Holy Dragon Wings, Batman!

           (4E-201 20th of Last Seed)

    Watchtower, Just outside of Whiterun

     Nordrick thought for certain that Galeron had said that he'd be able to train in safety until he was ready but, upon further reflection, he realized that he'd specifically said, 'for what's to come.' He'd never mentioned when it would be coming or that he would indeed be prepared when it did come.

     "Shit! Do I really have to fight a Dragon right now?! I've hardly had time to train at all!" Nordrick asked, wishing for once that everything wouldn't move so damn fast.

     "Yes! Now, remember what we went over and you'll be fine. Remember that I'll still be here, albeit invisibly. If it turns out to be too much for you, I'll step in. If it turns out to be too much for me I'll teleport us to safety." Galeron coached him, before vanishing from Nordrick's vision.

     Nordrick begrudgingly followed Galeron's advice and braced himself for what was coming. Taking up a discus throwing stance, he pretended to sling something with all his might in the direction of the incoming dragon.

     Several hundred meters away, the incoming brown scaled dragon, thinking himself invincible and flying leisurely towards Whiterun, witnessed a man standing atop a watchtower and performing some kind of weird slinging motion, despite there being nothing in his hands.

     Less than a second after witnessing this bizarre sight, an oppressive force impacted mightily with his snout, throwing him off balance and forcing him to flap his wings in order to regain his equilibrium.

     The dragon then began circling where he had stalled, while scoping out the human and the surrounding area and attempting to discern what kind of tricks were being played on him.

     Nordrick, seeing the Dragon stalling, waited for the circling Dragon to begin to turn away from him and then repeated his previous slinging movement.

     Another direct hit, landing squarely on the Dragon's tail, setting it off balance yet again.

     The Dragon, at this point, was growing frustrated and felt that the human on the tower was definitely the source of these repeated attacks, despite not having anything visible in his hands. Deciding to push through whatever attacks were hitting him, the Dragon flew directly towards the tower at top speed.

     This dragon's speed wasn't as impressive as Alduin's but it wasn't slow either. He crossed the distance between them in only a couple of seconds and began swooping in close to the tower, blasting fire breath down on Nordrick's position. The air around Nordrick was violently buffeting him as it churned under the Dragon's wing beats.

     Of course, Nordrick didn't stand still, he quickly dove down the stairwell, narrowly avoiding the searing hot flames that still managed to singe his moustache despite not having landed directly on him. He then ran down the stairs and exited the tower, looking into the sky for the dragon's location.

     After obtaining the Dragon's position, Nordrick resumed his discus throwing motions and the Dragon was again pelted by several more invisible strikes, before it finally relocated him and landed thunderously a few meters in front of him. The Dragon had tried to land on top of him but Nordrick hastily maneuvered out of the way with the help of his wind cloak.

     "I don't know what tricks you are playing at, human, but this is the end for you!" The Dragon roared at him and then launched its neck forward, jaws open, in an attempt to gobble him up.

     Nordrick narrowly dodged the Lightning fast attack and, instead of trying to put distance between him and the Dragon, he blitzed forward. Arriving under the dragon's left wing, Nordrick cloaked his entire body in Lightning and launched himself, at full power, up towards the fleshy part of the Dragon's wing.

CRACKLE! SPLETCH! RIP! CRACKLE! 

     The dragon's wing was torn through and Nordrick landed behind the Dragon, ignored its wailing roar, dodged the Dragon's attempt to smash him with his wing, and dashed underneath the right wing. Quickly repeating the process of ripping the Dragon a new one, Nordrick then slipped leftwards out of the Dragon's range.

     'Shore's Bones! I can't believe that actually worked! It felt like I was barreling into an iron wall before it finally gave way but, damn, I just grounded a dragon! I don't know if I'll be able to defeat it, though, since those attacks only just barely worked and the rest of him is sure to be far sturdier.' Nordrick considered, as he sprinted back inside the tower and up the stairs.

     The Dragon, witnessing Nordrick attempting to flee into the tower, let out a sonorous shout and a steady stream of fire chased Nordrick through the doorway. Nordrick, however, was already on the stairs and working his way up.

