Chapter 509 - Dragon Rising (1)
One of the most beautiful places in Skyrim is undoubtedly Riverwood. The town was designed to be the player's first step into the Nordic Civilization and it delivers a fair level of natural beauty and passive immersion. In reality, this is not much different. Riverwood's main specialties are lumber, furs, meat and serves as a traveling stop. This all makes the town pretty important on the map to all the caravans coming from the South to Whiterun.
On the other hand, the woods around Riverwood are mostly safe and surprisingly very beautiful and green during summer. It is warm, breezy, quiet, tranquil and refreshing. There, Jon was lying on the green grass with a girl on his side and of course, the first question was "which girl?"
To answer this question, it starts with Jon returning back to Riverwood. He used a couple of Gold Ingots to replicate the Golden Claw as the original has some Magical Properties to it. Jon went to the General Trader of Riverwood with it and told him about coming across some bandits that had this thing on them. Lucan the Trader was actually the original owner of the Golden Claw but as a simple citizen, he couldn't recognize the difference between the magical item and the replica thus Jon was okay.
Now to the answer that is already very obvious, the girl who slept with Jon was Camilla, Lucan's sister. [A/n: Also famed as Camilla the Hoe!]
The deal with Camilla was like this. She is a town girl that looks decent enough for the young men in the town to fight over her especially the Nord bard Sven and the Wood Elf hunter Faendal. Camilla was acting all spoiled now that all the young men were head over heels for her and she took it for granted playing the two young men.
When Jon returned to Riverwood, he accepted a request from Sven to deliver a fake letter to Camilla and say it is from Faendal. Of course, it didn't go well for Sven when Jon told Camilla about the truth of the letter. Jon didn't stop there, he proved that Faendal had something to do with a robbery in Lucan's shop causing the [Golden Claw] to get stolen by Arvel the Swift, Faendal seemed to have sold information about the Claw for some coins. This made the second guy fall from favor as well.
With both Sven and Faendal out of the picture, Jon can be considered the savior of the general store and could easily woo its poster girl. Didn't take him a couple of drinks to take her to his room in the inn and make love to her all night. When they were about to get noisy, they decided to sneak into the Forest and continue their energetic fornication till dawn.
"You did it again, didn't you?"
Isha stood above Jon's head waking him up with the shaft of her spear.
"Sometimes the Supply can't satisfy the Demand. Basic Commerce." Jon replied without opening his eyes.
"Are you serious?"
"You know I need more Anuic Energy than usual especially with my level going higher."
"I remember you saying the same thing about doing it with those Altmer girls in Summerset."
"Altmer girls are strong and abundant with Anuic Energy, things are getting tougher now, you know."
Jon's hedonistic behavior always gets to be an all-time high especially when he wants to increase his level. He usually doesn't have material resources to raise his level so he relies on Sexual Intercourse to gain Vital Anuic Energy. The Anuic Energy is feminine (Yin) so the females of all races possess a high amount of it in their bodies. Jon harvests that energy through Sexual Intercourse to refine his Padomic energy (Yang) with it. Jon's Padomic energy is wild and very vigorous so his demand is always hard to satisfy, the Altmer girls in Summerset were all talented mages and they were a good fit for him to have as much energy as he wanted but now that he is back in Skyrim, he has fewer resources.
"The fact that you consider girls as resources is…" Isha spoke in criticism.
"Whoa there, miss feminist. I've never said anything like that. Whoever I sleep with, I compensate with Anuic Energy. Haven't you seen that girl who was taken as an apprentice by some big shot mage after spending three nights with me?"
"You seriously are just a big trash of a human being. I'll make sure that your wife knows."
"Goodness gracious!"
Jon was terrified of Alina's reaction to his hedonism as she was never happy about it and would always nag Oblivion out of him. She must have known that Jon can't possibly pass two years away from home without having some affair but if she found out about the one-year fornication act he did, she'll rip him apart and feed him to that gryphon he hates… or at least that's how she warns him.
"Let's just try to be peaceful now. How were things on Helgen's front?" Jon diverted the subject.
