章 2: Daedra here, Daedra there, Daedra everywhere
Marcus was in a room filled with darkness. Or at least he believed he was in a room. He tried moving, but he was frozen in place. His arms and legs didn't move an inch, no matter how much he struggled.
Time passed, seconds, minutes, hours, days. He didn't know how long he was there, but to him, it felt like it has been years.
'Is this what sleep paralysis is?' As soon as he thought that something or someone appeared in front of him. Tall and muscled, with shoulder-length blond hair and wearing the Stormcloak armor. Looking at his face, Marcus started trembling in shock, as it was Govar, the soldier that he had killed. The dagger that he threw was stuck inside his right eye, and blood was pouring out of it.
If Marcus had paid a bit more attention, he would have realized that it wasn't blood pouring out fo the eye, but a weird black liquid, and that his other eye was of pitch darkness, something that wasn't normal for a human. His body started trembling even more with each step Galvor took towards him. "Please go away." Marcus whimpered.
"YouUUUuuu!" Golvar screamed. "YoU KIlled ME! YOU toOk MY lIfe away!"
"I-I di-didn't want to." Marcus said with tears in his eyes.
"I hAd A faMilY! I hAd A rEAsOn TO LIVE! TO FIGHT FOR MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS! YOU DON'T! YOUR LIFE IS WORTHLESS! YOU SHOULDN'T EVEN BE HERE! YOU DON'T BELONG HERE!" Golvar screamed and got into his face. Marcus desperately wished he could close his eyes and clasp his ears shut, but he couldn't. He was forced to look and listen to Golvar.
"Go away, please." Marcus whimpered and begged, but Golvar continued screaming for hours when he suddenly stopped. He stared at him for a brief moment, before grinning evilly. "YoU wIlL paY, AnD I wiLL hAUnt you tIll thE EnD OF yOUr LIFE! UNTIL YOU ARE NOTHING MORE THAN HUSK OF A HUMAN WITH A BROKEN MIND!"
Golvar grabbed his arm and plunged his teeth in it. He bit of parts of Marcus's flesh and started chewing it while staring him in the eyes. "YoU wIlL paY!" Golvar continued repeating the phrase over and over while slowly taking bits of Marcus's flesh. Bite after bite until only his head was left.
"I WILL BRAKE YOU!" Golvar screamed and suddenly disappeared. Leaving Marcus to silently sob and whimper while muttering. "I'm sorry."
He didn't know how long he was in the darkness, but to Marcus, it felt like an eternity before he finally woke up from his nightmare. He found himself tucked in a bed in a wooden house. It came to him that this was the home of Hadvar's uncle, Alvor. He saw that there was another bed in the room, and the Imperial soldier was soundlessly sleeping there.
Marcus was sweating and breathing restlessly. It took him a moment to calm down, but the food in his stomach was already trying to break free. He placed a hand on his mouth and quietly got up. He exited the house, and once he was outside, he began sprinting with all his might. Where he was going, he didn't know, but he didn't stop running.
After he passed the last wooden building, which looked like an inn, and the wooden gate of Riverwood, he couldn't take it anymore and stopped. The river was on his left, and he got on his knees over it before vomiting. In seconds, everything he ate yesterday was already out of his system, but he continued throwing up his stomach acid.
A few minutes later, he calmed down a bit, but he didn't move from his spot. Marcus stayed there and watched his reflection in the river without actually looking at it. He stood still for a while longer, before finally looking up and noticing that it was still dark.
All hopes of escaping this nightmare called Skyrim was gone. After waking up in Alvor's house and not in his own on Earth, it finally dawned on him that he was stuck here. He let out a sad sigh and put his hand in the river. The water was cold, but not as cold as he wished it to be.
Marcus stood up and noticed that he was no longer wearing the Imperial armor, but a brown leather shirt and pants. He stripped them off and realized he didn't have underwear, but a white loincloth covering his manhood. He removed it as well and jumped inside the river. The cold water calmed him down somewhat, and he was beginning to enjoy the cold temperatures before a fish nibbled on his toes. Marcus wiggled his feet, and the fish swam away.
"Can't I catch a break!" Marcus sighed and left the river. He used his shirt to soak a bit of the water on his body before putting on his loincloth and pants. The sun was nowhere to be seen, and he wondered what to do when he saw a stone bridge. Marcus walked on the bridge, sat on the side facing away from Riverwood, and placed his shirt next to him to dry. He watched the flowing water for a bit before he looked towards the sky.
