#i struggled with this one for a while

[aladaylessecondblog]

Faal Hah Wuld, pt. 27 "Shor"

https://archiveofourown.org/works/44876353/chapters/163964452

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Dragonrend is a dragon shout that weakens a dragon and forces it to land. It is said to do so by forcing a dragon to experience mortality, a completely foreign concept to the ageless and immortal dragons. For this very reason, it is impossible for any dragon to learn Dragonrend.

-----------------------------

The talk of the dream had Sadrith thinking. Not of the dream itself. But that one thing - the fear of what Father would do, that tumbled another recurring thought out the other side.

Mama? Who is my father?

She had asked her mother that question many times, and each time she seemed to get a different answer.

He was an arrogant ass not worth knowing.

The ash carried you to me, does it matter?

There was no father. I found you under a scathecraw leaf.

You were a gift from the ancestors.

Kogolanu had said that last bit many times, and patted her head or given her a hug.

She never doubted she was loved. Her mother always made it clear how much she'd wanted a child, how happy she was to have her. I thought I was beyond having children. I was married for two hundred years and never once did my womb quicken. But then, when I thought my courses were done and over with...

Then she'd look at Sadrith and a smile would cross her wrinkled face. Sometimes there'd be a kiss on the forehead.

You are my little mushroom. A welcome life sprung up from death.

And then she would tell some ashlander tale, or mention some little mischief Sadrith had gotten into and joke that Boethiah walked closely behind her. The subject would be changed.

Well, whoever her father was, no doubt he was much better than what poor Lorkhan had - having Sithis for a father would be worse than anything. What sort of parent would the master of the void be?

"Sadrith?"

She jolted out of her thoughts. "Hmm?"

"I think we're getting close. Do you hear anything? Any whispers?"

"No...do you?"

A pause.

"Not yet...but I expect we both will, soon, given Umbra's nature. I don't understand why you insisted on this."

"We get the sword," she said, "We get to Winterhold. We throw it into the sea or something like that. I'm sure that we'll figure out something."

"You are far too optimistic that this will end well."

"I have enough to worry about without thinking about something that hasn't even happened yet." She took a deep breath, and tried not to let the sting of Voryn's words get to her. He'd said as much enough times before - why should this feel any worse than it had before? Yet there it was - the ground beneath her mind giving way and dropping her into that cold silence that swallowed her whole.

But he's right, she thought, He would know. I should be less like I am...maybe more like he is. Nothing in, nothing out. Stoic.

And then a feeling, like a hand trailing over skin...but beneath it.

The Heart does not make itself small for the weak.

I am not making myself small...I'm tired of being mocked.

(Him. HE, the very same she had been told stories in, who she had been told was dead and gone, was again awake, and she had never wanted her mother so much as she did then.)

There had been mention of a mace being dropped by the cave door, and she was relieved to see it. She drew out Chillrend, and cast Candlelight.

"You don't feel any strange inclinations right now, do you?"

"No." It was a struggle not to say more, but she managed it.

Somehow.

On a table in the first room she picked up a note which she read aloud:

I, Cassipia Sagnus, Vigilant of Stendarr, do hereby issue this report on my investigation into the reports of a "dark presence" within Champion's Rest.

Champion's Rest is the site of an ancient battle arena where Nords would test their mettle in gladiatorial combat. Long believed to be lost to time, it was recently uncovered by mining prospectors near Shor's Stone after discovering a new deposit of silver.

Upon discovery, the miners say they witnessed a "ghost, clad head to toe in armor". While this alone was cause for concern, what they said next was even more foreboding: the spirit wielded a massive blade which seemed to "whisper" to them in their minds. This hints at the workings of a powerful Daedric artifact.

The only relic that matches this description is Umbra, once believed to be lost or, by some accounts, destroyed. Umbra is a sentient weapon who corrupts its bearer and compels them to kill so that the blade may feast on the souls of those it slays. It appears to have resurfaced here, though why I cannot say.

If the apparition that haunts this site truly is the resurgence of Umbra, then it has grown very powerful, and Shor's Stone is in grave danger.

