Fighting Fate

16-Paarthurnax

After another long ass trip to High Hrothgar, I was standing at the Greybeards' Temple.

"Ah, Ysmir, it is good to see you again." Arngeir speaks.

"I say the same about you, Arngeir. I wanted to speak to you about something." I clasp my hands in front of me.

"And what would that be?" He responded, looking at me.

"I heard there was a shout that could be used to defeat Alduin." I spoke. Arngeir looked surprised and then slightly angry.

"Where did you hear that talk, Ysmir?"

"The Blades found me. They want me to become their dragonslayer." I shook my head.

"Those fools have no idea what they're saying. They have always tried to make the Dragonborns of their time do their bidding." Arngeir shook his head. "Have you thought maybe it is not your destiny to slay Alduin?"

"Well, I didn't think it was in the first place. Then all of this happened. So are you saying that maybe I don't have to kill him?" Arngeir nodded.

"Sometimes things need to happen. Maybe the world needs to end for a new and better one to begin." The man spoke with such sincerity. "I would watch yourself around the Blades."

"I will. I trust your word more than theirs." I was not lying. Arngeir and the Greybeards were one of the few people who weren't constantly using me as their errand girl or their hero of the week. Unlike Delphine and Esbern and all the Jarls of every fucking Hold, they were true to what they said.

"That shout you seek, we have no place for it with our teachings. But our Grandmaster may know it."

"How do I reach him?" I asked.

"He is at the Monahven, the Throat of the World. Only those with a strong Thu'um can find him."

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I am so sick of mountains. I never want to be near one again. At least the Greybeards taught me clear skies shout. After what seemed like a colder and colder eternity, I reached the Throat of the World. I saw a huge figure in the distance.

"Drem Yol Lok. Greetings, wunduniik. I am Paarthurnax. Who are you? What brings you to my strunmah... my mountain?" It was a dragon speaking. I almost charged a spell at my hands but managed to control the urge to do so.

"Not going to lie but I wasn't expecting you to be a dragon." I spoke, a bit starstruck.

"I am as my father Akatosh made me. As are you... Dovahkiin." He spoke.

"So you know I'm the Dragonborn." I spoke to him. He nods.

"Tell me. Why do you come here, volaan? Why do you intrude on my meditation?" He asked.

"I need to learn the Dragonrend Shout. Can you teach me?"

"Drem. Patience. There are formalities which must be observed, at the first meeting of two of the dov."

"Alright then." I hope it's not another errand. Next person who asks is getting shanked.

"By long tradition, the elder speaks first. Hear my Thu'um! Feel it in your bones. Match it, if you are Dovahkiin! Yol...Toor...Shul! A gift, Dovahkiin. Yol. Understand Fire as the dov do." He spoke after giving the "Yol Toor Shul" shout. "Now, show me what you can do. Greet me not as mortal, but as dovah!"

"Yol toor Shul!" As I shout, fire comes out of my mouth. That's pretty cool.

"Aaah... yes! Sossedov los mul. The Dragonblood runs strong in you. It is long since I had the pleasure of speech with one of my own kind." He spoke. "But I do not know the Thu'um you seek. Krosis. It cannot be known to me. Your kind - joorre - mortals - created it as a weapon against the dov... the dragons. Our hadrimme, our minds cannot even... comprehend its concepts."

Well, that's great. But hey, at least I learned a new shout.

"How can I learn it, then?"

"Drem. All in good time. First, I have a question for you. Why do you want to learn this Thu'um?"

"I need to stop Alduin"

. "Yes. Alduin... Zeymah. The elder brother. Gifted, grasping and troublesome, as is so often the case with firstborn. But why? Why must you stop Alduin?"

"I....I don't know." I responded. Everything used to be so much easier. I wish I could go back.

"But you have indulged my weakness for speech long enough. Krosis. Now I will answer your question. Do you know why I live here, at the peak of the Monahven – what you name Throat of the World?"

"No. Dragons like mountains, right?"

"True. But few now remember that this was the very spot where Alduin was defeated by the ancient Tongues. Vahrukt unslaad... perhaps none but me now remember how he was defeated."