The Waifu Scrolls: Skyrim

[Dis Lexic]

So this is a rather interesting choice. The story has actually been semi dead for a while thanks to writers block, although I have been chipping away at it as best I can. Posting it somewhere I can interact with the readers fully will hopefully be what I need to get the ol muse working again. Maybe I should feed it...Eh, probably fine. Enjoy this slice of utter insanity that is my standard operating procedure these days. Enjoy!

Chapter 1​

My ending came suddenly and violently. One moment I was walking home after a particularly long day at work and the next I was hit by a truck, with my last living memory from the world of my origin being seeing the words 'Truck-kun Deliveries' stenciled on the vans side. The next thing I knew, I was slowly coming too in a rather hard seat that was rattling around like crazy, which did absolutely nothing for my throbbing head. It certainly didn't help that it had suddenly got extremely cold, which, considering that Britain was in the middle of a heatwave, was rather jarring to say the least. I groaned as I slowly forced my eyes open, blinking as I tried to get my vision to clear.

Once I could see again, I found myself sat in the back of a wooden, horse drawn cart that was slowly making its way down a rather bumpy path, surrounded on all sides by pine trees and snow covered rocks. The air was freezing and fresher than anything I'd ever experienced, with nary a hint of pollution, aside from the smell of unwashed bodies. I tried to move, but quickly found myself unable to as my hands were bound with thick, strong rope.

Said unwashed bodies apparently belonged to the men sharing the cart with me. Across from me was a large man with long, blonde hair, a rough beard and startling blue eyes, clad in what appeared to be leather armour.

Beside him was a grubby looking man with dark hair wearing ragged...rags and a frightened and angry expression. He had the air of someone who was sincerely regretting whatever choices he'd made that had led him to this point.

The final man in the cart was a little more well groomed than the others, which, along with his rather more impressive armour that had a thick, fur cloak draped over the back, suggested that he was likely of a higher standing. In addition to having his hands bound, he was also wearing a gag that was tied tightly enough that I could see him wince slightly whenever the cart went over a bump.

"Hey, you," said the first man, drawing my attention back to him, "You're finally awake. You were trying to cross the border, right? Walked right into that Imperial ambush, same as us, and that thief over there."

I glanced at said thief as he scowled while trying to figure out why this entire thing seemed so damn familiar.

"Damn you Stormcloaks," growled the apparent thief, "Skyrim was fine until you came along. Empire was nice and lazy. If they hadn't been looking for you, I could've stolen that horse and been halfway to Hammerfell!"

I froze. Stormcloaks? Hammerfell? SKYRIM?! Oh shit, I'm...FUCK! I shook my head and pinched myself, hard. It hurt. A lot. Combined with the fact that things weren't flying and I wasn't losing my teeth, the chances that this was a dream seemed rather low. Then again, the last thing I remembered was being hit by a truck, so maybe I was in a coma or experiencing my brains last gasps of life before it faded into oblivion? It was that or I'd been Isakaied and considering where I was, I think I'd rather it be the other option.

The horse thief turned to me, apparently unaware of my minor breakdown that was going on in my head.

"You there...You and me, we shouldn't be here," he said, "It's these Stormcloaks the Empire wants."

"We're all brothers and sisters in binds now, thief," said Ralof.

"Shut up back there," said the soldier driving the cart.

"Whats wrong with him?" asked Lokir after a moments silence, nodding to Ulfric.
"Watch your tongue!" snapped Ralof, "Your talking to Ulfric Stormcloak, the true High King!"

Lokir went stark white.

"U-ulfric? The Yarl of Windhelm?" he stuttered, "Your the leader of the Rebellion! But if they've captured you... Oh gods, where are they taking us?"

"I don't know were we’re going, but Sovngarde awaits," said Ralof softly.

Lokir went even paler, to the point where I was worried he'd pass out before we got to Helgen, and started shaking and whimpering. Honestly, I can't blame him and if I wasn't still partly convinced I was dreaming, I probably wouldn't be much better.

"N-no, this isn't happening!" he whimpered, "It can't be happening!"
"Hey, what village are you from, horse thief?" asked Ralof softly.

"Why do you care?" snapped Lokir in a shaky voice.

"A Nord's last thoughts should be of home," said Ralof, now sounding wistful.

Lokir glared for a moment, before he deflated, looking utterly defeated.

"Rorikstead," he muttered, "I'm... I'm from Rorikstead."
"General Tullius, sir, the headsman is waiting!" called one of the soldiers driving the carts.

I turned back to the front as we passed through the gates into the town. The place looked a lot like the small village from the games, although there was a rather different air to it. Maybe it was because I could also smell the scent of wood smoke and horse dung in the air, which made it seem that much more real. Honestly, the smell more than anything was what was making me become more and more convinced that I wasn't dreaming. It just smelt to...real if that makes any sense.

I ignored Ralof's angry mutterings about the General and the Thalmor and Lokir's muttered prayers as I watched the residents of the town quickly begin to hustle into their houses and wondered just how many would survive the imminent attack. Probably not many and those that would would either be rendered homeless or murdered by the bandits that moved in after the flames went out. It was a...rather sobering thought. I also had to wonder if I'd be around to see it considering that I wasn't entirely sure that I'd be able to escape when the time came. I wasn't exactly in the best shape after all.

I was pulled from my short introspection as the cart came to a stop.

"Get these prisoners out of the carts!" shouted the captain, "Move it!"

"Why are we stopping?" asked Lokir, sounding rather nervous.

"Why do you think?" asked Ralof, sounding slightly amused, "End of the line. Let's go. Shouldn't keep the gods waiting for us."

"No! Wait! We're not rebels!" shouted Lokir.

"I don't think they care that much," I muttered as we stood and jumped out of the cart.

I stumbled as I landed, feeling strangely out of sorts all of a sudden, almost as if my limbs were a different length than I was used to. Fortunately, Ralof caught me before I fell and I shot him a grateful look.

"Face your death with some courage, thief," said Ralof.

Lokir ignored him.

"You've got to tell them!" he shouted, now sounding desperate, "We weren't with you! This is a mistake!"

"Step towards the block when we call your name," said the captain, completely ignoring Lokir's hysterics, "One at a time."

"Empire loves their damn lists," muttered Ralof.

"Ulfric Stormcloak. Jarl of Windhelm," said Hadvar, making a note as the bound Jarl stepped forwards.

"It has been an honour, Jarl Ulfric!" said Ralof.

"Ralof of Riverwood."
Ralof followed his leader without protest, although he did shoot a glare at Hadvar, who barely reacted.

"Lokir of Rorikstead."

"No, I'm not a rebel!" shouted the thief, "You can't do this!"

I briefly entertained trying to stop him, but he made a break for it before I could. I winced as the guards shot him down without a second thought and looked away. Yeah, I was in trouble.

"Anyone else feel like running?" demanded the captain.

Naturally, there was no response and she indicated for Hadvar to continue. The soldier turned back to his list, glanced up at me then frowned.

"Wait, you there, step forwards," he said, pointing at me with his quill, "Who are you?"

I hesitated for a moment, then sighed. Its not like there was any real reason to hide anything.

"I'm just someone who was in the wrong place at the wrong time," I said, "My name is Marcus.

"I thought you looked a little out of place," said Hadvar, "There aren't many Bretons who'd join the Stormcloaks"

He turned to his superior, a slightly pleading look on his face.

"Captain. What should we do?" he asked, "He's not on the list."

"Forget the list, he goes to the block," said the captain.

Hadvar sighed and shook his head regretfully.

"By your orders, Captain," he said, "Follow the Captain, prisoner."

He hesitated, then sighed again.

"For what its worth, I'm sorry," he said, "I'll make sure your remains are returned to High Rock."

I gave a slightly weak smile and followed the captain over to where the rest of the prisoners were standing. I tuned out Tullius' dressing down of Ulfric in favour of considering what Hadvar had said. It made a certain amount of sense that he'd think I was a Breton as I'm not exactly the largest of men and Highrock was, to my understanding at least, somewhat based on old Celtic cultures, including Britain. However, I had to wonder how deep that went. After all, I didn't have any elfish blood in me, so the question was, had I been transformed into a full on Breton by whatever dropped me here or was Hadvar just making an assumption?

I shook my head slightly and put that aside for now. My race wasn't really relevant right now. What was relevant was the thought that came along with the idea of being a Breton, namely whether or not I could use Magic. While everyone on Nirn had some aptitude for Magic, I wasn't a native, so there was a chance I couldn't use it. On the other hand, I had been Isakaied and the trope was that the poor schmuck who got Truck-kuned ended up blessed with unimaginable power compared with everyone else. Plus, it appeared that I was the Dragonborn, which indicated that I might just have at least some power.

Alternatively, I could just be some unlucky smuck with nary a hint of power who'd get eaten by Alduin before I could even start a journey.

I quickly tossed that thought deep into my mind and locked it away. Instead of even considering that idea, I closed my eyes and focused. I had no idea what I was doing, but with any luck, I could find something that would indicate that I wasn't completely powerless.

Fortunately, it didn't take long.

I'd barely even thought about bringing my hypothetical Magic to the surface when I felt a deep warmth appear in my chest, just above my heart. I could feel it flowing through me, following the same path as my blood and surfusing my entire body. I could also feel the energy flow out of my mouth with every exhale, only to be replaced with every beat of my heart. It was a very odd feeling, but it felt entirely natural, as if it had always been there.

I took a deep breath and attempted to take control of the flow of energy, finding it surprisingly easy to take the excess energy and channel it through my body, feeling it strengthen my bones and muscles as it flowed through them. I opened my eyes and looked down at my hands as I pool my Mana in them, making them begin to glow. I grinned at the sight and channeled more Mana into my hands. Just a bit more and I could...

A loud roar snapped me out of my trance and reminded me of where I was. I paled and quickly dispersed the gathered Magika before anyone could see. Now was NOT the time to start conjuring fireballs when I was surrounded by twitchy guards who thought I was affiliated with the Stormcloaks.

I dropped my hands and rolled my shoulders as I waited for the next part to play out. I mostly ignored the Last Rights and the Stormcloak soldier getting his head lopped off in favour of looking out over the mountain in the direction I knew Alduin would come from. It might have been my imagination, but I could almost see a massive shadow swooping down towards us.

"Next, the Breton in the rags!" shouted the captain, drawing me back to reality.

Again. I hope this zoning out thing isn't going to become a thing.

I walked over to the block and stopped, staring down at the bloodsoaked wood and swallowed. This...wasn't a place I ever thought I'd be. God I hope Alduin wasn't late.

A rough hand on my shoulder forced me to my knees and a foot between my shoulder blades forced me down onto the bloody block. Suddenly, the idea of blowing some things up to escape wasn't looking so bad after all...

Another loud roar shook the air, followed shortly by an almighty crash as Alduin himself swooped down and landed on the tower with enough force to shake the ground and knock anyone stood nearby off balance.

"WHAT IN OBLIVION IS THAT?!" shouted Tullius as the Imperial Guards pulled themselves together and drew their swords.
"DRAGON!" shouted someone as Alduin threw back his head and let out a roar that shook the heavens.

Literally as the sky went reddish purple and started spewing flaming rocks everywhere.

"Don't just stand there, kill it!" shouted Tullius, "You, get the townspeople to safety!"

I scrambled away from the block as Alduin let out another roar and took off, swooping over the town and setting fire to some of the houses. The flicking flames made the World Eater look every bit the malevolent beast he was.

"Hey you, Breton, get up!" shouted Ralof, seizing me by the armpit and hauling me to my feet, "The Gods won't give us another chance!"

I let the Nord haul me over to the tower where the rest of the Stormcloaks had taken refuge and slumped against the wall to wait until my head stopped spinning and my ears stopped ringing.

"What was that thing?"; demanded Ralof,"Could the Legends be true?"

"Legends don't burn down villages" said Ulfric grimly, "We need to move, now!"

"Up through the tower," said Ralof, "Thats our best option. How are they?"

"Their hurt, but they'll live," said one of the Stormcloaks who had been checking on his injured comrades, "Another second out there with the dragon, and they'd both be dead..."

