My Little Dovahkiin: Wrath of the Damned

Chapter 7

The Rift, Skyrim.

"Fluttershy!" cried Isen. This seemed to snap the others from their stupor, as they soon began to piece this together. When Isen attempted to chase after Fluttershy, he was halted by Rainbow Dash.

"No way, pal! We're not letting you near Fluttershy!"

"I don't intend to hurt her!"

"Yeah, like you didn't intend to hurt them" Rainbow Dash hesitantly gestured to the dead bandits.

Isen held his resolve. "That was different! They attacked us! I was protecting you!" he replied.

Soon the other girls began to crowd Isen. Each one, except Pinkie Pie, were throwing him angry looks and yelling at him. Isen, meanwhile, was attempting to communicate with them, but was quickly shout out. Now, he was angry.

"EVERYONE JUST SHUT IT!"

The Nord's outburst fazed the women, and they backed away slowly. Isen resumed his chase with Fluttershy. That is, until he was stopped again by Applejack.

"Oh no ya' don't, pardner!" she cried. Swinging back her right leg, Applejack tried to deliver a solid kick to Isen's stomach. Applejack was the closest thing to a juggernaut a pony could get to. A solid buck from her could topple a tree. So naturally, what happened next surprised everyone.

In mid-swing, Isen caught A.J.'s leg like it was nothing but air, giving only a soft grunt when the kick's force transferred up his arm. Too stunned to react, Applejack was thrown to the ground unceremoniously, landing with a loud 'thud'.

The girls all gasped. It was…unnerving to see their strongest friend beaten by a simple catch. Applejack didn't even try to hide her surprise as she lay there, on the dirt, slack-jawed.

Isen bent down so he was in A.J.'s eyesight. He flexed his hands experimentally. "An advantage us humans have over ponies." He said dryly.

He took a quick glance at the girls and stood up. "Like I said back at camp," he said in a calm tone, "If I wanted to hurt you, I would have."

When he began to walk back into the undergrowth, Rainbow Dash didn't even try to stop him. Taking this as a sign of surrender, he frowned sadly, and bolted into the trees after Fluttershy.

Fluttershy was slowly running out of breath. Every step she took was more weighted than the last. She was sweating up a storm; she was practically swimming in her green shirt. Fluttershy dodged another pine in her path as she continued her sprint.

Her foot caught on a wayward root, and her vision flipped. Fluttershy yelped as pain cascaded down the side of her face. She clutched her head to ease the throbbing. Her hand came away bloody. Memories of the fight surged back to her conscious. The screams. The blood. Everything. How could anypony do such a thing? She felt a wave of sickness wash over her, and Fluttershy vomited bile onto the ground.

Sobbing quietly, she hobbled over to the nearest pine, and sat down, pulling her long legs up to her chest. Fluttershy just wanted to be alone for a while. Maybe the girls have come to their senses, and left Isen? She didn't know; the last thing she saw of them was Dash stopping Isen.

"Fluttershy!"

Isen, running at full speed, barreled into view. He was panting heavily, sweat running down his face. He surveyed the area until his gaze fell upon Fluttershy, who was quaking with fear. He stared at her. Fluttershy continued to stare back. No screams, yells, or whispers, just…a stare.

"Fluttershy…" Isen started.

Fluttershy shut her eyes tightly. "Why did you do it?" she asked in a voice barely above a whisper.

"Ju-"

Fluttershy glared at Isen, her teal eyes holding an angry stare at the Nord. "Why did you do it?'

"Well…," Isen took off his iron helm and placed it on the ground behind him. He dropped in a low crouch, getting to eye level with her. "Why do you think I did it? Tell me, Fluttershy."

"Because you like to…k-kill. You like causing pain to those who barely caused any to you."

Isen frowned a bit, looking at Fluttershy sympathetically. "You're wrong," he said after a moment, "I would never kill someone just because I can. I kill because this sick country makes me." Isen took one of Fluttershy's slender hands in his and squeezed.

