The Bears Shortcoming

Chapter 2 - Dragonborn

I woke up with a start, my vision was blurred and someone was slapping me lightly across the face. Ralof. I looked up at the Nord and frowned at him "I thought we'd lost you" he smiled. I propped myself up with my elbows and looked around; we weren't in the same place as before, although the stone walls and damp smell were all too similar. "I managed to get you into the keep" Ralof explained "It's just me and you; we've got to find a way out of Helgen".

Ralof threw me a war axe; it was made of cheap iron with a brown leather hilt. I caught it clumsily, it was too heavy for me and I wasn't one hundred percent sure why I'd need a weapon unless Ralof intended to go back out and kill the dragon, but I took it anyway and kept it close.

Ralof approached a gate, "Locked" he murmured, then his eyes widened and he shoved me against the wall behind the gate "Imperials! Get down!" he whispered, alarm ringing in his voice. The 'Imperials' unlocked the gate and saw Ralof and I almost instantly. I then discovered getting out of Helgen wasn't going to be as easy as walking through a few tunnels, as an imperial tried to bury his axe in my face. I kicked him hard in the knee, causing his leg to buckle and finished him off with my war axe; I didn't know whether to be proud of myself or whether I was going to throw up afterwards.

We made our way through the tunnels; by the time we reached the end I'd killed at least ten people, 3 mutated spiders and a huge bear. Wonder what my mother would think of me now, I thought to myself. "You should think of joining the Stormcloaks" Ralof suggested "We could use someone like you in our ranks"

I smiled at him "I'll think about it, thank you Ralof. You saved my life by helping me today".

After the dragon attack in Helgen, Ralof took me to a small village called 'Riverwood'. His sister lived there, and she set me up with a place to stay and food to eat. They were kind to me, and a part of me wanted to stay in Riverwood forever, but I knew that I didn't travel all this way to sit in a peaceful town and chop wood for a living.

I traveled to Whiterun and befriended the Jarl Balgruuf, he saw promise in me and sent me to find out more about the mysterious dragon attacks, and when the time came, the Jarl sent me with some of the best soldiers in Whiterun to slay a dragon just like the one in Helgen. I thought I was going to die, but we took it down and I absorbed some kind of power from it. Suddenly I was the most famous wood elf in Whiterun. Turns out I was something called the 'Dragonborn'.

I met and trained with the greybeards and learned the way of the voice. I became much stronger and much wiser over the many months, but whilst all this was happening, the civil war between the Stormcloaks and the Imperials was tearing the land I had grown to love apart.

I decided to cut my training with the greybeards short so that I could travel some more, and although they weren't best pleased with my decision, they let me go on the condition I came back and finished my training when the time was right. I traveled to all nine holds, I saw glaciers and snow storms, forests and oceans, and I wouldn't have traded this life for anything. For the first time, I was happy that I'd left my home in Valenwood.

After all this, I ended up in Riften with the thieves' guild.

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Authors note - this chapter was so short! The purpose of the chapter was to fill you in on Aiden's life between Helgen and Riften. Any questions, just ask.