A Dream Of Lilies
Loading Screen… Nordenbjorg is the capital of Haafinheim Hold. A hold made entirely of marble and white crystal, enchanted by ancient Snow Elves who are now devolved into the Falmer…
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A Dream of Lilies
I try to get away from her, I try to ignore.
I try to fight and focus on my battle.
But my dreams are filled with lilies.
Sunshine-swirling lilies painting the world inside my head.
My nightmares begin when I wake up.
Because I will never have the Lily.
So, my icy, desolate heart cracks every time I see her.
I must wander this hell on my own.
These winter colors remind me of the Lily.
Haunting my every step.
Eyes like crystal snowflakes.
Even still, a perfect Lily would never be with me.
Krest idly wrote the poem as he sat once more in the kitchen by himself. He had a bowl full of a breakfast grain and some goat's milk. He shovelled a spoonful of the glop into his mouth and a few more bites of the substance, he added some honey to it. He mixed it and ate with renewed vigour as Saadia came in, sitting down across from him with a cup of coffee and a newspaper in hand. Idrasa, on the other hand, was hunched over in a chair, rocking back and forth with a quilt draped over her.
"What're you eating?" Saadia asked from behind her parchment. Krest eyed his ceramic bowl as if it would explain itself. Her hand shifted in the shadow of her pocket and shuffled something out, a gleaming bronze-edge to it. "Bought you something." She handed him a pair of brass knuckles. "Don't want a little boy like you to die out there in the harsh wilderness, after all. Tried to give Idrasa a pair but she refuses; witchcraft is more her forte."
Krest put his spoon aside and accepted them, observing the fine smithing. He shoved them into his shouldered satchel. "Thank you, Saadia. I'll put them to good use."
Saadia smiled. "Idrasa's friend, a Nord woman named Luna Perla wrote a story that made it into the newspapers and now has spread across Skyrim. She's become famous!"
"What's the story called?" Krest asked.
"Sanguinary Travails. It's a mystery novel set in the First Era. I'm reading it right now!" Saadia chewed on some lembas bread lying nearby on a plate, dipping it in her caffeinated beverage.
"I'll read it once this business with Talos is settled. I could use a good book." Krest downed the rest of his cereal and stood up.
"When you're not busy writing love poems." Saadia grinned cheekily.
Krest blushed a deep cherry red, the image of Dibella floating in his head. "I don't write poetry! I'm a battle-hardened warrior! I don't love anyone!"
Saadia gave a sympathetic look. "Yes, I know, such a strong little warrior you are."
"Ugh." Krest rolled his eyes and left.
He saw a few Dibellan rosaries lying on a table nearby as he rounded the bend and feasted on the view outside the window. Far ahead were glaciers and sculpted ice slopes centered around an igloo. He traversed the hallway as it progressively smelled less like stored food and more of burnt offering and rosewater. In the center of the hallway there was a mirror, a nightstand with an Iron Helmet lying on it. Krest picked up the thing, two goat horns curved downward, framing the mouthguard. He put it on and gazed at his reflection.
Not bad. Not bad at all. He put the nordic motif helmet down.
A few lily pads and water pooled the midground as he saddled into the central expanse of the temple. Akatosh was there, sitting on a stone bench and discussing something with himself. Krest sat down, placing his hands on his knees.
Akatosh's face twisted into a goofy grin. "Why did the mudcrab call the guards? Because it had claws for concern!"
Krest stared at the grandfatherly man in awe for a moment. In all the commotion he hadn't stopped to process the fact that this was the Dragon god of time. This was his all-Father. He may have a different biological father, but as Dragonborn, Akatosh was his heavenly Father.
"Thank you, Akatosh." Krest's pupils dilated.
Akatosh smiled warmly and gave him a tender, tight hug. "Even when we are apart, my son, I am closer to you than your own heart. And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the world."
Idrasa entered just then. "Lord Akatosh, you promised to help me?" She gestured to the spellcrafter on the side of the room.
