//------------------------------// // 42: The Forgotten Vale // Story: Sombra visits Skyrim // by Blackdrag-rose //------------------------------// "So this is the Forgotten Vale of legend," Serana commented, taking in the scenery as she and the others stopped behind Raika, "I must say, its not as impressive as the legends make it out to be." "Oh just shut up already," Raika snapped, turning her draconic eyes on the vampire, "for the love of Talos, if you don't shut up about everything being beneath to you I might just snap and kill you myself." Just the stare was enough to shut her up, as all of them knew exactly what Raika was capable of now that her dragon heritage was starting to reveal itself. They all knew that if they pushed her anger so far that it would break and she would berserk on whoever she desired, be it those that were in her way or those that were helping her. So Serana closed her mouth and nodded to Raika, who calmed down a bit before she began to walk towards the worn out pathway in the ground. Her friends followed behind her, keeping their eyes on the lookout for any of the four remaining Wayshrines so they could get their quest over with. As they walked down the pathway they came across another strange saber cat, but Trixie blew it up with a fireball and attracted the attention of every other creature in the immediate area. Raika sighed as they continued into the vale, her swords spinning around when she reached a pair of saber cats that wanted to eat all of them for lunch. All she wanted to do was find the Inner Sanctum, find Gelebor's brother, kill the blasted elf, and then grab Auriel's Bow so they could kill Harkon. Finding the second Wayshrine, the Wayshrine of Sight as it was called by the ghost guarding it, had been fairly easy compared to the first one, but the ghost would not open it for Raika, stating that she needed to release her anger before it could open the shrine. Sombra, having opened the first shrine in the cave, spoke to the ghost in Raika's stead and the Wayshrine opened before their eyes to reveal another basin. They quickly filled the ewer before they moved towards a giant opening to the north of the original pathway, which they returned to without delay. At the opening they found a bunch of spiders waiting for them, webs at the ready, but Trixie was ready as her fireballs tore through them and their webs with ease. As they passed through the opening in the mountain side they quickly got a better glimpse as to what the Forgotten Vale really was, a so called place of beauty that was covered in mostly rocks, water, and ice. The group wasted little time in walking down to the river that ran in front of them, but before they could decide on which direction to head in Raika spotted what they were looking for. To their left was the structure of a Wayshrine that hadn't been opened yet, so they quickly made their way towards it and the ghost that tended it. Raika was, yet again, told that she needed to release her anger before the ghost would open the Wayshrine of Learning for her, but when Sombra repeated the answer he told the other two ghosts the Wayshrine opened before their eyes. After filling the ewer and leaving to find the fourth Wayshrine Raika had the sudden thought to just burn the Vale down to the ground and show Gelebor and Vyrthur who was the boss. She shook her head and cleared the thought from her mind, wondering why she had even considered doing something like that in the first place. They quietly made their way back to where they had been standing near the river and continued past it, heading in the opposite direction then the one they had just taken. It was only a few minutes later that they came across a giant, who stared at them from where he had made his cave and waved his club around to let them know that if they came near him he'd give them a thrashing. Raika, on the other hand, knew that if they felt like it any of her friends could fell the giant long before he ever got close to them, but he wasn't in their way so Raika decided to just leave him alone. They gently walked over a pathway that had been carved in the mountain side, just in case the steps were corroded and could easily hurt them if they stepped on them weirdly. However, they managed to make it over the mountain wall and continued over towards what Raika assumed was a few huts that the Falmer built before they all went blind. Before she could start down that path Cadence lightly touched her shoulder and pointed out another structure over the river that looked like another one of the Wayshrines. Raika smiled and immediately passed over the river, heading right for the ghost and hoping that this time it would actually open the shrine up when Raika answered it. "Welcome, Initiate, to the Wayshrine of Resolution," the ghost said as Raika approached, "Are you prepared to honor the mantras of Auri-El and fill your vessel with his enlightenment?" "Yes," Raika replied, hoping that the ghost would give her what she wanted and leave them in peace. "You must first empty your heart of anger, Initiate," the ghost replied, which just