I, Draugr Chapter 51

When she woke up, Serana half expected to feel groggy and weak from her intense hunger… But while she felt it, that weakness never came.

Her eyes blink open, her back resting on a very soft and comfortable bed, aching the pains of being forced to stand in a small crypt for who knows how many centuries.

An unfamiliar ceiling greeted her, and her tongue slowly slides over her dry lips. She felt hungry, yet something was pushing that aside, allowing her to think and sit up on the bed she was resting on.

The room was large, filled with bookshelves, an Enchanting Table and even an Alchemy Table. A couch, another large bed, and two large windows facing a massive stretch of water that extended past the horizon.

"Daggah." Serana jumps – she does not squeak – and flips towards the couch she had seen, a small head staring at her – not really, the eyes were staring in two different directions – from over the top of the couch.

The weird Riekling sniffs, then Serana watches as it leans back, then disappears from sight. That was followed by something falling on the ground. "Daggah…" Came the whine soon after, confusing the already confused vampire a lot more.

Until she decides to ignore the weird Riekling and moves to stand up on her bed. Her old, dusty and eroded by time clothes had been removed, replaced with a nightgown that went past her knees and was more than modest enough.

Serana gingerly raises a hand to fiddle with the necklace wrapped around her neck. She could feel an Enchantment on it… And she believed it was related to the reason on why her hunger wasn't affecting her until she passed out again.

Her old clothes were laid down on a desk. Clean and repaired, but also smelling very nice. A smile pulls up the corner of Serana's lips despite herself… Though it soon dips when she notices the certain lack of a massive scroll.

"Of course…" She sighs out, moving to dress herself in her old clothes while making sure to not remove the necklace. Once dressed, she slowly moved closer to the window.

For a moment, she thought she was back home, within that accursed castle her father made his after her slaughtered the nobles that occupied it once.

But the lack of a bloody stench assured her that wherever she was, she wasn't within her father's clutches. She did faintly remember a robed Draugr being the reason she was freed, after all…

Shaking her head, the ancient vampire moved to leave the room, finding herself in a long hallway littered with other doors, each set quite a distance away from the others.

"Leo!" A shout catches Serana's attention, leading her to one of the large windows on the wall in front of her. Gazing out of it and down, she peered at a large courtyard with a massive statue at the center of it, right before a large pair of doors.

"The College of Winterhold…" Serana muses to herself, easily recognizing the statue and the main courtyard, then focuses on the source of the shout.

A beautiful silver haired woman, scoffing and pouting cutely up at the large statue of Shalidor, "Get down! Right now!" The woman shouts, stomping a foot on the ground while pointing a finger at her feet.

Serana raises a brow, then looks at the statue. On top of its head was the same robed Draugr that had saved her… And he was doodling on Shalidor's face with colorful pencils.

What the fuck…?

"You're going to beat me up, so I won't!" The robed man shouts childishly, tossing a colorful pencil at the silver haired beauty, who swats it out of the air with a fond and amused glare in her eyes.

"You won't even feel it!"

"It's the action that matters! I did not sign up for an abusive relationship!"

The silver-haired woman groans loudly, pale cheeks flushed as she pinches the bridge of her nose. A smaller woman with curly hair and freckled cheeks walks to her side, patting her back with a comforting smile on her shoulders, "To be fair, he is just making my father's statue look more appealing."

Serana stills at that, her sharp hearing catching those words despite the tone not being so loud.

Father's statue…? Shalidor had a daughter?

"Kara, he has been causing disaster after disaster since he woke up!" The silver-haired woman whines to the supposed daughter of Shalidor.

"Hence why you should let him doodle." Kara nods, cheeky grin on her face, "He won't blow up houses and start a food fight at the tavern like this."

"He did those before coming here!"

"And it was fun!" The Undead in question shouts down, having frozen Shalidor's face so he could lounge on it, "It's nice to see people run and scream when they see me… So refreshing!"

"...Dude, are you on something?"

"I'm on some nonchalant type shit!" The Undead exclaims, lifting his gloved hands to wave them through the air while making some weird hand-signs, "Gang gang!"

The silver-haired woman starts sobbing and crumbles to her knees, and Serana pulls back from the window and stares at the ground with a confused frown on her face.

She tried and failed to wrap her head around what she had just witnessed. That was supposed to be the guy that 'saved' her…?

...Well, at least he wasn't some douche-bag. Yet.

"Oh, you're awake!" Serana twitches. A shudder goes up her spine. Her eyes, staring at the ground now marked by an oddly shaped shadow, widen and quiver… And slowly – very slowly – she turns to gaze towards the window once more.

And there, plastered against it, basically making out with the glass… Was the Undead. Two purple flames stared at her from beneath the hood, with his body plastered star-fish style against the large window.

Serana takes a step back. Maybe if she doesn't look at him, he'll think- "Our eyes met." The vampire twitches again. "Try and ignore me and I'll shove a snowball down your back- Wait fuck! You're nearly immune to the cold! Fuck!"

His swearing grows more distant as he falls, releasing the window so to crash back down into the courtyard below.

Again… What the fuck?

"Daggah." This time Serana does scream, and nearly kick the fat ugly Riekling that had appeared next to her across the hallway.

With an exasperated huff, she turns and stomps away. Just what manner of idiots had rescued her!?

When she exited the wing of the building she highly suspected to be the dormitories, she found the Undead still throwing a tantrum over her immunity of the cold, kicking and punching the ground like a child, with the silver-haired beauty trying to drag him away.

"Serana, right?" The vampire turns, gazing at the shorter freckled woman. "I'm Kara. Archmage of the College of Winterhold." The curly-haired woman smiles softly while offering her hand. A gentle, motherly smile that makes even Serana relax and take the offered hand in a light shake.

"I…" Pausing, Serana licks her dry lips and breathes in, "You seem to know me." Kara nods without hesitation, then jabs her thumb towards the Draugr throwing a tantrum.

