Prologue - There be dragons

by MadGenuis

Short summary:The Dragonborn receives a quite unusual request from an old ally.(nosex)


Talk, talk, talk... all these people ever did was talk, except when they were openly attacking him, and even then the attack was usually preceded or accompanied by a brief monologue of some description before battle ensued... if one could really call it battle. He was not entirely sure that he would call what these people before him did now �talking�, for that matter; words were coming out of their mouths, but somehow they seemed to have lost all meaning by the time they reached his ears. Why were these people so hard to hear? It had not always been like that, he knew, but things had changed over these past ten years... it had gotten so hard to concentrate. And his thoughts

Nust los ni bahlaan.

were so loud, so... alien, somehow. The words, the Dovah-Zul, or Dragon Language in the common tongue, were there; all of the resonance achieved through the Word Walls and the ancient knowledge garnered from dragon souls had filled him through the years. Countless centuries of mastery, attained within a decade of his true nature being revealed. The Greybeards would envy him, if he were to visit and demonstrate that he, their former apprentice, had by far surpassed them all, past and present members of their group included.

Sadonvum los nid.


Sera?� said a voice right by the Dragonborn's left ear, causing him to jump in his seat and abruptly resurface from the murk of his darkest thoughts. He turned his head to look at the female Dunmer next to him, clad in the suit of dragonscale armor he had made for her, with a dragonbone sword by her hip and a dragonbone bow on her back.

Sera, your petitioner awaits your decision,� Jenassa reminded him, nodding down the steps leading down from their podium, at the bottom of which a familiar Nord woman was looking up at them nervously. �What is your command?�

The Dragonborn shifted uncomfortably in his throne - a thing of beauty, carved in solid malachite ore and decorated with dragon horns - and looked down at the waiting Ysolda, feigning careful consideration as he whispered out of the corner of his mouth: �What did she ask for again?�

Ysolda desires another investment from you to expand the Bannered Mare further, and to support her campaign for integration of the Khajiit caravans into the established trade routes in Skyrim,� the dark elf helpfully supplied. �She admitted that you owed her nothing, already being partnered with her as proprietor of the inn, but hoped that you would demonstrate generosity in light of your long friendship.�

Closing his eyes, the Dragonborn sighed to himself, leaning back in his throne and pinching the bridge of his nose. Friendship? I suppose she would call it that, though it hasn't done me much good. All she has done has been to cost me money, none of which I expect to ever see reimbursed.

He opened his eyes - sharp and shockingly blue as they were under his brow - and looked at Ysolda critically. �How much do you need?�

Dreh ni haalvut dii faraan!

Ten thousand gold should cover it all, eh, my lord,� the Nord said meekly.

The Dragonborn rolled his eyes and had to stop himself from letting out an exasperated groan. Ten thousand gold? She was bothering him over something like that?

Request granted,� he said as he waved her off. Off to his right, in the side of the courtyard of the fortress the Dragonborn had taken for himself, another mercenary - the Nord Stenvar, clad in dragonbone armor and carrying a dragonbone battleaxe on his back - unlocked a door and entered the area that had been converted into the Dragonborn�s treasury. One could not really see into the room from the elevated position of the Dragonborn�s throne, but he knew that it was a sizable room in which one could witness an entire landscape, complete with hills, valleys and even mountains of gold, gems, jewelry and dragon trophies; a fortune larger than any other found in all of Skyrim, if not all of Tamriel. Even the Aldmeri Dominion would probably shudder in economical horror if they realized just how wealthy the Dragonborn had become, and how much wealthier he could make himself if he so desired. It was easy; he had claimed the treasures of every forgotten cave, ruin and dungeon of the land, pillaged the wealth of countless bandits and Stormcloak rebels, received the monetary gratitude of every soul in need of aid... and on top of all that he was the finest craftsman, alchemist and enchanter of this part of the world.

And all that was without considering the fact that he could use alteration to turn iron into gold. Over the past ten years he had gone from a prisoner in rags facing execution to a man rich enough to buy an entire country, if he so desired.


