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"They keep calling me Dragonborn." Meren said as he and Teldryn walked up the steep, rocky trail, two Black Books thumping around in Meren's pack. "I've never even seen a dragon, except for the murals in Miraak's temple."
"You're telling me you're the Dragonborn, legendary Nord hero, slayer of dragons, am I correct?" Teldryn asked.
"Yeah."
"And you've never faced a dragon."
"That's what I'm saying."
"That's something, all right! The Nordic hero is an inept Altmer mage!" Teldryn laughed.
"How am I inept?" Meren asked incredulously.
"You're a decent mage, for a high elf, but you run out of magicka almost as soon as you cast a spell!"
"I'm quite gifted in Conjuration." Meren said simply.
"Sure, sure. Why don't you summon us up a horse, huh? Where are we going, anyway?"
"Saering's Watch. It's an old Nord ruin."
"Why would we do that?"
"There was a dragon sighted there." Meren told him.
--
There was a dragon. A huge, serpentine monster that took to the sky, swinging low over the ruin spitting fire. The two elves began firing projectiles at it as it swung low overhead. A well-placed ice spike in its wing joint sent it crashing to the ground, struggling to stand as Teldryn charged at it with his sword. He stabbed it through the eye and watched as it reared up, its skin burning up as light rushed towards Meren. As it hit him he cried out, sinking to the ground, shaking.
"So it looks like you are 'Dragonborn'. Now what?" Teldryn asked, turning to the Altmer as he was partially curled up on the rocky ground.
Slowly the man looked up at him. His gaze was not human, but a raw, almost feral stare. Meren's teeth were bared, and he was ready to lunge at the Dunmer if provoked.
"All right there, boss, are you okay?" He didn't respond, looking back down.
And then Meren was back, the hungry thing no longer at the surface. It was simply the Altmer, standing up quickly with a nervous expression on his face.
"What the fuck did you just do?" Teldryn asked.
"I don't know."
"What do you mean, 'you don't know'? You're the one that's supposed to be fixing this mess!"
"I don't know what just happened, all I'm sure of is that the dragon soul I just… absorbed… caused a reaction." Meren said quickly, avoiding the other's eyes he was sure were staring at him from under the helmet.
"It caused a reaction." Teldryn said quietly. "It caused a… reaction?" Meren bit his lip. "I'd think it did cause a big bloody reaction, seeing as you were screaming on the ground, and not entirely there! Your fucking eyes changed colour!" Teldryn yelled, as Meren curled up in on himself. "I don't know how, but you're going to find out why that happened, got it?" The Dunmer shouted.
"I got it."
"Where are we?"
"Somewhere on the northern part of the island, I'm not really sure." Meren said apologetically.