"Thanks to him. That's Leonidas, by the way." Now she had a name to use for the idiot… "He just knows stuff no one shouldn't. You'll get used get used to it."

Serana nods, slowly. Knows stuff others shouldn't? Sounded a lot like someone tied to Hermaeus Mora, and yet… Her eyes peered into the dense darkness clinging to his robes.

Then peered into the depths of that abyss- Until a pair of fingers snapped before her eyes, "Don't look too deeply at his robes." Kara gently snaps Serana out of her daze, with the vampire finding herself suffering from a nasty headache for some reason.

"W-What… What is that?" She whispers beneath her breath, not even managing to remember what she saw within the depths of that darkness. And unsure if she even wanted to remember what she saw.

"The Asylums." The minute Archmage tells her softly, "They are attached to him. Just don't pay attention to it."

Don't pay attention to the literal realm of insanity clinging to a silly Draugr? Yeah, easier said than done…

"Either way…" Kara hums, and leans back as she looks at Serana with a critical gaze, "You sure you wanna leave your Elder Scroll behind?" The vampire freezes at that.

"I… What?" Her eyes blink profusely, staring at the minute woman in shock and surprise, "I thought you guys took it?"

It was now Kara's turn to blink, "No? I've studied my fair share of them in the past." The Archmage reveals with an uncaring shrug, before nodding towards Leonidas, "Skelly Boy over there put it beneath your bed."

Serana gapes. She was so, so confused. "Why didn't you take it?" Again, Kara just shrugs.

"I have one in my vault, and the dumbass over there knows where a few others are located." Who the hell are these people!?

Regaining control over her rampaging emotions, Serana draws in a slow breath as she slowly gets serious, "May I ask why you saved me?"

She questions Kara, but the one to answer was the Draugr named Leonidas, "Several reasons!" He calls out, jumping to his feet before hopping closer with a cheerful gait, "First, I found the fact you were sealed since the Second Era very fucked up. We are in the Fourth Era, by the way."

So she's been sealed for thousands of years? Wonderful.

"Second reason, and the most important!" The Draugr claps his hands together, and Serana narrows her gaze. The most important reason? She already had a bad feeling- "Sheogorath has been putting hands on that fat bitch called Molag Bal quite often. Thought you should know."

…

What?

Serana's brain just… Restarts. Her mind goes blank. She just fails to wrap her head around what she just heard, not matter how hard she tries.

"Don't worry, I'll be shoving a Spell up that cunt's asshole in the future. Just for the love of the game." Serana throws a desperate look at Kara, who had a huge grin plastered on her face.

"Count me in on that, Skelly Boy!" The two cheer and high five, and the vampire just gives up finding someone of sane mind among this group.

The silver-haired woman was glaring at her for some reason… And given the very, very powerful Holy aura just pouring out of her, Serana could guess why.

Though she, for some reason, tolerated the existence of the Draugr…

"And the final reason…" Leonidas turns, his voice growing gentler as he fully faces the pale vampire beauty, "Your daddy wants your Elder Scroll to track down a powerful Divine Artifact that, if doused in your blood, can cloud the sun in darkness, thus allowing vampires to roam outside without problem."

Serana gulps, her throat drier than before. She remembered the words spoken by the vampires that had found the crypt she was sealed in.

So eager to just use her for their pleasure and go back with only the Elder Scrolls, clearly because her father did not care about her well-being, but just for more power.

As expected of the man that did not rejoice when she and her mother survived… That ordeal, and instead drank their blood so to become a powerful vampire himself.

And seeing the emphasis Leonidas put when he spoke of her blood… He clearly knows her 'status'. The reason behind her being more than just a Vampire.

Then the words that Kara spoke a bit ago ring out within her mind, and Serana decided to test them out, "What about my mother?" The affection she felt towards the woman was very dim right now. Serana will never forgive her mother for the countless wasted years, all spent suffering from endless hunger and just passing out over and over again.

"She's still alive." Leonidas reassures, and Serana hates the fact that her shoulders sag in minor relief at that. "But her situation is… Complicated."

And her shoulders grow tense once more, "Does my father hold her hostage?" Despite her current weakness, Serana bares her teeth and is all but willing to charge into the castle, so to raze it to the ground once more.

"Nah, that fuckwit wouldn't be able to do that." A snort of surprise escapes Serana despite herself. Oh, how her father would explode if he were to ever be insulted to his face in such a way… "Your mother fucked up and, to escape him, went into the Soul Cairn. She is currently imprisoned there."

Of course things couldn't be so simple. "Great, might as well be hopeless now…" Serana sighs, shoulders slumping in defeat.

Until Leonidas chuckles, "Please, you just gotta ask for help." He shrugs confidently, "Plus, there's a good pal I wanna drag out from that shit-hole."

Kara turns a curious gaze towards Leonidas, "We'd have to deal with the Ideal Masters, though."

The Undead tilts his head at the Archmage, "So? I'm the World Eater 2.0, I'll just waltz into that place and turn it into an all-you-can-eat."

The minute woman snaps her fingers at that, "I was thinking about blowing it the fuck up, but I like your plan better, Skelly Boy!" The two idiots once more cheer and high five each other, much to Serana's confusion.

"Y-You'd just help me? Just like that?" The ancient vampire was skeptical. There was just no way someone was this kind. "You want nothing in exchange?"

Leonidas just… Stares at her. "I get to beat the bloody shit out of your daddy, that's payment enough." The absurdity of his words bring out a surprised laugh out of Serana.

She nearly falls back, her lungs aching from the surprise of the laugh leaving her lips. A laugh that felt so, so good.

"Y-You're an idiot, aren't you?" Serana chuckles out, wiping a stray tear out of her right eye, shoulders still shaking from the sudden burst of laughter that left her.

The idiotic Draugr actually gives her a thumbs up, "The greatest idiot this side of Nirn indeed!" And again, Serana bursts out laughing.

She wasn't used to this. To the sheer honest idiocy this Draugr radiated. He was pure, honest, and direct.

