Riverwood was a pocket of tranquility, the gentle rush of the river and the scent of pine a soothing balm compared to the fiery chaos of Helgen. Gerdur, Ralof's sister, a woman with calloused hands and a shrewd gaze, welcomed them into her sturdy home with a wary but genuine kindness. Jason felt an odd stillness settle within him in this peaceful village, not belonging exactly, but a sense of temporary harbor in a storm-tossed sea.
But the illusion of peace in Skyrim was as fragile as ice on a spring thaw. News of the dragon attack in Helgen spread with unnerving speed, carried on the whispers of travelers and the worried faces of the villagers, a dark omen on the wind. A grim-faced messenger, clad in the colors of Whiterun, a larger city to the west, arrived in Riverwood, his words urgent pleas for aid and warnings of further attacks.
Jason, still grappling with the unbelievable reality of dragons and this rugged land, found himself drawn into the unfolding events. A sense of responsibility, unwelcome yet persistent, tugged at him, a feeling that his arrival here was no mere accident, though the reason remained shrouded in mystery.
He found himself accompanying Ralof and a small, hastily assembled band of Riverwood guards towards Bleak Falls Barrow, an ancient ruin perched precariously in the foothills.
Whispers spoke of a powerful artifact hidden within its depths. Inside the barrow's shadowed corridors, the air thick with the dust of ages, Jason faced draugr – the restless undead, their eyes glowing with malevolent energy. As he fought them off, his movements fluid and deadly, that strange energy within him flared, a raw power surging through his limbs. He discovered a Dragonstone, a tablet etched with a map of dragon burial sites, and a word of power, a language he instinctively understood yet had never learned, carved into an ancient wall.
When the guttural syllables left his lips, the very stones around him seemed to hum with power. A jolt of energy coursed through him, a visceral connection to something ancient and immense, primal and terrifying. Fear, cold and sharp, mingled with a bizarre sense of exhilaration.