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Return of the Dragons

For Zohaku

By Draconicon

The last firebolt knocked the draughr over the cliff, to the extreme relief of one Leroy, an Imperial mage that had absolutely no business being where he was. Barrows were the business of the Nords, not of the Imperials, and if weren’t for the fact that he was broke, desperate, and without any rope to get back down the mountainside, he would have turned back hours ago.

As it was...well, it wasn’t like he had much better options inside, but at least it was warmer.

Leroy sighed as he walked up to the giant metal door that marked the entrance to the burial grounds, pushing on it. Like most of them, it was unlocked, which explained how the undead managed to get free of it in the first place. He shook his head and stepped inside.

Without the wind chill, he felt halfway human again, and he fluffed up his coat around his shoulders. Snow fell from the fur puffs along the neck, and as the drier bits of fur brushed against him, he felt a little bit better. Good enough to take a few steps further in, walking down the stairway that led deeper into the ruined burial grounds. As he descended, he reached into his pockets, pulling out a piece of parchment.

That old man better have been right…

It was a map of the barrow, and at the top of it - the bottom of the ruin - was a dragon skeleton. A burial ground for the old sky-rulers of Skyrim, and the rest of the world in general, was located there. If he could find something...anything...then he’d change his fortunes in a heartbeat. He just had to get there.

Hopefully this one’s a little less infested than the last - Oh crap!

Ducking a ball of poison as it soared over his head, Leroy shook his head. So much for his hopes of the barrow being empty…

#

Spiders...Draughr...Skeletons...what else is this place going to throw at me?

Leroy dragged himself along the floor, feeling his breath coming slower and deeper than before. He would have cast a healing spell to fix that, but he could already tell that wasn’t possible. He’d used up too much magic just getting this far, bending reality more around the whims of destruction than restoration. Maybe if he rested for a few minutes, he’d have enough energy to keep going, but as it was…

Well, he didn’t have those few minutes, anyway, and he could see the door to the burial chamber just ahead. The human dragged himself through bones and burial equipment, the echoing rattles of them rolling away barely touching his ears. All of his attention was fixed on that door. Just a bit further to those huge, wooden doors…

Please, please don’t be locked…

Just like the front door, it wasn’t. He barely had to lean his hand against it before it opened, spilling light onto a room that hadn’t been touched in years. Leroy groaned as he forced himself upwards, grabbing hold of the door to give himself some leverage. His legs ached and his body hurt all over, but he needed to see this.

Dragon bones were spilled all over the place, with four skulls laid out in the middle of the room, facing towards a central podium. Something glimmered on it, reflecting light from a hole in the ceiling, but he couldn’t make it out. Glancing about for some support, he spotted a broke-off piece of wood. Probably had held the door shut in the past, but age had rotted it. Still, it looked strong enough to support his weight for a bit.

Using it as a crutch, he walked across the room, kicking a couple of bones out of the way as he walked around. Even as he kept his attention on the strange thing on the podium, other details kept intruding. Like the dragon writing on the walls, or the fact that the skulls seemed to be purposefully pointed towards the center of the room, or -

I’ll figure that out later...I want to know what this is.

He stepped up to the podium, and smiled as he finally got a good look at the thing. It was a large gem, a ruby, from the color, and the sides were entwined with artistic renditions of dragon tails. He held his hand near the gem, and whistled.

“It’s hot…”

Very hot, in fact. Leaning against the podium, he reached into his pocket again, pulling out the piece of paper. He flicked through his notes, and finally found the information again, reading it out loud.

“The Heart of Alduin…cast out of four dragon souls...power of the skies to be bound into another…”

All sorts of gibberish, really, but it had so many legends behind it that he had felt compelled to find it. Seeing it now, he wondered just how many of them were true...and how many could be made to come true.

Well, there’d be time to find that out later. Leroy pulled a pouch from his waist, holding it by the podium to catch the gem, and gave it a little poke with his finger. As soon as he touched it, however, he felt the heat surge up his arm, and he fell to the ground, gasping and panting.

What...what’s happening…

It was like fire running up his arm from his fingertips, and as he squirmed and shuddered, it burned deeper and deeper into his body. It surged under his skin, devouring him, or so it felt, as it went through his arm into his chest. Every breath felt like it was carrying the heat of the sun with it, scalding his lips as it came out again, and he shook as he tried to reach for his water.