Isha took a deep breath before massaging her temples with annoyance.
"Don't get me started. You made us watch a fucking dragon while trying to save everyone in that town while it was burning to the ground. I am traumatized."
"I don't want to be rude but I wasn't checking on you."
"Bastard!" Isha whacked with the spear's shaft on his head, "How are you acting so calm after seeing that all that with the Dragon?"
Seeing Isha almost losing her cool, Jon closed his eyes and stood up while covering up his waist.
"I'm not."
"And?"
"We'll do something about the Dragons."
"Hold up! Dragons?"
"Pretty much a horde of them."
Isha stared at him as he was putting on some common clothing and an old iron cuirass.
"Why are you wearing such things?" She asked.
"A change of plans. I will keep my identity hidden a bit longer." He replied.
"What's the purpose?"
"Things will be less complicated this way."
Jon seemed confident about a certain idea that came to him during the rescue of Helgen and started to act based on it. He made sure that his face is well-hidden rather than altered by [Lust] and made a very overall unremarkable appearance.
"Take that girl to her house." Jon said as he pointed at Camilla, "Oh! Just drop her wrapped in some sheets at the door."
Jon's mischievous request was met by a disdainful look on Isha's face as she dejectedly agreed to take Camilla away. She can do it unseen but it is Camilla who will be in a bad position with Jon screwing her after he screwed her.
***
I wasn't planning on waiting more than this in Riverwood. I got the Dragonstone and the Golden Claw, I made sure that all Riverwood heard about the Dragon attack and that was all for me. Next stop, Whiterun.
Taking the road to the North through the woodlands would almost take a couple of days by traveling on the main road to reach Whiterun but I'm not the main road kinda guy. I had to reach Whiterun fast through the sky and it took me a few hours to see the big city in the bright heart of Skyrim. Gladly, it is still summer and the place looked as beautiful as it could get around this area.
I had to tread carefully from this point onwards so I landed near Honningbrew Meadery and took the main road to Whiterun from there. The reason I haven't teleported anywhere so far was to not trigger any encounter I wish to avoid and to make sure the flow of events go according to plan. I also wanted to confirm my doubt about something and lo and behold, I was right.
"GRAAAH!"
*Stomp*
"Hit him, Ria! Don't be scared!"
"Ha!"
*Swoosh*
It was exactly how I imagined it. Three people fighting a Giant. Ria, Farkas and none other than someone I really appreciate seeing again, Aela. The three are Companions, Aela and Farkas are senior members from the Circle and Ria is a greenhorn or as they like to call it, a Whelp. From what I can tell, this is Ria's initiation mission as she is doing most of the fighting while the other two are just standing there as support.
It is a common scene at the beginning of the game but that is what I was looking for. There is a big meaning to this encounter that also happens in the game.
Somehow, each unique encounter from the game happens as soon as I pass to where it is triggered in reality. It didn't happen yesterday or the day after it, it won't happen tomorrow either, it happens around "me" when I pass by.
This is not just some randomness or a coincidence, this is the power of Fate.
Many things happen in certain sequences and must follow a pattern of events, defying that won't yield a good result as for example, what I did with the [Azura's Star] causing it to become the [Black Star] which resulted for Azura's Soul Fragment to be acquired by Mannimarco, who scrapped it from the Sea of Oblivion, and all resulted into me going on the Seven Daedric Labours for Azura which took me all around Tamriel.
Respite the gains I had, I learned a precious lesson on not to mess with Fate. There is always a time for everything and all my actions so far have severely affected the future that's why I have to be ready for all oddities. I don't believe the Game Events will keep popping up the same way they used to be.
While I was thinking, the battle between the three Companions and the Giant was about to unfold but it seemed that the Giant became fearful and decided to retreat.
"After him, he's going towards the road." Farkas shouted.
The three started chasing hastily as it seemed there were a few carriages passing on the road, the people panicked at the sight of the giant but strangely, the closest one to help was me.
I would hate to harm a Giant as the Clan rules forbade it but I don't have much of a choice here if the Giant himself has gone mad. The shabby sword I had was unsheathed as I leaped in the air towards the Giant's head. He saw me coming and swung his club at me.