     The Dragon, feeling immensely agitated with this troublesome mortal, was about to make an attempt to climb up the watchtower whenever he was suddenly pelted with another invisible attack. The only problem was that there were no others present that he could see.

LAAS-YAH-NIR!!

     The Dragon seemingly whispered while shouting at the same time, his head suddenly locking onto Galeron's location.

     "I see! So there were two of you all along! Very well, let's deal with you too then." It instantly decided, unleashing a full throated Fire Shout in Galeron's direction.

     At the moment it did this, two things happened simultaneously. Galeron instantly teleported behind the Dragon and Nordrick, cloaked in lightning, jumped off the top of the tower in an elbow drop position. Starting off at twelve o'clock when he first launched himself and bringing his elbow down all the way to six just before impacting the Dragon's unguarded neck.

WHAAM!

     The Dragon had its neck forced into the ground and clearly wasn't enjoying itself. Yet, the actual damage done to the beast was minimal. Only a few tiny cracks had appeared on a couple of its scales, a detail Galeron only noticed because he was looking for it.

     "Nordrick, it's not enough! He'll easily outlast us at this rate. Even your strongest attack only managed to create a few small cracks. Not to mention the Whiterun Soldiers are on their way here. Let's take this back to the Canyon."

     "I don't know what you're planning but you two aren't going anywhere. As if I'd let you just run away, after you've humiliated me like this. No, I think…" The Dragon's words were cut off as a pure white light illuminated the entire area under and around him, drawing his attention.

     One second he was on a grassy plain type terrain next to a watchtower and then, the very next second he was in some sort of hellish wasteland filled with all manner of Atronachs. Ice, Lava, and Lightning sparked everywhere he looked. The Atronachs, having instantly noticed this intruder into their territory, all began attacking relentlessly.

     An instant later, Galeron and Nordrick appeared in the sky above the Dragon, with Galeron stabilizing Nordrick's position. Galeron had already assessed Nordrick's likelihood of victory and he didn't like the results of that assessment. He was genuinely doubting whether Nordrick would've been able to defeat the Dragon with just himself and a contingent of standard soldiers.

     Nevertheless, he didn't have any time to ponder such things further. The Dragon wasn't going to stay preoccupied with the Atronachs forever. Galeron capitalized on the Dragon's distracted state and summoned a massive two handed sword made of Psijic energy. The sword was three meters long and two two feet wide. It was made specifically to do three things: possess a force of impact on par with an object weighing five tons, maintain a sharpness of edge at the atomic level, and weigh nothing.

     This monstrosity, he was hoping, would be enough to do this beast in, else wise he would have to resort to more drastic options.

     Teleporting beside the Dragon's neck, Galeron began swinging wildly with all his might. Landing each blow in more or less the same area, he continued hacking away, watching in disappointment as the blows cut deeper than Nordrick's attack but were still too shallow. They didn't even manage to draw blood, except a few hits that landed on top of each other.

     This wasn't the ideal situation that he'd hoped for but Galeron knew that he could make something of this. He had the tools and the opportunity, he just needed to capitalize on it.

     The scratches that he was creating were shallow and mostly ineffectual, it's true, but the recoil the Dragon suffered from these blows wasn't minor and would eventually create an opening for him.

     Galeron suddenly picked up the speed of his assault, forcing the Dragon further and further to the side. So much so that it had to brace itself with its left wing and extend its right wing out for balance.

     The moment Galeron forced the Dragon into this vulnerable position, he executed three actions in less than a second. He turned the sword towards the Dragon as if to thrust at it, shrunk the sword down to three inches in width, and teleported directly in front of its face. Instantly after teleporting, Galeron thrust his sword forward in a lightning fast strike directly towards the Dragon's right eye.

     The Dragon, to its credit, quickly reacquired a lock on Galeron but, by the time his eye was fixed on Galeron, the sword came into contact with it, going straight through his eye socket and into his brain.

ROOOOAAAR!!!

     The Dragon let out a pained and terrifying roar, while lashing its head back and forth. Galeron was disappointed, seeing that this hadn't killed the beast. He was thinking that because it didn't die instantly, as one would expect from a clean blow to the brain, that the fight wasn't yet over. However, this outburst only lasted for a few seconds, before the beast finally dropped silent and lifeless to the ground.

