AN: The College of Winterhold is bigger in this story than it is in-game. In my story it is more inspired by the Immersive College of Winterhold mod on the Nexus. Some of the differences are the Halls of Attainment and Countenance have a couple more floors for more students and more experiment rooms respectively. The Arcanaeum has a second floor for work in the library. The Hall of the Elements has a second floor for meals. As for the students, there are roughly six in a group that are taught at a time. I am picturing three groups of students with three or four more staying for self study. As for classes, there are three classes a day, two before lunch with an hour in between each, one after lunch. There are only classes six days of the week. On the seventh day, the groups go on field trips (the Saarthal quest is a good example of this) to study in the field.
I still do not own the Elder Scrolls Franchise
I have also decided to bump the story up to M
Chapter 2
Last Seed 4E 199
Akatosh entered the Chamber of the Divines for his month of keeping an eye on Ignis. The Divines at this point had to be certain that Ignis did not run into serious trouble so they arranged things so at least one of them was in the Chamber watching him. Akatosh went over to the right couch and shook Arkay's shoulder since he looked as though he was about to collapse. Akatosh then asked, "Anything happen during the last six months that I should be aware of?"
Arkay responded somewhat slowly, "Not much, just standard college events. We have a notebook here listing everything." He gestured over to the table in front of him where a red notebook lay.
Akatosh nodded and spoke up, "Arkay, go to your room and recharge. You look like you are about to collapse." Arkay got up and went to his room, barely able to walk in a straight line. 'This is the one flaw with our system of watching Ignis: we are not able to receive prayers in here.' The Divines were sustained by prayers but they could only be received in their room. While they were out here, the Divines survived on the prayers they built up like a person survives on fat when they lack food. Some of Divines had an easier time of building up prayers due to what is considered a prayer to them. Zenithar, for example, had trouble when the economy was bad and little was being bought. Dibella tended to have no trouble since sex was something the mortal races tended to enjoy no matter what the state of the world. Akatosh suspected that she received more prayers than the rest of the Nine combined.
Akatosh sighed, picking up the book and going to his usual seat. He glanced at the screen noticing that Ignis was just arriving to breakfast at the college. 'That should give me time to read over the book. It's not like anything could happen over breakfast,' Akatosh thought as he read the book.
Divines' Recap
Sun's Dawn 4E 199
Julianos: Ignis joined the Colege of Winterhold, made a few friends and two enemies, seems to favor the School of Alteration. He has made an attempt to restore his memory but it failed.
First Seed 4E 199
Talos: Ignis got in an awesome and hilarious fight with Vondur again. He beat Vondur by throwing snowballs that he heated up with Flames. Once Vondur was soaked he used the Frostbite spell to put the jerk on ice :) sadly he thawed and is still an ass :(
Rain's Hand 4E 199
Mara: Ignis is getting stronger in magic and is able to use some apprentice level spells. Also, one of the girls at the college has a crush on him and they would be sooo cuuute together :). I got a prayer from her last month asking for help with him, sadly I cannot :( we are interfering enough as it is *tears*
Second Seed 4E 199
Dibella: I know what you mean, they would be great together. I think we are seeing a "twice shy" situation with them. She is just naturally shy around him and he is shy about any close relationship due to amnesia. Oh, Vondur tried going after Ignis again, Ignis's buddy Godur punched him in the face :)
Mid Year 4E 199
Stendarr: Vondur and his lackey are just pathetic individuals but they have their uses. Ignis can improve his skills against them with almost no risk and since they are improving as well, this can go on for some time. Having a rival to beat should allow him to quickly catch up to Rufus in power.
Sun's Height 4E 199
Arkay: I cannot stand that Neloth brat. He is too obsessed with necromancy and is less than a shadow of the Neloth that lives in Solstheim. Having a powerful namesake doesn't make you powerful, kid. Also Ignis has mastered apprentice level spells in all schools and is getting much better in physical combat. And he is improving a great deal in enchanting thanks to his friend who happens to be a girl.
Akatosh sighed before adding his entry.
Last Seed 4E 199
Akatosh: Try to keep all future entries serious from now on.
Akatosh looked up at the screen and was shocked to see the dining room was a mess and some of the food was on fire. "What in Oblivion just happened?"
Later in the Day...
Ignis opened the door to the Hall of Countenance and walked inside. He went up to the second floor and to the room where Masters Colette and Drevis were waiting to make another attempt to restore his memory. Ignis was not exactly hopeful that this would work. This would be the sixth time they tried to restore his memories and the first five times did nothing. He entered the room and sat down in his usual spot and asked, "What are we going to try this time, Masters?"