Ralof nodded.

"Good, get them up," he said, "Come on, up through the tower! You to Breton!"

I heaved myself off the wall and followed the Nord up the stone steps to where another Stormcloak was trying to move some fallen blocks of stone.

"We just need to..."

He was cut off as the wall exploded and Alduin stuck his head through the gap. I stumbled as I tried to stop, but between my bound hands, the uneven floor, still slightly dazed state and some asshole running into me from behind were all enough to make me stumble forwards towards the Dragon as he opened his jaws to bath the tower in flames. I let out a yelp and closed my eyes, expecting either a sharp pain as Alduin bit me in half or a very painful death as his Fire Breath engulfed me. Instead, my foot caught a bit of upraised stone, I fell forwards and hit something small, warm and soft. There was a startled, surprisingly feminene yelp and both me and whatever it was that I hit went tumbling, landing in a heap and ending with my lips pressed against something soft, warm and smelling of wildflowers.

I opened my eyes and found myself staring into a pair of startled, yellow eyes set into a pale face framed by black locks. It took a moment for me to figure out what the hell was going on and when I did, I jolted back, breaking the completely unlikely accidental kiss and finding myself looking down at an adorable girl with long, black hair, large yellow eyes, fair skin and slightly elongated canines. She was wearing what appeared to be a black and red dress with an Amulet of Akatosh around her neck and a pair of black, horn-like decorations in her hair.

As I tried to figure out who in the hell the girl was and where in the hell the giant fuck off Dragon who had been about to roast me had gone, the girl slowly reached up and touched her lips, looking like she had no idea what had just happened.
"Um, are you...OK?" I asked, "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

The girl stared at me for a moment, then her face went red, tears welled in her eyes and she took a deep breath.
"You ASSHOLE!" she screamed and shoved me

Despite her small size, her shove sent me flying back and the moment I left her immediate area, her scream transformed into a roar and Alduin was back. Before I could properly register what that meant, I slammed into the unforgiving stone wall with a loud crack, prompting my body and mind to decided that they had had quite enough and I blacked out.

 

[Dis Lexic]

Chapter 2​

Consciousness returned to me slowly and, for a moment, I thought that I might had been dreaming, but the moment my senses returned, I knew that wasn't the case. Between the feeling of the straw mattress under me, the smell of firewood and the scent of a forge coming from somewhere nearby, it was pretty clear that I was still on Nirn. I...wasn't entirely sure how I felt about that.

I opened my eyes and sat up, wincing as my ribs throbbed. I glanced down at my bandaged chest, then looked around. I was in a simple wooden bed set against the wall in a simple, stone room that was sparsely decorated with simple, handmade furniture, with a fireplace against one wall and a few screens separating off parts of the room. The fact that the windows were set high up indicated that I was in a basement. A flight of stairs in one corner likely led up to the main level.

Examination of my surroundings done, I turned my attention back to my own body. Despite the bandages wrapped around my torso and head (cliche much?), nothing seemed to hurt. I decided against unwrapping myself for now though. Now wasn't the time to risk it if I was still healing.

The sound of footsteps on the stairs made me look up as a blonde Nord woman came down the stairs and paused when she saw me sitting up.

"Oh good, you're awake," she said, "We were starting to get worried. How are you feeling?"

"Not too bad actually," I said, "Where am I?"

"Your in Riverwood," said the woman, "I'm Sigrid, the Blacksmiths wife. Hadvar brought you here after that horrible attack at Helgen."

"Hadvar...wasn't he one of the Legionaries?" I asked.

Sigrid winced slightly.

"Yes, he is," she said, "He told us about the...unpleasantness. Fortunately, he managed to convince General Tullius that you weren't with the Stormcloaks, although the fact they left you behind and took people far more badly injured was likely a part of that."

She walked over to a side table and picked up a bag she handed to me.

"Hes already returned to Solitude to report in, but he left this for you. Apparently he found it not far from where you were originally found."

"Thanks," I said as I took the bag and opened it.

The bag was clearly bigger on the inside and as I opened it, I could feel a slight tickling sensation at my fingertips. Inside was a set of robes, an elven dagger, a couple of potions, an Amulet of Akatosh, a map, a bedroll and a book titled 'Magika for Dummies' by someone called Akane Tosh. That...does not sound like a real name.

"I'll leave you to get dressed," said Sigrid, "Come upstairs when you're done."

I nodded as the Nord headed upstairs, leaving me to get out of bed and start unwrapping the bandages since I was apparently at full health. Once I was dressed, I headed upstairs where I found Sigrid and Alvor waiting for me at the table.

"Sit, eat," said Alvor, indicating to the seat across from him that was set up with a place setting.

"Thank you," I said.

I took the indicated seat and started eating the simple, but hearty stew and hard bread. I was mildly surprised at how quickly I polished off the food, having been a lot more hungry than I had expected.

Once I was done, Sigrid collected the plate and vanished back downstairs.

"Um, thank you for...all of this," I said.

"Think nothing of it," said Alvor, "I owed Hadvar a favour anyway."

His expression darkened slightly and he lent forwards.

"Tell me boy, was Hadvar telling the truth?" he asked, "A Dragon really attacked Helgen?"

I winced and nodded.

"Yeah, it did," I said, rubbing my chest, "Thats what injured me."

Alvor sighed and sat back in his seat.

"I see," he said, "Thats...not good."

He looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded slightly.

"The Jarl really needs to know about this," he said, "As it stands, Riverwood is vulnerable. If another Dragon appears, theres a good chance that we could be next and, without protection, we wouldn't last five minutes. Do you mind carrying word to the Jarl and requesting assistance?"

I nodded.

"Sure, its the least I can do," I said.

Alvor nodded and stood, picking up a bag from beside the door and handing it to me. I looked inside and found that it contained some food and a waterskin.

"Here, this should last you to Whiterun," he said, "Its only about a days walk if you take the main road. Should be safe enough at the moment. The Companions recently came through and cleared out the wolves that had been troubling travelers."

"Alright, thanks a lot," I said as I put the bag inside my bag and got to my feet, "Thanks again for the help."

Alvor smiled and gripped my hand in a bone grinding shake.

"Don't mention it kid," he said "Just come by and buy some gear from me in the future, K?"

I chuckled.

"Sure thing. See ya!"

I waved to Sigurd and a curious looking little girl who was peering out from behind her mothers skirts from the top of the stairs leading downstairs and left the house. For a moment, I eyed the Riverwood Traders, momentarily tempted to see if I could pick up the Golden Claw quest, before I dismissed the thought. This wasn't the game, so there was no guarantee that something bad wouldn't happen. I needed to get the message to the Jarl now, not waste time faffing around like I normally would do in the game.

Besides, I'd get the Golden Claw regardless, so I could probably get something out of it later.

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I left the village and headed down the road, keeping one eye out for anything nasty that might jump me. Fortunately, nothing did and the first part of the trip passed by without incident.

At about noon, I stopped for a bite to eat just off the road. As I sat there and chewed on the slightly hard bread, I couldn't help but notice that I felt remarkably good considering how far I'd walked without a break. While I wasn't exactly unhealthy, I also wasn't exactly in shape, so I should be at least a little out of breath and my feet should be hurting, but insteadI felt like I could run all the way back to Riverwood without issue. Guess getting Isakaied came with a fair few perks.

I decided not to think about that too much for now and instead extracted the book from my bag and started reading it as I finished my meal. The book was, as you might expect from the title, a basic introduction to Magic. It covered the basics of finding ones Mana and how to draw it out, which I'd already figured out by accident and, much more interestingly, how spells were cast.

At its core, the phenomenon known as Magic is the act of taking ones imagination and making it real through the expenditure of Mana to make changes to reality. To produce magic, one must be able to exercise control over their Mana and the Magic power it materializes to achieve an intended outcome. For most people, that is fairly limited, either due to lack of power or due to being indoctrinated into the ideal that Magic is limited to the 'Schools' and spells found within them. In truth, those are merely a crutch that, while useful, drastically reduces the potential of ones Magic.

It is also important to note that, while one can get by on simply imagining the end result, a much more potent outcome can be generated by fully understanding and considering how one gets to said end result. For example, an understanding of how and why fire acts as it does will make generating fire spells easier and the results far more potent.​

I stopped reading at that and slowly put the book down, thinking hard. If Magic really did work that way then even the most basic level of scientific understanding could amplify a spell to insane degrees. Hell, there were a number of Isakai stories that worked off that very principle. It could potentially mean that I could do far more than simply using the known spells from the Elder Scrolls universe. It would be interesting to see if I could pull off wind or earth Magic or if they were impossible here for other reasons.

I pushed away that thought for now. I could create entirely new branches of Magic later, for now, I needed to see just what I could pull off with what I knew existed.

I held out my hands and focused, creating a ball of fire with barely a thought. A flick of my wrist sent a simple blast of fire at a nearby rock, creating a patch of soot but not doing much else. A basic flame spell, useful, but not very powerful. I closed my eyes and focused, adding to the simple image of a burning pyre I was using to manifest the spell to include my understanding of how fire is produced and picturing more oxygen being drawn into the flame. As I did, the flickering light leaking through my eyelids stabilized, then turned blue and, when I opened my eyes, I found myself looking at a brilliant blue flame floating above my hand. I examined the flame for a moment, then pointed my hand at the same rock and released it. The resulting spear of blue fire hit the rock and barely even slowed as it melted straight through it and nearly set the forest on fire before I cut off the stream.

"Welp, that works," I said as I examined the glowing hole in the rock, "I wonder what else I can do?"

I considered that thought for a moment, then closed my eyes and added hydrogen to the ball of fire in my hand. This time, I picked a rock further down the mountain and released the ball of rolling flame.

The resulting explosion knocked me flat on my back and shook the trees hard enough to make them shed needles everywhere. I stared up at the sky for a moment, before pulling myself together and sitting up to stare at the destruction I'd wrought.

The rock I'd aimed at wasn't there any more. It was gone, along with a good chunk of the ground around it, which was still glowing faintly as the snow around it quickly melted away. I stared at the mess, then looked down at my hands. That...was a lot more destructive than I was expecting. Still incredibly cool though, not to mention useful for my future fights. I bet even Dragons would have a hard time shrugging off a blast like that.

As an added bonus, the Mana cost wasn't even all that high. Possibly due to the fact I was drawing the fuel from elsewhere, rather than using my Mana directly? It was a possibility, but not one that I could easily test. It did carry with it some interesting ideas I could try in the future though.

Unfortunately, there wasn't really time for more experimentation because I did have an appointment of sorts to keep, so I repacked my bag and continued on down the road.

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Once again, the rest of the trip was relatively peaceful, with only a brief scare from a mangy looking wolf I scared off with a blast of fire to break the monotony. Still, I have to admit that it was somewhat of a relief to finally reach the foot of the mountain and see Whiterun across the river. Enhanced stamina or not, I'd still walked a long way and I was ready for a sit down.

After taking a moment to drain the last of my water skin, I made my way down the path past the Honningbrew Meadery towards the main gates of the city.

A very loud crash and a shout of exertion and pain from the fields just off the path made me pause, just in time for a heavily armoured man with a warhammer to come flying across the path to land in a thorn bush. The fact that he almost immediately started getting up, albeit a little unsteadily, despite the large crater in the center of his breast plate was testament to the mans strength. Or boneheaded stupidity.

Whatever the case, I looked in the direction the flying man had come from and frowned at the sight of three warriors duking it out with a rather angry looking Giant. I haven't forgot this event of course, it was something practically every Skyrim player knew by heart, but unlike in the game, it looked like the Companions were having some trouble. Guess plot armour existed for more than just the Dragonborn.

The Giant was clearly both injured and very angry, with flushed skin and bleeding cuts all over its body, as well as a number of arrows sticking out of its thick skin. It was flailing around with its massive club, preventing the two melee fighters still engaging it from getting close as Aela peppered it with more arrows, which was clearly just making it angrier. I glanced down at the injured Companion who had nearly hit me as he stumbled a few steps, then fell to his knees. Yeah, he wouldn't be much help until he healed, even if he was a Werewolf, and the Giant was starting to get uncomfortably close to hitting the others.

