Chapter IV: The Silent Rubble

(Reyvin's POV)

Consciousness slams back into me like a hammer, the sudden lack of deathly suffocation forcing me to take in deep gulps of air before I finally manage to calm down.

My freshly rebuilt eyes sting as they snap open and take in the scene above me, a leveled city, a panicking redhead held back by the eternally patient Paladin, and the frowning Davos getting up from just having stabbed me with a potion syringe I had made for such situations.

Tapping myself down habitually, I get up and survey the city once again while stretching lazily, my bones letting out satisfying cracks as if I had just woken up from the most pleasant of naps.

The scene before me was far worse than I remember it being, most of the town was utterly flattened and what was not was barely held together by whatever lucky support was not crushed by either Alduin's flight or my own spells.

Then again that was par for the course considering the fact the literal god of destruction of this universe paid it a visit and the vast majority of the people were safely tucked away in the underground caverns. They would recover and in the end that was all that mattered.

And yet, even as I observed scattered groups of legionaries dragging away what corpses survived amongst the hundreds that did not, I could not feel anything but excitement. I had stood up to a god, no matter how futilely, and came out of it alive!

Probably made the fucker cautious as well, which ought to buy us time if anything.

Or it could doom us all, and ain't that a cheery thought?

The amount of self assured pride now coursing through my veins would probably manage to topple even the vast ego of my ancestor if we were to meet, but sadly such things were not to last as my sudden lack of deathly wounds made me draw quite a bit of attention from the rest of those present "So" I ask with an insultingly satisfied grin considering the situation "What did I miss?"

The silence stretches for a few moments as most of their brains try to connect me with the mangled mess they found, but as one might expect the literal demigod breaks out of it first and points at me "Put some damned clothes on!"

I give her the driest deadpan in my arsenal "Yes, let me just holler over to the god of death and destruction so that he can repair the robes he destroyed, I am sure he will be sporting about the whole thing."

She covers her face with a hand and takes a fortifying breath, failing to completely hide the slightest hint of a blush on her face, and speaks again "I know you always carry a bunch with you, stop being contrarian you arse."

"Awww, I was hoping your time south did not make you less fun to annoy, but I guess a Mer can not have his eggs and eat them." I shrug, ignoring the glare being sent my way, and snap my fingers, clothing myself in luxurious noble attire in the blink of an eye and summoning a cigar for good measure "That proper enough for you, my lady?" I ask mockingly as the stick of magic drugs lights itself.

"Yes." Her eye twitches, the glare soon softening into the true expression of her inner concern "Are you sure you are well? When we found you..." She trails off paling ever so slightly.

"Eh" I wave the whole thing off "The fact that I am alive is a bloody miracle and I thank the gods for the fact the fucker was weakened when he ripped his way back into the world or all of us would have been so thoroughly fucked even Molag Bal would wince at the sight."

A good number of the legionaries that followed the group here blanch at my words but the rest are too used to me to react in any way.

"So I was right in thinking that that is why he ran off?" Minthara asks "Because he was still weakened?"

"That is the most probable reason." I nod "It took an army of tongues and an elder scroll to send him forth in time mostly intact, and a small legionary garrison even with our help stood no chance at pushing him back, much less defeating him at his prime."

There are some very unsatisfied and even despaired looks all around, but it is Minthara who speaks once more "What are we supposed to do against that kind of monster then?"

I give her a knowing look "You know exactly what you must do." 

Her lips thin and her eyes narrow as she remembers the first time she consumed a dragon soul, the genuine disgust at the idea she was radiating actually brought me a small amount of assurance she wasn't about to go insane with the power but who knew how long that would last before her mind was overtaken with the thousands upon thousands of years of memories she would consume.

"But we can discuss that later." I raise a hand to interrupt and turn around with a respectful but not deferential salute "General, I am glad to see you survived."

"I am sure you would have known immediately if I died but I will take your words in the spirit they were given." He greets drily by saluting back "I trust that we are now safe?"

"As safe as we can be with the new state of the world." I respond evasively "But no, I don't think we will be getting attacked again soon in any case."

"Good." His answer is clipped but I see the slightest relaxing of his shoulders, the attack had rattled even him. Still, the man was a seasoned general for a reason, and he proves as such as he focuses back on the present "What was that thing?"

I started walking away without answering initially, quickly waving for those relevant to follow me while the rest went to work doing emergency repairs or looking for people to heal.

We make some distance, finding ourselves in a thoroughly burned but at least hidden part of the town. As we stop I turn back to Tullus "How far into your study of the Nords are you?"

He frowns slightly, but trusts me enough to know that my question has a point and answers "I have read up on multiple traditions and legends, why?"

"Have you ever chanced upon the legend of Alduin the World Eater?" I ask and a weight descends upon the hidden alcove.

"I have." Tullius answers automatically and then stops himself, his eyes snapping to mine "You don't mean?"

