The Dragons Are Back (Miraculous Ladybug X The Elder Scrolls Crossover)

Chapter 6: Lecture

When Nino had first seen Paarthurnax land on the school grounds, he had almost ran to hide in his classroom, but a few days later his girlfriend Alya decided to drag him to the park to meet Paarthurnax. And he was pleasantly surprised.

Paarthurnax was one of the nicest people - well, he was a dragon, but still - that he'd ever met. He was interested in Nino's DJ hobby and said that he would be a great bard if the boy had lived back in the time of Skyrim. The two would swap stories and music, Nino sharing some of his beats and Paarthurnax singing some of the songs dragons sang to worship Akatosh.

So he was quite happy when Ms. Bustier announced that Paarthurnax had been invited to give a lecture after lunch.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, my dude!" He clapped Adrien on the shoulder. "You excited?"

The model shrugged. "Sort of. I don't really know what to expect. I mean, it's a dragon. And I haven't really talked to Paarthurnax. My father won't let me."

Of course. What else would I expect from Mr. Control Freak?

When the class went out into the field to meet Paarthurnax, he was simply lying on the grass, waiting.

Paarthurnax's eyes wandered over the class and he gave Nino and Marinette a smile. Then his eyes fell on a green-eyed, redheaded girl. She was smiling too, but it looked... condescending. Ingenuine. Fake. Her smile didn't reach her eyes.

His own eyes narrowed ever so slightly and he made a mental note to approach Marinette later and ask her about the redhead. I'm keeping an eye on that girl.

Soon everyone was seated in front of him and he began his lecture.

"Drem yol lok. Greetings. My name is Paarthurnax. I am honored to have this chance to speak with you. I have not had the pleasure of conversation for many ages. So I came here to tell you of the dov, our nature, where we are from, our effect on history, why we are not on Mundus anymore, and what Strunsahtiid is planning in the coming months."

Alya's hand immediately shot up. He couldn't help but give a little grin. Alya was always curious.

"I appreciate your enthusiasm, Alya, but I will take questions later. So I will begin with our origins. We are the sons of Akatosh, god of time. As result of this, we are specially attuned to the flow of time and we can sense when a Dragon Break happens, or when time is otherwise interfered with. Dragons have the natural urge to dominate and to gain power, but it can be restrained. We are immortal and do not age or mate. We are not born or hatched, we simply are. There are also individuals called Dovahkiin, or Dragonborn in you tongue, mortals with a dragon soul. As such, they are also subject to such urges. You may have heard stories of dragon breathing fire. When we breath fire, we speak the Rotmulaag, or Words of Power, in the shouts that summon fire. In a sense, we do not truly 'breathe' fire, we are speaking it into existence. For us, speech, song, and battle are all one and the same. Which bring me to the Thu'um, or Shouts. The Thu'um is an ancient form of magic that uses the power of vocalizations to create powerful magical effects. Dragons are able to master and use it at will, as it is our natural language, inborn into our souls from the moment of our creation. The Thu'um can be used to hurl foes away, travel long distances instantly, project fire or ice, summon storms, or even, on the extreme end, banish the Daedric Princes and make or unmake Nirn itself."

Paarthurnax stopped and looked around for a bit. "Questions?"

A few hands shot up.

"Hm... you, the green-eyed blonde?"

"How many words are in a Shout? And my name's Adrien."

"Typically a Shouts has three words, though there was an individual who discovered a Shout with four words. Alya?"

"What are some of the notable Dragonborns in history?" She was writing down something in a notepad.

"One was Tiber Septim, one of the emperors of the Imperials. It was said that he could rout entire armies with his Voice. He went on to conquer all the known world at the time. Another of the most famous - or, should I say, infamous - Dovahkiin was a Dragon Priest named Miraak. He was actually the first Dovahkiin, and he was proud of it. Which brings me to my next point; our effect on history. My older brother Alduin set up a dragon dictatorship with himself at the top."

Paarthurnax paused for a moment. Here was getting into uncomfortable territory.

"And I am ashamed to admit that I helped him to do so. I was his second-in-command. Men and mer alike were enslaved. Some of the more ambitious, however, rose through the ranks and became Dragon Priests, the mediators between the joorre and the dov. Miraak was one of them, and he was already a proud man even before he found out his draconic heritage. When he did, he fell victim to his ambition and will to power and turned on the dragons. He found a Black Book, which is a powerful Daedric object full of forbidden knowledge, which gave him further power. He put dragons under his control and devoured their souls, conquering wherever he went. His goal was not the liberation fo mankind, but to have the power to rule for himself. It was around this same time that another rebellion was happening, though with no such ulterior motive, led by my wuth fahdonne - my old friends - Hakon One-Eye, Gormlaith Golden-Hilt, and Felldir the Old. They sought out Miraak's help in their rebellion, but he refused for his own reasons. Some time before this, I, along with a few others, was having misgivings about Alduin due to his attempting to lay claim to the lordship that rightfully belongs to our father Akatosh. All it took was a little convincing from Kyne for me to switch sides. Eventually Felldir succeeded in sending Alduin forward in time with an Elder Scroll."

He paused, waiting for the question he knew that would come.

Alya ended up being the one to ask it. "What's an Elder Scroll?"

"Hm, how to explain? The dov have words for things that you do not. An Elder Scroll is an... artifact outside of time. It has always existed, yet never has existed. They can be used to look into both the past and future, but a mortal will go blind if they read one for too long, and the futures written upon them only become solid once the event in question has come to pass."

"So what happened to Alduin?"

"He reemerged during the Fourth Era, during a civil war. Another Dragonborn, whom I was personally acquainted with, defeated Alduin again, but was unable to kill him. The deed was finally done by Strunsahtiid, who pulled him out of time and put an end to him for good. It was after this that he formed a plane of Aetherius called Dovjunaar, a safe haven for the dragons to live in to prevent extinction."

"And what happened to you?"

"After humanity's rebellion against the dragons ended, I flew to a mountain called The Throat of the World and meditated upon the Words of Power and the Way of the Voice, a pacifistic code developed by Jurgen Windcaller, the founder of a monastic order known as the Greybeards. I went on to become their grandmaster. I eventually retreated to Dovjunaar with the rest of the dov and became Strunsahtiid's second-in-command. He watched Paris using an Elder Scroll up until... well, you know the day. He is now planning to send several dragons to guard Paris, as he has heard about the alarming frequency of Akuma attacks. I do not know about all of the dragons, but I do know a few. Kriinahruth, Odahviing's brother, will be sent to guard this very school, and Tuzgrahmul will be stationed somewhere around the Eiffel Tower, as it is a high vantage point. Any other questions?"

Marinette raised her hand.

"Yes, Marinette?"

"This might be off topic or sound like a dumb question, but what do your names mean? I've heard you and Odahviing talk to each other, and some of the words you say match up with the syllables of some dragon's name."

"My own name, like most dragons' names, is three word,. Paar Thur Nax, meaning 'Ambition-Overlord-Cruelty'. Odahviing means 'Snow-Hunter-Wing', or alternatively 'Snow-Winged Hunter'. Tuzgrahmul means 'Sword-Battle-Strong', and Kriinahruth means 'Kill-Fury-Rage'."

"Well, looks like we don't have to worry about being attacked when the dragon protecting us is literally named 'Kill-Fury-Rage'," Nino joked.

Paarthurnax gave an amused smile. "Perhaps that is true."