Fate Of A Hero Chapter 22 Chapter 22: The Void (R-18)

Lydia's face turns sour. She frowns, her brow furrowing and cute mouth pouting. Her hand on my cock stops moving, before she takes it off. She moves around me, and stands in front me.

"Stop? But I don't wanna stop." She complains. "Stop what? Me rubbing my breasts on you? Us about to have sex? Us in general? Our relationship? What are you trying to stop?!" Her voice gets louder and angrier as she tries to figure out what I'm saying, escalating both her words and her anger.

I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose. It's very woman-like that her thoughts escalated to that degree at that speed. But... Something's been bothering me about this relationship between us.

It seems more and more to me that Lydia's the one taking the lead in this relationship. And that bothers me. I can't perfectly put my foot on it, but I feel that something between us doesn't sit right with me.

Maybe it's my own insecurities biting at me. Maybe not. But it doesn't matter. I ain't submissive, and I ain't gonna be submissive. God didn't make me a masochist, and my mama didn't raise no bitch. I prefer being the man in a relationship, and I want to take the lead in this, too, besides the obvious technical advantage in being able to control my relationships. If I can't control how it flows and where I allow it access to my adventuring life.

Access to my adventuring life? I guess I accepted this unintended romantic endeavor, despite my better judgement telling me otherwise. It might be the pervading mental image of a sad Lydia. One paralysed by depression. A Lydia stuck in the emotional turmoil of living in a rut, a valley, a downhill slope that leads to suicide. Relationships can kill, and if you love someone too much...

Well, I don't want to think of her as a tool, but I don't want a useless Lydia. She might no longer be an NPC, but she's still my Housecarl. Of course, she's very beautiful, and clearly a wonderful girl with lots of great qualities, but ultimately we're also still in a master-servant relationship besides our own romantic one, as tenuous and complicated as it might be.

Ah, shit. I've been quiet for too long.

"I'm not trying to stop any of those." I start, stepping forward, and looking down to Lydia's face.

I smile at my cruelly at my next thought. 'Just another reminder that I'm bigger than her.'

Lydia blushes, and stumbles backwards a step, splashing the water behind her. I step forward, grabbing her arm, and pull her close. Her breathing, by now quick and sharp, moist and warm, speeds up even further. Her hot, soft breathing heats my face.

"What I want to stop," I explain, lifting her chin up and bringing mine down to hers. I stare straight into her eyes, before leaning forward and whispering in her ear. "Is you trying to act like the dominant one here."

After finishing my thoughts, I lean back, to find Lydia squeezing her eyes shut, her mouth agape, and she steps closer into my arms. I gently push her head forward, and mash her mouth to mine, taking a deep kiss. I shove my tongue into hers, and scrape it against her teeth, the roof of her mouth, her tongue, everything and anything I can find.

Relishing in my primal victory, I pull her head back by tugging on her hair gently, right before she's had a chance to put her tongue into my mouth and be able to call it a good kiss. Lydia submissively ducks her head into my neck, and her body into my embrace.

I reach behind her, and squeeze her ass, before lightly slapping it.

"Now, I only wanted to remind you of your position. I'm your Thane, and you're my housecarl. I don't mind if you want to rub your breasts on my back. That's your decision." I continue. "But we both decided that we would have sex *after* we got cleaned up, and that we would clean ourselves up again after, remember?"

"Y-yes, my Thane." Lydia whispers, occasionally glancing up at me with bright red cheeks, (her face, not her ass). She folds her arms into each other, looking cute as fuck the whole time.

"And I still have yet to scrub your back, don't I?" I ask her.

Lydia looks up to me. "B-but you don't have to do tha-..." She says.

I interrupt her. "Too bad. I'm still doing it. Come here."

Lydia blushes even more, and shyly steps forward. I walk over to the edge of the baths, and stand next to it. I like the image of what I'm going to do next a *lot*.

Lydia stops directly in front of me, less than four feet away.

"Lean over," I commanding her, gesturing to the edge of the wall. She looks at it for a second, then smiles, and follows my command.

She shivers and moans quietly as she touches to comparably cold floor of the ground outside the bath, but lies still.

