Sonata took a deep breath as she and her friends exited the tower that connected to the ancient chamber they had found the Elder Scroll inside, though she was thankful that they had all gotten away from the orcs that had followed them into Blackreach. She honestly had no idea how their enemies managed to uncover where she had been heading, but this time she was one step ahead of them as she looked down at the scroll she carried. She trusted her friends, there was no question about that, but this one item held the answers she needed if she was to stop Alduin from destroying all of Nirn. Inside this one scroll laid the secret to learning the Dragonrend Shout, something she had been told was the key to stripping Alduin of his impervious hide and allowing her to damage him... though that was how she understood what she had been told by Paarthurnax.
She needed to keep it safe until they reached High Hrothgar, where she would be able to see the ancient past and discover the secrets of the Shout she sought.
Once they were all done taking a break from their trek through Alftand, and their rapid journey through Blackreach, the group gathered all of their belongings and began the trek down the side of the mountain. Her friends kept their weapons at the ready in case any of the bandits decided to come after them, or worse another squad of Grul's seemingly mindless orcs, while Sonata focused on making sure that she kept the scroll safe from harm. She doubted that there was a force on Nirn that could harm an Elder Scroll, but seeing how she knew next to nothing about the ancient artifact, and what they were capable of doing, she didn't want to take her chances and have something happen to the one she was carrying.
"Is anyone else curious as to why those orcs followed us through Alftand?" Lorthan asked as they walked, though it was something that had been bothering Sonata ever since she had noticed the orcs to begin with, "I mean, we all know that Lord Grul is after Sonata, but for some reason those orcs seemed more interested in clearing out the dwarven ruin of all the constructs than chasing us down. Its both curious and confusing at the same time."
"Is it possible that he could have learned how to control the dwarven machines?" Sonata commented, as she had absolutely no other idea that would have made any sense, other than the fact that Grul might not have wanted to let her build an army of machines to do battle with him.
"Not unless he found some ancient Dwemer text that revealed that to him," Kree replied, shaking her head as they walked, "Though maybe he's after the soul gems that power each of the machines, so he could use their power for whatever foul deed he's planning at the moment. I'm sure most of us remember the Felblood Dragon he created, so nothing good can come of him working with the pieces that the dwarves left behind... if that was what he was seeking anyway."
Sonata remembered that dragon with ease, so it really made her worry what her enemy might do with the various dwarven machines that she had seen in both Alftand and Blackreach. It also made her reconsider her choice to not blow the ceiling to pieces and destory everything, because she was sure that she could have buried everything and left nothing for her enemy to use. It was, however, too late to go back and chance anything, so she merely sighed as she listened to her friends discuss their various ideas on what their true enemy was doing. She, on the other hand, focused on following the road so she could reach her current goal; reaching High Hrothgar so she could learn the Dragonrend Shout.
"Its hard to ignore how much power Grul has to have in order to corrupt a dragon," Saerza commented, looking to the sky and scanning it for any of the flying beasts, though she shook her head and continued on, "or how much power Aggronak must have if he could survive one of Sonata's attacks. We must be ready to take out anyone and everyone that wishes to do Sonata harm, because at the end of the day people see her as the Dragonborn, the savior of Nirn, so we must keep her safe from her enemies."
That didn't stop Sonata from worrying that there might come a time when they couldn't defend her from her enemies, but she decided not to say anything about it as they continued down the side of the mountain.
During their trek back to High Hrothgar they paused outside Whiterun, so Kree and Lydia could run in and get them something to eat before they resumed their journey. They then took the path that eventually brought them near the towers that they had encountered some bandits at, though this time there was no one there for once. They followed the path until it passed by the fortress where Grul's soldiers used occasionally, and where they had routed them three times in the past, only to find that, it too, was empty of enemies. It was beginning to make Sonata worry about what Grul was doing at the moment, because all of his soldiers appeared to not be using their usual hiding places this time.
Her friends shared her worry, because they were definitely on edge as they waited to find another group of orc soldiers that was waiting to ambush them.
Their arrival in Iverstead, however, brought some surprise to their day, because one of the vampires that were allied with them approached them as they started to head into the inn for the night. The vampire handed Sonata a note before disappearing into the darkness around the small village, to which she discovered that three of the orc strongholds, Largashbur, Narzulbur, and Mor Khazgur, had been destroyed in the last week. She assumed that the vampires she was allied with had gone to them in search of allies that could help her in her quest to destroy Grul, but it appeared that their enemy had beaten them to the punch. Even Dushnikh Yal, the last of the strongholds, was destroyed, and recently too because the green flames were still burning when the vampires scouted out the area.
Sonata also noticed that the note appeared to be written by two different people, as if one had been writing it at first and then either died or handed it off to someone else to finish.
After they spent the night at the inn, and had something for the morning meal, they resumed their trek up the Throat of the World, encountering none of the wild creatures that they had fought their way through the first time. It allowed them to reach the monastery without any delays, though when they reached their destination Sonata had them wait inside the halls with the Greybeards.
"You sure about this Sonata?" Kree asked, clearly wondering what her friend was thinking by heading back up to the peak alone, as if she was worried that something might happen up there.