After a moments thought, I shrugged and summoned my Mana. I had no intention of joining the Companions at this time, but I liked all the characters and having a group like them friendly with me could be very useful. I charged up my blue fire spell and readied myself to fire.

"Hey, I suggest you move!" I shouted.

The still fighting Companions glanced my way, then one of the melee fighters, a young woman with fiery red hair armed with a shield and sword, grabbed her comrade and dove to the side as Aela rolled behind a rock. The Giant looked a little confused for a moment, before my spell slammed into its chest, leaving a faintly glowing, fist sized hole straight through it. For a moment, the giant Humanoid stared down at the hole, before a second blast put it out of its misery by obliterating its head.

I let out a sigh and released my grip on my Mana as the giant collapsed, before turning my attention to the Companion at my feet, who was starting to regain his barings. Assuming I remembered my Skyrim lore correctly, he was Farkas.

"Need a hand there?" I asked, offering my hand.

Farkas glanced up at me, a calculating look on his face, before he accepted my hand and let me pull him to his feet.

"Thank you stranger," he said, his voice a little horse.

"Get that armour off before you suffocate Farkas," said the red-headed Companion as she and Aela approached.

Farkas grumbled something under his breath, before wincing as Aela poked him in the side as she started cutting the ruined breast plate away. While her comrades were doing that, the red-head turned to me and looked me up and down. As she did, I returned the favour.

She wasn't a character I recognized, but I was far from an expert in Skyrim and my time spent exploring every nook and cranny was limited, so it wasn't entirely surprising. I knew for a fact she wasn't involved in this scene, but that didn't mean much because this was reality, not a game limited by programming.

She was a gorgeous Nord woman, with close cropped red hair that was braided in such a way that it almost resembled horns and white face paint forming stylized wings on her cheeks. She was wearing a rather impressive set of Nordic Carved Armour, minus the helmet, with the leather under armour dyed a dark red and carried a steel sword and shield that matched her armour.

"That was a rather impressive spell," said the woman, "I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like that."

I blushed slightly and ducked my head.

"Thanks," I said, "Its something I came up with while experimenting."

The woman raised an eyebrow.

"An original spell?" she asked, "Thats impressive for one so young."

"Um, thanks," I said.

The woman looked like she was about to ask something else, but was interrupted before she could.

"Hey Kara, we need to move!" said Aela as she hoisted Farkas to his feet, letting the injured man lean heavily on her, "Farkas needs to see a healer and I need a drink."

Kara nodded and turned back to me.

"Are you headed to Whiterun as well?" she asked.

I nodded.

"Yes, I have a message for the Jarl," I said.

She frowned slightly.

"I suggest you come with us then," she said, "The cities under lockdown thanks to these rumours of Dragons floating around. You won't be able to get in without someone to vouch for you."

She her frown deepened slightly at the mention of Dragons.

"That might be for the best," I said, "I really don't fancy getting turned away after coming all this way."

We had to wait a moment as the Companions last comrade finished talking to the farm owner to get the payment for dealing with the Giant before heading out. We had to move a little slowly thanks to Farkas' injuries and I momentarily considered offering to heal him, but quickly decided against it. I didn't really want to start experimenting with Healing Magic on someone I rather liked and who had a lot of very dangerous backup. Besides, its not like the slow journey was that much of a problem.

Even with the added burden, it didn't take us that long to reach the main gates of the city where we paused for a moment while Kara spoke to the guards. One of them shot a look my way, but the red-headed Companion said something that seemed to mollify him and we were quickly waved inside.

"Well, I guess this is where we part ways," said Kara as her comrades continued on towards Jorrvaskr, "If you have time, stop by Jorrvaskr at some point. I'd be happy to share a drink with you."

"Thanks, I might just do that," I said.

We shook hands, me hiding a wince as she squeezed hard enough to make my bones creak slightly, and the Companion headed off after her...companions, leaving me alone to make my way up towards Dragonsreach.

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It didn't take me long to realize that the city was larger than its depiction in the game. It wasn't massive, but it was larger than the 20 buildings that were present in the game, giving it a feeling that it was the capital of one of the most prosperous Holds in the region.

As I made my way up towards Dragonsreach, I passed a small clearing between the buildings where a group of children were gathered, all crowding around one of the buildings looking up at the roof where a leather ball was stuck behind a decorative dragons head. Judging from the disappointed mutterings, it was pretty clear what happened. I paused for a moment, then shrugged and wondered closer. There was a good chance that one of the kids would do something stupid to try and get the ball back, getting hurt in the process, so I might as well help out. Sure enough, as I got closer, I spotted a girl getting ready to climb the building.

I flexed my fingers and reached out with my Mana. Telekinesis was a lot easier to use than my blue fire spell, so it was easy to grab the ball and lift it from the roof.

"Maybe don't go around climbing roofs," I said as all the kids turned to me with wide eyes, "You're a lot more likely to get hurt than get your ball back."

"I'd be fine," said the apparent leader of the kids, a blonde girl with twintails who had been about to start climbing.

I smiled and tossed her the ball.

"Maybe so, but its better to be safe than sorry," I said, "I doubt anyone wants to end up stuck in bed with a broken leg after all."

The girl narrowed her eyes slightly, before nodding.

"Thank you," she said.

I grinned.

"No problem," I said, "Have fun!"

I waved and continued on through the city, leaving the kids to their play.

It didn't take long after that to reach Dragonsreach. As I approached the doors, one of the guards stepped forwards and held up a hand.

"Hold stranger, what is your business?" he asked.

"I have a message and request for the Jarl from Riverwood," I said.

"Regarding what?" asked the guard.

"Dragons."

The guard twitched slightly, then glanced at his partner and looked back at me.

"Alright, you can enter," he said, "The Jarl is currently absent, but Irileth will want to hear this."

He opened the door, letting me in. I entered the hall, idly wondering what was important enough for the Jarl to be away from his seat of power before I pushed that thought aside as I made my way up the hall to where the Dunmer Housecarl stood by the empty throne.

As I approached, Irilith scowled and moved to intercept me, a hand on the hilt of her sword.

"You there, why are you here?" she demanded, "The Jarl isnt accepting visitors."

"Alvor sent me," I said, "Riverwood is in danger."

Iriliths scowl darkened.

"As Housecarl, my job is to deal with dangers that threaten the Jarl and his people," she said, "Now speak, what is the problem?"

"A Dragon has destroyed Helgen," I said.

Iriliths eyes widened and she finally relaxed enough to take her hand off her sword.

"So the rumours are true," she muttered, "Thats...not good."

She thought for a moment, then fixed me with a sharp look.

"The Jarl is currently absent, but I can at least send some men to keep an eye on Riverwood in case something happens," she said, "Anything else will require the Jarls seal. For now, I suggest you talk to Farengar. Shes been looking a matter related to these Dragons and...rumours of Dragons."

I frowned, but before I could say anything, the Dark Elf turned on her heel and marched off in the direction of the Wizards lab, forcing me to hurry to catch up.

"Farengar, get out here!" shouted Irialith as she marched into the lab.

In response, there was a high pitched yelp from one of the rooms off the main lab, followed by a loud crash and what sounded like an entire cupboard's worth of pots and pans falling to the ground. Irilith sighed and rubbed her forehead as the racket continued for a moment, before the door to the store room slammed open and disgorged a small avalanche of alchemical tools, books and soulstones, as well as a figure clad in purple robes with a pot on their head.

"Farangar, what are you doing?" growled Irilith.

Farangar slowly pushed the pot up, revealing, not the slightly condescending Nord I'd expected, but instead a youthful woman with brown eyes, long, brown hair and fair skin. I did my best not to react, but that became rather hard as the Wizard sat up, revealing that her purple robes were more than a little tight across the bust area.

"Ah, I was just...tidying up a little?" said the gender flipped Wizard.

Irilith sighed and shook her head.

"Whatever, thats not important," she said, "You said you needed some help with your research into Dragons, yes? Well, this man has some experience that may be useful."

Farangars eyes sharpened slightly as she turned her attention on me. I blushed slightly and rubbed the back of my head.

"Well, experience is a bit much," I said, "The only experience I have with Dragons involves nearly getting barbecued at Helgen. I am a fairly decent Mage though."

Well, that was technically true, if a little misleading.

"Is that so?" she asked, "Well then, I might be able to get some use out of you."

She got to her feet, moved over to the table, which was buried under a mountain of scrolls and scraps of paper and started rummaging through them.

"You see, I need someone to fetch something for me," said the Wizard, "Well, when I say fetch, I really mean delve into a dangerous ruin in search of an ancient stone tablet that may or may not actually be there."

I tilted my head on one side.

"And you need me for that?" I asked, "Couldn't you send some guards or hire the Companions?"

Farangar snorted.

"Not likely," she said, "We're currently short staffed thanks to the civil war and the Companions are a little leery of delving into Nord tombs. Plus, they don't exactly like me very much for...various reasons."

I sighed.

"Alright fine, I guess it can't hurt," I said, "What do you need?"

"I've been researching Dragons for a while due to...personal reasons," said Farangar, "I began to search for information about dragons, where had they gone all those years ago? And where were they coming from? I ah, learned of a certain stone tablet said to be housed in Bleak Falls Barrow, a 'Dragonstone,' said to contain a map of dragon burial sites. Go to Bleak Falls Barrow, find this tablet, no doubt interred in the main chamber, and bring it to me. Simplicity itself."

"So long as you consider delving into Draugr infested dungeons simple," I deadpanned.

Farangar snorted and waved a hand.

"If your a half decent Mage, you shouldnt have any trouble," she said, "Draugr are dangerous, but like all Undead, they are vulnerable to fire."

I pulled a face.

"Fair enough," I said, "Still not smart to go in alone though…"

"You could try getting some help from someone in town," said Farangar, "Or try at Jorrvaskr. You might have more luck than I did."

"Worth a try I suppose," I said, "Alright, I guess I'll take the job."

Farangar smiled and clapped her hands.

"Excellent, I look forwards to hearing of your success!" she chirped.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------​

With the quest accepted, I left Dragonsreach and started making my way back down from the Clouds District. Once I was in the square that held the Gildergreen, I stopped and looked up at the sky with a frown. It was getting dark and I really didn't fancy braving the mountain in the dark. Besides, I needed to stock up on supplies and see if I could hire some help from the Companions. After a moments thought, I decided to put off heading out for the next day. Besides, I was still tired from the journey, not to mention hungry. With that in mind, I headed to the Bannered Mare where I found a hot meal and room for the night.

As I settled in for the night, I couldn't help but think of my old life back on Earth. However, I quickly pushed it aside. It might not be entirely healthy to ignore that particular pachyderm, but for now, I was perfectly happy to do so. There would be plenty of time for that in the future. Probably.

I sighed and turned over, burying my head in the pillow and letting myself drift away.

 

[Dis Lexic]

Chapter 3​

The sound of a cocks crow and the light of the dawn drew me from my restful slumber. Naturally, my response to the ungodly early wake up call was to groan and bury my face in my warm pillow, inhaling the scent of wildflowers as I did. I sighed softly as I squeezed the pillow and tried to summon the will to leave the comfortable warmth so I could go climb a mountain to fight a tomb full of angry undead. The idea was rather unattractive to put it bluntly.

Unfortunately, my daydreams of staying in bed for a bit longer was dashed as my 'pillow' responded to the squeeze by letting out a groan of its own.

I opened my eyes and looked down to see a head of black hair that belonged to a small girl who was snuggled into my arms. She looked vaguely familiar, but I had no idea where I'd seen her before, nor did I really care. I was genre savvy enough to know where this was going if she woke up. I slowly pulled my arms from around her and tried to get out of bed, only to discover that she had her hand down my pants and a very firm grip.

In response to my movement, the girl let out a soft moan and started stirring. I sighed and braced myself as the girl opened her eyes, revealing golden yellow irises.

"Good morning," I said blandly, "Would you mind letting go?"