"Yes, of course, my daughter." Akatosh shuffled over to it and Krest lingered after them, making out the sheened spruce and runic symbols engraved there, like the ones hagravens used. He noted the black arches that entrapped the book within brambles, a ruby and emerald implanted on the spine. "You want to make a spell, yes? Fair enough." Akatosh flicked through the centered tome there and his touch sent inflictions of racing blue energy over it. "Take a spell already in the book, such as flames and study the three components of it. Flames has two, fire being one, a stream being the second. Can you guess what we do next?"
Krest watched as Idrasa turned the pages, perusing over symbols for elements before choosing the one signifying jungle characterized by a thick tree branch. The Dark Elf took the emblem for it, replacing the fire symbol. She hit the seal which confirmed the spell, and an incantation was born. It was a spell to project vines.
"Well done, my girl." Akatosh clapped. "Smart choice."
Saadia strolled smoothly into the room.
"Something's going on outside the walls. I saw some guards mustering near the main gate. Krest, be a dear and go check what's happening for me, will you?" Saadia swiped a hand through her black dangles of hair.
"Alright." Krest dredged himself on.
"Stay away from trouble." Idrasa flicked her wrist as the vines she conjured wrapped around her clothed arm, twisting like wild veins.
The gelid city of Nordenbjorg glowed generously in the light of the rising sun. Some dwarven spheres rolled around. Jarl Ulfric's palace, the Crystal Keep was constructed from ice and sat in the elevated courtyard towards the front of the city. Krest passed the Bards' Academy of the Voice. Pale, marble walls surrounded the entire city's perimeter, keeping everyone safe. Arched walls with walkways on top connected to guard towers.
His cloak was weighed down by the snow, which chose to parade heavily this time of winter. There was as much ice in the atmosphere as there was in the frozen, blue sea. Bright, moonstone battlements poking up here and there. There was a loss of elegance in comparison to the eloquent castles and colonnades of Cyrodiil. Here it was all robust, circular, and ivory. His observations of Skyrim's architectural design were short lived when he saw a pair of crimson eyes with minuscule black pupils observing him from a few feet away. Krest froze. Midnight-black feathers, a cruel-hooked beak reminiscent of a raven. Sharp talons and large wings. Tall, bi-pedal, and creepy. Easily the most terrifying thing he had witnessed next to the violent violets of Talos.
It's that giant raven. It's probably why the guards were meeting at the gates. Clearly, it had averted the guardsmen.
The nightmare made reality turned its head to the side, cool air misting off its feathers. It purred coolly at him in its high-pitched dialect, "you will come with Slood Crul, yes?" The monstrosity curled its wings, constricting about Krest. He felt like his life force was about to be squeezed out of him. The giant bird's strength was unnatural, rendering Krest speechless as its steel-like grip tightened around him. The tone of it was eerie and just plain creepy.
Slood shifted and grabbed Krest's collar with its beak and took off into the sky, soaring above the Temple of Dibella. They flew above magnificent waters and marble covered, snowcapped hills. He saw Skyshards, dismantled cabins, frost trolls, and overturned bluish glaciers bleeding ice water. After a while of streaking over pink skies, the hideous entity began its descent, lowering itself over a secluded hilltop where the single igloo Krest had spotted before rested. A few penguins were waddling around the premise as well and a single decrepit scarecrow stood outside, ironically.
"I have Beardy's food," said Slood in a breathy whisper, his blood-red eyes roiling with hunger. "This one looks tasty." The bizarre creature was sniffing his skin, taking in his scent like a blood-starved vampire. "Too bad Beardy wants him to himself," it pouted in its high-pitched voice.
The penguins let out a squeak as Slood hopped about, settling into a spot with Krest.
The raven poked its black beak into his ear. "The Bad Man," he whispered in a mouthy breath. "The one your people call Tiber Septim. He is Thee Shezarrine." Slood laughed in a lilting way, "Beardy will make you wish you were dead. Only Auriel, the one you call, Akatosh, can save you now. Aaah, our master approaches!"
