I, Draugr Chapter 10 (Patreon)

You know, I could have never imagined that Dragons could talk shit- Or, well… Curse at you with all the vitriol and anger of a hungry, drunk, overworked and racist Italian grandpa from the south.

I mean, Dragons have the greatest form of talking shit – the Thu'um – of all, so potent that it can change Reality and is a pivotal part of their battles.

This Dragon I just fought? Ain't got no Thu'um, motherfucker had pure fucking hate and racism in his fucking lungs.

I didn't even enter his field of view after I shot the fucker out of the sky, and Jesus fuckin' Christ was he already spewing slurs and insults that could give weak of heart folk a seizure.

I was left baffled the whole fight, just… speechless and listening to this hollering Dragon shit talk me while getting his ass beat and demolished.

And then I accidentally killed his ass when I used a bit too much Magicka while using my Frost Magic.

At least that taught me that yes, my skill with my Frost Magic improves massively with my evolution, as before I could have never been able to unleash such massive spires of ice so easily or quickly. Hell, I probably wouldn't have been able to unleash them at all in the first place.

But now? Now it came off as quite easy, with my reserves of Magicka being around… ten or so times bigger, I'd say. Which is an enormous upgrade, but seeing how fast the requirements for my next Evolutions escalate, I'd say it's worth it.

Even my only Frost Spell grew a lot more powerful, with the size of the beam having nearly tripled and its biting coldness having grown several folds.

Again, such big increases in strength make me fear what the true heavy hitters can do.

Still… I at least discovered something else. For one...

[A Dragon Soul has been absorbed!]

[Dragon Soul]

The powerful Soul of an ancient, timeless being. Their very existence ignores time, and they grow mature through meditation, or by preying upon the Souls of their Kin.

This Soul can be used to grant a Unique upgrade to a Spell or Skill. Such upgrade will not count into the Spell Evolutionary Slot.

Or, instead of granting a Unique Upgrade for a Spell or Skill, the Dragon Soul can be used to learn a single Word of the Dragon Language.

I can indeed absorb Dragon Souls- And thanks to Aurelia, I presume that what I absorb is not the Soul itself, but the energy that makes it up, seeing how she devoured the real thing when she approached the impaled Dragon corpse.

That is an enormous relief to me.

Still, the Dragon Soul is indeed insanely valuable. The Unique Upgrade for a Spell, or the chance to learn a single Word for the Thu'um.

Dunno if it's a random Word, a Word of my choice, or one related to the Dragon I fought like with how it works with Aurelia.

Still, it is insanely valuable.

Speaking of my friend- "How do you feel?" I ask softly, crouched down beside the seated Aurelia, her back against one of the trees that survived her battle.

We are close to the corpse of her Dragon – which seems to have been decapitated – and I presume the temperature in the area is still quite high as the snow evaporates before reaching us.

I mean, there's a literal molten trench close to us. Yolosqah clearly had a fire breath that is pure bullshit.

"Tired…" Aurelia sighs softly, eyes closed and head rested back against the blackened trunk of the tree. "Full of energy, and very sore…"

Right, she killed and absorbed the Soul of a very powerful Dragon. I'm sure there is a point where she will feel so full of energy that she'll actually be sick.

Her Soul is that of a Dragon, but her body is that of a mortal human, the difference between the two is immense, and it'll be a while before her body can digest and catch up with such levels of power.

My eyes trail down her form, and to her right side, where her armor has clearly been shattered, exposing the black skin-tight bodysuit beneath.

With each movement, more pieces of her armor fall off, revealing more of her very fit and curvaceous body beneath. But I also notice how she is avoiding that side and is leaning on the other.

I have Restoration Magic now, so-

[Anodyne]

A simple yet effective Healing Spell. A small dome of Holy Magick that heals any ally within while also burning any Undead or Dark creature in its vicinity.

(0/5)

A small dome of lime green light spreads out around me, being around four meters in diameter in total.

Aurelia gasps, then sighs softly and relaxes once the dome of light appears, her posture shifting as the pain visibly leaves her face and body. "An Undead with Holy Magick… Well, at least it's you."

I tilt my head at that, "Should I take that as a compliment?"

"You'll take even being called stupid as a compliment."

"Why, thank you, my fair lady." She groans with a smile on her face, her posture relaxing even further as her tired eyes finally blink open.

She breathes in and tilts her head, then focuses her gaze on me, "Why did you let me fight alone?" I hum, hearing no anger or hate within her voice. Just genuine curiosity.

I remain quiet and mull over my words as my gaze trails to the decapitated corpse of Yolosqah, a very honorable Dragon who has my thanks and respect.

