Disclaimer: I do not own the owned. Everything belongs to CP, Random House, and to whoever else it may concern.

Disclaimer II: Heavy character-bashing on a LOT of characters, some vulgar language, blood, gore, and mild violence at the end. Not for the faint-hearted canon-fans!

Author's Note: First of all, I started writing this on the spur of the moment in the chapter of another fanfic that I was updating. However, it evolved into a one-shot of its own and was so long (sort of) that I decided to give it its own page on this website. Before you read this, do know that I don't mind all the characters of the Inheritance Cycle and actually like AxE a lot so I am not a hater of the Eragon novels. I just wanted to write something different for a change.

I guess I was also kind of influenced by Harry Potter fanfiction that has a heap of character-bashing. So as you can guess, this does have a pile of character-bashing on practically everyone. I haven't read the books in ages though so all the events are mixed up, so please go easy on me as this was just written for fun. Also, I haven't actually read the Book 4 that CP wrote yet since I started reading it in the library and the first few chapters were like a bad Book 4 fanfic to me.

So I stopped reading. Anyhow, all you need to know is that this is sometime after Eragon killed Galby and is about to leave Alagaësia with the elves to that other land wherever it is. I know tons of you guys are gonna hate it and this isn't for canon-lovers, but it's something different so who knows? Well, that's about it so all I have to say is R&R please even if you utterly hate this fanfic.

Enjoy! (hopefully)

Eragon Shadeslayer was just about to fall asleep when he heard someone knocking on the door. He was exhausted from doing all that magic and breaking all those curses that at the moment, he just wanted to tell whoever it was to fuck off and leave him in peace.

Sadly, he was not that cruel (although sometime he wished he was) so he heaved a resigned sigh and dragged himself to his feet. Deciding not to bother dressing (he was in his underpants only), he trudged wearily over to the door.

He was currently living in a room by the docks in an old inn that had somehow survived the war. It wasn't much but the inn-keeper was a jovial old man and his wife made some good chicken soup and splendid roast potatoes. The room was warm and the bed was soft, so really what else did he need?

Well, some sleep would be nice since it was well-past midnight but fate was a bitch. Not wanting to antagonize the hand of fate any more than he already had in his reckless life, Eragon crossed the floor-space quickly and swung open the door.

To his shocked surprise, there stood none other than Arya the newly crowned queen of the elves! Oddly enough, she was dressed in full battle gear and looked extremely pale as if she was either horribly afraid or deathly sick both of which were worrying. What also concerned

Eragon was that she was clutching her unsheathed sword in her hand and her eyes were flashing with fury. But what was most concerning of all was that her eyes had no pupils or colour in them: They were an inky black like a bottomless void. Panic gripped Eragon. Had Arya been cursed by some lone straggler who escaped Galbatorix's forces? Was she about to die?

As if on cue, Arya spoke but when she did her voice was mingled with others as if different people were speaking through her. Eragon got really scared then as that only happened to one creature in Alagaësia that he knew of: A Shade!

"Greetings, Eragon," Arya intoned.

"What happened to you?" Eragon whispered. "Who are you?"

"We are Arya, the Shade," Arya, or the Shade within her, spoke.

"What?" Eragon exclaimed in shock and horror. "How can this be? Is this some kind of prank? Am I having a bad dream?"

As if in answer, Arya slapped him viciously across the face making him cough up blood. Eragon's vision blurred and his mind reeled.

"No," Arya crooned. "This is your worst nightmare come to life. The Arya you know never was the Arya you knew. She was a fraud, an imposter."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Eragon demanded, whipping his mouth on his arm.

"Do you not remember that the elf you crush on was imprisoned?" Arya drawled in a bored-tone.

"Yes," Eragon said softly. "She was, and I rescued her."

"Well that Arya you rescued died long ago in her prison cell," Arya said mockingly, her eyes filled with glee. "She actually died when her lover Faolin was shot to death but truly realized it when she got tortured by Durza."

"Please, stop," Eragon murmured frantically, wanting to throw up. "Why are you torturing me with this? What have I ever done to you?"

"What have you ever done to me?" Arya shrieked fiendishly. "You have robbed me of my most precious thing: Saphira!"

That statement left Eragon too stumped for words and the poor Dragon Rider could only stare in dumfounded confusion at the creature before him, who was practically frothing at the mouth in rage.

"Saphira was to be my dragon!" Arya, the creature, roared. "I was to take her away from our dratted elves and raise her myself. Then when I was powerful enough I would return and slay my stupid mother and take over the Du Weldenvarden that was rightfully mine. But you...you stopped me!"

