Chapter 445

Thorum PO

What a beautiful sight!

I never would have imagined even a year prior that I could have seen Skyrim like an Eagle flying through the sky. It was truly a marvelous and beautiful sight to behold and it only made me more resolved to protect it from the World-Eater and his Dragons.

This should be cherished and preserved for future generations.

It was amazing, I was on a flying ship.

I was even allowed to control it!

Truly, I have one of the greatest friends to allow me such an experience.

Truthfully, I do not know what it would have been like had Wilhelm and I not crossed paths. The happenstance of him and I appearing on that same wagon, doomed to the block. It seems like so long ago when I think about it.

Then time and time again, he came and helped when I needed it. The sword I wield was one such gift he gave. A blade that assisted me in defeating the Dragons that plagued these lands. Not to mention the help he's given to the common folk.

It is a strange thing, to think that so many changes happened so quickly and most of them can be traced back to him.

Even the College of Mages has become a common stay amongst the Nords here and their presence no longer ridiculed. Aye, the Companions dislike the use of Magic, but I have not heard a word spoken of distaste to a Mage we happen upon.

No, if anything, they are welcomed with open arms. The help the College has provided has been too valuable and it has changed many a Nord's mind about the arcane arts. No more were Mages a mysterious bunch practicing 'unnatural things' in their secluded castle, but they were normal folk who just knew a thing or two about the mystical arts.

I would not be surprised that the number of Mages in Skyrim increased in the coming years. Many small children seeing the Mages perform openly and with support of the older folk and it has opened the path for them.

Yet, the changes by his hand, he had not much of a presence here. Not many really knew what he had achieved.

I would help him with anything he asked. After everything he's done for myself and my home, I would stand beside him no matter the enemy we fought.

I admit I was nervous about fighting what Wilhelm described as Gods. The Elder spoke that my view was too narrow and perhaps I was being hard on myself, but I still was not sure I would be of assistance.

I tried to keep my mind off of it, but seeing Wilhelm relaxed helped.

He sat there, cross legged on the deck of the ship with a sword I have never seen before laid across his lap.

There was something happening with him, I felt something strange fluctuation from him at moments, only to settle down the next. He would frown, and some sweat dripped from his brow. It looked as if he was meditating, but with how Lady Scáthach hovered near him very protectively, I was unsure that this was the case.

I couldn't help but smile seeing Lady Scáthach act protectively of him. Their relationship was amusing to witness from the side. Threats from Lady Scáthach and the unrepentant teasing that Wilhelm delivers despite the imminent violence that will come. It is contradicted by the moments of gentleness they show one another, mostly when they are not directly being watched by others.

"Mother fucker." Wilhelm suddenly opened his mouth, falling backwards with a groan.

 "Are you alright, my friend?" I immediately became worried.

"Yeah, yeah." He sighed, staring up at the sky. "Sorry, didn't mean to surprise you like that."

"You lost again." Lady Scáthach stated.

"Yup."

"Hmm, we will review what you did wrong."

"….did you fight someone?" I was confused.

"Oh, right." Wilhelm looked down at the sword in his lap. "I was doing a meditation thing where I was fighting someone in my inner world."

….I only understood parts of that. But it sounds like he had a very convenient method of training! I am surprised and impressed that he still manages such things. And even in situations like this, he still finds time to keep training!

It makes me wish to take out my sword and start swinging it.

But it is also concerning to hear that he lost to someone.

What foe could defeat him like this? And it sounds as if this is a common occurrence.

"I need to create some more Talismans and practice my Onmyoji more. I need to make more preparations; he's beating me on that front." He sat up properly, stretching his arms. "Are we almost there?"

"Still a bit away, my friend." I answered.

"Hey Thorum?"

"Yes?"

"How many new Shouts have you learned? When you absorb a Dragon Soul, you inherit some things that way, you must know quite a few now? In fact, how many dragons have you beaten since we last met?"

"Not too many." I replied. "If you want, my friend, you can find out first hand what I have learned." I cracked a smile.

"Oho, that sounds like a challenge."

"Aye." I felt the desire to draw my blade and test myself against him. I have always wanted to fight him, I know I would lose, but my desire would not wane.

"As tempted as I am…..I don't think my boat would survive."

"Aye, that is true." I acknowledged. "It would be a shame to ruin such a fine ship for a poor reason such as that. We can fight some other time."

"Hmm, tell me about what's been going on with Skyrim. What about you and Serana too? How are you doing with her mom?" He quirked a mischievous grin.

Lady Scáthach quickly hit him over the head with her spear. "Don't corrupt him with your perversions." She warned. "He has a pure heart, he does not need you to whisper those kinds of things into his ear."

