17th of Last Seed 4E201
I never thought I'd see this book again! Today has been the worst day of my life. Apparently, those travelers I ran into were rebels, and criminals, and wanted men. We were ambushed by Imperial soldiers, and I was knocked unconscious in the struggle. I woke up in the back of a cart, wearing rags with my hands bound. A man across from me was talking to me, and one next to me had a gag over his mouth. The man across from him seemed upset, and kept saying things about not belonging there, even though he was a horse thief. We stopped finally, in a town called Helgen. Then, they got us to get off of the carts, and had us walk over near a block on the ground when our names were called. The horse thief tried to run, and they shot him with arrows. I decided I wouldn't make the same mistake he did. When it got to be my turn, the man with the list looked at me with confusion and asked me who I was. I told him my name was Nightshade, and I was from Morrowind. That wasn't my real name, but it didn't matter. I had decided soon after I left my home to leave my name behind too. It only seemed a fitting name, since I had seen so much death, much like the pretty flowers I found during my journey. He asked what to do since my name wasn't on the list. The woman next to him decided that I should go to the block anyway, despite the list. He expressed his condolences, and assured me that my remains would be returned to Morrowind. As I walked to the block, I laughed softly, wondering who he was going to send my bones to. I had no family left.

A soldier started speaking to the man in the gag, telling him that his death would bring an end to the war.He only grunted in reply. I wondered why his mouth was gagged, then the soldier ordered the priestess to give us our last rites.As she spoke,  I looked over and noticed a soldier reading my journal. I grumbled and sighed, then had my attention returned to the priestess as she was interrupted by one of the rebels. He said something about getting this over with, and basically willingly went over to the block. The woman who ordered my sentence pushed him to the ground, then he taunted the soldiers before a man with an axe chopped his head off. I jumped slightly as his head rolled away, then heard a roar in the distance. The soldiers dismissed the sound, and the woman ordered me to come to the block next. Tears started to slide down my cheeks as I stumbled over, the soldier with the list looking me with sadness in his eyes. It seemed as though he knew I shouldn't be doing this, yet he could do nothing to stop them. I stopped next to the block, the body of the other man next to my feet. I was pushed roughly to the ground, and looked up at the man with the axe. I heard the roar again as the man raised the giant ax over his head. I started to close my eyes, then saw something in the sky over his shoulder. It was huge and black, and the source of the sound we had heard earlier. I opened my eyes and tried not to scream as it landed in the tower behind him, the soldiers around us screaming and drawing their weapons. The dragon shouted and the ground shook, the sky grew dark, and balls of fire fell from above. I saw the man with the ax fall, then the world went black for a moment.
I woke up to screams, and the man who was across from me in the cart waking me up, telling me to follow him. His name was Ralof, if I remembered right. I ran towards a tower, dodging fallen rocks and dying men, then I saw the soldier who had my journal. He had been killed by a rock it seemed. I quickly looked around for my book, ignoring all around me for a moment. I spotted it and hurried over to pick it up, my efforts harder since my hands were bound. I ran into the tower nearby, Ralof shutting the door behind us. Inside were a few soldiers, and the man who had been gagged: Ulfric Stormcloak. They debated the legend of the dragon outside, then decided that we needed to keep moving. We ran up the tower,only to have the dragon knock a hole in the wall and spit fire at us. After he flew away and the fire went out, I jumped through the hole on the wall and into the top floor of what was left of an inn. As I ran, I looked around for a knife or dagger to cut my bonds, but I didn't see any. I jumped down through another hole and ran outside, seeing the soldier from before who had been kind to me. He was helping a couple of villagers and told me to stay with him if I wanted to stay alive. We both ran, ducking and dodging dragon fire. I ran past dead people, wounded people, and people shaped piles of ash. I didn't stop to ask if he could cut my bonds. We stopped outside of a keep, and Ralof was there. They argued for a moment and both asked me to follow them. I decided to follow the soldier, I think his name is Hadvar, at least that's what Ralof called him. We made it inside, and he cut my bonds and helped me find some gear. We then made our way through the keep, fighting soldiers he called Stormcloaks along the way. At first he tried to reason with them, but they attacked anyways. We kept going, finding sparse supplies along the way, and narrowly missing getting crushed by falling ceilings. Before we made it out, we had to fight spiders that were bigger than I was, and even a bear. At last, we escaped and stopped outside, watching the dragon fly off in the distance. I thanked him for his help, and agreed that it was likely best if we split up. He told me that his uncle in a nearby town called Riverwood would help me, and wished me luck. As he jogged away I wondered if I had made the right decision in not going with him, then shrugged and rifled through my bag for some food and something to write with. After all that happened, I needed to stop and breathe for a bit.