He leaned back once again and sighed to himself, watching with disinterest as Ysolda received her bulging sack of coins from the brawny mercenary, and ultimately lost interest in her altogether even before she went to leave through the gate under careful watch by Vorstag and Erik the Slayer, another two of the Dragonborn�s loyal henchmen.

As the Dragonborn sat there, a brawny, athletic Nord man in archmage�s robes, a well-groomed beard on his chin and likewise neatly kept brown hair on his head, his thoughts

Zu�u bahlok hahnu.

started to wander again, as they so often did. It really was hard to concentrate sometimes. But then again, what reason was there to be alert and attentive anymore? Why should he work for anything? Alduin, Miraak and Lord Harkon - his three greatest adversaries - were all dead by his hand; he was the Harbinger of the Companions, the Archmage of the College of Winterhold, the Guild Master of the Thieves Guild, Listener of the Dark Brotherhood, bearer of the title of thane in all of the nine holds of Skyrim and the named champion of all sixteen Daedric Princes, and the bearer of their artifacts, all of which were gathering dust in a closet now.

There was nothing left to accomplish; nothing for him to strive for, now that he had vanquished every worthy opponent and obtained every honor that could be bestowed upon him.

So why concentrate? Why bother doing anything anymore? Why not just sit back and... dream?


Although his eyes were closed, the Dragonborn immediately snapped back to the present, raising his right hand and calling forth the scintillating seed of a lightning spell before he even heard his guards call out in warning, or Jenassa pull out her bow to notch an arrow. The sound, like the wind blowing rhythmically in grand, sturdy sails, was as familiar to him as his own heartbeat by now; he would recognize the sound of an approaching dragon any time, no matter how distracted he might be. Dragon assaults had gotten a lot less common over the last couple of years, though, and it had been several months since the last dragon had tried to attack him... and this one was not roaring its usual challenge.

Something is different,� he said, gesturing for Jenassa to relax as he stood up, calling forth the seed of another spell in his left hand, identical to the first. He looked up at the sky, his eyes following the dark silhouette circling in the clouds above. He could use Dragonrend to force the dragon onto the ground, but somehow it did not feel as though he would need to resort to such drastic measures. The dragon, though it clearly knew he was there and intended to stay, was not attacking.

He took a deep breath, tapped into the power of his dragon blood, and Shouted: �Lok vah koor!

And as Clear Skies boomed throughout the area, causing the clouds to rapidly disperse and give way to the namesake blue sky of the Shout, the Dragonborn relaxed.

Stand down,� he called to his henchmen, extinguishing both of his spell seeds. �This one isn�t a threat to anyone.�


High above, no longer shrouded by the clouds, the dragon started to quickly descend, beating its mighty wings only a couple of times as it steered itself down to the fortress, where it finally came to land on top of the wall above the gate with a loud crash, perching itself up there and looking down at the comparatively tiny mortals beneath it.

Ah, dovahkiin! Tiid lost pruzah hi. Much water has flowed through the river since last we had tinvaak. It is good to see you again.�

I wish I could say the same,� the Dragonborn sighed, already skeptical about his visitor�s intentions. �What do you want, Paarthurnax?�

Prem. Patience, my friend. Enook sul. Is this how you greet me after all these years?� The old dragon cocked his head, his eyes sparkling in the best imitation of a smile he was capable of.

This is the first time I've seen you away from your mountain,� he pointed out suspiciously. �And the first time any mortal beside me and the Greybeards have seen you in ages. I�m not stupid, Paarthurnax, and it doesn�t take a genius to realize that you�re here for a reason.�

Krosis. I did not mean to offend. You are right, of course, to presume that I am not here solely for my pleasure, though I thought you would be eager to have tinvaak with a dovah. I cannot imagine that the others you have met since my departure have been very talkative.�

Oh, they�ve been talkative,� the Dragonborn chuckled. �But they�ve spoken solely in dovahzul, and always as Thu�um. Hundreds have died just in Skyrim alone due to talkative dragons.�

