Published at 30th of July 2022 8:28 am

Chapter 659: The Greatest Dragonborn

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*Winterhold, Neo Saarthal*

Year 202 of the Fourth Era brought not only war and destruction but also opportunities and wealth. Through Winterhold, merchants were now investing and using the resources of the land.

However, the most valuable resource of Winterhold turned out to be its accused weather.

The temperature in Winterhold was at an all-time low for most of the year which makes it impossible to plant any crops. Still, with the Civil War going on, Winterhold stored astronomical amounts of food of various kinds by the fact that it is a natural fridge.

Many storehouses were erected in the cave areas after clearing many trolls, bears, and wolves by the Firemane Clan and using these caves as storage places. While the Dare Dragon Trading Company enforced a rough policy against food monopoly, they became the key holders of food import and export to many holds around them. This almost overshadowed the Food Shipments that Skyrim always imported from Cyrodiil.

The worldwide partners of the DDTC were spread throughout Skyrim, High Rock, and Hammerfell which exchanged many food goods with industrial products and medicine. This complemented the fact that many refugees started a new Fishery project which Jon Dare didn't think of that much and made a huge success, the situation which encouraged the Dares to support them with equipment and funds.

All of this happened while maintaining many policies regarding the refugees control, the situation which started getting worse by late Winter. With many families losing their winter provisions too early this year, this drove them to see it in Winterhold, which impacted the economy for a few weeks before absorbing the refugees into the industrial system.

The positive thing with Jon's economy is that it always needs more workers with him jumping on every opportunity there is to find. The latest opportunity he thought of was constructing a Stronghold in the middle of the sea, this can serve as a defense point and a trading post to the Isle of Roscrea in the far northern sea and to the Dragon Isles east in the Padomaic Ocean. The Dragon Isles may one day open the road to the far eastern continent of Akavir.

The work spirit of Winterhold was so great that it would melt the snow off Winterhold and turn it by the next spring into a great vibrant coastline.

Back in Dare Tower, things were going quietly. The lowest floor was swarming with employees and scribes who were working as Jon's force behind his economy and busied themselves by drawing charts and maps for the Spring Caravan to High Rock. However, they all became quiet when a certain female walked in.

Nurina Aren, an Arch Wizard from the College and Jon Dare's adoptive mother, walked in with big steps and turned to the spiral stairway that went up to the next floor. There, a contraption started rotating on cogs as a platform descended from above with the exact same design as the Dwarves Lifts. This one, however, was made of steel and wood.

The Platform started rising to the next section of the tower and from there, Nurina walked into the luxurious hall which felt like a throne room. This was the residential section that was occupied by Jon's family and friends.

In its center of it all was a Magicka Focus point which served as a Magical Lift that levitates people to the other floors since there were no stairs from this point onward.

Unless one can use Magic, Aura, or has special permission by Jon, no one can go further than this. Of course, Nurina can just go in and out without anyone complaining.

The Magicka Focus Point took her from the first floor of the second section all the way up to the third section which was the private area of the tower and its top.

There, all of Jon's toys were gathered.

As she emerged through the levitating array, Nurina was in front of the door leading to the third section. She simply walked in and there, she could see towers and towers of bookshelves and storage spaces.

There were armor stands, weapon display cases, an entire Dragon Skeleton hung from the ceiling with chains of steel, and a section for all the trophies Jon collects.

In the middle, Nurina could see a Crown placed on display with many red gems dotted on its large wing-like sides.

Not all the gems were there, of course, but 19 of them. There was also a note that there are 5 that are missing from the Crown of Barenziah.

Nurina stood in front of the crown and watched her reflection on its protective glass as it displayed her wearing the crown. She smiled for a second and walked to the book section looking for some reference books from her student's personal stash.

Jon wasn't much of a reader despite his magic knowledge. However, he would ask his system to scan the books and read them for him like an audiobook. That is why he had a big collection in all sorts of fields that may interest wizards.

But as Nurina started searching through the maze of bookcases, she noticed a figure moving around the bookcases with the sound of books falling on the ground. Nurina arched herself backward and looked at the book as it started to shake and jump by itself off the ground back to where it was on the shelf.

This was just a simple enchantment on all books here but from the number of books that seemed to have been flying back to their shelves, it seemed that someone was acting carelessly again.

"Hilda!" Nurina called, "How many times do I have to tell you Jon doesn't keep the cooking books here."

"…"

No reply was heard which made Nurina frown. She stepped away from the bookcase she was at and walked through the library until she reached its center where a large reading table was located.

There, Nurina could see a figure's back dressed in all shades of black, resembling the structure of an average woman.

"Who are you?" Nurina asked.

No answer was heard as the figure kept tearing through a book page by page in a very hectic manner. Nurina approached it and as she was 15 feet away, she noticed the mound of books lying on the table.

