Chapter 14: Lucid dreams: Life of the Dragonborn (Last Skyrim Chapter)
(Daemon POV)
(Hi everyone sorry for the major delay but I have had a lot less time than I thought that I would these pass couple of weeks so I haven't been able to update recently. I have decided to change my plan as well for the brief Skyrim arc and attempt to do it in a single chapter and as such will be using a liberal amount of time skips so I do apologise if the chapter may not read how it usually would or feels a little lazy.
I have made this decision as a few people have no interest in the Skyrim chapters (not just readers on this site.) but there a few certain scenes that I need to write in order for me to be able to properly developed Daemon's character and powers as I envisioned when I started this small arc.
Anyhow on with the chapter.)
Daemon had been following behind Aela to enter the city of Whiterun and found it looked exactly like the game depicted it. With high stone walls and wooden structures along it that were used as sentry towers or supports.
From outside the city the magnificent Dragonreach palace stood high up above the city looking down upon from the clouds, a statement of power and dominance fitting of the great palace that earned its named by once imprisoning a dragon.
The palace itself was a strange mix of gothic church, Viking long house and medieval castle. Three concepts that do not seem like they should work together but strangely enough combine to create an awe-inspiring sight.
Tall stone walls rose from the back of the great monument while the front was more in-keeping with a Viking long house, wooden with steep triangular roofs and arced doors. Circular windows and wooden beams clear from outside the building. As the sun shone across the top of the tiles, they seemed to give a subtle golden glow.
Daemon followed Aela as she led him to the gate and called to the guards "Open the gates, this man needs to visit the Jarl immediately." When she called this out to them he saw sceptical looks before realising that it was Aela who had spoken and complied immediately.
As his foot stepped over the threshold into Whiterun his vision turned white as the world around him disappeared.
He opened his eyes to find himself in what appeared to be a Viking long hall at a large table that seemed massive to him. He raised his hands in front of his face and realised that he was back in his body, or at least his body from Remnant.
He glanced across the table spotting large jugs contain mead and bear. Arrayed across the table were platters of meat and fresh fruits that gave of a sweet aroma. There was freshly made bread, pastries and other dough-based products. But for some reason there was donner meat and kebab meats, pizzas of types with stuffed crusts and curries and Chinese dishes. His eyes then fell on the crispy chili beef and he reached out and took a container of it and picked up a fork and was about to tuck in when he heard a laugh.
Daemon startled and almost dropped his fork as a man appeared in front of him. He put the container down as he focused on the man in front of him. He was tall and corded muscles, he looked like a warrior. His knuckles and hands had small white scars all over them. His hair was a plume colour and his eyes were a blue silver that shone with mirth.
His laughter was a deep warm rumble that carried through the wide empty hall. Then he spoke his deep and velvety as he spoke with humour apparent in his voice "Now lad go ahead and eat, I know that is one of your favourites and I must admit I have grown fond of it myself."
Then it clicked this was Daemon, his Skyrim character Daemon, he could feel a pressure build at the front of his forehead as he considered what this could mean or how this could happen.
The man called out again now and spoke calmly "Calm down lad and I will explain. It may take a minute so you may as well eat as I talk. Save any questions until after I am done with my explanation okay. Also, as we share a name refer to me as Draco for now as for all intents and purposes I might as well be a dragon and it will be less awkward."
Daemon gave a slight nod of agreement and this picked back up his fork as he began to eat his crispy chili beef and Draco began his explanation.
"Well as you may have already thought this is due to you friend Merlin. Yeah, I have met and he set all this up for me and showed me your life, both halves of it, so that I could help you. Yeah, that man is man is mad and causes all kinds of random crap. Hell, the bastard kinda reminds me of Sheogorath, both crazy and take delight in inflicting their insanity induced wiles on others.
However, that is beside the point. You are here to learn more about the powers that you have asked as the magic and Thu'um is not half as two dimensional as the brief glimpse that your 'Game' provides into my universe would suggest. If I were to explain it in the simplest way possible so you would understand it would to explain it as editing the source code of the universe. It allows you directly alter reality.
