//------------------------------//
// 26: Skuldafn 
// Story: Sombra visits Skyrim 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

	"And here is Skuldafn," Odahviing said, landing on a circle stone that seemed to be at the beginning of Alduin's base, "I cannot follow you any further, for if you are defeated and Alduin learns of my betrayal he'll kill me and eat my soul for dinner. So, I shall travel to High Hrothgar's peak, spend the night with Paarthurnax, and look to see which of you returns."

Raika hit the stone and looked at her surroundings, surprised that the ancient nords that had once served Alduin could have built a barrow so far from the rest of Skyrim. This barrow, from what she could see of it at the moment, was at least twice as big as the one at Bleak Falls, the one that had awakened the beginning of her Dragonborn powers. She could also hear the rattling of bones, which told her that all the dead in the barrow was waking up, grabbing their weapons as they awaited her arrival. Before she could begin the destruction of those that stood in her way there was one more thing she needed to do.

"So, Celestia," Raika commented, turning back to face the Sun Princess, "How long do you think it will take for you to return to Whiterun, inform Sombra of Skuldafn's location, and get both him and Trixie here to help us?"

"I'd say about half an hour," Celestia replied, her wings beating against the wind as Luna landed near Raika, "Now, be sure to wait for us before you go charging in. I missed the Oblivion Crisis and I'm itching to fight these ancient nords that the rest of Skyrim seems to revere all the time."

Before Luna could say anything to her sister Celestia was gone, traveling back to Whiterun to gather their missing friends and deal with any dragons that might try and ruin Raika's chance at getting to Sovngarde.

"Wait, is she serious?" Raika asked, realizing something from what Celestia just said.

"What do you mean?" Luna replied, turning around to look at her, "What is my sister serious about?"

"Missing the Oblivion Crisis," Raika told her, as if it was obvious, "One of the worst times in all of the Empire's history and it sounded like she said that she wanted to fight off the Daedra, but missed it all."

"Yeah, not one of my finest moments," Luna replied, leaning against a stone pillar as Odahviing took off, "After I returned to Equestria I decided to share most of my adventures with my sister, who can be just as eager for battle as I am. Once I finished my tale I could see it in her eyes; my sister was jealous of my chance to help this world while she was still in Canterlot, dealing with the annoying nobles. I could see that she longed to grab her armor and weapons, find an enemy that could entertain her for years to come, and go to war with them without involving her citizens.

Then, not a few days after the Crystal Empire returned, I told her that Sombra had not been found and that he could have only been sent to one place by the power of the Crystal Heart. My sister knew exactly where I was talking about, as the moment I was done speaking she was off to sharpen her sword and prepare her armor for the trip. After about two days of preparation my sister called upon the spell that we used to traverse the space between worlds and she came back to Tamriel. As you have no doubt seen I waited a few hours, merely to inform her student and Cadence, a fellow Princess, that we would be gone for some amount of time and that they were to watch over Equestria until we returned.

The rest of our story you know; we originally came to save Sombra from the darkness in his own heart and help the Dragonborn if this was indeed the time of Alduin's return. So here we are, standing at the edge of your destiny with your enemy on the run with his tail between his hind legs."

"I don't think Alduin will stand for someone saying that," Raika said, not sure if the dragon was listening to anything they said, "but I'm sure that we can get through this place and deal with him in Sovngarde."

Raika wasn't sure that it would be easy to cut through the army that Odahviing mentioned, but she had two princesses, each powerful in their own right, a mage that was capable of amazing feats, and a king who could crush you under his gaze without you noticing. Trixie would no doubt be able to hold her own against these undead monsters, but Raika wasn't worried about any of the Equestrians; she was worried about herself. She had been relying on the others so much she doubted her chances of dealing the killing blow to Alduin whenever they found him in Sovngarde.

Before she could voice her concerns a shadowy gate opened on the mountain wall in front of them, allowing Trixie, Sombra, and Celestia to step out before it closed.

"So, this is Skuldafn," Trixie commented, staring at the sky as a dragon spotted them, "and it looks like we're about to have company."