Paarthurnax tilted his head sideways, looking at the other with disturbing interest before nodding his head slowly. �Just as I thought, dovah sos los mul ko hi; the dragon-blood is strong in you, stronger than anyone ever anticipated it would become. You even occasionally slip into dovahzul when you speak. Zu�u drey ni prodah; I never expected ��

Spare me the explanations, Paarthurnax. I understand every word you say now.�

Rinik vahzah, that is exactly what I�m trying to say. You have become so much one of the dov, I imagine you must miss speaking with us.� He sighed. �But since you seem impatient with me, vosaraan, I will get to the point.�

The Dragonborn nodded in appreciation. �Let�s hear it, then.�

The dragon eyed the Nord mournfully. �Alduin�s quest to bring about the destruction of Nirn came at a terrible cost for jorre, the mortals, as you say... but it has been even more catastrophic for the dov. Surely you have noticed that fewer and fewer dovah are seen in Tamriel, and that they have stopped hunting jorre entirely? This is not by chance; the dov are nearing extinction.�

Stop right there,� the Dragonborn interrupted angrily, �if you want me to stop killing dragons when they attack ��

But the dragon shook its great head no. �It is true that you have the power to slay us forever, and have slain more dov than any other threat, but even your passivity would be insufficient. Mu nis vokrii; we cannot resume our physical form anymore, even if killed by someone other than you, dovahkiin. Our souls may be eternal and render us beyond the grasp of death, but with your victory over Alduin, there is no other dovah with the power to resurrect us when we fall. Alduin was the only one with that power; without him, the dov are doomed.�

If you�re suggesting that I pick up where Alduin left off ��

Once more the ancient creature shook his head no. �You have the power to do so, of course � you are dovahkiin, and consumed Alduin�s sil, his soul � but the ones slain by you are still forever beyond saving, and those are the majority. The issue is that the dov, as you may have noticed, are all male; our kind were created to live forever, but never to reproduce. Each one of us that has fallen to you is a tragedy, dovahkiin, for we are all brothers.

Alduin knew this. Mindoraan mulaag. For this reason, sonaak, his dragon priests, conducted experiments that continued long after their deaths. In his return and with the power obtained from Sovngarde, Alduin brought these experiments great resources. Though Alduin has been banished and the sonaak have been destroyed, their ambition has been fulfilled. Dovsemonah has been born... a female dovah.�

The Dragonborn waited expectantly for the other to continue, then shrugged when he did not. �Doesn�t that solve your problem?�

Not yet, no. We male dovah are still sterile, but the dov are searching for a solution for that even as we speak. The problem, dovahkiin, is nahkriin; the furious vengeance of the dov, who blame you and all jorre for our defeat. Guided by the hatred of the dov, Dovsemonah may continue Alduin�s legacy. Though she might not be able to destroy Nirn, the dovwith the power to multiply � could nevertheless enslave the jorre once again.�

If they try that,� the Nord growled, �I�ll kill every last one of them.�

And that is the problem, dovahkiin. Because of the past, the dov will never forget their hatred for the jorre, and they will always seek to claim their nahkriin. And because you will not allow this, and you are beyond what any dovah could ever hope to fight, you will slay them. Even with the birth of Dovsemonah, the dov continue to face extinction. Oblaan heim oblaan; death begets death, and I fear that by the time we are ready to abandon the destiny Alduin forced upon us, there will be no one left.�

So I can�t kill them, and I can�t leave them alone,� the Dragonborn sighed. �What do you want from me, then?�

The dragon looked at the other, a glint in his ancient eye. �Time really has treated you well, dovahkiin. Nearly a decade has passed, yet you don�t seem to have aged a day since you awoke to your destiny.�

He frowned. �Don�t change the subject.�

You must have realized this as well. Dovah sos ag kosil hi; the dragon-blood burns within you, permeating your flesh with the power of the souls you have taken. Like Miraak before you, you have truly become like the dov. You have cast aside the shackles of time and become eternal, as the dov are... surely you have felt this as well?�

The Dragonborn said nothing, but simply glared at Paarthurnax menacingly.

