The Witcher: Age of the Dragon Redux

A Witcher series/Elder Scrolls crossover

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Chapter 1

The Summit of Apocrypha.

At the Summit of Hermaeus Mora's realm of Oblivion, Apocrypha, two individuals faced each other. One clad in royal purple robes wearing a mask seemingly made of golden metal shaped in the sinuous twisting limbs & appendages of a cephalopod. The other was clad in black armour composed of dark metal platemail with the pitch black leather and padded cloth in some places. The man also wore a dark full helmet that had the symbol of a white dragon embossed on the forehead and beneath the helm glinted a pair of purple eyes so dark they were almost a dark blue.

Both men stared at each other for a moment before the masked man spoke in a deep resonating voice. "Here we are, Dovahkiin. At the Summit of Apocrypha, to decide the fate of Nirn," he said addressing his opponent. His opponent didn't say anything, he merely drew from his hip a simple but no less magnificent looking sword with the blade the colour of dark smoke, the quillons wrought in the shape of snarling dragons and the hilt made of onyx metal with a large flawless ruby embedded in the centre of softly pointed triangular pommel.

The robed and masked man tilted his head slightly before commenting, "And here I thought we were going to have a civilised discussion before this," he commented carelessly as though he knew this would be his opponent's reaction. "Very well then. If you're so eager to die, then let us begin!" he said as he pulled from his own hip, a large bladed and single edged sword and materialising in his other hand a green staff seemingly made of tentacles as well.

The Dovahkiin held his sword in both hands ready to fight. His opponent then bellowed out three loud words.

MUL QAH DIIV!

In a flash of light, the robed/masked man was encased in golden glowing translucent armour adorned with spikes and edges, giving him a more draconic look. The Dovahkiin took in a breath before shouting the same words as his opponent.

MUL QAH DIIV!

Then the warrior too was encased in glowing golden translucent armour as his enemy. His enemy gave a brief laugh before saying, "So, you too have learned all the Words to possess this power? This shall be an interesting battle!" he said before charging towards Dovahkiin who charged at him too.

Each of them swung their swords at the other and there was an almighty boom as the blades of their swords collided with one another. Sparks flew as blades clashed and grinded against each other as the two men fought each other. The Dovahkiin shouted another three words.

SU GRAH DUN!

A small tempest of wind encircled the warrior's sword and he began striking harder and faster at his opponent, even inflicting a few wounds on the man. The masked man did not cry out in pain instead he only shouted once more.

WULD NAH KEST!

The masked man zoomed over to another part of the Summit and his weapons disappeared in a flash and his hands were filled with lightning. Dovahkiin turned to face his enemy and sprinted at his enemy with a speed that would make many athletes jealous, especially given he was wearing such heavy looking armour.

The masked man simply cast streams of lightning from his hands at the Dovahkiin. The streams of arcane energy collided with the warrior, but the man simply kept charging forward at his opponent. Then the masked man shouted three words just as his foe shouted three words as well.

STRUN BAH QO!

Then there was a roar of howling winds and torrential rain and thunder and lightning filled the skies as those words were bellowed out by the two combatants. Tornadoes filled the skies and began ripping up everything in the realm, the murky waters of Apocrypha churned and frothed into a seething mess.

Still, both combatants fought on, uncaring for the devastation wrought by their actions. Then in the murky heavens of Apocrypha, a roiling mass of slimy tentacles and large wet eyes looked down at the summit and a deep voice filled with anger spoke.

"YOU FOOLS! I WILL NOT SUFFER THE DEVASTATION OF MY REALM! I BANISH YOU BOTH FROM HERE!" roared the voice and streaking down from the heavens, were sinuous tentacles and appendages that wrapped around the fighters and dragged them up into the heavens.

…

Velen, No Man's Land, on the outskirts of the hamlet of Midcopse.

Keira Metz, former advisor to King Foltest of Temeria and member of the Lodge of Sorceresses, gave a tired irritable sigh. She had yet to deal with the hayseeds badgering her for miracle cures whether it be warts removed or love potions, and to be frank she was rather sick of it. All this time hiding from the Redanian Witch Hunters and King Radovid the Stern, not to mention any agents of Nilfgaard posing as a cunning woman made the straw haired Sorceress ache and long for the luxuries of royal courts and ballrooms. A place where she could easily snap her fingers and her wants and desires would be attended to swiftly by loyal servants, whether it be a fresh clean dress from the finest seamstresses, or a meal cooked by the head chef of a castle fit for royalty, she missed dreadfully.

After dealing with the quibbles of the peasants and shooing them away for the day with some salves and ointments for whatever ailed them, Keira was just about to prepare to head to her real sanctuary where she could bathe and hopefully forget about her troubles for a little while.

As she prepared to cast the spell on the pentagram that would open a portal to her sanctuary, the air suddenly grew thick and heavy. Keira's senses were finely tuned to detect even the faintest pulses of magical energies, and this was by no means faint. The sudden sensation of magic almost hit Keira like a ton and bricks and made her clutch her head in pain. She dropped to her knees the headache was that painful.

Then the sound of what almost sounded like a portal opening echoed from outside and the pain subsided and Keira panted heavily as she took a moment to regain her bearings and her composure.

Now, Keira was curious; whatever had made that pulse of magic was strong, exceedingly so. It was much too powerful for any sorcerer that Keira knew personally, and she half thought that it might be some new sorcerer who had tracked her.

Then a loud knocking was heard at the front door. Curious, but at the same time cautious, Keira answered the door. She opened the door just a fraction and she caught a glimpses of midnight black armour. Giving a tiny squeak of alarm, Keira snapped the door shut thinking that whomever wore that dark armour was a Nilfgaardian battlemage that had tracked her down.

