Sonata's Crazy and Wacky Adventure in Skyrim

Chapters

2: Training Day
3: Helgen
4: Road to Riverwood
5: Bleak Falls Barrow
7: Journey to Iverstead
8: Arrival in Iverstead
11: Trek through Ustengrav
12: Council of Three
13: Trek to Riverwood
14: Kynesgrove
15: Assault on the College
16: The Truth
17: Return to Sender
18: More Dang Vampires
19: Shock at the Party
20: The Felblood Dragon
21: Shadows of Riften
22: The Hidden Temple
23: Paarthurnax
24: Dangerous Knowledge
25: Alftand
27: To Rend a Dragon
28: To Trap a Dragon
29: Alduin's Last Bastion
30: Sovngarde
31: Return to Whiterun
32: The Hidden Secret
33: Punishment
34: A Day of Surprises
35: The Whiterun Surprise
36: Assault on Fellglow Keep
37: Strange News and Stranger Allies
38: Madness
39: Land of Souls
40: Its a Trap!
1. The Beginning
6: Whiterun's Dragon Problem
9: High Hrothgar
10: March to Morthal
26: The Elder Scroll

2: Training Day

Sonata smiled as she finished the stew she had been given, placing the bowl on the table she and Kree were sitting at, while the argonian tore into one of the pieces of bread that had been sitting on the table. She had asked Kree what type of stew that had been after the first bite, to which her companion had told her that it was a venison stew, something that she had never tried before. She had to admit it, the stew was delicious and she told Kree the truth, which brought a smile to the argonian's face while she remained silent to let her finish. Once Sonata's stew had been finished off, and Kree had finished off the piece of bread she had been tearing apart, the two of them rose from their seats.

"Come on," Kree said, beckoning for Sonata to follow her, "Now that we've had supper, and your in better shape than when we found you, its time for you to meet my superior. Don't worry, your not in trouble or anything, but she wanted to see you the moment you recovered."

Sonata nodded and followed her companion through the fortress, taking in the everything she was seeing; from the soldiers that were on patrol, to the soldiers that were taking their dinner break, to the people that were bringing food around and those that were cooking the food. She could tell that the place was run like a well oiled machine, though she had to wonder what would happen if a random cog happened along and tried to fit in where it didn't belong. As they walked Sonata wondered what it would take for her to earn a place alongside Kree and the people she worked with, as she already liked the argonian as a friend despite only knowing her for an hour.

Many of the soldiers nodded to Kree as they passed by them, to which Kree nodded in return as they walked towards the chamber that was Kree's superior's quarters. Once they were outside the chamber door, which was closed at the moment, Kree held a hand to the side to stop them and turned to look at Sonata for a moment.

"My superior is right through this door," Kree told her, a small smile appearing on her face, "Don't worry, she may seem tough on the outside, but she can be quite friendly once you get to know her."

Sonata nodded and Kree turned back to the door, to which she raised her fist and lightly knocked on the wood, letting the echo of her knock roll through the chamber. The two of them waited for a few seconds, letting Sonata wonder if Kree's superior was at supper at the moment, before either of them heard the reply.

"You may enter," the voice said, one that Sonata could tell belonged to a woman, to which Kree opened the door and beckoned Sonata inside, where Sonata took a deep breath before entering the chamber alone.

Sonata had to admit it, she had been expecting some sort of war room that had charts, posters of the wanted criminals that were at large, and a map detailing the various battles that had happened across the land. What she found was a chamber that had a table in the middle of the room, one that was decorated with various maps, a bookcase that held dozens of books on its shelves, a bed that looked like it could fit two people, and a large chest at the base of the bed. The woman that Sonata had heard was standing beside the table, overlooking one of the maps and a piece of paper that she assumed was a letter of some kind.

The moment that Kree closed the door behind Sonata her superior looked from the table and glanced at the door, though a smile almost immediately followed the moment she noticed who was standing there.

"Sorry about that, I was busy reading a report that had been delivered a few minutes before your arrival," the woman said, turning towards Sonata and giving the former Siren a good look at the steel armor she was wearing, "My name is Pelena Acilius. I am the Captain of Fort Neugrad, serving under General Tullius of the Imperial Legion. And you would be?"

"Sonata Dusk," Sonata told the captian, now wondering if Kree was a soldier that happened to be off duty due to her sudden appearance in this world, "and I'm afraid that I'm a nobody."

"Nonsense, your not a nobody," Pelena said, waving her had as if to dismiss the notion altogether, "Kree's a good argonian, and would be an excellent soldier if she joined the soldiers, but she has this... ability of sorts... that allows her to see things that others might miss. Take Brandr Ironhand, one of my soldiers, for example; when he came and applied to join the Legion I was about to dismiss him, but then Kree told me how she had seen him fight with battleaxes and knew that he was destined to fight for the Legion. So I set up a test for him, to which General Tullius and I watched as he defeated everything we threw at him with just a battleaxe, where I accepted him into my command as soon as possible.

Kree told me that she saw something special about you the moment she laid eyes on you, something that made her come to me the moment you had been brought here. I don't know what that something is, and Kree openly admitted that she wasn't sure what it was either, but I have learned to trust her feelings over the years. So I decided to welcome you with open arms, hoping that we'd figure out what that something that Kree had seen was, with some precise training of course. And maybe after some time with us you might decide to join our ranks, but we'll come to that bridge whenever we reach it."

"So basically your willing to help me get onto my feet?" Sonata asked, just wanting to make sure that she had understood everything that she had been told.

"That's putting it mildly," Pelena chuckled, looking at the clothes that Sonata was wearing, "First you'll need to rejoin Kree and have her escort you to where your be resting your head. Then tomorrow morning after breakfast we'll see what skills you have a talent for. I'm sure that there's a weapon that you'll be good at, though we might need to fashion you a suit of leather armor... just to be safe."

Sonata nodded and bowed her head respectfully as she moved back towards the door, opening it so she could go find Kree and figure out what to do next. Pelena smiled and waved her hand as the door was closed, to which she sighed and returned to the report she had been reading, her mind still wondering what Kree had seen. Sonata, on the other hand, found Kree leaning against a wall that was near the captain's door, to which the argonian smiled as she noticed her standing there.

"How did it go in there?" Kree asked, curious as to what Sonata was feeling at the moment.

"Great actually," Sonata replied, a smile appearing on her face, "The Captain told me that you guys were going to help me get back on my feet, though she said we'd start by heading to where we'd be sleeping."

Kree nodded, to which Sonata noted a look of joy in her eyes, before beckoning for Sonata to follow her once more and departed from the captain's quarters. They returned to where they had supper, finding that the majority of the soldiers had either gone back out on duty or turned in for the night, leaving the night shift to get up and get their work started. Several of the night shift nodded to them as they passed by, to which Kree nodded her head in return before they entered the area where the beds were located. Sonata noticed that there was an area that was somewhat walled off by dividers, telling her that she and Kree weren't the only women in the fort.

"Go ahead and take that one," Kree said, pointing to the bed closest to the corner of the room, before moving to the one across from it, "We'll be able to sleep until six in the morning, then we'll get up and see what the Captain has planned for you."

"Good night Kree," Sonata told the argonian, wrapping her arms around her for a moment before letting go and tucking herself into the bed, not surprised that she was so tired from everything she had done.

"Sleep tight Sonata," Kree chuckled, happy to have been given such a gesture by her new friend, before yawning and repeating the process that Sonata did.

Soon the two of them were fast asleep, ignoring the sounds of the soldiers that were either waking up for the night shift or going to sleep like they were.

When the two of them were woken up at six in the morning Sonata yawned and stretched her arms for a bit, grateful to have gotten as much sleep as she had. The days prior to her venture to Canterlot High School had been terrible, as she slept less before she had entered the portal and knew that she'd be working to get on a normal sleep schedule again. Kree, used to being awoken at such an hour was already up and ready to go about the day, to which she helped the other soldiers get ready before turning to her new friend.

"Oh, good morning Sonata," Kree said, turning around a corner before coming back with a pack of dark brown clothing, "Captain Pelena found that we had some leather armor laying around that no one was using, so she figured that you could benefit from having your own armor. Shall I help you put it on for the first time?"

"Sure, I'd love the help," Sonata admitted, almost unnerved by the whole idea of wearing armor.

Kree smiled and immediately set out to show her the basics of putting armor on, such as which piece went where and how to fastened all of them so she didn't lose something accidentally. After five to ten minutes Sonata was officially wearing a suit of leather armor, complete with the matching boots and bracers, but chose to keep the helmet off for the moment. She knew that she would have to wear it eventually, but she didn't want to go walking around like the rest of the soldiers that never seemed to take their helmets off. She had even seen one of them sleep in their suit of armor, something that she knew had to be uncomfortable and didn't want to try it at all if she could help it.

With that done the two of them returned to the mess hall, where Sonata was greeted by many of the soldiers with welcome arms, almost as if she was actually one of them. She and Kree ate with some of the soldiers that were just getting to the fortress that morning, relaying messages to the Captain in preparation for what was coming. Sonata, not actually a member of the Legion, paid most of the news that pertained to the ongoing war no mind, though she picked up on key names and places to research later on. Once breakfast was finished the two of them walked out into the courtyard, where Kree picked out the perfect location for the two of them to spar.

"Go on, pick a weapon," Kree said, moving to a weapon rack and picking up a wooden sword and shield, "just be sure you grab the wooden version of whatever you decide on."

Sonata took a look at the selection of weapons, looking for something that she could use despite the fact that she had never lifted a single weapon in her entire life. After a few minutes she sighed and picked up a wooden sword, as she figured it was the only one that she might actually be able to use in the end. Once her selection was made she turned to Kree, who stood by her side and started showing her all the various thrusts and motions that went with the weapon, correcting Sonata when she did something wrong. Several of the soldiers also came out to practice their skills against the wooden dummies, though some of them took a few moments to watch the training going on.

Kree also informed her that the weapon was an extension of herself, but even as Sonata thought about that something inside her seemed to awaken as her left hand caught on fire.

"Whoa whoa whoa," one of the soldiers said, jumping back the moment the flames appeared, "Watch the magic."

"I... I didn't know I could still use magic," Sonata apologized, enforcing her will over the flames and causing them to go out, "I guess I'm learning things everyday now."

And so it went for the next few hours, where Kree showed her how to use the wooden sword she had chosen against the dummies and, occasionally, one of the junior soldiers. It was great practice for everyone, especially for someone who had never used a single weapon in her entire life, and even the Captain came out to watch for a while. Sonata had no idea of how much time had passed by the time they stopped, but she was definitely glad to have some knowledge of the weapons that existed in this world. She still wasn't sure if she'd join the Legion, but she was willing to help Kree and her friends out until she figured out what to do in this strange world.

As the caravan of wagons arrived around noon Sonata had no idea how much her life was about to change when the prisoners came rolling into the fort. All she had was the feeling that something terrible was about to rear its ugly head, and that all of them were going to be caught in the crossfire.

3: Helgen

When the caravan carrying prisoners came into the fortress Kree took Sonata by the hand and escorted her to the top of a walkway, so they could watch what was going to happen. The other soldiers formed rank as the caravan came in, while the fortress door opened and Captain Pelena walked out in her full captain attire. Many of the soldiers saluted the Captain as she walked out, but then she saluted the person that was leading the caravan into the fortress, someone that Sonata assumed had to be someone of importance. Those that didn't salute the Captain saluted whoever the person was, who nodded to them and waved his hand at several of them as the prisoners neared the prison section of the fortress.

As the person came to a stop near the prison entrance he looked up at where Kree and Sonata were standing, to which he nodded to them before dismounting his horse and pulling out a list to begin explaining things to the Captain.

"General Tullius himself," Kree commented, watching the man enter the main building with the Captain not far behind him, "I never thought that I would see the day that the Legion's Military Governor came to our little fortress. It makes me wonder who those prisoners are, as they required the General to escort them here himself. Especially the one with the hood covering his face, there's something different about that one... something that makes them different from the other prisoners."

"I'm assuming that this General Tullius is someone important," Sonata said, taking note of the wonder in Kree's voice, though she had no idea who the man actually was or what he had done to earn his position.

"He's Skyrim's best hope for ending the war with the Stormcloaks," Kree replied, moving her hand to her chin for a second, though the change in tone told Sonata that she had just gotten an idea in her head, "though if I'm right about whoever that hooded figure is we might be seeing a faster end to the war. However, the General is a serious man and would not be here unless something major was about to happen... something that would require an entire fortress to oversee."

Sonata had never seen Kree so serious about anything, granted she had only met the argonian yesterday, but she knew that if Kree was this sure about something then she had best follow her lead. She had also noticed something odd about the hooded figure, but what she had seen was that the man was dressed differently than the people he had been brought in with. She and Kree silently watched as the prisoners were escorted into the prison, where they would wait for whatever sentence that the General was going to deliver to them. The moment the caravan was returned to the walls, and the guards went back to their duties, the duo returned to the courtyard and picked up where they left off.

Three hours passed before either the Captain or the General emerged from the main keep, though Sonata spent those three hours learning a variety of movements she could use with the wooden sword. These techniques would allow her to eventually use the iron and steel swords that many of the Imperial soldiers carried with them, to which she might need her own weapon forged. Sonata was glad that she was slowly improving through her first day of training, but she still didn't like the idea of carrying an actual weapon around with her. She could also tell that Kree was going easy on her when they practiced, allowing her to get a feel for the wooden version of the weapon before she graduated to the heavier ones.

When the Captain and General walked out of the main keep everyone, including Kree and Sonata, stopped what they were doing and saluted the pair.

"At ease soldiers," the Captain called out, allowing everyone to stop saluting them, "carry on with what you were doing. Sonata, the General would like a word with you."

Sonata gulped as she handed Kree her wooden sword, before she walked over to the pair of Imperial commanders, who took her into the main keep and stopped inside the Captain's Quarters. She had to wonder if she had done something wrong in her brief time in this world, which she didn't think she did seeing how she had been in Fort Neugrad the entire time. The Captain moved to her bed, but stood beside it while the General moved to the table, where he beckoned for Sonata to join him and she immediately walked up to him.

"Captain Pelena tells me that Kree saw something special inside you," General Tullius said, glancing at Sonata and looking over her for a moment, "The last time Kree spotted something inside someone that person ended up being a great soldier in the Legion, until the Stormcloak traitors outnumbered him and cut him down."

"Brandr Ironhand?!" Sonata gasped, as that was quite literary the only other name that she actually knew at the moment.

"What, no," General Tullius countered, looking into her eyes for a moment, "I was referring to someone else. Brandr Ironhand is still alive and well. I'd hate to have to tell his family that he was slain in battle, but he's still alive and taking the fight to the Stormcloaks. My point is that when Kree notices something inside someone they either turn out to be of benefit to the Legion, or they become a defender to Skyrim. She saw something inside you, but whatever that is I have no idea, though I have a vague idea of what to expect from someone like you thanks to Kree. Can you tell me about yourself?"

"Well, my name is Sonata Dusk," Sonata replied, somewhat ashamed of cutting the General off by exclaiming the wrong name like that, "I originally hail from the world of Equus, in the land of Equestria, but then my sisters and I were banished to the world called Earth, where we spent many years hiding. Then magic came to our new home, which was around the time when Adagio decided that we'd, um, get our hands on some of it to boost our powers. Long story short we ended up shattering our pendants, and our powers, and we were forced to hide once again, but in the end I ended up losing my sisters.

I spent roughly two weeks alone, searching for my sisters before I eventually gave up and returned to the place where everything had ended, fully intending to start a new life. I entered the portal that was supposed to take me home, to Equus, but then something happened and I ended up here, somewhere up the road from this fort. All I can do now is find my place in this world, as returning to my home world seems like an impossible dream."

General Tullius stared at her for another moment, as if trying to decide something about her, before he sighed and nodded to Captain Pelena, who smiled in return.

"I've determined that you couldn't possibly be a threat to the Empire or the Legion," General Tullius said, heading towards the door for a moment, where he stopped and looked back at Sonata, "but before I can even consider offering you a position in the Imperial Legion I need to finish the errand that brought me to this fortress. Tomorrow morning will be a big day for everyone, and I don't want you or Kree to miss any of it. I'll be seeing myself out, Captain."

"Yes General Tullius," Captain Pelena replied, watching the General leave her chamber before relaxing just a bit, "See? I told you that if Kree saw something inside you that good things would come your way, which, as the General told you, could either be as a defender to all of Skyrim or as a fine and recognized soldier in the Legion."

"What was he talking about anyway?" Sonata asked, curious as to what was so special about the following morning, "What's so special about tomorrow morning?"

"I'm not allowed to talk about that with civilians," Pelena told her, before sighing and looking over at her, "I'd like to share it with you, I honestly would, but the General doesn't want many people to know before the event actually happens, just in case there's a Stormcloak spy among the soldiers. Don't worry about it though, you'll know what we're talking about by the end of the morning tomorrow. Now go and join Kree, she'll have some other things to show you before supper and the end of the day."

Sonata nodded and headed back outside, where she found Kree still standing beside the stacks of weapons with what appeared to be a steel sword. She guessed that her friend was inspecting the craft of the weapon, making sure that it had been properly made in the forge before being added to the stack of weapons. Kree looked up from the weapon for a moment and spotted her coming, to which she beckoned her over and handed her the wooden sword she had been using. She then proceeded to show Sonata a few more of the various moves that she knew with the weapon, giving her time to make the adjustments to her stance before having her try it out.

The longer that Sonata practiced with Kree the more convinced she was that the argonian was a soldier that was off duty because of her arrival, but Kree always laughed whenever she brought it up.

Eventually the evening turned towards the night, to which the Captain came out and ordered everyone of the day shift off to supper so the night shift could take over. Kree took the wooden sword from Sonata and then beckoned for her to follow her inside the keep for supper, where they sat between two groups of soldiers, one belonging to Captain Pelena while the other belonged to General Tullius. Sonata noticed that the soldiers spoke of their battles with the Stormcloaks, remarking on either their skill in battle or how quickly they managed to kill one of 'Ulfric's Boys'.

Sonata had no idea who this Ulfric was, but decided to file the name away and listen to the conversations, searching for any clues at to who that person was or what might be coming in the morning.

Once they were finished with supper Kree took Sonata to the keep's library area, which was usually left alone by the majority of the soldiers, save for the few wizards that accompanied them. Several of the mages turned to them as they entered the library area, nodding to Sonata for a moment before going back to whatever they happened to be studying. When Sonata asked about it Kree told her that they had heard that she could use magic as well and were merely acknowledging her presence when she entered. Most mages, Sonata gathered, liked to be left alone and only appreciated someone that was like them, which she imagined could be awkward in some cases.

When they were done with the library they returned to the sleeping quarters, where Kree decided that they had better get some sleep so they could see what was supposed to happen the following day. Sonata, not knowing what else to do at the moment, sighed and followed suit, eventually drifting off to sleep as she wondered what the General had in store for them.

Sonata yawned as the morning dawned on the fort again, stretching her arms as she pulled herself out of bed and looked around for Kree for a few seconds. She found the argonian strapping on the bracers of her own suit of leather armor, before she made sure that she had a weapon on her best. She then turned around and found Sonata staring at her, to which she smiled and beckoned for her to follow her once again, where they joined the soldiers for the morning meal. Some of the soldiers glanced at them for a moment and nodded to Kree, who nodded her head in return as the two of them took their seats and ate breakfast.

As Sonata listened to the soldiers tell their rumors about what they were doing, of which there were plenty among those that were assigned to Fort Neugrad, she could tell that no one besides the Captain and the General knew what was going to happen. Once they were finished with breakfast the Captain entered the chamber and the soldiers turned to salute her, to which she nodded at them for a brief moment.

"Its time to arm yourselves and prepare for departure," Captain Pelena told them, stopping by Kree and Sonata for a moment, "General Tullius wants us to be leaving Fort Neugrad in ten minutes, so get whatever you need and report to your stations so was can escort his prisoners to Helgen."

The soldiers acknowledged her commands and began moving around, gathering their weapons and whatever pieces of armor that they weren't currently wearing. Captain Pelena watched them carry out her order before they walked out into the courtyard, where they would begin mounting up and prepare for departure. Once the three of them were alone the Captain sighed and turned to the two she had kept behind, both of who were awaiting whatever command she had for them.

"The General has requested that the two of you ride along side him on the journey to Helgen," the Captain told them, turning for a moment to beckon to the three horses waiting near the caravan, where they found General Tullius already saddled up and was waiting for the soldiers to finish up, "Hadvar and I will be bringing up the rear with some of the soldiers, but we shouldn't be expecting trouble on the one to two hour trip to Helgen. Once this business is over with we'll see about finding a place for you Sonata."

Sonata nodded and followed Kree to the horses, to which the argonian helped her onto the horse closest to General Tullius before climbing onto the last one herself. Sonata had to admit it, but she had never ridden a horse in her entire life and was thankful that the Imperial horses were so well trained. General Tullius smiled at her, whether or not it was because of how she had taken to sitting in the saddle she didn't know, before glancing back at the caravan. Sonata turned around in her saddle to watch as Captain Pelena and another man, who she assumed was Hadvar, escort the prisoners out of the prison and had them climb onto the caravan. It was then that Sonata noticed that the hooded man was no longer hooded, revealing a fierce looking man that clearly had the air of authority surrounding him.

Once the prisoners were all accounted for, and the soldiers were mounted as well, the General gave the command and the caravan began to move out of Fort Neugrad, turning to the right and heading down the road. During the short travel Sonata decided to ask Kree who the man behind them was, but both she and General Tullius told her that she would understand the moment they got to Helgen. She sighed and watched the scenery pass by them, wondering what the bound man and his men could have done to deserve whatever fate they were heading towards. Then, not an hour later, a walled town came into view, to which the General sighed and explained that he was going to have to leave them for a few minutes to deal with someone.

That someone, Sonata soon discovered, was a female elf that was clearly important, as she was followed by what appeared to be a group of ten soldiers, all of which spread out as the caravan entered the town. The townspeople watched them go by as they rounded the corner and stopped in between two towers, to which Kree dismounted and helped Sonata off her horse. As the Imperials set up for whatever they were about to do Kree led Sonata up onto one of the walkways, so they could get a good view of what was to come without being near it.

"So who is that man?" Sonata asked, watching the prisoners climb off the wagons and move towards one tower when Hadvar called their names, while she briefly pointed at the man she had seen.

"Ulfric Stormcloak, the Leader of the Rebellion and Jarl of Windhelm," Kree spat, which immediately told Sonata that she didn't like the man, "He murdered the High King not too long ago and split Skyrim in half, with one half of the Jarl pledging allegiance to his cause while the other half openly oppose him. Only Jarl Balgruuf of Whiterun, which resides in the middle of Skyrim, has yet to choose a side, but it doesn't seem like that's going to matter anymore. It seems that the war might be coming to an end today... with an execution!"

Sonata was somewhat surprised that they were just going to execute the entirety of the prisoners they had caught, in front of the townspeople no less, but she knew this world was different and hoped that she could stomach what was to come.

"Ulfric Stormcloak." General Tullius said, allowing his voice to carry for a moment, so that everyone around them could hear him, "Some here in Helgen call you a hero. But a hero doesn't use a power like the Voice to murder his king and usurp his throne."

The man, bound and gagged, growled at the man and glared daggers at him, but all that did was for nothing as the General carried on not a moment later.

"You started this war," General Tullius continued, causing some of the townspeople to boo at the bound man, which told Sonata that the man wasn't much liked in this area of Skyrim, "plunged Skyrim into chaos, and now the Empire is going to put you down, and restore the peace. Read them their last rites."

A priestess appeared near the headsman and raised her arms as she began to recite whatever ancient verse they used at a time like this, but then one of the Stormcloaks told her to shut up and approached the block, where his head was taken rather quickly. Sonata felt sick to her stomach and felt the need to barf, but steeled herself and told herself that if Kree was brave enough to watch then so could she. As the Captain called forth the next prisoner, another Stormcloak, Sonata heard a roar vibrate through the air, to which everyone looked around in confusion for a moment before General Tullius got them started again.

As the headsman prepared to take the next person's head Sonata looked at the sky above the tower near them as her eyes widened as a massive black creature descended upon the town. She had heard the tales of such creatures during her time in Equus and had read about them on Earth, but it was quite another thing to see a dragon tear open the sky, rain flaming boulders upon the people, and shout with such force that everyone had to struggle to keep their footing before they fell over. The archers came out and trained their arrows on the massive black dragon, whose red eyes glared at everyone before he opened his mouth and launched a fireball at the side of the tower across from Sonata and Kree, blasting a hole into the side of the structure.

She stood there, shocked for a moment as the chaos unfolded all around her, before Kree started shaking her shoulders and snapped her back to reality.

"Captain Pelena is calling for everyone to enter the fort!" Kree nearly shouted into her ear, pointing at the structure that Hadvar was heading to, though Sonata also noticed that General Tullius, Ulfric Stormcloak, and whoever that elf was were already gone.

As the two of them followed Hadvar into the keep Sonata couldn't help but wonder what they could do to stop a dragon, when the archers and mages didn't seem to do any damage to it. She knew that there was something that she was missing, but at the moment she didn't have the time to think about it as she was sure that they would have to fight their way through the fort, as she had seen some Stormcloaks enter the other door as well. She wasn't looking forward to actually having to kill someone with her own two hands, but she decided that she could cross that bridge when and if it ever came to that.

She knew that she would follow Kree for the moment, as she had absolutely no idea what was going on and was sure that she would be hopelessly lost without her only friend.

4: Road to Riverwood

Somehow Sonata, Kree, Hadvar, and Captain Pelena managed to get inside the keep, where they could take a few moments to catch their breath before they decided what to do next. None of them bothered to say that they weren't scared, as they were all terrified by the fact that a dragon had swooped into the town and set everything on fire. While Sonata leaned against one of the stone support pillars, with Kree leaning on the other side of it, both Hadvar and Captain Pelena stayed near the table for a few moments.

"Captain, was that really a dragon?" Hadvar asked, though it was clear that his nerves were shot if he was asking such a question, "The bringers of the End Times?"

"It would seem so," Captain Pelena replied, before sighing and moving to a nearby wall, where she pulled weapons out of their holders and began to hand them out, "We had better take a look around and gather what weapons and armor we can, because once we start moving we won't be coming back for anything else."

Hadvar nodded and accepted the iron axe that she handed him, before she moved to Kree and held out one of the imperial swords they had used at Fort Neugrad. Kree almost seemed surprised that she was begin given a weapon, but nodded her head in understanding and accepted the weapon from the Captain. She then turned to Sonata, who happened to be holding her arms tightly as she tried to get the images of the dragon burning people out of her head, before she sighed and embraced Sonata for a moment.

"How are you holding up Sonata?" the Captain asked, just as she let go and started attaching her own sword to her belt.

"Oh, just fine," Sonata weakly replied, before something occurred to her and made her look up at the Captain, "There wouldn't happen to be a bucket nearby would there?"

"There's one right beside the bed behind you," the Captain answered, not really knowing what Sonata wanted with a bucket, before she ran over to it and hurled up her breakfast, "I thought you side you were fine?!"

"I believe that's from the execution she witnessed," Kree commented, watching her friend for a few seconds, "This Equus you told me about this morning before our departure sounds like a peaceful place, which would explain quite a bit about our friend. It seems that she's actually never seen someone die before her eyes, but she has fought with magic before and picked up using a sword in a matter of hours."

"She did have quite the trainer to get her that good at using a blade," the Captain told Kree, knowing just how good the argonian was with a blade, when she wanted to be that was, "No one else could have imparted that much information in a single day and actually have their students actually keep up with them the entire time."

"I hate to break this up Captain," Hadvar said, having gone down the only available tunnel they had and returned, "but it seems some of the Stormcloaks are on the other side of the gate and are attempting to bust open the iron door so they can escape as well."

Captain Pelena nodded and tapped her armor for a moment, indicating that she had the key to the door in question, before drawing her weapon and heading into the tunnel. Sonata, noticing that the group was getting out of the keep through the tunnel, sighed for a moment and then followed after Kree, reluctantly drawing her own sword. The four of them found a group of four armed Stormcloaks standing before a locked iron door, the same one that Hadvar had mentioned, and were completely unaware that they had company coming their way. Once the wooden gate was down Captain Pelena charged forward, causing one of their enemies to look their way before she stabbed him right in the gut, before she yanked her sword out and took his head clean off.

Hadvar caught the hand of his attacker, before his weapon could even touch him, and swung his axe right at his enemy's wrist, taking it clean off in one motion before he spun the axe around and planted it in his opponent's head. Kree used her tail and knocked her opponent onto his back, before spinning her sword to face the ground and stabbed the soldier in the heart. Sonata, forcing herself to be ready for the conflict, charged into the room and rammed into the side of the remaining soldier, but she underestimated the force required to knock him onto his back and she was pushed onto the ground instead. Before she had a chance to get up and try something else, and before the soldier could hurt her, Kree's sword erupted from the soldier's chest, killing him almost instantly.

"Has anyone ever told you how crazy you can be at times?" Kree asked, helping her friend onto her feet before collecting her weapon, making sure to wipe the blood from it.

"Yeah, Adagio and Aria told me that all the time," Sonata replied, though the mention of her sisters made her sad for a moment, before she shook her head and regained her composure, "Look, that's dragon's still out there and he's making a mess of the keep, so we had better get going before he brings the entire place down on top of us."

"Couldn't have said it any better myself," Kree chuckled, turning towards the open door that the Captain and Hadvar were waiting near, "Let's get out of here."

The four of them ran down the set of stairs the rested behind the door, but when they entered the next corridor the ceiling shook and collapsed before their eyes, forcing them to enter the what appeared to be a storeroom. They found two soldiers discussing what all the noises were, but when they spotted the Captain they saluted her and immediately gathered their weapons, armor, and any potions that they had on hand. Once they were stocked up they returned to the corridor, now passed the blockade that the dragon had caused, and continued down another set of stairs, where Sonata's eyes widened as she realized that the next room was a torture chamber of sorts. The man in charge of the room seemed to ignore them, though his assistant seemed pleased to have new arrivals so he could heard about what was happening.

"Don't you even know what's going on?" Hadvar nearly shouted at the torturer, who barely looked at him the entire time, "A dragon is attacking Helgen!"

"A dragon? Please. Don't make up nonsense." the torturer replied, though he took a moment to think about something, "Although, come to think of it, I did hear some odd noises coming from over there."

"Come with us." Hadvar told the man and his assistant, the latter of which sensed the urgency in his voice and immediately started gathering their things, "We need to get out of here, before that dragon brings the keep down on our heads!"

"You have no authority over me, boy." the torturer spat, clearly ignoring the fact that a superior ranking officer of the Legion happened to be in the chamber as well.

"He may not have authority over you, but I do." Captain Pelena replied, forcing the man to turn towards her and pale as he realized that she had been standing there the entire time, "My second-in-command told you to get moving, so I expect you to gather whatever you need and prepare to march with us. Move it soldier!"

The torturer gulped and got moving almost immediately, tearing across the chamber to gather what he needed before nodding and falling in with the soldiers. Sonata noticed that he left a book on one of the tables, one titled The Book of the Dragonborn, and decided that she might as well take it with them. She had no idea who or what a Dragonborn was, but figured that they had to be somewhat important if they had their own book made for them. The group then moved into the open tunnel that Captain Pelena led them towards, where they eventually reached an area that had running water going through it.

They rounded a corner and the Captain flipped a lever, lowering the bridge that allowed them to cross into what appeared to be an ordinary cave under the keep.

"Never thought we'd have to use this escape tunnel," the torturer commented, turning to look back at the way they had came, no doubt wondering if he could make it to his chamber before they noticed he was gone, before the ceiling above the bridge shattered and destroyed the bridge, "and now there's no going back that way."

The next area that the tunnel led them to happened to have a group of spiders, ones that Kree said were frostbite spiders, moving around in circles, but the moment they noticed that they had company they began to head towards the entrance to their area. Sonata watched as the entirety of her group charged forward and attacked the spiders, either cutting them into pieces or just outright killing them. She expected that much from soldiers of the Imperial Legion, but she was definitely impressed by how quickly Captain Pelena managed to take control over some leftover soldiers and mold them into an efficient fighting force.

In what Sonata assumed was the final area of the cave system they seemed to be in they found a bear sleeping in the middle of the path, to which Hadvar told them that he'd rather not have to fight the creature. The group spoke among themselves for a few minutes, debating what they could do to the creature, before the bear stirred and rose to a standing position. Instead of attacking the group the bear turned towards the open passage they had been heading for and charged forward, disappearing before their very eyes. With the bear out of the way the soldiers began to move once more, eventually heading towards the same exit that Sonata figured that the bear had known about before hand.

"I guess the dragon's constant shaking of the ceiling spooked off the bear," Kree commented, to which some of the soldiers chuckled just a tiny bit, before Hadvar raised his fist up.

"Wait!" he called out, forcing everyone to brace themselves as the massive black dragon flew overhead, though it didn't even look towards the ground as it flew off into the distance, "Looks like he's gone for good this time. But I don't think we should stick around to see if he comes back."

"I agree with you on that," Captain Pelena said, turning back to the soldiers for a moment, "Listen up men, we're going to be heading back to Solitude so we can inform them that there's a dragon on the loose, and that Ulfric Stormcloak is at large once more. We'll head down this road until we come to the fork, then we'll cut through Falkreath and make our way around to Markarth, where we should be able to get a carriage for the rest of the journey. Hadvar, I want you to take Sonata and Kree and head to Riverwood... and warn Jarl Balgruuf that he's got a dragon roaming the skies of his Hold."

With their plans decided Captain Pelena bid farewell to the trio, telling them that she hoped to see them again in Solitude, before she and her company marched down the road. Hadvar sighed and followed after them, causing Kree and Sonata to follow, but when they reached the fork in the road they turned to the right and kept on going. After a few minutes they came to what Hadvar called the 'Guardian Stones' and said that there were thirteen of them scattered around Skyrim. Sonata gave them another glance before they moved on, though she decided to circle back and touch the Mage Stone, wondering if it could aid her in this world. A moment passed before she rejoined her companions, though she made sure to keep her eyes peeled for anything and anyone that wanted to hurt them.

One such person happened to be someone standing on a path that led into the mountain side, though Hadvar told them not to worry about the person and they continued on the road. They also encountered a trio of wolves, to which they dealt with them in seconds, though Sonata used some of her fire magic to do her damage instead of the sword she carried.

When they arrived outside Riverwood Sonata was pleased to find that it was a small village that had walls to protect its entrances, a mill, a smithy, a general goods store, and what she assumed was an inn. Before they entered the village Hadvar told them that the man who worked at the smithy happened to be his uncle Alvor, who would be able to assist them before they departed for Whiterun. The man working at the smithy looked up from his work as they entered the town, though Hadvar seemed glad to see him and they embraced the moment the man put down what he was working on.

"Shor's bones, what happened to you, boy?" the man asked, looking over Hadvar for a moment, "Are you in some kind of trouble?"

"Shh.. Uncle, please. Keep your voice down." Hadvar said, apparently worried that there might be some Stormcloak spies in the area, "I'm fine. But we should go inside to talk."

"What's going on?" Alvor asked, before turning and seeing both Kree and Sonata standing behind him, "And who are these people?"

"They're friends of mine." Hadvar told his uncle, glancing back at them for a moment, "Saved my life, and most of my comrades lives, in fact. Come on, I'll explain everything, but we need to go inside."

"Come on inside." Alvor said, beckoning for them to follow him inside his house, "Sigrid will get you something to eat and you can tell us what happened."

Sigrid was more than willing to let them join them for dinner, telling Sonata that they had spent a lot of time escaping Helgen before the dragon brought it down on their heads. As the meal was being prepared Hadvar explained what had happened, starting with how General Tullius had even captured Ulfric Stormcloak to begin with, something that he had been informed of with his captain. Then there was the wait at Fort Neugrad, where they all waited until morning to head to Helgen and began to execute the prisoners, but explained how the dragon interrupted them. He then told the tale about how they escaped from the fort, beckoning every now and then to either Kree or Sonata, before coming to the end and telling his uncle what Captain Pelena was doing.

Once the tale was done, and the meal was over with, Alvor and Sigrid turned into the bed, wishing their guests goodnight before leaving them to their devices.

"It's nice to be back in a friendly spot, huh?" Hadvar told Sonata and Kree, smiling to himself for a moment before turning back to them, "Listen, I'm going to lay up here for a while. You can make your own way to Whiterun from here, just by heading north."

Sonata smiled as she and Kree moved into one of the beds in the basement, as it was the only one left, though she knew that they were safe for the moment. In the morning she and Kree would leave Riverwood and travel to Whiterun, where they could warn the Jarl about the dragon and figure out what they needed to do next. They would be heroes to the people of the Hold, she was sure of it, and that thought brought a grin to her face as she and Kree drifted off to sleep for the night.

5: Bleak Falls Barrow

When morning finally dawned, and the beams of light hit Sonata in her face, she yawned and stretched her arms as she pulled herself from the bed she had fallen asleep on. For a moment she thought that she was still in the small apartment that she and her sisters had rented, but a quick look around told her that her imagination was only fooling her. She was still in the basement of Alvor and Sigrid's house, where she and Kree had gone when Hadvar told them they should get their rest before they delivered the message about a dragon to the Jarl of Whiterun. She then turned around and found that Kree, who had fallen asleep around the same time that she had, was no longer in the bed, which told Sonata that she had to be upstairs.

When she walked up the stairs she found that only Sigrid was around, who immediately noticed the former Siren and beckoned her over to the table, where there was some fruit and some dried meat for breakfast.

"Where is everyone?" Sonata asked, remembering that the place had been packed with the family that lived here, Hadvar, and both Kree and herself.

"My husband Alvor is working the forge at the moment," Sigrid told her, taking a seat for a moment, "our little girl, Dorthe, sometimes helps him out while he works... I think she's practicing so she can take over when he decides to retire. Hadvar went to the inn to see if there were any rumors of either Stormcloak activity or anymore mentions of the dragon that you three saw in Helgen. And Kree decided to go to the Riverwood Trader, that would be the general good store across the street, to see if she could see off some of the junk you guys carried into the house and pick up some essentials for the road to Whiterun."

"Which apparently was robbed sometime last night," a voice said, just as Kree entered the house and closed the door behind her, though by the pack she carried Sonata knew that she must have purchased some items while she was there, "but the strange thing is that the thieves only took one item from Lucan; an ornament made of solid gold that also happens to have the shape of a dragon's claw."

"I remember that thing," Sigrid said, nodding her head for a moment, "He's always been saying that the claw has brought him nothing but good luck, but it seems that it brought him bad luck this time. Did he saw where they went?"

"He seemed to think they went up to the barrow," Kree replied, taking a sweet roll out and biting it in half, "I've heard that Bleak Falls Barrow holds some treasure and power that could make the journey worth the effort. Sadly we cannot go up there and get it, we have to tell Balgruuf about the dragon and make sure that this village gets some protection... then we'll figure out what to do from there."

Sonata put down her utensils down, pulled herself from the chair she was sitting in, and walked back down to the basement, where she had left her sword and helmet when she went to bed. She moved quickly, making sure that her armor was as tight as it could be, before she took her weapon from the nightstand and tied the sheath to her belt. Once that was done she picked up the helmet and slipped it on over her head, before she took a few deep breaths and headed up the stairs. She didn't stop as she opened the door and strode outside, where she turned and looked up at the barrow that loomed over the entire village, before heading in the direction that would take her to Whiterun.

When she reached the fork in the road a few minutes later she immediately headed up into the mountainside, where she knew she'd be able to follow it all the way to the entrance to the barrow.

"You are definitely crazy," Kree told her, jogging up the pathway before she caught up with Sonata, "You've barely recovered from arriving in this world, your skilled in basic swordplay and the basics of magic, and you think you can take an entire group of bandits by yourself. Normally I would say we should head back and speak to the Jarl, but seeing how we've already started towards the barrow we might as well get it over with."

"I'm not going to stand and let them get away with this," Sonata said, lightning cracking around her hand for a moment before it disappeared, "We'll go in, find the person who stole the claw, and recover it so we can return it to its owner. Then we'll head to Whiterun and speak with the Jarl... I really don't care for the treasure."

Kree nodded and they continued up the pathway, until they came to a stone tower that was resting on the edge of the cliff and had three bandits hanging outside the entrance. One of them, the sentry Sonata guessed, noticed them coming and pulled out his bow, but before he could get an arrow off Kree replied in kind, allowing her arrow to zip through the air and slam into his chest. As he was knocked into the tree the other two bandits noticed their comrade was dead and moved out of the tower, before heading down the path and coming towards the two of them. Sonata pulled out her sword, spun around as she deflected the attack of the bandit that approached her, and drove her blade right through his heart.

Kree watched as Sonata then parried the next attack from the final bandit, continuing the pattern as she waited for an opening to present itself, but when it did she knocked the sword from her enemy's hands and took his head clean off.

"I take it back, your definitely skilled with that blade," Kree commented, somewhat pleased that Sonata had retained so much of what she had taught her, "I daresay that if General Tullius had caught Ulfric Stormcloak a week later we could have turned you into a highly skilled swordsman before this entire thing started."

Sonata thanked her friend for the compliment and they got underway once more, where they followed the pathway around the mountain until they approached the high rising stone structures that had been built around the barrow. Before they had time to inspect the area a bandit noticed them and shouted to his allies, causing two more bandits, both with bows, to appear and start drawing their arrows. Kree took aim at the bandit that was the closest to their location, letting her arrow fly into the person's chest and knocked the bandit to the ground. Sonata, on the other hand, charged up the stairs and let a small amount of lightning pulse around her left hand, which she released into the first bandit that came towards her.

The second one loosed an arrow at her, but she rolled out of the way and threw a lightning bolt through the air that struck the bandit dead where he stood.

Once that deed was done Sonata sighed for a moment before she and Kree continued towards the large iron gate that one of the bandits had been standing near before their arrival. The moment they were inside they found a pair of bandits near the back of the chamber, though they were talking to each other and had failed to notice that the iron door had opened. Kree pulled out an arrow out of her quiver and pulled the bowstring back, but Sonata held a hand out to prevent her from loosing the arrow, as if she was waiting for the bandits to say something about the golden claw. It was a good thing that Sonata had told Kree to stay her hand for the moment, as one of the bandits mentioned that a golden claw had been taken from them by one of their companions, who fled into the barrow.

The two of them then approached the remaining bandits, who barely had enough time to defend themselves before Kree put one of them down with her bow and Sonata drove her sword through the second one. Before they descended into the barrow Sonata noticed a chest that happened to be sitting near the walkway, but as she turned to ask Kree about it the argonian slipped her sword between the lid and the body and forced the chest open. What they found was some more arrows for Kree, two healing potions that were split between them, and an amethyst that Kree said that they would sell later on.

With the deed done they continued deeper into the barrow, but they knew that they needed to be prepared in case more bandits, or something much worse, decided to show up and attack them, so they kept their weapons at the ready. Not a few minutes later they found another bandit, this one more armed than the two they had just taken down, standing in a chamber that had a switch resting in front of an iron gate. They arrived just in time to see the bandit flip the switch, only for him to fall to the ground as a dozen darts shot out of the holes in the wall and pierced his body. He was dead in seconds, though they slowly entered the chamber and studied the surrounding area, so they didn't repeat what happened to the bandit.

Sonata stared at the gate for a moment before noticing the pattern on the wall, one that read snake, snake, and whale, before moving to the three pillars that the bandit had ignored. She flipped them in the order that the pattern on the ceiling had read and then, when she was absolutely sure that she was right, she had Kree back up as she flipped the switch and the gate opened before their eyes. They found a chest filled with potions, which Sonata was sure that they weren't even fresh, seeing how they had been sealed in a chest for a few hundred years, but Kree reassured her that they were still usable. They also found a trio of rat like creatures, which Kree told her were called skeevers, waiting at the bottom of the stairs they took, but the two of them took care of them with ease.

The next chamber was blocked off by webs, but the instant they took them down they caused a massive spider to descend towards the ground, though Sonata was surprised that such a beast stood in their way. She and Kree approached the spider and attacked it, either slamming their swords into its legs or using some of Sonata's magic to make it back up before it finally crumpled to the ground. Once the creature was dead they found the bandit that had stolen the golden claw, who continued to promise that he wouldn't run when they let him go. They cut him down, but the moment he touched the floor he turned towards the path that his webs had been blocking and was gone before they could say a word.

Sonata's eyes widened when a shriveled corpse, wearing ancient armor and wielding an ancient weapon, came into view, but from what they were hearing it sounded like the thief had gotten deeper into the barrow then either of them were expecting.

"And now we have the draugr to contend with," Kree sighed, cutting the walking corpse down as two more appeared in the middle of the tunnel, "if that thief isn't dead when we catch up to him then I will personally put him down myself."

When the draugr approached them Kree pulled her bow back out and loosed an arrow at the one closest to her, knocking it to the ground, while Sonata parried the attack that came her way and drove her blade into the corpse's rotting heart. They were careful to avoid the traps that had been laid out by the ancients who had built the barrow, though they had to contend with the undead that the thief had woken up. They also had to pass through a swinging blade trap and defeat several more of the walking dead, before they came to another iron door that required a pull of a lever to open. They then followed the tunnel and passed by a waterfall that was apparently guarded by a frost troll, before they defeated an even tougher draugr that protected a wooden door that lead into the next part of the barrow.

Once they were in the next area they immediately had to pass a swinging blade trap, but they timed their movements in time with when the blades were inside the wall and made it through without getting hurt. Then they found a duo of normal draugr waiting for them, but they were much easier to deal with as they timed their attacks to hit right after the draugr tried to hit them. The moment the enemies were taken care of they followed the path deeper into the barrow, before they came upon a large iron door that had a trio of circles around what appeared to be a keyhole of sorts. That was when they found a third draugr standing over the corpse of the thief, who had slipped by almost everything and had nearly reached his destination.

"We might as well see what's on the other side of this door," Kree said, just as Sonata put down the draugr and collected the claw from the thief's body, "Now I wonder what the combination to this door is."

"Bear, Moth, and Owl," Sonata suddenly said, though as Kree stared at her she walked up to the rings and started moving them around, until the combination she had said showed up on the door.

Once that was done she pressed the claw into the middle of the door, allowing the rings to spin for a moment before they stopped and the door sank into the floor.

"How did you figure that out?" Kree asked, wondering if she had missed something when they were walking up to the door.

"It was on the bottom of the claw," Sonata said, turning the claw around and showing her friend, "I guess that's why the thief was so eager to get to this door, he literally had the combination to open it up."

When the way was open they advanced forward, following the tunnel until they came to a rather large chamber that had water running under the stone bridge that led to what appeared to be a wall full of strange writing. The two of them were impressed by the sheer size of the final chamber, though they were weary about any final traps the builders had placed in case someone got this far. Sonata glanced at the wall once more, though she had absolutely no idea what the writing said and was sure that Kree had more of an idea of what was written there, as he was more attuned to the stories of this land than she was.

She also noticed that there was an iron coffin sitting some distance away from the wall and that there was a staircase nearby, though she assumed it would lead to an exit of some kind. The last thing she noticed was the large chest sitting close to the coffin, though she stayed away from it in case whoever was inside the coffin came out when the chest's lid was opened. As Sonata approached the wall to read what it said, however, she could hear a faint chanting that seemed to speak in her head, something that she was surprised by. Though when she approached the wall the chanting seemed to stopped all of a sudden, but as she stared at the wall she realized that she could suddenly understand the writing.

The moment the chanting stopped the lid to the coffin behind them burst open, though as they turned around another old draugr, this one appearing much older than the ones they had already seen, pulled itself from the coffin and turned towards them. They waited for a moment, to be sure that the creature wasn't going to attack them, but then it shouted three strange words at them and started to freeze the area before they, forcing them to move as the wave of frost hit the wall. Before they could make a counter attack the draugr approached Kree and picked her up, before tossing her into the wall and making her crumple to the ground.

"KREE!" Sonata shouted, only for the draugr to turn towards her and smack her across the face, forcing her onto the ground for a moment before the creature kicked her in the chest and made her roll into the water below the bridge.

Sonata was surprised by how deep the river actually was, but for some odd reason she found that she could actually breath underwater and that whatever wounds she had at the moment were healing before her eyes. She floated in the water for a moment, gathering herself for a moment, before she frowned as her magic flared, bursting out of the river and floating into the air, causing the draugr to look at her. She growled and commanded the water around her to surge towards the creature, who was smacked into the cave wall and held there for a moment before he froze the water and broke out of it. She then formed several blades out of the water and cut into the creature, where the two of them exchanged blow after blow as they tried to wear down each other.

Eventually the creature, unable to catch up with her increased rate of healing, fell to the ground in a heap, though when the deed was done she landed beside her friend and cancelled whatever magic she had summoned, before tending to her friend's wounds.

"Let's not do that anytime soon," Kree coughed, though she was glad that the potions were mending her body, "at least we got the claw and whatever that creature was defending."

"Yeah," Sonata replied, feeling tired from the experience already and sitting next to her friend, "let's just take a moment to rest before we do anything else."

"Sounds like a plan," Kree laughed, coughing as she did so, "ouch, it hurts to laugh."

Sonata offered her a weak smile, knowing that it might have been foolish of her to even come here alone and that she could have gotten them both killed. She could tell that there was some fraction of her former powers hidden inside her body, but for now she was content to give her body a rest before they did anything else. They'd give Lucan the golden claw and then head to Whiterun, where they would finally tell the Jarl about the dragon that destroyed Helgen.

7: Journey to Iverstead

"I can't believe it," one of the guards, this one wearing a helmet that showed the man's face, said as he appeared beside Sonata, "Your Dragonborn!"

"Say what?" Sonata asked, completely confused at to what had just happened, though it appeared that the majority of the guards, including Irileth, were in the same boat with her.

"Dragonborn are legendary heroes throughout Tamriel's history," Kree informed her friend, shaking her head as she looked at the guard for a moment, "and they often refer to one of two things; the first is a hero that is supposed to overcome many obstacles and save the world from complete destruction, or something like that... I'm not completely sure on the first one. The second one is a hero with the ability to call upon the Thu'um and devour the souls of slain dragons... sort of like what you did just now."

"You mean I ate that dragon's soul?!" Sonata gasped, already feeling sick just by thinking about it.

"Yes, and you gained that dragon's knowledge directly," the guard replied, as if he actually well versed with the legend of the Dragonborn, "at least, that's what I heard what else happens when a dragon's soul is devoured. Now try to Shout, just like the Dragonborn of old."

Sonata looked at Kree for a moment, silently asking her friend what the guard meant by trying to Shout, but Kree merely shook her head and returned to studying the dragon, meaning she either knew and wasn't saying anything, or that she had no idea as well. She sighed and wondered if it was like when she wanted to use her Siren powers, before they were broken, so she decided to reach into her being and see what she could do. She figured that she could at least try to use this new power of hers, seeing how the mere mention of the Dragonborn seemed to rally the guards.

She concentrated for a moment and then shouted at the sky, using her own voice and not any words, but after a few seconds nothing happened, to which one of the other guards asked if the first one had been drinking something called skooma before the battle. Once she realized that she had failed, in front of the people who had called her a hero no less, she turned to Kree and asked what she was doing wrong, to which Kree continued to hold her silence on what she actually knew. She did, however, offer her the idea of listening to what was inside her, though Sonata sighed and closed her eyes once more, intending to get this right... for the people who were terrified of the return of the dragons.

This time she waited for a few more seconds as she searched her being for whatever power that dragon had unlocked, though after those seconds passed she could have sworn she heard one word constantly repeat itself... so much so that she felt the need to repeat it once herself.

"FUS!" Sonata shouted, though when the word escaped her lips she heard the sound of a force of energy push outwards and hit the people in front of her, to which she heard the guards grunt as if they had been hit.

"The Thu'um..." Irileth said, staring at Sonata as she opened her eyes, only to find that almost everyone around her was staring at her, as if she was the answer to all of their problems, "...well then, we should tell Jarl Balgruuf about this... development."

Sonata and Kree followed Irileth back to Whiterun, while the guards that had survived the assault were picking up the pieces of the dragon's body... so that Farengar would have something to study. The trio quickly returned to the city, though when they reached the stables they heard a voice shout the word Dovahkiin through the air, to which Sonata was sure that the sky had shook for a moment. As they passed through the city Sonata was shocked to see several of the guards salute her after they had returned, though she suspected it was because they had returned alive and the guards believed that they had succeeded in their mission... without knowing if they had actually succeeded or not.

When they finally entered Dragonsreach, to which Sonata noticed that everyone was still up, Irileth ran up to the throne and stood beside the Jarl, while beckoning for Sonata and Kree to step forward.

"So what happened at the watchtower?" the Jarl asked, waiting until both Kree and Sonata came to a stop before his throne before asking his question, "Was the dragon there?"

"The watchtower was destroyed, Jarl Balgruuf," Kree replied, though Sonata merely nodded her head while her friend spoke, not wanting to say something wrong, "but we killed the dragon."

"I knew I could count on Irileth." Balgruuf said, letting out a sigh before staring at them again, "But there must be more to it than that."

"That's because when the dragon died, I absorbed some kind of power from it." Sonata admitted, knowing that either Irileth or Kree would have told the Jarl that she was apparently the Dragonborn... though she was still confused about what that actually meant.

"So it's true. The Greybeards really were summoning you." Balgruuf replied, referring to the voice that had shook the air, but went into an explanation when he noticed Sonata's confused expression, "Masters of the Way of the Voice. They live in seclusion high on the slopes of the Throat of the World. The Dragonborn is said to be uniquely gifted in the Voice - the ability to focus your vital essence into a Thu'um, or Shout. If you really are Dragonborn, they can teach you how to use your gift."

"Didn't you hear the thundering sound as you returned to Whiterun?" the warrior to Balgruuf's left asked, to which several of them turned to look at him for a moment, "That was the voice of the Greybeards, summoning you to High Hrothgar! This hasn't happened in ... centuries, at least. Not since Tiber Septim himself was summoned when he was still Talos of Atmora!"

"Hrongar, calm yourself." Proventus said, causing the nord to turn towards him, "What does any of this Nord nonsense have to do with our friend here? Capable as she may be, I don't see any signs of her being this, what, 'Dragonborn'."

"Nord nonsense?!" Hrongar nearly shouted, clearly offended by what Proventus had said, "Why you puffed-up ignorant... these are our sacred traditions that go back to the founding of the First Empire!"

"Hrongar. Don't be so hard on Avenicci." Balgruuf countered, trying to get the two of them to stop arguing with each other, reminding Sonata of the times that she and Aria would argue and that Adagio would have to separate them.

"I meant no disrespect, of course." Proventus replied, to which Hrongar growled at him for a moment to indicate that he was annoyed, "It's just that... what do these Greybeards want with her?"

"That's the Greybeards' business, not ours." Balgruuf said, sighing for a moment before turning to Sonata, "Whatever happened when you killed that dragon, it revealed something in you, and the Greybeards heard it. If they think you're Dragonborn, who are we to argue? You'd better get up to High Hrothgar immediately. There's no refusing the summons of the Greybeards. It's a tremendous honor."

"Then that is what we shall do!" Sonata eagerly said, overjoyed that she was being summoned by the Greybeards themselves, as she figured that they might be able to teach her how to control her new powers.

"One more thing before you go," the Jarl said, beckoning Sonata forward so he could give her a steel war axe, "You've done a great service for me and my city, Dragonborn. By my right as Jarl, I name you Thane of Whiterun. It's the greatest honor that's within my power to grant. I assign you Lydia as a personal Housecarl, and this weapon from my armory to serve as your badge of office. I'll also notify my guards of your new title. Wouldn't want them to think you're part of the common rabble, now would we? We are honored to have you as Thane of our city, Dragonborn."

Sonata happily grinned as Kree pulled on her shoulder, allowing her friend to pull her away from the throne so the Jarl and his Housecarl could discuss, in great detail, what had happened at the watchtower. The duo found the Housecarl in question waiting by the entrance of Dragonsreach, though she seemed to be bored of waiting for something interesting to happen. When they approached her she saluted Sonata and indicated that she would gladly give her life to protect her Thane, though Sonata told her that she hoped that she wouldn't need to go through with that in the future.

As the trio made their way out of Dragonsreach, to which Sonata discovered that nighttime was rapidly approaching, Kree suggested that they visit the Bannered Mare and rent a room for the night. She decided that Kree had a good idea and the trio walked down to the tavern, where they rented their room and got something to eat, as both Kree and Sonata hadn't had the chance to actually eat something between getting the Dragonstone and killing the dragon. Once they had something to eat, and they had listened to the bard play a song called Ragnar the Red that caused Sonata to gag by how bad he sung the song, they retired to their room for the night.

Lydia sat in one of the chairs and merely fell asleep, but not before promising that she would awaken at the first sign of danger, before Sonata and Kree climbed into the bed and drifted off to sleep.

When morning arrived the trio, now recharged from a good nights sleep, went downstairs and got themselves something light for breakfast, before they sat at a table and determined their route to Iverstead. Lydia, well versed in the art of reading maps since that's all she had really done after becoming a housecarl, indicated that they could follow the road for a while before moving into the mountain... though she also offered a route the cut through the mountain itself. Kree respected what Lydia offered to them, because she turned to Sonata and told her that she could make the decision, seeing how she was the Dragonborn.

In the end Sonata decided to follow the road, as she was completely new to this world and didn't want to get lost by traveling into the mountains, where there were few roads to begin with. With the decision made the three of them left the Bannered Mare and walked out into Whiterun once more, where they walked down the street and approached the main gate. The guards saluted them as they walked passed them, to which Sonata merely returned the gesture as they eventually made their way out of the city. The moment they were outside Lydia pointed at the main road and beckoned to the left, where she traced the road that they needed to follow to reach their destination.

They passed by a bandit camp that was built into the mountain itself, but both Kree and Lydia said that it wasn't worth clearing out, as they had not yet been noticed by the bandits. As they progressed further down the road they were attacked by a trio of wolves, which Lydia killed before they had a chance to reach Sonata or Kree. When they started descending Sonata noticed what appeared to be two towers that were connected by a bridge, to which Lydia proclaimed that this location was known as Valtheim Towers... though she also indicated that it was another bandit hideout.

As they approached the towers, in the hopes of passing through without being stopped, one of the bandits approached them and made them stop in their tracks.

"This is our road, and there's a toll if you want to use it," the female bandit said, lifting her battleaxe over her shoulder and planting the head in the ground, as an attempt to intimidate them into giving her what she wanted, "Two hundred gold per person and you'll be moving along in no time... or I'll take your heads and present all your treasure to my boss."

"My Thane, may I have the honors?" Lydia asked, her hand slowly reaching towards her belt, to which the bandit had no idea if it was for the money or the weapon.

"Go right ahead," Sonata said, to which Lydia drew her sword and swung at the bandit's neck, severing her head before she knew what hit her, "Huh, that was impressive. Now then, do we let the rest of the bandits live, or should we get a move on?"

"Well, Lydia managed to alert the rest of the guards with how loud the body fell," Kree commented, collecting the dead bandit's arrows and coins, before getting to her feet and pulling her bow out, "so we really don't have a choice in the matter. They'll chase us down and likely bring other groups in on the hunt if we avoid them, so its better to wipe them out now."

Sonata sighed and charged up the stairs, where the three of them discovered that there were at least ten more bandits waiting for them, separated between the two towers. Lydia charged across the bridge and Kree followed, leaving Sonata to made due with the tower they had been climbing before they reached the bridge. She turned towards the open doorway and found a bandit coming towards her, but she steeled herself and caught the bandit's arm with her hand, before using her sword to sever his hand off. She then spun around and drove her blade into his heart, but before she could be glad with dealing with one enemy she spotted two more warriors coming down the stairs.

She advanced on them and parried the attack that the first one threw at her, before ducking under the second one and rolling behind them as she though of a plan. As she picked herself up she parried their attacks once more, reading their movements with their weapons and looking for flaws in their technique, before spotting what she was looking for. One bandit charged at her with his sword, but as he did so his companion did the same, to which Sonata parried the first attack, grabbed that bandits arm, and drove his blade into his partner's chest. Before either had time to react she twisted the arm of the second bandit and drove his blade into the first's chest, before she pushed them backwards and let them bleed out.

"Ah ha!" a voice above her said, to which she looked up to find a bandit pointing a bow at her, with an arrow already prepared, "I've got you know you son of a..."

The bandit never finished his statement, as an arrow tore through his head and knocked him into the air, dropping his body to the ground around the tower. She climbed up to where the bandit had been waiting and looked across the bridge, to which she spotted Kree and Lydia at the top of the other tower, to which she spotted Kree putting her bow back where it belonged. With the towers cleared the three of them rejoined at the opening of the first tower, where they informed Sonata that they had found a hundred gold coins, several fine gemstones, a spell tome that she could look at later, and a strange stone that Kree knew was tied to one of the Daedric Princes. She only took it because she didn't want whatever that Prince's artifact was to fall into the wrong hands, so Sonata merely sighed and stored it in their bags before they got underway.

They walked for a good hour to two hours before they came to another fortress, though this time Sonata could see that mages had overrun the place.

"Damn, they even have a Fire Mage standing guard over the entrance," Kree growled, as Sonata had wanted to check it out before they moved on, before beckoning to the flaming staff the one mage held, "I guess we could always try sneaking around to the back and finding another way inside... all of these fortresses have a secret exit that the occupants use to escape."

Before Sonata could voice her opinion on the subject, which was actually moving on with their journey to Iverstead, Lydia stood up and drew her weapon once more.

"LEEEEROOOOOY JENKINS!" Lydia shouted, charging at the fortress before approaching the first mage, to which she swiftly removed its head before moving inside.

"Is... is she always like this?" Sonata asked, sighing as she let some lightning wrap around her left arm.

"I seriously hope not," Kree replied, more annoyed that their plan, rough as it was, had been shattered by the housecarl, "We had better go in and help her."

So the two of them followed after Lydia, where Kree knocked off the mage that held the staff and let her fall to the ground, so that they would have a better chance at besting her. Sonata, seeing her chance, slid under the mage as she picked herself back up and cut out her legs, forcing her back to the ground as she attempted to heal herself. That was before her head jerked forward and hit the ground, allowing Sonata to see the arrow that Kree had put in back of the mage's head, to which she grabbed the staff and moved towards the remaining mages.

Several mages poured out of the main fortress, likely drawn out by the shouting Sonata determined, and they zeroed in on the two of them, while Lydia ran to the top of a tower to fight whoever was up there. Sonata, noticing that the five remaining mages were all near each other, got an idea in her head and sucked in her breath for a moment, to which she reached for her new power. Once she had her power this time she turned towards the mages and released the Word, knocking them back for a moment and giving the two of them time to reach their enemies. One mage immediately picked himself back up, but Sonata snapped her left hand up and released the lightning she had been gathering, which collided with the mage's chest and knocked him into the side of the fortress.

Once that was done the two of them cleaned up the remainder of the mages, though when they were done with the mages Lydia came down from the tower and presented Sonata with her trophy, a staff that had ice on it. After a few moments of looting the bodies, which provided them with a wide number of alchemy ingredients, souls gems, a few more spell tomes, and some enchanted armor. Sonata sighed as she leaned against one of the walls of the fortress, already tired out from having to fight two massive groups of enemies... making her wonder how Lydia and Kree were still standing.

"Do you mind if we take a break for an hour?" Sonata asked, looking up at Kree for a moment, who sighed as she sat beside Sonata.

"Might as well," Kree commented, a small smile appearing on her face, "Besides, we'll still have six to seven hours to reach Iverstead before night falls, giving us plenty of time to reach our destination before the day is over."

Sonata nodded, knowing that she would eventually have the endurance that both Lydia and Kree had, but until then she would need to rest every now and then before moving onward. Besides, she had some spell tomes to read before they departed and she knew that they might have an ability or two she could use to their benefit later on.

8: Arrival in Iverstead

Sonata spent the hour she had requested from Kree to regain her energy and read one or two of the spell tomes that she had picked up on the way to the fortress they had stopped in. She was trying to improve her skills, so that way she didn't have to resort to relying on her friends during each and every battle that they got into. Even if she was the Dragonborn, which she knew next to nothing about her new destiny, she knew that she had to train her new powers and get a firm grasp on what she could do. During that time Kree stayed near her while Lydia, on the other hand, stood on the upper walkway and watched for more enemies that she could remove from the world.

When the hour was up the three of them gathered their gear and left the fort, returning to the road and heading in the direction that Iverstead happened to be in.

