Chapter Text
Senna had a surprising amount of faith in prophecy. Alduin’s wall foretold the dragonborn’s victory (as far as she was concerned) and ballads sang praises of the dragonborn’s return to vanquish Alduin so the world could be safe from tyranny and destruction. Of course Skyrim had a lot of problems that would need cleaning up after the World Eater was vanquished, but if she was the Hero of Skyrim they would listen to her wouldn’t they?
It was probably because she wanted to believe all of this more than anything. She wanted to believe everything would work itself out. She needed to believe in that.
So she did all she could. Senna went to nearly every dragon mound she could track down, fought dozens of dragons roaming the countryside. She absorbed souls, learned shouts, and meditated on words at the throat of the world. She became a thane of several holds, tried to protect Skyrim and her people, and used the Akaviri gear for slaughtering dragons while hand crafting the biggest, baddest dragon armor so every dragon she came across would know just who it was that was killing them. With her multitude of shouts and heavy weapons, she finally felt ready to face her destiny.
The flight on Odahviing was exhilarating and terrifying, but a great opening for the last chapter in the life of the Bane of Kings. The large temple was a pain with draugr crawling it that she quickly smacked to pieces, priding herself as she only took minor damage. Even the dragon priest who guarded the door to the afterlife, while challenging, fell rather quick as adrenaline pumped through her veins.
One last place to go: Sovngarde, the land of the dead for her people. What a perfect place for a final battle that Senna was certain she would win. She would surely tell the tales of how it looked for years after her victory.
She jumped in quickly to the swirling energy, bright light surrounding and enveloping her like a current of water. It even felt a bit hard to breathe as it felt as though air was being sucked straight out of her lungs, much like the flight on the red drake’s back earlier. But soon enough, her feet met solid ground, and the energy flickered away, leaving her in a foggy clearing.
It was hard to see, and tinted blue. She could see in the mist, wandering helplessly, were stray soldiers from both sides of the civil war. Senna wondered, as she passed them by and she could hear the distant roaring of the World Eater, if she had struck any of them down in battle. At times she swore she could see the dragon’s black wings and glowing red eyes, but as soon as she looked up, they were gone. Maybe they were never even there in the first place.
Out of the fog, after shouting it away, she made it to the bridge where she was allowed to pass. The long, whale-bone bridge in front of her seemed ominous, every bit as terrifying and splendid as she imagined and then some. Even the land here was ethereal, unreal. Without the World Eater hunting souls she imagined it must be wondrous to do battle for eternity in its open fields, only to return and drink mead until you were full.
Senna looked forward to returning here after a long, fulfilling life.
Inside the hall, it was oddly solemn. The heroes knew Alduin was out there, hunting the souls of nords across the fields. And the heroes knew only the Last Dragonborn would be able to stop him before he got even stronger. They planned for battle, while some continued to drink and eat. Senna was invited to have her fill of food and drink (it was glorious and delicious, and she needed a mug of mead to steady her nerves), and then it was time to begin.
She shouted to clear the soul snaring fog, and as the drake approached, shouted at him with Dragonrend. Even with the shout he still proved difficult, as knowing her new ability he got much better at dodging it. He rained fire down at them, even in Sovngarde, as the skies in paradise darkened. Even some of the heroes trembled, trying to ground him as well.
They did succeed, though usually not for long. He would be forced to land, and Senna could get in a couple of good hits, before he flew back up as she had to dodge another meteor. She felt exhaustion creep into her bones as bit by bit, he continued to wear the heroes down. Then, with one swoop, he leaned in to grab Felldir in his jaws, swallowing him whole. The wounds made on him were healed, and he looked at her, tauntingly.
Senna felt fear creep up in her bones; of course he wouldn’t make this easier on her. Everywhere his fire touched from his shout left the ground completely scorched down to the rock, still burning hot and cracked. It was even worse than the other dragons—far worse in fact. She knew now why no other dragons really tried to fight him: Alduin could probably take dozens of them on at once fairly easily.
Senna grit her teeth, chugging a potion. Fine then, she would do the same! She wasn’t about to fall over. If he wanted to drag this fight out, she would keep on whaling at him and throw back everything he gave to her.
Soon enough during the grueling battle, Gormlaith was scooped up next. She cursed and swore at the giant beast—twice the size of an average dragon at least — and even cut up his face as he held her in his jaws. She embedded her sword in his scales with a valiant scream, before he shook his head violently. Her spine broke, and the sword dislodged, before he quickly swallowed her soul and form. The wounds she had inflicted healed, and the drake made eye contact with Senna once more.
A fearful chill ran up her spine at his taunt. Even if she died a valiant death here, there would be no afterlife with halls full of mead and merriment. It would just be agony, and then being absorbed into the World Eater’s enormous strength. Her arm trembled slightly as she downed another potion, and shouted at the dragon again.
It was just herself and Hakon One-eye now, though she could tell the man was equally terrified.
“If I fall too—” He shouted at her, as Alduin took flight once more to circle down at them as he called down more raining meteors, “Kill the World Eater, dragonborn!” She nodded as she did a roll to dodge one blazing rock, as Alduin used his frost shout this time. It instantly cooled the scorching ground and then some, going deep into the soil and freezing it solid, as steam evaporated. Her sword from the Blades was frozen to the ground, and with a hiss she abandoned it after she failed to pull it free, getting out her spare axe instead. Alduin landed of his own free will this time, and the ground under her trembled as he did so. In the distance lost souls could be heard shrieking in terror.
