I Loved the Souls Art Online story.
I think I'm loving this story already.
My Older Siblings Cannot be the Dragonborn (Skyrim SI)
- Thread starter shadenight123
- Start date
I Loved the Souls Art Online story.
I think I'm loving this story already.
frozenchicken
Does not have a custom title.
Honestly, all these people going on about Stealth archery.
Dual-casting with the Impact perk.
Dual-casting with the Impact perk.
Chapter One - Helgen - 17th of Last Seed 4E 201 - Umbra
- Location
- https://discord.gg/z9tBvbh
Helgen - 17th of Last Seed 4E 201 - Umbra
The cold did not kill me. It came close, but it didn't. I ended up huddled in the middle between the burly Nord and the red-haired Breton, and as the Breton and I shuddered, the Nord instead simply grinned. He was like a miniature stove. Honestly, there were some men whose body temperature reached astonishing degrees, and Dragnor was one of said men. The carriages carrying us began to trek through cobbled roads barely serviceable, and as the horse pulling our carriage neighed and snorted, it still resolutely carried us through.
Good horse, not willing to just rest and determined to carry us prisoners to our chopping block. He was probably a thoroughly bred horse of the Empire, whose firmness in pulling was second only to his courage on the battlefield. Yes, indeed, that horse was nothing less than a hero carrying aloft the flame of the Emperor, and on his broad shoulders stood the weight of the law. If only I hadn't been part of the carriage of punished criminals, I would have appreciated the horse a bit more.
"We've nearly arrived," I heard Rae speak, her head resting against my stomach as she had laid down and crawled into a fetal position on both Dragnor and mine's legs. The guards hadn't said anything, perhaps deciding that it made it even harder to try to escape if one of the criminals was actually holding down the other two.
"Finally," Dragnor grumbled. "Care to get off my legs now, sister?"
Rae dutifully pushed herself up, cracking her fingers lightly even as she took a few deep breaths. She sat back down, this time by Dragnor's side who grunted as he moved to let her sit. I moved too, ending up the one furthest at the back of the carriage.
"What village is that?" Rae asked.
"Helgen," one of the Stormcloak rebels in front of us spoke. "It's an Imperial outpost."
"We've made it past the border," Rae said, "but not in the way I had planned it."
"You'll be insufferable for days, won't you?" Dragnor growled. "Try to get us out of this trouble before starting another."
Rae flicked her hair behind her with a sharp motion of her head as the carriages pulled inside the village, my eyes glancing over to where General Tullius was speaking with the Thalmor Ambassador. Or at least, to where I had expected them both to be. Only, they weren't really there. Helgen was a small village, but differently from the game it actually had more than just a handful of houses. It was an important Imperial outpost that had the border with Cyrodiil to the South.
Trade passed through there, and while the people gathered by the sides of the carriage were few, there were still quite a few more than expected.
The carriages came to a halt, and as the imperial soldiers escorting us made us descend, we ended up amidst the rows of Stormcloak rebels ready for the chopping block. Well, not really. We stood in line as Hadvar went through the list, calling forth the prisoners one after the other. It was justified. Rather than two dozens, we were at least a good fifty or more. Apparently someone had decided along the way to gather more rebellious Stormcloaks and throw them with other carriages to the mix.
There was a grand total of ten carriages, all slowly moving away from the main chopping block in front of the large tower that oversaw the outpost in its entirety. Ulfric Stormcloak went first, manhandled roughly by two imperial soldiers clad in heavy armor, while General Tullius overlooked the entirety of the proceedings from atop his horse at one end of the square. Ralof went next with his own escort. When Lokir of Rorikstead panicked, he dashed off as expected, perhaps hoping to lose himself in the crowd that was gathering at the borders of the square. In that moment, I could feel the tense grip of Dragnor on my right arm, as if holding me steady.
What? Was he expecting me to rush after him or something? "He's a fool," Dragnor whispered.
He managed to clear my line of sight before the archers gathered to hold back the crowd pulled the strings of their bows and unleashed their arrows, the sharp cry of pain from Lokir letting me know that at least one or two had struck true. "Anyone else feels like running!?"
Nobody answered her. Hadvar looked down at the list once more, and then back up towards us. "You there, wait. Who are you?" he asked, a puzzled expression on his face.
"I am Rae of Cyrodiil, and these are my brothers, Dragnor and Umbra." I blinked at the second name. Umbra? Was that my name? Why was it my name? At least let me pick it. I can be Reaper, or Hatred. Why do I have to be Umbra? It sounds female. Is it a female name? Does it still mean Shade? Or does it mean Shadow? Even so, why are you telling the guy that we're siblings? I'm clearly what passes for an Imperial. An Imperial, a Nord and a Breton walk to the chopping block sounds like the start of a joke, if only it weren't such a serious situation. "There's been a mistake. We aren't Stormcloaks! We were just trying to cross the border!"
"Captain, what should we do? They aren't on the list," Hadvar said.
"Forget the list, they go to the block," the captain replied. The low murmurs from the crowd were apparently of distaste. They wanted to see blood, probably soon, and anything postponing it wasn't going to postpone it for much longer.
I swallowed. I was not going to jump out of a broken tower and land inside a burning tavern if I could avoid it, and if I considered just how the terrain had changed, I might not even get to do that. "Is Gaius Maro still serving at Dragon bridge?" I asked, "He can vouch for us."
The Captain was about to turn away, when Hadvar interceded, "Commander Maro's son?"
I nodded. "Yeah, him. He's in the Penitus Oculatus. If you do not trust us," I looked at the Captain straight in the eyes, the woman having turned now that I had mentioned the personal guards of the Emperor. "It is fine. We can wait in the prison cells until you send a messenger over. We're no Ulfric Stormcloak," I inclined my head to where the leader of the Stormcloaks actually was. His mouth firmly closed by a piece of cloth tightly rolled and chewed at by his teeth. "And if we're lying then you can simply forget the key or have us killed at a later date. We won't try to run, but if we aren't lying, and you go ahead with chopping our heads off...you'll be explaining it to him when he next takes leave expecting to see us at Solitude and not finding us there."
The captain this time did hesitate. She probably wasn't willing to waste more time than what was strictly necessary, especially with how the execution had to be carried over with quickly, but she couldn't risk her career, if she had any, and honestly, we clearly weren't Stormcloaks. At least, myself and Rae weren't Nord, but I had vouched also for Dragnor. In the end, she could wait a couple of days before killing the likes of us. "Throw them in the prisons," she said in the end. "If they try to escape, cut off their legs and have them burned alive."
I stared at the woman. Seriously? Couldn't a plain kill them work just as well?
Neither of my siblings said anything as Hadvar neared us with his sword unsheathed. "Follow me," he said as he turned after roughly grabbing hold of my arm and dragging me forward, Dragnor and Rae following behind us. Why did he have to drag me ahead of the others wasn't something I understood, but as we passed by the chopping block two Imperial soldiers separated to follow behind us, and once we reached into the square behind the main tower, I heard the first roar echo across the mountains.
"Did you hear that?" Dragnor asked, looking up to the sky for answers. We were near the still open gates that would lead one out of Helgen. Still, Hadvar didn't waste time in pulling me past the second square behind the chopping block.
"Keep moving," Hadvar said. "Don't give me a reason to waste the captain's mercy."
"Yeah, let's go," I said, "Before he rips my arm off and drags it in prison without the rest of my body," I continued as I sped up my gait, the duo of tied up siblings of mine following.
"Has your memory returned, brother?" Rae asked, only for me to shake my head even while being brought to a halt in front of a large wooden door, which was hastily opened with a powerful push of Hadvar's shoulder.
"Not all of it," I said. "I was hit pretty nastily on the back of my head by one of yours," I continued as Hadvar looked back at me. "I would have cleared the misunderstanding immediately, had I been awake when we were captured," I sighed. "Did they trash our stuff?"
"No idea," Dragnor said. "It's probably still back there at the Crossing."
We passed through the stone corridors and stairs of Helgen Keep, a sudden shake making me nearly lose my balance as Hadvar jolted to an abrupt halt.
"What's happening?" he turned around to look at the two other Imperials, while a few more began to rush up the stairs, attracted by the noise and the sudden screams.
One of them neared a slit in the walls at the top of the stairs, "Can't see a thing through this!" he yelled back.
Hadvar hesitated, and then pushed me against the wall by the side of the stairs. "Stay there!" he pointed his sword at Rae and Dragnor, "Next to the wall prisoners!" and as the duo obeyed, he then rushed back at the top of the stairs, leaving behind the two lightly-armored guards to watch over us.