The girl blinked sleeperly up at me, before her expression changed to confusion and she squeezed. I bit back a groan, both at the feeling and at the way the girls expression quickly changed from sleepy confusion to horrified mortification. She yanked her hand away as if burnt and threw herself back with a shriek, falling off the bed with a thump, her face burning crimson. I sat up and adjusted my pants, then looked down at the girl, who was staring at her hands as if she expected them to turn into spiders or something.

"Alright, now thats out of the way, might I ask why you were sleeping in my bed?" I asked, "I assume you don't go around jumping into random people beds while their asleep. Or at least I hope you don't."

The question seemed to snapped the girl out of her horrified trance and she looked up at me with a glare.

"T-that wasn't my fault!" shouted the girl, "You grabbed me before I could react!"

I blinked.

"I...grabbed you?" I asked, "What were you even doing in here in the first place? Breaking into a strangers bedroom is kinda creepy you know."

The girl blushed and jumped to her feet.

"S-shut up!" she shouted, "You...its your fault! S-stop whatever it is your doing!"

I frowned.

"Whatever I'm doing?" I asked, "I'm not doing anything."

"Liar!" she shouted, "I know you must be doing something! Ever since...THAT, I haven't been able to stop thinking about you and...and…"

I stared at her as she trailed off with a howl of frustration I tried to figure out what in the hell she was talking about.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, "I haven't done anything to you! Hell, I don't even KNOW you…"

I trailed off as the girl went stiff and her expression went blank. It was rather intimidating, despite her small stature.

"You...don't remember?" she asked, her voice flat with barely a hint of tremor, "You don't remember what you stole from me?"

I swallowed and flexed my fingers, just in case she attacked.

"Kid, I haven't even been in Skyrim for a week yet," I said, "And I'm pretty sure I haven't stolen anything from anyone…"

I was cut off as the girls head snapped up, revealing eyes full of tears. Before I could react, she shouted something and a wall of force slammed into my chest, sending me cartwheeling across the room and into the wall.

"YOU JERK!" she screamed and bolted, slamming the door behind her.

I groaned in pain as I remained still in the upside down position I'd landed in for a moment.

"I really hope this won't become a thing," I groaned.

I rolled back to my feet and cast a healing spell, almost without thinking, then grabbed my clothes and started getting dressed. I had enough to do today and chasing a possibly crazy violent loli around wasn't on the cards.

Unfortunately, it seemed that my...interesting morning wasn't quite done yet. I was just in the middle of pulling up my pants when the door to my room opened and Kara walked in.

"Alright, time to get...up…" she trailed off as she spotted me frozen with my pants around my knees and a flat look on my face.

For a moment, we stared at each other, before her eyes darted down and her face went as red as her hair.

"EEP!"

The door slammed shut, leaving me staring at it incredulously as I tried to absorb the fact that a clearly skilled and respected member of the Companions could make such an adorable sound.

---

Once I was dressed, I headed downstairs where I quickly spotted a still blushing Kara hunched over the bar with a very amused looking Hulda across from her.

"Maybe that will teach you not to go barging into bedrooms without knocking," the innkeeper was saying as I approached.

"I would have thought that would be fairly basic logic," I said as I approached, "Or hell, just basic politeness."

Kara's face went even redder and she ducked her head far enough to bounce it off the bar in front of her. She rocked back with a yelp of pain.

"Owww, damn it, that hurt," she groaned, cradling her head in her hands.

"O...K," I said slowly, "I assume you need something from me?"

Kara lowered her hands and looked up to meet my eyes, her cheeks still pink but her expression back to being serious.

"Iralith told me that you'd been given a job to do by the Jarl and that you might need assistance," she said, "You helped us out yesterday, so I'd like to return the favour."

I raised an eyebrow. This was more than a little unexpected, but it saved me some worry.

"I didn't do it expecting anything in return, but I'll accept the offered help," I said as I took a seat beside the Companion and accepted the plate of bread and ham Hulda handed me, "Do you know what the job is?"

"Iralith just said you needed to pick something up," said Kara.

"Hmm, from Bleakfalls Barrow," I said, "Something called a Dragonstone."

Kara froze.

"Bleakfalls Barrow huh?" she muttered in a soft voice.

I glanced at her and saw that she had a distant, slightly sad look on her face.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

Kara sighed.

"No, its just...bad memories," she said.

I frowned.

"If its going to be a problem I can deal with it myself," I said.

Kara smiled wanly.

"No, its fine," she said, "Although I am curious about one thing."

"Hmm?"

"Why do you need help? You dealt with that giant easily enough and I have no doubt that those flames of yours would make short work of anything you might meet in the Barrow."

"Well, I'm not exactly experienced in fighting in enclosed spaces," I said, "Besides, setting off explosions underground is a horrible idea."

"Ah, good point," said Kara, "Alright, its quite a way so we should get going."

I nodded as I finished my breakfast and dropped a couple of Septims on the bar.

"Thank you!" called Hulda from the back as I stood and headed for the door with Kara.

---

The trip up the mountain was mostly uneventful, with the only really interesting thing being a brief encounter with a few bandits in that ruined tower not far from Riverwood, although they clearly decided that we were a little too rich for their blood after taking a look at Kara's high quality equipment, so didn't do more than glare as we past.

"Shouldn't we do something about them?" I asked as we continued up towards the Barrow.

"If they'd have attacked, we would have," said Kara, "However, bandits aren't the only ones who use the ruins as shelter, so its generally a good idea to leave people be unless they attack first. Or you have a contract."

"Fair enough," I said as we continued up the mountain.

---

It didn't take much longer for us to reach Bleak Falls Barrow where we were met by a shout from a lookout on one of the dragon-shaped watchtowers, followed by an arrow bouncing off Kara's shield.

"Well, there goes any chance of diplomacy," she said as she drew her sword, "You deal with the archers."

"Got it," I said as she charged the incoming melee fighters.

While she was dealing with the morons with swords and axes, I turned my attention to the archers who were taking the occasional potshot while completely ignoring me. Not very bright of them, but I guess they didn't think I was a threat with my lack of armour and weapons. Oh well, I'd teach them the error of their ways soon enough.

Since we'd left Whiterun, I'd been considering another method of modifying a spell to make it more lethal with a dash of science and, after a bit of experimentation with a Shock Spell, I had something to try. As it turned out, Lightning Spells worked by using the Mana of the caster as a replacement for the ionized air normally required for a lightning bolt to strike. Under normal circumstances, the spell would simply create a short lived path for the lightning to follow, but with a bit of imagination, it was more than possible to turn a single bolt into a web of lethal lightning.

I smirked as I charged up my spell, created the connections and released the gathered energy. There was a flash of light, followed by a boom of thunder, and the archers were blasted back with nasty burns and their weapons reduced to ash.

"Huh...that worked better than I was expecting," I muttered.

"SHIT, HES A MAGE!"

"FORGET THE GIRL, GET HIM!"

I turned back to the brawl as a few of the bandits broke off and started charging towards me, leaving a number of their fellows to tie down Kara. I sighed and waved a hand. There was a loud crack and the snow under their feet erupted into a thicket of ice spikes. Seriously, in an environment like this, Ice Magic was easy to mess with, although I'd probably need at least a water source to do this in other places.

"Are you alright?" asked Kara as she jogged over, having made short work of the remaining bandits.

"Yeah, they never got close," I said.

Kara glanced at the spiky mass of ice and nodded.

"So I see," she said, "Impressive use of Magic."

"Thanks," I muttered, doing my best not to look at the bloodied ice.

It might be effective, but it was extremely messy. Kara eyed me for a moment, then looked up at the Barrow, her expression changing to one that I couldn't quite read.

"Come on, we should hurry," she said after a moment.

I nodded and we headed up the stone stairs towards the Barrow.

---

The inside of the ancient ruin was pretty much exactly the same as in the game, although the two bandits were nowhere to be seen, probably among the dead outside since the doors had been left open. The first part of the dungeon went by without issue, mainly because the one bandit who was deeper inside barely lasted a moment against Kara and the 'puzzle' was just as pathetic as it was in the game.

"Seriously, whats the point in a lock like this if they put the answer in plane view?" I grumbled as we made our way down the wooden ramp that led deeper into the tomb.

"You'd be surprised," said Kara, "Besides, when this Barrow was built, the traps and locks were more tradition than anything and the doors and traps out here were more meant to keep out idle explorers while allowing the family of the dead to enter and pay their respects. The really valuable stuff is kept further in behind more...impressive defences."

I glanced at the Warrior with a raised eyebrow.

"You know a lot about Nordic Tombs," I said.

She gave a slightly wan smile.

"I have a fair amount of experience with them," she said, but didn't elaborate.

We continued down the hall until we reached the stairs leading down towards the room where the giant Frostbite Spider was lurking and Kara paused at the sight of the webs covering the walls.

"Thats...a lot of webbing," she said.

"Mm, looks like a Frostbite Spiders got in," I said.

"Ehhh," said Kara.

I glanced at her and frowned. Suddenly, Kara looked a little pale.

"Are you...OK?" I asked.

She jumped slightly and shot a look my way.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," she said, "Come on, lets get moving."

I raised an eyebrow as she started down the stairs with slightly faltering steps.

"Riiight," I said.

I followed her down into the spider's lair where I found her staring incredulously at Arvel where he was hanging in the spiders web.

"Oh thank the gods, I thought I was done for!" he gasped, "Come on, cut me loose before…"

He was cut off by a skittering sound as the massive spider jumped out of its lair in the ceiling and met a face full of white hot flame. The oversized arachnid let out a wheezy screech and slammed into the wall with a dry crunch with most of its face missing. A second blast melted a hole through its abdomen and left a patch of molten stone on the wall.

"There, no more spider," I said as I turned back to my partner and the trapped Dark Elf.

"Er, yes, indeed," said Arvel, "Now cut me down before anything else shows up."Now cut me down before anything else shows up!"

"First off, tell us why your here," said Kara, "Most bandits wouldn't bother tomb robbing from a Barrow like this one unless they knew for a fact there was something valuable here."

Arvel scowled.

"Is now really the time to talk about this?" he asked.

Kara just folded her arms and glared at him. After a moment, the Dark Elf sighed.

"Alright fine," he said, "I managed to find some writings on this place. The Nords hid something here behind a door no one can open. However, I know how to get the door open! Now come on, let me loose and we can go find it!"

Kara frowned.

"You have the Golden Claw?" she asked.

"Yes, I have it!" snapped Arvel, "And I know how it...HEY, thats mine!"

He tried to squirm loose from the webs as Kara stepped forwards, snatched his bag from his belt and pulled out the Golden Claw.

"No, this is not yours," said Kara, "This belongs at the Riverwood Traders."

"Wha...but…HORPH!"

He went limp in the web as Kara pulled back her fist, coughing and heaving as he tried to regain his breath.

"Marcus, if you'd do the honours," said Kara.

I nodded and released a quick blast of fire that burnt away the web and left Arvel looking more than a little singed as he dropped to the ground, cradling his stomach.

"Now then, lets…" started Kara as she reached for the bandit, before being cut off and forced to hop back as he lashed out with a dagger.

"You won't catch me!" he shouted as he ran for the door, "I'll get yo…"

He was cut off as Kara turned on her heel and kicked a nearby chunk of pot that bounced off the wall and beaned him in the side of the head.

---

"So, why exactly are we dragging him along with us?" I asked as we continued deeper into the Barrow, jabbing a thumb back at the insensate Dark Elf with a comically large lump on his head Kara was dragging behind her.

"Hes caused a friend of mine a lot of trouble, so I thought I'd give him a little something to make up for it," she said, "Besides, its not like hes slowing us down that much."

"True enough," I said, "Whoa!"

The reason for my shock was that we'd just stepped into the Hall of Stories. I'd never really taken the time to take in the locations while playing the game, mainly because I was more interested in the Word of Power and treasure that was waiting on the other side, but also because they were all kinda...dull. However, actually standing in one in real life was very different. Although it didn't look much different than the one in game, there was a certain air of gravitas to the room. I could practically feel the weight of ages pressing down on my shoulders.

