The Riftwalker

by Eruedraieth

Chapter 3 - Draconic [TESV]

Author's Note:

Hello everyone,

I am truly sorry for making you wait this long, and for making you trudge through this part of the storyline. I don't know about you, but I found this Skyrim crossover extremely boring, both to write and to re-read. I stuck too much to copying Skyrim that I forgot to apply my imagination, and in doing so made both my story and Skyrim lose their charm.

I promise I won't write something that clings to the game/movie as heavily as this, and instead write the story in the universe being crossovered, and leave the rest to imagination. Characters will be used from the movie/game ofcourse, but other than that, nothing will be copied.

I already have an idea for the next crossover. When and how this will appear, I do not know yet. But the idea is there.

Change of Character - Twilight Sparkle -> Primal Dagger
We passed through the double doors, into a room with an ornate brazier lighting the room.

"This looks like a good place to take a small breather. Maybe check up on everyone's inventories before we continue, too." I said, immediately checking my inventory after.

"I still have about ten of those orcish arrows left." Twilight reported.

"I got a few health and magic potions, kind of forgot I had these with me beforehand." I gave Sawyer a sour look, but said nothing.

"I do not really have anything with me. All I have is these two swords."

"I got a few normal arrows, that lockpick from before, and otherwise nothing of importance other than a few soul gems."

I sat down on the stone, and gave a slightly bored, slightly curious look around the room we were in.
For a burial temple, this place sure was huge... And filled with traps that had nothing to do inside a burial temple. There had to be something of value further ahead.. But where there's value, there's always danger...

"You okay, Joshua? You look worried." Twilight glanced at me.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking about why a burial temple like this needs traps and puzzles... That bandit had to be on to something with that treasure. But where there's treasure, there ought to be a guardian of some sort. Just traps won't keep an agile mind away."

"Whatever guards the treasure, we will vanquish it and revel in the looting of whatever treasures it protected! Maybe I can get something as well this time?" Night looked at everyone with pleading eyes.

"Depends what it is. I don't think we should take anything with us when we leave."

Sawyer looked at me, slightly confused. "Why wouldn't we want to take loot with us when we leave this place?"

"Not this place, this land. We're not from here, and we don't belong here either."

"I'm sure there's someplace in Skyrim that would accept the three of you." Sawyer attempted to persuade us in staying in Skyrim... But we had other places to explore.

"I'm afraid we really can't stay."

"Aww.. I really like travelling with you guys..."

"Sorry Sawyer. But there art others waiting for us to return to them." Night said before I could respond.

Sawyer didn't respond, but simply looked down at the ground. He was obviously saddened from hearing this, but I had no doubt he'd get over it eventually.

"Come, we ought to continue onwards. This temple isn't done with us yet, and we're not done with it either."

Everyone collected their bearings and we continued on through the hallways.

We were stopped soon enough by a small hallway with more swinging axes.

"Oh, so this kind of trap was what you stopped earlier?" Twilight gave the swinging axes a curious look, intent on discovering how they'd work.

"Yep. Let me handle this."

I shadowstepped through the entirety of the trap, and pulled the chain on the other side. The axes stopped swinging promptly afterwards.

"My pleasure."

The moment the others stepped into the room however, the coffin next to me opened to reveal a Draugr with an axe. Before it could exit its coffin, I sliced its throat and ended its miserable un-life. The opening of the coffin caused some noise, however, and shambling footsteps could be heard further ahead. A draugr with a greatsword and another with a bow came down the stairs.

"There's a pool of oil there... Tracey, quick, set it on fire!"

Twilight didn't need to be said twice, and instantly cast a stream of flames towards the oily pool. It catched fire immediately, and smoke filled the room quickly. The draugr who were shambling towards us got caught in the flames, too, and respectively burned to ashes.

"Stay low to the ground so you don't inhale any smoke. The oil will burn out eventually."

Not too much later, the flames stopped. Two charred corpses were all that remained of the two draugr, and their equipment was unscathed by the flames.

"I think I may swap out my style for something with a bit more...power.." Night walked over to the corpses, and picked up the giant greatsword from the draugr. Testing its edge against the floor, she gave it an approving look.

"The other one had one of those ancient bows, too. Judging from how quick those draugr fell to your arrows, the bow seemed pretty good. I still have this hunting bow, so I'll swap it out for this one. Nicole, you take this bow. I doubt you will use it, but just in case."

