Shadow was the second friend that Raika had been forced to hold a funeral for during her time as the Dragonborn, only this time it was like Tamriel was losing one of its legends. Instead of holding the funeral at Fort Dawnguard Raika had sent Cadence ahead to Windhelm and had her deliver a message to Jarl Ulfric, informing his of Shadow's death. They had arranged to hold the funeral outside Whiterun, where they would burn the legendary Knight of the Nine and spread his ashes across the land like he wanted them to. Sombra was more than willing to open multiple Shadow Gates, allowing them to move the members of the Dawnguard around before dropping them outside the city.
During their wait outside Whiterun Raika stood alone, staring down at her reflection as she took stock of how she looked and how her other half had changed her. The scales on her left arm had climbed further up her arm, marching all the way up to her shoulder and wrapping around her neck just a bit, but she suspected that it had happened during her battle with Harkon. The moment they had been dropped outside Whiterun Raika had immediately vanished, moving out of everyone's sights so she could prevent someone from thinking she was the enemy. No one, save for the Dawnguard and her friends, knew that she was slowly turning into a dragon, but she refused to tell anyone about who was helping her.
Not even Raika knew who the mysterious Yolrahtoor was, despite its claims that it was the other half of her soul and had been awakened by her own anger. Even as she stared into her reflection she thought she could see the dragon staring back at her, though she was right as her normal image distorted to form the dragon's head. It was if the land of Skyrim knew exactly what was happening to her and was showing her that she couldn't escape her fate as the Dragonborn. Her reflection roared at her and the water vibrated, exploding into the air and making her stand back just a bit, wondering why the water had done that.
Maybe she could politely ask Farengar about Yolrahtoor, but she would have to be fast to avoid getting pulled into being studied and wasting her time.
"Raika," Cadence said, landing behind her after having to search for her for the last ten minutes, "Your commander, Ulfric Stormcloak, has arrived with his second in command. They're waiting for you near the pyre."
Raika sighed and moved towards where they had burned Lydia, back when the Spirit of Chaos, Discord, had invaded Skyrim with the intent to destroy both Sombra and Celestia. In his wake Lydia, Raika's Housecarl, had been slain in combat and to honor her Raika had brought her home and burned her like the hero she had been. If it hadn't been for Lydia Raika would have died instead, but she suspected that her other side would have awakened and killed anyone that stood in its way.
As she approached the pyre she felt the eyes of those that had gathered for Shadow's service turn on her, taking in the changes that had happened to her since the last time they had seen her.
"Raika Snow-Heart?" Ulfric asked, staring at her and not believing his eyes, "What in Oblivion happened to you?"
"Just embracing my destiny as the Dragonborn," Raika replied, offering a smile to her leader as she told the lie that she told everybody else, "which apparently includes turning partway into a dragon."
"Very well," Ulfric said, turning to the pyre and staring at the lifeless body of Shadow, "Let's get this over with."
The priests of the Nine Divines had come, per Ulfric's command, and said the various death rites over Shadow's body not ten minutes ago, leaving the rest of them to mourn the loss of such a hero. Serana, the new leader of the Volhikar Vampires, had been offered a chance to say her farewells to Shadow, seeing how they had traveled with each other for a long time, but in the end she had declined and retreated into her castle. Raika had the feeling that she was headed back into the Soul Cairn to find her mother, share the news of her father's defeat, and then bring her back to the castle. Once the messenger had returned from Castle Volhikar with the message they had proceeded with the funeral, which was at the point where Shadow's body was beginning to burn.
She only hoped that Serana tended to her new flock and didn't attack Skyrim, otherwise Raika wouldn't hesitate to fly out to the island and burn Serana's entire world until it was nothing but cinders.
"So, where are we in the war effort?" Raika asked, watching Shadow disappear into the flames, "Last I checked we had taken Whiterun and forced the Legion out of the hold completely."
"We're advancing on Solitude as we speak," Ulfric replied, turning to face her, "I know you needed to finish up with the Dawnguard and save Tamriel again, but I couldn't waste the opportunity that presented itself when we drove them out of Whiterun. After the city fell I sent out the command to take every other hold from the Imperials, leaving them with Solitude so we could catch our breath and regroup. Now that you have returned I would like for you to lead the charge into Solitude, so that our enemy might know the power of the Dragonborn for themselves and fear your coming."