made Raika even madder, "only then will the Wayshrines, and Auri-El's enlightenment, be open to you." Raika gave up and let Sombra answer the question, to which the Wayshrine shook the ground and opened up for all of them, letting them fill the ewer before moving on. Before they left the shrine, however, Raika cast a look at the frozen lake that they were standing near and spotted a crumbled Word Wall near it. She hated those walls, but knew that there was a guardian somewhere as she gently made her way down to the lake and lightly stepped onto the ice. Her plan was simple; walk across the frozen lake, grab the Word of Power if she could find it, and then return to the others before anything erupted from the ice. Her plan would have worked if the ground hadn't shook beneath her feet and not one, but two, dragons tore through the ice and burst into the air before staring at her. "Seriously?" Raika asked, not even believing her luck at this point, "Two of you at the same time? Screw it, I'm going to tear the both of you apart and take your souls for myself." "Come and try, Dovahkiin," one of the dragons roared, accepting her challenge. Raika ran towards the lake and found one of the dragons landing near the ruined Word Wall, which made her smile and immediately drew her swords so she could run it through. The moment she reached where it had landed the dragon burst into the air, knocking her back onto her back with the force of its takeoff and forced her to get right back up on her feet. Raika growled and zeroed in on one of the dragons, flames wrapping around her left hand as she sent a large fireball right at its right wing, missing it by just an inch. The dragon roared in mock humor, as if it enjoyed watching Raika miss her target, which only furthered her anger towards her current opponents. Before she could move the second dragon dived into the ground in front of her and went underwater, cracking the ice enough to shatter the area around where it had entered and forced Raika to move before she was dropped into the freezing water. She cast a look around her, keeping her eye out for the dragon that was somewhere beneath her feet while making sure the other dragon didn't come near her at all. As she came to the conclusion that the underwater dragon was more interested in taking a bath she turned her attention back to the one flying around her head, which turned out to be a terrible idea as the dragon erupted from the water and grabbed her arms, lifting her right into the air. Before Raika had a moment to even gather her senses in time to cut into the dragon's hold on her it tossed her further into the air, causing her to spin right towards the second dragon. As she got close to the dragon it spun around and swung its claws at her, stopping her at just the right moment for it to tear into the back of her armor and right into her back. The force of the attack sent her right down into the water, where she slowly sank into the depths of the lake as her vision slowly turned to pitch black. ------------------------------------------------------ When Raika opened her eyes she was back in the world she had found herself in earlier that morning, where she had discovered her inner dragon and had learned that she was slowly becoming a dragon herself. Instead of standing on the ground, like she had done the previous time, she was floating in the air, facing an irritated dragon that could only be her other half, the dragon Yolrahtoor. She didn't understand why it was so irritated, as it was Raika that was fighting the other two dragons and not it, but she was sure that she was going to be getting a lecture or something. "Honestly, I am disappointed in you," Yolrahtoor huffed, smoke coming from its nose, "You, who managed to slay Aludin, are having trouble with two dragons that are nowhere near his level of power." "Hey, I had help during that fight," Raika growled, not needing to be angered by her other half, "and, if we're being honest with each other, I'm not sure that I would have been able to defeat Alduin if Sombra hadn't nearly killed him before the fight even started. Plus I'm currently fighting two dragons that I'm sure have been practicing their battle routine since the day they met each other, so I'm already at a disadvantage." "We are the Dragonborn," Yolrahtoor replied, flashing her its teeth, "We slew Alduin the World-Eater. We shouldn't be having any trouble with two dragons, especially two of the trouble makers that could never take a fight seriously and enjoy tricking their enemies. Allow me to be honest with you, if you refuse my power now then you'll die a very painful death that I'm pretty sure you'd like to avoid." "So, what, your going to change me again?" Raika demanded, wanting to know exactly what the dragon had planned for her, "As if taking my eyes and my hand away weren't enough for you, now you want another piece of me that will set me apart from everyone in Skyrim." "I'm afraid that you have no choice in this matter," Yolrahtoor told her, "I knew you'd ask this foolish question about what's going to change next and how long until