Alduin's Secret

All of us Elder Scrolls players have heard of Alduin, right? Well, I'm sure no one has heard of what I will tell you today. I was playing Skyrim, and close to finally beating the main storyline. I was in Sovngarde and I was talking to Gormlaith, Hakon, and Felldir, and started fighting Alduin.

I was using a pirated copy, due to not having the money to waste on games, and I noticed that Alduin wasn't fighting like a regular dragon would, and looked, as if he was hurt, or thinking of a past long ago. He stopped fighting when we got halfway through his health, and just sat there, looking down. While the NPC's were laying waste to Alduin, I was sitting there wondering if this is the way it really is in the game.

Before he died, it gave me a few seconds to talk to him. Trying to do it quickly, I speed-read through it so they wouldn't kill him before knowing what he wanted, but all I was able to hear at the last sentence he said, (since I don't have the dialogue on) was, "The past of me, you shall see, behind my story's wall..."

I didn't know what this meant so I saved the game, and went to bed. I couldn't go to sleep, thinking of why he would say that, and what the riddle meant. The next morning, I jumped into my chair, and opened Skyrim up. As I was loading my save file, It showed a picture of Alduin's Wall.

I thought about the riddle for a moment, and figured that's what it meant. I couldn't remember where the wall was exactly, because I had forgotten after getting so excited to fight Alduin. Trying to figure out what he meant, I did a recap on every place in the main story. I finally got to Sky Haven Temple and found the wall. I looked around that room for a secret entrance for a while, and couldn't find anything but the sword there, Dragonbane. I thought it might do something to the wall, so I equipped it, and struck the wall with the sword.

Nothing happened. I walked left and right striking the wall repeatedly, until I got to Alduin. I struck his carving with the sword, and the wall lit up with lightning inside of the carved places, and made a noise of a dragon dying, except amplified a little to where I turned my headphones down a bit.

The wall slid backwards a few feet, and then split in half to reveal a hidden door. It looked like the ones you would find before entering a dungeon, like Bleak Falls Barrow. I opened the door, and it showed a picture of Alduin on it, with one of his wings cut halfway, and bound to a mountain. I was freaked out a little, because there was some blood there, and I get a bit nauseated when I see blood. I noticed the loading took longer than normal, and I began to hear the cries of dragons dying again.

I thought this was peculiar, considering it was a loading screen and there was usually only music on there. When it finally loaded, I could see a huge room filled with cut off dragon wings, dragon legs, and some dragon heads, looking like they were recently severed from the body. There was blood everywhere, splattered on the walls, floor, and ceiling. I continued through this room, until it led to a wooden door. I opened it up, and it was a corridor filled with more carvings of Alduin, except more detailed. It showed Alduin getting tortured with large saws, and hooks dug into his sides and tail.

There was also a carving of people cutting large slits on the area of his spine. The people who made these carvings had also painted some of it in blood, because I could see red stains on the cuts, around the hooks, and on the saws. I ran to the bathroom and threw up because of all of the blood there. When I came back, there was a cut-scene like thing going on with the ghosts of Alduin and his torturers. The scene was horrible, and it turned out his torturers were the 3 people who sent Alduin to the 4th Era with the Elder Scroll. After this cut-scene was over, I heard a voice behind me (in-game).

I turned around and saw Alduin there, still in his ghost form. He said to me, "Now you see why I have tried to steal the souls of the men and women in Sovngarde. I was regaining my strength so no other dragon could be tortured like me again. I wasn't just sent into the future, I was tortured after being weakened by Dragonrend. When they finally sent me, I was weak and needed power." As his shadow faded away, I thought about that, saved the game, and exited.

There was a new file on my computer though, named "Read.now". I opened it up, and saw the note that was there. It said:

'Since you now know my secret, you shall go through my pain and know what I went through since you killed me. Everyone else has done the same, many have died. You better be one of the few lucky ones, or you're dead.'

It ended with my address and phone number.

That night when I fell asleep, I was awoken by a loud car door slam. I put on my clothes and looked for a weapon to use. I found a butcher's knife in the kitchen, and went out to my backyard to get a baseball bat.

I ran inside and hid in the pantry awaiting the torturers, as the file said. My door was kicked open, because I had it locked, and they started searching through the house.

When they got to the kitchen, I heard one say, "Gormla, go out back to check if he's there. Haki, check all of the other parts of the house again to make sure he didn't run. I will check in here." he started searching through doors and cabinets to check if I hid in one, and I finally heard the pantry doorknob turn, and prepared to lunge at the man.

Right when it opened, I stabbed at the man and swung the bat, but he was wearing armor. When I knew I wasn't going to make it through this night, I gave up trying to stab him. As they brought me back to their place in the back of their van, I cherished these last few moments I had to breathe and live. This is the last thing I am able to do while they get ready to torture me.