17th of Last Seed, 4E 201

How could this be? I had just witnessed a beast as dark as Oblivion with eyes like molten ebony crash to the earth and call down the fury of the gods. When that... that thing's eyes fell on me, I swore I heard an ethereal voice whispering malice in my ear. I had screamed in fear and bolted towards the nearest open door, where a Stormcloak man—Ralof—was waiting to pull me into the safety of the guard tower.

As soon as I got inside, I fell to my knees. Moisture covered my cheeks, and I realized after a moment that the moisture was shed tears.

"Jarl Ulfric, could the legends be true?" asked Ralof behind me. I looked over my shoulder to see him addressing Ulfric.

"Legends don't burn down villages," said Ulfric, voice deep and somehow calm. Just the way I had remembered.

I got to my feet—not an easy task with my hands still bound. Around me were three other Stormcloaks, two on the floor and one kneeling beside them. They must have been injured by one of the falling rocks. From outside the doors came screams and roars and other horrific sounds. I wanted to block up my ears, bury myself in the earth, and escape it all.

"Prisoner!" said Ralof, grabbing me by the elbow. "Come on! Up through the tower." He started to pull me, but my legs were shaking so badly, I nearly lost my footing.

"Look at me, girl." To make sure I was looking at him, he cupped his free hand to my cheek. "We're getting out of here. Come with me."

I followed him up the stone stairs to the next level. Part of the structure had caved in, blocking us from the top. Another Stormcloak was trying to clear the stones away. He motioned for us to join him. "Come on! Help me move these rocks!"

Just as we stepped forward to help, the wall was blown open, and I was knocked off my feet. I rolled down the stairs, hitting my head only a few steps down. I cried out, vision swirling, as a rough hand grabbed my arm and pulled me back to my feet.

"You all right?" asked the man who had helped me up. I could only guess the man was Ralof.

After blinking to clear my vision, I nodded, seeing that it was indeed Ralof who had helped me.

We hurried back up the stairs again. Ralof pushed me closer to the gaping hole in the wall. I peered over the edge, seeing nothing but death and destruction consuming the town. By the gods, how could this happen?

"Do you see that roof down there?" asked Ralof, jarring me from my stupor. I followed his gaze to the burning building several feet below us. "Jump down to it and hurry to the Keep! We'll catch up with you as soon as we can!"

"Jump?!" I turned back to him. "But what are you going to do?!"

"Don't worry about us! Just go!"

I looked back to the rooftop, my stomach sinking into my toes. If I had anything in my stomach, I would have thrown up.

You jumped off Bard's Leap Summit and survived. This is nothing, Ylva.

I steeled myself, bent my knees, then jumped. I fell through the hot air, crashing through the burning straw roof and landing hard onto the wooden floor. Something in my right ankle snapped, and I rolled to absorb the rest of my momentum. It took me a moment to see anything past the pain shooting up my leg. Pushing myself upright, I tested my wounded ankle, finding it hard to stand on it. But I could stand on it, so at least I had not broken anything.

I limped towards a hole in the floor, then gingerly hopped down to the first floor. I took special care not to land too hard on my feet, so I would not damage both ankles. Once I got my bearings, I pushed my way through the crumbling wall and into the chaos outside.

Imperial soldiers in leather armor ran all over, shooting arrows into the sky. Townspeople screamed as they fled. The monster roared, rending the sky with its cries, and more rocks thundered down from the heavens.

I spotted someone taking shelter behind a burning house, and I limped towards them. It was the kind Imperial who tried to keep me and those two other people from being wrongfully executed. What happened to those people? I wondered, then reminded myself that I had more pressing matters to deal with.

The Imperial was kneeling next to a small body, and as I got closer, I realized—with horror chilling my blood—that it was a child. A boy, no older than eight winters.

"Gods, Hamming," murmured the soldier, closing the boy's eyes. "May you find rest in Sovngarde." He stood, then turned to me. "Still alive, huh? Best stick with me if you want to stay that way." He glanced at my feet, probably noticing that I was not putting any weight on my right foot, then back at my face. "Can you run?"

"I hope so."

He nodded. "Then let's go." He drew his sword and rushed out from hiding. I had no choice but to follow, every step making me cry out in pain.

"Name's Hadvar, by the way!" the solider yelled to me as we raced behind another small home. I was just about to introduce myself when Hadvar pushed me against a stone wall and covered my mouth with his hand. The monster landed on the wall just above us, shooting flames out of its toothy maw. It then shot back into the air with a mighty roar.

"Keep moving!" yelled Hadvar, and we took off again. We weaved through the debris-filled streets, dodging fallen rocks, burning wood, and worst of all, charred bodies. It took everything I had not to collapse in the middle of it all. How were we supposed to survive when so many had already fallen?

We fled through what was once the town square, past Imperial battle-mages trying to shoot that creature down with blasts of fire, and towards the Keep. We ran between bowmen and under a stone archway that was miraculously still standing. All the way, there was carnage. Destruction I would never be able to erase from my memory.

"Ralof! You damn traitor!" yelled Hadvar. "Get out of my way!"

I stopped behind Hadvar as he faced off with Ralof. They both wore an expression of hate, but behind the hate was something else. Something like regret. What did that mean?

"Hadvar, you can't go back that way!" said Ralof, the hatred melting from his expression. His face was now bent in fear. "It's too dangerous!"

"I'm certainly not going with you! Come on, prisoner!" He motioned for me to follow, then took off running towards the far end of the Keep. Many other soldiers followed after him.

I started to follow, but Ralof stuck his arm out and stopped me. Then, he threw down his axe and chased after them. "Hadvar, wait!" He outstretched his hand, as if trying to grab Hadvar's arm.

