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🕑 Added 2024-03-31 15:30:21 +0000 UTC749: Wrath of a Father
Where were Thor and Idun taken? A question left everyone in Saarthal holding their breath until Jon and Nurina finished the tracing ritual.
"You're ready?"
While standing in the children's room that was spared from the fire, Nurina looked at Jon and he nodded back to her. Suddenly, he disappeared from the room in a blink of an eye.
Those who saw that jumped into the room towards Nurina immediately, complaining that this wasn't supposed to happen and they ought to go with him.
Nurina had to explain to them that things didn't go that way because there were many possibilities of what could be waiting for them on the other side, and only Jon could be trusted to go and return without suffering damage.
But while she was in the midst of explaining things to them, a sound was heard as Jon teleported back.
"It's useless." He said as he walked between his kin.
"What? Why?" Hilda cried as she pushed everyone on her way aside to come to him.
"I ended up on Mount Anthor, and from there I found ten traces of teleportation magic. To do the tracking ritual ten times, it would take us an hour and they could have gone anywhere." Jon said and concluded, "We need different ways to chase them."
"No! My babies." Hilda seemed broken but everyone around her started to come up with suggestions to look for the kids.
Wulfur and Bjorna decided to go with their animals and look for any scent of the kids out there, and since the kids' room was spared from the fire, there would be something for the animals to sniff. The problem would be the fact that there is no scent trail to follow as the children were teleported away, which means Wulfur and Bjorna would travel across the land in order to pick up the scent.
For that, Skadi Firemane offered to lend her expertise as a Water Diviner in order to narrow down the search area.
As for the others, many decided to go out and search every inch of Skyrim for traces of the kidnappers. This way was inefficient in most cases but the Firemanes had a very special advantage, two in fact.
The first advantage is their beasts. The Firemanes' craft is originally herding, taming, and breeding beasts. Some of these beasts are very sought after by the rich and powerful clans all across Tamriel and so one can consider their market to be continent-wide.
This means that they will go out there and start tracking the twins with tracking animals until their kidnappers are snuffed out.
As for Jon, he wasn't sure which approach to take but Alina suggested going after the twins with the Clairvoyance spell. The problem with Clairvoyance is that — unlike the game — it takes intense focus and Jon wasn't the best at divining things. So Alina took on that one as he simply just followed while sharpening his teeth she nails for any fight.
The only one who left on his own was Jonrad and he took to the west with nothing but the sword Goldbrand that was given to him by Jon.
And so the search began.
A day passed and by the next night, reports started to flow towards Winterhold.
It seemed that the children were taken across the Pale and not too far to Hjaalmarch. Wulfur and Bjorna encountered many difficulties along the way including what seemed to be an endless swarm of Ice Wraiths.
At that point, the anomalies were only starting to emerge. After Wulfur and Bjorna, Jon and Alina arrived from the northern direction of Dawnstar and were met with what can be said as a chaotic storm of lightning bolts and a strong blizzard that rained all its might against them even with Spring being almost over.
"I haven't seen a storm this violent before." Alina said as she braced herself with an extra layer of clothing.
"Lucky you!" Jon said as he did the same.
"You've seen a storm worse than this?" She asked.
"A temporal storm." Jon said and recalled the events that happened in the chaos of worlds.
"How was that?"
"It is like creation itself is turning against you."
"Sounds like a storm alright."
"Let's keep going. The kids are in there." Jon shook off the useless thoughts and took the lead ahead of Alina as he protected her with his big physique and cloaking spells from the storm.
"Jon, I was wondering. If we had children of our own, wouldn't your enemies go as far as trying to threaten you with them?" Alina asked.
"My enemies tried to threaten me with you once. Remember what happened to them?" Jon replied.
"Oh, yes. The poor fools." Alina nodded, "Well, it was mostly thanks to how awesome I am."
"Whatever you say, Princess." Jon shrugged his shoulders.
"But really think about it. If this wasn't your parents' enemies, can't this be the doing of your enemies?" She asked.
"Jonrad and Hilda jumped to the conclusion that it must be some of their enemies looking to settle an old score for that reason. They didn't want me to think it may be my enemies. They thought I may do something reckless and fly head-on into a trap."
"So you knew."
"Of course I knew." Jon sighed and turned to Alina, "This one has the Dragon Cult fingerprints all over it."
"So?" She asked as she caught up to him.
"So?" Jon turned away, "All they want is me. They will keep the kids alive until I get there. No matter what they do, I'll beat them badly and get back my little siblings. I have the Seven Sins, a Shadow Cat, some friends in the high places of Oblivion, my Thunder Cookie, and my dear wife with me. What chances do they stand?"
"That's the problem, Jon." Alina followed up hastily, "You are too much as you are right now. Your enemies will try to restrain you."
"You mean by getting me out of Winterhold and attacking me from the back?" Jon asked, "You know we've made countermeasures for that."
"But what if they went out of their way to target someone else, knowing that you are no longer someone they can deal with?" Alina asked a question which caused Jon to halt his steps.
He stood for a while and started thinking.
"If they are considering me some sort of an unstoppable force at this point, they may try to find something as strong as me." Jon said and turned to Alina, "What would you do if you were them?"
"If I was the Dragon Cult? Simple! I'll find the strongest Dragon and pour all the resources I have into making him strong enough to get rid of you." Alina answered.
"Alduin." Jon narrowed his eyes as he was slowly starting to realize something.
