AN: Ok so before this I had written an intro chapter to this four times in as many months. So right now Im having a pretty shit time (depression) as a result I need something to do. Writing this is something I have intended to do for a while but never had the courage to publish. Unfortunately ( if you enjoy this that is) I can't promise that I will finish this even if I do intent to try. There is a note on ccharacters/relations at the end.
Ahn' jerked her arm up at the last second, bringing with it a barrier of magical energy, to save herself from being impaled by the shards of ice sent her way by the traitorous Arcano. She thanked the eight for her many chances to practice this specific ward since comming to Skyrim's hostile lands, as it had saved her life during countless magical encounters. Her refusal to wear a shielld on her off-hand, in favour of casting spells meant it was her only protection from incoming missiles.
She cursed herself for having become distracted by one of the anomalies when it whizzed past her. The eye might have closed and stopped spitting out magical entities but Ahn' was uncomfortably aware of it pulsing, suspended in the centre of the hall.
Arcano again summoned a half dozen shards to float before him waiting for an opportunity to launch them at his adversary. She was strong the witch but he was stronger. He had glimpsed the power held within the eye, power enough to control all of Tamriel. She had sealed it however and held his key to harnessing the power he deserved. She would just have to die then.
Ahn' ducked agian as an anomalie hurtled her way at break neck speed, rolling to the side as Arcano released his shards of razor sharp ice from their stasis and pushed them her way once more. Seeing her chance now that the High Elf no longer had shield of cold needles aimed at her she pushed off the stone floor to swing at her opponent.
He jumped back easily avioding the blade but missed the gauntlet now clad in terrifying black flames that smashed into the right side of his face. He stumbled, a searing pain accross one side of his face. He smelt burning flesh and his hand came away bloody. He swung blindely, one eye already swolen shut, hoping the flanged head of his staff would connect.
Ahn' easily parried the clumsy attack, proceding to wrap her unoccupied hand around Arcanos wrist as his arm shot out in the attempt to ward her off. Her own armored fist still swirled with bottomless flames and he shrieked as the the pain in his face was also applied to his arm. The sound quickly turned to a stiff grunt as her sword effortlessly slid through his robes, ribs, and finally his heart ending his life abruptly.
Ahn' watched him slump heavily to the cold stone ground where a tiny pool of blood started to form when gravity pulled the sword from his chest. Taking a deep breath she survayed what had become of the tiny vanguard who had come into the hall of the elements with her. Several mages stood about, some already healing those who had been injured in the confusion. Tolfdir, her mentor for nearly a year now, leaned against one of the pillars talking quietly with one of his students. She would learn that he had more than a few broken ribs and some internal bleeding after being hit squarely by one of the whisps spawned from the eye.
It was with a sense of relief but also some sadness that she noted Mirabell and the Arch-mage were the only ones to lose their lives to Arcanos madness. Even the towns people were recovering from their attack, if with some hightened distrust for the collage. That was in the sympathetic cases anyway. Many blamed the collage outright for the damage caused. Ahn' didn't really expect any less however.
A rappidly growing light appeared behind her and she tightened her grip on the hilt still within her grasp. She feared the eye had somehow reopened but was instead greeted by the sight of Quaranir, the mage who had appeared to her within Sarthal what felt like a lifetime ago. He was flanked by two others in identical robes as himself and all three were headed her way. "well done, you have successfully prevented a disaster which had a potential grow even beyond our control."
Even when giving her praise Ahn' couldn't help but notice that he sounded somewhat accusing. He seemed sincere however so she was willing to give the man the benifit of doubt.
"This Arcano was clearly mad but I fear it only demonstrates that mankind is not yet ready for the power contained within the orb. That is why the order has decided it would be safest to house the eye itself, if left unattended there is no way of knowing what might happen." as he said this his followers moved to stand by the floating orb which had caused them all so much trouble recently.
"And what of us?" She finally asked. "Do we rebuild, continue as if nothing ever happened?"
He smiled at this. A strange expression that pulled at his face. Smiling was clearly not something he did often. "That is for you to decide Arch-mage of Winterhold." With those parting words and a flash which left her blinking away unnatural colours she was alone again.
Ahn' was stunned by his suggestion. She had been a part of the collage for no more than ten months, how could she possibly be the next Arch-mage? Surely one of the senior enchantors would be more suitable for the task.
Tolfdir interrupted her when he stepped beside forward and placed a comforting hand upon her shoulder. "You know as strange as the idea might seem I actually agree. Who better to lead us in the aftermath of this ordeal than the one person who brought us through it unscathed."
She tried to protest almost immediately but was stopped when he lifted a hand to silence her. She complied, silently thinking it was just another reason why she was unfit for the position.
"Mirabell would normally have been the one to succeed Savos Arren but as her... untimely death has prevented that simplicity, myself and the rest of the senior enchantors will put to vote who will lead the collage in time to come. I believe they will agree with my choice."
-][-
As it turned out they did. Thus Ahn' found herself standing, for only the second time in her life, in the Arch-mage of Winterholds private apartment. Feeling slightly overwhelmed that everything within now belonged to her, Ahn' stepped forward truely taking in the beauty of the space for the first time.