Not like those vampires that littered the castles, with flowery words always wrapped in sharp thorns, always ready to tear out a pound of her at any given opportunity.

This was like having a Jester around the Royal Court, one who ignored all decorum and flowery barbs and went straight for the verbal and physical violence, while somehow keeping it all fun.

"If you think he is an idiot now, just wait to see the bullshit he gets up to…" Kara sighs, palming her face with a fond smile on her face, "Since he brought you back, it has been one disaster after another."

"He got into a brawl in the Inn, walked out, broke into jail, got into a brawl with the inmates, punched an inmate so damn hard we still haven't found the poor fucker… Then he walks out, and starts another brawl in the Inn."

"He sets a Khajiit on fire, tosses another one down a building to see if 'he lands on his paws', insulted a Nord so horribly that the guy still hasn't left his bed, and so much more…"

Serana wanted to cry from laughter. Just what kind of absolute idiot ended up saving her?! What even made him like this?!

"What about the Bosmer I hung from the cliff?" Leonidas suddenly asks, making the silver-haired beauty and Kara stare at him with wide, horrified eyes.

"The fucking what?!"

"Leo! Not again!"

And of course, that's when a fucking Dragon decides to land in the courtyard.

~~XXX~~

"So you're just… Alright with me leaving and doing my own thing?" Serana questions, holding a large jar half-filled with the blood of a Frost Troll.

She already downed three jars so far, and she was nowhere near getting close to recovering from thousands of years of starvation. It'll take her a while to get topped up, and she can't really force it.

"Alright…" I sigh, straightening in my seat within the canteen of the College, "I'll put my foot down now rather than later." My arms rise to rest on the table, and Serana gives me her full attention.

She looks well. Much better than the dusty, pale and barely conscious mess that I dragged out of that tiny ass seal she was buried in. Not to mention how she was next to naked due to her clothes having eroded, whatever Enchantment having been on them unable to be sustained due to Serana's weakened and starved form.

But now that her clothes are repaired and she is recovering? Goddamn is she stunning. Really the Goth of all Goths.

Mature, utterly immaculate, and very curvaceous. Though, due to her past, I'm barely giving her a few looks of appreciation.

She does not deserve someone perving over her after what she lived through.

"You're free to do whatever you want. Even leave with that Elder Scroll of yours." I start, then lean forward as Serana's eyes widen in confused surprise, "While yes, I'd prefer you'd stick around, that's just until I deal with your father. He has two whole Eras over you, and I am sure by now Molag Bal has made the fucker his Champion."

The vampire beauty leans back, blowing a breath through her nostrils as she does so, "If my mother saw fit to run away from him, then he is truly far too powerful to handle…"

I snort at that, "Meh, I'll just throw 'Relia at his dumbass." Not that I can't fuck him up by myself after how powerful I've become. And I do still need to use Ysgramor and ahzidal's Souls.

Serana blinks, then turns to the still quiet Dragonborn sitting beside me. Aurelia was all cute glares and arms crossed, never letting her gaze stray away from Serana for more than a second.

The two women stare at each other for several quiet seconds, with Aurelia just glaring, while Serana doesn't even seem bothered. Until her eyes widened in realization, "Ah, a Paladin of Arkay." Then she looks at me with a frown, "How are you even hanging around her?"

I, of course, give her the honest answer. "She's my lover, actually." Aurelia squeaks and falls off her chair, her face going as red as Hildr's hair. Ah, her shyness will never not be adorable.

Serana just gapes at me, "How…?"

I shrug, "What can I say? I'm just that sexy." Kara snorts. "You shut up. You married a Dragon."

The Archmage slams her hands on the table with an affronted cry, "Don't you dare bring my sexy as fuck hubby into this, you fuck!"

"Oh you wanna fight, lady?!" I stand up and pull my sleeves back, while Serana tries and fails to contain a weirdly amused smile.

Kara pulls back her sleeves too and rolls her shoulders, "I'm gonna hit you with a Spell that will put a hole through Nirn, I swear by the Eight!"

"There's Nine now, actually." Kara tends to forget this a lot, I realized.

Serana perks up at that, "Wait, what?"

Of course, I don't have time to answer her as I focus on the minute Archmage, "Also, why does it sound like the whole 'put a hole through Nirn' thing is something you've done?"

The one to answer isn't Kara, mostly because she twitches and instantly starts whistling innocently as if she got caught doing something bad.

No, it's Lah, who is wrapped around her neck in his miniaturized Astral Projection, "Because she did. Several times." Kara twitches again, her whistling growing desperate, "One time she got stuck in Oblivion and so punched a hole through Reality to get back home."

"The amount of Daedric Princes that hate her will likely startle you." Lah sighs out, pure fondness in his voice. But also exasperation.

"Let me guess… All of them?"

"Close." The Great Sage snorts, "Jyggalag absolutely loathes her." Meaning that Sheogorath absolutely adores her.

"Okay, time out on this." I tap out for the moment and return to my seat, then face Serana, who has been left greatly confused by our conversation.

Maybe about Talos, or about how absurdly powerful Kara is. But honestly, it is easy to guess why she is so insanely strong.

She is someone who made the absurd force that is Magic her bitch. She isn't her father, who was a master at weaving it- No, she instead is a master at making Magic do whatever she wants.

Magic, the power that doesn't make sense because it is created within the Dream of a being that could put an end to this Reality just by waking up.

A being that is akin to an Eldritch Great Old One. This being is so Eldritch that if anyone fails a performance check when they become aware of it, they get erased from Reality itself.

They withstand that knowledge? They ascend to Godhood. Straight up.

This is just how insane Kara is. Magic is her bitch, she managed to make it weave to her liking by creating Chants, and making Magic itself remember such a thing that it became a well-known technique for Mages to master their control over their Magicka.

She isn't just some pioneer. She is so downright terrifying that she doesn't feel much of a difference when being close to the Eye of Magnus.

While every other student, Aurelia and Hildr included, teachers and Savos Aren too, all are facing improvement after improvement in their training.