Drevis answered, "We are going to use alchemy to enhance the effectiveness of our spells." He held up a dark vial with a blue band on it before continuing. "This is a vial of Weakness to Magic Poison. Drinking this will make our spells more effective on you for a short time."
Ignis quickly realized the problem with this plan but, for lack of any other options, he agreed to try. He drank the poison and they cast their spells on him. He did not feel any different but before he could say anything, Colette start talking, "Our spells will not take affect until you go to sleep otherwise the mental overload would be too much to handle. We will have to wait until tomorrow to find out if it worked." Ignis thanked them and went back to his room in the Hall of Attainment. His friends were studying in their rooms since they did not expect him back until later and that he would be too exhausted to study with them anyway. He got ready for bed and fell asleep.
The images he saw that night were strange. Rather than images of his past, home, or family like he expected, he saw images and voices from lives that he could not have lived, for they were too different from each other and some did not look real...
A man with brown skin and white hair in a black, white, and red outfit shouted, "Unlimited Blade Works!" and a hundred blades appeared and were sent flying towards their targets...
A man in black armor fought against an old man in a brown robe. Both were armed with blades of light...
A woman putting heavy armor into a bag but the bag did not change in size or weight...
A huge man deflecting a red sword with what looked like black skin that came from the area around his distorted heart...
A massive metal construct releasing small metal objects that seemed to move on their own before firing a beam of pink energy...
A teen pressing a rune on a slate to move large metal objects...
Ignis woke up at that moment, panting heavily. He took a moment to calm himself before he grabbed his journal and started writing quickly.
Tolfdir stood on the ring surrounding the center ring of the Hall of the Elements, prepping himself before he started the class. As he prepared to start, he looked over the group he had this hour. This was one of the better groups that he had to teach. Most of the students he taught tended to think they did not need to worry about safety and also tended to end setting someone (usually themselves) on fire. These students, however, were focused on safety. Vondur Asni and Neloth were a pair he still worried about but that was due to morality concerns rather than their safety.
The remaining four students had formed a group that he could not be more proud of. Godur Stor was highly skilled in healing and was the physically strongest of the group; Bri Cheile was proving to be an expert in illusion and could get along with anyone; Amelia Schivo was a highly skilled enchanter and destruction magic user and easily the most hardworking student in the group; Ignis was a prodigy, able to get more creative use out of the basic spells than some masters got out of their entire repertoire of spells. Between the four of them, they had someone good at every school of magic and, since they worked together, they caught mistakes that the others missed. 'Although, Ignis may not stay when the experiments to restore his memory are done. He-' Tolfdir paused and noticed Ignis was missing. 'That did not take long.' He noticed that Godur, Bri, and Amelia where huddled together, whispering to each other.
Tolfdir walked over to the trio and asked them, "I don't suppose any of you three know where Ignis is?"
Godur answered in an unsure tone, "We don't know. I checked his room before we came over for breakfast and his stuff was there but he wasn't."
Bri then spoke up, "I could go look for him if you want-" an obnoxious voice interrupted her.
"Isn't obvious? He left because he is out of tricks and he can't measure up with an actual mage anymore." Vondur said. He looked as though he was about to continue when he was cut off by a voice coming from the entrance.
"Sorry I'm late. I was up in the Arcanaeum doing a quick bit of research and lost track of time," Ignis said as he walked in. "Did I miss anything?"
"Actually we are just getting started. Now if I could have everyone's attention, we can begin." Tolfdir said as he went back to his spot. When his back was turned, he missed the glares Ignis and Vondur exchanged along with the quick sigh of relief from Amelia. Tolfdir turned around and started speaking, "Now, it is time we move on to the topic of Armor Spells. Armor spells are part of the Alteration School of Magic and are one of the most used series of spells in existence. Armor spells work by creating a barrier around the body of the caster with the magicka used in the casting. These spells lessen the damage from physical attacks but do nothing against magical attacks. Now it is not possible to completely negate the damage from physical attacks but it can be brought down to a more manageable level. There are four areas of study to improve the barrier: general mastery of a level of Alteration, the efficiency of the spell, the stability of Alteration spells in general, and a stronger Armor Spell," Tolfdir finished the opening part of his lecture before asking, "Are there any questions?"
The students were quiet for a moment before Ignis started talking, "When you said there are four ways to improve the Armor Spells, that was not entirely accurate. There is actually a fifth way though it does have a trade-off."
