Dragon Rising 4

As Alaric gazed upon the remaining soldiers, he saw that their numbers were cut in half. The ones who could stand at least.

Some of them couldn't even get up from the ground and required medical attention which was provided by potions which could be supplied for the whole army.

And they were all looking towards him with fervor.

'Dragonborn?'

"Hmph. Some of you would be better off keeping quiet than flapping your gums on matters you don't know anything about. Here's a dead dragon, and that's something I definitely understand. Now we know we can kill them. But I don't need some mythical Dragonborn. Someone who can put down a dragon is more than enough for me." Irileth scoffed.

"You wouldn't understand, Housecarl. You ain't a Nord." A soldier said.

"I've been all across Tamriel. I've seen plenty of things just as outlandish as this. I'd advise you all to trust in the strength of your sword over tales and legends." Then she turned to Alaric. "I don't know about this Dragonborn business but I'm certainly glad that you came with us. After we've secured the dragon corpse we will head back to Whiterun. The Jarl will probably want to speak with you."

"I can help you with the corpse." He said as he put the corpse in the storage.

"Now, that's convenient. After all this Dragonborn business, you wouldn't happen to be interested in being listed in military would you?"

"Not at the moment."

"A shame. Gather up men! We are returning victorious!"

"Yeah!!"

Then she went back to deal with the aftermath while Alaric was surrounded by the Companions.

"Arvel? So, you survived."

"I don't know how…"

"Hah! I didn't expect to see the Dragonborn with my own eyes before death takes me. I guess you can say it is a blessing." Then Kodlak said while patting Alaric on the shoulder jovially.

"Don't say that Harbinger. You know I'm the same old Alaric." The old man was disheveled. His armor was broken in multiple places and there were stains of blood on it but somehow he was fine.

'Must be a potion.'

But from the 7 Companions who joined the campaign, only 5 were remaining.

Athis and Njada were gone.

"But Kodlak, what is a Dragonborn?"

"Hmm, Well, in the old tales, the Dragonborn heroes would use the power of their Voice to defeat the enemies of Skyrim. Ysmir was Dragonborn. Talos, too -- the founder of the Empire, back in the good old days. In the very oldest tales, back from when there were still dragons in Skyrim, the Dragonborn would slay dragons and steal their power."

"I guess that's what I did right? Steal their power?"

"Only you can answer that question. The rest of us don't know how it feels to absorb a dragon's soul haha-!!" Halfway through his laugh Kodlak stopped and turned towards the mountains where Mirmulnir came from, Farkas followed suit as he hardened his gaze.

Curious about what they were looking at, Alaric also turned to look but what he saw made him widen his eyes.

"Oh gods no!"

"Incoming! Prepare for combat!!" Irileth yelled as she drew her sword once more.

3 more dragons were flying down the mountains.

{Strun Bah Qo!} Once clear skies darkened with clouds and started to rumble, heralding the incoming storm. And soon enough lightning started to struck the ground.

"Ah!" Soldiers were struck by lightning one by one.

{Tiid Klo Ul!} Then another dragon vanished from sight and reappeared among the corpses of soldiers. Some were eaten from the top half, some were crushed to death and some were his by the tail. It all happened in the blink of an eye.

{Krii Lun Aus!} And with another shout the soldiers who were targeted started to wither and die.

"No!"

The dragons were wreaking havoc!

"Dammit!" Alaric cursed as he drew his bow once more and released the string.

{Hmm?} The targeted dragon couldn't even see the arrow until it tore right through its wing.

{Wuld Nah Kest!} He recognized the mortal who shot the arrow as a threat and went closer to take care of him but he was obstructed by a shield.

Farkas stood right in front of Alaric with his huge shield, blocking the dragon from getting closer.

{Fus Ro D-} Just as he was about to shout, an impact from below caught him unaware.

Kodlak stood right below the dragon and punched upwards, knocking the dragon a few meters above.

Ria took this chance and started slashing the belly of the dragon but they were superficial cuts at most. She neither had an enchanted blade nor she had enough power to deal damage to dragon scales.