I gave Night my Hunting bow and ten arrows. I then took the bow from the draugr, and tested the string.

"I once dreamed of taking up archery as a sport... I'm lucky someone instructed me on how to use a bow back then, otherwise I would've been in the dark by now. Not that its hard, but..."

"I get what you mean. Me and Nicole are both magical in nature, but we're quick learners so judging from how those bandits outside used their bows, I quickly adapted a method of using it myself. Nicole might have a slight bit of difficulty, but I assume she will get used to it quickly. Right?"

"Should not be any issue. So far, nothing is flying. My new greatsword will make short work of anything unable to get away from me."

"Shhhhh, don't jinx it! Sooner or later we're going to have to battle flying enemies!"

"What? I do not see any flying creatures here that need a greatsword shoved through them."

"Let's just continue. There's stairs that go up there, and I'm feeling like we have to cross that sky-bridge to continue."

We crossed the bridge, and wound through a few tunnels to arrive in front of another double door.

"Something tells me we are getting close."

Opening the door lead into a large tunnel with ancient carvings on the wall, and cobwebs lining them. On the far end was a stone door, with three large rings containing images of an owl, what looked like a bear, and a moth. In the center of the intricate door was a stone with 4 holes in it, and the imprint of a hand between them.

"Looks like another sort of puzzle, this time we have to open a door with a correct combination of figures, it seems."

"This one is even easier than the last one! Remember the claw that thief had?" Twilight held up said claw, and turned it slightly to make the palm face us. On it were three images of a bear, moth and an owl from top to bottom in respective order. "If we put the rings in this order, we can open the door."

We walked up towards the door, and Sawyer took the initiative to attempt to shove the ring further. The moment he touched the cold stone, it started moving around on its own, revealing the next image.

"Makes me wonder how this even works. It's made of stone."

We continued moving the rings untill the images were in the correct order, and Twilight inserted the claw into the stone.

A loud click was heard, the rings moved to show a single image on all three of the rings, and the door slowly moved downwards, revealing the area ahead. A set of stairs leading upwards..

"If this wasn't the grand finale then I don't know what is."

We walked up the stairs, into a large cave with a few stone pillars to support it. Further ahead was a small bridge crossing a weak waterflow, and even further ahead was what looked like part of a burial ritual, and a very large stone semicircle with patterns and symbols engraved on it. The bottom half of the semicircle had what looked like writing in an ancient language on it. One of the symbols on it was glowing faintly, too. The closer we got to this wall, the louder a faint chanting was heard.

"Sawyer, what do you think this is?" I stood at a respectful distance from the wall in order to not disturb anything.

Twilight, curious as she was, walked up closer to the wall, and carefully inspected the patterns and symbols. She traced the lines with her hand, almost as if trying to decipher it.

"It's an ancient language, by the looks. I don't know what kind, though, and I definitely don't know why that specific part is glowing."

"The closer you get to that glowing part, the louder the chanting gets... Sawyer, you activated those stones previously. Maybe this will react to you too?"

Before Sawyer took a step towards the wall, a familiar shoving noise was heard from behind us.

"More Draugr?" Night readied her greatsword, prepared for battle.

"More like one Draugr! And he's looking quite scary!" Twilight took a few steps backwards.

The Draugr had a long-horned helmet with an open face holding two fiercely blue spectral eyes, was completely covered in intricate armour, and had a massive glowing sword.

"There's four of us though, and just one of him. No matter how scary he is, he- AAAAH!!"

Sawyer was cut off abruptly by the draugr shouting towards him, and his shout sent Sawyer flying towards a nearby wall.

"Sawyer!"

He gave no response, and appeared unconcious.

"Damn, there goes our tank. Healer! Double time!"

"What???"

"Nevermind that! Find its weakpoints and strike it down!"

The Draugr's sword came crashing down on me, but I blocked it just in time with both my daggers. A sparring contest now ensued, one that would determine my fate. I barely held it out.

"I could use some assistance!"

Night charged at the Draugr, greatsword lifted above her head. She was stopped dead in her tracks when the Draugr suddenly turned around and shouted at her in an ancient language. The shout flung her sword out of her hands, to the other side of the cavern.

"You've got to be joking, right..? " sighed Night. She made her way over the rocks to retrieve her weapon.