"Well, I've got nothing else that's preventing me from liberating Skyrim," Raika said, leaving out the Cultists as she figured that she'd do them after the war was over, "I assume that you need some large number of troops moved and want Sombra to summon up a gateway for us to use?"
Once Ulfric said that the gates was what he required from the Equestrian King, even insisting that he needed to refer to Sombra as a King despite the fact that he technically didn't own anything anymore. Sombra, not wanting to turn the entire Stormcloak army on himself, decided to just call upon the shadows and opened a gate for the army to walk through. As her brothers and sisters walked into the gateway Raika caught the eye of one mage that didn't belong around an army and moaned to herself, Farengar had come to speak with her. She walked away from the army and intercepted the mage before he could get closer to the gate, hoping to get the entire visit over with in a matter of minutes.
"So its true what the guards said," Farengar remarked, staring at her changed body while touching her wings, "you have changed since the last time we saw each other. I hope that you might allow me to study you sometime, after your finished with your little war that is. I'm positive that this information can aid me in finding a way to deal with the other dragons without needing you to kill each and every one of them personally."
"I might do that," Raika replied, knowing that she would never give the mage what he wanted this time, "but I have a question for you Farengar. Given your intensive knowledge of dragons and a lot of their habits, I couldn't help but wonder if you knew more about their lore than you told anyone. Have you ever heard of a dragon that went by the name of Yolrahtoor?"
Farengar's enthusiasm for what was happening to Raika shattered in seconds, causing him to pull out a large book and open it up to the middle, where she could have sworn that she saw a picture of Odahviing. He flipped through the pages before coming to one that was near the back of the book, revealing a picture of a red dragon that Raika immediately recognized. It was as she suspected, the dragon that she shared her soul with was one that the nords had likely fought in the past and had recorded what they knew about it when they killed it.
"Ah, here she is," Farengar said, laying a finger on the picture that had been sketched into the book, "Yolrahtoor, the dragon that most nords during the time had called the Goddess of Fire. According to this she served under Alduin as a teacher to the Dragon Cult, until one of the Dragon Priests managed to turn her to his side and then turned her power on his enemies. This says that she and her new master were getting ready to attack Alduin and bring his rule down, but the other Dragon Priests found out and put them both down. The last entry says that she and her master, whose name is oddly blacked out of this book, died on the island of Solstheim, wherever that is located.
Let me ask you something now, how in Oblivion did you ever hear about Yolrahtoor when almost every piece of information about her is buried on Solstheim?"
It annoyed Raika that, even now, she couldn't get all the information she wanted about anything, though what she had learned was that the dragon she shared her soul with was just one that had come back from death. It also made her wonder who the mysterious Dragon Priest was and how he had turned Yolrahtoor away from her calling of serving Alduin. Before Farengar could ask her to answer his question she turned around and noticed the gate closing, so she sprinted towards it and threw herself into the shadows, disappearing as Farengar closed the book of dragons with a sigh.
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Raika stumbled out of the gateway and nearly laughed; she had managed to escape Farengar before he could pester her with questions and could now get underway with the final part of the war. The Stormcloak camp was busy with activity, soldiers running around as they prepared every single weapon that they had and made sure that they were ready for the march that was to come. She approached the command tent, listening to Galmar make a plan on how to breach the main walls without losing too many of their soldiers lives. She knew that he was trying to save the lives of every soldier that assaulting the main gate, but Raika had a better idea what would give him what he wanted.
"Why don't I attack the gate?" Raika said, turning the attention to her, "I mean, I have wings, so why don't I use them and attack the Imperials where they won't be expecting us?"
"Are you certain that you could accomplish something like that?" Galmar asked, not wanting to impose something impossible on someone, but knew that the impossible was actually possible for a Dragonborn, "Because if you want to do this then all we would need is to shatter the wooden beams on the other side of the gate to open it wide for our forces to enter the city. Once we're inside the city our plan is to work our way around to Castle Dour, where General Tullius should be giving the orders to the Imperial soldiers. We cut him down and the entire war is over."