"This place is...amazing," I muttered as I stepped up to the wall and examined the detailed carvings that depicted who knows how much history, captured in countless strokes of a mason's chisel.

"As it should be," said Kara, sounding rather melancholy again, "Over a thousand years of history are written here…"

I glanced up at my partner and saw that she was studying one image in particular with a sad look on her face. I stepped up beside her and looked. The image depicted a man in armour kneeling before a tall woman, also in armour and with what appeared to be wings, offering his sword in fealty.

"Whos that?" I asked.

"These carvings tell the story of Gerelt Whitesword, the Captain of the Einherjar," said Kara, "According to legend, they were one of the orders of warriors loyal to the Dragons in ancient times. This place is his tomb…"

She trailed off with a sigh, then visibly pulled herself together and turned to me with a weak smile.

"But enough history, lets get this done and go."

She turned abruptly and marched over to the puzzle door, leaving me staring after her and feeling like I was missing something both massive and rather obvious. After a moment, I shook my head and jogged after her, grabbing the still unconscious Arvel as I went.

---

Getting the door open took about as much time as you'd think and before you could say 'Fus Ro Dah', we were entering the Sanctum. Almost as soon as we passed through the threshold, I felt a dull pressure that had been building unnoticed at the back of my head abruptly spike quickly enough to make me stumble into Kara.

"Are you alright?" asked the Companion as she caught me.

"Y-yeah, just...just a headache," I said as I rubbed my eyes as my vision began to swim.

Kara looked at me worriedly as I pushed away from her, swaying on my feet as I stumbled towards the Word Wall.

"I...think its a bit more than a headache," she said, "Are you sure you...shouldn't…"

She trailed off, or perhaps was drowned out by the chanting, as I approached the wall and focused on the Dragontongue carved into the stone. Strangely, as I looked at the jagged ruins, I could clearly make out what they said, despite not being able to read Dragontongue.

Here lies the guardian

Keeper of dragonstone

And a FORCE of unending

Rage and darkness​

My eyes locked onto the glowing runes and I could practically feel the Word of Power forcing itself into my mind, almost searing itself into my brain. For what felt like an eternity, I was locked in place as the full meaning of the Word was laid out in front of me. I wouldn't need a Dragon Soul to unlock this Word, I already understood it to a level that would probably make the Graybeards jealous.

Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, it ended and I was back in the Sanctuary. I let out a gasp and stumbled back, nearly falling over before Kara caught me. I was vaguely aware of her saying something, but the ringing in my ears made it impossible to hear her. I reached up with a shaky hand and wiped my forehead. My hand came away damp. Good god, I hope that getting other Words wouldn't be like that!

"...ou OK?"

I shook my head and focused as my vision finally stopped spinning enough for me to make out Karas worried face hovering above me. Weirdly, the expression made her normally regal features look cute, just like that adorable blush from that morning…

Kara's cheeks gaining said adorable blush made it clear that I was apparently more out of it than I thought because I'd apparently said that out loud. Kara's blush deepened and she nodded. Gods dammit.

"Um, sorry?" I said, not sure what else to say.

Kara opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, her gaze drifted to something over my shoulder and her eyes went wide. Before I could react, she pushed me away and threw herself back, just in time to avoid an enormous ice spike that passed through the area where my head was a moment ago. I scrambled to my feet and shot a blast of fire at the attacker, only for the flame to splash against its glowing chest piece and splutter out as the massive Draugr Deathlord stepped out of its coffin and drew its massive, white greatsword, glaring at us from under its helmet with icy blue eyes that matched the glow surrounding its other hand and that suffused its much more extensive and high quality armour compared with the other undead we'd faced in the Barrow.

I swallowed as I got to my feet and summoned my Magic, ready for what looked to be the toughest fight of my life.

 

[Dis Lexic]

Chapter 4
​

The fight began with a blast of fire that did fuck all. A spell that had melted the armour of numerous regular Draugr on the way down simply splashed against the Deathlords glowing chestplate and went out, its heat and power completely absorbed by whatever enchantment the armour bore. I scowled and threw another fireball, before leaping out of the way as he shot another massive ice spear at me. He shouted something in Dovahzul and charged, swinging his sword and lopping off a chunk of the Word Wall without too much trouble.

"Well shit, this isn't going to be easy," I muttered, "Hey Kara, lets…"

I glanced over at the Companion and nearly groaned when I saw the look of horrified shock on her face. Son of a bitch, thats all I need! Theres no way I can beat this thing on my own when its clearly highly resistant to fire and ice magic and I don't think now was a very good time to start playing around with something as volatile as Lightning while simultaneously trying to keep from having my head removed.

I hopped back to avoid another swing from the Deathlord and cast my ice impalement spell, only for the shards of ice to shatter against the Deathlords armour without even scratching it. The undead Nord let out a scratchy growl and idly rubbed his chest, then waved a hand and sent the ice shards hurtling towards me. Once again, I found myself diving clear of a shower of razor sharp ice.

"Kara, pull yourself together!" I shouted, "Now isn't the time to shut down on me!"

"WULD!"

I jolted back as I suddenly found myself with a face full of Draugr, his sword already in motion to take my head off. Fortunately, before my adventure could come to an ignoble end, the white blade clanged against Kara's shield as the Companion lashed out with her sword, forcing the Deathlord to stumble back as the razor sharp steel left a faint scratch on his breastplate. I swallowed and sank to the floor on suddenly weak legs as I tried to keep from losing control of my bowels. Holy SHIT, that was scary!

"Ah, t-thanks," I managed.

"I wouldn't be a very good Shield Maiden if I let my partner die on me," said Kara, "I'm sorry I froze like that, I wasn't expecting…"

"Its fine," I said as I pulled myself together and got to my feet, "Any advice for actually hurting this bastard?"

"His armour is enchanted to protect against fire and ice," said Kara, "However, its less effective against Lightning and physical attacks. Unfortunately, Draugr as powerful as this one are always hard to put down with brute force."

"I see," I said as I eyed the iron dagger sat on the floor nearby, "I might have an idea for that. How long can you hold him off?"

"As long as you need," said Kara, "Hopefully."

"Alright, in that case, get stuck in and be ready to duck," I said, "I'm going to be winging this."

"Oh lovely, battlefield Magic Crafting, always fun," muttered Kara, "Just don't take too long."

She hefted her sword and shield and charged the Draugr, engaging the massive undead in a rather impressive melee that quickly resulted in everything that got in the way of their swords being reduced to pieces. I made a mental note to ask what in the fuck Karas sword was actually made of, before snatching up the dagger and drawing my own to cut off the leather bindings. I tossed the bindings aside and closed my eyes as I summoned my Mana and started generating lightning.

I did my best to tune out the horrific noise that was being generated by the high speed fight as I focused on shaping my Mana into what I wanted. A ball of electricity appeared in between my hands with the dagger floating in the middle as my Mana formed two rails in front of me, barely visible and occasionally throwing out lightning bolts. I gritted my teeth, ignoring the sweat that was beginning to gather on my forehead as I wrestled with my Mana. Trying to shape it like this was incredibly hard and keeping the lightning from discharging was even harder. Doing both was enough that I could practically feel the blood vessels in my nose starting to break from the strain. Finally though, I managed to get what I needed. It wouldn't last for long, but it only needed to do so for a second. I opened my eyes and took aim.

"KARA, DOWN!" I shouted and finally released the forces I'd gathered.

The Companion dropped instantly, but still wasn't quite fast enough to keep from losing a few hairs as the makeshift Magical Railgun discharged with enough force that I was sent flying off the platform and into the ice cold stream that ran through the sanctuary. The shockwave from the blast shook the entire cave and even managed to knock a few Stalactites loose. As for the Deathlord, well, no matter how tough your armour is, taking a hunk of metal moving at the speed of sound to the chest is going to cause some problems. In this case, said problem was a gaping hole that went straight through his torso and blew out his back to such a degree that I'm fairly sure his spine, ribs and internal organs had all been vaporized. The fact he hadn't simply been blown to pieces was testament to the strength of his armour. The fact he was still standing had to have something to do with Magic.

For a moment, the undead warrior teetered on his feet, before he fell over backwards, a faint glow emerging as he did and momentarily taking on the form of a ghostly Nord with long, braided hair in finely made white and red armour. His eyes met Kara's and he smiled.

"Moro wah fin od ah," he whispered as he faded completely, his body turning to ash as the last of the Magic animating the ancient corpse faded, leaving only his sword and the Dragonstone behind.

Kara smiled sadly and saluted the spirit.

"Rest easy, old friend," she murmured.

I got to my feet, wincing at both the bruises from being blasted back and the backlash from the incomplete spell that had rendered my arms more than a little numb, and walked over to my companion.

"Are you OK?" I asked.

She glanced at me and smiled a little weakly.

"I'll be fine," she said, "Come, we should go."

I eyed her for a moment, before picking up the Dragonstone and stowing it in my pouch.

"What should we do with this?" I asked, picking up the sword and nearly fell over.

The damn thing weighed a ton. Kara eyed the weapon with a sad look in her eye.

"I...don't know," she said, "Its an incredible weapon, but...I don't think I could bring myself to use it."

"And its pretty much useless to me since I can't even swing it," I said as I managed to get the sword up so it was stabbed into the ground.

Kara nodded absently as she picked up the sword with one hand and no apparent effort. I stared for a moment, then shook my head and decided not to say anything.

"If you don't want to use it, I'd suggest either using it to give your friend a proper send off or keeping a hold of it in case someone can use it in the future," I said.

"Hmm, I think I'll keep it for now," said Kara, tucking the sword into her bag, "Come on, we should get going."

I nodded and we made our way up the ramp and out the back exit of the tomb. Unfortunately, we arrived at the exit to find it blocked by a wall of swirling snow backlit by the moon. Apparently we'd been underground for quite a while because not only was it now night, but a blizzard was raging across the mountain.

"I think we should wait until morning to head back," said Kara.

"Probably a good idea," I said, "I don't fancy freezing to death in that."

We headed a short distance back into the cave to where the icy wind couldn't reach and made a fire with some wood Kara had in her bag for...reasons. After a rather bland meal of dried meat and bread, we sat in a companionable silence by the fire for a while before Kara glanced up at me and sighed.

"Well, aren't you going to ask?" she said.

"Ask what?" I asked.

"You've obviously figured out that I knew that Draugr," she said, "A Draugr who's been dead since the Mythic Era. You must be curious as to how thats possible."

I hummed as I lay back on my bedroll and crossed my hands behind my head.

"I guess so," I said, "However, there are a number of ways that such a thing could be possible. Some form of immortality is the obvious one since I can think of a few methods to achieve it that don't involve Vampirism, an Elder Scroll could probably fling you through time if used properly, or improperly I suppose. I think a Dragon Break could also explain it, although I'm not 100% sure about that."

I shrugged idly.

"Whatever the case, its not really any of my business. We don't really know each other after all and immortality doesn't really interest me. That said, I am willing to listen, if you need a friendly ear."

I smiled at her, then rested my head back again. There was a moments silence, this one tinged with a little tension, before Kara sighed.

"I've been a soldier in one form or another for my entire life," she said, "You might say I was made for it. I've lost many friends to every fate you can think of and had to fight more than a few of them, either due to ending up on opposite sides of a war or due to some form of Magic. However, to see Geralt like that…"

She trailed off and shivered.

"He was my second in command for a very long time and a good and loyal friend," she said softly.

She sighed and lapsed into silence, staring into the fire. I eyed her, taking in the set of her shoulders and the way she shifted. I wasn't entirely sure why, but I got the distinct impression that there was more going on here than just her feeling sad about having to re-kill an old friend.

"Are...you alright?" I asked, "You seem...tired."

Kara looked up at me and frowned slightly.

"Well, we have been walking and fighting for most of the day," she said, "That would be enough to wear out anyone."

"Thats not what I meant," I said as I sat up, "Its deeper than that. Not physical tiredness, more like you're under a great deal of stress and have been for a long time."

I frowned as I finally managed to put my finger on the elusive feeling.