I take my rag and soap, and get started on cleaning hers. I fold the soap into the rag, dip it into the water, then get started. Looking over Lydia's pale peach-colored back and tight, bouncy, cute, and bubble butt ass, I get hard, and my cock starts poke up between her legs. She startles at the new sensation, but realizing what it is, she wiggles her ass from side to side, tempting my urge to just fuck her here.

With my left hand, I grab her pussy, and hook my fingers inside, shocking her into stillness. I start to scrub her back clean with my right hand, using clockwise circular motions, and push my cock up and down inside the split of her ass. The complexity of the various moves I was doing made it so that it's difficult at first, but eventually I catch myself into a rhythm.

I scrub her back for about two minutes before I decide that it's clean enough, and toss the rug away, the soap splattering out against the hard stone floor. I drop my head to Lydia's waist, and inspect my handiwork. I had done a wonderful job of making her start to get wet, but now I figure, it's time to make her actually wet.

I bring my mouth closer to her pussy, and breathe a heated breath on it, hesitating. Her labia were enlarged, inviting, a healthy and vivacious shade of pink. A small amount of clear liquid leaks from her pussy, clearly not water, especially given the fact that Lydia's ass and pussy, as of yet, have been outside the baths for about three minutes now.

"Wait," Lydia asks, breaking her submissive character. "Are trying t-...?"

Not even giving her chance to finish, I dive in, and slip my tongue inside. Lydia moans, and I can immediately tell that she likes it.

Warm, soft, and wet. Those are the three most clear sensations I can say I felt at first, but then the flavor of Lydia's pussy invades my mouth. Acidic to a slight degree, not as much as a battery however, more similar to blood, and sweet, almost like an apple. I stretch my tongue out, and reach inside a good three or four inches. Every fold, every turn, in Lydia's vagina I can feel.

And, God, does it feel good! Her taste was close to a mix between sweet and sour, like a barely-ripe orange. Very enticing, very delicious. I tickle my tongue against every spot I can find and reach within, causing Lydia to squirm around and moan.

With one of my hands, I reach up, and start to tickle and rub the top of her pussy, pinching and prodding it as much as possible and running my fingers inside, besides my tongue. Eventually Lydia's moans get louder and louder, and then she ejects a lot of clear vaginal discharge, and I can tell, she's either had an orgasm, or she's about to.

In either case, I remove my mouth, and she quiets down. See, it's not about making her cum first try, it's about teasing it out when she's least expecting it. You've got to tease, then let her calm down right after by changing positions. By doing this, she doesn't have a chance to actually calm down and adjust to the dopamine and oxytocin high, and while she does experience the orgasm later, the reason it's so good is because it quietly builds up in the background as you change positions. Thing is, you gotta time it right, otherwise...

"Why'd you stop?!" She rebukes me, turning. 'So, she already forgets her place.'

"I was almost there!" She continues to reprimand me.

"Looks like you forgot who's in charge here." I tell her, reminding her again of our power scheme. I stand up completely, put my dick inside her now-very wet pussy, and quickly push forward with my waist, causing her to stiffen, moaning, before lightly softening. I don't stop there, grabbing her hair, wrapping it into my fist, and gently but firmly pulling back on it, eliciting another moan.

Her head tilts back, and her back curls up as she pushes herself up from the floor, in an apparent attempt to tell even more, greater things while I fuck her.

When her moans start to peak again in volume, intensity, and speed, I pull out, her ejaculate dripping out with my dick, let go of her hair, and flip her over. Now her back is against the floor, and I wait for a few seconds for her to calm down again before shoving my rock-hard cock back inside her. Now we can see each other's faces, and it's so much more erotic.

I hold both of her hands, and pull on them as I fuck her again. In, out, in, then out. As the rhythm gets better, so too, does my speed and power. My thighs hitting her ass make loud clapping noises, and I start grunting out moans as well, as I'm getting closer to cumming, myself.

Knowing this, I pull out, and lean over Lydia, my cock pressing down against Lydia's soft stomach, under which I can feel her abs, clearly built up over time. I place my hands next to her head on the cold, hard floor, and stare into her eyes, tracing my lips over hers.

I wrench a violent kiss from her, lasting anywhere from a minute upwards. Like last time, I don't give her a chance to return it. I want her to remember: Lydia is my Housecarl, my bitch, and I am her Thane, her master. She is my sword, and my shield, but she cannot forget: she's also *mine*. She is not a slave, but a subordinate.