The moment she was done reading she set it back down and started forward.

"Are you not going to form some sort of a plan before forging ahead like this?"

"No. I've dealt with things like this before."

"This is different."

"If you are going to act like this, I'll do it on my own. As I always have." The words were colder than she meant them, but they achieved the purpose she meant them to - it silenced him.

She was tired of his mocking, tired of his doubting. She wanted that silent certainty again. If it meant feeling low, that was a fair enough price...and her ill feeling never attacked her as some peoples' did. It was a void. It simply was.

And in many ways it was almost like a friend, but sometimes -

I am alone.

She kept ahead, so he wouldn't see her cringe.

Stop. Stop, this isn't the time. This isn't the TIME.

Then as if by way of a broken dam the rushing river was back, and she took a shaky breath in an attempt to force it back.

(Again, that feeling of being brushed beneath the skin. But this time, there was no voice.)

Voryn readied a spell in both hands once they'd passed through the silver mine and fired them at the ghostly figure that appeared at the center gate.

But it vanished before his spells crossed even half the distance.

"Locked gate..." she said, going up to check it. "No, it's not locked. There's two parts to this thing...so I guess we'll have to investigate the other two passages."

"You're sure about that?"

She didn't answer. She wanted to shout and scream at him, give an outlet to the sudden irrational anger running in her head. Did he have confidence in NOTHING? It made no sense. It made no sense at all.

Silence, noise. Void, chaos.

SILENCE! she shouted in her mind. I WANT SILENCE!

Thankfully, on solving the puzzle in the eastern side passage and pulling the lever in the main room, it finally came.

The familiar sound of stone breaking.

It was wonderful to enter the state that followed, the certain way forward that carried her sword through those undead draugr. Voryn must have shot down a few, for when she looked up from her last kill there were some burned on the ground.

Automatically, she moved off to the next chamber - and seeing the oil pot above almost immediately, struck it down with an arrow.

"Are you MAD?"

"Better to have it burn now than soak our boots," Sadrith replied flatly. She thought of adding that she did this all the time, but decided against it. He would doubt her anyway.

Another rotation puzzle.

These are so obvious...any fool could figure them out.

Any LIVE fool.

What? She yanked the lever, and then wordlessly headed back to the main chamber.

Little heart, you do not see. This was not meant to keep you out. It was meant to keep them in.

Sadrith shivered - and then stiffened when she saw the waiting figure ahead.

It was not Umbra, but a dragon priest which turned and shouted almost immediately.

"FUS...RO DAH!"

Both she and Voryn tumbled, and she scrambled back to her feet with Chillrend still in hand. The dragon priest moved too quickly - so she shouted, "TIID KLO UI!"

The world seemed to slow down around her. The shock of the dragon priest was obvious, despite not being able to see (his? her?) face. There were dragon tongue words said, but she hardly heard them.

And then, a different Shout from him - instead of the FUS RO DAH she was expecting.

"AL-DU-IN!"

The rushing river returned in full force--more than running, it screamed and roared. In her mind's eye Sadrith saw Alduin, limp, lifeless - and then looking at her again as he had in the painting with Dibella's brush.

I need something to make the shadow solid. The immortal mortal, but I cannot do that myself, it must be them, faal joor.

Dagoth Ur all but shouted in her mind in words she could not understand -- apart, together. There was then the feeling of confinement, of being pushed. Then that swirling chaos cut through and away, as it had been with the sword of Jyggalag. The storm was outside what he was doing, she could FEEL it, but -

She moved forward, half stumbling (where was Voryn?) to strike at the priest.

Again he shouted. "AL-DU-IN!"

Lokkiim, go to Paarthurnax. Go, and teach the mortals dragon-speech. Use not my name. Joorre rahgot. It is risky, this plan, but it must be done.

He growled in pain, but turned to face her one more time, raised his rotted arms as if casting a spell, and shouted one last time.

"AL-DU-IN!"

Once more she saw Alduin, limp but looking right at her with his dead eyes.

