HP: Sacred Gear Chat Group (2) - Chapter 37 (Patreon)

Chapter 37 - Paarthurnax

Not expecting such an intense reaction, Agnar glanced at me before asking, “Does it matter?”

“Yes,” came the immediate reply. “For matters of such gravity, we need to know where you stand, or whom you stand with.”

“That would be me,” I admitted without hesitation, causing all the Greybeards to turn their attention toward me as well.

“Tell me, Dovahkiin. How came you by this knowledge? And who was it that imparted it unto you? Few there are whose memories reach so far into the past,” Arngeir asked, his voice carrying the same suspicion as before.

Fortunately, I already had an excuse prepared.

“I learned it directly from the Source. An Elder Scroll.”

“How? By what means have you accomplished this? Do you understand the danger of what you have undertaken? The reading of an Elder Scroll is no trivial matter. Its truths are not easily borne, and its consequences may be grave indeed. An unprepared mind may suffer greatly from such knowledge,” Arngeir warned.

It wasn't every day you managed to make someone like a Greybeard look genuinely disbelieving.

“The Dwemer figured out their own Method of reading an Elder Scroll, which I used to obtain some Answers. But the Details don't really matter. We'd like to visit the Throat of the World and meet Paarthurnax, too,” I replied calmly.

It really didn't matter whether my information came from reading an Elder Scroll or from knowing the Game. As far as I was concerned, the result was pretty much the same.

However, I decided to offer them a way out, even though I knew they wouldn't take it.

“If you prefer, you could simply teach us the Shout and collect some of that never-melting Snow for me. That's all I want. It would simplify matters for everyone involved.”

I shrugged.

“No. I cannot teach it to you because I do not know it. It is called ‘Dragonrend,’ but its Words of Power are unknown to us. We do not regret this loss. Dragonrend holds no place within the Way of the Voice.”

Right, that made sense. Dragonrend was a Shout specifically designed to kill Dragons, making it completely incompatible with the Greybeards' Pacifist philosophy.

Unlike something like Fus Ro Dah, which allowed you to yeet people across Skyrim, or the Fire Breath Shout you could find on the Throat of the World, which let you turn people into nice, crispy pieces of meat.

Truly, the peaceful way!

Well, it wasn't surprising that they didn't know every Word of Power. They might act as though they knew everything there was to know about the Thu'um, but I was certain there were several Shouts they had never even heard of.

Mostly Lore-related Shouts, such as the one Shalidor supposedly used to create Winterhold with a whisper, or the one King Wulfharth used to age his men after they had been turned into Children. If the Greybeards knew those Shouts, they certainly hadn't used them, as such powers usually came at the cost of the User's Lifespan.

And there were probably countless other Shouts and Words of Power out there.

The Thu'um was basically the Cheat Code of this World, capable of manipulating Reality itself. And while the Greybeards were undoubtedly powerful, they were still far from reaching that level.

“Then how am I supposed to defeat Alduin?” Agnar asked, quite rightfully.

“Only Paarthurnax, the Master of our Order, can answer that question, if he so chooses.”

“Which we aren't allowed to meet,” I interjected.

Arngeir shot me a brief look before turning back to Agnar.

“You weren't ready. You still aren't ready. Neither are you,” he added, directing the last remark at me.

He then sighed.

“But thanks to your meddling with matters beyond a Mortal's nature, you now have questions that only Paarthurnax can answer.”

“Alright, then! How do we get up the Mountain to meet him?” I asked excitedly, eager to learn the Clear Skies Shout. A Shout capable of manipulating the Weather was always a welcome addition to my arsenal.

“Only those whose Voice is strong can find the Path. Come. We will teach you a Shout to open the way to Paarthurnax. We will also guide you in another new Shout, as promised,” the old man said, turning toward me with a rather pronounced stink eye.

Naturally, I ignored it with the dignity befitting a true Dragonborn!

Whirlwind Sprint and Clear Skies! Now we were talking!

———

“LOK VAH KOOR!”

A powerful bellow reverberated through my throat as I unleashed a Shout worthy of a Dragon. With my roar, the Snowstorm blocking our Path up the Mountain cleared away.

Upon reaching the summit of the Throat of the World, my gaze immediately settled on a particular patch of Snow. I could just feel that there was something unique about it. It didn't exactly give off a magical feeling, but there was something almost primordial about it.

It reminded me a little of an Elder Scroll…

In fact, the entire mountaintop felt strangely similar to one.

