Late at night, Jarl Balgruf sat alone on the throne of Dragons Reach. In his hands was an unfurled scroll with the imperial seal etched into the parchment. The Jarl’s eyes darted through the letter, his expression growing more tired and annoyed the further he read. As he finished reading, the Jarl rolled up the scroll and set it on his seat. He leaned forward and removed his crown to massage his throbbing temples. He heard someone approach from the stairway, and for a moment the Jarl made a reach for the axe at the side of his throne, but when he saw his court wizard descend the staircase, he relaxed.
“Farengar, is it not a bit late to be wandering the halls? You’re not performing any of your experiments are you?” He asked with a raised eyebrow.
The Jarl’s court wizard stifled a yawn, and shook his head. He walked over to one of the tables and poured himself some wine from a flask that was still on the table. The Jarl picked up the scroll and stuffed it in between his belt. Getting up from his throne, He walked lazily to the table and sat across from Farengar and poured himself his own goblet of wine.
“How is our guest Farengar?”
“She recovered hours ago my Jarl. In fact I was just about to check on her.” Farengar replied taking a good long sip from his Goblet.
Balgruf was about to take a sip from his own Goblet when he paused.
“Check on her? Is she ill?”
Farengar shook his head and gestured to his room directly behind him. Jarl Balgruf looked passed his court wizard and noticed a faint glow coming from the cracks in the door. How he managed to miss it before was beyond him. His expression became curious, placing the forgotten goblet of wine down on the table.
“What do you make of her Farengar?”
The Court Wizard made eye contact with the Jarl, a slight smirk on his face.
“She is unlike any adept I have ever met.”
Jarl Balgruf stood up and moved towards the door.
"Show me."
----
Twilight was sitting on the floor, a thick tome sitting in front of her. She read with the speed of an experienced reader, flipping page after page in only a matter of moments. She was tired and slightly hungry, having been robbed of her dinner earlier in the night due to the…meat. She had to prevent herself from gagging at the memory. It would be just her luck that the type of creature she transformed into was an omnivore. She had thought for a moment that she could survive without it, but knew deep down that if she wanted to stay healthy in this world, she would have to eat meat at SOME point. Twilight didn’t like that idea, not one bit. Reaching the final pages of the tome, she sighed and looked towards the pile of books sitting in front of her, prior events running through her mind.
After waking up from unconsciousness the second time that day she had come face to face with Farengar, a fairly young man who was friendly enough to let her borrow all of the books that were on his shelf. He seemed fascinated when Twilight used her magic to grip the books off the shelf and pile them on the floor for her research; it was an exact opposite reaction to what Irileth had done when she first saw her do it. He was excited and asked how much she knew about Alteration Magic. Obviously she knew a ton about her kind of magic. The way this worlds magic worked, was so foreign to her that she had to throw away everything she knew and start from scratch. The very idea sickened twilight worse than finding out she was meant to eat meat. She devoted her whole life to the study of magic, and now it was all useless.
She slammed the tome shut and fixed the pile of books with a stare of cold resolve and defiance. She stood up slowly and raised her hands from her side. She found that it was easier to use her telekinesis if she focused her magical energy in her hands as opposed to her head. It was even easier if she thought of it as having two horns instead of one. She focused her magic and every book in the room levitated. The formed a large circle around her. She took a deep breath and slowly made them rotate around her, marking pages of interest before closing it and setting it back on the shelf. She did this for several moments until she began to feel dizzy. Knowing that she was close to her limit, she stopped and set all the remaining books down gently on the ground. Feeling like that was enough study for the night she lay down on the bed Farengar had leant her and curled up into a ball, drifting off to a peaceful sleep.
She was so focused that she did not notice that she was being observed. Jarl Balgruf and Farengar had been watching her from the other room. Farengar was looking at the Jarl, awaiting some sort of reaction, his attention paid off as Balgruff stroked his beard and nodded his head.
“You and Irileth are right. She is very Capable.”
Jarl Balgruf turned and exited the room quietly, careful not to disturb the now sleeping Twilight. Farengar followed quietly. He waited till they were out of earshot before speaking.
“If she is truly capable, what is your take on sending her after that Redguard? He has been gone quite a while.”
Balgruf stopped and spun quickly, catching Farengar off guard.
“Are you Daft Farengar? Capable as she might be she is but an innocent child, without her voice or her memory. You would send her into the barrows?”
Farenger backed away, looking slightly ashamed. The Jarl walked back on his throne and sat on it surveying the empty hall, in thought as Farengar stood by him not saying a word.