A few seconds that stretched like minutes passed as suddenly the ground trembled more, this time with the rhythmic pounding of meteors hitting down from the skies and setting ablaze pretty much everything they struck.
The guards lost momentarily their balance, and that was all Dragnor needed to rush forward and slam both of his fists against the knee of the guard in front of him, while Rae's hands joined together to release a stream of hot fire straight against the second guard's face.
The guard who had received a blast of fire to the face did not scream. The flames hungrily devoured his breath and the oxygen he so desperately needed as his entire head lit ablaze, his body shaking as it fell down the stairs with a thud.
The one Dragnor was working on instead found his face hitting the stone steps repeatedly, the Nord's hands smashing the man's head against the stone until it became unrecognizable, stopping only once Rae barked out his name.
"We don't have time for this Dragnor!" Rae hissed. "Get his sword, quickly!"
Fumbling with both hands, Dragnor did just that and freed Rae first with a quick grunt of exertion, before passing the sword over so that she could free us both in turn.
My fingers twitched as I gasped for air, my eyes settling on the nice cold wall in front of me and not on the corpse on the stairs or the one at the bottom of said stairs.
"So little brother, you haven't lost your tongue!" Dragnor said with a bright smile, even as he hastily began to unclasp bracers of the soldier, Rae kneeling by his side to help him. "I told you hitting him on the head was going to work."
"Shut up Dragnor," Rae hissed back. "Umbra, get the man's boots, quickly!"
I blinked, swallowed and then knelt. If I tried my hardest not to look at the man's upper part of the body, then it was no different than working with a mannequin. It was a really life-like mannequin, but just that, a mannequin.
I would have preferred pushing the E button to get the loot with a swift R pressure, but I had to take what I was given. This meant undoing removing boots and smelling stinky feet belonging to a dead and cold corpse.
Swallow, Shade. Swallow your fears and your disgust and don't think about the other body, or about the Helgen Keep that you'll have to push through.
"Just put it on as quickly as possible," Rae snapped as she rushed down towards the other corpse, my body repulsed by the thought, and yet moving by sheer automation. It was a perfectly valid thought. Get the armor. Don't think about the corpses.
Get the armor.
Don't think.
The cold did not kill me. It came close, but it didn't. I ended up huddled in the middle between the burly Nord and the red-haired Breton, and as the Breton and I shuddered, the Nord instead simply grinned. He was like a miniature stove. Honestly, there were some men whose body temperature reached astonishing degrees, and Dragnor was one of said men. The carriages carrying us began to trek through cobbled roads barely serviceable, and as the horse pulling our carriage neighed and snorted, it still resolutely carried us through.
Good horse, not willing to just rest and determined to carry us prisoners to our chopping block. He was probably a thoroughly bred horse of the Empire, whose firmness in pulling was second only to his courage on the battlefield. Yes, indeed, that horse was nothing less than a hero carrying aloft the flame of the Emperor, and on his broad shoulders stood the weight of the law. If only I hadn't been part of the carriage of punished criminals, I would have appreciated the horse a bit more.
"We've nearly arrived," I heard Rae speak, her head resting against my stomach as she had laid down and crawled into a fetal position on both Dragnor and mine's legs. The guards hadn't said anything, perhaps deciding that it made it even harder to try to escape if one of the criminals was actually holding down the other two.
"Finally," Dragnor grumbled. "Care to get off my legs now, sister?"
Rae dutifully pushed herself up, cracking her fingers lightly even as she took a few deep breaths. She sat back down, this time by Dragnor's side who grunted as he moved to let her sit. I moved too, ending up the one furthest at the back of the carriage.
"What village is that?" Rae asked.
"Helgen," one of the Stormcloak rebels in front of us spoke. "It's an Imperial outpost."
"We've made it past the border," Rae said, "but not in the way I had planned it."
"You'll be insufferable for days, won't you?" Dragnor growled. "Try to get us out of this trouble before starting another."
Rae flicked her hair behind her with a sharp motion of her head as the carriages pulled inside the village, my eyes glancing over to where General Tullius was speaking with the Thalmor Ambassador. Or at least, to where I had expected them both to be. Only, they weren't really there. Helgen was a small village, but differently from the game it actually had more than just a handful of houses. It was an important Imperial outpost that had the border with Cyrodiil to the South.
Trade passed through there, and while the people gathered by the sides of the carriage were few, there were still quite a few more than expected.
The carriages came to a halt, and as the imperial soldiers escorting us made us descend, we ended up amidst the rows of Stormcloak rebels ready for the chopping block. Well, not really. We stood in line as Hadvar went through the list, calling forth the prisoners one after the other. It was justified. Rather than two dozens, we were at least a good fifty or more. Apparently someone had decided along the way to gather more rebellious Stormcloaks and throw them with other carriages to the mix.
There was a grand total of ten carriages, all slowly moving away from the main chopping block in front of the large tower that oversaw the outpost in its entirety. Ulfric Stormcloak went first, manhandled roughly by two imperial soldiers clad in heavy armor, while General Tullius overlooked the entirety of the proceedings from atop his horse at one end of the square. Ralof went next with his own escort. When Lokir of Rorikstead panicked, he dashed off as expected, perhaps hoping to lose himself in the crowd that was gathering at the borders of the square. In that moment, I could feel the tense grip of Dragnor on my right arm, as if holding me steady.
What? Was he expecting me to rush after him or something? "He's a fool," Dragnor whispered.
He managed to clear my line of sight before the archers gathered to hold back the crowd pulled the strings of their bows and unleashed their arrows, the sharp cry of pain from Lokir letting me know that at least one or two had struck true. "Anyone else feels like running!?"
Nobody answered her. Hadvar looked down at the list once more, and then back up towards us. "You there, wait. Who are you?" he asked, a puzzled expression on his face.
"I am Rae of Cyrodiil, and these are my brothers, Dragnor and Umbra." I blinked at the second name. Umbra? Was that my name? Why was it my name? At least let me pick it. I can be Reaper, or Hatred. Why do I have to be Umbra? It sounds female. Is it a female name? Does it still mean Shade? Or does it mean Shadow? Even so, why are you telling the guy that we're siblings? I'm clearly what passes for an Imperial. An Imperial, a Nord and a Breton walk to the chopping block sounds like the start of a joke, if only it weren't such a serious situation. "There's been a mistake. We aren't Stormcloaks! We were just trying to cross the border!"
"Captain, what should we do? They aren't on the list," Hadvar said.
"Forget the list, they go to the block," the captain replied. The low murmurs from the crowd were apparently of distaste. They wanted to see blood, probably soon, and anything postponing it wasn't going to postpone it for much longer.
I swallowed. I was not going to jump out of a broken tower and land inside a burning tavern if I could avoid it, and if I considered just how the terrain had changed, I might not even get to do that. "Is Gaius Maro still serving at Dragon bridge?" I asked, "He can vouch for us."
The Captain was about to turn away, when Hadvar interceded, "Commander Maro's son?"
I nodded. "Yeah, him. He's in the Penitus Oculatus. If you do not trust us," I looked at the Captain straight in the eyes, the woman having turned now that I had mentioned the personal guards of the Emperor. "It is fine. We can wait in the prison cells until you send a messenger over. We're no Ulfric Stormcloak," I inclined my head to where the leader of the Stormcloaks actually was. His mouth firmly closed by a piece of cloth tightly rolled and chewed at by his teeth. "And if we're lying then you can simply forget the key or have us killed at a later date. We won't try to run, but if we aren't lying, and you go ahead with chopping our heads off...you'll be explaining it to him when he next takes leave expecting to see us at Solitude and not finding us there."
The captain this time did hesitate. She probably wasn't willing to waste more time than what was strictly necessary, especially with how the execution had to be carried over with quickly, but she couldn't risk her career, if she had any, and honestly, we clearly weren't Stormcloaks. At least, myself and Rae weren't Nord, but I had vouched also for Dragnor. In the end, she could wait a couple of days before killing the likes of us. "Throw them in the prisons," she said in the end. "If they try to escape, cut off their legs and have them burned alive."
I stared at the woman. Seriously? Couldn't a plain kill them work just as well?
Neither of my siblings said anything as Hadvar neared us with his sword unsheathed. "Follow me," he said as he turned after roughly grabbing hold of my arm and dragging me forward, Dragnor and Rae following behind us. Why did he have to drag me ahead of the others wasn't something I understood, but as we passed by the chopping block two Imperial soldiers separated to follow behind us, and once we reached into the square behind the main tower, I heard the first roar echo across the mountains.