She ran quickly as Hakon used Dragonrend on the World Eater to keep him grounded. She went for his eye first, and when she missed she quickly began wailing on his wings, attempting to cut through the thinner skin to prevent flight. He roared and attempted to snatch her up into his maw, and she continued to dodge. It was only after he grabbed up her long braided hair in his teeth did she instantly feel death was upon her, but she quickly swung her axe back to chop the hair instantly.
It was her pride and joy, and would be a bitch to grow out again, but she would prefer her head still be on her shoulders than have her hair in one piece. Hundreds of strands hung from and in between his huge teeth, glittering like gold from the light of the violent storm above them, a reminder that it could have very easily been her bones and muscle in his maw.
If any man tried to give her shit for her shorter hair she would tell him it was because the World Eater nearly bit her head off, and then proceed to kick his ass while asking him if he would have been able to even face Alduin without pissing his pants.
She ran up the World Eater’s wing and back, mindful of his scales, as he began to move very quickly on the ground in an effort to shake her off. Senna was in a very precarious position as she attempted to move up and cleave his skull in half straight down the middle. She made a quick strike, and while it did cut open the skin, it mostly bounced and slid around on his heavily armored scales. They were as tough as ebony, and built to redirect her blade so it would be harder to hit his bones directly. Akatosh did a little too good of a job on him. Alduin was far harder to kill than he needed to be, impossible even—
No. It would be possible. Senna will kill him, even if she dies in the process. The World Eater will meet his end in Sovngarde, spit out the souls of the heroes he ate, and then she would throw the biggest feast in Sovngarde’s history as she came right back.
Senna was forced to jump off as he reared his neck up and shook violently, and she nearly broke her leg in the fall. More meteors came while she downed another potion, and from the corner of her eye she spotted Hakon get hit with one intensely. His form was crushed under it, the light of his soul flickering. If you died in Sovngarde, you returned to the hall, so he could hurry out to help her again. All she needed to do was make sure Alduin didn’t—
The World Eater’s huge maw slammed over Hakon, devouring him, the meteor, and soil under him in one fell swoop. The bleeding on Alduin’s head stopped, and Senna gave a shaky breath.
It was down to her and Alduin now. Of the mighty heroes who fought Alduin in the past and the one destined to defeat him, she was the only one left standing here, in the afterlife. But her nord blood wouldn’t allow her to back down from the challenge, as Alduin reared up and roared until it shook the entire plane. The Whalebone bridge even trembled, rattling from his might, and it grew even darker.
This was it.
She charged with a war cry, praying to every divine. She slashed, hacked, and attacked the dragon for all she was worth, dodging every blow he gave at her. He shouted, roared, and snapped his jaws, all of which she just barely survived. But she had been training for this very moment, for this final battle where the world rested on her shoulders.
Senna raised her axe up high as she attempted to go for his eye again, but the blasted drake made use of her growing exhaustion and quickly spread his wings, knocking her flat on her back. Something cracked loudly as he shoved far too much weight onto her, and her brain instantly went white as she screamed. Her leg was twisted badly under him, her femur fractured, and every thought left her head as she began to wail in pure agony, pinned under the World Eater.
“ Pitiful. ” He taunted, and while she had been learning dovahzul, she was far too preoccupied with the searing pain radiating up from her leg to focus on anything else, even as the wing forced her armor down against her chest and made it harder to breathe. “ You should know better than to fight me. You would never succeed. ” The meteors slowed down, as Senna’s thoughts slowly resumed. Her leg fucking hurt, but it was fine, adrenaline was pumping straight through her veins and dulling the pain somewhat, giving her enough willpower to keep moving. She reached her one free arm unto her bag and—
She was out of potions. She had downed the last stamina potion, and the knock to the ground had crushed her last healing one. Panic began to set in and she sucked in as deep of a breath as she could to try and shout him off, before his wing moved up and a talon pressed on her throat.
“ Silence .” Alduin commanded, and her body trembled.
She failed. The heroic dragonborn was out of options, down a leg, in pure agony, and currently pinned under the bringer of destruction himself. If she failed, no one could hope to kill him, could they?
The black dragon above her merely chuckled as terror crossed her mind, low and slow.
“You battle well, dovahkiin . Far better than I had expected. ” Senna was still looking for a way out of this mess as he looked down at her, bringing his huge maw closer. “I said before you were no dovah , but it seems you were determined to prove me wrong .” He drawled, shifting the weight off his wing slightly so she could gasp more air into her lungs. The dragonbone armor was cutting into her painfully still, but it was slightly easier to think with more oxygen. “Still, you failed , as expected .”
The bastard had complete confidence in his victory, and Senna grit her teeth. She could taste iron in her mouth as well, and with the last of her strength, moved down to the leathery wing on her and bit into it, thrashing her head about on instinct. She didn’t even realize this was a very dragon thing to do, but the drake above her certainly did.
“ You may be the only dov who dares to challenge me so seriously, yet still live so long .” His eyes narrowed, but he still chuckled. “Arrogance…” He didn’t seem at all perturbed by her attempts to bite her way out of his wing, her axe lying several feet out of her reach. “But curious all the same. ” She trembled again, and made eye contact with the dragon, baring her teeth.
“Such effort deserves a reward.” He spoke slowly, before moving his head closer. He opened his jaws, as Senna saw her life flash before her eyes. “ Sleep. ” He shouted, and instantly she was out cold.