'Two moons!' He thought. One far larger than the other. 'Right. I'm no longer on Earth...' He missed his friends and even his aunt and uncle, but he knew that chances are, he will no longer be able to see them. 'At least the stars are the same'
He stayed and watched the sky for a while when he heard. "Kookoorooo!" And realized that the sun was peeking. 'It's good to know that there are chickens in this world.'
Marcus let out a sad sigh and grabbed his shirt. He was putting it on when he heard from behind. "Hey, there. Haven't seen you around here before."
The female voice surprised him, and he barely managed to keep himself from falling into the river. Marcus heard the woman let out a sweet chuckle. "Sorry. Didn't know you are such a scaredy-cat."
Marcus turned around and saw a good looking young woman with black hair and green eyes. She was wearing a brown dress and held a basket, filled with berries, mushrooms, and flowers in her hands. Her skin wasn't as pale as Hadvar and Ralof, so he assumed that she is either an Imperial or a Breton, but he wasn't completely certain. He still didn't know how to perfectly distinguish them.
"Uhm. Hi." Marcus said.
"Hey, scaredy-cat. The name's Camilla. My brother is the owner of the town store, Riverwood Trader." Camilla introduced herself.
"I'm Marcus." He said but didn't know how to continue the conversation from there. Thankfully, she did it for him. "You are the one that came to Riverwood with Alvor's nephew, right?"
"Yeah..." Marcus confirmed.
"You two looked quite beat up. What happened?" Camilla asked.
Marcus saw flashbacks of the previous day and paled. "I-I don't want to talk about it. Sorry."
"That's sad. Riverwood is kinda dull. Was hoping to hear a heroic tale, but I guess you have your Imperial Legion secrets. Well, I won't bother you any more since I have to get those to my brother before he opens the store. Cya later scaredy-cat." Camilla chuckled sweetly before smiling at him and turning around. Marcus wanted to say something, but he couldn't find the right words, so he kept quiet.
Camilla took two steps before she suddenly froze in place. Her eyes turned pitch-black before she turned around. "This sweet lil' girl won't bother you, but I will. HihiHihi."
Marcus's entire body started trembling when he heard the voice. It was the same one that tormented him in his nightmare. He rigidly turned around to see Camilla staring at him with her black eyes.
"How you dooing, Marcus boy. Did ya miss me?" Hearing Galvor's voice coming from Camilla's body frightened Marcus. "Who-Who are you?"
"AH! Tsk, tsk, tsk. It doesn't work that way, Marcus boy. You will have to find that out on your own!" He laughed.
"What do you want from me?" Marcus questioned with a trembling voice.
"Nothing. Well, I lied, I want a lot of things. Nothing from you, though. Nevermind, I actually want something from you as well, but I won't tellllll you what. HeheHaha." Camilla stepped closer to him. "Or maybe I will. Hmmmmm. Yeah, I will. I want to see how far you can go and whether you can return from where you came from! Oh, that will be a blast. If you can find a way back to your home, I'm sure that I would be able to follow you there, and I will have sooooo much fun there. Orrrrr, I would love to see you break and turn into a husk of a human with a broken mind."
Marcus was terrified that someone knew that he wasn't from Tamriel, but it also gave him hope. He was about to ask Camilla or whoever was inhabiting her body, but a butterfly flew in between them. "Ooohh! A butterfly!" With extreme speed, Camilla caught the butterfly and threw it in her mouth. "Tastes sour." She frowned and grinned madly afterward. "I like it!"
Marcus was scared of the being in front of him, but he steeled his heart. This was his only hope of getting some answers. "Why am I here?"
Camilla frowned and started stomping in place. "No, no, no! This is not how it works, Marcus boy. You can't expect me to tell you that you are just a pawn on a biiig chessboard, played by biiiiig boys." Camilla took a thinking position with her hand on her chin "But being a pawn is not that bad. If the pawn reaches the end, it can promote to whatever it wants."
"But why me?" Marcus asked with a terrified voice.
"Marcus, Marcus, MARCUS! This is not how you play this game! If you want me to tell you are the Dragonborn, you have to try harder. I won't do that. Nopidy, nopidy, nope."