"Did you hear that?" Dragnor asked, looking up to the sky for answers. We were near the still open gates that would lead one out of Helgen. Still, Hadvar didn't waste time in pulling me past the second square behind the chopping block.
"Keep moving," Hadvar said. "Don't give me a reason to waste the captain's mercy."
"Yeah, let's go," I said, "Before he rips my arm off and drags it in prison without the rest of my body," I continued as I sped up my gait, the duo of tied up siblings of mine following.
"Has your memory returned, brother?" Rae asked, only for me to shake my head even while being brought to a halt in front of a large wooden door, which was hastily opened with a powerful push of Hadvar's shoulder.
"Not all of it," I said. "I was hit pretty nastily on the back of my head by one of yours," I continued as Hadvar looked back at me. "I would have cleared the misunderstanding immediately, had I been awake when we were captured," I sighed. "Did they trash our stuff?"
"No idea," Dragnor said. "It's probably still back there at the Crossing."
We passed through the stone corridors and stairs of Helgen Keep, a sudden shake making me nearly lose my balance as Hadvar jolted to an abrupt halt.
"What's happening?" he turned around to look at the two other Imperials, while a few more began to rush up the stairs, attracted by the noise and the sudden screams.
One of them neared a slit in the walls at the top of the stairs, "Can't see a thing through this!" he yelled back.
Hadvar hesitated, and then pushed me against the wall by the side of the stairs. "Stay there!" he pointed his sword at Rae and Dragnor, "Next to the wall prisoners!" and as the duo obeyed, he then rushed back at the top of the stairs, leaving behind the two lightly-armored guards to watch over us.
A few seconds that stretched like minutes passed as suddenly the ground trembled more, this time with the rhythmic pounding of meteors hitting down from the skies and setting ablaze pretty much everything they struck.
The guards lost momentarily their balance, and that was all Dragnor needed to rush forward and slam both of his fists against the knee of the guard in front of him, while Rae's hands joined together to release a stream of hot fire straight against the second guard's face.
The guard who had received a blast of fire to the face did not scream. The flames hungrily devoured his breath and the oxygen he so desperately needed as his entire head lit ablaze, his body shaking as it fell down the stairs with a thud.
The one Dragnor was working on instead found his face hitting the stone steps repeatedly, the Nord's hands smashing the man's head against the stone until it became unrecognizable, stopping only once Rae barked out his name.
"We don't have time for this Dragnor!" Rae hissed. "Get his sword, quickly!"
Fumbling with both hands, Dragnor did just that and freed Rae first with a quick grunt of exertion, before passing the sword over so that she could free us both in turn.
My fingers twitched as I gasped for air, my eyes settling on the nice cold wall in front of me and not on the corpse on the stairs or the one at the bottom of said stairs.
"So little brother, you haven't lost your tongue!" Dragnor said with a bright smile, even as he hastily began to unclasp bracers of the soldier, Rae kneeling by his side to help him. "I told you hitting him on the head was going to work."
"Shut up Dragnor," Rae hissed back. "Umbra, get the man's boots, quickly!"
I blinked, swallowed and then knelt. If I tried my hardest not to look at the man's upper part of the body, then it was no different than working with a mannequin. It was a really life-like mannequin, but just that, a mannequin.
I would have preferred pushing the E button to get the loot with a swift R pressure, but I had to take what I was given. This meant undoing removing boots and smelling stinky feet belonging to a dead and cold corpse.
Swallow, Shade. Swallow your fears and your disgust and don't think about the other body, or about the Helgen Keep that you'll have to push through.
"Just put it on as quickly as possible," Rae snapped as she rushed down towards the other corpse, my body repulsed by the thought, and yet moving by sheer automation. It was a perfectly valid thought. Get the armor. Don't think about the corpses.
Get the armor.
Don't think.
StellarMonarch
Myrmidon
- Location
- Québec
Alduin confirmed, and Shade/edgy!Umbra still has that silver tongue.
Edit: Fixed. Bleh.
Edit: Fixed. Bleh.
Last edited:
- Location
- Dodging chaos dragons in Limbo
I do believe that is Alduin, the dragon and World Eater of Nirn, rather than Anduin, the Great River of Middle-Earth.
Dragonskyt
Ashen one, hearest thou my voice, still?
- Location
- Kiln of the First Flame
If I were Shade, I would pick up the Sparks tome along the way.
It holds nothing compared to Plasma.
But Force Lightning shall suffice
It holds nothing compared to Plasma.
But Force Lightning shall suffice
- Location
- Greece
And Umbra means: shade, shadow.
Also, finally another story of Shade's that I actually know the plot to. Unlike the MTG one where I didn't know anything about it.
Although I find it highly suspicious that you made a new SI story about Shade when your other character went missing in the last chapter. And considering how meta you like to be.......
Why do I have a feeling that Umbra is an amnesiac Tyrant?
Dragonskyt
Ashen one, hearest thou my voice, still?
- Location
- Kiln of the First Flame
That would be unlikely, as Planeswalker!Shade has a complete different personality compared to this Imperial!Shade.
For one, he's not as confident and smug.
Chapter Two - Helgen - 17th of Last Seed 4E 201 - Umbra
- Location
- https://discord.gg/z9tBvbh
Helgen - 17th of Last Seed 4E 201 - Umbra
Rae didn't wear the armor. She thrust it in my arms, and as Dragnor reached for us, he swiftly helped me put it on. I felt the leather creak, and the smell of burnt flesh, but as I swallowed the sensation, and took deep breaths to steady myself, I grabbed the sword. "We can do this," I said as I sheathed the sword again. The ground trembled again, loose bits and pieces of rock falling over our heads.
"We should get out and find our way to the gates," Dragnor said, "It will be quicker to run through the chaos. The Stormcloaks are attacking, but they won't last."
I stared at the man, and then shook my head. "No, we can't go back up. The Imperials won't be fooled with Rae by our side, and the Stormcloak won't care since we're wearing Imperial armor," I jabbed my finger in front of us, towards the large hallway littered with torches set upon the walls. "There should be another exit. Let's take that."
"Fine by me little brother," Dragnor laughed, "Then you lead on!" he swung his sword in front of him, "I always told you to train the sword arm, and I guess that today is the day I see you actually use it."
I shook my head, "I'd rather not," I said as I began to jog along the loose stone pavement, trying my hardest to keep my balance because the rocks weren't an even surface. The hallway was littered with loose rocks, the archway clearly resisting only thanks to the greatness that was Imperial masonry. I shrugged the odd feeling off, my eyes casting wary glances to Rae, who looked sickeningly green.
"I'm all right," she said in a whisper, realizing I had been glancing at her. "We can talk more later."
I nodded as Dragnor suddenly took point before me in turning the corner, his blade coming up to thrust and nimbly parry an incoming downward swing. Within seconds, he had rushed through the enemy's open-armed stance and slammed the pommel of the blade against the soldier's face, shattering his nose before driving the tip of the sword through the neck. He pushed the blade free, blood dirtying the sword, and then swiftly brought up his guard as he let a second swing from a second foe slide down by his side harmlessly.
"Come take me, Stormcloaks!" he bellowed in anger, the men that were currently doing their utmost to attack us now down one number, which reduced them to two.
"Umbra, get down!" Rae yelled as heat seemed to form a path near my head. I ducked down just in time to watch a Stormcloak aim for the spot I had been a second before with his large battleaxe, and instead get hit by a stream of fire. The man screamed as he clutched on to his face and let go of the large weapon, which clanked on the ground with a hearty thud. I swallowed and pushed myself back up as fast as possible, before slamming with my bare hands against the burning's man chest to push him away.
He fell on his back, clutching his face and screaming until Dragnor delivered a thrust straight through his armor, stabbing his heart and ending his pain in a second. He had already dealt with the second enemy, and thus quickly ended the life of the third.
"I can't do this," I muttered as I clutched my mouth with my hands, tears in my eyes.
Rae by my side decided to hurl up against the side of the wall.
"Think of it as hunting deer," Dragnor said with a huff, slowly bending to check through the guards' pockets. "That's why I told you to get tougher by hunting, or skinning animals. Did you listen to big brother Dragnor? No, no you didn't. And here we are at Barf-Village, next stop Puke-Hold," he grimaced. "Give me that," he said as he gestured for my sword, which I all too eagerly passed over with trembling hands.
"I'm sorry," I croaked.
"Just messing with you little brother," Dragnor said as he quickly unsheathed the second blade, holding one for each hand. "That's what big brothers are for. Carrying the slack of the younger ones."