This fight is something that Aurelia needed. As I said before I left, I can't always by her side, and I cannot let the confidence and assurance I bring by being with her harm her when I am no longer around, either for one reason or the other.

"You were afraid." I start, turning my gaze back to her, "The Dragon in Helgen, the feeling of inadequacy he made you feel, the terror he rooted in your heart through the show of his power… It all lingered in you, and appeared each time you fought a Dragon."

"I saw it when Mirmulnir appeared, where you had a choice to run away… But now the Dragons know about you, know who you are, and can feel your general location, so running away isn't possible anymore."

"Mirmulnir fell due to mostly my action, so that fear you felt still lingered in you… And yet, you felled Yolosqah, who was far mightier than you."

Her gaze turns away, "I fought dirty."

"You fought using the tools at your disposal." I point out, "That is not fighting, but being resourceful. Would you say a Dragon fights dirty by the mere fact he uses his tail or claws instead of their Thu'um?" Her shoulders sag in defeat.

"Do not look down on your capabilities. I may not have watched the fight, but I know you were downright amazing." I raise my hand, then clench it into a fist and offer it to her as Anodyne slowly fades away.

Aurelia blinks, then smiles beautifully and bumps her own fist against mine. My fist opens up, and she takes my hand to help her stand up, more of her armor falling apart as she does so.

A sigh leaves her lips at that, "Years of traveling with this armor, and it took a Dragon to finally break it." Which, to admit, is insanely good. Whoever made this armor should be proud.

"It's a good thing we will have a great deal of money once we manage to sell the crown." To be fair, whoever wins the auction will also lose too.

Why? Because a great deal of their money will go upon acquiring the Jagged Crown. That's a great deal of war funds that they will throw away for a simple sentimental object.

Those who lose, while mad, will also gain a bit of an advantage, as they might be capable of affording more troops, paying them the same like before, and buying food and rations without digging through their reserves.

While the losers will have to look over their finances for a long while.

"And I need a new sword too…" Aurelia hums, and I tilt my head in thought.

"There might be a sword you could use, and that is made to hunt Dragons…" Dragonbane is a katana-like sword that deals extra damage to Dragons in the game, but it might be different here.

And I do not know if Aurelia even prefers using one-handed weapons. Unless the world bends over backwards and makes Dragonbane a greatsword just for her.

Aurelia gives me a strange look, "I'd still need a spare though, since I doubt it's close to Whiterun." I make a so-so gesture with my hand, which draws out a snort from her. "We can plan on that later. Now, I just want to go home, eat, and sleep."

That I am sure she deserves. "Then come on, I'm sure the horses are scared shitless."

They were, in fact, scared shitless. But at least they were still there, which made getting back to Whiterun a lot easier and faster.

We haven't been away that long- I'd say, at most, two or close to three hours? And most of that time was simply spent traveling between the two places.

Though, funnily enough, our horses barely made it past the gate before a certain redhead pounced upon us.

"You guys fought two fucking Dragons at the same time?!" Damn, have y'all been watching us from a distance this whole time?

It's an obvious thing to do- Watching the sky in the general direction of the previously sighted Dragon, I mean.

"Oh yes, it was a mighty dangerous battle where-"

"He killed his Dragon without breaking a sweat." Aurelia grumbles while tiredly jumping off her horse.

If I could, I'd be pouting at her right now. Still, having Aela and Farkas gape at me does feel good. "I blew his ass up then impaled the poor fucker."

"Do you make it a habit of going around and blowing Dragon's assholes up?"

"I have met three dragons so far, and I've blown two of their assholes up… So yes, it might become a habit." I can already hear the whispers of 'Leonidas, the Dragon Asshole Destroyer' in the wind.

"My brother from another mother." I fist bump the grinning Farkas while Aela sighs and palms her face with a 'Boys.' whisper.

"So you got it easy, while the woman had the worst?" Aela asks with a sharp tone as I get off my horse.

I stare at Aela, arms crossed below her bust and eyes glaring at me.

So I replicate her stance, "So you lookin' down on women now? Is that it?" I reply back with a snobbish, annoying tone.

"I hate you. So fucking much."

"You ain't the one traveling with me." At that, Aela throws a pitiful glance towards Aurelia.

The Dragonborn just whines and lowers her head, "You don't even know half of the bullshit he does…"

"I strip naked and beat people up at night. And hang Bosmer on trees."

Aela and Farkas snorts.

Aurelia turns away.

Aela blanches, then gapes at me in horror, "Ain't no fucking way-!"

"My brother from another mo-"

"Farkas, no!"

I still dap my fucking brother up, uncaring of the whining women.

Then, Farkas suddenly freezes and looks at me up and down, "Did you get bigger?"