you look completely like me, but by the time I replied you'd be dead. Your anger was the key that awakened me, and it shall be the key that continues to give you the power that a true Dragonborn should wield until we are the same creature. You'll come to thank me someday I'm sure, as the more power you receive from me the more you won't have to rely on others all the time." A flame engulfed Raika as more of Yolrahtoor's power surged into her body, twisting her around and causing her pain that she was unable to pinpoint at the moment. The pain was so real that her eyes, the eyes that were currently underwater, snapped open as the water around her began to boil under her anger. ------------------------------------------------------ "So, do you think she's dead?" Serana asked, keeping her arms crossed as the rest of the group turned towards her, "What? She was dead weight to us before all of these changes came on her anyway. We can still kill Vyrthur, get Auriel's Bow, and then kill my father and stop his army from being unleashed upon Tamriel." "Raika's not dead," Sombra commented, watching the water as he waited for her to emerge, "she's a fighter. She wouldn't let these two arrogant dragons have their way without giving them a piece of her anger..." He would have said much more about his friend, but then he noticed the area Raika had been thrown into was starting to bubble, almost as if there was a blazing fire underneath it. Sure enough something burst out of the water and rose into the air before it stopped, exactly like the dragons had done when they came out of the water. Sombra had been right that Raika was still alive, but he never would have suspected that her changes would have progressed after being trashed by two dragons. Growing out of her back, ironically through the cuts that the dragon had made in her leather armor, were two large red scaled dragon wings, beating through the air and keeping her balanced. Her normal khajiit tail was long gone at this point, completely replaced by a smaller version of a dragon's tail, though her's ended with a curved spike that Sombra knew was made to deal damage. The two dragons stared at Raika, as if they couldn't believe what had happened before their eyes, but then they shook off their confusion and came Raika's way. Raika flexed her wings and burst through the air, flying right into the dragon that had clawed open her backside before and delivered her own strike right to its chest. The dragon cried in agony as the flames of her rage cracked its chest and pierced its scales, leaping inside its body and immediately starting to devour it. Raika leapt onto the dragon's back and ran her clawed hand down its backside, cutting its back open and allowing her anger to continue to devour it from the inside out. Eventually Raika directed the dragon to the ground, where it crashed as hard as she could force it to and she watched as it finally became a pile of bones. "What...what are you?" the second dragon asked, watching its friend's soul collide with Raika's body, "What in Oblivion are you?" "You said it yourself," Raika replied, anger flashing in her eyes as she felt flames rising in her throat, "I AM THE DRAGONBORN! I SLEW ALDUIN THE WORLD-EATER! YOU ARE NOTHING COMPARED TO MY POWER" Before the dragon could even defend itself the flames ripped out of Raika's mouth, surging through the air at extreme speeds and colliding right with its chest. For a second the dragon thought that its scales would protect it from harm, but then its precious scales began to melt under the intense pressure of Raika's anger. The last thought that ran through its mind was that it and its partner should not have challenged the Dragonborn to combat like they had done. Eventually Raika cut the flames off and coughed, letting the charred body crash to the ground and the soul collided with her body, causing her to relax a bit. "You okay Raika?" Sombra asked, carefully approaching his friend in case her anger remained, "Are you in control of yourself again?" "I think so," Raika replied, not looking at herself to see what Yolrahtoor changed, "Tell me, what's different about me now?" "You've got dragon wings growing out of your back," Sombra immediately answered, not sure how she would react to the news, "and your tail has been completely changed." "Let's just get underway then," Raika said, shocked that so much changed once Yolrahtoor had forced so much power into her body, power that she was sure wouldn't be leaving her until she died, "I'd like to get this quest over with so we can put a stop to whatever Harkon is planning." Raika barely looked at the ruined Word Wall that had caused her to fight the two dragons, not even caring what the wall could possibly teach her as she returned to the fourth Wayshrine. The rest of her friends, after getting over their initial shock, made sure that she was alright and checked her back for any wounds she might have acquired from the fight. She let them remove the armor around her chest, just enough so they could check the area that had been cut open and found nothing wrong with her back. They