I snorted and then gestured for the end of the passage, where a large wooden door had been left open. The corpses of the Imperial soldiers mixed with those of the Stormcloaks, the defenses having been stormed and taken, but not without losses for the attackers.
The kitchens of the keep were a veritable mess of broken, twisted bodies and blood. The broth that bubbled by the fire in the corner had a dark and grimy look, an Imperial head resting inside of it much to my disgust and my quiet questioning on why I had to go looking for that. The rest of the kitchens that doubled as a storage unit were empty of enemies, perhaps the very same we had faced outside the door. Why couldn't they stick to predetermined paths?
Rae proceeded to pluck the garlic gloves from the kitchen, and gathering the rest of the ingredients that were still usable. She grabbed a large sack, and slung it over her shoulder after filling it with what she had found, tying it around her chest to free her hands. Meanwhile, I quickly grabbed a shield from one of the fallen soldiers. It was heavy, and it made me wish I didn't have to carry it, but if push came to shove, I could always use it as a mobile wall to hide behind.
"What are you doing?" Dragnor asked in a hushed voice, his back against the wall as he looked past the first room and into the second, where fewer corpses stood, most of them belonging to half-dressed Imperial soldiers that had been attacked while enjoying their leisure time, and had tried to run only to get stabbed through in the back. "It's not the time for one of your culinary experiments!"
"What are we going to eat once we're out of here, rocks?" Rae hissed back as she hopped to grab a couple of rabbits hanging from metal spikes nailed to the wall. "And what about drinking?" she grabbed a couple of cups and a jug, "or cooking?"
"We can think about that later," Dragnor hissed. "We don't need a frying pan sister! We can use sticks and stab the game over a fire!"
Rae's nose scrunched up. "That is not cooking!"
"Keep bickering and we're going to die when the keep falls over our heads," I said awkwardly, "Please...let's just get out of here."
Rae actually grabbed a couple of candles, and after blowing them out moved near the fire one last time, gathering a couple of small stones and wooden sticks before quickly joining Dragnor as he reached for the door. He slammed his right foot against it, making it snap open quickly and just as quickly close back on our faces as it bounced back with a startled yelp. Rather than push against the door, he brought his entire back against the door and thrust his blades towards the other side, crossing them both together to intercept a thrust from the left.
Rae's fingers birthed the usual flame, which actually elicited a yelp as the attacker on the left backed away from the door, allowing her to pass through. My legs trembled as I did the same, passing through the doorway only to find an ambush turned against the men beyond.
"You know little brother, you should be happy we aren't counting kills," Dragnor said nonchalantly, one of his swords hilt deep into a Stormcloak's stomach. He gripped hold of the ax the soldier was carrying and spun, throwing it against the one rebel Rae was holding at bay through the use of random gusts of fire. The ax struck firmly against the Stormcloak's chest, and as the Nord fell backwards down the stairs, I couldn't help but be thankful that Dragnor was on our side.
"Have you been doing this before?" I asked.
"What? Of course I...oh, the memories aren't back yet?" Dragnor grumbled, "I've been fighting in the Arena for years. How can you forget that?" he sighed loudly. "Maybe I should hit you harder next time."
"I'd rather you didn't give him a concussion," Rae said, passing a hand to wipe her mouth, before spitting to the side. "Let's keep moving. This stairs better not lead into a dead end."
"They don't," I said as I began to walk down, "The Stormcloaks must have come from somewhere."
I didn't make it very far.
By the time we reached the bottom of the stairs, I was barely dragging it through sheer force of will, and even that was starting to come less. With a quick and swift motion, Dragnor grabbed hold of my shield and placed himself once more in front of us.
"Let the fighter fight I say," he sighed. "You've been brave enough for the day, Umbra. Let me take care of the rest."
Rae began to walk by my side as we headed right into the room that would have held the torturer and his goon, if they hadn't been skewered and quartered into bits and pieces on a nearby torture device, the Stormcloak having passed by here and not having stopped longer than necessary. There definitely were more doors and hallways than I remembered, perhaps due to whatever form of reality check that needed to be done in order to render something...like a game into something...real.
"That's a mage robe," Rae said as she pointed at one of the cages, where the corpse of a man stood in a bent and broken position, "I could use some clothes that are actually clothes," she continued, gesturing at her rags. "Can you open the lock?"
"Sure," Dragnor grabbed a nearby battleaxe, lodged firmly in the wall, and then slammed it against the lock denting the thick iron, before repeating the motion a couple of times until it shattered, swinging the cell door open for Rae to step inside.
"Such grace, Dragnor," I said as I saw a backpack snug enough to fit on my back. It wasn't anything grand, but it would serve its purpose. I headed behind the counter, hoping to find the shield and the mace that would be a nice step in a direction that didn't lead to my untimely demise. I didn't find them there. The shield had been dug deep into the lower midriff of an Imperial, and the mace had smashed the head of a Stormcloak before the wielder had died getting stabbed a few dozen times.
Death here really was at the order of the day.
"It's not like I can say tgm and get myself into god mode now, can I?" I whispered as I closed my eyes while I began to tug, trying to pull the shield free from the wall. This one was supposed to be lighter, and easier to wield. It finally broke free as the body fell down with a sick thud, letting me gasp in relief as I hastily proceeded to clasp it around my arm, this one coming with a nice set of leather straps meant to make it easier to carry.
The mace was simply the best tool for the uneducated and the untrained. Also, it was the only weapon that I still remembered the book about. Lift mace, bring it down, keep wrist soft and move arm like a whip.
I could do that.
I totally could do that.
No, I totally couldn't, but I didn't have to think about how I was screwed.
I had to think positive.
It wasn't like things could get worse now, could they?
Rae didn't wear the armor. She thrust it in my arms, and as Dragnor reached for us, he swiftly helped me put it on. I felt the leather creak, and the smell of burnt flesh, but as I swallowed the sensation, and took deep breaths to steady myself, I grabbed the sword. "We can do this," I said as I sheathed the sword again. The ground trembled again, loose bits and pieces of rock falling over our heads.
"We should get out and find our way to the gates," Dragnor said, "It will be quicker to run through the chaos. The Stormcloaks are attacking, but they won't last."
I stared at the man, and then shook my head. "No, we can't go back up. The Imperials won't be fooled with Rae by our side, and the Stormcloak won't care since we're wearing Imperial armor," I jabbed my finger in front of us, towards the large hallway littered with torches set upon the walls. "There should be another exit. Let's take that."
"Fine by me little brother," Dragnor laughed, "Then you lead on!" he swung his sword in front of him, "I always told you to train the sword arm, and I guess that today is the day I see you actually use it."
I shook my head, "I'd rather not," I said as I began to jog along the loose stone pavement, trying my hardest to keep my balance because the rocks weren't an even surface. The hallway was littered with loose rocks, the archway clearly resisting only thanks to the greatness that was Imperial masonry. I shrugged the odd feeling off, my eyes casting wary glances to Rae, who looked sickeningly green.
"I'm all right," she said in a whisper, realizing I had been glancing at her. "We can talk more later."
I nodded as Dragnor suddenly took point before me in turning the corner, his blade coming up to thrust and nimbly parry an incoming downward swing. Within seconds, he had rushed through the enemy's open-armed stance and slammed the pommel of the blade against the soldier's face, shattering his nose before driving the tip of the sword through the neck. He pushed the blade free, blood dirtying the sword, and then swiftly brought up his guard as he let a second swing from a second foe slide down by his side harmlessly.
"Come take me, Stormcloaks!" he bellowed in anger, the men that were currently doing their utmost to attack us now down one number, which reduced them to two.
"Umbra, get down!" Rae yelled as heat seemed to form a path near my head. I ducked down just in time to watch a Stormcloak aim for the spot I had been a second before with his large battleaxe, and instead get hit by a stream of fire. The man screamed as he clutched on to his face and let go of the large weapon, which clanked on the ground with a hearty thud. I swallowed and pushed myself back up as fast as possible, before slamming with my bare hands against the burning's man chest to push him away.
He fell on his back, clutching his face and screaming until Dragnor delivered a thrust straight through his armor, stabbing his heart and ending his pain in a second. He had already dealt with the second enemy, and thus quickly ended the life of the third.
"I can't do this," I muttered as I clutched my mouth with my hands, tears in my eyes.
Rae by my side decided to hurl up against the side of the wall.