A few minutes later they came to a bridge, though as they started to walk across the stone they encountered a pack of wolves that howled at them the moment they spotted them. Lydia, somehow sensing that they were a threat to her Thane, drew her weapon and charged forward, shouting at the wolves as her sword found its home in the head of one of the advancing wolves. Kree sighed and loosed an arrow at the second one, but the third one slipped by Lydia and charged at Sonata, who merely snapped her fingers as an ice spike erupted from the stone and impaled the wolf.

"Strange... I've never seen an ice spike used like that," Kree commented, collecting her arrow and the pelts of the two other wolves, as the one Sonata struck had a ruined pelt, "I guess more of your natural powers are already beginning to return to you. Maybe the training the Greybeards will give you will, in some shape or form, give you the ability to use more of your magic again... though time will tell."

Sonata hoped that she regained her full magical power at some point, but that also made her worry that she could, potentially, use those abilities to do more harm than good. She honesty had no idea what she would do if she suddenly reforged her shattered pendant and recovered all of her powers... though the thought of her using them to do harm made her shiver. She had promised herself, before entering the portal, that if she could regain her powers, even a fraction of them, that she would use them for the betterment of either Equus or wherever she ended up.

"I guess I overdid it," Sonata merely said, not knowing that the spike was supposed to have been thrown, as the book made a vague mention of what to do with the spell... to which she cursed the mage that had been carrying it for treating it badly.

Once they had crossed the bridge Lydia beckoned to the path leading up the hillside, indicating that this was the way they needed to go if they wanted to reach Iverstead. Sonata nodded and they continued along the path, following the dirt road that led them upwards and around a few stone piles that happened to be resting in their way. They spotted several wild animals that crossed their path, to which Sonata noticed that they actually ran away from them, as if they were afraid of a group of travelers. She guessed that made sense, considering that all they had seen were a few foxes, the occasional goat, a lone rabbit that stared at them the entire time, and a couple of passing deer.

However, not an hour later, they found a brown furred creature, with wicked looking claws and a wild look in its eyes, that definitely wanted to rip them a new one.

"Sonata, please activate your fire magic," Kree told her friend, as she drew an arrow and Lydia drew her weapon, to which Sonata let flames dance around her hand for a moment, "we've got a troll ahead of us..."

Sonata had never dealt with a troll before, but she considered that Kree had asked her to use fire magic and determined that the troll's weakness had to be fire, regardless if it was an actual spell or an enchantment. She grinned for a moment as she brought her hands closer to each other and combined the flames into a single sphere, before stepping forward and throwing the spell right into the troll's chest. The troll staggered backwards for a moment before pounding its hands on it chest and then beating its hands on the ground, to which it glared at Sonata.

She snapped her fingers as flames surrounded her, to which she summoned them all into another sphere and struck the advancing troll in the chest again, though it continued to look as if it was in pain while it was coming towards her. She gestured to Lydia for a moment, to which her housecarl ran through the flames and cut a diagonal gash into the troll's chest, knocking it to the ground. Kree, having never fired her arrow, slowly approached the downed troll with Sonata by her side, who kept her flames at the ready in case their attacks did nothing. After a few seconds they determined the troll was dead, which was determined when it didn't get back up when Lydia poked the creature's chest with her weapon.

Once they had determined that the troll was actually dead, and wasn't getting back up, they searched the cave it had been resting in, to which Kree raided the beast's supply of fresh kills and discarded pelts with a smile on her face. Sonata figured it was because she could turn the pelts into armor for the three of them, as long as she had the metal required to make something for one of them. Once Kree had looted the entire cave of everything they could use, which happened to be the pelts she had collected, she returned to her friends and they continued along the path once more.

It then took them roughly another twenty minutes to reach their destination, the small village called Iverstead, but before they walked over the bridge and climbed the Seven Thousand Steps, which Sonata was eager to climb, Kree informed them that it might be wise to spend the night in the inn before they set out. Sonata knew that she wanted to relax and get a decent sleep before they started the climb, so she merely nodded her head and followed her friend to the inn. When they entered the inn Lydia stood beside the door, to keep an eye out for enemies that might enter the inn looking for Sonata, while Sonata and Kree approached the innkeeper.

While they were renting their room for the night Sonata discovered that the barrow across from the inn was apparently haunted by some sort of spirit, something that was causing less visitors to come through their village despite the fact that High Hrothgar rested near them. There was also a mention of someone named Wyndelius having gone into the barrow, no doubt he was searching for something, but he had never returned and the villagers suspected that he was dead. Once they had that piece of information, and the decline of the visitors because of the haunted barrow, Sonata checked her weapons once more and headed outside, with Lydia and Kree hot on her heels.

"You are definitely insane!" Kree exclaimed as they walked outside, glad that most of the villagers had returned home and that the three of them were the only ones outside, "Sonata, please listen to me. We are ill prepared for anything inside that barrow... and I really don't want to tell anyone that the Dragonborn was killed because she couldn't leave a single barrow alone. I especially don't want to bury one of my friends, not when you have more to give than just clearing up problems like this."

"I'm only going inside so I can search for this specter the innkeeper mentioned," Sonata replied, turning her head back to face her friends, "I want to see how far this spirit is in the barrow, because if it is close to the entrance we can simply remove it and be out before the other residents even know we're there. Its one enemy and the people will be glad to have it gone, that's all."

Sonata knew that Kree wasn't expecting that reason at all, as her friend seemed confused by why she wanted to go inside for a moment, but then sighed and nodded her head. The three of them then entered the barrow, to which they walked down a staircase and entered the crypt... where they heard something telling them to leave at once. Sonata walked up to the corridor that connected to the entrance and turned to her right, to which she spotted the spirit she had come to lay to rest. Before she could do anything the spirit turned around and went deeper into the barrow, to which she turned to the open room to her left and looked at the switches for a moment.

As Kree and Lydia joined her in the room she started flipping the switches, closing a few of the doors and opening them again before all three of them were open. Sonata then followed the path deeper into the barrow and opened another passage, pausing for a moment to let the traps go off before the next door was open. She ignored the door on her right and focused on the one in front of her, but before she opened it she had her friends stand back, to which she ignited her magic and summoned lightning to her left hand. Instead of the original lightning she used before she had it focused into the tips of her fingers, like a blade made of pure lightning, to which she beckoned to Lydia to open the door.

The moment the door opened, and the ghost happened to be standing on the other side of it, Sonata charged forward with her hand extended in front of her... to which she tore through the ghost's chest and spattered blood on the ground behind her.

"What the..." Sonata started to say, before the illusion that had been on the ghost ruptured, revealing that the ghost had actually been a living person... who she had just killed, "What is this?! I thought he was a ghost..."

"Apparently that was a trick to fool the villagers," Kree said, slipping passed her friend and finding the man's journal, discovering that this was the man that the innkeeper had said had disappeared some time ago, "well, I guess we can tell the innkeeper about his 'ghost' and show him the journal."

Sonata, having pulled her arm out of the dead man's chest, nodded her agreement and followed her friends back outside, determined to wash her arm off before even going to sleep.

A duo of cloaked figures entered the inn across from the barrow as darkness slowly descended on the village, to which they approached the innkeeper as the other patrons stayed away from them.

"What can I do for you?" the innkeeper asked, staring at the two strangers as they approached him, wondering if they were guests for the night.

"The Dragonborn!" the stranger on the right demanded, clearly female by the tone of the voice that came from behind the mask, "Where is she!?"

"I don't know who the Dragonborn is," the innkeeper replied, before thinking back to who had walked into his inn, "but a group of three rented our room for the night..."

The two strangers drew their swords and silently drifted into the bedroom, somehow guessing which one was the room he rented out to people, before they lifted their weapons above their heads and started stabbing the bed. After a few seconds one of them flipped the bed into the wall, before the two of them walked out into the open chamber and started looking around for their target. They looked at the scared patrons for a moment, studying them for a few seconds, before they walked outside and started their search all over again. That was before Sonata and her friends emerged from the barrow, to which the two cloaked figures pointed their blades at Sonata the instant they spotted her.

"Oh what now?" Sonata demanded, annoyed by the death of a person that hadn't actually been dead, which was only increased by the duo standing in front of her.

"Its time to die, False Dragonborn," one of the strangers said, "When Lord Miraak appears all shall bear witness. None shall stand to oppose him!"

Sonata sighed and snapped her fingers, to which the stranger was struck down with one of Kree's arrows, before patting Lydia on her shoulder and letting the warrior go. Within seconds the second stranger's head was rolling on the ground, but all Sonata was concerned about was the fact that someone else wanted her dead in this world. She'd deal with this 'Lord Miraak' in time... once she had figured out what to do with the dragons and save the world from being destroyed by the 'Harbingers of the End Times'.

She knew, in that instant, that her life was only going to get harder the longer she stayed in this world.

11: Trek through Ustengrav

Sonata had a terrible nights sleep that night, as her dreams were plagued with a never ending nightmare that was the destruction of the entirety of Skyrim. She remembered the last time this had happened to her, back on Earth when she and her sisters had been hunted down on accusations that they were witches, which had held some truth because of the small amount of magic that they had at the time. For the weeks that followed the hunt she had nightmares about being caught and burned alive, as if she was merely a mortal and not an immortal Siren, but they eventually went away. She was sure that this time was different from all the other instances it had happened, because she hadn't actually experienced the event that would have brought this nightmare to life.

This time she was floating in the air above what she assumed was an orc stronghold, one that had grown to accommodate the warriors that had joined the stronghold's leader, whoever that happened to be. The land around the stronghold had been scorched by fire, some unnatural green fire she noted, though that didn't seem to bother the orcs at all. In the area behind the stronghold marched a seemingly endless line of heavily armored orcs, some of them carrying a banner that bared the symbol of the mysterious Lord Grul, though she noticed that they were marching out of a massive gate that had been constructed into the mountain side. She had read a few tales during her time on Earth, during which she had discovered some mentions of magical gates that moved troops from one location to another, but she had never seen on in action... even if this was all a dream.

She zoomed in on the area that rested beside the path that the army of orcs were marching down, where she found four orcs, each one of them dressed differently than the others around them, kneeling before what she assumed was a hut of some kind. The shroud moved for a moment before a fifth orc, this one hunched over and carrying a staff that had three skulls near the top end of it, emerged from the hut. For some strange reason she got the feeling that the hunched orc was actually the leader of all the orcs she was seeing, where the other four were merely his subordinates that conveyed his orders to the others. As the orc addressed his subordinates she managed to catch their names; Aggronak, Gurgova, Faldruuk, and Mag'zul, before she discovered that the fifth orc was, indeed, Lord Grul.

Lord Grul then pointed towards the gate for a moment, to which Sonata was spun around in place and faced the gate, to which her eyes widened as a massive creature walked through the gate and stepped into Nirn, causing the skies to fill with the same green fire that she had seen all around the stronghold. She could not describe the massive creature in detail, mostly because it was definitely obscured by some form of mist, but she could tell that it had to be a demon of some kind.

"And now you see the future we were trying to stop," a voice behind her said as the area around her became dark once more, but Sonata froze when she heard who had spoken, "the future where all of Nirn perishes at the hands on Grul's sinister master."

Sonata turned around and came face to face with her sister Aria Blaze, who had gone missing along with Adagio Dazzle back on Earth, which had eventually caused her to make the decision to return to Equus, only to end up where she currently was at the moment. It had been almost a whole month since she had seen either of her sisters, but when she noticed what Aria was wearing she began to wonder how they were even communicating. Aria still had her two ponytails, though Sonata quickly noticed that she was wearing a robe that belonged to a mage that normally enrolled at the College of Winterhold, though she could also see through her sister. Aria also looked sad, something that Sonata never thought that she would actually see.

"Aria... what happened to you and Adagio?" Sonata asked, feeling that she deserved some answers for all the heartache she had felt after the Battle of the Bands.

"The Enemy is coming," Aria said all of a sudden, ignoring her question altogether, exactly like she had done when they had been together on Earth, "Sonata, you must find your true power again and stop Grul before he brings about the end of this world."

"Aria, please don't leave me again!" Sonata called out, watching her sister disappear before her eyes, "ARIA!"

"Aria!" Sonata loudly said, jolting up to a sitting position in the bed she had fallen asleep in, sweat rolling down her face as she realized that she wasn't in her dreams anymore.

She looked around and found that she was definitely inside the inn she and her friends had stopped in the previous night, though the patrons that were in the inn at the moment completely ignored her. She had no way of knowing if what her dream had showed her was actually her imagination playing tricks on her or if it was a vision of some kind, one that showed what would happen if Lord Grul wasn't stopped. She also wasn't familiar with the types of creatures that could destroy worlds, though from what she could gather she knew that there were some in Skyrim that had that type of power.

"My Thane, are you alright?" Lydia asked, bursting into the room that they had shared last night with Kree hot on her tail, though Lydia's weapon was at the ready in case someone had tried to hurt Sonata.

"I... just had terrible dream," Sonata admitted, knowing that Kree would ask her if she had said that she was alright, "Lord Grul opened this massive gateway to some other realm and legions of orcs poured out of it, ready to carry out their master's orders. I saw four other orcs that I assumed were his underlings, the ones who commanded the mass of orcs, and I was somehow about to figure out their names by looking at them. Then a massive creature emerged from the gateway, one that's mere presence set the sky on fire as it began to bring about the end of Nirn..."

"This sounds more like a prophecy and less of a nightmare." Kree commented, which Sonata had been expecting, considering what she knew of the argonian's strange ability to determine what skills someone had by merely looking at them, "I'm assuming that Aria is one of your sisters?"

"Yes, and I think I saw her at the end of my dream." Sonata said, sighing as she wondered if she had been shown the truth, while wondering about her sisters again, "She and Adagio disappeared after we were defeated back on Earth, but when I saw Aria I noticed that she was wearing what appeared to be a pair of robes from the College of Winterhold."

"I have not heard of either of them," Kree sadly said, before beckoning to Sonata for a moment, "We'll, we can discuss the nature of this dream of yours while we're running through Ustengrav... unless you want to do something else instead."

Sonata, remembering why they had come to Morthal in the first place, shook her head and climbed out of her bed, to which she made sure that her sword was attached to her belt once more. The three of them bid the innkeeper farewell, which barely received a nod from the innkeeper, before they stepped out into the city and quickly made their way out into the marsh. Kree commented that the way to Ustengrav would be easy, as all they had to do was straight north from their current location and they'd find the opening to the ancient nordic barrow. To be sure that they didn't run into trouble Sonata commented that they might want to have their weapons drawn, to which the three of them drew their chosen weapon as they walked into the marsh.

They found two necromancers standing outside their destination, after trekking through the marsh and not getting assaulted by any of the wildlife that lived in that area, with three reanimated bandits standing near them. Kree beckoned towards the necromancers, indicating that it would be best to take them out first, before nocking an arrow and loosing it at her target. As the closest necromancer died the three reanimated bandits zeroed in on where they were standing, to which Lydia dispatched with one of them by removing their head within five seconds of them getting close. Sonata, on the other hand, blasted one of the bandits in the chest before she ducked under the blade of the remaining bandit, before spinning her blade around and penetrating its heart.

Sonata turned to the last necromancer as Kree stabbed her target in the chest, shoving the dead body to the ground before approaching the opening of the barrow.

Once they were inside the barrow Sonata discovered two more necromancers forcing the reanimated bandits to dig into the ground in front of them, as if they were digging for some ancient treasure. Kree knocked an arrow and took aim at the closest necromancer, giving both Lydia and Sonata time to get close to the other enemy before she took her target down. As the second necromancer noticed her companion fall to the ground, and the undead miners stopped what they were doing, Sonata leapt out of the shadows and took the head of her enemy. Lydia then took it upon herself to handle the remaining two undead, bashing them back with her shield before taking their heads, treating them as if they were still alive.

The moment the area was clear Sonata noticed another tunnel that would no doubt take them deeper into the barrow, to which she heard the sound of some more necromancers attacking the draugr. She held her hand up for a moment, to let the draugr deal with the necromancers, before moving down into the next area and striking the first undead nord that she found. As she forced her opponent backwards Lydia charged into the tunnel as well, smacking her weapon into one of the remaining two draugr as Kree took the final one out with an arrow. When Sonata was sure that the area was clear, and the necromancers staffs had been claimed, she beckoned with her hand and the three of them moved deeper once more.

They then walked into a chamber that had two more draugr that appeared from their coffins, but before they could get anywhere Kree's arrow found the heart of the one furthest away while both Sonata and Lydia cut the first one down. They rounded a few corners, finding nothing to fight, before they found a door that took them deeper into the barrow, but after a few seconds on the other side of the door they didn't find anything. That was before they found a draugr that was standing in front of what appeared to be firetraps, but then Sonata got an idea in her head before she fus'ed the undead into stepping back onto the trap, igniting the flames that burned it to a cinder.

The next area they found two draugr that stepped out of their coffins, though by the look of their armor Sonata could tell that they were more powerful than the previous undead they had found. Sonata took advantage of the fire lamp that rested above their heads, igniting the oil that rested around the draugr's feet and burning the two of them into a pile of cinders. They then found a chamber that had two bridges, one on either side of the area, but as they walked in Sonata immediately noticed the massive amount of draugr that were waiting for them... at least ten of them by her count.

"I was wondering why it was so easy to reach this point," Kree commented, pulling out a few more arrows than the one she had previously nocked, "It seems that the undead are gathering in greater numbers to defend the Horn, as if they don't want you to claim their treasure."

"Well, then they'll have to be disappointed," Sonata told her companion, flames wrapping around her left hand as she stared at the mass of enemies, "Lydia, move forward and take them down."

Lydia grinned and leapt down into the area that the dragur would be crossing so they could reach Sonata, to which her sword found its way into one of their chests before she started her assault. As Lydia hacked into her enemies Kree, remaining on the bridge they had first come to, nocked her arrow and loosed it at the archers that were standing on the other bridge, knocking them off whenever they were hit. Sonata conjured fireballs and threw them as the back of the pack, burning the enemies that ended up on the receiving end of her spell and giving her housecarl a better chance at taking them down. Once the horde of enemies were defeated the three of them quickly gathered anything that might be useful in the long run, before heading across the second bridge and delving deeper into the barrow.

They came to a massive chamber that had what appeared to be another Word Wall at the bottom of it, to which Sonata pointed at it before her companions could say anything. She knew that they were stressed for time, considering that there was an army of orcs on the loose and that they knew nothing about what they were doing, but she also knew that she needed all the Words of Power if she was going to stand a chance against the dragons. There was also another area to the left of where they were standing, but Sonata had her friends stay back so she could get to the Word Wall without rousing the rest of the undead in the area. She crept through the area, finding her way to the path that would take her down to her destination, before she found herself at the base of the waterfall.

She quickly approached the Word Wall, where she let the word sink into her body, before she turned around and headed back up the way she came, before anything decided to attack her. When she returned to where her friends were standing she found that they had been attacked by a pair of skeletons, which only cleared the path that rested on their right. There Sonata found three stones that were stuck in the ground, though as she approached them she noticed that one of them glowed and opened one of the gates in front of her. She smiled as she considered what to do with this puzzle, but as she thought about it she quickly realized that what she needed to do was run at the gates and, in the instant she was through the three stones, activate her Whirlwind Sprint and pass through the gates before they closed.

She started laughing after she tested her method to solve the puzzle, because it had worked like a charm and she had opened the way so that her companions could follow her. Once the three of them were together again they entered a chamber that was covered in webs, where they found a pair of spiders that appeared to be waiting for something to eat. Sonata smiled as she ignited her flames once more, burning the spiders where they stood before they started to move through the chamber, where they found that the floor had a bunch of fire traps built into it.

The three of them took their time to reach the other side of the chamber, where they encountered a trio of spiders that weren't too happy to see them. Sonata was more than happy to let her companions deal with the spiders this time, smiling as Lydia carved one of them into pieces before moving onto the second on, while Kree loosed a few arrows to fell the final one. Once the spiders were dealt with they approached a webbed door, to which they removed the webs and revealed the door that lead them into the chamber where Sonata was certain they would find the horn. As they walked into the final room four statues rose out of the water, as if responding to the fact that someone had finally come to claim what the barrow had been built to guard.

Sonata's happy nature was dashed when she discovered that the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller was not where it was supposed to be, and that a 'friend' of hers was waiting in Riverwood with what she had come to claim. She was annoyed that he horn was gone, so she let Kree and Lydia loot the massive chest that they found in the room behind where the horn was supposed to be, before they found the secret passage that would take them back to the beginning of the barrow. They appeared in a room full of urns, but they paid them no mind as they made their way towards the opening of the barrow, where they could leave the area and plan their next move.

When they approached the exit of the barrow, however, they found a group of what Sonata assumed were vampires standing in their way, judging by the armor that they were wearing.

"Dragonborn, it is fortunate that we found you before our Enemy did," the head vampire said, a female one Sonata noticed, before she noticed that none of their weapons were drawn, "Lord Movarth requests that you follow us to his lair... he's got some news about Lord Grul that you might find interesting. He also told me that if that didn't entice you to come with us, which he was certain you'd still refuse, than I was supposed to share this other piece with you... he knows about your sisters Adagio and Aria."

Sonata's eyes widened at the mention of her missing sisters, so much so that she decided that she might as well follow these vampires to their master... to see if they were telling the truth or if they were lying to her. She needed to find out what happened to her sisters, so much so that she couldn't pass up a chance to learn what had happened when someone came forward knowing what she wanted to know. She only hoped that this wasn't a lie designed to get rid of her... but she decided that she would soon find out when she spoke with this Movarth in his lair.

12: Council of Three

Sonata and her friends followed the group of vampires out of Ustengrav, though she was careful to study them in case this was going to be a trap later on. She had absolutely no idea what this Movarth wanted with her and why he had sent this group of vampires to ensure her safety, but the vampires claimed that their master knew something about her sisters. She couldn't pass up an opportunity to learn what had happened to her sisters, especially after she had been separated from them and had tried, in vain, to find them. How they came to Nirn, if they had truly come here, Sonata could guess at based on her own experience with the portal, but she needed to know where they were so she could stop worrying about them.

Because if Adagio and Aria were in Skyrim, fighting to protect themselves in a world they knew nothing about, then she needed to rescue them before they were harmed.

"So, where is Movarth's lair?" Kree asked the vampires, clearly trying to determine where they were heading so she could figure out how much traveling they would be doing.

"Just outside Morthal actually," the head vampire replied, while the rest of her group remained silent, "One of his spies noticed the three of you when you entered the small village and immediately told him of your presence, though we had been told to hold back until he decided whether you were a threat or not. Our spy also told him that the Dragonborn shouted the name 'Aria' this morning, something that allowed our master to decide that the three of you are allies and not additional enemies."

"You wouldn't happen to mean that your master assumed I might have been allies with Lord Grul, do you?" Sonata asked, though as she asked the question she noticed that the vampire seemed to pale for a moment as if she had hit the nail on the head, "Don't worry, I already don't like him or the army that he's commanding... even more so thanks to the terrible dream I had the previous night. Lord Grul has much to answer for... the only problem is finding him so we can punish him."

"Lord Movarth is going to like this one." one of the other vampires commented, turning to look at Sonata for a moment, before nodding as he turned back to what he was doing.

"Quite so," a third vampire said, though he held his sword out as they walked through the marsh, as if he was expecting danger to strike them, "Let's get to the lair before something..."

Before he could finish his statement a group of seven of orcs appeared from the mist around them, as if they had been using the mist to hide themselves the entire time. Sonata recalled that one of Grul's subordinates had a small veil of mist that had surrounded him, the one known as Mag'zul she remembered, so she assumed that these mage like orcs were his soldiers. Six of them had magic moving around their hands as they approached the vampires, but the last one had a sword in his hand as he approached Sonata and Lydia. All that told her was that Lord Grul was either testing her or had decided to get rid of her, but she would have to worry about that once they were out of danger.

"...happens." the vampire finished, sighing as he rushed at one of the mages and took his head off instantly, letting his companions deal with the remaining enemies, "Should have seen this coming."

Lydia leapt in front of the sword carrying orc and blocked his weapon with her shield, trying to push him back as the vampires dealt with the remaining mages. The orcs free hand, which wore a metal gauntlet, punched into Lydia's shield, denting the metal before he gripped the area he had ruined and tore it from her grasp. He then lifted his sword above his head before bringing it down on Lydia, cutting into her shoulder as she used her own weapon to prevent him from cleaving her in half. Before the orc could hit her again Sonata readied the Voice and used the Unrelenting Force on her target, blasting him backwards for a moment and leaving him without his weapon.

The orc looked up at Sonata as she approached him, though as she did so she could feel something familiar to awaken inside her as magic formed a light area around her right hand.

"You don't get to get away with hurting my friend," Sonata growled, pulling her arm back as she approached the orc, "now suffer the consequences for your actions."

Sonata swung her fist into the orc's chest and released the magic she had been gathering, shattering the armor that he was wearing in a matter of seconds. The orc started to back up for a moment, but then the area around where Sonata punched him deepened and crushed the ribs that were beneath it. The orc stared at Sonata for a moment and reached for her, but then his hand moved to his mouth as he started coughing up blood, indicating that something inside his body had broken in the worst way possible. Then, before anyone could move towards him and put him down, the orc's eyes rolled backwards and he collapsed on the floor of the marsh with a heavy thud.

Once that was done Sonata turned to Lydia and moved the severed part of the armor out of the way, before she pressed her hand on her friend's wounds and cast a healing spell. A few seconds later she pulled her hand back and revealed that the wound was gone, much to the amazement of Lydia, Kree, and the vampires around them. Sonata, on the other hand, swayed a bit and nearly fell into the marsh, but the vampire that had spoken to them first caught her before she could fall.

"You okay Sonata?" Kree asked, worried that the sudden attack might have taken more out of her friend than she was expecting, as she had no idea how much power Sonata had used to slay the orc and heal Lydia's wound.

"I... used too much energy," Sonata admitted, huffing for a moment before nodding to the vampire that was holding onto her, "Let's go meet with your master... before this happens again."

The vampire nodded her understanding before resuming the journey to her master's lair, which, as promised, rested right outside the small town of Morthal. When they entered the cave that housed Movarth's lair they were greeted by what appeared to be vampire thralls, bandits or something that had been turned Sonata guessed, who eagerly beckoned them deeper into the cave. The group passed through a section of the cave where there were bodies of the dead scattered everywhere, though Sonata immediately noticed that the bodies were merely more orcs like the ones they had seen out in the marsh. She guessed that Movarth's underlings had been removing Lord Grul's soldiers whenever they neared the town or had been wandering around the marsh.

They rounded a corner and found three vampires, two men and one women, sitting at a table with a number of vampires gathered around them, telling Sonata that they were the ones in charge. The one sitting at the head of the table though, Sonata could immediately tell that he was the one in charge of the entire cave, indicating that he had to be Lord Movarth.

"Ah, Laelette and her group return to us," the head vampire said, a small smile appearing on his face as the vampire that held Sonata, Laelette, released her and bowed to her master, "and she brings the Dragonborn, as was asked of her. Good job Laelette, but we must not get too excited... rejoin Alva outside and be sure that Grul's underlings stay away from this location."

"As you desire, my master," Laelette replied, turning around and taking her followers outside the cave, leaving Sonata and her friends to deal with whatever Movarth wanted.

"Proper introductions are in order," the head vampire said, beckoning to the man on his right, "To my right sits Master Vighar of Falkreath, while to my left sits Lady Vespula of the Rift. I am Lord Movarth of Morthal, and the three of us make up the Council of Three. You, on the other hand, are Sonata Dusk, the Dragonborn of legend and sister to Adagio Dazzle and Aria Blaze."

"That would be me," Sonata replied, standing straight as she beckoned to her friends, "this are Kree and Lydia, my friends. Now, I was told that you had information regarding my sisters."

"Ah, straight to your own concerns I see." Movarth laughed, before growing serious once more, "Yes, my companions and I know about your sisters. You see, Adagio and Aria arrived in Skyrim two weeks ago, in the same state of confusion that I assume that you woke up in, but instead of getting sidetracked like you did they immediately got to work reestablishing their magical powers. It didn't take them long to discover that they still had some inherent power inside their bodies, though they determined that it was possible to reforge the necklaces that they wore. They did not share with me the specifics of how they intended to reforge their necklaces, but they seemed convinced that it was possible and would not give up on their venture.

They spent ten days with Lady Vespula in the Rift, training against each other and the vampires that followed my companion, but Aria also enrolled in the College of Winterhold at the same time. I was told that it was because she wanted access to every book and ingredient the College had, so that way they could speed up their search on how to reforge their necklaces. Though when they discovered what they were searching for we received word that Lord Grul had appeared in Skyrim with his horde of orcs, but when I tried to dissuade your sisters from dealing with him they would not be talked back.

I thought that either Adagio or Aria was going to be the Dragonborn of legend, but before we could figure out who it was they both disappeared... never to be seen again."

Sonata sank into a hair and hung her head down, wondering why her sisters had decided it was a good idea to face Lord Grul without their full power backing them... if that was what they had done. They had come to Skyrim, exactly like she had done no doubt, but they had gotten to work on improving their abilities to survive in this unforgiving world. Now they were either wandering around Skyrim, searching for the orc leader she had seen in her dreams, or they had found him and fought him, only to lose and become prisoners. She considered the thought that Adagio and Aria might not stand a chance at defeating the orc leader, but then she shook her head and remembered that it was two Sirens versus an orc warlock.

She was sure that, if a battle had raged between her sisters and Grul, her sisters would have won, but there were no stories of such a fight occurring, so she had to assume that they were still safe at the moment.

"Wait... they were trying to reforge their necklaces?" Sonata asked, a look of shock on her face, because she had determined that the stones had been shattered completely with little hope of them actually being repaired.

"That was what they told us," Vighar commented, drawing attention to himself for a moment, "I do not know how its possible to reforge those shattered stones, because they appeared to have the appearance of shattered soul gems, but they seemed convinced that it was possible to achieve what I deemed impossible."

"Quite so," Lady Vespula added, sipping from her goblet before speaking again, "Despite not being born in this world, or even knowing anything that had happened in the past, they were determined to bring an end to the war that rages on. Further more they were preparing themselves for the eventually arrival of the dragons, to which they trained their skills daily to be sure they were prepared for that day. It seems that all three of us were wrong to think that either of them were the Dragonborn, despite the vast amount of power they each commanded before they left to find Lord Grul."

"Did they say anything before they left?" Sonata asked, wondering if they might have left a clue behind in case they determined that she would be arriving shortly after they left.

"Yes, they left a rather vague message," Lord Movarth said, a frown replacing his facial expression as he recalled what they had said with ease, "Adagio said that, if they didn't return in one weeks time, then the 'Siren Queen' would come to Skyrim and do what they could not... does that mean anything to you?"

Sonata remained silent for a moment, though while she did that her right hand moved up to her neck and touched her own necklace, as if remembering something. She knew what Adagio was talking about, as Aria had likely determined the same thing when she heard their sister speak the term none of them had spoken in over a thousand years. The problem was that she didn't want to think about that at all, because it was something that the three of them had agreed to forget about after their banishment. Though if Adagio had mentioned the Siren Queen like that... it meant that she was concerned that only the Queen's power might be enough to defeat Lord Grul.

Kree coughed for a moment and snapped Sonata back to reality, as she had clearly been lost in her own thoughts for a few minutes, so she knew that she needed to answer the question.

"No... the term means nothing to me." Sonata lied, though she didn't make any of the motions or mannerisms that would reveal if she was lying, something that she and her sisters had picked up over their long banishment.

She didn't want to lie to people who might be her allies against Lord Grul, but at the moment she had no idea where any of the vampire's loyalties lay, so she didn't want to reveal something as specific as the Siren Queen to any of them. She had grown tired of lying to people over the long years of her banishment, but time and time again it seemed that she needed to tell one or two to get through life. She also determined that, at some point in the near future, she would have to tell Kree and Lydia about the Siren Queen, but she would wait until the opportunity to do so.

"Well then, I guess we're still at square one on that subject then," Movarth said, sighing before beckoning to his companions, "Know this Sonata Dusk, the Council of Three and our underlings will support you in your war against Lord Grul and fight on your behalf, until you have accomplished whatever tasks you need to complete before you want to deal with the warlock."

Sonata sighed and looked at the ceiling for a moment, wondering why one of the council members, the one whose underlings had tried to kill her, wanted to ally with her all of a sudden. She determined that if these three vampire leaders were actually her allies, then she would keep her eyes on them to be sure that one of them wasn't allied with Lord Grul. If that warlock learned of the Siren Queen's existence, even a whisper of her existence, then Sonata was sure that he would stop at nothing to gain that power. She would make sure that the vampires would make good on their offer to aid them, so she could keep the orc warlock and his army at bay until she was ready to deal with him.

She also needed to find her sisters, wherever they happened to be in the vastness that was Skyrim, and, somehow, uncover the method they were working on to reforge her amulet... because she was sure she was going to need its power now more than ever.

13: Trek to Riverwood

Sonata and her friends stayed with Movarth's vampires for an hour, recovering from the ambush they had fought through in the marsh and giving Lydia time to make sure that her shoulder was just fine. Sonata was grateful that the vampires had a piece of armor, identical to the armor that her Housecarl was wearing, to replace the armor that one of the orcs had ruined. Kree had spent some time with the scouts that occasionally came to tell their master about what was happening in Morthal, looking out for mentions of the orc warriors that were following Lord Grul's orders. They wanted to be sure that they could easily get out of the area without their enemy discovering where they were located, because there was no telling where the warlock's spies were lurking.

Sonata, on the other hand, remained near the chamber where she had spoken to the Council of Three, which she discovered meant the three master vampires that ruled over all of the remaining vampires in Skyrim... as the true master of the vampires, Lord Harkon, had no desire to rule until he finished whatever business had taken his full attention for the last thousand years. Her mind wasn't focused on Lord Grul and his invading horde of orcs, but rather on the fact that her sisters had mentioned the Siren Queen for the first time in ages. The three of them had agreed that, after they had been defeated by Starswirl the Bearded and banished to Earth, they wouldn't mention the Queen until the situation required it.

She hadn't thought about the Queen for so long, but now that she was thinking of her again she recalled a memory that eventually led to their banishment and then their defeat at the hands of Sunset Shimmer and her friends.

The Queen laid on a massive stone slab near the sea and let the sunlight touch her scales, lazily resting from her day of doing absolutely nothing except stare at the forest that rested near where she currently lay. Ponies always emerged from the forest, either looking for the beach she sat on or searching for one of the three 'legendary' Sirens that called the area home. Aria and Adagio used their powers to make sure that most ponies stayed away from this area, but there were times where one or two earth ponies slipped through the spells and found their way to the beach.

The Queen usually changed the memories of whoever they caught on the beach, because most ponies refused to believe the existence of the Sirens and almost always called the ponies, those that spread rumors of their existence, liars.

"My Queen," a voice said, causing her to lift her head and find the other two Sirens waiting in front of her, to which the violet scaled Siren spoke again, "we have news about the nearby settlement the ponies have been constructing. They're building a few houses at the moment and what appears to be a town hall, though they have cut down a couple of the tress in the forest to aid them in constructing their village. We were about to leave and tell you of this development, but then we felt the magical presence of a powerful mage as he stepped out of thin air and landed in the middle of the village. He wears a robe over his white coat and has a hat with bells on his head, though he's sporting a small beard on his face... though we both heard one of the ponies in the village utter the name 'Starswirl the Bearded'."

"More headaches," the Queen said with a sigh, before turning to the golden scaled Siren for a moment, "Adagio, as my advisor, it will be your duty to make sure that these newcomers don't discover our location or our existence, and to do whatever must be done to keep ourselves hidden from their eye. Aria, I want you to keep an eye on this 'Starswirl' and tell me whenever he gets too close to us, so we can plan on how to counter his magic."

"As you wish, my Queen," the two Sirens replied, bowing their heads for a moment before going to fulfill their specific tasks to keep themselves hidden.

Sonata sighed as she recalled that moment, because she knew that if the Queen hadn't given Adagio the command to keep the ponies away at any cost, thus giving her the ability to make the terrible decisions that led to their banishment, then they might be back in Equus as allies or friends with the neighboring ponies. The powerful Queen had made a mistake in giving Adagio that ability, which was why Sonata had tried to forget about her for the last thousand years... until her sisters mentioned the Queen to complete strangers. She didn't want to think about the Queen at all, because it usually meant that she got headaches and started to remember too much about her time before she and her sisters were banished.

She pulled out her shattered pendant and stared at the four pieces of the gemstone, her mind returning to the fact that both Adagio and Aria believed that it was possible to reforge their necklaces... something she had deemed impossible before she ventured into the portal.

"Sonata, the scouts have come back with news that orcs are marking their way to Morthal from the west," Kree commented, causing Sonata to look up at her friend for a moment, grateful for the distraction from her own thoughts, "We've got maybe an hour before they arrive in Morthal and begin their search for whatever they are looking for... though I think they might be looking for us."

Lord Movarth, who had been sitting at the table with his other heads and Sonata, immediately got up and started shouting orders at the assembled vampires, who got to work collecting weapons and armor.

"We need to move out of here before they arrive," Movarth commented, to which the other two heads nodded their understanding as he turned to Sonata, "We'll find someplace else to hide ourselves and make our base of operations, so that we can combat the growing plague that is Lord Grul and his army of orcs. I'm curious as to how they knew which hold to visit if they wanted to find the Dragonborn, but I'm afraid that we'll have to save that question for another day."

Sonata nodded and gathered her gear for a moment, before turning to her companions and heading out of the cave, though as she did so she noticed that one of the vampires stopped her from heading in the direction of Morthal. The vampire didn't say much, rather he pointed to the opposite direction of the one that she was about to go in and indicated that it might be faster for her to go that way. Sonata quickly thanked the vampire before she headed off in the direction he had pointed her in, her companions following behind her as they left Morthal behind.

It didn't take them long to find the road once more, as the vampire had pointed them to it and gave them a head start on the orcs that had come for Sonata.

"It seems that Lord Grul thinks that you know something about the Siren Queen," Kree commented, running alongside Sonata and Lydia as they followed the path that would take them back to Whiterun, "otherwise he would not have sent a detachment of orcs to Morthal, to search for something that may not actually be there."

Sonata didn't say anything about the Siren Queen, being careful not to spill everything she knew about the subject every time that the name was mentioned by someone. Grul couldn't have know about the Queen at all, not unless either Adagio or Aria told him about her... and she knew that her sisters wouldn't tell their enemy about something like that. The only other people who knew about the Queen, save for Lydia and Kree, were the vampires she had just met, so she knew that one of them had to be a traitor. It was the only thing that made sense, unless one of the underling vampires decided to betray their kind and joined up with the orcs with the promise of providing them with information on certain people and places.

She refused to believe that her sisters would tell their enemy about the Queen, so there was someone who called him or herself an ally that was, in reality, a traitor that was trying to bring an end to Nirn.

"You do know something about her, don't you?" Kree asked, noticing how silent and focused Sonata was at the moment, "Why didn't you tell the Council of Three what you knew?"

"Because I didn't trust them with the information," Sonata finally responded, sighing as they followed the path as quickly as possible, "and I won't be speaking of it while on the run... too many eyes and ears that might catch the wrong piece of information and give it to our enemy."

Kree nodded her understanding and led the way as the three of them retraced their steps back to Whiterun, passing by Dawnstar and a group of khajiit merchants as they traveled. The khajiits were annoyed that many nords didn't want to buy from them or wouldn't allow them inside their cities, but they were also annoyed with the orc warriors that they met as well... those that worked for Lord Grul. They didn't stick around after that and quickly came to the fortress that they snuck around the last time they had taken this route, though the three of them moved into the mountain to avoid being seen by the sentries. Once they were passed the fortress, and no alarms had been raised, they returned to the road and continued onward, keeping an eye out for more dangers.

They made it to where they found Cicero without anything jumping out to kill them, so they slowed down just a bit as they walked by the watchtower and nodded to the guards. A few minutes later they came to the crossroad that would take them to Riverwood, where they continued forward and retraced their steps on the mountain pass. Many of the animals they saw along the way were merely deer and the occasional rabbit, but Sonata was surprised when they weren't attacked by wolves or bears. With nothing to distract them they managed to reach the bridge leading into Riverwood without anything happening to them, but as they neared the small village Sonata found her hand touching her sword.

"We had best be on our guard," Sonata commented, to which her companions nodded their heads as they passed through the checkpoint, "because there's no telling when those orcs will find us again."

They quickly made their way into the Sleeping Giant Inn, where they were supposed to meet the person that took the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller and learn what the ransom for the artifact was. Sonata was sure that the person who took the horn would ask for the death of something, mainly because killing something seemed to be the answer to everything in Skyrim. As they entered the inn Lydia stood near the door, though both Kree and Sonata were expecting a repeat of the inn in Iverstead... where they had entered it and had been attacked. With her housecarl standing guard by the door Sonata and Kree approached the woman who was supposed to rent out the rooms to people for the night.

"You're that visitor, been pokin' around." the woman said as they approached, though she turned serious a moment later, "So, what can I do for you?"

"I'm here to rent the 'attic room'," Sonata replied, to which she saw something flash through the woman's eyes for a moment before it was gone.

"Attic room, eh?" the woman said, a hand moving to the room that she normally rented out, "Well... we don't have an attic room, but you can have the one on the left. Make yourself at home."

Sonata looked at Kree for a moment before they entered the room that the woman had pointed at, but as they entered the room the lady followed them in,

"So you're the Dragonborn I've been hearing so much about. I think you're looking for this." the woman commented, tossing Sonata an ancient looking horn, which she knew had to be the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller, "We need to talk. Follow me."

Sonata and Kree shared another look with each other before they followed the woman across the inn and entered her personal room, to which she indicated that she wanted the door closed. Kree nodded and closed the door immediately, but as the woman opened a secret passage into what appeared to be a basement she decided to stay behind and watch for danger with Lydia. Sonata nodded and followed the woman down into the basement, where she discovered that the innkeeper had what appeared to be a meager armory going... almost as if she was preparing for trouble to come to her inn.

"The Greybeards seem to think you're the Dragonborn. I hope they're right." the woman said as she looked down at the table, where Sonata spotted what she assumed as a map of Skyrim, "I'm Delphine by the way."

"They are right," Sonata fired back, staring at Delphine for a moment, wondering if she was an ally or an enemy.

"I hope so." Delphine said, turning her gaze to Sonata again, "But you'll forgive me if I don't assume that something's true just because the Greybeards say so. I just handed you the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller. Does that make me Dragonborn, too?"

"So, what exactly do you want with me?" Sonata asked, figuring that she might as well get to the point so she could return the horn to the Greybeards sooner.

"I'm part of a group that's been looking for you... well, someone like you, for a very long time." Delphine explained, but before Sonata could say anything she could tell that the woman was thinking of adding something else, "If you really are Dragonborn, that is. Before I tell you any more, I need to make sure I can trust you."

"And why are you looking for the Dragonborn?" Sonata asked, getting tired of the woman not actually answering any of her questions and just dodging them.

"We remember what most don't - that the Dragonborn is the ultimate dragonslayer." Delphine said, with what Sonata assumed as a smile of sorts, "You're the only one that can kill a dragon permanently by devouring its soul. Can you do it? Can you devour a dragon's soul?"

"That's how I discovered that I was the Dragonborn," Sonata answered, shivering as she remembered the feeling of absorbing the first dragon's soul.

"Good. And you'll have a chance to prove it to me soon enough." Delphine said, point to the map for a moment, "Because I've figured out where the next one will come back to life. We're going to go there, and you're going to kill that dragon. If we succeed, I'll tell you anything you want to know. We're heading to Kynesgrove."

Sonata sighed and decided to humor the woman, because by the way the map looked she could tell that Kynesgrove was somewhat in the same area that High Hrothgar was in. She knew that they could show Delphine that she was the Dragonborn and then, when they were done, she could head to the Greybeards and give them the horn. All they had to do was make sure that they didn't run into any of Lord Grul's soldiers and get to their destination without many seeing them... which would make it harder for the orcs to find them. It seemed simple in her mind, but Sonata knew that there had to be something that was going to mess up such a seemingly easy plan in some manner.

"I also have to ask you this," Delphine commented, causing Sonata to look at the woman again, "but you wouldn't happen to know that the 'Siren Queen's is, would you? I intercepted a Thalmor courier not long ago and it appears that they're searching for that person... or artifact I guess, the letter didn't say which it meant."

And at that point Sonata knew that her life in Skyrim was slowing going to get much worse than it already was, before it started getting better again.

14: Kynesgrove

"You do know something about the Siren Queen!" Delphine stated, seeing how Sonata had halted the moment she had spoken the name and knew that the movement meant something important, "So, who or what is this Siren Queen exactly?"

"Someone you should forget about." Sonata immediately replied, turning to face Delphine for a moment, "Trust me on this Delphine, the Siren Queen is someone that you don't want to mess with... nor would you want her to awaken from her slumber."

"So if this person isn't in Tamriel or, as you put it, sleeping at the moment, then why are the Thalmor so interested in her?" Delphine inquired, trying to understand why her enemies would be looking for something they might not be able to find, "It seems like a waste of time and resources for them to be searching for something that they're not going to find."

"It would be a waste of their time." Sonata stated, crossing her arms as she stared at Delphine, "If the Queen doesn't want to be found by someone, be they the Thalmor or anyone else, then she won't be found until she's ready to reveal herself. Its best to ignore the existence of the Queen and move on with your life... which means that we should really be getting underway on our journey to Kynesgrove."

Delphine stared at her for a moment, as if she was trying to figure out if arguing about the Siren Queen was more important than slaying a dragon that could kill innocent people, before letting out a sigh and nodding her head. She then approached the chest laying near where she had been standing and switched her innkeeper clothes for the leather armor she had been keeping locked away. Sonata watched as she also equipped what she assumed was a katana, swinging it a few times and checking its sharpness before sheathing it on her belt. Five seconds passed before Delphine pulled out a bow, an imperial one Sonata noted, and a container of steel arrows, before attaching them in their proper places.

"There, I've got everything I need." Delphine said, approaching the stairs before stopping and turning to Sonata, "When we're done with that dragon I expect some sort of answer regarding the Queen... and not more of the excuses you just gave me. I'll meet you and your companions in Kynesgrove."

Sonata didn't look back at Delphine as the woman ascended the stairs and left the inn, choosing to give her latest companion a head start while she controlled herself. Once she was sure that Delphine was gone she fell to her knees and hugged herself, trying to contain the memories that were constantly threatening to surface from their slumber. She had spent a thousand years repressing everything she knew about the Queen and what had happened before their banishment, but now, with all the times the Queen was being mentioned, those memories were trying to resurface... and she would not allow herself to be overrun by them.

She waited for a few minutes, fighting against the tide of memories, before they finally died down and allowed her to breath a sigh of relief as she as stood back up.

"You okay Sonata?" Kree said, causing Sonata to turn around and face her friend for a moment, "Delphine left five minutes ago and your still standing down here. Is something wrong?"

"SHE has been mentioned too much in a single day," Sonata replied, shaking her head as she cleared the remaining thoughts about the Queen, "Come on, Delphine wants us to go and kill a dragon that's about to be resurrected. Once we're done with that I'm going to have to figure out how the people of Skyrim learned of the Queen, because there's no way that one mention of her, to a group of vampires no less, would cause such a spread of her existence like this."

"You think someone else figured out Her existence without being told?" Kree asked, wondering if their enemy, Lord Grul, had somehow figured out the Queen's existence and had spread the knowledge of her to make everyone else find her for him.

"Its a possibility that I cannot ignore," Sonata commented, though she knew it was highly unlikely that Lord Grul had divined that information by a vision, "but we have a dragon to deal with first."

Kree nodded and the two of them walked out of the basement, to which they returned to the main area of the inn and collected Lydia, who was staring at the bard the entire time with what Sonata assumed was a look of anger. She guessed that the bard might have tried to flirt with her or something, though if that was the case then it was clear that whatever had been said had angered her housecarl. The three of them left the inn and returned to the road, where Sonata discovered that it was slowly turning to night at long last... to which she suggested that they head to Whiterun and get a carriage to take them to Windhelm.

Her reasoning for that was so that they could rest their weary legs and get some rest before they arrived at their destination, where they would have to fight a dragon alongside Delphine. Kree agreed with her friend, expressing her point that once they had finished off the dragon they should seek someplace to actually get some rest in, but also said that Windhelm wouldn't be the wisest place considering their dislike for argonians and other races that weren't nords. Sonata knew what was it like to be unwelcome in a city or town, all thanks to some questionable places she and her sisters decided to stay in for some years, but she merely nodded as they walked to their destination.

When they reached the outside out Whiterun they approached the carriage driver and Kree asked how much it would take to get them to Windhelm, receiving an answer of twenty gold. Kree handed the gold over and the three of them boarded the carriage without wasting a second, to which their driver started them on their trek to Windhelm. As they left Whiterun behind Sonata leaned back and closed her eyes, knowing that her friends would wake her up once they reached their destination, though she knew that they'd rest as well before their arrival.

However, not ten minutes later she was shaken awake by Kree, to which she found that there was a group of bandits blocking their way and that the carriage driver was shaking in fear. She also discovered that they had made decent progress, as they were back at the towers that they had cleared out on their way to Iverstead... which was overrun by bandits again. Then, as her wits returned to her, she also took into account that each of the 'bandits' in front of them were orcs, leading her to wonder if this was another group of Lord Grul's soldiers.

"What do we have here?" the lead orc asked, planting the end of what appeared to be a blackened battleaxe in the ground, "A carriage driver and three lone civilians? Ha! You will make good offerings to Lord Grul, to do with as he pleases once he finishes whatever plan he's currently working on."

"Lydia," Sonata said, glaring at the leader for a moment, "please do me a favor and shut that one up."

Lydia leapt out of the carriage and drew her sword, taking into account the six other orcs that were on either side of the one that her Thane wanted her to take out. Judging by the way the orc moved she knew that she might be able to take its head clean off if the others didn't notice what was about to happen, though she didn't like her chances at the moment. She also knew that Kree and Sonata had her back, so it was possible that the three of them could dispatch all seven of the orcs without getting hurt.

"And the pathetic Dragonborn sends her warrior to do her battles for her!" the orc roared in laughter, as if he thought everything that was happening at the moment was funny, "Don't worry nord, for soon your precious Skyrim and her people will belong to Lord Grul. He will use this land as however he sees fit, whether that be as a training ground for his army, a foundry to make weapons of war, or a desolate wasteland that will spread his power to the rest of this pathetic world."

Lydia switched the hold on her weapon, pulled her arm back, and threw her sword so hard that it pierced the chest area of the orcs armor, but by the look on the orcs face she could tell that it didn't get his heart.

"Ha! You will make a fine slave indeed." the orc said, a grin appearing on his face as he beckoned to his soldiers, "Remember boys, make sure that the Dragonborn lives to see Lord Grul... otherwise whoever kills her will end up dead as well."

"THIS IS SKYRIM!" Lydia roared, leaping into the air and planting her foot at the base of her sword, forcing it through the orcs thick armor and piercing his heart with enough force to drop his body to the ground, "And she belongs to the Nords..."

The other six orcs stood paralyzed for a moment, as if they couldn't believe what they had just seen, before one of them roared in anger and swung at Lydia, who leapt out of the way and grabbed the discarded battleaxe. Lightning cracked for a moment before one of the orcs closest to the carriage got blasted with a bolt to the chest, to which Sonata stood up and glared at the remaining enemies. Kree popped up and loosed an arrow at one of them, tearing through the orc's unprotected skull and dropping it to the ground in seconds as she picked another target. Lydia, now armed with the battleaxe, swung it around and took the head off the unsuspecting orc that was standing near her, before she carved open the second one not moments later.

Kree pinned the fifth orc to a tree, making sure that her arrows would let him slowly bleed out until he was dead, while Sonata merely blasted the last one with another lightning bolt.

"I'm going to kill Lord Grul when I find him," Sonata growled, returning to her seat as her friends did the same, "because I am getting sick and tired of his followers finding me with so little effort. I'm also tired of hearing that we'll be made into slaves and the whole nine yards... there's only so much one can take before they snap."

"We'll find him Sonata," Kree promised, a light smile appearing on her face as the carriage continued down the road, "He's a villain attacking Skyrim, so he's bound to be discovered by someone and put down like the animal that he actually is."

Smoke rose from Narzulbur as Aggronak and his forces finished off the orcs that had called the stronghold home, though he was careful to make sure that they had been captured alive for his master. He had been expecting a fight where he would lose some of his soldiers, but he hadn't lost any of them and they had completed their task with ease. This strongholds ore would give their soldiers more armor and weapons in addition to what they already had, all while a group of guards would be left behind to capture anyone who came looking for the orcs that once called this place home.

Aggronak turned to the brazier that he had brought with him, allowing the magic around him to activate as green flames erupted from the metal, forming what many would assume was a portal.

"Lord Grul, I have completed the task you assigned me," Aggronak said to the flames, bowing his head as if his master was actually there with him, "Narzulbur is yours."

The green flames surged around the brazier until they formed an oval for a few seconds, to which Lord Grul stepped through the portal and touched the ground in front of his subordinate.

"Ah, you continue to please me Aggronak," Lord Grul commented, moving past his subordinate as he approached the walls that would allow him to look down on the settlement nearby, one called Kynesgrove he recalled, "I see that we have a front row seat of the fight that's about to happen."

"As you requested," Aggronak replied, standing behind his master as he looked down at the little settlement, spotting the great black dragon hard at work nearby, "The Dragonborn should be here in a few minutes."

"Good, I am interested in seeing how she's progressed so far," Lord Grul said, staring at the burial sight that the black dragon was working on, "and seeing how much more time she needs before I can add her power to what I already have."

Sonata sighed as she stretched her arms and took in the morning light, looking around at the area they had stopped in and spotted the inn right in front of them. She immediately guessed that they had stopped at Kynesgrove, no doubt because Kree gave the carriage an extra few coins that made the stop worthwhile. She also assumed that the inn had been full when they arrived, because she had been sleeping on a bedroll, though when she pulled herself up she had found her companions, including Delphine, getting ready. She decided to ask what was going on, but Delphine held up a hand as if she had heard something and immediately started to look around the area.

That was when she heard the roar of a dragon nearby, informing her that she had awoken in time for them to fight the dragon that Delphine had been tracking.

"Come on, we've got work to do," Delphine commented, picking up her weapons as she headed towards the hill that would take her to the burial mound, to which Sonata and her friends followed after her.

When they reached the top of the hill Sonata stopped as she gazed upon the black dragon that was flying through the air, the same one that had burned Helgen to the ground not too long ago. That one dragon had destroyed an entire garrison of guards on his own, to which Sonata wondered what chance the four of them had if this dragon was the one they had come to fight. That was seconds before the dragon shouted something and the burial mound exploded, which was followed by a skeletal dragon clawing its way to freedom. Sonata then watched as the undead dragon's scales reformed before their eyes, as if the black dragon had granted his brother another chance at life, before noticing that the black one had turned towards her and her friends.

"Ful, losei Dovahkiin? Zu'u koraav nid nol dov do hi." the dragon said, staring right at Sonata the entire time while he spoke, "You do not even know our tongue, do you? Such arrogance, to dare take for yourself the name of Dovah. Sahloknir, krii daar joorre."

As the black dragon flew away from Kynesgrove, and away from Sonata and her friends, the newly reborn dragon roared and took off, but instead of leaving the area it turned around and came back at them. Delphine, noticing what was happening first, pulled out an arrow and loosed it at the dragon's head, making it fly around them and give the others time to realize what was happening. When the dragon came around a second time Sonata and her friends were ready for it, as Sonata started loosing lightning at it so she could take away whatever magic it had.

Kree joined Delphine with her own arrows, waiting for the best opportunities before loosing the arrow, while Lydia waited on the ground and patiently waited for the dragon to land. At one point the dragon landed behind them for a second and used his wing to smack Sonata in the back of her head, though when she turned to blast it with lightning she found that it was already gone. She growled as she tracked it in the air, lightning crackling in her hands as she, eventually, got ahead of her target and put a bolt where it was supposed to be in a few seconds. She held her breath as her bolt hit the dragon square in the chest, knocking it off its original course and causing it to crash into the ground near them.

"That's what you get for smacking me like that!" Sonata shouted, keeping her lightning at the ready, as she knew that the dragon wasn't dead yet, "I know your not dead yet!"

The dragon slammed its wing into the ground as it stared at her again, this time with anger in its eyes, before it opened its mouth and loosed a stream of fire at her. Sonata grinned as she snapped her fingers, allowing a azure colored shield to form in front of her and her friends before the flames could touch them. When the dragon cut its flames off it stared at the barrier for a moment, as if it was trying to figure out what had happened, it noticed that one of its enemies was no longer standing behind the thing that had stopped its breath. That was seconds before a bolt of lightning struck its head, causing it to look up at the sky as a barrage of lightning slammed into it from every direction.

Sonata emerged from her hiding place and leapt into the air, using her lightning charged sword to the greatest of effect by driving it right into the dragon's skull before rolling to the side. As the dragon looked at her again she called upon the last of her available magic and summoned the largest lightning bolt she could muster, sending it right into her sword and, by effect, into her enemy. The resulting explosion rocked the area around them, but when the smoke cleared Sonata was pleased to discover that the dragon had been brought down, which was followed by its soul flowing into her body.

Once she had the dragon's soul she collapsed on the ground, smiling as she stared at the sky that was slowly clearing up from using the last of its charge against her enemy. She had slain one dragon by using the lightning to her advantage, so she had figured that using that method again would have the same result and was glad to see that it had worked. She also heard Kree talking to Delphine, telling the woman that she needed rest, but she smiled and stared at the sky, letting her body rest from having spent all her magic.

She'd figure out how to stop the dragons completely one day, but right now she was content to stop them whenever they tried to attack the people of Skyrim.

"She is improving quite nicely," Lord Grul commented, staring at the scene below him and his subordinate, "Go Aggronak, your next task awaits you."

"As you command, Lord Grul," Aggronak replied, bowing his head once more before returning to his troops.

Grul smiled as his subordinate left him alone, because he knew that it was only a matter of time until the real Siren Queen awakened from her ancient slumber... and then he would use her ancient power for his own purposes. He already had two of the Sirens imprisoned at the moment, so he had to be patient and nurture Sonata's powers until she was at her peak once again. He had the necessary leverage to make sure that he would win in the end, so he was content to watch his target until she was ready for his end game.

15: Assault on the College

"I owe you some answers, don't I?" Delphine asked a minute or two after Sonata laid on the ground, which only annoyed her because she wanted to rest, "Go ahead. Whatever you want to know. Nothing held back."

Sonata moaned for a moment, because all she really wanted to was relax and regain her energy from the fight with the dragon they had just finished... the corpse was still smoking from her lightning. The old woman clearly didn't care that she was low on energy and needed to rest, as she wanted to get underway with any information she could hand to Sonata before she asked about the Queen. She knew that Delphine was going to ask about the Queen the moment she was done handing information over, which meant that she would have to think of something to tell her that wasn't too important.

"Fine, I give up." Sonata replied, getting into a sitting position before she faced Delphine, while Lydia and Kree stood nearby so they could hear everything as well, "Who are you and what do you want with me? Let's start with that."

"I'm one of the last members of the Blades." Delphine explained, crossing her arms as she leaned against the rock she had been hiding behind earlier, "A very long time ago, the Blades were dragonslayers, and we served the Dragonborn, the greatest dragonslayer. For the last two hundred years, since the last Dragonborn emperor, the Blades have been searching for a purpose. Now that dragons are coming back, our purpose is clear again. We need to stop them."

"And the Blades are?" Sonata asked, mainly because she had absolutely no idea who the faction was thanks to her brief time in Skyrim, but she figured they had to be important.

"Exactly. Nobody even remembers our name these days." Delphine huffed, as if she was completely annoyed by that sole fact, "We used to be known across Tamriel as the protectors of the Septim Emperors. Those days are long gone, though. For the last two hundred years, we've been searching for the next Dragonborn to guide and guard, as we are sworn to do. But we never found one. Until now."

"Sure, it has nothing to do with the fact that I'm not originally from Nirn." Sonata said, sighing as she considered what to ask next before the woman started asking about the Queen, "Actually, now that I think about it, that was the same dragon that attacked Helgen and burned it to the ground."

"Interesting. Same dragon..." Delphine commented, before her expression became angry for a brief second, "Damn it, we're blundering around in the dark here! We need to figure out who's behind it all!"

"So, what's our next move then?" Sonata asked, curious as to who the woman thought was behind the dragons returning, though she was personally beginning to suspect that they were missing something important to the puzzle.

"The first thing we need to do is figure out who's behind the dragons." Delphine replied, beckoning behind her as if she was pointing to a building that none of them could see at the moment, "The Thalmor are our best lead. If they aren't involved, they'll know who is."

"What makes you think the Thalmor are bringing dragons back?" Kree cut in, because she had seen how General Tullius acted around the Thalmor and wondered why the woman believed that they were behind all of this.

"Nothing solid. Yet." Delphine answered, sighing for a second before closing her eyes, "But my gut tells me it can't be anybody else. The Empire had captured Ulfric. The war was basically over. Then a dragon attacks, Ulfric escapes, and the war is back on. And now the dragons are attacking everywhere, indiscriminately. Skyrim is weakened, the Empire is weakened. Who else gains from that but the Thalmor?"

"So, we need to find out what the Thalmor know about the dragons. Any ideas?" Sonata asked, somewhat amazed that they had managed to bypass the entire topic of the Queen and prepared to leave the moment they were done with the conversation, knowing that the moment it ended Delphine would ask about the one thing Sonata didn't want to mention at the moment.

"If we could get into the Thalmor Embassy..." Delphine started, but then opened her eyes to see a confused Sonata staring at her, "it's the center of their operations in Skyrim... Problem is, that place is locked up tighter than a miser's purse. They could teach me a few things about paranoia... I have a few ideas on how we can get in there, but I'll need some time to pull things together... Meet me back in Riverwood. If I'm not back when you get there, wait for me. I shouldn't be long. Keep an eye on the sky. This is only going to get worse."

The instant that Delphine handed Sonata a copy of her key to her hidden basement, and turned around to collect her pack, Sonata and her friends got up and immediately bolted down the hill before she turned around. When Delphine turned around she noticed that the three of them were gone, to which she facepalmed as she realized that she had been played.

"Damn it all to Oblivion, she got away before I could ask about the Queen." Delphine commented, sighing as she collected her pack and headed down the hill, "Oh well, I'll be sure to ask her about the Queen when we meet back up in Riverwood... provided she doesn't die along the way."

Sonata didn't stop running until they reached the bridge that would take them into Windhelm, but she didn't cross it and merely came to a stop the instant she reached it. She couldn't believe that she had gotten away from Delphine before she had been asked about the Siren Queen, to which she smiled as her friends caught up with her. She knew that Kree deserved the truth about the Queen, and so did Lydia for that matter, but she didn't want someone that she didn't trust to overhear what she had to say... especially since it appeared that Lord Grul knew about the Queen as well.

"So what's next on our agenda?" Kree asked, wondering where they were going to go next, as she had no desire to stay near Ulfric's city or speak with his guards.

"We're going to Winterhold," Sonata said, picking herself up and moving down the road, to which her friends followed her.

"And why are we going there, my Thane?" Lydia asked, walking beside Sonata as the three of them followed the road that would eventually take them to their new destination.

"When we were in Morthal I had a dream about my sister Aria," Sonata explained, recalling what she had seen at the end of her terrible dream or vision, she still couldn't decide what it had been, "She had been wearing what I assume were robes from the College of Winterhold, to which I'm assuming that if she and Adagio went there during their time in Skyrim, before their sudden disappearance, then I might be able to figure out where they might have gone next."

"Your reasoning is sound," Kree commented, thinking about what Sonata might have seen in the dream to make her want to visit the College, besides seeing her sister dressed in mage robes, "Maybe one of the instructors knows something about your sisters and can help us figure out where they went."

Sonata nodded and they continued on their trek, to which they found that the wolves of this region didn't want anything to go with them at the moment. She noticed that there a couple of dead wolves scattered about the place with the other wolves in what appeared to be a state of mourning, almost as if something had come through and carved their way through the wolves. She also noted that there were heavy footprints following the same path that she and her friends were taking, though by the amount of them she could only assume they were following one of Lord Grul's armies.

When they reached a small lumber mill they found that one of the people living in the area was hiding up with the saws, though she was definitely terrified of something at the moment. They stopped for a moment while Kree moved to speak with the terrified woman, though when she returned Sonata knew that something was definitely happening.

"A group of orc warriors, numbering between twenty to forty members, marched through here not thirty minutes ago," Kree told them as they got back on the path they had been following, "That lady hid when they approached the settlement, but as they marched through she swears that she heard them mention something about Winterhold. Sonata, could it be possible that Lord Grul knew that your sisters visited the mages and had decided to take them out before you connected the pieces yourself?"

