Dragonborn Alone, Part 5

  • My task complete, I hurried back to Whiterun as quickly as I could. My wounded arm - with the help of potions and healing magic - healed quickly on the way; I just wish I could say the same about my heart and my mind. 

    At least the lying demon Mephala was true to her word: she told me where Lydia & my family are. They say that Mephala isn't entirely evil: keeping her evil bargains seems to be about the extent of that! Not exactly a demonstration of ultimate virtue.

    And where are they? Oh Fate, how you play with me! They were here all along, not five minutes from Breezehome, in a little farmhouse just outside the city. 

    Now here I am, standing just outside. No sign of them. 

    How very strange! I've waited so very long, broken inside, just to see my family again; longing with every fibre of my being, bereft without them - and yet, here I am and here I still stand. Finally on the verge of being reunited with them and I am afraid! I, the Dragonborn: afraid; afraid of entering a little farmhouse!

    I gather myself. I approach. I knock on the door.

    The door opens ever so slightly; just enough, then:

    "DADDY!!"

    The most beautiful faces in the world greet me with rapture as my children fling the door open with all the strength their little arms can muster. The wood crashes against the solid wall and I think I hear splinters, but we don't care as they throw themselves into my eager waiting arms. 

    I don't want this moment to end. We should just stay like this forever, for all eternity locked in love's embrace: then finally I might know happiness. We seem to stay entwined together, three become one, for an aeon, our joy filling all of existence.  But end it we must, and after I don't know how long, my battle-hardened arm muscles aching, I slowly lower them back to earth.

    "Children: where is your mother?" I ask them quietly and carefully.

    They silently turn and look to the back of the room. It is dark, but yes: she is there!

    "Lydia!" I cry, enraptured. "How long it has been, my love!"  

    No response. Not what I expected. 

    "Greetings, Dragonborn", she says, after a long and uncomfortable silence. She barely even looks at me. She is attending to her chores, stirring a pungent-smelling stew over a glowing coal-fire. 

    " 'Greetings, Dragonborn'?" I echo, confused.

    Again, silence. 

    What do I say? I have so many questions!

    "So...how are you...Lydia? How have you been? How did you come to be here?

    "And did you not know that I was in Breezehome? Why did you not come to me?"

    She does not even look up, nor even appear to have heard me. The only sounds are the clacking of her spoon against the pot as she stirs her stew, the crackling of the fire underneath, and the shuffle of small feet on stone as Jorv and Elda shift awkwardly; painfully. The tense near-silence is coloured by golden heated light flickering against the dark walls and ceiling, like fiery demons flitting between their evil plane and ours, ephemeral but ever-present.

    "So many questions!" Lydia finally responds. Now she echoes me: my thoughts!

    "You think it was Mephala, Idesto?"

    Now she uses my name!

    "It wasn't Mephala: it was me! Yes, she talked to me, but all this was my decision: mine!"

    She is shouting now. Why is she so angry?

    "I couldn't stay as we were. I had to leave: I had to have a change!"

    It is just as the thrice-cursed Mephala had said: damn her eyes!

    "But love", I cry, "we were so happy! Tog..."

    "YOU were happy! You just assumed that I was too! Typical man!"

    " 'Typical man'? I am Dragonborn!"

    "AND I AM TIRED OF CARRYING YOUR BURDENS!"

    She is angry, this I see, although I don't understand. But that was uncalled for.

    "NO! I don't believe it! You have been enchanted: that evil witch-god Mephala has done this!" 

    "Fine! If that's what you think: fine! Here, then: take this, if you don't believe me." 

    She thrusts something out at me, and for a brief fleeting moment our hands touch. The feel once again of her skin on mine, after so much time and so much heartache, sends a thousand electric shocks coursing through my weary body.

    It is the Ebony Blade! That symbol of Mephala's power, the totem that heralded all this present trouble.

    "Take it - and go!" Lydia screams.

    I must; I do.  

    As I go to leave I pull my beloved Jorv and Elda close to me once more, and shower them with kisses.

    Through my tears I manage to say to them "Daddy loves you both so very much, you know. I must go, but I promise that I will see you again, and that we will be together once more."

    Their tears mingle with mine as with heavy heart I leave my family behind. Will I ever see them again? I must!