"Think of it as hunting deer," Dragnor said with a huff, slowly bending to check through the guards' pockets. "That's why I told you to get tougher by hunting, or skinning animals. Did you listen to big brother Dragnor? No, no you didn't. And here we are at Barf-Village, next stop Puke-Hold," he grimaced. "Give me that," he said as he gestured for my sword, which I all too eagerly passed over with trembling hands.
"I'm sorry," I croaked.
"Just messing with you little brother," Dragnor said as he quickly unsheathed the second blade, holding one for each hand. "That's what big brothers are for. Carrying the slack of the younger ones."
I snorted and then gestured for the end of the passage, where a large wooden door had been left open. The corpses of the Imperial soldiers mixed with those of the Stormcloaks, the defenses having been stormed and taken, but not without losses for the attackers.
The kitchens of the keep were a veritable mess of broken, twisted bodies and blood. The broth that bubbled by the fire in the corner had a dark and grimy look, an Imperial head resting inside of it much to my disgust and my quiet questioning on why I had to go looking for that. The rest of the kitchens that doubled as a storage unit were empty of enemies, perhaps the very same we had faced outside the door. Why couldn't they stick to predetermined paths?
Rae proceeded to pluck the garlic gloves from the kitchen, and gathering the rest of the ingredients that were still usable. She grabbed a large sack, and slung it over her shoulder after filling it with what she had found, tying it around her chest to free her hands. Meanwhile, I quickly grabbed a shield from one of the fallen soldiers. It was heavy, and it made me wish I didn't have to carry it, but if push came to shove, I could always use it as a mobile wall to hide behind.
"What are you doing?" Dragnor asked in a hushed voice, his back against the wall as he looked past the first room and into the second, where fewer corpses stood, most of them belonging to half-dressed Imperial soldiers that had been attacked while enjoying their leisure time, and had tried to run only to get stabbed through in the back. "It's not the time for one of your culinary experiments!"
"What are we going to eat once we're out of here, rocks?" Rae hissed back as she hopped to grab a couple of rabbits hanging from metal spikes nailed to the wall. "And what about drinking?" she grabbed a couple of cups and a jug, "or cooking?"
"We can think about that later," Dragnor hissed. "We don't need a frying pan sister! We can use sticks and stab the game over a fire!"
Rae's nose scrunched up. "That is not cooking!"
"Keep bickering and we're going to die when the keep falls over our heads," I said awkwardly, "Please...let's just get out of here."
Rae actually grabbed a couple of candles, and after blowing them out moved near the fire one last time, gathering a couple of small stones and wooden sticks before quickly joining Dragnor as he reached for the door. He slammed his right foot against it, making it snap open quickly and just as quickly close back on our faces as it bounced back with a startled yelp. Rather than push against the door, he brought his entire back against the door and thrust his blades towards the other side, crossing them both together to intercept a thrust from the left.
Rae's fingers birthed the usual flame, which actually elicited a yelp as the attacker on the left backed away from the door, allowing her to pass through. My legs trembled as I did the same, passing through the doorway only to find an ambush turned against the men beyond.
"You know little brother, you should be happy we aren't counting kills," Dragnor said nonchalantly, one of his swords hilt deep into a Stormcloak's stomach. He gripped hold of the ax the soldier was carrying and spun, throwing it against the one rebel Rae was holding at bay through the use of random gusts of fire. The ax struck firmly against the Stormcloak's chest, and as the Nord fell backwards down the stairs, I couldn't help but be thankful that Dragnor was on our side.
"Have you been doing this before?" I asked.
"What? Of course I...oh, the memories aren't back yet?" Dragnor grumbled, "I've been fighting in the Arena for years. How can you forget that?" he sighed loudly. "Maybe I should hit you harder next time."
"I'd rather you didn't give him a concussion," Rae said, passing a hand to wipe her mouth, before spitting to the side. "Let's keep moving. This stairs better not lead into a dead end."
"They don't," I said as I began to walk down, "The Stormcloaks must have come from somewhere."
I didn't make it very far.
By the time we reached the bottom of the stairs, I was barely dragging it through sheer force of will, and even that was starting to come less. With a quick and swift motion, Dragnor grabbed hold of my shield and placed himself once more in front of us.
"Let the fighter fight I say," he sighed. "You've been brave enough for the day, Umbra. Let me take care of the rest."
Rae began to walk by my side as we headed right into the room that would have held the torturer and his goon, if they hadn't been skewered and quartered into bits and pieces on a nearby torture device, the Stormcloak having passed by here and not having stopped longer than necessary. There definitely were more doors and hallways than I remembered, perhaps due to whatever form of reality check that needed to be done in order to render something...like a game into something...real.
"That's a mage robe," Rae said as she pointed at one of the cages, where the corpse of a man stood in a bent and broken position, "I could use some clothes that are actually clothes," she continued, gesturing at her rags. "Can you open the lock?"
"Sure," Dragnor grabbed a nearby battleaxe, lodged firmly in the wall, and then slammed it against the lock denting the thick iron, before repeating the motion a couple of times until it shattered, swinging the cell door open for Rae to step inside.
"Such grace, Dragnor," I said as I saw a backpack snug enough to fit on my back. It wasn't anything grand, but it would serve its purpose. I headed behind the counter, hoping to find the shield and the mace that would be a nice step in a direction that didn't lead to my untimely demise. I didn't find them there. The shield had been dug deep into the lower midriff of an Imperial, and the mace had smashed the head of a Stormcloak before the wielder had died getting stabbed a few dozen times.
Death here really was at the order of the day.
"It's not like I can say tgm and get myself into god mode now, can I?" I whispered as I closed my eyes while I began to tug, trying to pull the shield free from the wall. This one was supposed to be lighter, and easier to wield. It finally broke free as the body fell down with a sick thud, letting me gasp in relief as I hastily proceeded to clasp it around my arm, this one coming with a nice set of leather straps meant to make it easier to carry.
The mace was simply the best tool for the uneducated and the untrained. Also, it was the only weapon that I still remembered the book about. Lift mace, bring it down, keep wrist soft and move arm like a whip.
I could do that.
I totally could do that.
No, I totally couldn't, but I didn't have to think about how I was screwed.
I had to think positive.
It wasn't like things could get worse now, could they?
StellarMonarch
Myrmidon
- Location
- Québec
No CHIM for poor Umbra.
- Location
- Italy
I must admit, seeing Shade in the role of the youngest sibling between a Big Brother and a Big Sister is funny as hell.
Another excellent story. Kudos to you.
But if you don't learn at least some magic I will be disappointed, I must admit.
Another excellent story. Kudos to you.
But if you don't learn at least some magic I will be disappointed, I must admit.
Older-than-Time
[Eating My Muse]
- Location
- Somewhere in the Sol System
- Pronouns
- He/Him/ThatIdiot
I'm calling it now.
One of the older siblings are gonna die a noble death
One of the older siblings are gonna die a noble death
Baron Ouroboros
Emerald Leaves and Crimson Petals
- Location
- Vancouver
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Enchant your armor with mana regeneration and destruction reduction. Wear indomitable armor. Use the thu'uum if you can. Invest in healing magic and magical potions. Craft enchantments with alchemy enhanced skill. Use enchantments to make better armor. Enchant other armors for increased alchemical skill.
StellarMonarch
Myrmidon
- Location
- Québec
You're assuming that most of those even are that powerful, or even exist.
And breaking the universe so early seems very off from Shade's usual style.
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- Location
- America
Na look at the title, it says Siblings. No way Shade is going to kill off one of the siblings... What have I done >_<
- Location
- U.S.A.
I bet five internets that the title is literal.
My other guess is that no one is the Dragonborn. Skyrim hardmode activated. Kill the dragons faster than Alduin can resurrect them. With no soul absorption, dragons will not suffer a permanent death.
My other guess is that no one is the Dragonborn. Skyrim hardmode activated. Kill the dragons faster than Alduin can resurrect them. With no soul absorption, dragons will not suffer a permanent death.
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frozenchicken
Does not have a custom title.
Or wake the Godhead and get zero-summed!
...To-may-to, to-mah-to...
- Location
- Hunting in the Void
Yeah, I think this is the first time seeing Shade in not a older figure role. He's usually the big brother or teacher of someone.
Mizu
Software Developer
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
meant removing boots and
and gather the rest
Chapter Three - Helgen - 17th of Last Seed 4E 201 - Umbra
- Location
- https://discord.gg/z9tBvbh
Helgen - 17th of Last Seed 4E 201 - Umbra
Why must men and women fight? Because they believe in what they're fighting for, and even if they don't, if their family fights, then they too must join the battle. The hardest battles are those where brother fights brother, sister fights sister, and the civil war of Skyrim was one such thing. The prison cells were empty, the prisoners either saved, or killed before they could as much as get a word in.
