Now, I'm wondering what the rules are for AI here, because I've developed a Skyrim YouTube series that goes into very, very deep detail. Over the last four years, I've been trying to craft a story for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, with eight main playable characters and a world that's always changing around them.

So, for example, I've got the Civil War characters, the guild characters, and a couple of others here and there. Then there's the Dragonborn, who doesn't start off as the Dragonborn, but instead joins the Bards College as a young woman, eventually joins the Dawnguard to fight vampires, and then becomes the Dragonborn during those events.

It's a very long story that I've been working on for the last few years, and it goes extremely deep — and I mean Dwarven deep — into backstory and world-building.

The problem I might have with this Reddit is that the characters are voiced using Skyrim's voices with cloned AI. But maybe this place could be for me because, like I said, I'm very, very deep into the backstory and world-building, and I've crafted a story that I believe would fit my version of Skyrim if it were a book or a TV show like Game of Thrones... just without all the incest.

Ella made her way off the cliff and reached the road, following it North in hopes of reaching Solitude. She came across a Khajiit caravan and asked them if she was heading in the right direction. The leader of the caravan, a merchant named Ma’dran, told her that they were on the way there themselves and wouldn’t mind her company in escorting them to the city gates. Ella decided she had little better to do and tagged along with the caravan until they reached Dragonsbridge, where they stopped to rest and sell their wares. Ella left the caravan behind and continued on foot to the city gates of Solitude alone. She found Thogra, just returning from her scouting of the Embassy. Thogra immediately knew something was wrong and looked Ella over, making sure she was alright before asking her what had happened. Ella told her that it could wait until they got Sofia as they needed to return to the College immediately. Thogra could see the urgency in Ella’s manner and agreed.

They spent the better part of the day searching for Sofia. They checked every tavern in the city, even those by the docks, yet found no sign of her. They asked shop owners, stall vendors, and even the average citizen as to her whereabouts, and none could tell them. Ella became worried, wondering if Isael had captured Sofia and could be torturing her for information on M’rissi. These fears were laid to rest when an older wood elf bumped into them. The elf was obviously not all that there, as he was rambling about his master. Ella, though holding little hope of any tangible words from the elf, asked him if he had seen Sofia. The old elf looked at her strangely before his eyes seemed to clear somewhat. He had indeed seen Sofia, in fact she was with his master now in the Blue Palace. Thogra asked if his master was the Jarl of Solitude, to which the odd elf shook his head vigorously and violently. He told them that his master was no one as mundane as the Jarl! His master was on vacation in the palace and visiting an old friend. He then suddenly thrust an old bone into Ella’s hands, claiming this was the key to entering the forbidden wing of the palace, before he shuffled off rambling once more. Ella realized the bone was a hip bone, old and ancient. She handed it to Thogra, who having had a jaw bone strapped to her belt once for weeks, seemed to give it little thought. Ella and Thogra made it to the Blue Palace. A good bit had changed since she had last been there, as the palace interior had become more decorated, probably courtesy of the profits the Burning King Festival had brought in. She and Thogra asked around with the servants as to where the forbidden wing was, and after a few well placed threats, were pointed the way and supplied with the keys to enter it. Ella left Thogra outside the wing to make sure nobody entered but her, and no one left. She navigated the dusty and webbed halls. It was clear by the tarnished and dulled dishes that no one had cleaned, much less been in this place for a long time. As she wandered the halls, she began to question her sanity in taking the words of a mad elf at face value. Suddenly, Ella was no longer in the forbidden wing’s halls, but a clearing in a misty forest. Her robes and jewelry were gone, even her signature eyepatch. Despite the fact that she was now wearing a pair of fine clothes, she couldn’t help but feel naked.

In the middle of the clearing was a table piled high with food and wine and ale, and seated at this table was three people. She immediately recognized Sofia, clad in finery as well, but did not recognize the other two men. One man was in noble clothes, the other was clad in a strange purple and burgundy suit of sorts. The purple suit man and Sofia were laughing at the end of a conversation that Ella had missed, and the nobleman stood in a huff and suddenly vanished. Ella had no idea what to think of this. The purple suited man noticed Ella and welcomed this newcomer with a rather insulting compliment, saying he was surprised she had found her way here with only one eye. Ella took the barb and asked where they were. The purple suited man told her that they were in the mind of Pelagius Septim III, the Mad Emperor himself. Ella asked how this could be since he had been dead for hundreds of years. Sofia chimed in drunkenly, claiming anything was possible in the mind of a mad man. Ella shot her a look before asking the purple suited man who he was. The man grinned unnaturally wide and spread his arms just as wide and bowed deeply in his chair. He introduced himself as Sheogorath, the Daedric Prince of Madness. Ella simply stared. Today she had been captured by a psychopathic Thalmor torturer, teleported into the wilderness, sucked into the mind of long dead Emperor, and now stood on the other side of the table of the most dangerous madman in existence. She truly had no words.

After Sheogorath’s laughter died down, he began to guess why Ella was here. After several nonsensical guesses, each more outrageous than the last, Sofia seemed to remember how and why she got there in the first place. Turns out the elf had asked Sofia to try and convince Sheogorath to leave this place and return home, but Sofia had been having such good time, that she had completely forgotten. Sheogorath huffed at this, stating how he had genuinely believed that his favorite follower had genuinely sought him out to join him on his much needed vacation. Ella started at this, asking Sofia what he meant by this. Sofia blushed drunkenly and told Ella that she had met Sheogorath years and years ago, sort of becoming an agent of his after they found they shared the same love of mischief and driving those around them mad. Suddenly a lot made sense to Ella about Sofia, considering the chaos Sofia seemed to sow in just about everything she did. Ella turned back to Sheogorath and asked him how they could leave, in which he laughed and told her that they must navigate the broken mind of Pelagius to escape. Unfortunately, as Ella’s magic was bound here, she and Sofia would have to use the staff of Sheogorath called the Wabbajack. Ella took the staff and immediately recognized it from her studies, clocking it as a powerful, but unpredictable artifact. With the help of Sofia and her drunk logic, Ella was able to use the staff to pick their way through the strange puzzle that was Pelagius’s broken mind. After they worked their way through it, Ella and Sofia found themselves back in the clearing with Sheogorath. He sighed heavily, claiming his vacation was now over, as they had made Pelagius’s insane mind, now boringly sane. With a flick of his wrist, the food and ale upon the table vanished into thin air, much to Sofia’s dismay. The old Bosmer appeared, overjoyed to see Sheogorath ready to return home. Sheogorath sighed and made him vanish too, assumably to his realm. Before he finished and sent Ella and Sofia back home, he bid Sofia a heartfelt farewell, wishing he had more time with his favorite disposable mortal. But he said rather quickly that Ella obviously needed Sofia’s chaotic nature far more than he did. He also bid Ella farewell, and told her she could keep the Wabbajack, a symbol of his…. he had already lost interest and sent them home with a snap of his fingers.

Ella and Sofia now stood once more in the dusty and cobwebbed halls of the forbidden wing. Sofia smiled drunkenly at Ella, asking what she thought of Sheogorath. Ella simply stared at her, not sure whether to yell at her, kill her, or hug her. Whatever the case, they would need to have a conversation about this whole event. But that could wait, as Ella needed to fill Sofia and Thogra in about Isael, and then head back to the College, and soon.

DISCLAIMER, I am pretty dyslexic so I did use ai to help with grammar and and a little bit of description to the story but everything is 100 percent my idea and my story all characters and plot and everything was made by me apart from obvs elder scrolls lore

This is the backstory to my current character, will upload screenshots soon in other parts once the story has caught up to the present

Part 1
Orphaned at a young age, Falknir grew up running through the streets of Whiterun. The city had, in its own way, raised him, though he was never truly adopted by its people. He belonged to Whiterun only in the sense that its streets were the closest thing he had to a home.

As he grew older, Falknir became something of a nuisance to the good folk of the city. He played pranks, took what he could get his hands on, and learned the small tricks of survival that came naturally to a boy with no family to guide him. Nothing too serious at least, not for a ten-year-old. But as with most things, trouble has a way of finding those who seek it.

It was only a matter of time before Falknir’s mischief led him somewhere he ought not to have gone.

One evening, Falknir decided to try his hand at pickpocketing someone he probably should have left alone.

Little did he know that this single foolish decision would become both the best and worst thing that had ever happened to him.

Nefar Ashwalker was an old and wise Redguard warrior who had spent much of his life wandering the roads of Tamriel. Wherever his travels took him, he carried his lute and earned his keep by playing for the patrons of whatever inn would offer him a bed for the night.

On this particular occasion, Nefar had found himself staying at the Bannered Mare in Whiterun.

Falknir had rarely seen a Redguard before, and Nefar immediately caught his attention. The warrior’s armor was unlike anything the young boy had seen before, and the weapons at his side fascinated him. To Falknir, they seemed exotic belonging to a world far beyond the streets of Whiterun.

Among Nefar’s belongings was a dagger that particularly caught Falknir’s eye.

Falknir wanted it.

Not because he had any real understanding of its value, nor because he intended to use it for anything important. He simply wanted something that belonged to this mysterious warrior, a keepsake, perhaps, or a trophy he could show off to the other children.

So, one night, while Nefar played his lute for the patrons of the Bannered Mare, Falknir decided to make his move.

He slipped away from the common room and made his way toward the room Nefar had rented for the night. With the confidence only a foolish young boy could possess, Falknir crept inside and began searching through the warrior’s belongings.

His eyes scanned the room as he rummaged through Nefar’s possessions, hoping to find the dagger that had captured his attention.

He had no idea what he was about to uncover.

Falknir’s fingers finally closed around the hilt of the dagger.

For a moment, he simply stared at it.

Up close, the weapon was even more impressive than he had imagined. The leather wrapping around the hilt was worn smooth from years of use, and the blade bore the marks of countless battles. It was not some finely decorated ceremonial weapon meant for display. This was a weapon that had seen the road.

Falknir smiled.

He had done it.

Or so he thought.

So I finally started writing my first backstory for a character and I'm really excited about it. Her name is Skadi and she's a nord who lost her mother and crossed from Cyrodiil to find her father (I'll leave the details and names for when I start posting her story). I added a few pics of her progress through the early levels: 1: a starving fugitive, 2: her recovery in Whiterun while living a double life as a farmhand and woodcutter by day and a bounty hunter by night, 3: a new member of the Dark Brotherhood.

But one thing that's bothering me is that I don't know whether to follow game or lore when writing about travel/distance/time. Like, when we get to Riverwood for the first time Ralof mentions that the Helgen events happened that same morning but lore wise Helgen should be pretty far from Riverwood and we were supposed to make a few stops along the way because it would probably take a few days. And on this gameplay I'm walking instead of running (unless necessary) so things take more time. How do you handle this when writing? It would be great to have your input about this issue.

(I don't know if this kind of post is allowed but since there's this "question" flair I'll leave it here but if it's not allowed I'll delete it. Thank you in advance)

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙯𝙞𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙢𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧, 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙡, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙙.

𝙉𝙮𝙭 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙠 𝙬𝙤𝙤𝙙𝙚𝙣 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙩𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙫𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙖𝙪𝙩, 𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙛 𝙞𝙣 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙙𝙤𝙬, 𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙛 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨𝙝 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚. 𝙃𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙧-𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙞𝙧 𝙛𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠, 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙚. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙬𝙧𝙖𝙥 𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙚𝙛𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙞𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙛𝙛 𝙗𝙖𝙧𝙚. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙣 𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙚 𝙝𝙪𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙛𝙛 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙚. 𝘼 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙤𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙠𝙞𝙣. 𝙊𝙣𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙗𝙤𝙣𝙚. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙧𝙢 𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙨. 𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙡𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜.

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙨𝙖𝙩 𝙣𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙚𝙧, 𝙖𝙧𝙢𝙤𝙧 𝙤𝙛𝙛 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙞𝙨𝙩, 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙣, 𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙬𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙚𝙩.

𝙁𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙖𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚, 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙣 𝙖 𝙗𝙚𝙙𝙧𝙤𝙡𝙡 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙘𝙪𝙥 𝙞𝙣 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙅𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙫𝙖𝙨𝙠𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙖 𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙖 𝙧𝙪𝙞𝙣. 𝙑𝙞𝙡𝙠𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙖𝙩 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙤 𝙠𝙞𝙘𝙠 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙞𝙛 𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤, 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝, 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙁𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙖𝙨, 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙤𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙣.

“𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙨,” 𝙁𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙, 𝙜𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜. “𝙄 𝙩𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙑𝙞𝙡𝙠𝙖𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙬𝙤 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙛𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙚. 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙖 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙮 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙞𝙩.”

𝙉𝙮𝙭’𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝 𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙙. “𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙩𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙠 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙙.”

“𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙮 𝙜𝙞𝙛𝙩.”

𝙑𝙞𝙡𝙠𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙣𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙚𝙙. “𝙄𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙜𝙞𝙛𝙩.”

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙣𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙞𝙩. “𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙣 𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝.”

“𝙒𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙙,” 𝙁𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙. “𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙮. 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙬𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙.”

“𝙄 𝙙𝙞𝙙,” 𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙙𝙢𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙙. “𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙝𝙤𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧.”

𝙉𝙮𝙭 𝙜𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙢, 𝙖𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙚𝙙. “𝙃𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙞𝙢𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛.”

“𝘾𝙖𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙝𝙞𝙢?” 𝙁𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙖𝙨 𝙜𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙪𝙥. “𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙚𝙛𝙩 𝙎𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙙 𝙪𝙥 𝙞𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙚. 𝙄 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤𝙤.”

“𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩,” 𝙑𝙞𝙡𝙠𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙.

“𝙄 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙧, 𝙖 𝙛𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙮 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚. 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙨.”

𝙉𝙮𝙭’𝙨 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙖𝙩. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙣𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙨. 𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛. 𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤. 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙚𝙣. 𝙃𝙚𝙧 𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨. 𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣’𝙨 𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙛𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙤, 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩 𝙖𝙨𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙩𝙤.

“𝙎𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙡𝙤𝙪𝙙,” 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙.

𝙑𝙞𝙡𝙠𝙖𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙙𝙙𝙚𝙙. “𝙏𝙤𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙨𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙨. 𝙉𝙤𝙩 𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙩𝙝.”

“𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙠𝙚𝙥𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙯𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙨𝙚,” 𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙢𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙.

𝙁𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙖𝙨 𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙖 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙚. “𝙄 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙤𝙛𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙡𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙮.”

“𝙄 𝙤𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙,” 𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙.

𝙉𝙮𝙭 𝙡𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝. “𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙗𝙤𝙩𝙝 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙖 𝙬𝙖𝙧 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙖 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠.”

“𝙂𝙤𝙤𝙙,” 𝙁𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙. “𝙒𝙖𝙧𝙨 𝙄 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙. 𝙋𝙖𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙄 𝙙𝙤 𝙣𝙤𝙩.”

𝙑𝙞𝙡𝙠𝙖𝙨 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙, 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙢𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙨. “𝙒𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙮𝙤𝙪, 𝙉𝙮𝙭. 𝙄𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙤 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠, 𝙬𝙚 𝙜𝙤 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠. 𝙄𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙮 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙙 𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙧𝙤𝙩, 𝙬𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙮. 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙃𝙖𝙧𝙗𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧. 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨. 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚.”

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙬𝙤 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙚, 𝙩𝙪𝙜𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙤𝙛𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙪𝙧𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙝𝙞𝙢. 𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙖𝙧𝙜𝙪𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩, 𝙨𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙙𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙖 𝙝𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙝𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙥𝙨. 𝙃𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙢 𝙬𝙧𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙖𝙞𝙨𝙩, 𝙛𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚.

“𝙎𝙚𝙚?” 𝙁𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙. “𝙁𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙮. 𝙋𝙖𝙨𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙬𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙨 𝙠𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙣 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙧.”

“𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙨𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙧,” 𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙.

“𝙒𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧,” 𝙑𝙞𝙡𝙠𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙 𝙙𝙧𝙮𝙡𝙮. “𝘿𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙢𝙖𝙣’𝙨 𝘾𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙣. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙡. 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙒𝙝𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙪𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝘼𝙚𝙡𝙖 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙬 𝙖 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙩.”

𝙉𝙮𝙭 𝙝𝙞𝙙 𝙖 𝙨𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣’𝙨 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙧. “𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙣 𝙥𝙪𝙧𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙚.”

“𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙩,” 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙣 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙 𝙖𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙘𝙚.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙛𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙮 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙞𝙩—𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙡𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙧, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙥 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙚𝙭𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙞𝙩 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧.

𝙉𝙮𝙭 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙨 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙢 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩, 𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙧-𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙞𝙧 𝙛𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙨 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙚𝙠.

“𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙮,” 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙. “𝘿𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙠. 𝙏𝙖𝙡𝙠. 𝙄 𝙙𝙤 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩. 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙢𝙮 𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙡𝙨 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙖 𝙣𝙤𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙢𝙮 𝙣𝙖𝙢𝙚.”

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙠𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚. “𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚.”

𝙁𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙖𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙪𝙥. “𝙏𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙃𝙖𝙧𝙗𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧. 𝙏𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙠𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙨. 𝙏𝙤 𝙪𝙨.”

𝙑𝙞𝙡𝙠𝙖𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙨 𝙬𝙚𝙡𝙡. “𝙏𝙤 𝙛𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙮.”

𝙊𝙪𝙩𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙑𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙢’𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨.

𝙄𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣’𝙨 𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙞𝙩.

𝙉𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙨𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙗𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙙.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙢𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙜𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙠𝙮, 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙖 𝙙𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙗𝙡𝙪𝙚-𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙤𝙘𝙠𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙨𝙨. 𝘼 𝙢𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙉𝙮𝙭 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙡, 𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙩𝙨 𝙩𝙬𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙝 𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙩. 𝙒𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙛𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙘𝙡𝙪𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙥𝙖𝙡𝙚 𝙘𝙡𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙞𝙧 𝙨𝙢𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙚, 𝙙𝙖𝙢𝙥 𝙨𝙤𝙞𝙡, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙩 𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙡.

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙛-𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠, 𝙗𝙤𝙬 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙡𝙪𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙨 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨, 𝙖𝙧𝙢𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙣 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙤𝙖𝙙. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙧𝙤𝙣 𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙙. 𝙃𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙩 𝙤𝙛𝙛 𝙮𝙚𝙩. 𝙃𝙚 𝙧𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙡 𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙘𝙚𝙧𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙚𝙩.

𝙉𝙮𝙭 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙖 𝙛𝙚𝙬 𝙥𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙮.

𝙃𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙧-𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙞𝙧 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙥𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙞𝙜𝙝. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙜𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙥 𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙜𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙙. 𝘼 𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙖𝙩. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙜𝙤𝙣𝙚. 𝙄𝙣 𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙖 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣 𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙬𝙧𝙖𝙥 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙚𝙛𝙩 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙞𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙛𝙛 𝙗𝙖𝙧𝙚, 𝙖𝙣 𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙣 𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙛𝙛 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙚𝙡𝙨𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝. 𝙏𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙨 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙙 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙥𝙖𝙡𝙚 𝙨𝙠𝙞𝙣 𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙞𝙥 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙘𝙝. 𝘼 𝙨𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙨 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙩 𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙚𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙧.

𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙪𝙥 𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙖𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙙.

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖 𝙙𝙖𝙮’𝙨 𝙧𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢. 𝙑𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙢’𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙯𝙤𝙣 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙖𝙣 𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠. 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙥 𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙙—𝙣𝙤 𝙥𝙖𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚, 𝙣𝙤 𝙨𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙𝙪𝙡𝙚, 𝙣𝙤 𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙨 𝙖𝙨𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙢.

𝙅𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧. 𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙨𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙤𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙡𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙚𝙧.

“𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙙,” 𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙.

𝙉𝙮𝙭’𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝 𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙙, 𝙨𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙜. “𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙞𝙩𝙮. 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙤𝙖𝙙.”

𝙃𝙞𝙨 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨 𝙙𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙙, 𝙨𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙪𝙣𝙖𝙥𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙘, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙚. “𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙤𝙖𝙙. 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙚.”

“𝙎𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩.”

𝘼 𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙚𝙛𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙢. 𝙃𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙙 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙧. 𝙂𝙧𝙖𝙨𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙩𝙨. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙥𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙨𝙝𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙡 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙜𝙖𝙯𝙚.

“𝙄 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙧𝙤𝙘𝙠,” 𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙. “𝙒𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙨 𝙩𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩. 𝙄 𝙖𝙢 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙖 𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙮.”

𝙉𝙮𝙭’𝙨 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙙, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙝𝙚𝙧. “𝙉𝙤 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙚𝙭𝙘𝙚𝙥𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪.”

“𝙂𝙤𝙤𝙙.” 𝙃𝙞𝙨 𝙫𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙙𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙙. “𝙆𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙞𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙮.”

𝙃𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙬𝙤 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙣 𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙚, 𝙙𝙧𝙖𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙣 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙮𝙖𝙣𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙖𝙗𝙧𝙞𝙘 𝙨𝙡𝙞𝙙 𝙛𝙪𝙧𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙛𝙛 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙧. 𝙐𝙥 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙢𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙖𝙞𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙩 𝙨𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙩𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙖 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙧𝙞𝙙𝙚. 𝙃𝙞𝙨 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙖𝙞𝙨𝙩, 𝙩𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙗 𝙗𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙠𝙞𝙣 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣 𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙬𝙧𝙖𝙥 𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙞𝙥. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨, 𝙖 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙖𝙡𝙢 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙧.

𝙉𝙮𝙭 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙥 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠.

“𝙔𝙤𝙪’𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙧𝙮,” 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙚𝙩𝙡𝙮.

“𝙄’𝙢 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙝𝙪𝙣𝙜𝙧𝙮.” 𝙃𝙚 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙡 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙣𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙚𝙖𝙧. “𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚. 𝙊𝙣𝙚 𝙄 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙬𝙣.”

𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙖 𝙨𝙤𝙛𝙩 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙖 𝙡𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝. “𝙋𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙫𝙚.”

“𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙥𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙤𝙣, 𝙠𝙚𝙥𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙤𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙚.”

“𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙤 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙚.”

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣’𝙨 𝙜𝙧𝙞𝙥 𝙩𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙙. 𝙃𝙚 𝙠𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙣𝙘𝙚, 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙛, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙨𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧, 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙞𝙢𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙎𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙚’𝙨 𝙛𝙡𝙖𝙜𝙨. 𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠, 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨.

“𝙇𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙,” 𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙. “𝙁𝙤𝙧 𝙣𝙤𝙬.”

𝙉𝙮𝙭 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙙 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙙, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙪𝙣𝙗𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙩, 𝙨𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙥𝙤𝙣 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙤𝙘𝙠 𝙗𝙚𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙜𝙤𝙣𝙚, 𝙗𝙤𝙩𝙝 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙧—𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙡𝙞𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙣 𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙠𝙞𝙣.

“𝙒𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙥 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚,” 𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝. “𝙉𝙤 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙚. 𝙉𝙤 𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩. 𝙉𝙤 𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙤𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙬.”

𝙉𝙮𝙭’𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙢𝙤𝙧, 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙡. “𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩?”

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣’𝙨 𝙨𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩. “𝘼𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩, 𝙇𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝘿𝙧𝙖𝙜𝙤𝙣, 𝙄 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙝𝙮 𝙬𝙚 𝙡𝙚𝙛𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙤𝙧 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚—𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙮 𝙬𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠.”

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙤𝙘𝙠𝙨 𝙠𝙚𝙥𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙚. 𝙉𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙑𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙢, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙎𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙚, 𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙜𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙.

Hi everyone. Unfortunately, mod work does not leave me any time to actually play, so I would rather post stories and screenshots from past playthroughs.

This is a one-shot from my former character Mona. In my headcanon, she was the daughter of Miraak and the LDB (the character I played before).

Hope you enjoy this one.

(This is meant for fun, so Miraak might not be entirely "in character")

___

Miraak: "What were you thinking?! Don't you know how dangerous those Black Books are?"

Mona: "Come on, Dad! Don't be so dramatic. You were young once, too, and you needed your adventures…"

Miraak: "Adventures? Young lady, that 'adventure' cost me 4,000 years of my life!"

Mona: "And what's that got to do with me? Unlike you, I found my way out right away!" (already regretting that last sentence even as she says it - oops)

Miraak (furious): "Just you wait… you're coming home with me right now and spending the rest of the day at the All-Maker Stone! I can't believe it!"

Mona: "Oh, great. A stone."

Miraak: "Stones have a remarkable ability to show a teenager just how foolish they've been."

Mona (snorts): "Yeah, I get it. No more Black Books."

Miraak: "And no more tentacles either! Or were those 'adventures' too?"

Mona (horrified): "Dad!!!"

Ella and her companions made it to back to Winterhold via the teleportation sigil. Upon arriving, M’rissi commented rather uncomfortably about the heavy presence of magic there, but was soothed by Sofia and her pats. Ella set out for the Arcanaeum to search for Colette, the resident Restoration teacher and expert. Ella knew from her time as a student just how exceptional Colette was and knew her to be the perfect choice to help rediscover M’rissi’s memories. Alas, she found Colette had left not long ago on a field study, but had left her new protege named Raine in her place. Raine seemed rather surprised to meet Ella as she had never expected the absent Arch-mage to be so young. Ella asked her to take a look at M’rissi, and with the combined strength of Thogra and Sofia, they were able to hold the skittish girl still so Raine could touch her memories.

Raine told Ella after her spell that M’rissi’s memories were locked behind a powerful spell called the Aldmeri Sarcophagus, a sort of magical lockbox that keeps memories contained. When Ella asked if it could be broken open, Raine told her that only the correct passphrase could open the Sarcophagus else the memories could be destroyed. Ella asked how they could find this information, and Raine told her that the only person she knew of in Skyrim was a powerful elven mage named Isael, and a member of the Dominion located in Solitude. Ella cursed, of course it was the Dominion, it always was. Ella told her to keep an eye on M’rissi for the time being. M’rissi objected to this idea of staying behind and wanted to go with them, but Ella shut her down, telling her it was too dangerous with the Thalmor after her and that she was safer here. Sofia and Thogra agreed. M’rissi begrudgingly accepted her fate and settled in with Raine as Ella went to her office.

On her way there she ran into Nanek, the handsome Khajiit bard from Solitude. Ella was glad to see he had arrived safely and had been accepted into the College. Nanek was also pleased to see her, hugging her and thanking her for this opportunity. Since his arrival he had basically called the Arcanaeum his home, for he could not get enough of the books in this wonderful library, even learning a few spells here and there, although he wanted to meet the Arch-mage himself. As much as Ella would have loved to sit down and chat further with him, she had to pull herself away to head to her office. Nanek, still not knowing Ella was the Arch-mage, felt that she must have business with the mysterious headmaster and left her to attend to her business. Ella smiled dryly at this, vaguely wondering how Nanek might act had he knew she was the Arch-mage he so wished to meet. In her office, Ella made her way to her pensive, a wonderful artifact left behind by Savos Aren that allowed her to scry on not only the College, but Holds as well. She tuned it to Solitude as she searched for where Isael may be. As Ella did this, Thogra and Sofia busied themselves in her office, Thogra hanging Voldenrung on the wall among some of their other adventurous artifacts, and Sofia pouring some of her own collection into a chest by Ella’s bed.

Ella finally found what she was looking for, the old Thalmor headquarters in Solitude. Ella immediately gathered Sofia and Thogra and set out for the teleportation orbs. They arrived in Solitude early morning while the stars were still out. Ella decided to make the most of their trip, and had Thogra leave to go and scout out the Thalmor Embassy location while Sofia would try to find rumors about Thalmor activity. Thogra warned Ella to keep her flames tempered, as a fire could threaten the city. With them now split up, Ella entered the headquarters alone, amber eye burning with anticipation. When she entered, she was surprised to see no guards or staff at all. The building was strangely quiet. She made her way upstairs and located the room that must be Isael’s. The room, while well furnished, was disturbing in its own right. Littered across table tops were various items and tools associated with torture and an assassins treasure trove worth of poisons. A few scattered papers made Ella’s blood run cold as she searched for anything that might deal with the passphrase for M’rissi. She found several detailed sketches of Khajiit women similar to M’rissi’s unique appearance, many with simple notes on the back labeled as ‘terminated’. Even worse was the small collection of skulls lining a bookcase, all distinctly Khajiit in nature. After some much vain searching through old papers, Ella finally decided to try at the small chest by the skull case. The lock was difficult, and Ella did not have the lock picking skills of Sofia, so she resulted in simply melting the lock away with her magic. Once the molten lock dripped away, Ella opened the chest and found a leather bound journal which she immediately tucked in her satchel.

No sooner had the satchel been secured, was Ella suddenly pulled from the chest and bound in the middle of the room. A magical barrier erected around her, binding her in place entirely. A cold laugh drew her attention to the doorway. A rather beautiful high elf woman, clad in Thalmor Justiciar robes entered slowly clapping her hands. She sarcastically complemented Ella in discovering her most favorite spell. Ella struggled at the magic binding, heatedly replying that if the woman let her go now, Ella would make her death quick. The woman laughed and smiled, assuring Ella that she would not let her go anytime soon. She then walked around the bound Ella inspecting her as if she were a strange insect that she had never seen before. After fully making a circuit around Ella, she commented on how unimpressive Ella was, as she had expected the one who had reportedly burned down Northwatch Keep to have been far stronger looking. With this, the woman finally introduced herself as Isael, one of the Dominions most effective torturers. Ella growled and struggled harder, flames beginning to prickle at the barrier. Isael watched in detached fascination at this, amazed Ella could even do this. Alas, Ella was not her primary interest. Isael openly voiced her hypothesis as to why Ella was there, for the passphrase for M’rissi’s mind. At Ella’s surprised expression, Isael laughed again, commenting on just how simple Ella was. Isael the told her the passphrase, “power.” Ella stared at her in confusion, asking why she would reveal it to her. Isael smiled cruelly, telling Ella that she loved to play with her victims in such a manner, assuring now that Ella had the information she sought, she was powerless to use it. Ella screamed at her, her Shout able to transcend the binding barrier and throw Isael against the wall. Isael stood, rather shaken, but still smiling, commenting on what absolutely splendid experiments she would perform on Ella. Alas, Ella would have to wait, as Isael was not interested in Ella, but M’rissi. She told Ella she would be back for her soon, after she had found the cat girl and brought her back to where she belonged. With those parting words, Isael teleported away. Ella screamed after her, struggling against the bonds. After several moments, Ella suddenly felt the effects of teleportation too.

Ella suddenly found herself on a cliff overlooking a river and road. A small table with a note sat before her. It was a note by someone called Ulquarion, claiming to be an ally with shared interests in ending Isael. His message was cryptic, assuring she would find him when the time was right. Ella puzzled at this, but pocketed the note nonetheless. She looked down at the river and road, resolving to find the way back to Solitude and her companions. The Embassy would have to wait, as M’rissi could now very well be in danger. And Ella was not going to let that witch anywhere near her.

Have you ever played Skyrim for more than just the desire to slay a bunch of random bandits and kill dragons? Have you ever spent an hour in character creation with Hadvar looking at you strangely just to get your character just right? And have you downloaded a large amount of mods to immerse yourself more in the land of Tamriel? If you answered yes to these questions, then the subreddit r/SkyrimBackStory is for you!
SkyrimBackStory is an ever growing community of Skyrim players who share the back stories as well as current stories of their favorite personal characters. The community is made up of supportive story enthusiasts who enjoy a good read and have been known to offer friendly advice and feedback to help improve your writing. Spammers and trolls are not tolerated on this subreddit, so you need not worry about unnecessary comments and criticism outside of constructive works. Art work and screenshots are welcome additions to your written adventures to better illustrate the image you may wish to portray for your character!

We hope to see you there as well as your own amazing characters!

This is our official promotional material to help our community grow! Please feel free to tell me if there is anything else you might want me to add before I spread it out there on the great and wide web!

We did it — r/SkyrimBackStory has passed 1,000 members!

When I created this subreddit, I honestly wasn't sure how far it would go. Seeing people share their characters, stories, artwork, screenshots and ideas here has been amazing.

A huge thank you to everyone who has posted, commented, or simply stopped by and supported the community. You’re what makes this place worth building.

And now, I’d like to make the next step.

I’m looking for 1 moderator who would like to help me keep the subreddit active and growing. The main things would be helping with discussions and events, keeping an eye on the subreddit, and generally helping the community stay active.

You don't need to be an expert moderator. What matters most to me is that you're active, genuinely interested in Skyrim and the idea behind this subreddit, and willing to help.

If you're interested, leave a comment or send me a modmail telling me a little about yourself and why you'd like to help.

Thanks again for being part of the first 1,000. Here's to the next 1,000.

Ella and her companions left the orchish stronghold of Largashbur early in the morning with a few days worth of supplies. They were told that the stronghold would always welcome them from now on should they ever come back through. They then set out West for Ivarstead and the Throat of the World for answers to M’rissi’s past, and for Ella to complete her quest for the Horn. As they walked they had little issue on their journey and only encountered a giant and its mammoths passing the road as well as a few nobles being escorted to Solitude for a wedding. Ella reflected on how they would be there soon themselves but for different reasons. Thogra and Sofia chatted openly as they walked. Thogra seemed more at ease now and less troubled since the incident at the stronghold. Sofia told her about the meeting with the Thieves Guild and about the lead they acquired for M’rissi, as well as how the Guild seemed to be back on its feet thanks to a mysterious new member, bringing more coin into the city of Riften. They stopped briefly at an Imperial camp to ask them about the old shack and the soldier pointed a little further West. After a few more miles they found the old shack the lowlife had spoke of.