Magic is basically a power that people here strive to understand, but it cannot be understood, for it is basically something as Eldritch as the one who Dreamed it into existence.

It is why so many who start walking down this path go insane. The more they study… The more they don't understand. Or in case they catch a glimpse of the truth, their mind is completely and utterly eroded.

It's why a God like Sheogorath is so feared by his fellow Daedric Princes.

Because his madness isn't always about that idiotic babbling or crazed laughter.

His madness comes when an ant sees as a human does. Feels as a human does.

It understands the markings we leave behind are words, symbols with meaning, like the way they use pheromones.

It understands that the monoliths around them are our homes. Where we work. Like their tunnels.

Its mind works in infinitely more complex ways. It can move faster than it has ever done, to lands it could have never dreamed it could see, smell and taste things it never did, and feel the raw intensity of each unfiltered emotion.

All of that knowledge, all of those views, those tastes, the love, the embarrassment, the memories… And then the ant is an ant once more.

Things it cannot comprehend anymore have left its mark within its very Soul and body. It cannot comprehend all of these things anymore, and can only remember. Can only feel phantoms it cannot understand.

After that, the ant cannot go back to being an ant anymore. It seeks to go back to that state. To feel those things once more, to understand as it did before. To feel as it did.

It needs to see and smell and taste all of those things, and it will do anything to show itself it was true. To show the others – and itself too – that nothing in the tiny world it once thought enormous truly matters, for they did not see what it did..

That's madness.

And that's the madness the other Daedric Princes fear. The madness of a mortal suddenly seeing as a God does, and not collapsing upon witnessing that truth weighing down on them… And instead rising higher from it, like Talos.

That's the madness of Sheogorath.

I snap out of my thoughts spiral just as fast as I fell into it and focus back on Serana, "I didn't free you to make use of you. Freeing you was one of the first things I wanted to do, in fact." I tell her honestly, surprising the beautiful goth vampire once more, "It's just that the whole end of the world thing didn't really give me time to do that"

Plus, antagonizing Harkon so early on wouldn't do well. Now that I have enough power to likely slap him into ice shards? Yeah, he is a non-issue.

"Once Harkon is dealt with?" I shrug, "You can stick around, or travel. It's your life, and I sure as hell don't and won't dictate what you have to do with it."

Her eyes, two glowing orbs of reddish-orange color, never blink or leave my form as she remains quiet for several long seconds, "You are a very weird man, Leonidas."

I sniff, "You consider me weird because the people you used to hang around were some prideful, arrogant twatwaffles."

Serana chokes on the blood she was sipping, "T-Twatwaffles?!" Her head is thrown back from the sharp bout of laughter that escapes her, and I can see Kara write down the insult while nodding sagely to herself.

"Are you saying you aren't weird, Leo?" My beautiful Dragonborn asks, her cheeks still flushed, but her lips were pulled in an amused and fond smile that could make my heart ache. If I had one.

"Oh no, I am." Serana's laughter redoubles at that, "But you gotta be a little bit insane if you want to throw hands with a God. And man, the things I'm going to do to Molag Bal…" He is catching the meanest fade this Godhead could ever Dream off.

I'm going to have his fat ass sprawled across his Realm in the weirdest, most horrid and anatomically wrong pose that could ever be conceived.

Serana comes down from her bout of laughter, a finger wiping at her teary eyes, "You must really be insane to threaten a God aloud…" She sighs out… Only to pause when Kara and Aurelia just stare at her with a defeated look. "...It's not the first time, I presume?"

Kara sighs deeply, "This motherfucker told Mehrunes Dagon to fuck off, and the Daedric Prince actually did, not even a week ago. I'm not even joking." Not my proudest moment- Nah, fuck that. I'm proud of that.

I crashed out on a Daedric Prince. Who else could ever say they did such a thing and walked off unscathed, but not with a nasty grudge?

"Not to mention how he managed to get a Blessing from Lord Arkay…" Aurelia sighs out, her voice so defeated and hollow. She still can't wrap around that, huh?

Serana is now openly gaping at me like I am some kind of weird creature. And she has seen Poopdaggah walk around while doing Poopdaggah things. "I… I need some time to just… Process everything."

I nod and watch the vampire stand up, and Kara hops up beside her, "I'll bring you books about any important events you might need to catch up on, so give me a bit." The Archmage offers, and Serana gives her a thankful but tired smile.

And like that, the two depart, leaving me alone with Aurelia. Who instantly yelps when I move her on my lap. "L-Leo!" I just hum, and she huffs cutely in defeat, slumping against me and resting her head on my shoulder, "...She seems nice."

I hum again, gently rubbing a hand up and down her back in comfort. What I've done to her is quite cruel, as she has basically gone against her oaths not once, but twice now.

First for me, and now for Serana. She should move to eradicate us both, but instead she doesn't, and I know that it tears at her.

Not me, of course. That hasn't bothered her for long. It's Serana, and I believe it is a mix of duty and jealousy. "You don't have to worry about her, you know?" I reassure her, making sure she understands the real meaning of my words.

Aurelia quivers lightly, then sighs softly, "I'm just… New to all this." One of her hands comes up to trace the edges of my hood, her bright eyes staring at me with so much affection and love that it's overwhelming, "I feel so… Possessive. I just want you all for myself, and it makes me want to get violent when…" She doesn't finish her words, but I can guess what she wanted to say.

"...Are you about to start gathering your own hoard of gold?" Aurelia freezes. Then her shoulders start to shake. "...Or will it be skeletons, since I am what you desire most?"

Her wonderful laughter fill the air, but my question was actually serious! Will I suddenly walk into her room to find her napping on a pile of gold, or on a pile of bones!?

Well, if she goes with bones, Hildr might be happy too. Gretel more than her, as Hildr tries not to show that she enjoys crushing bones under her teeth.

I've seen her eat chicken legs and just devour them down to the bone. The crunches always make me shudder, yet the sight was so damn hot that it am still confused about it.