At the opposite end of a large hall, past a tight corner carved in the room at the end of the corridor, there was a big hole, big enough to easily allow access to four to five Stormcloaks at the same time. And it was doing just that. Metallic cages hung from the walls and the ceiling, Dragnor pushed us back behind the corner, taking deep breaths as he swiftly grabbed hold of his shield.
"There's four of them," he whispered. "That's a lot. I need you to keep them off my back, Rae."
Rae swallowed, and nodded. "Take the chance to slip past them," she whispered towards me, a hand touching my cheek. "If we don't make it, you go ahead."
"There are more of them further ahead," I whispered back, "We either all make it, or we don't."
Rae's lips twitched in a small smile. "Then do your best."
I looked at Dragnor, who was beaming a smile in my direction. "Spoken like a true man," he said with a knowing nod. He clutched on his sword tighter. "Sovngarde beckons."
"The Nine protect us," I whispered back. I could use with some divine intervention. The gods were definitely a thing here, so they could help the likes of me, couldn't they? No? Just a tiny sign that someone was listening wouldn't be bad. Like a lightning bolt to strike down the four, a lucky chance to let us slip by unnoticed, or something like that. "I'll take one, Dragnor takes two and Rae deals with one before helping off Dragnor."
Dragnor blinked at the proffered plan, and then ruffled my hair. "I'll take three. You and Rae deal with just one. Once you're done, hit the others and fend them off me."
"But-" I stumbled on my next words as Dragnor shook his head, planting his hand to cover my mouth.
"You've got the silver tongue, brother, but I've got the sword arm. Let me battle."
I grimaced, but sourly gave him a curt nod. Fighting more than one opponent was carnage, especially in reality. Fighting two was hard, but three? Three was really not something that could be done. It took an instant for two to hold you off while the third circled around you. Dragnor seemed sure of himself, but while I didn't doubt his determination, I did doubt that he'd manage for more than a minute to hold three opponents off.
Dragnor stood up from his crouched position behind the corner and then cracked his neck slightly to the right and the left before rushing forth, bellowing a mighty roar of battle that made my own heart jump.
My legs followed him, though mostly I held the shield in front of me as I came face to face with the four Stormcloaks, who hadn't expected to get counter-charged the moment they stepped through the hole. Though mine was a shield, and I had forgotten to unclasp my mace from my side, it was to be enough. I simply had to distract one of them, right? Rae would give him the finishing touch.
Dragnor jumped forward, stabbing his blade into the neck of a Stormcloak before they even had the chance to understand what was going on. Well, done that way, he would be fighting two enemies rather than one. I hit with my shield the ax-wielding enemy, impacting against him and pushing as hard as I could. The ground was slippery, and the enemy was stronger than me by a long, long shot. He brought his shoulder to hold back my shield, and then began to swing his ax blindly over it, trying to hit me in the neck.
Thankfully, axes were meant to be blunt instruments of bone breaking, with just a tiny bit of sharpness to go with it. The attacks bounced off the leather, cracking it as I felt the sores and the bruises form as I gasped from pain. "Any moment now, Rae!" I yelled as I abruptly lowered my head, feeling hot blood soak the side of my face. It burned a second later. Had he hit me? Had I lost an ear? No, I wasn't feeling pain. Perhaps I would once it was over, but right now I was still functioning. My ears were there.
"Get down!" Rae exclaimed, and as I abruptly lowered myself, shield included, the Stormcloak found himself vaulting over me, just in time to hit a sizzling wave of electricity in the face, which made the man scream and curse as his veins burned inside his skin.
"W-Witch!" the Stormcloak yelled as he mastered his pain to rush towards Rae, whose concentration didn't slip one bit. I jumped from my crouching position, grabbing hold of the Stormcloak's legs and making him fall down. A kick to my face was my reward, making me see stars as the pain this time felt quite real.
"I'm not letting you go!" I snarled as I clutched on tightly, spitting out blood and pieces of broken teeth. God damn if my mouth hurt.
A strong blast of heat burned the upper side of the Nord warrior, making him scream his last as he shook violently on the ground, before he stopped, all life stripped out of his body.
Rae gasped as she turned to look to where Dragnor was fighting, the shield coming in handy more than once, especially judging by how chipped it had become. My vision was quite blurred, but as I fumbled to get back up, this time I did grab hold of the mace and slowly start to walk forward.
Raise the mace a hand's length behind your head, bring the elbow downwards quickly, let the wrist and the arm go loose. Whatever happens, happens.
It happened.
The broad shouldered back of the Nord emitted a sharp crack as I screamed, the mace slamming home with its ridges across the cloth and the chain mail. He went down with barely a sound, falling to the side as his comrade turned to look at me with a gaze filled with hatred. He paid for his mistake, as Dragnor took the cue to stab him through the leg, making the Nord scream before the blade's pommel struck him the face, sending him down on the ground for a final stab in the spine.
The man stopped screaming near-immediately, and as Dragnor freed his blade, he gave a blood-covered smile in my direction.
I was glad I had no breakfast to hurl out.
"You did good little brother!" he sheathed his blade, nearing his right hand to grab hold of the back of my head, pushing me closer as his fingers gripped tightly on my hair. "You did really good," he continued, patting my shoulder before letting me go. "Remember that when you swing a mace, you've got to be committed. Don't let the enemy trick you into swinging, or you're gonna get stabbed before you can finish your attack."
I swallowed, and nodded. Pain was all I felt the next second, at least until Rae neared with a soothing hand glowing with bright white light. Then it got better. I wasn't going to be winning any beauty contests anytime soon, but my teeth stopped being chipped messes and became...kind of normal, I guess.
"Come here too sister," Dragnor said next, and as Rae neared, he proceeded to pat her shoulder too, clutching her in a tight hug the next second. "You did well! Be proud! We could have been a great team in the Arena back home. I'm sure we'd have sold out all the seats."
"We should catch a break," Rae muttered, "It feels like hours passed in here."
"We can't," Dragnor said before I could. "We got to keep the momentum going," he added. "If we stop, your muscles will start to ache when we move again. We can rest once we're safely out."
I turned my attention to the hole in the wall, and neared it. The soft soil beyond the hole had been the work of a team of diggers, shovels and pickaxes hastily abandoned on the sides of it.
"The Stormcloaks were mounting a rescue of their Jarl," I said. "Wonder who told them he'd be here."
A loud noise of hurried steps came from behind us. Dragnor moved quickly as he pushed us both behind a column, his own body pressing against it as much as possible. More than a dozen of Stormcloaks rushed down through the room, following their leader Ulfric who didn't stop to gaze at the bodies, but simply jumped into the hole in the wall and past it.
As soon as the last Stormcloak passed us by, we all exhaled at the same time.
The keep trembled a bit more, rocks and loose dirt falling down again over our heads. Without question, we followed the Stormcloaks' passage, stopping to catch our breaths halfway into the tunnel's length.
"Let's keep a slow pace," Dragnor said, "Let the Stormcloaks go on ahead of us."
I was grasping for tendrils of air as I nodded, sweat pouring down my face as it mixed with the sick sensation of drying blood. "Yeah...nice plan," I murmured as I began to slow down my walk, limping behind Dragnor with Rae by my side.
"I am—was a senior student in High Rock," Rae said suddenly, "I came home a couple of weeks a year," she continued. "Our home was a two floor building, with a straw roof and a chimney."
I stared at her with my brows furrowing further. "We've been together since we were children," Rae continued. "The orphanage matron died in her sleep and we were kicked out on the streets."
"To make place for a nice villa for a rich fop," Dragnor continued, understanding the point Rae was trying to make.
"We were terrified," Rae said, "I remember back then that we were all terrified."
"We slept in the sewers during the cold months," Dragnor continued, "Man if it didn't reek down there."
"I don't remember any of it," I said awkwardly.
Rae shook her head. "You were barely a toddler. You clung on to Willow's leg and if she ever disappeared from your sight, you'd cry."
"Willow...who?" I asked, already half-dreading the answer.
"Well, there's ten of us, us siblings that is," Rae said. I stared at her, utterly at a loss for words. Ten? Ten siblings? The hell? Orphanage backstory or not, how was I supposed to remember ten names? "You...don't remember any of it, do you?" she smiled bitterly. "See, Dragnor? This is why I'm not going to let you off the hook so easily!" she hissed toward the Nord, "We've been together for years and now look at him, he doesn't even know about...about everything!" she clenched her fists, "You better hope this gets solved before Willow finds out."