In reality it is the culminated forces of the universe being compressed into a single language. However, it has its limitations, each word while it may have a meaning is useless without understanding it. Tell me what does force mean?"
Daemon considered what Draco said before replying "Imposing pressure upon something or making something happen."
Draco gave a slight smile at the answer and replied "Okay that was better than I expected but that Isn't what force is, it is what you think force it. Force could mean a pressure, it could mean making something happen, it could mean the imposition of will upon another. But it could also refer to fundamental forces like gravity, time and space. It can also be considered a catalyst. It can be used to push, pull, pressure, crush, condense or empower. The thu'um is only limited by your own understanding.
I know for example with three words that you can only throw people or objects but with just one." He trails off raising a hand and summoning the word for 'fus' in front of him and suddenly a large plate sized hole appeared in the wooden wall before it repaired itself.
"I could cause the same effect with just one due to my understanding. Also, I like the projection of the words rather than having to shout, its a nice trick and makes them easier to control at the price of being about a sixth weaker. Not a bad trade off. Of course with understanding you can also do things like this."
Draco again raised his hand summoning three different words 'Fus' which he recognised and two which he did not. In an instant a large shining lighting bolt, almost the size of a bus crashed through the wall showing a blank white void outside before repairing itself.
Draco smirked at the look of amazement on his face. "What I just was use 'FUS' or force with 'QO' or lightning from storm call and 'NOS" or strike from the cyclone shout. 'FUS' was used to generate more force and in effect force the energy to gather as I wanted. 'QO' gave the energy form as lightning with 'FUS' helping to 'force' the energy into shape and finally 'NOS' acting as a command to strike as well forming a association with a lightning strike that empowered the attack even further.
This is the difference between what you saw in the game and the reality. It is also what made dragons so powerful and made them so feared. Dragons were born of magic and were aspects of the fundamental forces or concepts given a psychical form. Parthannax was born of order but a terrible one, he was a manifestation of 'ambition' and 'tyranny' and 'cruelty' hence his name meaning 'ambition-overlord-cruelty'. He was diminished in the future as he rebelled against his purpose causing him to age and become weakened. But it gave him an innate understanding of how to use any shouts that could harm. How even the simplest of words could cause the most pain. A word another may use to create a simple light he might be able to use blind people or remove all light leaving the world blind.
Alduin was the 'destroyer' and 'The world eater' hence with his words all he could do was cause destruction and chaos. He could raise the dead and give life but only if it would lead to the death of others. He could call down meteor showers and lightning storms like the gods of the world you once lived upon. His name alone when he announced it aloud would cause all creation to shudder under the weight it carried; its underlying meaning a poisonous blemish on existence.
Aludin was the first child of Akatosh and while my body is that of a man, my soul is that of his youngest son. A soul that is also now part of you. The dragon born as a man lacks a connection to any set concept that could constrain it. Not it is the avatar of the most dangerous possible idea 'Potential'. It possesses potential to grow beyond anything, to do anything, to become anything. That is what we both represent as dragon born.
When a dragonborn devours the soul of a dragon it forms a connection with whatever concept they embodied. It is what gave the creator of the game in your world the idea to show it as a way to learn shouts. However, he did not fully understand, instead the dragon born receives that dragons understanding of the thu'um and also their vitally. It allows us to use the thu'um for various purposes, the same word in a hundred different ways. Because we are not limited to a single understanding of the word. Do you understand?"
Daemon could feel his head spinning as he began to understand the sheer depth of what he had just been told. The implications were immense. He realised that by limiting himself to the game's understanding of the Dragonborn's powers he had been crippling his own potential.
Draco spoke again "Now that is out the way I need to explain to you one more thing about how you came to have my abilities and why I am here.
When I read the elder scroll at the throat of the world not only did I see the battle against Aludin where he was cast through time but I also saw many other things. Possible futures, alternate realities each slightly different and then other worlds. I saw your own, I saw Remnant, I saw the one with boy who had a fox sealed inside him. A world which had converged on another where mutants and monsters, men, elves and dwarfs roamed.
It was only a mere glimpse but it near killed me and would have if not for my 'potential' and the purpose I had in mind. It is why moth priests are blind, so they do not see that which they are not meant to. They can only ever feel the impression which is slightly less harmful.