Why do I find Hildr turning bones to powder with her teeth hot? Bah…

"From now on, let me know whenever there is something bothering you, okay?" I whisper softly to Aurelia as her laughter dies down, making her hum softly and happily at my words, "I know this whole relationship sharing this has to be weird. I feel blessed, but I am also nervous, as I want it to work out."

Her beautiful lips pull into a wide smile at my words, her eyes bright as she gazes into the flames that work as my eyes, "I mean, it is a bit weird, but… It's not so bad." She shrugs and moves to rest her head back on my shoulder, "I know that Hildr was half serious when she said she was into women too, and just said that so to maybe make it less awkward? I don't know…"

While I do know that Hildr swings that way too, I can tell that her words to Aurelia back then were more in hopes of making the relationship less weird if they started to court each other too.

Aurelia wants all the attention for herself, and so does Hildr, but at the same time they do not want that. Those are just their instincts from their Dragon and Wolf sides respectively.

Hildr has a good handle on hers since she's been dealing with them since youth, while Aurelia's just awakened a few months ago, so she isn't used to them, especially since she is a mostly quiet and peaceful woman.

So she is overwhelmed by all these new and powerful feelings. Which… Cute.

"I'll just annoy you both in equal amounts, don't worry."

Aurelia sniffs softly, "...Can I give my share to Hildr?" Oh, you evil beautiful woman!

"I'll tell Hildr you said that." Of course I'm gonna snitch. This is part of the 'annoy you both' package deal, after all. "Where's my favorite wolf and her feral tag-along, by the way?"

Haven't seen Hildr and Gretel since I woke up. Hildr might be stuck in her magical studies, but Gretel? Since Poopdaggah isn't hanging around her, it means she isn't busy doing some crimes in Winterhold.

And Gretel does not do quiet.

"Hildr is studying." Aurelia yawns out cutely, "Kara gave her a book she wrote and now she's abusing the Eye of Magnus to go through it."

"And Gretel?"

"Stuffed herself during breakfast and passed out right after." She is more relaxed now that she is back with us, not having this need to cause chaos so to make others notice her.

It's funny that, despite the fact that I enable her, she is the calmest when she is around me.

"I should probably get to work myself…" I sigh out, making Aurelia blink at me from my shoulder, "There's a Spell I want to work on, and something I want to run by Kara. Shouldn't take too long, hopefully…"

It is about time I put the two powerful Souls in my possession to good use, after all.

….

"Yeah… Those are definitely the Planes of Oblivion…"

My concentration snaps, and the portal wrapped created by a wall of darkness snaps shut after Kara and Lah peered at it and through it long enough. "Fascinating… A power to open Gateways to other Realms without the need of powerful anchors…"

"Or sacrifices." Kara adds in, making the Lah's small head nod softly, "How hard was it to keep open?"

I rest my hands on my hips and look at the wall where the wall of darkness stretched from my feet still lay, occupying more than half of the training room we were in. "Not hard. At all."

Kara's eyes blow wide open, "By the Eight, that's just…" She breathes in, then out, "And you just realized you've had this power? You didn't recently gain it?"

I sigh out, reaching up to rub the back of my skull despite the fact that I can't feel, "I'm going to share something with you, that I can't with others." I start, and both Kara and Lah grow serious, for they know what I mean. It's something related to the Dream.

Both Kara and Lah know of the Godhead, but Kara has kept it as a 'suspicion' and is basically half a foot in the last step of the Psijic Endeavor.

She's basically been avoiding it by just not thinking about it directly. Just bringing up the word Dream aloud or thinking about it can make her take the full step, and she'd lose Lah, and the Dragon would lose her.

Either outcome of the Psijic Endeavor basically ends with her ripped away from the one she loves.

"I'm not from… Here." I start, "I'm from outside of it." The eyes of the Archmage and the Dragon couldn't grow any wider.

"So that is why the River of Time itself does not work properly… It cannot account for you, hence why you are an Anomaly…" Yeah, the whole reason Alduin tried to come and take me out personally.

Dragons can peer at the river of time, which only flows forward. Dragons can swim in it, but again, only to go forward. No being can go backward in the River of Time. None.

But Alduin? He can peer forward, and see the events that are to come, and plan around them, or to take advantage of them. He is the only Dragon capable of doing so… And now I've taken this power from him just by existing.

The other weakness of this power is that Alduin cannot see if his plans to combat or prepare for what he sees further down the River of Time will work.

He can't see a future, make a plan, then check if that future changed because of this plan of his. He sees one thing, then has to prepare for it, and hope that it doesn't change too much due to his actions.

But with Alduin being arrogant, he didn't really abuse this power during the war, hence why it led to him being imprisoned.

His arrogance in his immense power led him to not prepare for the event he foresaw, and ended up causing it to happen because he didn't meddle.

And now that he is back, he got desperate, and started using this power, hence why he went for Helgen. He wanted to remove the Dragonborn before she could rise.

...And then I appeared, and he lost this power of his, and it has made him panic ever since.

"So you used this power to come here?" Kara questions, eyes sparkling with that thirst of knowledge of hers, one that she shared with Lah.

My answer isn't quick, and I just mull it over for a few seconds before drawling it out, "I think so."

Both Kara and Lah blink, then the eyes of the Archmage slowly widen, "You didn't mean to come here…" And then they fill with horror, "...That's when you died, isn't it?"

I nod, and she lets out a slow breath. Her eyes turn to the wall of darkness and narrow, "...You didn't mean to come here, and you were likely torn apart during the trip, leaving you as a Draugr." One hand rises up to cup her chin, "This sounds like a backlash of sorts…"

Lah speaks up right after, "It definitely is. To come here, he had to be reduced to… Nothing, so that he could become more… By taking from others."

I freeze at that, "...You think this power that I have, similar to Alduin's, is meant to… help me?" It sounds absurd, honestly.

This is a terrifying power, one that could corrupt anyone, and that I resist from abusing each day despite the believable excuses I sometimes come up with.