Why did I not absorb his soul like the rest? was a question that had burned at her until it didn't, until she went back into Shor's Hall and feasted until it was time to leave. Until she had forgotten it.

Why? Why?

A look down at herself from above, in Sovngarde.

Why did I not take his soul?

And then another thought, discordant more so than the rest, a thought she was sure wasn't Dagoth Ur, and didn't belong.

How can you take that which is already yours?

Mu gein, we serve the same end, dovahkiin.

Kill. Kill them all, bring the end!

Nil kren, time is short and Father is strong. Do not listen. Do not give in or all We have worked for is lost.

"We? I'm not you - this isn't--" (Where was she? Was this still Real or not?)

Madness. Logic. Fire. Shadow. Warrior. Emperor. One. Eleven. Ayleid. You must have the parts of Us to have a chance, kendov. And the weapon, silnaak, you must have the weapon. Tiidsizaan.

Then she looked suddenly once more at the dragon priest.

But it seemed all the fight had gone out of the dragon priest. He let himself be cut down, didn't fight a bit as she moved to lop off an arm, and was killed within the minute with nothing more than a final word.

"Shor."

The river, the rushing, constant chaos leaped up to drown her, left her shrieking -

- and then receded slowly, leaving Sadrith breathing hard and staring down at the remains of the dragon priest. But there was no time to linger - she heard ahead the sound of armored boots stepping loudly.

She turned to see where Voryn was, and saw him on the ground, as if he'd simply collapsed.

Leave him. We don't need him - there are more important things to deal with.

"I'm not leaving him here."

You think I care to hold back your madness forever?

"And let the Heart go out of your influence?" was the first thing Sadrith could think to say. It must have worked, for Dagoth Ur said nothing more afterward.

She knelt over Voryn's body, noting his eyes were wide open. She didn't feel his heart beating - but it hadn't done that before. And out of ideas, not knowing what else to do, knowing she'd do better against Umbra or its wielder with help -

She cut her wrist and laid the cut on his lips so the blood would trickle into his mouth and lay her other hand on his head to cast a healing spell.

Get up, she thought, trying to will it, I SAID GET UP!

The magic tingled in her fingers - and a moment later he sputted. Then the blood must have crossed his tongue, because the next moment his hands came up to clench at her fingers and wrist. He drank from that slight fountain greedily, until at last he seemed to come back to himself and pushed it back.

"You can't keep doing that," he said, wiping the remaining drops of blood on his lips, "You can't, you KNOW--"

"So next time I should just leave you dead?" She scoffed and stood. "On your feet. I think Umbra's close, so I'm going to need you."

He hesitated. Only briefly, but he did.

Sadrith groaned and went on. "Or I could just do it alone, like I do everything else."

"Are you trying to tell me something?"

"No. I'm done trying to tell you anything." Sadrith relit Candlelight and kept walking, noting the pressure plates on the ground and telling him where to step around. The bodies were many, and she could swear some of the bodies had been ash zombies. There were a few stormcloaks, even a Thalmor or two. "Is that cautious enough for you? Maybe I should have listened to Dagoth Ur and left you where you fell."

She knew it was a mistake to say that but the urge to speak the words had come and she was feeling just - too overwhelmed not to let them come out.

"First Dagoth Ur, now Umbra and this Alduin business...and you keep pushing and prodding me at every turn. It's as if the world wants to push me into a rage."

She was afraid of the idea. It had been exciting before but now...

"Alduin business? Whatever happened, I knew nothing. He shouted, 'Alduin' and the next thing I know I had your blood in my mouth."

He might be eager for a change of subject. Maybe he didn't like it when the subject of his ire actually talked back. He was lucky, she thought, that she was eager for a change too.

"He shouted Alduin and I saw Alduin," Sadrith said. "When--I fought him with the Nord heroes, I didn't absorb his soul."

"You told me this already. Why did it matter?"

"Because I absorb the soul of EVERY dragon that I've fought. I never did with Alduin, and when I--when I..." She took a deep breath. "In that vision, or whatever it was, I saw Alduin's dead body look up and me...and I heard a voice I'm sure wasn't his, but...it said 'You can't take what's already yours.'"