I saw you. A boy who had watched and played an abridged version of my life and saw my journey. I saw how you used a potion loop to force a crack to open in the Akashic records and bestow knowledge of how to create a weapon worthy of gods."
Daemon's head snapped to look at him so quickly he might have caused himself to get whiplash causing Draco to laugh at his expression.
"HAHAHA maybe I should explain what I mean by that. I studied it as the Archmage of Winterhold. Enchantments were what I delved into. How they worked, what they did and how they did it. How could an enchantment make someone a better blacksmith. Then I discovered it.
An enchantment creates a link to the root or the Akashic records and as a result subconsciously guides by using your innate magic to fuel the connect or in some cases the power provided by a soul gem. The sacrifice of a soul is a powerful enough catalyst to force open a small path to the root and allows the connection to form and be opened again in future.
The potion of fortify restoration however restores the soul as it is what causes magic but other course the developers did not know this. This allows for the soul to be slowly sacrificed while restoring its energy allowing it punch open a bigger hole in a effect. This would be done while targeting alchemy while the creating a more effective version of the potion with stronger affects before finally reaching the same conclusion as your game just in a slightly different manner. It would be used to create the strongest possible link to archive of blacksmithing.
Impressive right?"
Draco finished his speech with a massive smirk across his face. Unbelievable this guy literally created godly weapons by tampering with the Akashic records. He just sat there looking smug seeing my disbelief at what he just said before giving a cough.
"Anyway I brought you here to teach you more about your powers as I actually agreed to give them to you. I was able to your wish to Merlin and between the combined reality bullshitting powers we possess he was able to hear me. Right now however, I haven't fully gave you your powers as I wished for you to understand them by watching the relevant parts of my life. Merlin however immortal idiot that he is thought that meant my whole life forgetting that it would take to long and that you body is in a coma.
So I brought you here to lets say, expedite the process a little. I want you to see four main things, the first time I saw Alduin which you have already seen, the first time I read a word wall, the first time I killed a dragon and devoured its soul and finally my final battle against Alduin."
Suddenly, Draco flickered and appeared in front of him and placed to fingers on his forehead faster than Daemon's eyes could possibly follow as his skittered across the man's smirk and his vision turned white.
Like before he was both the man but also just a passenger looking through his eyes and feeling through his senses.
A cold draft crept across his skin and caused a chill to tingle down his spine as his arms jolted and trembled blocking a large great sword, old as evidenced by its appearance but having lost none of it deadliness.
He felt himself push it down and to the side before placing a foot in the armoured draugr's instep before shoulder checking it in the sternum causing it to stumble and release its grip on it's blade.
He instant brought his sword above his head before using his full force to bring it down on the undead creature's head cleaving it half, releasing a wet squelching crunch and followed by another squelch. He let go of the blade as he fell to his knees tried, the undead had been relentless and his blade was heavy with a decent enchantment that made it hard for his to keep blocking it's relentless strikes.
After resting for a couple of minutes he stood and picking up the draugr's sword and giving it an experimental swing before determining that it was balanced and would be better than the sword he had. He would ask for a smithy to remake the handle and polish it up a bit when he returned to Whiterun.
He then got up and searched the now dead draugr and found nothing other than some old coins and a Ruby which he quickly stored away in his spatial pocket. Where was the damn tablet?
He then searched then stone tomb that the draugr had emerged from and found it laying in the now empty tomb. He picked it up and examined it before placing it in his spatial storage. Finally, he searched the chest nearby snapping open the lock with his sword before lifting the heavy lid.
Inside sat a pile of gems and coins which he couldn't be bothered to sort through right and absent-mindedly stored them away before laying else on a black bow and dagger with a quiver of twenty arrows made of the same strange black metal. He stored them away resolving to check and learn more about them when he returned to Whiterun.
Finally, he turned to prepare to leave when something whispered in the back of his mind to look at the strange engraved wall. He unconsciously moved toward it, skimming his fingers over the strange symbols before one began to glow and suddenly, he could feel something.
