Author's Notes:

This chapter will be told by a different PoV

[Sigmund POV]

We managed to escape the ayleid ruins without further casualties, the many traps they had encountered were avoided thanks to Magic-Eye’s knowledge and experience. Twilight grew more and more curious as to where he came from and if there were more magically gifted creatures like him.

I simply kept my eyes out for anything nasty, one thing my years as a hunter taught me, is that it is when you really let your guard down that things go to shit. I looked to Twilight and smiled in a friendly manner, mostly in an attempt to reassure her I was friendly, as I knew for a fact that looking like a walking corpse probably gave me a bad first impression with the poor girl. I then looked to Magic-Eyes and frowned at this talk of magic “Sooo… I assume magic is a thing wherever you two are from?”

“Very much so. We draw our power from aetherius and spellcraft them into anything we want and need, however those who are inexperienced must be wary as casting a stronger spell above their skill will have a heavy affect on their mind and body.” Magic-Eyes explained.

With Twilight’s magic regenerated, she managed to summon up a inkwell and quill out of thin air, she started writing down as Magic-Eyes explained.

“Is magic uncommon where you are from? Which part of Tamriel are you from?” Magic-Eyes asked.

I raised a brow “The heck is a Tamriel? Some kind of monster? I am from The fifth fleet, studying the ‘new world’ continent.” I shrugged “And I wouldn’t say uncommon, I’d say nonexistant, everything we fought, we killed with our skills, strategy, and strength. Everything we made? Built by hand.” I smiled “Wish I could of showed you those modified mega barrel bombs I made, specially the more effective ones…”

“Tamriel is the continent we’re on, right? Or did the Ayleid portal lead me to an undiscovered island…” Magic-Eyes said as he stroked along the head spines on his head.

“Actually, we’re in Equestria.” Twilight corrected him. “I’ve never heard of Tamriel either nor have I even seen that on any of our charted maps..”

Magic-eyes blinked at that bit of info. “...Hmm, perhaps this is similar to the Oblivion Realms, although I’ve never read of anything about sentient unicorns, or ponies for that matter. Closest to that is the lone unicorn near Harcane Grove…”

“Oblivion Realms?” Twilight said as she tilted her head. Magic-Eyes went into detail of what they were about.

“There have been few who went through the gate and lived to tell the tale, especially the Hero Of Kvatch.” Magic-Eyes explained.

I sighed at the word he stated, still staying vigilant, even with the tears threatening to flow. “Hero huh? Remember when my squad were called heroes… I feel bad for the sorry bastard, being a hero is a terrible thing.”

“Yes, but this Imperial did it regardless, closing the Oblivion Gates and fighting nine-divines know what in there.” Magic-Eyes said.

I nodded “Just hope he gets through it all alright, nothing worse than losing when the stakes are highest.” I then looked to Twilight and smiled sadly “I can tell you have friends who are close, take good care of them, okay? Losing them… it hurts.”

“This guy did it alone though, no outside help other than the shopkeepers. Overall, despite his efforts, Mehrunes Dagon got through. Martin Septim had become the Avatar of Akatosh just to fight him, thus stopping the oblivion crisis.” Magic-Eyes said as he placed a scalie hand onto my shoulder.

“Yeah, danger tends to go wherever in Equestria, me and my friends are always there to stop it, especially ponyville.” Twilight said with a shake of her head. “I guess considering the population, evil tends to focus there first.”

I looked to Magic-Eyes “I… I am almost jealous of this hero, seems he hasn’t been pushed off his pedestal yet.”

“Well, I don’t know where he is now, he left without a hint of where he went, its been years since then.” Magic-Eyes said as he crossed his arms in thought.

I nodded thoughtfully “Could be he doesn’t want to be found. I’ve been on that pillar, the attention when you have lost is… crushing. And from how you spoke of this Septim person, he seemed like a hefty loss.”

“Indeed, he was son of Uriel Septim and last of the dragonborn. As of now, The Elder Council is trying to maintain peace since there is no heir..” Magic-Eyes said with a sigh. “The thieves around the Imperial City have gotten bolder too.”

I frowned “People steal in your home? Huh… welp, there’s at least one good thing we don’t share. You steal in the fifth fleet and ya get thrown out on yer ass, with your armor and weapons confiscated.”I shrugged “For most that’s a guaranteed death.” I then looked to Twilight “It’s not like we don’t supply them readily with their fair share of supplies before each mission.”

Magic-Eyes tapped his chin in thought. “I’m starting to think i’m no longer on Nirn. The magic is in the air feels to calm, plus you speak of things I’ve never heard of..”

“Oh! You’re feeling the magic of harmony.” Twilight piped up with a flutter of her wings.

I frowned “So… if things are harmonious, does that mean monster hunting is not needed here?”

