//------------------------------// // 13: The Stormcloak // Story: Sombra visits Skyrim // by Blackdrag-rose //------------------------------// "Fine, so your the Dragonborn," Delphine said, kicking at one of the large bones of the slain skeletal dragon, "but this doesn't change anything. There's a dragon out there that's resurrecting the others and they are attacking everyone in Skyrim, tearing into both the Imperials and the Stormcloaks. Only the Thalmor gain from seeing Skyrim torn apart at the seams, so we're going to have a little fun and see what their truly planning. Meet me back in Riverwood as soon as you can, I'm afraid that things are only going to get worse from this point on." Raika and her group watched as the crazy women left them by the smoking corpse, not even bothering to say goodbye to the one person that could help her. Raika sighed and silently wished that she had told Lydia to push the women off the cart earlier so they could have been rid of her so long ago. She was even annoyed that the dragon hadn't even gobbled her up. Maybe by the end of all this madness she would finally be rid of Delphine and the plague that seemed to be slowly eating away at her. "Look, I've had enough of being the Dragonborn for awhile," Raika finally said, removing a piece of hair from in front of her eyes, "While we are so close to Windhelm I'm going to visit Jarl Ulfric and deliver all the spare weapons that I've gathered. With some luck he'll be in a good mood today and I might be able to get some bonus time off so I can deal with this blasted dragon infestation. If not then you won't be seeing me for some time." "Want one of us to come with you to vouch for what you've been doing?" Celestia asked, dusting off her wings while the other equestrians looked towards her. "No, I can handle myself at this point," Raika replied, waving a hand in the air as she turned towards Windhelm, "Besides, you all deserve some time off and I wouldn't want to keep you from doing something more interesting. Just be sure to be back outside of Windhelm before the day ends and I'll be able to tell you what my fate is to be." "Wait...is she serious?" Trixie asked, watching the Dragonborn, and the women that called herself her Housecarl, walk away. "Unfortunately she is," Luna answered, letting out a sigh as she pulled out a map of Skyrim, "I've tried to argue my points with her several times, but it seems like we're better off doing something without her for now. Maybe we should find another group of bandits to deal with or raid one of the ancient burial grounds again. Hey Sombra, do you have a preference as to what we do?" The equestrian in question was sitting on a rock nearby, staring out as he watched the pair disappear into the distance. He was silently hoping that she would be able to return without much delay, but from what he's learned about her leader, the mysterious Ulfric, he had no idea what could happen. He figured that there were plenty of places nearby for them to visit, do battle with whoever was standing guard, and collect treasure before Raika returned to them. All he cared about was making sure that Celestia was safe from harm, so he would follow her anywhere. "I have none," Sombra replied, barely looking over his shoulder as he continued to stare at where Raika was heading. "Wait a minute," Trixie said, something crossing her mind the moment that Princess Luna had mentioned who their companion was, "you don't mean King Sombra, the Tyr..." Before Trixie could voice the rest of her sentence Luna's magic clamped her mouth shut, but after that Luna dragged her away from Celestia and Sombra. Once Luna was satisfied with the distance between them and the other group, being only a large boulder and a fallen tree, she released Trixie from her hold and let her stand up. "I don't mean to sound disrespectful, but why did you cut me off?" Trixie asked, waving a hand to where Sombra was sitting, "And further more, why in Tartarus are the two of you traveling with the Tyrant of the Crystal Empire? He enslaved the ponies of the Crystal Empire and when he knew he was going to be defeated he sealed the away until the day he could return." "Yes, I am aware of what happened to the Crystal Empire," Luna replied, resisting the urge to slap Trixie across the face, "but this Sombra isn't the same one that you've heard about. Right now Sombra is at the height of his memories, back when he was the kind and fair ruler of the Crystal Empire that the Crystal Ponies adored and respected. Back before Discord, the Spirit of Chaos, disrupted our world and struck out at the Empire, twisting Sombra into the being you choose to know him as." "You speak as if you know who he used to be." Trixie said, "Almost as if you were there the day you claim he was turned from this 'kind and fair ruler' into the monster that the rest of Equestria knows him as." "That's because I was there," Luna whispered, barely allowing Trixie to catch her words, "My sister was going to marry Sombra and move to the Crystal Empire, but then Discord had to come and ruin everything. Celestia and I did battle with the vile being, but he got lucky and struck my sister down, causing the hate inside Sombra to awaken and darken the skies. The intense primal power of his hatred was enough to chase away Discord, but it shattered the stallion he used to be. In the end Celestia and I were forced to return to the Crystal Empire a few weeks later and seal Sombra away, giving