Dragnor actually shuddered.
It wasn't a shudder of cold.
It was a shudder of pure fear.
"She won't find out if we tell him everything," Dragnor hazarded.
"We were supposed to meet in Whiterun a couple of days after crossing the border together with the others," Rae said. "Do you think you can condense more than twenty years of life into a couple of days?"
Dragnor looked away. "I can join the legion. She won't find me there."
Rae said nothing, but simply shook her head very, very slowly. This made Dragnor cringe further. "Why is he scared of her?" I asked.
"Because he can't fight what he can't see, and Willow's really good at hiding," Rae said with a small gentle smile. "And she takes the protection of all of the younger siblings really seriously. Once this big dunderhead went into a bar brawl with Mansel and Sharrum. He then got scared when the guards arrived and ran away, leaving our other two siblings to fend for themselves. Willow found out, freed the two, and then proceeded for the next two months to wake him up to a giant rat carcass in his bed and a few live mice in his trousers. Since he's a scaredy-cat, he sleeps with mice were her words."
"She is not sane of mind," Dragnor whispered, "Remember this. She's the insane one of us siblings."
I nodded very, very slowly.
The dug hallway ended up in the large room that perhaps once belonged to the old complex of the Helgen Keep, before it was abandoned in favor of a newer construction. It was one of the few things that could make sense. There were no Stormcloaks though, nor corpses.
"It's clear," Dragnor said as he walked towards the small stream that crossed the middle of the room. He dropped down next to the stream and took a few sips of the water. "Come drink this, it's clean."
"It looks clean," Rae hissed, "You fool, if you get sick, it's on your head."
She grabbed a small pot from her large sack and filled it with water from the stream before letting her left hand blaze in fire, holding the pot over it with her other hand and then quietly waiting for it to start boiling.
That was how Hadvar and two survivors of the Imperial Legion found us.
Boiling water near a stream.
"If you have the herbs, we can make tea," I said with a nervous smile, raising a hand in a tiny wave. "We're not foes, in the name of the Emperor I swear it."
The trio of Imperial soldiers looked at one another. One was a female wearing heavy armor with a greatsword on her back, the other a man wearing light armor with a bow slung over his shoulder.
"Shouldn't you be in the prison cells?" Hadvar asked, warily drawing near with his sword still unsheathed.
"Yeah, well, after you left us there with those two guards, the Stormcloaks came through and proceeded to kill them. We were spared and...you know," I tried to keep a smile on my face, "We really didn't want to stay there and suffer a bad case of death."
Hadvar nodded, "You stripped the armor off the two?"
"We didn't know where the equipment racks were," I said. "And I reckoned...hey, they're dead, we aren't. Let's try to keep it that way," I scratched the back of my head. "They fought bravely, for what it matters, but they were two against more than a dozen...they didn't stand a chance. We didn't want to escape with them, I mean, all three of us come from Cyrodiil, and we're loyal to the Emperor. The Stormcloaks would have killed us in a matter of minutes after realizing we were following them, so we let them go."
"So you felt justified in stealing Imperial armor from the corpses of Imperial soldiers?" Hadvar asked, even as Dragnor was slowly moving to stand up.
"It's not stealing if we become part of the Legion," I continued. "And as things are, I guess we're all in the same boat. Look, you helped us out with your captain, we have no reason to fight, and we just want to get back to our lives. I do not know if the Stormcloaks that went through here all left, or if they left someone behind to guard their backs. We did battle our way through a few of their patrols to get here. The way I see it, six armored people are better than three armored and three buck-naked ones," I patted my chest. "We've already dirtied our weapons with the blood of Stormcloaks too, so...can't the price for the armor be considered paid with the blood of our common enemies?"
Hadvar took a deep breath. "Very well," he said, "Once we're out of danger, we'll see what to do with this mess."
"Thank you, and may Akatosh protect us all," I said with a sigh of relief, before taking a sip of the water proffered by Rae. I then extended the pot towards the trio. "Care to share the drink?"
Thus six people sat and caught their breaths.
Dragnor was right though.
My legs hurt like there was no tomorrow once we stood back up.
How much longer could this damn dungeon go?
Why must men and women fight? Because they believe in what they're fighting for, and even if they don't, if their family fights, then they too must join the battle. The hardest battles are those where brother fights brother, sister fights sister, and the civil war of Skyrim was one such thing. The prison cells were empty, the prisoners either saved, or killed before they could as much as get a word in.
At the opposite end of a large hall, past a tight corner carved in the room at the end of the corridor, there was a big hole, big enough to easily allow access to four to five Stormcloaks at the same time. And it was doing just that. Metallic cages hung from the walls and the ceiling, Dragnor pushed us back behind the corner, taking deep breaths as he swiftly grabbed hold of his shield.
"There's four of them," he whispered. "That's a lot. I need you to keep them off my back, Rae."
Rae swallowed, and nodded. "Take the chance to slip past them," she whispered towards me, a hand touching my cheek. "If we don't make it, you go ahead."
"There are more of them further ahead," I whispered back, "We either all make it, or we don't."
Rae's lips twitched in a small smile. "Then do your best."
I looked at Dragnor, who was beaming a smile in my direction. "Spoken like a true man," he said with a knowing nod. He clutched on his sword tighter. "Sovngarde beckons."
"The Nine protect us," I whispered back. I could use with some divine intervention. The gods were definitely a thing here, so they could help the likes of me, couldn't they? No? Just a tiny sign that someone was listening wouldn't be bad. Like a lightning bolt to strike down the four, a lucky chance to let us slip by unnoticed, or something like that. "I'll take one, Dragnor takes two and Rae deals with one before helping off Dragnor."
Dragnor blinked at the proffered plan, and then ruffled my hair. "I'll take three. You and Rae deal with just one. Once you're done, hit the others and fend them off me."
"But-" I stumbled on my next words as Dragnor shook his head, planting his hand to cover my mouth.
"You've got the silver tongue, brother, but I've got the sword arm. Let me battle."
I grimaced, but sourly gave him a curt nod. Fighting more than one opponent was carnage, especially in reality. Fighting two was hard, but three? Three was really not something that could be done. It took an instant for two to hold you off while the third circled around you. Dragnor seemed sure of himself, but while I didn't doubt his determination, I did doubt that he'd manage for more than a minute to hold three opponents off.
Dragnor stood up from his crouched position behind the corner and then cracked his neck slightly to the right and the left before rushing forth, bellowing a mighty roar of battle that made my own heart jump.
My legs followed him, though mostly I held the shield in front of me as I came face to face with the four Stormcloaks, who hadn't expected to get counter-charged the moment they stepped through the hole. Though mine was a shield, and I had forgotten to unclasp my mace from my side, it was to be enough. I simply had to distract one of them, right? Rae would give him the finishing touch.
Dragnor jumped forward, stabbing his blade into the neck of a Stormcloak before they even had the chance to understand what was going on. Well, done that way, he would be fighting two enemies rather than one. I hit with my shield the ax-wielding enemy, impacting against him and pushing as hard as I could. The ground was slippery, and the enemy was stronger than me by a long, long shot. He brought his shoulder to hold back my shield, and then began to swing his ax blindly over it, trying to hit me in the neck.
Thankfully, axes were meant to be blunt instruments of bone breaking, with just a tiny bit of sharpness to go with it. The attacks bounced off the leather, cracking it as I felt the sores and the bruises form as I gasped from pain. "Any moment now, Rae!" I yelled as I abruptly lowered my head, feeling hot blood soak the side of my face. It burned a second later. Had he hit me? Had I lost an ear? No, I wasn't feeling pain. Perhaps I would once it was over, but right now I was still functioning. My ears were there.
"Get down!" Rae exclaimed, and as I abruptly lowered myself, shield included, the Stormcloak found himself vaulting over me, just in time to hit a sizzling wave of electricity in the face, which made the man scream and curse as his veins burned inside his skin.
"W-Witch!" the Stormcloak yelled as he mastered his pain to rush towards Rae, whose concentration didn't slip one bit. I jumped from my crouching position, grabbing hold of the Stormcloak's legs and making him fall down. A kick to my face was my reward, making me see stars as the pain this time felt quite real.
"I'm not letting you go!" I snarled as I clutched on tightly, spitting out blood and pieces of broken teeth. God damn if my mouth hurt.
A strong blast of heat burned the upper side of the Nord warrior, making him scream his last as he shook violently on the ground, before he stopped, all life stripped out of his body.