That had to be it!

This wasn't simply Snow that refused to melt. It was Snow affected by time! It didn't melt because its very properties had been frozen in time.

That made it an even more valuable research Material.

What if the White Phial didn't actually replicate liquids, but instead split time itself? The liquid inside the Bottle would continually return to its previous Position while the original drop continued moving toward its future Position.

Effectively, the Bottle could replicate a liquid by summoning the same drop from different points in time, splitting time itself and creating new timelines within the Bottle.

If that theory held true, then the White Phial was ridiculously powerful and potentially dangerous.

“Is that the Snow you've been searching for?” Agnar asked, having sensed that there was something different about it as well.

“I think so. Help me collect as much of it as possible.”

While we stored the never-melting Snow, or rather, the Snow frozen in time, inside my Bag, a loud roar echoed above our heads.

A massive Dragon had appeared on the Throat of the World. He was one of the biggest and most powerful Dragons we had encountered so far.

According to my Danger Rating, he was a lethal threat to me.

That didn't necessarily mean I couldn't defeat him, but the chances of sustaining a lethal injury during the fight were extremely high.

“Don't attack him,” I told Agnar, who had already grabbed his Waraxe.

Fortunately, this Dragon wasn't our Enemy.

With a small crash and a swirling cloud of Snow, the enormous creature landed peacefully right in front of us.

“Drem Yol Lok! Greetings, wunduniik. I am Paarthurnax. Who are you? What brings you to my strunmah… my mountain?”

“Your Mountain? You're Paarthurnax!?” Agnar asked in confusion, his Hand still gripping his Weapon. He then glanced at me. “You knew he was a Dragon?”

“I did. There are more than enough records of a Dragon named Paarthurnax.”

And, of course, I had played the Games.

“I am as my father Akatosh made me. As are you… Dovahkiin.”

“Why aren't you attacking us? No, wait! Why are you the Leader of the Greybeards?” Agnar asked, looking utterly bewildered.

“Drem. Patience. There are formalities that must be observed at the first meeting of two… no, three of the dov. By long tradition, the elder speaks first. Hear my Thu'um! Feel it in your bones. Match it, if you are Dovahkiin!”

Paarthurnax completely ignored Agnar's confusion.

Instead, he used his Thu'um to inscribe a Dragon Word into the ground before us. As soon as we learned the Word, he imparted his Knowledge of it to us.

“A gift, Dovahkiin. Yol. Understand Fire as the dov do. Now, show me what you can do. Greet me not as mortals, but as dovah!”

Using the newly learned Word, Agnar and I did as instructed and unleashed powerful roars. However, rather than using just a single Word, we both used the complete Shout. I had already learned the remaining Words from Agnar or during our Journey.

“YOL TOOR SHUUL!”

Flames erupted from our mouths in a powerful breath of Fire. However, thanks to Paarthurnax's deeper understanding of the Shout, the Flames we unleashed were even more powerful than before.

“Ah… yes! Sossedov los mul. The Dragonblood runs strong in you. It has been a long time since I had the pleasure of speaking with one of my own kind.”

Paarthurnax nodded in satisfaction.

“Well, there are quite a few of us around these days,” I remarked.

Paarthurnax shook his draconic head, his sharp teeth gleaming in the sunlight.

“All under Alduin’s influence. For now, I have a duty to fulfill and cannot risk falling under his sway.”

“Like teaching us Dragonrend?” I asked.

That would make abusing my Summoning Spell so much easier. It was annoying having to wait for those Dragons to spend so much time flying around before we could finally slay them.

“Ah. I expected you. Prodah. You would not come all this way for tinvaak with an old dovah. No. You seek your weapon against Alduin.”

The Dragon chuckled at us.

“Alduin is my greatest priority right now. While the World must end one day, that day is not now,” Agnar replied firmly.

“And how do you know that the time for the End has not yet come?”

“We read an Elder Scroll,” I added.

Well, technically, I hadn't actually read anything from it yet. I simply hadn't had the time to study the Dwemer Lexicons I had inscribed. Even after watching Septimus do it, figuring out how to operate the Device would take some time.

Besides, they shouldn't contain any knowledge of the Future, since that wasn't how the Dwemer Device worked.

Still, I knew it wasn't time for the World to end just yet. There was room for at least one more Game, probably more if Bethesda would stop slacking off.

“Dangerous, Dovahkiin. But I can feel that the Scroll has not affected either of you.”