Another burst of heat sent a spasm through him, and he rocked back against the podium. It shook back and forth, and as he stared up, he saw the gem sway back and forth, leaning towards the edge..

No, no!

And then it fell. Time moved as if in slow motion as the gem descended towards him, falling towards his chest. Leroy stared at the red jewel, his eyes wider than he remembered them ever being, as it kept falling, and falling, until finally, it hit. Flat side down, the gem landed on his chest, and then, the magic hit him.

What he’d thought was an inferno was little more than a campfire compared to this. Leroy arched his back as the gem burned through his clothes and seared itself to his chest. He wanted to scream, but not…

Not from actual pain. He thought it would hurt, thought it would kill him with pain, but instead, he seemed to just..burn. Heat spread from his torso all the way down his legs and his arms, leaving him feeling like he was filled with fire. Even that no longer hurt. It wasn’t the most comfortable, but it didn’t hurt. The gem seemed to protect him.

Then…

Then the eyes of the dragons around him lit up. Leroy turned his head as he shook and shivered, his breath coming in shallow gasps as the dragon skulls started to stare at him. He felt a magical pressure building all around him, settling into his bones, grinding into his body. It was like he was being condensed, crushed down into a cube, and he curled up into a fetal position. He closed his eyes, groaning, panting, and finally, growling.

He opened his eyes again, and he felt a sudden flare of energy from the crystal.

NO!

The word flashed in his mind, and it took him a few seconds to realize that he’d roared it as well, the sound of his voice echoing back to him around the cavern. His voice, yet not quite; it was deeper, rounder, stronger. It didn’t matter. So long as it was strong enough to cast his will, that was what mattered.

The gem flared again, and he managed to pull himself to his feet. His legs hurt, but not as bad as before. They held his weight. Some healing effect? Perhaps, but again, it wasn’t important. His vision glowed red as he glanced around the room, staring at the skulls around him. They kept staring back, pushing with their own magic. Some trap, doubtlessly, to keep whoever came for the amulet from ever leaving.

“No! You will not have me! I will be free!”

As he shouted the last word, one of the dragon skulls cracked, and the sudden drop of pressure left him in a state of shock. Leroy collapsed again, this time on all fours, and as he did, the heat surged higher. His skin hardened and cracked, and as he stared at his hands, he saw them curling, growing. The human panted as he lifted one up, watching as the cracks in his flesh seemed to grow into lines and patterns, forming...scales?

It spread and spread, and his hands grew and grew, becoming more like paws as he leaned against them. His fingers stretched forward across the ground, leaving furrows in it as they expanded. His nails became claws, long and jagged, pulling at his fingers to get longer and longer.

The thickness and size ran up his arms, pushing him higher and higher off of the ground, ripping through the arms of his robes. Bulges of muscle broke through, and more and more size. He was getting bigger than any human, any orc that he had ever seen, and -

“AGH!”

He groaned as he slumped forward, his back burning as hot as his arms. Wings burst free, and grew faster and faster. As they slid free of his flesh and scales, Leroy panted, but for an entirely different reason than before.

This…

Felt…

Good!

He grinned as the burning heat crackled all over his body, spreading out from the gem in waves. He loved it, feeling like he was bathing in power and fire, like he was becoming the most powerful being in the universe. His lips turned up even as the heat pushed from inside, pushing his face out in a long, powerful snout, his teeth shaped in the forges of the fiery magic into sharp blades, tipped with points sharper than any spear.

The transformation continued, rippling down his back and chest, and then over his rump. As his tail grew in, spreading out and lifting up, his scaly haunches spread wider and wider. He kept growing until there was no chance he could ever fit in a house made for man again. As the scales ran down his legs, as his tail came in, one last thing kept his attention.

He lifted himself up, looking under his belly as his shaft was pushed free, the burning heat long since exposing it. It was bigger than a human, by far, and it was gaining more little features. Bestial, hard, and pointed at the tip. It throbbed and twitched with every beat of his heart, and he wondered how it would feel as it was plunged into a hot, willing hole.

Leroy grinned a toothy, predatory smile, and leaned his head back. A long roar shattered the other heads, and the pressure holding him in place was gone. He took off, his powerful wings carrying his still-transforming lower body along with his strong upper one, and a second roar blew the top off of the mountain.

Dragons have returned...and I will share this blessing with all who I find…

Particularly females…

The End