Alain Ebon (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dovahfahdon) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
abstracts2013-08-22 01:24 am
dovahfahdon) wrote in abstracts2013-08-22 01:24 am
Entry tags:
countdown to the end.
[ It has been only two passings of the sun since Alain and Odahviing's battle at Skuldafn. Two days since Alain has destroyed the remnants of Nahkriin, the last Dragon Priest, and two days since he set eyes on the portal gracing that temple's peak.
That portal to Sovngarde, to the dead; to Alduin.
Alain has not lived this long to die foolishly. Cruelly injured in the slew of battles, Alain sealed the temple, and made his way back to his house-- Odahviing questioning the Dragonborn's next moves before the red dragon flew off.
His moves? As they ever were, since Niall convinced him of his choice of fate. He would slay Alduin, he would rend the World-Eater, and then he would-- ]
"You're a fool, Alain Ebon."
[ The vampire next to him states flatly as she presses a poltrice into his side. Alain hisses, resigns himself to silence. ]
"You have the backing of many who would follow you, and yet you take these kind of moves on your own? Are you my mother now? If you get stuck in the land of the dead, I won't come after you."
...I don't expect you to.
[ It's a quick reply, and holds more than he meant. Because it's not to her that he's speaking suddenly.
Ignorant of much of the world, Serana might be, but she is nothing close to naive. The vampire rolls her eyes, and finishes dressing his wound.
Alain stills. He wonders at his choices. ]
That portal to Sovngarde, to the dead; to Alduin.
Alain has not lived this long to die foolishly. Cruelly injured in the slew of battles, Alain sealed the temple, and made his way back to his house-- Odahviing questioning the Dragonborn's next moves before the red dragon flew off.
His moves? As they ever were, since Niall convinced him of his choice of fate. He would slay Alduin, he would rend the World-Eater, and then he would-- ]
"You're a fool, Alain Ebon."
[ The vampire next to him states flatly as she presses a poltrice into his side. Alain hisses, resigns himself to silence. ]
"You have the backing of many who would follow you, and yet you take these kind of moves on your own? Are you my mother now? If you get stuck in the land of the dead, I won't come after you."
...I don't expect you to.
[ It's a quick reply, and holds more than he meant. Because it's not to her that he's speaking suddenly.
Ignorant of much of the world, Serana might be, but she is nothing close to naive. The vampire rolls her eyes, and finishes dressing his wound.
Alain stills. He wonders at his choices. ]
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Only, he is flying over the murky shores near Windstad Manor, fury bubbling beneath his supposed impassive gaze, once again ignoring a relative for a companion, blood for bond.
The reasons are simpler, this time. His landing besides the building and subsequent roar is a testament to that.]
Dovahkiin!
[The dragon could tear into wood and stone, but he does not. Alain places value elsewhere.]
Zu vaat zu fen ensosin him frod sivaas kotin yol ahrk oblaan ok unslaad nahkip!
[Or roughly translated: I swear I will bewitch your field beast into my fire and end its eternal feeding.]
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The echoing storm of Dovah shake the walls of his house, but it has been well-made. Serena looks nervously up, a spell glowing in her hand, but Alain only closes his eyes.
He would have to replace that cow again. The last time, a giant-- ]
"You're not going out there?"
[ Serena has no love for the dragon, and no appreciation for the insane Dragonborn that has befriended it, but the act is inconsistent. Alain breaks his musing, wishes for a quick end to the poor beast outside, and shakes his head at her. ]
...It's easier if I say nothing.
"The coward's route."
[ He grimaces, an answer in itself. It still lies as the only answer he sees.
She shifts upward from her seat on his bed, eyeing the door on the lower level that led outside. ]
"Plus you're probably going to get me killed while you're at it."
I won't let him hurt you. [ If it comes to that. ] You've been a faithful companion to me.
[ The vampire blinks, before resisting the urge to smack the man. ]
"Don't act so nice now, Alain. I've got no intention of watching you die, so you better just start being your obnoxious self again soon."