Just as he was about to catch up with them, the beast as black as night rammed straight into one of the tallest watchtowers, sending stones raining down upon the Imperials. Their screams were drowned out by the sounds of their bones being crushed beneath the rocks. I screamed, too, as every one of them was buried under tons of debris. The last I saw of Hadvar was a look of disbelief as a stone as tall as I was fell on top of him.

Oh, gods. Oh, gods. Oh, gods....

Ralof stood at the very edge of the rubble, his arm that had been stretched now cradled to his chest. He turned around, seeing me standing there like a fool, hands over my mouth and fresh tears streaming down my face. He rushed towards me, grabbed my arm, and dragged me into the Keep, where he slammed and barred the door behind us.

When he let me go, I sank to the floor, sobbing my heart out. It had all happened so fast. One moment, I had a boot planted on the small of my back, and I had been praying that the Divines would receive me into Sovngarde, then the next, I was huddled against the wall of Helgen's Keep, hands still bound and head resting against my knees. After a harrowing race to the Keep, I had nearly lost my life on more than one occasion. Those men out there... they were all dead. Every last one of them. I had watched as that thing—people were calling it a dragon—pushed an entire tower on top of the only Imperial solider kind enough to help me. I watched him die.

I rocked back and forth, tears still running down my dirty face. I had faced so many challenges in my short life, but this... what did all of this mean?

"Girl, are you listening?"

I did not bother to pick my head up as the man, Ralof, laid his hands on my shoulders. "Girl, listen to me."

"They're all dead!" I nearly screamed, shaking with terror. "That thing killed them all! Even that poor boy, Hamming!" I finally looked at him, hardly able to distinguish his features past the tears in my eyes. "We're going to die, too."

"No, we're not. We're not going to die here." Ralof took one of his hands off my shoulder and cupped it to my cheek. "What's your name?"

"Y-Y-Yl..." I shook my head. "I'm sorry, I can't...."

Ralof sighed. "I'll just call you Raven, then. Is that all right?"

I nodded.

"Raven, you and I are going to get out of here. The only way we can do that, though, is if you pull yourself together and get up. I can't carry you out of here."

My gaze flitted to the nasty cut in his left arm. He got it when he had tried to save Hadvar from running under the falling tower. He had tried to grab his arm, but it was too late by then. A rock had struck Ralof's forearm, cutting a deep gash into the skin and possibly breaking the bone.

"Raven, look at me and take a deep breath."

I did as he said, locking my eyes back on his and forcing myself to take in a deep, shaky breath.

Ralof nodded, a gentle smile on his face. "That's it, girl. Keep doing that, then get up when you're ready. I've found some gear for you. It'll be better protection than the rags you're wearing." Then, he looked down at my hands. "I didn't realize you were still bound. Here." Gently, he held my wrists and cut through the coarse rope with a small dagger.

I rubbed my sore wrists, then wiped the back of my hand under my nose. "Thank... thank you."

He nodded again, then stood up. "Keep breathing," he said as he walked away.

I was still shaking, but my breathing was becoming steadier and my head, clearer. In the next few minutes, I would feel well enough to get up and keep going.

Ralof returned a few minutes later, dropping some Stormcloak armor and boots in front of me. "I found one of our men over there." He tossed his head towards a naked corpse lying face-down under a table. "He had a nasty wound on his head. Reckon one of those rocks hit him. He doesn't need his armor anymore." He turned his back to me. "Change quickly."

Holding my breath, I stripped my old clothes off and exchanged them for the still-warm armor. The blue sash across the chest was stained with blood. I had to pull the trousers up to the bottom of my ribcage and tighten the belt all the way just to keep them from falling down. The boots were two sizes too big, so I took my old pair of leggings and ripped them to shreds and stuffed them into the toes of the boots. I also wrapped my ankle for good measure. Lastly, I cinched the sword strap across my chest, then took the long greatsword Ralof offered me.

"Give it a few swings. I'm going to see if I can find a key to the doors."

The iron blade was heavier than my old sword, the hilt longer and thicker. I was small for a Nord, only standing as tall as Ralof's chin. I was not used to wielding weapons this heavy. I was not built to handle greatswords.

Across the room, Ralof swore under his breath. "No key. Raven, come here and see—"

Before he could finish, armor-clad footsteps thundered down the halls just past the left gate, heading straight for us.

Ralof motioned for me to stand behind him and crouch. "It's the Imperials! Be ready to fight!"

I shook my head vigorously. "I can't fight with this thing! It's too big!"

Ralof looked over his shoulder at me, eyes hard. "Do you want to make it out alive?"

Gulping, I nodded once.

"Then you'll fight! You're a Nord!"

The gate opened, and three Imperials—one of which was the Captain from outside—stormed into the room. Ralof and I shot to our feet and pounced. He took out the first guard, and I killed the second. Together, we fought the Captain, and in the end, I was the one to silence her once and for all.

As their blood spilled into the cracks in the floor, Ralof knelt down and started searching their bodies. He unbelted one of the guards' swords and handed it to me. It was far lighter and much easier to wield than the iron one, so I strapped it to my waist.

Finally, after digging his hands into seemingly every pocket in the Imperials' armor, Ralof found a brass key. "Here. Now we can escape, Raven."

I nodded. "Let's get out of this hellhole."

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I know, I wrote about Helgen. I wasn't going to do it, but when I was playing Skyrim yesterday, I created a new character (his name is Colborn 😉) and got inspired to write about the Helgen escape while playing. I just thought it would be interesting to see this from Ylva's perspective. I hope you all enjoyed! Part two will come soon, and it'll be shorter than this part.

Love and sweetrolls!

~WG 💙