Hunter Chapter 10: A Burst of Light that Blinded Every Angel

This is a Skyrim/Alan Wake 2 fic. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

This chapter has been edited due to content. If you want to see the unedited version GO HERE.

JASH

My sword cleaved the Thalmor’s arm from his shoulder. As his mace clanged to the Blue Palace’s floor, his retaliatory fire spell was blocked by my ward. He attempted to dodge my next attack and was reward with my sword piercing his pathetic excuse of a heart.

I grinned and looked for my next victim.

Just as my eyes found new prey, the loud sound of an explosion reverberated off of both me and the palace’s walls. The next thing my mind noticed was flesh and blood. Whatever had caused the explosion was efficient as each piece of flesh was small while the blood felt like an ocean wave crashing against me.

As my body turned to look behind me I knew what had happened. Alex Casey, my husband, had been the only one behind me. Therefore it must be his blood and his flesh that now stained my scales.

Nirn slipped from beneath me as I looked at the disfigured circle where Alex had stood. Some of his flesh was sliding off the door and plummeting from the ceiling. He and I were supposed to spend an eternity together! I had fought for him to be by my side and now…no!

Wait…his body was dead but that meant his soul was at the Mountain! My plane of Oblivion was where we could be together for an eternity. I should wait until after the siege to search for Alex but my heart wouldn’t allow that kind of patience.

With my mind I reached for the current that lead to the Mountain. This was the way I could sense every soul that had dedicated itself to me. But I couldn’t sense Alex. He wasn’t there. No!

At least there were Thalmor to slaughter. The bloodshed would provide a nice distraction. I found the closest one to me and my sword sent her head rolling to the ground. An Elemental Bolt both burned and electrocuted a group of the elves that had been running to attack me.

As my path through the Blue Palace became drenched in fire and blood, I conjured a bear to slaughter those I couldn’t reach. The bear also protected the innocents in the palace that I couldn’t be ****** with.

I didn’t have to open the door to Elisif’s chambers as it had already been forced open. She lay on the floor broken and bloody, but alive. A Thalmor held a dagger that shone more brightly than the smile on his face. All that remained of his opposition were corpses that sometimes had all their limbs.

Fire was the thing that usually comforted me but I had a different plan for the one who would dare to kill the High Queen. Out of my hand I sent an Ice Spike to the Thalmor’s neck. He didn’t have enough time to react before his corpse fell onto Elisif who had enough strength to scream.

I tossed my sword to the ground and grabbed the Thalmor. If not for the woman underneath him, I would have taken the corpse as a meal. Maybe all I needed was fresh flesh to ease the pain radiating throughout my entire being.

But as Elisif was here, I just casually tossed the corpse across the room. Had he been the reason my husband’s blood now lathered my body? Had he come up with that trap? Maybe I should have had taken him to Dawnstar and tortured to the brink of insanity for decades.

I looked down at Elisif. The woman still had beauty even while close to death. Even broken, I felt compelled to follow her to the places of Nirn that were only talked about as legends. With the fading strength in her eyes, I was able to gather the resolve to heal her to the point it looked like she had never been harmed.

Once Elisif was completely healed, she didn’t let out even a whimper. She held out a hand and I took it. With my help she was able to stand up and start walking around the room.

“You came right in time.” Elisif said.

“If he had been properly focused on the hunt, I wouldn’t have had time to save you.” I said softly. “He was a poor hunter.”

Elisif knelt down by one of the fallen guards. When I didn’t hear anyone come near us for a minute, all the strength in me crumpled. My legs and tail no longer supported me so I went crashing to the floor.

I cried out for Alex. I cried out for another husband that had died. Unlike Scouts-Many-Marshes, I hadn’t been able to say any words of parting to him.

Wait…maybe all wasn’t lost. My search for Alex’s soul had been brief due to my focus having been needed for other things. Now the Thalmor weren’t attacking the palace anymore, though I could hear faint screams from the streets, and Elisif was safe for the moment. I closed my eyes and focused more intensely on the Mountain.

I felt the cool air blowing across the landscape. I felt the various souls that were now part of my plane and gave me power. Some of them were content where they were while others wished they had had more time in Mundus. The souls hailed from all the races of Tamriel.

But none of the souls were Alex. None of them radiated in the way Alex’s had.

I opened my eyes and the fact that Alex was gone became impossible to avoid. For some reason the bite on his neck hadn’t been enough to claim him. Something had gone wrong and I had been too stupid to pick up on that fact. Aleksi Kesa and Saga Anderson must have been warnings that should have alerted me.

But I had been too confident in myself.

Only Alex’s return could heal my soul but that would never happen. Scouts’ smile came to me then and I knew that there was only one way to keep calm in this moment. The By My Soul Shout could heal me and allow me to continue.

“Naal Dii Sil!” I Shouted.

This time things felt different. There was a power in the Shout that had never been there before. Usually the Shout lit up a small area around me that made everyone in its radius confront their entire soul. Even the parts they liked to hide from as the Shout made it impossible to lie to yourself.

Now the light permeated every inch of the room and the hall outside the door. Elisif walked slowly to the window and looked out.

“Shore’s Bones,” Elisif whispered. “Your light has engulfed all of Haafingar.”

I cried out as the light faded. The Shout hadn’t given me any reasons for peace, it had only given me more ways to feel pain. I couldn’t hide from the fact I had allowed two husbands to die. I couldn’t hide from the fact that the safest course of action would be to close off my heart forevermore. I didn’t want to risk anyone else just because my heart was selfish.

The noise of feet echoed close by and I stood up. The spell in my hand went out when I saw it was just a guard. A guard that looked bruised and tired from the siege.

“Your Grace,” The guard said and bowed. “The light has saved us.”

“Did it truly cover all of Haafingar?” Elisif asked.

“Yes. I was with a group on the walls and saw how far it shone.”

“How did the light save Solitude?” I asked.

“When the light shone all of us felt a renewed sense of purpose. I, my fellow guards, and even the commoners felt the strength to fight against the Thalmor.”

“You expect me to believe every last Thalmor was killed?”

“The Thalmor that didn’t die from the people of Skyrim, did so by their own blades or spells.”

The By My Soul Shout had never been intended to be a weapon of war. In Bright Falls it was a weapon but only because the Dark Presence was repelled by light. And the Shout had been much more powerful than most light sources.

“The By My Soul Shout, what caused the light, is not a weapon of war.” I said. “It’s a way for me to meditate. The power of it comes from the fact that anyone caught in the light will be unable to hide from themselves. The parts of you that you pretend don’t exist, are clearly exposed. There is no other choice.”

“Some of the Thalmor regretted their choices?” Elisif asked. “They knew what they did was wrong?”

“But they hid the truth from themselves and committed atrocities in the name of justice. If they fully accepted the fact their cause was wrong, they wouldn’t have killed themselves when they were unable to hide from the truth any longer.”

Elisif nodded and we were all silent for a moment. Even though Alex was dead, I was glad that both Elisif and Solitude were saved.

“What should I tell the people, Your Grace?” The guard asked.

Elisif looked at me and I knew that she would award me another title. She would give people even more reasons to praise my name and so my worshipers would grow in numbers. That was just the painful way of things.

“Jash has saved Haafingar this night by sharing his strength.” Elisif answered. “For his effort he will now be known as the Light of Haafingar. May the memory of this miracle never fade from memory.”

The guard bowed and left the room. As his footsteps became more faint I felt the last of my strength leave me.