[ Likely more than just she would appreciate it. ]
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Alain!
[You leave Nehnahlmey nothing in options.
He jumps to the roof of that hated house and with strength granted to legendary dragons, rips it open with one clean yank.]
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Niall would likely think nothing of killing her. And then Alain would be proved a liar on top of all other things. ]
Serena. Go.
[ She is caught between reactions, fear for another wrestling with sheer disbelief, and in a moment, she puts her hands down, steps backwards towards the stairs.
Her eyes are on the dragon; every so often, they dart to the man.
She is known for her quick and sharp retorts, but she offers nothing. She is known for her intelligence, and that stills her tongue. ]
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Then the creature spies another from a corner of an eye, witnesses the center of his current universe address her and not him, and the rage bursts open once more.
He snaps at the human below.]
Answer me!
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Leaving him to his current fate. One he wouldn't mind wagering and losing, in this method.
Alain views the dragon, the epitome of emotionless, to counter the creature's rage. ]
Nehnahlmey--
[ The first time he has used the dragon's full name perfectly, and it is for distance, not intimacy. ]
What would you like for me to speak?
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It is this above all else that kills the rage, and the looming figurative volcano becomes a silent beast.
A break is felt clearly in the vicinity of Nehnahlmey's chest, but still, the dragon says nothing.]
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All movements tell of a lack of grace; all things that never defined the Dragonborn before. Alain is nothing like one close to death, but he is injured, likely more than he's ever been. Eight dragons of varying kinds, draugr, and two Dragon Priests, one high....
Yes, Alain is a fool. He is still the one who won. ]
...Speak. You must have ripped off my roof for a reason.
[ He would not apologize for his acts. He would not hold regrets in his heart.
He would blind himself to the blatant pain shown across a scaled visage. ]
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The comment sparks a transition, and Nehnahlmey speaks as requested. Does not notice the pain seeping through without filter.]
You would go to Sovngarde.
[A statement, not a question.]
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Of course he would.
There are many more things to upset a great dragon in all that Alain has done over the past days, abandoning and betraying, aligning with another to call ally, taking on those odds on the top of the mountain by himself... All those things, and yet it is this. His intentions.
The thing he lacks. Odahviing had asked it of him, Serena as well--likely Delphine if she wasn't ignoring him at the present-- Likely others, if Alain would give them the chance to ask. The red dragon who had taken his wounded body from Skuldafn had crouched in a familiar manner and asked, bordering the line between the necessity to know and an almost palpable concern. And Alain had answered as he would answer Serena a half day later.
--He would take care of it.
Because he is the Dragonborn, and he is the one to take this final fight past the lines of their realm. But Alain is not only that, and everything in him--
(He does not want to go.)
There is an overwhelming sense of solitude that permeates him, soaking into his being and leaving him cold. This is a familiar feeling, he remembers when he was young, and he thought he had grown out of it, he thought-- ]
What would you have me do? That is the only path left to me.
[ --That he wasn't alone.
Still, he will work, choke back his feelings, and at least-- At least be sure that one of them--
The man grit his teeth, hands squeezing to fists against his thighs. ]
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Would never walk that place, if Nehnahlmey had his heart's desire.
But there exists no other option.
The dragon wonders if his words from a long time ago (longer than can be recalled) damned Alain to this path. Led to the inevitable conclusion. Nehnahlmey should have spoken otherwise. He should have told the mortal to shed the existence of the Dragonborn.
There is nothing else, however, even as Nehnahlmey yearns for something. Anything.
He lowers his head to hover near Alain and his bed, sadness rising above all else.]
I would have you stay with me.
[A part of him still thinks, perhaps. That Alain would accept that notion.]
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The dragon's soft voice echoes in the chambers of his chest, and he no longer has the strength required to push the dragon away. He had wanted.... Had wanted Niall to leave him and fly somewhere far away, but in the breath of a sentence, his will has crumbled.
Because this creature has a hold on Alain that no other can match.