"I'm starting to think that Lord Grul knows more than what we think he does," Sonata answered, hoping that the orcs weren't on their way to attack the College of Winterhold, or the people living outside its gates, "He had guards stationed at Fort Amol after we cleared it out, had a group waiting to ambush us out in the marsh, had another group approach Morthal after we arrived, and had a third group waiting to intercept us on the road. None of these are coincidences at this point... somehow, Lord Grul knows where we're going before we do and he's playing some sort of sick game with us."

"Then how do we stop him?" Lydia asked, her hand moving to the battleaxe she had claimed as a prize.

"We find him and put him down." Sonata answered, because it was actually the only way that they'd be able to stop Grul... and whatever game he was playing.

As Kree and Lydia nodded they came to the sign that told them about a split in the path, to which they turned in the direction of Winterhold and continued moving. It wasn't long before they spotted what appeared to be a fort built into the mountain side, but as they approached they immediately noticed that whoever had been living there had already been slaughtered. There were signs of a struggle, but other than the dead mages it was impossible to tell who had attacked them... though Sonata had a feeling she knew who was responsible for this act.

They turned around the mountain side and spotted the College in the distance, but they easily spotted the smoke rising from it and knew that it was already under attack. Sonata ignored the tired feeling she had been having the entire time as she ran towards the already ruined city, following the trail of dead wildlife and bandits that brought her to their destination. It wasn't hard to spot the orcs at this point, mainly thanks to her armor, but as the three of them approached the back of the army Sonata quickly told her friends to use whatever they had left to get rid of their enemies.

Lydia pulled out her battleaxe and approached the back of the army, to which she tapped the first orc she came to on the should to get his attention. As the orc turned to face her, and the others around him followed suit, Lydia roared with all her might, using a tactic that only nords could use, and actually made some of them back off or run for a moment. It gave her and her friends enough time to move forward, to which Lydia swung her new weapon and took the head of an orc who was unaffected by her Battle Cry. As the orcs regained themselves and closed in on them Kree whipped out her arrows and started loosing them, making sure to either target the head area or the heart area.

Sonata, on the other hand, leapt over the orcs as she zeroed in on the stone bridge that was clearly falling apart, because she had seen several mages fighting orcs up there. As she got on the bridge she used her sword to cut off the hands of the orcs that swung at her, though at other times she had to blast several of them backwards with her slowly depleting magic. The woman at the sawmill had been right about the numbers, because there were at least thirty remaining enemies still trying to get all the way across the bridge. She pushed herself forward and kicked an orc as hard as she could, throwing him off of the bridge and sending him to his death below them.

"I'd ask if your a friend or foe, but now is not the time to do so," an elderly man said, summoning a fireball and blasting an orc back before it could hit Sonata, "That is also considering that your not attacking us at the moment. Oh, where's the Archmage when you need her the most?"

"I see the Dragonborn has come out to play as well," an orc said, to which Sonata recognized the voice of Aggronak as she turned to face the orc from her dream, "You weren't supposed to be here for another week, but it seems that even the Daedra are still trying to hide information from my Master... something that he'll have to correct. I'm sure that you are enjoying the destruction, but allow me to demonstrate a piece of my power."

A green fireball appeared in the orcs right hand, but instead of throwing it at Sonata he turned for a second and threw it at the College itself, where it expanded into a massive boulder and smashed through one of the supporting pillars on the outside. Before Sonata could react she found a fist in her face, knocking her to the ground as Aggronak stood above her, though he didn't seem to mind the old man and the other mages all that much.

"He would be annoyed if I brought him to you at this point in time," Aggronak commented, backing up for a moment as Sonata struggled to pick herself up, "I would have loved to destroy the entirety of this College, but we have completed the task that my Master has assigned to us... and we have some trophies to make up for not destroying this place. Remember your place, Mages of the College of Winterhold, because Lord Grul generously rewards those that work with him... and either enslaves or destroys those that oppose him."

Sonata groaned as she watched the army of orcs, how missing half of their number, retreat back the way they had came, though it wasn't actually a victory for her, her friends, or the mages. Aggronak, one of Lord Grul's top lieutenants, was watching his soldiers leave before departing himself, though he was leaving himself wide open to an attack. She moaned as she reached for her true power, ignoring the fact that her pendant was shattered at the moment, before she coughed up some blood for a few seconds and got onto her feet again. As she stood up she could feel the wind responding to her call, wrapping around her hands as she approached her target, who turned around not a moment later.

"And just what are you doing this time?" Aggronak asked, though he seemed amused that she was still trying to fight him as if there was a gap in their current level of power.

"Roaring... Cannon!" Sonata shouted, pressing the palms of her hands together, against Aggronak's chest no less, and released the wind in a blast that sent her target flying into the snow outside of Winterhold... before she collapsed on the bridge, "No doubt... he survived... that."

"You took care of him and that's what counts," the old man said, dropping to a knee as he helped Sonata back onto her feet, "Name's Tolfdir... who are you and your companions?"

"These are Kree... and Lydia," Sonata huffed, weakly pointing to her friends as they ran up the steps to join them, "I... I'm Sonata Dusk. You... you wouldn't happen... to know... Adagio or... Aria would you?"

"They told me and the Archmage that you'd be coming here in the future." Tolfdir said, smiling at her for a moment before noticing how tired she was, "Tell you what, when you've had some rest I'll answer any questions you have. Does that sound fair?"

"Yes... it does..." Sonata replied, before she closed her eyes and collapsed in Tolfdir's arms, though there was a small smile on her face as she realized that she'd get some answers at long last.

Tolfdir kept his smile on his face as he turned his gaze to the area that the orc had been blasted into, seeing the shadow of the orc who had led the attack on the College move away from the ruined city. He had no idea who this Lord Grul was supposed to be, though he knew that the orc was bound to torture the few instructors he had managed to get his hands on with this raid of his. Though he had heard rumors that the Dragonborn had appeared in Skyrim once more, to which he was glad that she had come here looking for answers when she did... otherwise he was sure that there would have been no one left to answer them if she had waited a few days or a week.

Lord Grul wanted something from the people he had captured, though whatever that something was Tolfdir had no idea... and he dreaded to wonder what the orc had planned at the moment.

16: The Truth

When Sonata finally woke up she found that she had been tucked into a bed in what appeared to be an area made for students, because the bed across from her was messy and had a lot of books scattered about the place. She guessed that she and her friends had been given quarters where the new students slept, which meant that there might be some vacant positions in the College. She recalled the orcs that had attacked the College and how Aggronak had said that he had claimed some trophies to make up for not blowing the College sky high, which she assumed meant that some of the mages had been captured by her enemy.

She even found a bandage around the area that Aggronak had punched, recalling how the orc had taken one of her powerful spells to the chest and survived, though she knew that it was because she didn't have complete access to her true powers. She hated how powerless she felt without her true power backing her, though she also hated the fact that she wanted those powers to return to her at the moment. There were some good things that she could do with her powers and some bad things that she could do, so she guessed that if she ever got her powers back it would be up to whatever her mood was at the time.

"I see that you've woken up," a voice said, to which she spotted the old man from earlier, Tolfdir she recalled, standing at the edge of the small room she was in, "How are you feeling?"

"To be honest, I feel tired," Sonata replied, sighing as she looked around where Tolfdir was standing, "I... have not called on those powers in over a thousand years. Truth be told, I was actually worried that my attack wasn't going to work and that my opponent was going to walk out of the city without suffering any injuries."

"I have not seen someone command the wind like you can," Tolfdir commented, approaching the bed for a moment, "I'd love to ask you about the powers that you've mentioned, though I believe that you would want to speak with your friends before you started a lengthy explanation on what your powers do."

"My powers are a carefully guarded secret," Sonata replied, glaring at the old man for a moment as she sat straight up in the bed, "I would only reveal them to someone..."

"...baring this mark?" Tolfdir finished, removing a glove from his left hand and revealing a mark that looked like a trinity sign, though it was made up of crystals instead of circles... and had a swirl of magic around it with a pair of swords piercing its center.

"H... how did you come to bare that mark?" Sonata asked, as she recognized the mark as the one that she and her sisters used once upon a time, the magic and swords representing the Queen and her guards.

"I was told that you would recognize this mark," Tolfdir answered, covering the mark up a second later, "Adagio and Aria told me that to bear this mark meant that I was to be trusted with the knowledge of the Siren Queen's abilities and her true identity... without the fear of handing that information to our enemy."

Sonata stared at the old man for a moment, wondering what her sisters had seen in him to entrust the mark of the Siren Queen and some information to him, but she sighed a moment later. She pulled the covers off and gently pulled herself off of the bed, though as she did so she noticed that the old man moved to provide her with some aid. Together the two of them left the area that Sonata had woken up in and headed to what appeared to be the main building for the College, though they took their time considering how tired Sonata was. They passed by several mages along the way, each of them bowing their head to Tolfdir in respect, though one of them briefly paused by them and mentioned that they might be getting more mages in the future.

When they entered the main building Tolfdir had them take a left, to which they carefully walked up a flight of stairs until they stepped into a chamber that Sonata believed was where the Archmage was supposed to be residing. She instantly spotted Kree and Lydia standing near the tree in the middle of the chamber, though it took her a few seconds to realize that someone else was standing near them. This person was definitely the person in charge, considering that their robes were much more fancy than what Tolfdir and the others had been wearing, though when they turned around Sonata noticed that the person was wearing a mask of sorts.

"Archmage, this is Sonata Dusk," Tolfdir said, beckoning to Sonata before turning to his superior, "Sonata, this is Saerza, Archmage of the College of Winterhold."

"Which might have been destroyed if you hadn't arrived when you did," the Archmage said, removing the mask and revealing a cat like creature, a khajiit Sonata recalled, underneath, "For saving Tolfdir and the other professors, and not to mention the College, you have my thanks... Siren Queen."

Sonata caught her breath as she heard the khajiit speak, though as she waited she noticed that Saerza removed a glove from her left hand and revealed the same mark that Tolfdir bore. Considering that the Archmage knew the truth, and likely Tolfdir as well, she knew that it was time to tell her friends the truth about the Queen, because Kree seemed confused all of a sudden. There was one question she knew that she needed to ask before they got started, because this was something that she didn't want to repeat more than once.

"How many more bare that mark?" Sonata asked, wondering if these were the only two that her sisters entrusted this information to or if there were more she was unaware of.

"Just the two of us," Saerza replied, covering up her left hand again before beckoning Sonata over, "There's a bed around the corner, so why don't we sit you down there and then we can discuss whatever it is that you need to share with us. I'll also tell you how both Tolfdir and myself earned these marks, so that you know why your sisters trusted us so much."

Sonata sighed and followed the Archmage to the bed, though she immediately noticed that there were four chairs surrounding it and knew that she was going to have to tell them the truth. As she took her position on the bed she waited until her companions were in their seats before she even considered starting her tale, knowing that she was going to awaken many of her memories. There was only one thing that she wanted to know before she started her story, which is why she looked at the Archmage for a moment before saying anything.

"So, how did you meet my sisters?" Sonata asked, though based on what the vampires had told her she suspected that she already knew a part of the story.

"They came here searching for information on how to reforge their necklaces," Saerza replied, sighing as if she was recalling something, "though when we first met I was merely an apprentice and they were wanderers searching for answers. We first came into contact outside the College, where we each took a test that would determine if we were allowed entrance into the College... needless to say that we passed with flying colors. As we walked across the bridge I inquired about why they had come to the College of Winterhold, because I had come to study magic and learn some of the ancient secrets that were still lost to Tamriel, though that was when I learned about their shattered necklaces and the powers they were trying to restore.

Tolfdir and the other professors, not to mention the previous Archmage, could tell that they had power that currently untapped, so the three of us joined the other apprentices and we started studying magic. Aria was incredibly powerful in the art of using magic by itself, weaving together spells faster than any other mage I had seen... not to mention they were occasionally more powerful than they were supposed to be. Adagio proved to have an exceptional sword arm and a talent for enchanting items, in addition to her connection to magic that was almost identical to her sisters' control. We ventured into the nearby Saarthal and that was when we discovered that their power was definitely returning, because they were able to overcome the guardian at the end despite the fight he put up.

When I happened to save one of their lives inside Saarthal, by taking one of the nearly fatal attacks the guardian used against them, they not only healed me of my wounds, but they also gave me my mark. They asked me if I knew anything about the orc that called himself Lord Grul, though when I told them 'no' I was informed that he was an orc who desired to see the end of this world. Tolfdir and I learned that the powers that your sisters were using were only a fraction of their true powers, which they were trying to recover so they could put an end to their enemy before he brought an end to the world. We then learned that there was another Siren, one who was much stronger than they were and who, at the moment they informed us of her existence, back in another world besides Nirn.

They told me that if they were defeated, which they both deemed unlikely, then Lord Grul was going to try and call their Queen into Tamriel, which would reawaken the powers that had been sleeping for over a thousand years. They also said that, if this scenario was to occur, then we could expect to see the Siren Queen come to us for aid, whichever form it happened to take if she came to Skyrim. I tried to get all the information I could out of them, but they told me that only the Queen could tell me everything I wanted to know and that I'd have to wait for her arrival... I think you know where I'm going with this."

Sonata looked at the Archmage for a moment, piecing together the tale that she had weaved with what the vampires had told her, before sighing and making herself as comfortable as possible.

"Very well then, I guess I might as well start with the truth..." Sonata said, taking a breath as she readied herself, "I am Sonata Dusk and... and I am the Siren Queen. For realzies."

"Wait, but that means that those orcs are looking for you!" Kree commented, connecting the pieces together, "Lord Grul has been looking for you the entire time."

"We already knew that he was looking for me, but you didn't know the reason," Sonata replied, sighing as she leaned back, "I couldn't tell you that I was the Queen, not when I was sure that one of the Council of Three was a traitor that had to have sold my sisters out to our enemy. Before anyone asks, there are only three Sirens in existence. The term Siren Queen doesn't refer to being an actual Queen over a civilization, but rather the fact that I was more powerful than both of my sisters and their combined power."

"Just how powerful are you then?" Saerza asked, because she had seen Adagio and Aria's powers up close and wanted to know how much more Sonata had over them.

"Together they were one fifth of my total power," Sonata admitted, noticing the shocked looks that everyone wore, "but the problem with my power is that life started to become boring when I realize that I could easily overcome anyone and everyone that wanted to fight me, which was why I gave Adagio the power to make decisions in my stead. I let my sisters, who acted as my advisors and guards, make the decisions and I followed them, suffering through whatever consequences came when their plans failed. It eventually came to a point where we had to face off against Starswirl the Bearded, a powerful unicorn mage during our time in Equus, and we were banished from our home world."

"He must have been powerful to defeat the Siren Queen," Tolfdir commented, wondering how a lone mage could have pulled off such a feat, but considering what happened in the last few weeks he was inclined to believe that miracles were possible.

"I took no part in the fight, if I can be completely honest." Sonata replied, letting out another sigh, "He only faced Adagio and Aria, so when they lost the three of us were banished. When I had realized how powerful he actually was, to have the ability to face and defeat both of my sisters when it was two on one, I then wondered if he would have been a perfect sparing partner to get rid of my boredom... though now I guess we'll never know. I'm sure Starswirl died some years after we were cast out of Equus, though there might be a chance that he left a legacy that's as strong as he was."

"Can you explain all of your abilities to us?" Saerza asked, as she knew that there had to be something behind the Siren Queen's abilities that would want an orc like Lord Grul to act the way he was at the moment.

"No... that is something that I will not share at this time." Sonata answered almost immediately, because she wasn't sure that she could even call her former powers back into existence yet, "I know my sisters trusted the two of you, like I'm doing with Kree and Lydia, but there are some secrets that I must keep to myself at the moment..."

"Archmage! We've got a situation!" a voice called out, to which Sonata spotted an orc librarian enter the chamber, though she wondered if he had heard anything of what she had said, "That boulder that was thrown at the College yesterday is still burning... and its starting to change its shape."

"What?" Saerza asked, though as the word left her mouth she heard the sound of glass shattering and a door being torn from its holdings, to which she pulled her mask back on and approached the stairs.

Sonata looked at the khajiit for a moment, wondering how a flaming boulder could change its shape, but then sighed as she realized that this was likely her fault anyway. Grul was after her and her alone, and he was about to kill or capture anyone that dared to side against him and his seemingly endless horde of orcs. She decided that the Archmage shouldn't have to deal with her problems for her, so she climbed out of the bed and walked towards the stairs, ignoring the tired feeling that she had while she did so. She knew that her friends were walking behind her, including Tolfdir, and she knew that they would be there to assist her the moment something happened, but she planned on not needing help at the moment.

As she reached the lower level she spotted a creature that appeared to be made out of green flames and pure rock, though it was forced back through the ruined doorway by the Archmage. The instant Sonata stepped off the final step she noticed that the creature stopped looking at Saerza and was glaring at her, confirming that she was the target once more.

"That's what I thought," Sonata said, sighing as she called upon whatever magic she had left as the creature stood at its full height, "Well then, come and see if you can catch your target."

Sonata zipped behind it and forced it to turn around, but as it followed her around the courtyard she used the wind around her to carry her as if she was weightless. It was actually quite simple to avoid the creature's arms, which told her that the creature was designed for pure destruction and the death of anyone that crossed its path, but it was terrible at actually catching someone it was supposed to catch. She spent a good five minutes successfully avoiding the creature, though when it reached for her and touched the edge of her armor she decided that it was time to end this game.

She sailed to the upper walkway and forced the creature to stop in its tracks, but while she stared down at the strange creature she simply held a hand to the sky and called more of her magic to her. Clouds formed over the College as the wind responded to her call, to which she directed at the creature and lifted it off of the ground, which to the surprise of whoever was watching her. She held her hand parallel with the rocky creature for a moment, pondering what to do with it, before she grinned a bit and called upon the storm that the creature's flames were aiding. She directed the lightning at the creature's core and blew it wide open, allowing the charge to tear into it before it became completely lifeless.

Once that was done she used the wind and threw the corpse out into the water around the College, getting rid of the creature while confirming that some of her power had returned, but she was still lacking most of her formidable powers. She sighed and levitated herself back to where her friends were standing, knowing that they were going to have to resume their quest now that they had saved the College from Lord Grul. She hated the fact that they were going to have to go back to Delphine, but she was the only one who had any idea on what the dragons were doing... despite her error in thinking that the Thalmor were behind them.

She was sure that there was something much greater than some elves behind the return of the dragons, the sudden increased number of vampire attacks, and a group of cultists trying to get rid of her... and she'd get to the end of it all. And she would be sure to get rid of Lord Grul while she was at it.

Lord Grul stepped out of his hut and stared at the prize that he had sent two of his lieutenants, Gurgova the Heavy and Mag'zul the Sorcerer, to capture; a dragon. Truth be told he had been expecting some disaster to befall the soldiers that he had sent with his trusted lieutenants, though the report was that they had all survived the encounter and captured his prize. Thanks to the gemstones that contained Adagio and Aria he could keep constant taps on where his target was located, giving him time to plan his attacks to further her training until she was ready to submit to his rule. Adagio and Aria would hold out as long as they were able to, but he knew that they would fold the moment their precious Queen was under his control, giving him the power that he craved.

Now that he had a dragon they could begin breaking it in and making sure that it was prepared for a surprise visit, though Lord Grul knew exactly how to break the will of creatures that were rumored to have unshakable wills. Green flames danced around his arm as he approached the dragon, knowing it would take some time to break the creature and turn it to his own goals, but he knew that he had time to kill before his target was ready.

"Do not disturb me until Aggronak returns from Winterhold," Grul commanded the orcs around him, to which he received a sea of salutes and nods, "I have work that must be done."

He grinned as he stared at the dragon, knowing that the beast would prove to be a perfect test of the Dragonborn's abilities... once he was finished empowering the creature with the power that he wielded.

17: Return to Sender

Sonata moaned as she packed up what meager belongings she had with her, but it wasn't because she was physically in pain from the walking she was doing at the moment. She had overexerted herself when she had crushed that fiery rock creature that Aggronak had left behind, straining what small amount of magic she still had access to at the moment. Despite her necklace being broken, the one item that allowed her to fully harness and control her true powers, she still had the ability to tap into her true potential, which had only been restored to her when she had entered Skyrim and had been forced to face the truth of who she was once more.

She had hated being the most powerful Siren of them all before their banishment, because it had brought her to a level of boredom that was the heart of all her problems, and she hated having to remember what she was, all thanks to the fact that one orc knew something that he couldn't have possibly known.

"I see that your preparing to leave," a voice behind her said, to which she turned around and found Saerza standing at the entrance to the room she had been given.

"I don't have much choice in the matter," Sonata replied, returning her sword to her belt before turning and facing the Archmage, "The longer I stay in one place the more likely that more of Grul's minions will come seeking my head, so I'm already putting everyone in the College and the surrounding area at risk by being here. Saerza, I appreciate you letting me and my friends stay here for a day, but I have to leave before more orcs show up looking for me... or worse Lord Grul himself."

"I honestly don't think that Lord Grul would show himself just yet," Saerza commented, watching Sonata as she finished gathering her items, "It seems like he's preparing for a war against both the Imperial Legion and the Stormcloaks... a war that might decide the fate of all of Tamriel in a single instant."

Sonata remained silent as she heard that statement, because she remembered the dream she had where she had seen Aria dressed in the mages robes that had brought her here. She had seen a massive portal, carved into the side of a mountain, that had an endless army of orcs pouring out of it, as if they had come to wage war in Grul's name. What Saerza would have made sense, but then Sonata recalled the figure that she couldn't make out, the one whose very presence set the sky on fire as if he was bringing an end to the world. She had no idea how to explain what she had seen to the Archmage, though she also suspected that if she told anyone about what she had seen they might consider that she was losing her mind.

With everything that was happening she sure felt like she was losing her mind, but she needed to get back on track and figure out what to do about the dragons that were attacking everyone.

"I must get back to Riverwood," Sonata eventually replied, heading out into the open area before slowly making her way to the entrance of the College, "I have too many enemies to deal with and not a lot to go on, so I must use every opportunity to make sure that Grul doesn't find me until I bring an end to his life."

"Then I shall join you in your quest to bring down Lord Grul," Saerza commented, pulling an epic looking staff from her robes and tapping it on the ground, "after all, I have a bone to pick with Aggronak for destroying part of the College and I have to figure out where he's taken the professors he took while I was away."

Sonata could feel the power of the staff that Saerza was holding, knowing that it had to be something ancient she had secured to save something from destruction. She was more concerned that the Archmage wanted to leave her College behind to deal with Lord Grul, especially after what had happened in the short time she had been gone. She actually considered telling Saerza no and leaving with her friends, but as the Archmage stood there she could feel the power resting inside her body radiate around them for a few seconds, as if she was actually trying to show her that she was determined to follow through.

Sonata sighed and nodded her head, knowing that there might very well be something that Saerza could aid her with... besides cutting down her enemies before they could reach her.

"Very well then, I accept your aid Archmage Saerza." Sonata replied, though she had the feeling that the Archmage would have followed her if she had declined, "I take it that your ready to go, considering that you are so determined to leave with us."

"That I am, Siren Queen." Saerza said, taking notice of the fact that Sonata disliked the use of the title she had tossed aside years ago, "My mistake then, I shall endeavor to stop using that title and start calling you by your actual title; that of the Dragonborn."

Sonata sighed once more as the two of them moved out into the entrance of the College, where she found Kree and Lydia waiting with their packs ready. They had noticed that she was going to depart soon, so they had gathered their own gear together and had prepared for when she was ready to leave. As the two of them approached Sonata's friends Kree looked at the Archmage for a moment, clearly wondering if there was something that neither she nor Lydia had been expecting.

"We've got another friend that wants to join us," Sonata said, basically summing up everything that had just happened, "Saerza wants to come along so she can get some much needed revenge on Lord Grul and his lieutenants."

"I imagine that many people across Skyrim are already thinking the same thing," Kree commented, knowing that there were people who had been wronged by Grul's forces and were likely wanting revenge on the person who had changed their lives, "the only thing we have to do is find a way to bring them all together so we can face our enemy. I take it that we are heading back to Riverwood to see what Delphine wants?"

"And to figure out why she thinks the Thalmor are behind the return of the dragons," Sonata confirmed, walking towards the bridge for a moment, "I just can't believe that there are dragons, cultists, and vampires that want me dead for all of their various reasons. There are too many enemies in Skyrim to deal with already... without taking Grul, his lieutenants and his army into account. We'll have to be careful as we return to Riverwood."

As it turned out there weren't any enemies that interrupted their trek back to Riverwood, giving Sonata time to pause every now and then to recover from her ordeal the previous day. She refused to believe that Lord Grul didn't have his spies watching her at every moment of the day, so they could accurately keep track of where she was and what she was doing for the people of Skryim. Every time she requested a break her friends, including Saerza, would make sure that there weren't any enemies in the surrounding area, to maximize the amount of time she could take before they had to get started again.

During their trek back to Riverwood Saerza told Sonata a little more about the time that she spent with Adagio and Aria, confessing her immense interest in their abilities and their undying loyalty to their sister. Sonata noticed that the Archmage went out of her way to make sure that she didn't refer to her as the title she wanted to bury, which showed that she respected her wishes.

Before they could reach their destination, however, Sonata spotted someone she wasn't expecting to see standing outside the small village; one of the vampires she had followed when she met with Movarth and his Council. She didn't know the vampire's name, they never had the chance to figure out what his name had been, but she was somewhat surprised to see him here anyway. This time he was dressed up in what Sonata assumed was glass armor, she had seen a piece of it in Movarth's lair in the form of a weapon, as if he was prepared for a fight of some kind. The instant he turned his head and spotted them he beckoned them over, though Sonata had to wonder if he had a message to deliver from the Council.

"Good, I was hoping to catch you before you entered the village," the vampire said, though it was clear that he didn't like being out in the sunlight, "I come bearing news from Lord Movarth; several of the vampires under Lady Vespula's command have betrayed her and joined with Lord Grul... and they're coming here with a force of orcs to burn the village to the ground."

"Great... just great," Sonata sighed, wondering why she couldn't seem to catch a break with Lord Grul's forces, "When are they supposed to arrive? I might have time to try and convince the villagers that they need to leave before the orcs arrive."

"I'm afraid that they'll be arriving in the next two hours..." the vampire said, causing Sonata to notice that the sun was slowly setting, indicating that night was reaching them and that the perfect time for a group of vampires to strike was coming, "For the foreseeable future I have been assigned to assist you in your endeavors, be they taking out the dragons or the orcs that are currently coming our way."

"Well, I'm glad to have you along for the ride as well, um..." Sonata replied, though she had to cut herself off because she had no idea what to call the vampire.

"I am Lorthan Bloodstrike," the vampire replied, bowing his head slightly as he took note of his new companions, "I see that you've also acquired the Archmage of the College of Winterhold as a companion... she'll be useful in the coming trials."

Sonata sighed and decided that, for the moment, that they had better set up camp further up the path that would take them to Bleak Falls Barrow, so that they might be able to figure out which direction their enemies were coming from. As they waited for night to fall upon them Lorthan introduced himself to the group and told them that he had been a vampire for about a hundred years, telling how he had been turned from a simple bosmer until his caravan had been attacked by vampires. He had fought them to the death, determined to take as many with them as he could before he died, but then he collapsed from exhaustion and awoke in the cave they had met Movarth. Despite his original disgust for what he had become, and all the evil deeds other vampires did, he grew to accept what he had become and had dedicated to riding the world of its true evils.

Sonata was glad to hear a little bit about their newest addition, because it gave her time to recover from the previous day and learn about who she was going to be traveling with. She even grinned when Lorthan expressed his opinion that Lady Vespula might not be totally loyal to the Council, because she had experienced the same thing when she was attacked by her underlings in Iverstead and then was they were proclaimed to be allies when the Council met in Movarth's cave.

When the sun finally set, and the shadow of night was upon them, Sonata immediately spotted several torches approaching the village, which had to be Grul's forces coming their way. She still couldn't believe that she was having to deal with the blasted orc again, not two days after her last encounter... leading her to believe that there was a motive behind everything that she wasn't seeing. She waited a few seconds for Lorthan to return to them, because the instant they spotted the direction the orcs were coming from he had gone to see how many of them there actually were. Sonata wanted to be prepared for their arrival, to which her friends all agreed that it was best to see exactly how many enemies they had to kill to save the village.

"Twenty orcs are coming our way," Lorthan commented, pulling out the glass sword he carried, though his gaze turned to the direction that Falkreath rested in, "from where the Guardian Stones are located. I take it our plan is to attack them before they reach the village and take them out, thus ensuring that our enemy doesn't ruin the lives of anyone else?"

"Correct," Sonata replied, pulling out her sword as her magic swirled around her hand, leading her to wonder how many she could slay with her magic before she would need to rest again, "let's show these orcs that they aren't welcome in Skyrim."

Sonata and her friends moved down the side of the mountain, being careful not to alert their enemies that they were coming, but judging by the noises the soldiers were making it was clear that none of the orcs had heard anything different. Sonata used that to her advantage as she leapt out of the shadows and ran her sword through one of the soldiers, tearing through his heart as the other nineteen noticed that they were under attack. Several arrows flew over the small river that she had crossed, puncturing the armor of the orcs that were standing the closest to Sonata, dropping one or two while the others picked themselves back up.

Saerza stood beside Kree as she loosed arrows at the orcs, but the Archmage summoned lightning into her left hand and pointed at an orc that was standing in the middle of the small army, to which she blasted him into the hill behind them. Lorthan appeared behind Sonata and slammed his weapon into one of the orcs, though he had to pull back and defend when their enemies realized what was actually happening at the moment. What the orcs didn't expect was Lydia attacking them from behind, because she roared with all her might and charged into their backs, slicing one enemy in half with her battleaxe before moving onto the next target.

One orc got lucky and smacked Sonata in the face with his fist, but where he was expecting her to simply lay on the ground she got back onto her feet and glared at the orc, ignoring the pain or the cut she had been given. Shadows swirled around her hand as she extended her left hand towards the orc, to which she allowed the shadows to swirl around him before she closed her palm and crushed him, armor and all, in an instant. She then turned towards her friends and watched as they cleared up the rest of their enemies, leaving her to wonder why they had suddenly encountered a weak group of orcs, when the others had been tougher to deal with.

"It seems that our enemy is just testing the strength of his army," Lorthan commented, immediately seeing something odd with the carnage, "maybe these ones lost their Lord's favor and the only way to earn it back was to destroy someone that's helping you... though how he could have figured that out is starting to worry me."

Sonata shared her friend's worry, because Lord Grul seemed to be one step ahead of them at every turn, almost as if he knew where they were going before Sonata could even determine that herself. She sighed and left Lydia, Saerza, and Lorthan to collect the bodies, take off anything that they could use, and then burn them away from the village, while she returned to the inn. She needed to hear what Delphine had to tell her, so she could figure out where they were going next in their quest to discover where the dragons were coming from. When she and Kree entered the inn they found Delphine standing near the door that led to her room, though while Sonata moved forward Kree remained by the door in the off chance that there were more enemies coming that none of them knew about.

"I've figured out how we're going to get you into the Thalmor Embassy," Delphine commented, once she and Sonata had reached the table in her secret area, "The Thalmor ambassador, Elenwen, regularly throws parties where the rich and connected cozy up to the Thalmor. I can get you into one of those parties. Once you're inside the Embassy, you get away and find Elenwen's secret files. I have a contact inside the Embassy. He's not up for this kind of high-risk mission, but he can help you. His name's Malborn. Wood elf, plenty of reason to hate the Thalmor. You can trust him. I'll get word for him to meet you in Solitude, at the Winking Skeever --- you know it? While you're doing that, I'll work on getting you an invitation to Elenwen's little party. Meet me at the Solitude stables after you've arranged things with Malborn. Any questions?"

"I still think you are insane about believing the Thalmor are behind the dragons," Sonata replied, sighing as she looked at the map once more, "but while I do this I need you to use whatever contacts you have and figure out where Lord Grul's base of operations is, or where my sisters Adagio and Aria are. I need to make sure that they're safe before my enemy finds them... and Delphine, I'd suggest that you not argue with me and get started. Lord Grul is on the move with whatever he's planning, and I would like to finally get one step ahead of him."

She left Delphine standing there, not bothering to stay behind and speak with the woman because she knew that she would only be asked about the Siren Queen once more. She didn't trust Delphine enough to trust her with such important information, despite all the measures she went through to keep herself hidden from her own enemies. She also knew that she needed to focus on figuring out where the dragons were coming from before she could do anything else, but that didn't stop her from wanting to be prepared for when it came time to confront Grul.

Though as she walked back to where Kree was standing she had to wonder where Adagio and Aria had disappeared to, and why no one seemed to know anything else besides the fact that they had gone to the College some time ago. Something strange was going on at the moment, and she was determined to figure out what that something was... before someone ended up getting hurt.

18: More Dang Vampires

Sonata and her friends had the inn to themselves for the night, as Delphine and her assistant Orgnar allowed them to spend the night before they headed to Solitude in the morning. Sonata liked it that the former Blade was so willing to assist them at the moment, though she had to wonder if some of her power had exerted itself on the lady when she told her to search for Lord Grul. Her friends were thankful for the place to spend the night, so they didn't have to be out in the wilderness with Grul's orcs out and about doing whatever their master had told them to do next. None of them wanted to run into a group of orcs and have to get into a fight, in the middle of the night no less, despite their ability to deal with any threats they might face.

Sonata still found it strange that she and her friends had likely killed thirty or forty of Grul's men at this point, but there didn't seem to be an end to the amount of enemies they had to fight. She had seen an endless army of orcs walk out of a portal in her dreams, something she knew had not yet come to pass because the sky hadn't been set on fire or anything else she had seen in her dream. She also considered that maybe her enemy had conquered the lands of the orc before coming to Skyrim, hence the seemingly large number of enemies that she had her friends had to get rid of.

"So, is it true that our enemy is searching for something called the 'Siren Queen'?" Lorthan asked, merely because he was still confused as to what the orc was trying to do, "And, if that's what he's looking for, then why does he keep coming after you, Sonata?"

Sonata looked at Kree, Lydia, and Saerza for a moment, wondering if it was a good time to tell their companion the truth, but with Delphine hanging nearby she knew that it wasn't the time. She sighed and knew that she'd have to tell him something, otherwise she was sure that he would ask again and again until he had some decent answers to his questions.

"Yes, Lord Grul is looking for something called the Siren Queen," Sonata answered, rubbing the side of her head so the memories didn't come flooding in and ruin her mood, which her closest friends seemed to understand the gesture as her trying to stop a headache from overtaking her, "though we have no idea who that person is or where she might be at this very moment. As for why he's actively hunting me... well, I am the Dragonborn and it is generally the duty of such a hero to remove the evils of the land before they become a problem. He's making sure that everyone that can stand against him will be taken care of before he moves forward with whatever his evil plans are... whatever those happen to be."

She didn't want to say that she had seen the destruction of Skyrim in her dreams, something that would be sure to set off her friends as well and she didn't want a panic to start. There was enough to worry about thanks to the dragons, the increasing amount of vampires, and the cultists that wanted to eliminate her before she found someone called Miraak. She knew that she would have to deal with all of them at some point in the future, but she wondered if taking out Lord Grul might be in her best interests... considering that she was finding his forces everywhere she went in Skyrim.

"I see," Lorthan replied, sighing as he looked into the fire that they were sitting around, "None of the Council of Three has been able to figure out what Grul is doing, besides being a nuisance to the Stormcloak Rebellion and the Imperial Legion. I've already shared my suspicions that Lady Vespula might not be on our side, despite the fact that I have no evidence that she might have betrayed us, but its better to be open in this uncertain time. There's no telling whose an ally and whose an enemy anymore, not when Lord Grul might have the ability to corrupt people with the temptation of incredible powers."

"We need to take him out, before he goes to war with all of Skyrim," Delphine commented, adding her little bit into the conversation, though it was clear that she wasn't aware of the full extent of what their enemy was even capable of at the moment, "You need to get to Solitude as fast as possible... once the sun is up anyway."

Sonata sighed and stared at the fire, wondering what it would take to eliminate Lord Grul from Skyrim... though as she thought about it she glanced at her hand and remembered her true power, something that might very well be the key to ending the threat that Grul posed on everyone in the world.

Another hour passed before the five of them turned into the various beds for rest, though Lorthan remained outside the inn to keep watch for any threats that might be coming towards the small village. Lydia sat in one of the chairs and claimed that it would be the best bed for her, while Saerza and Kree shared the bed in the other room that was next to where Sonata would be resting. Sonata laid her head on her pillow and knew that the morning would bring something eventful in their lives, though she hoped that it would be a normal venture to Solitude and that they wouldn't have any problems getting there.

This time when she dreamed she appeared in the past, back when she and her sisters were in Equus, though this time she was resting in a cave that only she knew about... or that she had been the only one that knew about it until a certain day arrived. This cave was well hidden from the general public, as it had been built into the mountainside near the beach she usually rested on, though her magic allowed her to hide it from both her sisters and most unicorns. Because of the fact that many couldn't find the cave she had the opinion that no one, save for the alicorn sisters and their most powerful mages, could find out where she was resting at the moment.

When Sonata reflected on this event she had to mentally chuckle to herself, because she had been so naive to believe that she could have kept the cave a secret from the first pony she came to respect, despite what had happened between them later in life.

"So, you are the creature whose magical energy I have felt over the last seven days," a voice said, causing her to turn her head towards the entrance and spot a unicorn standing before her, though the robes and bells revealed that this had to be the one that she had been told about earlier, "I must say, you are definitely more impressive face to face than what I made you out to be in my head."

"Starswirl the Bearded... flattery will get you nowhere with me," the Queen replied, turning her full attention to the stallion as he approached her, more in interest than anything else.

"I didn't expect it to, so I merely made an observation," the unicorn commented, looking around the cave for a moment before turning his head back to her, "Tell me, when was the last time you walked among ponies? A month ago? Half a year ago? Maybe even a year ago?"

"I've never walked among ponies before in my life," the Queen answered, glaring at the stallion for a second, trying to figure out why he would ask such a silly question to begin with.

"So that means that there are at least three of your kind near the settlement," Starswirl said, a small smirk appearing on his face, "I noticed two other creatures, both with magical energies that are identical to your own, walking through the settlement a few days ago, looking around as if they were studying the way it had been built. Originally I thought that they might be visitors from one of the other villages in the surrounding area, but the necklaces they wore, with a ruby pendant, told me that they were different from the ponies I was living with. I studied them from afar as they studied the settlement, only to come to the conclusion that they were taking orders from someone and that, in turn, lead me here."

"Congratulations, Starswirl the Bearded, you've found the secret hiding place of the Siren Queen," the Queen replied, mentally screaming to herself that both Adagio and Aria had been found out by the stallion she had sent them to spy on, "Now, leave me to my rest... before I blast you into the wall and leave your body imprinted there."

"I have no doubt that you would try that, but I did not come here to fight you," Starswirl commented, causing the Queen to raise an eyebrow, "I came to invite the leader of the ponies I noticed to a stroll through the settlement, so she can get to know her neighbors... though you'd have to shrink to a more suitable size."

The Queen stared at Starswirl for a moment, studying the stallion to see if he was actually being serious or if he was pulling her tail, before she started to chuckle. She had sent Adagio and Aria to study Starswirl, because he was all that she was interested in, but they had, in a strange twist of fate, alerted the stallion and had brought him to her. Her magic began to gather around her, though instead of striking the stallion where he stood, which she suspected might begin a battle that might end in a draw, she began to shrink in size as her body changed shape. She had long since wondered what it would be like to walk among ponies, so she had created a form that she had figured that she would never use for as long as she existed.

An arctic blue coated mare, with a light blue and dark blue colored mane and tail, appeared where the Queen had been standing, though she wore the same pendant the other Sirens wore and had a musical note as her Cutie Mark.

"I shall take you up on your offer, Starswirl the Bearded," the Queen replied, her voice toned down to fit a normal mare's voice, though she had aimed at the younger sounds instead of going for an older voice.

"And what would I call you by, instead of using the title of the Siren Queen?" Starswirl asked, which made the Queen see the error in creating the form to begin with, "Hmm... I see you don't have a name for this form. How about Sonata Dusk?"

"That... is agreeable," the Queen replied, a smile appearing on 'Sonata's' face as she trotted up to the stallion.

Together the two of them left the cave and ventured to where the settlement laid, to which Sonata began the process of removing herself from her past so she could return to the present.

Sonata sighed as she pulled herself from her dream, not wanting to see anymore of what she and Starswirl had done after he had found out her hiding place. He was one of the few ponies that she had respected, until Adagio and Aria forced his hoof and had the three of them banished to a world that had no magic. Despite what Adagio and Aria believed, and they were set on the fact that she and Starswirl had been bitter enemies, Sonata had actually developed a friendship with the stallion. She had tried, at one point before their banishment, to help him develop several spells that might actually bridge the gap between the Sirens and the ponies, but that was in the past and she was forced to live with what was happening to her.

Speaking of which she pulled herself out of the bed she was sitting in, her mind returning to her being worried if they would be able to make it to their destination without Lord Grul attacking them... again anyway.

"I managed to have a carriage come by the inn and pick the five of you up," Delphine told her as she walked out of her room, spotting her companions getting ready for the journey, "you should be able to arrive in Solitude by late evening at the earliest, but you might be able to reach the city faster if your lucky."

Sonata merely nodded her head and had some of the breakfast that had been prepared before she had awoken, though her mind was on the fact that she had dreamed of Starswirl for the first time in almost a thousand years. She had bottled up her past self the moment she and her sisters had been banished, though now everything was slowly returning to the surface once again. She noticed that her friends noticed that there was something different about her, though as she turned her gaze back to her hand she summoning a small spark of lightning for a few seconds. She also noted that the longer she stayed in Skyrim the more power she regained, which would make it easier to deal with her enemy when the time came.

When she finished with the meal she gathered her weapon and rejoined her friends, to which they left the inn and spotted the carriage that Delphine had promised them would be there. The driver stared at them as they climbed onto the back of the carriage, though once they were on board they began their journey towards Solitude.

The driver apparently had been told to avoid any of the cities besides their destination, because they bypassed Falkreath altogether and used the road that went around it. They didn't go into the Reach, mainly because their driver mentioned that he didn't want to be ambushed by the Forsworn that called the area home, so they went through the area of Rorikstead instead. Once they passed through the small settlement they came to an area that was inhabited by bandits, to which Sonata growled and used another element, that of wind, to blast every bandit away from the carriage. She didn't want them to be delayed by the enemies that rested along the road, so blowing them backwards was about the only thing she could do at the moment.

When they finally reached the stables of Solitude, roughly halfway through the afternoon, Sonata noticed a large force standing before the gates of the city, though none of the soldiers looked like the Imperials, the Stormcloaks, or even the Orcs. They found a large group of vampires standing before the gates, though by the look on Lorthan's face Sonata could tell that it wasn't one of the Council of Three that was behind this. She knew of one other powerful vampire that had the ability to pull something like this off, which told her that Lord Harkon had grown tired and was now attacking people for fun.

"Kill these invaders," Sonata growled, lightning crackling around her left hand as the vampires turned towards where they were standing, to which she leveled her hand with one of them and struck him with a lightning bolt.

Lyda roared and charged forward, swinging her battleaxe as cutting one of the vampires in half before turning towards another target, which Kree stayed at the back and used her arrows to take out the enemies that lingered in the back. Saerza summoned flames into her hand as she approached the vampires and charred the arms of those that attacked her, opening the way for Lorthan to cut them down while they were distracted by their injuries. Sonata stayed at the front and struck at whoever came at her, with either her lightning or her sword, though she also had to dodge the attacks that they threw her direction.

One of them reached for her and tried to smack her with his weapon, but Lydia leapt in front of the weapon and slammed the vampire into the ground, though Sonata kept the enemy alive as her friends tore apart the rest of them.

"Who sent you to destroy Solitude?" Sonata asked, pressing her sword against the vampire for a moment, "Who do you work for?"

"Lord Harkon... has signed... your death warrant," the vampire coughed, blood erupting from his mouth as did so, "We have orders... to capture you alive... and turn you over to... He who wants you. Then this world... will burn..."

Sonata growled and drove her sword into the vampire's chest, making sure to burn the body to ashes once she was done with him before turning to her friends. Lord Grul might not have personally sent the vampires to destroy Solitude, but he was apparently allied with the vampire lord that had sent them. The Council of Three was going to be interested in hearing that Harkon had betrayed the whole of Nirn, though Sonata really could care less about whatever he had been promised in exchange. Once she was done with the black dragon, and had stopped the dragons from destroying the world, she was going to track down Lord Harkon and kill him like the dog he was.

Then, once Harkon and whoever sent the cultists were dead, she would turn her attention to Lord Grul and show him just how unwise all of his actions were. And then she'd rescue her sisters, wherever they were.

19: Shock at the Party

"Did... did that vampire say that Lord Harkon has betrayed us?" Lorthan asked, staring at the ashes that had once been a vampire, while trying to understand what he had heard before the enemy had died.

"He did," Sonata replied, sighing as she tried to calm herself down, but she was finding it increasingly hard to do so after discovering that a supposed ally to the Council of Three had betrayed all of them, "Now I'm going to have to kill him as well... if only so I can have some peace before the next foe comes knocking at my door."

"Maybe we can talk with General Tullius and Captain Pelena while we're in Solitude." Kree commented, eying the gate that would lead them into the city, as if she was expecting it to open and reveal the two Imperial soldiers she had named, "We might be able to acquire their help in tracking down Lord Grul, and his annoying lieutenants for that matter, so was can properly devise a plan to remove them all from play. Who knows, maybe they have a clue that we haven't discovered yet and that, in turn, might actually lead us to the destruction of one of Grul's subordinates."

Sonata hadn't thought about Captain Pelena since they went their separate ways after the destruction of Helgen, though she had been busy after she discovered that she was Dragonborn. She would have thought it was strange that there weren't more Imperial or Stormcloak patrols around Skyrim, but considering that Grul had his forces moving everywhere she knew that it had to be hard keep soldiers alive with how many orcs there were. She actually had to wonder if Ulfric had sided with Grul as well, but after a few seconds into that thought she immediately discarded it from her mind. Ulfric hated anyone that wasn't a nord, that much she could tell from a single glance, so it made sense that he would turn down the orcs and fight against them.

As she turned to the gate, however, she found that a large group of Imperial soldiers were now standing around them with their swords and shields pointed at them, intending to keep them in one spot. She seriously hoped that they hadn't been corrupted by their enemy and were tasked with bringing her to Grul, though she did keep Lydia from attacking them before she got them into trouble.

"Do all of you have a death wish?" a familiar voice called out from behind the soldiers, one that Kree smiled at hearing once again, "That's the Archmage of the College of Winterhold that you're pointing your weapons at. She'd kill you all in a heartbeat and leave the ground littered with your corpses. Lower your weapons before she takes offense."

The soldiers looked at each other for a few seconds before they lowered their weapons and parted for whoever had spoken, though Sonata smiled when she spotted Captain Pelena, dressed in her proper armor once more, walking their way. Walking behind the Captain was someone that Sonata had never seen before, though judging by the expression on Kree's face she knew that someone in her group knew who was coming towards them. Pelena and the newcomer stopped before the five of them, though it was a few seconds before she actually looked at them after making sure none of the soldiers tried to attack anyone.

When Pelena was sure that everything was fine, and that her soldiers were going back to what they were doing, she approached Kree and threw her arms over her, embracing her like the old friend that she was.

"I was wondering when you were finally going to show up Kree," Pelena commented, a hint of relief in her voice, "I thought that you were going to warn Jarl Balgruuf about the dragon and then come straight here, but the days slowly passed and you never showed up. Legate Rikke told me that you might have died on the trek to Solitude, but I kept telling her that you would eventually show up... though I never imagined that you would bring the Archmage of Winterhold to our fair city."

"What about bringing the Dragonborn?" Kree asked, beckoning to Sonata as Pelena let go of her.

"Your joking..." Pelena said, looking at Sonata for a moment, but then she chuckled to herself for a moment, "No, you would never joke about something as serious as the Dragonborn of legend... and considering the rumors of a young warrior fighting against both Lord Grul and the dragons, traveling with a nord and an argonian, its not that hard to believe. You know, let's take this inside... where there are less enemies that might be waiting to snatch a piece of information to take back to their masters."

The seven of them ventured into the city, where they noticed a various amount of soldiers walking around and taking down defenses that Sonata assumed had been because of the vampires. Some of the soldiers seemed annoyed that they had been robbed of an opportunity to protect their city and kill some of the invaders, though Sonata noticed that many of the others were pleased that they didn't have to fight them at all. Several of the guards saluted them as they passed, though as they entered the main castle that the Imperials used as their base of operations Sonata noticed that General Tullius was standing over a map of Skyrim and had barely noticed them enter the building.

When the General did finally look up and notice them standing there he seemed surprised to see that Pelena and Rikke had brought some company with them, though he smiled as he noticed who was there.

"Kree, Sonata Dusk, its good to see the both of you again," the General said, beckoning everyone inside the room where he planed out his attacks across the whole of Skyrim, while the guards exited the building to give them so space, "I see that you brought along the Archmage... we may have some need of her power in the future."

"Is something wrong?" Kree asked, worried that the General might have found something about Lord Grul that would change everything that the five of them had been doing up until this point.

"We're not entirely sure yet," Tullius replied, sighing as he picked up one of the latest reports and handed it to Kree, knowing that her opinion on what the parchment revealed was always good to have, "Several of my scouts have searched the entirety of the Reach, searching for Ulfric's forces, but all they were able to find were charred campgrounds that had burned corpses scattered everywhere. At first they assumed that the Forsworn had gotten to the Stormcloaks first, but they also noted the strange green fire that was still burning when they arrived at the various camps. Its almost as if our latest enemy, the orc called Lord Grul, is resting in that area and silenced anyone he felt was a threat before they could report where he was located."

Sonata doubted that, if that was the case, that the orc would have let the scouts live with the information that they had, so she had to wonder what was actually going on in the Reach.

"That being said, there was one other thing several of my scouts noticed," Tullius continued, sighing for a moment, as if he couldn't believe what he was about to tell them all, "I've gotten reports of a eerie dark green dragon, darker than the flames that I mentioned, flying around the Reach and the immediate areas around it, burning whatever it chooses before disappearing. We're not sure if the dragon is associated with Grul, but if that orc does have a dragon in his army we might not be able to survive when it comes time for the eventual clash between us and them."

"Well, we've got someone who can deal with that dragon," Kree commented, beckoning to Sonata for a moment, to which Tullius raised an eyebrow in confusion, "Sonata's the Dragonborn, and its her destiny to stop the dragons before they do whatever they're trying to do."

Sonata knew that Kree wouldn't spill the beans about what she actually was, though that didn't stop her from breathing a sigh of relief all the same. She trusted General Tullius and Captain Pelena, but the fewer people that knew about the Siren Queen the better off she would be in the end. She still had no idea how her enemy, Lord Grul, had managed to figure out what she truly was, when the only people who had known the truth had been her sisters.

"The Dragonborn?!" Tullius remarked, looking over Sonata for a moment, as if he was trying to decide something, "You know, when Kree told us that she saw something special inside you I was assuming that she saw some sort of warrior that would change the tide of this war with the Stormcloaks. I never would have guessed that what she had seen inside you was actually the potential to become the nord's Dragonborn of legend, though this means we have a chance at stopping the dragons before they can join our enemies."

"Look, I hate to kill the mood, but there's something we need to do before more enemies show up at the gates," Sonata said, causing the three Imperial soldiers to turn to her for a moment, "I'm supposed to be meeting someone at the inn soon, while the person's partner secures an invitation for me to attend Elenwen's next party. I just need to figure out what the Thalmor know about the dragons returning, though I have the feeling that they're in the dark like the rest of us are."

"And then you'll put a stop to the dragons?" Tullius asked, as if he had ignored the part where she was going to basically steal information from the Thalmor.

"Yes... and then I'll figure out how to stop the dragons from destroying Nirn," Sonata replied, heading to the door of the building before another thought entered her mind, "...provided Lord Grul doesn't wage full on war with us before then. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go prepare for what I assume is going to be a long night."

Finding the elf that Delphine had mentioned had been quite easy, as he had been sitting in a corner at the local inn the entire time, though getting him to believe that she was actually who Delphine was talking about was another matter. He remained unconvinced that Sonata would be able to make it through the Thalmor Embassy without being discovered, though she honestly didn't care if he had so little faith in her abilities. In the end Malborn decided it wasn't worth risking his neck out for someone he had so little faith in, even though it was Delphine asking him to do it, so Sonata merely sighed and left the inn.

"I told her this was a stupid idea," Sonata sighed, walking out of the inn with her friends, two of which looked like they were ready to charge into the building and butcher the elf if she even uttered the command to do so, "and even Malborn agrees with me... so now I guess its time to do things my way."

"And what way would that be, my Thane?" Lydia asked, her hand moving to the battleaxe for a moment, as if she believed that there would be a fight between them and the Thalmor, "Are we going to rush in and fight?"

"No... I'm going to ask nicely and see if I can't get Elenwen to open up to me," Sonata replied, pausing as she noticed the silence around her, to which she discovered that her friends were staring at her as if she had lost her mind, "What? Its better than being invited to a party and gaining the ire of the Thalmor, all for information that they might not even have at the moment."

"Delphine's not going to like this," Kree commented, knowing that they were literally out of options at the moment, but she truly didn't want Sonata to resort to using her Siren powers to get them what they needed.

"I don't like it either, but we really don't have a choice in the matter," Sonata said, stepping outside the city once more as they headed to the stables, where she suspected that they would find Delphine waiting for them, "Personally, I would rather have this one woman mad at me than the entirety of the Thalmor, because with Lord Grul running around its better to have more allies than enemies."

They found Delphine standing near the stables, at the base of a windmill, though it was pretty clear that she was, once again, annoyed about something.

"Ah, I was wondering when you'd show up," Delphine commented, as the five of them gathered around her, "I've sent out requests to my various assistants to see if they have any information about this Lord Grul you mentioned, so I should be hearing from them in a day or two. However, something was delivered to the inn shortly after you left and I've been wondering how you managed to get one of them."

Delphine reached into her bag and pulled out a letter, which she handed to Sonata, who discovered that it was an invitation to the party that was supposed to be happening soon.

"How'd you do it?" Delphine asked, glaring at Sonata for a moment, "How did you manage to get Elenwen to provide you with an invitation to her party?"

"I... I don't know," Sonata admitted, though a smile appeared on her face as she answered, "but this does make things easier. She's expecting me to show up, so it'll be easier to simply ask her a few questions, enjoy the party for a few minutes, and then exit when an opportunity presents itself. Then, once I'm back, we can discuss what our next step is."

Delphine merely sighed as Sonata handed her gear over to her friends, knowing that she couldn't go to a party armed to the teeth, before going behind the windmill and slipping into the party outfit that Delphine had handed her. Once she looked the part of a party guest, and everyone nodded in satisfaction, she climbed onto the carriage that was waiting nearby and began the journey up to the Embassy. She remained silent as she slowly rode up the side of the mountain, following a path that had been put into the ground, as there wasn't much to say to the driver on the way up.

When she finally arrived at the Embassy she leapt out of the carriage and approached the building's entrance, ignoring the man that was clearly a drunk and handing her invitation to the guard, before she was beckoned to move inside. She barely looked at the other guard as she entered the building, where she noticed an elven lady that had an air of authority around her, to which Sonata assumed that it was none other than the host.

"Welcome. I don't believe we've met." the lady said, bowing her head ever so slightly as Sonata approached her, which she respectfully returned, "I am Elenwen, the Thalmor Ambassador to Skyrim. And you are?"

"Sonata Dusk," Sonata replied, a smile appearing on her face for a brief moment, "I'm the latest Dragonborn. I believe you sent an invitation inviting me to the party."

"Ah yes, your the one that a certain enemy of mine is dead set on capturing alive," Elenwen commented, beckoning Sonata to follow her for a moment, "Come, let us retire to my office so we can speak freely... where we won't be bothered by people who might sell whatever we talk about to the highest bidder."

Sonata nodded and followed Elenwen through the Embassy, ignoring the guards the entire time as she looked for something that was out of place... something that might tell her if she was walking into a trap of some kind. She was being careful this time, as someone she had thought was an ally turned out to be an enemy that wanted to bring about the end of Nirn. When they exited the main building they came into a courtyard area that connected to another building, but as they left the first structure Sonata noticed that there was something wrong; all the guards that were supposed to be outside were all dead.

Sonata also noticed a patch or two of the green flames that she had seen in her dreams, the same ones that were associated with Lord Grul and whoever his foul master was... which meant that the Thalmor had a traitor in their mist.

"I don't understand what's going on," Elenwen said, staring at the bodies of her dead soldiers, not understanding that one of her own had betrayed her, "the other guards should have noticed that something was wrong the moment they came out to do their rounds. Why haven't I been told about this until now?"

"I don't know, but whoever betrayed you is still here," Sonata replied, beckoning to the building that they originally were heading towards, where she had spotted a shadow moving passed the windows, "Though judging from the flames it seems that whoever it is has to be allied with Lord Grul... which means I'm going to kill them, regardless of who they are."

Elenwen seemed taken aback by the fact that Sonata would kill anyone who was allied with the orc that threatened the safety of the world, though she also appeared to understand that Grul had to be stopped at all costs. As they entered the second building Sonata noticed three more corpses laying on the ground, more guards judging by the armor they wore, as well as a nord that had been cut open. She spotted an open door and made a motion for Elenwen to be quiet, so she could ambush whoever was in the room, though she could tell that the altmer was switching from being offended by the command to wanting to see who had betrayed her.

"You have done well in leading groups of your own order to be killed, Rulindil, a voice said, one that made Sonata pause for a moment, because she could have sworn that it sounded like Lord Grul, "and you have performed your duties in keeping an eye on our... target. Aggronak has informed me that she is currently somewhere in the vicinity of Solitude, as she and her group of troublesome friends have put a stop to Harkon's attack on the city. You wouldn't happen to know where she is, would you?"

"As we speak she is walking through the streets of Solitude, unaware that someone is watching her every step," a second voice said, one that Sonata assumed was Rulindil's, "I assume that your plan is on schedule?"

"Yesss," Lord Grul said, stretching the word for a moment, as if to make a point that only he knew about, "My present is heading to Solitude as we speak... where it will rain death and destruction upon the Imperials that have sided with the Dragonbo... wait a second, there is someone else in the building with you!"

"Impossible! I killed everyone before making contact..." Rulindil said, though he appeared to cut himself off as he opened the door and spotted Sonata and Elenwen standing there, "Oh... well this sucks..."

Sonata roared and extended her hand towards the elf, magic pulsing around her as she summoned a powerful charge of lightning that struck the elf in the middle of his chest. Rulindil went sailing into the room he had been standing in, crashing into the wall and knocking several of the items off the shelves that they were resting on, though Sonata could tell that he had survived the strike and was going to die in a matter of minutes. She turned towards where she assumed Lord Grul had been standing, only to find that Rulindil had been speaking to a dark green orb the entire time, one that showed Lord Grul's face before he disappeared completely.

She extended her hand again, though this time the shadows gathered around the orb and formed a case around it, before she collapsed her hand into a fist and crushed the orb like it was made of glass.

"Hehe... run while you can... Dragonborn..." Rulindil coughed up, causing Sonata to look at him once more, just as he coughed blood up, "Lord Grul's present... the Felblood... Dragon... comes for you... and for... Solitude..."

Sonata growled and extended her hand towards the elf once more, using the power of lightning to forever silence another one of Grul's underlings before she burned the body like all the others. She had no idea what this 'Felblood Dragon' that Rulindil had mentioned was, but she had the feeling that she was going to have to fight it before she left the city behind. She sighed, because her life was apparently going to get much worse before it got better.

20: The Felblood Dragon

"I can't believe that Rulindil would betray me, betray the Thalmor, like this," Elenwen commented, pressing one hand to her head as she dealt with a headache that was the result of everything she had discovered, "He's quite lucky that you destroyed him in such a swift manner... I would have made him suffer for his transgressions."

Sonata glanced back at the altmer for a moment, wondering if she should say something to her about what had happened, before she sighed and returned to her search for information that regarded one elf betraying his entire kind to her enemy. It pained her to see that Lord Grul was able to corrupt so many people into doing whatever he willed, because at this point the only hope for those that turned was a swift death. She longed for the days where she and her sisters lived in Equus, back when everything was peaceful and they had yet to be banished by Starswirl the Bearded, but she knew that she had a duty to protect the people of Skyrim from whoever wanted to destroy the world.

It also annoyed her that Rulindil had basically burned and scrapped every piece of paper that detailed everything that his master had told him, once again leaving Sonata in the dark as to what her enemy was doing.

"Damn it all to Tartarus," Sonata snapped, slamming the chest she was looking in shut, "He's gone and left nothing on his movements, save for a clue that something's coming to raze Solitude to the ground. I had better get down there and mobilize the guards, otherwise we might not see this thing coming until its too late to stop it from reaching the city."

"And how do you propose that you'll get down the mountain?" Elenwen asked, knowing that she would have to trek through the Embassy, and the party, before heading down the mountainside, "You'll eventually have to alert those that are at the Embassy as to what is going on. Its something that you cannot avoid."

"That is where you would be wrong," Sonata commented, placing a hand on the wall she had knocked Rulindil into, rubbing the scorch marks for a bit, "I've always have a way to get to my destination... I just need to use a little magic and I'll be on my way."

Instead of blasting a hole in the wall, which was what she assumed Elenwen believed she was going to do, Sonata walked outside and stared at the sky for a moment, a smile appearing on her face as she noticed the black clouds forming overhead. She called her magic into her left hand and held it towards the sky, allowing the energy around her to hum for a moment as she worked her spell into existence. The last time she had used this spell she had been back in Equus, but she remembered how to work the spell as if she had learned it not a few hours ago. Not many ponies had ever seen her travel in this method before, save for Starswirl the Bearded, so she hoped that Elenwen considered herself lucky that she was allowing her to watch what was happening.

She was going to call forth the storm and ride the lightning itself back to Solitude, though if she angled it right she would land right outside the area where she left her friends and Delphine.

The instant the storm hit the area round her Sonata disappeared, flying into the sky with her powers as she angled her course for the city that was resting below her. She waited a few seconds inside the storm, making sure that she had used the spell right, before she turned towards the stables outside the city. She was glad to see that Delphine and her friends were still sitting outside the mill, because as she neared the city she angled bolt of lightning towards them and struck the ground close to the stables. When she landed she dusted herself off and noticed that the lightning had wrecked the party clothes she was wearing, thanks to the tears that were everywhere, before she sighed and headed up the hill.

"Guys... we've got a problem coming our way," Sonata said, causing her friends to turn to her for a moment, though Delphine looked annoyed once more, "one of the Thalmor betrayed the rest of his kind and sold them out to Lord Grul, but that's not the worst part. There's something called the Felblood Dragon coming our way."

"Wait... so Lord Grul managed to corrupt a dragon?" Kree asked, shock filling her eyes for a moment as she handed Sonata her gear, "As if the return of the dragons wasn't enough, now our enemy can turn dragons against us and control their minds?"

"And its on its way here," Sonata said, slipping into her normal armor before she discarded the clothing Delphine had given her, "Kree, we need to tell the guards that there's a dragon coming this way. Maybe we can set up some sort of defense before it..."

That was before a roar ripped through the air and caused them to turned their heads to the path that lead to Dragons Bridge, where Sonata noticed a dragon, that was slightly larger than the one she fought at the watchtower, coming their way. Not only was it larger than the previous ones she had previously fought, but the color of its scales had darkened to the eerie green color of the flames that appeared to be associated with Lord Grul. She guessed that the term 'Felblood' referred to the flames that Grul commanded, though at the moment she had no idea how she was supposed to hit it out of the air so her friends could help her take it down.

As Sonata drew her sword, and wondered how she'd take the dragon out of the sky with her current amount of power, the beast opened its mouth and loosed a green fireball at a building that rested near the water beneath them. The dragon ignored were Sonata and her friends were standing and flew at the docks, raining flames on the various buildings and boats that happened to be stationed in the docks. Sonata sighed and ran at the cliff side that the stables had been built near, engaging another spell as she stepped onto the air and ran to where the dragon was currently floating.

The instant she was near the dragon she drew her sword and slammed it into its side, but all that proved to do was annoy the beast as it spun around and smashed its wing into her chest. She coughed for a moment before she called upon the storm once more, lightning arcing around her sword as she attempted to send shocks through the dragon's body. All that managed to do was anger the beast, as the instant she was done with her attack it slammed its tail into her and sent her flying towards the water beneath them. She corrected her course and leapt around the dragon, searching for some sort of weakness she could use to end this fight before the beast attacked Solitude.

