4E 202, High Hrothgar
Gerron Ironbreaker
Kiera soared upward like a comet, Dawnbreaker blazing in her grip. Wisps of dragon power roiled around her, shining in the blue, yellow, and white lights. "YOL TOOR SHUL!"
Orange dragonfire of the Kruziik and the golden flame of Dawnbreaker spiraled into a single, searing torrent. The beam burned so hot it turned white at its core, swallowing Alduin whole. For a breath, the World-Eater was nothing more than a shadow inside a flaming star.
The mountain quaked as snow boiled into steam. A heat haze had formed that warped the air. Even Gerron was feeling it though Caraxes' Dragonscale vest, prickling his skin like needles.
Gerron gave a low whistle, appreciative of the power.
From within the inferno came a roar so deep it shook the mountain. Alduin's silhouette surged through the fire, spinning with such violence that hurricane winds roared outward, snuffing the blaze as though it were a mere torch.
And then he lunged.
Massive talons gouged through stone like paper as Alduin launched himself at Kiera, his one and only target.
Gerron's legs coiled, the ground cracking beneath his boots as he vaulted forward. He swung the Mercury Hammer with all his momentum, crashing it into Alduin's skull and snapping it sideways. "You want her? You gotta get through me!"
Serana's voice cut through. "Gerron, get clear!"
Gerron jumped back as she flicked her wrist skyward. A humongous spike of ice erupted from the courtyard, spearing upward into Alduin's chest. The impact launched the dragon into the air.
It was not enough to pierce his scales, but Gerron saw him flinch in pain. The sudden shift of temperature had certainly hurt him.
It was the most basic rule of forging, one that made Gerron grin. It was the plan he had conjured on the spot, one that any blacksmith could be proud of. They were basically treating Alduin as a piece of metal slab.
His scales were harder than steel. So what do you do to beat it down? You heat it, hammer it, and cool it. In that order.
The oldest lesson of the forge. And right now, Alduin was the steel waiting to be worked.
Alduin hit the ground like a meteor, stone splintering under his weight. Gerron was on him in a heartbeat, bellowing as his hammer swung in both hands with every ounce of might he had at his disposal.
The twin thrusters at the head ignited as the blow slammed into Alduin's ribs, an explosion of blue sparks that sent him gouging through the courtyard. Alduin's roar shook the sky in pure rage. Twin ruby red eyes filled with malice still regarded them as if they were ants. Boulders rattled loose that turned to avalanches that cascaded down the slopes.
"FUS RO DAH!"
The words cracked across existence itself, a wave of force exploding outward. Gerron braced for impact. Until Kiera appeared in front of him.
"FUS RO DAH!"
Her shout collided with Alduin's. The two opposing forces met in a deafening shockwave that rippled all throughout the mountain.
The air split open, a shockwave blasting outward in concentric rings. Snow vaporized, stone cracked, and Gerron watched with wide eyes as the very peak of the Throat of the World shattered. The tip of the mountain, proud and eternal for ages untold, broke free and tumbled down into the mists far below.
"By Shor's balls…" Gerron muttered, teeth gritted as he dismissed the hammer. The Spellshield flared into being, the translucent ward expanding as he crouched low.
The aftershocks from the apocalyptic impact came in abundance. The force hammered against the shield as Gerron could feel his arm shake from every impact.
Across the courtyard, he could see Serana covering herself in walls and walls of thick ice to protect herself, each one crumbling just as quick as she made them.
Looking back, he could see the walls of High Hrothgar crumbling. The stone splintered where the shockwaves met against it. Screams echoed from inside.
"We can't stay here!" Gerron bellowed, straining against the gale. "We've got to bring the fight away from High Hrothgar!"
Serana didn't hesitate. Her arms snapped forward, frost exploding outward in twin chains of crystalline links. They wrapped around Gerron and Kiera's waists, anchoring them as she raised her palm high.
The wind itself seemed to answer her. The cold of the upper atmosphere condensed into her hand, a storm of cold wind funneling into her magic.
She slammed her palm down.
A towering pillar of ice erupted from the courtyard, carrying all three of them up, up, and up again. The world dropped away below as the pillar soared, dragging them higher into the stormy sky, straight toward Alduin's burning silhouette.
…
4E 202, High Hrothgar
Ulfric Stormcloak
High Hrothgar shook once more as the monastery shuddered and groaned, its stone walls splintering beneath the weight of the shockwaves. Dust choked the air, and the cries of the wounded echoed through the sacred hall.
Ulfric grit his teeth as he stumbled, steadying himself against a broken wall.