Habit makes him reach a hand to the dragon, but upon reaching pebbled skin, something cracks and shatters. The Dragonborn stands too quickly, a fractured leg giving out beneath him even as he grasps out with both hands, arms wrapping around the giant head, and Alain Ebon holds fiercely to the one entity in the world that has gained his devotion.
He has not held any other in that manner, and will not.
His face is pressed into the bridge of the other's skull, full weight clinging as his own legs can't support him. It is something he never would have done, months, a year past. He allows himself this, a pure manifestation of want. ]
...I would stay by your side forever, Niall. If only there was a way.
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Perhaps the crux does not lie in mortality itself. Perhaps the crux lies in contrasts, where one lives to die and the other lives to nonexistence.
Nii los dur do joorre, a Greybeard had said. It is the curse of mortals. This separation.
Thus, Nehnahlmey would allow Alain his want. He would permit the man to voice his desire and doubt in the same breath. The dragon clings tight to the ruined structure he helped bring about and holds the man's weight without complaint.]
Zu fen dir voth hio.
[I will die with you.]
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Niall's softly thundering words cause a reaction in the man, a quick warmth to flip in his chest, the fact of another so willing to stay with him, no matter--
His eyes open in all ways. This thing spoke of cannot be allowed. Alain attempts to straighten, to stand fully--a mostly faulty idea. ]
Never.
[ It's an absolute, edging in pure anger. ]
I would never have you die needlessly.
[ --For my own sake. ]
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Half of his meaning is what Alain has assumed. The rest exists in a simplicity nestled deep among the dragon's secrets.
Nehnahlmey will die with Alain. It is what cannot be stopped.]
I know.
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...That he doesn't know what to do with a dragon, sad and resigned, when he had planned and expected rage and offense. Alain is thrown off balance entirely, and he simply lacks the knowledge to move forward.
What now?
What now?
His grips loosens on the dragon, again he tries and mostly succeeds to stand on his own. ]
...You know I have to go.
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He wonders if those words are an echo.]
You have no desire to go.
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Alain has no desire to go. And even further--
Further. ]
--I fear it!
[ He never would have spoken these sharply whispered words otherwise. If Alain held any hope, he would not have admitted weakness, a fact for pride to chaff at.
But there is was, and here he held to it. Alain has no want for death, a discontinuation of his simple existence, for in all things... It brought him joy, this life. The past year's time has shown him a greater fulfillment than he knew possible.
And here it would end.
And here he would end. ]
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For that is what it would be, is it not? That the instant one steps within Sovngarde, he is--
The dragon understands. Nehnahlmey exists as immortal. He cannot know the fear of his own end, but he understands perfectly.]
Then live.
[The words come as quiet. Absolute.]
Zu lost tinvaak. [I have spoken. Once before.] You are what you make of yourself. Go do what you most desire. Work to live, Alain.
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But there is something else to address. Another yearning. Another simple thing.
There is a dragon before him, waiting on him to move or to declare, and where others would flee in terror, likely rightfully so, Alain takes comfort in the other presence. Feels a kind of comfortability he has never felt in all his years, High Rock or Skyrim. They are two that do not fit, a Dragonborn with little interest in the role or those around him, and a dragon who lacks the stereotypical needs of dominating and consumption. They are two separate....
And closer to one when together. ]
...You are what I desire most, Niall. But I cannot have you.
[ Not in the way that he wanted, and the way his words hang in the air likely allude to that.
But more-- The Dragonborn looks upward, something deeper than determination in his gaze. ]
And I cannot walk away from this path. I will not leave things to rot while I can still move.
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Instead, he would fixate on Alain's life. Would look to give meaning to a mortal man at a precipice.]
You misunderstand me, Dovahkiin. Dragonborn.
[Eight eyes shift to catch the man's two.]
This path does not have to lead to death. You can choose.
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However, it does lead to the land of the dead.
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And you intend to stay with the dead?
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Eventually, they come to him. ]
...I intend to do what I must.
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Alain los mey! [He is a complete fool.] Then you do what you must and come back!
[To me, is unsaid.]
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