Sonata took a chance and landed on the dragon's back, swinging her sword above her head before driving it into a spot between the beast's back and right wing, intending to tear it out of the sky by wounding one of its wings. The dragon seemed to know what she was trying to do, because it spun its body around and threw her off of its back, before slamming its tail into her once more. Sonata sighed as she attempted to correct herself once more, but this time the dragon appeared to know that she was still fighting, as it turned its back on what it was attacking and slammed its head right into her chest.

Sonata coughed up some blood as she landed on the water's surface, surprised that Lord Grul could have empowered a dragon to the extent that this one was currently fighting at. She knew, at her current level of power, that she didn't stand a chance against a creature that had been empowered by whatever dark energies that Grul had forced upon it. As much as she hated to use the power of her Queen form, as she seriously hated using it, she knew that she was going to need it if this was how powerful Grul could empower his warriors. The water ripped around her as she threw herself back into the air, but before she could even reach the storm that was building above Solitude, and the docks for that matter, the dragon used the spikes on its tail to wound her as it sent her flying back into the water.

This time she allowed herself to slip beneath the water, sinking to the depths as her ability to breath underwater kicked in, though all she did was wonder how she could best such a creature. She stared at the dragon through the water for a few seconds, before she closed her eyes and wished that her pendant hadn't been shattered, because she could really use her full power at the moment. She felt something familiar reach out to her, though she relaxed as she sought it out, hoping it was the power she needed to deal with this one dragon.

"It seems our pet has killed the Dragonborn," Mag'zul commented, staring at the docks as the dragon continued to fly in circles around the place, while he and his three companions watched from the area that was directly across from where the docks were located, "Its a shame, because I was hoping to see what power she could actually wield."

"She's the Siren Queen... and she would not go down that easily," Aggronak replied, staring at the area that Sonata had sunk under, "She'll be back up in no time, and then we'll see if she's progressed enough for the Master to capture her."

A green portal opened behind the four of them, Grul's top lieutenants, and they stood at attention as their master, in all of his glory, stepped from where their base of operations was located and appeared before their very eyes. They had been told that he might come and watch the fight, if he was sure that Sonata would reveal how much she had progressed, so if he was there than that meant that something special would soon be happening. Aggronak bowed the moment their Master had stepped out of the portal, to which the other three followed suit, not wanting to offend their leader.

"The Sisters are active again," Grul commented, staring at the fight that had been paused for a moment, noticing that the area around where Sonata had fallen had started to swirl as if it was a whirlpool, "which means that the powers of the Siren Queen are waking up from their thousand year slumber. Come my lieutenants, let us see what powers the Siren Queen can bring to bare against our Felblood Dragon."

A beam of energy erupted from the water and struck the storm above the city, darkening the sky and awakening the storm as lightning flashed and the wind whipped around the place. Kree watched all of this happen, wondering if Sonata had been beaten by one of Grul's horrible creations, but then she spotted something moving in the pillar of energy. Then, as if something was watching her, the pillar dissipated and a figure appeared, but as she and the others watched they noticed that Sonata was floating above them all. There didn't seem to be anything different about her, but the dragon didn't seem to care as it roared at her, as if challenging her to continue the fight.

Sonata stared down at the dragon for a moment as she extended her right hand out just a bit, spinning her hand around for a few seconds as the wind bent to her will and formed a spell she hadn't used in years. After a few seconds she was holding a shuriken made completely of wind, though as the dragon stared at her she arched her hand back and threw it forward. The shuriken spun through the air and struck the dragon in the chest, to which it exploded in a fury of wind that tore several of the scales off of the beast's chest. As the creature corrected itself and came back at her Sonata disappeared, only to appear next to the dragon and slam another shuriken into its side, sending it down towards the water.

When the beast tried to correct itself once more Sonata was on top of it, spinning two more of the shurikens around as she threw them at the dragon, blasting even more scales off of its body and damaging it further than she had done without the power boost. As the dragon was distracted by the pain she had dealt it Sonata poured more of her power into another one, though this one had a sphere of energy flowing around the center of it. This was the strongest form of her wind shuriken, one that both she and Starswirl had spent time perfecting in case she ever needed to defend herself against enemies that could actually provide her with a challenge.

When she smashed it into the dragon's chest, up close and personal, the beast was sent flying through the air before the sphere exploded, consuming the dragon in a fury of energy that she was sure would bring an end to the fight. She floated down to where the dragon exited the cloud of smoke, finding that she had been correct in her assumption that the attack had ended the Felblood Dragon's life, and more importantly the actual fight. She breathed a sigh of relief as the dragon's soul exited its body and coursed through her own, though as the seconds ticked by her eyes widened as the dragon, in its last act of defiance, delivered to her a piece of information that made her turn to the east...

...where she spotted five orcs, all of whom she recognized from her dream a few days ago, with none other than Lord Grul standing at the head of the pack!

"LORD GRUL!" Sonata shouted, energy arcing around her right hand as her anger returned in full force, forming a sphere of energy she knew that would destroy her enemy in one shot.

As the orcs turned her way, and realized that she had discovered them, she extended her hand and released the energy, loosing a beam of energy that roared through the air. When it neared her targets, or more like her real target, it exploded in a fury of energy that tore the ground around them to pieces and even blew a hole in the ground. Instead of waiting in the distance, like she had done with the dragon, she approached where the five of them had been standing, to which she noticed that a barrier was standing around the five of them. She intended to smash them the moment she touched the ground near them, but when she did so she suddenly found herself weakened and that she was laying on her side... staring at Lord Grul as he and his lieutenants stepped into a portal behind them.

"I continue to be impressed by your abilities," Grul commented, as his underlings disappeared in a flash of light, "and this is only a fourth of your abilities. I shall not capture you just yet, my Siren Queen, not until you recover your full potential. Come and find me when you've dealt with the dragons, the vampires, and those cultists that came after you... and then we'll see how much you've actually progressed."

Lord Grul then laughed as he entered the portal and disappeared, leaving Sonata to succumb to what she assumed was her body shutting down from expanding too much energy. She knew that she'd get to her enemy one day, but she needed to get better before that day arrived, otherwise she'd be handing him the power to end this world... and any other worlds his master might set his sights on.

21: Shadows of Riften

Sonata yawned as she pulled herself out of the bed that she had become used to sleeping in every night, as she found it was much better than sleeping on the ground all the time. Starswirl had, after a week or two of attempts, managed to persuade her to try the spare bed that he kept in his tower, which had been built outside the small settlement that rested near the beach that the Siren's called home. Sonata had asked why there was a spare bed in the tower, when she had never seen her friend with anypony else, though he admitted that his apprentice was away on business for a few months. Something about seeking an artifact that the two of them could study upon his return to the tower, though Sonata really didn't remember much about what artifact that happened to be.

It wasn't until Sonata turned to look at the cave she spent most of her time in, which was increasingly less with the more time she spent with Starswirl, that she realized that she was dreaming of her past once more, because she was looking at her cave when she had decorated it like an actual home and not her secret resting area.

She let out another yawn as she touched the floor and trotted over to where she kept her food, though some of them were pieces that Starswirl had introduced to her, as she had been unaware that ponies were beginning to develop sweets. Her sisters, Adagio and Aria, didn't understand why she was so fascinated with the ponies and their culture, but they allowed her to do her own thing because she was, after all, their Queen and chose what to do at any given time. She didn't tell them that she had seen them donning their own pony forms occasionally, when they believed that she was sleeping and needed something to pass the time until she woke up, but she figured they would eventually tell her the reason behind their actions.

"I see that your up earlier than usual," a voice said, to which she turned and watched Starswirl enter her cave, though she had quickly discovered that he had no intention on telling others about the cave, "I take it your eager to continue practicing those wind stars that you've begun to develop?"

She had almost forgotten that they would be practicing magic that day, though they would be focusing on the wind stars that she would one day use to great effect. As she opened her mouth to reply to her friend she felt something shaking her and someone else calling her name repeatedly, though all of it caused her to black out for a moment.

When Sonata opened her eyes again she found that she was resting in what she assumed was an infirmary for soldiers that hurt themselves while they were either practicing or injured in battle with an enemy. She figured that it would be empty, considering that she and her friends had stopped the vampires from sacking Solitude, though she expected more to be there considering that a dragon had burned the docks before she had destroyed it. Her eyes widened as she remembered the Felblood Dragon, Grul's dark creation that was created with the purpose of destroying Solitude, and the sickening fact that her enemy had come to watch her fight the dragon.

Just thinking about the orc made her recall something that she had missed when she had approached him and his lieutenants, something that she had felt when he stopped beside her and told her to eliminate the threats that were plaguing her life. For that brief moment she had felt Grul's energy, as it had been the first time she had been able to be in the same vicinity as the orc, but she immediately knew that she was outclassed. She needed her full power if she wanted to save Skyrim from that orc, but at the moment she had no idea how she was supposed to restore her pendant and recover her true potential.

She cleared her head of her enemy as the door opened, to reveal Kree walking in and stopping in surprise as she noticed that Sonata had woken from her rest.

"Oh Sonata, thank the Divines that your okay," Kree said, giving Sonata a quick hug before pulling back, "How do you feel?"

"Fine actually, considering what I did yesterday..." Sonata replied, though she stopped when she noticed that it might not have been yesterday when the fight occurred, "Kree... how long was I out?"

"Two whole days," Kree answered, sighing as she took a seat near the bed, "Our friends have been busy cleaning up the mess that the dragon created when it arrived, though we all have been talking about how something doesn't add up. That elf you killed in the Embassy, Rulindil I believe, the way you mentioned what had happened up there made it seem like he believed that the dragon was coming to destroy you and the city. Yet, once you were finished with it, you turned to the east and found Lord Grul standing there, watching the entire fight as if he was a puppet master who was watching his puppets dance for him. What I don't understand is why he didn't capture you when he had the chance... not that I wanted him to take you away from us Sonata.

I mean, none of this actually adds up anymore; he sends orcs to capture you, but then when he has the chance to actually do so he chooses to walk away... I can't wrap my head around it."

Sonata could see that this had been eating at Kree the entire time she was unconscious, though as she remembered Grul's last words to her she had to wonder what his true motives were.

"We know he's after the Queen, that much is for sure," Sonata eventually said, again making it sound like the Queen was someone else in case someone was listening in on the conversation, "but he wants me to eliminate the dragons, the vampires, and the person who sent those cultists after me... though how he found out about that I will never know. Its like this is a chess game to him... and I am merely a pawn in the grand scheme of things."

"Well, we don't have much choice in the matter." a voice said, to which Saerza walked into the room and closed the door behind her, "There are reports of a dragon attacking Rorikstead yesterday, as well as a group of vampires heading towards Riften to either burn it to the ground, take control of it, or search for someone specific. We'll have to deal with these threats before taking Grul out, as much as the thought annoys me at the moment."

"Wait... Riften..." Kree commented, before her eyes lit up as she turned back to Sonata, "Delphine managed to figure out that one of her friends, another of the Blades, was supposed to be hiding out in Riften and that it might be in our best interests to go recruit him."

"Then assemble everyone and get us a carriage," Sonata said, sighing as she gently pulled herself from the bed, surprised by how tired her body actually felt at the moment, "we've got an ally to save... though I pray that he hasn't been found yet."

Finding the rest of their group had taken a few minutes, as Lydia was sitting outside the room the entire time and Lorthan was merely upstairs looking a bookshelf as if he was trying to decide what to read while he waited for Sonata to recover. Once they had been informed that Sonata was well again, and they were resuming their quest, they departed from where they had been waiting, Castle Dour, and walked out to where the carriages were. During that short walk Kree explained that Delphine had gone back to her inn in Riverwood, as staying so close to the Embassy put her at risk of being discovered by the Thalmor.

Once they reached the carriage they all piled in and they told the driver where they wanted to go, to which the horses started pulling them towards their destination.

Sonata managed to get a decent rest during their uneventful journey from Solitude to Riften, as everything that might hinder them had either been destroyed prior to their arrival or were too scared to approach them. When they arrived at their destination she stretched her arms for a few seconds, feeling better now that she was back at half her usual power and knowing that it would be enough to deal with anything sort of Grul or his lieutenants. As the five of them approached the gate one of the guards tried to make them pay up to open the gate, but Sonata saw right through his trick and soon they had gained entrance to the city.

As they walked into the city, and began to look around, one of the men standing outside one of the houses asked them what they were doing in Riften, though by his tone Sonata knew that he wanted them gone before they caused problems. He proved to be no help in their mission to find where Esbern, the Blade that Kree had told Sonata about before their departure, was located, so they moved into the marketplace. Before they actually entered the circle area Sonata spotted someone standing at a stand that she knew had something to hide, so she determined that it might be in their best interest not to make contact with the man at all.

Kree, once again, had the best solution to their problem, as she entered the city's inn, the Bee and Barb, and asked one of the owners if they knew anything, to which she was pointed at the Ratway beneath the city. Before they even got to the entrance of the Ratway, however, Sonata noticed a pair of nords that were taking turns pounding on some metal at a nearby forge, though she was sure that they were twins despite the fact one had warpaint on and the other didn't. She knew that they were here for something important, but she needed to see who they were before she moved into the Ratway to find the missing Blade.

When she asked them who they were, on the other hand, she had no idea what she was getting herself into as they finished what they were working on and turned to face her.

"I am Gol," the twin without the warpaint explained, flexing his muscles for a moment.

"And I am Mez," the warpaint wearing twin followed up, as if this was something they practiced in their spare time.

"And we're here to pump," they said in unison, clapping their hands before pointing at the group, "you up!"

Sonata had to admit that she had no idea what they were referring to by 'pumping them up', but she did detect that they had a Hans and Franz thing going on at the moment.

"But in all seriousness, we are traveling blacksmiths," Gol explained, indicating the metal they had been working with, which Sonata noticed had an ebony black color to it.

"And we teach the smiths of Skyrim how to work with ebony," Mez finished, drawing forth an ebony sword from the forge, checking it for flaws while he spoke, "Ah, perfection once more."

"We are traveling to avoid someone who wants to use our skills to slaughter the people of Skyrim," Gol continued, as if he wasn't bothered by his brother finishing his statement, "Perhaps you have heard of him in your travels? He's an orc by the name of Lord Grul."

"He's our enemy," Sonata told the two nords, hoping that they might turn out to be allies, "He keeps sending orcs to test me and hinder my progress in saving this world from the dragons... and I guess from the vampires as well."

"He's one smart orc, sending his peons to deliver message for him," Mez commented, crushing his fist for a moment to indicate that he wished he could do the same to Grul, "I'd love to get my hands on him and tear him to pieces..."

"Attention imbeciles of Riften," a voice loudly said, one that sounded like an orc speaking, "me and my associates have come to pillage your city and kill everyone that calls this place home. Surrender and die!"

Sonata growled and walked to the entrance they had taken to get into the city, wondering how she and her friends had missed a group of orcs approaching the city. She spotted a group of ten orcs walking towards the marketplace, though she noticed that the guards that stood by the door had been taken down by the invaders. Something flashed by her and raced towards the orcs, though it took her a moment to realize that both Gol and Mez had thrown themselves at the orcs with nothing more than the weapons they had been working on. The ebony weapons they had constructed made short work of four of the orcs in a matter of seconds, though Sonata took a chance and appeared next to them before she conjured lightning and blew one of the orcs backwards.

The twins smiled and the three of them attacked the invaders, though when Sonata noticed some of them trying to flee she caught them with her magic and pulled them back into the city, where the twins slashed them to pieces. Once the fight was over Sonata turned to her latest allies and decided that they couldn't be too bad if they wanted to see Lord Grul toppled from where he was standing.

"I'm here for someone that those orcs likely came to kill," Sonata explained, turning off her magic as the twins faced her, "Once we've rescued him from the city we'll be returning to a small settlement near Whiterun... and it would be nice to have the two of you along for the journey."

"Allow us to take their armor while you find who you came here for," Gol exclaimed, pulling some of the helmets off of the dead and inspecting them, "We will be waiting here, gathering resources for the fight with Lord Grul."

"Ebony is much better than orcish, but we can work wonders with this," Mez said, picking up some pieces and smiling for a few seconds, "Oh yes, we can do great things with all of this."

Sonata smiled and returned to her friends, before they ventured into the Ratway and began the journey to find the missing Blade that could tell them how to stop the dragons. Traversing the Ratway was easier than what Sonata was expecting, because Lorthan was able to lead them with his vampire abilities, and they happened to take out two thieves that were planning on doing something stupid that would likely endanger the entire city. They also found a couple of skeevers and a poor man that wanted to fight them, but they quickly moved through them before they found the entrance to the Ragged Flagon.

Kree and Lorthan asked the people around the Flagon where they could find Esbern, not mentioning him by name in case they were being followed, before they were directed into another area. Said area was actually void of enemies, which made sense to Sonata considering that one of the Thalmor had been sending his friends to their deaths and they had to recover from that ordeal, before they came to a dead end that had a few doors. Sonata frowned when she spotted an iron door that was definitely out of place, though she patiently knocked on the metal and spoke to the person behind the door.

In the end Esbern was willing to join them, after Sonata told him that a black dragon, who she learned was called Alduin, had returned and was bringing his brothers back for another war. Once she discovered that the World Eater, as Alduin was also known as, had returned with the goal to burn the world to the ground she knew that she had to stop him first. The unfortunate part was that she was sure that she was going to have to deal with Lord Grul at some point, so she had no idea if she'd be able to take the World Eater out first or if she was going to have to take her annoying enemy out.

When they returned to the surface, and had gathered their latest allies Gol and Mez, they left the city and prepared to head back to Riverwood, only to find another of the vampires that Sonata had met in the marsh, Alva if she recalled correctly, running up the hill to speak with them.

"Lorthan... Sonata Dusk... I come baring bad news," the vampire said, huffing and puffing as if she had ran all the way from the marsh to Riften, "Lady Vespula... has betrayed us! Master Vighar and Lord Movarth are dead by her hands... and she's joined forces with Lord Harkon, who has joined in an unholy union with the enemy, Lord Grul. The Council of Three has been broken..."

Sonata moaned, as she knew that she was getting further away from saving the world every time Lord Harkon made a move against her or against the people of Skyrim. Maybe she could afford to take Harkon out first, though she would have to speak with her friends before they suddenly changed direction and embarked on a new quest.

22: The Hidden Temple

"I... I can't believe that Lady Vespula would betray us and join with Lord Harkon," Lorthan said, slamming his fist against a wall in anger, "We knew someone had been giving Grul information on where we were meeting and everything we knew about Adagio and Aria... how did we not see that she was a traitor?"

The group had relocated to a small tower at the base of the hill, where they wouldn't be interrupted while they discussed what they should do next in their quest to save Skyrim; either go after the dragons or deal with Harkon and his vampires. From what Sonata could tell the group was split down the middle, as half of them wanted to deal with the return of Alduin while the other half wanted to teach Harkon a lesson. It fell to her, as the Dragonborn, to make the decision and choose who they would be going after, but while she wanted to find Lord Harkon and rip him to pieces, which was what he deserved, she knew that Alduin had to be her first priority... as he was currently in the process of bringing an end to Nirn.

"Well, we knew she couldn't be trusted," Kree told the vampire, though she also looked back at Alva so she could listen to her words as well, "Sonata was attacked by a group of vampires before she could reach High Hrothgar the first time, who were apparently under orders from Lady Vespula to get rid of her. She attacked us first, so we already knew that it was best that we didn't share everything we knew with the Council in case something like this actually happened... but I guess we can confirm where her loyalties lie."

Sonata sighed and pulled herself out of the chair that she had been sitting in the entire time, knowing that they had better get a move on before the guards came by and asked what they were doing in the tower.

"We'll stick to the original plan and head back to Riverwood," Sonata said, turning to the vampire that had brought them the news of Lady Vespula's betrayal, "How many people survived the attack that killed the other Council members?"

"Maybe ten, including myself," Alva replied, sighing for a moment as she answered, "Lord Harkon is purging all the vampires in Skyrim that might have the power to oppose him, before he embarks on fulfilling the prophecy he found so long ago. What would you have me do, Sonata Dusk?"

"I need you to find anyone still loyal to the Council and find someplace that Lady Vespula doesn't know about," Sonata answered, her eyes not leaving Alva for a moment, "With any luck we might be able to string together a group of vampires that might have the potential to overthrow Harkon and restore order to the vampire world. When you've found someplace to hide, and are sure that our enemies don't know of it, come find me and tell me how many you managed to unite into a single group. We'll go from there... and hopefully I'll have gotten rid of Alduin before that time comes."

Alva nodded and headed down the stairs until she was outside the tower, allowing Sonata to watch as she disappeared into the surrounding area not a few seconds later. Sonata had no idea why Lady Vespula had suddenly turned on them, but she had to consider the power of the promises that Lord Grul could give to entice people to join him. The orc was the true enemy to Nirn, someone that she needed to remove if the world was to truly be at peace, but the road to that goal appeared to run through the other enemies that wanted to burn the world to the ground.

She was going to have to deal with Alduin first, because at the rate that the dragons were returning to Nirn, according to Delphine the last time she saw her, it would have been a benefit to remove the black dragon before the dragons became an organized army.

Once she was certain that Alva was gone, and that there weren't anymore enemies in the surrounding area, Sonata and her friends returned to the road and resumed their journey to Riverwood. This time when they followed the road Sonata made sure that they didn't get distracted, because at one point they spotted a few more orcs moving into the same fortress they had cleared out twice in the past. She wasn't about to stop them a third time, not when she was sure that another group would move in once they had left the area again, so this time around they merely walked passed the fortress and left it behind.

At one point she heard Lydia ask the nordic twins how they were able to keep up with the group, when they appeared to be hauling a fairly large number of armor pieces that would make most people slow to a walk.

"We exercise while being over-encumbered," Gol replied, motioning to his muscles to prove his point, "doing a great number of pushups and squat thrusts in this mode allowed us to build our strength."

"Don't forget that we also grappled each other and wrestled all the time," Mez finished, which only made Lydia look at them in shock, "This has made the two of us much stronger and gives us the ability to carry more than the average person... which reminds me, we'll need to increase our loads at some point if we wish to get even stronger."

Sonata smiled as they continued on their way, knowing that they might actually have to fight something at some point in the future, though she wasn't sure if there would be more orcs waiting or more dragons.

When they returned to Delphine's inn they found that there were still no patrons around, giving the entirety of the group time to relax as Esbern and Sonata time to head down stairs and speak with their friend. Lorthan promised that he would keep an eye out for any enemies that might come to eradicate the town again, which Sonata wouldn't put passed Grul at this point in time. The orc had a nasty habit of attacking her whenever she thought that she was safe, so she wanted to be ready in case another invasion force came towards the town. Still, her friends were eager to keep watch after the trek they had been through, which left Sonata to deal with whatever Delphine and Esbern might tell her.

Once they were in the basement, and they were sure that they were alone, Delphine got them started on the reason as to why they had gathered together.

"Now then. I assume you know about..." Delphine started, though Sonata could tell that the woman hoped that she had informed Esbern on the situation.

"Oh yes! Dragonborn! Indeed, yes." Esbern replied, his hands moving to his bag as if he was looking for something, "This changes everything, of course. There's no time to lose. We must locate... let me show you. I know I had it here, somewhere... Give me... just a moment..."

After a minute of searching Esbern pulled out one of the books that he had insisted he grab when Sonata had met him, though she was glad to see what was so important about the book that the old man couldn't leave it behind.

"Here it is. Sky Haven Temple," Esbern continued, "constructed around one of the main Akaviri military camps in the Reach, during their conquest of Skyrim."

"Do you have any idea what he's talking about?" Delphine asked Sonata, though after a few seconds she seemed to think better of the question, "Oh why am I asking you? Your not a native to Skyrim, so you wouldn't know about the Wall."

Sonata would have smacked the woman upside her head for her disrespect, but she held herself back, because she didn't want to make the Blades hate her or turn on her. She had no idea what Esbern was talking about, though she did know that if she gave the old man some time she'd understand whatever he wanted to tell them.

"Shh!" Esbern told Delphine, causing Delphine to huff for a moment, "This is where they built Alduin's Wall, to set down in stone all their accumulated dragonlore. A hedge against the forgetfulness of centuries. A wise and foresighted policy, in the event. Despite the far-reaching fame of Alduin's Wall at the time - one of the wonders of the ancient world - its location was lost."

"Esbern. What are you getting at?" Delphine asked, not really understanding what her old friend was even getting at, though she had the feeling that he might be getting insane.

"You mean... you don't mean to say you haven't heard of Alduin's Wall?" Esbern asked, turning to see a similar look on Sonata's face, "Either of you?"

"Let's pretend we haven't." Delphine said, crossing her arms for a moment, "What's Alduin's Wall and what does it have to do with stopping the dragons?"

"Alduin's Wall was where the ancient Blades recorded all they knew of Alduin and his return." Esbern explained, telling them every thing he knew about the legendary Wall, "Part history, part prophecy. Its location has been lost for centuries, but I've found it again. Not lost, you see, just forgotten. The Blades archives held so many secrets... I was only able to save a few scraps..."

"So you think that Alduin's Wall will tell us how to defeat Alduin?" Delphine asked, hope filling her voice as she realized that they might actually have a chance at stopping the end of Nirn.

"Well, yes, but... there's no guarantee, of course." Esbern said, though it appeared that the 'no guarantee' part didn't even seem to register with Delphine.

"Sky Haven Temple it is, then." Delphine said with a smile on her face, "I knew you'd have something for us, Esbern."

"We depart in the morning," Sonata finally said, taking the moment to speak before either of them said anything more, "We'll find Sky Haven Temple, discover what it takes to defeat Alduin, and then figure out how to use that knowledge against our foe... and then, once he's head, I'll turn my focus to Lord Harkon."

"You still haven't told me about the Siren Queen," Delphine commented, causing Sonata to round on her for a moment, "Why does Lord Grul want that person so badly? You clearly know something about her and aren't sharing it with anyone."

"I'll say it once more Delphine," Sonata growled, anger flashing in her eyes for a moment as a bit of lightning appeared in her right hand, "LEAVE the Siren Queen alone. You had best not meddle in affairs that are not your own. I will deal with Lord Grul when the time comes."

She could tell that she might have gone a little overboard, because there was a hint of what she assumed was fear lingering in Delphine's eyes... almost as if she had seen something that terrified her. Sonata sighed for a moment and calmed herself down, before heading up the stairs behind her and rejoined her friends that happened to be sitting around the fire. They had reported that there were no enemies in the immediate area, though they all knew that the situation could change in an instant if one of Grul's lieutenants came knocking on their door.

In the end the group merely spent the rest of the afternoon resting and restoring their energy from what they had done that day, though they went to bed knowing that they'd have to get up early to reach their destination before someone noticed them.

When the morning arrived Sonata and her friends left Riverwood as a whole group, despite the fact that Delphine believed that they would attract too much attention that way. Something Sonata noticed as they traveled towards their destination was that there happened to be a storm system blocking the sun, one that continued to remain in the sky as the hours ticked away. She didn't mind the fact that there was a potential storm above their heads, because she could always use it to her advantage if she had to fight something that was seriously annoying her.

As they moved towards their destination Sonata also heard the sounds of at least one dragon, maybe two, in the area that was surrounding the road they were on. She had the feeling that Alduin might have noticed that she slew one of his minions a day or two ago, despite the fact that the dragon had been corrupted by Grul, and was likely going to try and remove her with a two on one battle. Delphine also apparently noticed that there might be dragons in the surrounding area, because she pulled her bow out and kept an arrow nocked in case they were attacked.

When they actually arrived at their destination they found that there were two dragons flying around the area, breathing fire and ice upon the Forsworn that called the place home.

"It seems Alduin wants to get rid of you before you figure out how to kill him," Delphine commented, pointing her arrow at one of the dragons as she tried to track it so she could actually hit it, "That, or Grul managed to corrupt two more dragons to fight you."

"They're not corrupted," Sonata replied, lightning crackling around her left hand for a moment as she looked at the dragon breathing ice at the Forsworn, "they're merely another annoyance I don't need at the moment..."

"Ah, I see the Dragonborn has come out to play," a voice said, to which they spotted a female orc, dressed up in grey robes and carrying a staff that looked like it had a dragon's head at the stop, standing on the bridge before them, "I, Calgora, shall take great pleasure in beating you to the ground and delivering you to the master... so that he may promote me to the position of Lieutenant and that I might join Aggronak and the others in their quest to destroy this world."

Sonata couldn't help it when she started laughing, because this one orc believed that she could actually fight and defeat her, which would go against all the orders that Grul gave his underlings. When she stopped laughing she turned to face Kree and merely nodded her head, to which her friend got everyone else to stand back and give her room to perform her magic. She then smiled as she brought her hands together, allowing her magic to gather around her as she started to form another spell she hadn't used in such a long time.

"You and your master should really stop annoying me like this," Sonata said, her hands weaving through some hand signs before lowing her left palm to the ground, to which lightning coursed between her hand and the ground while reaching all the way up to her elbow, "because, at the end of this madness, I'll kill him and his entire army... starting with you."

Before Calgora could say anything, or even raise her arms to summon a spell to defend herself, Sonata moved her left arm to her side and the ground beneath her hand shattered under the spell she had summoned into existence. Once it was ready Sonata dashed forward, the spell cutting into the ground as she approached her target, who merely stood there with a look of shock on her face. She quickly closed the gap between her and the orc, thrusting her arm forward the moment that she reached her and drove her spell right through the orc's chest. The tip of her hand was sticking out of the orc's back, dripping with blood from going through her body, though she had stopped before her elbow reached the chest.

Sonata knew it was a direct hit, because Calgora was no longer moving, so she pulled her arm free and dropped the body to the ground, not even bothering to clean off the blood as the sky above their heads flashed and started pouring rain on them.

"What... was what?" Delphine asked, not understanding what she had just witnessed, because it was unlike all the other spells that the mages of Nirn used all the time.

"That was the Lightning Blade," Sonata answered, looking up at the dragons that were still ignoring her, "I reserve it for those that truly annoy me... and I'm looking forward to using it on Grul when the time comes. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some dragons to take down."

Sonata summoned the wind and leapt into the air, using part of her innate power to reach the ice dragon with ease, landing on its back and blasting at it with her lighting. This only seemed to enrage the dragon, but it allowed her to aim its attacks at the sky as the other dragon came into the picture and attacked her as well. Fire and ice danced around her as she moved through the air, twisting the very nature of the storm to suit her purposes without having to actually use more of her magic to deal with the dragons. The storm churned above her head, twisting and blasting lightning as the dragons tried, in vain, to catch her and get rid of her with their elements, giving her time to reach the point where she could use the storm to end this.

Once the center of the storm started to whirl on itself, the telltale sign that it was ready for her purposes, she connected her magic to the power she had been building and brought it down on the dragons behind her. Two bright flashes erupted from the sky as two massive bolts of lightning surged out of the storm and struck each of her targets in their chests, blasting them out of the sky and forcing them into the ground around them. The two of them landed apart from each other, but as Sonata lowered herself to the ground she sighed as both of their souls gathered around her and were absorbed into her body.

As she touched the ground she noticed that her friends were shocked by what had happened before their eyes, but she was in no mood to explain what had happened and decided to give them a short explanation.

"I was known by another name besides Sonata Dusk during my time in Equus," Sonata explained, turning to the mountain that was their destination, "Starswirl the Bearded called me the Queen of Storms, because one of my innate powers was to use wind and lightning to my advantage. I'll explain this in more detail when we have time, because we had best get this over with before any of our enemies figure out what happened here."

Grul smiled as he looked at the flames that allowed him to keep track of what Sonata was doing and who she was fighting, but his smile was directed to the power she was displaying at only a fourth of her abilities. He longed to see what she was capable of when she regained her pull power, which was one of the reasons why he hadn't captured her yet... besides the fact that he needed her to eliminate his enemies for him.

"Go ahead and grow your power, my little Queen," Grul commented, his grin deepening as he stared at the flames, "Soon I'll use your power for my own purposes... and the power of your sisters as well."

23: Paarthurnax

Sonata wished that she hadn't shown off her power, because as they entered the Karthspire and began their search for the temple they had come here for Delphine kept asking her about what she had done outside the cave. She had used another of her ancient names, the Queen of Storms, and the woman had made the connection that she had to be the Siren Queen, as her other title was also called 'Queen'. Sonata wasn't going to confirm or deny anything at this time, because she needed to find what they had come here for and figure out how she was going to defeat Alduin... which she was still trying to wrap her head around at the moment.

When they started their trek though the cave Sonata spotted two more of the Forsworn standing in their way, though it appeared that they had taken shelter from the storm. Lydia roared as she pulled out her battleaxe and charged towards them, spinning the weapon around and removing the arm of the first enemy that came at her, before spinning herself around and bringing the weapon down on the second enemy's head. As she cut her second opponent in half she turned around and faced the one that she hadn't gotten rid of yet, where she removed the Forsworn's head and cleared the path for them to continue.

As Sonata rounded the corner she found what appeared to be the entrance to the ancient temple that Esbern had been talking about, because he got excited the moment they laid eyes on it. As she walked up the set of stairs in front of her she discovered that there were three stone pillars, each baring three different symbols, and she stopped so she could determine what she needed to do with them. She overheard Esbern mention that one of them was the symbol for Dragonborn, the one that happened to look like two dragon heads and an arrowhead, so she took a guess and arranged the outer two to match the middle pillar. She waited a second before the stone bridge to her left lowered into place, allowing her and her company to move forward to whatever trial happened to be next.

When she entered the next room she found that there were a bunch of pressure plates scattered around the floor, though as she took a closer look she discovered a pattern in the ground; the Dragonborn symbol seemed to make a path to the pillar that rested on the other side of the room. She took a deep breath to calm herself before she walked out onto the first symbol, though when she found that none of the traps activated she followed the path and pulled the lever that she found. With that out of the way she and her friends moved through the next set of bridges that lowered into place, though Sonata did stop when she spotted the true entrance to Sky Haven Temple; a carved wall that had a massive head in the middle of it.

She then spotted something in front of the head, something that reminded her of one of the 'Blood Seals' that Starswirl told her about when she was working along side him at one point. She had to guess that it would use the Dragonborn's blood, her blood to be exact, to do something that was specific to the area, though she could easily determine that it would have to open the door for them. She then smiled when Esbern started talking about the wall and the seal on the ground, because her guess happened to be exactly what he was going to tell her in the end. With the formal instruction complete Sonata drew out her sword just a bit and rested the palm of her left hand on the blade, cutting into her hand and using some of the blood to activate the seal.

As the seal sprung to life, and the door opened before their eyes, she called on her magic and sealed the cut, before putting her sword away and approaching the entrance she had revealed. As she walked into the hidden temple she had to marvel how no one managed to find the massive head before she and her friends came along, though she decided not to dwell on that fact. Then she saw Alduin's Wall, the masterwork of the Akaviri craftsman that depicted a battle between dragons and the people that they had ruled over, though as Sonata looked at it she could tell that it foretold other events as well.

"Yes, yes, let's see what we have here," Esbern commented, walking up to the Wall with a torch in his right hand, before he beckoned to the leftmost side of it, "Look, here is Alduin! This panel goes back to the beginning of time, when Alduin and the Dragon Cult ruled over Skyrim. Here, the humans rebel against their dragon overlords - the legendary Dragon War. Alduin's defeat is the centerpiece of the Wall. You see, here he is falling from the sky. The Nord Tongues - masters of the Voice - are arrayed against him."

"So does it show how they defeated him?" Delphine asked, cutting to the heart of the issue, as she clearly wanted a weapon that could help them stop Alduin, "Isn't that why we're here?"

"Patience my dear," Esbern said, shaking his head ever so slightly as he ran his hand over the Wall, "The Akaviri were not a straightforward people. Everything is couched in allegory and mythic symbolism. Yes, yes. This here, coming from the mouths of the Nord heroes - this is the Akaviri symbol for 'Shout'. But... this is no way to know what Shout is meant."

"You mean they used a Shout to defeat Alduin?" Delphine asked, almost as if she was surprised by that fact, despite the fact that the prophecy mentioned that only a Dragonborn could stop the World-Eater, "You're sure about that?"

"Oh yes," Esbern replied, as if he had expected someone to ask the question and had his answer ready ahead of time, "Presumably something rather specific to dragons, or even Alduin himself. Remember, this is where they recorded everything they knew about Alduin and his return."

"Damn it," Delphine said, turning to Sonata for a moment, who had been silently watching them the entire time, "Well, I had hoped to avoid involving the Greybeards, but it doesn't seem like we have a choice. You're going to have to go back to High Hrothgar and ask them if they know about this Shout that was used against Alduin."

"That's fine... I had to go back up there at some point anyway," Sonata replied, silently referring to the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller, which she hadn't given back to the Greybeards thanks to everything that's happened since she left the mountain the first time, "Come on guys, let's head back to High Hrothgar and see if we can't figure out what the Greybeards know about this Shout."

Sonata didn't want to listen to Delphine constantly speak of going to war against the Thalmor, considering that their true enemy at the moment was actually Lord Grul and his seemingly endless army of orcs. She had to use her time to think about the whereabouts of her sisters Adagio and Aria, or where her enemy might have made his base of operations in this land. She briefly considered using the fragments of her pendant in a tracking spell to see if she could figure out where her sisters were, considering that they also carried their shattered pendants with them all the time. Unfortunately she lacked the required energy to pull off the spell at the moment, partly due to the amount she spent outside the temple and the fact that she needed more of the Queen's powers to do something like that.

She was going to have to do things the old fashioned way and discover the truth whenever it came crawling to her, which only made her worry that she had missed something important.

Somehow, against all the odds that Sonata and her friends had faced since they had departed from High Hrothgar, the group managed to make their way back through the Reach, traverse a mountain pass without harm coming to them, and followed another path that brought them to Iverstead before they walked up the mountain path and reached their destination. Sonata felt it was wrong that they didn't encounter any more orcs or dragons that wanted them dead, but she wasn't about to voice her opinion considering that her luck could change in an instant.

When they finally entered High Hrothgar, and got out of the cold, Sonata was pleased to find that the Greybeards had been waiting for her for some time. Once Arngeir had the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller, something that she had been meaning to bring back, he and the others gave her the final Word in Unrelenting Force; Dah. She then went through a ceremony that consisted of her standing in the middle of the four old men, who proceeded to 'Speak' to her in the Dragon Language. She had to admit it, but the Greybeards were actually pretty strong with their voices, though she knew that she needed their assistance in finding what she came here for.

"Now Dovahkiin, I sense that there is another reason for you coming to us." Master Arngeir said, as the other Greybeards moved to wherever they meditated, "What is troubling you?"

"I was told that you might have some information regarding a Shout that could help me stop Alduin," Sonata answered, though she immediately noticed something flicker in Arngeir's face, "I found Alduin's Wall... and it said that this one Shout could very well aid me in saving Nirn from being destroyed."

What she didn't tell him was that there was an orc named Grul that was currently spreading war and fear throughout the whole of Skyrim, but she decided that he had best not know about that.

"Ah, Dragonrend," Master Arngeir said, though by the tone of his voice Sonata wondered if he was cursing out the Shout or if it was more dangerous than she had been told, "Who told you about this Shout? Was it the Blades? Of course it was the Blades, as they seek to turn the Dragonborn from the path of wisdom once again... In any case, we cannot teach this Shout to you. It is an evil Shout, created during a time cruelty and terror... something that the Greybeards do not regret losing."

"Sometimes you must fight evil with another kind of evil," Sonata replied, though she had to wonder if there was someone who knew where the Shout was located.

"I see you are set on learning this Shout... and only our leader, Paarthurnax, can tell you about it," Arngeir sadly said, beckoning her to follow him as she noticed the other Greybeards moving outside, "The way to our leader can only be opened by one who has mastered their Voice, but, thanks to the Blades, you have questions that only Paarthurnax can answer. We will give you a Shout that will open the way to him, but then you are on your own for the journey to the summit."

Sonata soon discovered that the Shout that Arngeir was referring to was called 'Clear Skies', while its Words of Power were Lok, Vah, and Koor. Apparently the Shout had the ability to clear away most storms and weather conditions, something that she could have done with her full power, though at her current state she was pleased to have such a useful Shout in her arsenal. Once she had the knowledge of the Shout, thanks to Arngeir for sharing his understanding, she approached the path alone and readied herself for what she was about to do.

"Lok Vah Koor!" she shouted, allowing the Shout to hit the wind that was roaring before her and make it all disappear, opening the way for her to move forward.

As she moved through the path alone, as her friends stayed back with the Greybeards, she encountered a few enemies that called the area home, namely an ice wraith and a troll, and had to use Clear Skies a few more times before she was near the peak. As she walked though the final wind tunnel she looked around for the person she was supposed to be meeting, though she could tell from just the name that she was meeting a dragon. She had actually pieced that information together on the way up, as she had encountered three named dragons and their names seemed to have three parts to them... which she assumed was the same case for Paarthurnax.

Sonata immediately spotted a Word Wall at the top of the summit, but before she could approach it she heard the sound of wings flapping and turned her head to watch a dragon approach her, to which it landed near her.

"Drem Yol Lok. Greetings, wunduniik." the dragon said, though his tone reminded her of whenever she spoke to Starswirl the Bearded, "I am Paarthurnax. Who are you? What brings you to my strunmah… my mountain?"

"You're the master of the Greybeards?" Sonata asked, wanting to be sure that this wasn't a trap set by Alduin, or Grul for that matter, before she said another more.

"They see me as master. Wuth. Onik. Old and wise. It is true I am old…" Paarthurnax replied, to which Sonata breathed a sigh of relief, "Tell me. Why do you come here, volaan? Why do you intrude on my meditation?"

"I came to learn the Dragonrend Shout," Sonata answered, silently hoping that he had something to tell her about the whereabouts of the Shout, otherwise she had nothing else to go on.

"Drem. Patience. There are formalities which must be observed, at the first meeting of two of the dov." Paarthurnax explained, turning to the Word Wall and releasing a stream of flames that etched a burning Word on the stone's surface, "Hear my Thu'um! Feel it in your bones. Match it, if you are Dovahkiin!"

Sonata stared at the Word for a moment before walking up to it, allowing the power to rush into her body as it gave her access to another of the Shouts that existed throughout Skyrim.

"A gift, Dovahkiin. Yol. Understand Fire as the dov do." Paarthurnax said, granting her the understanding of the Shout he had given her, "Come, Dovahkiin. Nin Yol. Strike me with the fire of your Thu'um."

Sonata took a deep breath as she centered herself, focusing on the Shout that she had just gained the understanding of, before she turned to face the large dragon and released a small blast of fire at Paarthurnax.

"Aaah… yes! Sossedov los mul. The Dragonblood runs strong in you. It is long since I had the pleasure of speech with one of my own kind." Paarthurnax loudly said, though once the words left his mouth he took off and landed on the Wall she was standing near, "So. You have made your way here, to me. No easy task for a joor… mortal. Even for one of Dovah Sos. Dragonblood. What would you ask of me?"

"All I require at the moment is any knowledge you have on the Dragonrend Shout," Sonata explained, hoping that it was on a scroll or something and all she needed to do was read it to understand what it meant.

"Ah. I have expected you." Paarthurnax said, though Sonata could have sworn that he looked, and sounded, sad for a moment, "Prodah. You would not come all this way for tinvaak with an old dovah. No. You seek your weapon against Alduin. But I do not know the Thu'um you seek. Krosis. It cannot be known to me."

"Why not?" Sonata asked, wondering why a dragon, who spoke in the Dragon Tongue almost all the time and should have known all the Shouts, would not know one of them.

"Your kind - joorre - mortals - created it as a weapon against the dov… the dragons." Paarthurnax explained, though Sonata had been expecting it to be a weapon thanks to what Esbern had told her, "Our hadrimme, our minds cannot even… comprehend its concepts."

Sonata sighed, because if the master of the Greybeards, a seemingly old and wise dragon, didn't know the Dragonrend Shout, or even where she could learn it, then there was no way for her to stop Alduin. She could have always resorted to calling upon her innate powers, but she didn't have the time to search for her sisters' notes on reforging the shattered pendant and complete whatever ritual they had developed. The problem was that she had no idea how long she had until Alduin or Grul started their own individual destruction of the world, but she couldn't reforge her pendant and save the world without the power to do so.

She fell backwards and landed in the snow, staring up at the sky as she ignored the dragon that was staring at her the entire time as she wondered what she was going.

"So how can I learn it, then?" Sonata said to herself, not even bothering to direct the question to Paarthurnax, "If the Shout has been forgotten, and none of the dragons or the Greybeards know of it, then how am I supposed to stop Alduin, and by extent Lord Grul, from destroying Nirn?"

"An Elder Scroll," Paarthurnax commented, causing Sonata to turn to him for a moment, "It is… an artifact from outside time. It does not exist, but it has always existed. Rah wahlaan. They are… hmm… fragments of creation. Tiid krent. Time was… shattered here because of what the ancient Nords did to Alduin. If you brought that Kel, that Elder Scroll back here… to the Tiid-Ahraan, the Time-Wound… With the Elder Scroll that was used to break Time, you may be able to… cast yourself back. To the other end of the break. You could learn Dragonrend from those who created it."

"Do you have any idea where it is?" Sonata asked, hope filling her eyes as she leapt back onto her feet and faced the dragon.

"Krosis. No. I know little of what has passed below in the long years I have lived here. You are likely better informed than I." Paarthurnax said, before what appeared to be a light smile appeared on his face, "Trust your instincts, Dovahkiin. Your blood will show you the way."

Sonata smiled at that statement, because at the moment her mind was telling her to go back to Winterhold and visit the College... because if she learned anything from her time with Starswirl the Bearded, besides all the powers she had developed, it was that some mages liked to hoard artifacts of immense power. If anyone knew where to find this Elder Scroll, or a general idea on where it was located, it would have to be the mages of the College of Winterhold. All she needed to do was return to her friends and head back to Winterhold, which was actually much easier than climbing up a mountain to speak with a dragon.

Why, then, did she feel like something terrible was going to happen when she and her friends arrived in Winterhold?

24: Dangerous Knowledge

Sonata took a few more minutes than necessary before she returned to High Hrothgar after speaking with the dragon Paarthurnax, just so she could clear her mind before she gathered her friends. Every time she had a bad feeling about something, like she and her sisters fighting the Rainbooms for instance, she was usually right in one way or another. The information she needed to discover anything about an Elder Scroll had to be in the College of Winterhold, but the chills she had gotten when she determined that she needed to return there meant that something was going to happen. She had no idea what that something could be, but she had the suspicion that it had something to do with Lord Grul and his orcs... which only made her worry about what they would find when they arrived.

This was one of the few times that she actually prayed that she was wrong, because she didn't think the College could survive another attack thanks to what happened the last time.

When she returned to the courtyard of High Hrothgar she noticed that the Greybeards had returned to their beds, though she found her friends waiting in the area where she had received the other Words of Power that belonged to the Unrelenting Force Shout. Gol and Mez seemed to be discussing armor and weapon ideas, while many of the others were sitting around waiting for her to return to them. She wondered if any of them knew anything about an Elder Scroll, though when she considered the idea she threw it out, because Saerza was the only one that could possibly know something.

"So, what did you find out?" Kree asked, as she was the first one to notice that Sonata had returned to them, "Did you find out anything useful about what we came here for?"

"Sort of," Sonata replied, glancing at Saerza for a moment, wondering what she would think if she asked about the Scroll, "Paarthurnax told me that I need to track down an Elder Scroll to learn what I need to stop Alduin... and I guessed that the only place we can learn about one of them is at the College of Winterhold."

"Urag might know something that we don't know," Saerza commented, rubbing her chin for a moment, as she if was wondering the same thing that Sonata was, "but we won't know until we ask him. So let's head back to the College and see if we can't find something that will help us save this world."

Sonata wanted to tell her friend that she had a horrible feeling that something was going to happen at the College, she really did, but at the same time she also didn't want to upset one of her friends in case she was wrong. Despite the fact that most ponies believed that the Siren Queen was never wrong, which was a lie that her sisters spread to make her seem more powerful and godlike than she actually was, she was usually wrong a fourth of the time. In the off chance that she was imagining danger at the College, and she seriously hoped that there wasn't any, she decided to hold her tongue until they saw what was happening there.

When she looked back at Kree for a moment she noticed that her friend had seen something as well, which meant that Kree might have known that she suspected something bad to happen. To her relief Kree didn't say anything, to which Sonata let out a sigh as the rest of their companions gathered their gear and came back to the entrance of the temple. Once they were all back together they walked through the door of the temple and began to trek back down the mountain side, their eyes peeled for any enemies that might have come looking for them... or for Sonata.

The group managed to return to Iverstead without anything happening to them, which was almost a shame to Sonata considering she actually wanted to see how powerful the completed Unrelenting Force Shout was compared to her own powers. It also worried her that they weren't finding any enemies to take out, which only made her wonder if her feeling about an attack on Winterhold was actually correct. Instead of moving on immediately they took refuge in the inn for the night, which made the innkeeper happy to have paying customers after what happened with the vampires and cultists some time ago.

Sonata let the night pass quickly, because she wanted the seemingly longest day of her live to be over so she could start another one in the morning... and hopefully not have to deal with her enemy again.

When morning arrived the group had a small breakfast before they departed from the inn, though one thing Sonata found unusual was that she didn't have any dreams about her sisters or her past. She figured that not seeing her sisters in her dreams wasn't an omen or anything, but not reliving her past, the same past that she had been trying to forget for over a thousand years, was the more shocking part. She figured that she wasn't in need of whatever her past could tell her, but not seeing anything made her worry more than when she had been having dreams.

As they walked along the road that would take them back to Winterhold, and pass by the same fortress that they had cleared twice in the past, Sonata remained silent during the beginning. Her friends respected the fact that she was considering what to ask Urag when they saw him, but in reality she was worrying over the fact that she hadn't seen any enemies since the Karthspire. Normally she could have been fine with the idea of not seeing any enemies, but considering that her opponent was Lord Grul she had to wonder if this was another move of his.

Her silence, however, was broken when they approached Fort Amol once more, to which the lot of them discovered that another group of orcs had moved into the fort... ones carrying the banner of their enemy.

"He's definitely persistent," Kree commented as she stared at the fortress, to which they stopped further down the road to see what was going on, "We clear the fort of bandits and he moves a force of soldiers into the area. We take out those soldiers and even more show up, only to be replaced once more."

"I am getting sick and tired of these orcs," Sonata said, pinching the bridge between her eyes for a moment, "Look, we're going to have to fight them at some point, of that I am sure, but we seriously don't have the time to waste on them at the moment..."

"Sonata, they're moving!" Kree stated, interrupting Sonata and directing her attention to the fort's entrance, where the orcs were marching out of the fortress.

Sonata's eyes widened as she counted the orcs up, finding that there were at least fifty of them marching together at the moment and forcing her to wonder where they were going. If they were heading to a village or city to attack it, and she suspected that they might be getting ready to do so, then they would have no choice in putting them down before they reached their destination. It wasn't until she overheard one of them talking that allowed them to learn where the orcs were heading, which only made her and her companions angry.

"You heard Master Mag'zul," one of the orcs said, during which he pulled out his sword and held it out for a moment, "We're to head to Winterhold and finish what Master Aggronak started; the complete and utter destruction of the College that calls the place home. Master Mag'zul is already there, personally hunting down something that the Sisters are supposed to have left there, so it will be our job to hunt down and slaughter every mage that we find."

The orcs around the one that spoke saluted him, indicating that he was the one in charge of this squad, but as they started to move away they were unaware that their leader's words had risen the anger of two certain people not too far away from where they were standing.

"Okay, change of plans," Sonata said, drawing her sword out as lightning gathered around her left hand, "We were already heading to the College, so we'll kill these orcs, head to Winterhold, and then save the College from Mag'zul... and then see if I can't figure out what my sisters left there that's so important that Grul wants to destroy the place."

Saerza summoned a fireball and threw it at one of the orcs, blowing a hole in the back of his armor and blasting him forward, before she roared in anger and charged forward. Gol and Mez, seeing that there was going to be a fight, dropped the armor that they had been carrying, drew out their weapons, and charged towards the orcs with Lydia at their side. Lorthan and Kree stayed back to attack from afar, though while they did that Sonata joined the fight and took one of the orc's heads off before he could even touch her. The orcs ahead of them, realizing that they were under attack, turned around and came back at the group with their weapons drawn, to which one or two met their end by Kree's arrows or Lorthan's magic.

Sonata spun around and brought her weapon down hard on one of the orcs in front of her, running lightning along the edge of her sword and cutting through the armor her enemy was wearing. She then turned to an orc on the left and raised her arm towards him, blasting a hole in his chest with her lightning, dropping the pair to the ground as she moved on. Several of them gathered in front of her, intending to prevent her from hurting one of them without harming herself in the process, but all that did was make her smile. She took a deep breath and released the power of her full Unrelenting Force, knocking the group of orcs backwards and giving her friends the openings they needed to deal with them.

She was impressed that the Thu'um was that strong, which made her decide that she needed to use more of it and rely less on her actual powers until it was time to fight Grul.

Gol and Mez were the last ones to finish off their enemies, hacking off their limbs and cutting their heads off in rapid succession, though before they left the pair of nords insisted on taking the armor with them... even though Sonata had no idea where they were carrying everything or how they were still able to walk. Once the deed was done they resumed their journey, though this time they were moving much faster than they were before they encountered the orcs. Sonata could not believe that the College might be under attack, though she was more annoyed that she had been right with her terrible feeling earlier.

As they followed the road back to Winterhold Sonata noticed that there were a few wild animals left, though most of them were scared at the moment and chose not to engage them in combat. They encountered no more enemies on their way to their destination, though as they drew closer to the ruined city Sonata noticed that there was smoke in the air. When they finally got closer to the city she and her companions discovered that Mag'zul was already attacking the College, because the smoke was emitting from where Sonata assumed the library was located. In fact the majority of the College had the same green flames that Grul's followers used, though as she watched the surrounding area she noticed something else...

...there was another creature made of earth trashing the pillars of the College, though this one was much larger than the one that Aggronak had summoned.

"Oh this isn't good," Saerza said, seeing how many of the pillars were broken and that one of the sections had broken into pieces completely, "Sonata, we've got to get in there and save whoever is left."

"Yeah, you and I need to take out Mag'zul," Sonata stated, already heading forward, "everyone else should search for survivors and deal with that creature... I have a bad feeling about this."

Her friends followed her across the bridge and assaulted the massive creature, though she and Saerza walked into the main hall and climbed the stairs to where the library was located. When they walked into the area they found a orc, who happened to be wearing a robe, holding another orc in the air with his magic, though it appeared that the one in the air was being tortured. That was also when they discovered what the smoke was coming from; Mag'zul was burning everything in the library while he was searching for something else.

"Where is it?!" Mag'zul shouted, his arm extended to keep Urag pinned against the wall, "We know that the Sisters left something of importance here... so where is it?!"

"I... don't know... what you... are talking about," Urag struggled to say, the magic appearing to chock him the entire time, "they... didn't leave... anything in... my library..."

"YOU LIE!" Mag'zul screamed, his anger flaring for a moment, "I will have whatever they left here..."

Sonata turned her palm towards the orc and released a stream of lightning, but Mag'zul moved to the side and the bolt struck the table on the opposite side of the room, shattering it into a hundred smaller pieces. The orc then turned to Sonata for a moment, though surprise seemed to cross his face for a moment, as if he hadn't been expecting her to come back to the College so soon. She growled for a moment as she summoned the Lightning Blade into existence, intending to finish this in one go, but as she charged at her enemy he teleported out o the way and she struck the wall behind him, leaving a small hole when she removed her arm.

"It is fortunate that you already revealed that move, otherwise I would have been dead," Mag'zul commented, a grin appearing on his face as he turned his staff towards her, the sinister green aura appearing around it for a moment, "Now then, lie down on the ground and stay there while I get what I came here for."

Sonata then found herself laying on the floor, though when she tried to move she found that there was some incredible magic preventing her from getting up and attacking the orc. Right then and there she realized how Grul was able to keep a dragon locked up so he could corrupt it; he had Mag'zul use his magic to keep it pinned to the ground while he worked his magic on it. If Grul was also responsible for the disappearance of her sisters, and she was beginning to think that he was, then it might stand to reason that Mag'zul's magic might be keeping them in whatever prison they had been trapped inside. She also wondered where Saerza was located, but she looked towards the entrance and found that she was also pinned to the wall, adding to the power that the orc possessed.

She only needed to overcome the bonds that were keeping her down and she would be one step closer to saving her sisters, so she closed her eyes and focused on calling forth her magic.

"I know what your trying to do by the way," Mag'zul said, not even bothering to look at her while he stared at Urag, "and it won't work. I have trapped hundreds of foes, be they simple animals or even these pitiful dragons that follow Alduin around, in my magic and not once has someone ever escaped from me. Go ahead, try and break my bonds with what power you have... you'll find that you are no match for the power that Lord Grul has bestowed upon me. Its a shame that you had to come here when you did, because now we'll have to waste time in dealing with your enemies ourselves... though our Master will soon have the power to erase this world.

Its been nice knowing you, Siren Queen, but it seems that our game is over... too bad that you didn't discover that we managed to defeat and capture your pathetic sisters on your own."

That got Sonata's attention, because up until this moment she had merely been wondering what happened to her sisters, where they had gone into hiding or if they had been captured by someone. Now she had the truth, Grul had her sisters captive and was trying to use their power to fuel that dark portal she had seen in her dreams... though he required her own powers to complete the gateway. Everything was starting to make sense to her now, but the realization of that truth only fueled the anger that was growing inside of her being... the same anger she had been avoiding for the last thousand years.

It was time for her to release her anger, though when she did so the anger coursed through her body as she shattered the magic that was holding her and stood on her feet once more, forcing Mag'zul to turn and face her.

"Impossible..." Mag'zul said, taking a step back the moment he noticed that Sonata's eyes had turned red with anger, "You shouldn't have been able to shatter my magic that easily."

"You were a fool to believe that you could hold the Siren Queen without bringing her wrath down upon you," Sonata replied, red lightning gathering around her hands for a moment, "especially after telling me that my sisters are being held hostage by my enemy... that was the most foolish thing you could have done. Now, begone from my sight."

She raised her hands and released the lightning she had been gathering, which slammed into the green lightning that Mag'zul was using to defend himself at the moment. The collision of their magic shattered the stone pillars on either side of them, though Sonata could tell that the actual walls were showing signs of cracking as well. She would tell that this was Mag'zul's full power, which made her assume that he had to be the weakest of the lieutenants that served Grul... though he was also the most foolish of them all. She roared for a moment and pressed her anger into her attack once more, which encouraged the lightning to push her enemy's backwards just a bit.

They remained like that for some time, where Sonata slowly pushed her way towards her target with her magic, until she shattered his magic before his very eyes and grabbed him with her magic.

"Even if you slay me now you are still no where near my Master's power," Mag'zul said, struggling against her magic for the moment, "He will destroy you."

"And I would like to see him try," Sonata replied, her magic slowly crushing the orc's body, "too bad you won't live long enough to see me bring an end to his plans. Its also a shame that your only real power was merely trapping people and animals with your magic... you could have been a worthy opponent if you had stronger magic. Now, before I erase you from this world, I have one question for you; where is Lord Grul hiding?"

"I would never reveal the Master's location to you," Mag'zul spat, clearly trying to defend Grul while Sonata was crushing him, which only made her sigh for a moment.

"Then there is no reason to keep you alive." Sonata said, engaging her magic as she crushed the orc's heart inside his own chest, before tossing his corpse into the flames so he could be consumed like everything else.

She ran over to where Saerza had been pinned against the wall, making sure that her friend was okay, before they ran to where Urag was coughing after bring released from Mag'zul's control. As they helped the orc back onto his feet Sonata caught a glimpse of something on his right hand, to which Urag pulled off the half burned glove and revealed the mark that Saerza bared. Urag explained that he had kept it a secret for a reason, because Aria and Adagio had indeed left him something that was only to be handed to Sonata when she came to him for aid. He then pointed at the wall that she had struck with her Lightning Blade, informing her that what she was looking for was actually hidden in a secret area where he stored valuable books that others weren't supposed to know about.

Sonata carefully opened the secret vault, with some help from Urag and Saerza, but when the door was finally open she spotted a really old bound book that was resting on a pedestal. Her eyes widened as she realized that it was one of Starswirl's journals, something that she was sure that she was never going to see again in her entire life. She gently opened the front of the journal and noticed something that she wasn't actually expecting, a note to her from her old friend... explaining in a paragraph or two that the book would hold the knowledge to fix her gemstone if it ever became damaged. She smiled and pulled the book out of the hidden area, to which the three of them escaped from the burning library, where Saerza briefly asked about the Elder Scroll.

All Sonata heard was that they would need to go out into the ice field to the north of the College, because she was too distracted by the possibility of there being a chance to reforge her pendant... and then using that power to find Lord Grul and destroy him before he brought an end to this world.

25: Alftand

Sonata followed Saerza and Urag out of the burning library while the orc mumbled about losing everything that he and his predecessors had gathered since the College had opened, but Sonata truly wasn't paying much attention to his mumbling. She had, in her hands, the one piece of information that she had been looking for since she learned that her sisters had come to Skyrim, a journal from Starswirl the Bearded. She had known that he had been researching a method to repair gemstones, even magical ones, so to hold the one thing that would help her restore her pendant made her focus on nothing else at the moment. She was sure that Adagio and Aria had gone searching for this very tome, though she knew that they had kept it a secret until she showed up, so they could reforge their pendants at the same time.

She now had everything she needed to find Lord Grul, figure out where he was keeping her sisters, free them from whatever prison he had put them in, and then destroy him and his army before they tried to destroy the world.

When they left the Hall of the Elements, and entered the courtyard, they found that the creature that Mag'zul had summoned had been destroyed before it could do anymore damage than it had already done. The rest of Sonata's friends were cleaning up the remains of the creature, though it was clear that they hadn't fought the creature for every long before it collapsed by itself. That made Sonata wonder if the earthy creature had been linked to Mag'zul in some fashion, but at the moment she determined that it really didn't matter... not when she had succeeded in saving the College and recovering what she had come for.

"Sonata, why are your eyes so red?" Kree asked, worried that something terrible had happened to her friend when she and Saerza had confronted Mag'zul.

"Anger is a catalyst that allowed me to, temporarily, access the next stage of my powers," Sonata explained, sighing for a moment as she calmed herself down and allowed her eyes to revert to their original color, knowing that it would be easier to access her full power once the pendant was reforged, "anger that was brought on by one simple fact; Mag'zul told me that Lord Grul has already defeated and captured my sisters. We finally have confirmation on what happened to them, but that simple fact was enough to empower me with the powers necessary to destroy one of Grul's Lieutenants. This journal that I'm holding is from an old friend of mine, though it holds the necessary information for me to finally reforge my pendant... and give me the power to destroy Grul.

We also figured out where to go for information considering the Elder Scroll, so this entire trip has so far been weighed in our favor... and I would like to keep it that way."

"I'm glad that we stopped Grul's latest attempt to destroy the College... though something tells me that we haven't seen the last of the orcs in this area," Saerza commented, letting out a sigh of her own, "Our only hope for peace is to stop Grul, before he brings whatever foul game he's playing to an end... and that means we'll have to stop Alduin, the vampires, and the Cultists before we can even touch him."

Sonata noticed that Kree seemed overjoyed that they had found something that would allow her to reforge her pendant, and she knew that she was happy to have it, but she had to wonder what secrets Starswirl had to share with her.

Before they departed from the College and continued their search for the Elder Scroll, which Sonata knew that they still needed, Urag pointed to an area on their map that was to the north of where they were at the moment. He told them that Septimus Signus had been searching for something in that area of the sea, something that he assumed had something to do with the dwemer. Urag told them that he was sure that the old man had been obsessed with the dwarves before his disappearance, as if he believed that they might have locked an Elder Scroll away somewhere. Sonata was glad for the information, because it gave them someplace to start their search for the scroll she needed to figure out the Shout that once defeated Alduin.

It took them between an hour to an hour and a half to reach the location that Urag had told them about, where they found a boat that happened to be resting outside a wooden door of sorts. Sonata sighed and jumped down into the area that she found under the door, making note that her friends followed her in as she searched for the person she needed to speak to. She found an old man standing in front of a large metal cube, which told her that this had to be the person that Urag had called Septimus Signus... though he already sounded insane from what she heard him mumbling.