"Kara...are you happy?" I asked.

She stilled.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I mean are you really satisfied with your life?" I asked, "If you really have been a soldier your entire life, that sounds like a lot of stress and pressure. I guess that the question I'm trying to ask is...do you actually want to be a soldier?"

Kara visibly flinched, a stricken look flickering across her face almost too quickly to see before it was smoothed away.

"Its what I was meant to do," she said as she turned away and bruised herself with her bedroll, "I am...content. Now come on, we should get some sleep."

She lay down with her back to me. I stared at her for a moment, momentarily tempted to try to push her to give an actual answer, but decided against it. It wasn't any of my business, despite how much I was certain that the
red-head was hurting. Instead, I decided to take her advice and settled down to sleep.

---

Kara couldn't sleep. It was an unusual state for her to find herself in as her long experience allowed her to sleep pretty much anywhere, no matter how unpleasant or dangerous. However, for some reason, tonight she found it nearly impossible to settle herself enough to fall into sleeps embrace.

Actually, that wasn't entirely true. She knew the reason. She sighed and sat up, looking across the smouldering the remains of the fire at the source of her inability to sleep. She wasn't entirely sure what to make of Marcus. At first glance, he appeared to be nothing more than a wannabe adventurer, destined for either an early death in some Gods forsaken cave in the wilderness or forced retirement at the hands of an arrow to the knee, but despite that and the countless other doomed adventurers she'd met, something seemed to draw her in to him.

She stood, padded around the fire and knelt down beside her partner's bedroll. Once again, just looking at him, he didn't seem like much. He wasn't anywhere near as large as many of the Nords she knew, which wasn't that surprising since Bretons typically were smaller than their northern brethren, but even for his people, Marcus was rather small and unassuming, clearly favouring the Mer side of his past heritage, being small and slender, although he was in remarkably good shape as Kara well knew from the...incident at the Inn. His hair was also average, being dark brown and cut short. All in all, nothing that unusual for a Breton physically and his Magic, while certainly impressive and unusual for one so young, was also well within the realm of possibility. Kara had seen many Mages perform similar feats to those done by her companion in the past, although they did tend to be either Mer or a lot older.

So then why was it that Kara found herself so drawn to the young Breton? After all, she had met so many others like him, physically, Magically and even in nature and personality. More to the point, how was it that he was so easily able to see past her walls and strike so true at her most deeply buried of secrets? Because Marcus had been right about one thing, Kara wasn't entirely satisfied with her life.

It wasn't that she was sad or anything, far from it, her time with the Companions had been some of the best she'd had in her waking moments between the decades of slumber, but the truth of the matter was that she was tired of fighting. Some might lie to themselves and claim that they were perfectly happy, but age brings wisdom and Kara was more than wise enough to know what was in her own heart. The only problem was that fighting was literally all she knew. Oh sure, she had dreams and desires of her own, but she hadn't been hyperbolic when she'd told Marcus that she'd been made to be a soldier. She wasn't even sure if she COULD do anything else and even if she could, how would she go about it? As mentioned, virtually all her skills were based around combat and military skills. She didn't even know how to even begin to follow her dreams. Besides, they weren't exactly the sorts of things she could do alone and she sincerely doubted she'd ever find anyone willing to help her achieve them.

Kara sighed deeply as she stared down at the sleeping Mage, her shoulders slumping as the weight of her years and broken dreams pressed down on her. For a moment, she toyed with the idea that this man could help her, but quickly shook it off. It wasn't fair to ask something like that of him, not when they barely knew each other. Besides, he could do so much better than a tired, scarred old soldier.

With a heavy heart the Companion returned to her bedroll and fell into a restless slumber.

---

The next morning dawned bright and early with the sound of birdsong, indicating that the blizzard was over. After a simple breakfast spent mostly in silence and studiously avoiding the subject from the night before, Kara and I left the cave and began to make our way down the mountain. With no interruptions, it didn't take long to reach the road where Kara paused and glanced towards Riverwood.

"Do you mind if we make a quick stop?" she asked, "I'd like to return the claw to Lucan.

"Sure, I don't mind," I said, "I should probably let Alvor know that the Yarl will be sending guards anyway, assuming they haven't already arrived."

We headed across the bridge and through the small village where Kara ducked into the Riverwood Traders and I made my way across the street to Alvors forge. The big Blacksmith was nowhere to be seen, but his daughter was messing around with some leather by the forge and looked up as I approached. Her eyes went wide and she jumped up.

"Hey, you're the guy Cousin Hadvar helped!" she gasped, "Did you really see a Dragon!?"

I chuckled and crouched down to her level.

"You've been really eager to ask me that, haven't you?" I asked.

Dorthe grinned happily and nodded.

"Yeah, Dragons are awesome!" she chirped, "I really wanna see one!"

I twitched slightly at the thought of a Dragon deciding to make a meal of the town.

"Maybe you will one day," I said, "Now, is your Dad around? I need to talk to him."

"Hes inside with Mom," said Dorthe, "I'll go get him!"

She dashed off and vanished into the house.

"You're surprisingly good with children," said Kara as she approached.

"Eh, I wouldn't go that far," I said as the door to the house opened and Alvor stepped out, followed by Dorthe.

"Ah, its good to see you in one piece lad," said the Blacksmith, "And thank you for delivering my message to the Jarl."

"He sent troops then?" I asked.

"They arrived this morning," said Alvor, jerking a thumb towards the gate through which I could see a small fire burning, "Its not much, but it helps the other residence keep calm and thats more important than anything. Here."

I blinked as I caught the small coin purse he threw at me.

"Whats this for?" I asked.

"You did a job for me, so you get paid," said Alvor.

"I thought I was doing it as payment for helping me after my little brush with death?" I said.

Alvor snorted.

"Lad, that was a favour for Hadvar," he said, "Hes the one who has to pay me back."

"But…"

Alvor held up a hand, cutting me off.

"Lad, piece of advice," he said, "Take any payments freely given. These lands are harsh and you need all the help you can get."

I opened my mouth for a moment, before relenting and tucking the purse away. Alvor let out a bark of laughter and slapped me on the back hard enough to make my knees shake.

"Ah, you'll learn soon enough," he said, "Now, I doubt you came out of your way to see us, especially not with a Companion accompanying you, so I suggest you get going."

"Hes right," said Kara, "We need to report back to Frangar and I don't fancy spending a night outside."

I nodded and, after a quick goodbye to a slightly disappointed Dorthe, we headed back down the road in the direction of Whiterun. As we did, I couldn't help but feel like we'd forgotten something...

---

The trip back to the city was mostly uneventful, with only a brief encounter with a few Khajiit with heavy looking backpacks who greeted Kara politely as we passed one another. Other than that, we reached the city without incident and, just inside the gates, Kara sighed and turned to me.

"Well that was...certainly interesting," she said.

"That it was," I said, "Are you sure you're alright?"

She smiled a little sadly.

"I will be," she said, "I'm going to head back to Jorrvaskr and get blind drunk, then decide what I'm going to do with this sword. Come find me again if you need more backup. Just...no more Draugr barrows, K?"

I snorted.

"Sure, no problem," I said, "Thanks Kara."

The Companion smiled, this one a lot stronger, and turned to go. Before she went to far though, she paused, then turned around and wrapped me in a strong hug.

"Thank you," she whispered in my ear.

I raised an eyebrow as I hugged her back.

"Not sure I deserve that, but your welcome."

She gave a strangled laugh, squeezed me once more and then let me go, heading off in the direction of the Mead Hall with nary a backward glance.

"Well that was...weird," I said.

"Weird is right," said a voice from beside me, "I've never seen Kara the Snow Hunter act that friendly with anyone."

I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sudden intrusion to my thoughts. I looked down and saw a small girl with blonde hair in twintails stood beside me.

"Aren't you that kid from the other day?" I asked.

The girl turned to me and grinned, revealing pure white teeth that looked just a little odd, although exactly what that strangeness was I couldn't tell you.

"Yep, thanks for that," she said, "Irilith would have blown her top if I managed to hurt myself."

"Irilith? You mean the Jarls Housecarl?" I asked in surprise, "Are you one of his children or something?"

"Lets go with or something," said the girl, "Now I gotta run and you gotta get that Dragonstone to Fari before she goes completely spare. See ya!"

She sprinted away before I could react.

"Well that was...weird," I said again, "This town is just...really really weird."

"Ah, you don't know the half of it stranger," said one of the Guards, "I swear, this place attracts kooks like shit attracts flies. We even had a wizard staying at the Bannered Mare who kept making Mammoths fly with his backfiring spells while claiming they worked perfectly. Dumbass got himself killed when he got too close to a Giant who smacked him halfway across the Hold."

"Huh, sounds like quite the character," I said.

"That he was," said the guard, "Have a good day citizen."

I nodded and started making my way up towards Dragonsreach.

---

After being waved in by the Guards, I headed towards Farengar's study where I found the clumsy Mage talking with a familiar Breton. I knocked on the doorframe as I approached, attracting the two womens attention.

"O-oh, your back!" said Farengar, "Glad to see you're alright. Did you get the Stone?"

"Yep, its here," I said, pulling out the stone and placing it on the Mages desk.

She bent over it, examining the old stone closely, before she smiled and nodded.

"Yes, theres no doubt about it, this is the stone!" she said, "Thank you for your help Marcus and you to Delphine."

The Blade nodded.

"I told you the information was accurate," she said, "Just make sure I get a copy when your done deciphering it."

Farengar qualed slightly under the other womans glare.

"A-ah, yes, of course," she said.

Delphine nodded, turned on her heel and walked away without a second look. Once she was gone, Farengar breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm glad shes gone," she muttered.

"Problems?" I asked.

Farengar jumped, as if she'd forgotten I was there, then registered my question and shook her head quickly.

"Oh no, not really," she said, "Its just...Delphines always so intense it can be hard to deal with her at times."

"Fair enough," I said, "So, what now?"

The Mage went to answer, but was cut off by a frantic looking Irileth bursting into her study.

"Farengar! Farengar, you need to come at once!" she said, "A dragon's been sighted nearby" You should come, too!"

I stifled a groan and rubbed my eyes as the two women hurried out of the study. Oh yeah, THAT. This is gonna suck, isn't it? I sighed and followed the two women. No point in trying to avoid destiny I guess.

---

I reached the balcony in time to see Irileth send the Guard away, apparently having got his report while I was stewing in annoyance. For some strange reason, there was still no sign of the Jarl. I had to wonder what the man was doing.

"So, whats going on?" I asked.

"A Dragon is attacking the Westen Watchtower," said Irileth, "Damn, why now of all times?"

She sighed and shook her head.

"Well, it can't be helped," she said, "We should head out and try to stop this thing. I'll order the men to muster near the main gate."

Farengar looked a little pale.

"I...um, I think I'll…"

"You stay here," said Irileth, "The Jarl can't afford to lose both of us if something goes wrong."

Farengar looked rather relieved by that and hurried downstairs, no doubt back to her study, as Irileth turned to me.

"I know I can't really ask you for more help, but you are the only person who knows anything about Dragons," she said, "Plus, you're clearly very capable and I could use all the help I can get."

For a moment, I was tempted to say no, but I had a distinct feeling that that wouldn't go well for me. Besides, I might as well get this party started with a bang, right?

"I wouldn't call nearly getting killed by one expertise, but I'll help if I can," I said.

"Good," said Irileth, "In that case, follow me to the main gate."

I did as I was told and soon found myself standing awkwardly off to the side as the Dunmer did her best to keep the guards spirits up once they found out they were about to go fight a goddamn Dragon. Fortunately, she was charismatic enough to pull it off and soon enough we were on our way.

---

It didn't take that long to reach the Watchtower in question, which was now in pieces and on fire. Yeah, that'll require more than a new coat of paint to fix.

"No signs of any dragon right now, but it sure looks like he's been here," said Irileth, carefully scanning the skys, "I know it looks bad, but we've got to figure out what happened. And if that dragon is still skulking around somewhere. Spread out and look for survivors. We need to know what we're dealing with."

