Dragonborn Saga

Chapter 720: Before the Last

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"So you took the artifact from that demon of knowledge guy, sealed it in the shadow gate beyond his reach, and when his agent came to you, you declared war on him?" Shadow asked.

"That pretty much sums it up." Jon replied.

"Aren't you just courting death when fighting against an immortal?" Shadow asked.

"Nope. So long I kill his agent, I am good." Jon replied.

"That's just cheating, you know!"

"What cheating? The guy wants to replace his agent with me. His agents attacked me first and the narrative changed. What his agent wants is to replace himself with me so I become the immortal demon's slave in his stead while he goes out into the world and becomes free. The original narrative was that I, the Last Dragonborn, get to defeat the demon's agent, the First Dragonborn, and then the stupid fucking demon gets me as his slave anyway. But I don't want to buy whatever he is selling so now that the narrative has changed, I think Fate can be altered in a whole different way and I get to deal with Miraak and Hermaeus Mora the way I see fit." Jon explained what he told Shadow all over again from the start.

"And all that thing experimenting with Fate was for this moment. That when you do things differently, you get to decide things not as how the narrative was supposed to go but as how you want to alter it."

"Yes."

"Well, it is cheating."

"You keep saying that!"

"You know your goddamn future! That is cheating!" Shadow shouted.

"At least some of us get to have some advantage. I know a bit about my future, how about you?" Jon asked.

"Nothing. I got absolutely nothing."

"Nothing at all?"

"Yes."

"No unfair advantages here or there? A secret guide or a mentor?"

"Hmmm… now that you mention it, I am starting to remember something that I may have taken a little bit for granted."

"See? We all got something."

"But not to the point of knowing the entire endgame. Like the other guys are way worse than you. One, in particular, is completely thrust in the darkness alone."

"Fine. You go save their asses then."

"Other shadows are already in charge of them."

"You make it all sound so easy." Jon looked at Shadow and asked, "So, you said there is something you want to tell me."

"Right." Shadow remembered, "Can you sail?"

"I have a fleet." Jon replied.

"By yourself, I mean." Shadow elaborated.

"Yes." Jon nodded.

"Then this will be the last time we see each other." Shadow said.

"Wow! You have a grudge against sailors or something, mate?" Jon laughed while looking a little concerned.

"Not at all." Shadow laughed, "There are two things you need from me. One of them you will use, the other you will discard, or that's how the prophecy said."

"What prophecy?"

"More importantly, the first is a location in your world called Atmora. The second is this Shadow Gate." Shadow said.

"Hold on, I'm barely keeping up here. Atmora is a continent, what does it have to do with the shadow gate? And you mentioned a prophecy."

"You ask too many questions." Shadow replied impatiently.

"Of course I am asking…"

"Just listen and you will understand it all later if you really want to live." Shadow had to use a stern tune this time.

Saying "if you want to live" had an impact and it caused Jon to frown, stay silent, and listen.

"One day when it is all over, you will be faced with a choice."

"I know."

"Good. I've already given you all the clues then." Shadow said.

"Atmora is one thing I don't understand but when I returned the Skeleton Key to Nocturnal, she gave me the Shadowkey in return and said that it is something I may not want but I will definitely need."

"Nocturnal? A being of shadows."

"The boss bitch."

"Then you're on the right away."

"And Atmora?"

"Fuck if I know. That's all the whispers I heard from the prophecy and…" Shadow said and raised a finger to make a hardline point, "Don't ask about the prophecy."

"Fine. A Shadowkey and Atmora. Great. Anything else?"

"The next Shadow you meet will be a different Shadow. You'll be thankful by then."

And Shadow disappeared.

Jon knew this is the last time he might see this Shadow and possibly the other Shadows.

They are beings that come from different times in an unorganized manner. It can be described as two timelines that are moving against each other. The first time Jon sees the Shadows was the last time they met him and the last time he sees them is the first time they meet him.

"Hooman!" Nefertiti came near Jon

"Your Meowjesty!" Jon replied.

"I have discovered something new." She said.

"Another fish gift?" Jon asked.

"No!" She hit Jon right on the head with her giant paws but as she wasn't realizing the difference in size between them, she sent Jon flying into the opposite wall, "Sorry!"

"This… will… develop… into a serious… masochism case." Jon said as he pushed himself up from the ground.