After the dragons fell, they had gathered in the inner chambers, where the non-combatants had fled. Yet even here, safety was an illusion. The glorious temple that once stood as a beacon of wisdom and power now crumbled around them.
The temple of learning now lay in ruins. Ulfric gazed at High Hrothgar, where he had once knelt before the Greybeards and tasted the Voice's gift. Pain filled his heart at the sight of the wreckage.
But sentiment would not save lives. He pushed through and turned to the more important matters.
"Galmar!" he bellowed, voice booming over the chaos. "Usher a retreat! We must climb back down to Ivarstead! High Hrothgar is lost!"
"Yes, my Jarl!" Galmar's answer came.
Ulfric turned to the Emperor, meeting Titus Mede's blood-flecked face. "And you? What will you do?"
The Emperor's eyes were grim. "We must clear Ivarstead of the undead. Five dragons fell today, though we are not without our own losses."
Ulfric grimaced at that. The word was too light, too small to contain the truth.
When the dragon attack came, everyone was caught by surprise. The Jarls of Falkreath and Morthal died in the initial onslaught, crushed in the dragon's opening assault. Brunwulf Free-Winter, his second bodyguard and a man of honor, had perished as well. Skyrim bled leaders as easily as soldiers.
Moving swiftly, Ulfric moved to assist Jarl Laila Law-Giver to her feet. The woman had a nasty cut on her head from a bad fall.
"Apologies for the convenience, Jarl Ulfric…" The woman apologized.
"Where are your guards?" he asked, scanning the chamber.
"The Blades… were out fighting the dragons. I don't know where they are now."
Ulfric merely scoffed as he waved Galmar over. "Take her to safety."
His right-hand man nodded, already moving to support the wounded Jarl.
"What of Alduin, the Black Dragon?" Balgruuf rasped from where he sat slumped against a broken pillar, Irileth binding his arm in strips of torn cloth. His left arm hung useless, bone cracked when he shielded a dragon's charge.
"We'll have to trust the Dragonborn and her companions to handle him." Titus Mede affirmed.
Before Ulfric could respond, a shout tore through the hall.
"Jarl Elisif, look out!" Legate Rikke cried.
Ulfric's head snapped around. A massive slab of roof stone had broken loose above Elisif, tumbling toward her. The young Jarl froze, horror in her eyes.
Sybille Stentor moved first, throwing herself over Elisif, but it would not have been enough.
A blur of fur and muscle intercepted the collapse. Vilkas, in his beast form, caught the stone with clawed hands, veins bulging with strain as he held back the weight of an entire roof collapse. Elisif tumbled to the ground with a gasp.
Ulfric's instincts took hold. He drew in a breath, his chest swelling with power.
"FUS!"
The Shout ripped from his lungs, a thunderclap of the Thu'um. The rubble shattered apart and blew backward, scattering harmlessly across the chamber. Dust whipped like smoke, revealing Elisif trembling, Sybille crouched over her, and Vilkas still braced like a living pillar.
"Thank you, Companion," Elisif whispered, shaken. Her gaze flicked to Ulfric as their eyes met. She said to trembled lips. "Y-You too, Jarl Ulfric."
He only inclined his head, letting her see no more than a soldier's acknowledgment.
A new presence entered then, calm amidst the storm. Arngeir, flanked by the other Greybeards, walked into the chamber. Even in these circumstances, as the temple crumbled around, their faces were masks of serenity.
"Keeper Carcette, I need your assistance," Arngeir said.
Carcette did not even look up, her one good hand glowing as she pressed healing light into a vigilant's chest wound. "I'm a little busy here, Arngeir."
"It is Paarthurnax and Vermithor," Arngeir explained, his voice carrying weight. "They are injured. If you heal them, they might rejoin the fight against Alduin."
The chamber hushed. Even amidst ruin, the thought of dragons standing beside them against the World-Eater gave them pause. An odd kind of hope, Ulfric would say.
"I'll go," Isran said suddenly, standing tall despite a cut across his cheek. "I can heal just as well as her."
"Tolan, go with him," Carcette ordered. "Kiera needs all the help she can get."
"Got it," the Vigilant replied, already moving.
Ulfric let out a breath through his nose as the small motley party ran out of the crumbling temple. There were too many pieces in motion, too much for them to handle.
"What of the Dragon Priest? Rahgot, was it?" Ulfric asked the room at large. "Laila said he is both warrior and necromancer. The more men we lose in Ivarstead's defense, the more he will raise against us."