Marcus's eyes widened in fear and realization. "So the Dragon has appeared because of my existence here? Because I'm a Dragonborn? Because of me, all those people in Helgen died?"
"AH! The blood and soul of a Dragon, but the brain of a mortal. Sometimes I forget how stupid mortals are. How they still exist is beyond me. The Dragons are back because the last Dragonborn has appeared and the last Dragonborn appeared because the Dragons are back. It's that simple." The being explained with an annoyed voice. Marcus was so shellshocked from the being pretty much confirming that he is a Dragonborn, that he didn't realize that the being said Dagons and not Dragon.
Before Marcus could ask anything else, Camilla raised her hand to stop him. "I took a break from my vacation to see what's so special about the new Dragonborn, but you are like the rest, just a stupid mortal!"
Camilla's eyes suddenly returned back to their normal green, and she started falling towards Marcus, who caught her in his arms. She shook her head and looked towards him. "I blacked out there for a moment. Thank you for catching me, scaredy-cat."
Camilla looked down and noticed that her basket was on the ground with the ingredients that she had gathered earlier spewed around. She crouched down to gather them, and Marcus helped her out while thinking of the conversation that he had with the unknown being. It took them no more than a couple of minutes to gather everything back into the basket.
"My, my. You are such a gentleman, Marcus." Camilla smiled at him. "You saved me from falling and helped me gather my ingredients. I believe your heroic act deserves a reward." Marcus was a head taller than her, so she raised herself on her toes and kissed his cheek.
"Would you mind escorting me back to the store? You wouldn't want this fair lady to blackout on the streets. Right, Marcus?" Camilla asked with a charming smile.
"Um, sure. I have to go back and see if Hadvar is still sleeping. Let me carry the basket for you." Marcus said and took the basket of her hands.
"You are such a gentleman." Camilla purred and latched onto his arm, with her body sticking to his. "It's better if I hold tightly onto you to make sure I don't fall again. You don't mind, right?"
"No, no." Marcus said with his cheeks slightly red.
"If only there was someone as noble as you living in Riverwood." Camilla said with a wishful tone and a hidden meaning, but Marcus didn't reply. He was too embarrassed to say anything else. The two walked in silence until they reach Riverwood Trader, which was right in front of Alvor's house.
Camilla looked at him with a lovely smile. "Thank you for escorting, Marcus." She raised herself on her toes and kissed his cheek again. This time she held her lips there for a bit longer.
"Don't be a stranger, Marcus. I would love to hear your heroic tales. Visit me anytime you are free." Camilla said and took the basket of him. She turned around, and with her hips swaying back and forward, she entered Riverwood Trader. Not before turning around and giving him a wink.
Marcus stood there in a daze for a moment before shaking his head. 'Now is not the time.' He thought and entered Alvor's house. Hadvar and the blacksmith's family were already awake and having breakfast. He noticed that there is one more member that he hadn't seen the previous day. It was a young girl in a brown dress, who was looking at him mischievously.
"There you are, Marcus. For a second there, I thought you ran away when you left the house before sunrise. Come have something to eat with us." Hadvar said.
"I just needed some fresh air." Marcus said.
"Liar!" The girl exclaimed.
"What?" Marcus asked in surprise.
"You and Camilla were kissing!" The girl giggled.
"That's not true. I was just helping her with her ingredients." Marcus said with reddened cheeks.
"Liar, liar, pants on fire! I saw you through the window! Camilla kissed you! Hihihi." The girl giggled while making kissy faces.
"She just kissed me on the cheek for helping her, nothing more." Marcus didn't even know why he was arguing with a little girl, but he did. 'I shouldn't have said anything.'
"All the young men of Riverwood have been trying to court her ever since she came here, but she hadn't even spared them a glance, and yet you succeeded within a day." Sigrid said with a teasing smile.
"Marcus and Camilla sitting on a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" The girl playfully sang, but a single word from her father stopped her. "Dorthe!"
Dorthe crossed her arms, puffed her cheeks, and turned her head away from the bad adults that ruined her fun. She muttered under her breath. "I will hide your tools today for payback."
"Dorthe, let's go heat up the forge." Alvor said and stood up.
"Fine!" Dorthe grumbled, and the two left the house.
Once they were gone, Hadvar turned to Marcus. "There is something that I need to ask of you. I don't know if you had noticed, but there are an awfully low amount of guards here. Normally that isn't a problem since Riverwood is mostly peaceful, but I believe things will change soon. If the Dragon continues attacking other towns, Skyrim will soon be infested with bandits. It will pain me to hear that my hometown got raided by bandits."