    MEPHALA!

    "WULD NAH KEST!"

    I reach the mighty gates of Whiterun in seconds. "FUS RO DAH!" they shatter before me.

    I am inside Kynareth's temple, now defiled.

    What is this?! Danica Pure-Spring is lying on the temple floor, in a pool of blood. There is a bloodied dagger in her hand!

    Mephala is there still, shimmering in triumphant, evil smugness.

    "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE, DEMON?!" I scream at her.

    She appears to laugh, if I can call it that: the sickest 'laugh' I will ever hear.

    "DRAGONNBORRN! SSO NAIVE YOU ARE! HOW DOO YOU THIINNK SSHE WASS ABLE TOO SUMMMONN MEEE?"

    A catch. There is always a catch!

    I have fought and defeated Alduin the World-Eater, the Prince of Dragons; I have killed dragon priests, the mightiest of mages and witches, giants and countless numbers of powerful evil beings. Yet never have I been so angry!

    I am on fire. My body seems to glow white-hot, incandescent with rage. 

    I feel the Ebony Blade vibrate in my hand; it shimmers, pulses and crackles with other-worldly magic.

    "ARRRGGGHHHH!!"

    I launch it and myself at the demon Mephala with all my might and speed. 

    Our forms meet, and our powers come together....

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    I, Maurice Jondrelle, acolyte of Kynareth and current steward of her Temple, was a witness to these tragic events. I grieve over the loss of our wonderful Priestess, Danica Pure-Spring. The world has lost one of its most caring and able souls: she lived and died in love. I take comfort in the knowledge that she now rests in peace in the bosom of Kynareth. We may never see her like again.

    As for the Dragonborn and Mephala? All I can say is that as they met in battle I witnessed a flash of fiery light and a crack of thunder such that I was blinded, deafened and then knocked to the ground, unconscious. When I awoke, after I know not how long, all that remained around the shattered altar were two mighty scorch-marks emblazoned on the floor, crackling and shimmering with all colours at once, and yet none. 

    Beyond that I cannot say.

    I fervently hope and pray for our Dragonborn: may our Hero find the peace he seeks, wherever he may be...

Comments

15 Comments
  • The Wing
    The Wing   ·  February 24, 2016
    XD I couldn't resist letting my obsession for grammar reveal itself. I've studied this stuff for far too long, as you can tell!
  • Idesto
    Idesto   ·  February 24, 2016
    Thanks @TheRancid: couldn't have put it better myself! Which is why I didn't. Very well explained 
  • The Wing
    The Wing   ·  February 24, 2016
    I know exactly what you mean, Idesto!  I love using semi-colons and I feel that they are often (wrongfully) replaced by their cousin comma. A semi-colon represents a join between two clauses that are direct continuations of each other; adversely, they rep...  more
  • The Long-Chapper
    The Long-Chapper   ·  February 23, 2016
    All hail the power of the semi-colon and colon. 
  • Ebonslayer
    Ebonslayer   ·  February 23, 2016
    I see your reasoning and do not disagree. I read through it now and see what you mean.
  • Idesto
    Idesto   ·  February 23, 2016
    Thanks all! Writing this was fun, but emotionally draining. I needed a rest after this was finished. 
    Could be, @Sotek, could be! I wouldn't rule out a sequel: put it that way...
    Thanks for the constructive criticism @Ebonslayer: I appreciate ...  more
  • Sotek
    Sotek   ·  February 11, 2016
    What a way to end it. BLAMMM!!!
    Saying that though, I can't help but think of the Spacewolve's thirteen company of Warhammer 40k.
    Could the Dragonborn still be fighting for his family on the plains of Oblivion.?
    Maybe one day we'll find out.
  • LokaCola
    LokaCola   ·  February 10, 2016
    Wow, that ending... Great story!
  • Ebonslayer
    Ebonslayer   ·  February 10, 2016
    And so ends the story of Idesto, the Dragonborn who had shouting spasms in bars and loved his family so dearly.

    If you look through the passage you can see multiple colons where a comma should be.
    For example: "Children: where is your mother?"
  • Exuro
    Exuro   ·  February 10, 2016
    The quote: "I am sworn to carry your burdens," will never be the same again. Great story!