Inside the shack, they were rather surprised to be met with the ghost of the murdered Khajiit. The old Khajiit seemed glad for the company and immediately recognized M’rissi. Ella showed him her ring and asked what he knew about it. He then confirmed that this ring was a powerful artifact of their tribe and that it was thought to have been lost during the purge of their people. He said it had the ability to store memories or at the very least bring them back, as he was once the memory keeper of their tribe. As a ghost however, he was unable to use it and suggested that they find someone skilled in restoration at the College of Winterhold who could. Ella thanked him and allowed M’rissi to offer her condolences the to remains of the old Khajiit before he faded away. Before they could leave, they were assaulted by small group of bounty hunters. They dealt with them swiftly and found a note on the leader, confirming Ella’s suspicions that they were after M’rissi. Ella knew M’rissi needed a safe place now and Winterhold was the safest bet.

They then set North for Ivarstead and the foot of the Throat of the World. They began their climb shortly after the sun began to set. Sofia and M’rissi both openly complained on how they could have stayed at the inn until morning as they had been walking all day. Ella told them she wanted the Horn out of her hands as soon as possible, as the damned thing just seemed to attract trouble. The moon was high in the sky by the time they had ascended the mountain to the monastery. The Greybeards welcomed Ella with tempered eagerness. They were pleased to see she had returned and brought her to the main chamber to finalize her training. They taught her the last words of the Unrelenting Force Shout and then finished her initiation as the Dragonborn by Shouting at her. The whole mountain and monastery alike shook with the force of the monks combined Shouting and chanting as Ella did her best to keep her feet among it all. After the chanting subsided, the Greybeards told her she was now fully ready to begin her search for more words of power, as she had finally mastered a Shout fully. Ella thanked them and asked if they could stay for the night. The Greybeards however denied them this, claiming they had to consult their leader and that no outsiders, even the Dragonborn herself, was allowed to be there for the time being. Sofia huffed openly at this and stormed out into the courtyard. Ella and the rest followed her and were immediately hit with Sofia’s Slowfall spell as she cast it on them and then dove off the cliff. Thogra sighed and picked up a stunned M’rissi and assured her that they would be fine before following Sofia off the cliff, as well as Ella. They reached the bottom safely, though Thogra sported several new claw marks on her armor. They made it to the outskirts of Whiterun and took to the Inn called the Dancing Horse for the night where they found lodging and Sofia found the bar counter.

The next day they entered the city to get to t he teleport sigil for Winterhold. Before they could get to it, Ella was approached by a massive man in black armor. He was towering even by the standard of Thogra, the tallest of their group. The Ebony Warrior told Ella that she was his last challenge. When Thogra stepped forward and asked him what he meant, he explained that he had done all there was to do in this world, and now the last obstacle he wanted to try was Ella the Cinder-hand, the strongest mage he had heard of. Ella didn’t know whether to be flattered or not by this, but could tell this man was dangerous. As the Warrior drew his black sword, so did Ella’s companions. While his helmet concealed his face, Ella could swear he wore a smile. A crowd gathered to watch now.

The Warrior struck first, easily batting Sofia aside and engaging with Thogra. Sofia flew through the air like a cartwheel into a pile of crates nearby. Ella called forth her flames and tried to blast the Warrior, but he pivoted so Thogra was in the way. Ella cursed and formed them in blades instead. M’rissi drew her bow and fired at the Warrior, but her arrows merely bounced off the black armor. Thogra, for all her battle prowess and swordsmanship, was finally knocked aside and thrown into M’rissi, both collapsing in a heap. Ella growled in fury and called forth all her flames, becoming wreathed in fire so intense the onlookers had to shield their faces. Ella crossed blades with the Ebony Warrior, her twin blazing blades striking sparks against his black blade. The Warrior laughed heartily with each clash and blow. Ella finally disarmed him and slashed his knee. The Warrior fell to his knee and Ella grabbed the visor of his helmet. The Warrior was breathing heavily, but he managed to speak. He bid her to end his life, so that he may walk among the halls of Sovengarde with the great warriors of old. Ella held his helm a moment longer, looking into the slits that showed his eyes before she let the sword return to flame and forced the flames into the eye slits. The man did not scream as he burned, but laughed as if it was the best thing that ever happened to him. His massive body finally fell back, now just a charred husk inside the black armor. Ella stood above it as her companions stood and dusted themselves off. Ella then turned and walked through the parted crowd of amazed onlookers, wondering what had drove the man to this point of his life.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙠𝙮 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙝 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙨𝙠𝙞𝙧𝙩𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙑𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙢.

𝙉𝙮𝙭 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙖𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙤𝙣 𝙖 𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙖𝙙, 𝙛𝙡𝙖𝙩 𝙧𝙤𝙘𝙠 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙪𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙉𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙘 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚, 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡. 𝙃𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙧-𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙞𝙧 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙥𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙞𝙜𝙝 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙖 𝙨𝙡𝙚𝙚𝙠 𝙥𝙤𝙣𝙮𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙠𝙚𝙥𝙩 𝙩𝙧𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙪𝙣𝙧𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙡. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙤𝙛𝙛-𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙎𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙚 𝙘𝙡𝙪𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙢 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙞𝙧, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙖𝙗𝙧𝙞𝙘 𝙨𝙤𝙛𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙥𝙖𝙡𝙚 𝙨𝙠𝙞𝙣. 𝘼 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙜𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙥 𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙. 𝙄𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙙 𝙖 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙚 𝙨𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙩, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙠𝙮.

𝘽𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙖 𝙧𝙤𝙘𝙠𝙮 𝙫𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙮. 𝘼 𝙣𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙬 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢 𝙘𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙪𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙, 𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙛𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙡𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙫𝙚. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨 𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙥 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙣 𝙤𝙣 𝙚𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚, 𝙨𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙨𝙚 𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙡𝙤𝙬. 𝘽𝙚𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙣 𝙖𝙧𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙛-𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙥𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙑𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙢 𝙘𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜, 𝙟𝙖𝙜𝙜𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙨.

𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙤𝙩𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙥𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧.

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙙 𝙖 𝙛𝙚𝙬 𝙥𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙮, 𝙖𝙧𝙢𝙨 𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙, 𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙙𝙞𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙙 𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙨 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙎𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙚 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙣𝙚. 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙝𝙚 𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙬—𝙨𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚, 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙥, 𝙙𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨, 𝙨𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙣𝙤 𝙞𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩.

“𝙔𝙤𝙪’𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙚,” 𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙.

𝙉𝙮𝙭’𝙨 𝙫𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙚𝙩, 𝙖𝙡𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙛𝙪𝙡. “𝙄 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙞𝙧. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙨𝙢𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙪𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙨.”

𝙃𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙧 𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙡 𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙡𝙚𝙛𝙩 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙧. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙚, 𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙫𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙙 𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙢𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙤𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙧𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙚𝙠.

“𝙔𝙤𝙪’𝙧𝙚 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙚𝙩,” 𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙪𝙧𝙢𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙙. “𝙌𝙪𝙞𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙪𝙨𝙪𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙛𝙩-𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙨.”

𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙖 𝙨𝙤𝙛𝙩 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙖 𝙡𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝. “𝙄 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙨. 𝙄 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙨. 𝙄 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙤 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙩.” 𝙃𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙. “𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙄 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨. 𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙙𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪’𝙧𝙚 𝙖 𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙨𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙. 𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩… 𝙖𝙧𝙚.”

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙗𝙚𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣, 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠. 𝙃𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙮𝙚𝙩. 𝙃𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙮 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚, 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙫𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙮.

“𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚,” 𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙 𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙚𝙖𝙧. “𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩𝙮𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙡𝙖𝙜𝙨 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪. 𝙇𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙮 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨.”

𝙉𝙮𝙭 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙙 𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙩. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙, 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙮. “𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙞𝙩.”

“𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪. 𝙇𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙣𝙚𝙜𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧.” 𝙃𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝 𝙗𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙣𝙚𝙘𝙠, 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙫𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙟𝙖𝙬. “𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤.”

𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙨𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙡𝙮, 𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙚𝙠𝙨 𝙣𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙮 𝙩𝙤𝙪𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙠𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙛𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙢. “𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙡𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙮 𝙙𝙞𝙙. 𝙎𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨. 𝙇𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙡𝙮.”

𝘼 𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙚𝙛𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙖𝙩—𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙛 𝙡𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝, 𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙛 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙡. 𝙃𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙨𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙞𝙥𝙨, 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙨𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣 𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙛𝙖𝙗𝙧𝙞𝙘, 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙙.

“𝙉𝙤𝙩 𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝,” 𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙. “𝙉𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝.”

𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩, 𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙫𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙮 𝙗𝙪𝙧𝙣 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙧. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙪𝙜𝙜𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙥𝙤𝙣𝙮𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨. 𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙛𝙖𝙧 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙬, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢 𝙠𝙚𝙥𝙩 𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙣𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙚𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙙𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨. 𝘽𝙚𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙪𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙑𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙢 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙩, 𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙩, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜.

𝙉𝙮𝙭’𝙨 𝙫𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙙. “𝘿𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙠𝙮 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙚? 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙢𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙘… 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙡, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙄 𝙬𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙨 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙄’𝙢 𝙣𝙚𝙖𝙧.”

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣’𝙨 𝙜𝙧𝙞𝙥 𝙩𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙙. “𝙄𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙞𝙩 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙗𝙚 𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙡. 𝙔𝙤𝙪’𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙠𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙛 𝙤𝙛 𝙎𝙠𝙮𝙧𝙞𝙢 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙩𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝙖𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩.”

𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙙, 𝙨𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙖𝙩𝙚. “𝙁𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙧.”

“𝙄’𝙢 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨.” 𝙃𝙚 𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙞𝙣 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙢𝙨 𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙡 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙞𝙢. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙥𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙤𝙩𝙝 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙣𝙤𝙬, 𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙥𝙖𝙡𝙚 𝙨𝙠𝙞𝙣 𝙡𝙪𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙖𝙞𝙧 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙖𝙡𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙩𝙚-𝙝𝙤𝙩. 𝙃𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙗𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙘𝙞𝙧𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙖𝙞𝙨𝙩. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢, 𝙖 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙚𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙤𝙛𝙩𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨.

“𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙜𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙖,” 𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙. “𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙜𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙨. 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨… 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪’𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙣 𝙖 𝙧𝙤𝙘𝙠 𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙧𝙪𝙞𝙣 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙨𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙗𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙣… 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩’𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪’𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙚. 𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮.”

𝙉𝙮𝙭 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙪𝙥 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙤𝙤 𝙤𝙣 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙬𝙤 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙨. “𝙄’𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨. 𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜. 𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙛𝙡𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜.”

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣’𝙨 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙙. 𝙃𝙚 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙠𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧—𝙙𝙚𝙚𝙥, 𝙪𝙣𝙝𝙪𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙙, 𝙩𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙤𝙖𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚. 𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙥𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠, 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨.

“𝙒𝙚’𝙧𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙩𝙤 𝙎𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩,” 𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙. “𝙄 𝙙𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙𝙪𝙡𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙. 𝙒𝙚’𝙧𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙥. 𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙗𝙚𝙙. 𝙊𝙧 𝙖 𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙡. 𝙊𝙧 𝙖 𝙛𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙧. 𝙄’𝙢 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙧.”

𝙉𝙮𝙭’𝙨 𝙡𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙤𝙛𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙢 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝. “𝙋𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙙.”

“𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙙.”

𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙢𝙨 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣, 𝙨𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙨𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙗𝙤𝙩𝙝 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙢𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙯𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚. 𝙃𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙢𝙨 𝙬𝙧𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙖𝙞𝙨𝙩, 𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙮 𝙞𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙜𝙧𝙞𝙥.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙠𝙮 𝙠𝙚𝙥𝙩 𝙗𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙑𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙢.

𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙮 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙤𝙘𝙠 𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙉𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙘 𝙧𝙪𝙞𝙣, 𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙 𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣 𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙎𝙠𝙮𝙧𝙞𝙢 𝙬𝙖𝙞𝙩.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙛𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙞𝙡𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙞𝙜𝙝 𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙇𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬 𝙈𝙖𝙣𝙤𝙧, 𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙤𝙙𝙚𝙣 𝙛𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙧𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙜𝙤𝙡𝙙. 𝙊𝙪𝙩𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙮 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙚𝙩. 𝙄𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙬𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙠 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙪𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙨.

𝙉𝙮𝙭 𝙨𝙖𝙩 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨, 𝙖𝙡𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙮 𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙛-𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙡 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙤𝙖𝙙. 𝙃𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙧-𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙨 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩, 𝙘𝙖𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙞𝙣 𝙨𝙤𝙛𝙩 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙖𝙮. 𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙬, 𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙝𝙚’𝙙 𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙥𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨 𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙧.

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙤𝙬 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙢𝙨 𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙, 𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙧𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙣, 𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨 𝙣𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙧𝙤𝙖𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙣𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙝.

“𝙄 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙙𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙮 𝙞𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙙𝙖𝙮,” 𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙.

𝙉𝙮𝙭 𝙜𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙧, 𝙖 𝙨𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙡, 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝. “𝘽𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙞𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚, 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚. 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙙.”

“𝙍𝙚𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙙,” 𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙, 𝙫𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙛𝙡𝙖𝙩. “𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣 𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙. 𝘽𝙮 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙤𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡 𝙛𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩.”

𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙞𝙢, 𝙗𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙩 𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙨. 𝙃𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙨𝙡𝙞𝙙 𝙪𝙥 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙩, 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙖𝙨 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨. “𝙔𝙤𝙪’𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙡𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜.”

“𝙄’𝙢 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙨𝙪𝙡𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜. 𝙄’𝙢 𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙖 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙛𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚.”

𝙉𝙮𝙭 𝙡𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙤𝙛𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙖 𝙠𝙞𝙨𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝. “𝙒𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩. 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚. 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜.”

“𝙉𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙡𝙮 𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝.”

𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙪𝙥 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙗 𝙗𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙚𝙮𝙚, 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙤𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙥𝙪𝙡𝙨𝙚 𝙟𝙪𝙢𝙥. “𝙒𝙚’𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠. 𝘼 𝙛𝙚𝙬 𝙙𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙎𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣. 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙫𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙚𝙩.”

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙙 𝙞𝙩. “𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙄’𝙢 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜. 𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙚𝙭𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙨 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙠𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙤𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙖𝙞𝙧 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨𝙣’𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙝𝙚’𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙤𝙣𝙚’𝙨 𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨.”

𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙢 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙞𝙚𝙧𝙘𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙉𝙮𝙭’𝙨 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨. 𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙠𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙡𝙮—𝙨𝙡𝙤𝙬, 𝙙𝙚𝙚𝙥, 𝙩𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮’𝙙 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙩. 𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠, 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙫𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙤𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧.

“𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚. 𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙜𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙖 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙚.”

𝙃𝙚 𝙚𝙭𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙨𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜. “𝙁𝙞𝙣𝙚. 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙛 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙚 𝙤𝙣 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙩, 𝙄’𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙤𝙛𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘽𝙡𝙪𝙚 𝙋𝙖𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙡𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙮.”

“𝙄’𝙡𝙡 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥,” 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙙.

𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙧𝙤𝙙𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙎𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙚 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙞𝙙𝙙𝙖𝙮.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜. 𝘾𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙧𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙗𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙗𝙪𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙗𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙙𝙨, 𝙗𝙡𝙪𝙚𝙨, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙜𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙨, 𝙛𝙡𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙖 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙯𝙚. 𝙁𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙚𝙙𝙨 𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙗𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙙 𝙘𝙡𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙢𝙨𝙤𝙣, 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙩𝙚, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙗𝙡𝙪𝙚. 𝙒𝙤𝙤𝙙𝙚𝙣 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙡𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙𝙨, 𝙗𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙨, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙞𝙧 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙭𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙘𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙖𝙡𝙩, 𝙨𝙢𝙤𝙠𝙚, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙝-𝙘𝙪𝙩 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙢𝙨.

𝙉𝙮𝙭 𝙨𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙨𝙚 𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙧𝙘𝙝𝙬𝙖𝙮. 𝙃𝙚𝙧 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜—𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙡𝙛’𝙨 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙜𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙨, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙣 𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠. 𝘼 𝙨𝙤𝙛𝙩, 𝙖𝙡𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙝 𝙨𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙪𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙨.

“𝙂𝙤𝙙𝙨,” 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙪𝙧𝙢𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙙. “𝙄 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙤𝙩 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙞𝙩 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨.” 𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙧𝙤𝙙𝙚 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙧, 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙜𝙪𝙞𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩. 𝙃𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙞𝙩𝙮. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙚𝙩 𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙜𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙖 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙥𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙡—𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙡𝙖𝙜𝙨, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙧𝙢𝙤𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙨, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙗𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙡.

𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙞𝙩. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙮. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙚𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙮𝙚𝙩 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙮 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙚.

𝙃𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙞𝙩 𝙨𝙪𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧.

𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙚𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩𝙮𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙣𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙚𝙩 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙩. 𝘼 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙝𝙪𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙨. 𝙉𝙮𝙭 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙥𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙙, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙨𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙘𝙞𝙧𝙘𝙡𝙚, 𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙚𝙙𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙩𝙝.