Isen sighed and continued. "I know where you come from. From what I've heard, Equestria is the best gods-damned place anybody has ever heard of. No wars; no feuds; no political schemes. Any time something's gone wrong, six girls solve the problem just by wearing some jewelry. But this," he used his remaining hand to gesture to the forest, "Isn't Equestria. This is Skyrim, a land with more problems than the monarchy that once presided over it."

He stood up, dropping Fluttershy's hand. She looked up at Isen. "Why didn't you spare them? Why didn't you try to reason with them?" she asked.

Isen looked pained for a second, but was quickly replaced with one of hidden anger. "You can't reason with bandits," he said in an angry tone, "They are made by this country, same as I. They prey on the weak for gold and silver. They kill because they think it is fun, Fluttershy! My sister learned that the hard way!" he punched the nearest pine with all he had, making a small crack in the bark. He bellowed in pain as he grasped his sword arm.

Isen began to breathe deeply to calm himself down. He glanced back at Fluttershy, who was looking at Isen with fearful eyes. Isen crouched again and placed a hand on Fluttershy's shoulder.

"You can't spare them either," he said, "The second a bandit escapes, they think of what their next target will be. That's why I'm angry that one of them survived. I killed them because they were going to do worse to you and to the girls; things worse than death or any other punishment. And I was not about to let those bastards do anything to any of you."

Isen offered a hand to the pink-haired girl, who hesitantly took it. He raised Fluttershy to her feet and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Look at me."

Fluttershy looked up, and saw a look of determination on Isen's face.

"I swear," He said, "That if any sons of bitches try to hurt you and the girls, they'll have to go through me. I swear that if anything tries to hurt you and the girls, they'll have to mess with me. I swear that I will never, ever, hurt you and the girls for any reason whatsoever."

Fluttershy was surprised by this at first, but decided that it was better than to ask, and smiled. Isen smiled as well and patted her shoulder. His gaze then fell upon her head wound.

"You're hurt." He said.

"Just a bit. It's nothing, really."

"No, it's not 'nothing'. You could get infected." he replied. He took off his knapsack and began digging through it. Isen pulled out two glass bottles filled with a red liquid, stopped by corks. He handed a bottle to Fluttershy.

"Drink this." He said.

"What about you?" She asked, gazing over Isen's arm. In reply, Isen shook the other bottle.

Carefully, Fluttershy opened the bottle, and drank its contents. The syrupy substance tasted like moldy bread and sour milk mixed in a blender, making her gag a bit. Isen downed his concoction as well and coughed.

"I know it tastes like something from the Ratway, but look." He said. He pointed to his arm, where the wound was slowly closing up. Once fully sealed, Isen flexed his sword arm and winced at the slight pain. Fluttershy touched her head and gasped. Her wound was completely healed! Healing magic was one thing but this was something else. Isen smiled a bit and proceeded to pick up his helmet.

"Come on," Isen said "Let's head back."

Twilight was pacing back and forth like a madwoman. It had been a while since Isen had left, and Rainbow Dash was getting antsy. She, like the others, was not too keen on letting Isen go. When he got back, Dash was going to give him a verbal beat down.

"Enough," cried Dash, raising her fists to the sky. "I'm going after him. If he so much as poked Fluttershy, I'm gonna kick his flank!"

"Calm down, darling. I'm sure that she's alright. That…barbarian wouldn't dare to hurt her." replied Rarity.

"Um…girls…I'm right here."

At the sound of the voice, the six girls snapped their heads in the direction it came from. Fluttershy was standing with her hands behind her back, chin up with not a scratch on her. Pinkie Pie, in the heat of the moment, charged at her and took her in a bone-crushing embrace.

Fluttershy gasped loudly. Hearing this, Pinkie let her go carefully. "Glad to…see you…too, Pinkie." Fluttershy said between breaths.

Dash walked up to her old friend. "Where's Isen?" she asked cautiously.

"Right here."

Everyone, except Fluttershy, turned their heads to get a view of the speaker. Isen was standing completely still, muscles tense and ready if fighting were brake out. His face was a slab of stone, showing absolutely no emotions. Almost oblivious to the stares he was getting, Isen retrieved his sword and shield from the exact spot they were left at.