"What's already yours..."

There was a pause when they saw the ghost again. It stopped, turned, walked ahead, and then vanished again.

"I know you're tired of hearing this, but..."

"I know. I need to be careful. I need to watch out. Constantly. For Dagoth Ur, for this, for..."

"For the urge to destroy, as Alduin wanted."

"So now you think me a threat?"

"You are a Shezarrine, you were born a threat," he said, "But this idea that you are ALDUIN, it lends to the thought that he was one too."

"He was the firstborn of Akatosh--"

"And in some circles that no longer exist," Voryn replied calmly, "Lorkhan was said to have been cleaved from Akatosh. Could that not be called a birth?"

"Then why Alduin? Why the different name?"

"Why was I Dagoth Ur?"

He had her there.

"Let us finish this business with Umbra. Then I swear I will talk it out with you."

The matter of Dagoth Ur "assisting" her could be dropped. She had a handle on it, on him. If he became a problem later, THEN she would mention him. But for now, considering she had MAYBE half a bottle of skooma, she wouldn't say no to some help.

And this shit with Alduin. What in the hell kind of sense did that make? Why would SHE be Alduin if Alduin was Alduin? More importantly what sense did it make to have the Last Dragonborn defeat him while BEING him?

At the same time...

She thought back to Helgen, to that moment she'd made eye contact with Alduin. The moment she'd wondered just how much worse the day could get. He Shouted and all oblivion had broken loose.

More bodies. Ash zombies, who looked to be more decayed than the random Stormcloaks and stray Thalmor.

"How did they all get down here?"

"I have no idea," he replied.

She could feel Voryn's eyes on her again when they entered what was clearly an arena.

Kill.

"This will be easy," she said.

Kill.

The ebony figure advanced.

KILL!

"Don't let me go mad," Sadrith said suddenly, looking up at Voryn as she drew her sword. "I'll...explain--after."

[cuttle-creatures]

Continued my indulgent concept work spree, this time focusing the momentum on updating some concepts from one of my projects (Wind Through the Grass).

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Learning to celebrate the little wins!

[side-of-honey]

Hi my undertale yellow followers sorry for not posting in 5 years. Woe my dumb doodles be upon ye

Based mostly on uty ost comments I thought were funny + some ut red&yellow for fun :)

[panstarry]

my final from last semester that i made into a zine. cooked this one up in a couple hours before the critique (the ink was still wet!), so it's very raw and kind of sloppy but the sentiment is there. i love you trans people of color. we are the backbone of this community 🌟

[micamone]

hewwo

[teazart]

[wishing-well-art]

My piece for the @trafficzine 5th edition! It was such an honor to have my piece alongside so many other amazing artists in this fandom, and it's especially special since Secret Life was the first life series I watched!

I'm so proud of this piece, the mounders have my whole heart... See if you can name all the little mounders moments I put in the panels :]

Alternate versions and sketches below the cut!

Top two are sketches from when I was laying out how I wanted the final thing to look like, bottom left was the first draft of the piece until I decided I wanted more little references to other Mounder's moments across the piece, I still love it; and bottom right is the lined version of it when I was still struggling with color and figuring out how the sparkly parts were meant to look.

[wardingshout]

Maybe a Ravio?? He gives me life, maybe he can give you life.

Ravio for you ! :D

I don't actually know too much about him but his outfit looks very cuddly sleepy-ish...

[thats-a-lot-of-cortisol]

I know a lot of people have drawn Astarion in the Fallen Angel pose but I think it suits Wyll just as nicely, especially considering his story arc & relationship with his father

[fantasykiri5]

Can you believe that she was TWO different weird inhuman creatures in both empires seasons?

Featuring a slight redesign of my Ocean Queen Lizzie design, because my old one was pissing me off

[turrondeluxe]

I SCREAM, YOU SCREAM!!!!🗣️💥💥💥

commission for @/chamomila_tea_ on insta!

