C53 Dovahdrool

I started jogging away, 'At this rate, all the Companions will be coming with me...'

— —

-Sigh-

"Ya know."

I turn and look at the three riding on horseback beside me, "I just wanted to see what was going on, not turn this into some sort of hunting party."

"A Companion should never be without his Shield-Brothers when going into a dangerous situation," Kodlak shifted in his saddle, "and—I was getting cooped up from being inside that hall all day."

Not only did Skjor and Aela come, but he decided to tag along as well.

The only reason Farkas and Vilkas aren't here as well, is because they already left on another contract.

'Oh, for fucks sake! I already see where this is going,' I shake my head and bring my horse to a gallop, 'I wanna see just how far you'll go...'

'Then—I'm going to shove my foot up your ass and see if you keep trying.'

—

After a short while, we all reach the Western Watchtower—it was a few stories tall, but in partial rubble.

"By Shor's beard! What happened here?" Aela Called out, "It looks like a—"

"No! Get back! It's still here somewhere!" A guard showed himself; he appeared to be the only survivor and was hiding in what was left of the tower.

"Quickly, make a run for it before you get grabbed too!"

Like the smart people we were, we ignored him and got off our horses while surveying the surroundings—I was paying more attention to the sky.

Skjor, on the other hand, was trying to reason with the man, "Calm down. Tell us what happened."

"No! You don't understand. It's a—oh Kynareth save us, here he comes again..."

He fled back, deeper into the tower, as we looked up—to the only direction—I hadn't given a good look to yet.

'Damn. Dragons are way faster than I thought...'

Kodlak muttered, "Is that a—

"Dragon? Yes." I answered and then looked for suitable cover.

"YOL TOOR SHUL! (Fire Inferno Sun!)"

We all ran behind some rubble as a breath of fire came toward us.

The dragon, Mirmulnir, had four legs instead of two, like Alduin, but unlike him, he was only a little bigger than the in-game dragons, meaning not even a quarter of Alduin's size.

"Thuri du hin sil ko Sovngarde! (My overlord will devour your souls in Sovngarde!)"

His voice was heard from above, but no one could actually understand him, and I only had a vague impression of his intent.

"Herma-Mora's wagging tongue! How are we even supposed to hurt him!?" Skjor lost his calm for once.

"Take out its eyes, ground it, and then stab it through a vital the first chance you get!" I yelled back as I readied my bow.

The others quickly followed suit.

Once he looped around again, we loosed our arrows before he could get out another shout.

We had no chance of actually hitting him in the right spot, but... we were 'lucky' and the wind moved 'just right.'

"Roar!"

"Ha! Got'em!"

An arrow landed in his eye.

The one who made the shot was impossible to tell, but one thing was for certain.

-Crash-

After so many years of being 'dead,' Mirmulnir had grown unaccustomed to pain and face-planted in the ground after having an eye taken out.

He slid just to the side of the tower, stopping near it—and us.

"Let's get him!" Skjor unsheathed his sword and ran after him, intent on attacking while he was still disoriented.

I was right there with him.

"Wait, you two! We still don't know—" Kodlak yelled after us, but it was useless.

He turned to Aela, "Cover us from behind, try and take out his other eye!" then he took after us with his warhammer.

Once me and Skjor made it to him, he was just starting to get back on his feet.

He spotted us with his remaining eye, "Krif krin. Pruzah! (Fight Courageously. Good!)"

I got the impression that he wanted us to fight him head on, or directly, but—we weren't stupid.

We both climbed on top of him, intent on taking out a wing, so we could keep him grounded and easier to fight.

It—wasn't easy.

"YOL!"

We were only able to avoid his shouts by staying centered on his back, where he couldn't reach, and holding onto the spikes protruding from his spine.

"Fuck! It's too far away!"

Unfortunately, that meant we couldn't reach a wing and were stuck dodging his attacks—at least—until he decides to take to the skies and force us off.

Fortunately, we weren't alone.

Kodlak, despite his age, kept Mirmulnir's feet moving by crushing his toes with a warhammer whenever an opening showed itself; this kept him from taking to the skies.

Aela, on the other hand, kept him from burning us by trying to take out his other eye or put another arrow in the one already taken.

"Roar!"

Like she just did.

"Now!"