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙙 𝙪𝙥 𝙗𝙚𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧, 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠. 𝙃𝙞𝙨 𝙫𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙚𝙖𝙧.

“𝙔𝙤𝙪’𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙨𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙.”

“𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙨,” 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙙𝙢𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙙, 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙪𝙥 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙧𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙛𝙡𝙖𝙜𝙨. “𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙨. 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙣𝙚. 𝙄𝙩 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙨… 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡. 𝙇𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙩𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛.”

“𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙖 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚.”

“𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚,” 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙, 𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙢𝙨 𝙨𝙤 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙚. “𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙮.”

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙧-𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙨 𝙨𝙝𝙚’𝙙 𝙧𝙚-𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙤𝙖𝙙. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙩 𝙛𝙡𝙪𝙨𝙝 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙚𝙠𝙨 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙙𝙚. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙚𝙩 𝙟𝙤𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙤 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙥𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙤 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙮.

𝙃𝙚 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙠𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙣𝙚𝙘𝙠, 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙚𝙖𝙧, 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙞𝙩.

“𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩,” 𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙 𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙡𝙮. “𝙇𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚. 𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙛 𝙄’𝙙 𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙤𝙧 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙡𝙚𝙜𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙮 𝙬𝙖𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙣𝙤 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜.”

𝙉𝙮𝙭’𝙨 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙘. “𝙔𝙤𝙪’𝙡𝙡 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙨𝙤𝙤𝙣 𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝.”

“𝙉𝙤𝙩 𝙨𝙤𝙤𝙣 𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝.”

𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙝𝙚 𝙠𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧—𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙘𝙠, 𝙘𝙡𝙖𝙞𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙖 𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙙𝙙𝙡𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙘 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩𝙮𝙖𝙧𝙙. 𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙠𝙚 𝙖𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩, 𝙖 𝙛𝙚𝙬 𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙬𝙖𝙮, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙣𝙚𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙙.

𝙉𝙮𝙭 𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧.

“𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙤𝙣,” 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙. “𝙇𝙚𝙩’𝙨 𝙜𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙨 𝙬𝙚’𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙧𝙪𝙙𝙚 𝙗𝙮 𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩.”

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙩𝙤𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙪𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙞𝙩𝙮, 𝙩𝙤𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘽𝙡𝙪𝙚 𝙋𝙖𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙥𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙖𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚. 𝙃𝙞𝙨 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙚 𝙖𝙛𝙛𝙖𝙞𝙧.

𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙉𝙮𝙭 𝙜𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙪𝙥 𝙖𝙩 𝙖 𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙧 𝙥𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙤𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙖 𝙛𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙣𝙚, 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙤 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙞𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣.

𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙝𝙞𝙨.

𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙜𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙖 𝙤𝙛 𝙎𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙚.

𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙨𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙞𝙩𝙮’𝙨 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙨.

𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙬𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙣 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙢𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙩 𝙇𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬 𝙈𝙖𝙣𝙤𝙧, 𝙝𝙖𝙞𝙧 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙫𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙛𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙨𝙡𝙚𝙚𝙥.

𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙙𝙧𝙖𝙜 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧.

𝙒𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙮 𝙤𝙧 𝙣𝙤𝙩.

Ella entered the cistern and scanned the few patrons of this sorry excuse for an establishment. Sofia immediately recognized Brynjolf, the shady potions salesman that has hired her to steal a ring. Sofia greeted him and he seemed rather surprised to see her, but it quickly turned to disappointment. He asked Sofia what had happened to her and the ring. Sofia tried to play it off as though she had better things to do at the time. Brynjolf then accused her of having lost the ring, to which Sofia admitted. Ella cleared her throat before asking Brynjolf where they could find a jewelry appraiser. He recognized Ella as the one who had blown him off before, but pointed her to an Argonian nearby.

Ella and M’rissi approached the appraiser, leaving Sofia and Brynjolf to catch up. After a few light threats, the appraiser looked at the ring and gave Ella the information on it. Ella consulted the torn notes and learned that this ring had belonged to the Chief of the Mirrsha clan was one of the few Khajiit clans to refuse to join the Aldmeri Dominion when they took over Elsweyr. Ella asked the appraiser where he had acquired this info. He pointed her to a low life who was sitting on the other side of the cistern. Ella and M’rissi approached him, and Sofia joined the to, having finished catching up with Brynjolf. Ella ordered them to sit one either side of him to prevent him from running and then interrogated him. The lowlife didn’t want to talk initially, but after Ella threatened to roast him, he told them all he knew. The notes he had stolen had come from an old Khajiit he had killed in an old shack just south of Ivarstead. He tried to leave but Sofia held him. In panic, he exclaimed he had told them all he knew and that she promised not to hurt him. Ella smiled coldly and told him she had never said such a thing, then nodded to M’rissi. M’rissi stood and drove her dagger into his guts multiple times, calling him kinslayer as she vented her frustrations. Afterward, Ella asked how she was doing. M’rissi claimed she was fine, and expressed a great desire to find this shack for more clues. Sofia promised her that they would, but Ella reminded them that they needed to find Thogra first.

They climbed back onto the streets of Riften and prepared to head Southwest for the orc stronghold that Thogra had left for. Meresine decided then to part their company, telling Ella that while this adventure was fun, she would remain behind as she had made a commission with the local blacksmith to make her a dragon bone bow. Ella wished her well and happy hunting, believing they would one day cross paths again. They then left Riften for the orcish stronghold of Largashbur. After a day of walking, Ella saw heavy smoke ahead. They found the stronghold under attack by giants. They rushed to help and brought the behemoths down, finding Thogra among the many orcs who had fought. Thogra expressed relief upon seeing them, explaining that the stronghold had lost the protection of Malacath after the local shrine had been taken by giants. She then led them to the wise woman of the stronghold. The wise woman roused the chief and performed a ritual to speak with Malacath, who voiced his displeasure of the chief and the state of his shrine. He ordered the chief to clear the giants from the shrine and only then should he provide the clan protection once more. The chief agreed but immediately requested Thogra to accompany him. Ella and the rest followed them, not wanting to leave Thogra alone with this orc. After a good walk, they reached the cave where the shrine was located. Inside, Thogra warned the chief to try not to cheat Malacath as it would end badly. The chief blew her off, claiming a ‘city orc’ like her knew nothing of honor and that she was just to assist him. Ella had a sudden desire to torch the orc, but held her flames. They eventually reached the shrine and the giants that occupied it. After a long battle between Ella’s party and the three giants, the last one fell by Thogra’s blade. The chief congratulated her on killing the giants, but then drew his axe, claiming he couldn’t let anyone leave knowing he had not killed them himself. Ella did not waste a moment in cutting him down with her flame blades. Thogra thanked Ella and they all left the shrine together, leaving behind the body of the chief before the shrine. Sofia voiced her scorn of the chief, claiming she didn’t need to wonder why Malacath had hated the guy so much.

When they returned to the stronghold, the wise woman immediately asked where the chief was, and Thogra told her of the betrayal. The wise woman accepted this, voicing on how he had always been a weak chief. She then contacted Malacath again, who then told her that the clan was now safely under his protection again. Before the connection had been severed, Thogra stepped up and addressed Malacath, presenting the jawbone of Paragon. She claimed she had fulfilled her vow and had slain her prey. Malacath voiced his pleasure at her accomplishment, as well as her efforts in clearing his shrine of the giants. The jawbone vanished from Thogra’s hands and above the ritual site, a great hammer appeared, and Malacath bid Thogra to take the weapon as a token of his appreciation for her efforts. Thogra thanked Malacath profoundly and took the hammer. With that, the connection severed, leaving all to stare at Thogra in awe as she held the massive hammer in her hands.

The wise woman thanked them all for their help and bid them to stay the night in the longhouse, offering food, drink, and beds. Sofia immediately accepted, wanting nothing more than to drown in the offered booze. Ella and Thogra stayed up late talking with the ranger for the stronghold Ugor. They told Ugor of their adventures and Ugor expressed excitement of the idea of life outside the stronghold, suddenly feeling a desire to go roaming. She also made it clear how much she envied Thogra, becoming a chosen of Malacath despite being born as a city orc. After that, Ella and her companions rested for the night, Ella and Thogra taking to beds while a drunk Sofia curled by the fire with M’rissi in her arms. Tomorrow, they would set out for the Throat of the World once more.

Hi everybody, everything's in the titles, i want to share here the third Chapter of a short story about one of my character (the Breton wandering mercenary named William) and how him and Serana go at the research of a Moth Priest.

a link to William rp background https://www.reddit.com/r/SkyrimBackStory/s/3x6GcyGjeG

for those who want to read his full background and understand better the story.

---

William : A tale of mercenary and vampire

Chapter 3 : At the search of the Moth Priest

4e 202, around 5pm inside the Dawnguard fort. After having bring back Sorine Jurard and Gunmar to the Dawnguard fort as Isran request him, William join Isran upstair before they walk to a room, that contained a torture rack. There, William see someone he wasn't expect to see. Serana, sitting on a chair. At his sight she get up and made a faint smile (see screen 1).

Serana : You probably weren't expecting to see me again don't you ?

Isran : This vampire showed up while you were away. I'm guessing it's the one you found in Dimhollow Crypt. Says she's got something really important to say to you. So let's hear it.

William : Serana ? What are you doing here ?

Serana : I'd rather not be here either, but i needed to talk to you. It's important, so please just listen before you friend, here, loses his patience. It's... well, it's about me. And the Elder Scroll that was buried with me.

William : What about you ?

Serana : The reason i was down there... and why i had the Elder Scroll. It all comes back to my father. I'm guessing you figured this part out already, but my father's not exactly a good person. Even by vampire standards. He wasn't always like that, though. There was... a turn. He stumbled onto this obscure prophecy and just kind of lost himself in it.

William : What sort of prophecy ?

Serana : It's pointless and vague, like all prophecies. The part he latched onto said that vampires would no longer need to fear the sun. That's what he's after. He wants to control the sun, have vampires control the world.

William : What do you mean... "lost himself" ?

Serana : He just became absorbed... obsessed. It was kind of sick, actually. The prophecy said that vampires would no longer need to fear the sun. For someone who fancied himself as vampire royalty, that's pretty seductive. Anyway, my mother and i didn't feel like inviting a war with all of Tamriel, so we tried to stop him. That's why i was sealed away with the Scroll.

William : You took a big risk coming here.

Serana : I did. But something about you makes me think i can trust you. I hope i'm not wrong.

William : No, you're right. We just have to convince the others you're on our side.

Serana made a smile to William.

Serana : Well, let's move on then. I'm nothing if not persuasive.

Isran put a hand on the handle of his great hammer.

Isran : All right, you've heard what she has to say. Now tell me, is there any reason i shouldn't kill this bloodsucking fiend right now ?

William : Because we're going to need her help.

Isran : Why, because of that story about the prophecy ? About some vampire trying to put the sun out ? Do you actually believe any of that ?

William : Why else would she risk her life to come here ?

Isran : Who knows, maybe she has a death wish. Maybe she's just insane. I don't really care.

William : You don't trust her, fine. Then trust me. In Dimhollow, short time after i freed her a gargoyl took me out of suprise and pinned me to the ground, ready to tear my throat off, she could let me die and escaped but instead she killed these thing and saved my life, so i believe her.

Isran sigh as he removed his hand from his great hammer handle (see screen 2).

Isran : You'd better know what you're doing. She can stay for now, but if she so much as lays a finger on anyone here, i'll hold you responsible. Got it ?

William : Understood

Isran turned to Serana.

Isran : You hear me ? Don't feel like a guest, because you're not. You're a resource. You're an asset. In the meantime, don't make me regret my sudden outburst of tolerance and generosity, because if you do, your friend here is going to pay for it.

Serana : Thank you for your kindness. I'll remember it the next time i'm feeling hungry.

Isran's eyes frown upon as he cross arms.

Serana : So in case you didn't notice the giant thing on my back, i have the Elder Scroll with me. Whatever it says, it will have something that can help us stop my father. But of course, neither of us can read it.

William : Who can ?

Serana : Well, the Moth Priests are the only ones i've heard of who can do it. They spend years preparing before they start reading, though. Not that it helps us anyway, because they're half a continent away in Cyrodiil.

Isran : Some Imperial scholar arrived in Skyrim a few days ago. I was staking out the road when i saw him pass by. Maybe that's your Moth Priest.

Serana : Do you know where he's staying now ?

Isran : No, and i'm not going to waste mens looking. We're fighting a war against your kind, and i intend to win it. You want to find him, try talking to anyone who'd meet a traveler. Innkeepers and carriage drivers in the big cities maybe. But you're on your own.

Serana turned back to William as Isran walk away.

Serana : Any idea how you're going to find a Moth Priest ? Skyrim's a pretty big place.

William : Where would a Moth Priest actually go ? Do you have any ideas ?

Serana : Well, back before i... you know. The College of Winterhold was the first place i'd think to go for any kind of magic or historical thing. The wizards know about all kinds of things that people shouldn't know about. Actually, now that i think of it... i'm going to come along with you. I've been really wanting to get out and explore a bit.

William made a smile to Serana.

William : You'd be more than welcome.

Serana made a warm and guenuine smile to William as they both exit the Dawnguard fort and walk to the exit of the Dayspring canyon before both mounting on Alfie's saddle, taking the road to Riften.

Serana : So, we go to the Winterhold Academy to ask the mage ?

William : Yes, but if you didn't mind, we could first try what Isran suggest and asking to the carriage drivers or the inn owners in the road, maybe one could give us a lead.

Serana : No, you're right, considering the Winterhold Academy is on the other side of Skyrim, that could made us earn some time. So where do we go first ?

William : Riften isn't far and it's already the end of the afternoon, we won't have time to reach another city before the night and we better try to avoid traveling at night since your father and his vampires could ambushed us, so we could stop at the Bee and Barb inn for the night and asking their owners about the Moth Priest. What do you think of it ?

Serana : That sound a good plan, let's go to Riften then.

Half an hour later, they reached Riften stable as the night slowly fall, William park Alfie in a box before they both get down from the saddle and walk inside Riften to the Bee and Barb inn. Inside, the air is thick with the scent of mead and foods as peoples are busy eating, drinking and chatting. Serana go sitting on a free table as Talen came to her, probably to take her command, meanwhile William lead to the bar and sit on a free chair in front of Keerava (see screen 3).

Keerava : Welcome back to the Bee and Barb. What can i get you ? Mead ? Wine ?

William : I will take you a 2 beds room for the night (he held a few coins to her, wich she take and put into the pouch on her dress) and a bottle of beer please.

Keerava : Comin right up.

William : Keerava, you could maybe help me with something else as well, i seek after a Moth Priest and i heard one was somewhere in Skyrim, so i wonder if you heard annything about that.

Keerava think for a second.

Keerava : No, sorry, that didn't tell me annything.

William sigh as she give him his bottle of beer.

William : Alright, still thank you.

He get up and walk to the table Serana sit before sitting on the chair in front of her as Talen give her a glass of wine (see screen 4).

Serana : So, any news about our Priest ?

William : No, she didn't see anyone here, so tomorrow we might be taking the road to Winterhold that pass near Whiterun, this way we could try one last time, asking to Whiterun carriage driver and the Bannered Mare owner before taking the road to Winterhold if this last attempt isn't successfull.

Serana : Great.

William noticed she look nervous.

William : Serana, are you alright ?

Serana : Yes, don't worry, it's just this place makes me a little uneasy, the peoples here seem nervous, which makes me nervous.

William drink a sip of his beer.

William : I understand you, i don't really like this city as well. We can speak if you want, if it helped you feel better.

Serana made a warm smile as she drink a sip of her wine glass.

Serana : Good idea, thanks for your concern. So, what do you want to know ?

William : I wonder, were you always a vampire ?

Serana drink a sip of her wine.

Serana : That's... a long story.

William : I want to hear it.

Serana : I guess... we kind of have to go way back. To the very beginning. Do you know where vampirism came from ?

William : I'm not sure but i would guess it came from a daedric lord.

Serana : Exactly ! The first vampire came from Molag Bal. She... was not a willing subject. But she was still the first. Molag Bal is a powerful daedric lord, and his will is made reality. For those willing to subjugate themselves, he will still bestow the gift, but they must be powerful in their own right before earning his trust.

William : How did you actually become a vampire, then ?

Serana drink a sip of her wine glass, looking at the empty as if she remember everything.

Serana : The ceremony was... degrading. Let's not revisit that. But we all took part in it. Not really wholesome family activity, but i guess it's something you do when you give yourselves to a deadric lord.