"What?" Eragon stammered. "How?"

"When Durza attacked I was forced to send my sacred dragon away," Arya growled. "It was for both of our good, I had no choice. But Saphira was tired of being cooped up all the time and by a fluke of nature she hatched for you. She actually confided in me that when you tried to chip her open with a tool, she got hurt and needed to break out so that a Dragon Rider Bond would heal her before it was too late. That was all it was that caused you to Bond: Self-preservation on her part."

"Stop!" Eragon sobbed, tears springing to his eyes. "You're lying!"

"Oh?" Arya sneered. "Well then, let me tell you in the Ancient Language that you so love."

And before Eragon could stop her, Arya chanted the words in the Ancient Language forcing Eragon to believe her.

"What's more," Arya boasted proudly. "I am a Shade as you might have guessed. During my torture from Durza, some of the dark magic used in it caused some of the spirits that infested his soul to consume my own. That is what really caused me to die. So when I coaxed you into freeing me, I found out that you were the cause for all my pain and suffering."

"Please, stop," Eragon whimpered, the pain was too great to bear to hear that everything he ever thought he knew was a lie.

"Oh yes," Arya cackled. "You are a worthless scum, Eragon!" All the voices of Arya the Shade shrieked horrendously at the same time. "You are not worthy to be called a Dragon Rider! You were a mere accident. Saphira did not even want to hatch for you but she chose you as a last resort to get out of her egg and to freedom. Your life was controlled by fate as the mindless zombie you are. You only caused death and destruction.

"Look at your poor Uncle Garrow. How the farm suffered on your behalf and, in turn, your entire village was forced to move. Then Brom died trying to save your pathetic-excuse of a life. Murtagh was captured by the Varden and then by the Empire and forced into slavery of the worst kind. Then Roran's lover, Katrina whom you stole from him, got kidnapped by the Raz'zak and almost blinded. Her father is now a pitiful specimen like an ant and should be put out of his misery.

"Roran himself suffered from your crimes against the Empire, for getting embroiled in your stupid war. He got whipped fifty times for trying to become a hero like you and had to soil his hands with the blood of innocents as he became a monster to fight for a handful of pitiful rebels. The same rebels who separated you from your over-grown lizard and sentenced you to getting assassinated, nearly, at the dwarves. Why do you think Nasuada sent you there?

"It wasn't to make the dwarves your allies. That was a given due to Orik being your friend, and Hrothgar who also died because of you. No. Nasuada decided that you were too much of a threat to her and the Council of Elders, whom she loyally serves. Thus, she sent you alone with another enemy – that Kull – to be killed along the way if possible. But you kept on your guard, even when the Kull sent for that giant bear and wolf to kill you.

"Even Orik wanted you dead which was why he took you too that stone garden in the hopes that you would trip and fall hundreds of feet to your death, which was why there was all that fog to hide the pitfalls. Again, you succeeded and made your way to the dwarf meeting which was another attempt to get rid of you. That was why Nasuada separated you from your dragon so that you could get killed by your enemies, the dwarves, who hated all Dragon Riders.

"However, they failed again and failed countless times still. I do not even have to go on to say that when you moved to the elves before that you were pathetic and useless with your stupidly-received injury. We had to rescue you to keep up appearances but Saphira and I wanted to get you out of the way so I tried smashing that stupid glass flower so sacred to the dwarves. It was both to destroy you and to get the dwarves angry at you and possibly kill you if you succeeded, when you fought that Shade.

"Again, I distracted the twins so they would not answer your calls for help. Back during your training, elves tried to kill you numerous times amongst them Vanir. Even the werecats hated you and tried to get the Menoa Tree to kill you in a roundabout way so they would not be blamed. They thought that if you tried to steal the Tree's sacred treasure, she would surely kill you but again they were wrong. You still succeeded and Saphira was forced to let you tag along with her into battle.

"Again, I made sure that you were alone when you fought Murtagh and did not receive any help because I wanted you dead. But you succeeded since Murtagh is your relation and that is, perhaps, why he was too weak to finish you. There are countless other times when I tried to kill you but you resisted all my attempts. That was why I rejected you in the hopes of making you even more weak and miserable than you were to distract you further and yet you persisted. But enough talk. I tired of speech in this human form, so I shall end this useless conversation now. Your time is up, Shadeslayer, so be prepared to enter the afterlife!"

So saying, Arya let out a fierce battle-cry in a foreign language and slid out her sword in one fluid motion. Eragon was surprised to notice that it glowed with the red of blood. But he did not have time to ponder further, for the Shade attacked Eragon and the Dragon Rider had only enough time to duck out of the way and avoid the swipe.