"I ate my veggies."

"I hate veggies."

"They help you grow big and strong."

"Then I shall eat my veggies." You hear that, mothers from around the world? It's just that easy.

"Oh right!" I perk up and tilt my head to look at Aela, past the wall of muscles that is Farkas, "Did they end up finding Nazeem yet?" So I can beat his ass up again.

Aela blinks in confusion at my question… Then realization dawns a second later, "It was you!?"

"My brother from another mo-"

"Farkas, I swear to fucking Hircine!"

Bah, this woman can't enjoy the good little things in life. Like beating up Nazeem and making him disappear.

"Aela, please handle the horses for me." Aurelia growls out as she walks past me, dragging my collar then pulling me along, "I'll bring this idiot home."

"Punish me, mommy."

"Leo, I will crack your skull open."

I just hug my staff and let out a childish huff as I let Aurelia bodily drag me like I weigh nothing.

"Man, I must weigh like a bag full of bones, huh?"

Her knuckles pop from how loudly she is clenching her fists.

I let out another childish huff when she doesn't respond. I guess she is building an immunity to me, so perhaps I should find more people to annoy this way.

"I should probably go and wake up Serana…" I muse aloud. If I can convince her not to go back to her deranged daddy, she could be a good ally.

Plus, sexy goth vampire mommy.

"Who?" Is that steel I hear in thy voice, my dear Aurelia?

Meh, might be my imagination.

"Just a sexy vampire friend who doesn't even know I exist." Yet. But one day she will, and she will regret doing so.

For that is what I love doing!

Aurelia hums, then drops me as we reach our home, and I stare up at her as she brings out the keys to open the door.

Is she mad?

Maybe I took it too far.

I sigh and decide to stay quiet as I stand up, then follow her inside the cozy home- "Hm?" I perk up and look at Aurelia, who is looking towards the left, "A cat? How did it get in?"

I follow her gaze towards the table of the living room, and notice that indeed there is a cat sitting on it, staring right at us.

Small, pitch black, and red eyes.

Aurelia makes to move towards it, but I push the staff in front of her, "You should go and relax. I'll worry about the cat." She gives me a confused look, but is clearly too tired to care or question me, so she nods and sets off with a yawn.

I watch her go, keeping my eyes on her as she does so, and only turn back towards the cat once Aurelia is out of sight.

The moment my gaze lands on the cat staring right back at me, the sense of wrongness comes back full force.

It's like the Uncanny Valley feeling.

A sense of wrongness towards an Artificial Creation, or towards something that mimics a human appearance.

Yet, I feel it towards a cat.

A cat that does not blink, and visibly does not breathe.

There's only one explanation for such a thing.

"Of all the Daedric Princes I thought I'd meet first, you weren't among them… Hircine."

A large, unnatural and unsettling fanged grin spreads across the face of the black cat, its red eyes now outright glowing.

And then, the cat speaks-

"Trust me, I had to bodily fight Sheoggorath to seize this chance."

"Should I feel flattered, or…?"

"No one wants you two to meet- Well, beside Mehrunes Dagon."

"Oh come on, we ain't that bad."

The cat that is Hircine gives me a look.

I sniff and turn away. He got me.

"Let's just get to why I am here, before Sheoggorath tries to strangle me for wasting time."

And that is why that insane God is the one I worship!

                                                                                xxxXXXxxx

Aurelia glares at the bubbles before her as she taps the Magicka Stone enchanted with a water Spell, turning off the stream of hot, clean water.

Stupid, dumb skeleton.

Him and his stupid jokes, his weird existence, his dumb jokes, his violent attacks at night against innocent people, and his stupid jokes.

Why does that idiot have to be so damn attractive- Aurelia pushes her heated face underwater the moment that thought crossed her mind.

What the hell is wrong with her?

Why is she so stupidly focused on that silly fool? So much so that she feels… strangely on edge when he shared words with Aela earlier.

Like she wanted him to be focused on her, and only her.

Her cheeks burn even harder at that.

'Is it because of how much skin and cleavage Aela's armor shows?' Should she do that too…?

The water splashes everywhere as she hurriedly shakes those dirty thoughts out of her head. Perhaps she should have made the water cold, instead of hot.

Shaking her head, Aurelia allows herself to relax.

It's not like Leonidas has actively shown interest in anyone-

'Just a sexy vampire friend who doesn't even know I exist.'

Her hair flutter, the water boils, and her Magicka runs rampant for a split second.

The entire house quivers.

A.N. Leonidas, making ladies jealous without realizing.

Also, yes. Aurelia is possessive due to her Dragon side.

Hope y'all enjoyed this!

Toodles!