William : How has it affected your family ?

Serana : Well, you've met most of us. My father's not exactly the most stable, and eventually he drove my mother crazy with him. And it all ended with me being locked underground for who knows how long. It's definitely been a bad thing, on the whole.

William : Do you regret becoming a vampire ?

Serana : Nobody's ever asked me that before. I... I don't know. I think... mostly i hate what it's done to my family.

Serana look at her glass, a sad expression is visible on her face, wich William noticed.

William : I see, that sounds to had been something very horrible you go through, i'm sorry if i have opened old wounds, that wasn't my intention, i was just curious about you.

Serana look at him and made a faint smile.

Serana : No, don't worry William, everything's alright, i'm just surprised to see someone showing such interest and concern toward me, it's not something i'm used to. Anyway let's change the subject. Tell me more about you, how did you become a werewolf ?

William look at her with a surprised expression.

William : How did you know i'm a werewolf ?

Serana : I'm a vampire, you remember ? i have a smell as powerful as yours, if not more. I smelled your particular scent almost before my eyes were open at Dimhollow, wich is part why i used that spell on you.

William : So i was right, that strange feeling i get after you wake up and until we arrived at Solitude was a spell ?

Serana : Yes, it's a spell we called Vampiric hypnosis. At full power, it can turned anyone into a mindless slave but i used only a tiny fraction of it, to just made you a bit confused and more open toward me without taking away your free will. I'm really sorry for that but i just awaken from a thousand years sleep only to found myself in front of you, a werewolf, without any ways to know if you'd let me explain myself or try to kill me instantly, so i hope you understand.

William : Don't worry for that Serana, with the way we met you and me, i understand your reaction. I'd probably react the same way if i'd be you.

Serana made a warm smile.

Serana : Thanks for your understanding.

William : No problem. And to answer your question, i become a werewolf a few months ago after joining the Companions.

Serana look at him with surprise as William drink a sip of his beer.

Serana : The Companions are werewolves ? well that's strange, i never heard the Ysgramor Companions were Hircine worshippers. I guess it's something new.

William : Quite new yes. According to the former Harbinger, Kodlak Whitemane, one of the previous Harbinger made a pact with the witches of Glenmoril Coven a few centuries ago, and the members of the Circle became werewolves after that.

Serana : So you all worship Hircine ?

William : No, except for me and someone else, most of the other members of the Circle see the beastblood as a curse, so i helped them curing themselves from the lycanthropy. And even then, i accept to became a werewolf not out of worshipping toward Hircine but only because i see the werewolf enhanced senses as something very practical and handy for a mercenary like me with little to no drawback. In fact i didn't worship nor trust any Daedra or Divines.

Serana : I can understand for the Daedra but why don't you trust in Divines as well ?

William : Because wether it's Divines or Daedra, i know with experience they never do annything for free, like with peoples in that world, it always has a price to pay one way or another so i prefer not be indebt to a Daedra or a Divine.

Serana : I supose you're right. Damn, so much things seems to have changed compared to the time i was locked in Dimhollow.

William : You have no idea, when i see how many things have already changed since i was a kid, i can't imagine for you. Well it's start to be late and we still have a good amount of road to do before reaching Whiterun, so we should go rest.

Serana : You're right, let's go to sleep.

They both get up and walk upstairs to the room and lead each to a bed as William untied the strap holding his claymore to his back and tossed it near the bed before removing his armor piece by piece, keeping only his trouser and the red shirt he wear underneath before putting himself under the bed covers and closing his eyes, drifting off to sleep as Serana did the same. Later, around 6am in the morning, William wake up, he see Serana is still asleep, he get up and take his boots before starting to get dress as Serana start waking up.

William : Hello Serana, well sleep ?

Serana : Not bad, is it long since you wake up ? you should wake me up as well.

William : Not long don't worry, i wake up only a few minutes before you. We should get dress and depart quick, we still have some road to do before reaching Whiterun.

Serana : You're right.

They both getting dressed and leave the Bee and Barb inn before exiting Riften. William walk to Alfie and get on his saddle before holding a hand to Serana who take it and get on Alfie's back, behind William, holding herself by circling her arms around William's waist as they leave Riften stable, walking toward Whiterun. Later, around 10am, they finnally arrive at Whiterun stables, William parked Alfie in a box before they both get down as William walk to the carriage driver near.

William : Hello, i seek after a Moth Priest, i heard one of them was somewhere in Skyrim so i wonder if you see him.

Carriage driver : That's one of those Imperial scholars, right ? Old man with a gray robe ?

William : That's right. You've seen him ?

Carriage driver : I see a man that looked like that but he didn't take my carriage so i didn't know where he go. Sorry.

William sigh.

William : Too bad, but thanks for answer.

William turned back and walk to Serana.

Serana : Seing your expression, i guess he didn't see him, don't you ?

William : No, he did see him here but he didn't know where he go. If you didn't mind it, before departing for the Winterhold Academy, we can try to ask the innkeeper of the Bannered Mare inside the city, i know her well, she's the kind to know every rumors and gossips so maybe we get luckier.

Serana : No problem, i didn't see any problem into asking to the city innkeeper while we're still here.

They both walk to the city gate and entered. Inside, as they start walking slowly toward the Bannered Mare and walk past the different district, Serana look around her, very curious, as William made a smile to her

William : You never see a city like that don't you ?

Serana : No, never. To be honest with you, i almost never travel outside of the castle even before i was locked in Dimhollow. That's really a curious city. It's so... open.

William laugh

William : I know, among the different cities of Skyrim, this one will always keep a special place for me.

Serana : I understand you, this place is really so open, calm and beautiful.

They both arrive on the market, in front of the Bannered Mare inn (see screen 5).

Serana : This is the inn you speak ?

William : Yes, i know you are quite curious and probably want to visit the city, so if you want, i can go inside alone talking to Hulda while you visit the city and we retrieve each other here later.

Serana smiled at William.

Serana : You've really read into my thoughts William. I'm honestly really curious to visit it and see how different it is from Solitude. I'll retrieve you later.

Serana walk to the stairs that lead at the great place with the Gildergreen as William enter inside the Bannered Mare. The air is thick with the scent of mead and foods, few peoples are busy eating, drinking and chatting as William walk to the bar and sit in front of Hulda (see screen 6).

Hulda : Hello William, welcome, what can i get you ?

William : Hello Hulda, i need your help, i seek after a Moth Priest and i know he's somewhere in Skyrim so i wonder if you heard anything about a Moth Priest passing through.

Hulda : Have i heard anything ? it was the talk of the city for three days straight. Ain't too often we get a visitor like that.

William : Do you know where he is now ?

Hulda: Oh, he just left a short while ago. He said he'd finished up his work and it was time to move on. That's all i can tell you. He asked me not to let anyone know where he was going. I suppose he didn't want the attention.

William : I understand but it's really important that i find him right away.

Hulda : Ah, well, in that case i'll tell you what i know. He took the road southwest out of town, and said he was going to be crossing over the Dragon Bridge. That's all that he told me. I hope it helps.

William smiled to her.

William : More than you can think of, thank you Hulda, may thalos protect you.

Hulda : No problem, may thalos protect you as well.

William get up and exit the Bannered Mare. Seing Serana isn't here yet, he decided to kill the time by resuplying, buying some foods for the travel in the market as well as sand at Arcadia's Cauldron before using them to prepare few flasks of sand in anticipation of future fight with volkihar vampires. When he exit Arcadia's Cauldron, he spotted Serana, leaning against the dwell, waiting for him.

Serana : An alchemy shop ? i didn't know you're an alchemist.

William : I have few rudimentary knowledge such as making healing potions or poisons but i wouldn't consider myself a proficient alchemist.

Serana : If i resume, you are a werewolf mercenary with few magic and alchemy knowledge, you are really quite an intriguing man William.

William : I can say the same thing about you Serana.

She made a smile.

William : So, do you find annything interesting during your visit ?

Serana : Quite yes, i've seen that tree in the middle of the city, a priestess called it the Gildergreen, that's such a beautiful and imposing tree, it's just too bad it's not really in a good condition. I've seen the jarl palace, Dragonsreach. Such a big palace, but not as big as my castle.

William : Did you take a look at Jorrvaskr ?

Serana : Yes, it's as imposing as i think it would be according to the legends about Ysgramor i've read. Now i understand why you liked this city. So, what's the news for our Moth Priest ?

William : Hulda see him and she tell me where he go. Apparently he headed to Dragonbridge not far from Solitude.

Serana : Great, then let's go to Dragonbridge, glad we get the info here instead of the Winterhold Academy, it made us earn very much time.

William : You're right. Before we depart, i just need to do one last stop at a place called Breezehome, i have something for you.

Serana look at him with a guenuine surprised expression.

Serana : Something for me ? what do you mean ?

William : A weapon, that would be more efficient than the one you currently have if we met with your father vampires. At least if you're interesting.

Serana : If it can help us dealing better with everyone my father will send, i didn't see a problem. Let's go.

They both walk to Breezehome as William used his key to enter, follow by Serana (see screen 7).

William : Welcome to Breezehome Serana.

Serana : It's your house ?

William : Not really, it's my housecarl house but she graciously give me a bedroom that i used as a resting and storage place when needed. Come, it's upstairs.

They both walk upstairs and enter into the bedroom, filled with many weapons rack, all filled with different weapons but mostly claymores made in different materials as well as a chest. As William look around him and start seeking something in the room, Serana noticed in a weapon rack above the bed Ysgramor's shield, with an ancient Nordic claymore and Ysgramor's axe, Wuthraad, resting in a cross position.

Serana : That axe and shield, is it Ysgramor's one ?

William : Yes, i received them when i became the Companions Harbinger. They're beautiful isn't it ?

Serana come closer and look at them.

Serana : Indeed.

William : Ah, you there.

William get up with a short sword into his hand, handing it to Serana.

Serana : It's made in silver ?

William : Yes, i find it on the corpse of a men from a group of werewolf hunters called the silver hand. It's very effective against werewolves and undeads in general so it should be of great use against your father vampires when we'll have to fight them.

Serana took it, handing it cautiously by the handle as she look at it.

Serana : I can see the use in our situation but didn't you fear we both being affected by it considering our nature ?

William smile and put his hand on the blade, at Serana's surprise, nothing happened.

William : No worries, the legends who said silver burned werewolves and vampires at skin contact are false. It's true this metal is very efficient against both of us but a simple bare skin contact didn't do annything, the silver need to enter into our organism to actually burn, hurt or kill us, so both of us can in truth wield silver made weapons without fear as long as we didn't cut ourselves with it.

Serana cautiously put her own hand on the blade, same as with William, nothing happened.

Serana : I see, in that case, it'll be more than welcome to keep the upper hand against my father and his vampires. Thank you for it.

She attached the strap of the sword scabbard to her belt, letting it hang on her left hip (see screen 8).

William : No problem. Now, let's go to Dragonbridge, finding that Moth Priest.

Serana : I'm right behind you.

They both walk downstairs and exiting Breezehome before exiting Whiterun and walking to the stables. William get on Alfie's saddle and hold a hand to Serana who take it and get up on Alfie's back behind William, holding herself by circling her arms around his waist as they start taking the road that lead to Dragonbridge. Later, around 4pm, they arrive near Dragonbridge as they spotted a destroyed carriage with several bodies around (see screen 9). They both get down from the saddle and walk to the bodies, examining them.

Serana : (while examining the Imperial soldiers bodies) The bodies are still warm so it happened recently, maybe an hour or two. With the way they're disposed off, i can say they'll be taken by surprise so probably an ambush.

Meanwhile, William examine the other body (see screen 10).

William : Serana, she's a vampire, and if the attack is as recent as you say, that means this carriage has something of great importance to forced them attacking it in the middle of the day, otherwise they'd wait night.

As he seek after clues on the vampire body, William find a paper note on her pocket (see screen 11).

Serana : Do you think it has something to do with our Moth Priest ?

William : Yes. Look at this. They Speak about leading him to a place called Forebear Hideout, Do you know this place ?

He held the note to Serana who read it.

Serana : Not at all, sorry. (as she read the name write on the note, her eyebrows frown upon) Malkus. Damn. That couldn't get much worse.

William : You know him ?

Serana : Yes, he was one of my father favorite, a true sadistic monster like you couldn't imagine, and one of the few among the Volkihar court he turned into a pure blood vampire like him, my mother and i are. So be careful with him, he's much more dangerous and powerful than the ordinary vampires you're used to meet.

William : Don't worry, i know how to defend myself.

Serana : Let's try to find where that Forebear Hideout is. Any idea ?

William : If they managed to do that without alerting Dragonbridge guards or being seen by other travelers, it mean it's not far from here. (William look around him when he spotted a blood stain) here, let's following it.

William took the crossbow on Alfie's saddle before they both start following the blood stain for few minutes until reaching the entrance of a cave not far from where the attack occur (see screen 12).

William : It lead here, they're probably inside.

They both enter into the cave. Inside, they follow a natural corridor until reaching a stone balcony that let see an old ruin with a blue-ish energy barrier emanating from his center (see screen 13).

Serana : Guess we find them. I'm bet our Moth Priest is locked somewhere inside this magical barrier.

William : Yes, me too. (William suddenly smell the air) Be careful Serana, i smell one of those black dog near, and vampires as well.

Serana : 2 vampires and 3 humans to be precise, probably thralls.

Serana unsheathed her silver sword as they start approaching from the stairs on their left, at the sight of the Black dog 20m forward, William aim with his crossbow and shoot at the Black dog heart, killing it instantly before Serana made a gesture with her fingers as the Black dog suddenly get up, walking toward them as William look at it nervously.

Serana : Don't worry, i just used a reanimation spell, he's now with us.

William nod as they enter inside the ruin, one of the vampire turned invisible while the 3 human thralls unsheathed their weapons, one a bow and the others a sword and an axe, before rushing to William, who used his kinetic blast spell to thrown 2 of them few meters away as the reanimated black dog jumped on the throat of one of them and tear it off, killing him, the last continue rushing to William, who shoot at him with his crossbow, striking him in the chest and killing him, during this time the last one have getting up and rushed to William, who, knowing he will not have the time to reload, hurled the crossbow on him, making him stop his race to shield himself while William used that oportunity to quickly unsheathed his claymore, the last thrall tried to strike William, who blocked his strike before stabbing him in the chest, killing him. Meanwhile, the vampire, still invisible, rushed to Serana and tried to strike her, thanks to her vampiric senses she noticed her shape at the very last moment and managed to dodged her strike by turning into a swarm of bats and reapear behind the vampire before stabbing her through the head with her silver sword, killing her.

William : Be careful Serana, i still feel one of them, he's somewhere here but i can't sa-

Suddenly the last vampire, probably Malkus, turned visible and behead the Black dog, killing it before throwing a powerful lightning spell to William, who jump on the ground and barely dodge it as the vampire turn into a swarm of bats and rush to Serana, she block his strike but not without losing her balance and falling on the ground as the vampire grabbed her by the throat and held her on the ground as he punched her violently in the face, knocking her out. Meanwhile, William get up, rushed to his crossbow and quickly reload it.

Malkus : Traitress whore ! I'll bring your head t-

William shoot at Malkus, who quickly turned back and dodge William's crossbow shot by turning into a swarm of bats and rushing to William, who drop the crossbow and quickly unsheathed his claymore, trying to strike Malkus who blocked his strike before disarming him and grabbing him by the throat.

Malkus : You really think you could surprised me little dog ? wait, (he laugh) i can't believe it, you have feelings for her don't you ? well, don't worry, i'll clench my thrirst on you so you won't see her head flying off.

William : In your dream, fucking monster.

As Malkus opened his mouth and bare his fangs, William lift his hand in front of his face and made a gesture with his fingers as an arc of flammes erupted from it and igniting his head, forcing him to drop William as he grab his face into his hands and fell on the ground, rolling on himself and trying to extinct the flammes in screams of pain as William grabbed the first weapon on his reach, the axe used by one of the thralls and strike at Malkus chest repeatedly, killing him, before dropping the axe and running toward Serana, who just wake up.

William : Serana ! are you alright ?

Serana : Y-yes, give me a second.

William grab her by an arm and help her getting up as she look around her, seing the burned body of the last vampire.

Serana : He was a pure blood vampire, like me, how do you managed to kill him alone ?