"Are you Septimus Signus?" Sonata decided to ask, to be absolutely sure that she was in the right place and hadn't found someone that she didn't need to bother at all.

"Do you see this masterwork of the Dwemer?" the man asked, placing a hand on the box as he spoke, almost as if he was trying to figure out a way to unlock it somehow, "Deep inside their greatest knowings. Septimus is clever among men, but he is but an idiot child when compared to the dullest of the dwemer. Lucky then that they left behind their own way of reading the Elder Scrolls. One yet lies in the depths of Blackreach."

"I assume that you need whatever the Elder Scroll says to open this cube?" Sonata commented, figuring that she wouldn't get a straight answer no matter what she asked the old man.

"The ice entombs the heart." Sepimus replied, confirming that he was not answering her questions with any straight answers, which Sonata assumed would only prolong their conversation, "The bane of Kagrenac and Dagoth Ur. To harness it is to know. The fundaments. The Dwemer lockbox hides it from me. The Elder Scroll gives insight deeper than the deep ones, though. To bring about the opening. This Dwemer lockbox. Look upon it and wonder. Inside is the heart. The heart of a god! The heart of you. And me. But it was hidden away. Not by the Dwarves, you see. They were already gone. Someone else. Unseen. Unknown. Found the heart, and with a flair for the ironical, used Dwarven trickery to lock it away. The scroll will give the deep vision needed to open it. For not even the strongest machinations of the Dwemer can hold off the all-sight given by an Elder Scroll.

The box contains the heart. The essence of a god. I have devoted my life to the Elder Scrolls, but their knowledge is a passing awareness when compared to the encompassing mind of divinity. The Dwemer were the last to touch it. It was thought to have been destroyed by the Nerevarine, but my Lord told me otherwise."

"And where is Blackreach?" Sonata inquired, wondering if it was close or if it was on the other side of Skyrim.

"'Cast upon where Dwemer cities slept, the yearning spire hidden learnings kept.'" Septimus recited from memory, though Sonata was surprised that he could remember all of it without reading from any books, "Below the dark. The hidden keep. Tower Mzark. Alftand. The point of puncture, of first entry, of the tapping. Delve to its limits, and Blackreach lies just beyond. Septimus has two objects for you, two shapes. The round one for tuning; dwemer music is soft and subtle, needed to open their cleverest of gates. The edged lexicon for inscribing; to the Dwemer a library full of knowings. Find Mzark and you will find Blackreach. Trust Septimus, he knows you can know."

Sonata looked at the items she had been handed, not sure what to make of either of them, before she returned to her friends so they could figure out where their next destination was. As it turned out Alftand wasn't too far from where they were at the moment, though it would involve a trek through the snow and water so they could get there.

As it turned out they reached their destination without much hindering their progress, save for crossing the ice fields once more and back up the slopes they had climbed down. Along the way Sonata could have sworn that she heard what she thought were war drums, the same ones that she occasionally heard whenever Grul's forces were on the move. If it was the soldiers of her enemy she had to wonder where they were going this time, but she knew that she couldn't afford to get distracted this time, not when she was so close to the ruins. Unfortunately she wasn't the only once that noticed the sounds that were echoing all around the mountain, as Kree turned to the south for a moment and looked around for something that clearly wasn't there.

"Is it possible that Lord Grul knew we were heading to Alftand before we knew we were heading there?" Kree asked, because she was echoing the same thoughts that Sonata was considering at the moment.

"That, or he's really good at guessing where we're going," Sonata replied, glancing at the mountain behind them for a moment, though as she did so she noticed something that she was hoping that they wouldn't see anytime soon, "and it looks like we had better pick up the pace before they overtake us."

She had absolutely no idea why there was a second army of orcs in the area of Winterhold, or how they had figured out where she and her friends were at the moment, but she didn't want the orcs to catch up with them. They got moving towards the ruins they needed to search through, but as they did so Sonata kept her eyes on the army of orcs that were still following them across the snow. She had an idea on how to get rid of them, or even slow them down for that matter, but she didn't want to resort to using her magic in case they weren't actually following her. They were still being followed when they arrived outside the ruins, so Sonata sighed and stopped in her tracks, before turning around and facing the orcs that were coming their way.

As the orcs drew even closer she looked at the sky and concentrated her magic, eventually forming a blizzard that would be able to block their enemies from following them any further. She coughed as she joined her friends in their trek across the bridges that took them inside the glacier that was connected to the ruin, annoyed that she had to expand her energy once more in such a short amount of time.

"I didn't know that you could do that," Kree commented as they made their way inside, to which several of the others nodded their agreement as Gol and Mez made sure that they were safe for the moment.

"Queen of Storms... never said that I only commanded lightning storms," Sonata replied, a smile appearing on her face for a moment, though she knew that the orcs would likely make it through the storm, "it wasn't as powerful as it should have been, so we had better get to our destination before our enemies appear behind us."

"And we had better be as quiet as possible," Lorthan commented, sheathing his blade for a moment, "If we can sneak our wave through the ruins we can force those orcs to fight everything that we leave behind... and who knows, maybe the creatures that call this ruin home will kill all of Grul's minions."

Sonata sighed and took a deep breath, focusing her mind for a few seconds as she wondered if she could use one of Starswirl's old spells, one that was designed to allow the caster to become completely hidden from the naked eye. She knew that she could pull off the spell when she was at her full power, though at her current state, and her lack of magicka, she knew that she would be able to use a weaker version of the spell. At best she would be able to hide their footsteps so nothing would be able to hear them, which made her wish that she actually had her full power at the moment... or had her pendant reforged.

She expanded her magic for a moment and cast what she could on all of them, before letting out a sigh as she pulled herself back onto her feet and faced the path they needed to go.

"This spell will only last for an hour, so we had better make the most of it," Sonata said, beckoning for the others to follow her, "We should be able to navigate most of the dangers of this place, without having them discover that we're even here."

As the group moved through the ruins they discovered that there was an expedition that had come here to seek shelter, though it appeared that they had either been betrayed by one of their own or had been killed by something that called the ruins home. Sonata eventually discovered part of the answer, because they found a khajiit walking around and mumbling about something called skooma, but she decided to let him be for the moment. The other part of the answer also revealed itself further down the path they followed, because a pair of metallic spheres left the walls around them and opened up into strange mechanical creatures she had never seen before.

Fortunately Sonata's spell worked like a charm, because the mechanical creatures moved right passed the group and headed the way they had came, though they heard the sound of the khajiit being killed after a few seconds. Sonata beckoned her friends forward before the machines returned to where they were dispensed, though they came to a stop not moments later as they found an area that had been collapsed for some time. Kree pointed into the pit that was passed where the floor beneath them and pointed out the Falmer for Sonata to see for the first time, though the seemingly blind creatures had good hearing as they started climbing the walls around the pit.

That was before she heard the sound of the orcish war drums once more, telling her and her friends that their enemies had entered the ruins and were likely making their way towards them at that very moment. Sonata sighed and leapt downwards just a bit, landing on one of the pipes for a moment before jumping to the platform below them, to which she turned and beckoned for the rest of the group to follow her. They were extremely fortunate that the orcs were making so much noise, because any sound that the group let out was quickly covered by the war drums and whatever the orcs were shouting at each other... and it also allowed them to move through the ruins without having to actually worry about fighting this time.

They waited a few seconds as the large group of Falmer climbed into the passage they had been standing on, letting them head to where the orcs were before getting a move on. With the enemies they would have fought in the ruins heading towards the orcs Sonata and her friends were able to navigate the place without sacrificing any time or energy to fighting. It gave Sonata the opportunity to see the craftsmanship of the dwarves as they walked, though she kept her eyes open for any traps that they still had to get around. They followed the twists and turns throughout the ruins, opening doors and hiding when they spotted more Falmer heading towards the orcs, until they came to a massive chamber that had a gate blocking their way.

Behind the gate, however, was a large metallic creature that appeared to be patrolling the place, though Kree told Sonata that it was called a Dwarven Centurion and that it was something that they didn't want to mess with at the moment. Fortunately they found the lever to the gate right above where they had entered the chamber, so once everyone was out of the way Sonata flipped the switch and lowered the gate. The centurion didn't seem annoyed that the gate was open, it merely continued to patrol the area as if it was waiting for something to come and fight it. After a few seconds Sonata sighed and got into a standing position, dispelling the spell that had been keeping them hidden all this time as she wondered which of her spells could put the creature down quickly.

A smile appeared on her face as she approached the centurion, because as the faint wind started to gather around her she formed some small shuriken, which she sent into the creature's chest and blew it into the wall behind it. With the creature dealt with she approached the door it had been guarding and found that it had been open by two Imperial soldiers... who appeared to have killed each other over something.

"We had best gather anything useful they had before those orcs show up," Kree commented, picking up a blackened blade of some kind from one of them, though it was clear that they call could hear the war drums as the orcs drew even closer to where they were standing.

Sonata pulled out the sphere that the old man had given her and set it in the pedestal before her, to which the floor lowered to reveal a forgotten staircase of some kind. With the way open, and the gear of the fallen collected, Sonata and her friends ventured into Blackreach, where they hoped to find the Elder Scroll that would tell them what Sonata needed to so she could stop Alduin from destroying all of Nirn.

27: To Rend a Dragon

Sonata took a deep breath as she and her friends exited the tower that connected to the ancient chamber they had found the Elder Scroll inside, though she was thankful that they had all gotten away from the orcs that had followed them into Blackreach. She honestly had no idea how their enemies managed to uncover where she had been heading, but this time she was one step ahead of them as she looked down at the scroll she carried. She trusted her friends, there was no question about that, but this one item held the answers she needed if she was to stop Alduin from destroying all of Nirn. Inside this one scroll laid the secret to learning the Dragonrend Shout, something she had been told was the key to stripping Alduin of his impervious hide and allowing her to damage him... though that was how she understood what she had been told by Paarthurnax.

She needed to keep it safe until they reached High Hrothgar, where she would be able to see the ancient past and discover the secrets of the Shout she sought.

Once they were all done taking a break from their trek through Alftand, and their rapid journey through Blackreach, the group gathered all of their belongings and began the trek down the side of the mountain. Her friends kept their weapons at the ready in case any of the bandits decided to come after them, or worse another squad of Grul's seemingly mindless orcs, while Sonata focused on making sure that she kept the scroll safe from harm. She doubted that there was a force on Nirn that could harm an Elder Scroll, but seeing how she knew next to nothing about the ancient artifact, and what they were capable of doing, she didn't want to take her chances and have something happen to the one she was carrying.

"Is anyone else curious as to why those orcs followed us through Alftand?" Lorthan asked as they walked, though it was something that had been bothering Sonata ever since she had noticed the orcs to begin with, "I mean, we all know that Lord Grul is after Sonata, but for some reason those orcs seemed more interested in clearing out the dwarven ruin of all the constructs than chasing us down. Its both curious and confusing at the same time."

"Is it possible that he could have learned how to control the dwarven machines?" Sonata commented, as she had absolutely no other idea that would have made any sense, other than the fact that Grul might not have wanted to let her build an army of machines to do battle with him.

"Not unless he found some ancient Dwemer text that revealed that to him," Kree replied, shaking her head as they walked, "Though maybe he's after the soul gems that power each of the machines, so he could use their power for whatever foul deed he's planning at the moment. I'm sure most of us remember the Felblood Dragon he created, so nothing good can come of him working with the pieces that the dwarves left behind... if that was what he was seeking anyway."

Sonata remembered that dragon with ease, so it really made her worry what her enemy might do with the various dwarven machines that she had seen in both Alftand and Blackreach. It also made her reconsider her choice to not blow the ceiling to pieces and destory everything, because she was sure that she could have buried everything and left nothing for her enemy to use. It was, however, too late to go back and chance anything, so she merely sighed as she listened to her friends discuss their various ideas on what their true enemy was doing. She, on the other hand, focused on following the road so she could reach her current goal; reaching High Hrothgar so she could learn the Dragonrend Shout.

"Its hard to ignore how much power Grul has to have in order to corrupt a dragon," Saerza commented, looking to the sky and scanning it for any of the flying beasts, though she shook her head and continued on, "or how much power Aggronak must have if he could survive one of Sonata's attacks. We must be ready to take out anyone and everyone that wishes to do Sonata harm, because at the end of the day people see her as the Dragonborn, the savior of Nirn, so we must keep her safe from her enemies."

That didn't stop Sonata from worrying that there might come a time when they couldn't defend her from her enemies, but she decided not to say anything about it as they continued down the side of the mountain.

During their trek back to High Hrothgar they paused outside Whiterun, so Kree and Lydia could run in and get them something to eat before they resumed their journey. They then took the path that eventually brought them near the towers that they had encountered some bandits at, though this time there was no one there for once. They followed the path until it passed by the fortress where Grul's soldiers used occasionally, and where they had routed them three times in the past, only to find that, it too, was empty of enemies. It was beginning to make Sonata worry about what Grul was doing at the moment, because all of his soldiers appeared to not be using their usual hiding places this time.

Her friends shared her worry, because they were definitely on edge as they waited to find another group of orc soldiers that was waiting to ambush them.

Their arrival in Iverstead, however, brought some surprise to their day, because one of the vampires that were allied with them approached them as they started to head into the inn for the night. The vampire handed Sonata a note before disappearing into the darkness around the small village, to which she discovered that three of the orc strongholds, Largashbur, Narzulbur, and Mor Khazgur, had been destroyed in the last week. She assumed that the vampires she was allied with had gone to them in search of allies that could help her in her quest to destroy Grul, but it appeared that their enemy had beaten them to the punch. Even Dushnikh Yal, the last of the strongholds, was destroyed, and recently too because the green flames were still burning when the vampires scouted out the area.

Sonata also noticed that the note appeared to be written by two different people, as if one had been writing it at first and then either died or handed it off to someone else to finish.

After they spent the night at the inn, and had something for the morning meal, they resumed their trek up the Throat of the World, encountering none of the wild creatures that they had fought their way through the first time. It allowed them to reach the monastery without any delays, though when they reached their destination Sonata had them wait inside the halls with the Greybeards.

"You sure about this Sonata?" Kree asked, clearly wondering what her friend was thinking by heading back up to the peak alone, as if she was worried that something might happen up there.

"Yes, I must do this alone." Sonata replied, a smile appearing on her face as she made for the back entrance, "I'm going to figure out the secret of the Dragonrend Shout... and then I'm going to bring an end to Alduin."

Her friends nodded as she took the Elder Scroll and walked out of the monastery, to which she began the journey up the rest of the mountain, where she knew that Paarthurnax would be waiting for her. She found no creatures on her way to the summit, which she had been expecting considering the fact that she had cleared the path the last time she had climbed the mountain.

"Ah, Dragonborn, you have returned," Paarthurnax welcomed, watching Sonata as she came to a stop at the top of the summit, "and I see you have brought the Kel, the Elder Scroll, that was used against Alduin. Take it to the Tiid Ahraan, the Time Wound, to cast yourself back to when the ancient nords battled against Alduin."

Sonata sighed and stepped into the swirling mass that was the Time Wound, to which she sat down and opened the scroll, allowing herself to be cast back to when it was used against Alduin. When the past appeared before her eyes she watched as dragons fell from the sky, slain by the ancient nord Tongues themselves, before the three heroes gathered together and spoke of their plans to stop their enemy. That was when she discovered that one of them was definitely holding the scroll she had peered into, though as the old man put it away the sky rumbled as Alduin himself landed before them. The three heroes challenged their dragon overload and unleashed the Shout that they had invented for the sole purpose to defeating their enemy, though Sonata allowed the Shout to echo throughout her body and mind.

The vision of the past ended with Alduin being banished from the world by one of the old Tongues, to which she returned to the present time and started to shake off the feeling that the Elder Scroll had given her. As she did that, however, she heard the sound of wings flapping and knew that one of her enemies had come to stop her before she could destroy him.

"Bahloki nahkip sillesejoor. My belly is full of the souls of your fellow mortals, Dovahkiin." a voice rang out, just as Alduin appeared close to where Paarthurnax and Sonata were waiting, "Die now and await your fate in Sovngarde!"

"Joor Zah Frul!" Sonata shouted almost immediately, not giving Alduin a chance to move out of the way and dealing a direct hit with the shout, forcing the massive creature to land near where she was standing.

The moment Alduin hit the ground he turned towards where Sonata was standing and released a stream of flames at her, to which she raised a barrier to prevent the flames from reaching her. Sonata responded with a blast of lightning, striking the dragon in the muzzle as she determined how best to actually go about bringing an end to the World Eater. Alduin broke out of the state that the Dragonrend Shout had put him in and immediately took off again, though Sonata summoned the wind to her feet and flew after her enemy. It then became a chase between the two of them, where Alduin would try and hit her with his own attacks, while Sonata would try and hit him with the Shout that would ground him once more.

That was before Alduin managed to get a lucky shot and smacked her with his wing, sending her back to the summit and causing her to crash into the ground before the broken Word Wall, though thanks to her magic she managed to prevent herself from taking too much damage.

"Lost funt." Alduin shouted, staring down at Sonata as she picked herself up and dusted off the bits of snow that were clinging to her body, "You are no match for me, joor!"

"I guess I have little choice," Sonata said, taking a deep breath as she opened herself to her anger, which was empowered by the fact that Lord Grul had her sister's trapped somewhere, "The power I'm about to unleash is the same power that destroyed one of Lord Grul's lieutenants, so you should feel honored that I'm even considering even showing it to you."

A red aura surrounded her as she released her anger from where she was holding it in, which she knew was normal whenever she entered this state, though Alduin didn't seem to care as he started attacking her once more. Sonata was fortunate that this state gave her increased speed, and maybe increased magical strength, as she was able to duck and weave under Alduin's claws before he could touch her. It also gave her the ability to get behind him more frequently, allowing her to blast him in the back with Dragonrend and knock him out of the sky. Then she could unleash the fury of the storm once more, calling forth the lightning to blast her enemy repeatedly before she had to resort to using the Shout on him again.

Eventually Sonata blasted Alduin into the side of the mountain, but even as the dragon picked himself back up she knew that she was going to need more power than what she had if she wanted to truly defeat her enemy. What happened next, however, caught her by surprise as Alduin didn't straight out attack her again, instead he just stared at her as if he was thinking about something.

"Meyz mul, Dovahkiin. You have become strong." Alduin said, beating his wings as he took to the skies once more, "But I am Al-du-in, Firstborn of Akatosh! Mulaagi zok lot! I cannot be slain here, by you or anyone else! You cannot prevail against me. I will outlast you... mortal!"

With that said Alduin took off, leaving behind Sonata and Paarthurnax to wonder where he was going and what he was planning on doing before trying to attack the world again. Sonata let the aura fade into oblivion as she fell to her knees, but while she was happy to have chased off her enemy she wished that she had finished him off... though she suspected that he was heading to Sovngarde to feast on the souls of the honored dead. She grinned for a moment, because she now knew exactly where she needed to go if she wanted to finish this fight and knew that her opponent might not be expecting such a tactic.

She was going to find her way to Sovngarde and then kill Alduin... and then she could begin the hunt for Lord Harkon and put him in his place as well.

28: To Trap a Dragon

Sonata took a few minutes to collect herself, and allow her anger to fade away, before she turned to the only dragon that was still perched on the summit of the Throat of the World; Paarthurnax. She knew that there was some piece of information that she could gleam from speaking with him again, something that would allow her to figure out how she was going to get to Sovngarde.

"Any ideas on how I'm supposed to get to Sovngarde?" Sonata asked, deciding to get to the point instead of wasting time that she may or may not have.

"Krosis, I do not know," Paarthurnax replied, letting out what Sonata assumed was a sigh, though she really couldn't tell what the sound had actually been, "I was never given the mindah, the knowledge, of Alduin's hidden fortress. He only told several of his closest allies where his runir, his stronghold, was located. But who should we test to discover its nizaag, its location? There is one who is rash enough that the trap inside Ahrolsedovah, the place you call Whiterun, should be able to work on him. His name is Od-ah-viing, or Snow Hunter Wing in your tongue. When you find the trap just shout his name to the skies and he will come, to challenge the one who beat his master."

"And he would come if I were to call his name?" Sonata inquired, wondering if this information was useful or not, but the trap sounded like it could actually work in her favor.

"The dovah are prideful creatures," Paarthurnax told her, turning to look at the sky around them for a moment, "When you reach your destination, and call Odahviing's name, he'll come to do battle with the one that made Alduin flee."

Sonata nodded and began the walk down the mountainside, though this time she went slow so she could think about how she was going to ask the Jarl if they could use his castle to trap a dragon. She knew that if she had her full power she could easily sway the man to her way of thinking and get to the task without too much difficulty, but she didn't want to do that anyway. The problem with this was the fact that there was a war going on at the moment, not that she had seen much of it thanks to the fact that she was constantly being chased by Grul and his allies. She knew that Balgruuf would have a hard time listening to her with the war going on, but she didn't have to waste on picking a side and laying waste to the other side, not when there were four enemies that she needed to get rid of.

She couldn't take out Grul just yet, not when she had no idea where his base was located and was nowhere near her full power, so she had to focus on taking out Alduin, Harkon, and Miraak.

When she returned to the monastery she found her friends waiting in what appeared to be an ancient meeting room, as if they had chosen to explore the home of the Greybeards and had found something interesting to occupy their time until she returned. Kree was the first one to notice her return, though she also noticed that she was troubled on what she needed to do next with the Jarl of Whiterun.

"I chased Alduin off, but he's not dead yet," Sonata told her friends, some of them nodding as if they had been expecting it, while the others seemed a tad bit surprised, "I need to head back to Whiterun and ask Jarl Balgruuf if I can trap a dragon... inside his own castle."

"I assume that this is to learn the location of wherever Alduin flew off to?" Saerza asked, to which Sonata nodded, "I read that Dragonsreach was supposedly used to trap a dragon, so it should be interesting to see if the stories are true in that regard. Though I don't think the Jarl will approve of us using his palace in such a manner, not while the war is going on."

"We're going to have to ask him anyway, because this is our only chance to destroy one of my enemies... forever," Sonata replied, beckoning for everyone to follow her, "The quicker we deal with Alduin, and save the world from him, the quicker we can deal with Lord Harkon... who I might just kill the instant I see him. Then Miraak and Grul... which means we had best get started."

Sonata and her friends then exited the monastery of High Hrothgar, where they began the journey back down the side of the mountain so they could get to Iverstead, where they would take a small break before going back to Whiterun.

When Sonata and her friends walked into Whiterun they received some stares from the people around them, though Sonata knew it was because of the fact that they were a large group. She was used to it at this point, so she didn't let it bother her as they made their way up the Dragonsreach, where she hoped to find the Jarl sitting in his chair. As they walked up the stone stairs that led to the palace several of the guards nodded to them as they passed, as some of them had been with Sonata and Kree when they had taken down the dragon at the watchtower and knew that Sonata was the Dragonborn. Sonata remained silent as they walked into the building they had been walking towards, though her eyes looked around until she found the Jarl where she expected him to be.

"Ah, Sonata and Kree, its good to see you again," Balgruuf said as they approached, taking note of the others that were standing around them, "and I see that you've accumulated a following of sorts. What can I do for you today?"

"I need to use your castle to trap a dragon." Sonata said as calmly as possible, knowing that most of the people in the room would likely be terrified of the thought of letting such a creature into the castle.

Sonata was correct in thinking that, because everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at her as if she had lost her mind, though her friends knew what was coming.

"I must have misheard you." Jarl Balgruuf said, waving his hand as if Sonata had told a joke and was trying to ignore what she had actually said, "I thought you asked me to help you trap a dragon in my palace."

"I did, and I would not be asking this if it wasn't necessary," Sonata replied, remaining calm as she looked around her, knowing that many would curse her name for even suggesting this, "I would never do anything that would intentionally bring harm to this city, or any of the other cities across this province."

"Of course. You already saved Whiterun from that dragon." Balgruuf commented, letting out a sigh as he stared at Sonata, "I owe you a great deal. But I don't understand. Why let a dragon into the heart of my city when we've been working so hard to keep them out?"

"Because the threat is greater than you know," Sonata said, letting her magic fill the air as she summoned a small image of her enemy, the dragon Alduin, "I'm afraid that Alduin has returned."

"Alduin? The World-Eater himself?" Balgruuf nearly whispered, fear filling his eyes as he realized who Sonata was actually talking about, "But... how can we fight him? Doesn't his return mean it's the end times?"

"That's what the legends say," Sonata stated, standing firm as she stared at the Jarl, "and its my destiny to rid the world of him... so I intend on bringing an end to the World-Eater."

"I don't know about such things, but I heard the Greybeards summon you." Balgruuf said, gathering himself as he pulled himself out of his throne, "That's good enough for me. Now, what's this nonsense about trapping a dragon in my palace?"

Sonata, Kree, and Saerza then spent the next half an hour talking with Balgruuf above the throne room, where they eventually managed to get him to agree to trapping a dragon despite the fact that the war was going on. Sonata's reasoning was sound, because if Alduin was busy destroying the world than the war meant nothing,a s both sides would actually be the loser. With Balgruuf on their side they got to work making sure that the trap was actually in working order, where both Gol and Mez used their skills to make sure that the chains were tampered and ready to hold a raging beast back.

Another thirty minutes passed before Sonata learned that the trap was ready for usage, where she knew it was time to see if the dragon would come if she summoned it. That was why she was the only one standing on the balcony of the Great Perch, the area that was at the back of Dragonsreach, while everyone else remained on the walls, so that they would be safe when Odahviing arrived.

"Od Ah Viing!" Sonata shouted to the sky above her, to which she listened to what was happening around her before she heard a roar tear through the air.

She spotted the red dragon as he flew towards the perch, to which she calmly backed up and lured the beast into the trap that would tell her where Alduin went. Odahviing landed on the perch and spotted her within seconds, to which flames gathered in his throat before he opened his mouth and loosed a torrent of flames at her. Sonata, for the most part, extended her hand and caught the flames as they tried to reach for her, before she used one of Starswirl's favorite spells and made the flames gather into a single point. Odahviing advanced forward, intending to distract her with his flames so that he could crush her with his claws, but once he reached a certain point Gol and Mez loosed the chains and the trap was sprung.

The massive wooden beam crashed into Odahviing and the clasps caught both of his arms and his head, cutting off the flames and allowing everyone to see that Sonata was unharmed from the ordeal.

"Nid!" Odahviin shouted, realizing that he had been trapped, though he looked around instead of thrashing against what was holding hm, "Horvutah med kodaav. Caught like a bear in a trap... Zok frini grind ko grah drun viiki, Dovahkiin."

"What?" Sonata asked, as she was not as fluent in the Dragon Language as she would have liked to be, so whatever the dragon had said had simply gone over her head.

"Ah. I forget. You do not have the dovah speech." Odahviing replied, staring at Sonata as she stared at him, as if he was curious about her, "My... eagerness to meet you in battle was my... undoing, Dovahkiin. I salute your, hmm, low cunning in devising such a grahmindol - stratagem. Zu'u bonaar. You went to a great deal of trouble to put me in this... humiliating position. Hind siiv Alduin, hmm? No doubt you want to know where to find Alduin?"

"That is correct," Sonata told the beast, wondering if he even knew where his master was hiding or if this was actually a waste of her time, "Where is he hiding?"

"Rinik vazah. An apt phrase. Alduin bovul." Odahviing answered, once again using pieces of his own language to prolong the conversation and confuse Sonata more than she already was, "One reason I came to your call was to test your Thu'um for myself. Many of us have begun to question Alduin's lordship, whether his Thu'um was truly the strongest. Among ourselves, of course. Mu ni meyye. None were yet ready to openly defy him."

"Please get to the point," Sonata said, though she felt like she was about to snap at the dragon, as he had definitely digressed from the topic she had asked him about.

"Unslaad krosis. Innumerable pardons. I digress." Odahviing replied, though Sonata wondered if he was being sincere or if he was trying to fool her, "He has travelled to Sovngarde to regain his strength, devouring the sillesejour... the souls of the mortal dead. A privilege he jealously guards... His door to Sovngarde is at Skuldafn, one of his ancient fanes high in the eastern mountains. Mindoraan, pah ok middovahhe lahvraan til. I surely do not need to warn you that all his remaining strength is marshalled there. Zu'u lost ofan hin laan... now that I have answered your question, you will allow me to go free?"

Sonata had to consider that question, because she had gotten what she had wanted from the dragon, rather easily she mentally added, so there was really no reason to keep him trapped here, where he could burn the castle down at any time he wanted. Still, she had not heard of Skuldafn, but she knew that there was something that the dragon had left out when he told her where his master had gone, something that would sway her decision in that regard. It was quite easy for her to see that she needed the dragon's help to reach her next destination, which meant that she was going to free the creature and travel through the ancient fane by herself.

"I'm going to need you to fly me there, won't I?" Sonata asked, taking note that Saerza was nodding her head for a few seconds, as if she had come to the same conclusion that Sonata had.

"Onikaan koraav gein miraad. It is wise to recognize when you only have one choice." Odahviing replied, almost sounding surprised that Sonata had managed to figure out that she needed his help, but then regained himself seconds later, "And you can trust me. Zu'u ni tahrodiis. Alduin has proven himself unworthy to rule. I go my own way now. Free me, and I will carry you to Skuldafn."

Sonata turned to where Gol and Mez were standing, waiting a second to be sure that they knew what was coming, before they pulled the levers and released the trap, pulling it into the ceiling once more and freeing the dragon. Odahviing seemed pleased to be free once more, though he immediately turned around and walked until he was at the edge of the perch, where he waited for Sonata.

"Here, I packed these in case we needed them," Saerza said to Sonata, stopping her before she walked up to the dragon that was patiently waiting for her, to which she handed her a bag filled with large blue bottles, "These are the most powerful magicka potions I could make... they'll be able to restore most of your power when you need them, but there's only three of them. You'll have to choose when to use them, unless there happen to be more of these in Skuldafn."

"I'll put them to good use," Sonata said, adding the potions to her stash, "I need everyone to stay here and keep an eye out for any of Grul's soldiers while I'm gone... though I don't need to tell you what to do if you actually find them."

Saerza nodded and rejoined their friends, where Sonata sighed and walked up to Odahviing, who allowed her to climb onto her back before taking off once more. Sonata was going to take the fight to Alduin... and this time she was going to ensure that the dragon was destroyed before she came back to Skyrim.

29: Alduin's Last Bastion

Sonata leapt off of Odahviing when they arrived at Skuldafn, though she had taken a moment to stare at the undead enemies that were waiting for her as they flew in. She had known that the remainder of Alduin's forces would be waiting for her, and Odahviing had told her so back in Dragonsreach, though she was impressed by the amount of undead that had been buried in this one area. With her friends she knew that she would have cleared this ruin within an hour, two at the very most, but now that it was just her she knew that it would take her some time to safely reach the end. As she thought about how many enemies she would have to fight before she reached the portal to Sovngarde, which she assumed was quite a large number, she also cursed herself for not taking some time to properly prepare herself.

She should have summoned Odahviing when she had learned more Shouts and had some better equipment than her leather armor and steel sword, both presents from the Imperials that had helped her when she first arrived in Skyrim.

"This is as far as I can take you." Odahviing said as they landed, allowing Sonata to climb off before beating his wings once more, "Krif voth ahkrin. I will look for your return, or Alduin's."

Sonata nodded her head and waited until the dragon was in the air, choosing to take a few seconds to watch him depart from the ancient fane before getting started on her fight against her enemy. She looked across the bridge in front of her and spotted two archers that apparently wanted to make her life more miserable than it already was, which was thanks to of all the deeds that Lord Grul had done to the people of Skyrim while she had been there. She even spotted what appeared to be a lone draugr warrior coming her way, wielding an ebony colored battleaxe, so she knew that she was going to have to play this smart if she wanted to get out of here alive.

After all, she still had to fight Alduin and save Nirn from him, before she could even begin to deal with the other evil people that either wanted her dead or captured.

She waited until the undead warrior was close to her and leaned back as the battleaxe came at her, allowing it to pass by where she was standing before she attacked with her magic and blasted the undead creature in the chest. The undead stepped back a bit, as if it was actually surprised that it had missed and wasn't stunned by the attack, before it charged at her once more. Sonata growled as she ducked each of the incoming attacks, making sure that the sharpened weapon didn't touch her or her armor while she thought of something that would bring this one opponent down.

She then got an idea what she knew might fail, but considering that she didn't expect the first enemy to be so hard she decided that something was better than nothing. She summoned her lightning into her hand and formed the Lightning Blade, but as she turned around she focused her magic and sent out a stream of lightning that slammed into the undead creature's chest. The creature went flying into the stone of the bridge in front of her, though that was before the stream of power jumped into the air, separated into two individual pieces of energy, and took out the archers before they even had a chance to loose their arrows at her.

Sonata had no idea why the lightning arced to the other two enemies and took them out like that, but she wasn't about to argue with the results.

She followed the stairs as they led her towards the area that stood before the entrance of the temple, though she spotted two more enemies coming her way. She immediately noticed that one of them was a mage, thanks to the frost coming off of his hands, while the other had to be a warrior that would keep her attention the entire time. Before the fight got started Sonata called forth her magic and threw it at the mage, blasting it backwards and giving her enough time to deal with the warrior. She then ducked and dodged for the next few seconds, making sure that the enemy's weapon didn't touch her, before she planted her foot in its chest and knocked it back as hard as she could.

Her attack didn't do much good, as the undead warrior got back up and punched her in the face, before grabbing onto her ponytail and gripping it as hard as it possibly could. It started to laugh at her, as if she was actually going to submit now that it was grabbing her hair, so Sonata decided to show the undead just how wrong it was. She pulled her sword out of its sheath and sighed for a moment, before she used her left hand to grab the hair in front of the undead warrior's hand. That was followed by her using her sword to cut off her ponytail, causing the draugr to fall back as she rolled forward, though she immediately got up and drove her sword into her opponent's heart.

She left her steel sword in the draugr's chest and picked up the ebony sword that it had been carrying, which she was convinced would be better in the long run. Before she started moving again she touched the band that had held her hair in her signature ponytail and pulled it free, letting her hair fall down to her neck area while she wondered how she would look with short hair. She sighed as she looked at the path in front of her, already wishing that her friends had been able to come to Skuldafn with her, but shook her head in defeat and continued her march forward.

She then entered a courtyard like area, where she could choose to explore a nearby tower of sorts or continue onward, but before she could make a decision a pair of dragons landed in front of her and roared in her face.

"Look, I'd rather not fight either of you right now," Sonata said, as she more annoyed by the fact that she had been forced to cut off her hair and not by the fact that there were two dragons standing in front of her, "so get out of my way and you both might get to live another day."

The dragons roared again and each loosed a stream of flames at her, but Sonata spun her new sword around and pulled the flames into a vortex of sorts. When the dragons stopped using their flames on her, and noticed that Sonata was unharmed, she swung her arm and used their own attack against them, using the power of their flames to cut a gash into each of their sides with ease. The two dragons roared in pain as Sonata continued her advance, using both her magic and her new weapon to inflict as much damage as she could to both of the beasts before she made them collapse on the ground in front of her.

She wasn't sure if they were truly dead or not until she watched their souls escape from their respective bodies and was absorbed into her own body, granting her more knowledge on the dragons, their language, and the various Shouts that she might be able to use in her quests. She was also surprised by how easily she had taken on two dragons and beat them, with so little effort on her part, but quickly decided that they were likely the weakest dragons that Alduin had resurrected before coming to High Hrothgar for their duel.

"Oh thank the Nine that those beasts are dead," a voice to her right said, causing her to turn and find a male altmer, wearing Thalmor robes no less, emerging from the tower she had spotted, "For a while there I was beginning to think that the only reason they bothered to remain in this place was to finish me off, despite the fact that all of the draugr that have come at me have been destroyed. Though judging from how you managed to take their souls, and prevented them from returning to life once again, that must mean that your the Dragonborn that I've heard about."

"That is correct. I am Sonata Dusk, the Last Dragonborn," Sonata replied, introducing herself to the altmer as something came to mind, "Wait... don't the Thalmor hate the notion of saying 'by the Nine' or 'Thank the Nine', because they don't see Talos as an actual Divine and are dedicated to rooting out all worship of him?"

"You would be correct in your thinking, but I cannot explain this out in the open," the altmer said, beckoning Sonata to follow him inside the tower for a moment, "I'll try to explain this as quickly as possible... and then we'll see about getting out of this draugr infested ruin before we end up dead."

Sonata knew that she should just decline the offer and see to her task of tracking down the portal to Sovngarde, but the idea of a Thalmor agent worshiping the Nine, and not the Eight that they insisted on making everyone else follow, made her see why this one altmer was different than the others she had come across in the past. She sighed and followed the elf into the tower, where she discovered a few more dead elves that had likely been brought here at the same time as the altmer.

"These are all that remain of the Thalmor that had been assigned to me, as the rest had been either eaten by that dragon or torn apart by the draugr," the altmer said, leading her up a ramp, where she found a makeshift table and a pair of chairs waiting, to which he sat in one of them, "Now then, I had better answer the question; yes, I worship Talos despite the fact that I was employed by the Thalmor and rose to the rank of Second Emissary to Skyrim. I know, how could I join the very organization that wanted to destroy all worship of Talos and still believe in him... but I truthfully had no idea what the Thalmor's methods were until I joined them.

I was naive to think that we were in Skyrim for any other reason than to help the people of this province, by whatever means the First Emissary desired. It wasn't until we arrived in this land that I discovered that we had come to eradicate all worship of Talos... which is why I ensured that most of the agents went out on false information and failed to find most of the shrines that had been brought to my attention. Unfortunately Rulindil, the Third Emissary, caught wind of my schemes, how I'll never understand, and delivered to me a message that told me I was to take a squad out and find a shrine located in the mountains near Eastmarch.

Here's something you may not know about Elenwen, the First Emissary; she never bothers to fully read anything that's given to her, she just skims it for important information and signs papers accordingly. She should have known that the Third Emissary doesn't have the power to order the Second Emissary around, but she was so caught up in her search for a Blades agent that she ignored that fact. My men and I traveled to Eastmarch, where our carriage was captured by those dragons and we were deposited here, either to die by the hands of the dead or become food for the beasts that you killed.

Elenwen likely thinks I've either run off on her or was killed by someone else, so I guess there's no reason in calling myself the 'Second Emissary' anymore. I am Kael Sunstrike... and right now I just want to leave this forsaken place, so I can head back to the Embassy and burn that fool Rulindil to the ground."

Sonata felt sorry for Kael, because he had likely lost the job he had worked hard to hold onto for so many years and all of the soldiers that had been sent out with him were dead. At least he would be happy to hear that Rulindil was dead, though she didn't know how well he would take the news about how she planned on getting back to Skyrim once she was finished with Alduin.

"Then you'll be happy to hear that Rulindil is dead," Sonata told the elf, noticing that a look of relief washed over his face for a moment, "though I'm afraid that the only way back to Skyrim, save for climbing down the side of the mountain, is to move through Skuldafn, reach the portal that will take us to Sovngarde, and defeat Alduin the World-Eater. Then maybe the Divines will send us home, so that I can turn my focus on the other evils that are plaguing the land of Skyrim."

Kael went silent for a few seconds, as if the reality of his situation was finally returning to him, before he pulled himself out of the chair and walked down to where he had left the remains of his dead comrades. Sonata followed him down the ramp, wondering if he was even going to try and aid her or if he was going to stay here and accept his fate, because she knew that any help would be grateful at this point. She watched as the altmer picked up what appeared to be a sword that had flames on the blade, more like a detail than actual flames, before he attached it and its sheath to his belt. Kael then moved to one of the soldiers and started removing the intact pieces of armor, which he eventually did to the others until he was carrying a completed set of elven armor in his hands.

"Here, these should fit you," Kael said, handing the pieces of armor to Sonata, who accepted them without making any comments about them, "Look, your the Dragonborn that the nords of Skyrim believe will stop the World-Eater from destroying Nirn, so I'd rather make sure that you reach the end of this ruin and not die on the way there. This armor should last you until you find something better to replace it, though to be completely honest I know that there are better armors out there than the armor that the Thalmor gives its soldiers."

Sonata nodded and took the armor from Kael, though she noticed that he moved away from where she was standing and went to a different part of the small tower to give her some privacy while she changed outfits. She liked the leather armor she had been wearing up until this point, because it had served her well through everything that Grul had sent her way, but she knew that it was time that she replaced it with something better. The elven armor looked like it could protect her more than the leather armor, but she knew that the draugr had weapons that could cut through it considering that some of them had killed Kael's companions. She quickly removed what she was wearing and replaced it with the elven armor, which she fiddled with for a few seconds to be sure it fit her and wouldn't fall off the moment something hard hit her.

Once the armor was on, and she was satisfied with how it fit her at the moment, she returned her new ebony sword to her belt and let out a sigh, before steeling herself once more.

"Okay Kael, I'm decent," Sonata said, watching Kael walk out of the area he had been waiting in, "We had best get underway before more of those dragons show up to hinder our progress."

"I am eager to get some vengeance for the soldiers that the draugr killed," Kael replied, pulling out an elven sword while some flames danced in his left hand, "so let's go show those undead warriors the might of the Dragonborn and whoever aids her in her quest to save Nirn from being destroyed."

Sonata nodded and the two of them walked out of the tower, following the path she had been taking before she had been rudely interrupted by the pair of dragons, whose corpses they passed by on their way to the entrance of the temple. As they turned around the corner Kael held up his hand and stopped Sonata before she could walk out just a bit, to which she noticed two arrows fly by where she would have been standing if he hadn't stopped her. She guessed that he had taken notice of the draugr's methods in the entire time he had been here, developing a way to keep himself safe until he could find a way home. She was grateful for the assistance, because if those had hit her she could either be seriously wounded or dead, neither of which would be good for the people of Nirn.

She spotted a draugr walking on the wall that was across from where they were standing, its bow pointed at them as it readied an arrow, so she summoned lightning into her hand and struck the enemy in the chest, knocking it backwards and ensuring that it wouldn't get back up again. Kael, seeing several of the other draugr coming their way, raised his hand and set some of them on fire, causing them to burn until they fell to the ground. It was understandable considering that the first enemies that came at them were the lowest of the undead draugr, which made Sonata wonder what would happen when the Deathlords came at them.

Unfortunately there were two Deathlords walking down the stairs in front of them, both wielding large ebony weapons that would hurt if they hit their targets, but Sonata would not be stopped in her quest to save Nirn. Sonata snapped her fingers and her lightning flew through the air, slamming into one of the enemies and throwing them into the wall as Kael dealt with the other Deathlord with his own fire magic. The rest of the draugr turned on them as they ran up the steps, which was why the two of them used some of their other spells to force their enemies back as they entered the actual temple. The instant they were past the door, and it was closed behind them, Sonata summoned more of her magic and shattered the ceiling above them, collapsing it on top of the door to prevent enemies from following them inside.

Once the deed was done, and she was sure that none of the draugr would follow them inside, Sonata took out one of the potions that Saerza gave her and uncorked the bottle, as she actually needed to restore her energy after everything they had been through already and was thankful that there were two more for her to use if she needed them.

"You want the rest of this?" Sonata asked, not knowing if Kael had been able to recover his own magicka over the number of days he had been trapped here or not.

"No, I'm good on magicka for now," Kael replied, shaking his head as he looked around the area they were in, "Go ahead and finish that bottle off... I'll see what our choices are for moving forward."

Sonata nodded and downed the rest of the potion, feeling her energy return to her within a matter of seconds, before she put the bottle away and followed Kael further into the ruins that she had trapped them inside. Apparently the two paths ahead of them appeared to lead to the same area, so it honestly didn't matter which way they went, so she followed Kael down the path on the left and kept her sword at the ready. Three draugr, all Scourge by the looks of them, were waiting for the pair as they entered the next chamber, so Sonata switched to cutting down those that came at her with a lightning charged sword while Kael used his fire magic to burn them to cinders.

Sonata had noticed that her new companion liked to play with fire more than any other type of school, which told her that she had found a pyromancer and, judging from the amount of damage he was doing to his enemies with both his spells and his elven sword, he happened to be a very powerful one as well.

The moment the three draugr were dealt with they walked up the stairs and entered a larger chamber than the one they had just left, though Sonata immediately noticed that there were three spinning pillars waiting in the middle of the room, which told her that there was a puzzle to solve. The draugr that were guarding the area didn't like the fact that they had come into their territory, as they pulled themselves from their coffins, picked up their weapons, and begun their attack. Sonata, seeing how many undead warriors were coming their way, summoned more of her magic and started throwing spells at the enemies that Kael wasn't focused on, though they had to back up quite a bit as to avoid being hit by their enemies.

When the last draugr fell to the ground, and joined the heap of bodies that was now littering the floor, Sonata turned her attention to the puzzle in front of her, looking for clues that would allow her to solve this so they could move on once more. She spotted a pair of carvings on the wall opposite of the chamber they had entered from, one of which was a snake and the other was an eagle, though she also noticed that the eagle passage had collapsed. On the chamber's right wall she noticed another carving of a snake, while on the left side she spotted a whale, but in her mind she had already solved this puzzle. The pillar on the right was moved until it displayed the snake symbol, while the one of the left was moved until she had the whale facing the wall, leaving her with the one in the middle.

She quickly changed the middle pillar to a snake and pulled the lever in front of the pillars, to which she watched as the gate beneath the snake symbol opened and allowed them to move forward.

With the way open they climbed up the two flights of stairs that they found until they came to another chamber, smaller than the last two they had visited, that had three more draugr blocking their way, but Sonata frowned when she noticed that they had little armor to speak of and that their weapons looked like they were about ready to fall apart. She didn't bother to raise her sword or use her magic against them, allowing Kael to burn them all to the ground before they followed the pathway through a coffin, though it brought them to an area that was covered in webs.

They followed the twists and turns of the passage as they tore through all of the spiders that happened to be in their way, to which they used their swords to cut their way through the infested halls until they reached a large wooden door. A group of five draugr were waiting for them on the other side of the door, who immediately started attacking the moment they opened the door that connected to the room. Sonata and Kael summoned their magic once more and continued attacking the undead enemies that were standing before them, either blasting their lifeless bodies into the walls around them or turning them to a pile of ash.

As they fought through the room they were in Sonata noticed that there was a pillar the moment they entered the area, though the symbol she believed to be tied to it happened to be behind the platform that was in the middle of the room. She left Kael to fight the rest of the undead warriors that were in the room and approached the pillar she had spotted, to which she took a few seconds to turn it around until it faced the snake symbol. As she did that she noticed two more symbols resting above where Kael was standing, though she found it hard to believe that the ancient nords would place the required symbol right above the pillar it went to. If she had designed this room she would have at least switched them around, so that the answer would be diagonally across from the one it belonged to.

Once she had all three of the symbols in the correct order she returned to Kael's side, who happened to be standing next to the lever she needed to pull, though she was pleased to find that it lowered the bridge in front of them so that they could continue forward. They quickly walked over the bridge and passed through the door that it had been protecting, where they followed the passage that the door connected to until they came to a small chamber with three more draugr. Kael charged at the enemy standing right in front of them, leaving Sonata to call on her magic and fight the archers who were on the platform above them, though she had to wait until they showed themselves before she could actually hit them.

This fight took a bit longer for them to finish, on account that Sonata's enemies hated coming into her line of sight, but eventually all of the draugr were returned to their rest and Sonata and Kael moved forward yet again.

After some more twists and turns, and climbing up a circular staircase, they came to a room where the draugr were standing in what appeared to be oil, so Kael smirked as he set the floor on fire and burned their enemies alive within seconds. Inside that same room Sonata spotted a lever that opened the gate on the opposite side of where they were standing, though they had their weapons drawn in case something happened. They followed the passage, and navigated through the twists and turns that it threw at them, before they reached what Sonata knew was the Hall of Stories, which told her that there had to be another Dragon Claw in the immediate area. As they rounded the next corner, however, Sonata spotted the person they would have to fight to get the claw they needed to move on, though she wasn't surprised to find a Deathlord carrying the item.

Sonata decided to get this over with as fast as possible, so while the Deathlord advanced to where she was standing she used her Unrelenting Force Shout to stagger the undead warrior, as apparently the high ranking undead couldn't be thrown back by the full power of the Shout. It was fortunate that the Deathlord only wanted to kill her first, because it ignored Kael until a sword erupted from its chest, to which he burned the creature until all that was left was the armor and the claw. Sonata grabbed the claw and approached the wall that it went to, quickly spying the combination on the bottom of it before she started to move the rings into the proper order; first a fox, then a moth, and finally a dragon.

With the door out of the way the two pressed on yet again, only this time they entered a chamber that had the largest Word Wall that Sonata had seen in her entire time in Skyrim. They quickly crossed to the other side, as they were concerned by the fact that there weren't any enemies that wanted to kill them in the room just yet, to which Sonata stepped up to the wall and let the Word of Power enter her body. The Word she found was Strun, which happened to be the first Word in an entirely new Shout, which made her chuckle for a few seconds before they followed the passage out of the room they were in. They followed the path until they came to a door that led them outside, though as they took in the rays of light again Sonata noticed three Deathlords coming their way.

Instead of dealing with them, and wasting more of their time, she engaged her magic and threw them off of where they were standing, leaving her and Kael to turn around the corner and walk up the stairs that they found... only they discovered a floating robed figure that had a dragon on either side of it. Behind the floating draugr was the portal to Sovngarde, but as the draugr removed its staff the portal was sealed before their very eyes, though Sonata knew that they'd have to get the staff if they wanted to get out of here.

"So this is where Nahkriin was hiding," Kael said, beckoning to the undead in front of them, "He's supposed to be one of the most powerful Dragon Priests to ever serve the dragons, though stories I've read claim that there might be others that are even stronger than him. I'll hold him off while you deal with the dragons... and then we'll get that staff."

"Actually, I'd rather get this over with," Sonata replied, allowing her power to enter her body for a few seconds, to which she added her lightning abilities to the Shout she had just acquired, "This ought to be interesting."

Sonata turned to the sky and loosed the new Shout, though she snapped up a shield as the sky above them turned into a full blown storm in a matter of seconds. Lightning flashed from the sky and struck everything around where the two of them were standing, either blowing holes into the stonework or striking the dragons that tried to take off. The Dragon Priest seemed to have a better time dodging the lightning, and it even raised its staff at them at one point, but the lightning zeroed in on it and delivered the full power of the storm to its core. The undead priest turned to ashes as the lightning blasted the dragons into the stonework around them, frying them alive until Sonata was sure that all of their enemies were dead.

As she called off the power of the storm, and collected the souls of the slain dragons, she fell to her knees for a moment, which was followed by some huffing and puffing from the amount of power she had called forth.

"I guess I need... the second potion," Sonata commented, pulling out the second magicka potion she had been given, while tossing the third one over to Kael, "Be ready... because somewhere on the other side of that portal is our enemy."

Kael nodded and they both downed the potions, regaining most of the magicka that they had used throughout the temple, before he helped Sonata back onto her feet. He then approached the corpse of the Dragon Priest and collected the mask that the creature had been wearing, knowing that many mages would hand to get their hands on the mask of Nahkriin, before picking up the staff. Kael then handed the staff to Sonata, who approached the area that the priest had been floating before they arrived, to which she slammed the base of the staff into the indent she had found on the platform.

The magic happened immediately, as the portal was opened before their very eyes as the stone was ripped apart in front of them, though Sonata grinned as she approached the entrance to Sovngarde. All she had to do now was find Alduin and put him down, so that she could turn her focus on the remaining enemies that were waiting for her to find them.

30: Sovngarde

When Sonata and Kael stepped through the other side of the portal, and appeared in the nordic afterlife that was Sovngarde, she half expected to be in the form of a pony, considering that she was originally from Equus. As she regained herself she noticed that she was still in her normal form, which was actually fine considering everything that she had been through so far. Kael stood to her right, but his eyes were on what was resting before them, which prompted Sonata to turn her head to what was in front of them and finally notice the land of Sovngarde.

There were plenty of trees and patches of grass scattered around the area in front of them, though Sonata could even see a mound of ground that was covered by a bunch of clouds. She looked to their left and right and spotted what she assumed were small mountains, with statues carved out of the very stone they were attached to. Even the air seemed lighter than it had been in Skyrim, something that Sonata hadn't been expecting when they walked through the portal, but she still managed to enjoy it. She even spotted a rather large building in the distance, where she assumed she would find the assistance she needed if she wanted to put down the World-Eater.

Still, despite the fact they came here to prevent the end of the world Sonata couldn't help but be amazed by the sights that were resting before her eyes.

"So this is Sovngarde..." Kael commented, looking around in wonder for a few seconds, "I have heard many nords speak of this place, always revering it whenever they said its name, and yet I never dared to think that I would actually step foot in this part of Aetherius."

"I suspect that we'll find someone to help us inside that massive building." Sonata said, pointing at the massive structure for a moment, before starting to walk down the path in front of them, "Come on, we should get moving before Alduin realizes that we're here."

"I think that he might already know," Kael replied, pointing at the black mist that happened to be covering most of the area between them and the massive building that Sonata had pointed to, all while noticing that a large number of soul like creatures were standing before the mist itself, "Ah, I think I see how Alduin intends on restoring his health after his battle with you; he set up this mist and likely catches the souls of those who are brave enough to test their luck. Its either that, which I think that it is, or this was designed to keep you from reaching that building, though we'll have to wait and see."

Sonata didn't like to think that this had been designed to keep her away from the massive building, because that would have meant that Alduin knew that she would be coming here despite what he told her back at the Throat of the World. This was likely how he stunned the souls of the dead so he could eat them whenever he needed to, which meant that her enemy was nearby and that they needed to get to that building before they were spotted. She counted herself fortunate that she had learned the Clear Skies Shout before coming here, because she was sure that it would help her in clearing out the mist, while also informing Alduin that she had arrived.

She spotted one of the unfortunate souls trying to get through the mist, but after a few seconds he disappeared and was never seen again, though Sonata blasted back the black mist with her Shout. Eventually she and Kael came to a split in the path, to which they looked at each other for a few seconds, before they turned to the left and resumed their journey. Every time the mist returned Sonata blasted it back, keeping her and her companion safe while they made their way to the large building that they had spotted earlier. After some time they emerged on the other side of the mist and appeared before what appeared to be a large bridge back from what Sonata assumed was the backs of several dragons.

Standing in front of the bridge, however, was a massive nord that was glowing, though Sonata also noticed that he was wearing no chest piece and carried a battleaxe on his back.

"What brings you, traveler grim, to wander here, in Sovngarde, Shor's gift to honored dead?" the large nord asked Sonata the moment she and Kael approached him, though it was clear that he was more interested in Sonata.

"I pursue Alduin, the World-Eater." Sonata declared, knowing that the dragon was waiting for the end of their battle, something that she wanted to bring an end to anyway.

"A fateful errand." the large nord responded, though Sonata was unsure if he had been expecting that answer or if he had been expecting her to say something else, "No few have chafed to face the Worm since first he set his soul-snare here at Sovngarde's threshold. But Shor restrained our wrathful onslaught - perhaps, deep counselled, your doom he foresaw. No shade are you, as usually here passes, but living, you dare the land of the dead. By what right do you request entry?"

Sonata had no idea what the man before her was speaking of, and she wanted to say by the right of being the Siren Queen, but decided that revealing what she was once more would only make things more complicated for someone that wasn't familiar with her past self. So that left her with only one path she could take, the only one that would get her into the building that was standing on the other side of the massive bridge. Though as she thought about it, and everything that Grul was forcing her to go through thanks to him discovering what she was, she figured that she might as well accept who she used to be and add it back into her life.

"By right of birth." Sonata declared once more, though she knew that Kael was sure to be surprised by what she was about to say next, "I am not only the Dragonborn of Legend, but also the Siren Queen!"

"Ah! It's been too long since last I faced a doom-driven hero of the dragon blood." the large nord replied, apparently taking more to the fact that she was Dragonborn than what she actually was, "Living or dead, by decree of Shor, none may pass this perilous bridge 'till I judge them worthy by the warrior's test."

Sonata sighed as she drew her ebony sword and parried the attack that came her way, as she had expected the massive warrior to attack considering that he had mentioned a 'warrior's test'. Kael, knowing that she had to face the man alone, had backed up and was watching what was happening before his eyes as Sonata parried the next attack. She then parried the next three attacks that were coming her way, trying to determine what she could do to defeat the large warrior, before she forced it back for a moment and struck him in the chest. The wound didn't seem to bother the man very much, leaving Sonata to parry several more attacks before she could deliver another wound and get the show on the road.

It took some time, and a large amount of parries on her part, before the nord sheathed his weapon and stared down at her, leaving her to wonder if the fight was over or if it was a way to make her lower her guard.

"You fought well." the man said, moving out of the way as if he was permitting her to cross the bridge, "I find you worthy. It is long since one of the living has entered here. May Shor's favor follow you and your errand."

"Kael, wait here for a few minutes," Sonata said, sheathing her weapon as she approached the bridge, "I should be back with some allies that will help us defeat Alduin."

Kael nodded his understanding as Sonata began the trek across the bridge, not bothering to think about what she was stepping on as she focused her energy into figuring out how she was going to stop Alduin. She was sure that the power of four Tongues would be able to do some massive damage to the ancient dragon, but she seriously hoped that they would be able to bring an end to the World-Eater. The building she was walking towards got more impressive the closer she got to it, though when she stopped at the entrance she noticed that it was definitely a massive structure, far larger than she had originally been expecting.

When she walked inside the building she noticed that there was a massive amount of ancient warriors, far more than she was expecting to see when she had stepped into Sovngarde, though she was greeted by a buff warrior that seemed to have an air of authority around him.

"Three await you Dragonborn," the large warrior commented as Sonata approached, before beckoning to three ancient warriors that she recognized from when she looked into the Elder Scroll to learn Dragonrend, "to loose their fury upon the perilous foe. Gormlaith the Fearless, glad-hearted in battle; Hakon the Valiant, heavy-handed warrior; and Felldir the Old, far-seeing and grim."

Sonata smiled when she spotted who would be fighting by her side when she called Alduin to battle one last time, because she knew that this time the World-Eater would finally meet his end.

Sonata and the three ancient heroes left the massive building in time to hear a roar shake the entire area, something that told them that Alduin had grown tired of waiting and was ready to fight them once more. The four of them quickly crossed back to where Sonata had left Kael, who fell in with them as they arrayed themselves between the black mist and the bridge, though before they did anything they all drew their weapons as they prepared themselves.

"Come now, Clear Skies," Gormlaith shouted, facing the mist as everyone else turned towards the mass of darkness that was hanging in front of them, "We will drive back the Enemy's mist and bring him to justice this day."

The Clear Skies Shout escaped from the mouths of four Tounges, though the combined power of their Shout tore into the mist, ripping it apart and driving it from the area in front of them. Sonata would have cheered at the fact that they had beaten Alduin's mist, but before she could do anything she heard three words, Ven, Mul, and Riik echo through the air as the mist stitched itself back together before their eyes. Gormlaith called for them to try again, to which they tore the mist apart with their Shout for the second time, though that was rapidly followed by the same three words echoing through the valley and the mist reforming. The third time was definitely the charm, because the moment it was torn to pieces Alduin didn't bother trying to restore it again as he burst out of the sky and descended towards where they were standing.

As Alduin neared them Sonata and the other three Tongues loosed the Dragonrend Shout, forcing their enemy to the ground and allowing them to fight him on equal footing. Alduin roared and loosed a gout of flames at them, forcing them to separate from each other for a few seconds as they attacked the massive dragon from both directions. Their enemy brushed off their attacks, which annoyed Sonata considering that they had forced him to the ground with the Dragonrend Shout, and gave them the impression that they weren't doing enough damage at the moment.

When the next wave of Dragonrend Shouts collided with Alduin, and continued to make sure that he stayed grounded, Sonata summoned her power and started shooting lightning into her enemy's sides, trying to wound him like she had done back at the Throat of the World. Her power, combined with the elemental fury that Kael commanded and the additional power of three more Nordic Tongues, seemed to have almost no effect on their enemy despite the fact that he was being weighed down by the Dragonrend Shout, leaving Sonata to wonder what was different between this fight and the last one.

"You cannot defeat me, joor!" Alduin roared, his left wing smacking Sonata in the face while she was distracted, sending her flying into the rock wall that was behind her, "Your power means nothing to me."

That was when Sonata remembered what she had done back at the Throat of the World to force Alduin to come here, as she had been in this position during their previous fight. She had opened herself up to the power trapped inside of her, which also included her anger towards Lord Grul, and had overpowered the World-Eater. She moaned as she opened herself to her true power, as much as she was able to wield thanks to her shattered necklace, and noticed the red aura from before surround her as she powered up. The sky seemed to flash for a few seconds as she picked herself back up, though she was glaring at the World-Eater the entire time as he focused on her allies and not on her.

It gave her the perfect opportunity to connect her power to the sky above them and create the beginnings of what could be the storm that would destroy her enemy, before she focused her lightning and blasted Alduin in the side.

"If you know a Shout that can summon a storm I suggest you use it!" Sonata shouted to her allies, focusing her attention on the World-Eater as she struck him with the Dragonrend Shout, though that was followed by the sky darkening even more than it had previously been as lightning started to flash everywhere.

Alduin turned his attention to Sonata and breathed gouts of flames at her as she moved through the air, avoiding all of them thanks to her enhanced speed and smiling at the entire time. Her enemy clearly had no idea that she was using his own flames to increase the power of the storm that was building above their heads, all so she could create a powerful attack that could end this fight. Starswirl had told her that this was possible before he had been forced to banish her and her sisters, to use flames to increase the power of the storm that she could command. It basically meant that she didn't need to expand her power creating the storm itself, especially when she could make Alduin empower the storm that she would use to destroy him.

He also managed to score a lucky hit on her as she moved around his head, as he appeared to be permanently grounded thanks to four Tongues constantly blasting him with the Dragonrend Shout. Though not a few seconds after getting hit she noticed that the clouds were busy with activity, informing her that this was the time to unleash the power and destroy her enemy.

"Let's end this!" Sonata shouted, raising her ebony sword to the sky as a bit of lightning danced around it, while the storm itself seemed to flash in response to what she had done, "Lightning Rod!"

Sonata flew down to where Alduin was waiting and drove the blade right into his head, but even with the Dragonrend Shout it didn't seem like he was phased by her sword penetrating his skull. She then kicked herself off of his head, leaving her sword where it was for the moment, and opened herself to the storm that was above their heads, calling upon all the power that it could muster. Lightning flashed through the air and slammed into the ebony sword, coursing through the blade and entering Alduin's body, though that was followed by the World-Eater roaring in pain from the attack. Sonata did not relent in her attack, using everything that the storm had, and even most of her own power, to inflict as much damage as she could upon her enemy, all while hoping that it would be enough to stop him.

That was seconds before Alduin roared in pain one last time and his body exploded, his soul rushing towards the skies above them and ripping apart the storm that Sonata had put together, until there was absolutely nothing left of the World-Eater, save for Sonata's ebony sword that had been stuck in his head.

"I can't... believe that worked." Sonata commented as she landed on the ground near Kael, falling to her knees as she cut off the aura and left the power behind.

"You deserve to rest for at least an hour before we even think about heading back to Nirn," Kael replied, making sure that his companion was fine from the blow that had knocked her into the side of the mountain, "then we'll figure out which of your enemies we should take out next... after we gather up the rest of your small army."

"That was a mighty deed!" the large nord that had challenged Sonata said, as if he was actually impressed by the defeat of the World-Eater, "The doom of Alduin encompassed at last, and cleansed is Sovngarde of his evil snare. They will sing of this battle in Shor's hall forever. But your fate lies elsewhere. When you have completed your count of days, I may welcome you again, with glad friendship, and bid you join the blessed feasting."

Sonata nodded and looked up at the sky of Sovngarde, somehow finding a sense of peace from the troubles that awaited her back in Skyrim, where Lord Harkon, Miraak, and Lord Grul waited for her return. She reached for her shattered necklace and pulled it out for a second, though she noticed that two of the fragments, which had been two separate pieces, had merged into one half of the original pendant. She smiled as she looked at the necklace, now knowing that the way to restore her former powers laid through her dealing with the enemies that plagued Skyrim, which meant that she would be paying the Dawnguard a visit after she returned to Skyrim.

And then, once she was done with Harkon and Miraak, she was going to enjoy using her full power to find Lord Grul, break him like the fool he was, and rescue her sisters from whatever prison they were trapped in at the moment.

Lord Grul looked at the ceiling of Blackreach as his minions focused on completing their work, a smile appearing on his face as he felt the World-Eater meet his end. He had been expecting the Siren Queen to deal with the massive black dragon, and she had thanks to what he was feeling, but he knew that there were two more enemies for her to fight. Grul chuckled for a moment, knowing that it was almost time for them to reveal what they had been working on, to which Aggronak, his right hand, looked up from the crystal that he was working on the moment he chuckled.

