The world folded in on itself.
Sound dropped out.
Then he hit the floor hard
Kael sucked in a breath and rolled onto his side, coughing once as his body tried to remember where it was. His ribs groaned in pain.
'Really appreciate it, system'
"…Jorrvaskr."
His voice came out hoarse.
The small was all too familiar. Old wood, furs, steel, faint traces of ale soaked into the walls. It was warm, compared to the frozen hell he'd just crawled out of.
He was back.
Just like that.
Then door slammed open aggressively.
Kael's head snapped up.
Fast and heavy footsteps assaulted his ears.
Farkas.
The big Nord filled the doorway in a single stride, eyes wide, then narrowing the moment they landed on Kael.
"You—"
He stopped.
Really looked at him.
Blood, torn clothes, and panting softly.
Farkas' expression shifted into confliction.
"You're alive."
Kael let out a dry breath. "Last I checked."
That didn't help.
Farkas stepped fully into the room, jaw tightening. "Where the hell have you been?"
'Of course, here it is.'
Kael pushed himself to his feet slowly. "I—"
He stopped.
Because what was he supposed to say?
I got dragged into some system trial dimension to kill a monster for a class upgrade?
Yeah. That would go over well.
Farkas took a step closer. "We needed you."
Kael's brow furrowed. "For what?"
That was when he noticed it.
The smell was not the usual.
Fresh blood, thick and in abundance. Burnt wood. Something acrid, like ash and rot clinging to the air beneath everything else.
Something was wrong.
"…What happened?"
Farkas didn't answer right away.
He just stared at him for a second longer, like he was trying to decide whether to rearrange his facial features with a fist.
Then,
"Get up. You're coming."
Kael didn't argue.
* * * *
The main hall of Jorrvaskr felt… wrong.
Too quiet.
It wasn't empty, there were people there, but the noise was off. Lower and more tense.
Everyone was speaking just a little softer than usual without realizing it.
Kael stepped in behind Farkas and felt it immediately.
Eyes on him.
Some confused.
Some irritated.
Some outright hostile.
Vilkas was near the center, arms crossed, pacing once before stopping. Aela stood off to the side, bow leaning against the table, her expression unreadable. And... wait...
Kael's gaze moved once across the room.
Then again.
"…Where's Skjor?"
No one answered.
Farkas stepped forward first. "Found him in his room just now. Finally decided to show up."
Vilkas' head snapped toward Kael. "Now you show up."
Kael frowned. "I was—"
"Gone," Vilkas cut in, sharp. "You were gone."
Aela's voice came quieter, but no less pointed. "During a raid."
That made something in Kael's chest tighten.
"…What raid?"
The silence that followed was worse than shouting.
Vilkas let out a breath through his nose, like he was trying very hard not to lose his temper.
"Vampires."
Kael stilled.
"They hit us in the night," Aela continued, arms folding slowly. "Not just a few. A force."
Farkas' voice dropped. "And they weren't alone."
Kael's stomach sank.
"…What do you mean?"
Vilkas looked at him then. Really looked.
"Creatures. Like the one we fought out there."
That hit harder than anything else.
"Worse," Farkas added quietly.
Kael felt something cold settle in his gut.
"No…"
"They came straight for us," Aela said. "Didn't care about anything else. Not gold. Not supplies."
Vilkas' jaw clenched. "They came for him."
Kael already knew the answer before he asked.
"…Skjor."
No one corrected him.
The word just hung there.
Kael shook his head once. "No. Skjor's not..."
"Gone," Vilkas said flatly. "Taken."
Kael's hands clenched at his sides. "How?"
Farkas barked out a humorless laugh. "How do you think? They came prepared."
Aela stepped forward slightly. "They knew what they were doing. Silver. Fire. Magic."
Vilkas added, quieter now, "And those things… those... werepire abominations. It was unlike anything Skyrim has ever seen."
'So it wasn't just one.'
'There were more.'
'Of course there were.'
Farkas' eyes burned into him again. "We fought them off. Drove most of them back."
Vilkas' voice dropped lower. "But not before they got what they came for."
Silence.
"Where were you?"
It wasn't shouted this time.
That made it worse.
Kael swallowed once.
"I—"
Nothing came out.
Because anything he said would sound like an excuse.
Anything he said would sound like a lie. How was he supposed to prove that anything he said was the truth?
Vilkas took a step forward. "You vanish. No word. No sign. Then you walk back in covered in blood after it's all over?"
Kael's temper flared, sharp and sudden. "You think I chose that?"
"Then explain it."
He couldn't.
That was the problem.
Kael's jaw tightened. "I was dealing with something."
Farkas scoffed. "Something more important than this?"
"Yes."
The word came out before he could stop it.
The room went still.
Vilkas' eyes hardened. "Careful."
Kael exhaled sharply, running a hand through his hair. "That's not what I meant."
"Then what did you mean?" Aela asked softly, but her gaze didn't leave him.
Kael opened his mouth.
Closed it.
What could he say?
Nothing that wouldn't make things worse.
Nothing that would make sense.
The silence stretched.
Then he looked away.
"…Forget it."
That was answer enough.
Farkas muttered something under his breath.
Vilkas just shook his head once, like he'd expected this.
Aela studied him a moment longer.
Then she sighed.
"Enough."
The word helped to ease the tension.
"We can deal with this later."
Vilkas didn't look convinced. "We don't have time for later."
"No," Aela agreed. "We don't."
She glanced toward the door.
"We have something else first."
Kael frowned slightly. "What?"
Farkas snorted. "You really were gone."
Vilkas answered this time.
"The Jarl."
That made Kael's attention sharpen.
"Jarl Balgruuf the Greater has called for a gathering," Aela said. "Tonight."
"About the attack?" Kael asked.
Vilkas nodded once. "And more."
Farkas crossed his arms. "Word's already spreading. Vampires bold enough to hit Whiterun? That's not something you ignore."
Aela's gaze flicked back to Kael.
"Whatever this is… it's bigger than just us now."
Skjor taken.
More werepires.
A coordinated attack.
And now the Jarl involved.
"…Yeah," he muttered.
Bigger.
Way bigger. This change could affect the whole of Skyrim.
Vilkas turned away first. "Get cleaned up. You look like death."
Farkas added, "And try not to disappear again."
Kael didn't respond.
He just stood there a moment longer as the others began to move, the room slowly filling with quiet, tense activity again.
No one said it out loud.
But it was there.
He wasn't there when it mattered.
That didn't go away just because he showed up after.
Kael let out a slow breath.
Then turned toward his room.