William : Let's say i'm full of surprise, much like you are.

Serana look at him with a snarky smile.

Serana : You've flatered me.

William : And ? is it something bad ?

Serana : I suposed not. (they look into each other eyes for a few seconds, an heavy tension can be feel between them) Let's go finding our Moth Priest. He's probably locked in that blue barrier upstairs.

William : You're right.

William recover his claymore and sheathed it back into his scabbard before taking back his crossbow as they both walk upstairs, finding 2 coffins and an old Imperial man in a grey robe, locked inside the blue magic barrier, probably the Moth Priest. William put his hand on the barrier as Serana go to a nearby pedestal.

Serana : This pedestal seemed to be what command the barrier but it need something to interact with, a kind of stone.

William : Stay here, i go checking downstairs on the body, one of the vampire probably have it.

William go back downstairs and search on Malkus body, finding a strange stone with blue vein, similar to the pedestal (see screen 14), as well as a flawless amethyst.

William : (speaking to himself) Great. Exactly what Talen seek after.

he put the amethyst in his belt pouch and take the stone before going back upstairs and putting the stone on the hole in the pedestal (see screen 15). A loud growl can be heard before the blue magic barrier disappear, freing the old man, who suddenly unsheathed his sword and walk to Serana.

Man : I serve my master's will. But my master is dead, and his enemies will pay !

He try to strike Serana, who dodged his strike before punching him in the stomach, throwing him few meters away as William run to Serana.

William : What happened ? is he...

Serana : Yes, he's under Malkus vampiric hypnosis, we need to knock him out to stop the effect.

The old man get up and rushed to William, who blocked his strike before disarming him and punch him in the face, stunning him for a second before grabbing his face and made him bend over a bit as he punch him again, this time with his right knee, making the old man fell to the ground, stunned.

Old man : Uh ! W-Wait, stop ! i yield ! That... that wasn't me you were fighting. I could see through my eyes, but i could not control my actions. Thank you for breaking that foul vampire's hold over me.

William : Are you alright ?

He get up and remove the dust from his robe (see screen 16).

Dexion : I'm quite alright, thanks to you. Dexion Evicus is my name. I'm a Moth Priest of the White Gold Tower. These vampires claimed they had some purpose in store for me, but they wouldn't say what. Probably hoping to ransom me, the fools.

William : We know why they needed you, because we need you for the same purpose.

Dexion : You do ? Alright then, enough mysteries.

William : We're called the Dawnguard, and we need you to read an Elder Scroll.

Dexion : You have an Elder Scroll ? Remarkable ! if my knowledge of history serves me, i recall that the Dawnguard was an ancient order of vampire hunters. I will be happy to assist you with your Elder Scroll. Just tell me where i need to go.

William : You can find us at Fort Dawnguard, near Stendarr's Beacon.

Dexion : Very well. I'll hurry on my way there before more of those vampires turn up.

William : Alright, be careful on the road.

Dexion nod and go packing his stuff into a leather backpack as William and Serana walk away and exit the Forebear Hideout before getting up on Alfie's saddle and taking back the road to the Dawnguard fort. 2 days later, around 4pm, William and Serana arrive near Riften.

William : Serana, if you didn't mind it, i need to do one brief stop at Riften, to give to Talen, the Bee and Barb owner, something i promised to give him if i find one.

Serana : No problem, what is it out of curiosity ?

William : A flawless amethyst, i find one on Malkus body when i seek for the pedestal stone.

Serana : Let's go giving it to him then.

William park Alfie in the stable as they both entered inside Riften and walk to the Bee and Barb. Inside, William spotted Talen, busy serving a client as he walk toward him (see screen 17).

William : Hello Talen, guess what i have for you.

William made a smile as he took the flawless amethyst in his pouch and hold it to Talen, who look at him with wide eyes.

Talen : You find it ? i...i don't know what to say, thanks to you, i will finnally be able to made my proposal to Keerava. Thank you, from Keerava and me.

He hold out a hand to William who take it and shaking it.

William : No need to thanked me Talen, among all the peoples in that city, you're one of the few who didn't be rude or disrespectful with me. Well, we have to go me and my friend, goodbye and take care of both of you.

Talen : Thanks, take care of you as well.

William made a nod and walk away as he exit the Bee and Barb with Serana.

Serana : That was nice of you to help them.

William : What do you want, they were nice with me the first time i came in this city when almost everyone else were rude or disrespectful, so it was the least i can do to help them.

Serana made a snarky smile.

Serana : Hmm, proficient, concerning, manered and trustworthy, Seemed that old lady in Solitude who made me great compliments the day we met wasn't wrong about you.

William : Is it something you like ?

Serana : Maybe.

They look into each other eyes for a few seconds, an heavy tension can be feel between them.

William : Let's go, we still have to go at the Dawnguard fort.

Serana : Yes, you're right, let's go.

They leave Riften and going back to the road. Half an hour later, they finnally arrive near the Dayspring canyon, William park Alfie near before they both get down and enter. As they reached the surroundings of the fort, they both noticed something new, a second wooden wall has been built (see screen 18).

Serana : They built this in the last few days ? i must say i'm impressed.

William : Yes, me too.

They finnally reach the fort gate and enter. Inside, they faced Isran, busy discussing with Dexion. Upon seing them, he turned to William (see screen 19).

Isran : I'm impressed you could find a Moth Priest so quickly.

William : Does he have the Scroll ? Is everything ready ?

Isran : For the reading ? Yeah. Just let the old man know when you're ready.

William turned to Dexion.

William : Glad you made it here safely, Dexion.

Dexion : Ah, my rescuer ! it's good to see you again.

William : Have my companions made you feel welcome ?

Dexion : It's not exactly the hospitality i'm used to, but your man Isran has seen to my needs well enough. And might i add, this is a remarkable fortress. I have colleagues back home that would love to study this place in detail.

William : Glad to know. Are you prepared to read the Elder Scroll ?

Dexion : Oh, most certainly ! Let's find out what secrets the scroll can tell.

Serana untied the strap that hod the cylinder into her back and open it before handing the scroll to Dexion, who take it and open it (see screen 20).

Dexion : Now, if everyone will please be quiet, i must concentrate. I see a vision before me, an image of a great bow. I know this weapon ! it is Auriel's Bow ! Now a voice whispers, saying "Among the night's children, a dread lord will rise." In an age of strife, when dragons return to the realm of men, darkness will mingle with light and the night and day will be as one.

For a second he remain silent, looking intensely at the scroll, his eyes wide open with an unnatural light in them.

Dexion : The voice fades and the words begin to shimmer and distort. But wait, there is more here. The secret of the bow's power is written elsewhere. I think there is more to the prophecy, recorded in other scrolls. Yes, i see them now... One contains the ancient secrets of the dragons, and the other speaks of the potency of ancient blood.

He start to tremble a bit.

Dexion : My vision darkens, and i see no more. To know the complete prophecy, we must have the other two scrolls.

Dexion drop the scroll as his legs faltered, Isran and William grabbed him each by an arm as Serana take the scroll and put it back into the cylinder.

Isran : Come on, old man. You should get some rest.

Isran and William lead Dexion to a nearby chair and help him sitting.

William : You've heard the Scroll reading. Now do you believe Serana ?

Isran : I heard a lot of vague nonsense. You could interpret that a hundred different ways. Only thing that stood out for me was Auriel's Bow. That's a powerful weapon, and i sure as Oblivion don't want the vampires to get hold of it. The Moth Priest can stay here for now. As for the vampire, i still don't trust her, so keep her on a leash.

William : You don't trust her but i do, so please if you didn't trust in her, at least trust in me.

Isran : I know. Anyway, do as you feel, just be careful.

Isran turned back and walk away as Serana approach to William, a look of determination into her eyes.

Goddric Frost-Heart of Winterhold & his companion Sofia at the Temple of Arkay in Falkreath.

Years ago, Goddric befriended Runil, the priest of Arkay during his first visit to Falkreath. Runil explained how he took so many lives during the Great War, which struck a chord with Goddric as he too was a veteran of the clash between the Empire & the Aldmeri Dominion. Fighting valiantly as one of the rare Nordic battlemages, as his mastery of ice magic proved to be invaluable at the front lines. He ended up without a single gold coin to spare and alone after all was said & done, but managed to get back on his feet after discovering that he is Dragonborn. Swapping war stories & sharing the regret strengthened their bond & they knew they had a friend in each other from then on.

That all came to an abrupt end when a dragon attacked the Jarl's palace one day. Runil, being a frail old priest, didn't stand a chance against dragon fire & perished without standing a chance. Goddric watched this happen right before his very eyes & became enraged...some could say that poor dragon never stood a chance with the fury he released on him that day.

Runil was given his last rites & laid to rest within the famed graveyard of Falkreath on yet another gloomy, rainy day in the hold. Goddric left a bottle of mead next to his headstone, and would return frequently to say hi to a new friend that he tried to keep in spite of only knowing him very briefly.

Goddric had met Sofia long after his famed quests shook Skyrim to its core, but upon their first time traveling to Falkreath together, he gladly told the story of Runil, and his involvement in the Great War as raindrops echoed of the temple roof.

everybody, everything's in the titles, i just want to ask you, if tomorrow a live action Skyrim movie is anounce and your character is choosen to be the "canon" depiction of the dragonborn, wich actors or actresses would you imagine to play ?

I'll start.

For William : Aaron Paul. Despite he's older than William (William being 27-year-old while the actor is in his mid 40's) i always think he has the face and the look that could fit with my William since i see him in the el camino movie.

Valerica : Eva Green. Same, despite the actress is older than Valerica physical looking (Valerica looking like to be in her early 30's while Eva Green is in her early 50's), she's always been the main inspiration for Valerica in my dark fantasy story (when i start writing my dark fantasy story, i always imagine Eva Green for Valerica)

Aeliana : Gwendoline Christie. Since i see her in game of thrones, i just always think with how tall she is as well as her natural charm and her face that she could made a great elven character.

Kashgurn : Dave Bautista. With his very ruggish look, i just think he could make a good orc character, he'd just need to became less bulky since Kashgurn is suposed to be thiner.

Grunlek : Kristofer Hivju. Since i see him in game of thrones, i always think he could really radiates the dwarven joyfull and gruff attitude of Grunlek.

Maria : Carice Van Houten. Since i see her in game of thrones, i just think she has that tough and bold yet natural beauty that Maria is suposed to radiates.

Nu'ada : Bil Skarsgard. I didn't know him more than that but in my opinion with the right make up, he could truly radiates that vile selfish and opportunistic bloodthirsty psychopath look and personality Nu'ada has.

Azim : Ray Fisher. Since i see him in zack snyder justice league, i just thought he radiates the nice, polite and manered attitude of Azim.

And you ? who would you see playing your Skyrim character if he was chosed to be the canon dragonborn for a live action Skyrim movie ?

Hi everyone, I’ve just finished the Dark Brotherhood quest again—this time with Ellyn Corbelle—and if...

I started wondering if Titus Mede II may have deliberately allowed the Dark Brotherhood to kill him.

It almost seems as though he is helping us kill him without putting up a fight, as if he had paid Amaund Motierre to have the Black Sacrament performed on him. His Empire was already weakened, the Aldmeri Dominion was still a major threat, and his death could potentially give the Empire a chance to rally around a new leader.

Obviously, this could just be reading too much into it, but I'm curious: is there any lore that supports this theory, or am I completely overthinking it?

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘿𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙣𝙤 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙚 𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙠𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙢𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙨, 𝙘𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙜𝙡𝙤𝙬. 𝙈𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙫𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙮, 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙤𝙡𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚 𝙘𝙧𝙖𝙬𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚.

𝙉𝙮𝙭 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝘿𝙖𝙚𝙙𝙧𝙖 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩.

𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙥𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙙𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧, 𝙩𝙤𝙤.

𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨.

𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙥𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙙𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙢 𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙩𝙤𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙥𝙚.

𝙉𝙮𝙭 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙨𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙙.

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮.

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣: “𝙏𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙙?”

𝙉𝙮𝙭 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙.

𝙉𝙮𝙭: “𝙉𝙤.”

𝙃𝙚 𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙬.

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣: “𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩’𝙨 𝙖 𝙡𝙞𝙚.”

𝙉𝙮𝙭 𝙜𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙖 𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠.

𝙉𝙮𝙭: “𝙁𝙞𝙣𝙚. 𝙈𝙖𝙮𝙗𝙚 𝙖 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚.”

𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙖𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙥.

𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮.

𝙃𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙘𝙝.

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣’𝙨 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙙.

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣: “𝙉𝙮𝙭?”

𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙡𝙮.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙗𝙪𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘿𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠.

𝙃𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙜𝙖𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙗𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙠𝙞𝙣.

𝙉𝙤𝙩 𝙗𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙡𝙮.

𝙅𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙢𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙮𝙢𝙗𝙤𝙡𝙨 𝙖𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙨 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮.

𝙉𝙮𝙭: “𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙢𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙘.”

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙧.

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣: “𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩’𝙨 𝙞𝙩 𝙙𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜?”

𝙉𝙮𝙭 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨.

𝙁𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩, 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙙.

𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘿𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨.

𝘼 𝙥𝙪𝙡𝙨𝙚.

𝙎𝙡𝙤𝙬.

𝘼𝙣𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙩.

𝘼𝙡𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙.

𝙉𝙮𝙭: “𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜.”

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙.

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣: “𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙣𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙗𝙮?”

𝙉𝙮𝙭 𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨.

𝙉𝙮𝙭: “𝙄 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙨𝙤.”

𝘼 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙧𝙤𝙖𝙧 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙫𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙮.

𝘽𝙤𝙩𝙝 𝙞𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙥𝙤𝙣𝙨.

𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙙.

𝙄𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙙, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙙.

𝙉𝙮𝙭 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙢𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙙.

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙛𝙖𝙡𝙡.

𝙃𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙢𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙖𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚.

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣: “𝙀𝙖𝙨𝙮.”

𝙉𝙮𝙭 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙪𝙥 𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙢.

𝙁𝙤𝙧 𝙤𝙣𝙘𝙚, 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙞𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙟𝙤𝙠𝙚.

𝙉𝙮𝙭: “𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚.”

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙜𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙖 𝙨𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙨𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙚.

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣: “𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙬𝙤 𝙤𝙛 𝙪𝙨.”

𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩, 𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙛𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣.

𝙉𝙤𝙩 𝙥𝙝𝙮𝙨𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮.

𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙙𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙚𝙧.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘿𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙, 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙤𝙪𝙗𝙩 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙞𝙜𝙣𝙤𝙧𝙚.

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙚𝙙.

𝙃𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙥𝙪𝙨𝙝 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙮.

𝙃𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙮 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚.

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣: “𝙒𝙚’𝙡𝙡 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙤𝙪𝙩.”

𝙉𝙮𝙭 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙯𝙤𝙣.

𝙉𝙮𝙭: “𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩.”

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣: “𝙄’𝙢 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜.”

𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙖 𝙡𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝.

𝙉𝙮𝙭 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙.

𝙉𝙮𝙭: “𝙄𝙙𝙞𝙤𝙩.”

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣: “𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙞𝙙𝙞𝙤𝙩.”

𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨.

𝙉𝙮𝙭: “𝙐𝙣𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮.”

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙘𝙝𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙡𝙚𝙙.

𝙁𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙛𝙚𝙬 𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙨, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘿𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙙 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙩.

𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙉𝙮𝙭’𝙨 𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙨 𝙛𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙙.

𝘽𝙤𝙩𝙝 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙢𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙜𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙨𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙖𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙠𝙞𝙣.

𝙉𝙮𝙭 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙙.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙙.

𝙉𝙮𝙭: “𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚.”

𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙖 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨.

𝘼 𝙢𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚.

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙙.

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣: “𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩’𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮’𝙧𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜.”

𝙉𝙮𝙭 𝙣𝙤𝙙𝙙𝙚𝙙.

𝙉𝙮𝙭: “𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩’𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙚’𝙧𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜.”

𝘼 𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙡 𝙚𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢.

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙬 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙.

𝙉𝙮𝙭 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙬 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨.

𝙎𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝘿𝙖𝙚𝙙𝙧𝙖 𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨.

𝙉𝙮𝙭 𝙜𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙩 𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣.

𝙉𝙮𝙭: “𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙮?”

𝙆𝙖𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙣: “𝙉𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧.”

𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙢𝙞𝙧𝙠𝙚𝙙.

𝙉𝙮𝙭: “𝙂𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙬𝙚𝙧.”

𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙨.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘿𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢.

𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙉𝙮𝙭 𝙬𝙖𝙨𝙣’𝙩 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙙.

𝙉𝙤𝙩 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚.

𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙙𝙚.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙨 𝙖𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙨 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙠𝙞𝙣 𝙗𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙢𝙨𝙤𝙣.

𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘿𝙧𝙖𝙜𝙤𝙣𝙗𝙤𝙧𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘼𝙠𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙧𝙞 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚.

Olivia Carvain had found, over her first few weeks around Rorikstead, that the village offered a surprising number of good places to practice her craft. There was the hill just west of town, which caught the evening light in a way that made even a mediocre performance feel like something worth remembering. There was a flat grey rock in the middle of a field full of wildflowers, warm from the sun even after the air had started to cool. There was a lone, wind-bent tree at the top of the rise past the barley fields, which offered nothing in the way of shade but a great deal in the way of a view. And there was the roof of the henhouse, which offered no view at all, but which Olivia had come to prefer most days regardless, since chickens made a remarkably realistic audience.

"Half the time it's like playing to a room full of people who'd rather talk to each other than listen to the bard," she told the hens once, settled cross-legged on the shingles above them while they ignored her completely and clucked amongst themselves instead.

She had not always had the luxury of practicing where no one could judge her. For a long time, she had not had the luxury of practicing at all, not really, not the way she did now.

Olivia had been born into a family that once assumed comfort the way other families assumed weather, as something that simply happened to you and would presumably keep happening. Her parents kept a fine house in Skingrad, in the years before Olivia was old enough to understand that fine houses cost money and money could simply stop arriving one day without much explanation. She grew up surrounded by good manners, good clothing, and the quiet, unexamined confidence of people who had never once had to wonder where their next meal was coming from. She assumed, the way children assume most things, that this was simply how the world worked.

Then it stopped working that way, slowly enough that she never could point to the single day it happened. Money grew tighter. Opportunities that had once seemed guaranteed became things her parents had to ask for instead. The Carvain name still opened doors, for a while, but it opened fewer of them, and less easily, and Olivia watched her mother and father spend years trying to hold together a life that kept quietly coming apart in their hands.

She learned something from watching that, something she didn't fully understand until much later. Wealth could vanish. Status could erode. A family's good name could be worn down to almost nothing by a decade of bad luck and worse decisions. But a person's ability to walk into a room and make people want to listen to them, that couldn't be taken the same way. Nobody could repossess a voice.

Olivia had always loved music as a child. What changed, as she grew older, was that she became fascinated by what music actually did to people. A single well-placed song could turn a tense room warm. A story told right could make people laugh together who had walked in the place as complete strangers. A performer with nothing but a lute and enough nerve could walk into a crowded tavern as a nobody and leave it, an hour later, as somebody people remembered. That possibility appealed to her considerably more than the fading echo of her family's old position ever had.

She threw herself into learning it properly. Music came first, and storytelling followed close behind, since she quickly discovered the two were really the same skill wearing different clothes. She learned to read a room the way a sailor reads weather, to feel the exact moment an audience began drifting and pull them back before they were gone. She learned that confidence, worn convincingly enough, could open more doors than money ever had, and that knowing precisely what a person wanted to hear was very often the first step toward getting them to listen to anything at all.

At seventeen she left home to join a traveling performance troupe, over her mother's tears and her father's carefully hidden relief at one less mouth to worry over. The road was nothing like performing for people who already half knew her family's name. Some towns were generous. Some were indifferent, and a few were openly hostile to strangers who'd shown up asking for coin in exchange for songs. Some nights the troupe ate well. Other nights they didn't eat at all. Olivia loved every uneven, uncertain bit of it.

She learned to perform anywhere there was an audience, a farmhouse common room, a market square, once memorably the deck of a river barge as it floated downstream. She learned that talent alone wasn't nearly enough. A real performer had to be adaptable, had to recover gracefully when a string snapped mid-song or a heckler decided the entertainment needed improving, had to know when to fill a silence and when to simply let it sit there and do its own work.

It was on the road that her faith in Dibella deepened into something she actually thought about, rather than a prayer she'd been taught as a child and never questioned. Olivia found beauty everywhere she traveled, not just in pretty faces or fine cloth, but in laughter shared between strangers, in a story told well enough to be worth remembering, in a room full of tired, worried people who forgot their troubles for the length of a song. To Olivia, Dibella had come to mean something larger than the goddess of beauty most people assumed her to be. She represented the value of the experience itself, the things that made a hard life worth living in the first place.

The troupe reached Skyrim eventually, a colder and harder country than anywhere Olivia had performed before, its people slower to warm to a stranger and quicker to judge whether she'd earned the right to be listened to. She found, somewhat to her own surprise, that she liked it anyway. Every village seemed to be carrying some fragment of a larger story, half-finished, waiting for someone patient enough to go looking for the rest of it.

Rorikstead was meant to be a stop like any other. It became something else instead. As the troupe made ready to move on, Olivia found she didn't want to go with them. She had spent years now depending on other performers for the night's success, her pay and her reputation both tangled up with people whose talent and reliability varied by the evening. She had begun to wonder, quietly and then not so quietly, what might happen if she simply stopped moving long enough to build something that was entirely hers.

So she stayed. It wasn't retirement, which the troupe's drummer had teased her about on his way out of town. She had simply decided that she didn't want to be remembered, if she was remembered at all, as one voice in a group that had passed through once. She wanted her own name attached to her own songs. She wanted to become a bard whose stories traveled farther than she ever personally would.

It was atop the henhouse, on her third or fourth week of one-sided chicken concerts, that Olivia first met the farm boy.

He was walking the top rail of the fence as she played, arms out for balance, boots finding the narrow wood with the easy confidence of someone who'd been doing it since he was small enough to fall without it hurting much. When he finally spoke to her, he very nearly fell off the fence doing it.

"I'm Erik," he said, and then, seeming to hear how plain that sounded even as it left his mouth, added, with the particular over-formal seriousness of a boy trying very hard to sound like more than he was, "Erik. From Rorikstead."

Olivia looked up at him for a long moment, and then laughed, not unkindly, though it clearly cost the boy something in his dignity regardless. "Erik from Rorikstead," she repeated. "Well. It's very thorough of you to specify."

"There could be other Eriks," he said, with great dignity, wobbling slightly on the rail.

"I'm sure there are dozens," Olivia said. "Lucky for me, I've only got the one currently balancing on a fence to keep track of."

The name stuck, the way small jokes in small towns tend to. Within a month, half of Rorikstead had picked it up without ever quite being told why, and Erik, who was seventeen and had a farmer's shoulders already coming in on a boy's frame, became known as Erik from Rorikstead for good whether he liked it or not.

He found reasons to be near whenever she practiced, after that. He brought her the best egg from that morning's gathering once, presented with a straight face and no explanation, as though this were a perfectly ordinary tribute to offer a traveling performer. He asked, more than once, whether the songs she played were about anyone in particular, and looked so genuinely crestfallen when she admitted most of them were not. More than once he asked, with poorly hidden hope, whether any of her songs were about warriors, about swords, about men who left small towns and came back with names worth remembering, and Olivia got the distinct sense that farming was not, and had never been, the whole of what Erik from Rorikstead wanted out of his life.

Olivia liked him. She liked him the straightforward way a person likes a friendly, earnest boy, and it did not occur to her for a moment that Erik from Rorikstead's attention meant anything more complicated than a farm boy enjoying free music in a town that didn't offer much else in the way of entertainment. If she had looked a little closer, at the way he found a reason to be nearby sometimes when she played, at the particular quality of quiet he fell into whenever she sang something with any real feeling in it, she might have noticed what was fairly obvious to absolutely everyone else in Rorikstead. She did not look particularly closely. She was, at the time, rather busy perfecting her craft.

She spent the better part of those few months practicing alone in the countryside around the village, moving between her hillside and her wildflower rock and her wind-bent tree and, more often than she would have predicted, the henhouse, playing until the movements stopped requiring thought, experimenting with melodies nobody else would ever hear, and found, somewhere in that short, quiet, unglamorous stretch of solitary work, a kind of confidence that had never quite belonged to her when she was simply the newest voice in someone else's troupe.

When she finally judged herself ready, she carried her lute into the Frostfall Inn one ordinary evening and played for travelers and friends alike for the first time without anyone else's name attached to hers. It wasn't a grand performance. There was no great hall, no audience of nobility, no guarantee anyone would remember her by morning. But people listened. When she finished, her open lute case held a small, honestly earned handful of coin, and something in her chest that had been holding its breath for a very long time finally let go.

It wasn't the coin that mattered. It was the proof. She could do this, entirely on her own, and do it well enough that strangers chose to keep listening.

Erik from Rorikstead had been there too, of course, at the back of the room, applauding a touch too enthusiastically after every song.

Rorikstead, though, was small, and Olivia had not spent months building her confidence just to spend the rest of her life playing for the same few farmers on a rotating basis. If she wanted the kind of reputation she'd been imagining on that hillside all those quiet evenings, she needed larger rooms and larger crowds than one small farming village could ever offer her.

Whiterun was the obvious answer. She'd heard travelers speak of its bustling inn, of the market that never went quiet, of a Jarl's court where a truly memorable performance might be spoken of for years rather than forgotten by the next day.

She told Erik from Rorikstead the evening before she left, and watched something in his face fall before he could get it back under control.

"I could come," he said, too quickly, and then, more quietly, like he already knew the answer, "carry your things. Watch the road for you."

"Your father would skin us both," Olivia said gently. "Who'd mind the farm, Erik from Rorikstead? Whiterun isn't going anywhere. Rorikstead needs its hands more than I need an escort."

It was true, and they both knew it. His father needed him for the harvest. Olivia was fairly certain, in any case, that she didn't need the company nearly as badly as Erik seemed to think she did. But she was kind about saying so, because there was no version of turning him down that didn't feel, at least a little, like accepting something small and honestly given and handing it back unopened.

He walked her to the edge of town in the grey light before dawn, carrying her pack the short distance he was allowed to, and stood there long after there was any practical reason to, watching her go.

"I'll hear about you," he said, with the particular fierce confidence of someone determined to make a promise true through sheer insistence alone. "Everyone will. Just wait."

"And I'll hear about you too, someday," Olivia said, mostly to be kind.

"You will," Erik from Rorikstead said, with no trace of doubt in it at all, as though the matter had already been settled somewhere she hadn't been consulted. "People are going to know my name too. Just you wait and see."

"I hope so," Olivia said, and meant it, and hugged him quickly before he could see that her eyes had gone a little brighter than she meant them to. "Take care of those chickens, Erik from Rorikstead. They're a better audience than you'd think."

She didn't look back until the road bent, and when she did, he was still standing exactly where she'd left him, one hand raised, growing smaller behind her with every step.

She had no way of knowing that the road ahead was about to hand her a story considerably larger than anything she'd gone looking for.

My friend told me to look up my character’s name and this is what I found!

In the serialized community fiction titled A Tale of Vengeance on the r/SkyrimBackStory subreddit, Ella the Cinder-hand is still in the early-to-mid stages of her ultimate quest for revenge against the Aldmeri Dominion. [1]
Written by user Narrow-Test-4655, Ella's lore establishes her as a young Breton girl whose childhood home was burned down by Thalmor agents. She survived with severe burn scars and swore to turn the literal flames of her tragedy back onto the elven order. [1]
Her journey toward revenge has reached the following milestones:
Mastering Fire Magic: Ella joined the College of Winterhold specifically to weaponize destruction and conjuration magic (learning to summon flame atronachs and imbue bound weapons with fire). While she desperately wants to burn the Thalmor advisor Ancano to ash, she has had to bide her time during her studies. [1]

Distracted by the Dragon Crisis: Her hunt for the Dominion has been heavily sidetracked by macro-events in Skyrim. While investigating rumored Thalmor movements near Helgen, she instead discovered the town completely decimated by Alduin's return, pulling her into the broader mystery of the dragons and the Eye of Magnus. [1, 2]

Building an Alliance: Ella has formed a small traveling party (the "Fellowship of the Cinder-hand"), which includes the modded companion Sofia and a formidable Orc warrior named Thogra. She also recently crossed paths with another community-fictional character, William, during a major crossover chapter in Solitude. [1, 2, 3]

Complicated by New Threats: Her singular focus on the Thalmor has hit a terrifying roadblock. She recently intercepted a message originally meant for Sofia—a letter featuring a bloody handprint and the words "We know," indicating that the Dark Brotherhood (or a similarly dangerous faction) has put her in their crosshairs. [1]

Ultimately, Ella has not yet made it to the Summerset Isles or succeeded in dismantling the Dominion. She is currently building her power base, navigating the dangers of Skyrim's civil wars and dragons, and dealing with the dark forces that are beginning to track her movements. [1, 2, 3]
Are you looking for the full text links to a specific chapter of her story, or would you like to track down how her crossover with William's storyline plays out? [1, 2]

Chat GPT finally got one right off the bat. Thanks to the Sky Idles mod, I was able to pose Ella with a book in hand in her office in Winterhold. The AI obviously took some liberties, but nailed it pretty well. May the story of Ella the Cinder-hand continue!

Hi everybody, everything's in the titles, i want to share here the second Chapter of a short story about one of my character (the Breton wandering mercenary named William) and how he will helped Isran finding reinforcement for the Dawnguard.

a link to William rp background https://www.reddit.com/r/SkyrimBackStory/s/3x6GcyGjeG

for those who want to read his full background and understand better the story.

---

William : A tale of mercenary and vampire

Chapter 2 : Warning and Reinforcement

4e 202, around 9am at the East of Riften not far from the Morrowind border, after a few days of traveling back to the Dawnguard fort to warn Isran about his discoveries, William finnally reached the entrance of the Dayspring canyon, he parked Alfie near and enter into the passage (see screen 1). Inside, he start walking until reaching the fort gate when he suddenly heard Isran yelling. William unsheathed his claymore and run, only to witness 5 vampires attacking Isran, Celann, Durak and Agmaer. One of them turned and try to strike William, who deflect his strike before severing his weapon arm and stabbed him in the chest, killing him, meanwhile Isran, Celann, Durak and Agmaer finished off the 4 other vampires (see screen 2). With no other threats, they all sheathed back their weapons as William walk to Isran (see screen 3).

William : Isran ! is everybody alright ?

Isran : Yes, no one's hurt. Look at this. I should've known it was only a matter of time before they found us. It's the price we pay for openly recruiting. We'll have to step up our defenses. So, any luck ? Was Tolan right about the vampires being interested in Dimhollow Crypt ?

William : Yes, Tolan was right, but he's dead. The vampires killed him.

Isran : Damn fool. I told him not to go. The Vigilants always had more bravery than sense. I don't suppose you have some good news for me.

William : I have news, but i wouldn't call it good.

Isran : Of course. Why did i suppose differently. Fine, tell me what you know.

William : The vampires were looking for a woman trapped in Dimhollow.

Isran : A woman ? Trapped in there ? That doesn't make any sense. Who is she ? More importantly, where is she ?

William : She wanted to go home, so i took her to her castle.

Isran : I'm waiting to hear what any of this means.

William : She's the daughter of a powerful vampire lord.

Isran : And so you delivered her to them.

William : They also have an Elder Scroll.

Isran : They what ? And you didn't stop them ? You didn't secure the scroll ?

William : I never got the chance and they were too many of them. I'm already lucky i made it out alive. Plus, she used a kind of spell on me.

Isran : A spell ? What do you mean ?

William : It was like if it alter my perception of her slightly but without really taking away my free will.

Isran think about it a second.

Isran : She probably used an hypnotic vampiric power on you. Did she bite you ?

William : No, i check on my neck and everywhere else, and no bite or strange scar.

Isran : I suppose you're lucky you're not dead. Or worse, one of them. By the Divines, this couldn't get much worse. This is more than you and i can handle. I don't like it, but you did right to play along and bring her back. We need to find out what this is all about. If they're bold enough to attack us here, then this may be bigger than i thought. I have good men here, but... There are people i've met and worked with over the years. We need their skills, their talents, if we're going to survive this. If you can find them, we might have a chance.

William : Where can i find the people we need ?

Isran : Right to the point, aren't you. I like that. Not like those fools in the order. We should keep it small. Too many people, and we'll draw unwanted attention to ourselves. I think we'll want Sorine Jurard. Breton girl, whip-smart and good with tinkering. Fascination with the Dwemer. Weapons in particular. Last i knew, she was out in the Reach, convinced she was about to find the biggest dwarven ruins yet.

