» Mon Nov 12, 2012 2:38 pm #####
The cloying blue fog receded one last time at the force of their commands, it's icy touch running down Thormoor's bare arms and leaving his raven hair lank and foul-smelling. At his sides, the three Tongues of old stood panting. That final thu'um had already drained too much of their power. Gormlaith held her sword bravely, defiance in her bright eyes. Hakon and Felldir, the young man and the old, coughed and shook violently.
As the mist crawled back away from the wide green field before the Whalebone Bridge, the deep roar of Alduin echoed down the walls of the valley.
“He comes!” Gormlaith cried, “prepare for battle!”
Thormoor crossed his arms and drew his twin blades, a matching set made from the bones of the dragons whose souls he had devoured. Red and blue snaked along the razor edges, powerful enchantments of fire and lightning.
A shadow rose from behind a rocky hillock in the distance. The sulfurous, rotting smell of Alduin's breath assaulted the four warriors, the stench Thormoor remembered from their battle at the Throat of the World. As it raced towards them, it grew a deeper black.
“Now, bring him down!” Felldir shouted, and the four Tongues bellowed the Dragonrend.
The blue waves of crackling energy struck Alduin in the chest and he fell to the ground, scarring it with the impact. The long, jet-black head with fiery red eyes snaked over the rim of the crater. His mouth curled into a snarl, showing teeth as long and sharp as cruel orc blades.
With a wordless bellow, Thormoor raced across the plain towards the king of the dragons. The mighty jaws closed just as he leaped, snapping [censored] mere inches below his boots. He thrust his blades down, but they glanced off the mighty black scales.
The greater part of the god's grace was lost on the ground, but his strength and speed were still unmatched. Alduin shuddered violently and Thormoor was thrown heavily to the ground as Hakon reached him, cleaving a great rent in the tough leather of Alduin's wing with his mighty axe. Gormlaith stabbed into the cleft between two scales, and steaming blood sprayed to the groun as Felldir grabbed one of the beast's massive claws and sent a massive surge of magic lighting through the dragon's body.
Alduin shook again and lashed out with his tail, tossing Hakon away like a snowflake in a gale. Lashing with his head, he slammed Felldir to his back and raised himself to bite, but Gormlaith jumped and stabbed between his teeth. A wail of pain and shock split Thormoor's thoughts and brought him out of his daze. He threw himself up and charged Alduin again, Shouting fire.
Dragonrend's hold on Alduin's mind loosened, and he took to the air again, spraying fire down at Thormoor. Their two Voices collided, and the explosion sent smoke curling all across the battlefield, tearing grass and flowed from the ground and throwing boulders into the air. When the smoke cleared, the four Tongues were bloodied, their armor cracked and their confidence shattered.
“We are too few,” Felldir muttered, clutching a wide gash in his side, “we cannot hope to win.”
With a mocking laugh, the massive shadow landed light as a cat on the ground, small distance away from the outlet of the valley Thormor had taken to the Hal of Valor. “What is it, Dovahkiin? Is your frail human form not enough? Joor mey, the other of us may be fooled, but you are no dragon! Just a frail human with an affinity for language and a lust for the power that is rightfully ours!”
Thormoor snarled, clutching the hilts of his swords. I don't see a way out of this. If I charge, he'll cook me alive before I can muster another thu'um.
“Be consoled that after I devour you, body and soul, the rest of your kind will soon join you, and then all of this Kalpa with it. It is what I am made for, and no mere man can defy it.”
“FUS RO DAH!” The sudden Shout took the World Eater by surprise, and drove him into the dirt. From atop the hill, Ulfric Stromcloak stood with a host of warriors, rebel and Imperial alike, at his back.
“We Nords have another legend about you, World Eater,” the defeated would-be king shouted, “that the legendary Dragonborn would come from the shadows of history and keep our world alive.”
“I don't give a damn about legends,” Thormoor shouted, “but I do have one thing to say to you, shadow: JOOR ZAH FRUL!”
The last thu'um Thormoor could manage raced across the field and hit Alduin full in the face. The dragon god wailed and thrashed as the army of the dead poured down the hill and began to hack at him. Thormoor charged from the other flank, bellowing “I am the legendary Dragonborn!”
Unable to fly and worn down by sheer numbers, Alduin fell to the Dragonborn's swords. When he struck the final blow, a burst of energy threw them all from the World Eater.
Bleeding out on the ground, Alduin managed a disbelieving “Zu'u unslaad! Zu'u nis oblaan!” before his black scales shed off, revealing skin of molten gold before his soul burst from his body. Thormoor readied himself to eat it like the rest, but instead it swept upwards into the great swirling light in Sovngarde's sky.