“Well, not all of them embrace the magic of friendship, like the Timberwolves, hydras, wild dragons, bugbears, Chimeras, Cragadiles and many others I haven’t mention…. They don’t present a problem unless provoked or if the natural food chain is interrupted..” Twilight explained from the top of his mind. Magic-Eyes listened intently in interest as most of those creatures other than dragons were never heard of by his lizard ears.

I shrugged “More reason for me to find a new job then. I bet that they could use someone with my talents in the army, I suppose. I mean, a nation as glorious as you have described must have problems with invasions for resources, yeah?” He took out his axe shaped hammer and smiled “I can only imagine how an invader would freak out if they saw me running at him with this bad boy.”

Twilight frowned at that. “We usually try to solve it peacefully, or just use the elements of harmony if we have no choice. Tartarus is also an option.”

“...We’ve got a lot of learning to provide of our worlds.” Magic-Eyes said as he chuckled in amusement.

The group traveled for a while long before finally arriving at the campsite, the archaeologists there perked up when they saw her. “You’re alive!” one of them yelled out. There were groups of tends, tables full of artifacts, glowing silver gems or aqua blue stones, there were an assertion of pots, plates, knives, forks, all of them sharing the Ayleid appearance of silver with small turquoise gems. There were even old swords, axes, shields that shared their ayleid designs.

I whistled as I looked to the cutlery “Whoever had these must’ve been fancy!”

“It once belonged to the Ayleids, or… their pony counterparts based on Twilights been telling us. They were a race of magically skilled beings, although their disappearance is quite a mystery and I’ve yet to find where they went..” Magic-Eyes said as he walked up to one of the weapons. “Alot of those have powerful enchantments, but they were fragile due to their age.” He said, causing one of the pony’s ears to perk up at Magic-Eye’s knowledge.

I smiled as I took this opportunity to wander off towards the lower parts of the mountain, leaving them to it as I carved a path through the snow, shifting back to my Hazak form and letting my Effluvium melt the snow as I came across a strange altar in what looked like a cliffside, I looked at the strange engravings in the stone, them looking… different from the Ayleid stuff, the stone itself looking less worn as well… I looked to the lone pillar and reached out to it, only for it to open and a ring be unveiled from within the pedestal. I reached out and took it, only for me to see what I felt was for certain a flashback of some sort…

Flashback

It was finally ready… I got the ingredients together, concentrated their essence, even made them into a perfectly stable, complete mixture, no explosion or anything! The demondrug and armorskin mixture seemed to be the final ingredient needed to stabilize the mixture of Elder dragon materials and Ancient Potion... I looked to my palico Mewlther “The tonic is ready! Now, to test it!”

Mewlther frowned doubtfully “Boss, I don’t think this is a good idea… Elder dragons are wicked powerful beings… Mew sure we should be making a tonic from their Blood? I mean, what if it’s too potent?”

I smiled “Bah, you worry too much, old friend! Besides, if this works, the hunters will be capable of more than ever before! Imagine, not needing the dragonator to defeat Jhen Mohran! Or being able to survive a tempered Vaal Hazaks effluvium blasts! No one else will suffer, no more families will be broken.”

Mewlther, sighed “Yeah… but… what if it makes you explode or something? I mean, the previous attempts ended pretty… acidic.”

I took a dropper of the elder dragon tonic and braced myself, lest the blood sample explode like the others… What, he had a point! I don’t enjoy being hit in the face with acid any more than anyone else! “No better lab rat then yourself, when it comes to something like this… last thing we need is a super powered rat...”

I dropped the tonic into the blood sample, extracted from my own wrist, and waited, after about a minute the blood began to glow with an odd light, I decided this was a good sign before taking out my syringe and getting the entire bottle into the chamber.

“Boss, please! Reconsider this, I have a really bad feeling!” Mewlther pleaded with me before I laughed

“Progress is all about taking risks, if endangering myself can protect the fifth, make them safer, then that’s all the incentive I need.” I then injected myself with it and promptly began to black out, my last sight being Mewlther holding me and shaking me as he cried as I lapsed into unconsciousness.

???

I was in an old chapel, the floor was crystal, similar to when-

“It resembles when you fought xeno jiiva with your comrades, yes?”

I looked around as I quickly got to my feet “Who’s there?!”

I heard laughter, as if from a parent chuckling at a child’s odd question. “Why, I am thy god, child, the lord of thy realm, progenitor of the dragons that made thy world.”

I looked up and finally saw, no… was allowed to see, the creator of my world, his appearance could be described as that of a humanoid xeno jiiva, but with six arms, each pair holding a weapon class; a hammer, a greatsword,and dual swords. and the same number of wings… one pair demonic, one angelic, and one a strange mix of the two. “What… what do you want with me, I am but a simple scholar of the fifth fleet!”

He smiled sadly, as if he knew some horrible thing that I had no clue of. “I am sorry to say, that... is no longer true.”

I looked at him curiously “I...don’t follow.”