The dragon flew overhead and circled back, though by the looks of his mouth it seemed like he was preparing to unleash a torrent of flames on them. Before he could do the dirty deed a large crystal pillar shot out of the stonework, impaling him in the chest until his body was completely still. Sombra smirked as the dragon's soul passed him and collided with Raika's body, sealing the dragon's fate and would have scared any living creature still in Skuldafn.

"Geez, save some for the rest of us," Luna complained, drawing her weapon as she spotted the army of draugr she had been expecting, "Ah, now that is much more like it."

Before any of them could make a move Celestia flew over their heads, landed in front of the first line of attackers, and swung her weapon through one of their bodies so hard that it was severed in half. One draugr deathlord raised his ebony greatsword and swung at her, but the moment that it passed where Celestia was standing she wasn't there anymore. Instead she was standing on the edge of the greatsword, smirking as she drove her blade into the deathlord's head and then tore it clean off. The third draugr that came her way fared no better, as all Celestia did was disarm it, literally disarmed the undead warrior, before planting her sword firmly in its chest.

As Celestia destroyed the draugr's rotting bodies Raika noticed that the armor she was wearing was assuming the golden glow that it had taken when she went off to fight the darkness in Sombra. Celestia took on the form of a warrior princess, the same form that she had assumed when she needed to do, but the more Raika watched the more she realized that her sword was starting to change as well. It grew until it was as long as the ebony battleaxe that Luna carried, but instead of a large massive blade like Luna's weapon Celestia's grew a spike at the top and a small curved blade to the side.

"She's being serious at long last," Luna smirked, her own warrior princess armor appearing as she approached the army, "Come Sombra and Trixie, we've got to clear a path to the temple so Raika can conserve her energy for Alduin."

Raika, not feeling like being ignored by anyone, followed her friends up to the army and began to fight them by impaling one of them on one of her blades. She could feel the desire for battle, one of the things she could only experience when fighting against the Imperials, fill her body as she hacked through one enemy and moved onto another. She spotted Trixie blasting her foe square in the chest, tossing it into another draugr before the two of them were set on fire and all the fallen began to burn. The sister's fought back to back, almost like they had been in unison, felling draugr as they moved swiftly through the ranks of the undead, though it made Raika jealous that they could do it that fast.

Sombra, once again, continued to surprise Raika, as the moment he entered the battle he barely used his magic and focused on just cutting down whoever stood in his way. One unfortunate draugr stabbed him in the chest, but the moment the blade was inside Sombra his body dissolved into the shadows, leaving Raika to wonder where he had gone this time. Then the draugr's chest was pierced from behind, leaving them to watch as Sombra emerged from the rotting corpse's shadow and severed his foe in half. Sombra withdrew his blade and moved on, allowing Raika to watch as he danced between his enemies, cutting down whoever stood in his way.

"This is getting boring," Luna shouted, her magic tearing apart a foe as she looked to the skies and found a dragon approaching, "Never mind then, things just got a whole lot more interesting."

Luna unfurled her wings and took to the skies, spinning around as she neared the dragon and buried her battleaxe deep into the dragon's scaled chest. The dragon roared and shook her loose, but Luna, well versed in the art of fighting dragons, flipped onto the dragon's back and hacked at its right wing. Once she was sure that the wing was broken she turned to the other wing and repeated the process, forcing the beast to fall from the sky and hit the ground with a heavy thud. Luna gripped her weapon and neared the beast's neck, bringing the battleaxe's head down so hard that she severed its head in one fell motion. The corpse burst into flames as the soul collided with Raika, who just wore the look of shock and surprise on her face.

"They need to improve their warriors," Luna proclaimed, smashing the last draugr into the ground, "the only worthy enemies was that dragon, despite him being torn apart so quickly."

Raika was sure that if she ever had to fight any of these Equestrians she'd die within seconds, as she wasn't sure that her Dragonborn powers could withstand the powers they each held.

"Calm yourself Luna," Celestia said, walking beside her sister as they approached the large doors of Skuldafn's barrow, "We may have destroyed the front lines of their army, but I am sure that there are more draugr waiting for us somewhere inside this place. We must be very careful, as there is no telling what traps and defenses that the ancient nords put in place."

