“Looking for a fighter, are you, Arisen? Well then, I’m a fighter,” a pawn in the Rift looked bored. “Anything in particular you’re after? Or just someone to do your busy work?”

“Both,” Lena squinted. “I’ve seen your skill sheet… You’ll do. The rest we’ll find out in the first half a day.”

“The rest?” The pawn raised an eyebrow. “What rest?”

“Whether or not you fit in the team,” Lena shrugged. “Come along. You’ll be back with your own Arisen in no time if it doesn’t work out.”

Lena stepped out of the Rift with two new team members – a fighter and an archer. She was taking the bow herself and Scorpio was their mage.

“Two archers and a mage,” the fighter looked them over. “You definitely wanted me to do your busy work.”

“We’ll see,” Lena cut him off. “Take these and let’s get going, we have a long road ahead of us.” She handed them hefty potion pouches causing more raised eyebrows.

“What are you planning, Arisen?” The pawns started looking worried.

“Just goblins and sauriens along the way, nothing out of the ordinary,” Lena shrugged. “With something bigger in between. I just don’t like to lose people.”

The two new members exchanged glances and fell in after Lena who already took off.

…

Two archers and a mage took out most foes between them, and the fighter hardly got anything to do. This Arisen liked prevention. She cleared most areas before the foes even realised what was going on. The second archer was wondering at first why they even needed him, but then they ran into a dozen or so bandits, and all became clear. A long range archer was all well and good when you could stay at long range, but combat in close quarters took a very different turn. They still won, but the fighter now had his work cut out for him.

“I understand now why you need me,” the archer smiled when the battle was over. “You are one crazy archer, you charge the enemy.”

“Only when I cannot stay back,” Lena nodded. “Then I create distance between you and me, and the enemy has to run between us, where the fighter gets them in the middle.”

“You’ve done this before.”

“A few times.”

Everyone smirked. It was a highly unconventional strategy – archers were known to stay behind everyone else, even behind mages.

“What was ‘the rest’ that you wanted to check?” The fighter caught up with Lena as they resumed their march. “Does it work out or not?”

“What do you think? Does it work out?” Lena grinned. “How’s the busy work for you?”

“A lot less busy than I expected,” the fighter grinned back. “You are used to daggers.”

“Bows and daggers both,” Lena nodded. “But they don’t allow it here. I had to adapt.”

“And you are protecting your mage.”

“Mages need protecting.”

“Not by archers,” the fighter shook his head. “Not to this extent… Mages tend to be left behind… sacrificed…”

“No.”

Lena shook her head so vigorously that the fighter decided to stop asking questions.

They had been walking all day, they’d had more fights than they could count, so they found a quiet spot and made camp. They roasted what meat they had in their pack, but everyone was too tired to talk. Swapping stories would have to wait for another night.

The following day was as arduous as the first, with another harsh day following, and when they finally reached their destination, they found the village overrun with monsters… Once again, rest was not in sight. But they prevailed, and without losing people, too. It was already dawning when they finally made camp. They had all but run out of fresh meat by then, and had to resort to cooking air dried meat instead. It was apparently as nutritious as the fresh variety, yet it didn’t taste the same. Regardless, they were just too tired to pay attention. They had a long road ahead of them still, and the night was already all but over, so they agreed to set off again after just a few hours of sleep. If things went according to plan, then their following night would be spent in a real village, and possibly even in an inn.

The day smiled on them, the fights were light and they arrived at their destination at dusk. The inn was all but closed, but they did have provisions, so it was another night camping under the stars, but this time without rush – they were not planning on going anywhere on the morrow. Finally, it was a night for swapping stories. Or rather, it would have been, had they not been so mortally tired.

…

Lena woke up in the middle of the night. Since the camp was technically in the village, there was no need for either of them to be awake on watch. The campsite was sandy and grassy, which was rather better than rock found elsewhere. The fire had died down, but the embers were still glowing. Lena turned over a log, and sparks shot into the sky. All was peaceful, her three companions were sound asleep.