"One down," Grul commented, picking up a twisted piece of metal that resembled Alduin, crushing it as he turned to the twisted pieces of metal that resembled a vampire and a dragon priest, "two to go."

31: Return to Whiterun

Sonata and Kael waited a whole hour after dealing with Alduin the World-Eater, allowing Sonata time to rest from having spent most of her energy to obliterate one of her enemies from the face of Nirn. Kael spent his time either enjoying the sights or speaking to several of the mages that had found their way to Sovngarde, despite the fact that most of them happened to be nords. He was clearly interested in this version of the afterlife and wanted to ask his questions before Sonata decided it was time to return to Nirn, where they would retrieve the rest of her friends and begin the hunt for either Harkon or Miraak.

Sonata, on the other hand, had gotten her hands on some of the food from the Hall of Valor, the building that she had been so eager to enter to find allies that would have helped her stop Alduin, and had been able to get some well deserved rest. She knew that she and Kael couldn't stay in Sovngarde forever, not when Lord Grul was running around Skyrim and had her sisters held captive in some unknown area. She also knew that she had to deal with Harkon and Miraak first, because they were threatening Skyrim and would likely restore a fraction of her power once she had taken care of them, if the defeat of Alduin was anything to go by.

When the hour was finally up, and she had some of her energy back, Sonata got onto her feet, collected her ebony sword from where she had left it, made sure that Kael was following her again, and then approached Tsun, the giant nord who's name she had failed to learn when she had first arrived in Sovngarde.

"We are ready to return to Tamriel," Sonata told Tsun, though even as she said that she had to wonder where they would end up in the end, something that she was sure was running through Kael's mind as well.

"Return now to Nirn, with this rich boon from Shor, my lord: a Shout to bring a hero from Sovngarde in your hour of need." Tsun replied, allowing a new Shout to fill Sonata's mind before he drew in his own power, "Nahl... Daal... Vus!"

Sonata felt the world go dark as some unknown power grabbed onto her and pulled her out of Sovngarde, dragging her, and no doubt Kael as well, back to Tamriel. When she next opened her eyes she found that they had been dropped off at the peak of the Throat of the World, where she had originally met Paarthurnax, only this time she noticed that there were quite a number of dragons flying through the air around her and Kael. She silently wondered if they were here to avenge their fallen master, because if they were then she knew she didn't stand a chance to get rid of all of them with what energy she had left.

"Alduin los dilon!" A dragon shouted, causing an uproar from all of the others, while Sonata turned her head to the side as she looked at the host of dragons, "Alduin lost kosaan krinaan!

Sonata and Kael watched as the host of dragons scattered themselves to the winds, though Sonata assumed that they had been somewhat pleased that Alduin had been defeated. Two dragons remained near her while the others disappeared, the one that was still flying around the mountain she immediately recognized as Paarthurnax, though it took her a moment to realize that the second was Odahviing.

"Greetings, Dovahkiin," Odahviing called out, landing behind Sonata and Kael, though Sonata though she saw a smirk on the dragon's face, "I see that you have succeeded in your...mission. Alduin, the Firstborn and the Lord of the dragons, is no more. Paarthurnax is leaving his mountain. No doubt so he can try to teach the other dragons the peaceful lifestyle that he developed in the Way of the Voice. I wish him luck in his quest, as many of our kind would not exchange Alduin's Lordship for the tyranny that comes from Paarthurnax's peaceful teachings. I, on the other wing, shall go high into the other mountains. I shall honor my word and come to your call whenever you need me, if I am able to reach you. I hope to see you sometime in the future, but until then I will take my leave. Farewell Dovahkiin."

Sonata watched as both Paarthurnax and Odahviing took off in different directions, until she and Kael were the only ones left at the peak of the Throat of the World.

"Well then," Sonata said, turning to Kael for a moment, who seemed stunned by what they had just seen, "We had best get underway... because this journey will take us a couple of hours to reach Whiterun."

Sonata had been half right in saying that it would take them a few hours to reach Whiterun, because in reality it took them half a day to reach their destination. As they walked along the path that took them towards the massive city Sonata was pleased to find that there was nothing that jumped out and wanted to kill them, though at the same time it made her worry about what Grul was planning next. She hadn't seen a sign of him or his orcs since she had retrieved the Elder Scroll, giving him an untold number of dwarven machines to mess with and do whatever he wanted with them. Grul had wanted the machines for some reason, though she was beginning to think that she had allowed him to get his hands on something that he had been searching for.

Something, she mentally added, that might be the key to him opening that portal she had seen in her dreams, back when she received a vision of Grul burning Nirn to ashes, It was something that she hadn't actually told anyone about, because she wasn't sure if she was right or if she had had a bad dream.

When they actually reached their destination Sonata immediately spotted several guards that happened to be waiting in front of the main gate, though instead of the usual two she always saw she noticed that there were at least five of them now. She had to wonder if any of them had been with her when she released Odahviing so she could get to Skuldafn, though it was impossible to tell thanks to the identical armor all of the guards wore. The moment the guards noticed them walking towards the gate one of them exclaimed something about the defeat of Alduin, which was roughly followed by the entire group cheering and beckoning the pair into Whiterun so they could deliver the news to Jarl Balgruuf.

Sonata assumed that news of what she was doing had spread like wildfire throughout the city, which explained why everyone she and Kael passed seemed overjoyed. She only wished that she could be like them, but knew that she would only truly be happy once she had eliminated the remainder of her enemies and had rescued her sisters.

When she and Kael reached Dragonsreach, and were allowed in by the overjoyed guards, Sonata was pleased to find that all of her friends were scattered around the main hall, apparently helping the various people in the hall with whatever they needed help with. Gol and Mez seemed to be the only ones absent at the moment, which told her that they were at one of the city's forges, no doubt preparing weapons and armor for the coming trials. Kree spotted her the moment she walked through the door, to which she called to the rest of their companions and everyone stopped what they were doing, before they all gathered around the hearth to welcome her back.

"Is... is the task complete?" Kree asked, though it was likely the first time that Sonata had ever heard her friend seem uncertain about something, "Is Alduin... dead?"

"The World-Eater is no more," Sonata replied, which brought on a large amount of cheering and declarations that a celebration had to be planned for what she had done for them.

Sonata was fine with what they were saying, because she almost felt like she had earned one at this point, but knew that now was not the time for them to be celebrating. Grul was still out there, using Harkon as a pawn of his until he got whatever he wanted, and Sonata wouldn't actually take part in any parties until her enemy was destroyed.

She spent the next two hours telling her friends, and by extent Jarl Balgruuf, of her trek through Skuldafn, where she met Kael roughly ten minutes after Odahviing dropped her off and flew in the opposite direction. Several of her companions were surprised to find that her newest companion was actually a former member of the Thalmor, or more accurately the Second Emissary, until he and his soldiers had been dropped off on the mountain by a pair of dragons. As she reached the part about Sovngarde, and the defeat of Alduin, one of the guards ran into the area they were all in, though this time she dreaded to wonder what was coming next.

"My Lord, there's a small group of heavily armed orcs heading this way," the guard told Balgruuf, which only made Sonata moan as she realized that her enemy had come for her head, "and it appears that there is a group of vampires marching with them."

"It seems that we can't catch a break at all, can we?" Lorthan asked, sighing as everyone got onto their feet and turned towards the door, "I'd say that our enemies have decided to give you their own personal welcome back party... wouldn't you say so Sonata?"

Sonata couldn't believe her luck, because she had literally just returned from saving the world from Alduin and now had Harkon's forces, and some of Grul's, breathing down her neck. It was almost as if the vampire lord wanted her to come and kill him, though at this point she knew that it would be best to kill him the instant they crossed paths. No going on some epic quest to find the one thing that might end the fight or anything like that... she was just going to end the vampire lord the moment she laid eyes on him.

She knew that she was thinking like the Siren Queen she used to be, back when she was angry at someone, but right now she barely cared about that... she only wanted to end the attack on the city before innocent people were hurt by her enemies.

Once she and her friends had exited the city, and had walked up the ramps to see where their enemies were coming from, Sonata spotted a force of twenty orcs marching towards the city from the road that led to Riverwood, making her wonder if they had attacked the small village as well. Beside them marched an equal number of vampires, telling Sonata that they we likely paired in the manner of one warrior with one mage, which could have actually made things interesting if she didn't have her friends with her. She turned to Kree for a moment and nodded her head, to which Kree pulled her bowstring back and took aim at one of the orcs that were coming their way.

The instant her arrow pierced the orc's skull, and dropped him to the ground, the rest of the advancing war party began their charge towards the city, which was what Sonata wanted them to do. Lydia and Lorthan charged out to meet their enemies, though not seconds later both Gol and Mez, who had seen the group leaving the city, joined in the fight and tore into some of the orcs. Sonata left Kree, Saerza, and Kael to attack from the ramps, using their spells and Kree's arrows to deal with the enemies at the back of the pack, while she drew her ebony sword and marched towards the soldiers that followed Grul's orders.

She hacked, slashed, and cut her way through all of the enemies that stood in her way, not bothering to use her magic at all, until the majority of the enemies had been routed, save for one wounded vampire and a wounded orc.

"Lord Grul... will tame... your power!" the orc declared, struggling to pick up his weapon while Sonata and the others gathered around him.

"Yes, I have heard that from every orc that I've killed so far," Sonata replied, extending her hand before engulfing the orc in a wave of fire, to which she turned to the vampire as she ignored the burning orc, "So tell me, how badly does Lord Harkon want to capture me and exchange me for whatever Grul has promised him?"

"Oh, very badly," the vampire replied, a fanged smile appearing on his face, "Your power will fuel his portal... and then this world will burn!"

"Then there is no time to waste." Sonata said, engulfing the vampire in flames as well as she turned back to her friends, "So, whose up for finding the Dawnguard and showing them how to properly hunt down and fight vampires? Because seriously, this is starting to get annoying and I have half convinced that they're merely waiting for me to arrive before they do anything useful."

"We should depart for Riften at once," Kree commented, collecting the last of her arrows as she returned to them, "I am eager to see if there is anything special to these vampires... besides joining forces with the orc that wants to capture you."

Sonata hoped that Lord Harkon would at least put up a fight when she found him, though she had the feeling that he was going to be a complete waste of her time and energy, which she could use in finding where Grul was hiding and put that orc down. She only hoped that the orc warlock had killed himself on accident and that his entire war with her was over before it had even started.

32: The Hidden Secret

Sonata was somewhat surprised when she and her friends departed from Whiterun, because not too far away from where the orcs were spotted was a small caravan they had used to get here so fast, though they had stopped behind the brewery for some reason. There were at least five wagons sitting behind the building, almost as if they had been abandoned the moment the orcs had arrived, and there was still a horse attached to each one of them. It was as if the orcs were supposed to attack the city and then retreat, as if they had come to drag someone out of Whiterun, but in the end they were dead.

And, Sonata mentally added, the orcs had given her the perfect way to get them all to Riften without having to walk all the way there, as they could now use the carriages to get to their destination.

Kree, Goz, and Mez spent some time gathering everything that they could use, and making sure that the horses they didn't need would have a good home at the Whiterun stables until someone purchased them, before they got underway once more. They had decided to take two of the carriages for themselves to ride in, while using the third one for any additional treasure and supplies they might come across. Fortunately the orcs had apparently ransacked a camp at some point, though whether it was an Imperial or Stormcloak camp Sonata had no idea, so they now had the ability to set up a camp if they needed to.

Everyone else had searched everything that the orcs and vampires had brought with them, including going back to the bodies of the fallen and searching them for a few minutes. Gol and Mez, once again, insisted on taking certain pieces of armor and weapons from the fallen, so that they could use the metal for something better than what their enemy was using it for. The rest of the gear had been taken into the city, where some of it had been sold to the blacksmith and the general goods vendor, while the rest of it had been gifted to the Jarl.

Sonata was sure that their three carriages would attract unwanted attention from bandits, but considering that she had just killed Alduin, and saved the entirety of Nirn, she knew that common bandits posed little threat to her and her company of friends.

Once all of their preparations were complete, and they were sure that the city of Whiterun was safe from any further attacks, Sonata and her friends departed from the area and began their journey towards Riften. Sonata was somewhat happy that she was finally starting the hunt for Lord Harkon, in a manner of speaking considering that Lorthan could tell her where he was, because it was time to make him pay for everything he's done to her while she was figuring out how to stop Alduin. That also included making him suffer for anything that she wasn't aware of at the moment, though she assumed that Harkon had done more than what she already knew about.

"You never did finish your story on how you and Kael killed Alduin," Saerza commented, snapping Sonata out of her thoughts, "So, what happened after the two of you crossed through the portal that took you to Sovngarde?"

Sonata smiled as she told them what happened next; their journey through the soul snatching mist that Alduin commanded, her brief battle with Tsun, her meeting with the original heroes that banished Alduin, and then their fight with the World-Eater. She also mentioned that she had to tap into her true power, which half of her group knew about, and that she was able to end her foe with what she called upon. That was when Kael informed her that when she powered up, and tapped into her true power, her hair became spiked and went straight into the air.

What he described reminded Sonata of something she had seen back on Earth, before she and her sisters were defeated, something that she was sure was called a 'Saiyan' or something. She let the thought leave her mind as she focused on her next task, though she hoped to see what Kael had mentioned the next time she had to tap into her true powers.

When they arrived in Riften they asked one of the guards where Fort Dawnguard was located, to which they were pointed in the direction of Stendarr's Beacon. Oddly enough Lorthan knew where the Beacon was located, though Sonata guessed that it made sense considering that he would want to steer clear of it. He quickly led them towards the Beacon, though he was somewhat annoyed when they found the entrance that would lead them to the fort itself, as it happened to be a hole in the side of the mountain with two flaming blaziers in front of it.

"I do hope this is a joke." Lorthan commented as they climbed off of their carriages, "Its almost like they want Lord Harkon to find out where they are hiding."

"And yet it explains so much," Sonata added, walking up to the entrance, "A stupid leader means stupid decisions... but let's hope that they are willing to listen to reason."

Upon entering the hole in the wall, and entering the canyon area they had been told about, Sonata found a scared farmer who looked like he was trying to decide between walking up to the fortress or going back home. As she and her friends walked forward, and began to approach the fortress, the young man seemed to make up his mind and fell in with them.

"You guys here to join the Dawnguard, too?" the young man asked, trying to engage them in conversation while attempting to calm himself down, "Truth is, I'm a little nervous. I've never done anything like this before. I hope you don't mind if I walk up with you. Just don't tell Isran I was afraid to meet him by myself. Not the best first impression for a new vampire hunter, I guess. You guys have probably killed lots of vampires, huh? I'm sure Isran will sign the lot of you right up. Not sure he'll take me. I hope so."

Sonata had to contain the sigh that had been building up while the young man had been speaking, because she knew that she and her friends had killed quite the number of vampires during her time in Skyrim, though it made her wonder how many more of them there were between her and Harkon.

"Yeah, we've killed plenty of vampires," Sonata commented, to which every one, including Lorthan, nodded their heads in agreement, "though I've been itching to cut the head off of the beast lately."

The young man, clearly not sure what Sonata had told him by the last part, fell silent as they approached the front door of the fortress, though Sonata noticed many of the assembled soldiers gathering supplies to make the place livable. The soldier in front of the door took one look at Sonata, and the people around her, and beckoned for them to enter without a single word, as if he knew that they were here to help them stamp out the vampire menace. When they walked inside the fortress they found two people arguing, though Sonata decided to wait for them to finish before bothering to approach them.

"Why are you here, Tolan?" the man on the left asked, staring right at the nord that was standing in front of him for a moment, "The Vigilants and I were finished long ago."

"You know why I'm here Isran," the man, Tolan, replied, letting out a sigh as he spoke, "the Vigilants are under attack everywhere. The vampires are much more dangerous than we believed."

"And now you want to come running to safety with the Dawnguard, is that it?" Isran angrily said, as if the very idea went against everything that he stood for, "I remember Keeper Carcette telling me repeatedly that Dawnguard is a crumbling ruin, not worth the expense and manpower to repair. And now that you've stirred up the vampires against you, you come begging for my protection?"

"Isran, Carcette is dead." Tolan answered, sorrow filling his voice for a moment, which caused Isran to stare at him in shock for a few seconds, "The Hall of Vigilants... everyone... they're all dead. You were right, we were wrong. Isn't that enough for you?"

"Yes, well... I never wanted any of this to happen." Isran simply stated, recovering from his initial shock enough to give a decent response, "I tried to warn all of you... I am sorry, you know."

Sonata had half a mind to jump into the conversation and mention that it wasn't the Vigilants that had stirred up the vampires, rather it was an orc warlock by the name of Grul that had promised Lord Harkon power if he handed Sonata over to him. She actually starting to wonder how Grul had come into contact with Harkon, because it didn't seem like chance was even involved at this point anymore. Though she knew that she couldn't put off meeting with the Leader of the Dawnguard forever, so she walked forward and forced both Isran and Tolan to look at her.

"So who are you?" Isran asked, something that Sonata was actually expecting, considering that the man before her should have no idea who she was or what she had already done to get this far, "What do you want?"

"I am Sonata Dusk, Dragonborn of legend and Slayer of Alduin the World-Eater," Sonata replied, bowing her head ever so slightly, more to show respect towards the person who commanded the Dawnguard, "I had heard that there was a group of people who were trying to get rid of the vampires that have been plaguing the people of Skryim, and considering that I have run into them many times I figured that I could lend my skills to your cause."

Sonata wanted nothing more than to accuse Isran of doing a piss poor job at taking care of the vampires she had mentioned, but decided to keep her thoughts to herself. Harkon was apparently a very old vampire, from what the Council had told her before they had been destroyed by Lady Vespula, so it stood to reason that it wouldn't be easy to take him out of the picture, or his closest allies for that matter. All she needed to do was figure out where Lord Harkon was hiding... and then she would ensure that his world came crashing down all around him for everything he's done.

"You heard right." Isran said, crossing his arms for a moment, though Sonata could see a smile on his face for a few seconds, "I'm glad word's finally starting to get around. But that means it won't be long before the vampires start to take notice as well. Seeing how you are willing to get started immediately I need someone out in the field, taking the fight to the damn vampires, while we're getting the fort back into shape... Tolan, tell her about, what was it, Dimhollow?"

"Yes, that's it. Dimhollow Crypt." Tolan replied, turning to Sonata and her friends for a moment, though the information was for both Isran and the assembled group, "Brother Adalvald was sure it held some long-lost vampire artifact of some kind. We didn't listen to him any more than we did Isran. He was at the Hall when it was attacked..."

"That's good enough for me." Isran said, beckoning for Tolan to show Sonata where the crypt was located, which he proceeded to do without delay, "Go see what the vampires were looking for in this Dimhollow Crypt. With any luck, they'll still be there."

Sonata nodded once she knew where the crypt was located, and the others did as well, before turning around and departing from the fortress, leaving Isran to tell Tolan that it wasn't a good idea to go there as well. The young man that had followed them into the fortress remained behind as well, clearly wanting to learn how to be a proper vampire hunter, though Sonata wished him luck. She and her friends swiftly returned to where they had left their carts, which were still packed with everything they had brought with them, before they mounted up and began the journey to Dimhollow Crypt.

Thanks to Tolan indicating where the crypt was located, and Lorthan easily navigating them into the area they needed to be in, they managed to find Dimhollow Crypt in record time, though it was merely a hole in the side of a mountain. Sonata was sure that anyone could have found the crypt and made off with whatever the vampires were searching for before their arrival, but she wanted to search it anyway. Gol and Mez were assigned to watch the carriages, as they had the ability to fight off multiple enemies at the same time and would keep the supplies safe, before Sonata led everyone else inside. Tolan also managed to catch up with them, thanks to the horse he was riding, and insisted on staying beside them on the journey to the crypt, so that they could explore it together.

Sonata wasn't sure why he seemed so calm around Lorthan, who happened to be a vampire, but decided that the Vigilant had decided that a friendly vampire was better than an enemy... or whatever his reasoning was for not hating her friend.

Once they walked inside the cave they found four vampires talking among themselves, though they seemed to be discussing whatever was located further inside the crypt that their master was searching for. Sonata assumed that Harkon already knew about Dimhollow Crypt and was having his underlings search for the artifact as well, though that just meant that she couldn't let him have it. She beckoned to Kree, who had pulled her bow out, and an arrow went flying into the room, to which a vampire collapsed on the ground while the remaining three started to search for the intruders. Lydia loosed a roar of her own and charged into battle, tearing the head off of the enemy she came to, while the others assisted her from behind.

Sonata was pleased that they had such a strong group dynamic in place, as the warriors would take to the front lines and hold the enemy's attention while she and the other magic users would stay at the back and hit people from afar. Tolan, who was completely new to how their group worked, fought along side Lydia with ease, to which that was where Sonata wanted him as they traveled further into the crypt. She also counted herself fortunate that the vampires had foolishly left the gates open for them, allowing them to save some time now that they didn't have to search for levers to open the doors.

The next part of the crypt was an open area that was covered in graves, though it was a few seconds after they entered the area that skeletons began to pull themselves from their slumber and attack them. It was rather easy for Sonata and her friends to clear out the undead, considering that they could shatter a skeleton's bones with a hard strike from one of their weapons, and the only thing that really proved to be of a challenge was the vampire that was raising the dead. When the vampire was dead they moved on once more, searching for anything that they could use and, more importantly, whatever the vampires were searching for.

The following area they came to had some draugr that were fighting the vampires that had invaded their home, though Sonata had them all wait until the vampires were taken care of before they attacked the wounded draugr. It was an effective plan, as the undead clearly weren't expecting more enemies to show up quite so soon, so they were able to move forward in a matter of minutes. Once they had looted the nearby chests, while killing and looting a Deathlord that had been protecting one of those chests, they continued deeper into the ruins. That was until they reached a small waterfall like area, where the dead rose of the water and attacked them while the vampire that had been watching the entrance ran for help.

Sonata set fire to the vampires that came at her and her friends while Lydia and Tolan remained at the front, taking the majority of the attacks while allowing the others to use their magic and arrows to take their enemies out. It took some time to clear out the vampires that were waiting for them, and the massive spider that happened to be guarding a door they needed to pass through, but eventually they managed to enter the area of the ruins that they had been searching for. Sonata was sure that this was the part of the cave system they had been searching for, because there was some strange structure sitting in the middle of a small lake that was resting in front of them.

There was also the matter of removing the vampires and their thralls that happened to be blocking their way, but it proved to be very simple and soon they were walking over the bridge that would allow them to access the strange structure. She approached the middle of the structure and spotted what she assumed was a button of sorts, so she turned back to one of the enemies they had slain and dragged it over to where the button was located. She pressed the vampire's hand against the button and, in a moment of genius, decided to pull her own hand back, removing in time to see a spike of sorts puncture the hand for a few seconds before sinking back into the pedestal the button was attached to.

That was before a ring of purple flames appeared around the structure that they were standing on, though while Sonata stayed in the middle of the area everyone else backed up to the edge of the structure and kept their eyes on her. Sonata looked around the area she was in and spotted a few braziers, one of which was on fire at the moment, and noticed the stream of magic that was attached to it. She moved the brazier a bit until it connected to the flames, to which the fire moved to the second one and forced her to repeat the process a few more times. Once all of the braziers were in place, and the circle was complete, the floor started to shake as it began to sink for a few seconds, though Sonata remained where she was standing and watched what was happening.

Eventually the shaking stopped and the floor came to a screeching halt, revealing a stone monolith directly below where the button had been standing, one that reminded Sonata of the coffins they had seen throughout the cave system. Sonata then approached the monolith and pressed her hand against it, feeling the front of the pillar lower until the monolith had split in half, revealing a woman that had resting inside the pillar. Sonata, noticing that the woman started to fall the instant the cover was removed, immediately reached for the woman and prevented her from hitting the floor, though it gave the woman the chance to awaken from whatever slumber she had been inflicted with.

"Unh... where is... who sent you here?" the woman asked the moment she opened her eyes, which was followed by her getting onto her feet and staring at Sonata.

"A man named Isran," Sonata replied, though that was when she noticed that the woman in front of her was a vampire, which she knew thanks to the time she had spent with Lorthan, so she had a feeling of what the woman would be asking next, "And no, he's not a vampire like you. Can you explain why you were locked away in such a complicated fashion?"

"That's... complicated." the woman admitted, letting out a sigh as she looked at the rest of Sonata's group, "And I'm not totally sure if I can trust any of you. But if you want to know the whole story, help me get back to my family's home. My family used to live on an island to the west of Solitude. I would guess they still do. By the way... my name is Serana. Good to meet you."

That was when Lorthan tapped Sonata on the shoulder, because this was the piece of information she had been searching for the entire time after she had learned that her vampire allies had been slaughtered by one of their own. Now she knew exactly where Lord Harkon was hiding, which meant it was time to pay him a visit and destroy him like the bug he was, though before she could do that she had to speak with Serana first. Mainly to clarify that Lord Harkon was who Serana was talking about, because she didn't want to invade another Vampire Lord's home and destroy them for something that another one of their kind had done.

"Your father wouldn't happen to be Lord Harkon, would it?" Sonata asked, though the look that crossed Serana's face told her everything that she needed to know, and that was that she had her target in her sights now.

"What did he do this time?" Serana asked, though she sounded more annoyed than pissed off at the moment.

33: Punishment

Sonata and her friends stayed in the room where they encountered the strange structure that Serana had been locked away inside, explaining everything that they knew about Harkon's dealings with the orc warlock called Grul. At first the vampire seemed shocked that her father would even ally with such a dangerous character, after everything that she and her mother had witnessed before sealing themselves away from him. Then, as the got into more recent events, she learned that her father was responsible for the deaths of many vampires, including the Council of Three, which was actually an old custom that had been left alive since the time of her departure. She also learned that her father was killing innocent people, which wasn't too shocking for her to believe, and that he was essentially helping the orc bring about the end of Nirn, while not even apparently trying to fulfill the prophecy they had discovered.

Sonata also informed their latest ally of the fact that her father had likely handed her sisters over to the orc warlock, as only the vampires had known about Adagio and Aria, which only served to make Serana even angrier than she had been when she had first opened her eyes.

"Oh all the stupid stunts my father has pulled over the years, this has to be the most idiotic one of them all," Serana said, letting out a sigh as she tried to calm herself down, though she wasn't doing a good job in that department, "The Council of Three, one of the oldest network of vampires that ensured that my father didn't go off the deep end, has been destroyed thanks to one of their own betraying them to my father. Innocent people across Skyrim are being attacked at random, by either vampires or orcs, and are being taken alive for whatever foul purpose this Grul has in store for them. And, to top this madness off, my father has earned the wrath of a person who legend says will destroy a creature that's capable of bringing the world to an end... which I'm guessing has already come to pass."

Sonata was impressed that Serana was even taking this so well, but she had the feeling that the vampire was keeping her rage trapped inside herself and was trying to remain calm in the face of everyone that was around her.

"Your going to kill my father, aren't you?" Serana asked, receiving some gasps from several of the people around her, though it was more because she had guessed what was coming next and not from surprise.

"Yes. He betrayed my sisters, not to mention all of Nirn for that matter, and so he deserves to die," Sonata replied, nodding her head as she tapped her ebony sword for a second, "I know he's your father, and that this is likely going to be hard on you, but if you have anything to say on the matter, however small you might think it is, I would like to..."

"I'll help you kill my father." Serana declared, much to the shock of most of the group, though Sonata was somewhat glad that the newly awoken vampire was seeing things her way, "Before my mother and I fled, and took two Elder Scrolls with us, he was considering the prospect of sacrificing the both of us for the greater good of all vampires. We considered fighting him, but my mother declared that we weren't in a position to get away with it, so we fled and I was locked in this cave. Now, however, I think its time that we end this madness that my father started so long ago... and I'm more than happy to help you put down the monster he's become."

"Welcome to the team then," Sonata said, a smile appearing on her face as she, and by extension the rest of her friends, made their way to the exit, "We'll just use the back entrance, gather our carriages, and then we'll be on our way to your father's castle... then we can put this nightmare behind us."

Sonata wanted nothing more than to get rid of both Harkon and Miraak, where the vampire lord was nothing more than a constant thorn in her side while the mysterious man she knew nothing about, so she could track down Grul and put an end to his schemes.

As they made their way towards the exit Sonata noticed two stone statues to their left, though the moment they left the area of the strange structure the statues torn themselves apart and revealed stone creatures that she assumed had been left here, by Serana's mother she guessed, to prevent intruders from removing Serana from the area. It was at that point that Sonata discovered exactly what her latest ally was capable of, because the moment she shouted that the creatures were gargoyles she turned on them and froze them to the ground they were walking on. That was before two large ice spikes were thrown through the air and punctured the chests of the stone creatures, dropping them to the ground in a matter of seconds.

Serana, despite being a vampire, was a powerful frost mage, which Sonata was happy to have on their side because she knew that, when Serana regained her true potential, they would have a mage capable of using the frost and ice around them to their advantage.

Once the gargoyles were taken care of the group continued into the next chamber of the ruins, where they found a host of draugr that happened to be waiting for them. Kael, apparently taking a moment to try and impress their new ally, clapped his hands together and released a wave of flame at the undead, causing many of them to ignite the moment they were touched. Only the Deathlord, the heavily armed draugr that had been staying near the back, remained stable after the attack and began his advance towards them, though before he could even reach the halfway point Serana attacked him.

They gathered anything useful in the room, which was mostly weapons and armor that the nordic brothers could smith down and repurpose into whatever they desired, before they followed the pathway and came to a chamber that was filled with more draugr. Sonata had been expecting something like this, including the Word Wall off to the right of where the head draugr was sitting, which was why they all separated from each other the moment they entered the chamber. This time, however, the draugr seemed to hesitate before they started a fight, as if they knew what had happened to the previous batch of undead that had fought Sonata and her friends.

What happened next caught Sonata, and likely her friends, by surprise, as the head draugr, something that looked more powerful than the Deathlord they recently defeated, raised its hands in the manner of how someone would surrender to another. Sonata was somewhat shocked that the draugr were even capable of such thoughts, as she had been told that their primary goal was to protect their fallen masters and maintain the barrows they were buried in. The other draugr, as if following their master's silent order, laid down their weapons and returned to their slumber, as if they were allowing Sonata and her friends to leave without a fight. Even as the draugr laid down their arms Sonata noticed that the head draugr had a weapon that was different than what the others were carrying, but decided that now wasn't the time to figure out what it was.

"Does... does this normally happen to you?" Serana asked, as she was definitely confused as everyone else, though Sonata had the feeling she knew what was going on.

"No. This is the first time this has happened," Sonata replied, beckoning for everyone to head towards the exit, while she made her way towards the Word Wall.

Sonata kept her eyes on the head draugr, who was merely sitting on his throne and staring at the fire pit that seemed to burn without end, just in the off chance that it took offense to her learning the Word of Power that it was guarding. She approached the Wall as silently as she possibly could and let the new Word, Gaan, enter her body like all of the other Words she had learned so far. She cast her eyes back to the draugr for a moment, wondering if it was going to be pissed off by her taking the Word of Power, but its eyes remained on the fire pit. She quickly headed to where her friends were waiting for her and they left the ruins behind, where they emerged on the mountain side and found some snow waiting for them.

Once they were in the clear Sonata had Kree and Lydia head back to where they left their carriages, because she had the feeling that they were going to need them once more.

"That... that was a Draugr Death Overlord," Tolan commented, though it was clear that he was trying to stop himself from shaking, "Back when the Dragon Cult ruled Skyrim the Death Overlords were essentially the third in command, under the Dragon Priests that followed whatever their dragon masters ordered them to do. To see one of those Death Overlords up close like that... we're fortunate that he didn't want to fight us."

"That wasn't any old follower of the Dragon Cult," Saerza said, staring at the cave they had emerged from, "There is only one man, or undead as the case now is, that could have been carrying that weapon; Gurgath the Wicked. During the days of the Dragon Cult he slew everyone and anyone that dared to oppose his masters, all while drinking the blood of the fallen like the vampire he was. How a vampire, who served the Daedric Prince Molag Bal, ended up becoming a part of the Dragon Cult, and served his new master Alduin, is beyond me. Before the fall of the Dragon Cult it is said that he was supposed to be added to the ranks of the Dragon Priests, making their numbers nine instead of eight, but then Alduin was defeated and the Cult collapsed.

No one knew where Gurgath went after the defeat of his masters, and I only recently discovered his existence thanks to a trek through Labyrinthian, but it seems that I have another question answered. And that weapon he was carrying has to be the infamous Blood Blade... which means, if you believe the legends, that he's killed at least a thousand enemies in combat and stained his weapon with the blood of those he killed."

Sonata didn't like what she was hearing, nor did she like the thought of leaving behind such an artifact for some foolish adventurer to find... or worse, her enemy Grul. She could already imagine the damage the orc could do if he claimed the blade that the Death Overlord had been carrying, which she assumed would be adding its power to the reserve that would allow him to open his gateway. She wondered if it was best to go back in and take the weapon while she still had the chance, but considering how powerful he had to be, and was likely even stronger now that he was undead, she decided not to go back into the cave. She was still recovering from her fight with Alduin, so she didn't have the energy to waste on some ancient nordic warrior that could hold his own against everything they threw at him.

Sonata sighed and let it go, knowing that there would be time to recover the blade in the future... once she was finished with Lord Harkon anyway.

It took them a few hours to reach the boat that would take them to Serana's home, as they had to go through a small village and then through the mountain itself, but they were finally ready to meet with whoever was waiting inside the castle. Gol, Mez, Tolan, and several others stayed back with the carriages, leaving Sonata, Serana, Saerza, Kael, and Kree to walk up the bridge that would take them to the main gate. The plan was simple, they approach the guard that was watching the gate, gain entrance to the main hall, and then do whatever came next, which all depended upon who was leading the castle. If it was anyone other than Lord Harkon then they could play nice and get out of there before something terrible happened, but if it was Lord Harkon, and Sonata hoped that it was, then everything was going to get crazy.

The gatekeeper took one look at Serana as they approached the gate, as if trying to make sure his eyes weren't betraying him, before the gate opened for them, allowing them to access the main hall of the old castle.

Once the five of them were inside the building another vampire tried to stop them, but when when he laid eyes on Serana he backed up and approached the main hall, to which he declared that Serana had returned. The five of them stopped at the stop of the set of stairs that would allow them to access the room before them, choosing to take a moment to take in what was around them. Sonata could see at least ten vampires, not counting the Lord of the Castle, in the entire room, five on either side of their lord, along with quite a number of thralls that had been bent to their will. It reminded her of what she and her sisters had gone to the students back on Earth, before they were defeated and stripped of their powers, only now she was definitely more pissed off than she previously was.

"My long-lost daughter returns at last." the man said, looking up at the group as the rest of the vampires turned their attention towards them, "I trust you have my Elder Scroll?"

"After all these years, that's the first thing you ask me?" Serana replied, clearly pissed off that the scroll she was carrying was apparently more important than she was, "Yes, I have the scroll."

"Of course I'm delighted to see you, my daughter." the man said, though this time Sonata detected a hint of annoyance flickering in his voice for a second or two, "Must I really say the words aloud? Ah, if only your traitor mother were here, I would let her watch this reunion before putting her head on a spike. Now tell me, who are these strangers that you have brought into our hall?"

"These are my saviors," Serana answered, barely moving her hands to indicate the four people around her, which was fine considering that everyone could see them, "they are the ones who freed me."

"For my daughter's safe return, you have my gratitude." the man declared, directing his full attention to the group, though Sonata knew that he was staring right at her, "Tell me, what is your name?"

"I am Sonata Dusk, Dragonborn of Legend and Slayer of Alduin the World-Eater," Sonata replied, staring down at the man and prepared herself for what might be coming next, "And you would be?"

"I am Harkon, lord of this court!" the man answered, failing to notice the grin that appeared on Sonata's face, "By now, my daughter will have told you what we... are?"

Harkon had to stop himself as he heard laughter for a moment, though it became clear that the one laughing happened to be Sonata, which made him glare at her. He couldn't believe that he was being laughed at, in his own castle no less, by someone who his daughter claimed to have saved her from whatever prison her mother had sealed her in. He guessed that he wouldn't be recruiting the Dragonborn into his ranks at this point, as he was fairly sure that it would have ended with her betraying him at a critical moment, even if he managed to convince her.

"Today is a good day," Sonata said, jumping over the side of the railing and landed on the floor, to which she straightened herself and approached Harkon, "Now then... onto the business at ha..."

"Who dares to laugh in the presence of Lord Harkon?" a voice shouted, to which Sonata turned her head to the left for a moment and spotted Lady Vespula, who seemed shocked to see her again, "Oh, Dragonborn... this is kind of awkward..."

"And my day just got a lot better!" Sonata declared, turning to face the vampire that had betrayed her Council, "Wait here Lord Harkon... I've got some business to take care of."

Before anyone could say anything Sonata leapt over the table that was between her and Vespula, not to mention making the vampires move out of the way, before she landed in front of the traitorous vampire that had turned her sisters over to Lord Grul. Lightning wrapped around her right hand as she used her left hand to throw Vespula back against the wall, causing her to stagger for a moment, before piercing her chest with her Lightning Blade. Vespula was surprised by what was happening, but that didn't stop Sonata from making sure that her heart was being ripped to pieces by her lightning.

"W... why?" Vespula asked, as if she wanted to know the reason for why Sonata had ended her life, which she knew would be soon just by looking at Sonata's face.

"You betrayed my sisters... and ultimately me, the Siren Queen." Sonata replied, a grin appearing on her face as she noticed a look of realization appear in Vespula's eyes, "Yes, now you understand what my sisters told you. Now, however, you shall leave this world and trouble me no more."

Once the life had left Vespula's eyes, and Sonata was sure that she was dead, she tore her hand free from the vampire's chest and threw her into the room she had been hiding in when she and her friends had arrived. She turned around and noticed that Harkon was descending upon her with his sword drawn, but before the blow could connect Sonata sidestepped the attack and slammed her fist into his wrist, knocking the sword free for a moment. She didn't give Harkon time to recover from the attack, as she threw her fist into his chest and knocked him back a few steps, which was followed by her flipping backwards and using her feet to kick him in the chin, causing him to flip onto the table and land hard on his back.

A few seconds later Harkon rolled off the table, landed with his feet touching the floor of the area he had been standing on when Sonata entered the hall, and cracked some of his joints as if he was getting rid of some pressure, before he beckoned for Sonata to come at him again. Sonata sighed and undid the belt that was holding her ebony weapon, which she tossed over to Serana, who was holding her father's blade as well, before she entered the area that Harkon wanted to fight her in. The two of them faced each other, silently daring the other to take a swing at them, before Harkon threw his right fist at Sonata and was blocked by her left hand.

Sonata went on the defensive almost immediately, letting Harkon throw punches and kicks at her, which she blocked, while she studied his every move. He was a vampire lord, which was the most powerful type of vampire in Tamriel, so she had to be careful and not let him score any blows that could potentially give him the advantage in this fight. So she blocked all of his attacks while giving him none in return, feeling the amount of power he was putting behind each of his blows and determining how much she would need if she wanted to end this in a matter of seconds. That was seconds before he changed his pattern and slammed a fist into the side of her face, knocking her back a few steps as Harkon gloated over finally hitting her.

"Is this all the fury the Dragonborn can muster?!" Harkon shouted, as if he was amused by the fact that she hadn't touched him since they started fighting in the middle of the room, "I expected more from the person who slew the World-Eater... I guess you really don't care about your sisters."

"Your overconfidence will be your downfall, Lord Harkon," Sonata said, standing straight as she rubbed her cheek for a moment, "but fine, if you wish to witness the power of my rage... well, let's just say you'll enjoy this."

Sonata tapped into her powers and felt the red aura from earlier wrap around her, allowing her to tap into her powers as she stared at Lord Harkon. The vampire lord charged at her and swung his fist at her, but this time Sonata merely caught the arm before it could reach her and stopped the attack dead in its tracks. Before Harkon could say anything Sonata raised her right leg for a moment and struck him hard in the chest, letting him go flying into the wall behind him and crushing the table that he would normally be sitting at. It was in that moment that Sonata was disappointed with her opponent, as she expected something much greater than what she was getting, but she let out a sigh as she approached the fallen vampire lord.

As she walked up to where Harkon was laying she allowed her magic to gather around her left hand, forming a blade that she would use to end his life and bring an end to whatever the vampires were planning.

"Do you expect me to beg for my life, Dragonborn?" Harkon coughed, struggling to pick himself up as he watched her approach him, though it was clear that the fighting spirit had left his body.

"No Lord Harkon," Sonata replied, coming to a stop in front of the fallen vampire lord as she drove the energy blade into his chest, causing him to cough up some blood, "I expect you to die!"

"It seems that my skills were sufficient enough to fool you," Harkon said, to which was consumed by green fire until an orc replaced him, one that Sonata recognized as another of Grul's Lieutenants, Faldruuk she recalled, "I am called the 'Many Faces' for a reason, as my magic allowed me to wear the face of another person and act like them... allowing the real Lord Harkon to escape before you arrived. He will find Auriel's Bow and deliver its power to my master... who will find another to replace me in time."

Sonata growled and released the magic that was holding her energy blade together, though as it fell apart she wove it into another spell and set the orc on fire, allowing him to burn under the intensity of her anger. She was annoyed that she had been played by her enemy again, as now it meant that they had no idea where the real Lord Harkon was hiding, but they knew what he was searching for. Auriel's Bow... that was something that she assumed that Serana knew about, or maybe her mother considering that it was her idea that lead to them being locked away.

Despite all of this she had to be somewhat pleased, because she had taught the vampires that had betrayed her a lesson that she was sure that none of them would forget... and soon Harkon would know that lesson as well.

34: A Day of Surprises

"I had no idea your hair could do that!" Saerza commented, staring at Sonata's hair for a few seconds, which had been spiked upwards thanks to her tapping into her anger again, "When did you learn to do this on command? And why did your hair suddenly turn red when the aura wrapped around you?"

Sonata had a number of answers for those questions, as she knew exactly what had allowed her to do this, but she had no answers as to where her target was hiding. Harkon was definitely allied with Grul, as the appearance of one of his Lieutenants was a clear indicator of that, but now the vampire lord was out there somewhere, plotting his next move. She had never heard of other races, save for her sisters and the Changelings, having the ability to change their appearance at will, though it appeared that such an ability was useful to the warlock. She then considered that there were many orcs in Grul's army, all under the command of his four Lieutenants, which meant that there could be more like the orc she had just slain... which meant that there might be more shapeshifters roaming Skyrim.

It was a pity that she couldn't ask the dead for information, as Serana told her countless times that her necromancy didn't work like that, despite the fact that some times she wished that the dead remembered everything so she could extract information from them. Though even as she thought about that she knew that she would need to answer Saerza's questions, otherwise she would never get around to leaving this cursed castle behind.

"I learned to do that in my first battle with Alduin," Sonata replied at last, noting that Saerza was taking notes while the others were making sure that the remaining vampires didn't try anything funny, "Anger and rage are the keys to tapping into the power trapped within my necklace, where the power of the Siren Queen resides until I am ready to take on that mantle once again. There is, for lack of a better word, a barrier that's preventing me from accessing my full power, which is why Grul wants me to deal with Alduin, Harkon, and Miraak before the two of us fight. Somehow he learned of a way to bypass the seals on Aria's and Adagio's necklaces, only to give the same information to me when I destroyed that dragon outside Solitude.

As for the other question; anger is usually associated with the color red, so I can only assume that the reason my hair turned that color was because of what I was feeling at the moment."

"Your the Siren Queen that Lord Harkon has been searching for?" one of the vampires spoke up, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing, "Don't make us laugh Dragonborn. The Siren Queen, according to Grul's messengers, is a being of incredible power that could level this entire castle with one spell, yet your power in nowhere near hers."

"And you should be thankful that I haven't done so yet," Sonata replied, glaring at the vampire for a moment, silently daring him to piss her off more than she already was, "otherwise you would have a ruined castle resting around you. Now sit down and shut up, otherwise you'll find out just how powerful I really am."

One of the things that was slowly returning to her, in addition to her powers, was the authority that came with her voice, which was how Adagio and Aria followed her orders before she gave up and stopped caring all those years ago. This power was similar to a ruler telling one of their subjects to do something, regardless if it was important or not, and the person did it, no questions asked. It was also similar to the powers that she and her sisters had used to keep themselves fed back on Earth, before their necklaces had shattered anyway. She hadn't used this particular power in over a thousand years, so she was a little rusty in terms of her practice, but she knew it would get the job done.

Eventually the vampire sat back down in the chair he had originally been sitting in, though it was clear that he knew he had been mistaken when calling her a liar.

"Now then, onto the business at hand." Sonata said, turning to face her friends again, who were all eager to hear what their next course of action was, "We know that Harkon is searching for something called Auriel's Bow, which I assume is some legendary weapon with an incredible amount of power. We don't know the location of the Bow, which means that Harkon doesn't know it either, because the fake Harkon appeared to be a little excited when he noticed our Elder Scrolls. Our Scrolls are linked to the Bow, which means we need to focus on them and figure out what they're trying to tell us or where they're trying to lead us."

"Well, Lord Harkon's imposter did say that a Moth Priest was coming to Skyrim," one of the other vampires commented, drawing the attention of everyone in the room to her, "Last I heard he was supposed to be arriving in Solitude this morning, which means that he's already left the city and will be heading to Dragon Bridge. From there he's supposed to be heading to the College of Winterhold, though what route he takes after leaving the small village will be up to him and his escort."

"We seem to have our next task," Sonata said, to which she pulled herself out of the chair she had been sitting in the whole time they had been talking, "We'll go find this Moth Priest, no doubt save him from whatever trouble he's in, and then we'll see what we need to do with our Elder Scrolls... and then maybe we'll figure out where this bow is located."

What she didn't tell them was that she hoped that they would bump into the real Harkon sometime in the future, so that she could bring this entire venture to an end and give her the opportunity to focus her efforts on Miraak.

It didn't take Sonata and her friends very long to return to where they had left their carriages and return to the road they had taken to reach the boat that took them to Lord Harkon's castle. Nor did it take them very long to reach the docks that rested outside Solitude, where they got out to stretch their legs for a few seconds before they moved on to Dragon Bridge. Sonata's mood had improved over the course of their short journey, because for the first time in ages they weren't attacked by random bandits, a pack of wild animals, or members of a faction that wanted her dead. Even Grul's orcs hadn't been seen since their last encounter, which only made her happier as they approached the small village the Moth Priest was supposed to have passed through this morning.

She had the feeling that this was one of Grul's plans to make her lower her guard, but she kept her eyes open for anything that would threaten her or her friends.

When they reached their destination they were greeted by one of the guards as the people who lived in the town looked at them for a few seconds before going back to their business. Sonata knew that most of them hadn't seen her and her friends when they came through the village the first time, because it was mostly night when that happened, so she didn't expect many of them to get excited or show hostility towards them. Considering that none of the villagers wanted to interact with them Sonata decided that the guard would have to be the one they asked their questions to.

"Have you seen a Moth Priest pass through the village lately?" Sonata asked, hoping that the vampire's information had been correct and that they hadn't been mislead, "He and his escort were supposed to have passed through this village sometime this morning."

"So that was a Moth Priest?" the guard inquired, though he sounded as if he was a little annoyed that he had missed the chance to speak to one of the elusive monks, "He was riding in a wagon with some Imperial guards. They didn't stop to visit, though. They rode through town heading south, and went across the big bridge. It was only just a little bit ago. I bet you can catch them if you hurry up."

Sonata could not believe their luck, as they were quite literally behind the monk that they were searching for, which meant that they could save him from whatever threat was waiting ahead of him. She quickly thanked the guard as they continued down the road, passing over the actual Dragon Bridge as they hurried to catch up with the Moth Priest. It actually didn't take them very long to find the Moth Priest and his caravan, because they had stopped on the side of the road and the soldiers were protecting their charge. There appeared to be a large force of vampires standing on the bridge that they needed to pass through, though that wasn't the oddest thing Sonata was seeing.

The vampires weren't fighting the Imperial soldiers, rather they were fighting two figures that were literally tearing them to pieces. The first of those figures was a draugr that looked almost like the one they had seen at the end of Dimhollow Crypt, though a few seconds later Sonata spotted the Blood Blade and knew which draugr they were staring at. The other figure was an orc warrior that was wearing the standard orcish armor she had seen them wear, as well as the fact that he was carrying an ebony sword and shield, though Sonata noticed that he was also carrying a flag on his back... one that bared the symbol of Lord Grul.

To make the situation even weirder the orc took one look at Sonata and nodded his head to her, which almost made her wonder if she had found an orc that had turned on his master and left the army behind.

Apparently they had arrived at the end of the fight, because the orc and the draugr just happened to be finishing off the last of the vampires when Sonata and her friends arrived. For once Sonata didn't have to raise her hand and fight something, which no doubt surprised her friends as well, though she climbed out of the carriage and approached the odd pair.

"You must be the Dragonborn, Sonata Dusk." the orc commented, bowing his head towards her in respect, something that she wasn't expecting at all.

"I am," Sonata replied, wondering what was happening, because nothing was making sense anymore, "And you would be?"

"Krovor Bloodaxe," the orc replied, though that was when he tore the flag from his back and tossed it at the ground, before he took a torch out of his backpack and set the entire thing on fire, "formally of Lord Grul's army. I have severed my ties with my former master and set out to find you, the Siren Queen, so that I can inform you of what the evil warlock has planned for this world."

"Just like that?" Sonata asked, as she suspected that the warlock would have been furious by Krovor's betrayal, "Grul just let you go and did nothing to stop you?"

"Yes, though I know I should be dead right now," Krovor admitted, as if he had been expecting such a question, "The last time an orc dared to leave the warlock's army he killed the unfortunate warrior and used his twisted magic to use the stolen life energy to empower his already considerable power. I know that I should have faced this fate myself, and I would gladly have faced it if it meant having a chance at killing that vile warlock, but he has not been at the camp for several days... thus allowing me to leave with my life.

I can tell you why Grul was not at the camp, and why this draugr came looking for you as well; Grul is searching for artifacts of incredible power, so he can sacrifice their power to fuel his infernal portal."

Sonata's nightmare, where she had seen the whole of Skyrim look dead and twisted beyond believe, came back to her... as well as the creature that was lurking behind the portal. She fell to her knees for a moment as a new part of that vision took shape in her mind, forcing her to observe what it wanted to show her. She saw the large oval shaped portal, resting in the side of a mountain somewhere, though this time she saw Lord Grul standing before it as an army of demons poured out of it. The vision widened to give her an overview look of the entirety of Skyrim, where the demonic army cut their way through the Imperials and Stormcloaks and burned the very ground they walked on.

The vision turned back to the portal as a massive creature, easily the size of Dragonsreach, stepped out of the portal and brought about the end of Nirn... before she regained her focus and came back to her body.

"Ah, my words have triggered a vision for you to see," Krovor said, helping Sonata onto her feet, "Grul wishes to dominate all life on Nirn... and then allow his master to burn the world to a withered husk. I saw the same thing a few days ago, which is how I discovered the warlock's plans. Let me join your army, Siren Queen, and I will give you all the information I have on Grul and his plans... just so we can save this world."

Sonata stared at the orc for a moment, wondering if it was a good idea to allow one of Grul's former underlings into her group, but then considered all the information that he could give her on what her enemy was doing. If she wanted to she could use this information and decimate Grul's main camp while he, and likely his Lieutenants, were out searching for whatever artifact they were trying to get their hands on.

"I would be a fool to turn down your assistance." Sonata said, noticing a faint smile appear on Krovor's face for a moment, to which she turned to the draugr that was still standing nearby, "Gurgath the Wicked... it was an honor to watch you fight. What can I do for you?"

The Death Overlord stared at her for a moment, as if it was trying to determine how to speak to her, before it sheathed its legendary weapon, undid the sheath from his side, and held it out for Sonata to take. She knew what the ancient warrior wanted; his weapon was likely charged with magical energies from all the people he had killed, or blessed by one of the Divines or Daedric Princes. He somehow knew that Grul would be coming for his weapon, now that his resting place had been revealed, so he wanted his weapon in safe hands before the orc came to his burial chamber.

Sonata smiled and took the weapon from the ancient warrior, to which the Death Overlord turned down the path to the north of where they were standing and started walking... until he disappeared into the distance.

"Well then, I guess its time we see where Grul's main base is located," Sonata commented, attaching the Blood Blade to her belt for the moment, "Maybe we can blow it up while we're there."

Even as she said those words she knew that there would be a large army standing outside the portal, which meant that they would study the base and then move on... which was just fine with her at the moment.

35: The Whiterun Surprise

Krovor had been true to his word when he said that he was going to show Sonata where Grul's main camp was located, but she was not prepared for what she actually saw. The orc stronghold known as Dushnikh Yal had been completely overrun by Grul's forces, though according to Krovor many of the citizens that called this place home had been forced into Grul's army. Apparently the warlock had pressed some twisted and demonic power into those that had lived inside the stronghold, because they had turned into savage warriors. It made Sonata sick when she heard what horrors the warlock visited upon the orcs he captured, which made her ask about the other races that existed throughout Skyrim.

The reason she was asking was because several of the apprentices and professors that attended the College of Winterhold had been kidnapped by the orcs the first time she visited the place... and she knew that Saerza was dying to figure out what had happened to them.

"Dead." Krovor replied, staring at the infernal gateway that was being built into the side of the mountain, where two statues of orcs warriors stood on both sides of where the portal would actually go, "Grul stole their magical powers and their life energy, pooling their collective energies into a dark green crystal that he carries around with him at all times. He's gathering magical energy to tear open a hole between worlds, which I heard thanks to his Lieutenants speaking about his plans. His plan is to summon something that will end this world..."

"I will not let that happen," Sonata told the orc, glaring at the portal they were staring at, thankful that they were at a safe distance so that the other orcs didn't notice them, "but we cannot take on all of these soldiers by ourselves... Kree, I think its time we put the civil war on hold and use what soldiers are available to attack this stronghold."

"Now that we know where Grul's main base is we should be able to convince General Tullius and Jarl Ulfric to come to a truce for the moment," Kree commented, as if she had been thinking about the war ever since they spotted the fortress, "Neither one of them would want to continue the war while there's another faction on the loose... one that's bent on destroying the entirety of Nirn. We could always call on that dragon that befriended you, but considering what happened to the last dragon these guys fought and captured I'd rather not give them anything that would make them more dangerous."

Sonata remembered what happened to the last dragon that Grul had captured, because she had been forced to fight the twisted beast when it attacked Solitude. It was clear that her enemy was allied with some sort of demonic creature, maybe one of the Daedric Lords that she had heard about, but that didn't change the fact that she needed to stop him from destroying the world. Unfortunately her focus was on finding and destroying Harkon, because stopping him would actually repair part of her necklace and allow her to access more of her former powers.

She also remembered when she had that brief conversation with Grul, at the same time she defeated his pet dragon, and recalled that he wanted her to defeat the dragons, the vampires, and the cultists. He had known that their leaders would hold the keys to her getting her powers back, though how he had come across that information Sonata had no idea.

There was also something about this whole situation that bothered her to no end; what did Lord Grul hope to gain from allowing her to figure out where his base of operations was located? He would have been found out eventually, either from the Imperial Legion or the Stormcloaks finding it themselves and giving the information to her. Krovor mentioned that his former master wasn't at the base at all, which was how he was able to escape like he had, but she was sure that the other orcs wouldn't have allowed a traitor to escape without seriously wounding them. She was beginning to suspect the orc that was walking beside her and her friends, because he was walking around without any scratches on his body, almost giving away that he had managed to slip out of the base without being detected.

Sonata was either being paranoid or she was right about the fact that there was a spy among them, though if her time as the Siren Queen taught her anything it was to be wary of someone who offers you something that is too good to be true... just like what Krovor gave her and her friends.

It also annoyed her that she had the very location of Grul's base, where her sisters were being kept, and that she couldn't simply storm the place and rescue them from whatever foul prison they were locked up in. It gave her a sense of urgency to deal with her remaining enemies, Harkon and Miraak, but she knew that she couldn't be blinded by her desire to see her sisters freed from their shackles. She hated to leave them there, after finally uncovering where they were being kept, but at the moment she had no choice but to walk away from where they were hiding and resume their journey to Whiterun. They needed an army to deal with the amount of orcs that were stationed at the base, which was something that they currently didn't possess but might be able to obtain if they spoke to Tullius and Ulfric.

As the group walked away from the area that Grul's base was located in Sonata could hear the cloud above them rumble and saw a flash of some lightning hitting a tree in the distance, which only made her smile as a storm opened up above the base and ignored her and her friends completely.

When they returned to Whiterun they discovered that it was rapidly approaching nighttime, so they concluded that they would simply speak with the Jarl in the morning. The problem that Sonata faced next was figuring out where everyone was going to sleep for the night, or rather those that would be sleeping while some of the others watched out for danger. Sonata knew that Grul liked to march his soldiers up to the gates of whatever city or town that he was preparing to strike at, so it made sense that she'd have some of her friends watching for their enemies. In the end several of them were given small cots inside Dragonsreach, while the others slept outside the palace, giving a few of them the opportunity to be on first watch.

Sonata knew that it was another step towards being paranoid, but once again she knew that evil villains sometimes liked to attack their enemies while they were sleeping. She fully expected her sleep to be ruined by her enemy, which was why her ears were waiting for a guard to burst into Dragonsreach before such a thing even happened. Imagine her surprise when she managed to wake up in the morning, hear what all of her friends happened to witness during the night, and eat breakfast before a guard ran into the massive building with the news she had been waiting for.

"My Lord, I bring news from the soldiers near Fellglow Keep," the guard said, huffing for a bit to indicate that he had ran the entire way from where his post was located, "Unsettling news I might add."

"Well spit it out man!" Jarl Balgruuf demanded, eying the soldier as Sonata and her friends turned their attention towards them, "What exactly are we dealing with?"

"I... I don't know," the guard admitted, which immediately raised the alarms in Sonata's head, "One of the other guards mentioned that he saw something shinning in the area around the keep, something that resembled a caravan or something similar to it. The caravan, lead by roughly twenty orc warriors and one mage, arrived at the keep and disappeared for a few hours, leaving us to wonder what the orcs were planning on doing inside the fortress. We were debating whether or not we should send someone to investigate the fortress, and see what they were up to, but before we could reach a decision a jester passed by the watchtower, handed me a note, and said that I should make for Whiterun and inform the Dragonborn that her 'Enemy' has been found."

"Sonata, what do you make of this?" Jarl Balgruuf asked, though it was clear that he was worried that Lord Grul might very well be preparing for an assault on Whiterun.

"Cicero is repaying us for the help we gave him a few days ago." Sonata replied, a smile appearing on her face as she remembered the jester and his mother's coffin, "Apparently he's found Grul's latest hiding place... and this time he has no idea we're even coming. Come on guys, let's go show that warlock what happens when you mess with the Siren Queen."

At this point Sonata was beginning to not care about hiding who she really was, because everyone she was talking to seemed to know the truth without her even saying a word. Now she was just going to tell everyone who she was, and what she was for that matter, and see how they reacted to the truth that she was a walking legend in two different worlds. As she turned around and walked towards the opening of the castle she took a moment to wonder how Twilight Sparkle, the alicorn that had figured everything out about her and her sisters, would react to the truth that she was the Queen... and that she might have been able to change the tide of their battle if she really wanted to.

"So, what are we going to do when we reach the fortress?" Kree asked as she and the others fell in behind Sonata, though her tone said that she had some idea of what was coming.

"We're going to go to Fellglow Keep, find the orcs that are hiding there, and kill them before they do anything to Whiterun," Sonata answered, though a smile appeared on her face when she heard the sound of thunder outside the building, "Hopefully we find Grul in that fortress, so we can end this nightmare... but if not then we'll have dealt him another blow that he cannot ignore."

Even if they finished off Lord Grul, and ended his reign of terror, Sonata would still have to deal with Harkon and Miraak, the other two thorns in her side at the moment. She had no idea where Harkon had run off to, though she was sure that her vampire allies were hunting for him now that they knew their former master wanted the destroy the entire world and wasn't trying to fulfill an ancient prophecy anymore. Miraak, on the other hand, she knew next to nothing about, save for the fact that he was supposed to be on an island that was near Skyrim, Solstheim if her memory was correct. Harkon and Miraak were the people she needed to take out if she wanted to restore her power to its full potential, if killing Alduin was anything to go by.

Despite everything that was going on she couldn't help but feel like she was a pawn on Grul's chess board, that she was being used to wipe out any potential enemies that might stall his plans of destroying the whole of Nirn. She would show Grul that the Siren Queen wasn't a pawn in anyone's game... and that it was unwise to anger her or capture her sisters and keep them hidden from her.

Author's Note

Sorry for the long delay in posting this chapter... school matters and my family have kept me pretty busy.

36: Assault on Fellglow Keep

Sonata had been correct in thinking that a storm would be happening soon the moment she heard the sound of thunder outside Dragonsreach, because the moment she and her friends walked outside the sky was as black as night. It actually made things a lot easier for them, because Sonata had originally planned on attacking at nighttime while the majority of the orcs that were stationed at Fellglow Keep were asleep. It was an underhanded method, she knew that already, but considering the fact that her enemy would likely do the same thing if their situations were reversed was how she justified the reason. Her friends were eager to make Lord Grul pay for everything he had already done to Skyrim, even though it meant agreeing to attack while the orcs wouldn't be expecting it.

She had also rejected Jarl Balgruuf's offer of sending several of his own guards to aid her in her mission, because none of them were a match for the orcs that she and her friends would be facing. She knew that the orcs would tear them to pieces in a matter of seconds if they fought at the front of the line, or would be destroyed by magic if they used their bows from the back of the group. The orcs always eliminated the weaker enemies first, this was something that Sonata had noticed the few times that she had seen them fight, because they preferred to keep the stronger ones alive after they had beaten them. She didn't want to lose any more lives in the process of hunting down and killing Lord Grul, the mad orc warlock that appeared to be bent on bringing destruction to this world.

Even as she and her friends made their way out of the city, and started in the direction of Fellglow Keep, Sonata had to wonder how the warlock had managed to build such a strong army and still possess the power to corrupt people to his own way of thinking. It was almost as if one of the many gods of the world was growing tired of Nirn and wanted it erased so they could start anew, though the opposite was technically true considering that the Divines seemed to be helping her in her quest. Besides, she had half of her full power thanks to two fragments of the necklace fusing together after the defeat of Alduin the World-Eater, which had also been part of Lord Grul's plans.

He was forcing her to take out the enemies that would bar his way to destroying the whole world, though only two of them, Harkon and Miraak, remained at the moment.

"Something on your mind Sonata?" Kree asked, though at the same time it started to rain on them, indicating that this was a storm that they were walking through.

"Just thinking about Fellglow Keep at the moment," Sonata lied, knowing that Kree would tell her to stop thinking about Grul's master plan if she told her the truth, "We're going to want to hit them hard the moment we arrive, though everyone should be alert in case they have something hidden up their sleeves, which I'm sure that they do. Once the fighting starts we'll want to make sure that they don't sound any alarms, otherwise they might make the fight harder than it needs to be."

She already knew that there was something strange about Fellglow Keep, because Lord Grul would never let his orcs be seen by someone unless he truly wanted them to be lead into a trap. It was possible that he might be growing tired of her searching for Harkon and had his orcs bring the Vampire Lord to this particular keep so they could end their fight. Or maybe this was a group of orcs that had displeased their master and were seeking to regain his favor, by taking over a fortress and planning an attack on Whiterun. In the end it didn't matter to Sonata, because she and her friends were going to have to take them out before they did something stupid... while keeping her eyes on the orc warrior that she had acquired.

Krovor Bloodaxe came to her aid at a strange time and gave her information that was most helpful, but the fact that he had betrayed Lord Grul, and got away with his defection, didn't sit well with her at all. He had been a part of an army that had destroyed villages, killed innocent people in the name of his master, and did whatever foul acts that Sonata had no knowledge on. She often considered that this was a move made by her enemy; send someone into her ranks to try and bring her down from the inside, which was why she kept her eyes on him the moment he came to her. Her time as the Siren Queen had taught her not to blindly trust anyone that came forward to help her, which was why Starswirl, and everyone else that wasn't her sisters, had to work to earn her friendship, though Kree and her friends were the strict exception to her former rules.

The orc that was walking behind her had done nothing besides give her the location of Grul's main base... and the information she had been given wasn't really enough to make her fully trust him yet, not when she was sure that he was going to stab her in the back at some point in time.

