We went around the whole of the fort and into the undercroft, I used spells to look for the living and other spells looking for any hidden passages. We ran into a cave-in, and I managed to squeeze through, but not long after, I found another cave-in and could not pass, though I could see what appeared to be a rather large cavern. When I got back to Ash, I suggested looking for a cave entrance that might lead into the undercroft, as I had seen what looked like natural formations.
I put out some of the fires with spells of ice and snow and cried at the bodies I found within. We left the Fort and headed along in a broad downward angle, knowing that if there was a cave entrance, there would be some kind of game trail.
We found the cave entrance, and it took about an hour, as we entered the cave I cast a detect life spell and got back two glows. Ash went after the furthest one and I found the closer man, an Imperial. He asked for a healing potion, which I gave, and then used a spell to augment it. As I helped the man to his feet, I looked for Ash who was only halfway to the other person.
Hadvar he said his name was and that I should hurry without him to Riverwood and let them know a Dragon had attacked Helgen. I told him Alvor had sent us here and they were already on guard. A huge crash caused me to wobble and dust flew all over the place.
"Ash... ASH!" I yelled his name and cast another detect life spell, I found him getting up from where he had dived out of the way of a falling stalactites.
"Ralof, he was right behind me." I caste another detect life spell as I helped Ash to his feet. He was fine, but I saw another tear in the hem of his armor, that would need fixing. When I saw no tel-tail glow, I caste a detect dead spell, and under the rubble was the shape of a man. I shook my head and the Imperial bowed his.
"He was a good man, we grew up together playing soldiers along the river. Until we became them, on different sides. I will miss my brother." Ash and I helped him out of the cave and then walked all the way back to Riverwood with him. It turned out that Alvor was his Uncle. Before we headed back to the Priory, we promised Alvor we would head to Whiterun and let the Jarl know about the destruction of Helgen and the dragon who had done it.
I looked up from the book I was reading as Ash thumped another stack down. I frowned down at the dusty tomes.
" Surely those aren't all about Dragons and Alduin in particular?" I had been hard-pressed to find any mention of Alduin in the books I had read about dragons and their Cult.
"No, just books that may reference dragons, I don't read as fast as you do, but I can skim and find keywords. You read and I'm going to replace some of the potions we used, magic healing is all good and well, but I can't heal you."
" I need to go meditate and ask Akatosh for guidance, I'm just going to the chapel." I put the book down, the one that told me most of what I needed to know about Alduin, World eater, Bringer of the End of Time, devourer of souls. I shuddered at that, he used the souls of Man and Mer as a source of energy, those poor beings would not go to their final reward, but disappear completely.
I entered the chapel and knelt in front of the Shrine to Akatosh, I wiped all the worries from my mind, grounded within myself, and then cast my awareness outwards into the Aether. I was calm as I asked our Father for direction, the answer I got was that "Time would show me the way".
I centered back into myself and shook my head, I really hated riddles. I still planned on getting rip-roaring drunk, but after we got back from talking to the Jarl in Whiterun. I stood and turned to find Ash behind me, that was so normal that I felt like bursting into tears.
"You know all those within the fort are gone." I looked up at Ash and trembled inside, " Not just dead Ash, gone from existence, Alduin eats their souls for the energy he needs and because it delights him." He put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed. Telling me that tomorrow was time enough to worry about it all and that we should get some sleep.
As I made ready for bed I thought of all the things I had read and about the cryptic advice I had gotten from Akatosh, Divines and Deadra alike made little sense to Man, until after the fact, then you shook your head and wondered at being so dense.
I laid down but never fell asleep, so I got back up, only to find that Ash had not yet gone to sleep either. We stood on the balcony overlooking Whiterun and talked for a while. I asked him questions that I knew he did not have the answers to and very Ash-like, he gave me answers that directed me to where I could look for those answers or told me he just didn't know.
I had long ago asked about where I had come from, but none of the Priest's or Knight's knew. They knew I was Breton and that is about all they knew. We went back in and I skimmed through a bunch more books before I gave it up and went to bed. I blanked my mind and relaxed my muscles, it wasn't as good as sleeping, but as it did tonight it allowed me to fall into sleep.
I dreamed of huge black wings
covering the sun.
No comments:
Post a Comment