"Careful!"
Ria and Farkas shouted trying to stop me but they were out of reach, the moment the Giant's club was about to hit me was the same moment when I showed off with my acrobatics and twisted my body mid-air avoiding it. As I landed on the other side of the Giant, I was directly face to face with Aela.
*Drop*
The Giant fell on its knees then crumbled like a falling building, those who could see his face saw my shabby sword piercing through his skull deep to the brain. He died before he could realize it.
I, of course, didn't look back as cool guys never do. Still, my cool act was instantly seen through by Aela when I saw her nose twitching.
This woman… she recognized me by the smell again!
"J…"
I had to wink lightly and signal her to stop talking. She was surprised to see me but as a level headed person, she controlled her shock immediately.
"Aela, you know this man?" On the other hand, the one who could detect the strangeness of her sudden silence was Farkas.
"No." She replied and turned to me with a calm look, "You handle yourself well. You could make for a decent Shield-Brother."
Seriously? The scripted reaction?
"A Shield-Brother?" I had to try a scripted reply to see how she replies.
"An outsider, eh? Never heard of the Companions? An order of warriors. We are brothers and sisters in honor. And we show up to solve problems if the coin is good enough."
Damn! That's scripted as well. Fine, let's go unscripted for now.
"Coins, fighting and sisters? Where do I sign up?" I said.
"HA! Spoken like true Nord." It was then when Farkas butted in, "Your skill looks decent, what do you think, Aela?"
"He's good. Whether he joins or not, it is up to Kodlak." Aela said with a natural look on her face.
At least this reply wasn't anticipated.
"Thank you, I'll make sure to pass by." I said so and recovered the shabby sword then walked towards Whiterun.
It was a refreshing set of events to see how the game scripts change with a small reply, things may be interesting from now on. Anyway, as I was taking the road up the city, I started hearing conversations between the caravaneers who were not allowed to enter, the word Dragon was heard a lot
"Halt! City's closed with the Dragons about. Official business only." And here's everyone's favorite, Whiterun's Guard.
"I came bearing news from Helgen." I spoke.
"Gods! Helgen? Head to Dragonsreach immediately. The Jarl would want to speak with you."
***
Jon was allowed inside Whiterun right away, the news about Helgen spread faster than what he anticipated as Alduin was sighted around Skyrim in various places by the following couple of days. From what Jon could tell, Alduin has started resurrecting the other dragons already.
As he went to Dragonsreach palace to inform the Jarl of Whiterun about the Dragon that flew in his hold, others were on the move.
"Sister, I'm hungry."
"Be quiet."
"I can't. I'm hungry and bored."
"Aela will come later with food, by the time being, shut up. I need to focus."
"No, you don't. Your powers don't work on him anyway so there is no point in trying to pick his location."
"I said shut up!"
Alina furiously swung her staff and Jullanar's head.
"Ouch!"
The two were sitting in a small house in Whiterun. Despite it being old, the wealth of Winterhold's richest transformed [Breezehome] from the shabby house it was to a small luxurious house. The two first ladies of Winterhold were lazing around for a week in this place and the reason was oblivious to them, half a year ago, Jon requested them to buy this place and be there before the 17th of Last Seed 4E 201.
Just yesterday, a strange piece of news swept over the city about a Dragon appearing in Helgen. It was too unbelievable for Alina who started meditating right away to divine what happened in Helgen. Most of her visions were hazy and unclear, no matter what she did, it was impossible to track down a Dragon using Divination.
Dragons are fragments of the Aka, the Time. Space and Time are the Magical Archetypes that control Detection and Divination respectively. Detection is to gather information through Space while Divination is to gather information through Time.
Being made of Time, the Dragons were immune to Divination the same way Jon was. This was something new to Alina who was called Crimson Moon for her Seer ability, she knew that Jon was immune for some absurd reasons but never thought it would be related to Dragons, she suspected but overlooked.