you the history everyone else knows. We're hoping that we can reform Sombra without having his darker memories, those baring his vile reign over the Crystal Empire, ever surfacing. Right now he's as calm as a cat that's waiting to pounce on something, but the moment those memories are awakened we'll have a fiendish creature to deal with. We honestly have no idea what's going to happen if, and when, he awakens the rest of his memories, but we're hoping that the stallion we know will break through the hold that the darkness has on him." "Question," Trixie interrupted, painfully aware that interrupting a Princess of Equestria was a terrible idea, "but if you and Princess Celestia came here, doesn't that mean that Discord could potentially come here as well?" "I hope to Tartarus that he doesn't show up," Luna moaned, not liking the idea of Discord showing up and ruining all their hard work, "There's no telling what he would do if he suddenly found himself in Tamriel or came here of his own free will like we did." Sombra, who had been staring at the city Raika and Lydia traveled to, was fully aware of the large storm clouds that continued to build over the walled city. It was an unnatural storm cloud, as they generally took more than a few minutes to build up and start with the rain and lightning. This storm wasn't just casting lightning in every direction, but the way the clouds looked Sombra knew that there was something unnatural about the way they were swirling around the center. Then he felt it; magic so raw, so chaotic, that he could only describe it as chaos incarnate. "Anyone else feeling this?" Sombra shouted, staring back at the others as they finally noticed the storm. "By Starswirl's beard," Celestia said, her eyes widening as she realized what was happening, "HE's here." -------------------- Just minutes earlier Raika, followed closely by Lydia, was welcomed back to Windhelm by the guardsmen, knowing full well that she was on their side and not some common thief. As she walked from the main gate to the Palace of the Kings she was hailed by several of her fellow Stormcloaks, to which she raised her hand in reply. Windhelm was the only city in all of Skyrim that she felt safe in, as her brothers and sisters in arms treated her more fairly than the guards of the other holds. Even the guards in front of the Palace hailed her return as she pushed open the gates and took in the sights of the chamber in front of her. The table in front of the throne was set for a large party, almost as if Ulfric was expecting company later that day and was preparing ahead of their arrival. The steward, the nord she had come to know as Jorleif, was standing beside the empty throne, as he usually did all day every day until the night was upon the city. Neither Jarl Ulfric or his second in command, the Imperial hating nord named Galmar Stone-Fist, were anywhere near the throne, which told her that they were near the map, planning their next move. To her surprise Ralof was sitting on a bench in front of the table, tearing into what looked like a piece of chicken. "Ralof!" Raika exclaimed, stopping near the nord as he noticed that he wasn't alone anymore. "It is good to see you again Raika," Ralof said, setting down the piece of chicken as Raika sat down next to him, "I take it that Gerdur made you tell Jarl Bulgruuf about the dragon?" "Yeah, and he wasn't too pleased to hear about it." Raika replied, remembering what the Jarl had done as soon as she told him the news, "Then he had me help his Court Wizard recover a 'Dragonstone' before he asked me to help his guards deal with a dragon that was attacking one of his watchtowers." "No way," Ralof said in awe and fear, remembering the black dragon from Helgen, "I'm surprised to hear that one attacked Whiterun, but it makes sense after it destroyed Helgen." "I'll spare you the details," Raika continued, "but it turns out that I'm the mythical Dragonborn that's supposed to stop the dragons. Truth be told all I want to do is find the black dragon that burned down Helgen and put an end to him, as it seems like he's the cause of all the problems we're having. Other then that I wanted to make sure that Jarl Ulfric got my shipment of weapons that I acquired from my various foes over the last few days." "I knew you'd have something for us," Ralof said, pulling over a crate that was just sitting over by the wall, "Well then, let's see what you've got for us this time." Raika smiled and began to pull out every weapon that she had acquired so far, dropping all types of weapons, ranging from iron daggers to the orcish bow she had found, into the small crate. As she did so Ralof signaled for the guards to bring a few more crates, which was always necessary whenever Raika returned from any of her adventures. It didn't matter what type of weapon it was, she always collected them and brought them to further her cause, which Jarl Ulfric was always grateful for. When she finally stopped pulling weapons out all she was left with was her own bow, her two swords, and the greatsword that she always carried. She did manage to completely fill at least six crates, to which Ralof and the guards let out a laugh. "Oh Raika," Ralof said, slapping his friend on the back, "only you would collect every single weapon you came across and give them to the cause. I have no doubt that Jarl Ulfric will be pleased when he sees..." "When he sees what?" Raika turned around and came face to face with the