An idea, a piece of knowledge he knew that he hadn't known before. The symbol was word, force. He didn't know how he knew only that he did. He also understood how to could be used to push or destabilise something.
He stood like a statue as he contemplated what his could mean but, in the end, he could gleam nothing about what had just happened. All he knew was something had changed.
In a flash of white he was again sitting in front of Draco again who was grinning at him.
Draco then spoke up "So what you just witnessed was my first time reading a word wall. It gave me an impression and a basis of the information of the word 'FUS'. What I later learnt from the grey beards however is any words learnt from those walls are weakened. The are long forgotten memories imprinted upon those wall by those who made them. Ancient and falling apart, their clarity diminished by age. The words learnt in this fashion are made up entirely the experience and knowledge of the builders.
The depiction you saw of the word in your past life was a good example of what only a rudimentary knowledge of the words would achieve. After my first shout which I learnt the potential of after killing absorbing the dragon I could learn any words at a decent level. Yet the more dragons I killed the better I would understand what they meant and the more effective and powerful they would be.
Now I will show you my memory of the first dragon I killed. I won't bother with the whole fight as it isn't necessary but what happens as I kill it and in the minutes after is. "
Draco in a flash had flicked him on the forehead causing his to instinctively blink.
When he opened his eyes he was again in Draco's body. He could feel his blood roaring through his body and his heart beat hammering in his chest. He was only a foot away from the grounded dragon, one the wings torn and mangled, unable to fly any longer. He brought his enchanted ancient nordic greats word down on the beast neck with his full strength, his arms burning from over-exertion. The sword made a metallic ping as the blade shattered but tore off a couple scales just behind the beast head. He quickly summoned his ebony dagger and jumped up onto the creature head and with two hands wrapped around its hilt drove it down into the now exposed soft flesh.
The dagger had torn through flesh and bone and the dragon and began to spasm before after a minute of wild thrashing about grew still. Draco had held onto the dagger and now the dragon was dead he attempted to remove it from the dragons skull. As he did so the dragon began to rapidly decay leaving a only a skeleton with patches of scales, some have rotted and mouldy, some whole but dull with just a few shining and whole. The bones were not much better many being dried and cracked with some kind of fungus growing out of them.
An absent minded thought ran through his head. 'I will grab the remaining healthy parts of the corpse and probably the fungus and mould. Make I can make something from them."
Suddenly a bright orange and red haze appeared over the corpse before rushing toward him as he stumbled back taken off guard by the sudden flare from the dead dragon. He thought even dead it somehow had attacked him. He closed his eye awaiting a pain that never come as the orange mist twirled around him as he stood.
As he stood the mist felt warm and comfortable, like a the comfort provided by a a warm summer day. He could feel the mist seep into his muscles and he felt stronger than ever. He also noticed a slight growth in his muscles. He felt stronger psychically and he also felt his magic spike significantly.
Then a pain flared in the back of his skull sending him to his knees as he brought his hands to rest on his head. Suddenly a name echoed through his mind 'Mirmulnir' and knew it to mean 'Allegiance Strong Hunt'. It remined him of that stage wall in that strange writing when a pain flared again in his skull as he gain a rush of knowledge all tethered around 'wildlife' and 'living beings', how they acted and what certain things would do it to them.
Suddenly the word 'FUS' rang through his mind as he understood that shouting that word a living being would apply a heavy force on them like an instinctive pressure that predator extorts on its prey before it dies or break apart their defence. He also for some reason knew it could do more in conjunction with other words, yet for some reason he didn't know any other words. His instincts told that he should know more but his mind told him that he didn't.
Without realising it he risen to his feet, back straight and head up, he took a deep breath and then shouted.
"FUS"
The sky shuddered as that one word echoed across the entirety of Skyrim as every man, creature and monster heard the declaration of the last Dragonborn. That one word announced that he was HERE. The one born to slay the dragons, the one born to oppose Alduin.
Daemons vision then went white as he closed his eyes.
He opened his eyes again to see Draco sitting in front of him looking at him with a considerate look in his eyes. He passed him a goblet with a sweet honey mead in it which he gulped down thirstily as he realised that his throat hurt. Daemon considered why his throat hurt, it was only a memory after all.