The dragon nodded his head. �How could it be any different, when you devoured Miraak�s soul? You have Miraak�s power now, but also far more. How many dovah have you slain, dovahkiin? How many hundreds have fallen to you, for their souls to feed your power? And you have the soul of Alduin, on top of it all. You are unlike any other dovahkiin throughout history, fahdon. Even the one the Graybeards named the Dragon of the North, Talos, never harnessed such power.�

At this, the Dragonborn had to laugh. �I�m sorry, but I think you just compared me to a god.�

But the dragon did not laugh. �Mulaag rah. Is this so surprising to you? You are not the first dovahkiin to ascend. Talos, whatever some jorre may think, did become a god. Alessia, the founder of the first Cyrodilic Empire, was made dovahkiin, and the power given to her soul by Akatosh gave your Amulet of Kings the power to seal the planes of Oblivion. Even Martin Septim, the last dovahkiin to wear the amulet, had the strength to become the avatar of Akatosh himself, the father of all dovah, to vanquish Mehrunes Dagon. You saw with your own eyes, felt with your own body and soul the power of Miraak, the first dovahkiin.� He nodded his head slowly. �And you continue the legacy. You are beyond joor, beyond dov; I can only believe that you yourself stand on the threshold of godhood. As the slayer of Alduin and Miraak, you have the power to destroy and control the world as you see fit... and as a son of Akatosh countless times over, gaining more of our father�s blood with every dovah you killed, you have the power to shape, create and remake all things as you see fit. No other dovbe they dovah or dovahkiinhas ever been as strong as you. Rah and deyra alike � the Aedra and Daedra � watch in fear.�

Jenassa shifted uncomfortably beside the throne of the Dragonborn, clearly shaken by what she was hearing. �Sera?�

The Dragonborn silenced her with a wave of his hand. He stared at Paarthurnax incredulously. �If I have this power, then why can�t I use it?�

Mulaag ko sil. The power lives in your soul, dovahkiin, as it has always done. Its nature is the same as ever, and only the magnitude has changed. As you are now, you need only project it into a Thu�um to invoke it. There are many things you can do that no other of the dov has ever been able to. Hi unslaad; your potential is limitless.�

The Dragonborn stared at Paarthurnax for several seconds, leaning forward in his seat anxiously, trying to fully absorb the things he was being told. On one hand there was part of him that was boundlessly excited by the prospect of possessing virtually unlimited power... and it certainly seemed to explain a few things, such as why it seemed as though no one could hurt him anymore, or even withstand a single of his mighty blows. Why his face and body remained that of a twenty-year-old even when he was past thirty, and why he had not experienced even minor illness for years.

And it served to explain why he had come to feel so distant from the other mortals. He had always known that he was stronger than any of them could ever be, ever since the Greybeards first taught him of the power awakened within him, and that he had a destiny that weighed heavily upon the world. But surely, if what Paarthurnax said was true, it was not surprising that these people could barely catch his attention if they were but specks of dust on the wind to him.

Rubbing his brow nervously, the Dragonborn sat back into his throne properly, closing his eyes for a moment before fixing the dragon with another stare. �So what do you want me to do?�

Once again the winged reptile tilted his head, looking at him curiously. �Zu�u laan mindok; I am curious, dovahkiin, as to why you have never taken a mate. Surely you could pick anyone you wanted?�

The Dragonborn shifted uncomfortably in his seat. �There�s always been more important things handle.� At least, it had been that way at first; later on, once his quest reached its end and he had saved the world from peril many times over, however, he had still remained single. The simple truth of the matter was that part of him � probably the draconic part � kept insisting that no mortal woman was worthy of him. �Besides, a priestess once told me that I�m sterile anyways, so it�s not like I could produce an heir even if I had a mate.� Nor would I need one, he realized with a mix of elation and sadness. On one hand, there was no need for him to ensure that another would take his place once his time in this world was at an end, since he was apparently immortal. On the other, he was in fact incapable of producing offspring... and while the dragon in him might not care for such things, the mortal in him longed to experience love and parenthood.