     With the Dragon finally conquered, Nordrick stood, mouth agape, at the display he'd just witnessed. Before he had a chance to properly grasp the situation, thin strands of white and gold energy reached out from the dragon's corpse and flew directly into Nordrick's body. 

     As this energy left the Dragon, splotches of shimmering gold could be seen appearing on various parts of the corpse. Like water evaporating sideways into another container, the golden splotches were gradually replaced by nothingness as the Dragon's soul, and apparently its body, was evaporated into Nordrick.

     As the first of these strands entered Nordrick's body, he felt a shock of tingling energy that seemed to move effortlessly towards his center. This sensation only intensified as more and more of the Dragon was drawn into him.

     As this process was finishing, Nordrick stood motionlessly amongst the elemental wasteland, focusing on this new sensation. He felt as if he were growing stronger somehow. Like his entire being was being elevated to a higher level. The soothing yet empowering sensation that started in his center gradually expanded outwards, as if filling him up. It took less than a minute for everything but the Dragon's bones to evaporate into Nordrick.

     Despite this, he continued to meditate on his new condition as Galeron watched on from above and kept the Atronach's attention elsewhere. After several minutes, Nordrick finally snapped out of his trance and smiled. He began to recall Galeron's earlier words, as he witnessed his Master coming down to meet him.

     "You were right! I'm not entirely sure why but I seem to have absorbed this dragon's power somehow! And… it feels incredible!" Nordrick declared with a half-smile on his face, as he clenched his fist and flexed his muscles.

     "As to be expected! You are Dragonborn, after all. Now, you finally understand what I've been telling you. Regardless of whether you are destined or fated or any other nonsense, you are uniquely fitted to the role of slaying Dragons.

     "Now, before you go getting drunk on your newfound power, let me warn you that the Dragon you just fought was most likely one of the weakest Dragons you will encounter. Don't let the intoxication of your new gains lead you to believe that the next Dragon will be easy to defeat. Each Dragon has its own abilities and strengths and, like any human, they will vary in strength depending on various factors.

     "That being said, we did just defeat a fucking Dragon and so I believe a night of revelry and celebration is in order! Although you've trained hard and fought a tough battle, your training isn't anywhere close to being finished. But, not only is rest important, what kind of Nord would you be if you didn't drink a toast to your family and ancestors after a victorious battle.

     "Come! We'll celebrate tonight but tomorrow we'll restart your training with increased intensity and fervor."

     Nordrick only smiled in response. He could sure as hell use a drink after having a Dragon raining fire down at him and he hadn't had much down time since Darkwater Crossing. He wasn't looking forward to continuing his hellish training but he knew it was necessary and he wanted to be prepared for the next battle.

     As Nordrick's grin continued growing wider, he followed Galeron across the bridge leading to Fort Doomguard, once Galeron had teleported the two of them off of the Canyon floor. 

     Once inside, Galeron began giving out instructions, "Serana, contact the Bee and Barb. We're going to have a celebration tonight and I want them to make sure there's plenty of food and mead to go around. Send a few undead into the Canyon to retrieve the Dragon's bones and then contact Jorlund Greymane. Have him be ready to come here tomorrow morning. Make sure Nordrick here gets to the party and gets as drunk as he wants to. After the party, make sure he returns safely. Now, if you need me for anything, I'll be in my lab." He quickly ordered, before turning and floating down the hallway.

-----

     Serana had no idea what to make of this mysterious stranger when he had first appeared before her, with his threats, promises, and demands. He was, at the time, quite terrifying, which is saying a lot coming from a Vampire Lord.

     However, the more time she spent in his bed, by his side, and helping run his organization the more she came to admire him. Even though she was sure her mother would duly reprimand her for playing with her food, it really couldn't be helped.

     An impressive man was an impressive man! Was she just supposed to pretend as if all the things that made Galeron a powerful, domineering, mysterious stud didn't exist just because he's technically "food."

     Serana certainly didn't think so! He wasn't just more powerful than anyone she knew, with the possible exception of her father, he was a powerful mystic and an unnaturally potent necromancer. One was a field of magical practice that very few people even bothered with and even fewer had any measurable talent in. The other was usually not practiced to any significant degree simply due to how difficult it was to find reliable information on the subject. Yet, this man not only studied necromancy but excelled at it to a stunning degree. He wasn't just powerful, he was uniquely powerful and more so than most people his age could ever hope to boast.

