The Price of Vengeance- A Skyrim Fanfiction

Prologue

"Happy birthday Ven!" smiled my mother at me. She pulled me in for a hug even as I scowled at her. I was nine years old and she still insisted on treating me like a child! I dodged her grip and ran towards the table where I saw a parcel tied with string. My mother sighed and watched me tear open the paper to reveal a shiny silver ring. It had a faint blue glow around it and I was stunned by how pretty it was.

"Thank you Mother", I said, blowing her a kiss even as I ran outside while slipping it on my finger. Arris said he'd be waiting near the stream. He had told me that he had something special for me today.

I reached the stream which was just outside our village in the mountains. Our elders sometimes curse and swear to get back a place called Markarth but whenever they start, my mother takes us back home. Once I overheard her asking why we kept fighting, that how many more women like her would lose their husbands and children.

My father died 3 years ago and my mother won't tell me how or why. Every time I ask her, she bursts into tears and holds me tight, whispering in my ear, "He would want you to know no one can take him away from you, and that you will not fail no matter what you face, sweetling."

I pushed away thoughts of my father who I barely remembered and saw Arris staring into the water. He was a few years older than me and I absolutely adored him. Alright, and maybe I had a little crush on him too. He heard my footsteps and turned around with a giant grin, even as I barreled into him with all the force my body could muster.

We both landed in the stream, howling like lunatics. Once we pulled ourselves out, he gave me a leather bracelet and showed me a dagger he had forged as part of his apprenticeship. The rest of the afternoon passed by in a blur of laughter and play, and we contently began walking back home as the sun started to set. I didn't notice the smoke because the wind was blowing in the opposite direction, but as we neared the village, I heard the screams. Arris pulled me behind a boulder and we stared in shock as a troop of armored men annihilated everything I knew. I think we would have stared at the destruction forever if a stray arrow hadn't hit the rock we were behind.

"Run Ven!" shouted Arris even as he streaked off towards the troops, brandishing the dagger he had made. The dagger wasn't much, as it fell into the dirt beside the place where he lay broken, his body brought down by a hail of arrows. I watched, horrified, unable to believe that he was gone. The shock set in, and I felt a merciful blackness take over even as the ground rushed towards me. The last thing I remembered was a cruel mocking laugh, and a shout- "You are nothing before the Imperials!"

The word branded itself in my mind. Imperials.