Sombra took a look around the first chamber they came to and noticed several draugr hidden in the shadows, bows at the ready with whatever poison the ancient nords used long ago.

"Trixie, on my mark I want you to fire a simple fireball into my shadow gates," Sombra said, allowing the darkness to swirl around him as several black holes opened before them, "NOW!"

Trixie, knowing that the old stallion knew what he was doing, readied her magic and released the magic in the form of a cluster of fireballs. They flew towards the shadows and were gone within seconds, though a moment passed before a skeletal archer was thrown from his hiding place with flames dancing on him. Then, not a few seconds later, the rest of the hidden archers that Sombra had noticed came flying out of their hiding places, crumpling into piles of bones all around them.

"And this is why I'm glad Sombra's on our side," Raika chuckled, "He'll sense you in the darkness and put an end to you before you have a chance to defend yourself. Or, in this case, destroy a group of archers who wanted to surprise us."

Skuldafn, it seemed, was almost like a living fortress for the dragon cult, as the further they got into the barrow the more draugr they came across. It was as if Alduin's presence was awakening each and every one of them with the simple goal of defending their master until he could gain all his energy back. There were dozens upon dozens of soldiers in this undead army, but Raika knew that, with the help of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, the undead didn't stand a chance. The puzzles, on the other hand, were something that Raika spent her time on while the others dealt with the dead that came for them.

One such puzzle involved three spinning pillars, so at first Raika assumed that they all needed to be the same symbol and made sure that they all faced the whale symbol. She pulled the nearby lever and waited for something to happen, but after a minute she discovered that the whale was not the correct answer. She tried the snake and repeated the process, only for that to fail, and then moved onto the eagle, which also happened to fail. Eventually she looked up at the ceiling and noticed the symbols, which gave her the idea on which symbols to use and the door opened like magic.

With the puzzle out of the way the group made their way even deeper into the barrow, coming face to face with even more of the undead draugr. Eventually they came across a second puzzle, but this one seemed easier seeing how the answers to each of the pillars were either behind them or above them. Once all the pillars were showing the animals they were supposed to the bridge lowered and they moved on, cutting into yet another group of enemies. When they reached another open chamber Raika spotted a draugr deathlord holding what looked like a dragon's claw made out of pure diamond, so she drew her bow and pinned the draugr to the wall.

"I'll be taking that," Raika commented, picking up the diamond claw as they moved even deeper into the barrow.

Eventually they came to another puzzle door, which Raika had assumed would be around somewhere once she had seen the one draugr holding the claw. As the other draugr continued to approach them Raika spun the circles around until she had the combination that rested on the back of the claw; fox, moth, and dragon. As the puzzle door began to open Sombra, knowing that they would be overrun if the draugr weren't stopped, called upon the darkness and summoned three crystal walls between them and the draugr. He knew that two would keep an army of dwarven constructs at bay, but there was no telling how many he would need to stop all those magic wielding draugr they had following them.

With the undead put behind them for the moment Raika took a brief second to gather the Word of Power from the Word Wall they were passing, knowing that they would not be returning the same way they came. With one last turn they finally left the barrow and were presented with the skies they had seen above Skuldafn, though they weren't in the clear yet. Five more deathlords were waiting for them the moment that they emerged from the barrow, but Trixie, growing tired of all the undead soldiers at the moment, summoned her magic and tossed them off the top of the building. One moment the deathlords were preparing to run them through and the next they were tossed aside like pieces of trash, falling to their deaths below.

"Am I the only one whose getting tired from all of this?" Raika asked, wondering just how much more they had to go through before they could reach the portal to Sovngarde.

"I will admit that I'm a little winded," Celestia replied, staring up at the sky as if she was lost in thought.

"Come now sister, we both know we're reaching our limits," Luna chuckled, "but surely the portal that we seek is just around the corner."

Luna was right, but when they walked up the steps they found two dragons and what looked like one of the ancient Dragon Priests watching their every move. The first dragon was huffing smoke, so they immediately knew it was a fire dragon, but its brother, a snow white scaled dragon, froze a stone pillar near it just by breathing. The Dragon Priest, on the other hand, carried a fine metal staff and wore some sort of mask on top of its face, though Raika figured it would be a tough opponent.