Knowing that one way or another his existence in Skyrim brought back the Dragon, Marcus felt guilty for this. "What do you need me to do?" He asked.
Hearing him, Hadvar smiled proudly. "Nothing too troubling, but you will have to travel to Whiterun and speak with Jarl Balgruuf. Report the situation to him and ask him to spare a few guards for Riverwood. He is a good man, and I'm sure that he will help you. If either I or Ralof goes, he will think we are trying to weaken the forces of Whiterun and won't even listen to us since we are part of the Imperial Legion and the Stormcloaks. But if you, someone who had also live through the Dragon attack goes there, he will be more compelled to listen to Riverwoods plight."
Marcus took a deep breath and said. "I will do it, but how do I reach Whiterun."
"Just follow the path north past the stone bridge and continue going north by following the path. Whiterun is a big city, and you won't miss it. You won't have the time to come back since it will take you about a day to reach it, so have this." Hadvar handed him a pouch filled with septims. "Make sure you keep it safe and hidden while outside Whiterun walls. I know that there are a few pickpockets that linger around there."
"I understand."
"Over there." Hadvar pointed towards the bed Marcus woke up in. On it, there was iron armor, a sword, dagger, bow, and a quiver with arrows. "Alvor prepared some equipment for you. The road should still be safe, but it's better to be safe than sorry."
"If there's anything you want to ask, ask now because I will be leaving immediately. I need to report back to Solitude as soon as possible, and my journey will be far longer than yours." Hadvar said.
"How can I get a meeting with the Jarl?" From what he understood the Jarl should be the ruler of the city. Surely someone can't walk inside his home and demand to get an audience with him. "And what can I expect from him?"
"Speak with the guards and tell them you are a survivor from the Dragon attack on Helgen. Jarl Balgruuf will surely want to hear what happened there from someone that had seen it with his own eyes." Hadvar smiled proudly.
"And the Jarl... As I said he is a good man. He is righteous to a fault so make sure you don't lie to him when he asks you questions." Hadvar informed and though. 'Or if you lie, make sure to hide it as best as possible. You, however, can't lie to save your life, Marcus.' He kept that for himself.
"But what if he asks me abo.." Hadvar interrupted him before he finished his question. "Just be honest. The Jarl is an understanding man."
"Okay. I understand." Marcus said.
"Thank you for doing this, Marcus. It means a lot for me and the people of Riverwood." Hadvar raised his hand. Marcus reached out to shake it, but Hadvar was faster and grabbed his forearm in the traditional Nord handshake, and pulled him in for a hug. "May the Divines be with you, Marcus."
"And with you." Marcus replied.
Watching Hadvar leave the house, Marcus felt alone. But when he thought about it, in this world, he truly is alone. He is not from Tamriel and apparently he is a Dragonborn, whatever that may be. If the mad being was to be trusted. Marcus is different from the rest and as much as he would like to return back to Earth, he was stuck here for the time being. He could mop and cry all he wants, but it won't change a thing. He would have to adapt and learn the ways of the people living here. He would walk the only path that he had and that was forward.
Marcus steeled his heart and walked towards the equipment on the bed. He started removing his clothes when he realized two things. One, he still didn't know how to correctly put on armor, and two, Sigrid was still in the house. With reddened cheeks, he turned towards her.
"Is there a problem?" Sigrid asked him with a teasing smile. "Are you perhaps embarrassed?"
"No! Well... maybe. But I also don't know how to put armor on..." Marcus answered with a low voice while looking at the ground.
Sigrid shook her head. "You are a weird Nord, Marcus. Nords don't care about nudity and besides, I've seen every part of your body already."
"What?" Marcus recoiled in surprise, making Sigrid laugh. "Who do you think changed your clothes?" She walked up to him. "Here, let me help you."
Marcus was more than grateful for her help, but he also had to restrain himself to not get too 'excited' whenever she touched his body. She was a wife after all and had a kid, but she wasn't making it easy for him. Sigrid would leave her hand on him for a bit longer than needed to and caress his body ever so slightly, making him shiver in delight.