Talos stepped out of the igloo. The vertical pupils looked at Krest from betwixt violet-hued irises. A scarred slash over his throat. A small cloud briefly rained ethereal, illusory rain over him before dissipating, a white snake served as his tail. His face looked pale, a snakeskin complexion. Talos gestured for Slood to release Krest, which he did. Talos then grabbed Krest by the hair and wrenched him off the ground from where he had collapsed. Krest hissed in pain as Talos' bristled, calloused hand enclosed upon his throat and brought him to a standstill. The callouses cutting into his neck. Krest gasped for breath. Their faces grew so close that Krest's eyelashes curled up against Talos. Violet and ice-blue, mirroring one another, stirring like alchemy.
Krest's arm shifted into a blade, and he socked Talos in the gut. The fallen god's phizog pressed in, his brow twitched, and he tossed Krest forcefully aside. Krest crashed into the snow and coughed hard, wheezing for breath. He threw me like ten feet with one arm. He's so damn strong.
Talos pulled out a golden knife and stabbed Slood in the heart, the giant raven fell to the floor and the snow turned blackish red beneath him. "Master, WHYYYYYYYY?!" Slood let out a mournful crowing wail as he died, flocking around as his life essence sprayed out, some spritzing on Krest. The ebony mass burst into a murder of crows which all flew off into the pink singed sky.
The baby penguins scattered and huddled in a nearby corner, using their flippers to protect one another.
Krest slipped on the two brass knuckles Saadia gave him.
Talos pointed at the Temple of Dibella and threw his hands in the air. His snake-shaped tail reared over his shoulder and spoke serenely, "I am looking for the Last Dragonborn."
Krest carefully stood up, getting into position. "Talos the Shezarrine, I know what you are. Lorkhan, Shor."
Talos smiled. His snake tail nodded and spoke once again, "aah, so you recognize me, mortal? Then you know I am Tzahal Sufyani, the Last Shezarrine and rightful ruler of this world, and the Nords are my people!"
He's completely deranged.
Krest's face slipped into a scowl. "Are you a Shezarrine or are you Lorkhan himself?"
"Both," the snake spit. "Now that all seven Shezarrines have walked Nirn, they have converged into me and thus Lorkhan is reborn as Talos Lorkhan! ME!"
L – Shor Sep
O – Pelinal Whitestrake
R – Ysmir Wulfharth
K – Zurin Arctus
H – Hjalti Early-Beard
A – Talos Stormcrown
N – Tzahal Sufyani
That's seven. All combined: Talos Lorkhan thee Shezarrine.
"Call yourself by whatever name you like," Krest said. "It won't save you from my blade."
Krest took off, sprinting full speed, body slamming Talos into the soil. Krest knocked fist after fist into Talos' face. Fist after fist hammered into Lorkhan's skull. Fist after fist after fist after fist after fist. Talos sent a kick to Krest's solar plexus, and he hit the igloo hard, one pair of his brass knuckles hitting the snowy groundcover. Talos heaved a massive ball of ice at him. It shattered as Krest deflected it with his stinger-blade, smacking Talos in the face with his other balled up hand. The clumsy oaf threw a wild haymaker. Krest dodged and delivered his last-knuckled fist straight into the god's mouth.
Krest shoved all his strength into it. Talos swallowed the brass and pushed back. Krest planted his feet firmly into the snow and focused his whole body into his fist. With everything Krest had. With every ounce of energy and strength, he smashed Talos straight into the snowbank. Watching the large Nord grovel under the powder that dusted everywhere. Krest took a deep breath, his forehead sweating.
Trumpets and drums blared in his mind. He felt on top of the world at that moment. I am the Last Dragonborn.
Talos gathered himself then lunged like a viper, kneeing Krest in the face and thrusting him into the ground. Krest choked the serpent tail Talos had grown when it tried to bite him. Slipping out under him and socking Talos as hard as he could in the jaw.
Talos grabbed Krest by the wrist and threw him into the igloo with one foul swoop.