Arya shrieked fiendishly at him, her eyes flashing with rage.

"Die you pathetic worm!" She roared.

Eragon did not want to kill Arya as he had grown up around a different elf. But this was not the elf he knew. Arya was a Shade, an imposter. Her time under Durza's torture had broken her and turned her into what she was. Eragon should have seen it. That was why she was so cold and distant and another reason why she killed that wounded bird on their trip to the elf home.

But he had been so young and naive, and now he had to suffer the consequences. All of this flashed through Eragon's mind in seconds. Heaving a sigh, Eragon summoned up all of the strength within him, Eragon unsheathed his sword and side-stepped avoiding another slash.

"BRISINGR!" He roared, and his blue sword burst into a sheet of flame.

With one deft twist, he slammed the flat of his blade against Arya's lighter more puny sword knocking it clean out of her hands. The blade sang through the air as it fell several feet away leaving Arya totally defenceless to him.

"Any last words?" Eragon drawled as he pointed his flaming sword under Arya's chin.

"Yes," The Shade spat, her eyes red with fury. "I fucking hate you!"

Not even bothering to hide his own rage, Eragon roared – letting out all the pent-up anger within him – and lashed out with his sword, delivering a deathblow to the elf. Arya didn't even have time to scream as Eragon sliced her head off causing fresh blood to splash all over him. Arya's decapitated head toppled off the slashed-open neck which spilled its insides out as the lifeless body fell on the floor.

Not even taking a sweat, Eragon nodded in satisfaction and murmured his sword's name again distinguishing the spell. Then using his the true name he learned from Murtagh, he chanted a brief spell causing Arya's head and body to disintegrate into dust and sink into the floor beneath his tent. As the blood faded from view, Eragon felt lighter and happier then before.

He was free from all restraints and had nothing holding him back from being the best he could be. Arya was the main reason why he'd want to stay in Alagaësia, in the hopes of becoming her lover. But she was his true enemy all along. Nasuada was another reason. He could have seen himself fancying her since she was always rather nice to him and friendly.

But she was also a part of the plot to kill him, and Roran was most certainly connected when he asked for his help to defeat the Raz'zack. I mean, if he killed over 200 men and moved an entire village across the spine then surely he didn't need Eragon's help to kill a few overgrown lizards. Also, Roran was very lazy and probably just wanted to use Saphira as transport.

The thought made him sick that everyone Eragon cared about betrayed him. Coming to think of it, there was not a soul he could trust since even Angela wanted him gone from Alagaësia and was friends with the werecat who tried to get him killed. It was better that he leave Alagaësia forever. He couldn't even trust his elvish bodyguards to protect him.

They had only done so out of duty and to keep up appearances. No doubt they had tried to stab him in the back many times during the war. And now that it was over, they would try to do worse since they could get so close to him. Even Saphira hated him but Eragon could live with that. He would release her from her bond after he left Alagaësia with the dragon eggs.

He would free them from the Rider Bond so they would not have to suffer as he had. Because of the Name, he did not need a dragon as he could rewrite the fabric of magic to free him from the bond and make him stay sane. It was easier that way since he had no privacy in the Bond and even suffered pain when Saphira got hurt. He also suffered all the emotions and hunger that she experienced.

It was a pesky annoyance and something he didn't need to be saddled with. No. He had better things to do and would raise the new generation of dragons wild and free. He would become a hermit or maybe see if the new land he was moving to had denizens of his own that he could live with. He would start fresh and begin a new life.

With that thought in mind, Eragon re-cast his silencing spell and wards around the tent drawing power from the Name to make them invincible. He didn't care if anyone got harmed trying to enter the tent as they were all trying to have him killed anyways.

The war was over now and he sure as hell did his fair share of duty. He was a free man now and would accept no control over his life. He would do what he wanted and lead his life as he pleased, even if it meant eating juicy fat stakes in the heart of elf territory! With those thoughts in mind, Eragon sank contentedly onto his bed and pulled the covers over him.

His eyes fluttered closed and he fell into a deep, deep sleep.

A/N: So there you have it! Thoughts people? I know a lot of you would hate it but I would appreciate hearing what you have to say as this is a first time writing heavy character-bashing for any fandom, really. I don't think I will write more of this but I might write more chapters about how Eragon gets his revenge afterwards on various people who wronged him since they are all bad guys in this fanfic. And should Eragon get a new dragon and a new love interest? If so, who? Well, that's all for now. All I have left to say is become a writer's best friend and comment! Then who knows? We might see more of this one-shot in the future.

Bye for now!

The Winter Wizard