Then a deep, calm and very masculine voice floated through the wooden door. "I mean you no harm, whomever you are. I simply wish to have some questions answered." Keira perked up a little upon the accent of the owner's voice; it was definitely not Nilfgaardian, it almost sounded like a Nordling accent. Cautiously, Keira opened the door to see a truly massive looking ebon clad knight standing at her front door. Keira's eyes went wide as she picked over the details of the knight's armour; it was simple in design, yet masterfully crafted and it wasn't of Nilfgaardian design. A hand-and-a-half longsword was sheathed by the man's left hip and in one hand, and it too looked to be well-made. A simple leather satchel hung on the right hip of the warrior and Keira could glimpse a pair of purple eyes behind the thin V-shaped slit of the visor.

"Good day to you, my lady, I am the Dovahkiin," the knight said in a polite respectful tone of voice. "Where abouts am I?" he then asked.

"Good day to you, Sir Dovahkiin," Keira said. She was still cautious about this stranger; he had arrived here by magic, so her first thought was that he was a sorcerer of some kind, or had magical training at the very least. And it was clear he looked the part of a warrior or knight. Perhaps the man was a battlemage serving in the army? Although which army was up for debate, Keira thought in her mind; Radovid would clearly never think to hire any mage for his army; he'd sooner surrender to Emhyr than accept the help of any mages. Nilfgaard was a likely possibility, but the Emperor had little love for mages, particularly those who were or still are members of the Lodge. To be sure, Emhyr wouldn't burn mages at the stake, he let them live and ply their trade but he'd keep them on a short and tight leash and under near constant surveillance from his spies.

"Might I ask where I am?" Sir Dovahkiin then rephrased his question.

"Where do you think are?" Keira said in a slightly snippy voice.

"Perhaps somewhere in High Rock or Cyrodiil, but I cannot be certain," Sir Dovahkiin replied.

Keira mentally filed the names of the place the knight just said away in her memory. She hadn't heard of any place called High Rock or Cyrodiil. "You're in Velen, near the village of Midcopse," she informed the warrior.

"And where is Velen?" the warrior asked patiently.

"In the Northern Realms," Keira replied only to receive a silent stare from the knight. "The Continent?" she said hoping that would garner some recognition from the mysterious man. "Where are you from?" she then asked.

"Skyrim."

"Skyrim?"

"Yes."

"And where abouts is Skyrim?" Keira enquired.

"It is the Northernmost province of the Cyrodiilic Empire," came the blunt answer.

Keira stared at the man dumbfounded; although she could not see the knight's face, what with his helmet covering the entirety of his head, she knew that the man was telling the truth. She then subtly used some magic to try and get a read of the man's mind, but she was met with what she could only describe as a wall made of solid steel.

"Are you… from another world?" Keira asked cautiously, half wondering if it was true.

"I suppose I must be if I am not anywhere in Tamriel," the warrior said simply.

"Oh, Gods…" Keira mumbled as she processed that information. She was now stumped as what to do; she was half tempted to send the stranger away to bother someone else. But she looked at the man in closer detail; he looked quite strong and capable and if she was right, he could turn out to be useful.

A smile graced Keira's lips as she then said, "May I invite you in for some dinner?" she offered. "I feel that this calls for a drink, help soothe any nerves we might have and improve conversation," she added convincingly.

"Very well, I accept your offer," the warrior said with a nod of his head. Keira smiled as she allowed the warrior into the humble dwelling. Already the gears were turning inside Keira's head as plans began to form; if she played her cards right, she could return to the lap of luxury and away from the flea infested countryside.

TO BE CONTINUED…

A/N: There! First chapter of this remake is done and dusted! I hope you all enjoyed it and I do apologise to all of you who had so faithfully followed and favourited the original, but it had been so long since I had touched that story that I had forgotten the direction I was going with it and I felt that it was better to start over with hopefully a fresh direction.

Now obviously, this story is set during Witcher 3, the greatest fantasy Action-RPG ever made, and I was debating whether or not to have the Dragonborn land in Skellige, Novigrad or Velen. I think there is another Elder Scrolls/Witcher crossover where the Dragonborn ends up in Skellige, so I decided against that and that left Velen or Novigrad. I chose Velen as a way for the Dragonborn to meet the first Witcher world character, Keira Metz, and hopefully gain an understanding of the world he has found himself.

Now clearly, Keira has some sort of plan to use the Dragonborn as a way to go back to her old life of luxury, but somehow I don't think the Dragonborn is gonna play along with such plans LOL.

Now timeline wise, this first chapter is set a little before the start of Witcher 3. Basically, Geralt and Vesemir are still in White Orchard or are on their way to White Orchard and I do have some plans for the Dragonborn to do some Witcher contracts and quests and perhaps even meet a witcher himself.

And I'm rambling again… *sigh* Anyway, in other news I'm working on a GoT/ASOIAF/Elder Scrolls/Fallout/Witcher crossover and I've set up a romance poll for which lass Aegon VI/Eggboy could potentially end up with and so far Aela the Huntress, Serana and Tyene Sand are tied for first place. Feel free to cast your vote if you wish.

Another bit of news, I just last night published another GoT/DC Comics crossover set in Tom Taylor's Dark Knights of Steel universe of Aegon ending up in the Dark Knights of Steel world. Feel free to have a read and review if you wish.

And that's about all I have right now, so I'll leave this here and I'll catch you all in the next one.

Be kind to one another,

Angry lil' elf.

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P.S: anyone seen the gameplay trailer for the upcoming Redfall game by Bethesda? Looks pretty interesting. I might give it a go when it comes out.