The being frowned and sighed “You are no longer able to assist the fifth, as you no longer reside in their world.”

I paled, stammering as I tried to find the right words to state my shock, then my absolute misery. “I died?”

God shook his head “Nay, child, I was forced to remove thee from thy realm, thou art being transferred as we speak to a realm better suited to thy new level of power, thanks to an...associate of mine. But first, I must change thee.”

I collapsed onto my knees as I looked to my hands, with horror I saw my fingers grow talon like claws as I became enveloped in scales. I shouted as I felt a tearing at my back, my body developing their own singular pair of wings, lastly, my teeth grew sharper, longer, more...bestial. I looked myself over after the pain stopped to see that I had become some sort of halfway mix of elder dragon and wyverian! I looked like a humanized Vaal Hazaak!

Before I could even speak, a man in strange garb appeared before me. He was armored from head to toe, with an uncommonly small sized helm in the design of a human skull with the back of the head warped from an unseen heat into the shape of a crown almost, the metal warped from rust, overuse and the same unseen heat. Below that the was a somewhat standardised full medium Shoulder plate and grieves. His gauntlets and boots were light enough to walk in, thick enough to take several blows and also seemed warped, having seen heavy use with the strange metal plate and chain armor for the torso that was covered by a raggedy dark grey cloak that only went as far as the elbows and bit further down the back, holes riddling it. The ends flayed out like sad, decrepit streamers. It goes up, covering and wrapping around the neck area There was something about it that was similar to a sort of skirt, going below the knees, one side going further and the ends seeming to be almost like a pale fur. Several belts were at the waist, mostly chain and loop hooks.

In his hand was a weapon about the length of a long sword, maybe a bit longer and seemed to be similar to a duel lance because of the spiral like blades, but it was too small to be so, the blade at the pommel was shorter by about a half of the blade or so. The hand guards were circular, as if for a rapier or cutlass and a similar handle guard with the metal shaped similarly to the coiled blades.

Within the cracks, crevices, and empty space of the armor, a dark night sky like aura wafted off of it gently yet menacingly, flecks of small dying cinders and ember jumping off and fading as they float gently away on an unseen wind. The "sword" was the same, the space between the spirals seeming to generate the aura the same way as the armor, that is, like a blazing inferno being contained by an unseen force, as if he was willing it to stay contained.

"Greetings, mortal. I am the huntsman, I have come to repay a debt to thy god.”He turned to the divine being who I still did not know the name of. “So, old friend, thy debt will be repaid in full. Art thou sure you wish this soul displaced? I hath not done this previously, so the end results could be… unpredictable, it may take multiple attempts to find him a suitable dimension.”

He god smiled “Well, then we best start soon then, hmm?”

End flashback

I looked to the iron, coiled ring with the same strange aura, and frowned before I heard the Huntsmans voice again “I am sorry, mortal one, I shall send you to thine own realm shortly. This ring should grant thee greater control over thine Effluvium, consider it as mine apology.” I shrugged and put it on, before I felt my Effluvium harden around me like a set of armor, The strange solid effluvium also making me feel more powerful in a physical sense. I then returned to the camp with my armor shining like amber, the holes in my form filled in with amber. “Hmmm… Suppose this will help me fit in among dragons, could say I have a disease or something.”

There was a new tent when I returned that looked different than the others, it was bigger and a bit dirty from use and had patch work done it to it, I think its made of animal hide of some sort. Twilight was there asking on how Magic-Eyes made it appear.

“Conjuration magic, you bound the magic to the item and can freely summon it at will. Although this time and for some reason there was some sort of force interfering with the process. I’ve never had this problem before..” Magic-Eyes said as he was deep in thought.

I grunted as I reverted to my normal form again. “I think I might have to go soon, got called by the guy who sent me here. Seems I don’t belong here. Heh, well, I hope I meet you two again, when I get sent out of this… I guess you’d call it a world? Realm? Who knows.”

“...You may want to discuss with him about your.. Undead form if that is the case.” Magic-Eye said as he crossed his arms. “I won’t hold you back any further, may Akatosh guide us to meet again, friend.”
I grinned. “Oh, I am definitely raising ‘holy’ hell on that bastard.” There was then a swoosh as a presence of great power could suddenly be felt outside the tent. “Looks like my ride's here, see you later, Starcheeks!”

“...Things just get more stranger by the second… What were those Ayleids thinking when they connected realms..” Magic-eyes said to himself

Twilight blinked in confusion. “It’s Twilight, not Starcheeks..”

I pointed at her markings on her rump “Those beg to differ!”

“That’s my croup..” Twilight said, confusion still plastered on her face.

“I shrugged “My people call that part the ass, and the parts your stars are at, are the cheeks, so… starcheeks!” I then fled the tent before she could piece out what I was saying, running straight into the huntsman.

“Well, it is good to see thou art ready, mortal, shall we be off?” I nodded and in a poof, I was no longer on that icy mountain.