“Have faith, Farengar. The divines work in mysterious ways, and we are living in such strange times. Perhaps it is destiny that the Redguard brought Twilight to us. Perhaps it is the will of the nine that they crossed paths in such a way. If that were the case, nothing will stop that Redguard from returning to us.”
------------------
The next morning, Twilight was put straight to work. She didn’t complain, after all they were giving her free food and lodging in a foreign and possibly dangerous world. She began the day assisting Farengar with organizing his research, a task she completed in record time much to the delight and bewilderment of Farengar. For almost the entire time Twilight had been organizing his research, Farengar had been sitting, mouth agape, still unable to resist being astonished at Twilight’s display of telekinesis.
“Done.” Twilight said happily, as she levitated the last books into place at the top of a shelf.
Farengar snapped out of his stupor and clapped his hands. He’s seen her magical capabilities before, but seeing his entire collection of books, maps and scrolls floating into the air at once and being placed one by one in their proper place surpassed even what he and the Jarl observed last night.
“Very good! Amazing! You make such advanced telekinesis look so easy”
Twilight blushed a little at the praise. Without even thinking she took a deep contented sigh and said.
“Feels. Home.”
“Oh? So you are starting to remember?” Farengar asked stroking the stubble on his face idly.
Twilight was caught off guard. She still didn’t know if she could risk revealing the existence of Equestria yet. Thinking quickly she shrugged, hoping that the response would be vague enough to let the subject pass. Thankfully it worked. Farengar moved to the large table that sat at the center of his study.
“Still having trouble speaking?”
“I… am…” Twilight started to respond, trying very hard to force words out of her mouth.
“…getting better.” Farengar finished her sentence for her, smirking.
Twilight gave a sigh of defeat and simply nodded. Farengar smiled and took out a blank scroll out from underneath the table and set it on his desk. He also moved over to his newly reorganized bookshelf and pulled out a couple of small books. Curious, Twilight moved next to him hoping to see what the two books were.
“Research?” She asked.
“Dragons.”
Twilight only gave a blank stare, as if expecting him to continue. She knew all about dragons, but they didn’t know what she knew. She had encountered dragons plenty of times, even faced them off with the help of her friends. But now she had to feign ignorance. Farengar saw the expression on Twilights face and closed the books.
“You mean you don’t know?” He shook his head.
“Of course you wouldn’t know. Memory loss. What was I thinking?”
Twilight sat down across from him and allowed the wizard to explain himself. He adjusted himself on his chair obviously excited to discuss the topic. He explained the dragon attack on Helgen, how everyone thought that they were just a myth. It was his job to find out as much as he could about the subject, and discover a way to defeat them. Twilight wondered why his explanation sounded familiar. All of a sudden she stood up in realization, causing Farengar to jump a little in surprise. Twilight retrieved her book from her room next door and opened it to the only page that had any writing in it. She showed it to Farengar, who smiled and nodded his head.
“The ballad of the Dovakhiin. The Dragonborn.”
“Dragonborn. Myth also?” Twilight asked still holding the book in front of Farengar. Before he could reply, the door swung open revealing Irileth. Her eyes falling immediately on Twilight.
“Are you done with her Farengar?”
Farengar stumbled a bit with his response, but eventually settled with a quiet “yes.”
“Good. Twilight, how comfortable are you lifting heavy loads?”
Twilight looked at Irileth confused before looking down at her slender hands and back up to Irileth, unsure of what to say. Irileth rolled her eyes.
“With your magic I mean.”
Twilight stood up looking as eager to help as possible.
“How… Heavy?” She managed to ask with surprisingly little difficulty.
Irileth put her arms on her hips and considered Twilight again.
“One hundred Iron daggers.”
----
Twilight Sparkle pushed herself to her limit. It was fine however. She wanted to test herself. She found that she could carry the crates filled with weapons easily for a short distance, but after several feet she would have to set the crates down.
“Woah, Woah, Woah! Watch the magic!” A guard exclaimed, jumping out of the way just in time before Twilight could drop the undoubtedly heavy create on his foot. Twilight apologized profusely, but the guard simply stormed off grumbling something about the “damn mages of winterhold.” Twilight wondered about what he had said, and decided to put it in the back of her mind for now.
Recovering her magical stamina she stood up again and levitated the boxes, cursing the strain it placed on her magic. Why the Jarl’s guards needed one hundred Iron daggers when they had perfectly good swords and shields were beyond her, then again what did she know of warfare? Just as she was about to take her first step, she was shoved out of the way by a running guard.