He dusted himself off, stood up, and faced his cat.

"What do you want?" Jon asked.

"Right… I have discovered something about the Shadow Gate."

"Why does everyone else but me know so much about them damn shadow gates?" Jon said in anger, "Fine, let's hear it."

"So you know why I told you to get your hands into the shadows when we were creating this?"

"To hold that hungry ghost thing!" Jon said.

"Well, yes. But to also make an anchor between the shadow world and the real world." Nefertiti explained.

"And?" Jon asked.

"I found out that I can now change this anchor." She said.

"So what you mean is that we no longer need to keep in the Augur's chambers." He concluded.

"That's right but not quite all." She said then added, "We can make you this anchor."

Jon tilted his head and narrowed his eyes.

"You are saying that you are going to connect me to this shadow gate… and make me the entrance… or in other words… my shadow will be a shadow gate." He said.

"Yes. But not quite right again. If we alter hooman's shadow, bad things will happen to hooman. We will just make it part of your shadow. Very teeny tiny part." She said.

"Alright. We will be able to access that gate anywhere we want, like having our own Storage Cube without actually carrying the cube."

"We can also customize it too."

"I love that. I think I am going to regret it one day but I love it 'cause my kitty cat loves it." Jon said.

"Alright. Once you go out, I'll make sure it is done." She said and bolted off somewhere.

Jon smiled and stretched his body before standing up and taking one final look at the Oghma Infinium. He smirked slyly and knew that his move against Hermaeus Mora this time was beautifully done.

He needs to make an enemy out of Hermaeus Mora. As stupid as it may seem, seeing this situation through depends on it.

From the game, the situation of the three main antagonists can be considered strangely chaotic. Alduin wants to end the world because his human subjects revolted against him, Harkon wants to blind out the sun so the vampire can walk free from the sun's tyranny and he can become the lord of the night, and Miraak wants to replace himself as Hermaeus Mora's pawn with the Last Dragonborn so that he can get to return to the world of mortals.

Out of all three, Jon thinks that Miraak is the most dangerous of all.

Alduin may be the most powerful of dragons but his mindset is rather chaotic and is being moved by destiny. Even if Jon was defeated by Alduin, the world will be ended and reborn in another Kalpa. In some sense, this is the natural flow of fate, even more natural than when the Dragonborn stops Alduin from ending the world.

Alduin may have revolted against his own fate and settled out to rule the mortal world instead of ending it. Destroying it after losing control is simply surrendering to his own role in the divine ecosystem. In other words, Alduin is not a villain, he's more like a natural disaster.

Harkon, on the other hand, is a fool. He thinks that by blinding the sun, the vampires will rule the world. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that without the sun, the mortal population will die out. Unless the vampires have some method to "herd" a cattle of mortals without losing on blood quantity and quality, the whole thing of the Volkihar Vampire plot is insanely stupid.

And then comes Miraak, the First Dragonborn.

Who is Miraak?

He is someone older than the world's strongest wizard, Divayth Fyr. A being of Atmoran descent, a stronger foe than any, the one was chosen first to beat Alduin the World-Eater. In other words, Jon is the replacement of that Dragonborn. Oblivion, every other Dragonborn across history including Empress Saint Alessia, Reman the Light of Man, Talos of Atmora Tiber Septim, and Jon freaking Dare.

So… if that is the Original Dragonborn, then what is his history?

Simply put it… he is the man who got drunk on his divine power, was a Dragon Priest for the Dragon Cult, defied the Dragon Cult and ruled the Dragons instead of being ruled by Dragons, and was the first ever man to ride a Dragon, one who was equipped to deal with Alduin quite easily, and instead of doing that, he decided to ignore Alduin and pledge allegiance to Hermaeus Mora in order to become immortal, get as much knowledge from Hermaeus Mora as possible, and return to the world to be some sort of immortal being worshiped by the Dragons, who are in turn worshiped by man.

Like…

"What the fuck?" Jon exclaimed.

He was already out of the shadow gate and he felt something rather weird on his own body.

"Hooman… sowwy!"

He was looking at Nefertiti with disappointment while pointing at his chest above his heart.

The black keyhole which was supposed to be on the wall, the one he inserted the Shadowkey into to open the shadow gate, was embedded on his chest over his heart.

" I said I would regret it one day. It had to be today?!"

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