     When she found out about Planal Canyon and Fort Doomguard, she was understandably impressed but the surprises didn't stop there. This man actually held within his fort the Nightmother's Coffin and was in a partnership with the Dark Brotherhood. What's more, he'd apparently stolen some kind of pure soul lifeform that was holding the College of Winterhold together called the Augur of Dunlain.

     While standing and sleeping at his side day after day, Serana continued to witness the increasingly impressive resume of this man as the days passed. 

     There were individual circular rooms, in his fort, containing portals to varying destinations all over individual provinces. Each province had its own room and there were portals lined up around the wall of each room that lead to different corners of that province. Not all of the portals were active yet and so some were just frames outlining where a portal would eventually be established. This was a gap that Venerus, Morila, and Casimar were all working on closing, each of them scattered across Tamriel and establishing new portals every day. 

     The cellars that held the fort's food were all magically maintained at optimal temperatures, some being warmer and some being absolutely frigid. The entire fort was lined with some type of pipes that ran cold and hot water throughout the entire structure and the fort's interior temperature was always mild and comfortable. The vault looked like nothing she'd ever seen and she suspected it to be nigh on impregnable.

     The Augur of Dunlain was isolated in a room on the lowest basement floor. An unbelievably powerful artifact, that seemed to be some kind of spherical infinite mana source, was stored in a similarly isolated room on the same floor.

     Galeron had rediscovered some underground dwemer expanse called Blackreach and had connected his fort directly to that expanse. A massive circular shaft was constructed leading all the way down into Blackreach's bottom. Around that shaft, Galeron had raised an even more massive Fort that almost rivaled Fort Doomguard. This structure was made the centerpiece of an undead city that housed hundreds of undead Falmer. Up and down the interior of this shaft, hundreds of rooms were dug into the sides. Some for storage, some for crafting, but most were magically maintained gardens for growing a variety of Alchemical ingredients. This shaft could be traversed only by those who knew the very specific controls Galeron had set in place, to magically move one up and down its length like an invisible elevator.

     The man had set the Falmer to mining Aetherium, of all things, alongside Geode and Gem veins! He has them farming Chaurus, Crimson Nirnroot, and other Blackreach exclusive flora. He has his undead Nords mining precious metals and other commodities around the clock.

     Serana had witnessed personally the unbelievable perfection of his Crying Corpses. Undead so flawless, neither the Hagraven's Briarhearts nor a Vampire's Thrall could compare. Hell, he had actually managed to turn a lesser Vampire into one of them. The craziest part of that being, the damned guy still has all his Vampire attributes and abilities! How that was even possible, she'd never know!

     This master of his own secret society that grows more powerful every day had actually met and spoke with a Daedric Prince. A meeting wherein he rejected any notion of being subservient to the prince and made it unavoidably clear that any work he did for the princes would be as a business partner. The craziest part: he actually got away with it! Hermaeus Mora laughed out an acknowledgement of Galeron's speech and even allowed him to keep the Oghma Infinium.

     Just when she thought this monstrously masculine man with untold wealth and power couldn't be more appealing, after witnessing him conjure Dremora by the dozens, after witnessing him create all manner of strange energies that mimicked the powers of Aedra and Daedra alike, after witnessing him seize control of an entire hold, this absurdly abnormal existence went off to fight a real life fucking Dragon! He didn't just fight it, though! He teleported it over a hundred miles and then actually killed the thing! Galeron had slain an actual fucking Dragon! 

     As a woman, forget Vampire, forget Daughter of Coldharbour, as a woman, how could she possibly be anything but enamored with such an existence?

     Serana had witnessed a great many things throughout her long life, yet few of them could hold a candle to the scene of Galeron's glorious rise to power. She wasn't certain where she would be in twenty years but two things she knew for certain: Galeron's power would easily eclipse his current power by that time and her affection for him would likely only intensify from now to then.

     Regardless of how foolish her mother would surely think she was, she could hardly deny the attachment she'd developed towards Galeron and she strongly suspected that, when her twenty years were up, she would most likely have no desire to leave his side.