Dragon of the East - Arc 1, Prologue

  • Okan-Zeeus

    ~ ~ ~

    Ten years ago…

    A soft patter of rain pelted my scales. I slowly sloshed out of the waist high marsh, thick with mud and algae. Remnants of dusk sifting through the tops of vine festooned trees began to fade as the sky clotted with a dark overcast. The air was heavy and humid, wafting scents of decaying wood and fungi. Torch bugs and bright yellow shines receded from the coming storm, taking with them their lights that reflected across the waters. I slumped down onto the moss covered floor.

    For many minutes I sat in silence, feeling the weight of my chest rising and falling with each winded breath. I tore off a sleeve from my clothes, frayed and worn, fabric brushing against the tender bleeding flesh of a sword wound. I had not stopped running since escaping Archon. For nearly two days I fled, evading trackers and scouting parties through the fetid swamps of Black Marsh. I was able to avoid most of them. Others I could not. I was tired…

    …so tired of killing…

    As I stretched my palm over the injured arm, my healing spell closed the wound with bands of shimmering light. I let out a long placated sigh, savoring the magic’s warmth. After some minutes the gash was gone. Scratching an itch on my face, I felt the claw-mark scars streaked across my left jaw, still swollen and fresh. I chose not to heal them. They would remain a part of my visage, a reminder. My thoughts slipped away with exhaustion. I wanted to rest.

    But my eyes would not close. I could hear footsteps slogging through the damp loamy soil. Slowly I came to my feet, hand resting on the hilt of a sword sheathed upon my belt sash. I turned and saw the figure of a woman standing behind me. An Argonian, same as I. The faint incandescence of the nearly set sun shone on her reptilian features and fawn colored scales.

    “I did not expect you to run away like this, Okan-Zeeus,” she said. I clenched my weapon.

    “Zollassa,” I hissed. “Are you here to kill me?”

     “No,” she said. I looked away. My posture became lax, tail hanging limp.

     “Then why do you care?”

    “Cold words to speak to a friend.”

    “I have no wish for conversation.”

    Zollassa moved closer, her gaze meeting mine.                 

    “You would rather run?” she asked.

    “There is nothing left for me here,” I spoke plainly, “and I will not lie down and die for the wrongs of dead men.”

    “Xhu,” she replied, “I understand.”      

    A sullen look crossed my face.        

    “No. I do not think you do.”

    “Okan, you did nothing to deserve your sentence. I know this. Deerkaza, Mahei-Ru… they all know it. What you did–”

    “Stop it, Zol. I never asked for your pity,” I interrupted, waving her aside. “They’ll kill you if they discover we’ve spoken. You mustn’t stay here.”

    I began to walk away. The deluge was spilling with swelled force, splashing in the swamp’s mire.

    “Okan-Zeeus,” Zollassa called out to me. “Where do you mean to go?”

    “Far away,” I called in return.

    “You know they will not stop looking for you.”

    “If they wish to waste more lives in pursuit of me, let them,” I vexed. “I will endure.”

    “So you will go on killing?”

    I stopped walking.

    “Only if I must,” I said, turning back, “but I will decide whose blood I spill. It will not be decided for me. Hence forth, this one’s sword is free, and I will wield it for all the good I can bring.”

    There was a pause. Zollassa looked thoughtful.

    “You seek absolution, then,” she replied, approaching me once more.

    “As though I could truly earn such a thing.”

    “There’s no need to earn it. Their deaths were not your fault.”      

    I glared. “How can you say that!? Have we not sullied our hands with the blood of countless souls?”

    “Those are not the deaths I speak of.”

    She must have learned what had happened. I looked deeply into the eyes of the last friend I had to leave behind.

    “You believe I am blameless for their fates, too…?”

    “I believe you never would have wanted this.”

    “And that is why I no longer live for myself. All that I do from here, I owe to their memory.”      

    “You owe them nothing. They were happy in life. Why do you choose to carry this guilt?”

    “Because I am the only one left who can!!” I roared, before my voice lost its strength, breaking into whimpered cries. “This guilt is mine, Zollassa! You of all should know – ours was meant to be a path of isolation, disconnected from the world. Those who bring death have no place among the living! I sealed their fates the moment their lives entwined with my own.”

    “Do not say such things,” Zollassa beseeched. “You never wanted that. You loved them.” 

    “Of course I did!” I exclaimed, tears hidden by the rain beating upon my face. “But it changes nothing! I should have known better than to hope I could become anything more than what I am – a killer! A taker of lives!”

    Zollassa’s expression became stern.               

    “Then why run?” she asked.

     “Because I have not given up my hope… and I never will.”

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Comments

26 Comments   |   Schwumpukkel and 1 other like this.
  • Schwumpukkel
    Schwumpukkel   ·  March 25, 2017
    seems interesting! what happened to the rest of the story? :)
    • Teineeva
      Teineeva
      Schwumpukkel
      Schwumpukkel
      Schwumpukkel
      seems interesting! what happened to the rest of the story? :)
        ·  March 25, 2017
      I'm afraid you'll have to dig through Okan's profile for a bit, the links to a lot of the blogs haven't been updated since the site move, which is why they are sending you to non existing pages. The story is still here, you may just have to search a little. :)
  • Meli
    Meli   ·  May 15, 2015
    Giving this another go as I'm also reading UOTW, had tried on FanFic, but too many other distractions, looking forward to the next chapter :-)
  • Sotek
    Sotek   ·  March 28, 2015
    Ah, you must be referring to when I was naught but a hatchling blindly working my way through the Skyrim blog.  It’s only the last month or so that I really found my way around. I even learned how to use the mystical magic of links. It took Soneca the Exi...  more
  • Okan-Zeeus
    Okan-Zeeus   ·  March 27, 2015
    Yes, it is. You've read later chapters, though, haven't you?
  • Sotek
    Sotek   ·  March 26, 2015
    Huh? Ok i checked twice now... Just so I know I'm not missing something, Dragon of the East - Arc 1 Prologue is the start of your story sn't it?
  • Okan-Zeeus
    Okan-Zeeus   ·  March 26, 2015
    Ha! No, thank YOU Sotek. Are you reading the story out of order on purpose? XD
  • Sotek
    Sotek   ·  March 26, 2015
    ..... Sorry it took a few minutes for me to catch my breath. A fantastic start to the story. You've given some great examples of discriptions of the location and of the characters moods and feelings. My thesaurus has grown somewhat larger due to reading t...  more
  • Matt Feeney the New Guy
    Matt Feeney the New Guy   ·  January 20, 2015
    Finally reading this! :P I downloaded the PDF earlier today. Really looking forward to reading the rest.
  • Soneca the Exiled
    Soneca the Exiled   ·  July 10, 2014
    No problem, happy to help :D
  • Okan-Zeeus
    Okan-Zeeus   ·  July 10, 2014
    Done. Thanks Soneca.