Rae gasped as she turned to look to where Dragnor was fighting, the shield coming in handy more than once, especially judging by how chipped it had become. My vision was quite blurred, but as I fumbled to get back up, this time I did grab hold of the mace and slowly start to walk forward.
Raise the mace a hand's length behind your head, bring the elbow downwards quickly, let the wrist and the arm go loose. Whatever happens, happens.
It happened.
The broad shouldered back of the Nord emitted a sharp crack as I screamed, the mace slamming home with its ridges across the cloth and the chain mail. He went down with barely a sound, falling to the side as his comrade turned to look at me with a gaze filled with hatred. He paid for his mistake, as Dragnor took the cue to stab him through the leg, making the Nord scream before the blade's pommel struck him the face, sending him down on the ground for a final stab in the spine.
The man stopped screaming near-immediately, and as Dragnor freed his blade, he gave a blood-covered smile in my direction.
I was glad I had no breakfast to hurl out.
"You did good little brother!" he sheathed his blade, nearing his right hand to grab hold of the back of my head, pushing me closer as his fingers gripped tightly on my hair. "You did really good," he continued, patting my shoulder before letting me go. "Remember that when you swing a mace, you've got to be committed. Don't let the enemy trick you into swinging, or you're gonna get stabbed before you can finish your attack."
I swallowed, and nodded. Pain was all I felt the next second, at least until Rae neared with a soothing hand glowing with bright white light. Then it got better. I wasn't going to be winning any beauty contests anytime soon, but my teeth stopped being chipped messes and became...kind of normal, I guess.
"Come here too sister," Dragnor said next, and as Rae neared, he proceeded to pat her shoulder too, clutching her in a tight hug the next second. "You did well! Be proud! We could have been a great team in the Arena back home. I'm sure we'd have sold out all the seats."
"We should catch a break," Rae muttered, "It feels like hours passed in here."
"We can't," Dragnor said before I could. "We got to keep the momentum going," he added. "If we stop, your muscles will start to ache when we move again. We can rest once we're safely out."
I turned my attention to the hole in the wall, and neared it. The soft soil beyond the hole had been the work of a team of diggers, shovels and pickaxes hastily abandoned on the sides of it.
"The Stormcloaks were mounting a rescue of their Jarl," I said. "Wonder who told them he'd be here."
A loud noise of hurried steps came from behind us. Dragnor moved quickly as he pushed us both behind a column, his own body pressing against it as much as possible. More than a dozen of Stormcloaks rushed down through the room, following their leader Ulfric who didn't stop to gaze at the bodies, but simply jumped into the hole in the wall and past it.
As soon as the last Stormcloak passed us by, we all exhaled at the same time.
The keep trembled a bit more, rocks and loose dirt falling down again over our heads. Without question, we followed the Stormcloaks' passage, stopping to catch our breaths halfway into the tunnel's length.
"Let's keep a slow pace," Dragnor said, "Let the Stormcloaks go on ahead of us."
I was grasping for tendrils of air as I nodded, sweat pouring down my face as it mixed with the sick sensation of drying blood. "Yeah...nice plan," I murmured as I began to slow down my walk, limping behind Dragnor with Rae by my side.
"I am—was a senior student in High Rock," Rae said suddenly, "I came home a couple of weeks a year," she continued. "Our home was a two floor building, with a straw roof and a chimney."
I stared at her with my brows furrowing further. "We've been together since we were children," Rae continued. "The orphanage matron died in her sleep and we were kicked out on the streets."
"To make place for a nice villa for a rich fop," Dragnor continued, understanding the point Rae was trying to make.
"We were terrified," Rae said, "I remember back then that we were all terrified."
"We slept in the sewers during the cold months," Dragnor continued, "Man if it didn't reek down there."
"I don't remember any of it," I said awkwardly.
Rae shook her head. "You were barely a toddler. You clung on to Willow's leg and if she ever disappeared from your sight, you'd cry."
"Willow...who?" I asked, already half-dreading the answer.
"Well, there's ten of us, us siblings that is," Rae said. I stared at her, utterly at a loss for words. Ten? Ten siblings? The hell? Orphanage backstory or not, how was I supposed to remember ten names? "You...don't remember any of it, do you?" she smiled bitterly. "See, Dragnor? This is why I'm not going to let you off the hook so easily!" she hissed toward the Nord, "We've been together for years and now look at him, he doesn't even know about...about everything!" she clenched her fists, "You better hope this gets solved before Willow finds out."
Dragnor actually shuddered.
It wasn't a shudder of cold.
It was a shudder of pure fear.
"She won't find out if we tell him everything," Dragnor hazarded.
"We were supposed to meet in Whiterun a couple of days after crossing the border together with the others," Rae said. "Do you think you can condense more than twenty years of life into a couple of days?"
Dragnor looked away. "I can join the legion. She won't find me there."
Rae said nothing, but simply shook her head very, very slowly. This made Dragnor cringe further. "Why is he scared of her?" I asked.
"Because he can't fight what he can't see, and Willow's really good at hiding," Rae said with a small gentle smile. "And she takes the protection of all of the younger siblings really seriously. Once this big dunderhead went into a bar brawl with Mansel and Sharrum. He then got scared when the guards arrived and ran away, leaving our other two siblings to fend for themselves. Willow found out, freed the two, and then proceeded for the next two months to wake him up to a giant rat carcass in his bed and a few live mice in his trousers. Since he's a scaredy-cat, he sleeps with mice were her words."
"She is not sane of mind," Dragnor whispered, "Remember this. She's the insane one of us siblings."
I nodded very, very slowly.
The dug hallway ended up in the large room that perhaps once belonged to the old complex of the Helgen Keep, before it was abandoned in favor of a newer construction. It was one of the few things that could make sense. There were no Stormcloaks though, nor corpses.
"It's clear," Dragnor said as he walked towards the small stream that crossed the middle of the room. He dropped down next to the stream and took a few sips of the water. "Come drink this, it's clean."
"It looks clean," Rae hissed, "You fool, if you get sick, it's on your head."
She grabbed a small pot from her large sack and filled it with water from the stream before letting her left hand blaze in fire, holding the pot over it with her other hand and then quietly waiting for it to start boiling.
That was how Hadvar and two survivors of the Imperial Legion found us.
Boiling water near a stream.
"If you have the herbs, we can make tea," I said with a nervous smile, raising a hand in a tiny wave. "We're not foes, in the name of the Emperor I swear it."
The trio of Imperial soldiers looked at one another. One was a female wearing heavy armor with a greatsword on her back, the other a man wearing light armor with a bow slung over his shoulder.
"Shouldn't you be in the prison cells?" Hadvar asked, warily drawing near with his sword still unsheathed.
"Yeah, well, after you left us there with those two guards, the Stormcloaks came through and proceeded to kill them. We were spared and...you know," I tried to keep a smile on my face, "We really didn't want to stay there and suffer a bad case of death."
Hadvar nodded, "You stripped the armor off the two?"
"We didn't know where the equipment racks were," I said. "And I reckoned...hey, they're dead, we aren't. Let's try to keep it that way," I scratched the back of my head. "They fought bravely, for what it matters, but they were two against more than a dozen...they didn't stand a chance. We didn't want to escape with them, I mean, all three of us come from Cyrodiil, and we're loyal to the Emperor. The Stormcloaks would have killed us in a matter of minutes after realizing we were following them, so we let them go."
"So you felt justified in stealing Imperial armor from the corpses of Imperial soldiers?" Hadvar asked, even as Dragnor was slowly moving to stand up.
"It's not stealing if we become part of the Legion," I continued. "And as things are, I guess we're all in the same boat. Look, you helped us out with your captain, we have no reason to fight, and we just want to get back to our lives. I do not know if the Stormcloaks that went through here all left, or if they left someone behind to guard their backs. We did battle our way through a few of their patrols to get here. The way I see it, six armored people are better than three armored and three buck-naked ones," I patted my chest. "We've already dirtied our weapons with the blood of Stormcloaks too, so...can't the price for the armor be considered paid with the blood of our common enemies?"
Hadvar took a deep breath. "Very well," he said, "Once we're out of danger, we'll see what to do with this mess."
"Thank you, and may Akatosh protect us all," I said with a sigh of relief, before taking a sip of the water proffered by Rae. I then extended the pot towards the trio. "Care to share the drink?"
Thus six people sat and caught their breaths.
Dragnor was right though.
My legs hurt like there was no tomorrow once we stood back up.
How much longer could this damn dungeon go?
- Location
- Brazil
Hey, at least you should level up by the end of it!