"You weakened Alduin's effort to regain his power by halting the war. As you keep getting stronger, he cannot." Alina said and then added, "Moreover, you made sure to hunt the Dragon Cult whenever they rear up their ugly heads. They can't reignite the war anytime soon."
"Well, that was the plan." Jon nodded.
"Then what if the Dragon Cult decided to change its approach? Rather than quantity, they'd go looking for quality." Alina pointed out.
"I'm listening." Jon said with a dangerous look in his eyes.
"They thinned us out all across Skyrim now. All they need to do is to strike us individually while totally avoiding you. If any of us falls in battle and goes to Sovngarde…" Alina speculated and left it for Jon to figure out.
"It is quality over quantity for big old Alduin." He said and let out a big sigh.
It was a possibility but if Alina is the one who speculated it, it is probably the enemy's plan.
"How do we respond to that?" Jon asked.
"Since we are narrowing down the location of the kids, I guess we should call off the search and tell everyone to return to Saarthal and stay on guard." Alina said.
"The only problem here is that this storm is keeping us from establishing proper communication. There is something magic about it." Jon pointed out before shrugging, "Guess I'll send Nefertiti."
"Who do you think the Dragon Cult will try to target first?" Alina asked.
"I have a good idea on who. The problem is they are walking into a trap of their own making." Jon replied and then gave Alina a hint, "People with sight problems confuse us together but he's the ugly one."
"Yeah. You'll never shut up about that." Alina shook her head and then looked around, "It seems we are being attacked as well."
"Cultists?" Jon asked.
"Vampires." Alina replied.
"Those sad excuses of mosquitoes. I see our enemies banding together."
"That would be easier than running around to round them up."
Jon and Alina had enough with talking and sparks of magic started flashing from their hands as they were facing a horde of vampire and evil creatures jumping out from the storm.
***
As Jon and Alina were fighting through the storm in the North, and Wulfur and Bjorna were charging through enemies in the south, the east was the only side where one man was walking through without much hindrance.
There was no storm, no blizzard, no fire or ice, just a barren wasteland of mist and fog.
His armor was light and his steps were quiet, but his expressions were rather heavy. After all, he's a man whose children went missing because he wasn't able to get to them in time.
As he kept walking and following the breadcrumbs left for him by the enemies that were luring him in, he came to a quiet halt and his gaze parted from the ground he was intensively looking at and kept looking ahead.
The air moved subtly but as he was thinking, the subtle movement of air molecules started getting more agitated by the second. His eyes twitched showing his age wrinkles, his sleeves fluttered showing his scarred arms, and his hand moved towards the hilt under his cloak, and with one clean swift movement, a stream of flames targeting him was cut in half followed by a loud thud and an earth tremor behind him.
A dragon that flew through the mist fell down as its fire chased off the moisture in the air.
A large beast as it can be seen, fell to a sword strike charged with a formless aura but that falling wasn't as critical as it was humiliating.
"Vahrot Kreniik!" (Oathbreaker!)
The Dragon sprung up from its awkward fall and faced Jonrad who still hadn't turned for him.
"This is quite the sad joke, even for a Dragon." Jonrad spoke with a voice void of emotion.
"YOL TOOR SHUL!"
The Dragon managed to get up and reared his head back before unleashing its flaming breath at Jonrad who stood unfazed.
With Goldbrand in his hand, Jonrad only braced the with the blade in front of him and the fire breath of the dragon was cut in two. Once that was over, Jonrad pointed the blade backward and absorbed all the fire breathed out by the Dragon and rounded it on the blade before striking with an upward slash that made a large whip of fire on its trail.
The Dragon wasn't fast enough to fly away and as he rose in the air, he was smitten down by the power of his own flame. As that flame dissipated, Jonrad already managed to close the distance enough to slash the Dragon's wing open.
ROAAAAR!
"I have always fantasized about the power and nobility of a dragon. But seeing how you stooped so low where you meddle into the lives of men, acting like cowards, kidnapping children, and hiding behind a fanatic army, it all made me wonder what is the difference between the likes of you and a common villain."
"Bo vau zey!" The Dragon tried to chase Jonrad away by its tail but the skilled swordsman parried an entire tail swipe with a sword strike at the expense of retreating in the snowy land with two line trails on the ground ahead of him.
"And so I asked myself a question. Why do humans elevate beings like you as symbols of power and might? It is undeniable how strong you are but then again, just like the rich and the poor, you came into being as a dragon, not as an ant or a dog. What sets you apart? What makes you different?"
"Nid rot! DIR!" The dragon was annoyed with Jonrad's words and wanted him to shut up as he attacked with his maw open with all its glorious fangs aiming to gnaw the swordsman to death.
"The answer is that there is a difference but one that no longer matters once our lives are on the line." Jonrad parried the Dragon's fangs with a strong circular motion and slashed the Dragon's neck wide open from its softest spot from front to back.
Blood sprawled from the neck and covered the snow as the dragon staggered to its temporary demise.
"Lir nis krii dovah. Orin waan hi kron hi saan!" As he lost, the Dragon still gloated that a mortal worm couldn't kill him, that even if this was Jonrad's victory today, he would lose to him another day.
"I happen to be the father of one ugly dragonborn. I pity your fate but I'll have to let him know I killed a Dragon here."
Jonrad sheathed his sword and the Dragon fell to his death but the soul of the dragon hadn't parted from his carcass. It would need a Dragonborn for that.
Still, a Dragonknight was enough to douse the flames of a dragon. A very angry Dragonknight on the trail of his kidnapped children.
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Beggar of Freedom
Divines bless your kind heart!