“Out of the way!” The crate of daggers fell on the ground, bursting and spilling its contents onto the side of the cobblestone streets.
“Hey!” She shouted angrily as she picked herself up, careful not to cut herself on any of the knives that had fallen. But as she looked up she noticed that the guard wasn’t the only one who was running. One by one she saw the people in the streets look up towards the skies, their face turning from confusing, to and expression of awe and then to sheer panic as they turned and started running away.
“Sound the alarm!” She heard someone say in the distance. Twilight surveyed the panic around her before turning to look at the sky herself. She heard it before she saw it;
a deafening roar, followed by smell of burning air. A long and powerful jet of flame nearly threatened to cook Twilight alive. She shielded herself and dove low to the ground, as the house next to her burst into flames. There was screaming, the loudest ones coming from the occupants of the house. Twilight could only stare helplessly as it the burning house was crushed underneath the weight of a creature that made her blood run ice cold.
“JOOR.”
The dragon said in what sounded like an ancient yet sickeningly amused voice. The beast had not noticed Twilight, and as the dragon launched itself into the air she did the only thing she could do. She ran.
Terrified for her life, she bolted, running through the back alleys and towards the gates of the city. Several citizens were already trying to get the gate open, but there were too many of them pressing against the gates that they could not be opened. Twilight slowed down. Just as she was about to reach them the dragon passed over head, sending a jet of fire over the people and killing many of them instantly.
Twilight made a move to turn around and out of habit, tried to teleport herself to safety. To her dismay, It didn’t work. She ran back towards the only place she thought she could find safety; Dragon’s reach. She saw that many citizens had drawn their swords, but were disorganized and had drawn their swords in a vain attempt to feel safe rather than have any intention of fighting back. Even the Jarl’s men fired stray shots into the air before they themselves turned and ran. Only one brave guard stood against the dragon and managed to knick the dragon in its underbelly with an arrow. It barely fazed the dragon, but it did get it’s attention. The poor guard fired one more futile arrow into the air before he was picked up by the dragons’ claws and flung high into the air, landing directly in front of Twilight with a sickening splat. It was at this point that Twilight couldn’t take it anymore. She fell to her knees, staring at the bloody and broken body of the guard before her. She couldn’t cry. She was too scared to cry. All she could do was stare into his lifeless eyes. She felt the mighty gusts of wind that the dragon made as it flew over her, apparently not noticing her. Then suddenly everything went quiet, she couldn’t hear anything and the slow beat of a drum started to sound, and then seemingly out of nowhere several voices started to chant slowly.
It was otherworldly, like something was singing from another world, as if trying to get her attention. She forced herself to look away from the guard, trying to find the source of the drums. She saw people running in every direction, but the chanting seemed to be pointing towards a single man. He was the only standing still amidst the chaos and death around him.
His back was to twilight but she could clearly make out the features of his armor. It was crude Iron, stitched together with fur and what looked like fur and leather. On his head was a helmet with horns coming out of either side of his head. On his back was a simple sword.
Twilight watched as this man took one step forward, and then another. With his right arm, he reached for his sword and drew it. The ringing of metal sounded strongly familiar Twilight, who had found the urge to stand up again. The dragon above seemed to hear the drums and chanting as well. It stopped it’s attack on the village and circled around, with a beat of its mighty wings it landed right in front of the man. It roared, and twilight’s hearing returned to her.
“Run!” She yelled as loudly as her poor voice would let her, but her advice went unheeded. The dragon lunged forward snapping its jaws. The man jumped back and simultaneously swung his sword upwards, cutting into the inside of the dragons jaw. Small droplets of dragon blood splashed into the air. The dragon roared and attacked again, pressing forward. The warrior struck again and again, the damage infuriating the dragon. The dragon reared back and roared letting out a jet of flame. The warrior sprinted passed the dragon and dove behind a merchant stand. The produce stood no chance, but the Iron warrior was able to run from cover to cover, narrowly avoiding the intense heat of the dragon.
Twilight stood there heart pounding as she watched the battle unfold in front of her. She had to do something. She looked around frantically and eyed the crate with spilled daggers on the floor. She looked from the sharp daggers on the floor to the house that had been crushed earlier, along with the residents inside. Twilight could make out what looked like a crudely made doll, partially burning at the foot of the destroyed home. Twilight eyed the daggers and felt something she had never felt before. Hatred. She was filled with such anger that she hated the dragon. It was foreign and it was terrible, but It gave her strength.