"But I do, General." I grin "That big black bastard that ruined the town was no beast, that was a god."

Most of those who had been already informed of the likely future barely react to the information, but the likes of Gelebor, Junia, and Tullius reward my words with genuine horror in their eyes.

A silent moment later Tullius speaks once more, a weak mutter leaving him "Have the gods truly abandoned us so thoroughly?"

Without any warning I approach the man and tap him on the shoulder, making him wince at the force "Worry not General, they may have decided to be cunts about it but they did send us some help in their usual manner."

"Reyvin." The older man's despair is momentarily overtaken by exasperation as he deadpans "Control your sadism for a moment and tell me, this is important."

"Fine, fine." I raise my hands in surrender, before lowering them and pointing to the exasperated Minthara "It is my honor to introduce to you one Lady Minthara Septim, adopted daughter of Titus Mede II and the youngest child of Akatosh."

"Your dramatics entertain no one but yourself." The annoyed demigod accuses while she still has the chance.

"Which is exactly enough." I smile and offer a light bow "Enjoy~"

Gelebor is the first to react as his eyes almost pop out of his skull and he starts asking a downright uncomfortable amount of questions, only to swiftly be out yelled by the downright baffled General trying to grasp at his liege lord's thinking.

Davos, who had silently moved to my side while everyone was busy staring, points at Gelebor and whispers "You sure telling mister 'high and mighty' about the literal child of his god is a good idea?"

"Best let him adapt as quickly as possible. Lying about it would have just led to resentment later on." I explain without looking at him "Still, it would be prudent to have him watched in case his loyalties change."

"Was already planning on it, boss." Davos confirms lazily, already adapting to the increasing amount of responsibility I was sending his way. What use were subordinates if you had to micromanage everything they did anyway?

The sudden and rather heated conversation died down not long after it started, having a Princess of their empire/demigod of their religion yell at them to shut their mouths for one bloody second did cause some amusing reactions from the recipients, but it did shut them up.

The glare she sent me as well naturally passed me by like a light breeze.

Once more, it was Tullius who broke the silence as he looked at me with an odd expression "I am unsure if I should be amazed or horrified at how much of this you had planned out." 

I smile smugly "I am at all times twenty moves ahead of everyone else."

"And these moves included getting mauled to near death?" Minthara snips, visibly holding herself back from punching my smug face.

"Of course." My smile doesn't falter for a second.

"Wait." She stops herself suddenly "You knew you would lose and still went to battle anyway?"

"Yup!" I raise my thumb cheerfully "All part of the plan."

For the first time since I got healed, Marco speaks, visible relief on his face "For a moment there I thought you fought him because you wanted to have some fun, good thing you have more sense than that."

The wide grin I give him immediately after his words makes him pale and mutter a weak 'gods no' but I hold no mercy "Of course I wanted to fight a literal god and see where I stand, the chances of death were relatively low anyways." I wave the whole thing off like it is nothing, ignoring the General looking like he just swallowed a lemon "Besides, I had to hurt him to make him reluctant to do this kind of shit again, if I didn't then he would be far more aggressive and random in how he did things."

Most of those present, and especially the Nord, give me respectful looks at that.

But there are always cunts wherever one goes "Yes, and now he shall focus solely on us." Junia speaks up with a frown "A rather foolish choice."

"Random unimportant mook says what?" I ask quickly and send a nudge of illusion to make her ask.

"What?" The Pennitus Occulatus agent blurts and quickly covers her mouth, immediately realizing what happened and glaring at me "Your posturing does nothing but endanger the only person who has any chance of stopping the enemy."

"Yes." I drawl "And I do wonder what said person thinks about sacrificing entire cities just so she could have an extra month or two to get stronger."

Minthara immediately starts shaking her head in disgust.

"My point exactly." I offer a smug nod to the frowning agent and turn back to Tullius "I will be taking them to my base of operations now, they need to be prepared for what is to come and I have some... contemplation to get to after that whole debacle."

"Of course." Tullius agrees with a mix of annoyance and understanding "I will ensure the townspeople are taken care off."

He turns to march off but I stop him by clearing my throat, an automaton control rod appearing in my hand a moment later "Give this to your most competent mage, it will give you command of the hundred or so spiders I left behind, use it to give them some shelter for the night at least."

He takes the rod almost reverently and nods "Of course." Then he marches off.

"Alright then." I turn to the rest "I do hope you all didn't overeat before this."

"Wha-" Marco goes to ask.

But I had already clapped my hands, a wide blue magic circle appearing below us and the space cracking loudly. Before anyone could even blink we found ourselves standing atop a snowy rise, a sprawling town of marble walls and towers stretching before us.

"Welcome, dear guests, to Silruhn Fell." I spread my arms dramatically.

But none of the new arrivals noticed, as they were too busy gawking.

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Silruhn Fell - City/home of light

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It is time to rock and roll!

(And not in the fun way either)

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