Once they were outside the city the group made their way towards Fellglow Keep, following the one guard that was returning to his post, who wanted them to know exactly where the keep was before he returned to his duties at the watchtower. Sonata smiled as they walked through the rain, because soon another group of Grul's followers would be dead and she would have one less thing to worry about.

"Ugh, I hate the rain," an orc said, shaking his arms for a moment to get the water off of his armor, before staring out at the darkness that surrounded the keep, "I cannot wait for Lord Grul to capture the Divines and burn this world to its core... maybe then I can finally enjoy life again."

"You say that every time your put on guard duty," another orc stated, clearly annoyed that the other orc wouldn't stop mentioning the weather, "so either say something new or don't bother speaking at all."

"Well, I wish Lord Grul hadn't assigned me to guard some keep that mages liked to use," the first orc commented, knowing that his companion would like the change in their conversation, "Personally I'd prefer attacking, pillaging, and burning Dawnstar to standing here, on the outskirts of Whiterun... or maybe sacking the College now that our target and the Archmage are no longer there."

"Once Lord Grul's gateway is complete we'll have the full power of an endless army at our backs," the second orc replied, a smile appearing on his face for a moment, "then we can get around to destroying what remains of the College."

Usually a comment like that made the first orc reply with his own, to which the two of them would argue over what their master was planning and where they were going to be stationed next, though this time he remained silent. The second orc wondered if his partner was thinking of something funny to say, in an effort to liven up their pitiful situation, but as the seconds passed he was beginning to think something was wrong. The orc was almost never stopped talking, not unless one of their superiors was giving them their instructions or if Lord Grul himself was walking past them.

After a minute of waiting in silence he finally snapped from the lack of the other orc saying nothing, to which he turned to his companion and grabbed his shoulder, though when he touched him he noticed that there was an arrow sticking in his heart... and that he fell to the ground and stopped moving. The second orc realized that something was out there in the darkness, using the shadows to pick them off one by one, but he grinned as he turned around and bolted for the center of camp. He didn't get two steps forward before an arrow pierced his chest, knocking the wind out of him, but he steeled himself and kept moving, intending to raise the alarm before he died.

He barely crossed half the distance between his post and the alarm as the second arrow tore into his heart and knocked him to the ground, but as he lay there, dying from a ruined heart, he smiled as the other orcs noticed him, to which they raised the alarm as they realized that they were under attack. He let out a final breath as his body went still, knowing that whoever had killed him and his companion would soon face the full might of their garrison.

Sonata was a little disappointed that they couldn't take out the second orc before the alarm was raised, but she was also surprised that the orc didn't notice his companion was dead for a whole minute. Their short conversation had been interesting, considering the fact that the lowest levels of Grul's army already knew what his master plan was, though she already knew that Grul was planning on opening a gateway to summon his reinforcements. She almost wished she had told Kree to hold off on loosing the first arrow, because it almost seemed like the two orcs knew as much as the Lieutenants themselves and were likely going to talk about Grul's mysterious master during the night, but there was no taking back what had been done. All she could do now was ensure that the orcs were put in the ground before they could do any harm to the people of Whiterun, or any other settlement in the nearby area.

She signaled to Lorthan for a moment, who nodded and started moving to the right of where Sonata was standing, heading towards the secondary group that would be flanking the courtyard that was in front of them. She, Lydia, Saerza, and Krovor would be attacking from the front, drawing the attention of the orcs to them so they wouldn't notice the fact that Lorthan, Gol, Mez, Kael, and Serana would be flanking them from behind. If they were lucky the darkness would be in their favor and the orcs wouldn't know what hit them, allowing the group to silence their enemies, where they could then check the rest of the keep to be sure that there weren't any remaining orcs left.

The orcs came pouring out of the keep in groups of three, quickly growing to the size of a small army, leaving Sonata to wonder how so many of them could have been living in such a small area, but then she shook her head and signaled for them to attack. Kree stood up and loosed an arrow at one of the orcs, hitting him in the chest, though before their enemies could find her she disappeared into the shadows around them. Sonata already knew that the Divines were aiding her in her missions, as she had already seen in the past, but she was also sure that several of the Daedric Lords were likely aiding her in their own ways, which was why she was sure that Nocturnal was allowing her and her friends to disappear so suddenly.

Sonata actually wondered what Grul would think if he knew that she was receiving aid from both the Divines and the Daedric Princes, because she was sure she'd have a laugh or two at his expense.

Lydia and Krovor attacked their enemies from the front, allowing Sonata to dance around the enemies that were still pouring out of the keep so she could see where the others were. That was when she spotted what appeared to be several Dwarven constructs, pulled from Blackreach if she was correct, that were corrupted by Grul's green flames. The flanking group was fighting them, using their temporary powers to their advantage in their fight with the constructs, leaving Sonata and the others to deal with the other orcs. This time she decided to join the battle herself, her sword clashing with whoever she sought out, though she restrained from using too much magic, as she had to rest after loosing her powered up state.

As much as she liked her 'Super Siren' form, as she had taken to calling it, she also discovered that it would wear her out if she wasn't careful, so it would be her trump card for when she truly needed it.

When the enemy mages and warlocks joined the fight, as Sonata knew they would, she turned her attention on some of them and dashed passed them, her hand lightly touching the shoulder of one, before landing on the ground and disappearing into the shadows. That was followed by a crack of thunder as a bolt of lightning tore out of the sky and crashed into the orc that Sonata had touched, while spreading to the other two around him and knocking them all to the ground. It was a special rune she had used, designed to concentrate a single lightning blast to her chosen target, though sometimes it jumped to nearby enemies as well, allowing her to help reduce the number of enemies they had to fight.

Things were going so well until one mage survived a lightning blast that killed the two soldiers beside him, to which Sonata approached him with the purpose of making sure he stayed down.

"Oh, I should have known it was you," the mage said, staring up at Sonata as she approached him, though oddly enough he wasn't using his magic at all, "We were planning on having this be a surprise for Whiterun, on Grul's orders, but now I guess we can settle on killing you at long last. I'm sure that you are somewhat familiar with the Dwarven Centurions, though we have pooled several of them into one being that will crush you into a fine powder... he's name is Malus, and he'll be coming for you."

The moment Sonata heard the name Malus she knew that something was wrong, because a few seconds passed before the ground started to shack and buckle all around her and the orc. She stood her ground and waited, wondering what was even happening, before pieces of the ground broke apart as parts of a Dwarven construct erupted out of the ground. She watched as the hand gripped the area around it before heaving itself up, as if something was pulling itself free from the earth beneath her, before a second hand appeared to her left. It took her a moment to realize what was happening, and another for her mind to accept what she was seeing as more pieces tore apart the ground beneath her, but once she accepted it she turned to her friends.

"Get out of here!" Sonata shouted, though she jumped into the air and walked on the wind as she watched what was unfolding before her eyes, silently glad that her friends were wise enough to run when she had told them to.

Sonata watched as a massive Dwarven construct, at least five times the size as any of the ones she had seen in Blackreach and empowered by Grul's dark magics, tore itself from the ground and ruined the entirety of Fellglow Keep, smashing the keep into pieces as its feet touched the ground around it. She had absolutely no idea where they had built such a monstrosity, in so little time no less, but now that it was awake she knew that it was going to kill everything in its path as it hunted for her. This was just another test of her powers, as if the warlock was trying to figure out her strengths and weaknesses, but she knew that she couldn't allow the construct to remain in Grul's control.

She silently swore to herself, as she had known that she and the others should have taken care of the orcs that had followed them into Blackreach, but there was no going back and changing the past... she was going to have to live with her choices and hope that nothing else went wrong.

Before the construct had any time to lock onto her location, or her friends for that matter, Sonata burst through the air and sailed for the machine's right knee, intending to bring it down in one motion. When she struck the knee with her elemental magic she was shocked to find that the creature was unaffected by her attack, which made her worry that the entire thing was protected against her powers. She tried the same thing several more times, attacking a variety of places while the massive construct tried to swat her out of the air, but the same result continued to show itself.

After a few seconds she was beginning to worry that Grul had created this construct with the sole purpose to cancel out her powers, which meant that it was the device he had planned on using to capture her alive so he could siphon her energy to bring about the end of Nirn. She then went on the defensive, looking for something, anything really, that would allow her to deal any sort of damage to the construct, while also avoiding the metallic hands that tried to catch her. That was until she spotted some sort of symbol on the construct's head, left shoulder, right leg, the middle of its chest, and, oddly enough, the center of its right palm.

Due to her being distracted for a moment the construct managed to hit her with its fist, sending her flying through the air and colliding with the earth around her, though she was thankful that her natural abilities had slowed her down, otherwise she was sure that she would have broken a few bones or snapped her neck during the fall.

"It seems that I little choice in the matter," Sonata said, bringing herself back to her feet as a red aura surrounded her, though when she looked at her hair she found that it was now red colored and was spiked like the last time she had entered this form, "Let's see how the construct feels about this form."

She drew the weapon that the draugr deathlord had given her, the powerful Blood Blade as Saerza had called it, and watched as her own power seemed to surround it as well, likely increasing its own reasonable abilities. She grinned as she took to the air once more, flying right at the construct that had been slowly making its way towards her, before she flipped over its outstretched hand and drove the blade into the machine's right leg... right into the symbol she had seen. That was followed by the construct letting out what appeared to be an inhuman sound, almost like a scream of pain or something, before Sonata pulled the blade free and backed up into the air, though she did notice that there was a small geyser of green energy from where she struck the construct.

She looked at the next symbol she had spotted, the one that happened to be resting on the middle of the machine's chest, and decided that she might as well try the same thing again. Sonata maneuvered around the construct, confusing it for a moment, before flying up to her target and driving her empowered weapon into the symbol, which was followed by another inhuman howl and another geyser of green energy when she backed away. It was then that Sonata discovered that this had to be some sort of test, as if Grul was actually seeing if she was as smart as he believed she was, though it only made her angrier, because Grul saw everyone as mere pawns to be discarded.

Sonata had to be careful when she went after the symbol on the construct's palm, as it could have easily crushed her if she wasn't careful, but in the end she managed to slip past its defenses, stab the symbol will her weapon, and dart back to safety as the inhuman howl followed her. The shoulder symbol was another easy one for her to take out, though this time the construct stumbled and went to one knee for a moment, to which it hung its head in what appeared to be shame. She actually paused for a moment, wondering if this was a trick to make her lower her guard, but she remembered that the massive construct would destroy anything in its path to get to her.

Sonata then let out a sigh before she drove the blade into the final target atop the construct's head, to which the machines seemed to go still as it collapsed on the ground in a heap of metal. Once she was sure that the machine was dead she powered down and returned to the ground, where her friends gathered around her, in what would normally be a celebration of their victory... though when she looked on their faces she noticed that Lydia was missing. Before she could ask what happened Krovor approached her, carrying Lydia's body, allowing her to see that one of the orcs she had been fighting had scored a lucky hit in the middle of her chest.

"I am sorry Dragonborn... Lydia is no longer among our number," Krovor said, though Sonata wasn't sure if he was actually sincere about his feelings or if he was faking them.

"I'm going to make Grul pay in blood for what he's done," Sonata growled, though the sky flashed while she spoke, as if someone was agreeing with her anger, "I will make him pay for all the lives he has either taken or ruined over the course of his cursed existence... and I will make him beg for mercy once I'm done with him."

Sonata was furious that one of her friends had been taken from her, never to return, but that made her think about her sisters and her anger increased, though she eventually let out a sigh and regained control of her emotions. There would be a time and place to unleash all of her rage and anger, like when she found Grul or his Lieutenants, so she had to remain calm and continue fighting. They would stay in Whiterun for a little while longer, so they could give Lydia the burial she deserved, before continuing with their original plan.

She only hoped that they could stop Grul before he did something even worse than what he had already done... otherwise she was sure that more people would be joining Lydia soon enough.

Grul walked through the remains of Dimhollow Crypt, the hidden resting place of the vampire princess known as Serana, with a small group of soldiers following him. The draugr that called this place home appeared to have attempted to bring the entire place down to hide themselves, as if they were actually trying to keep something from him. The thought made him chuckle a tiny bit as he used his power to move some of the rocks out of his way, allowing them to walk across the bridge that led to the vampire structure in the middle of the chamber. Even now he could feel the lingering essence of the power that had been used here, though he pulled out the dark green crystal that he carried at all times, allowing it to absorb every ounce of power that remained in the stones around him.

The power would be added to his reserves, allowing him to continue his preparations for the opening of his master's portal so he could burn this world to a cinder, though once it was all inside the crystal he and his minions continued moving. It didn't take him long to reach the chamber that housed the draugr, all of whom appeared to be ready for his eventually arrival, as if they had been expecting him to show up at some point. Even the mighty Gurgath the Wicked was awake, though Grul noticed that the powerful draugr wasn't carrying its signature blade, though in the end he was less interested in the weapon at the moment... as it was quite easy to determine who was carrying it at the moment.

The mighty draugr lifted another weapon at Grul and seemed to issue a command to the other draugr, no doubt in the Dragon Language, but Grul merely lifted a hand and beckoned for his followers to do what they had been ordered to do. Instead of the warriors running into battle, like they usually did, the mages stepped forward and started chanting spells, to which green chains erupted from the ground and wrapped around all of the undead, preventing them from moving or attacking anyone.

"I can see that you believed that I would be coming to take your mighty weapon," Grul commented, stepping forward as his crystal floated around him, though the only other sound in the room was his staff touching the ground every so often, "and you would have been correct, had the weapon actually been what I was seeking to begin with. Gurgath the Wicked, your soul burns with immense power from your time as one of the former champions of the Daedric Prince Molag bal, while also including the amount of power you gained during your training to become a Dragon Priest, which never happened. Your soul will empower me and my crystal, allowing me to begin my hunt for the essences of the seventeen Daedric Princes, whose powers will fuel the opening of my portal... and bring about the end of this world."

The orcs watched as Gurgath's soul was ripped from his body by Grul's foul powers, causing the body to turn to dust as the soul was absorbed into the crystal. Once the ceremony was done he also seized the souls of the other draugr in the room was well, adding to the pool of power that he and his fellow orcs were gathering. With the souls inside the crystal he chanted a spell and witnessed several visions pass by his eyes, revealing the locations of sixteen pieces of power, though that left one piece out. He decided that sixteen was still enough to enact his plans, to which he turned to his followers and started giving them the locations they needed to head to in order to obtain these pieces of power.

Grul grinned as his followers left the crypt behind and went on their way, because he was now three steps ahead of his foe and that wasn't likely to change in the near future.

Author's Note

I wonder if anyone can guess which game I was referencing during that fight...

37: Strange News and Stranger Allies

Sonata was exhausted, both mentally and physically, from her assault on Fellglow Keep, where she and her friends decimated the orcs that had been stationed there by her enemy. She had not been ready to assume her 'empowered' form, especially after the last time she had used it, and it drained her if she used it in rapid succession. As a result her body ached with pain, which she would have been able to endure had something else not happened during the assault. Lydia, one of her oldest friends, had been cut down by her opponents when the orcs loosed their terrible Dwarven construct, which had consumed Sonata's attention until she brought it down.

The loss of Lydia hurt Sonata more than she had expected it to, but it also came with the feeling that someone had betrayed her to get to her housecarl... and her prime suspect was Krovor. The orc claimed that one of Grul's followers had struck Lydia while the two of them were fleeing and killed her before he had a chance to save her, though she knew he had to be lying. Her time with Adagio and Aria gave her a better understanding of when someone was being truthful and when someone was lying, so while the orc appeared to have a great poker face, and was hiding his deed from everyone else, she knew the truth.

She could not strike him down, not with some many people standing around her, so she decided to wait for her chance to do so in the future... and pray that such a thing didn't happen to anyone else.

Shortly after they had finished off the orcs, and recovered anything of use, they had returned to Whiterun and announced their victory over the orcs, much to Jarl Balgruuf's joy. That was followed by a moment of silence for Lydia, which made the Jarl ensure that she would have a proper warrior's send off on a funeral pyre. The event was held not thirty minutes after Balgruuf had been informed of Lydia's passing, though Sonata barely paid attention to anything that had been said as she watched her friend's body be devoured by the flames. Even once the ceremony was over, and everyone else backed away from the flames, she stood there and watched the fire as it danced over the wood and across Lydia's body.

Her earlier anger returned and she felt like she was ready to snap, but before she did anything reckless she calmed down a bit and focused on the task at hand... figuring out what the Moth Priest knew about the Elder Scrolls and track down Harkon, before he could do more damage to Skyrim.

"Sonata, we've got company," Kree said, causing her friend to finally look away from the flames and turn towards her, before she pointed back at the person in question, "It seems that Cicero has something else he wishes to share with us."

Sonata looked back at the jester, who seemed to be smiling while he was carrying three unique looking items in his hands; one happened to be a sword that was glowing with a bright light, the second appeared to be a staff that was modeled after a rose, while the third was, strangely enough, a shield that looked like something one of the ancient Dwarves had made. That wasn't even the strangest part, because on Cicero's right arm was some strange lettering that appeared to have been burned into the fabric of his clothing, though he didn't seem to mind it at all. She had no idea what the lettering said, though she could have sworn that she could make out five letters, though she eventually shook the thought from her mind and turned her attention on the jester.

"Hello Cicero," Sonata said, somewhat thankful that they were outside the city and not inside, otherwise someone would no doubt be asking questions about what the man was carrying, "What news do you have for me today?"

"Sly Cicero has been following your enemy, lurking in the shadows and spying on his movements," Cicero replied, indicating that he was constantly watching Grul, "Last I saw he was trespassing in Dimhollow Crypt, where you found the vampire called Serana, where he stole the souls of the dead for his own schemes."

"Molag Bal won't like that one bit," Serana commented, as she had been interested in what the jester had to say and stood near the three of them, as Kree was standing by Sonata as well, "He's, well, got a thing for taking souls..."

"Yes, but it was what sly Cicero heard next that will interest you," Cicero said, drawing the attention back to himself, "I heard him mention that he's looking for the essences of the seventeen Daedric Princes, the powerful beings that control all the various realms of Oblivion."

"He must have misspoke," Serana stated, as if she didn't like the fact that Cicero had done something wrong, though it was clear that she sensed that something was amiss, "there are only sixteen Princes, not seventeen."

"No, he's right about the number," Kree commented, to which the assembled group turned towards her for a moment, "During the Oblivion Crisis, when Mehrunes Dagon tried to destroy the world, a door opened to the Shivering Isles and one of my ancestors, an argonian warrior named Dan-Ja Steelgrip, braved the call of the Prince of Madness. It is said that during that time the long forgotten Prince of Order, the dreaded Jyggalag, resurfaced for just a few moments to battle Sheogorath, but then he disappeared and was never heard from again. My ancestor never returned home, much to his wife's sorrow, but the line continued on until it came to me, along with the stories that they chose to tell me."

"How do you know what happened in the Shivering Isles if your ancestor never came back?" Serana asked, though even as the question was spoken Sonata had the feeling that Kree had an answer.

"A man by the name of Dyus, who happened to be dressed in black robes, came to my ancestor's home and told them what he knew," Kree answered, before letting out a sigh, "and then he disappeared, never to be seen again."

"Okay then, so there's a seventeenth Daedric Prince," Serana said, pinching the bridge of her nose for a moment, before turning back to Cicero, "and you said that Grul is looking for the 'essences' of the Princes?"

"Yes, though sly Cicero already figured that part out," Cicero replied, beckoning to the unusual items he was carrying, "The Dawnbreaker of the Prince known as Meridia, the Sanguine Rose from Lord Sanguine, and the Spellbreaker from Prince Peryite. All of these items, including the ones I have not yet obtained, contain a small portion of their respective Princes' powers, meaning that these are what our enemy seeks. I also stole the pieces of Mehrunes Razor from their respective owners, just so I could keep another item out of the warlocks hands."

Sonata was beginning to understand what Cicero was saying, because as she understood what was going on Grul wanted the artifacts of the known sixteen Daedric Princes, not counting the mysterious Jyggalag. Seeing how Grul had a crystal that could absorb energy, which must have been how he was ripping out the souls from everything he killed, she figured that he was going to subject any artifact he came across to the crystal and absorb its powers. She could tell that her enemy was trying to weaken the Princes, no doubt because the arrival of his own master would shatter whatever barrier was keeping the daedra from invading this world again.

Once again Sonata found herself wondered who Grul's master really was, because all she had seen in her visions was a colossal creature that was surrounded by smoke. The being had to be incredibly powerful, so much so to have enticed the orc warlock into serving him with the promise being more power for every world he conquered. She was sure that Grul's master was a god, one that wasn't native to this world at all, but she had no idea what the god actually commanded and didn't like that she knew so little about him or her.

"I also come as a messenger for someone else," Cicero said, putting away all three artifacts, which seemed to vanish in the blink of an eye, before beckoning to the writing on his arm, "Can you read this?"

"I can," Serana stated, stepping forward to see what was on the man's arm, before pulling back with a look of shock on her face, "Cicero, these letters are in the Daedric Language, which I spent some time studying and memorizing before becoming a vampire... and they spell out the word 'Order'. Does that mean what I think it means?"

Instead of answering the question Cicero turned to the ground for a moment and pressed his hand against the earth, though that was rapidly followed by a dull grey crystal pillar ripping through the ground and stopping at about twice the height of Sonata. The group waited for a moment, to see what happened next, though that was before a humanoid creature, wearing a complete set of crystalline armor that covered its entire body and carrying a crystal sword, stepped out of the crystal pillar and stared at them. Sonata's friends immediately stepped away from the figure, leaving it and Sonata alone at the moment, though all Sonata did was stare at the creature in wonder.

That was eventually followed by the creature dropping to one knee, how Sonata had no idea, and taking up the position of a knight that was kneeling in front of their master.

"Siren Queen, I bring an issue from my master, the Prince of Order," the knight stated, though its voice sounded like a cross between something human and something inhuman, "the Knights of Order are being dispatched to Skyrim to hunt down and kill the orc warlock called Grul."

"And Akatosh is fine with that?" Serana asked, causing the knight to turn its head in her direction for a moment, "The Chief of the Nine Divines is okay with an army of Daedra marching through Nirn and doing battle with someone that's as powerful as Grul is?"

"The barrier between worlds is already weakening," the knight replied, though it returned to looking at Sonata while it spoke, "the gateway is slowly tearing a hole through the barrier, so the warlock's terrible master can enter this world. At the same time the opening can allow any Prince to do the same thing, though my master as contacted the other Princes and decreed that none shall act without the permission of Akatosh and the other Divines. Only my master has bothered to receive permission, which is why we are starting to assemble in this world."

"This cannot be happening," Kree commented, shaking her head as she finally realized what could possibly happen next, "this is going to be a second Oblivion Crisis if we're not careful... and this time it will be centered in Skyrim and not in Cyrodiil. Jyggalag just gave the other Princes their way into Nirn... and all they have to do is try and trick the Chief of the Divines and we'll be finished. If the armies of the Deadlands or Coldharbour were to attack while dealing with Grul and his army... we'd never be able to standing against three opposing enemies."

"So the legendary Prince of Order is our ally," Serana said, looking up at the sky for a moment, as if she could believe her ears, "Well, I guess that means that Grul's screwed no matter what we do... because if we fail then Jyggalag will just carve the warlock to pieces, and then I guess move on with his life."

Sonata had the feeling that it wouldn't be that simple, regardless of how powerful the seventeenth Prince was, so she decided to stick to her original plan and hunt down Harkon.

"Very well, I shall accept Jyggalag's support in this war," Sonata finally said, knowing that having the Prince as an ally would be better than having him as an enemy, "How much time do we have before the barrier completely fails."

The knight, instead of replying with words, merely shook his head, indicating that he had no idea when it would happen, before picking himself up and disappearing into the crystal behind him. Sonata let out a sigh as the crystal pillar dimmed and went dark, because now she had to plan for the eventual arrival of Jyggalag and his army if she failed to stop Grul. Sometimes she wished that she had just chosen to stay back on Earth and try and make friends with the girls that had beaten her and her sisters, but now she guessed that she would have entered the portal anyway.

Her life was getting more difficult before it was getting any easier... and for some reason she sensed that things were going to continue to go downhill for a while before they got better.

38: Madness

Sonata had known that some of the guards had been watching her when Cicero had come to Lydia's funeral, armed with knowledge that would shape her war with Lord Grul. She knew that some of them would listen in on their conversation, all thanks to the artifacts that the jester had been carrying with him, but had chosen to ignore them at the time. Several of the guards had heard that the daedra would be allowed to visit Skyrim if their masters gained permission from Akatosh, though they were still frightened anyway. According to what she had heard, about the first Oblivion Crisis that happened at the end of the previous age, one Daedric Prince had nearly brought about the destruction of the mortal world. She could easily guess why everyone, besides her anyway, seemed terrified of the thought of another potential Oblivion Crisis rearing its ugly head in the near future.

Despite everything she knew at the time she still decided to speak with Cicero and the Knight of Order, though now she was inside Dragonsreach, sitting at one of the tables that the Jarl had brought in so she and her companions could participate in the discussions. That was because shortly after the Knight of Order had disappeared, and left them to chew on the news he had delivered, both General Tullius and Jarl Ulfric came into the city and demanded to speak with her. As such the Imperials, based in the left half of Skyrim, sat at the table to Sonata's left while the Stormcloaks, controlling the right half of Skyrim, sat at the table to her right. Some of her friends sat with her, while some sat around the room in the spare tables that Jarl Balgruuf had, though the more important figures of Whiterun sat with Sonata.

That also, unfortunately, included a man that was apparently the current avatar of Sheogorath, the Prince of Madness, as he had this crazed look in his eyes that forced the guards to back away from him and Cicero, apparently cursed with some sort of Order thanks to the symbols on his arm, even backed away from the man.

"Cheese for everybody!" the man proclaimed, waving a staff in the air as pieces of cheese, either individual slices or whole wheels, appeared in front of everyone in Dragonsreach, though at the same time he sat beside Sonata, "Ah, you must be the Siren Queen the other Princes have been talking about. Don't look so surprised, we've known about you since you arrived in Skyrim... or was it that we recently discovered you? Bah, who cares? Time was always irrelevant to me anyways."

At this point Sonata wasn't about to even try to figure out how the Daedric Princes had known of her original powers and her true title, because it was just going to give her a headache. She knew that it didn't matter in the long run, not when everyone seemed to know her secret at this point... save for the Blade known as Delphine, who seemed completely unaware of the truth.

"Your likely wondering why I took over this mans body, but I won't bore you with the details," the avatar continued, levitating a piece of cheese into the air and taking a bite out of it, "Jyggalag might be the most boring, and the most hated, of the Daedric Princes, but he's given you an army to fight your enemy's army... or something like that. I can never pay attention to anything he says. He says that there should be a reason behind doing something, but why should I need a reason to visit the Siren Queen?"

"Look, I'm not familiar with the resident Daedric Princes that rule the seemingly infinite realms of Oblivion," Sonata eventually said, shaking her head as she looked at the avatar, because she only knew a few of them by the names that Cicero had told her earlier, "Which one are you again?"

"Me? Why I am none other than The Madgod Sheogorath, Daedric Prince of Madness!" the avatar proclaimed, while a vast majority of the people in the room nodded their heads, "Normally I would skip rope with your entrails for not knowing who I am, but we haven't the time for that. It is unfortunate, because I really wanted to see how you'd function without your entrails. We never have time for what poor old Sheo wants anymore..."

"When we are done saving Nirn, then you might have some fun," another powerful voice, this one possessing an echo, said, to which Sonata watched as another person, this one being a nord who appeared to have a mass of shadows surrounding him, though there were some floating eyes following him, "I dislike possessing my followers and assuming direct control to use an avatar, but its a part of Akatosh's conditions for speaking with you. I am Hermaeus Mora, Daedric Prince of Knowledge and Fate. Among the Daedric Princes I am the one who knows the most about your enemy's leader."

"You mean Grul?" Sonata asked, because at the moment she knew that she had the most experience dealing with the orc, but knew nothing about him or how he had come to power.

"No... I mean his master," Hermaeus said, though his tone changed to a humorous one for a moment, as if he thought that Sonata was being serious in her question, "I speak of a Daedric Prince that is as strong as Jyggalag... one who had been dormant since he went to sleep so many eons ago, allowing Magnus and the others to create Nirn and the other worlds. I speak of a Prince that waged endless wars against the other Princes and myself, tearing apart whole planes of Oblivion when his powers clashed with another's. I speak of a Prince that recently awoke from his long slumber and discovered this world... and he intends on collecting it for his own purposes."

"Wait... you can't be serious..." Sheogorath said, though the trembling of his avatar indicating that this Daedric Prince wasn't someone that he liked or even wanted to mess with.

"I speak of Bal'droth," Hermaeus continued, as if he hadn't heard Sheogorath speak at all, "Daedric Prince of End Times. He was also once known as the Lord of Demise, the Malefic Destroyer, Master of the Tainted Fire, and even the World-Ender."

"Well if you need me I'll be back in the Shivering Isles, skipping rope with the entrails of some poor adventurer," Sheogorath nervously said, before apparently withdrawing his power from his avatar, as the man collapsed on the ground and stopped moving.

"So that's why Grul wants to use your artifacts to weaken the barrier between Nirn and Oblivion," Kree commented, turning her gaze towards the avatar of the Prince of Knowledge, "Not only will it empower him, to some degree, but it will give him the ability to call forth a creature that even the known Princes fear."

"Jyggalag does not fear Bal'droth," Hermaeus replied, again finding something funny in what had been said, "but even so they are evenly matched. A battle between the Prince of Order and the Prince of End Times will spell the death of either this world or a plane of Oblivion. But if Jyggalag had the help of an equally powerful Prince... well, the two could easily push Bal'droth back into his plane and seal him there, provided Akatosh was willing to help."

Sonata stopped listening at that point, because based on what was being said they needed to find, and convince, a being that was strong as Jyggalag to aid them in stopping Grul's master from entering this world and burning it to the ground. She remembered the vision she had back before she went into Ustengrav, where the world had been burning before her eyes and her sisters had told her what needed to be done. At the time she had wondered if that was the future that she couldn't beat, but now she was positive that it had been a vision of what could happen if they failed. She didn't like the sounds of this Bal'droth at all, but her first priority was to find Harkon and beat him so she could restore her power to seventy-five percent... and then she would need to have words with a certain Miraak.

As she sat at the table she couldn't help but wonder what Grul was even up to right now, because without any scouts reporting in it seemed like he was waiting... and that wasn't a good thing in the long run.

Grul smiled as he walked out of his tent and sealed the fire behind him, the same fire that was currently keeping the two Sirens trapped in their prisons, though in his left hand he carried a special ring he had taken from the hands of Namira's chosen champion. He was amused that the coven of cannibals thought that they could overcome the squad of orcs that had ransacked the place and slaughtered them where they stood. It was also amusing that it was so easy to capture one of the fragments he needed to tear open the portal that his master would use to enter this world at long last. He cast a look at an approaching group of orcs, one led by one of his remaining Lieutenants, the ever loyal Aggronak, and his smile widened a bit when he realized what his most trusted Lieutenant was carrying.

Aggronak has apparently been successful in his mission to claim the second fragment of power that had been hiding in the city of Markarth, which pleased Grul to no end.

"Lord Grul, my squad and I were successful in our mission," Aggronak said, kneeling before his master, which his followers copied instantly, before holding out his hands and presenting the item he had acquired, "I present to you the Mace of Molag Bal, the Daedric Prince of Domination."

"You continue to please me Aggronak," Grul replied, knowing that his most trusted Lieutenant enjoyed his praise, while at the same time collecting the mace in question, "this makes two artifacts you have been able to acquire in a single day. Tell me, what about the other fourteen fragments of power?"

"I have scouts searching for them as we speak," Aggronak answered, though at the same time he lifted his head to look into his master's eyes, "though I have received word from the scouts in Falkreath... they have uncovered the whereabouts of the artifacts belonging to Hircine and Clavicus Vile."

"Good," Grul said, stretching the word out for a moment, to indicate how pleased he was, "Take an hour's break and then depart for Falkreath... I expect to have both of their artifacts by the end of the week."

"It will be as you command," Aggronak replied, bowing his head towards his master in respect, before he and his underlings stood at their full height and departed from where Grul was standing.

Grul let the smile remain on his face as he walked over to the massive portal that his workers had finished constructing, allowing his magic to manipulate the material as he carefully placed the two artifacts inside the holding areas he had designed for them, backing away when the job was done.

Soon my master will purge this world from the face of existence, Grul thought, an evil chuckle escaping him as he returned to his hut, and not even the great Siren Queen can stop us.

Author's Note

Next chapter we get back to the actual story of Sonata hunting for Harkon... and that's a promise I intend on keeping.

39: Land of Souls

Shortly after both Hermaeus Mora and Sheogorath withdrew from their followers, leaving the poor men confused as to how they got to Whiterun to begin with, Sonata packed up her gear and walked down to the main hall of Dragonsreach. Now that she knew that Grul was planning on summoning a Daedric Prince, one capable of destroying the entire world, she and her friends were going to have to act fast if they wanted to save everything. This was no longer about saving her sisters, as she believed in the beginning of her journey, rather it was a race to stop Grul and his horrible master, before they did something that wasn't fixable.

"Sonata, do you have a moment?" Serana asked, beckoning her over to Farengar's quarters, though the mage was absent because he was questioning the men about their experience of containing the powers of a Daedric Prince for the time they had been possessed.

"Sure, what's on your mind?" Sonata replied, knowing that they had to find and stop Harkon before he did something stupid, though she hoped that the vampire had something for her.

"I stopped Dexion from reading the Elder Scrolls," Serana said, beckoning to the two golden scrolls that were in the room, the one she had insisted on carrying and the one that Sonata had put down the moment she heard that she would be listening to two Daedric Princes talk to her earlier, "I finally remembered that my father is after an ancient artifact known as Auriel's Bow, which is a powerful weapon once wielded by the elven god Auri-El. I was there the day my father first heard the ancient prophecy that mentioned the bow and its ability to do something with the sun, though I think my father believes that he can blot out the sun so that vampires won't have to fear it. Without the sun to protect against the vampires my father could raise his army and attack during the day... along with Grul's orcs considering that they happen to be allies at the moment."

"So where's the bow?" Sonata asked, knowing that such a weapon couldn't be allowed to fall into Harkon's hands, as it would only be handed over to Grul and used as fuel for the portal.

"No one knows, save for the third Elder Scroll," Serana said, holding up a hand to stop Sonata from saying anything, "Look, my mother and I stole the two Scrolls that my father had collected, where one was sealed in that stone coffin with me while my mother worked to hide the other one in a place my father would never think to look. The only problem is that I have no idea where my father wouldn't have checked yet, as he's had all the time in the world to search for my mother and her Elder Scroll."

Sonata stared at Serana for a moment, wondering if she was being serious at the moment, because this was something that she had taught Starswirl the Bearded, in thanks for being her first friend... though she was certain that he passed it on to one of his students, likely the one called Celestia if her memory was right. The best place to hide something was literally under the nose of the person that your trying to hide it from, like the last place Adagio thought to look for her picture booklet, the one time Sonata took it anyway, was right under her bed.

"How about inside Castle Volkihar?" Sonata asked, knowing that it had to be the one location that Serana's mother would hide without being found, as she was sure to know all of the old passageways and could easily hide if Harkon ever got too close to her.

"Wait... that almost makes sense!" Serana declared, slapping herself on the forehead for not thinking of that earlier, "There's a courtyard in the castle. I used to help her tend a garden there. All of the ingredients for our potions came from there. She used to say that my father couldn't stand the place. Too... peaceful."

"Then we shall head back to Castle Volkihar and see where your mother is hiding," Sonata said, though as her eyes turned back to the main hall of Dragonsreach she found herself staring at Krovor again.

"You don't trust him either, do you?" Serana asked, while at the same time she made sure that the second Elder Scroll was secure, because it wasn't something they wanted to leave behind.

"No... and I'm convinced that he's behind Lydia's death." Sonata quickly said, though in a lower tone so the orc didn't hear her on accident, "One does not simply turn their back on the power that Grul offers... that, and I can feel the desire for power radiating off of his body, even from over here."

"I may have an idea," Serana said, glaring at Krovor for a moment, whose attention was currently on Jarl Balgruuf's unusual child at the moment, "but we'll have to wait till we reach the castle to put it into effect."

Sonata nodded and the two of them left the room they were in, to which the rest of their group fell in with all of their gear packed and their weapons polished for the coming battles, courtesy of Gol and Mez. With everyone ready they thanked the Jarl for allowing them to stay in Dragonsreach for the time they had spent in their city before making their way outside the building. Once that was done they made their way towards the exterior of the city so they could ride their carts to the small dock in the area of Solitude, where they could ride to the castle and begin their search for Serana's mother.

As Sonata and her friends arrived outside Castle Volkihar, and climbed off the boat they had taken, Sonata silently marveled at the fact that they hadn't been bothered by bandits, dragons seeking revenge for the death of their master, orcs wishing to capture them, or even vampires wanting them dead. It had been a strangely relaxing ride from Whiterun to Solitude, and then from Solitude to the dock they needed to use, but that actually troubled her. Grul was out there, gathering the hidden Daedric Artifacts for his master, though this time he seemed to want to keep his army alive for the coming war.

The fact that they had reached this location, without being attacked at all, made Sonata worry that they were walking into a trap, though whether that trap was Harkon's or Grul's she had no idea.

"It was too easy for us to get here," Kree commented, to which everyone around her, even Serana, nodded their heads in agreement, though at the same time they all drew their weapons, "Be careful... I smell something fishy."

"There's an undercroft on the northern side of the island," Serana stated, leading the way for the group this time, while everyone else followed and watched for any enemies that might attack them, "one that the previous owners used to bring supplies into the castle. An old escape tunnel from the castle exits there... that's our way into the castle without raising the alarm and bringing my father's forces down on our heads."

Serana lead them to the left of the massive bridge and the group walked around the island, though after a minute or two they came to the inlet that she had just told them about. Not a few moments later they found four skeletons walking around, all of them armored to the teeth in steel weapons and armor, but Serana challenged them and launched several ice spikes at their enemies. Sonata, on the other had, stood back as both Saerza and Kael summoned their magic and approached the closest skeleton, to which their fireballs tore their enemy to pieces and scattering the bones. Sonata and the rest of her friends got to work on taking out the remaining enemies that were in their way, though at the same time they quickly made their way to the tunnel that had been mentioned earlier.

Once the group was inside the undercroft, and the door was closed behind them, they were assaulted by a group of death hounds, where Gol and Mez charged forward and used their large two handed weapons to put down the death hounds before they could harm anyone else.

The moment that the death hounds were down for the count the group continued on through the undercroft, having to pause to take out a feral vampire who had been living there for who knew how long, before they found a lever that they needed to pull, which activated the bridge in front of them. The next part had two paths for them to choose from, but Serana pointed to the left passage and said that they were supposed to head to the left, mentioning that the traps had been put in place to dissuade thieves from continuing any further. They then found another chamber filled with death hounds, each of them looking like they wanted to slaughter anyone that annoyed them, but Krovor charged into the room and slaughtered one of them without wasting a second, before spinning around and killing the other two with his sword, as if they were nothing to him but obstacles that needed to be removed.

As Krovor moved around the area, searching for more enemies to eliminate, Sonata glanced at his sword and wondered if he had used it to kill Lydia, before sighing and continuing forward.

A few seconds later they found a massive spider guarding the lever that Serana said they needed to pull, but while she was fast to enter the room she wasn't the only one to attack the spider, as Saerza and Kael added their spells to her volley. The poor spider was blown into the side of the wall, apparently killed long before it had even struck the wall, allowing the group to pull the lever and progress even further. They then returned to the bridge and continued up the stairs, eventually opening a wooden door and coming to a courtyard area that had a golden dial resting in the center of the area.

As Serana began to talk about the area they were in, explaining how she and her mother had tended to a garden before they were forced to flee, Sonata walked around the area and studied the moondial, noting that some of the plates were missing. She moved up to one of the upper areas and looked over the courtyard, though she found one of the missing plates as she came up to the top of the stairs, noting that it hadn't been in the best hiding spot. She then cast her eyes over the courtyard and almost immediately spotted another one of the missing plates resting in the water, to which she called down to her friends and beckoned to it. Lorthan, being the closest one to the plate, walked over to the water and collected it, though he smiled as he walked back to the dial and attempted to put it in its place. Sonata cast her eyes over the area once more and noticed something in the garden itself, though before she could say anything Serana seemed to notice it as well, as she picked up the final missing plate.

Sonata, Lorthan, and Serana carefully placed the missing plates into their respective holes, to which the mooddial began to turn around for a few seconds, though it eventually came to a stop and the area around it lowered into the ground, revealing a hidden staircase.

The group followed the previously hidden path into the deepest reaches of the castle, but as they followed the pathway they came across dozens of skeletons and a few gargoyles. It was clear that Valerica, having anticipated that someone might figure out her secret and investigate, had prepared the area with a small army of the undead. Sonata was amazed by the amount of power that Serana's mother had, which she had to attribute to her skill as a necromancer, though one of the unfortunate side effects they noticed was that the undead didn't recognize Serana. That immediately told Sonata that Valerica clearly hadn't been expecting her own daughter to uncover her secret passageway, which meant that they had to fight their way through the entire army of the dead.

Kree, being the most experienced person who knew how to use a bow, fell to the back of the group and started to pull arrows out and let them loose when whenever she had a target, smashing skeletons into pieces or pushing gargoyles backwards. Gol and Mez gripped their heavy weapons and smashed whoever came near them, moving from one enemy to another, while sometimes exchanging enemies for the other to deal with. Lorthan swung his sword around and cut into any enemies that happened to be coming at him, though that wasn't counting the fact that Krovor stood by his side and helped him survive the number of enemies attacking him. Sonata, Kael, and Serana used their magic to either heal their allies if a wound appeared, though they mostly used their magic for blasting an enemy to pieces in the end.

They eventually came to a chamber with three more active gargoyles, which burst out of their stone casings and attacked them, but it didn't take the group very long to finish them off. It appeared that they had reached a dead end and that Serana was going to give up, but then Sonata, in a moment of inspiration that rivaled some of her earlier choices in life, pulled a candlestick and revealed another hidden pathway, which allowed them to climb even higher until they came to a large chamber. Sonata looked around and noticed all of the alchemy ingredients, telling her that Valerica was also an accomplished alchemist before she was forced to flee, though that was before her eyes were drawn to the circular patter in the floor. Serana commented on the fact that she had never seen this chamber before, telling everyone that this had to be the place that Valerica had come to hide the Elder Scroll, but there was no sign of the artifact anywhere.

The group split up and started searching for any clues that might tell them were Valerica went, during which Serana merely stood in front of the middle of the room and stared at the pattern... though her thoughts were interrupted when Sonata returned with what appeared to be her mother's journal. Serana immediately started reading what her mother had written down, discovering that they needed three very special ingredients and her mother's blood to activate the portal her mother had used. It was then that Krovor mentioned that Serana, being Valerica's daughter, shared her blood, which meant that she might be able to activate the portal as well.

Sonata glared at the orc as she walked around the room, carefully gathering the ingredients that Serana had mentioned, before gently placing them inside a container on the second story of the room. The others quickly gathered in the area behind her, as they didn't want to be on the lower section of the room, before Serana approached the container and added a few drops of her blood to the mixture. That was followed by the entire room shaking for a few seconds, to which the group watched as the stone circle in the floor began to crack and break, pieces lifting into the air and circling around until they created a staircase. The new staircase lead right into a portal that had an unnatural purple glow... one that Sonata suspected that lead to another plane of existence, similar to the one she and Kael had used to reach Sovngarde.

Serana, on the other hand, exclaimed that she couldn't believe that her mother created a portal to the 'Soul Cairn', naming the realm that Sonata knew that they were going to have to enter to find Valerica and her scroll. She also learned that the Soul Cairn was a land of the dead, which meant that vampires wouldn't suffer from entering the portal and that she would either have to soul trap herself or become a vampire as well.

"Neither of those options are going to work on me," Sonata quickly replied, tapping the shattered necklace she was wearing, "I'm the Siren Queen. I've had many necromancers try to take my soul when I was engaged in fighting their forces, back before Celestia and Luna rose to power, and they've never been able to latch onto my soul. My body also rejects being a vampire for some odd reason, one that I've never been able to figure out, so my only option is to walk in and see what happens to me."

"Allow me to join you inside the Soul Cairn," Krovor said, placing his hand above his heart for a moment, "you two are sure to encounter heavy enemy resistance, so it would be wise to have some muscle along."

Serana glanced over at Sonata for a moment, as it was her call to bring along the one person neither of them trusted, but in the end Sonata nodded. Her thoughts were that the dead that called the Soul Cairn home might not take too kindly to one of Grul's minions entering their home, as she was sure that the warlock would love to siphon the power of the realm of Oblivion to further his own goals. If the dead sensed where his allegiances truly were then she could indirectly get rid of him, and then blame it on him not listening to orders and being overwhelmed by enemies before she and Serana could help him. Serana quickly explained that she was going to partly soul trap him, as it would allow him safe passage and that they could find the rest of his soul once they had done what they came to do, before the three of them walked through the portal.

Sonata expected there to be some pain involved with passing through a gateway that led to the realm of the dead, but for some reason she was able to pass through without any harm coming to her.

When Sonata stepped through the other side of the portal and appeared at the top of some stairs she immediately looked around her and took in the terrible plane all around them. The ground, seemingly dull and gray, was clearly lifeless and stretched outwards in every direction, though the dead state seemed to give way for some unusual cracks in the ground and dead looking weeds. The trees that rested around the stairs were clearly dead, as they were completely withered away and were nothing more than shadows of the tress that she had seen across Skyrim. The sky itself, on the other hand, was a completely different shade of blue, if not completely violet purple she told herself, and there was this churning hole in the middle of the sky, which she assumed had to be this realm's sun.

Sonata even heard the sounds of souls lightly screaming in the background every now and then, telling her that this horrible realm was definitely not made for the living... all while making her wonder if this was what Tartarus looked like.

"Everything about this place is wrong," Serana said, looking around for herself, while echoing Sonata's thoughts, "Let's hurry up and find my mother... I'd rather not be here longer than necessary."

"Yeah... let's get moving," Sonata replied, already wanting to leave this place and never come back, but she let out a sigh and followed the path that was at the bottom of the stairs.

They followed the pathway until they came to what appeared to be a massive black wall that was blocking their way, but that thought was quickly thrown away as they noticed an opening they could walk through. They qucikly passed between the opening in black wall before rejoining the path, though when they did Serana spotted a sinister looking castle in the distance. Sonata noted that Serana acted as if her gut was telling her something, as she immediately started walking right towards the castle, to which she and Krovor followed her before any of them got lost. As they drew closer and closer to the castle Sonata could have sworn that she felt the power of a barrier, a powerful one she quickly added, that had to rest somewhere in the castle, no doubt keeping someone from leaving.

Once the trio reached the stairs and climbed up them they immediately noticed that they weren't alone, as there was another women, this one much older looking than Serana, standing behind the barrier that Sonata had felt.

"Mother!" Serana exclaimed, running up to her mother before stopping short of the barrier, to which Sonata and Krovor stopped behind her and kept their eyes peeled for dangerous creatures.

"Serana?! What are you doing here?" Valerica demanded, before taking a moment to collect her thoughts and letting out a sigh, "Its Harkon isn't it? He's found a way to decipher the prophecy, hasn't he?"

"Actually, he hasn't." Serana replied, just a little annoyed that her mother was more concerned about the prophecy, especially when she knew that there was something more dangerous out there than her father trying to blot out the sun, "All he's trying to do at the moment is bring about the end of the world... which my friends are trying to stop."

"You brought strangers into our conflict?!" Valerica said, though the anger in her voice was not lost to Sonata, especially when Valerica turned to face them, "So how has it come to pass that the two of you are in the company of my daughter? It pains me to think either of you would travel with Serana under the guise of her protector in an effort to hunt me down."

"Look, we didn't come to hurt you," Sonata replied, annoyed by how this entire venture was going, but knew that she needed to explain something before they moved on, "in fact we were hoping that you'd be willing to give us the Elder Scroll you've hidden so we can stop Harkon from handing it over to Grul."

"Wait... you mean that arrogant warlock who thinks that he owns the Soul Cairn?" Valerica said, causing both Serana and Sonata to raise an eyebrow, while Krovor coughed for a moment.

"Yeah, that's who we mean," Sonata replied, as Grul was the only orc warlock that she had encountered, "How do you know about him if you've been trapped in here for so long?"

"His portal, not yet attuned to the realm of his master, is unstable at best at the moment," Valceria explained, folding her arms for a moment while she told them what she knew, "He's briefly entering the portal and writing down what he discovers about the realms that he visits, though he has come to the Soul Cairn at least five times in the last two weeks. He's been trying to steal as many souls as he can to further power his gateway, so he can attune it to the plane of Oblivion that his master controls and watches from. The Ideal Masters, the rulers of this realm, have already ordered his death whenever he or his minions enters this realm, as the taint of his master lingers in everyone that willingly serves him.

As such the guardians of this realm, a dragon by the name of Durnehviir and a set of special guards known as the Keepers, are tasked with killing anyone that is willingly following that warlock, if they should be so foolish to step foot in the Soul Cairn... and it seems that one such person has been following you the entire time."

Krovor, upon hearing that statement, turned around and spotted three large menacing creatures that appeared to be wearing armor crafted from the bones of several dragons, while noticing that all three of them had their weapons drawn. He charged passed the three of them, intending on leaving the realm so he could return to his true master, though before he could get very far a large sinister dragon landed in front of him, causing him to stop where he was. Sonata watched as the three Keepers boxed Krovor in with the dragon, who seemed to be eyeing the orc with what appeared to be a look of hunger in his eyes... which was followed by the dragon opening his mouth and scooping Krovor up in one swift motion.

Sonata and Serana looked away for a moment as Durnehviir used his teeth to chew Krovor to pieces and shollowed him, though they heard a rumbling sound that indicated that the dragon was pleased.

"Well then, let's see about getting you that Elder Scroll," Valerica said, to which Serana and Sonata noticed that the barrier had faded, as if it had been there to prevent Krovor from going any further.

Sonata had no idea who the Ideal Masters were, but so far they seemed to be on the side that wanted to keep Nirn intact... so she said nothing as she and Serana followed Valerica to the Elder Scroll, while Durnehviir took to the skies to see if more of Grul's soldiers had entered the realm they were in. She had the suspicion that the dragon would love to leave the realm and eat more of Grul's minions, which made her smile for a moment as she thought about the image that sprung to mind. It seemed that luck was finally on her side once more... and she hoped that it continued like that for the next few days.

Author's Note

To anyone that thought Krovor was evil, you were right.

40: Its a Trap!

As Valerica lead the way to the location of the third Elder Scroll, the one thing that would tell them how to find the ancient artifact known as Auriel's Bow, Sonata began to wonder if it wasn't time for her and her friends to play some tricks of their own with their enemy. The reason why she hadn't spoken of her long term plans was because she was certain that Krovor had been a spy for Grul the entire time, which had been proven to be correct when the forces of the Soul Cairn cornered him and killed him. Now that Krovor was gone, however, Grul would have no idea where she was and what she was doing at any given moment, which meant that they could plan the downfall of Harkon without fear of their enemy finding out.

"So Serana, whose your friend?" Valerica asked, apparently wanting to have some sort of conversation with her daughter before they reached the Elder Scroll, which was why she wasn't in too much of a hurry to get to their destination.

"I am Sonata Dusk," Sonata replied, wondering how many times she was going to have to say those words before everyone knew who she was, "most people know me as the Dragonborn, the fabled hero who destroyed Alduin the World-Eater, but in my home world I went by another title; the Siren Queen."

"Wait a second, your a Queen?" Valerica inquired, though at the same time Serana remained silent as they walked, as if she was studying the land they were in.

"No, there were only ever three Sirens in all of my home world's existence," Sonata stated, still saddened by the fact that there weren't more of her kind in Equestria, or anywhere in Equus for that matter, "There's my sisters, Adagio Dazzle and Aria Blaze, and then there's me, the strongest of the trio. I won't bore you on all the details, but the three of us were eventually banished to a world without magic, where we lived for quite a long time until our necklaces were shattered. Two weeks after that, and with my sisters suddenly disappearing, I entered the portal between two worlds and ended up in Skyrim, though I eventually learned that my sisters had ended up here as well.

One of Grul's Lieutenants informed me, sometime ago during a failed raid on the College of Winterhold, that Grul had already captured by sisters and was holding them hostage... to which I promptly destroyed my opponent."

"So if your necklace, and the powers tied to it, is shattered, then how can you get back to your full potential?" Valerica continued, though at that point they had reached a little room like area that happened to house the Elder Scroll, which she held in her hands as they started the trek to the portal's opening.

Sonata didn't reply for a moment, mainly because she was amazed that Valerica had made the connection between her powers and her necklace without her even saying anything about it, but she quickly decided that the vampire was much smarter than she was giving her credit for and had deduced the information on her own.

"Apparently my powers will only be restored when I end a specific threat to Skyrim," Sonata explained, holding up a hand with three fingers sticking out, while the other two were pointed down, "or more specifically three specific enemies; Alduin the World-Eater, your husband Harkon, and someone by the name of Miraak. Right now I am at half of my former power, but in order to reach my peak I need to end Harkon and find Miraak... and I think I have a way to draw one of them out of hiding."

"Oh? You have a plan to kill Harkon, one of the most powerful Vampire Lords in the history of Skyrim, if not the northern half of Tamriel?" Valerica asked, as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing, but then she seemed eager to hear what the plan was, "Go on, I'm listening..."

"We're going to trick him into coming out of hiding with the one thing he wants; Auriel's Bow," Sonata replied, recalling that Gol and Mez had an ebony bow in one of their packs, "Here's what we'll do first..."

Harkon sat inside Movarth's old lair, sitting on his wooden throne and taking a sip from the goblet that he held, wondering how his life had gone from the livings of a Vampire Lord to the livings of a lesser vampire. Then he remembered that one of Grul's orcs had taken his place so he could find and obtain Auriel's Bow, a weapon that would allow him to block the sun and let vampires rule over everyone... until it came time for Grul to conquer everything. According to what he heard Grul was more than willing to hand him the keys to true immortality, where he wouldn't have to drink or eat ever again unless it was for the fun of it and where he could train his magic until he was on par with the strange warlock.

Unfortunately with none of the three Elder Scrolls in his hands anymore, as his wife had taken two of them before she and Serana had disappeared, that dream was so far off that he didn't even consider it a possibility anymore. Then there was the Dragonborn, who was supposed to have the third Scroll he needed, but his spies couldn't keep track of her at all... and the only person who gave him any good news was the orc that Grul had assigned to help him. He had never bothered to learn the orc's name, and the orc appeared to be fine with Harkon not knowing his name, but he couldn't deny how helpful the creature had been in disposing of the Council of Three.

His thoughts were interrupted as the orc stepped out of the shadows and approached the table that he was sitting at, stopping to bow when he reached the point that Harkon desired him to stand at.

"I take it that you have some news for me?" Harkon asked, wondering if this time he'd be able to find the Elder Scrolls and secure them or if Grul was demanding another update on his progress.

"Yes. My master's scouts have informed me that the Dragonborn and her allies left your castle some time ago," the orc replied, knowing how annoyed Harkon was with the fact that his enemies had marched through his old home, which he intended on reclaiming at some point in the future, "they lost our main spy inside the castle, which is a pity, but they managed to pick up another vampire, a lady that's older than your daughter, and some sort of jester."

"Valerica!" Harkon growled, enraged beyond belief that his traitorous wife had been hiding inside his castle the entire time, though he calmed himself when he noticed that the orc had more to tell him, "Was there something else you wished to tell me?"

"Yes. According to what our scouts have learned the Dragonborn intends on stopping at Fort Snowhawk for the night," the orc replied once more, though he smiled as he prepared to say the next bit, "and, if our information is to be believed, she has already obtained the artifact you are after; Auriel's Bow. The scouts indicate that the jester was 'holding a bow that shined like the sun itself'."

"Then it is as good as ours!" Harkon declared, rising from his seat and gathering his sword, while at the same time downing the rest of his goblet before tossing it to the side, "Tell your master to be expecting me soon... for I shall have the weapon that can blot out the sun in a matter of hours."

"As you wish." the orc said, slipping into the shadows and disappearing, leaving Harkon alone once more, though all that meant was that he was free to bring an end to this mission of his.

Harkon marched out of the cave he had been hiding in with a smile on his face, because now it appeared that his dreams were about to become a reality after all. He had no idea how Valerica had gotten her hands on Auriel's Bow, or how she managed to hid it and herself inside his own castle for so many years, but he decided to ignore the fact that pieces of this story didn't make sense. Once he was outside the cave he shifted into his Vampire Lord state and spread his wings, to which he flew in the direction of the ruined fort that the group would be staying at. He guessed that someone must have cleared out the fort since the last time he had been there, helping himself to the necromancers that called it home, but that fact also didn't matter at all.

It didn't take him long to reach his destination, though he landed in front of a nearby cave and shifted back to his normal form, as he intended on making sure that he hadn't been lied to... and his resting place was the best location to watch the front of the old fortress and determine what was actually going to happen. Not ten minutes after his arrival he noticed a small caravan pull up to the front of the ruined fort, though he immediately recognized both his daughter and his former wife sitting among the people around them. At the head of the group sat the girl he knew to be Sonata, the Dragonborn, though before he could find the bow the caravan stopped inside the fort and the entire group made their way inside.

Harkon waited for another hour or two, waiting for the sun to finally go down and for the moons to rise into the sky, before he finally emerged from his hiding spot and silently approached the front door of the fort. He was surprised to find that none of the people he had seen had bothered to post any guards for the night, to make sure someone didn't come in and slit their throats, but he wasn't about to argue with such easy prey. He mentally wondered how Grul was having such a hard time killing the Dragonborn, or capturing her if he had understood the orc, but then threw the thought aside as he checked the door in front of him.

The room he walked into had a number of shelves lining the walls, filled with everything a necromancer could ever want, before he found his prize in the middle of the room... an ebony bow that looked nothing like the description of Auriel's bow!

Before he could even consider the fact that someone had lied to him, and properly process how angry he was going to be, the ground shook for a moment, as if something was happening outside. Harkon then carefully made his way outside the fortress, making sure not to fall over or anything, before he emerged and found the night sky staring back at him. As the ground became calm once more he spotted something odd, as standing direction in front of the fort's entrance was what appeared to be a knight in some sort of crystalline armor. The knight was also carrying a crystalline greatsword, which was currently embedded in the ground, though as he walked forward he also noticed that the carriage he had seen earlier was missing.

As he walked out of the fortress he found that there were more knights standing in what appeared to be a perfect circle around the fort... though when he tried to pass by them he was pushed back by some sort of barrier, one that phased into existence for a few seconds before disappearing completely.

"What in the name of Oblivion is going on?" Harkon said, glaring at the knights that were apparently powering the barrier, wishing that he could get at them and strike them down so he could leave.

"I asked Jyggalag for a few of his knights so I could trap you inside this area with me." a voice said, to which he turned around and found Sonata standing behind him, though while her left hand had lightning gathering around it she was also carrying a shining sword that reminded Harkon of the Dawnbreaker he had read about in the various tomes that were back at his castle.

"So you sealed the two of us in here?" Harkon asked, though at the same time he carefully drew his own sword as he stared at his opponent, wondering what she was going to do next.

"The barrier is designed to keep you in here until I'm done with you," Sonata replied, keeping her eyes on Harkon as the vampire moved a tiny bit, while at the same time she made sure that she was ready to release her power, "I planned on drawing you in, getting everyone else out before you showed up, and then setting this all in motion the moment you opened that door. Its actually surprising that you fell for my trick, especially when I wasn't even trying that hard."

"What do you mean I 'fell for your trick'? You haven't..." Harkon started to say, but then when he remembered why he was so eager to come here he realized what she was talking about, "Auriel's Bow... I should have seen that one coming."

"Ding ding, it looks like we have a winner!" Sonata declared, as if there were actually people around them, before appearing to think about something, "Actually, its more like we have a loser instead of a winner. Though let me tell you the real kicker... we never bothered to actually collect the bow."

Harkon growled for a moment, because he realized that he, and the orc that had been his messenger, had been fooled into believing that Sonata's group had acquired the legendary bow, which no one knew the location of. It made sense now that he thought about it, because the light coming off of the Dawnbreaker, which had no doubt been behind the ebony bow he had noticed a few minutes ago, would have fooled anyone looking at them from afar. Harkon then smiled as he unleashed his full power and transformed into his Vampire Lord form, to which he took to the air and stared down at his would be opponent, who merely stared up at him in return.

"So what if you tricked me?" Harkon shouted, though at the same time he gathered his magic in his hands, thankful that this place had been a necromancer's lair until some time ago, "I have the high ground... and all the servants I could ask for!"

Sonata watched as Harkon's magic summoned the dead from their rest, which was mostly skeletons pulling themselves from the ground and pointing all of their weapons at her. She chuckled as she simply swung the Dawnbreaker at one of the undead skeletons and cut off its head, which released a wave of light that burned all of the skeletons until they were nothing more than piles of ash. With the skeletons taken care of Sonata engaged her magic and floated into the sky, to which she rose until she was parallel with the beast that Harkon had become.

"So you can kill my servants," Harkon spat, not sounding impressed at all, though he made no move to change positions, "that doesn't mean you have the power to kill me."

"Maybe normal Sonata can't kill you," Sonata replied, to which she accessed her power and let her hair flare upwards, taking on its new color when she used this form in combat, "but I bet I can do it in my Super Siren form."

"So you changed your hair," Harkon said, shocked that his opponent was playing around at a time like this, "that has got to be one of the worst transformations I have ever seen."

"That is where you would be wrong, my dear Harkon," Sonata replied, just as the sky above them flashed with a bit of lightning, "this form increases my speed and power, both physical and magical, by twenty-five times what my original power was to begin with. That may not seem like a lot to you, but it allowed me to be on par with Alduin the World-Eater... and right now I've been trying to access a higher level, one beyond what I am currently capable of using."

Harkon's blood went cold for a moment, because he could deal with someone whose power was below his own, but what Sonata had just told him shocked him a little bit. He knew that Alduin was the one dragon that could bring an end to this world, but if Sonata had used this exact form, and its power boost, to defeat the World-Eater... Harkon could only wonder what would happen to him if she managed to obtain a level beyond what she was using.

"I see your wondering how I could possibly obtain a more powerful form," Sonata stated, snapping Harkon out of his thoughts and drawing his attention back to her, "Let me tell you something; the rage I felt when I learned by sisters had been kidnapped is more than enough to push me all the way through the first stage of this form, well passed the second stage, and arrive at the third with enough rage left over for me to attempt something far greater. I chose not to use my rage for that purpose, not when I'm waiting for my necklace to be restored to its former glory... but the loss of Lydia should be sufficient for my purposes."

"What are you..." Harkon started to say, but as he watched his opponent he noticed that the wind shifted all around them as several bits of lightning tore out of the sky, though at the same time he noticed several blue streaks of lightning began to appear in the red aura that was surrounding Sonata.

He watched as Sonata's hair, which had spiked upwards when she took on this form, became even longer and more rigid than it had been mere seconds ago, while at the same time one of the strands seemed to fall out of alignment as it rested in front of Sonata's right eye. Sonata's flowing aura took a drastic turn as it changed from a flowing liquid like form and morphed into something that almost looked like moving fire. Harkon was sure that this was what his opponent was after, but as he thought about what was happening Sonata turned towards him again and stared at him, though he could have sworn her expression was much colder.

"There... Super Siren 2," Sonata said, the sky lighting up once more as she spoke, though she assumed a certain Divine was doing it on purpose at this point, "I must apologize if you find this form to be much colder than my normal self... I am drawing even more of my true power, that of the Siren Queen, and as such I start to care less about being merciful. This form increases my power by a multiple of fifty, twice what the first form does... so that means your done for before this fight even started."

Harkon barely had time to raise his magical blood shield, which formed a perfect sphere around him, before Sonata charged at him, though in the brief seconds that followed he was sure that he had made it in time as his opponent appeared behind him... which was followed by a cut appearing on his chest as the shield shattered. At first he had to wonder how she could have harmed him, especially when there was no sun out and his shield was designed to protect him against all sorts of magical attacks, but then he remembered that Sonata was carrying Dawnbreaker with her. Meridia, the Daedric Prince that had made the weapon, hated both the undead and vampires, making her weapon the perfect tool to damage him in place of Auriel's Bow.

