DAY UNKNOWN
Chapter 2:
The gods have abandoned Skyrim, perhaps all of Tamriel. What I have seen today... what I've had to do... I've never witnessed so much destruction except... once. There are things in this world that would be dismissed as legend and folklore, but let me be a cautionary tale to anyone who may discover this book off my likely charred corpse. Black winged demon of flaming breath, are you really what I would think you to be? Could you possibly be a bringer of the end times? A dragon....
Where to start? In my last entry I mentioned the soldiers, the men in blue cloth and brown leather. They offered me safe passage aboard their carriage, we rode for some time before we were ambushed. Imperial Legionnaires flooded in from all sides, they... rather, we were outnumbered. The men I rode with fought honorably and with such ferocity that I've ever witnessed before, and the blond man with the black coat, Ulfric was his name, he was the fiercest of them all. Ulfric wielded a type of magic that I've only ever seen once before, words spoken from the mouth that can kill, not like a curse, more like a force. The sound was thundering and loud and you could feel your bones tremble beneath from the pressure and sound of the words. The man shouted people apart, but he was only able to do so once before being snuck up by a few legionnaires. Ulfric was quickly gagged and bound.
In this confusion of the skirmish I attempted to flee before being warned by a crafty no good archer that another step would be my last. I urged the Imperials that I was not one of them, that I had just asked for safe passage, but it mattered not, a cold faced woman made the call that I go with the others. Out of sheer panic I attempted to flee before being struck down by a nearby imperial solider with a bash of his shield, it was then that I blacked out. Now bound like the rest of the "Stormcloaks" as they were called we found ourselves on a new carriage. This one bound for a place called Helgen. Upon waking from my concussed state I found myself in a carriage with the Stormcloaks heading into the place that was to be the "end of the line".
Townsfolk gathered on outside their houses and a father urged his son in the house. My heart sank for I took it as a sign. A sign of what the end of the line really meant. The carriage suddenly halted and we were asked to step forward, our names were called, all but mine but the cold faced woman urged the man holding the list to simply forget the list. It was the headsman's axe for me. A priestess was reading out last rights before an impatient Stormcloak solider walked forward urging the headsman to get on it with, as if he had some place to be. Either brave or stupid, I still don't know.
The axe dropped and his head separated from his neck with and his blood ran wild all over the headsman's block and into the grass and dirt below that. People shouted for justice, and death was wished upon us from the crowd. I was called next. "The nord in the rags".
It was then we all heard it. Another thundering sound, this one deep and bellowing. Crowd and prisoners alike all hushed. A man of ranking stepped forward and assured us it was nothing, and to press on, I saw that the man of ranking, this... General Tullius wanted Ulfric dead. There was a vendetta of sorts between these two men. I approached the headsman and rested my neck on the block, my own neck now wet and sticky with the blood of the man before me. The sound was heard again, the thundering echo and this time accompanied with a roar that could belong to your worst nightmares, a hollow sound that rang in your ears. That shook the very bones of you. This time the sound was much more as a shadow in the distance became nightmare incarnate within less than a second when the origin of the sound revealed itself as a gigantic black dragon, it's black sharp and spiky body, blood red glowing eyes and fearsome black wings caused widespread panic among the crowd, the monstrosity landed on an tower that overlooked the headsman and I and seemed to shake Nirn itself.
A thundering bellow and a whirling force left the monstrosity's mouth and the sky turned red and black. Fireballs rained down from the heavens. It was then that the headsman stumbled and lost his footing, as a fireball plummeted into the ground nearby. The shock-wave of the impact left my vision blurred as a familiar voice called out to me. "Kinsman, get up, the gods won't give us another chance!"
I got to my feet as quick as possible and stumbled clumsily to the doorway where the voice was and as my vision cleared I saw myself standing with Ulfric and another man. This man a dwarf compared to Ulfric but a strong looking soldier none the less. As I struggled with my rope that bound my hands together, Ulfric and the Stormcloak Soldier quickly devised an escape route through the tower. As we ascended the tower I spotted another Stormcloak soldier clearing rubble to clear a way for escape, I went to help him but... the monstrosity smashed through the tower wall and unleashed a hell-fire. When the demon flew off to terrorize the archers firing upon him this man that called out to me urged me to jump out of the tower to an inn below the tower. The inn's roof had been scorched by fire and left an opening large enough for me to jump into. Before I could jump I was shoved off the tower and I fell into the inn below. I barely felt the landing and was on my feet faster than I could have ever imaged. I don't know what got into me just then but it was then that I decided I would live. With that resolution in mind I dashed across the inn's upper floor, down to the lower floor and out the door, past a legionnaire and a young boy too frightened to move, the dragon landed beside me and I tumbled but quickly regained my footing, and ran down what between the back of a house and a wall, up a few stairs and through the remains of a destroyed home already on fire, out into the battle where the man of ranking barked commands at his underlings, arrows and fireballs from adept legion mages were sent hurling after the beast on black wings.
I didn't waste any time as my feet wouldn't allow me, I spotted another nearby tower and sprinted with all the stamina left in me to the closest door and threw my shoulder into it, the door gave way and I was in.
That was the last I saw of the black winged demon. The man who called out to me, a blonde nord who looked about my age bursted in shortly after I got to my feet. When he caught his breath, he cut loose my bindings and put an axe in my hand. I took the armor of one of his fallen comrades and we ran through hallways and corridors, battling legionnaire after legionnaire that occupied the lower levels of the tower basement. A broken wall in a dungeon offered us means for escape through a tunnel that led us to a cave occupied by spiders larger than most dogs. I abandoned the soldier, and ran past the spiders and never looked back, I ran until I found myself face to face with a man-eating bear. I stood my ground against hungry predator and sunk the axe in my hand deep into the open jaws of the bear, it's eyes went dark and it's jaw slack as it heavily fell and cracked the bones it had collected around itself. I ripped the axe from the jaw of the bear only to see the blond nord running down from where I had left him to die. Without hesitation I threw my axe at him, and kept running, I saw him duck the thrown axe. I ran faster he did. And before I knew it I was out of the tunnel and outside again.
Fearing only the worst from the Soldier I ran into the trees and didn't stop, never looking back to see if he was in pursuit. After I could run no longer, I hid, watching for any sign of chase from the soldier.
After I could be sure that I had not been followed, I made my way down a nearby road until I found a lake. I quickly disposed of the Stormcloak armor and left only with my loincloth I swam to a small camp that was left abandoned on a small island in the middle of the lake. There were a few items of interest there, but my heart still racing and now naked I searched for something to wear. I found a well worn set of clothes and put them on. It is here I sit writing a new entry into a new book I have found, for the previous one along with all my savings and supplies were lost in the blaze of Helgen.
I doubt I'll get much sleep tonight... so long as I don't see another dragon anytime soon, I think I'll be ok.
What do I do? Is this the end of times? Gods help us...