If she takes the lead in our sex life, it's going to bleed into other parts of it as well. I have jobs, missions, quests I have yet to do that still have the potential to determine the fate of Tamriel. If this relationship is going to continue, I will be the lead in it.

Lydia starts to masturbate herself, playing with her pussy in one hand, squeezing one of her tits with the other. I take a page from that book, and bury my face in between her tits, feeling the hot, soft, fluffy, and wet with sweat sensation on my nose, my cheeks, my lips. I love it.

I tilt my face to the left, first leaning into Lydia's right breast, and start sucking once I find the nipple. I brush my tongue over it, lightly, then hard. I press down on it, playing with it, curling it up. Lydia's nipples start to harden and stick out, making them even easier to play with.

I let go and focus on the other one when an especially loud moan from Lydia distracts me. 'Can't have just the one side feeling good.'

After sucking on the other nipple for about the same time as the first, I lean back and get myself a breath of air. I crack my neck, then snatch another kiss from Lydia's hot, wet mouth. From all the excitement she's feeling, her body twitches, and calms down repeatedly. I get out of the bath completely, and lift her twitching body up, carrying her in a reverse piggy back ride over to one of the entire rooms' walls.

I press her up against it, and she moans, feeling a new sensation. I hold her hands wrapped in a fist above her head, and push against the wall with my waist, my cock waiting in her pussy's lips. Her legs are hooked onto my shoulders, and I can feel them twitch every now and then.

"Are you ready?" I ask her, waiting for a response. I have some respect for her. I don't think that many girls could take this much, and keep going.

There's a bit of silence, but then Lydia cracks out amid gasping, ".... Ah... Uh... Sec... I nee-... Ju-... A... Sec'n."

I give her a bit more than just a second, waiting. This is the least amount of respect I can give her.

Eventually, Lydia nods slightly, (at least I'm pretty sure it was a nod), and I place my cock back inside her, and get pumping. Slowly at first, to help her warm up to the new pace. Then faster, and faster.

As I keep going, she moans in a high pitched voice, "Harder!... I... want you... to go... as.... fast as... possible!"

Faster? Bitch, I got you! I speed up even further, where if even a slight distraction breaks my focus, I'll lose my rhythm, and a lot of speed. Lydia's eyes spike wide open, and with how red her cheeks have been this whole time, it completes, complements, and perfects a very good image, bringing me much closer to cumming.

When Lydia's moans finally reach a high, I leave my cock inside her, saying, "I'm... About... to... Cum!... Inside...?"

"Yes...! Yes....! Do it!" Lydia moans out.

After getting the confirmation, I kiss her again, and this time, let it be a mutual one. Lydia moans into my mouth one last time as I push in as hard as possible, and I let myself cum inside her. She moans out extremely loudly, thankfully muffled by my mouth (I hope), and cums as well, soaking my legs in her fluids.

I put her on my back, moaning and twitching, her ankles locked onto each other around my waist and her arms hanging loosely over my shoulders, and walk back to the bath. I sit on the sides, and set her on the edge, where her legs are in the water.

I walk back to where the rag and soap lie, and pick them up. I walk over to Lydia's practically ragdoll body and start to clean her up.

I gently pick her up, holding her close to me in the water while keeping her head above the surface, and scrub her clean. When I'm finished with her, I clean myself up.

"Thank you, Drake. I'm sorry I can't really move right now. You were... hard for me to handle." Lydia says with an embarrassed face. Her cheeks glow a light pink, and her soft, unmarked, pale skin looks luscious.

I smile. "It's the least I could do, considering I'm the cause of your current state."

I pick her up, carrying her into the locker room where our clothes and the towels are. I dry us off, get dressed, and help Lydia get dressed, too. As soon as I finish getting her dressed, I pick her up and carry her through the halls to our beds.

We're almost there, with Lydia nuzzling her face into my shoulder, nodding off to sleep, when I hear Ja'Rado's voice. I stop.

"I wonder what's taking them so long?" He says.

Emeric answers him in a tired voice.

"This makes the third time I've told you now, but they're clearly in a relationship. How long do you possibly think a man can travel with a woman before one falls in love with the other? They most definitely have... relations, behind closed doors. That's why I said we'll go after they come back."

"Ah, right." Ja'Rado says, a slight tinge of confusion and apparent disbelief hinted at in his voice. "You did say that, haven't you? I don't know why, but I keep forgetting. Maybe it's because they don't look like they're in a relationship?"