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Cite your sources.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[maplemaplemaplemaplemaple]

and if you don't dance you will be still

and if you're still you will never move again

study of this piece by megumi sugizaki !! apologies that i can't find it in any higher resolution

[thewhizzyhead]

how genderbending the warriors (2024) is done not for the sole sake of "bad-assery"

okay here we go feminist ramble time for our newest chick on the block: warriors. now i'll be honest, prior to listening to the album, when i first heard that the warriors main girls were originally dudes in the movie and the novel, i thought that the decision for the genderbending, in lmm's perspective, were from the following: 1.) girl power move in like a very basic meaning of the word "bad-ass" 2.) simply a twist on a cult movie about big gang bros loved by the film bros, and 3.) a way to have the schuyler sisters back together gjfkdfldf

but when i read more about warriors and its development and how lmm took inspiration from the gamergate controversies of 2014-2015 aka among the peak of gamerbro misogyny campaigns, that's when i realized that Oh Shit Is Serious - because adapting a story about a group being framed and targeted and harassed for something they are accused of doing without any substantial proof other than a man screaming "THE WARRIORS SHOT CYYYYRUUS" with 21st century misogyny campaigns in mind makes the theme of fighting back a lot more complicated and a lot more resonant, going beyond just marketing a cast you can call "badass"

take the hurricanes' quiet girls, for example. the hurricanes (concept album version) is the only gang that lets the warriors off the hook and with a stern warning: quiet girls don't make it home. here, the hurricanes berate the warriors for not saying shit or attempting to defend themselves from accusations they know well aren't true. THIS MESSAGE IN PARTICULAR is what stays and influences ajax, fox, and swan til the very end of their stories.

literally one song after this does ajax show how easily she resonated with the hurricanes' lesson by finally sticking with her gut and actually choosing to fight back against both the baseball furies AND against the sleazy undercover cop. the latter encounter is one of the instances that really solidifies the recontextualization of the story because in the OG movie, ajax (a dude) WAS the sleazy fuck up harassing a woman in a park - and now with the literal character switch, ajax goes from being just a rebellious gangbro dude bro into someone whose want to fight is warranted. such a want to fight is seen in fox seeing as fox is the first to comment on the quiet girls scene and that, in the concept album, she is the one that instigates the rumble against the police in union square - saying that she is sick of being afraid of them and their 'fuckin powder blue' colors (also notice how she is the only warrior that really does say fuck the cops i think that's cool BUT I'LL TALK ABOUT FOX MORE NEXT TIME)

to a less obvious extent, swan also gets the receiving end of this recurring theme - by the album's finale, the usually violence-averse caution-first interim leader becomes a lot fiercer in protecting her crew. but perhaps among what i consider to be the biggest recontextualized change in the feminist sense is MERCY and her motivations to join the warriors in the first place. according to the wiki, her attraction to swan and the warriors and um seeing the orphans as wimps is what led her to switch sides BUT IN THE CONCEPT ALBUM, mercy's motivation to become a warrior is deepened, rooted in admiration rather than attraction - wanting to be like those women who hold their head up high. and again, we see this in Sick of Runnin' when she takes part in the rumble, finding her bravery within their ranks as they fight back. here, mercy becomes less of a swan tagalong and more of someone that wants what the warriors have: pride.

of course now that i type this out i realize that warriors is not based solely on the feminist rhetoric as with their theme of hope amidst adversity, the story is more intersectional and rooted in community struggle and wanting for more than that. but nonetheless, i genuinely believe that the twt filmbros arguments on why the genders should not have been changed in the first place just for "woke" points is kinda like,,,very shortsighted because not only does the narrative of women narrowly escaping unwarranted accusations actually fucking fit, but the act of learning to fight back amidst all odds - be it that of disbelieving, predatory men or the power of oppressive pigs - stays resonant for women yesterday, today, and the days to come.

ultimately, warriors (2024) is not solely a tale of female badassery - rather, it is a tale of the need for such "female badassery" in the face of past and present realities, which is why it somehow fucking worked.

[homolobotomized]

ARE WE STILL FRIENDS?