Talos' brawny figure burst through the wall of ice and punched Krest with one gauntleted fist into the rockface. He hammered Krest again and again and again into the solid earth. Each blow knocking the wind out of him.
All Krest saw was blood. It felt like an eternity before everything suddenly went silent. Krest rolled over and breathed, blinking back tears. His spirit was broken, and sticky plasma coated his eyebrows and hair. Krest glanced ahead and saw Talos standing at the foot of the igloo with arms crossed.
Talos' snake-tail spoke again, "come, mortal. Try to defeat me."
Krest grabbed the mantlepiece of the rudimentary fireplace and heaved himself up, prepping himself into a fighting stance. He charged at Talos; his stinger-blade aimed at the god of war's throat. In a swipe Talos grabbed Krest by both forearms and held him still, his amethysts carving into Krest's soul. Krest couldn't move. He was neutralized.
"Did you really think you could beat a god?" Talos said through his tail, tilting his actual head at Krest. "You don't think I was going easy on you?" Talos smirked to one side.
Krest's eyes widened with horror.
Talos rammed his forehead into Krest's. Krest felt pain rip through his skull. Another headbutt sent Krest into the ground. Talos jumped onto his ribcage with both feet and the floor gave away.
A passage of images overcame him as Talos smashed him underground. Krest vaguely recognized the place as Nifelcairn Way as aches and pains permeated throughout his body. Talos clenched the area where his heart would be with one hand, reeling back.He's losing his godhood with every passing day. He's getting weaker...
I am the Dragonborn. I have to be. This is the only way I'll ever matter.
Krest curled up in a fetal position, spine rounding as he held his hands to his eyes. His fingers crunched in. "Gods, help." He eventually got up, his knees wobbling. A massive punch to the face sent him flying again.
"Why do you hate me?" Talos asked, raising a clenched fist. "You are a man, an Imperial, you should worship me."
"I used to worship and idolize you, back when I believed the fairytales about your heroism." Reddish blood stuck to Krest's eyeballs. "That was until I learned you're a warmongering rapist. A womanizer and a glutton for power. A slaver and murderer. You're worse than the Devil."
"I am a hero," Talos said through his tail. "I am the Hero of Mankind. You would not exist were it not for me; your Ayleid oppressors would still rule over you."
"Does that justify your genocide of the Altmer during your conquests?" Krest shook his head. "Does that justify every child you killed, every woman you raped?"
"The Devil, Konahrik," Talos started. "Slaughtered thousands of my people, men, in the Dawn Era. I will find him and kill him along with the Last Dragonborn."
I can… I can still fight, Krest thought, slowly standing up. Soon as he did, he collapsed into the cold dirt, face first.
"Just kill me." Krest sunk into the mud.
"You're a disgrace." Talos sneered in disgust. "You call yourself a man. You should've been born an elf."
"I would've gladly been born an elf." Krest closed his eyes.
He saw various Hörme bow down for the Divine. Talos picked him up, taking a left down another underground corridor until they reached a rock face carving.
The Horme were practicing necromancy. Their black beady eyes burned into him. One was summoning Frostbite spiders while another was demonstrating how to unwind and sow together different anatomical parts to construe a new creation, demonstrating by making a bunny-penguin hybrid: a bunguin.
The passages progressively got damper, darker, and more flooded. It went from the old, sandy style sandstone to murky Imperial fort textures with ruined wooden supports. Talos propped Krest over his shoulders, turning him around and carrying him off like he was a slave girl. Talos went into the opening and traveled through narrow, winding, torch-lit passages until they came to a stone room with a glassless window into the descent below. Talos threw him to the floor. Krest sprawled on the ground. He wants me as leverage.
Talos' face darkened and his eyes devoid of eyelashes drooped. The bedroom was made completely of stone with a bed connected to the wall. Only the mattress, pillows and a few other things were not made of stone. A weird installment inside a sea-bordering nordic ruin. The frostiness of the outdoor world had reminded Krest of the bleach and winter that were Dibella's eyes. But now that comfort was long gone.