"Didn't you see the way that... Lydia, I believe was her name, looked at the man? She *clearly* harbors some feelings for him. I don't quite understand how you didn't catch it." Emeric's voice sounds as though he were able to understand a girl's feelings easily.

"After all," He continues, "Look at the man! For a Nord, he's got quite the physique, not to mention his face! His jawline is both tight and firm, while also relaxed. Besides his obviously heroic personality, he maintains a constant awareness of his surroundings, and has a definitive air of confidence about him."

"And didn't you see his sword? He's definitely either done some very I impressive things, or he's in high standing with one of the Nordic kings... Aren't they called Jarls here? I forget... Anyways, the man is marked with potential. Not to mention the Greybeards' obvious respect to him."

"They called him Dragonborn, but they still haven't really explained what that means. The name itself worries me, as dragons haven't been seen for... Centuries, at least. Last time one of those beasts was seen was in the Second Era, after all. In any case, the witches have sent us here for him. We still haven't been told what for, and he hasn't gotten the owl, clearly. The witches have only sent us out on missions of great importance, so whatever it is that they think he needs us for is probably big and dangerous."

"What do you think it could be?" Emeric continues even further. 'God, this guy doesn't stop talking! Although, the more I think about it, his voice sounds more and more like..."

"Giants?" Ja'Rado suggests.

Lydia draws my attention as she whispers something in her sleep but I didn't catch it perfectly as I was paying attention to the others.

"Nah, we killed a lot of them weeks ago." Emeric eliminates that probability.

"Goblins? Like, a new army of them?" Ja'Rado suggests.

"No, they almost never come this far north. Closest of the goblinkin here are in Solstheim, or south of the Jerall Mountains."

"Trolls?"

"I don't think so. Killed that one on the way here, remember?"

"Mm-hmm. What about undead, zombies, ghosts, wraiths, and the like?"

"Undead...? Mmm, I doubt. They'd rather send a message to the Vigilants of Stendarr to root them out. Speaking of the Vigilants, I heard their outpost up north here was destroyed by vampires. The guards keep talking about it, for some reason."

"Really? Could it be those vampires, then?" Ja'Rado asks, his interest piqued.

"I still don't think so. The witches sent us here for the man, the Dragonborn, remember?" Emeric snaps his fingers. "Oh! I know! It's probably those other witches, then! The, uh... Hagravens, weren't they called? I'm sure it's them."

"Mmm. Most probably." Ja'Rado nods his head.

After saying that last bit, and they quiet into silence for a few minutes, I walk in, with Lydia on my back.

"See, what'd I tell you?" Emeric looks over to Ja'Rado, a wide smile on his face.

"It would seem you are correct." Ja'Rado says, ducking his head.

"Correct about what?" I ask, pretending not to know what they were talking about. I gently set Lydia on her bed, but she doesn't let go of me. I pull her around, and remove her arms from around my neck and her legs from my waist. She won't let go, so I just sigh, and go to lay in my bed, her attached to my front.

I pull the fur blankets over us, and Ja'Rado quickly fills in the blank silence.

"Uh, eh... Nothing."

On the opposite wall of the room, where Emeric chose to make his bed, I can see that he's blushing and is straining himself not to laugh. I don't get what's funny not really understanding, but then Lydia shuffles her legs, and I understand.

He's laughing at the fact that Lydia won't let go of me, which I suppose, would be pretty funny looking in at the situation, but still. C'mon, bro. There's a time and a place. This ain't it.

I don't get to talk. I probably fucked Lydia so goddamn hard that her moans kept the Greybeards up.

"You gonna go to the baths like you said? Or are you just gonna sit there and laugh?" I grumble.

Emeric gets up, and Ja'Rado follows. As soon as they round a corner, they start laughing loudly.

"I can still hear you," I grumble to myself. Of course, by then they were too far away to hear me.

The warmth of Lydia's body, the flickering lights of the fire in the braziers, and the soft furs creates a wonderful atmosphere perfect for sleeping in, although the hard stone bed was a little bit unnerving at first.

I eventually drift off to sleep.

.......

I awaken in the dark planes of Sithis' realm. Smoke floats up around me, just like all the other times I've been here.

I sit down, and wait for Sithis to speak.