"And the Thalmor?" Raika asked, wondering if the elves were waiting inside the city.
"Last I heard there's at least twenty of them in the city," Galmar replied, pulling over a scroll and pointing to a line in the middle, "Says here that General Tullius called in some support to deal with, and I quote, 'one dangerous khajiit whose rage is unequal'. Apparently Elenwen put a bounty on your head, as she had called for every elf under her command to serve under Tullius until they can bring you down. It wouldn't surprise me if she isn't standing by Tullius right now, ready to watch as they try to end one of our greatest allies."
"I am going to leave now," Raika said, stepping out of the tent and flaring her wings, "the gates will be open before you know it."
Before any of them could stop her Raika jumped into the air and began the short flight to Solitude's gate, where she knew she would find the enemy she had longed to finish off.
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"Beautiful day isn't it?" a guard asked one of the Thalmor agents.
"I could care less in all honesty," the Thalmor said, pulling her hood off to look out past the main gate, "I'm just waiting for the heretics to come marching up to the gate so we can get this war started."
"Then why are you shaking?" the guard inquired, noticing the elf's hands shaking.
"I'm merely trembling with excitement," the elf replied, "The legendary Dragonborn is a heretic and the Thalmor are under orders to end her life, but whoever kills her will be rewarded a rank within the organization that rests right under Her Emissary's own. I will be the one to kill the heretic Dragonborn and claim the reward on her head."
Before either of them could continue the conversation they heard the flapping of wings and watched as something flew over their heads and descended into the city, landing right behind the main gate. Raika looked around, expecting to find a bunch of people running from her the moment she landed, but she found a bunch of soldiers waiting for her. The Imperial soldiers stepped back the moment she landed, but some of them regained their composure and rushed right at her, weapons at the ready to end her. She spun around and let her wings clip the soldiers that were the closest to her, sending them flying backwards before she turned her attention to the gate. Flames erupted from her left hand and struck the gate, eating at the beams that held the gate together before they snapped apart and the gate swung wide open.
She turned back to the enemies behind her and her sword immediately struck one of the soldiers in the chest, allowing her to cut out the unfortunate soldier's heart in an instant. The rest of the Imperials came at her like a tide, but this time Raika was more prepared as her brothers and sisters loosed their arrows into her foes. As soldiers fell around her Raika moved further into Solitude, passing by the shops until she came to a blockade in the street, where she found a bunch of elves blocking her path. Galmar had been right, the Thalmor had come to Solitude and Raika suspected that they had mostly come for her head.
"There she is," one of the Thalmor shouted, confirming her suspicions, "Quickly, take her down before she can kill us!"
Raika had suspected that they would have thrown spells at her to divert her attention before trying something, but instead they dropped a large number of nets on top of her. It was as if the Thalmor believed that she was just another dragon and that they could just tie her down and kill her at their leisure, though as she pushed on the nets she found that they were crafted from magic. It all made sense at that point, they wanted to weaken her to the point where they could kill her, but they were targeting her magic and not the magic that Yolrahtoor gave her.
"How does it feel, Dragonborn?" the elf spat, approaching Raika and staring down at her, "How does it feel to know that you cannot surpass the power of the Aldmeri Dominion?"
Raika ignored the elf, gathering her power as she prepared to blast the nets off of her and likely kill the arrogant elf before she had a chance to run away. She was pretty sure that her anger could melt the ropes within seconds, but the downside was that it would give the elves time to retreat without getting caught. She was going to Shout at them, to channel her Thu'um at them and show them that not even the Aldmeri Dominion could stop the Dragonborn. Once she had all the power she wanted to channel into the Shout she stared into the eyes of the elf before her and slowly opened her mouth.
"FUS RO DAH!"
The moment that the words escaped her lips the wind kicked up and the force of her Shout blasted the nets right off of her, though the elf that stood in front of her was thrown right into the wall behind them. The Thalmor stared at her as she got up, though she could see that many of them were afraid for their lives and were considering surrendering. Raika dashed forward and threw her claws into the chest of an elf, killing her target before he even had a chance to defend himself and then moved onto the rest of the group. The elves, now seeing how powerful the Dragonborn was for themselves, were split in their decisions as some of them ran and the others stayed to fight.