"Dibella…" Krest moaned her name in longing.
Talos looked at him. "Dibella?" He bent down and held Krest up by his locks. "Oh, you like that whore… You do!" A cruel grin painted the god's face. "Has she ever told you about how I used to fuck her every night. Oh yes, boy. She was my bed-wife at the beginning of this kalpa. Oh how she would moan my name as I ravaged her… again and again and again…"
Krest spit on Talos' face. The god of man tossed him aside.
The snake on Talos' hindquarters coiled upward. "Tell me who the Last Dragonborn is or die. I know Akatosh must have said something…"
The Nord pulled Krest up by the hair and nailed him to a wall. Talos removed his knife and slashed Krest across the face with it, a line of bright red welling on his visage. He slapped Krest hard across his face, his whole cheek going red, blood balloting over like paint. Talos then stepped away, grasping his stomach and coughing violently, droplets of violet coming out of his throat. He held up his odd shade of ichor to himself and regarded Krest as if he were the one responsible. Krest struggled to stay upright. Another fist to the face saw him kissing the wintry floor again. Blood gurgled out through Krest's teeth, and his gaze became hazy. The words he wished to say died when Talos wrenched him up by the hair again and pommeled his fist into Krest's gut. Krest was thrown into a dark corner of the room, over a pile of junk. Flesh tickled him there and he squinted; a dead woman, middle-aged, was lying there. She looked to be an Imperial: tanned skin with chef robes which were ripped open and handprints on her neck.
What kind of monster does this?
Krest clawed his way out of the pile of discarded parts, shoving aside a Dwemer crossbow schematic and a totem of Hircine.
Talos seized him immediately. Krest threw Talos off, landing a left hook on Talos' body. Determination squared on his face as he rammed the bigger man into the stony interior with every inch of strength his body could spare. He socked the former emperor hard across his bony cheekbone. Talos grabbed Krest's collar and kneed him up the forehead before front-kicking him onto the floor. Talos croaked in inaudible laughter, his hands gripping his stomach as he bellowed like a frog, appearing quite mad. His stormcrown raining ethereal rain over him again briefly before disappearing.
Krest watched him through bruised eyes, hiccupping as he got back up. Talos smashed Krest straight into the hard floor once more.
As his eyelids met, a mature, motherly tone vocalized, "why don't you pick on someone your own size."
Dibella stood in the entrance.
Talos forced a pained smile, but underneath Krest could tell he was afraid. The god of war curled a spell into his hand and sent it into the air. The cloud above him shouted some words Krest didn't understand, a whole bunch of nonsensical demonic chanting.
Dibella strode over to Krest and pulled him behind her. A distant thunder made itself known, nearing them from the south.
It's the Nifelworm.
Talos flung his knife in the direction of Dibella. She knocked it back at him. Dibella shot three successive punches at Talos, one of which got him in the shoulder. Krest hid in the corner as Dibella disabled Talos' arms and legs in sweeping strokes. A kick sent Talos hurling into the rocky snow. He looked up. Dibella was slamming her dagger at him. He grabbed her wrist with both his arms, but she used her other hand to force it down on him, scratching his immaculate gold and silver armor. Talos' snake tail hissed, lunging at the goddess. She kicked it aside with a knee-block and pounded Talos' cheek. A knee went up his chin, she slammed his head down upon her leg next. A sidekick to his stomach.
Talos broke free, sprinting and hopping out the window onto the express worm as it sundered away.
He just trampled the Horme to escape. He's afraid of Dibella.
"I was naïve and young then, weak from sacrificing so much of my energy for Nirn. But now, my power is second only to Akatosh," Dibella seemed to be talking to herself. "He must've called it with that spell. The fool didn't think to warn the Horme. There was a time I feared him, but it seems the reverse is the case now."
Dibella slapped Krest across the face. Her brows pressed in, and her jaw clenched tightly, barely holding in her rage. "You really are a fucking idiot, aren't you?"
Krest stared at her feet in shame.