Dash pounced upon the man. The look on her face was clearly stating 'I'm going to kill you!' as she attempted to tackle the Nord, but was abruptly stopped when Fluttershy stepped between the two. "Stop!" she cried.

"But Fluttershy," pleaded Rainbow Dash, "This guy scared you half to death!"

"I know," replied Fluttershy after a moment of contemplation, "He scared me, but now I know why he was so…mean. Tell them Isen."

Said man repeated his entire speech, all the way from 'why' to 'whatsoever', only changing a few words to accommodate the others. Throughout the entire monologue, Isen's face remained stoic. The girls, however, were surprised that a po-…person that had killed three others moments ago, seemed so sincere. Of course, Dash didn't believe a word he said until he got the 'reasoning' part. She kind of lost her look when he said something 'bad' was going to happen to her and the girls. Dash and Applejack were the more protective ones of the group.

By the time Isen was finished, the girls were frozen in shock. They had been too presumptuous of the poor man, and had judged too quickly. As the saying goes, 'Never judge a book by its cover'. Twilight was the first to make amends.

"I'm sorry," she said. Twilight took a quick glance at the girls and continued, "We're all sorry. We were too quick to judge. We should have known it wasn't the same as Equestria, but we always hope."

"It's alright," Isen replied. He laid a gentle hand on Twilight's left shoulder, "People can be a bit ignorant at times. It's what makes us…sorry, bad example."

With that, Isen shooed the girls away and began building a funeral pyre. Sure, they were no good bandits, but it was the honorable thing to do. He grew up in a household that pretty much praised honor. To leave the bodies would be dishonorable…and might attract wolves.

When he was done, he heaved the three dead bodies onto the wooden altar. He took out a small prayer book out of his bag and summoned a ball of fire within his right hand. He set the pyre alight and said a quick prayer to Arkay, the God of Birth and Death.

After he finished, he rejoined the girls. They were uneasy, and Pinkie Pie was asking what the fire was for. Isen didn't give an answer. After a moment of reflection, he turned to the girls. "Any questions?" he asked.

"Ah have one, if ya' don't mind, Isen." said Applejack half-heartedly. The Nord nodded and asked her to continue. "Well, while Ah was searchin' for Dash, this here invisible force-thang threw me through the skah. Any idea wha' that was?"

Isen pondered this, and his eyes widened in shock as he hit a thought. "Might as well explain." He murmured. He sat down on a nearby rock and sighed. "I'm the Dragonborn. If I'm correct, I have the body of a mortal and the soul of a dragon. Having that, I can speak their language like you felt, Applejack. When a dragon breathes fire, it speaks. In Dragon, 'Fus Ro Dah' means 'Unrelenting Force.'"

The 6 women raised their eyebrows, and Applejack narrowed her eyes. She was the Element of Honesty, after all, and could root out the best of lies. Imagine her surprise when everything he said…was true! Isen took the silence as a sign to continue, and elaborated.

"At the moment, Skyrim is experiencing a small dragon problem, all the result of some Black-scaled dragon by the name of 'Alduin'. Apperently, I'm the only man that can stop him from enslaving all life in Tamriel."

"Why can't you just get along," asked Fluttershy, "Why can't…you know, make nice?"

Isen raised his hands, fists raised to the sky. "I don't have a damn clue," he exclaimed, "What we do to him?! What in the name of Oblivion did the mortals do to him?! I know that he's a dragon and all, but we did nothing!" Isen stopped his rant abruptly and contemplated something. "Oh," he said, "I just remembered something. The ancient Nords rebelled and tried to kill him. Please excuse everything I said earlier."

The 6 extra-dimensional females nodded slowly. Being a killer was one thing, but a complete nut? What have the girls gotten them into?

"Anyways," Isen said, "Riften shouldn't be too far off now. If we double-time it, we should make it there before half-past noon."

And with that, the small, dysfunctional party started walking.