“There are ways to read its contents without actually reading it. More importantly, can you teach us Dragonrend?”

“Krosis. Sorrowfully, no. It cannot be known to me,” Paarthurnax replied.

“There are other ways on this most ancient Mountain. This is the most sacred Mountain in Skyrim. The most sacred Mountain. The great Mountain of the World. Here, the ancient Tongues, the first mortal masters of the Voice, brought Alduin to battle and defeated him.”

“Using the Dragonrend Shout, right?” Agnar asked eagerly.

He was always excited to hear about battles, especially legendary ones.

“Yes and no. Viik nuz ni kron. Alduin was not truly defeated, either. If he were, you would not be here today, seeking to… defeat him. The Nords of those days used the Dragonrend Shout to cripple Alduin. But this was not enough. Ok mulaag unslaad. It was the Kel—the Elder Scroll. They used it to… cast him adrift on the currents of Time.”

“So those ancient Nords sent Alduin forward through Time, making him our Problem?” I summarized.

“Not intentionally. Some hoped he would be gone forever, forever lost. Meyye. I knew better. Tiid bo amativ. Time flows ever onward. One day, he would surface again. Which is why I have lived here. For thousands of mortal years, I have waited. I knew where he would emerge, but not when.”

“You want us to use the Elder Scroll to send him through Time again?” Agnar wondered.

“No! Tiid krent. Time was… shattered here because of what the ancient Nords did to Alduin. 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 yourselves back to the other end of the break. You could learn Dragonrend from those who created it. The first Thu’um created by Mortals!”

“Alright, what should we do?” I asked, pulling the Elder Scroll out of my expanded Bag, excited by the prospect of actually traveling through Time.

“You truly have it. The Kel—the Elder Scroll. Tiid kreh… qalos. Time shudders at its touch. There is no question. The two of you are Doom-Driven. Go, then. Fulfill your destiny. Take the Scroll to the Time-Wound. Do not delay. Alduin will be coming. He cannot miss the signs.”

Right, I had forgotten that Alduin would be able to sense it.

Together with Agnar, I headed toward the spot Paarthurnax had pointed out with his head, where the presence of the Elder Scroll was strongest. Or rather, it was where Time itself had been shattered.

Before I grabbed the Scroll, I turned to Agnar. “Touch my shoulder,” I instructed him before opening the Scroll for the first time.

As I studied the Power the Scroll released with the aid of my Mage Bloodline, I finally caught a glimpse of its contents. Then it began to glow with a silvery-white light, blinding us completely as we were pulled through the Time Rift.

In the next moment, the entire atmosphere of the Mountain had changed. We had arrived in the Merethic Era.

I could still feel Agnar's hand on my shoulder, but we were stuck. We were truly only peeking through the Rift, unable to move or do anything.

All we could do was watch.

Before long, we witnessed the three ancient Nordic Heroes, Felldir the Old, Hakon One-Eye, and Gormlaith Golden-Hilt, face off against the Dragons serving Alduin, the World Eater.

We watched as they confronted Alduin himself, bringing him down to the ground with a mighty combined “JOOR ZAH FRUL!” from all three Nordic Heroes.

The Shout echoed through my very being as I learned the Words from them. They imprinted themselves onto my Mind even more easily than any other Shout.

Was it because this was a Shout created by Humans?

It was a battle of epic proportions, far more exciting than the cinematic in the Game.

But in the end, it still wasn't enough.

The three of them fought valiantly, like true Nords, against the World Eater. Yet, no matter what they threw at him, the most powerful of Akatosh's Children simply refused to die.

Faced with such dire circumstances, Felldir the Old used the Elder Scroll to banish Alduin through Time while the other two kept him occupied.

In the aftermath of the Battle, we were once again engulfed in silvery-white light and sucked back through the Time Rift.

Alduin was already waiting for us on the Throat of the World.

No, he was right next to us.

Too close!

“No, Dovahkiin! He's too powerful!”

Paarthurnax was desperately trying to hold Alduin down with his claws, pressing him against the ground. But something wasn't right.

I turned my head, only to see Alduin's massive, spiked tail piercing straight through Agnar's abdomen right beside me. Blood trickled from the corners of his mouth.

“You were too distracted, Dovahkiin!” Alduin's deep, mocking voice echoed across the Mountain.

His tail pulled back, and I watched Agnar collapse onto the ground, his blood staining the white Snow crimson.

[-- End of Chapter --]