The warrior dove into a ditch filled with water as a jet of flame shot passed him. The dragon, seeing it’s opportunity, flew into the sky to get a better shot at it’s enemy. Just as it circled over him. It let out small shriek, several daggers had flown through the air and pierced the soft tissue of its wings. It turned towards the attacker only to be faced with several more daggers, flung at such a high speed. Most of the daggers ricocheted off the dragon’s hard armor, but several were lucky enough to pierce through the dragons many unprotected areas. One dagger even found itself lodged into its eye. The dragon roared painfully and spun in the air, firing jets of flame everywhere in fury. It spotted twilight.
Twilight was in a fit of rage, throwing dagger after dagger with her magic, making movements with her hands as if the daggers had come from her hands herself. She was so enraged that she did not realize how exposed she was in case the dragon decided to attack. The dragon swept down low, ignoring the pain a few well placed dagger had done to it, It extended it’s claws, fully intending to snatch the nuisance up and fling her up into the air. But it's claws felt nothing but air as it reached for Twilight.
Twilight had been knocked to the floor, the Iron warrior on top of her. He said nothing as he offered a hand to help her up. Twilight accepted hastily and shortly both of them were on their feet. The warrior removed his helmet and discarded it on the grass next to the burning doll. For the first time twilight could see his face. He was fairly young, with brown skin and disheveled black hair. His dark brown eyes watched the dragon circle around for another attempt.
“Take the left flank mage.” He said calmly and with confidence.
Twilight simply nodded and darted to the left taking much of the daggers with her in her telekinetic grip. She looked over her shoulder once and saw that the Iron warrior had disappeared. Having no choice but to trust him to take care of himself she ran around several burning houses and up the stairway to the shrine of Talos. She took the other stairway down, all the while looking up into the sky to find out where the dragon had gone. She spotted it in the distance shooting fire onto the ground in passing. Twilight could only pray that the Iron warrior was doing alright. She stopped and hurled her daggers at the dragon. This time the dragon dodged them, flying high and making a loop to fly directly at her. Her heart raced and she turned to run but almost ran face to face with Irileth, along with a whole company of Guards.
“Arrows at the ready!” All the guards readied their bows and arrows. Irileth placed a hand on Twilight’s shoulder as if to stop her from going anywhere. Twilight got the message and readied what was left of her daggers. Irileth snarled as she gazed upon the dragon that was flying quickly towards them at an alarming speed. Just when it looked like it was in range to breath fiery death upon them. Irileth gave the order.
“Fire!”
Numerous arrows flew through the air and impaled the dragon, some even ripping holes into its wings and lodged itself within the creature’s mouth. The dragon roared and spun in the air. It tried to recover but failed smashing into the low stone walls of whiterun before it rolled down and over another produce stand. The guards yelled and charged at the dragon with swords drawn. The dragon clawed itself back into the center of the city where it could maneuver on land more freely. One guard got to close and with one snap of the dragon’s jaws the man was seared in half. This gave pause to the other guards who backed away, forming a circle around the dragon.
Twilight then noticed a moving silhouette on the rooftops of one of the houses. It was moving fast. Twilight recognized him as the Iron warrior. He was carrying a sword and one of Twilight's daggers now and part of his armor looked like it had been singed rather badly. He moved across the rooftops and jumped. Twilight watched in amazement as the warrior flew through the air and landed on the dragon’s neck.
The dragon roared as the warrior plunged his two blades in between the scales of the dragons head. He did so repeatedly until the dragon stopped struggling and collapsed onto the ground. Then there was finally silence.
No one moved. Twilight pushed her way through the crowd of guards and into the clearing where the warrior still sat on the dragon. He managed to pull the blades out of the dragon’s neck, before rolling off the dragon and unto the cobblestone street.
Twilight moved to help him but Irileth held her back.
Something was happening to the dragon. It’s scales were pealing away, burning up like leaves thrown into a fire. He stood in bewilderment as a deep and powerful magic swirled up and out of the dragon and into him.
“I don’t believe it. That Redguard is dragon born.” One of the guards said out loud. The guards began to murmur amongst themselves while Irileth took in the sight before her with interest.
Twilight’s eyes widened as she looked upon the Iron warrior. She moved out of Irileth’s hand and stepped closer to the iron warrior.
“You’re not a myth.” She said, completely missing the fact that her speech had returned to normal. The Iron warrior returned Twilights look of awe with a look of confusion. Unbeknownst to all of them, including Twilight, the magic was beginning to circle around Twilight as well.
At that moment the ground shook, and lightning struck. An earth shattering voice split the sky causing everyone to lock up in fear. The voice declared one name.
“DOVAHKIIN!!!”