Feykro Do Jun

The Brendon walked through the realm with a quick pace, the snow crunching under his heavy steps. The figure stood at and imposing 7 feet high and was covered in a black cloak and hood that encased his body in dark black cloth. The hands-or what was left of them- were what appeared to be covered in Daedric gauntlets, but on his right hand the metal covering the index finger and pinkie was crudely burned and gnashed at the lower part of the two joints, revealing bones the color of sand. In his hands, the man carried weapon of the unknown kind. It was odd looking, with the main body of an Ebony War hammer, almost the height of its user, and had what looked to be a single-edged blade made of Ebony attached at the top. The blade was completely straight, and, if one would combine both the length of the rod and blade, was 12 feet long. The man used the odd weapon like a walking stick.

The figure stopped and screened the area around him through the dark shadow of his hood. The Feykro Do Jun, or 'Forest of Light' in the common language, was a spectacular sight. The ground was covered in a sheet of the whitest snow, but small sparkles of blue and cold could be glimpsed through the thick blanket. The 'trees' were in the style of Eastern White Pine trees, with pale-white bark and crimson needles that almost resembled blood. It was an odd looking forest, but it looked normal.

It looked normal to the Brendon, at least.

Everywhere the figure looked, he saw tall pillars of light of different colors that stretched to the heavens. Some were thick and swirling, like a rampaging tornado ready to break loose at a moment's notice, while others were puny and thin but reaching for the sky none the less, like a taut fishing line.

For you see, this was no ordinary place. This was where it all came together; where the mages of Tamriel would draw their power, or at least some of it. The Forest of Light was the space between spaces. A land that doesn't exist, but at the same time, exists like a mortal exists. The pillars of fluorescent light were the Magicka 'fuel lines' of every man, woman, and child alive at the moment. When someone casts a spell, his or her Magicka line would light up like a roaring fire and send down a steady beam of the life-force to the caster for the duration of the spell.

That, however, was not why the Brendon was here. Julianos, the God of Knowledge and patron of mages, detected a disturbance in the western half of the Forest. The Divines may not know what it is, but the Brendon had a good hunch. When he came within sight of the area were the anomaly was detected, the figure spied a silhouette against a tall, thick pillar of Bluish-Gold light as the beam crackled and boomed like a thunderstorm.

'I knew it.'

The small clearing was dotted with small, red-leafed bushes and shrubs. The snow around the pillar had melted, revealing crimson grass. The figure was dressed in robes similar to the Brendon, only they were a red in color. The man was meditating, absorbing a sort of blue mist in the process. The mist would turn an eerie black as it reached the red-robed man, and disappear into the black, misty palm of the man's hands, which, along with the entire arm, was made of black fog.

"So the hunter has found the hunted." said the red-robed figure. The speaker's voice was like a thousand voices at once, all directed at the Brendon. The meditator hadn't even turned to face the watcher.

"So it would seem, but what sort of prey are you?" replied the black-robed man. His voice was deep and raspy, but his interrogative tone made it clear he was not here for a chat.

For what seemed like an eternity, the red figure slowly stood up. As he did, the crackling stopped, the blue mist retreated back to its source, and the red robes turned to face its counterpart. "A prey that could easily be your greatest enemy, should you continue to serve your so-called gods." the man said with venom dripping of every word.

"I told you before, cur," the black-clothed Brendon said menacingly, gripping his odd weapon with both hands as he did, "My duty is to protect, not to destroy, and I would most certainly not follow you, bastard."

The red figure waved one of its misty hands and made 'tsk-ing' noises. "Why serve when you could rule, Brendon. You could be in power once more. Rule armies like you did in the Time of Darkness. Or have the Chroniclers corrupted your mind with their vile lies?" he said.

"I reformed on my own free will. Those days are behind me, and I will never revert to those ways again."

The red man let lose a vile cackle with his multi-sounded voice. "You seem to forget that free will is weakness, my brother. The Master told you that, did he not?"

At the mention of the word 'Master', a violent wind blew through the forest and shook the trees to their roots. The black figure tilted his head slightly. "Who are you?" he asked.

"We go by many names, but one does come to mind. 'We are Legion, for we are many.'"

And with that, 'Legion' disappeared in a flurry of crimson robes and black mist, leaving the Brendon alone in a forest of White-barked Pine trees and pure white snow. The man shook his head slowly.

'Alone…always alone.'