Lah shakes his head, "Any power can be used for both good and bad. It is something that it took even someone like me to understand fully." The ancient Dragon sighs out, rubbing his ethereal head against Kara's cheek, "Good intentions can sometimes hurt those around you. Bad intentions sometimes may bring good for others. The end result always varies."

"You can use Restoration Magic to heal a sick child, but it can also be used for torture by healing the victim over and over again so that the torture can keep going."

"Fire Magic can be used for destruction, but it can also be used to destroy diseased bodies in a funeral pyre, allowing the sickness to not take anymore victims, thus letting the spirits of the fallen rest peacefully knowing they won't drag down their families and neighbors down with them."

"Water Magic can be used for watering crops, but can also be used to case great floods that take countless lives and destroy a great deal of land."

"Every power can be used for to do evil, or to do good." His old, gentle gaze meets the burning flames that are my eyes, "Even the power of the World Eater."

My shoulders sag, and I let out a breath that I wasn't holding, and that I couldn't hold. It was just anxiety and self-doubts flowing out of me now that the walls made of foolish excuses crumble under the wisdom of a Dragon that has lived through countless Eras.

I'm sure he has witnessed the best and worst of all the Races. Their Golden Age and their downfall, and they way they clung to survival until the very last moment.

"Thank you, Lah." I roll and square my shoulders, my voice relaxed and light, "I needed that."

The Dragon gives a fanged grin in turn and nods my way, "We can't have you falter on us now, can we?" True. I've fixed the sleep issue, but that has left some lasting effect I'll have to deal with time and care.

"Right, anyway…" I start and turn towards the wall of darkness still held in place, "We've confirmed that I can use this to travel to other Realms like Oblivion… What if I try to open a portal out of here?"

The Archmage and Great Sage freeze at my question, their eyes blowing wide open within seconds. "I… It should be possible, since you came here…"

And I did so when I didn't have any power whatsoever. I imagine now I can open a portal across the Multiverse – if it even works that way – and make it so we don't get blown up by a backlash of sort on the way.

"It most definitely is." Lah perks up, drawing our attention as he floats off Kara's shoulders to land on my head, "The portal to Oblivion you just opened… You did so after you were given a good description of the surroundings."

I raise a finger, then lower it the next second, "Yeah, I only managed to find an… Anchor, after I had a good visual of the spot in my head."

The Great Sage nods, "Then, for a portal out of here… We require the same thing. A good visual." He has a point.

I can't just drag them out of here on some random spot across the Multiverse and risk us getting stranded in space, so… I'll have to think about a decent world to go. One where we can profit in.

"I'll have to think about a target for a while, then I'll get back to you." Kara nods, looking quite excited to test this possible theory. Though, I believe she is mostly excited to discover the magic system of a whole different world and make that one her bitch too.

I doubt this one poses much of a challenge to her anymore. And that's quite the scary thought, for she accomplished all of this without even being a long-lived Race.

"What about the other theory you wanted to test?" Kara questions, leaning back and taking a seat on a platform made of nothing. Air Magic refined so well that she can make a seat for herself… She's just showing off at this point.

"This power of mine-" I wave my hand towards the darkness blooming forth from my feet, like a sheet of complete black that swallows all manner of light. "-Is very versatile, but its major weakness is that it disappears quickly when it isn't in contact with my."

I show it off by taking over the whole left wing of the training room, then snapping away the shadow that stretched out that sheet of abyssal darkness.

Within two seconds, all the rest faded away like it was never there. "Got any idea on how to resolve this issue?" I cannot stretch this domain while in the air and can only use myself as a conduit, but I'll need to find a solution since large scale battles here are quite common.

Just the ground beneath my feet being destroyed can dispel all the abyssal darkness and the twisted creatures I've conjured previously, ending up with me wasting my Magicka uselessly.

"Okay, I got an idea. But it's weird." The cute Archmage starts, hopping back on her feet so to approach me. "Gimme your hand." I tilt my head and raise my right hand, allowing her to grasp it with her much smaller ones.

I watch as she removes my gauntlet, the frozen bones beneath me also caked in that darkness that shrouds my robes as a form of protective layer.

Without saying a word, Kara just snaps my pinky off with a twist of her hand, making me pause. "Good thing I can't feel pain, lady…" Both she and Lah snort, and I tilt my head when I see her toss the pinky to the other side of the room. A new one already grew back through the use of my Magicka, so it isn't a problem.

"Try to move that finger." Kara says, nodding towards the discarded frozen bone.

I look down at my fixed hand, and watch as it clenches and relaxes. Then I turn my focus on the discarded finger, which hasn't fallen apart like it should.

I am an Undead, yes… But I can heal. No other Undead can do this. I am unique in this regard, as I can use my own Magicka to regrow my own body.

I am just a Spirit possessing a body made of bones that has been growing as a better host for my Soul. Meaning that if this body of mine is but a puppet controlled by my Magicka…

The finger twitches, then curls up as I focus. Soon after, darkness blooms from it, creating a wide pool beneath it as Kara whistles, "You really are a weird existence, Skelly Boy."

I shrug at that, "Don't I know it…" I whisper, but keep my focus on the severed finger.

Jagged spikes of ice grow out of it as it slowly floats off the ground, controlled by my mind and my Magicka. Wreathed in a sheet of darkness, a massive frozen spear takes shape, release a powerful chill that makes even Kara shudder.

A notification of a new Spell being made blinks in my head, but I discard it as I take a gamble… And use ahzidal's Soul to Evolve this new Spell.

[The Grand Soul (Enchanter) has been used!]

[Your Spell has Evolved!]

[Keraunos]

A Spear containing the Essence of the greatest Enchanter in History, one who molded Runes in ways no one else could.

Enchantments have been woven into this Spear, granting it the capability to change its shape, form and size according to the Caster's will.

This Spear can become anything the Caster imagines.

It can't evolve.

