บท 587: Past Victories

"Don't people go blind when they look at these things!?" Surtr asks, eying the dragon suspiciously.

"Some, but you are destined for this. Open it, Dragonborn, see."

...

With nothing else left to do, Surtr opens the scroll and is immediately blinded by it. He tries to throw it away but feels it sticking to his hands, locking him in place. He lets out a muffled scream and closes his eyes, only for a glowing pattern to seemingly be engraved to the inside of his eyelids.

The patterns glows with intensity, gradually getting brighter and brighter, Surtr felt like his skull was going to explode, unable to rid himself of the blinding brightness, until... It suddenly stops, leaving him in darkness...

Was this what the Moth priests felt when they finally lost their sight? Had he been betrayed by the dragon?

...

Thankfully, something manifested into view... A splotchy, dark red window into a fuzzy reality... A blizzard with raging around the Throat of the World, and three people stood against Alduin... They a shout Surtr hadn't ever heard before... Even amongst his tens of thousands of years of compiled memories...

JOOR ZAH FRUL, the words of mortality, of humans... Dragonrend.

They battle for hours, maybe even days, but even with the power of Dragonrend crippling Alduin, eventually one of the heroes fell. Alduin bit through her body and swallowed her torso as her companions roared in fury and anguish.

The second hero soon follows, without their combined might they were unable to combat the dragon... Alduin roars in triumph as his foes fall one by one, his opposition crumbling...

But, he didn't take one thing into account. The Elder Scroll, the same one Surtr had used earlier, the Nordic hero raises it up above his head and commands it, sending Alduin into the future, saving the present, or past from Surtr's perspective.

The vision ends with the last remaining hero mourning over his companions, knowing full well that they'd failed in their mission and only postponed Alduin's return.

With that, the vision ends sending Surtr back into blackness... Then the bright patterns return, blinding him once more and allowing him to blink, his vision clearing and revealing himself still standing atop the Throat of the World with the four dragons... Wait, wasn't it three dragons?

His eyes widen as he spots Alduin flying above the mountain with the three friendly dragons standing against him positioned around Surtr protectively.

"I FELT YOUR PRESENCE, DOVAHKIIN, AND THE PRESENCE OF THAT FOUL SCROLL! YOU ARE MISTAKEN IF YOU THINK I WILL FALL FOR THAT TRICK AGAIN!" the giant black dragon angrily exclaims.

"You are a fool to come here, brother!" Paarthurnax shouts back.

"YOU ARE NO BROTHER OF MINE, PAARTHURNAX, YOU LOST THAT RIGHT WHEN YOU CHOOSE THESE MORTALS OVER YOUR KIN! LOOK AT YOU NOW, WHO YOU CALL ALLIES! A ROTTING ABOMINATION! AN IMPURE WHELP! AND A MORTAL! PATHETIC!"

Surtr shakes his head, finally recovering from the scroll's effects, "THIS MORTAL WILL PUT YOUR HEAD ON HIS WALL! COMING HERE IS YOUR LAST MISTAKE, ALDUIN!"

"I KNOW OF THE PROPHECY, DOVAHKIIN, IT CALLS YOU LAST DRAGONBORN FOR A REASON! WITH NO WORLD, THERE CAN BE NO MORE!"

"NO! THERE JUST WON'T BE A NEED FOR ANOTHER! JOOR ZAH FRUL!" he shouts, using the recently learned shout.

Dragonrend launches a huge blue wave towards Alduin, striking him in the chest and causing him to stumble and falter in the air... He was quickly descending, unable to keep himself flying under the shout's effect.

"THAT FOUL MOCKERY OF OUR LANGUAGE!" Alduin furiously roars. The shout didn't just bring dragons to the ground, it rendered them closer to mortality, drastically reducing their strength.

*Kuuuush!*

Alduin hits the ground hard, uplifting snow and stone. Even when crippled however, he was an imposing sight. Standing much taller than both Paarthurnax and Durnehviir, even with how large they were compared to most other dragons. "I WILL DEVOUR YOU AS I DID YOUR ANCESTORS! MORTAL!"

"Go!" Paarthurnax exclaims, flying into the air with Durnehviir and Illococoo before proceeding to rain fire and other shouts down at Alduin... His scales absorb most of the damage however, the dragon simply glares up at them in annoyance.

"DOVAH BAH QO!" Alduin shouts, causing the world above them to start swirling, and small meteors to start falling. A modern-day man would liken it to being directly under an artillery barrage, Surtr was lucky enough that most of these stayed a good distance from Alduin, but his dragon friends were having to continually dodge in mid-air to avoid them.

High Hrothgar and the other settlements around the mountain were likely having problems too, the shout was affecting too wide of an area to avoid collateral damage.

"Hi Fen Aus! Zu'u Fen Zek Faal Suleyk Bormah sheek Kael Hi!" (YOU WILL SUFFER! I WILL BACK THE POWER FATHER MISTAKENLY GAVE YOU!) "YOL TOOR SHUL!"

"YOL TOOR SHUL!" Surtr fires his own fire breath against Alduin's, allowing the flames to crash against each other in a power struggle. Surtr was coming off worse however, slowly giving way to Alduin's attack.

"Ag Wah Kii! Lif kora Orin Enkii!" (BURN TO ASH! LEAVE NOUGHT EVEN AN EMBER!) Alduin roars, causing his flames to intensify even further.

"YOL!... YOL!...." Surtr tries to push back, but it's not nearly enough...

"Yol Sahlom Votahriik!" Illococoo shouts as she flies overhead, instantly lowering the strength of Alduin's flames... This only allows Surtr to leap out of the way though, barely avoiding a fiery death in the process.

He draws Wuuthrad from his back and charges the great dragon, shouting "SU GRAH DUN!", using Elemental Fury to empower himself. "DIE ALDUIN! DIR!"

"MAH BO LOK!" Alduin growls, and Surtr finds himself losing tracking on the ground, his body turning and beginning to fall upwards, as if gravity had been reversed. The dragon follows it up by shouting "FUS RO DAH!".