60 C60 Pluck your eyes!

"Bingo... I've never heard of such a thing..."

—

{Shriek-bang}

Throwing open the last door to the plankside, I take in a large inhale of fresh, {cough}, I quickly stop that inhale in its tracks, as the surface air isn't much better than what's below. Shaking my head, I seriously wonder what would happen if I lit a match. Surely, it'd be something good...

"Does the smell truly bother you so much? I admit, it's not pleasant in the least, but it isn't so bad as to drive one mad—quickly," Esbern says, as he walks out from behind me. He's rather spry for his age and didn't have too much trouble keeping up, though, I'm still carrying all his stuff, since he isn't—that—spry.

I answer him without turning back, "My physical attributes are enhanced. All of them, including my senses." We start walking down the planks, "Imagine what you smell now, but ten times stronger AND with ten times the detail," his eyes start to show realization, and a bit of horror. It makes me wonder what his reaction would be if I told him the truth, that it's not just a tenfold increase.

—

By the time we were out of the sewers, the whole of Riften knew who I was and what I did. No one, not even Maven, wanted to be in my way. As a result, our path out of the Riften was as smooth as a creamy shi—never mind. The only 'hard' part was buying a couple horses, as I needed one strong enough to handle me, and then I had to force the stable owner to take my Septims—I'm not a cheapskate.

Once we were well on our way and a few miles from Riften, Esbern asked, "So, where is it we're meeting Delphine? I reckon none of the old hideouts can be trusted."

"Where?" I subtly glance around, only enough for him to notice, then answer louder than normal, "An old fort midway between Whiterun and Dawnstar. She's been holed up there for a while now."

Esbern looks surprised and slightly confused, "Really? That's not where I would've expected her to go," his acting was either superb or he didn't catch on to my hints. Regardless, it didn't matter. As long as those listening from afar were convinced...

—

"I—I thought there was something strange about how you spoke earlier," Esbern approaches me from behind, on foot, as I'm currently deeper in some woods. "It appears my hunch was correct—but," he looks at the half-dozen Thalmor laying dead on the ground—or elsewhere—one of them being completely cut in half lengthwise, "are you always so—extreme?"

I chuckle, "Oh, this? Hahaha. This isn't even me trying, it was just muscle memory taking charge." ... I wasn't lying.

— —

{Sniff}

Wood. That's what I smell. Wood and—nope, that's it, just wood. Freshly cut wood.

I and Esbern eventually made it Riverwood. It took a few days of near nonstop riding, but we made it—slowly, from my perspective at least, but I'm not letting someone use me as transportation, so I dealt with it.

"Delphine!" Esbern approached her after we entered the inn, "it's good to see you. It's been a long time."

"It's good to see you too, Esbern..."

I let them swim in their mushiness until we went down to Delphine's secret room. That's when Esbern started babbling incoherently about Sky Haven Temple and Alduin's Wall. Delphine tried getting him to talk sense, while I just leaned against a wall and watched, as this was the closest thing to TV I've come across in this world.

"You mean—you've never heard of Alduin's Wall? Either of you?" Esbern looked taken aback.

"Let's pretend that we haven't..." Delphine went on, but I didn't say anything, as I did know about the wall and much more. It's just that I've never been asked about anything of importance before... It's kinda weird. I'm the 'protagonist' and the center of the story, but seldom am I the driving—or steering—force in anything. Well, I—can—forcibly take the steering wheel, but this is too trivial a matter to expend such effort over.

I'll do that later, when things become more interesting...

—

"Sky Haven Temple it is, then," Delphine said, presuming to have the right to make decisions for myself—which I've allowed her to believe—for now.

It didn't take much time for everything of use to be packed up and loaded on fresh horses. Even with the lack of rest, Esbern insisted that we move out as soon as possible, as "We've no time to spare! Every moment we waste is another moment Alduin has to bring an end to the world as we know it!"

I wasn't exactly thrilled with the prospect of babysitting the both of them, as I had a hunch that the way there wouldn't exactly be the smoothest ride. Why? Because I and Esbern had a relatively undisturbed and uneventful journey here. That doesn't happen to protagonists unless 'something' makes it happen...

— —

I was right. Very right.

On the first day, nothing happened—except for running into a large group of bandits, criminal wizards, and a giant mudcrab of all things.

The second day was even more peac—hectic. We ran into necromancers, a group of angry giants, and then three really horny—and really gay—old ass, wrinkly vampires. Why they were wrinkly, I don't know, but they didn't like it when Esbern turned them down...

We finally started getting into the mountain range on the third day, but before we made it to far, a dragon decided to 'visit.' He was twice as strong as the strongest dragon I had fought up to that point, but I still handled him after a few minutes. All I can say, is that when you've a million years of combat experience to pull from, you learn extremely fast.