"Yes, I must do this alone." Sonata replied, a smile appearing on her face as she made for the back entrance, "I'm going to figure out the secret of the Dragonrend Shout... and then I'm going to bring an end to Alduin."
Her friends nodded as she took the Elder Scroll and walked out of the monastery, to which she began the journey up the rest of the mountain, where she knew that Paarthurnax would be waiting for her. She found no creatures on her way to the summit, which she had been expecting considering the fact that she had cleared the path the last time she had climbed the mountain.
"Ah, Dragonborn, you have returned," Paarthurnax welcomed, watching Sonata as she came to a stop at the top of the summit, "and I see you have brought the Kel, the Elder Scroll, that was used against Alduin. Take it to the Tiid Ahraan, the Time Wound, to cast yourself back to when the ancient nords battled against Alduin."
Sonata sighed and stepped into the swirling mass that was the Time Wound, to which she sat down and opened the scroll, allowing herself to be cast back to when it was used against Alduin. When the past appeared before her eyes she watched as dragons fell from the sky, slain by the ancient nord Tongues themselves, before the three heroes gathered together and spoke of their plans to stop their enemy. That was when she discovered that one of them was definitely holding the scroll she had peered into, though as the old man put it away the sky rumbled as Alduin himself landed before them. The three heroes challenged their dragon overload and unleashed the Shout that they had invented for the sole purpose to defeating their enemy, though Sonata allowed the Shout to echo throughout her body and mind.
The vision of the past ended with Alduin being banished from the world by one of the old Tongues, to which she returned to the present time and started to shake off the feeling that the Elder Scroll had given her. As she did that, however, she heard the sound of wings flapping and knew that one of her enemies had come to stop her before she could destroy him.
"Bahloki nahkip sillesejoor. My belly is full of the souls of your fellow mortals, Dovahkiin." a voice rang out, just as Alduin appeared close to where Paarthurnax and Sonata were waiting, "Die now and await your fate in Sovngarde!"
"Joor Zah Frul!" Sonata shouted almost immediately, not giving Alduin a chance to move out of the way and dealing a direct hit with the shout, forcing the massive creature to land near where she was standing.
The moment Alduin hit the ground he turned towards where Sonata was standing and released a stream of flames at her, to which she raised a barrier to prevent the flames from reaching her. Sonata responded with a blast of lightning, striking the dragon in the muzzle as she determined how best to actually go about bringing an end to the World Eater. Alduin broke out of the state that the Dragonrend Shout had put him in and immediately took off again, though Sonata summoned the wind to her feet and flew after her enemy. It then became a chase between the two of them, where Alduin would try and hit her with his own attacks, while Sonata would try and hit him with the Shout that would ground him once more.
That was before Alduin managed to get a lucky shot and smacked her with his wing, sending her back to the summit and causing her to crash into the ground before the broken Word Wall, though thanks to her magic she managed to prevent herself from taking too much damage.
"Lost funt." Alduin shouted, staring down at Sonata as she picked herself up and dusted off the bits of snow that were clinging to her body, "You are no match for me, joor!"
"I guess I have little choice," Sonata said, taking a deep breath as she opened herself to her anger, which was empowered by the fact that Lord Grul had her sister's trapped somewhere, "The power I'm about to unleash is the same power that destroyed one of Lord Grul's lieutenants, so you should feel honored that I'm even considering even showing it to you."
A red aura surrounded her as she released her anger from where she was holding it in, which she knew was normal whenever she entered this state, though Alduin didn't seem to care as he started attacking her once more. Sonata was fortunate that this state gave her increased speed, and maybe increased magical strength, as she was able to duck and weave under Alduin's claws before he could touch her. It also gave her the ability to get behind him more frequently, allowing her to blast him in the back with Dragonrend and knock him out of the sky. Then she could unleash the fury of the storm once more, calling forth the lightning to blast her enemy repeatedly before she had to resort to using the Shout on him again.
Eventually Sonata blasted Alduin into the side of the mountain, but even as the dragon picked himself back up she knew that she was going to need more power than what she had if she wanted to truly defeat her enemy. What happened next, however, caught her by surprise as Alduin didn't straight out attack her again, instead he just stared at her as if he was thinking about something.
"Meyz mul, Dovahkiin. You have become strong." Alduin said, beating his wings as he took to the skies once more, "But I am Al-du-in, Firstborn of Akatosh! Mulaagi zok lot! I cannot be slain here, by you or anyone else! You cannot prevail against me. I will outlast you... mortal!"
With that said Alduin took off, leaving behind Sonata and Paarthurnax to wonder where he was going and what he was planning on doing before trying to attack the world again. Sonata let the aura fade into oblivion as she fell to her knees, but while she was happy to have chased off her enemy she wished that she had finished him off... though she suspected that he was heading to Sovngarde to feast on the souls of the honored dead. She grinned for a moment, because she now knew exactly where she needed to go if she wanted to finish this fight and knew that her opponent might not be expecting such a tactic.
She was going to find her way to Sovngarde and then kill Alduin... and then she could begin the hunt for Lord Harkon and put him in his place as well.