Marcus knew she was teasing him, so he kept repeating 'Ugly old wrinkled women' as a mantra, and hoped she wouldn't realize how much he enjoyed the touch of a woman. After all, he had zero to no experience with women. Unless you counted his girlfriend from 3rd grade, but they only held hands and hugged a few times, nothing further than that.
"A weird Nord you are, but Hadvar was right, you are a good person." Sigrid said after Marcus had his armor on.
"Thank you for helping me." Marcus bowed his head. "I will be on my way. Once I'm done with my task, I will make sure to repay you and your family for what you did for me."
"Wait." Sigrid stopped him before he exited the house. "This is also for you." She handed him a pouch. "There is a single health potion inside. It's nothing special, but you might need it."
"Thank you!" Marcus received it and bowed his head to her once more. "Once I return, I will definitely repay you."
Sigrid waved her hand dismissively and smiled. "There is no need for that. We are one of the more wealthy families in Riverwood. It will be more than enough if you can get Balgruuf to send some guards to protect us."
"I will do whatever it takes to achieve that!" Marcus promised her, and she smiled. "That's good to hear! Now, off you go before the day ends. And may the Divines watch over you."
"May the watch over your family and keep them safe." Marcus replied and left the house. He still wasn't sure how to properly say goodbye, but he hoped he didn't botch it up too badly.
A few minutes after he left, Alvor entered the house. "Wife, why did you do that?"
"Oh? Is that jealousy I hear, husband?" Sigrid asked with a teasing smile. "You and I know that you would have come in and killed him if he had even dared to touch me. Did you not want to see if he was a good man or not?"
"Urgh." Alvor let a grumble and Sigrid chuckled. She walked up to him and gave him a deep and passionate kiss. "You know that I have eyes only for you, right?" Her eyes turned fierce and she slapped him hard, afterward. "Unlike you, you ungrateful fool. Spend more time in Sleeping Giant staring at Delphine, and I might just decide to see what young Camilla saw in Marcus."
"Now go back to the smithy before Dorothe does something stupid." Sigrid said and Alvor left with a grunt. Nordic love was difficult and hard to understand. A fistfight between a female and male Nord could escalate to passionate sex within a matter of minutes.
It took Marcus a few minutes to pass the northern gate of Riverwood and a few more to reach the stone bridge where he met Camilla. He passed the bridge and turned right, continuing north and following the river. While walking on the path, he was looking around like a little kid. Every fallen tree or flower was oh so interesting to him. They looked similar, yet so different from the ones he was used to. He also noticed a few of the fauna looked like the ones Camilla had in her basket. 'She called them ingredients. Do they use them for cooking? But there were also flowers in her basket. Maybe for potions?'
Marcus walked for about another hour, before reaching a hill where the path was no longer straight, but curved to the left. Massive trees towered in front of him and in between them, he was able to glimpse the great plains below and what awaited him there. The little peek he got was amazing, but it wasn't good enough for him. To the right of him, the river cascaded down like a waterfall. There were a few large rocks in the river, and most importantly, no trees were blocking the view.
Marcus hoped on the rocks while making sure not to slip. He reached the middle and turned around. "Marvelous!" He had only one word for what he saw in front of him.
From his position, he was able to see Whiterun, and it was more than he expected. Marcus thought that the city would be something like Riverwood, albeit on a larger scale. But this was anything like the wooden town.
The castle built at the highest point of the city was so big, Marcus was able to clearly see it from where he was standing. Large stone walls surrounded Whiterun, but that wasn't the end of it. Outside the walls, there were numerous wooden buildings and what looked like tents from where he was standing. Multiple small dots were moving and mingling around. Excitement built inside him, and he couldn't wait to reach the city.
As Marcus was enjoying the view, he suddenly heard a growl from his right, and his head snapped in that direction. A large brown-furred feline with two long, curved saber-shaped canine teeth coming out of its mouth was staring at him. The beast looked like a mixture of a lion and a tiger.
The two of them stared at each other for what felt like hours to Marcus, when the feline suddenly jumped on one of the rocks in the river.
"Oh, shit!" Marcus cursed in fear and turned around. He hopped away on one of the rocks, but since he wasn't being careful, he slipped and fell into the river. The current was too much for him to fight against it with his iron armor on, and Marcus was pushed down the waterfall by it.
"ARH!" Marcus screamed as he fell down in the air, before plunging with his feet first in the water below. The river was deep, but not deep enough. He hit his right foot on a rock and twisted his ankle.
