"You consumed the deyra?"

  "Yes." Kaius nodded to the great wyrm resting upon its spire of rock. "This time I didn't leave anything behind."

  "And Naarifin?"

  "He fled before Reive hit the floor. He had an annoying habit of slipping away at a moment's notice." Carefully, feeling the stone outcrop pressing into his spine through the layers of furs, Kaius breathed out heavily and watched his misting breath get snatched away by the wind. "It didn't matter in the end. He had summoned what appeared to be every armed elf within the entire city and sent them at us. I know that for a while there, the others had considered leaving me behind after they saw what I really am, but in the end we managed to grab Tyr and flee. Don't ask me how we escaped the city and crossed the northern Rumare, but we did. Even for a smuggler, Swims-at-Night can perform true miracles with the proper motivation."

  Gazing into the blank emptiness of the sky seemed to be strangely soothing, and Kaius rested his head against the stones at his back, looking upwards with the dragon and letting his mind freely wander. He could feel the writhing essences within him, especially the daedric presence in his mind that used to be Rieve. Like many others, the daedra was part of him now, joined together into one being, along with three dragons and… others.

  "It took us a couple of weeks, but somehow we managed to evade the patrols and the hunting parties Naarifin sent after us. It… It was rough. We were all wounded, the others no longer trusted me like they used to, now that they knew I was a vampire. And Tyr…” For a moment Kaius’s fists clenched in the snow at his side. “I… I couldn’t leave him behind. I carried his body for over a week before we managed to evade the Dominion enough to bury him. He’s somewhere on the southern side of the Pale Pass. I’m not even sure exactly where with how careful we had to be with not leaving a trail for the Oiopelin following us. Somehow we managed to properly escape though when we encountered the Legion’s vanguard coming south through the Pass.”

  Slowly, carefully, Kaius growled to himself and crushed away the tingling of his jaw and the fact that his fangs had begun to grow in his mouth at the memories. Even thinking about that time and Tyr was enough to bring out the worst, more animalistic part of him.

  “None of us were coping well. Laaneth needed two days with the Legion’s healers to fix her hand, Swims-at-Night had an infection in his chest wound, and Cassia? Well… she wasn’t doing anywhere as well as what she was showing. She and Tyr had been lovers once, and if it hadn’t been for the war, I think the two of them would’ve started something together. She left us shortly after, returning to the VIII Legio and I know it wasn’t because of her sense of duty that made her do so. She was grieving in her own way, and the upcoming battle gave her something else to focus on.”

  "What did you do?"

  "Me?" Kaius glanced at the dragon to see that Paarthurnax's attention hadn't wavered from him in the slightest. "I went to Bruma as the Cyrodiilic Legions marched south. What was left of the Blades at this point had established a base of sorts in the city. There was armour and supplies there, so I retrieved some, and became the Black Blade again. By the time I rejoined the army though it was the first day of the Battle of the Red Ring, and Titus had been attacked by assassins during the night."

  "This Tyr… Why does his death weigh on you more than others? You have had friends before. Friends who have died, have you not?"

  "I have, but Tyr and I were closer than others. After my daughter was killed I was thrown into the slave pits the Dominion had established in the city. Naarifin and some of the other higher ranking commanders were all part of a Cult of Boethiah and they… they used me as part of their rituals. Slaves were forced to fight to the death for their amusement, and in honour of Boethiah, and I had lost myself. Caiden had been killed by the Thalmor immediately before the war, and then Astinoia was taken from me. I had nothing left."

  The heights of the mountain and the bitter wind froze the tears in Kaius’s eyes until he managed to suppress the sorrow and the rage and grief that was rising to the surface. "I succumbed to my curse, killing without thought or mercy. There was no ‘Kaius’ anymore. Just the vampire. I was a monster, just like all of the other progeny of Molag Bal, and I killed everyone they threw into the pen with me. That was, until they threw Tyr into the pit."

