Animal Urges - Chapter XX

Chapter XX - Dreams

The cure successful, I slept for days - or was it weeks? My dreams were alternatingly horrifying, amusing, and blissful.

I dreamt of fucking and then eating half-burnt corpses - or was it the other way around? Of being a giant and fucking a dragon - or was it the other way around? I dreamt I met the entire Stormcloak host as a werewolf and defeated them singlehandedly, then sought out the last camps of stragglers and exterminated them, ripping still-beating hearts from flesh, squeezing the blood down my throat before consuming them entire.

I dreamt that Serana tried to turn me into a vampire again, but I died and went to Sovngarde, whence I met Kodlak Whitemane, Ulfric Stormcloak, Mjoll the Lioness, Aerin, and myriad others, all reveling together; opposition, ego, pride forgotten. There ensued an orgy, suddenly disrupted when the great dragon-god Alduin attacked. Hundreds of us, all in the nude, casually slew him, continued the debauch.

I dreamt that I was gang-fucked by an almost endless procession of khajiit, orcish, and argonian males. Following, I gave birth to a grotesque, sexless child with khajiit tail and ears, warty green argonian skin, orange-red eyes and fangs. Then I became this monstrosity as, grown up into a gross composite of dragon and Shrelle-baby, I ravaged the countryside, spewing streams of cum from my throat that drowned victims instead of consuming them in fire or frost.

I dreamt that Vilja rejected me, told me I was worse than Halvdan, her repugnant erstwhile suitor; she slapped me with a slaughterfish. I dreamt she tied me to a tree, swam naked in front of me, teased and posed lewdly. Aela gave her a foot massage as, using various implements including her flute and a dagger, she alternately masturbated herself, the Huntress, and Serana; the dagger nicked her, causing her to bleed, though this appeared to only arouse them all the more. Suddenly she was in another bacchanalia, this time with the vampiress, Aela, Mjoll, Aerin, Borgahk, Lydia, Farkas and Vilkas, plus half of Skyrim (I was sure this was a dream) whilst I remained bound, infuriatingly naked but unable to even touch myself. Turning into a werewolf, I burst my bonds, lunged to rend them all to pieces - but was abruptly unable, frozen and powerless as Vilja ensorcelled me and mocked me, calling me her 'funny little puppy'.

I dreamt of power; that I could fly, riding upon a dragon and as a real dragon (the latter was a dream, the former not). Of becoming Jarl of Winterhold (I loathed that fact that Maven Blackbriar had been 'appointed' by the Empire); or was it Hjaalmarch? The Reach? Perhaps it was High-King of Skyrim. Empress Shrelle the First?

I dreamt I was a werewolf and this time killed everyone at the orgy except Serana, who joined me, wearing her father's visage; we tore everyone apart, ate all in a revel of blood that lasted an eternity of sunless nights...!

I awoke.

"My thane." Jordis.

I was home, in Solitude, whence my children abided. All was silent.

I surged from the bed, suddenly terrified that I would... do something egregious, if I had not already.

"My thane," the housecarl repeated, laying her hands on me; pressed me back into the bed. "What do you wish? I'll get it for you - you must rest."

My fears subsided, as did I, momentarily. "No. I have rested enough. "Where is my armour... weapons?" I would kill the dreams. "I must find Vilja."

"You wonted to towk to me?"

She wore her blue dress, my favourite, matching her eyes. I half-sat up for a moment, heart lodged in my throat. Approaching from the bedroom door, she made as though to hug me; I reached for her, suddenly appalled as I noticed fur on my hands, long talons sprouting whilst the hunger leapt, a red haze before my eyes-

I awoke, sweating. Bright sunshine pierced gaps between the planks of the walls; dust motes swirled. I heard children playing in the street outside, the distant call of hawkers from the market.

"My thane." Lydia, this time.

Unsteadily I reached for her, glanced blearily at my hand as I clutched her bare arm; it was normal. I squeezed, ascertained that my housecarl was real.

A dark eyebrow rose. "My thane?"

I snapped my head about the room - a little too quickly, as a wave of dizziness swept over me; Vilja was not here.

"I..." My throat felt like the entire Alik'r Desert had invaded. Yet, I took that as the final proof that I was actually awake and cured; I had felt neither hunger nor thirst, other than as an illness, for what seemed like ages.

Lydia handed me a goblet of water; I emptied it, messily; she refilled it. "Are you hungry, my thane?"

I told her thought I could eat an entire 'flock of mammoths' (as Vilja once put it), and beg for seconds.

As it happened, Vilja found me anon. I am uncertain that my fervent wish for her - I may even someday admit that it was a prayer - was mere coincidence or not. All I know is that I emerged into the daylight later that day (or was it several days later?), paused upon the steps of Breezehome, turned my face toward the sun; closed my eyes and tried to absorb it.

"Wouldn't it be nice to jest towk a little, you and I?"

I dared not open my eyes for fear that I was dreaming again. Slowly, I cracked them; Vilja, in her blue dress, stood in the street at the base of the steps, blonde hair shining, just as I pictured her in my dreams...

"Shrelle?"

Sinking into her shocking blue eyes, I read the myriad questions therein. I felt myself trembling, jaw working; countless thoughts and feelings washed over me at once, like the wind of a swooping dragon. Tears threatened; I could not answer past another iron ingot in my throat.

"Are you all right?"

"No- Yes. I am now."

She smiled, melted into my arms.

"I am sorry," I began to sob.

"Shh... No matter, sweetheart. Shhhh-shushhh..." She stroked my hair as I simply held her, perhaps a little too tightly, as though afraid to let her go again, lest she disappear...

"M-Marry me, Vilja."

"Of course, sweetheart. Of course I will marry you."

Continued in Chapter XXI