“Time to wake up, Arisen,” she heard a voice in her head and the empty space in her chest was pierced with searing pain. “Time to remember why you are here.”

“Grigori,” Lena recognised the voice of the dragon. “Where are you? I’m supposed to face you…”

“It’s not the time yet,” Grigori clicked his tongue. “You have to remember your purpose in this world…”

“This isn’t my world,” Lena shook her head, talking to Grigori in her thoughts. She was careful not to make any noise. “You know I don’t belong here…”

“I disagree… You may have come from another world, but now you’re one of us… One of the links in the endless chain… Here to guard this world from oblivion…”

“You are confused,” Lena sat up. “Planes of Oblivion belong in another realm…”

“No, there is just one Void…” Grigori was talking as if from far away. “The Void, the Rift, the Fade… it’s all the same… It is all oblivion… where souls and worlds dissolve into when there’s no one left to remember them…”

“But I was allowed to return to Tamriel…”

“For a time… And now you’re back… Defeat me and start another cycle or fail to start the cycle and become a dragon yourself… There is no other choice, Dragonborn.”

Grigori’s voice fell silent. The pain stopped as suddenly as it struck, leaving a cold void where her heart should have been. The cold started spreading through her body. Dragonborn. Were dragons all the same in every realm, too?

“You are growing cold again,” she suddenly heard Scorpio’s voice, he was adding logs to the fire, making it flare up. “Was Grigori talking to you?”

Lena nodded, huddling in his embrace. “What is it with everyone wanting to talk inside my head?” She scoffed.

“Not everyone… just some.”

Scorpio wrapped her in his coat as he’d done so many times before. She pressed her ear to his chest, listening to his heartbeat. They stayed by the fire, and gradually the cold in Lena’s chest dissipated and she finally fell asleep.

…

“Coffee is here,” Lena heard a voice and smelled the coffee. Was she still dreaming? Or was it morning already? She half opened her eyes and peeked. It was morning. She was lying by the campfire, still wrapped in Scorpio’s coat, still pressing her ear to his chest… He woke up too, lifting his head to see what was going on, not wishing to disturb her.

“Mmm… coffee…” Lena stirred, trying not to land Scorpio’s coat in the fire. “Thank you.”

Their fighter was pouring coffee… she could not remember his name. The archer was sipping from his own steaming mug, smiling.

“You didn’t just meet two weeks ago, did you?” He grinned. “I’ve heard of you… how many rounds? Twenty, thirty? No one keeps count after that… But tell me… if you don’t mind… How did it start?”

“How did what start?” Lena sat up, gratefully accepting the coffee.

“How do you select a pawn? I’ve always wanted to know,” the archer was still looking at her and Scorpio with interest, and perhaps a touch of envy. “How do you pick someone for the first time?”

“Oh, it’s simple,” Lena shrugged. “The first time around you are so completely stunned by the whole affair, your heart is missing yet you are not dead, you don’t understand what’s going on, and you’re told you’ve got to face a dragon – a real, gigantic fire-breathing beast, you understand! – and you’re just numb… lost. Then some clerk starts asking questions… ‘Male or female?’ ‘Short or tall?’ ‘Deliberate or impulsive?’ I don’t remember exactly!” She sipped her coffee. “Then they show you some pictures… And you’re told to pick one. And there he is, summoned for you… As if you can tell from a picture what someone is really like…”

“You did,” the archer objected. “You chose wisely.”

“I… well… actually, that was Scorpio’s choice.” Lena smiled at the surprise written all over their fighter’s and archer’s faces.

“It was my choice…” Scorpio looked at them and answered quite firmly. “It was my choice to try and be a friend. It took me a very long time to stop acting like a pawn. It is still the Arisen’s choice to accept it, to put up with it all…”

“It takes two,” Lena shrugged. “Like always in life. Relationships develop from both ends.”

“That’s just it – build a friendship, not just look for someone to do your busy work,” the fighter nodded to himself. “And that is why when you face your dragon, you never face him alone.”