5
They entered Alftand Glacial Ruins warily, she was trailing behind him, holding a torch. He did not need the light. The debris that cluttered the icy hallways was extensive. Broken crates, barrels and even a wagon. A lantern glowed ahead, brightening a destroyed fire pit. The cooking spit was skewed amidst the rocks, a forgotten bed roll was against a corner.
A second pit with even more bed rolls surrounding it awaited in the next area. Bones crunched beneath his feet as he stepped onto a ribcage that had once been humanoid. It shattered the silence. Fresh blood was splattered across the floorboards the further they went. He heard her teeth grinding behind him. The twitch.
They continued further downwards, and the ice walls gave way to the familiar Dwemeris construct. Columns of the Dwemer, along with destroyed spider workers began littering their path. Rock from what looked to be a rock slide covered the floor, the ice was slowly crawling across the walls.
They came to another room now, with bars barring the way. His eyes narrowed for a moment as he debated whether to break them, then he turned and he ignored the stone table with broken Dwarven spiders on them and deliberately made his way west, past a tunnel where a spider slept within.
It ignored him and made for the Dragonborn behind him. He continued forward while she dealt with the nuisance. He was up the hallway when she joined him and another spider attacked her. He continued through the ice covered walls until they came to a hole in that wall.
A fallen lit torch, with a pickaxe and shovel, were strewn across the ground. He reached out and broke the massive icicles that had formed on the Dwemeris tunnel buried in the snow ceiling, he did not want to walk into them.
They went west down more ice covered hallways. More spiders attacked her, and she dealt with them efficiently. He did not help. The constant grinding noises of the Dwemeris machinery echoed as they continued forward. Faint and distant.
He stopped. A cat was muttering to himself, his aura a weak blue, a warrior. It stood over a dead body, another cat, in a hallway heavily saturated with blood. The feline whirled on them and Alduin straightened. It held a woodcutter's axe and its eyes reflected off the torchlight the Dragonborn held aloft. She was beside him. The pupils were dilated, obscuring most of the iris. The cat was mad.
It opened its mouth, showing sharp fangs, and hissed. A challenge. His response was automatic. He roared. From the confines of his helm, his voice was heard.
The ears flattened back against the feline head, a waft of fear, but it stunk with something else that he did not recognize. A toxic smell. The cat suddenly charged, acting irrationally. It raised the axe to strike, Alduin reacted. He swiped out with his right arm, the talons on his hand cutting through fur and bone. The head rolled away and the body fell at his feet. More blood covering the ground, splattered his armour.
The Dragonborn moved to the second body and crouched next to the backpack. She was rummaging through it and pulled out a small red bottle. "Skooma," she snorted in disgust and dropped the bottle on the ground.
He nods as though he knows what she speaks of, but he does not, and does not care. The Elder Scroll is singing to him, over the Dwemeris noise. He does not remain idle for long. He moves while she is reading a book she found next to the corpse.
They are going north now, and the rocky ice gives way to proper Dwemer construction. The clanging and the hissing is constant now and more distinct. It does not drown out the Elder Scroll. Gears are constantly moving as they continued forward. Two dwarves spheres come from the wall as he mounts the steps towards a large light-emitting source.
The spheres ignore him and make for the woman travelling with him. He does not help as he moves to the next area, ignoring the colourful, flammable liquid on the ground. He moves first east then north, down a winding hallway free of rock and ice. They are far too deep now to even feel the cold.
She joins him now, having dealt with the spheres. He can see the sleeping spiders in the tunnels. He does not warn her and enters the room. Three spiders converge on her. She makes quick work of them and does not question why he is not targeted. He pushes open the big golden doors with both hands and continues while she follows behind.
They turn southward, he walks past the spider but it turns to attack her. He continues, past long abandoned homes. Some are even destroyed from the ceiling caving in. There are no Dwemeris bodies or bones present. He moves past more spiders that attack her, and cautiously makes his way around a trapped room. He knows that he can be pushed off the path into another room below, so he mind's the pattern and walks around the room successfully.
He waits for the Dragonborn in front of a large golden door that leads into the Alftand Animonculory. She is breathing heavily by the time she rejoins him. He says nothing as he pushes the doors open.
The air is different here. There is a glow, a fog, covering the hallways. He raises his head and inhales. He can smell humanoids in the distance. The smell of chaurus assault him briefly. He does not recognize the scent on the air. He moves up more stairs, he is cautious now. Curious about what creature would ally itself with the aggressive, giant flesh-eating insects.
"Chaurus egg sacs," she mutters behind him as they move slowly through a hallway, the floor was covered with more flammable liquids. He does not acknowledge what she says until her next words, "We'll be dealing with Falmers."
He paused just before he pulled the lever to open the bars that blocked them going forward. Falmers? He does not recognize this name.
" Explain ." He rolled his eyes from within his helmet when she stared at him blankly. " Tell me what are Falmers?"
"They use to be Snow Elves, now they are monsters."
Snow elves. His red eyes narrow within his helm. He knows them. They were the original inhabitants of Skyrim. Ancient enemies of the original Atmorans that later became Nords. Pests when he reigned.
He smiled faintly. They would not cause him any issues.