An hour passes. Then another. Then another. Then more. The hours pass me by, so I meditate, trying to relieve myself of my worries, let go of my stress.

----------

I can't. Can't relieve myself of my stress, that is, at least.

It's been 72 hours already, and Sithis still hasn't appeared, now has any other object. I'm... I'll be honest. I'm scared. I don't know how fast time is traveling for the people outside, but I know something feels off.

I don't know what's going on, but I've got a fear of what it might be and it terrifies me. I decide to just practice my magic until something changes, because otherwise I might go insane. I've got infinite Magicka while in here, so I might as well.

Let's first practice Flames, and get my understanding of this spell to a better degree. I think the things I've been able to learn, as of yet, have been: how to increase the distance the spell travels, the size and the shape of the Flames, some minor changes to it's temperature, within the color scaling of red to orange flames, along with some minor effects like the double helix to more accurately burn with Flames.

If I can push the Flames to burn at an even hotter temperature, I can make them turn to a complete shade of yellow, furthering my progressive damage with the spell, and increasing my total output.

I ready Flames in both hands and try to create a unibeam of Flames, like Marvel's Iron Man's ability. I cast them into each other, and push them out at once. I fail, and fail again.

Over and over, for the next 6 hours. Until I finally succeed. Then I manage to do it again, then I fail. And this process repeats, until I stop being able to screw it up somehow. I can say I officially mastered at the 11th hour of that day in my mind.

----------

It's been another 36 hours. I probably should have mentioned the reason for why I'm not experiencing any effects. It's because Sithis allows me to not truly experience any negative status effects in here. Sleep deprivation? Who gets that? Dehydration? Don't need water here. Starvation? Ain't no food to eat. The only he does allow me to experience is myself. My mind. My... My sanity.

I pace back and forth in the empty space. I've already gotten Sparks to a pretty dang good level, too. I don't know how many volts or watts of electricity I can cast, but I know it's a shit ton.

I bite my nails, and meditate. What else can I do but wait, and practice my magic? This space is empty. There's no... No input, no change, no flow.

I didn't notice it before, but the constant silence, the constant darkness, the semi-translucent smoke... It's invading my mind. Ingraining itself into my consciousness. Running it's slimy, shadowy fingers through my perfect, freshly cleaned hair. Filling my nostrils with it's odorless scent. Touching my face, trailing near my feet, and grabbing at my hands. Speaking it's cracked, dirty, wretched voice into my ears.

I feel the shadows more than ever before. Something's... Something's out there. I don't know what it is. I can sense it's presence. Something's watching me. Waiting.

I don't know what it is... And that scares me. The unknowing, the watching.

The waiting.

When is Sithis returning?

-----------

My heart. It speeds up, and continues speeding up. I've tried calming down, but it's not working. It's been another 7 hours.

Slowing my breath. Meditating. Deep breaths in, deep breaths out. In, and out, in, and out, in, and out.

In. Out. In. Out. In. Out.

inoutinoutinoutinout. Oh, no. My breathing spikes even faster. My fear is starting to peak, as well. I'm scared, but the shadows are crawling, trapping me. Wrapping me in their dark embrace.

My head flicks back and forth. I can barely see them. The slight shades of difference betweent Them and the Shadows. Maybe they're not so different from each other. Maybe They are the Shadows. Maybe that's why it feels like my mind is starting to break apart. Why my thoughts are starting to become unclear. Are they trying to break my mind?

I can hear their voices, whispering at me. I strain my ears, trying to listen. Maybe they aren't the evil ones. Maybe they're the ones trying to save me, before my mind breaks.

Oh no. I can feel it. The edge, of my mind. Of sanity. Of reason, and sense. Of order in chaos, and chaos in order. The flame in the lake, volcano in the ocean. Air in the rock, the sand in the wind. The natural sense of nonsense.

Ah. I hear them now. Softly at first, then clearer. They're different minds, different souls, all stuck in the same domain: Sithis'. And they're telling me something. A Prophecy.

'Shaky breath, creaky breath. Cracked breath, broken. Whispering voices, ceaseless noises, words... unspoken.

Shadows crawl at the end of the halls, spirits hiding from the one in the shawl.

Skel'ton's breath, ridden in the mire, your Fate is coming, dear, one very dire:

"Arrogance immortal shall bleed.