I awkwardly cleared my throat. "You need not worry, such things are merely a jest."

"He wasn't joking." She deadpanned.

"I wasn't joking." He agreed immediately, adding another hit of her spear.

…..for some reason, I found it unwise of me to mention the strange situations I found myself in around Lady Valerica…..the odd timings where one of us would walk in on the other changing. The happenstance of when she traveled with us and some battle inflicted damage upon her clothing….and other strange situations.

I was sure Wilhelm would take it the wrong way.

"If you want to hear rumors, my friend, I have heard many that have happened around Skyrim." I certainly did not change the subject. "I have heard that the Dark Brotherhood was defeated by a Khajit and a man with a spear near Falkreath. And there are whispers of two strange warriors among the Riften people that we are now headed, one with foreign clothing and another in a full set of dark armor."

"Wonder who those people could be." He rolled his eyes with an amused look.

"Yes, we can probably guess." I nodded. "There have also been stories of a traveling Knight and a Mage that have helped plenty of people across Skyrim."

"Mordred and Kairi probably."

"Aye." I once more agreed. "They also say that a particularly powerful Sorceress has been seen around the College as well."

"….Medea." Wilhelm snorted. "Jeez, did anyone just take a quiet vacation?"

"The amount of incidents have decreased as the rumors and stories propagated. Dragon attacks have become less frequent as well. However, there are signs of Alduin appearing almost randomly...it is almost as if he is searching for something."

"Well, that doesn't sound ominous at all."

"I agree. Unfortunately, I do not believe the Dragon would be willing to reveal any plans, such that we are clueless."

"Have you tried asking?

"I have not." I admitted. "Do you think that would work?"

"Who knows." Wilhelm shrugged. "Maybe we could just have a polite conversation with the titled World-Eater, and ask him to politely stop his world-eating?"

"I will be sure to ask the first time we meet!" I smiled as he chuckled.

"Hey, I forgot to ask, and forgot to check the markets. Do you happen to have any poisons on you?" He asked me.

"Poison?" I was surprised by the sudden question. "Aye, I have many Poisons."

"Awesome, what….wait, why do you have a bunch of poisons?" He said while picking through the bottles.

"Are you upset?" I tilted my head.

"No, I'm not surprised that you have 'many'. It didn't seem like something you would have, I was basically shooting in the dark here."

I touched the magical artifact that Wilhelm gave me that allowed me to store a great many things in a secret spot and let the bottles fall gently onto the deck. "Pick whichever you need." I didn't mind sharing.

"…..why do you have so many?"

"I have gained many on my adventures." It wasn't uncommon to come across certain things while traveling and delving into tombs and such.

"Do you just hoard everything you find in the slim chance that it'll be useful?" He hesitantly asked.

"…..I perhaps do something of the sort." I awkwardly answered.

"Huh…"

"Is something wrong?"

"No, I was just surprised that you do it too." He confessed.

"Aye." I grinned. "You never know what may be useful!"

"Exactly! Everyone gives me crap about everything I keep stored in my Ring, but who comes asking me for the random thing I kept from months ago, Hmm!?!"

"I understand you, my friend." I put a hand on his shoulder in solidarity.

He pushed himself up to his feet, wiping off any dust or dirt. "I'm going to check on the others."

I nodded to him as he went to the deck below.

I was nervous about the future, but for some reason, I felt confident knowing I would have my friend at my side when things turned bad.

[***]

Wilhelm POV

I've made a very important realization.

Picking the boat was one of the best decisions I ever made. I don't know why I never realized I needed a mode of transportation like this. I mean, sure, I can technically teleport anywhere, but this is too much fun.

More practically, It's nice to have a mobile 'home' so to speak. Perhaps I can connect it with the house and turn it more into a home than it already is. We need to do some massive renovations still, upgrade it a bit as well, but it'll be something awesome when we're done.

Speaking of.

I had walked below deck and I saw Odin fiddling with some of the Magical stuff. "What are you doing?"

"Adding something to your boat." He said nonchalantly.

"…..why and what?"

"To answer your second question, I made it so the boat can create a thick fog on command. And to answer your first part, because it's cool." He nodded sagely to himself.

Shit, that is cool.

"Carry on." I decided not to care any longer. "I had a few questions though, if you don't mind."

"Yeah, no problem, not like this is taking much effort." Odin hummed. "Whatcha need, brat?"

"Well, I was about to ask about some important stuff, but I just had a thought too. Where's that Valkyrie you bring around with you?"

"I dropped her in Kyoto." He said without any care. "She'll be going to Hades' place while we're taking care of business."