There was a clatter of metal on stone that had the guards tense up, before one of their comrades, looking rather battered and slightly scorched, staggered out from behind a bit of broken wall, waving frantically at us.

"No, Get back!" he shouted, "It's still here somewhere! Hroki and Tor just got grabbed when they tried to make a run for it!"

"What happened here Guardsman?" demanded Irileth, "Where's this dragon? Quickly now!"

"I don't know!" shouted the guard, sound rather scared, which was quickly justified as a large shadow fell over the area, followed by a loud roar and a blast of fire, "Kynareth save us, here he comes again..."

"Here he comes!" shouted Irileth, "Find cover and make every arrow count!"

I did as I was told, rolling behind a chunk of wall as the Guards started trying to bring the massive beast down with what amounted to mosquito bites. I peaked out from behind the wall and watched as the enormous, black scaled monster swooped overhead, blasting fire everywhere and forcing everyone to dodge behind cover. I pulled my head back to avoid a stray shot as Irileth joined me behind the cover.

"Any ideas Mage?" she asked.

"A few," I said, "Depends on how much you want the Watchtower to stay standing."

Irileth glanced over the wall and tossed a couple of fireballs that did jack shit. She ducked back with a curse in a language I didn't recognize.

"The damage is enough that it'll have to be completely rebuilt anyway, so not much," she said, "Why?"

In answer, I cupped my hands together and started gathering my power.

"Buy me some time and you'll see," I said as the air between my palms began to glow a dark, ominous blue.

Irileth eyed the spell warily, before nodding and shouting at her men to keep attacking. I tuned out the battle as I carefully gathered more and more Mana and mixed it with the rather potent mixture of Hydrogen and Oxygen I had created. The additional mana should amplify the explosion into something strong enough to deal with the Dragon. Hopefully. It would, however, certainly be interesting.

After a few more moments, my eyes snapped open and I surged to my feet.

"EVERYONE DOWN!" I shouted.

Warning given, I threw the dark blue orb in my hands at the Dragon, who was now perched on top of the Watchtowers remains and tossing chunks of stone at the Guards. The orb shot out and collided with the stone structure just below the Dragons perch where it flared briefly, then seemed to shrink down to nothing. There was a moments silence, before there was a brilliant flash of orange light and everything went white.
I groaned in pain as consciousness reasserted itself with a ringing in my ears, a throbbing bruise running all down my back and a distinct feeling not unlike sunburn covering my front. I lay still for a moment as I wanted for my head to stop spinning and the spots to vanish from my eyes, before rolling over and getting to my feet. Then I looked at the destruction my spell had wrought and stared.

The Watchtower was gone, leaving nothing but a smouldering crater a good ten meters across and a meter deep and most of the vegetation immediately around the new hole in the ground was burning. Fortunately, it looked like the Guards and Irileth had survived and were slowly picking themselves up from where they'd been thrown.

"Everyone alright?" I called.

My answer was a number of groans and very inventive cursing of everything from my ancestry to telling me to go do anatomically impossible things with various types of vegetable.

"A little more warning would have been appreciated," said Irileth once her men had vented their spleens.

"Sorry, that was quite a bit more powerful than I was expecting," I said as I looked around, "Any sign of the...WHOF!"

I was cut off by a small, soft and squealing missile slamming into my stomach with enough force to knock me off my feet.

"OHMYGOSH, THAT WAS AWESOME!" squealed the missile, "YOU GOTTA TEACH ME THAT SPELL!"

I blinked a couple of times as I tried to make sense of what I was seeing.

Straddling my chest with a look of pure excitement on her face was a young girl with shoulder length, black hair that did little to disguise the fact that it was slightly singed in places, large red eyes and slightly elongated canines that looked like they'd stick out slightly when she closed her mouth. She was wearing crimson robes with the skirt portion cut off to make what amounts to a short dress, a black and gold cloak, fingerless gloves and, for some odd reason, had an eyepatch at a funny angle resting near her ear, making it quite clear that she didn't need it. A short distance away, a pointed black hat with a vague face picked out in orange was fluttering to the ground where it had been blown off from the force of her flying tackle.

I stared at the Megumin ripoff uncomprehendingly for a moment, before letting out a groan and letting my head fall back to the damp grass. Something told me that this was going to get both very complicated and very painful very quickly. I wonder if Skyrim has anything like Asprin available?

 

[Dis Lexic]

Chapter 5
​

I have to admit, the last thing I was expecting after dealing with Mirmulnir was to end up with an excitable loli in my lap. In fact, that statement might actually be completely true, possibly above the Dragon turning into a mongoose and dancing the cancan. The fact she looked a lot like Megumin certainly wasn't helping my incredulity.

"Um, do you mind getting off me?" I asked as politely as I could.

"No way, not until you teach me that spell!" shouted the girl, "Come ooooon, pleaaaaase?"

I lent back as best I could as the girl lent down until we were practically nose to nose. A small part of me noted that she smelt of wildflowers, oddly the same scent as Kara. However, I wasn't about to think on that too hard, not when there was still a lot of stuff that needed to be done.

"I said, get off!" I snapped, planting a hand on her head and shoving her off me.

I ignored the pout she sent my way as I got to my feet and looked around. The guards were pulling themselves together from the fight and unexpectedly massive blast, occasionally sending looks my way that were either amusement at my little interaction with the girl or wariness, probably from the sheer power I'd just shown off. Irileth was busy directing the guards to search the area for anyone who might be hiding nearby and for anything that might have survived my rather, ahem, enthusiastic attack.

Seeing that everything was (mostly) in order, I turned my attention back to the pouting girl, who had retrieved her hat at some point.

"So, who exactly are you?" I asked.

The girl blinked, then grinned in a way that made me think I might have made a mistake asking that. However, before she could respond, her eyes slipped off me to something behind me and widened slightly.

"HEY, thats mine!" she shouted.

I turned as she ran past me and charged a pair of rather battered looking guards who had just arrived and snatched the staff one of the two was using as a walking stick. Naturally, the guard immediately face planted, which the girl completely ignored in favour of hugging the staff close to her and cooing to the length of wood as if it was a beloved pet. Admittedly, it was a very nice staff, but still. It also looked exactly like Megumins, but that was somewhat expected.

"Hey, what's the big idea!" shouted the downed guards companion as he helped his friend up, "You can't...hey wait a second, you're that girl who was blowing things up!"

"And you're the assholes who stole my staff and hat!" snapped the girl right back, "I oughta…"

Irileth cut off the argument before it could escalate with a rather loud cough.

"Whats going on here?" she asked.

"These two assholes jumped me on the road," said the girl, "Said I was being suspicious and took my hat and staff!"

"She was blowing things up!" said the less battered guard.

"I was practicing my Magic!"

"ENOUGH!" shouted Irileth, "Hroki, Tor, I want a proper report when we get back to town. We can get to the bottom of this mess then."

"Yes Ma'am," grumbled the two guards.

"Now, who exactly are you and why were you blowing things up?" asked Irileth, turning her attention to the girl.

The girl grinned and ducked her head so her face was hidden under the brim of her hat and I got a sudden sinking feeling in my gut. Suddenly I had a good idea where this was going. The fact the girl was starting to leak Magic in just the right way to make her clothes move dramatically certainly wasn't helping. Then, she struck a pose and it took everything I had not to cringe. Fucking Chinnibyos!

"I am Mimi, a student of the school of Destruction!" she announced grandly, "I am a Black Mage of power beyond imagining, so much so that my Magic cannot be restrained!"

"Or, to put it another way, you're a chinnibyo student who can't control her Magic," I deadpanned.

"ACK!"

THUNK!

"How do you know that?" asked Irileth as Mimi struggled to untangle herself from her staff and cloak from where she'd just tripped over her own feet mid pose.

"Well, shes leaking Mana everywhere and explosions like those two mentioned are usually a sign of being unable to control ones Magic properly," I said, "The chinnibyo part is because of the posing and the fact that she clearly doesn't need this eyepatch."

"Hehe, on the contrary, this eyepatch is actually a powerful seal!" said Mimi, having managed to stumble to her feet, "It keeps back my incredible power and...YEEK!"

I cut her off by grabbing the patch and pulling.

"W-WAIT, NONONONON…"

SNAP!

"OWEEE!"

"Huh, you know, I think I've heard of her," said one of the guards who had come over to see what the commotion was about, "A kid with a silly hat and overblown opinion of herself...yeah, my Cousin who works up in Winterhold mentioned her last time I saw him. Apparently shes driven the teachers at the College spare since she insists on learning Destruction Magic, despite having absolutely no skill in it whatsoever."

"H-hey, thats not true!" shouted Mimi, shooting to her feet with her eyepatch up to reveal a slightly red and bloodshot eye, "I-I'm a great Mage! I can too learn Destruction Magic, no matter what that bitch Faralda says! I-I just need to find a good teacher to get me started thats all!"

"Didn't you blow a hole in the side of the College trying to light a candle?" asked the guard.

I could practically hear the shattering of Mimi's pride as she collapsed to her hands and knees with a strangled moan.

"Riiiight, anyway, moving on," said Irileth, "The Dragon's been dealt with and thats the main thing. Marcus, you head back to Whiterun and report this to the Jarl while we make sure that everythings sorted here."

She glanced at the devastation.

"Not that theres really much left to check."

I cringed slightly.

"Sorry…"

She waved me off and I decided to get gone before she decided that I was actually to blame. I headed back to the road and started moving in the direction of Whiterun. I hadn't gone very far when I realized I had a shadow.

"Can I help you?" I asked, turning to look at Mimi.

"I want you to teach me that spell you used on the Watchtower!" she exclaimed.

"Not a chance," I said, turning away from her.

"Wha...but why not!" she whined, trotting after me.

"Because if you can't even light a candle without blowing things up, theres no way I'm risking arming you with an actual explosion spell!" I said, "Besides, I don't know the first thing about teaching Magic, so you'd probably be better heading back to the College..."

I was cut off as Mimi leaped forwards and grabbed me around the neck, clinging to my back like a monkey as I stumbled under the unexpected weight.

"NO, I can't go back to the College, not after what they said about me!"yelled the girl, "I need you to teach me how to use that spell so I can show them all that I can be a Destruction Mage!"

"I said no!" I growled, "Now let go before…"

I was cut off as my foot caught an upturned rock and I lost my balance, pitching the both of us off the path and into a pool of sludge at the side of the road.

---

"I should have left you in that puddle," I growled as I carried Mimi through the gates of Whiterun, ignoring the looks I was receiving thanks to the coating of suspicious ooze covering me and the equally covered girl on my back, "What kind of College trained Mage can't use any Restoration Magic anyway?"

"If you'd just have agreed to teach me that Magic, this wouldn't have happened," said Mimi, "Besides, Restoration Magics so damn boring, why would I spend any time on it?"

"I already told you why I'm not going to teach you that Magic you damn brat," I growled, "And being able to heal oneself is a rather handy skill to have. Seriously, you have a sprained ankle! Even a complete novice should be able to fix that!"

"Like your one to talk," said Mimi, "You can't use Restoration either!"

"I'm also entirely self taught," I said, "And Restoration doesn't seem like the sort of thing you should just experiment with."

I sighed.

"I'll take you to the Temple to get fixed, but then your on your own," I said, "I've got a lot to do and...GLARK!"

"NOOOO, YOU CAN'T!" shouted Mimi as she wrapped her arms around my neck and squeezed hard enough to nearly choke me, "I need a teacher who can teach me some actual Destruction Magic!"

"Then go back to the College!" I growled as best I could, "They'd be much better qualified to…"

"NO, I can't go back!" shouted the annoying brat, "I refuse to let those assholes hold me back any more!"

"Then find someone else to teach you!" I snarled, "I'm not a fucking teacher you brat!"

"Nooo, I wanna go with you!" she shouted.

I twitched, well aware that the tantrum was starting to get attention and whispers from the bystanders.

"Come on, I'll do anything you want!" she yelled, "I'll carry your stuff, please just don't abandon me like this!"