"Allow me," said a cool, measured voice. The Archmage of Winterhold stepped forward, his eyes alight with an expression that Ulfric couldn't identify. "I would see with my own eyes what such a creature is capable of."
Titus Mede nodded once, "So be it. That leaves the rest of the army to us. The rest of you, make your way down the mountain! We're leaving!"
There was no hesitation this time. Broken nobles, battered soldiers, and weary warriors alike began to move, the great hall emptying into the mountain path.
Ulfric lingered only a moment longer, casting one last look at the ruins of High Hrothgar. His heart burned at the sight, but there was no time to mourn. Skyrim's fight was not yet done.
…
4E 202, Skies above the Throat of the World
Gerron Ironbreaker
The pillar of ice carried them higher and higher, slicing through mist and storm until the world below was swallowed in clouds.
Gerron could feel the air thinner up here. They were as sharp and biting as knives in his lungs, but he stood firm. His grip tightened on his weapon, eyes flicking toward Kiera.
She had closed her eyes, face taut with strain. Not from the ascent, but from what was behind them. High Hrothgar, crumbling beneath Alduin's wrath.
'This was her home for months when she trained under the Greybeards…' Gerron's heart tightened at the sight.
"You alright?" he rumbled.
Beneath the armor that formed off the wisps of Dragon Aspect, Kiera nodded lightly. "Yeah. They'll be alright."
He wanted to believe her.
The pillar finally stopped rising as it reached maximum height. Gerron's eyes widened. "We're way above the clouds now."
A vast ocean of white stretched in every direction, endless as far as the eye can see. The sun blazed high, casting gold fire across the sea of mist. For a moment, even Gerron's war-hardened heart faltered at the beauty of it.
"I figured this should be enough for the temple to be safe from our fight," Serana said, releasing the magic. The chains of ice dissolved.
The wonder lasted a heartbeat. Then the clouds parted.
A blazing torrent of fire speared upward in their direction and Kiera swiftly reacted, conjuring a gargantuan ward just in time to stop the concentrated beam of flames aimed at them.
"Woah, since when could you make a ward that big?" Gerron exclaimed.
"Since just now!" Kiera screamed back.
The vapor inside the clouds boiled from the heat as cracks started to appear upon the ward's surface. Alduin's beam of flames remained focused on one spot, spilling white-hot flames in all directions.
Gerron shifted his weapon, the head hammer blooming like a flower into crossbow form. He braced himself and fired, bolt after bolt of deep-blue magicka tearing through the air. Each impact bathed Alduin's form in smoke, forcing the black dragon to cut off his breath and veer wide.
Behind him, Serana focused, massive amounts of frost magic coalescing on her palm. She turned to meet Kiera's gaze, a silent nod shared between them.
Together, they unleashed their wrath.
"FO KRAH DIIN!"
A blizzard of raw Thu'um erupted from Kiera's lungs, howling winds of ice and snow. At the same instant, Serana loosed her spell, a piercing beam of frost wide enough to swallow Alduin whole.
The twin attacks crashed into Alduin mid-flight, blanketing his form. Ice encased him, creeping across his wings and claws, locking him in place as gravity pulled him earthward.
"Gerron!" Kiera's voice came in. "Throw me at him!"
Gerron blinked for half a second before a massive grin appeared on his face.
Kiera's body shifted, her skin cloaking itself in the hard sheen of Ebonyflesh. She thrust out her arm. Gerron clasped her wrist, his massive hand swallowing hers.
With a roar, the Chosen of Zenithar spun once, twice. Just as Gerron reached the apex of his throw, Kiera shouted. "WULD NAH KEST!"
With Gerron's demigod-level strength, combined with the Dragon Aspect enhanced shout, a sonic boom erupted as he let go, a missile of living steel unleashed by Kiera's take off.
Dawnbreaker ignited in her hands, golden fire roaring to life, becoming the equivalent of a golden spear. For one impossible heartbeat, the skies themselves seemed to burn.
A heartbeat later, a massive hole was punched through Alduin's chest, Kiera emerging from the other side.
…
AN: Remember when the three of them struggled against Caraxes? How far they've grown.
I had a great time coming up with this fight. Team up battles against an overwhelming enemy is always fun. I designed the combat a little bit like the 2 emperors vs 5 supernovas in One Piece.
Also, that whole Ulfric sequence was great. The same Thu'um that killed Elisif's husband was just used to save her life. I wonder what she thinks now?
As always, more chapters are available on my Pat_reon. Chapter 71 should be available by the time this chapter was posted. Just look up my name and you'll find me.
Cheers guys and see you next time!