The central chamber was split into an inner and an outer ring. The inner ring was dominated by a raised, curved platform with stone steps on both sides. The steps curved with the wall seperating the rings and within was a small practical herb garden. A constant trickle of water spilled from a vent about half way up the platform of solid marble. She could not see if the unending loop of water was some spell or a dwarven mechanism the mages hed been able to copy from one of the many texts and sketches their vast library contained.
To the left, also allong the dividing wooden wall, an alchemy station with all the basic equipment and some devices she had never used before. Beside that a shelf containing half a hundred powders, roots and pastes ready to concoct any amount of potions and poultices. Or poisons if one so desired. On the right hand side was a similar setup only for enchatning, a practice with which she was much more familiar.
The curved dividing wall was built from vertical planks of dark oak, on the outside for decoration anyway as when she rapped her knuckles against it the wall seemed rather sturdy. Aside from lit sconces every foot apart the wall was bare along the white marble steps. Once the podium leveled off however on each side a bookshelf stretched up the the stone ceiling, which was half her hight again when she stood straight. Each shelf was crammed full and many of the titles made her head ache just thinking of how arduous the contents might be.
The shelves ended leaving a gap between themfor a massive map of Tamriel, painted in exquisite detail on the uncured leather of a mammoth. Cities, large towns, important trading villages, landmarks and even roads were all shown and labelled. Beneath the tapestry was a small cupboard which contained various miscellaneous items, amongst which was several stacks of high quality parchment the likes of which she had not seen since her fathers study. Upon this cupboard she decided to place the staff of Magnus, proping up the unusual tool which had finally allowed her to seal the source of magical anomalies wrecking havoc on the town of Winterhold against one of the bookshelves. She did not expect to use the staff, prefering the familiarity of her own, but still wanting to honor it in a place where it could be seen by herself and any others visiting the Arch-mages... Her quarters.
Opposite that a long curved table of even darker wood than the walls faced the central chamber and the curtained off hallway beyond, which connected the apartment with the rest of the collage. While from her side behind the desk she could see there was room for her legs, when she decided to sit in the rather comfortable looking chair, the wood continued down to the marble upon which it was placed creating some privacy from any visitors standing below. The centrepiece of the table was a large wooden display case. Ahn' smiled to herself the case was just large enough to fit the unusual lenght of of her sword. Pulling the entire case toward the centre of the table slightly she created a gap enough hold her own staff behind the case, while keeping enough room to work. Being much longer than her sword the head, blade and several inches of the plain wooden haft showed past the case on either side. These were the parts of it she was proud of anyway considering she had personally forged them, just like the dark polished blade which now rested on it's red cushion. The entire room was lit by the lazy orange glow of dozens of candles and sconces. She assumed the flames were actually magical in nature as the were far brighter than she had expected and the wooden devide also held the torches without looking damaged in the slightest.
All of this however she had already seen, if only at a glance the previous time she had been to the apartment. The living area, beyond the heavy embroidered curtain, in the outer ring she saw now for the first time. The inner wall was the same oak as the central chamber but the other side was the dark grey stone most of the collage was built from. In the centre of the long sweeping room a large featherbed was flanked by two small windows, barley more than arrow slits but with glass. A plush carpet covered the cold flagstones.
A hearth with two armchairs stood to the right while a massive dresser took up the wall to the left of the bed. The trunk which held her personal belongings had been placed at it's end. Above the headboard was a, likely fake, dragon skull. While accross from that, in equal proportion to the map of Tamriel, was a detailed schematic of a dwarven centurion. It had likely been replicated by Urag within recent years considering the good state of the parchment, how she knew it had been the Orc librarian... well nobody else had such impeccable skill with a quill nor the patience to make such a large replica.
Further along the inner wall she came by a door of light wood with a small window with stretched hide as was normal with less imporrant rooms. Within she was unsurprised to find the marble platform was hollow. What she was surprised to find however was that the space had been used for a small washroom. Somehow she had simply expected the Arch-mage to use the same washroom as the lectures. It was darker than the rest of her quarters but not uncomfortably so. A privacy screen separated the water closet from a large stone tub. A grate like that through which the water flowed into the garden sat embeded in the marble, which sparkled mysteriously in the candlelight. A catch beside the grate released a stream of hot water when pulled. Surely that had to be magic!
Ahn' spent the following hour luxuriating in the readily available hot water. Feeling the grime of the past days excitement washed from her body she was too tired to do anything but soak. Eventuall satisfied and slightly wrinkled from spending too much time in the water, and being thoroughly disturbed by the passing thought of her hands looking like her late grandmothers, Anh' returned to her large featherbed. Not bothered to dry herself with the linen towels she simply pulled on a shift and climbed into bed. Clinging to her wet skin as is it was could have been considered scandalous but she did not care. There was nobody around to see her and she had barely finished tucking her ebony hair behind one pointed ear when she was fast asleep.
AN: So eventually this will revolve around four characters. All of them were actually characters I played through the game with (except Serana of course) though only Ahn' will actuall fill the role of dragonborn. Their backstories are ones I came up with as I was making the characters to make the playthrough more interesting. Ahn' is to be the main protagonist of this slisgtly AU fic but the others will still play important roles. I plan to cover dawnguard and if I can get to that point Dragonborn (though I will then have to also include some of the main story).