"Brief History of the Empire, Pocket Guide to the Empire, The Great War, Guide to Western Skyrim, The Madness of Pelagius, Disaster at Ionith, Broken Diamonds, The Oblivion Crisis, and… that's interesting… The Wolf Queen and her Biography."

Nurina only needed to say those last words for the figure in front of her to tense up and turn in her direction. Nurina could notice that the figure was actually floating rather than using its feet for movement and at that moment, everything was crystal clear.

"Look at you!" Nurina said, "Very interesting indeed. A Demi-Lich? I am not sure… not exactly a Lich too. How unique!"

She could see that the figure was a woman indeed and her face was covered in a black veil that could barely view a translucent image of what lies beneath.

Blue flickering flames for eyes, ornate skull, a layer of astral energy forming a face of a woman whose age felt more ambiguous the more one thinks about it.

Feeling the undeath mixed with Jon's creation, Nurina pieced all the facts together. Add to that the fact that this being was searching through the books of history regarding the last Empire, Nurina became quite pleased with what she was seeing.

"My son is now conjuring up some historical figures, he has come a long way indeed." Nurina said walking around the figure of Envy to the opposite side of the table where she sat and placed her book.

"Something amiss with those historical accounts?" She then asked.

"Lies… all lies!" Envy blurted out which made Nurina curious as she picked the book she was just tossing aside.

The Broken Diamonds.

A folk record from the Moors of Glenumbra on the crimes of the Usurper Emperor Uriel Septim III against the Rightful Empress Kintyra Septim II. The tragedy which started the War of the Red Diamond.

"I was born 300 years after these events. To be honest, it is ancient history to me who is 200 years old." Nurina said before tossing the book back and picking the Oblivion Crisis, "That one, on the other hand, I lived and witnessed."

Envy wasn't curious about anything other than the Septim Dynasty. As the possessor of the ego of Wolf Queen Potema, she wasn't that much of a family person and as far as history is concerned, she has killed more Septim family members than the Mythic Dawn cult.

"I assume you are vexed about what history does to the losing side." Nurina said quite naturally as if trying to capture Envy's behavior.

However, Envy was surprisingly calm.

"I feel like asking a question." Envy said, "Were you the one that convinced him not to pursue the Throne?"

Nurina pondered over the sudden question.

"No." Nurina said, "Even though I raised Jon for most of his life, he developed his own opinions earlier than his peers and for a good reason. He refused the whole thing regarding political leadership and chose to be a tycoon. More freedom, he said."

"If only I raised a child with such potential… what a waste!" Envy said as she looked at Nurina with nothing but contempt, "He could have done things not even I…"

Envy couldn't complete her words because of what Nurina's eyes looked like.

They were no longer Dunmer red but pitch black… so black that the light around her eyes twisted and broke just from the power she displayed.

The power of origin, Chaos.

The veins around Nurina's neck started pulsating as they turned black. She raised her hand and a strong telekinetic force encased Envy. Her entire body crumbled save for the ornate skull covered in ebony as it was pulled in Nurina's hand.

"So you are Envy?" Nurina said, "Indeed such a trait fits you well."

Envy was completely suppressed by Nurina and someplace far away, Jon felt that energy of Envy was being attacked. He didn't care that much as he expected something like this to happen when Envy requested to stay in the library.

As for Nurina, she felt that her anger was wasted and threw the Ornate Skull away. As her Chaos Infection was suppressed, Nurina could speak freely once again.

"The likes of you are vain and inefficient." Nurina said, "You say I wasted my child when I didn't poison his ears with wasteful dreams of an Empire's Throne? Please! That Throne you're so passionate about has torn families apart and set up brothers to slay their brothers. Even Tiber Septim was a traitor who chose to slay his own King. Even Reman Cyrodiil was nothing but a mortal who built his legend on a house of lies. Even Alessia the so-called Saint was nothing but a slave who rebelled with a power borrowed from the Divine and the allies that came towards her blessings."

"I am proud of the man I raised. His power was wielded by his own hands long before he was called Dragonborn. His house was built on the bones of his enemies, the trust of his family, the dreams of his past, and the hopes of his future. His loyalty was always to the Land and the People, and despite his flaws, the Empire and the Dominion run from his way if he sets out on a certain path. Now, what can a man bound to a throne do?"

"The boy I raised is now a Man far Greater than the House of Septim, the House Reman, and the House of Alessia combined. A Dragonborn above all his peers, he who eats Dragons. And you lecture me about raising an Emperor?"

Nurina walked to the skull of Potema as the latter's astral form emerged on the ground under Nurina's feet.

"I raised a family man and our family rules beyond borders and realms. I am the start of this House and we are the House of Dare."

The Bond that was forged by this House was greater than the Empire built on the flickering Dragonfires and it encompassed a power that can be passed to the coming Eras.

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