" Twilight, shoot an arrow at its head!" I cried.

Before Twilight was able to draw her bow, however, the Draugr took notice and shouted at her too in that same language. This time, the shout caused Twilight to hover in the air, unable to move or act.

" I can't move! I'm stuck in the air! " shouted Twilight.

"I guess I'm alone now untill Night gets back, then. I can't keep this sparring up for long... " I closed my eyes, drawing upon every last ounce of strength I n me to keep the sword away from my face. I was rapidly losing, however. I readied myself for the blow that would end me...

I heard a battle cry from the other side of the cave, and a gust of air passed me as the force of the draugr's sword was lifted. I opened my eyes and looked around. I found Night and the Draugr on the other side of the cave now, with Night unleashing a devastating flurry of attacks on the draugr.

The draugr didn't look particularly bothered with a half-alicorn half-human with a massive greatsword hacking down on it, though. After receiving a few more blows, the draugr suddenly and unexpectedly blocked one of Night's strikes, knocking her off balance.

"Wha-?"

Seeing the peril, I instantly shadowstepped behind the draugr and stabbed it, trying to pierce a weak spot, in vain. I only succeeded in making it angrier.

"Oh dear-" My breath was knocked out of me when the Draugr forcefully slammed into me with its shoulder.

This act from the draugr angered Night, however. In a fit of fury, she swung her blade sideways, aimed at its neck. Its head was cut off cleanly, flying off and then rolling further away once it hit the ground. The rest of its body slumped down and collapsed in a pitiful heap.

" Looks like it learned its lesson the hard way: never anger a greatsword-wielding alicorn. " I said, grinning from my position on the ground.

The shout that held Twilight suspended in the air faded, and she dropped to the ground. After regaining her senses for a second, she rushed over to Sawyer's unconcious body, lying partially in a stream of water. A small trickle of blood reddened the waters.

I slowly stood up, massaging my back to alleviate the pain of the forceful impact. Making my way over to Sawyer, I crouched down next to him, and placed two fingers in his neck. I felt his heart still beating vigorously.

" He's alive and well, just unconcious and bleeding, by the looks of it. " I said, and carefully picked him up to checkfor the wound. On his back, part of his armour was torn, as well as part of his flesh. " I think he may have scraped a sharp rock somewhere. " I stated.

I collected a bit of water from the stream, and sprinkled it on his face. When nothing happened, I collected more water and drenched his face with it.

" -Aaaah!" gasped Sawyer. " Wha happened? "

" You got knocked unconcious and scraped a rock. Nothing major. " I said.

" I-Is it dead...?"

I nodded.

He slowly got up to his knees. Twilight wanted to support him, but he waved her off. " I can manage " groaned Sawyer.

" I've no doubt that that thing was guarding something valuable. Possibly that wall, maybe something else. That wall is quite strange, though... " I said as I walked over to it, the others following me.

Sawyer walked up next to me, but the moment he got near, the glowing word started secreting a fog of some sort that absorbed into Sawyer. After a moment, it stopped, and with it, the glowing of the word.

" What did you do to it? " I queried.

" Nothing, I-I just walked up to it and then that happened. I feel different, though. As if I were able to understand what that glowing word said when I get something else. "

"Odd. But hey, look. That chest over there opened up. " I said, and walked over to it. Looking inside, I saw a multitude of goods, including a book with a pattern on the front. "This chest is loaded with stuff, of which I feel Sawyer should have it all, except the book and the staff. The three of us are merely visitors here, after all. Besides, I doubt we'll have need for it. " I picked up the book and the staff, and moved aside so Sawyer could take the rest.

" Here Twi, take a look at this book. " I motioned to her. She tookthe book from me, and eagerly started to read it. After finishing it, the book froze completely, then shattered.

" I feel as if I know how to control the power of frost now, let's see..." She said, and lifted her hands. A flurry of frost shot out of her hands, freezing the area she was pointing at.

"That could prove useful should we encounter anything else. " I inspected the rest of the cavern in search for a way out, and found a small tunnel located to the left of the word wall. " There's an exit here by the looks. "

The others walked to me, and as we entered the tunnel, it sealed behind us. " Welp, just one way left to go then. Let's, move onward. "

We paced onward, but were stopped by a rock wall, with a torch mounted on the wall next to it. Realising this was a hidden lever, I pulled the torch sideways, and the rock wall slid away. The path ahead led us onward and then dropped suddenly, into a small room with a eecorative wall and chest, with a skull placed on an altar behind it.