Geh, of course. All dovah are by design. But ordinary dovah have only one soul, whereas you possess countless. Ofan sil, by invoking the dovah sil within you and consuming them with a Thu�um, I expect that you can create a growing life.� He nodded his head ponderously. �This is how you can save the dov: atone for the lives you have taken using your Thu�um to allow dovah to be fathers of children.�

Somewhat taken aback, the Dragonborn grimaced at the other. �I�m not even sure which problem to start with, but I�ll go with the obvious one: you do realize that I�m male, right?�

Paarthurnax laughed at this. �Of course, dovahkiin. I did not mean to say that the dov should impregnate you. However, if you were to impregnate a vahdin, a mortal female, with the power of this Thu�um, you would infuse your progeny with a dovah sil. You would breed more dovahkiin, though none as strong as yourself. It may take a generation or two, but ultimately you could create progeny with such strong dovah sos, dragon-blood, that they could bear our children.�

Wait, wait!� the Nord exclaimed frantically. �You�re telling me that not only do you want me to have daughters for you dragons to breed with, but you want me to breed with my own daughters?�

Geh, you are correct. If anyone but you sire the next generation, they will not be dovahkiin and will never be able to bear dovah kiir. Your mating with a joor will dilute the dovah sos in the new dovahkiin; it will be necessary to breed that dovahkiin again, at least once, to breed a suitable womb for our seed.�

This is sick,� the Nord gagged, even as he crossed his legs as subtly as he could to hide his growing erection.

It is the only way,� Paarthurnax said apologetically. �If you save the dov from extinction, they may forget their nahkriin. Otherwise Dovsemonah will be raised to lead the dov to their doom at your hands, and the hands of the jorre. Countless lives will be lost in a war between dov and jorre, until there is not a single dovah left.�

He shook his head. �I can�t... what you are asking of me, it�s just too much. I�ve given so much as the Dragonborn, done everything that was asked of me for the greater good, killed, stolen and risked my life, but this...�

Paarthurnax tilted his head the other way. �Is it truly so bad?�

Of course it is!� the Dragonborn growled, his veins burning with the power of his anger. Not even the memory of an erection remained with him anymore. �You�re telling me to... to use a woman just to make children, and then violate those children in order to breed stronger Dragonborn! I can�t do that! Just as I could never bring myself to feed the Ebony Blade with the lives of my friends, I will never do something like that!�

Geh, I see that,� the dragon nodded his head slowly. �It is your choice, dovahkiin. I cannot force you to accept this destiny... though it is in your hands regardless. However you do it, doing as I say could very well save the dov and numerous jorre; refusing will inevitably result in strife and death on a terrifying scale.�

The Dragonborn covered his face with his hands, trembling with desperate agony as he struggled to accept his role in all of this. �Paarthurnax... you should leave. Now, before I decide to change my mind about sparing your life and kill you, as the Blades wanted me to. And if I kill you, I don�t think I�ll be able to stop; I�ll hunt down Dovsemonah and the other dragons, and exterminate them myself. I would rather do that than become the abomination you want me to be.�

So be it. Krosis. I misjudged your dedication to the preservation of this world, and the life in it.� He sighed, spreading his wings in preparation of taking flight. �Mindok, before I go, you would do no harm in this. The mother of your kiir would receive the blood of Akatosh as well, and obtain longevity and vitality because of it. Do you understand? You hold the power to keep your loved ones with you forever, but only through the Thu�um. The mothers of your children will become immortal.�

The Dragonborn grit his teeth. �What are the words?�

Paarthurnax eyed him with gratitude. �Dov laas kiin.� Then he beat his wings and flew off, without another word.

Leaving the Dragonborn with confused henchmen, and an even more confused mind. Dov laas kiin... Dragon, life and birth.

A Shout to create new Dragonborn.






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