6
They stepped out onto a narrow pathway, he moved deliberately downwards, ignoring his surroundings as he followed the music of the Elder Scroll. The Dwemeris noises faded into the background. There were more chaurus eggs outside the golden doors which he ignored , rather than enter the doors, he stepped off the ledge and jumped down beside the body of another green skinned mer.
She grunted as she landed next to him, she eyed the corpse but followed after him. The edge of the platforms were surrounded by chitin fences that he had never seen the like before. As they continued downward, he spotted the first Falmer. He narrowed his eyes and straightened while the Dragonborn moved around him and immediately attacked the creature. The fight was of short duration. It fell off the side of the pathway with a well placed kick to its chest.
There was another further down. Alduin was able to look at this one after she had dealt with it. It wore the carapace armour of the Chaurus, stinking like the insects, their scent indifferentiable. Claws unlike other mers were on the feet and hands. These Falmers would be able to slice skin with their hands and feet. The face was unlike anything he had ever seen. The nose was more animal than humanoid, the nostrils long in shape rather than circular. It sat above a mouth of needle-like fangs made for tearing into flesh. The eyes were no longer visible on the creature, covered with a layer of skin where the orbs would have been. The ears were larger, expected of one seeing with sound. The skin was also translucent, as if sunlight had never been seen.
The Dragonborn kicked the creature so that it was on its back and pointed at it with one of her swords. "This is a Falmer."
He nodded and stepped over the corpse as they continued their way down. He walked right through a flame trap, immune to flames and pushed open the doors at the end of the hallway.
They entered into another area that should have been homes, but he spotted the now familiar chitin of the Falmer instead. He ignored the hut and walked down the stairs to where an alchemy table was set up. Two Falmers stood side by side, facing in his direction. The weren't moving.
He narrowed his eyes and examined them for a moment. He knew they couldn't hear him, he was silent despite his size, and his smell was not like that of the Dragonborn. Animals feared him by his scent alone for they recognized him. He wondered briefly, before the Dragonborn cut them down, if the Falmer had de-evolved enough to recognize his scent for what it was as well.
They continued deeper into the Dwemeris ruins, moving west and then north, around the golden grates. They came to another group of chitin huts, with another small group of Falmers, surrounded with more flame traps. The floor was covered in the flammable liquid. He was slow and deliberate as he put his hand into the flames of the trap and then reached down to touch the floor.
The room lit up and exploded with fire. He heard the gargled screams of the Falmers as they went up in flames. He waited but a moment before walking through the inferno. It was the next bunch of Falmer that proved to be more difficult to deal with.
They could still cast magic, he noted. A heavily armoured Falmer, covered head to toe in hardened scales of chitin was casting frost magic at the Dragonborn, and it was powerful. She wasn't fighting him off as she should. Alduin frowned and watched for a moment longer before involving himself. A well placed swipe of his claws felled the creature and he frowned down at the kneeling Orsimer.
" And you call yourself a dragon ," he snorted and continued down more stairs, ignoring the wounded Dragonborn. More chitin huts and more corpses, he continued past until he reached more golden doors.
They were finally at the bottom of the Ruins. More Falmer and a spider was waiting for them here. He was ignored by everything as he continued north towards more doors. Not just Chaurus but spiders as well were allies of the Falmer. Admittedly, he was intrigued, but not enough to stop.
He entered the doors, avoided an obvious trap and paused just before the doors that would lead them to the Alftand Cathedral. He waited a moment for the Dragonborn to reach him, and when she did, she was covered in blood. Whether hers or theirs mattered little to him. He pushed the doors opened and entered without another word.
He avoided the pressure plates of this room and moved west where another Falmer was waiting for them. He swiped out with his claws, decapitating it before it made for the weakened Dragonborn. He snorted again and they went through more doors.
More Falmers were here as well, and she dealt with these ones easy enough that he deduced she was not badly injured. He walked right up to the bars prevented them from going further and would have pried them open with his claws had the Dragonborn not cleared her throat behind him, "The lever is up there."
He turned his head to the side and looked to where she was pointing. He released the bars and nodded once slowly. He remained where he was and it took a moment for the Dragonborn to realize she was to open to lever, which she did. The bars lowered and he was able to continue.
The sound of steam and gears suddenly became deafening, and Alduin cocked his head to one side as a dwarven centurion came to life and stepped away from the wall. The World Eater straightened, and flexed his claws. The centurion did not make for him though, and went straight for the Dragonborn as she passed the archway to join him.
He let her battle the giant Dwemeris weapon and made for the gate. He stopped just before he pushed the gate opened and frowned as two different auras made themselves known to him. One was blue with red, a warrior crossed with mage, and the other was green and blue, a thief crossed with a warrior. He ignored them as they squabbled amongst themselves and made for the Dwarven Mechanism.
It took but a push of a button for him to activate the secret circular stairs hidden beneath that would lead him into Blackreach. It was then that the two that had been fighting noticed him.
He didn't wait for them to attack or flee, rather he roared at them and then Shouted his Fire Breath. Whatever they had been about to say or do mattered for naught to him as they turned into two separate piles of ashes. He turned from the platform to look back to see where the Dragonborn was.
She was still fighting the centurion. Her two swords flashing in the low light. She screamed in pain as a blast of steam was shot towards her, bringing her to her knees. His lip curled disdainfully and he moved back towards her deliberately.
That she could barely handle herself amidst these autonomes disgusted him. Weak, pathetic dragon. He Shouted Unrelenting Force at the centurion and sent it flying off the platform. It landed on its back on the ground and like a turtle in the same predicament struggled in vain. The buzzing and steam screams blending perfectly with the Dwemeris noises in the background.
" Come ," he growled, looking down at the panting and bleeding Orsimer, "Blackreach awaits."
She was glaring at him before she glanced back at the struggling centurion and then forward towards the gate. She nodded once and they both made their way towards the stairs. He didn't wait for her as he pushed the doors to Blackreach open.
The Elder Scroll was near.