But she was trying her best.

Unlike Arvel who was trying to run away but was caught by Alaric who threw him towards the maw of the dragon.

"Ah!! No!! Curse you!! Haaah!!" Amidst his cursing, flames started to cover him just like in the Bleak Falls Barrow once more.

He swung his sword with reckless fury, even though he was performing much worse than Ria, he was still leaving scratches on the scales.

{Annoying Ants! Faa- ugh!} But Alaric didn't let him shout this time.

With a burst, he appeared right beneath the jaws of the dragon and punched upwards, causing the dragon to tilt his head upwards to lessen the blow.

Then, Alaric grabbed Goldbrand and filled it with magicka.

The enchanted blade erupted in flames but Alaric never got the chance to swing for a lightning bolt struck him.

But Kodlak was there, and he took the blade from Alaric's hands and finished the slash for him.

The enchanted blade cut through the dragon's scales like a knife through butter and severed his head from his body.

The same sight appeared once more. The soul of the dragon departed from his body and started flowing towards Alaric.

Alaric felt the same exhilarating feeling of being stronger once more.

But that became the group's doom, as the dragons who were flying above them noticed this occurrence.

{We Found Him!}

{Dovahkiin!}

They came flying over once they heard the last shout of Mirmulnir heralding the coming of the Dragonborn.

They wanted to kill him before he became a threat. But it was difficult to find a mortal out of all the other ones so they started a slaughter with hopes of finding him.

But alas after all that killing, they couldn't find a mortal that could be Dovahkiin as they died too quickly.

But the sight of a dragon soul being absorbed cleared the mystery for them.

Dovahkiin was found.

{Zun Haal Viik!}

{Yol Toor Shul!}

A shout to disarm them of their arms and another to melt their beings.

Upon seeing the dragons focusing on him, Alaric panicked.

He could escape by himself but the others wouldn't be able to do that.

So, he prepared himself for clashing head on.

"Mul!" A shout to take on the Drsgon Aspect.

"Fus Ro Dah!" And another to forcefully disperse the dragon's shouts.

His voice thundered across the skies even more than the dragons and tore through their shouts.

Upon seeing the Force coming over, the dragons dispersed to opposite directions.

{Fo Krah Diin!}

{Iiz Slen Nus!}

Two different shout to freeze the opponent.

One to case them in ice and the other to freeze their being.

"Take cover!" Alaric shouted as everyone around him ran to different directions trying to escape from the Thu'um.

"Feim!"

But Alaric didn't as he had a better way. He went into Ethereal Form and dodged the Shouts as he grabbed his bow and nocked another arrow.

And with a burst, string was released and the arrow unleashed.

It flew true and instead of going through the wing, it tore the wing from the body.

*Boom!* The dragon whose wing was cuts off fell down as he crashed on the ground.

{Wul-!} He tried to escape to a safer location but a blade found his scales and left a large gash on his belly.

He didn't even hear a sound! As he looked towards his assailant, he saw a dunmer woman with an enchanted blade in her hands.

He wanted to crush the insect to smithereens but she dodged out of the blow.

Then an arrow found his scales and penetrated through the cracks. It was another dunmer woman this time.

{Yol Toor Shul!}

Fed up with their annoyance, the dragon released a breath towards the two dunmer women but they dodged out of the way.

The soldiers who couldn't dodge the breath were instantly melted.

Then, another arrow found his body but this time it had a lot of power as it tore straight through his heart.

Last thing the dragon saw was Dovahkiin holding his bow with a broken string then he was no more as his soul was absorbed.

After getting another dragon soul, Alaric felt stronger once again but the strings on his bow was broken. Giant tendons couldn't handle the strain and his advantage was lost.

The last dragon was circling over head waiting for a chance to end them all and now they didn't have anything to bring him down the ground.

"Dammit."

And the dragon noticed it. He knew that the inly thing that could threaten him in the sky was gone, so he had free reign over those mortals now.