Hmm, well, Odin isn't blind either. I hope Rin is having a good time then.

"What should we expect when we get to Asgard?"

"You're going to be judged. Don't expect the ponce and circumstances that come with a 'Godly Court' immediately. Half of the ones there are not going to like you, the other half are going to be hesitant about accepting any help. Can't do anything about it, it's just the way we are." He stopped for a moment, frowning to himself. "Expect to see Loki walking around unabated."

I felt my hands clench in a bit of anger. "I'm going to kill him."

Odin also looked equally annoyed, but there was a visible look of capitulation as his shoulders slumped. "I know I can't talk you out of that. If it comes down to it, do what you need to. However, don't think you can get away with that in the middle of Asgard. Despite everything, Loki is a God of Asgard, and he has enough support behind him to start a war if you somehow kill him so easily."

"I really don't understand." I let go of my built up anger, letting out a sigh. "You all know that he's the cause of Ragnarök, you all know that he's an asshole of the highest order, and you all know he's actively trying to get Asgard destroyed yet he's treated well still!?"

"The bonds that tie us together are often nooses." Odin in this moment looked very tired. "Love is complicated. He is my brother, my son, my friend. I would give my life for his without a second thought. But at the same time, I know that he must be killed and if need be, I will do so with my own hands." He took off the monocle he seemed to like to wear to cover his lost eye, wiping it off. "It's funny, I'm trying my best to save our world, our way of life, something that can be written and woven into stories and epics, but at this moment, I have never felt less like a God."

How very….human.

"I have never worshiped a God. But at this moment, the you I see right now, if I were to worship a God, you would be a God worth worshiping."

Odin turned to look at me with an indiscernible expression before turning away again. "That is one of the kindest things anyone has ever said to me."

I guess even a God needed to be told they were doing a good job every now and thing. I couldn't imagine how hard Odin has had it over the years, dealing with all this crap himself.

Odin had been good to me. He's given me advice plenty of times, and willingly kept secrets that he had no responsibility to keep. I found that I wanted to help him as much as I could.

"Willll, we're almost there!" I heard Jinn shout from near the stairs to the deck.

"Please make sure that Scáthach isn't driving!" I shot back.

"I heard that, student!"

"I said it loud enough for you to hear!"

"She's going to kick your ass." Odin snorted.

"Probably." I agreed. But it's rare for me to be able to poke at her in this way. That and whenever she 'kicks my ass' it involves actual training. Which is just one of her ways of showing her affection, so I really didn't mind.

I walked back up, letting the sun hit my face. "Let's set down a bit away from the city. We can get away with causing a spectacle at Whiterun, but they don't really know us here."

"Aye, that is wise." Thorum nodded. "And Riften is the city of Thieves, it is best that we do not give them any ideas."

"Well, it's not like any of them would be able to steal my ship….but I would also be annoyed at them for trying." Or just invading my personal space.

Hmm, that was something I didn't realize gave me a sudden onset of anger just by picturing it. Someone sneaking into my home.

Even if the Boat wasn't really an extension of my home just yet.

Kind of wanted another Dragon to appear just so I could open fire on it again to test the cannons. I needed more data to tweak them. It wasn't really one of the biggest priorities, considering that most of us on the ship could level mountains and all….but still, I want my boat to be strong.

But I digress.

Jinn maneuvered the Boat to land on the ground easily enough.

I threw my hands behind my head as we walked down the ramp. "Hey Thorum, what's Riften like?"

"Dirty." Thorum said in an uncharacteristically demeaning tone. "The Guards are corrupt, the Jarl looks the other way if you have enough coins and the Thieves Guild runs rampant. The only benefit is that Murders are less here than the other Holds."

"That's odd." I noted.

"Aye, but the Thieves guild does not wish to run afoul the Dark Brotherhood. They have clashed once in the past, and the Guild did not come out on top. I heard whispers that they made a deal to stay away from matters of killing for coin."

"Huh." What an odd situation. "I heard that Riften suffered from Aluduin's reemergence?"

Thorum nodded again. "The city was burned down, but travelers coming to Whiterun have brought word that it has been rebuilding."

As he said that, we got close enough to see the outline of the town.

A large wooden wall stretched out from the side of a cliff to the edge of the ocean behind it. Parts of it looked like it was being removed and replaced with stone, which showed that they were indeed slowly rebuilding.

Of course, there were still marks from the original destruction. Scorch marks that still didn't allow anything to grow on the ground as we got closer.

As we approached the gate, a blue shadow emerged from above. A very familiar face appeared, landing in front of the gate. "Apologies, but if you wish to pass through this point, you must go through me."