*Gurgle* Water gushed down his throat, and he was already out of breath. He mustered all the strength in his body and swam upwards, which was harder than expected. Who would have thought that swimming with iron armor on would be hard?
As soon as his head was out of the water, Marcus spewed all the water in his mouth and coughed hard. Done coughing, he started taking deep breaths while keeping himself afloat. He had no time for that, however. He faintly heard something running behind him, and he turned around to see the feline running down the hill as if it's flat land.
"Oh, fuck! Oh, fuck! Oh, fuck!" Despite the heavy iron armor on him, he swam like an Olympic swimmer to the other end of the river bank. Marcus reached it just as the feline reached the river. He climbed out and looked behind to see it staring at him.
"Please tell me you can't swim." Marcus begged, but the feline didn't need to swim. It took a few steps backward, before sprinting and jumping the entire river. On pure survival instincts, Marcus tried grabbing one of the weapons that he had, but he realized that all of his equipment was lost due to his fall.
Marcus tried standing up to run away, but he stumbled from the pain in his right ankle. He turned around just in time to see the feline biting in his right leg. "ARGH!"
The feline then jumped on top of him and pinned him to the ground. Staring at the slit eyes of the beast, Marcus thought. 'Is this how it ends? After I survived a Dragon attack, I'm going to die to a big cat?'
The feline snarled before opening its mouth to bite into his neck. Right before the attack connected, two arrows flew out of nowhere and pierced the beast's head. The feline then fell on top of him like a sack of potatoes.
"Holy shit!" Marcus panted hard with the dead beast lying weakly on top of him. He had been in Skyrim for no longer than a day, and yet he had already experienced more than a dozen life and death situations.
'I need to learn how to fight and protect myself. Because I don't think I can survive another day here.' Marcus thought when the large feline was suddenly lifted from him, and his eyes widened in surprise seeing who had done the deed. A beautiful woman with red-brownish hair, grey eyes, and three blue streaks painted diagonally on her face. She was wearing a mixture of iron and leather armor and had a bow strapped on her shoulder. The way she was hoisting the beast didn't match with her appearance.
As Marcus was marveling at her appearance, the adrenaline from his system faded away, and the pain from his new wound got to him. He looked towards his leg only to see a chunk of flesh missing from his thigh. His face turned blue, and he quickly turned away before he pukes his breakfast. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself before reaching towards where his two pouches should have been, only to realize that they were no longer there. 'Damn it.' He cursed and looked towards the beautiful woman that saved him.
"Thank you for saving me, miss. But... may I ask you if you have a potion or something that I could use to bandage my leg?" Marcus asked her, trying to be as courteous as he could with his savior.
"I have, but I won't give you any." The woman replied bluntly while dropping the feline next to him. She pulled out the arrows from the beast's head, cleaned the blood on them with her armor, and put them back in her quiver. She looked at him and seeing the surprised look on his face, she said. "I gain nothing from helping you. To me, it's better if you stay that way."
"What? But I could die from blood loss!" Marcus said.
"If you die, you die. If you live, you live. That's the way of the wild. And as I said, to me, it's better if you stay like that." The woman said and turned around, disappearing in between the trees. Marcus watched her leave with a frozen look on his face. He realized something from this encounter with the huntress. Death was a normal occurrence in Skyrim, and the people living here have become used to it.
Marcus shook his head. 'Now is not the time to be thinking about this. I have to do something about my bleeding.' He thought about what he could do about his situation, but nothing come to mind. 'Am I going to bleed out to death?'
He laid on the ground and looked towards the sky. 'I'm sorry Sigrid, but I guess I will fail my promise.' He stayed on there for a few minutes while feeling weaker and weaker by the moment when he heard a growl coming from his left. Weakly, he turned around to see another feline looking at him with venom. This one was slimmer compared to the one that the huntress killed. Just as it was about to pounce on him, a couple arrows flew out of the trees and pierced its head.
The huntress walked out of the trees and soon reached the feline. She took her arrows and cleaned them off the blood on them before returning them to her quiver. She then turned towards Marcus. "You were good bait."
Marcus ignored her mocking words. He was dying, that much he knew, so he didn't want to bother arguing with someone in his last moments.