I twitched even more violently as the whispers increased. I could already tell where this was going. I had seen Konosuba after all and this seemed uncomfortable similar to how Megumin was 'recruited'.

"Look Mimi, its not that I don't want to teach you, its that I don't think I can," I said quickly.

I mean, I didn't since that sounded like a recipe for disaster, but it wasn't a lie either.

"What do you mean?" asked the little Mage, "You're an amazing spellcaster!"

"That doesn't mean I'll make a good teacher though," I said as I started walking again, "Like I said, I'm entirely self taught and I'm not even sure if my method would work for anyone else. Besides, if you cause explosions large enough to damage the College with a simple spell to light a candle, I hate to think of what would happen if you tried one of my spells. I really don't want to be responsible for you hurting or killing yourself."

Mimi was silent for the rest of the trip up to the Temple of Kynareth. She wasn't badly hurt, just a sprained ankle, so she'd be out in no time and I didn't feel guilty about leaving her to go meet the Jarl.

"Thanks for the help," said Mimi as I dropped her down on the bench the priestess indicated to.

"No problem," I said, "See you around."

"Yeah…"

I paused in the door of the temple and glanced back at the tiny Magic as she settled back to wait for one of the healers to finish up and help her. She looked...rather down. I shook my head and left. I had a quest to hand in.

---

Up at Dragonsreach, I was immediately waved in by the Guards and made my way up to the head of the hall where a slightly annoyed looking Proventus was waiting.

"Good, you're finally here," he said, "Irileth sent word that you'd finished the job."

"Is the Jarl here?" I asked, "I'd like to give my report directly to him if possible."

I was feeling slightly annoyed that Balgruuf apparently didn't feel that it was worth listening to a report like this himself. It was honestly kinda odd since he always gave the impression that he was a good Jarl who cared for his people.

Proventus' expression darkened slightly.

"I'm afraid that Jarl Balgruuf is otherwise…" he started, before being cut off by the door leading to the upper level opening.

"Actually, I'm right here," said a voice I was not expecting.

I watched with no small amount of growing incredulity as a short, blonde girl with twintails walked over to the Jarls chair and hopped up onto the seat. It was the girl I'd helped get the ball down from the roof the first day in Whiterun, now wearing a rather nice dress that had patterns on that I'm fairly sure depicted coiling dragons and a dragon shaped circlet made of what looked like bone.
The girl met my eyes and grinned.

"Not what you were expecting?" she asked.

"Not really," I said, "I suspect theres a story here?"

Balgruuf snorted.

"A very long one involving curses and Dragons," she said, "To make it short, I didn't always look like this, but I don't really mind. While the appearance can be more than a little annoying, the benefits are rather useful."

"Yes, for ignoring your duties," muttered Proventus, which Balgruuf ignored.

"So, your report?" said Balgruuf, leaning forwards and resting her elbows on her knees and her chin in her palms.

I eyed her for a moment longer, then shrugged. This world was already more Anime than I was expecting, what was one more thing? Besides, I didn't really want to find out what 'benefits' came with whatever curse the Jarl had mentioned.

The report didn't take long and when I was done, Balgruuf sat back in her seat, her brow creased in worry.

"That is...concerning," she said, "The idea that the Dragons could be returning and attacking at random...that doesn't bode well."

She closed her eyes in thought for a moment, then nodded to herself.

"Proventus, increase recruitment of the Guards," she said, "And while you're at it, see about improving their current equipment. Once thats done, increase patrols around the Hold."

The Imperial looked a little startled.

"B-but my Lord, doing that could…"

"I am aware of what my neighbours could think," said Balgruuf, "However, I will not allow my people to be placed in danger. In fact, send missives out informing the other Jarls of this and suggest that they increase their patrols. Who knows, it might do something about the bandit infestations as well…"

She sighed softly, then sat up straight.

"As for you, dear traveller, this is the third time you have assisted me with an important matter," she said, "As such, I would see you rewarded. By my right as Jarl, I name you Thane of Whiterun. It's the greatest honour that's within my power to grant. I assign you Lydia as a personal Housecarl, as well as Breezehome to use as your home as you see fit. Lydia is waiting for you there."

She reached into her pocket and tossed something to me. I caught it and found that it was a key. Proventus looked rather surprised.

"B-but my Jarl, you can't just hand the house over like that!" he protested.

"Actually, I can," said Balgruuf, "With the death of its previous owner with no family, ownership defaults to the Jarl, so I can simply gift it as I see fit."

"Your...just going to give me a house?" I asked, more than a little surprised, "Why?"

Balgruuf grinned.

"Because I feel like it," she said, "Also, you're clearly someone to keep an eye on, a real...protagonist sort of person. I get the feeling that you're going to do a lot of crazy things and be truly influential in the coming events. With that in mind, having you as a resident of my city can only be a good thing, right?"

I stared at her, not entirely sure where she got that idea from.

"I...guess so," I said, "Still though…"

"I'm not taking no for an answer," said Balgruuf, getting to her feet, "I've already had some of my servants clean and fix the place up."

I sighed and tucked the key away.

"Alright then, I gratefully accept," I said.

Balgruufs grin was nothing short of blinding.

"Great, in that case, I hope you enjoy your time in our city," she said, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have other important things to do. The chef just took a pie out of the oven thats calling my name. Toodles!"

She jumped off her throne and bolted before Proventus could grab her. The elderly Imperial groaned and rubbed the bridge of his nose, muttering something that was probably not very flattering under his breath.

"I am sorry for her attitude," he said, "She is very good at her job, but her attention span is...well, you saw."

He sighed.

"I suppose I should go and track her down before she drives another chef to quit," he said, "Do have a good day traveler."

He hurried away, leaving me to shake my head at the Jarls antics and head towards the doors.

---

Outside, I paused and took a deep breath, taking a moment to appreciate the clean, fresh air of this world and absorb what had just happened. Balgruuf was...not what I expected to say the least, but at least she was friendly and rather generous. Breezeholm might be the cheapest of the houses, but it was still a house.

That said, I strongly suspected that the decision to give me the house was done so to keep me tied to Whiterun for the foreseeable future. After all, I wasn't a video game character and would need somewhere to call home and having someone powerful enough to vaporize Dragons around and somewhat indebted to you was a rather useful thing to have.

I sighed and shook my head. This was going to be a headache I could tell. Still, that was for future Marcus to deal with, I had a house to examine!

I pushed off the door and started to make my way down towards the Plains district. However, I hadn't gone far before I felt a pair of eyes on me. I stopped and turned, quickly finding the person who was looking at me, mainly because she wasn't even trying to hide it.

She was a young woman who was leaning against one of the pillars that lined the bridge over the pond that surrounded Dragonsreach. The woman didn't really look like much, being short and rather slender and was wearing a light blue scarf, a short green cape, a pair of black elbow gloves with normal brown gloves layered over them, black leather leggings, white knee-high socks with a blue trimming, brown boots and a gray top that bore her midriff. A pair of daggers was sheathed across her belt and she had long, white hair worn up in a messy ponytail pinned back with a set of sharp looking pins with bangs that covered the left side of her face, purple eyes and a scar on her visible cheek.

Upon getting my attention, the woman smirked, pushed off the pole and sauntered over.

"So, you're the kid who's got my sisters all agitated eh?" she asked.

She walked around me, eyeing me up and down in a manner that made me feel like a piece of prime rib.

"Hmm, shorter than I expected, but I guess that looks can be deceiving," she said.

"Um, who are you?" I asked.

The woman stopped in front of me and grinned.

"Names Sol," she said, "Honourable former thief, current tavern keeper and occasional messenger. Speaking of which…"

She reached into her pouch and handed me a note.

"An old friend asked me to deliver that," she said.

"What is it?" I asked as I opened it to reveal the harsh lines of Dragon Tongue.

"An invitation to High Hrothgar," said Sol.

My head snapped up.

"I beg your pardon?" I asked.

"Not sure what you did to attract the Graybeards attention, but it must have been rather impressive," she said, "I don't think I've ever seen them so agitated. I suggest you don't take too long to go see them."

"How the hell does a thief know what the Graybeards are up to?!" I spluttered.

Sol smirked.

"Lets just say I have friends in high places," she said, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a tavern to run. Stop by if you're ever around Kynesgrove and I'll buy you a drink."

She waved and sauntered away before I could say anything else. I sighed yet again and looked down at the note in my hands. Welp, guess I was going to see the Greybeards after all, although what I'd done to attract their attention was anyones guess. I should probably stop by Breezeholm first though, just to keep Lydia from panicking when I didn't turn up. It was on my way out of the city anyway.

---

I made my way down to my new house without further incident where I found Lydia waiting for me outside. Upon spotting me, the Nord Housecarl stepped forwards and saluted me.

"Greetings my Thane," she said, "I am Lydia, your new Housecarl. Its a pleasure to meet you and an honour to serve you."

"Nice to meet you Lydia," I said, "Jarl Balgruuf said that she'd sent people to sort the place out. Are they finished?"

The Housecarl shook her head.

"The previous owners died a while ago and the place is in disrepair," she said, "It will take a while for the house to be repaired."

"I see," I said, "Well, that might actually be a good thing. I've just received a rather important summon and need to leave the city for a while, so with any luck, the repairs will be done by the time I'm back."

The Housecarl looked rather surprised, before rallying herself.

"Very well, I shall ensure that Breezeholm is suitable for your use by the time you return," she said.

She saluted again and marched into the house. I turned and made my way out of the city, nodding to the guards as I passed. I headed down to the stables, pausing momentarily and considering buying a horse, before dismissing the idea. I didn't know how to ride after all and I didn't have much money to throw around. I was about to leave and start making my way to Ivarstead when a flash of red caught my eye. I turned and was mildly surprised to see Mimi sat on one of the rocks outside the stable with her hat beside her.

I was about to call out to her, but something made me stop and take a second look. I couldn't see her face, but her entire posture, from the way she was slumped to the set of her shoulders, screamed to me that she was upset and lonely. A rather nasty feeling coiled in my gut. Was I responsible for that by turning her away? The girl seemed so bright and full of life when she was begging me to teach her, so seeing her looking so defeated and considering that I might be responsible for it made me feel...kinda shitty honestly.

After a moment's consideration, I sighed. This was probably a really, REALLY bad idea, but I couldn't leave her like that. God damn it, when did I become such a softy?

---

Mimi sniffed and rubbed her nose as she tried to keep from crying. It wasn't the first time she'd been turned away by a potential teacher, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt any less. At least Marcus hadn't chased her off and had taken the time to make sure she was OK after their little tumble, although to be honest, that kinda made it worse. The powerful young Mage had been so damn kind to her and had such incredible Magic that she was certain she had found her new teacher. Alas, it seemed that Fate really did enjoy shitting all over her and once again, it turned out that he couldn't teach her.

Mimi sniffed again as she considered her next move. She could return to the College and beg for another shot, but the idea made her feel more than a little nauseous. Besides, she already knew that Faralda would refuse to teach her. Another option was to head to her sisters and ask for help, but that smacked too hard of giving up. She was determined to achieve her goals on her own damn it! Besides, they'd probably try to convince her to give up on her dreams of mastering Destruction Magic and she refused to do that! In the end, that only really left her with one option. Keep wondering and hope she found someone who could actually teach her. The only problem was, where could she…

She was abruptly pulled from her thoughts as her beloved hat was abruptly plucked from its place next to her. She grabbed her staff, ready to blast the fool who dared to touch her things to bits, but before she could, the hat was pressed down on her head by a familiar hand. She looked up at the hands owner with wide eyes and, sure enough, there was Marcus with a rather rueful look on his face.

"I'm probably going to regret this, but what the hell, I could use the company," he said, "I'm going on an adventure. Care to tag along? You might learn something."

Mimi stared up at the other Mage with wide eyes for a moment, before the tears she had forgotten about returned, albeit with a different emotion accompanying them. She quickly scrubbed at her face and grinned up at the taller Mage.

"O-ok," she said.

He smiled back and started heading down the path, prompting Mimi to hurriedly grab her few belongings and run after him with a big smile on her face. Things were finally looking up for her.