Regardless, I was still being pressed pretty hard, since after that, we kept running into more, continuously stronger, dragons.

The fourth day, I killed two dragons.

The fifth day, it was three dragons and a group of Forsworn.

The sixth day, there were three more dragons and another group of Forsworn that managed to kill two of our horses, as I was preoccupied with a dragon at the time.

The sixth day was also when I began having internal difficulties on top of the external ones. I had killed and absorbed so many dragons that my body was changing at a rapid pace. It was a good thing, but I was literally outgrowing my armor while having constant growing pains across my entire body.

On the seventh day, with is today, we were already close to the estimated location of the temple, so the lack of horses didn't slow us down much.

Nope! That didn't slow us down, but the Forsworn settlement we—mostly me—are now dealing with did. While facing the horde of Forsworn, I used a shout that I came up with during the last few days. It's very handy in a mountainous region.

"GOL KREN MOTAAD! (EARTH BREAK TREMBLE!)"

A shockwave traveled through the ground, covering half the settlement in front of me. It tore apart the ground like tissue paper and started swallowing everything in its 'grasp.' Being that this part of the settlement was in a valley with a running river, anyone caught ended up drowning.

"YOL GAAR RIIK! (FIRE UNLEASH GALE!)"

The next shout sent a massive wave of fire across the entire settlement. It burned all those at came across, but its main purpose was to make anyone—that could move—retreat into the mountain, Karthspire. It would make them easy pickings.

"Um, how are we supposed to cross the—"

"DIIN! (FREEZE!)"

After shutting Delphine up, we made for the cave further up the mountain, where all the survivors fled.

{Ting—ting}

Aside from the Forsworn, we also ran into a single 'boss' dragon an hour before reaching here. If I had to guess, he would've been around level forty or fifty, but it's hard to tell. The effect of absorbing all dragons was really starting to show its fangs now, as just the expansion of my chest while breathing was starting to trigger my armor's change form mechanism. I was honestly surprised that it still worked, as my armor had quite a few cracks after dealing with so many dragons...

Upon entering the cave, I heard a fluttering noise and then, "Pluck your eyes!" a claw aims for my face, but it only tilts my head after hitting my helmet. "Eh?" the hagraven blurts out, but it soon turned into a pained squawk and then nothing.

After she hit my helmet, I grabbed her arm and crushed it while pulling her closer. Once in reach, I smashed her head like a watermelon with my other fist.

"Argh!" Only a short second after she fell dead, I was charged by a sea of angry Forsworn from deeper within the cave. Seeing it, I sigh, crack my neck, then—put my fists up, as I've decided to have some fun with these crazy cultists.

"Ha, {smash}, haha, {crack}, hahaha!"

Though, {rip}, sometimes I wonder, {tear}, who the crazy one really is...

—

"I—I guess you were telling the truth before."

"{Poof}, yep," I answer while sitting on a throne of bodies and puffing a cigar—because tobacco exists in this world.

The cave is strewn with mangled bodies of various kinds. Some with no limbs, others with 'extra' limbs in 'special' places. All in all, as long as it's possible, then something like it is in this cave.

"As much as I, {cough}, hate to rain on your parade, I think we," some red 'rain' drips on her from above, "should, {cough}, move on, {gag}, to the—{barf}." Blood isn't the only liquid inside people that obeys gravity...

—

"No. No! Wait!"

{Whoosh-whoosh}

Ignoring Esbern's warnings, I walk across the pressure plates and let my armor handle the arrows. I reach the release with little trouble and pull it, making everything stop and allowing them to follow me.

After traveling through some old tunnels, we end up in a large cavern with circular carvings on the floor and a giant bald head on a wall. This is when Esbern goes on another one of his internal escapades, ignoring us while he rambles on.

"Esb—"

"Ah, yes, of course. My apologies. This is an Akaviri blood seal," he motions to the floor carving, "It should open the entrance. It just requires—blood," he looks at me, "Your blood, Dragonborn."

I shrug and kneel on the carving, {ratchet}, then remove part of the armor on my left wrist and cut it, letting some blood drip. It doesn't take much for it to start glowing. Once I stepped off of it, it started spinning as well.

{Rumble}

After it stopped spinning, the head raised up, opening the passage for us to enter Sky Haven Temple, the place of sharp edges that cut and stone story books...

//Note//

Since Webnovel doesn't allow italics, I want you guys to imagine that anything in curly brackets, {}, is in italics.

Why it's not allowed, I don't know, but it's probably a stupid reason...

— —

Can you imagine having growing pains throughout your whole body?

That dull yet somehow intense ache that reaches down to the core...

Makes me shiver.

— —

Sigh...

Ya know, I haven't read any other stories since I started writing this.

I've yet to decided if that's a good thing or not...

— —