I knew it, taking this gamble was worth it. While ahzidal's immense wellspring of knowledge about Enchanting was quite alluring, it isn't my path.

While this System allows me to do everything I want, I best not stretch myself too thin, and try to learn too much. Not until I have the time to afford such things.

The floating Spear twirls and flies around the room, going faster and faster as I can easily keep track of it, as if it is part of my senses. And then it crumbles, disappearing into ice shards.

Before reappearing beside me, and getting cloaked in the abyssal darkness. "Oh yeah, this is good."

Kara hops close, cupping her chin as she studies my new Spell with a critical eye, "Imagine using a Fus Chant while hurling this bitch…"

"Or the Whirlwind Sprint Shout." Lah adds his own two cents, making Kara wince.

Yeah, this bitch could break the sound-barrier if I use that Shout with it. Even just a Word should do it, imagine two.

And imagine those two Words with my Draconian Howl.

"Now, for the final change…" I clench my hands, the thick and powerful Juggernaut frozen armor wrapping around me, making me taller and bigger. An absolute tank instead of a glass cannon.

And now…

[The Grand Soul (Titan) has been used!]

[Your Spell has Evolved!]

[Atlas]

The man who once stood at the peak of the world with pure physical might alone, yet still couldn't protect his city from treachery.

Immense might, immense toughness, and immaculate fighting skills. Memories of uncountable battles and all of martial Skill and might of the First Man have been woven into this Spell.

This Spell requires a Dragon Soul to Evolve.

The armor of frost grows more compact. More refined, even. And I can feel it, the ghost of Ysgramor's, all of his skills and sharpened senses trained through countless battles.

The glacial air flowing out of the armor has grown a lot stronger, forcing Lah to fly back to Kara as they move back, the entire ground covered in jagged spikes of ice that keep growing the more I let the armor linger around me.

"The way you can empower Spells is so fascinating…" The freckled woman whispers, studying the new compact yet barely changed suit of frozen armor with wide, amazed eyes. "It's like… A change down to its Conceptual level. Its very Original Rune."

Each Spell has a different Original Rune, but the majority all originate from the first one. They are just branches of the Original Rune of that branch of Magic.

Like the Fire Magic Original Rune, or the one for Restoration Magic, or Illusion Magic, or Alteration Magic. Each have an Original Rune that is a tree, with countless branches that are different paths of magic one can take, and each leaf is another Original Rune that makes up the newly created Spell.

So far, I know that only Kara and Lah have touched upon those main Original Runes. Even I haven't managed to grasp the Ice Original Rune other than the one for my Spells, though I'll try and focus harder now that I am not tired and can sleep.

Plus, I still have to grasp the Original Rune for my Fields of Cocytus. It is my second most powerful Spell, after all.

"I used the Soul of Ysgramor for this one. It was the right thing to do." I muse softly, my mind going back to the last moments between that legend and the brother who had lost his way.

I hope they are doing fine in Sovngarde.

"Think Deinmaar will pick up Wuuthrad?" Lah asks softly, and we all fall quiet, for we know what picking up that weapon truly means.

It means leading the future of the descendants of Ysgramors. Atmorans, Companions and Nords alike. It means striving to be a better man than him, which… Its a very tall task, to be honest.

He is a man who carried an Era, who paved the path for Nords on Skyrim and granted them writing knowledge. He made sure his children and descendants had a future before them before disappearing.

And whoever becomes Wuuthrad's owner will become the one to lead the mortal races of Men into the next Golden Age, or die trying.

"Deinmaar's path is different."

Speaking of my good ol' buddy…

I hope he is doing alright.

~~XXX~~

"You have my thanks for the ride, good sir."

The elderly carriage owner scoffs and waves a dismissive hand towards the armored Atmoran, "If it wasn't for ya, I'd have ended up as Mountain Troll shit by the end of the week."

Deinmaar chuckles, the carriage jumping as he disembarks, his greatsword strapped to his back together with a sack of necessities. "I just did the right thing."

The elderly Nord nods, "And asked for nothing in turn. Few are that nice around these parts, young man." Shaking his head, the elder looks up at the mountain chain beside the carriage, "You sure this is the place you want me to leave you at?"

The Atmoran nods, turning to gaze at the lone overgrown path that leads into a forest that rises up in the mountains. Arcwind Point, a location that had been calling to him for a while. Since he was freed from his 'prison', even.

"Yeah… I'm looking for something." The elder gazes at Deinmaar quietly, before nodding and straightening himself.

"I hope you find what you're looking for, young man." With a jerk of his hands, the elder flapped the reins, making the horses start pulling the carriage once more, "May the Nine watch over you."

The giant bows his head in thanks, watching the carriage slowly depart before he turns, and takes a step towards the forest.

His mind wandered to the distant past. To the times Konahriik spoke of her home, of how it was destroyed.

Of how its destruction was caused by accident, as it was caused by her Master. Solomon.

It was even how they met, and how he took her and Dinok beneath his wings, teaching them all he knew and treating them like his beloved daughters.

But looking back on those memories… Deinmaar realized that Konahriik was probably setting something up.

Each stray mention of Arcwind point. Of where her home was. Even a casual point at it on a map that was nearby at the time.

It didn't feel like casual talk, but like… Her preparing for something. A back-up plan, of sorts.

The woman he dearly loved was a genius, always preparing for everything, and using her immense Magical Might to advance where she couldn't plan.

With Dinok by her side, her rise in the Dragon Council was swift and ruthless. She rose to the position of Konahriik faster than anyone else, and claimed that seat and Mask before she was in her twenties.

Only Dinok could challenge her, and perhaps even win, even if Konahriik were to use the full might of the Mask whose name she now carried with pride.

Dinok, who had no Mask. No Artifact. Just the pure, raw power of her Thu'um, taught to her by the World-Eater himself.

The forest soon gives in to dense and thick snow that crunches beneath his boots, but his steps don't slow down one bit.