The huntress walked up to him, pulled out a health potion from a pouch and made him drink it. "As a reward, you can have this." She was surprised when the wound visibly started healing, albeit a lot slower compared to how quickly his shoulder had healed. She raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything else. Without waiting for a response, she grabbed the two felines by their long teeth and started walking away. Whether he died or lived mattered not to her.
She made no more than a few steps before she froze in place. A sudden pressure covered the surroundings, her eyes turned pitch-black, and she rigidly turned around. She walked back to Marcus, opened her mouth and a male voice came out of it. "So, you are the one that the madman came to visit... You don't look like a worthy prey now. You better grow stronger as fast as possible. I've always longed to hunt one of your kind."
The pressure disappeared just as suddenly as it appeared. The color of the huntress's eyes returned back to normal, and she watched Marcus with widened eyes. Unlike Camilla, she didn't blackout after the being that possed her left. She lost control over her body, but she was still there and heard what her patron told the young man.
Marcus's fast healing was surprising, but nothing that abnormal. There were people with special constitutions living in Tamriel that could achieve the same. She knew that since she was also a fast healer. Slower than him, but fast compared to the rest. She crouched down next to his face and stared at his piercing blue eyes. She was awfully close, close enough that Marcus could smell her breath. Surprisingly, it was somewhat pleasant.
"Name." She said.
"What?" Marcus asked.
"Name. What's your name?" She asked while carefully studying him.
"It's Marcus." He answered with a gulp. He was uncomfortable with the way she was staring at him. She looked like a dog that had just found her new favorite chew toy.
"I'm Aela." She watched him for a bit more and asked. "Where are you going?"
"To Whiterun. I have to warn the Jarl about the Dragon attack on Helgen." Marcus replied.
"So it's true? A Dragon destroyed Helgen?" Aela asked in surprise. She had heard some people saying that they've seen a Dragon, but she didn't believe. Dragons have been extinct for thousands of years.
"Yes..." Marcus shuddered remembering the beast as dark as the night and its two hellish eyes. "I was there. Barely managed to escape."
"You've survived a Dragon attack?" Aela asked and looked him up and down. She had seen Marcus ever since he hopped on top of the rocks in the river. She saw his confrontation with one of her prey, and how he had slipped trying to escape it. He didn't look much of fighter, but her patron had deemed him a worthy prey for Him in the future. There was something special about Marcus, and at that moment, she decided that she would find out what it is.
Aela stood up after making her mind. "Can you walk?"
Marcus stood up weakly and said. "I think I can manage."
Aela turned then turned around and started walking towards the two, now dead feline. "Follow."
"What?" He asked.
"I'm returning to Whiterun, so follow me." Aela said and looked at him, daring him to question her.
"Okay." Marcus decided it would be best to go along with her. He was told that the route to Whiterun should have been safe, but the two large felines spoke otherwise.
クリエイターの想い 
nogainjustpain
nogainjustpain A few things I want to explain about this chapter since I'm sure not everyone would be happy about the two Daedra Princes making an appearance so soon.
The madman appeared because of a few reasons. One, well... he is mad, he does whatever he feels like it. Marcus was going to have a nightmare about his first kill either way, and he just decided to spice it up. Two, to tell Marcus that he is being watched and manipulated in a way, hinting that his survival in Helgen is not entirely by luck. Three, is to tell him that he is the Dragonborn. This was the most important one. I would have no problem with Marcus learning about it the normal way by killing a Dragon, but that's the problem. He would have to kill a Dragon first, and I don't see him charging a Dragon when he saw what Alduin did to Helgen. When Balgruuf asks him for assistance in the future, he would have no reason to help him. In fact, he would want to go as far away from there as possible. But if he knew or at least believed he is the Dragonborn, he would have a weigh on his shoulders thinking. 'The Dragon is here because of me. I'm the one that supposed to stop it, and if I don't, thousands of people will die because I didn't do anything.'
Now, the second encounter was because I needed Aela to be interested in him in some way. Marcus badly needs someone to teach him how to fight and I chose her. She uses a bow, and who better other her to teach him how to fight with one. I also couldn't think of any other way for Marcus to gain her interest or impress her other than this. Maybe I could've made a scene where he saves her, but I really don't see that happening. If Aela is ever in a situation where she would need saving, she would more than likely turn into her beast form as a last resort, and Marcus would probably shoot/attack her. After all, Ralof and Hadvar explained to him the other races, and they wouldn't have said anything good about werewolves.
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