"The Dragon Priest known as Nahkriin," Trixie said in awe, knowing exactly how much trouble they were in, "one of the most powerful Dragon Priests in all of Skyrim. I know of several mages who would kill to have his mask and would even go as far as to likely kill me if they knew I passed up the chance to take this treasure."

"Then please, deal with him," Luna said, eying the frost dragon, "My sister and I shall deal with these dragons, so Raika will be able to rest before she fights with Alduin. By the way, I call the frost dragon."

Before Celestia could respond with any type of strategy her sister took off, soaring through the air until she connected with the frost dragon and forced it from its perch. She sighed and looked up at the fire dragon, who grinned at her as she approached it, fully aware that they would be fighting for some time. She pulled her weapon closer and swung at the dragon, forcing it to leave its perch as she followed it across the skies, making sure to stay close in case they figured out where the portal was.

Trixie, on the other hand, silently approached the legendary Dragon Priest, wondering how best to plan her battle so she could figure out how to best him. She knew all about the eight Dragon Priests, but it was Nahkriin that had caught her eye the most, as he had suddenly vanished from Skyrim around the time of Alduin's fall. What little still remained on him made it sound like he was a complete mystery, but she needed to plan her attacks and figure out how to take him down.

As she took another step forward Nahkriin turned around and threw a fireball, twice the size of a normal fireball, straight at her face, causing her to throw herself to the side. The fireball raced towards where Sombra and Raika were standing, but when the fireball suddenly vanished and exploded on the other side of the mountain Trixie knew exactly what had happened. Sombra had merely protected Raika by opening a shadow gate in front of the fireball, just like he had done when they had first entered Skuldafn. Trixie, painfully aware that Nahkriin wasn't playing around, gathered her magic and tossed it at the Priest, in the form of a hail of ice spears.

Nahkriin moved to her right and it looked like he was going to avoid all of her attack, but then at the last second his side was impaled by the last spear. The hit caused him to drop the staff that he was holding, but he was back up within seconds and he seemed a lot angrier then he had been before. Trixie couldn't tell if he was actually angrier thanks to the mask he was wearing, but she assumed that he was by the fact that he had summoned lightning to deal with her. Before she could move out of the way the lightning shot out of Nahkriin's hand and collided with her chest, tossing her into the stone wall.

"Yeah, not my brightest moment," Trixie coughed, staring up at the Priest as it drew closer to her, "but there is one thing that you should know about the Great and Powerful Trixie..."

Before Nahkriin got any closer Trixie's blade erupted from his chest, tearing through the magic that had reanimated its body and causing him to crumble before her.

"...she is a Master Illusionist," the second Trixie said, watching the mirror image that Nahkriin had hit fade like the others, "Your mask and staff are my rewards."

As Trixie collected the ebony mask there were two thuds behind her, causing her to look back as both Luna and Celestia returned, arriving on top of the fallen dragons. The two corpses burst into flames and their souls collided with Raika, nearly throwing her down the stairs before she could regain her balance. The sisters seemed pleased with themselves and Raika couldn't blame them, taking down those dragons must have taken a lot out of them. Raika was also proud of Trixie, who proved that, despite how powerful the ancient nords had been, even a normal mage could beat one of the undead's best.

"Now, lets open this portal," Trixie proclaimed, picking up Nahkriin's staff and slamming it down in the stone slot where Nahkriin had been floating before they arrived.

At first nothing happened and Trixie began to worry that there was some sort of magical password or phrase that would summon the portal that Nahkriin had sealed up. Then the ground in front of them violently shook, causing dozens of cracks to appear as chucks of stone were lifted into the air. In a matter of seconds the stone floor had been torn apart, the stones suspended above them as the portal they had been looking for was open before them.

"The Portal to Sovngarde," Raika said, "Lets get in there, find Alduin, and destroy him before he can regain his power."

And with that said Raika took a step forward and entered the realm of the afterlife.