Deinmaar's gaze flicks around, searching everywhere he could for any hint of anything. But all he saw was snow, and more snow as he drew closer to the peak…

Until, finally, he happened upon some stone arches, and some steps of dark stone cracked by the weather and time.

He follows this new path, which leads him down a ravine between two mountains. The walls of the ravine were dug into, holes that resembled windows and doors filled his vision, but anything within the home was now long gone.

Either looted or dusted by time.

Further down the ravine, he happens upon a massive crater. An impact site of what seems like a meteor, which left a massive circular scar in the ravine with houses dug into the dark stone.

Deinmaar scans the surroundings, then glances at the widening path of the ravine before him. He could see more steps further ahead of him, with more stone arches still standing.

When he reaches the opening, his eyes widen as he finds himself before a large temple dug into the side of a mountain. The remains of a destroyed statue greet him, with only the legs of what appear to be an armored figure having been left behind.

It too was made from the dark stone that make the walls of the ravine, same as the temple dug into the walls, which had long since collapsed upon itself.

Still, Deinmaar could find nothing, his brows furrowing in confusion and disappointment. His magical aura flares forth, melting off the piles of snow that had gathered around the temple site, allowing him to gaze at the pale square stones beneath his boots.

Even with the snow gone, he still couldn't-

"Hey there, Doofus." Deinmaar freezes, his breath catching in his throat. His eyes blow wide open in shock, fear and hope, and his hands quiver.

Slowly, almost terrified he had heard wrong, the Atmoran turns around to gaze at the speaker who he hopes wasn't his own imagination.

His trembling ruby-red eyes land on a small, breathtaking beauty. The one who had claimed his heart many Eras ago.

Eyes like molten gold, skin as pale as snow, and long hair like pure silver. Her figure was clad in a skin-tight armor of dragon scales, a long dark cloak billowing behind her back.

"Konahriik…" Deinmaar whispers, nearly crumbling to his knees as he stares at the woman standing beneath the remains of the ancient statue. "I-"

"Before you say anything…" The beautiful Snow Elf raises a hand, her smile adoring yet overflowing with sadness, "Just know that I am not really here. This is an Illusion I created what should now be many Eras ago."

Despite the fact that Konahriik was speaking, and that her soft, ethereal voice stretched far… Her lips never moved once.

Deinmaar knew well why, for she was mute. Dinok was born blind, while Konahriik was born mute, though she bypassed that through the usage of Illusion Magic.

The beautiful Snow Elf turns her head, seemingly staring at something only she could see, "A few hours ago, you sent out an order for Dragon Priests to gather within the War Council." Deinmaar's eyes widen.

That was when he… "By the time I get there, I am sure you'll have slaughtered them all down to the last." Konahriik shakes her head, her eyes filled with pure adoration, "You went against your code, all your promises, your everything… Just for me and Dinok."

"You've never seen Dinok as a weapon, despite the fact that she wishes to be one… So the job that was supposed to be hers, was done by you. I really did the right thing when I started calling you a Doofus."

Despite himself, Deinmaar laughs and lowers his head in shame, kneeling down before the Illusion of the woman he loves and yearns for.

"This Illusion reacts to your Magical Signature. I'll make sure to register it when I come to the War Council – or what remains of it – later. But now…" The small beauty floats up and turns, motioning for Deinmaar to follow, "Come, it is time you learn why I've been working so hard."

The former Dragon Priest rises to his feet and follows into steps with the illusion, following her floating form to the crumbled remains of the temple… Then behind it, where a hole concealed by the remains lay, dug deep into the dark stone.

"For the longest time, me and Dinok carried the heavy burden of this knowledge granted to us by our Master." Konahriik suddenly starts, raising a hand to conjure a light that illuminates the dark walls of the tunnel.

Deinmaar blinks as he notices that each inch of these walls were filled with carvings he couldn't make out. Scenes of battles, words he couldn't make out, a language he never saw.

"...What is this?" The carvings depicted a history that shouldn't be.

Of Mer and Men standing together, or Dragons fighting against Dragons.

Of a giant claw shattering the Heavens, the Earth… The very World.

And then a jaw snaps shut around those remains, Eating the World.

"The Utopia we dreamed of creating could never come to be… For Alduin cannot be killed. Not by me, not by Solomon, and not even by a Dragonborn, or another Dragon."

And then another story. Races that were neither Men or Mer, Dragons without forelimbs, another apocalyptic war-

Another World Eaten.

"He will always come back. It may be after a few days, months, or Eras… But the World Eater will always come back to finish its purpose. He'll be different each time, a whole new Alduin… But Alduin all the same."

More murals.

More Races.

More war.

Another World being Eaten by a Dragon.

"He will purge everything that exists, so to let another World be born anew."

Another mural.

Another World.

The same Ending.

Deinmaar's breath was growing heavier and quicker the deeper they walked.

"But with each purge… Something is always left behind. A phantom of a bygone Era, a book… A memory carved into stone."

The tunnel gives way to a massive chamber lit up by burning purple flames.

The chamber was filled with stones. People of all Races, Men and Mer, and others that do not exist, all of them kneeling before another, much bigger statue.

Thousands of people reaching, almost as if seeking salvation… Towards the statue of a figure draped in a long cloak, a Wooden Mask on their face.

Up above, carved into the ceiling, was a Dragon resembling Alduin… Eating the tail of another Dragon who resembled Alduin, who did the same with the one before it, so on and so forth, until a complete circle was made.

The cloaked figure wearing a Wooden Mask was gazing up at the Dragon eating itself endlessly, a stray tear depicted running down their cheek.

"This…" Konahriik pauses, stopping before the thousands of praying, begging sculptures. "… Is an endless Cycle."

"And we currently live within the Ninth World."

A.N. This is, by far, the biggest reveal of the fic yet.

I know nobody expected this shit, nyeheheh!

Hope y'all enjoyed it!

I'm glad I got back to writing this fic, I missed it a lot!

Especially writing Leo!

Let me know what y'all think of this chappy, and thankies for having Subscribed to the higher tier!

Toodles!