The Prophet 14: Tiid

• Posted by Clement Bilhorn July 6, 2014 - 1,173 views

  Skyrim is silent tonight. 

  Serana and I don't talk as Jo'rabi leads us both to the mountain, to the Throat of the World. I can see the concern, the grief, and the rage, on her face, shimmering past that implacable calm. I think she realized it, too, what my plan is. And she doesn't like it. And so she won't talk because, after being apart from me for the longest time since we first met, she doesn't want to come back from that, only to lose me again.

  Nonetheless, when we arrive at the top, the Time Wound rippling before us, she gasps and turns away from me. Any doubts she or I had entertained are now gone.

  

  Jo'rabi, for his part, moves with purpose, approaching the Time Wound. "Stay, dragon," he says, as Paarthurnax raises his head. "I have come to reenact a single past for the sake of all futures. This does not concern you."

  

  I realize that this was his idea from the beginning. He didn't steal the Dragon Scroll to learn about my fate or his. He stole it to learn of the ritual. The one used on Alduin.

  He just wanted me to agree with him.

  "Serana," I say. "I'm sorry. But..."

  "He'd lose his only leverage!" she says. "Without me, you could have left. Gone away. He can't have chased you forever. You're immortal and he's not. Why does it have to be like this?"

  

  "Because there's no future in which I don't love you. And I always will. After I do...this...it will be over. I won't be gone. Just enough for him to accept it. We'll be together again."

  "Not for a very long time," she says. 

  "I can wait."

  "You won't have to wait."

  I look away from her. "I know." 

  "I just came back to this world. And found myself with you. I can't give that up again. I can't just go back to sleep underground and wait for you to wake me again."

  

  "Then don't," I say. "Do what you must. Live in this world. I love you and want you to be happy. And when I...return...I will look for you. Maybe I'll find you. Maybe I won't. Just..." I go quiet.

  She touches my arm. "What?"

  "Just don't cure yourself." I walk away because I can't bear it another second.

  

  "I love you," I hear her say.

  I know.

  Jo'rabi locks eyes with me."You know it not, Dovahkiin, but you are doing a great--"

  "Shut up and do it."

  

  There's something like a sound of tearing fabric. And then wind. And then nothing.