"Are you going to block us, Samurai?" I looked at the Assassin Servant, playing along.

He put a hand on the blade sheathed on his back. "I am duty bound to protect this path." Sasaki Kojiro unsheathed his sword, and it was different than I expected.

Contrary to the memory I had of his sword, his was completely black.

I recognized the metal of course, I had some of it myself and It was a damn strong metal.

"I see you upgraded." I noted.

He smiled. "I felt it was about time to get a weapon that wouldn't break against a stronger sort of enemy." He rested his sword against his shoulder.

"I also have a new sword." I held my hand out, calling upon my Reiatsu as Musū Tengai appeared in my hand.

"Hooh." The Assassin servant eyed me curiously.

"Hi Sasaki!" Jinn waved from behind.

"Hello Lady Jinn." He smiled back, essentially killing the built up tension.

"Is this one of the ones you want, brat?" Odin asked with a gruff tone.

"Sasaki Kojiro, one of the greatest swordsmen I've ever met." I introduced.

"With such a compliment, I don't think I have it in me to deny you entry anymore." He laughed. "But I'm simply a swordsman with too much time on his hands, I'm afraid I can't compare to many others out there."

Odin stepped forward, he was still acting like an old man, using his stick to steady himself.

Sasaki looked at him strangely.

Without a single warning, the stick in Odin's hand shot out, and Sasaki responded, raising his blade up to block it. The resulting collision sent the Assassin Servant sliding back across the cobblestone pathway several feet.

He blinked in surprise, and looked at Odin in a new light. Slowly a grin crept up onto his face.

There didn't need to be any words exchanged between them. Odin stood up straight and twirled his stick into something resembling a loose stance and Sasaki lifted his Ebony sword up to his side.

Both moved nearly the same time, and a flurry of blows followed. Every swing of the Ebony Sword was met with an expert parry or deflect by Odin's stick. I could see Odin be genuinely surprised as he was being matched in a contest of skill as neither were losing ground.

Was Odin holding back? Of course, but that didn't mean that it was any less impressive of a feat.

"Your movements are sharp and precise." Sasaki noted, deflecting a rather particular thrust that seemed to emerge in his blind spot, yet he still was able to escape unscratched by retreating a smidge.

"And your technique is fluid and ever changing, yet has no conformed style." Odin noted. "I can see why the Brat gave you such high praise, you're completely self trained, aren't you?"

"Haha, that's one way to describe it. I simply wanted to cut an annoying bird." He laughed.

"Must have been some bird. Do you –" Odin frowned as he spun his stick again, and two arrows collided with it, falling to the ground.

Another few soared through the air, but it was Sasaki moving to slice them away.

"One of yours?' Odin gruffed.

"Apologies, I think there is a misunderstanding here." Sasaki Kojiro. "Karliah, they're friends." He didn't quite shout, but his voice echoed.

A woman, who seemed to blend in with the world, enough so that I had trouble perceiving her, jumped down from another portion of the wall. Rather, I was guessing it was a women by the outline of the strange black armor she was wearing. It looked to be made of leather, accompanied by a hood and cloak.

"I told you not to just say my name." The woman hissed under her breath.

Sasaki just laughed. "Apologies for the misunderstanding. These are friends from afar, we were merely playing."

The woman grumbled something in annoyance. "If you're going to play around, don't do it infront of the gate! People thought we were under attack again."

"Ah….my apologies." The Assassin Servant scratched his head.

"Atleast that brute clad in Ebony Armor didn't come running over." She snorted.

"Seems like you've been making friends, Samurai." I spoke up.

He sheathed his sword as the moment had passed. "A few." He nodded with a small smile. "This is Karliah, she's the leader of the Thieves Guild here in Riften. She's been trying to get me to join some organization of hers, the …. What did you call them? Nightingales?"

The woman quickly did a palm to her face. "That was supposed to be a secret." You could practically hear the irritation in her tone. "But in this instance, I suppose it doesn't matter as my Mistress beckoned me to extend an invitation to her sanctuary for your friends."

"Oh?" I tilted my head.

She stiffened for a moment and almost looked polite in her body language. "Dragonborn." She looked at Thorum. "Blessed of Meridia." She looked at me. "And....God of Asgard." She seemed to almost stumble over herself as she said that last bit, looking at Odin in confusion and surprise. "The Night Mistress extends an invitation to her personal Sanctuary."

"….Uh, Thorum, Translation please." I looked at my friend.

"The Night Mistress refers to the Daedric Lord – Nocturnal." He replied.

Oh….

That means she's personally looking at us right now, doesn't it?

Meridia, help, Daedric Lord stranger danger!

[***]

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