Draco them spoke up looking at him with a seriousness that he hadn't seen before. "Daemon, do you know why your throat hurts? Of course not. It hurts because a shout is a spiritual attack. It uses your spirit to manifest your will and bend reality to produce the result it does. Those memories have your spirit present within them, it is necessary if you are to learn and grow stronger. If you are to understand the power you wield.
Daemon, the thu'um is not made for mortal men and only those with the strongest spirit can truly use it. Men who have one overwhelming ambition that strengthens their spirit and resolve, men like Ulfric or the heroes of old. Also men who have spent years studying and meditating to strengthen their spirit and mental fortitude can use it. But us, we use by strengthening our soul with those of the dragons we slay, that is what it means to be a dragonborn.
To use it recklessly could still kill you. I have the benefit of having slayed hundreds of dragons and having spent almost fifty years questing and building my mental fortitude, spirit and personality. Dragonborn are long lived and we don't age pass our prime until the last ten years of our life where we will age rapidly, roughly seven year for every one and then die.
Daemon I asked Merlin to bring you here so that you could learn about the true depths of your power and to help strengthen you further. When you have finished watching my final memory, the memory of my battle against Alduin, you will absorb my soul before waking up. My soul possesses the strength and power of all the dragon's that I have slayed and will take a while to fully be absorbed. It will finish on your twenty-first birthday, your majority but will still strengthen you until then.
Daemon, if you begin to feel tried, deeply tried after using a shout, don't shout again. That is your spirit using too much power and feeling weakened. If you over use it not only will you die but your soul will fracture. That will mean no afterlife, not resurrection, just a painful death.
Daemon please never forget what I have just told you."
Daemon stared at the now sombre man who appeared to being gazing right through him and into the distance. "You have my word that I will never forget what you have just taught me."
This brought a slight smile to the man face as he reached out and ruffled his hair before saying "This final fight will shock you, but don't worry I am sure that one day you will reach or even surpass me."
The world went dark.
Daemon opened his eyes and he recognised the location. Sovengard. The place where heroes go after death.
Hovering in front of him was Alduin. He radiated a malicious aura of power that caused the space around him to shake and crack as he flapped his wing. His eyes boring into mine, glowing with a depth of power beyond my imagination.
His voice caused the whole realm to shake. "Well little dovahkiin, we fight at last. You have slain many of my kin and have grown powerful. But will you be powerful enough."
I felt my hand tighten around that handle Wuuthrad the axe of the companion. At my side hung a dragonbone blade forged and enchanted by my own hands and the legendary blade, dragon's bane. I could the power pouring through my body like a tidal wave as I raised the great axe and swung down with all my might.
An arc of pure condensed wind shot toward Alduin as a massive trench cleaved into the ground and the earth around me groaned forming web-like cracks. Yet despite the devastating strength of the blow it only scratched Alduin's scales. I quickly yelled out "WULD NAH KEST" disappearing before reappearing right above Alduin and bring down the axe on his wing with my strength shouting "Mul Qah Diiv" causing armour made of pure energy while also feeling stronger as the blade of the axe collided with Alduin's wing.
With a mighty roar of exertion the blade managed to slice off the great dragons weapon but the axe itself could not stand under the strain and shattered as it completed it last great deed. The dragonborn instantly drew his swords and engaged in a furious melee with a now flightless Alduin.
The dragon would roar and call down meteors that devastated the terrain. He would breath out great torrents of flames and frost which would be countered in the same manner. He parried some strikes off his talons and smashed his tail at the ground aiming to hit the dragonborn who who dance around or jump back. Each exchange would cause the landscape to change and the whole realm to shudder under their tyrannical strength.
Daemon could feel his energy only growing like water crashing against a dam before the dam finally breaks and unleashes an unstoppable wave of water that would destroy all in its path. He could feel his muscles burn as he struck relentlessly in a frenzied fury. His throat burned from the shouts he had used but he did not relent.