made a check all around her to be extra sure, but they were amazed by how quickly all of the wounds had healed in such a short amount of time. During that time Raika also swallowed some water, just in case the flames had done some harm to her throat when they had come out. Once they were ready they followed the path they had deviated from and continued on their way, coming into contact with the Falmer that Raika had known would be there. Spells were cast in their direction, but Cadence, Trixie, and Serana were ready for them as they replied in kind with their own spells and arrows. Raika stayed near the back, flexing her clawed hand as flames wrapped around it and wondered if she could actually cast a spell with it actually working for once. She spotted an opening in the enemy lineup and threw the fireball past her friends, blowing the Falmer it came into contact with away almost instantly. "Wow, when did you learn magic?" Trixie asked, amazed that Raika had actually thrown a high level fireball. "I'm...not sure exactly," Raika replied, knowing that it had been Yolrahtoor that was teaching her all these new tricks, "but it doesn't matter right now. We've got more enemies to deal with." Her words rang true as they fought their way through the canyon area, hacking and blasting Falmer out of the way, but it was almost as if there was a swarm of them hiding all around them. For every one they put down two more took their place, so when Trixie or Serana killed five or six at the same time ten or twelve of them crawled out of who knew where to fight them. Raika knew that they were fighting a loosing battle, as there were too many of the Falmer for them to take down, but she also knew that if Princess Luna was still there she'd cut the enemies number down quick a lot. Eventually Raika was forced to make the decision that they needed to conserve their energy and only put down those that were in their way, causing them to run along the path. The plan was great, but it also left them open to assault from behind. Sombra, knowing that they needed some way to make it through this ordeal alive, turned around and summoned a large crystal that shattered the walkway they had passed. He made sure to break it in several places, watching the chunks of stone fall into the river and separating them from the mass of Falmer that kept staring at them. The idea saved them the headache of being constant fighting, though they had to deal with three more Falmer before they could enter a cave that was literally filled with ice. Raika, already fed up with how things had turned out, left the cave and flared her wings, taking off so she could find where the fifth Wayshrine was from the air. She flew right over the glacier, or whatever the cave system was, and over some more of the Falmer's nests, but she made sure to stay away so they didn't get annoyed. As she was about to give up she spotted a ghostly figure and the shimmering of something golden, to which she descended so she could investigate. When she landed she was greeted by another ghostly Snow Elf, who remained silent as if it was waiting for someone to approach it and answer its question. Raika took off and retraced her steps, taking herself back to where she left her friends and found them just standing there, making sure that none of the Falmer ambushed them. Raika wasn't exactly sure how she suddenly knew how to properly use her wings and fly through the air, but she immediately blamed Yolrahtoor for changing her like that. Once she landed she approached Sombra and informed the ground that she had spotted the Wayshrine, beckoning for Sombra to use a Shadow Gate to get them all there without messing with the cave system. Sombra sighed and summoned one up, taking them right to the Wayshrine before closing it once all of them were present and accounted for. "Welcome, Initiate, to the Wayshrine of Radiance," the ghost welcomed, once Sombra was in the area that made it speak to them, "Are you ready to honor the mantras of Auri-El and fill your vessel with his enlightenment?" Once the answer left his mouth the final Wayshrine opened before them, allowing them to collect the last bit of water they needed so they could open whatever door was waiting for them. That was before they noticed the bridge that was literally right past the Waypoint, leading right to a giant archway that Raika assumed would take them right to the Inner Sanctum. Before any of them even bothered moving across the bridge Raika called for them to rest, knowing that their next opponent, Vyrthur, would back quite the punch. In their current condition they wouldn't be able to kill him and get the bow, so her friends were quick to agree with her current plan and set up a small camp for them to rest at. Raika also knew that, if it came to it, Yolrahtoor would step in and power her up if Vyrthur came anywhere close to killing her, exactly like it had done with those dragons. Raika would have felt sorry for Vyrthur, but she just wanted this ordeal to be over with and that path ran right through the elf. Auriel's Bow would be there's, Raika was sure of it.