Now that both the Mysterious Dragon and Jon were out of her reach, the very capable Alina was feeling powerless in the face of those absurdities. The reason why she was stern to Jullanar and locked herself in Breezehome the entire day. The reason why she kept Jullanar closeby was that there was no way to predict what Jull would do if she was left on her own. On the other hand, the third person who came with them from Winterhold was busy gathering information through the company's network.
"Sister-in-law, I'm back." Wulfur called.
Speaking of the devil, Alina walked down the stairs from the top floor to see him. He seemed to have changed a bit since six months ago growing a full beard and long hair.
"Wulfur, any news?" She asked.
"More sightings of the Dragon around the Hold. Battle-Born will keep us updated." He replied.
"Alright. I'll go back to my business, inform me first thing if there is anything new." She said and turned around to go up and continue what she was doing.
Meanwhile, Jullanar snuck down and signaled to Wulfur about Alina going crazy. Alina glanced at Jullanar with a glare and the latter ran away immediately.
"Sister-in-law." Wulfur called for Alina.
"Yes."
"I saw Aela on the way back, we can drop by at Jorrvaskr to dine with the Companions for the night, let's go." Wulfur invited Alina to leave the house for a while.
"Thanks, but I'm busy." She said.
"Yes yes yes, I'm starving." Jullanar dangled her head from the upper floor.
"Come on, Sister-in-law. You haven't eaten a thing since yesterday. Maybe your Divination doesn't work on an empty stomach." Wulfur said.
"It doesn't work li…"
"Yes. Hungry people don't function well."
Alina was retorting but Jull cut her.
"Come on, just take an hour to rest your eyes. They are clearly red." Wulfur said.
Alina looked at him unamused.
"My eyes are naturally red." She said.
Seeing how the two were looking at her, Alina sighed and gave up at the end.
"I guess I'll do it… but only for an hour."
"Yay! Meat meat meat meat!" Jullanar came down from the ceiling and started jumping around Alina happily.
The three people, who are Jon's original battle party, were heading out together to get some food in Whiterun.
At the same time, another three figures entered Whiterun by the special tokens from the Dare Dragon Company.
"Sister, I'm hungry."
"… Mhm."
"Don't just nod to me. We are twins alright but I don't get what you are nodding at."
"I understand… you're hungry."
"Then do something about it. I'm hungry and tired."
"… Mhm."
Mirren and Miranda walked into Whiterun under the hating gazes of the Nords at the two High Elves who didn't hide their identities one bit.
"Guys, these tokens are super awesome. The guard saw them and almost choked from the shock." On the other hand, Isha spoke whole pointing at the Dare Dragon Golden token Jon gave her.
"Jon has a large influence in Skyrim. Saying his name makes strange things tend to happen." Mirren replied.
"We can't cause problems though." Miranda said.
"You are right. It seems like a source of fear rather than a source of power. Jon said it many times, didn't he?" Isha thought.
"Can we eat now?" Mirren asked impatiently.
"Alright. I don't know about this town but the famous Jorrvaskr stands here. If we go to that girl Aela, she can treat us something." Isha said.
Isha and the other two were familiar with Aela, after all, she was there in Hammerfell during the last Labour when Jon fought Mannimarco.
"You think the Companions will treat us well?" Mirren asked, pointing to the fact that he and his sister are Elves who are not popular among the Companions.
"Don't worry, love. I'll protect you from anything." Isha said as she winked to him, "Also, with my position as the Spear Battlelord of the Citadel of Ebonarm will guarantee the friendship with the Companions so keep close to me."
"Alright."
"Mhm."
Mirren and Miranda followed Isha in the city while Alina led Wulfur and Jullanar towards Jorrvaskr as well. None would have anticipated the clash between Jon's Old Party and his New Party, a clash that will create the most terrifying war squad ever.
———————————
• P4TRE0N:
pat×reon.com/eldokhmesy (remove × )
• YouTube:
youtube.com/channel/UCr7RT7NUojIRA0s7cjfrjDw
• Discord: discord.gg/gKcKva7
• Instagram: @don_dokhmesy
• Twitter:
@eldokhmesy22