He didn't know how long the fight lasted. Hours, days, weeks, months. Time blurred, meaningless to him and his opponent as they exchanged blows. Then the moment came, both bloody and covered in scrathes as Daemon struck with his dragonbone sword which shattered along with scale over Alduin's heart. With a two hand grip on Dragonbane he lunged and struck the beast cleanly in the heart as Alduin's stomach pierced his chest.
The dragon showed no signs of dying so Daemon shouted one last time but it was not three words but six. "KRII FUS VAAZ DOV LAAS RII". He could feel his own spirit strain under the pressure of the sentence he had uttered before a wave of energy course through them both as they were enveloped in a shining gold light and he tore his blade up diagonally.
His vison was blurred as he looked at the now dead almost bisected Alduin who laid across from him unmoving. Suddenly, a dark mist like portal opened new to the corpse as a large black reached out and dragged it away. He could not tell what manner of being it was as it was anything native to Tamriel of that he was sure. He had been in the presence of the Divines and Daedra but that did not feel like either.
Regardless it didn't matter. Alduin was dead and he would be as well soon enough. He had completed his quest and killed the Worldeater. He weakly raised a scarred hand up in front of his face that he stared at as he remembered his journey. All the trials he face and overcome. All the people he had met. All those that he had killed. He had lived a life that he did not regret.
He felt his heart beat slow as a gentle smile rested on hid face before he closed his eyes for the last time mentally saying "Goodbye, everyone."
Then he was in a white room with a strange white haired man in front of him with a trace of mischief and insanity that instantly reminded him of Sheogorath.
Then he spoke "Now Daemon I have a proposal for you..."
Daemon saw a the memory phase out as he was once again face to face with Draco. Draco then smiled at him and said "So that was my end. I died to achieve my ultimate goal. Then Merlin appeared and explained about yourself and your wish. He could have given you the powers but you asked for mine. In my final moments I reached a level known as demi-divine, a mere step away from the gods them selves. Not for my power but the universe itself making my power rival that of Alduin and restraining his so that we could fight as equals. Power wise however I was not really at that level.
He explained that you wished for my power, knowledge and experience and I thought to myself. Why not. I am dead and will not need any longer, why not attempt to help another great hero or even villain. It was another adventure. So here we are.
Also I have no idea what happened to Alduin. Who or what took his corpse or what it was used for it unknown to me and the white haired bastard is stingy with information. Anyway you shouldn't have to worry about.
So are you ready?"
In an instant the orange mist began to drift off of Draco and surround him as he transferred his power to him. He could feel the knowledge and power flow into him and within minutes it was finished. Draco gazed at him with a smile as he spoke once more.
"I transferred all of my power and knowledge to you but separated it from my actual personality. I put some of it behind locks that will open over time or if you really need the power. Now you best go and wake up. Your new family is worried and you have been out for almost two and a half months now.
Also I took the liberty to put a crap tonne of takeout in your inventory and implant the recipes in your mind. I will see you again when you die and you can regale me with tales of your adventures and life over a feast and some mead.
Farewell, Daemon Nix-Ebon."
The hall shook as he exclaimed my name and it resonated through me. I began to dissolve into light particles as I slowly dissolved and disappeared and Draco stood smiling at me.
(Hello everyone I am really really sorry for the long delay and hope that you will forgive me. I have had a lot less time than even I though I would and haven't been able to write much and likely won't find much time over the next three or so weeks either. It also didn't help that I didn't really have an idea about how to write this chapter and summarise the whole of the Skyrim arc in one chapter.
The Skyrim scenes were purely for the development of Daemon's powers and character and I feel like this had done what I originally what to do well enough. So good news next chapter will be in RWBY again. But I must also apologise if this chapter feels half-hearted or lazy because while I tried my best it feels a little rushed and maybe a bit forced as I wanted to cover the points I did but also wanted to finish it as soon as possible and move on.
I would also welcome any ideas for new three word shouts. Please comment them and how they work and if I use them I will put them in a auxiliary chapter named New Dragon Shouts along with who came up with the idea so that it is clear who came up with them. To be clear this will only happen if I use it or feel like I really like and will use it at some point.
Also "KRII FUS VAAZ DOV LAAS RII" translates as Kill Force Tear Dragon Life Essence.
Nonetheless I hope that you all enjoy the chapter.)
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