Chapter 1 - Praal

14th of Mid Year, Sundas, 197 4E

Rain.

Endless rain.

It falls from the sky, almost in sheets.

Thunder rumbles in the clouds overhead, casting a gloomy aura on a village in the trees.

A figure strides through the darkness, its boots splashing against the marshy ground.

It stops in front of what appears to be its house, and pulls down it's hood.

The lizard then enters, and sighs as a warm fire greets him.

"En-Meseif, I'm home," he calls out to his wife.

Silence.

"She must be asleep then," he mumbles to himself, leaving the small room, and heading to the only other one in the small shack.

He turns the doorknob, and pulls his hand away in shock.

It's covered in a dark shade of red.

He more cautiously opens the door, and sees En-Meseif.

On the floor, laying in her own blood.

In front of a hooded figure twirling a blood stained knife in his fingers.

"Who are you?" he asks.

There's no answer.

"Answer me, you pond-scum!

"You will be glad."

Confusion whirls in his mind. "What are you talking about? She was my wife!"

"It got her instead of you. You are lucky you have survived this long."

"It's gone for now at least. Leave while you still can."

The assassin then fades away, leaving the poor lizard in confusion and anger.

Suddenly, the fires inside the cabin then go out.

Complete darkness shrouds the swamp, leaving only silence, and more rain.

The already very dark scene then fades into one even darker.

Another small town, this time, it's a lot less marshy, and a lot more cold.

Helgen.

A small array of Imperial soldiers is standing around a chopping block, dealing with a bunch of prisoners.

But then, a huge, black shape comes into view, and wreaks havoc among the execution.

Stars fall from the sky, and the black shape looks around triumphantly with its huge, red eyes.

—

I wake up in a cold sweat, and feel as though I can't breathe. I quickly become more panicked than before, and then realize I'm finally awake.

But I look outside, and curse myself under my breath.

Just my luck, it's still night.

I quietly get up from my bedroll, and go outside of the tent, leaving my mother and Frey sleeping peacefully inside.

I sigh as dusty air enters my lungs, and hope to leave Elsweyr soon. At least I finally don't feel as cramped.

I walk over to the charred corpse of the campfire we had earlier, and sit down in front of it, because . . . reasons.

Sadness creeps into my mind, and I remember how father used to point out constellations to me, all those years ago. I smile, remembering how foolish I was back then. It was fun being a carefree child, but I went a bit far, even for a brat only ten years old. I had even jumped out of trees, and nearly broke my limbs many times while doing so.

I then try to avert my mind to something else, because reminders of my disturbing dream keep leaking into my head.

After a few minutes of trying to strangle my thoughts, I finally give up, and start contemplating the dream.

Does it mean anything?

If so, what could it mean?

Will it ever affect anything except my imagination?

As I mull over these questions, I think about the black thing that appeared at the end. Then, another question pops into my head.

What was that?

I think about this for a while, but come up with nothing. I only decide to keep it to myself for the time being, because it was just a dream, and it shouldn't affect anyone else. Why involve my family and make myself look dumb?

I stumble back to the tent after another few minutes of pondering the dream, and crawl back onto my bedroll, trying to be quiet.

I then sigh, and try in vain to get real sleep for once in my life.

—

Author's Note: Sorry I couldn't make this longer. I don't want to stretch out the beginning of this book so it ends up boring, but then I don't want it to be too fast paced either. If you are a fellow fan of Skyrim, then I have a lot in store for you, but if not, you will probably not find many of the events as relevant or interesting as they really are.

It's a lot harder to write a book than it seems, so please like and add to library if you enjoy this first work of mine. There are several more to come in the future.