Skjor let go of the spine while I stayed and held his hand, so he wouldn't fall off.

With the wing finally in range, he took his sword and started hacking at the joint—though it didn't work very well.

The joint was surrounded by thick muscle and encased in rock hard scales that his sword had trouble getting through.

So, instead, he started stabbing—

"Faaz nah! (Pain, Fury!)"

That worked better.

"Ruth wah joor! (Curse you mortal!) YOL TOOR SHUL!"

Ignoring Aela and focussing back on us—mostly Skjor—Mirmulnir let out another, full powered, breath of fire.

"Quick, jump!"

I let go of Skjor, so he could get off, while I hugged the spine again.

"Ah, shit! That's hot!"

The fire didn't hit me, but it was still close enough to heat up my armor.

Once the fire passed, I looked back, only to see that the sword was still sticking out of the joint—and Skjor—who was about to be skewered.

'Oh, fuck you, bitch! I ain't following your script this time, no matter how much effort you put into it!'

Skjor had jumped off but ended up against the tower.

He was both weaponless and disoriented, since he'd—accidentally—hit his head on the tower wall after landing.

And, unfortunately, he gained the ire of Mirmulnir, who was about to headbutt him through said wall—if not for Kodlak.

"Get down, boy!"

Kodlak, seemingly back to his youth, charged to Skjor and tackled him to the ground just as—

-Bang-

A new hole—shaped like a dragon's head—was put into the watchtower.

"Argh!"

Though, all that effort only delayed the inevitable, as both of them were pinned under new rubble that had fallen.

Changing would give them the strength to climb out, but it wouldn't be fast enough to escape the bath of fire about to head their way.

Seeing Mirmulnir start pulling his head out of the tower, I did what I was—NOT—supposed to do.

Ignoring the sword, and thereby, not crippling his wing and making it easier to kill him, I made my way to Mirmulnir's head.

-Clang-

As I got closer, my armor started popping off into their separate pieces; this is because of the alterations I designed.

They were for making it easier to transform into a werewolf—like I was now.

Seeing that he already freed his head and was about to shout, I jumped.

"YOL TO—"

Then I caught his horn as I finished changing.

The weight I added was enough to pull his head down and make the fire miss.

"ROAR!"

I empowered my roar with Magicka and let it out in his ear.

Unfortunately, it didn't disorient him like I'd hopped, and I was only flung off him like dead weight.

Though, he didn't send me to the ground, instead, he sent me crashing into the side of the tower—

-Bang-

Which I hit.

Sinking my claws into any cracks I could find—which were plenty—I started climbing up the wall, trying to divert his attention away from everyone else.

"Aan balaan hokoron. (A worthy enemy.)"

It worked.

He followed along as I led him to the other side of the tower.

Just as he was going to lose his patients, I jump off and landed back on him, this time on his neck, just below his head.

I sunk my claws into his scales and started ripping away as much as I could.

He didn't sit idly, and tried taking me off with his own front claws, but I proved too agile for him and was able to take off enough scales in one spot to bite—

'Vampires taste like shit compared to this...'

Which I did.

"Roar!"

He roared in pain while I tore at the dragon equivalent of a jugular vein.

This made him stop acting with any measure of self-preservation and start banging his head around like a wrecking ball.

After the nth time of being smashed into something, I was left in a small crater, while Mirmulnir collapsed from the loss of blood—and dizziness.

"Ow..."

Left on the ground, wheezing, I had an untold number of broken bones, and was covered in dragon blood, especially my snout.

I tried getting up, "Oof," but fell down before making it more than a few inches.

"Grr."

Pushed off the ground again, I eventually forced myself to a crawl.

I was healing as fast as my body would allow, so I could hurry and finish him off before he could heal himself as well.

"You actually killed a dragon..." I hear Kodlak—who was wearing torn clothes—and slowly approaching Mirmulnir.

"N—" I coughed up some blood, 'Oh, shit.'

"Shor's Beard! You actually did it!" Skjor was with him as well—also wearing torn clothes.

"Ge—" I coughed up more blood, 'Fucking shit!'

They kept nearing him, while 'conveniently' ignoring my obvious anxiousness; even Aela failed to notice.

'Fuck the foot! I'm going to put my whole leg up your Aedra ass!'