She grabbed him by the ear and pulled his face down. "Now, what were you doing here, hmm? Akatosh sent me to come save you. I'm not your personal servant to come get you out of trouble every time you feel like getting caught up in it."
"I'm sorry, Mother Dibella," Krest cried. "I-I was kidnapped."
She let go of him. A lily was pinned on her hair, he noticed.
"Oh, come here, let me heal you." She hugged him, directing magical floes everywhere he'd been injured.
Krest's heartbeat pounded against his chest. His wounds stitched back together in a warmth he'd never felt before.
Dibella flicked her short bangs. "We might have to send you to a healing ward, so you heal up properly. Until then you aren't allowed out of my sight and you're not to do anything dangerous. When we get back, I expect you to eat a full meal. I'll make sure Balagog cooks it well."
Krest blushed bright red. "Yes, Mother Dibella, Ma'am."
"Is that a woman?" She inquired, moving Krest aside with one leg and crouching down beside the body of the Imperial skewed near the junk. "May she rest in Aetherius." Dibella magically sowed the woman's robes back together and entombed her body in the stone, conjuring black roses and marking it with a headstone.
I wish it were me in that grave.
"Thank you for saving me." Krest gulped.
"I'm going to have to teach you how to fight properly." She pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. "I promised Akatosh I'd get you back safely."
Krest quieted up as Dibella seized him by the collar. She burst a hole in the tunnel with a spell, sediment and moldy rock breaking off as they flew out into the fields of ice surrounding them.
"Grab on tight unless you want to die." Dibella tugged him close as she hovered in the winds, floating like a flame atronach.
Krest laid his head against her collarbone as she wrapped one arm tight like iron over his torso. Krest shivered when he felt the groove of her rhomboids. The speed at which she flew, the chill of the air, it was all thrilling. He quavered as they soared through a few clouds, but her presence was warmth itself.
"Oh wait, this'll be funny." She turned Krest parallel and held him horizontally like she was a knight who'd just rescued him from some dragon.
Saadia was in the courtyard, petting a bunny and lamb that were flocking towards her.
Krest blushed when the Redguard saw them. "I have returned with the kidnapped princess," Dibella joked, setting Krest down. "You may alert King Auriel."
"Aah, thank you, noble knight," Saadia laughed.
Dibella then ushered Krest inside after that. Her eyes of bleach and winter haunted him as she stepped off.
"Are you alright?" Akatosh asked. It was such a sharp contrast to how Dibella reacted in the passage that Krest wasn't sure what to do.
Dibella scoffed, "Talos kidnapped him for information probably." She strutted off.
Krest watched her stride away, consuming a hard knot in his throat. He felt such longing as she left.
Akatosh stepped over to the cupboard and pulled out some red vials. "Drink these, blood replenishing potions."
Krest breathed a sigh of relief, giving a tired thumbs up as thanks. He took one of the potions and drank it, feeling his blood flow return. His heart overturned hopefully. I'll stop Talos. He stalked off after that, nodding his thanks at Akatosh once more.
"Oh, and Krest," called Akatosh. Krest paused mid-step. "Don't mind Dibella. She's been through a lot, but she will come around. Someone who trusts no one once trusted someone too much."
He cleared his throat and walked on. On his way to his quarters, he saw Tsun who waved at him, but Krest ignored the Atmoran. - He locked his door and gazed out the window over the nighttime snowscape outside. Enormous, gleaming vistas of hills of ice and iceberg mountains sat like monuments in the spirited blue ocean. Sparkling in the distance over the horizon rested Roscrea, smiling at him under the blue cosmos of the starry auroras. Krest looked back towards Skyrim and all he could see were endless glaciers and permafrost.
A thousand winds blew in the air, singing their symphony. Krest took notice of a shooting star that shot across the firmament.
The image of a lily hovered behind the eye of his mind. He knew what he wanted.
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A/N: Check out my friend, Pearl Lunar's story: Bloody Footprints on Elder Scrolls fandom. It's a very interesting mystery that I am really enjoying!