107 Unwelcome Homecoming VII

"Not today, you oversized lizard!" Inigo shouts as he looses three arrows straight into the dragon's mouth, causing it to choke on its torrent of flame as it falls back onto the ground.

I distance myself and continue launching ice spikes into its hide as Lydia and Lokir take turns tearing into the dragon, covering each other between its swings as its motions become slowed and lethargic.

"NO! I CANNOT DIE LIKE THIS!" The dragon shouts using the last of its strength to try and snap Lokir between its mighty jaw.

Though as if expecting it, Lokir twirls to the left of where the dragon lunged before stabbing his sword through its eyes and straight into its brain, killing it with that final blow.

And with that final death blow, the dragon's body starts to fade away as its soul starts flowing from its body...

And towards... Lokir?!

"Boss?! What's goin' on?!" Lokir shouts, looking at me in a panic as he disappeared into a swirling tornado of energy.

"No fuckin' way..." I say in disbelief.

Lokir emerges from the swirling tornado of energy, seeming to glow from the power he's absorbed from the dragon's soul.

"Damn, Boss, is this what magic feels like?" Lokir asks as the energy dissipates and he returns to his normal self.

"I don't fuckin' believe this shit... Lokir, trying shouting, like how I do." I say taking a step forward.

Lokir looks at me in confusion before nodding and looking at the sky, "FUS! Holy shit, I'm a dragon born!"

"DOH! VAH! KIN!" The grey beards shout across the land confirming my suspicion.

"Boss! Boss! I'm a dragon born, just like you!" Lokir cheers in disbelief.

"Well, I guess we're related somehow? Instead of brothers, we're cousins." I sigh, accepting the fact Lokir's a dragon born like me... Fuck, it's going to cost so many dragon souls to level us up... May want to go and do the greybeards quest soon to strengthen us.

I smile imagining the look on the old fart's faces when not one, but two dragon borns come to them.

"Shit Boss, you're right!" Lokir laughs clapping my shoulder a little too hard, still riding the high from our victory before a big bucket of cold water is poured on our celebration.

Two young girls, Britte and Sissel, start looking around and staring at their destroyed home in disbelief.

"Where's our papa?" Sissel asks in disbelief as she stares at the wreckage left in the wake of our battle.

"Oh… Shit…" I say, looking at the lower half of a body off in the distance.

And with that, Lokir realizes what I do and stares at the children with a solemn look, before heading towards them and kneeling down beside them.

"I'm sorry… But, your father is… Dead." Lokir says regretfully.

"Really? He… He's really gone?" Britte says in confused disbelief.

"What's going to happen to us?" Sissel asks at a complete loss.

Lokir looks at me in distress before a calm, resolute determination fills his gaze, "Don't worry… I promise you'll be taken care of… You can have a home with me."

"A-are you sure we can stay with you?" Sissel asks hope in her voice.

"I'm certain. Why don't you go wait in the tavern while I help clean this mess up." Lokir says, sending them off with a guard as he turns back to us.

"Brother, what are you thinking?! Adopting twins?! Who on Nirn made you think it was a good idea to just adopt kids you randomly meet on your travels?! Seriously what were you thinking?!" I ask him in complete shock and disbelief at what he has just done.

Inigo and Lokir turn to each other sharing a look before Inigo glances at Mr. Dragonfly who buzzes vehemently.

"I agree, Mr. Dragonfly, I do not think he realizes that is exactly what he does… Repeatedly…" Inigo says with a sagely nod.

*Buzz, Buzz, Buzz…*

"That is very rude Mr. Dragonfly, I don't think it is considered kidnapping if the child has no home or parents to look after them." Inigo says, chastising Mr. Dragonfly.

"Inigo, tell Mr. Dragonfly that if he keeps talkin' shit I'm gonna rip one of his wings off and lock him in with the bee in a jar." I say staring at the jar attached to Inigo's waist.

*Buzz, buzz, buzzzzzzzz!*

"You sure? Alright, I'll tell him. He says don't threaten me with a good time." Inigo says looking at me in exasperation.

"For fucks sake! Anyways, Lokir, are you sure about this? Becoming a father?" I ask him, tired of putting up with Mr. Dragonfly.

"Honestly, Boss? No, I don't think I'm nearly ready enough to be a father... But, I owe those girls. If ya haven't figured it out yet, I stole the town's harvest and sold it to some bandits for a little coin. I was discovered and banished." Lokir explains as he remembers his past actions with regret.

"I figured as much, but how does stealing crops make you a murderer?" I ask, still confused as to how he ended up getting that label.

"Well, just so happens a bad winter came that year and there wasn't enough food to go around... Or enough money to pay a healer when Lemkil's wife got sick... So she didn't make it through the girls' birth. And now, because I couldn't stop that dragon soon enough, their father's dead too... So, ya see? I owe it to them to look after them." Lokir concludes, looking at his hands as if still seeing the blood that won't wash off on them.

"Look, I understand blaming yourself for their mom, but you can't blame yourself for their father. A dragon literally swooped down from the sky and bit him in half. You can't get any more random than if Sheogorath himself popped down and gave us a wheel of cheese!" I say, before looking up in terror afraid I had summoned him, before sighing in relief that it was still just the four of us.