Jarl of Windhelm, the Leader of the Stormcloak Rebellion, Ulfric Stormcloak himself. He stood at the head of the table, clothed in his fine fur suit and carrying the steel axe that he used as a weapon at all times. While he was kind and fair to those who followed him they also knew that he could be as cold as the stones that surrounded them all. He was a hard man to read, but she knew of his mastery over the Thu'um and his abilities in battle, which made her thankful that she never had to face him in battle. "Ah, Raika my dear, I am glad that you have returned to us." Ulfric said, placing a hand on her shoulder as he noticed the piles of weapons, "So this is what Ralof was speaking of, the amount of weapons that you have brought to aid our brothers and sisters in our fight against the corrupt Empire that would rather forsake Talos than fight for him. These weapons will go a long way in making sure that we'll be able to finally convince the other Jarl's that the Empire has no further place in Skyrim. Now, I also heard that your the legendary Dragonborn." "Yes my lord," Raika replied, bowing her head a bit, "I'm on the trail of the dragon that's responsible for all of this chaos and I thought that I had better return to your side and..." "...and you'll be continuing that search," Ulfric finished, catching her by surprise, "Only the Dragonborn can kill the dragon whose scales are as black as the night itself. Raika, I give you leave to hunt down this dragon and destroy it before any more harm can be brought to Skyrim and her people. Feel free to return to us from time to time and gift more of these weapons to your brothers and sisters, who will use them to purify Skyrim." "Hehehe, did someone mention...CHAOS?!" Leaning on a wall on the other side of the room, roughly halfway up the wall anyway, was a nord that was dressed up in a suit with a pair of brown pants. His right shoe was green colored while his left shoe was light brown, though his right glove was light brown and his left glove was golden yellow. He had a pair of wings growing out of his back, but while the right one was a light blue pegasus wing like the Princesses had his left wing was a large purple bat wing. He also had a short light red tail, similar to those attached to the dragons Raika had seen, attached to his spine. He even had two horns growing out of his head, one being a light blue goat horn while the other was a natural horn that belonged to a deer. His eyes were bright red surrounded by a dull yellow color, though they didn't distract from the small grey beard or the tooth that hung from his mouth. "Who in Oblivion are you?" Ulfric asked, drawing his axe as the guards followed suit. "Oh Oblivion, I must remember to visit my dear friend Sheogorath while I'm here," the nord said, completely ignoring Ulfric's question as he summoned a goblet full of what looked like wine and took a sip, "But if you must know I am Discord, the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony. Not that you puny nords would know what either of those are anyway." Raika's blood ran cold the moment the nord told them his name, the same name that both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna spoke of with little love. This wasn't another Equestrian that had found their way to Skyrim like the others, but the being responsible for the near destruction of Harmony had the sisters not put a stop to him. It took two powerful immortals to contend with this creature, so Raika wasn't liking their chances at the moment when said immortals weren't near them. "Okay then 'Discord', why are you here?" Ralof asked, standing beside Ulfric as both he and Raika drew their weapons, "I take it your not here to join the Stormcloak Rebellion?" "Oh no, it is much funner to watch you tear yourselves apart," Discord said, stepping down to the stone floor, "So much unclaimed chaos floating around thanks to this struggle of yours, but that's not why I came to visit..." Before he got any further a guard ran at him and thrust his sword right into his chest, burying the blade deep inside him as it pinned him right to the wall. For a moment the guard thought he had dealt with the threat, but then Discord's left hand reached out, grabbed his left shoulder, and suddenly the guard was stone statue. Discord then preceded to split his body in half around the sword, allowing the parts to reattach behind the statue before moving around as if nothing had happened. Raika had never seen anyone, other than the Princesses, move as fast as that or kill as fast as that, and she knew they were in trouble if he turned on them all. "Now then, if there are no more distractions," Discord continued, almost as if the incident had never happened, "The reason I came to this remote plane of existence, to walk amongst all you frail nords once more, is to fulfill my ancient vendetta against someone else that came to this world." Raika knew of one person, or rather one Equestrian, that Discord had come to settle the score with and it began to tie a knot in her stomach as she wondered what he had planned for Sombra. She silently hoped that the Equestrian's were far away at the moment, so this latest arrival would have to search for them instead of finding them almost immediately. Maybe while Discord was busy speaking she could slip away, find the others real quick, and warn them that one of their enemies had followed them to her world. "I'm going to kill Princess Celestia at long last."