. So, with a blush, he took off his shirt. It's not like he hadn't done this before with his goddess, Hestia.

So, Bell laid down on the bed as Ashe checked over his injuries to make sure they healed properly and used a washcloth and bucket of water to wipe off the dried blood. Soon, he turned over to his stomach so she could check his back.

"Hmm?" he heard her say curiously.

"What is it?" Bell said.

"You're fourteen, right?" Ashe said. "Aren't you a little too young for tattoos?"

Tattoo? …Oh!

"That's my Falna. I got it from my goddess when I became an adventurer."

"Right, the Falna the tells you of your progress… You told me about that and the Dungeon," Ashe said. "Do you want me to translate what's here?"

"You can read hieroglyphs?" Bell asked, surprised.

"Yeah, it's easy. It's just the Greek alphabet."

"Greek?"

"A language of a land far away from Tamriel," Ashe said but didn't explain further.

Bell was curious. How was this alphabet the exact same as divine hieroglyphs?

Ashe used a spell to write on the paper she had in a few seconds, and Bell sat up on the bed. She handed him the paper with his status for him to read. Thankfully she had translated it into the Koine alphabet.

Despite Skyrim and Genkai sharing the same language, the written language was very different. Bell had a lot of trouble learning about this place since he couldn't read anything. So, it's a good thing Ashe wrote these in Koine.

Time to look at his stats.

"What the heck?!" he shouted.

Bell Cranel

Level: 1

Strength: E-403

Endurance: G-200

Dexterity: F-412

Agility: D-521

Magic: I-0

Skills

Memoria Freese: Fast growth based on the user's desires. The stronger the desires, the faster the growth. (Side Effects: The user is immune to mind manipulation skills and magic. Limit Breaker.)

.

Bell's mind blanked as he read the paper.

'Why are my stats so high?!'

He then saw the skill at the bottom.

"What's the problem, Bell?" Ashe said.

'Right, she wouldn't know'

"Uh, my stats are a lot higher than I thought," Bell said. "When I had my Falna updated a couple of days ago, my stats were around 100."

"And…?" Ashe said.

"Well, to go from 100 to where I am now at 400, it would take months, maybe even a few years," Bell explained.

"Hmm…" Ashe thought it over. "I wish I could meet the people of Orario, so I could compare how strong your people are compared to here. Because, based on you, you and you're people seem naturally weaker than Tamriel's people."

"What do you mean?"

"If I compare your abilities with the Falna to others, you're about as strong as the average Imperial soldier. And they don't have the Falna. In fact, I'd say Hadvar is stronger than you," Ashe explained. "From what I understand, even, just gaining a Falna provides a huge power boost. But for us in Tamriel, that level of power is normal. Anyone can reach it with enough training."

Bell didn't know what to think about that as he took in the information. People here can naturally get as strong as adventures? Well, it's possible to do that in Genkai, to get so strong without a Falna. But it's incredibly rare, nowhere near as common as Ashe made it out to be here on Tamriel. It wasn't until the gods descended and introduced the Falna that it became relatively easier to get strong.

"Anyway, back to the original topic about your increased stat gain," Ashe said. "It's because of you're new skill. The stronger your desires the faster your growth."

"Desires? Desires for what?" Bell tilted his head in question.

"Anything, really," Ashe shrugged. "Desire to grow stronger, desire to save someone, desire to reach your goal, to name some examples. I guess whatever your desire was to jump from 100 to 400 was very strong."

Bell thought back to that. The only time for his stats to rise was training with Ashe and going through that old ruin. What did he feel during that?

He glanced at Ashe and then looked away.

…Wait a minute… Something's not right here.

"How did my Falna update?" Bell said. "Goddess Hestia has to update it herself."

"...Bell…" Ashe seemed hesitant to speak. "The Falna takes on a different appearance depending on which god it comes from, right?" Ashe asked and Bell nodded. "What does the one from Hestia look like?"

"A large brazier with a fire burning," Bell promptly answered.

"I see… Well, it's different now."

Bell blinked a couple of times at that. "...What?"

Ashe pulled out another piece of paper and placed her hand on it. She used her magic to make a drawing. When she finished, she gave it to Bell who took it with slightly shaking hands and gasped.

Because the drawing of the symbol on his back was not Hestia's.

"H-How did this happen?" He stuttered. "And who's Falna is this?"

"Well… I can take a guess," Ashe slowly said. "After all, I recognize what that symbol represents."

"What is it?" Bell said.

Ashe hesitated because… if this was really from who she thought it was then this had some very big implications. And Ashe would then have a lot of questions.

Because the symbol on his back?

It was a scarab.

The symbol of Lorkhan.

~X~

Author's Note:

Chapter Done!

.

Dovahzul Translations:

Hin lass los dii! - Your life is mine!

Hi fen funt. - You will fail.

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As always, constructive criticism is appreciated.