Chapter Text
I woke up to yet another unfamiliar setting. Farkas had been yelling at me for a few minutes. The yelling must have woke me up.
"Clive. Come on! We gotta do something!" Farkas said.
I sat up, still half asleep. I gave up wondering what it was, so I asked him what happened. I was informed of what happened. That the dragon that I had killed maybe a week or two earlier had come back with an entire army.
"You'd need more help than what you've got to deal with Alduin. I'd recommend looking for heroes in Sovngarde that would help you. Maybe even Ysgramor would help you. Take this. It's his two-handed battle axe and shield. Hopefully, it will help. There's a dragon trapped in Dragonsreach. This dragon will take you to the area where you can go to Sovngarde. Just return safely. Kodlak sees you as an asset."
I told him that I would try to return as safe as I could. Hopefully without injury. I trekked my way up to Dragonsreach, scared. Right as I walked in, I got hoarded by little kids asking me if I had seen a dragon outside. I told them I was there to check it out, and that they should not be worrying about it.
Jarl Balgruuf walked up to me, with a slight look of concern on his face. I thought it would be because of the dragon outside. No. It wasn't. It isn't, is it? Please don't tell me that it'd be this way. He looked slightly defeated. There must have been something going on around Whiterun.
"Alduin's back," Balgruuf told me, placing a hand on my shoulder. After a brief pause, he continued, " You're gonna have to defeat him again. You'll have ancient Nord heroes on your side, this time. I don't know who will help you, but only time will tell. Now, hurry. You're going to have to get there before the World-Eater destroys all the souls lost wandering in Sovngarde!"
I felt obliged to do this. I know the Voice. The Thu'um. Shouting. Whatever. I also know how to use magic. I've got Wuuthrad on my side, and nothing can change my mind from stopping Alduin. With Ysgramor on my side this time, too. From all the tales I've heard of him, I managed to figure out that he sent one of his kids to Valentia. The reason behind this was so Alduin could be stopped. I told that to the Circle, who all believed me. I spent weeks reading and shuffling through legends of Ysgramor. If I were related to Ysgramor, somehow, I'd be surprised for sure.
I arrived in Sovngarde again. I could hear the music through the airwaves again, as Alduin flew through the air. I started to run towards what I thought was Shor's hall. It was beckoning me in the distance, and how could I refuse such an offer? I would love to dine with ancient Nord heroes!
Now is not the time for that, Clive!
I managed to reach Tsun again, who was trying to ward of Ysgramor and a few others. They didn't see the axe I wield. Yet, at least.
I know I'm going to lose my voice, maybe break a couple limbs while I'm at it. Might as well get their attention to see how they fare.
After obtaining their attention for at least a minute, they let me lead the charge. I was surprised and shocked to hear that I, a living and breathing person in the land of the Nord dead, would be leading a group of men and women to go fight Alduin. It made me afraid to be doing this.
I pushed myself forward, leading them onward. One tried to push her way past me, but another had stopped her from moving anywhere close to me. I heard him tell her that she needed to at least show some respect for me. I hoped that receiving respect from others would be much more useful in the long run.
By the end of the long and dreadful fight, one of them had decided to pull me aside to talk to me. He went on and told me how much of a good job I did trying to lead people that I'd never met. Though he gave me some criticism about leading, I still felt pretty confident. His name is Ysgramor. He took a quick look up and down and saw that I was using his battle axe and shield. He thanked me for obtaining the shards and ultimately led me back to the exit. Once I got back to Whiterun, or whatever, I was greeted by Farkas running up to me.
"You seem excited that I'm back," I said, "what did I miss that had to make you excited to see me come back?"
Farkas had told me that I didn't miss much. I proceeded to slam my hands down on the table we had situated ourselves at in the tavern. Why wouldn't I miss so much? Though, telling from the concerned and worried look on his face, there was obviously something major that I unfortunately had to miss.
"Whatever I missed will be fine," I added, "unless... it's something important that you need to tell me immediately. If it was someone who wanted to come look for me, fine. I can meet up with them whenever."
"The Jarl wants you to go to the moot. It'll be in two weeks, but he wants you to befriend whoever is becoming the new High King or Queen. I'll be coming with you. Though the steward at the palace might announce our arrival."
"Ha! What do they think I am, Dragonborn or something?"
We walked out front to find a herd of the potential High King's men (and his deputy, too) with Jarl Balgruuf.
"You two took your sweet time," the deputy had said.
"It's not my fault that I had to be caught up on everything!" I snapped, mounting my horse.
This journey took a lot less time than I thought it would. It took almost two days, with little to no breaks. By the time we had arrived in Windhelm (Balgruuf told me that's what the city is called), it was late afternoon. Galmar (who is the potential High King's deputy) told us to follow him to the palace, where we'd meet up with others. This all seemed strange to me, though. Formal events.
The event we had to attend the following day required us to be up early. I asked Farkas to help me get up within the allotted time. Farkas had not, in fact, woken me up. He left without me. Balgruuf had come to knock on my door by this point. I opened it and told him that I had just woken up. Balgruuf told me that what I was wearing would be fine.
"I never knew wearing pajamas would be acceptable at a formal event!" I said, as Balgruuf helped me finish putting my armor on.
"They won't know. You look like you've been up for hours now. Come on, let's go. The potential High King wants to meet you."
Balgruuf and I walked up to him. I smiled weakly, trying not to show any weaknesses. I always had been taught that showing weaknesses was bad at a first meeting. So this time, I tried to put my best foot forward.