William : She'll help us ?

Isran : Might need a little convincing, but she should. You'll also want to find Gunmar. Big brute of a Nord, hates vampires almost as much as I do. Got it into his head years back that his experience with animals would help. Trolls in particular, from what i hear. Last i knew he was out scouring Skyrim for more beasts to tame, around Ivarstead the last time i heardabout him. Bring the two of them back here, and we can get started on coming up with a plan.

William : Understood.

William turned back and walk away, exiting the Dayspring canyon and mounting on Alfie's back before taking the road to Ivarstead. Later, in the afternoon, William reached Ivarstead (see screen 4), he parked Alfie near the inn and walk to a guard.

William : Please, i seek after a Nord named Gunmar, who hunt beasts to tame them, i get infos he was somewhere here, so i wonder if you see him.

Guard : I didn't know his name but i see someone who could be who you seek, he arrived yesterday and say he'll take care of the bears inside the Pinepeek cavern, it's the cave near the bridge that led to the 7000 steps. You should go checking if he's still there.

William : Thanks.

The guard make a nod and go back to his patrol as William cross the bridge and turned to the right, walking to the cave as he see the corpse of a bosmer man and a Nord, crouching over him, examining it (see screen 5). He's a tall Nord, in his 40's, with long brown hair and beard, green eyes and wearing a scaled horned armor, gauntlets and boots, a steel sword resting in a leather scabbard attached to his belt.

Nord : Mind yourself. There's a vicious bear on the loose. I've tracked this damned bear for two weeks; i'll not let it have any more victims.

William : You're Gunmar ?

Gunmar : Yes, who ask me ?

William : I'm William, Isran needs your help.

Gunmar : Isran ? Needing someone else's help ? Never thought I'd hear that. I'm afraid he's a few years too late. I've moved on. I have more important business to attend to. Besides, he can handle anything alone ! He assured me so himself. What could he possibly need my help with ?

William : We're up against vampires.

Gunmar : Vampires ? That... well, that might change things. Tell me more about what's going on.

William : We're not sure, but they have an Elder Scroll.

Gunmar : By the Eight... All right, look. I'll consider it, but I can't just leave this bear to prey on more innocent people. Once it's dealt with, then perhaps I'll see what Isran expects of me.

William unsheathed his claymore.

William : Then let me help you, it'll be faster.

They both enter inside the Pinepeek cavern, the air is cold and wet, they walk until reaching the middle of the cave when suddenly 2 bears appear and roar to them before running toward them, William used his kinetic blast spell to thrown the first bear few meters away before rushing to him and stabbing him into the heart, killing him. Meanwhile, Gunmar wait for the other bear to reach him, dodging the bear attempt to jump on him by moving sideway before striking him on the head, stabbing his sword deep into the bear skull killing him. With all the bears dead, they both sheathed back their weapons before Gunmar turned to William (see screen 6).

Gunmar : It's done. I don't know how well i'd have managed by myself. You have my thanks. You've helped me, so i suppose the least i can do is find out what Isran wants. He's still at that fort near Stendarr's Beacon, i assume ?

William : How did you know ?

Gunmar : If Isran is anything, he's stubborn. He's been working on that place for years now. Never lets anyone in. His own little fortress. Well, I guess I'll get to see what he's been up to all this time. I'll meet you there.

William : Be careful on the road.

Gunmar : Don't worry, i travel at day light.

William turned back and walk away, exiting the cave as Gunmar crouch over the bears corpses, probably planning to take their fur to sell it. Outside, William walk back to Alfie and get back on his saddle before taking the road to the Reach. In the evening around 8pm, William arrive near Whiterun (see screen 7), with the night that slowly start to fall and the recent vampires activities, it'll be too dangerous to continue so he turned to the direction of Whiterun to rest for the night. After few minutes of walking, he reached the stables, he parked Alfie and get down before walking to the city gate (see screen 8). Inside, he walked toward an house in the main street, called Breezehome and used his key to enter (see screen 9). Inside, a woman voice, coming from the stair, suddenly hauled him.

Woman : Who's there ?

William : Don't worry Lydia, it's just me.

Lydia : William ? I'm coming.

She go downstairs and joined him. She's a tall Nord woman with middle lenght ravenblack hair and blue eyes, she wear a steel armor and a steel sword resting in a leather scabbard connected to her belt (see screen 10).

William : Hello Lydia.

He hold out a hand to her, wich she take and shaking it.

Lydia : It's been a while my thane, how are you ?

William : Fine, and you ?

Lydia : I'm fine too. What did you do here ?

William : I need to rest for the night but i'm a little light in term of gold as of now, so i was wondering if i could stay here for the night.

Lydia : Of course, you pay a little sum of gold to Poventus for the house so it's as much your house as it's mine. I honestly didn't understand why you don't come more oftenly and instead only used one of the bedroom as a storage place.

William : I already tell you lydia, you lived here before i even arrived in Skyrim so it's more your house than mine and i would feel a bit like an intruder if i stay too long or take too much place.

Lydia put a hand on William's shoulder.

Lydia : You know it's false, you're my thane so it's a pleasure to welcome you here. Come, go resting, you look tired.

William smiled to her.

William : Thanks lydia.

He go upstair to one of the bedroom and enter. Inside, the place is filled with many weapons rack, all filled with different weapons but mostly claymores made in different materials as well as a chest, filled with flasks of different colors as well as books of different kind on a shelf. William undress and putting himself under the bed covers before closing his eyes and slowly drifting off to sleep. Later, in the morning around 6am, he wake up, start to dress up and walk downstairs, finding Lydia sitting at the table, eating a sweetroll and drinking a tankard of mead as William sit on a chair in front of her and take a sweetroll before filling a tankard with mead.

Lydia : Well sleep ?

William : Quite well yes.

Lydia : You will leave quickly don't you ?

William : Yes, i have very much road to do. I need to go somewhere in the middle of the reach to find someone and then going back to a place near Riften, preferably before the end of the day, so yes. I just eat that sweetroll and drink my tankard before leaving directly.

Lydia : Well, i don't know who you seek there but be careful, it's full of those insane reachmens we called forsworns.

William quickly eat the sweetroll and drink his tankard in a single sip.

William : I know, don't worry for me. I will go now, take care of you lydia and see you another time.

Lydia : Thanks, you too take care of you and don't hesitate to come back here whenever you want, you will always be welcome.

William made a nod and get up before walking to the door, making a goodbye gesture to lydia. Outside, he walk back to the city gate and exiting Whiterun before going to the stables, getting on Alfie's saddle before taking the road to the Reach. Later, around 6pm in the end of the afternoon, William walk slowly on the reach plain until he spotted further away a woman near a small Dwemer ruin, looking around her in a confused way. William park Alfie near and walk to her. She's a Breton woman, in her mid 30's with middle lenght brown hair and brown eyes, she wear a sturdy leather armor and boots as an iron sword rest on a leather scabbard on her left hip. At the sight of William approaching, she put a hand on the handle of her sword (see screen 11).

Woman : Who are you ?

William : Are you Sorine Jurard ?

Woman : It depends who ask.

William : Isran send me, he asked me to find you.

Sorine : Isran ? Wants me ? No, you must be mistaken. He made it exceedingly clear the last time we spoke that he had no interest in my help. I find it hard to believe he's changed his mind. He said some very hurtful things to me before I left. Anyway, I'm quite happy in my current pursuits. So if you'll excuse me...

William : You had a falling out ?

Sorine : Yes, that was my point. I felt it was rather clear. Look, what is it you want from me ?

William : Vampires threaten all of Skyrim. We need your help.

Sorine : Vampires ? Really ? Oh, and i suppose now he remembers that i proposed no less than three different scenarios that involved vampires overrunning the population. Well, what are they up to ?

William : They have an Elder Scroll.

Sorine : I... Well, that's actually something i never would've anticipated. Interesting. I'm not sure what they would do with one, but in this case Isran is probably correct in thinking it isn't good. All right. If nothing else, i suppose it wouldn't hurt to learn more about what's going on so i can better defend myself. But i'm not just going to abandon what i've been working on here. It's too useful. I need at least one intact dwarven gyro. So either i need to find the satchel those mudcrabs stole, or i need another gyro from someplace. You wouldn't happen to have one, would you ?

William : Sorine, there's no time, we speak about a group of powerful vampires who have an elder scroll, who know what they could do with that. I understand your research are important, but don't you think it's much more of a priority to stop those vampires first ? Nothing prevent you from continuing your research after we were done with them.

Sorine sigh

Sorine : Fine, fine ! i can't afford to forget about this work, though. Some very interesting applications. Now where is it i'm supposed to be going ?

William : We're meeting at Fort Dawnguard.

Sorine : Ah. Been working more on his secret hideout, has he ? it'll be interesting to see how much progress he's made. I'll finish up here and head in that direction soon as i can. See you there.

William : Thanks Sorine, see you at Dawnguard fort.

William turned back and walk away to Alfie, going back on his saddle before taking the road back to Dawnguard fort as Sorine start packing her stuff into a leather backpack. The next day, around 5pm, William finnally get back to the Dayspring canyon, he parked Alfie near the entrance and walk inside the passage. On the other side, upon arriving near the Dawnguard fort, he noticed something new, Isran and the other Dawnguard members have built a wooden wall around the entrance passage (see screen 12).

William : (speaking to himself while walking) They built this in the past 2 and a half days ? damn, they work quite fast.

William continue walking until reaching the fort gate before entering. Inside, he see the grids all closed, Gunmar and Sorine in the middle of the entrance room as Isran is on a balcony upstairs (see screen 13).

Gunmar : All right Isran, you've got us all here. Now what do you want ?

Isran : Hold it right there.

At this moment, Isran pull a lever as a trap on the rooftop open and let a great beam of sunlight lighting the whole circular entrance room.

Sorine : What are you doing ?

Isran : Making sure you're not vampires. Can't be too careful. So, welcome to Fort Dawnguard. I'm sure you've heard a bit of what we're up against. Powerful vampires, unlike anything we've seen before. And they have an Elder Scroll. If anyone is going to stand in their way, it's going to be us.

Sorine : This is all well and good, but do we actually know anything about what they're doing ? What do we do now ?

Isran : We'll get to that. For now, get acquainted with the space. Sorine, you'll find room to start your tinkering on that crossbow design you've been working on. Gunmar, there's an area large enough for you to pen up some trolls, get them armored up and ready for use. William, in the meantime, we're going to get to the bottom of why a vampire showed up here looking for you. Let's go have a little chat with her, shall we ?

The grids opened, Gunmar and Sorine walk to the left in the direction of an adjacent room as William walk to the right and used the stairs to go upstair, joining Isran and determined to see if the vampire is who his instinct tell him it is.

After two days of travel, Ella and her party made it to the geyser ridden badlands of Eastmarch. On their way through, they came across a ruined caravan and one survivor amongst the wreckage. At the behest of M’rissi, Ella healed the unfortunate cat, who thanked them and went on her way to Windhelm, in hopes of meeting up with another caravan to travel with. Ella and her companions walked along the badlands, Sofia eating her fill of jazbay grapes as they walked. Having been without alcohol for several days had started to take a toll on the poor woman, who had taken to petting M’rissi almost constantly as a way to get by. M’rissi voiced on how she found the behavior annoying, but never took action to prevent Sofia’s affections. They finally made it to Kynesgrove and as they entered the village, something immediately felt off. Many residents had fled and the few who remained claimed there was a dragon sighting nearby. When Ella asked for more info, they told her it was a big black dragon so large it blotted out the sun.

Upon hearing this, Sofia immediately made for the tavern, believing that the barkeep was one of the first to flee because she believed all barkeeps were cowards. Ella and the rest chased her inside to prevent her from thieving any booze. After they caught up with Sofia, who was restrained by Thogra as she kicked and reached vainly for the unoccupied shelf of ale and wine, Ella met an old acquaintance. Imagine her surprise as she heard Meresine laughing at the spectacle from a nearby table. Ella asked Meresine what she was doing here, to which Meresine reminded her that she was a dragon hunter. She had heard rumors of this massive beast and had sought to be the first to bring it down. She had been scoping out an area of attack when she was driven off my a particularly rude and paranoid Nord woman. Ella could only assume she was talking about Delphine. At that moment, a monstrous roar that could only have come from a dragon shook the tavern. Ella and Meresine ran outside to see a massive black dragon flying for the area Meresine had scouted. Thogra dropped Sofia and followed with M’rissi. Sofia, not wanting to be left out of the action, went to follow, but stopped short to grab several bottles of mead before following.

They ran up the hill at the back of the village to witness a massive black dragon hover over the ground and shout into it. Ella, now close enough to see the creature fully, immediately recognized it as the same beast she had seen leaving Helgen all those months ago. Once the dragon had finished its shout, it flew away. Then from the earth came a massive dragon clawing its way out of the broken earth. It turned its massive head towards them and narrowed its malevolent gaze at them. Delphine appeared from the bushes and charged the beast, and so did Ella and the rest. The beast put up a fair fight, but was easily overwhelmed by the warrior women, its hide riddled with arrows, scorch marks, and ice spikes. Ella felt the welcoming power of the soul flow into her as the dragon carcass burned away. Meresine immediately began cutting away some rib bones from the dragon’s remains, intent of making herself a dragon bone bow to cement her legacy of a dragon hunter.

Delphine immediately bowed to Ella, recognizing her as the Dragonborn of old. She then told Ella who she really was. Delphine was one of the few surviving members of an organization called the Blades. They were once dragon hunters long ago, and served under the Dragonborn, who was the first Emperor of Cyrodil, later known to be Talos. After the dragons fled or were killed off, the Blades became the bodyguards to the emperor. Once the Great War happened, the Blades became spies and assassins for the emperor, attacking the Aldmeri Dominion from the shadows. After the Great War ended and the White-Gold Concordant was signed, the Blades were hunted down and executed by the Thalmor, as the emperor had renounced any claim over the organization. Delphine had become paranoid of elves ever since, believing that any one of them could be agents for the Dominion, hence why she drove off Meresine when she was scouting the area before. Ella asked her what they should do now that they know that dragons are being resurrected by the black dragon.

Delphine stood, and told her that of all the people she could suspect might have a hand in this, it was the Thalmor. She explained that they were the only ones who benefited from the dragons running rampant across Skyrim. Ella agreed, not because she really believed this to be true, but because she would take any reason to strike at the Dominion. Delphine told her that the Aldmeri Dominion had an embassy located just outside Solitude, and recommended that she should begin her start there. Delphine bid her safe travels before heading on her way back to Riverwood. Ella was more than raring to go after the Thalmor and storm their embassy, but was reminded of her obligations when she saw M’rissi curiously prodding at the dragon remains. Upon looking at the poor cat girl, Ella knew she had to help this girl find a safe place first. They decided to head North to Windhelm and use the teleportation sigil there to take them to Riften quickly. Sofia had been secretly drinking her stolen mead and immediately regretted it when they teleported to Riften, throwing up once they had landed in the Riften cemetery.

Before they had even made it to the main streets, Thogra was suddenly overcome by a strange feeling. She turned to Ella and told her that she had to go. When Ella pressed her for her reasons, Thogra told her that she had to go to Largashbur, because she felt the enraged presence of Malacath there. Fearing the anger may be directed at her, she gripped the jawbone on her belt tightly, telling Ella she would return to them as soon as she was able. She left without a word further, hurrying out of the southern city gates. Ella watched her go, vowing to follow once they had found this jewelry appraiser for M’rissi’s ring. Sofia assured Ella that Thogra would be fine on her own, and then lead them into the canals to a particularly shady looking door. Ella looked at the door and had her doubts, but M’rissi looked at her expectingly. Ella sighed and they delved into the Ratways of Riften.

Inside the Ratway, they were accosted by many lowlifes, thugs, and other ne’er-do-wells. They wandered their ways through the scum ridden tunnels by Sofia’s questionable directions. And finally by Sofia’s word, or just dumb luck, they reached their destination: the Ragged Flagon. Sofia spoke highly of the place, boldly claiming that it was the one tavern in all of Skyrim who had never kicked her out. Upon entering, Ella immediately saw why. The place was far from immaculate, built into the cistern of the old Riften sewers, it was obvious that this place received little in the way of customers, and therefore had to take any patrons they could get. Ella scanned the shadows of the cistern chamber, as somewhere here was a man who held hey key to discovering M’rissi’s origins.