Her brothers and sisters rushed past her, weapons flashing as they fought with both the Imperial soldiers and the Thalmor that chose to stand and fight. Raika had to surpass a laugh as they slowly made their way around Solitude, her sword taking down any Imperials that dared to get close to her. Despite how badly the Imperial Legion was losing they still put up a fight, as if they all though that they could defend the city and push back the Stormcloaks. Eventually they made their way to the courtyard where Castle Dour stood, only they found three people standing before the door, there was Tullius, a nord that Raika suspected was Legate Rikke, and then Elenwen. All three of them were armed and at the ready, as if they were the last line of defense for the Imperial Legion.
"Give up Tullius," Raika said, approaching the group of three with both of her swords drawn, "We have taken every hold in Skyrim, save for Solitude, and we have beaten your army. The Imperial Legion has lost the war and there is no reason for further blood shed."
"I will defend the Empire till my last breath," Tullius replied, "Come at us you vile demon!"
Raika sighed and leapt over the fire pit, crossing the distance between them and her in a matter of seconds, though when she landed she was immediately assaulted by the Legate. She raised her swords and blocked the attack, though when the Legate found her attack stalled Tullius pulled off to the side and swung at Raika's chest. Raika pushed against the Legate and leapt over her head, allowing Tullius' attack to pass by without her being harmed at all, but that was when she remembered that Elenwen was standing near them. The elf was preparing a spell, though Raika really didn't care if it was designed to harm her or imprison her so the Imperials could turn the tide of the war in their favor.
Raika twisted around and threw the Legate towards the elf, just in time as a blast of lightning hit the nord square in the chest and knocked her backwards. With Elenwen's vision blocked for the moment Raika leapt over the nord and landed right in front of her, bringing her swords down hard enough to cut into her shoulder. The force of the attack allowed her to cut even further, nearly cutting Elenwen in half before she pulled her swords out and pushed the body to the ground. Raika turned around in time for the Legate to get back up, piercing her chest with her sword, going all the way through her left lung until the base of her sword rested near her skin.
"Ha, so it is possible to kill a Dragonborn!" Legate Rikke exclaimed, tugging on her blade and finding it stuck, 'Even in death you taunt me Dragonborn?"
That was before something pierced her right in the chest, tearing through her armor and heart before coming right out of her back, sending blood flying everywhere. Raika stared into her eyes and grinned, using her other hand to grip the sword that was lodged in her chest and gently pull it out before tossing it to the ground. She pulled her hand out of Rikke's chest and held her heart up for everyone to see, right before she threw it into the fire pit and Rikke collapsed on the ground. With two of her enemies dead Raika turned to Tullius and kept her grin, knowing that, without his allies, Tullius really didn't stand a chance at this point.
"Shall you also die for the cause?" Raika asked, flexing her claws as she waited for Tullius to act, "Shall you die in battle, like everyone else on this day?"
Tullius shouted at her and leapt right at her, but Raika moved to the side, allowing him to pass right by her, before she brought her sword out on his neck, slicing his head off in an instant. Once the deed was done whatever Imperial soldiers remained immediately retreated, no doubt running to their hidden camps in the wild to form a new plan to retake Skyrim. As her comrades celebrated their victory and Ulfric began his speech Raika leaned against a wall and removed the top of her armor, revealing the area where the Legate had given her the wound. Where she expected to find a cut and some blood she found that the entire thing had been healed, her skin and fur replaced with the scales that were cropping up all over her now.
Trixie, Sombra, and Princess Cadence stood nearby, making sure to keep the Stormcloaks and anyone else away from her while she studied what had changed during the fight. Raika was truly blessed to have friends like them.
"Lord Ulfric," one of the Stormcloak soldiers said, "we, um, have a problem."
Raika moaned inside her head and pulled her armor back on, before she turned back to the gathering and spotted not one Jarl Elisif standing before Ulfric, but two of them. They both looked identical in terms of facial structure and they happened to be wearing the same clothing, making it impossible to tell who was the imposter. Princess Cadence, on the other hand, turned to the Elisif on the left, almost as if she knew exactly who it was.
"Hello Chrysalis," Cadence said, smiling at the second Elisif, "Its been a long time, hasn't it?"