I stumbled, while trying to stand up and move faster.

'Well—just—fuck it!'

I overloaded my body with Magicka.

Ironically, I was hastening the breakdown of my body in order to heal it.

Done in a second, and glowing gold, I ran towards them while letting out a—

"Roar!"

To make them stop.

"Ah!"

It worked—a little to well—as they both couldn't help but scurry back, but—

It also woke up a very grumpy dragon.

"RUTH STRUN BAH! (Rage Storm Wrath!)"

Releasing a shout that seemed to give him a buff, he whipped me with his tail, sending me into the tower—again.

But this time, he immediately followed up, and held me against the tower while piercing my chest with his claws.

This, especially with him being buffed, should mean my death.

"Brit grah. Nu bo hin oblaan. (Beautiful battle. Now comes your end.)"

I could guess his meaning, since he started pressing harder after saying it.

My only response was to show him a smile—or what I thought was a smile—and over-empower my body as I grabbed his claws, trying to pull them out.

"Vonun suleyk— (Strange power—)"

-Crack-

Before he could finish speaking, or I have my Captain America moment, the wall broke, and I was pushed through.

-Rumble-

That was also the last straw—brick—for the tower, as it started collapsing on top of me... and the guard, who's definitely dead by now.

I sighed internally, 'At this rate, I'll have to "upgrade" my body again before month's end...'

Over-empowering my body, yet again, I started climbing through the literal tons of rubble.

As Mirmulnir was turning toward the trio, that had taken cover not far away, I jumped out and ran towards him.

This time, I didn't give a single fuck about holding back, and just wanted to end this before my body got any worse.

Upon reaching him, I ran under his body and cut along his stomach with a claw.

Then, I went past one of his hind legs and clawed at it, severing his tendon and damn near half his leg.

Though, I did break the claws on one paw, even with the copious amounts of Magicka reinforcing it.

Once he fell, I got up on his back once again, then, with the claws I had left, I started ripping into the flesh in-between two of his ribs.

"Roar!"

With staying on the ground no longer an option, he took off with me still on.

He would roll or breathe fire at me—which left me looking like a crispy werewolf draugr—but I just held the handle I made from his ribs and waited for him to disembowel himself.

Which—didn't take that long.

Skjor's sword was still stuck in one of his wing joints and kept him from flying too high, which meant he was closer to the treetops.

And when guts get caught in trees—

-Slick-

First, they all get pulled out in less than a second.

-BANG-

Then, you go straight to the ground... after going through a few trees.

'Ugh...'

I went with him because I didn't want him to die too far away from me and mess up the absorption of his soul, but—

'I forgot about the landing part.'

"Roar..."

-Crackle-

Burnt flakes of skin and fur fell off of me, as I climbed up from the ground, using a broken tree stump as support.

Once my 'outer layer' was somewhat healed, I started limping to Mirmulnir, who was in his death throes.

"Kul grah. Losei fin kroniid. (Good battle. You're the victor.)"

I could understand his 'vibes,' or whatever, and I may have felt sorry for what's about to happen to him if—

-Crunch-

He didn't look like he would rip my head off as soon as I turned around.

I purposefully showed him an opening, which he tried taking, only to be left with a stick in his mouth.

"Uh, no. You can't eat me," I started waving goodbye at him as he started turning into multicolored... wind? That flowed into me.

"But... I can eat you, and I must say—" I closed my eyes and focussed on the absorption, "it's a delectable process."

He seemed rather slow to the uptake, but eventually, he realized what was happening.

"Dovahkiin? Nid, nii nis kos!" (Dragonborn? No, it cannot be!)

He seemed a bit more awake—at least in spirit—but it was too late.

He was nothing more than skeleton and scales after a few more seconds, while I—

'Okay... now where do I put all this shit?'

—

//Note//

Gawd Dam!

This chapter was fun, but hard to write.

But—it was good practice—and future, more 'actiony,' chapters will be easier... hopefully.

— —

Over-empowering vs. over using Magicka.

I just thought I should clarify that they are technically the same thing—but not.

When the MC 'empowers' his body, he's using Magicka to do so.

I just made the distinction because empowerment—at least the way I'm using it—is purely the increasing of physical prowess.

— —

Dovahzul is cool.

— —