{Hahaha Ven Gaar Nos!} So he threw a whirling cyclone among the soldiers that sew chaos.

Surviving trees were uprooted and the remaining soldiers were shredded to pieces.

Now, only a few remained from the 3.000 strong army. And it was a big blow for the Whiterun Hold.

Alaric tried reaching the skies by jumping with Magicka Burst but it was futile as the dragon would higher or disappear with a shout.

The dragon continued attacking relentlessly and the numbers continued to dwindle until only the elite of the elite remained.

And they were starting to be exhausted from all that running and dodging.

Then, Kodlak grabbed Alaric from his arm. "Alaric be ready! I will throw you!"

"Got it!" Then Alaric tighten his grip on the falchions as Goldbrand was left on the ground from the previous exchange and he didn't have the time to grab it.

But it was fine. He had full trust on these falchions as they saved his life in more than one occasion. Surely they would do so again.

But he needed something more. These small blades wouldn't cut deep into the dragon.

But Magicka Burst wouldn't be of use except for releasing an elemental attack. But if the cuts weren't deep, the enchant burst wouldn't deal enough damage.

Then he had an epiphany. What if he could change the composition of the blades?

Wasn't everything made from magicka? Then surely magicka could be used to create or change something.

But how to go about that?

First, he injected as much magicka as he could into the blades but it didn't do much.

If he ejected it, it would be Magicka Burst, if he didn't, magicka would stay there.

Then, slowly he noticed faint empty spots in the blade. It couldn't be seen with a naked eye. It could only be felt with magicka.

And as his magicka stayed inside the blade, he noticed more and more openings.

'Maybe this could work?'

So he started to fill the openings with magicka. And he felt it. The blades were more comfortable, lighter, sharper and stronger.

But he knew that their lifespan were reduced.

It wasn't enough though. He had to alter the structure of the blades now if he wanted to cut deeper.

And he had a clue as to what to do.

"Hrrah!!" Kodlak released a beastly growl as he threw Alaric with all his strength.

And with incomparable speed, Alaric was thrown towards the dragon but it wouldn't be enough to reach the dragon as it would notice him at any moment and dodge out of the way.

But he was in the sky and didn't have anything to propel himself forward with Magicka Burst.

Then, an unknown force propelled him forward helping him reach the dragon on time.

He didn't have the time to find out who it was but the only lead he had was that it was magic, specifically 'Push' spell.

But using that spell through great distances was an enormous work that even Alaric with his huge magicka reserves wouldn't be able to do.

It was the work of a accomplished magician and he only knew of one magician that could do such a thing.

But it was a thought for another time as he completed his preparation for the new spell that he was going to use.

It was 'Alteration'. Not the school of magic but a spell.

He originally wouldn't think of such an idea but the absorbed dragon souls increased his comprehension of magic.

And thanks to that, he could think of such an idea.

A dragon Shout could change the properties of the reality. Wouldn't magic be able to do the same thing on objects?

He couldn't use magic to change reality but he was sure that he could at least use it on objects.

So, that's what he did.

With the magicka he used to fill the openings in the blades, he used it again to give them a property that they originally didn't have.

Length and width.

The falchions in his hands became longer and wider. They became great swords.

But from the forceful changing of shapes, the back of the blades became chipped and started falling like feathers.

They were in the last moments of their lives and one strike was all they could do.

But it was enough as Alaric slashed with all his power, cleaving the dragon in two.

The blades became so sharp that even Goldbrand paled in comparison to their sharpness. But it was only for one strike.

They crumpled and shattered into pieces.

Then, as Alaric neared the ground with incomparable precision from all his experiences, he ejected a magicka burst right at the moment of impact to mitigate the fall.

Then he got up and absorbed the last dragon soul.

Another dragon soul eaten.

After that, his gaze found a man dressed in indigo robe standing far beyond what a mortal man could see.

The man gave him a nod and faded away in indigo particles.

"Thank you Master Gyron." The only thing Alaric could do was expressing his gratitude silently.