Corpses, twice risen, will feed.

Doom falls t'those that shan't heed.

Warnings from the lost, broken, in need.

Prophecies spoken from the Scrolls,

The Drums of War shall once 'gain roll,

Skyrim's destruction, of those that don't know,

Shattered bones, dripping blood, burning flames, melting snow."

Steady breath, focused breath. Fixed breath, healing. Noises screamed, voices ending, Prophecy... spoken.

Lights above flash at the center of the halls, living walking to th' one free from th' shawl. Flesh's echo, remain'd in th' pure, your Destiny calling, Aetherius' allure.'

The Shadows, and Them, they almost pushed me over the edge, but they're gone.

I start to cry. Something about me is surely different. What is it? Nearly falling off the edge of certainty in my mind? Perhaps. Maybe it's the amount of contact I had with the Dark.

Hmmm... It could be the touch of Madness. I don't quite think anyone quite understands what insanity is. True insanity, not the false pseudo-insanity portrayed by the people that act insane show. The pseudo-insanity I speak of is completely different. Let me define the difference between the two.

Pseudo-insanity is like... Knowing Truth and Falsehood, and explicitly pretending to believe in Falsehood when there is specific and clear proof of Truth, and Truth's existence is undeniable. You must believe in one to propagate the existence of the other. It's like knowing the direction you must go in to further yourself and your life, is Right, while you clearly and knowingly direct and align yourself with Left. You know one, and perhaps even want to go to one, but for some godforsaken reason, you choose the other option. That is the pseudo-insanity I speak of, what many believe to be insanity. Even some of those who act insane are only pretending to be pseudo-insane. And some of those who are truly insane act pseudo-insane, because no one will believe otherwise.

Then there is true Insanity. You know both Truth and Falsehood, but you pick an option that isn't an option: 'and'. You come across the choice between Left and Right on the road of life, and you choose to blow it up with sticks of dynamite, and crawl down the crater you just made into an old forgotten hole that leads to a mysterious temple that doesn't exist, and never will, because nothing makes sense, and everything both is and isn't true. You have total clarity in every action you make, and no reason at all for why you did any of them. Complete, unhinged madness. *That* is Insanity. That is Chaos.

It is not simply losing your path, forgetting yourself and your ways. It is outrageously destroying the path I the effort to show... Nothing. There is no point to the battle you fight, no reason in the murderous rage you feel, no sense in the Truths you speak, no ultimatum in the finality of anything you do or plan on doing.

Disregarding that, I should focus on what the voices of Them said.

I have no idea of it's meaning... But it's clearly a dark warning of a dangerous future, as if things could get even more dangerous than they are now. What could it possibly be?

What's on the horizon of the future? First and foremost, Alduin's rise to power, the Civil War, Queen Potema's revival, the Vampire Crisis, the events up north in Dawnstar regarding the Cult of Vaermina (which I've only just remembered were supposed to happen, which could possibly cause the destruction of a Hold), what's going on Solstheim with Miraak, (the first Dragonborn), then there's the events involving the guilds.

The Companions are falling into a state of disrepair, the Dark Brotherhood is dying out, the Thieve's Guild is going broke, and the Mage's College... What's supposed to be going on with the Mage's College?

Ah, shit. The Eye of Magnus. The Eye of Magnus is a mystical orb of mystic origin, about the size of a carriage that holds Magicka equivalent to that of an Elder Scroll. Yes, the thing the series this game, or rather, this world, is named for. Besides that, it has enough capability to wipe out the entirety of Skyrim, should it fall into the wrong hands.

I sigh. My problems grow in size the more I remember them.

[] Sithis shouts out, scaring the everliving shite out of me. The image of the orcish warrior I saw when I first met Sithis appears.

"HOLY MOTHER OF-..." I shriek out in surprise. I gasp for breath. "I've been here for like a week now, waiting for you."

[]

"Unless what?"

[]

"What are you talking about?!" I exclaim, confused. Nothing Sithis is saying makes any sense.

[] Sithis accuses me.

"Shadows moving, talking. They spoke to me. Gave me a Prophecy. Yeah, I almost went insane, too, but sure let's skip over that. Why, what's going on?"

[] Sithis muses, before telling me in a cold tone: []

I disappear from Sithis' dimension and return, to waking in the bed of High Hrothgar.

...