" An altar to worship the dead, or am omen for what is to come. " remarked Night grimly. " We suggest we treat it with respect and leave, quickly. "

I noticed the relapse in Night's speech, and took her warning seriously because of it. The tunnel ahead was much brighter, and I could see the outside already.

"Fresh air, at last!" I said happily. "Crawling through forgotten tunnels the entire time takes a toll on ones' sanity." I scouted the surrounding area just below our exit, and noticed we were back where we began.

"Hey, we are back where we started at!" exclaimed Twilight.

'SHH! Listen!" said Night.

A faint flapping of wings was heard, and a moment later, a dragon landed just ahead of us.

'It does not look happy." stated Night.

The dragon stared angrily at the four of us. It inhaled suddenly, and before we knew it, a gulf of flames was blasted our way.

"DUCK!"

Everyone quickly hid behind nearby rocks, only barely saving our hair from burning to a crisp.

"What do we do?" I called. "We can't fight a dragon!"

"Can't we? If we rush at it from multiple sides, it won't be able to fight as effectively. I will take Night and go to the front of the beast, the two of you dash around and strike it from the back. Understood?" said Sawyer.

We nodded in understanding. Night followed Sawyer and charged at the beast head-on, dodging its flame-breath and claws, attempting to strike at it with weapons too small to reach.

"Quick, Twilight! We must get behind that beast, and fast!" I whispered. Twilight followed me around, sneaking quickly to the back of the dragon. "You use your bow and shoot any arrows you have left at it, and use that new spell of yours while you're at it too. I'll attempt to stab it with these...daggers...I guess."

I dodged the beast's tail, all the while getting closer and closer to its hide.

"NOW!" I shouted, as I lunged at the beast with both daggers. Twilight unleashed a volley of arrows and fire spells to support my effort.

The dragon yelped in pain and frustration, and quickly turned around to face its new enemies. This opened up its back to Night and Sawyer, who struck relentlessly. The dragon was overwhelmed, but not defeated. It shouted various incoherent words with magical effects, blasting one of us away only to come running back again, or using its fiery breath on us only to be dodged by quick movements. After what seemed like an eternity doing nothing, the dragon whimpered, and fell on its legs.

It cried a last time in desperation, as the last breath of life escaped it.

"We did it! We killed a dragon!" Sawyer and I shouted in unison.

Night and Twilight looked less happy, however.

I noticed this, and quickly attempted to comfort them. "Hey, it's okay girls. This dragon was not the same as you know them. The dragons in this place are ruthless, and definitely not friendly whatsoever. It would have burned us to a crisp if it got the chance, and it nearly did too!"

They nodded, and cheered up slightly. Only to be surprised when the dragon bursted into flames and started burning up, leaving only its bones.

The rushing of wind was heard clearly, and a whispy trail went from the dragon into Sawyer. As the dragons' bones lay dormant now, Sawyer glowed with power.

"What... just happened?" asked Twilight.

"I think I have just absorbed this dragons' soul." explained Sawyer.

"You absorbed the soul of a dragon..? What...Why..?" I asked in confusion.

"I believe.... I can do this now" Sawyer inhaled, and shouted 'FUS' away from us. A blast of force travelled the path, moving anything not attached to something.

"Oh, great. Now he too can start shouting with magical powers" sighed Night.

"I'd say that's his to use and abuse, and our journey here is done. Hey Sawyer, you can handle things on your own from here, right? We need to get back to where we came from."

"Huh? Yeah, sure. I'll just pass by Riverwood to vendor all this junk. It was good meeting the three of you." said Sawyer.

"Yeah, likewise. Well, goodbye then!" I called, as we seperated. The three of us continued to where we appeared on this world.

"Now where would our exit be...."

"Primal, I appear to have found something that may pique your interest." called Night.

I walked over to her, and she was pointing to a rock that was glowing slightly.

"Aha! Now let's see, how do we reactivate this..." I fumbled around with the rock, untill it projected a portal ahead of us, an image of Equestria in it.

"There it is! Let's leave this place, report our findings to Celestia, and get back to exploring more worlds!" I shouted happily.

We walked through the portal, and it closed behind us, the rock losing its power and the boundary between worlds closed.