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  “Serviret Imperio Imperatoris. That’s what Tyr had said when they threw him into the pit. ‘Serve the Emperor and the Empire.” Glancing out of the corner of his eye to the still, almost stone like form of Paarthurnax watching and listening to his every word, Kaius smiled grimly, but there was no warmth in his eyes. “It’s the motto of the Blades, but he was saying his last words, fully expecting to die at my claws and fangs and somehow… I heard him. Through all the anger and hatred and bloodlust, I heard the oath, and it somehow brought me back.”

  “Hmm…” Again, the deep bass note rippled through the snow, sending tiny streams of it flowing down and over rocks where it had accumulated. "I would ask you a question of whether you believe it is better to be born good, or to overcome your evil nature through great effort, but I believe I already know your opinion on the matter."

  “All beings are capable of the most terrible of evils, and great generosity and kindness. It is the choices that we make that define who and what we are, and at that time, Tyr helped me choose to be more than just a… creature. I was gone at this point though. Beyond the brink, falling to darkness and insanity, and I know for certain that I had drawn Molag Bal’s attention. Tyr gave me back my humanity, made me reject the vampire and give me purpose again. He reminded me why I have lived the way I have, and that there are many, many others out there who need help and protection. That would come later though, in the pits he was just as shocked as all the damned Thalmor watching his ‘execution’ when I became human again. Especially when I responded with the same motto. His surprise didn’t stop us from fighting our way out of the pits and escaping.”

  Silence fell between them and other than the tiny twisting movements within Paarthurnax's tail, and the steady, slow rise and fall of his enormous chest, there was nothing to differentiate him from the mountain that was his home.

  "Dov wahlaan fah rel. There is much mystery around our true nature, but the dov were made to dominate. The will to power is in our sos… our blood, yet it seems that your will to dominate is not purely that of the dovahsos."

  "Indeed. I understood how powerful the desire to dominate is, even before I drank Hahdiinrii’s blood. To be a vampire, is to dominate others. It is a lust for power and control. Molag Bal is a twisted bastard and his curse is a perfect reflection of him. It’s insidious, and forces you to distrust yourself and your desires. Even after all this time I still wonder what parts of me are me, and what parts are the vampire."

  "Onikaan ni ov dovah; it is always wise to mistrust a dovah. You have overcome your nature through will and duty, while, I have overcome mine only through meditation and long study of the Way of the Voice. For both of us the struggle is unslaad… eternal. No day goes by where I am not tempted to return to my inborn nature. Zin krif horvut se suleyk. Honour is fighting the lure of power. "

  The great scaled head shifted down and hovered just a few metres from where Kaius sat crosslegged. Despite personally slaying three dragons, it was still disconcerting just how big and agile they were, especially when it was obvious that he could be grabbed in that enormous maw and swallowed without the requirement of chewing.

  "We cannot rid ourselves of our desire to dominate, all we can do is redirect it elsewhere. When I first came to live on the mountain, it was not just to wait for Alduin's return. Here, on the highest peak on the highest mountain in the world I could be alone, to contemplate my nature and the rotmulaag. Evenaar Bahlok. There are many hungers it is better to deny, than to feed." Paarthurnax nodded, slowly and carefully at Kaius. "Dreh ni nahkip. Discipline against the lesser hungers, aids in qahnaar... denial of the greater. You lost control once, but were there other times where you struggled against your nature? Times where you gained krongrah… Victory over your hunger?

  "Several times." A thin smile formed on Kaius’s face as he looked out over the vast horizons from on top of Nirn’s greatest mountain. Even the clouds seemed far below where they sat, seeing an ocean of plains, rolling hills and lesser mountains scattered from horizon to horizon. To the south though he could see the impossibility; a mortal built tower, only three hundred metres in height, but somehow standing as tall as the six kilometre, Throat of the World. Despite the hundreds of kilometres between them, Kaius could still actually see it clearly. White-Gold was like that, an impossibility made tangible with marble in the centre of the greatest city in the world, allowing itself to be seen from places that no ordinary tower ever could. It had been his home once, and a long time ago it was where he had helped create an Empire…