"Its a good thing you raised your shield on instinct, otherwise your head would be rolling on the ground right now," Sonata commented, turning around so she could face Harkon, who was staring back at her, "I know that you have allied yourself with Grul, which means that he has to have given you some new power in case you ever fought me... so show me your true power."

Harkon looked at his opponent for a moment, wondering how she knew about his new partner granting him even stronger abilities, but decided that now wasn't the time for questions as he touched the second necklace he was wearing, the one that had a sinister looking emerald in the center of it. His arms and legs caught on fire, but unlike the normal red fire that hurt him, and weakened him, the sinister nature of the green fel fire inflicted no pain on his body... and instead hurt whoever he was fighting. Grul had told him that this power would protect him against Sonata's abilities, but after seeing how easily she shattered his shield, which had been designed to protect him, he wasn't too faithful in the warlock's promises.

He threw his hands at Sonata and released his new fire at her, but she disappeared seconds before the flames could touch her, to which Harkon felt another gash being cut into his body as his foe appeared behind him. Harkon tried to follow his opponent's movements, throwing his fire at her while trying to raise more undead to fire arrows at her, but every time a skeleton rose from the ground Sonata shattered them before moving on. He quickly found that Sonata's speed was much faster than what he had been expecting, because every time he thought he caught up with her, and could hit her, she picked up the pace and escaped his grasp... until the one time she swung back around and knocked him into the side of the tower they were fighting near.

It continued like that for some time, with Sonata purposely inflicting more wounds on her opponent instead of outright ending the fight in a single go, making Harkon wonder if this new version of the Dragonborn was slightly enjoying the torture she was inflicting on him. She had already torn off one of his wings, cut a large number of gashes into his body with the Dawnbreaker, which refused to heal, shattered his shield every time he tried to summon it, and he was sure that she had even cracked several of his ribs with her power. That eventually came to an end when she thrust the tip of the Dawnbreaker through his chest, or more accurately his heart, and knocked him into the side of the tower they were near... though to his surprise he was still alive.

"So... your going to torture me until I die," Harkon coughed out, glaring at Sonata as she floated parallel to where he was resting, "I should warn you, I won't scream or cry for you."

"Oh, you'll be dead in a minute or two," Sonata replied, lightning gathering around her left hand, which she raised into the air until her palm was facing the sky, "I just thought I would end this fight with one of my stronger abilities."

Harkon watched as the sky opened up and a serpent like creature, completely made out of dark blue colored lightning, lowered itself until it was completely wrapped around Sonata, who smiled at her creation for a moment. Harkon had heard of fire, frost, and storm atronachs before, but this was the first time he had seen one of those creatures that was on the level that Sonata was controlling.

"I call this technique 'Kirin'," Sonata commented, to which the creature raised itself back into the clouds it had spawned itself from, "Begone with the thunderclap!"

The moment Sonata swung her hand downwards, leveling her palm with the Dawnbreaker, Harkon watched as the massive creature tore itself from the sky once more and raced down towards where he was resting... though the last thing he knew was the searing pain that coursed through his body before it completely consumed him.

Grul had known that it was only a matter of time until Sonata had found Harkon's hiding spot or lured him out with a trick, though when his spy indicated that Harkon was on the move he made sure to position himself for the fireworks. He had expected there to be more than a one sided fight, as he was sure that Sonata would have started out in her ordinary form before jumping into what she called her 'Super Siren' form, but instead she jumped to what he could only assume was the Super Siren 2 stage. He had watched Harkon get pushed around like a doll, taking every hit that Sonata could throw at him while never actually hitting her in return, leaving him to wonder if he should have bothered with allying himself with the useless Vampire Lord.

That was followed by Harkon getting pinned to the wall of the tower and Sonata summoning an elemental creature that rivaled the ones Grul had seen in the realm of his master... though when the creature struck Harkon, and obliterated him, Grul heard the metal effigy he had created for the Vampire Lord shatter into a thousand pieces.

"She is coming along nicely," Grul commented, a grin appearing on his face as he looked at the Siren Queen for a moment, imagining what her power would feel like once she overcame her last opponent and unlocked her full potential, "Two down, one to go."

1. The Beginning

It was an ordinary Monday in the town of Canterlot, where the parents went to work while the children and young adults went to their schools for the day. Friends met each other outside the front of the school and discussed what they did over the weekend, sharing their tales as they all made sure that their homework was done. Not all of them wanted to annoy their teachers, as there were some that didn't bother with the work and were now having to ask those that did the work if they could see their notes. If this had happened at Crystal Prep there would be no chance of shared notes between classmates, but that wasn't the case at Canterlot High School. Here students laughed at everyone's jokes, even the bad ones, gathered together for school events, and sang catchy songs that seemed to come out at random.

And they also had a thing for defeating supernatural creatures that either wanted to enslave a different world, enslave the world they lived in, or simply wanted to erase one world to go to another one.

Sonata Dusk sighed as she pulled her hoodie back and stared at the front of the school, watching the students walk around with each other as a certain group appeared near the front doors. It was hard to miss Sunset Shimmer, the Equestrian of the group, as she had somehow taken on leadership of the small group of friends and was somewhat jittery at the moment. Sonata watched as the rest of the group showed up, watching Rarity and Fluttershy arrive by a van, while Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and the human Twilight Sparkle arrived by bus. She had to wonder how Sunset got to school, as the former unicorn was almost always in the company of one or more of her friends at any given time and always left by their method of transportation.

Sonata sighed once more as her eyes fell on the statue that held the portal to her home world, Equus she recalled, while her right hand went up to her neck, where she had fastened a frame to keep the fragments of her jewel together at all times. Once she had been a Siren, part of a trio of troublemakers, that had caused trouble across Equus before Starswirl the Bearded, the most powerful unicorn of his time, stepped forward and cast them into a world without magic. She, Adagio, and Aria were dumped on Earth, where they waited out what seemed like an eternity before magic suddenly entered the world. She never wanted to cause trouble again, not like what happened on Equus, but she had followed her sisters into the storm and the Elements of Harmony beat them, shattering the source of their powers.

After the Battle of the Bands she had been separated from her sisters, but after a week or two she had started to give up on ever finding them again. Once the Friendship Games were over, and the school had returned to normal, she had decided to come here, to where one era of her life ended, so she could enter the portal and, hopefully, return to her home world. At one point she had even convinced herself that any world would be better than Earth, which is why she was fully prepared to cross the street and enter the portal before anyone could stop her.

Once the street was clear of cars Sonata steeled herself and began to walk across the street, her eyes locked on the ruined statue that held the portal.

"Hold on a second girls," Sunset told her friends, having turned back for a moment and spotted something different, "Is that... Sonata Dusk coming our way?"

"Good heavens, I completely forgot about her and her sisters," Rarity said, slapping her head for a moment, "They disappeared after the Battle of the Bands and we haven't heard a thing about them sense. I always wondered what happened to them after we, umm, shattered their gemstones and broke their powers."

"Hold on a second, she's looking at the Wondercolt statue!" Human Twilight commented, paling at the thought that the girl was here to tell her off about it, "You don't think she's here to chew me out for breaking a part of the statue do you?"

"Nonsense, she likely came back to apologize for everything she and her sisters did," Sunset told them, though she had to wonder what the former Siren was doing herself, "I might as well talk to her before school starts. Hey Sonata, what's up?"

Sonata looked up for a moment and noticed that Sunset and her friends were now staring at her, to which she gulped as she stopped beside the side of the statue that housed the portal. She had hoped to get this part done before they had stopped her, but now that they were all looking at her, and that included some of the other students as well, she had no choice but to carry on with her plan.

"I'm heading home," Sonata stated, drawing closer to the portal for a moment, where she could have sworn she felt the magic around her for a moment, "Please, don't try and stop me."

"Your... home..." Sunset repeated, her eyes lighting up the moment she understood what the former Siren was saying, "You and your sisters were banished remember? I don't think the portal is going to allow you to cross over. Look, let me talk with Princess Twilight and see if we can't come up with some plan where you and your sisters can freely return to Equus."

"I'm not staying here Sunset Shimmer," Sonata nearly cried, trying to hold her emotions back as she turned and faced the former unicorn, "I'm all alone. My sisters have all but vanished and I've been alone since our defeat. I've made up my mind on this matter... there's nothing you can say that will make me stay here."

Before Sunset could step forward, or say anything that might have a chance at dissuading her, Sonata turned towards the portal and leapt into it, allowing the magic to flow over her body. A moment later she felt the magic work against her, trying to send her back to Earth, but she groaned and fought against it as best as she could. As she did so she decided, in a moment of desperation as the magic was winning, to visualize what she was trying to do and project her thoughts all around her. Then, as if the magic actually understood what she as trying to do, she slipped through the field of magic and felt herself grow tired all of a sudden. She struggled to stay awake, but eventually she had to close her eyes as she traveled to her destination, unaware of how much her life was about to change.

When Sonata woke up she found herself laying in the snow, something that she hadn't even considered when she had been planning her trip through the portal. She first looked down at herself and found that she was still in her human form, though there were no chances that could have represented her former Siren nature. She then looked around the area she was sitting in, finding that there were dozens of trees and a worn out dirt path near where she was sitting at the moment. She knew that she was in a completely different world, as Earth was only beginning to have magic flow out of the portal and this place, wherever she was, had plenty of it.

She moaned and pulled herself out of the snow, dusting off as much as she could before approaching the dirt road, where she found the markings of what appeared to be carriages that had come through. She wasn't much of a tracker, or much of anything she silently admitted, but the tracks looked somewhat fresh and they were leading out of the mountain she was in.

She took her time walking, mostly so she could take in the sights and study everything that was around her, though she eventually spotted something that looked like a fortress of some kind. At the first glance she didn't see anything that would mark it as a military outpost, though as she approached it she started to see people, wearing some type of metallic armor, walking around the top of the walls. As she walked towards the walls she heard her stomach growl at her, making her remember the fact that she had planned on skipping breakfast to reach the portal without being seen, but now she was starting to regret her decision.

Then, as she thought she was going to reach the fort, she tripped on a hidden rock and fell face first into the snow, covering herself in the white powder once more. She laid there for a few seconds, wondering what to do once she was out of the snowy area, before she even attempted to remove herself from the snow. Just as she was about to do so she felt something touch her on the shoulder and grab onto her, followed by a second one as she was lifted out of the snow.

"Don't worry young one, we've got you," a voice told her, one that she assumed was reptilian, as the two figures pulled her closer to the fortress and brought her into one of the areas.

Sonata found herself sitting at a table near a massive fireplace that provided warmth to the entire chamber, which she noticed was full of soldiers that were, she assumed, on their break. They were getting together, sharing their news with each other and speaking about their families, all while there were some people walking around and setting dishes down. Among them was something that looked like a human, but there were a lot of lizard features that she stared at as the creature came towards her. The creature was covered in dark gray scales, had a spiked tail moving behind it, had several spikes above its eyes and on the back of its head, and, more importantly, she discovered that the creature was female.

"How are you feeling?" the creature asked her, coming to a stop in the chair next to her, before noticing that she was staring at her, "What? What is it? Have you never seen an argonian before?"

"Argo... argo-what?" Sonata asked, not really sure what that word was, but knew that it might have annoyed the creature somewhat.

"Argonian... your not from around here, are you?" the creature asked, raising an eyebrow for a moment as Sonata nodded, "I figured as much the moment I saw you and your clothes. Don't worry, I managed to talk to my superior and I convinced her to let you accompany us for a few days. We'll help you get back on your feet and make sure that, whatever your profession is, you'll be able to pick it up wherever we drop you off. What's your name?"

"Sonata... Sonata Dusk," Sonata replied, a small appearing on her face as she answered the creature... the argonian she mentally reminded herself, "What's your name?"

"I'm Kree," the argonian told her, a smile also appearing on her face, while she passed over a bowl of stew, "Now eat up Sonata. You and I will be getting to know each other over the next few days, but I have the feeling this might be the beginning of a new legend."

Sonata had no idea what Kree was talking about, but she was definitely thankful for the stew and knew that she'd have to do something to repay the argonian, and her superior, for what they were doing. She had gotten her wish to leave the Earth behind, but she hadn't gone to Equus, though she didn't see a reason to hate this world at all. So for now she'd enjoy the food and take in any information that her companion could tell her, before she even wanted to begin to think about finding a way to get back to either Equus or Earth.

She had no idea how much her life was about to change.

6: Whiterun's Dragon Problem

Sonata moaned as she picked herself off of the strange wall that she and Kree had been leaning off for what seemed like the last hour, though she had no way of actually knowing how long they had actually been there. Her body was still exhausted from the fight, which told her that whatever fraction of her power that she still had in her body would come at a price when she used it. Still, her former power had allowed her to defeat the powerful draugr that was guarding the wall that they had been leaning on, and whatever treasure happened to be located in the massive chest near the coffin.

"Ugh," Kree moaned, opening her eyes as she stretched for a moment, during which she noticed Sonata standing nearby, "Tell me something Sonata; why did we nearly die earlier?"

"Because I wouldn't stand for bandits stealing from a trader?" Sonata replied, shrugging her shoulders for a moment, "Look, I understand that we were ill equipped and ill prepared for what we found in this barrow, so I'm proposing that we don't do it again until we're certain that we're ready."

"I'm not sure I want to enter another nordic barrow after this one," Kree admitted, though she pulled herself onto her feet and weakly walked over to the chest, "but, seeing how we're already done with this one, we might as well collect any treasure that we can find and be on our way. I'm sure that there's something inside the chest we can either use later on or sell to one of the shopkeepers when we get to Whiterun, provided you actually stay on track this time."

"Sorry," Sonata said, rubbing the back of her head for a moment as Kree opened the chest, to which she immediately became interested in what they had found, "So... what's in the chest?"

"Twenty gold pieces, a pair of iron gauntlets, and a steel sword that's enchanted," Kree replied, sighing as she moved the loot into her pack, "not really much worth talking about... what do you have there?"

Sonata had searched the body of the draugr she had killed, while Kree was telling her what she had found in the chest, and found some sort of ancient stone that seemed important. She looked down at it for a moment, trying to decide what importance it could possibly have, before turning it over and finding what appeared to be a map of some kind... one that had what appeared to be burial sites marked everywhere. She had no idea why this had been buried with that powerful draugr, but eventually shrugged her shoulders as she looked back up at her friend.

"Some sort of ancient stone tablet," Sonata admitted, though she knew that she looked like she had no idea why she was so interested in the stone, "I know that this is important, but why I don't know."

"Maybe we should show this to the Court Wizard in Dragonsreach," Kree commented, staring at the stone for a moment, as if she was also trying to figure out what purpose it could serve, "I hear that he's always interested in researching new things, be it actually something new or something forgotten that recently come back, so I have no doubts that he'll take the stone from us. Who knows, maybe we'll even get some sort of reward for turning the stone over to him... anything would make up for this near death experience."

Sonata agreed that they should hand over the stone to someone who might actually want to study the thing, but when it came time to leave the area she quickly discovered that there was a secret entrance above the massive stone wall. The path then led them through an opening that took them out into the fresh air, to which they discovered that it was already midday, telling them that they had wasted half the day inside the barrow. Kree took a moment to make sure she knew where they were, which she openly admitted was a guess on her part considering she had never been away from the Legion for this long, before she determined that they were on the other side of the mountain that Bleak Falls Barrow rested on.

With their location now known to them they began the journey around the mountain, so they could return the Golden Claw before making their way to Whiterun... for real this time.

When they arrived in Riverwood, for the second time, Kree walked into the Riverwood Trader and dropped off the claw that Sonata wanted to recover, though when she walked out she was carrying an addition four hundred septims. With the delivery made they got underway once more, though this time when they reached the fork in the road Kree directed Sonata to the right, so that they could actually reach their destination this time. While they walked Sonata looked around her, taking in the sights of the running water, the animals that ran away from them, and just about anything else that was around them. She was just taking her mind off of the fact that a small fraction of her power actually rested inside of her, but she was uncertain if she should be overjoyed about it or fear what she could do with what little she had left.

When they rounded a corner and got their first look at Whiterun, as neither of them had much experience outside the fortress they had been in, Sonata stopped in her tracks and stared at the city.

"Is something wrong Sonata?" Kree asked, as she had walked a little further down the dirt road before realizing that her companion was standing still, staring at the city.

"Oh... my... god..." Sonata breathed, anxious to get inside the city now, "Its Rohan!"

Kree had no idea what Sonata was talking about, but seeing the look on her face told her that whatever her friend was remembering would be good for her, so she decided to simply nudge her friend towards the path once more. After a few minutes Sonata finally snapped out of it and they could really get underway, allowing them to come to another fork in the road and make the turn that would take them to the gate.

Not a few minutes later they saw a group of warriors attacking a giant, to which Kree growled and loosed an arrow into the giant's side, causing it to stumble for a moment. Sonata, seeing that they were getting into another fight, called what magic she could spar into her left hand and threw a small lightning bolt at the giant's head, causing it to turn towards the two of them. That opening it presented, however, gave the warriors behind it the opportunity to cut its legs out from under it, dropping it to the ground as the archer of the group planted on last arrow in the creature's head. The giant shuddered for a moment before going still, causing the trio of warriors to cheer as they collected any discarded items and healed whatever wounds they might have endured.

"You two seem like you can handle yourselves well." the archer, a female nord Sonata realized, said to them, after separating from her team for a moment, "The both of you could make decent Shield-Sisters."

"Shield-Sister?" Sonata asked, not really understanding what the women was talking about, though she had the feeling that it was something like what she had seen from the soldiers when they were training.

"An outsider, eh?" the women commented, raising her eyebrow for a moment, "Never heard of the Companions? An order of warriors. We are brothers and sisters in honor. And we show up to solve problems if the coin is good enough."

Sonata, still confused about everything she was learning about the Companions, followed after the trio of warriors and Kree, who was telling them that they had urgent news to deliver to the Jarl. The archer, Aela, simply nodded her understanding and led the way to the gate, where she tried to explain the Companions to Sonata in five minutes of time, leading to the former Siren being confused. When they reached the gate Kree told the guards, who had stopped her and Sonata from entering immediately, about the dragon they had seen at Helgen, to which they were allowed to follow Aela's group into the city.

Once inside the city Aela made sure that they reached the stairs that would take them to Dragonsreach, the massive castle that happened to overlook the entirety of the city. The instant they began to ascend the stairs Aela's group bid them farewell and returned to their home, the mead hall that they called Jorrvaskr. It took them a few minutes to climb the stairs, but when they did they walked across the bridge and entered the castle, where they hoped to tell the Jarl about the dragon attack.

Inside the castle the two of them found a man, one dressed in fine clothing and wearing a circlet around his forehead, sitting on a throne that happened to rest beneath a dragon's skull. On the man's left was another man that was dressed in fine clothes, who Sonata assumed had to be an adviser of sorts, while on his right was a dark elf, though she appeared to be a warrior of some kind. The warrior noticed them approach the massive fireplace, so she drew her weapon and approached them, causing them to stop before she decided to attack.

"What is the meaning of this interruption?" the elf asked, narrowing her eyes at them, "The Jarl is not receiving visitors at this time."

"We have a message for Jarl Balgruuf," Kree replied, though Sonata nodding her agreement to her friend's statement, "Its about the black dragon that flew over Bleak Falls Barrow. The same dragon that destroyed Helgen earlier today."

The elf stared at them for a moment before the Jarl called to her, wishing to hear what his visitors had to say, which cased the elf to mumble to herself before returning to her Lord's side. Bjorn nodded and the two of them approached Jarl Balgruuf, stopping before the throne as the Jarl turned his full attention on his new guests.

"So the two of you were at Helgen?" the Jarl asked, resting his eyes on them, "So you saw this dragon with your own eyes?"

"Just as they were getting ready to execute Ulfric Stormcloak," Sonata replied, retelling what had happened at Helgen in the hope that the Jarl would believe their tale, "The dragon burst out of the sky and started wrecking the place, killing Imperials and Stormcloaks without a care in the world."

"By Ysmir Irileth was right," the Jarl exclaimed, looking at both Proventus and Irileth, who in turn glanced back at their Lord, "What do you say now, Proventus? Shall we continue to trust in the strength of our walls? Against a dragon?"

"My lord," Irileth spoke up, diverting the Jarl's attention to her for a moment, "we should send some troops to Riverwood at once. It's in the most immediate danger, if that dragon's still lurking in the mountains..."

"No," the other man, Proventus, countered rather suddenly, as if what Irileth said was wrong and would worsen the situation, rather than make it better, "the Jarl of Falkreath will view that as a provocation! He'll assume that we're preparing to join Ulfric's side and attack him."

"Enough, both of you." Bulgruuf commaneded, causing both Proventus and Irileth to stop bickering among themselves, "Irileth, send a detachment to Riverwood at once. I'll not stand idly by while a dragon burns my Hold and slaughters my people."

Irileth nodded before heading towards the door, clearly heading to the barracks to inform a few guards of their new assignment, leaving Proventus to hang his head down as he walked over to a chair, sat down, and pulled out some papers to look over.

"Well done," the Jarl said, turning to face Kree and Sonata once more before beckoning for a guard to come over, to which he whispered something before sending the guard off, "The two of you sought me out, on your own initiative. You have done Whiterun a service that we won't soon forget, but perhaps there is something more that you can do for us. Come, let us find Farengar, my Court Wizard. He's looking into a matter related to these dragon and... rumors of dragons."

Farengar, as it turned out, happened to be deeply involved with one of his experiments when they walked over to his portion of the castle, which Sonata could see was a workplace. The Jarl cleared his throat and the wizard turned around, where he discovered that he had guests and had to pry himself away from his work for a moment.

"Farengar, I found two people who can help you with your dragon project," the Jarl said, turning around to make sure that Kree and Sonata had followed him into the study, "go ahead and fill them in on all the details. Maybe they can help you in your research."

"So the Jarl thinks the two of you can be of some use to me?" the wizard asked, staring at the two of them as Jarl Bulgruuf returned to the throne area, "Oh yes, he must be referring to my into the dragons. I could use someone to fetch something for me, which really means that I need someone to delve into a dangerous ruin in search of an ancient stone tablet that may or may not be there."

Sonata had the strangest feeling that the tablet that Farengar spoke of was actually the one she was carrying, but she wasn't one hundred percent certain and wanted to make sure she was correct in her assumption before even mentioning that she had it with her. Kree seemed to be thinking the same thing that Sonata was, but she gathered herself and decided that it was time for them to see what the wizard wanted them to do.

"Just tell us what you need us to do," Kree told the wizard, wondering if they'd have to go through another barrow if the stone Sonata carried wasn't the one that Farengar had mentioned.

"You are eager to begin your adventure. Excellent. The sooner begun, the sooner done, eh?" Farengar commented, though it was clear that he liked the idea of them being gone and starting their adventure, "I, ah, learned of a certain stone tablet said to be housed in Bleak Falls Barrow - a 'Dragonstone,' said to contain a map of dragon burial sites. Go to Bleak Falls Barrow, find this tablet - no doubt interred in the main chamber - and bring it to me. Simplicity itself."

Sonata, upon hearing that the stone that Farengar required was located in Bleak Falls Barrow, threw her doubts aside and approached the wizard, before placing the stone on the table.

"There you go," Sonata smirked, actually pleased to have found the item he wanted before even been asked to recover it, "The Dragonstone of Bleak Falls Barrow... so do we get some sort of reward for finding this?"

"You'll have to bring that up with the Jarl," Farengar said, touching the stone as he began to study it, completely ignoring the fact that the two of them were even standing there.

The next few minutes went by quickly as Irileth returned to the castle and dragged the three of them up the stairs, saying that a dragon had been sighted near the city and was attacking a watchtower. One of the guards told the story of how it came out of nowhere and attacked them, though he swore that it didn't notice him as he ran to tell them about the beast. Farengar seemed excited about the idea of experimenting on a dragon, though both Kree and Sonata knew that whatever forces got sent to fight the dragon might not return alive. The Jarl, however, declared that the two of them, having survived Helgen and thus had more experience than anyone else, would accompany the soldiers and fight the dragon.

Their reward for delivering news about the destruction of Helgen was a golden sword that had flames dance around it every now and then, though Sonata learned that it was of dwarven make. The reward for recovering the Dragonstone, on the other hand, was a pair of leather gloves that gave the wearer more magicka, which Kree handed to Sonata, seeing how she had some magic inside of her. As the two of them followed Irileth and her guards, unwillingly Sonata mentally added to herself, she removed the gloves she had been wearing and slipped on the new pair, not really understanding the purpose of the enchantment, but took it anyway.

Twenty minutes later the three of them, and the squad of ten guards that had been assigned to aid them in defending the city, stood beside a bunch of rocks and looked out at the ruined watchtower. Sonata could see that the tower was damaged, though she had to wonder where the dragon responsible for the damage was located. Irileth told them that they would be marching on the tower, so they could scout for survivors and see if they could find the dragon, before she and her guards broke ranks and moved forwards. Kree sighed and drew her bow, knowing that it would be the best weapon for dealing damage, though Sonata stuck to the sword that she had been given earlier, though she knew she could use her magic if need be.

As they approached the tower Sonata turned towards the mountain that Bleak Falls Barrow rested on, watching as a winged creature appear in the sky and begin to descend on the tower, before she realized that it was the dragon they had been told about.

"Kill it!" Irileth shouted, drawing an arrow back in her bow before loosing it at the dragon, "Slay the dragon!"

The dragon stared down at them and gathered its power in its mouth, giving Sonata and Kree time to get several of the guards behind parts of the ruined wall, before it loosed a fireball at the ground, scattering those that were still standing near the beast. Kree then stuck her head out from where she was hiding and loosed her arrow at the dragon, where it hit its side as it continued to fly around the tower, as if it had taken no damage. Seconds later a lightning bolt arced through the air and hit the dragon in the side, making it tip for a moment before it corrected itself and sought out who had struck it. Kree turned to Sonata, wondering if it had been her, but she shook her head and pointed at Irileth, who loosed another bolt at the beast's stomach.

As they fought the dragon, whenever it decided to come near them and the guards, Sonata tried several times to duplicate the power behind Irileth's lightning spell, but all her attempts ended with a small blast that continued to miss the dragon. She actually expected to miss the dragon, as she had absolutely no experience fighting the creatures, which meant that this was her first time actually trying to kill one, something that she didn't want to admit to the others. She knew that it was Kree's first time fighting a dragon as well, but she was more used to fighting than Sonata was, so she had a greater chance at hitting the beast than Sonata had.

As it turned out the dragon was toying with them, as he hadn't actually killed anyone yet and was simply lighting everything around them on fire, as if he was enjoying the show that they were putting on.

"We're getting nowhere fast," Irileth growled, as she, Kree, and Sonata retreated into the tower, where they might be able to figure out how to slay the creature that was toying with them, "Please tell me that one of you has some sort of plan on how to kill that creature... otherwise we won't make it out of here at all."

"I don't know of anything that would help us," Kree replied, shaking her head as she looked out of the tower's opening, watching the dragon fire another fireball down at the guards, "I was trained to fight bandits and whoever else my enemy was, but I was not trained to fight a dragon. We'd need something like the Dragonborn to defeat this beast, yet I know that there hasn't been one of those legendary heroes in quite a long time. Sonata, do you have any ideas on how to stop this thing?"

Sonata, half listening to her companions, was staring at the sky, which had been slowly turning black and growing in size as the dragon loosed more flames into the surrounding area. She recalled a spell she had gleamed from one of the mages back in Equus before her banishment with her sister, which mage that was she couldn't remember, and recalled that the spell could potentially add a lightning storm to black clouds until they dissipated. It was an experimental spell, something that she had no idea if it had been proven or disproved, but she knew that if they could stick a sword into the dragon, anywhere really, then it would give the lightning someplace to strike.

Once she had a vague idea of what her plan was, which was actually all she had at the moment, she shared it with her companions, who both stared at her as if she had lost her mind.

"Its better than nothing," Kree commented, drawing a few more arrows as she prepared herself, "We'll signal you once there's something sticking out of the dragon's body... though I hope we don't get killed in the process of trying to save Whiterun."

As Kree and Irileth made their way outside, so they could figure out how to lodge something into the dragon's body, Sonata made her way to the top of the tower, where she could easily connect with the cloud and perform the spell... at least she hoped that she could. As she stepped out onto the top of the tower she stared up at the clouds, wondering if this mad plan was going to work at all, before she sighed and focused on connecting to her magic. Even as she concentrated on the task at hand she could hear the sounds of the guards fighting against the dragon, who flew around the tower several times and, for some odd reason, never seemed to notice that she was standing there.

"We're going to die, aren't we?" one of the guards asked, as he stood beside his commander and Kree, though it was clear that the thought of dying to a dragon scared him more than anything else he had fought in his time in the guard.

"Not if I can help it," Kree said, lifting the sword she had been given earlier up as the dragon turned itself towards another pair of guards, leaving its side exposed.

Kree mustered all of her strength and hurled the sword through the air, allowing it to spiral through all of the smoke and flames before it penetrated the dragon's side. The dragon, now aware that one of its challengers had somehow hurt it in battle, turned around and began to look for the one responsible for the damage. It stared at all of the guards, ignoring the fact that they were still loosing arrows at it, but even as it searched it was having a hard time looking for the person whose sword was in its side.

"Sonata, whatever your doing you had best do it now!" Kree called out, leaping off of where she had been standing and moved behind one of the walls, to which the guards and Irileth followed her example.

Sonata groaned as the lightning finally took form above the tower, to which she threw her hands towards the ground and watched as the sky burst open. Bolts of lighting tore from the sky, several of which arced around the dragon's body and homed in on the sword, before the mass of energy struck the creature in the head. The dragon roared in agony as the lightning tore into its body, knocking it from the sky and crashing it into the ground in the middle of the ruined watchtower. The guards, including Kree and Irileth, watched as the dragon eventually succumbed to the power that the lightning brought to bare against it, though when the deed was done Sonata cancelled her spell and watched the sly clear up.

Sonata sighed with relief that the plan had worked before making her way down the stairs, where she eventually walked out of the tower and rejoined the guards.

"Its dead," Irileth commented, turning to look at Sonata the moment she arrived, noting how weary she looked, "I don't know what made you come up with such a dangerous plan in the first place, but it definitely worked and I'll say nothing more until we tell the Jarl about all of this."

As the assembled group started to celebrate their victory the dragon's body shuddered for a moment, before it started to break apart as the outer skin broke away until the only thing left of the dragon was its skeletal body. They all watched the dragon's body a mass of energy rose from the corpse, but just as Irileth drew her sword to cut into whatever it was the energy moved around her and went straight towards Sonata. She barely had time to move out of the way as the energy barreled into her chest, nearly knocking her off of her feet before the energy settled down, leaving her confused as to what the energy had done.

"Umm... was that supposed to happen?" Sonata asked, as she had no idea what had just happened to the dragon and, more importantly, what had happened to her.

9: High Hrothgar

The innkeeper was grateful that Sonata and her companions had taken care of the 'specter' that had been haunting the nearby barrow, though he was upset that they had been so easily fooled. He was also annoyed by the fact that a pair of strangers came into his inn, demanded to know where Sonata had gone, and then stabbed the bed that he rented out to travelers. Sonata had spent a few minutes talking with the innkeeper, trying to calm him down to the point where he wouldn't call the guards on them, but thanks to Kree coming to her aid they managed to calm him and get away with paying a few gold for the broken objects in the room. With that done talking to him the two of them had returned to the room, helping Lydia restore it to how it looked before the strangers trashed the place.

Sonata was annoyed that the mysterious strangers had come out of nowhere, declare that she was somehow a 'Deceiver' and a 'False Dragonborn', and then try to kill her in cold blood. She had absolutely no idea who Miraak was, or why he apparently wanted her dead, but she knew that the two of them would likely meet one day.

"Apparently those Cultists came from Solstheim," Kree commented, having returned from looting the strangers and handed Sonata a note she had found, one that revealed that the men they had slain had come to Skyrim under specific orders from their master, "It seems that this Miraak feared that you, as the next Dragonborn, would eventually come looking for him and decided to remove you from the equation. If he had left you alone he could have gotten away with whatever he's doing, but now that he's attacked you I doubt either you or Lydia will let him get away with this act."

"I will once I finish with the dragons," Sonata replied, staring at the inn's ceiling as she laid on the bed, unsure of what was happening to her life at this point.

She sighed as she reflected on her failure back on Earth, the loss of her sisters, her arrival in this strange world, and the constant threats that seemed to appear everywhere she looked. As far as she could tell there was a list of people who wanted her dead, each of them having their own reasons, though it was constantly growing as she tried to save the world. The dragons wanted her dead because she was apparently the only one that could stop them, bandits wanted to kill her and steal everything she had, and this new guy, Miraak, wanted her out of the way before he started his invasion of Solstheim.

Despite the fact that people wanted her dead, for their various reasons, she was determined to do everything in her power to save the world... even if it meant falling in battle to the dragon that wanted to end the world.

When morning finally arrived Sonata climbed out of the bed she had fallen asleep in and stretched her arms, though her movement cause her sleeping Housecarl to awaken from her slumber. She looked around for a moment and tried to locate Kree, but she could tell that her friend wasn't in the room they had rented out and immediately moved out into the inn to see where she went. As it turned out Kree was wrapping up her purchase of their morning meal, to which Sonata smiled and helped carry the food into the room as Lydia finally woke up. Once they were all awake they started eating what Kree had purchased, which was a loaf of bread, a few bottles of milk, a few apples, and some meat strips that they shared.

"So, I guess High Hrothgar is our destination," Sonata commented, receiving two nods to her statement, "then I hope that we don't run into anything dangerous, like those Cultists from yesterday..."

"Listen up meatbags," a voice in the common area of the inn said, "this village is now under the authority of Lady Vespula, so as of now your blood belongs to our mistress."

"And now we've got vampires to deal with," Kree sighed, though Sonata could tell that her friend was quickly getting annoyed with all the interruptions that were popping up, "Well then, we had better remove these vampires before we head up the seven thousand steps."

Sonata nodded and silently drew her sword, to which her companions drew their weapons, before they walked out of their room and entered the main area of the inn once more. There they found three people, each of them wearing a strange red robe of some kind, standing near the door to prevent the rest of the townspeople from leaving the inn. Two of them were definitely male, though Sonata could see that they were armed with strange bronze colored swords, but the third person, the women at the back of the group, seemed to have an air of authority around her. She started to wonder how Kree could have known that they were vampires, but then she saw their blood red eyes and the small fangs in their mouths, informing her that they were definitely vampires.

She had thought the same thing was true of Vinyl Scratch, until she discovered that the DJ walked around in the sunlight and actually didn't have blood red eyes.

"Ah, I see there were more people than what the report said there were." the women said, turning to face Sonata for a moment, as if she was ignoring her friends and giving her full attention to the former Siren, "Take all of them into custody... the Mistress will want to 'speak' with them once we've returned to our lair."

Sonata, officially done with the vampires talking as if they were merely cattle, which she assumed was what the creatures thought of them, tapped Lydia on her shoulder and let the battle commence. Lydia charged forward and swung her weapon, allowing the blade of her sword to bite into the arm of one of the male vampires and forced him away from the people he was terrorizing. Kree, on the other hand, merely drew an arrow and loosed it into the other male's head, preferring to take the creature out before it had a chance to hurt anyone. Sonata rushed forward after Lydia drove the vampire back, her sword meeting the one that the female vampire carried before she pressed with all her might and forced the women's back against the wall.

"Well, what do we have here?" the vampire asked, staring into Sonata's eyes as if she was searching for something, all while she made little effort to push back, "I can see that you have some strength to back you up, but is your mind as strong as your brute force?"

Sonata could feel the vampire trying to take control of her mind, as when she was with her sisters she had read that the blood suckers liked to do that to the weak willed people around them, but she knew something that the vampire didn't. Even if all of her powers were gone, and she still had a few of them left at the moment, she knew that she could be able to resist the vampire until her opponent finally gave up. It was one of the perks of being a Siren, and that apparently included being a former Siren, as it meant that she couldn't be mind controlled by anyone... no matter how much training they had in that particular field.

She found it funny that her old abilities were coming to her aid once more, though it also made her wonder if her powers were still there or if she was imagining things.

"Sorry, but it seems that you have overestimated your abilities," Sonata chuckled, pulling her left hand back for a moment to allow lightning to gather around it, "and now you'll pay the price."

She cast the spell and let the lightning tear into the vampire, effectively ending the life the creature had been trying to create and allowing Sonata to see how her companions were faring. Lydia had, with some assistance from Kree, dealt with the vampire that she had been fighting the entire time, which, judging from the pool of blood around the body and severed head, had ended when her Housecarl had beheaded the vampire. Kree had taken to dragging the two bodies outside, where she had already started a pyre to burn their bodies, just in case a necromancer tried to revive the corpses once the three of them had left. Sonata sheathed her sword and helped her friend out, moving the two remaining bodies outside, and the severed head as well, before she ignited the pyre and started burning away the undead creatures.

As the pyre burned outside Iverstead, the guards having forbid the burning inside the small village, the trio returned to the inn and collected their gear, before meeting outside the bridge that laid at the base of the Throat of the World. Once the three of them were ready, and they definitely were after what had happened at the inn, they crossed the bridge and began the journey up the Seven Thousand Steps.

As it turned out they spent the next couple of hours climbing all the way around the mountain, doing battle with bears, saber cats, a frost wraith, and even two frost trolls that happened to be standing in their way. Along the way Sonata was beginning to get worried that there was too much standing in their way from reaching their destination, but when she spotted the massive monastery she knew that all of her worrying had been for nothing. As she approached the monastery she turned back and noticed that her companions, her friends, were still waiting at the base of the stairs, so she marched down to them and pushed them towards the front door, indicating that she'd rather have them see all of this with her and not freeze to death.

The three of them stepped inside the monastery, where Sonata was the only one to actually continue passed the stone pillars as four monks gathered around the central area, apparently having been waiting for her the entire time.

"So a Dragonborn appears," one of the monks, the closest one on Sonata's left, commented, "at this moment, in the turning of the age. But before we begin let us see if you truly are Dragonborn. Let us taste your Thu'um."

Sonata, taking in the monk's command for a moment, drew her breath in for a moment before focusing herself, accessing her power before loosing the only Word that she knew, Fus. The gust of wind knocked the monk back just a bit, but he straightened himself seconds later and dusted himself off, as if that did nothing to him at all.

"Ah, it is you Dragonborn," the monk spoke, bowing to her just a bit, "Welcome to High Hrothgar. I am Master Arngeir, I speak for the Greybeards. Tell me, why have you come here?"

"Why are the dragons returning to Skyrim?" Sonata asked, curious about the dragon's sudden return while trying to understand why she was the chosen one, though she had the suspicion that one of the Divines might have chosen her instead of one of the people who inhabited Skyrim, "Does it have something to do with me? Also, what does it mean to be 'Dragonborn'?"

"Ah, I see that you have many questions. I shall answer them to the best of my ability," Arngeir replied, a slight grin appearing on his face for a moment, as if he enjoyed educating the younger generation and those seeking aid with the Thu'um, "I shall start with your first question. No doubt. The appearance of a Dragonborn at this time is not an accident. Your destiny is surely bound up with the return of the dragons. You should focus on honing your Voice, and soon your path will be made clear. Dragons have the inborn ability to learn and project their Voice. Dragons also are able to absorb the power of their slain brethren. A few mortals are born with similar abilities — whether a gift or a curse has been a matter of debate down through the centuries. What you have already learned in a few days took even the most gifted of us years to achieve. Some believe that Dragonborn are sent into the world by the gods, at times of great need. We will speak more of that later, when you are ready.

But first we shall teach you the second Word to Unrelenting Force, the first Word to Whirlwind Sprint, and then tell you about the final trial we have planned for you."

From that point on Sonata followed what the monks had to teach her, learning the second Word of Unrelenting Force, Ro, and the first Word of a new Shout, Whirlwind Sprint's Wuld. She still had no answer as to why she, an outsider, had been chosen to be the Dragonborn, but she still had to wonder if it was because it had something to do with her being a Siren. The monks, and her friends for that matter, were impressed by her rapidly growing skills, despite the small amount of Words that she actually knew, but she was glad that she had some change at defeating the dragons.

Even as she finished her training, and learned that she needed to retrieve something from an old ruin, she knew that the vampires were quickly growing in power... along with the dragons and whoever Miraak was. She now had three forces she needed to deal with, which was only making her life in Skyrim much harder than it actually needed to be at the moment. She knew that she'd have to remove all of them, but her primary focus was on the dragons and their leader, which meant that she'd be heading towards the ruins of Ustengrav.

10: March to Morthal

Sonata stretched her arms as she, Kree, and Lydia walked out of the monastery, to which she recalled the map of Skyrim as she tried to determine where Ustengrav was located. Most of the ancient nordic ruins, she recalled, weren't actually located on many of the modern maps that the people of Skyrim carried, but she was glad that Kree's Imperial map had those ruins labeled for whoever carried the map. She decided to make an effort to memorize the map when she had time, so that she didn't need to keep pulling it out every time she wanted to make sure that they were on the right track.

"So, where is this Ustengrav?" Sonata asked, though as she turned to Kree for a moment her hand slipped into her pocket, where she was keeping the fragments of her necklace until she figured out a way to restore the stone.

"North of Morthal," Kree replied, unrolling the map and pointing to a small city that rested in the swampy area of Skyrim, which happened to be close to Solitude, "We'll need to return to Whiterun, where we'll turn north and then bend around a few turns in the road before we come to the entrance of the city. We should be able to reach Whiterun by nightfall and then, if we're lucky, we should be able to reach our destination by noon, giving us time to rest before marching through the marsh."

Sonata sighed for a moment before she and her friends started back down the mountain path they had taken to reach the monastery, though she knew that there wouldn't be any problems reaching Iverstead this time as they had removed all the enemies along the way. As they walked down the path Sonata took the opportunity to take in the scenery around her, admiring the cold mountain area as she never had the opportunity to be in such an area when she was on Earth. She couldn't remember much of her time in Equus, save for everything she and her sisters did to the ponies around them, but she was glad to take in something new.

When they finally returned to Iverstead they found that the funeral pyre had, after some hours of burning while they were gone, had finally burned out and the ashes had been scattered around the various planets that grew around the small village. Sonata had them stick around for a few minutes, just to be sure that there weren't anymore enemies that wanted to bring an end to her, but once she had determined that they were safe she got them heading down the mountain once more. She was thankful that they had cleared the way on the mountain path they had taken to reach Iverstead, because there weren't any enemies to hinder their progress.

All that changed, however, when they reached the fortress that they had cleared out earlier, Fort Amol as Kree called it, they found a group of green skinned creatures, all having large muscles, walking around the fortress. Two of them were carrying staffs, but the other four of them seemed to be warriors, judging by the heavy armor and heavy weapons that they carried.

"Those are orcs, my Thane," Lydia commented, standing beside a tree and informing Sonata as to what the creatures were, as she had no idea what they were to begin with, "but I have never seen one of them carrying staffs and working magic... something strange is happening in this fortress."

"Orcs and magic usually don't mix very well," Kree said, pulling her bow out, as if she knew that they were going to charge into the fortress and deal with the latest enemy, "so we had best decide what to do before they see us..."

"Imperial Spies!" one of the mages shouted, glaring at them and pointing a finger right at Sonata, before flames danced around his hand and he threw a fireball at them.

Sonata, already annoyed that the decision had been made for them, focused her magic and summoned a shield around them, allowing them to be safe from the fireball as the other orcs poured out of the fortress. She noticed that there were only six of them in total, so she decided to focus on taking out the enemies at the front of the pack while Kree took out the ones in the back. Lydia, true to herself, rushed out of the barrier and cut into the first orc that she came to, moving the creature out of the way so her companions could get a better shot at the other targets. As the orcs in the back fell to Kree's well placed arrows, be they either in the skull or the heart, Sonata focused on using her spells and sword to take out the ones that came at her.

She ducked under their swords, threw up a small shield every now and then for the weapons that she would have trouble dodging, and either cut her enemies down with her sword or blasted them backwards with her spells. Once the six orcs were finished off, and they were sure that those were the only ones infesting the fortress, they collected any gear that their enemies had been carrying, collecting the magical items that they had been carrying. While they did that Kree happened upon what appeared to be a letter, one that she was interested in reading the moment she discovered it.

"Durak," Kree read, while Sonata and Lydia gathered round her with their collected loot, "by order of Grul, the First Warlock, you and your group of warriors are to head to Fort Amol and ransack it of everything that the mages might have left behind. The Master is convinced that the mages left behind some valuable items, souls gems and what not, and has asked that you bring anything that you find back to our hideout. And if you see any spies, from either the Stormcloaks or the Imperials, you have permission to kill them. That's definitely not good."

"It is also odd how the letter wasn't signed," Lydia added, noticing that whoever had written the letter hadn't mentioned his or her name at all, "and how it doesn't mention where this hideout is located. As much as I hate to say it, and I really hate to say it, but it seems like we'll be leaving those orcs alone until we can learn more about them and whatever they are working on."

"Then we had best get moving," Sonata said, storing away the staff and tomes she had found, before moving back towards the road they had been walking on, "before this group of orcs discover that we've dealt with this small group and decide to come after us."

Kree and Lydia followed after her, where they retraced their steps through the road that winded around the mountain, passing the waterfall they had passed earlier that morning and coming up to the ruins they had cleared of bandits. After some time they eventually came to the other bandit hideout that they had decided not to bother with, though they barely considered going up there as they walked across the first stone bridge on the outskirts of Whiterun. Kree then told them that they needed to cross the second bridge that was on their right, so Sonata nodded and they crossed it without delay, where they walked by a farm that belonged to one of the families inside Whiterun.

After about ten to twenty minutes they found a watchtower that was under attack by bandits, but before they could raise a hand to aid whoever they were attacking Sonata noticed that the group of guards inside the tower easily dealt with the attackers. With the situation under control they continued down the road, but this time they were stopped by what appeared to be a jester with a wagon, though the wagon appeared to have a broken wheel.

"Agh! Bother and befuddle!" the jester said, waving his arms about while staring at the wagon for a moment, apparently ignoring the fact that the three of them had approached him, "Stuck here! Stuck! My mother, my poor mother. Unmoving. At rest, but too still!"

"Excuse me, but what seems to be the problem?" Sonata asked, though while she wanted to help the man out she knew that the broken wagon would interfere with other wagons, so she decided to knock out two birds in one go.

"Poor Cicero is stuck. Can't you see?" the man, Cicero, said, pointing at the large crate on the wagon for a moment, before turning his finger to the cause of his pain, "I was transporting my dear, sweet mother. Well, not her. Her corpse! She's quite dead. I'm taking mother to a new home. A new crypt. But... aggh! Wagon wheel! Damnedest wagon wheel! It broke! Don't you see?"

"So is there anything I can do to help you?" Sonata asked, wondering if she was wasting her time while she looked at the man, who was either crazy or just annoyed by what had happened to him.

"Oh. Oh yes! Yes, the kindly stranger can certainly help!" Cicero said, his mood shifting without the slightest of effort on his part, which only made Sonata worry that he was actually insane, "Go to the farm - the Loreius Farm. Just over there, off the road. Talk to Loreius. He has tools! He can help me! But he won't! He refuses! Convince Loreius to fix my wheel! Do that, and poor Cicero will reward you. With coin! Gleamy, shiny coin!"

Sonata sighed and walked up the hill that was to the left of the wagon, leaving her companions with the jester, who she was quite certain had to be somewhat insane. She found two people staring down at the wagon, one of whom she guessed had to be Loreius while the other had to be his wife, though she noticed that the man definitely wasn't happy. When she first approached the man she found that he was angry because she, another stranger, was coming up to his house and asking something of him. She decided to let him rant until he was finished before saying what she had on her mind, which was merely asking that he do the right thing for Cicero, seeing how the farmer had named the jester before she had even said a word.

After a few minutes of back and forth between the two of them, and Loreius' wife glaring at her husband the entire time, the farmer finally caved in and admitted that Sonata was right... though as she left the farmer said that he'd be down to fix the wagon soon.

"Good news Cicero!" Sonata exclaimed, causing the man and her companions to look at her for a moment, "I've spoken to Loreius and he's agreed to fix your wagon."

"You did?! He has?!" Cicero said, before a smile appeared on his face and he did a little dance, "Oh stranger! You have made Cicero so happy! So jubilant and ecstatic! But more! Even more! My mother thanks you! Here, here. For your troubles! Shiny, clinky gold! A few coins for a kind deed! And thank you! Thank you again."

Sonata accepted the pouch of gold that the jester handed to her, which she resolved to count later, before she bid the man goodbye and headed down the road with her companions.

"That was nice of you Sonata," Kree commented, looking around for enemies while she reflected on what her friend had done for the jester, "I wonder how long he was standing there before you came along and helped him."

"I don't know Kree," Sonata admitted, sighing as she focused on the road and the task at hand, "I only hope that he reaches his destination without something else happening to him... or to his wagon for that matter."

The journey from the Loreius Farm to Morthal proved to be much harder than what Sonata had originally thought it was going to be, mostly because of everything that happened along the way. Shortly after they had left the farm, and came to a crossroad, Kree had pulled Sonata and Lydia into one of the bushes, allowing them to watch a group of heavily armed orcs marched down the road. Sonata noticed that one of the orcs carried a banner of sorts, one that appeared to be made from a sickly green material and had an imprint of a hand that was surrounded by flames. The three of them agreed that the orcs needed to be stopped, but Sonata didn't like the idea of having to deal with a fourth enemy until the other three had been taken care of.

They followed the road once the warriors were out of range, to which they eventually came to another fortress that appeared to be overrun by bandits, but Kree noticed something and had them hide beneath the wooden wall that had been recently thrown up. They all froze as they heard someone walking near them, each of them worried that they might be found out and have an entire fortress of bandits on their tails.

"Lord Grul requires an update on your progress," someone above them said, to which Sonata recognized the voice of an orc talking to someone else.

"We have sent our latest batch of captives to the location that the Master desires," a second voice, one that revealed that the speaker was another orc, replied, "Lady Vespula and her vampires have been spotted around the area, always searching for holes in our defenses, but never long enough for us to find them. When do we strike her and her cursed kin down?"

"In time Zorgak," the first voice said, to which Sonata heard what she assumed was a scroll exchanging hands, "Lord Grul has received word that there is a new Dragonborn in Skyrim, whose purpose is to fight the dragons and defeat them before they can bring about the end of days."

"Ah yes, I have heard the rumors as well," the second voice, Zorgak, commented, which was followed up the sound of the scroll opening, "So, what does the Master want us to do about her? Kill her? Capture her?"

"Don't worry about her too much," the first voice said, though there was what appeared to be a soft chuckle that followed, "Lord Grul has special plans for her and her companions. I suggest you read that scroll and prepare yourself accordingly, because there's no telling when the Master will be done with that special 'project' he's been working on."

"As you say, Lord Aggronak," Zorgak said, pounding a fist on his chest before the two of them departed from the wall.

Once Kree was sure that the coast was clear the three of them got underway, making sure that none of the bandits or the orcs aligned with them spotted the three of them. When they were a safe distance away from the fortress they finally relaxed and resumed their travels, heading in the direction of Dawnstar until they came to a fork that allowed them to turn left. They followed the path through the snowy area, making sure to take care of the wildlife that decided to attack them while also hiding from the orcs that they occasionally saw. While they walked toward Morthal Kree had to wonder what all of the orcs were doing and what their master, the mysterious Grul, had planned for all of Skyrim.

When they finally arrived in Morthal, and they were sure that there weren't any enemies in the immediate area, they quickly descended into the city and passed by the group of people who were gathering in front of a large building, before they entered the inn. Once they were inside the inn they finally relaxed and rented the room for the night, allowing them to get the sleep that they would need if they were still going to be tackling Ustengrav. As they started to relax, where Lydia cleaned off her weapon after a hard day of killing enemies that would have killed her Thane, Kree noticed that Sonata seemed to have something on her mind.

"Something wrong Sonata?" Kree asked, wondering what could be bothering her friend this time, though she knew that the orcs they had encountered might have something to do with it.

"Six forces want me dead," Sonata sighed, sadly looking at her friend for a moment, while she wondered what she had done to deserve the wrath of so many enemies, "The dragons want me dead before I can put a stop to them ending the world, which I'm supposed to do thanks to an ancient prophecy that the old nords left behind. Bandits merely want to kill me and steal what I have, but will try to make sure that I'm taken out if I threaten them too much. The cultists want me dead before I find their master, this mysterious Miraak, and put him down before he can conqueror whatever island he's on at the moment. The vampires... well, I'm honestly not sure why they want me dead, but I can assure you that they do. The draugr want me dead because I'm trying to learn the secrets that they have been left behind to guard. And now there's the orcs that, or some reason, want me dead as well.

What have I done, in the week that I've been in Skyrim, to deserve the wrath of so many forces?"

Kree had no way to explain what was happening to her friend, other than to say that it was the curse of those who sought adventure, but decided to say that statement. She did, however, have something in mind that could make her friend feel better.

"It doesn't matter why they are hunting you," Kree said, smiling at her saddened friend, "because the three of us, together, will stand against everything that they throw at us and we'll tear them down. We'll make sure that anyone who wants to get rid of the Dragonborn will suffer and regret the day that they challenged you and your friends, so turn that frown upside down."

Sonata smiled at that statement, but deep inside she knew that Kree was right, that the three of them could easily stand against everything that wanted to tear her down. Once she was finished with her Dragonborn training she'd pick one of her enemies and see what needed to be done with making sure that they failed in whatever they were planning. She had the strangest feeling that she'd have to deal with the orcs first, but she decided to wait and see what fate decided to throw her way this time.

She only had to wonder what the mysterious Lord Grul wanted with the people that his forces captured, though she knew that, whatever that reason was, she would eventually find out.

Dushnikh Yal, one of the wild orc strongholds, had seen a change in leadership when its leader, Chief Burguk, had been slain in single combat by the leader of a group of orcs that had come out of nowhere. His body was now a shriveled husk of its former glory, as his opponent had drained his body dry until his life essence was gone and he was dropped onto the ground. His people would have fought against the orc that had slain their leader by cheating, for they were fairly certain that the opponent had cheated, but they had been forced back by the twisted magic the orc commanded. The vile green orc was hunched over just a bit, but he was dressed up in a pair of robes that had six spikes attached to its back... spikes that had one skull near the top of the top.

The orc also carried a staff that had three skulls near the top; the bottom one was definitely an orc skull, the middle was the skull of a nord, and the top was the skull of what many assumed was an altmer.

Once the orc had asserted his position over the stronghold they had taken over, which had been easy in his mind, he called in his soldiers and they overran the stronghold, building a base of operations that would allow them to stay out of sight until the time was right. A decent amount of his soldiers were currently in the process of building a massive gate in the mountain that was behind the stronghold, as per his orders. The path from that area also passed by the perfect area where he had built his hut, where he could work his dark magic in peace and prepare for the next stage of his plan.

"Lord Grul, I have returned," Aggronak said, walking into the hut for a moment and kneeling before his Master, who turned around from the vile green fire he had been staring at.

"Ah, Aggronak, you returned as swiftly as you promised," the orc said, a small grin appearing on his face, which disappeared seconds later, "What news do you bring?"

"Zorgak said that his captives are on their way here," Aggronak replied, bowing his head as his Master turned towards him, "he also indicated that Lady Vespula is spying on his forces, looking for holes in his defenses. He wishes to know what must be done about the vampires in his immediate area. Durak's group, on the other hand, has been slain by someone..."

"Hmm... it is unlikely that the Dragonborn is aware of my plans," Grul commented, turning back to the flames for a moment as they swirled around and revealed a vampire, "though I do believe its time that we deliver our ultimatum to our little vampire and her coven. Tell her that she either accepts my terms and joins my growing horde, or she'll become just another enemy for my soldiers to wipe from the face of this world."

"As you wish, my Master," Aggronak said, keeping his head bowed as he prepared for the other question, "And what of your plans for the Dragonborn?"

"Leave her be for now," Grul answered without hesitation, waving his hand as if to dismiss his subordinate, "Her powers are weak at this moment, thus her soul is weak and not useful towards my ultimate goal. Let her continue her training against the other forces that call Skyrim home... I'll be waiting for her when she's done with them."

Aggronak nodded and backed out of the hut, determined to draft a letter for Lady Vespula to read and make her decision on, leaving his Master to do whatever he usually did. Grul, on the other hand, smiled as he reached into the green flames, allowing them to bend under his will and reveal what he had been hiding inside the flames; two large rubies that were surrounded by gold. They had been broken off of the necklaces they had been attached to, though inside the rubies were the creatures he had defeated the moment they had come after him. An image flashed on both of their faces; the one on the right baring an image of a young lady with a bushy hair, though the other one had a young lady with what he assumed were ponytails.

Grul had to admit it, but Adagio and Aria had proven to be quite powerful and had taken an entire day to defeat in battle, though he had succeeded in the end and had bound them to the pendants they had worn, restoring the broken stones to their former state and trapping their wearers inside. He had only learned their names when he had discovered the power inside of them, but they were the final pieces of his puzzle... one that Sonata was the key to unlocking everything. Once she was powerful enough he would reveal his hand to her and she would bend under his demands, though he was fully prepared to take her down in battle as well.

He kept his grin as the flames sealed up the moment he removed his hand, all he had to do was wait a little bit longer and he would have his victory over everyone.

26: The Elder Scroll

The group eventually found themselves standing on a small walkway that allowed them to stare up at the humongous cavern that they had suddenly found themselves in. Directly in front of them was a well worn road that split into three directions, one of which would lead them to a small hut of some kind that sat right in front of where they were standing. They had two choices, go to the left or go to the right, though Sonata had to admit that she was surprised by the sheer size of what they were looking at. She also found it hard to believe that something like this even existed beneath Skyrim, though considering how far down they must have traveled to find the entrance she guessed that it was possible.

"So this is Blackreach?!" Sonata asked, wonder filling her voice for a moment as she took in the sights, momentarily forgetting about the host of orcs that might still be following them, "I'm impressed that anyone could build something of this size, not to mention so far beneath Nirn's surface."

"It could take us days, if not weeks, to search for the Elder Scroll we need," Kree commented, worriedly looking around them and seeing all the potential buildings that they could search through, "we don't have that much time to waste on searching all of these buildings... I'm afraid that we'll only have the time to search one of the buildings, so we'll have to guess which might have the scroll and go from there."

Sonata hated the fact that they had to guess which building had the scroll, as it made her feel like they were gambling with the fate of the entire world. The old man that had given her the two metallic items she was holding didn't say much about where the scroll was actually housed, only mentioning something called 'Tower Mzark' before she and her friends had left his company. She was about to say something about walking around the area and observing all the buildings, but then she stopped herself as she realized that she had been incorrect. The old man had, in fact, given her the building that she needed to look for... they were looking for some type of tower, where they would likely find the Elder Scroll.

"Clever old man," Sonata commented, turning to her friends for a moment with a grin on her face, "He told us that the scroll was housed in a tower, so we know exactly what type of structure we're looking for. I mean, how hard could it be to find a tower underground?"

"There should be one around here somewhere," Kree replied, looking around for the tower in question as they walked down to the stone road that had been constructed by the dwarves, "though I'm sure that the dwarves built some guardians that we'll have to destroy before we find our destination."

As soon as the words left her mouth they heard several contraptions open and noticed some more of the dwarven creations moving out of the walls, spheres and spiders at the moment. Sonata, not wanting to get involved with the creatures, moved them into the shadows and walked around them, stopping for a moment to watch where the creatures were going. She then looked at the door they had come through and noticed some of the orcs from earlier standing there, though she noticed that they had lost some of their number to the Falmer. While she was glad that some of the blind elves had taken out some of the orcs, which she was thankful for, she was also annoyed that they had still managed to follow her this far.

Either Lord Grul wanted the Elder Scroll for some strange reason, which Sonata would not allow to happen, or his soldiers had been sent here to recover something else, but Sonata didn't want to stick around and find out.

Kree beckoned everyone to follow her down the road that they had taken, the one on the left of the door they had used to enter Blackreach, though as they passed by a sleeping centurion she made sure to activate it as they slipped into the shadows. Sonata wanted nothing more than to bring the entire cavern down upon her enemy's heads, but at the moment she was nowhere near the power that could have allowed her to do that. She also thought against that idea after a few minutes, because she was sure that it could have some effects on the world above them and might cause some destruction.

"Death to the Dwarves!" Sonata heard one of the orcs shout, to which she heard the sound of metal hitting metal as she and her companions slipped away from the fighting.

It took them some time to find the tower they were looking for, mainly because they had to hide whenever more of the dwarven creatures passed by where they had been standing a few moments ago, but they eventually made it to their destination. They found an elevator that started to take them to the top of the tower, but as they waited for the contraption to move Sonata summoned lightning into her hands. She was going to destroy the elevator the moment they reached the top, because she didn't want to give the orcs another way out if they intended to use Blackreach as another base of operations for their master.

When they arrived, and everyone had climbed off the elevator, Sonata turned to the contraption and threw her lightning into the stone, shattering everything that allowed the contraption to hold itself together. She then shattered the stone platform into a thousand pieces as the lightning coursed down the tunnel they had climbed up, tearing it to pieces and ensuring that the orcs could no longer follow them up to where the scroll was hidden.

"There, now they won't be able to follow us," Sonata said, pulling out the cube as she moved into the room they needed to enter, where she found a large dwarven machine that looked as if it hadn't been used since the day that the dwarves vanished.

The group walked up the ramp in front of them and noticed that there were large crystals hanging above their heads, all of which were attached to metal beams in the ceiling. It didn't take her long to spot a control panel on the walkway above them, one that had a small indent that she assumed was the area that the lexicon was supposed to fit into. Sonata smiled as she fit the cube into the indent, where she heard a soft click before the entire room began to wake up once again, to which she spotted a button that could be pressed. Once her friends were standing around her, and she had a nod from Kree, she pressed the button and caused the rings below them to move.

She immediately noticed the changes and pressed the button a few more times, causing the rings to continue to turn before another button opened up, allowing her to change the structure on the floor a couple more times. When the third button opened up, and Sonata pushed it, the entire system of beams that were handing from the ceiling began to move, lowering to the floor where her friends had once been standing. After a few more presses and the fourth button opened up she hesitated, wondering if there was some obvious trap that she was overlooking, but then shook her head and pressed the final button. The crystals began to move, separating from each other as the larger one came to a rest in the center of the room and cracked open, revealing a golden scroll with gems on the case.

Sonata stared at the scroll as she approached it, because even with her fractured powers she could still feel the ancient power that had been woven into whatever material the scroll was made of.

"The Elder Scroll..." Sonata commented, picking up the scroll and staring at it for a moment, "We had better get this back to High Hrothgar and see what it can tell us about the Dragonrend Shout... and then we'll be able to figure out how to defeat Alduin."

Fortunately for them there happened to be another elevator that they could take, one that hopefully would allow them to get away from where the orcs had entered Blackreach. Sonata seriously wondered what the orcs wanted with the dwarven city, and the ruins that had been resting before the entrance to the hidden city, but she decided that it didn't matter at the moment. She needed to stop Alduin... so stopping the orcs would have to come later, but she hoped that she wasn't making a mistake in allowing those orcs to live.

The lead orc frowned as the tower the Siren Queen had taken shattered into a large number of pieces, mainly because he wanted to be the one that turned her over to his master. Still, capturing the Queen wasn't there main goal in coming to this area in the first place, so he turned to his surviving soldiers and nodded to them for a moment. The surviving mages set a brazier on the ground between them and used their magic to light it, though when the green flames appeared everyone knelt before the fire. It was fortunate that all of the braziers that the orcs carried had a special enchantment that allowed them to connect to the main encampment, because it allowed their masters to travel from place to place without wasting their own time in walking everywhere.

The orc had been expecting Aggronak, or one of the other Lieutenants, to appear in Blackreach and direct them to their next task, but then their true master, Lord Grul, stepped out of the flames and touched the floor in front of the brazier. Their master walked up to the fallen centurion that they had felled before activating the portal, though he remained silent the entire time as he studied the contraption.

"Is its heart intact?" Grul asked, not bothering to turn around as he addressed the orcs around him, to which the leader took it upon himself to bring the answer their master desired.

"Yes Lord Grul, we made sure to keep its heart in one piece," the orc answered, though he would never admit that he was interested in why their master wanted them to make sure one of the machines survived the attack.

"Good, then we can begin our work," Grul commented, pressing a dark green crystal into the machine's heart, a grin appearing on his face as he noticed the arms move for a moment,"Gather everything you need from the surrounding area and then take the portal to Fellglow Keep... we should have our surprise ready for when the Queen next returns to the city of Whiterun."