A Meeting of Worlds
A story about a meeting between the Dragonborn, Liara (a Khajiit) and a mysterious traveler (Zach, a human), this is my first story, comments appreciated.
	“Too easy,” Liara said while looting the bandit corpses, “Only one guard outside and the rest sleeping, no wonder they have such shitty gear.”  Hearing something Liara turned around and was knocked out, “Look what we got here boys, fresh meat”, a tough looking Orc said to the rest of his gang.  “Guess the new blood we left here wasn’t good enough to stop even one Khajiit”, a Nord bandit said.  “Good riddance,” another Nord said.  “Guess someone likes us boys.  First we lose worthless people and we now have a new toy to play with. Nothing could be better.”  The Orc said to his four man crew.
	“Damn it, “Zach whispered to himself, “first I wake up God knows where and I’m soaked because of this storm.”  Upon seeing a small flicker of light Zach made his way to an abandoned mine.  Hope nobody doesn’t want me here Zach thought to himself until he saw a dead body outside.  “Glad I grabbed my sidearm before this happened,” He said to himself.  
	“My head’s pounding,” Liara said to herself.  When she tried to rub her head she realized that her hands were bound and the dark reality of her situation came rushing back to her causing her to moan in desperation.  “Boss looks like she’s awake,” Liara heard a voice behind her say, “Good, I like them being awake for this part.” Another voice said.  Liara then felt strong hands grab her and through her roughly to the ground in front of an Orc wielding a wicked looking scythe.  “I hate getting the bosses’ sloppy seconds,” one bandit whispered to another, “Quiet, you want to piss off the boss?”  Upon hearing this Liara began to cry wondering why this was happening to her.
	“Stop, please… stop.”  Zach heard a female voice further ahead and it sounded like she needed help.  Moving quickly but quietly ahead Zach saw a Khajiit woman about to be raped by three humans and an Orc.  “Mind if I join in?” Zach said to the group hoping to surprise them enough to get close enough to the girl and free her.
	Liara had barely heard someone sneaking to where she was and her hope for rescue was crushed upon hearing him introduce himself.  “Who the hell are you?”  The Orc said.  “The names Zach, as you can see I’m lost and I was hoping to get out of the rain when I heard you boys and decided to join in the fun.”  The stranger explained while walking to her.  “Too bad friend, but you picked a bad day to get lost.” One of the Nord’s said while drawing his sword.  “That is too bad.”, The stranger calmly said when all of a sudden there was a loud bang and the Nord who had spoken dropped to the ground with a hole in his head.  “Get him!!” Liara ducked down as much as she could while three more bangs rang out and all three bandits dropped. 
	Pulling out his knife while holstering his pistol Zach knelt in front of the trussed up girl.  “Please don’t hurt me.”, Liara whimpered to the stranger who didn’t say anything but proceeded to cut her restraints when she say the Orc get up behind the stranger. “Behind you!”  “What?” Zach said while turning around in time to get punched dead in the face by the Orc he thought was dead. “You’re dead!” the berserk Orc cried ignoring his wound and preparing to finish off Zach.
	Liara acted fast to grab the stranger’s knife and stab the Orc in the back giving the stranger time to use his strange weapon to kill the Orc.  “Thanks for the assistance. You alright?” Zach asked Liara.  “Yeah, thanks for saving me.”  “No problem I’m just glad I got here in time.”  “Me too.  I hate to be rude but who are you and where did you come from?”  “As I said before my name’s Zach and I’m from America.  If you don’t mind would you be kind enough to tell me your name and where we are at?”  “My name’s Liara and we are in Skyrim. Where is America, I’ve never heard of it in my travels.”  “Far away from here.”  Zach said mournfully.
	Hoping to change the subject Liara asked Zach, “How did you get here then?”  “The military was researching something that involved alternate dimensions and I was one of the engineers assigned to set up the facility.  I became friends with the head researcher, a genius named Fields, anyway I was on my way to the training ground when he called me over to help him and next thing I remember was a bright light and then waking up here.”  “What about you how did you end up in this situation?”  “Oh, well you see I escaped from a dragon attack on the nearby city of Helgen, and after accompanying a soldier of the Imperial Legion named Hadvar to the town of Riverwood, I decided to explore nearby areas to find items I could sell for some septims for a trip to the Hold capital of Whiterun.  After killing some bandits I dropped my guard and you know the rest.”  “Well let’s go see if the storm’s over and if it is I’ll accompany you on your trip if that’s okay, and I hate to seem rude but are you a Khajiit, Liara?”  Zach asked already knowing the answer.  Surprised by the question Liara answered, “Yes, why do you ask, aren’t there Khajiit back in America?”  “No, only humans any other species were believed to only exist in mythology.”  “Really?” Liara asked even more confused, “Not even elves?”  “Nope, no magic either.”  “What was that weapon you used on those bandits then?”  “You mean this?” Zach said drawing his sidearm. “Yes what is that if it’s not magic?”  “Technology, this is a Colt M1911 handgun a basic sidearm for both military and police personnel.  But to answer your future question on how I got here I don’t know exactly, but I think that machine sent me here.”
	Liara and Zach proceeded to the exit and after seeing that the storm was still going strong decided to wait it out in the mine after making sure that it was clear this time.  “Is this the last one Liara?” Zach asked Liara while moving a body onto the pile of corpses the two of them made.  “That’s it Zach, thanks again for saving me from those bandits.”  “Like I said before it’s not a problem.”  Zach replied timidly.  “Is something wrong Zach?”  “No…it’s just that I’m still trying to get used to what happened and even back home I’m not used to compliments.”  “Why?”  “I prefer to stay in the background which is why I decided to become a combat engineer that way I could still fight if needed, but still be in the background.”  “How come you don’t like attention?” Liara asked wanting to learn more about her new friend.  “I never really thought about it before, all I know is that I prefer my own company to other people so I just stayed in the background.”  “Well with those bodies disposed of we should try to get some sleep.  I’ll take first watch so you can get some rest.”  Zach said trying to change the conversation.  “Ok, but this isn’t over.”  Liara said winking at her new friend.
To be continued. 
Skyrim is the property of Bethesda .