The rest of the students were as confused by this as Tolfdir. 'What is he talking about? There are no other ways to improve Armor Spells.' Tolfdir spoke again, "Just what do you mean by that?"
Ignis gained a slight smirk at that question and he answered, "The fifth way is to focus the barrier in a smaller area. This can allow a complete negation of physical attacks in that area though, as I said, the rest of the body is unprotected. That can be slightly mitigated by moving the barrier to other areas of the body as needed," Ignis explained.
"I'm afraid I don't see how that is possible," Tolfdir stated.
"Perhaps a demonstration would help?" Ignis asked Tolfdir who gave a nod in response. Ignis turned to Godur and asked, "Godur, do you want to give me a hand here?" Godur, who was in his steel armor set, gave a quick shrug before nodding.
Ignis and Godur stepped away from the rest of the group. Godur held his arms up, ready for a fight, while Ignis charged up Oakflesh in both hands. He cast the spell but rather than a faint glow appearing over his entire body, a strong glow appeared over his right hand. He then put his hands up for a fight and said, "Ready when you are." Godur threw a punch towards Ignis's chest and the glow on Ignis's hand flowed across his body to cover the area the punch was about to hit. The punch hit but Ignis did not even flinch. The glow then moved to his right hand as he punched Godur in the shoulder, knocking him back a foot. Godur threw a right hook towards Ignis's left arm but again the glowing spot moved to the arm and blocked it.
Tolfdir's eyes widened as the pattern continued, shifting between attack and defense in less than a second. 'How is he doing that? It should not be possible to have that much control over an armor spell, particularly with his limited experience with magic in general.' Tolfdir thought, trying to make sense of what he saw. 'How did he even come up with the idea?' He then watched in shock as the spell covered the top of Ignis's foot before he used it to kick Godur in the side. Godur blocked it with his gauntlet but he was still pushed to the side and the gauntlet had a slight dent in it. Tolfdir stepped forward and spoke, "That is enough." The two stopped their fight immediately. "How were you doing that?" Tolfdir asked.
Ignis caught his breath and spoke, "I'm just focusing the barrier into a smaller area when I cast the spell. I don't have a better explanation right now since I only got the spell working about an hour ago and I started working on it when I got up four hours ago."
At this point Tolfdir just did not have the energy to act surprised at the short time period and instead said, "Well, when you can find an explanation, I think we would all like to hear it. Now, we should get back to the lecture..."
An hour later...
"...That concludes my lecture on Armor Spells. Class is dismissed," Tolfdir finished.
The students began to leave but Ignis stayed behind and spoke to Tolfdir, "By the way, I am done with trying to restore my memory. It is clear that Colette and Drevis are out of ideas if they tried a Weakness to Magic poison that, while it made their spells more effective, also improved the effectiveness of whatever is causing the amnesia." With that Ignis ran to catch up with his friends, who seemed shocked at what they heard. Tolfdir left the Hall of the Elements and went to the Hall of Countenance and climbed the steps to the teacher's lounge on the second floor. The rest of the staff was already there and noticed him enter and take a seat. Phinis asked, "Anything interesting happen in that class?" Rather than answer, Tolfdir grabbed an unopened bottle of mead, opened it, and downed the whole thing in one go. Phinis raised his eyebrow, "That bad? Who died this time?"
Tolfdir shook his head and started talking, "It has to do with Ignis..." Before he could continue, he was interrupted.
"Is it about the memory experiment? Did he remember anything?" Colette asked.
"He didn't say but I think that it didn't work because he complained about the two of you using poison to fix the problem," most of of the staff just stared at Colette and Drevis in disappointment. "What happened is he just did something that I thought to be impossible. He was somehow able to focus an Armor Spell into a small area and then move that area all over his body to completely block attacks and improve his own physical damage. Not to mention he figured out how to do this in three hours."
The rest of the staff just sat there in shock before Sergius spoke up, "He only has half of a year of training in magic and he has done the impossible. What will he be capable of after a decade, let alone when he reaches our age?" There was a moment of silence before everyone reached for the closest alcoholic drink.
Akatosh was amazed. He knew that Ignis was skilled in how he used the basic spells but this was an incredible display of spellcrafting far beyond the ability of any of the mages at the College. He had to agree with that mage, if Ignis was this skilled after six months, by the time Alduin showed up, he could likely match Alduin's power. "Though without Dragonrend, he can't beat Alduin yet," he muttered to himself. Not for the first time, he wondered just where Sheogorath found Ignis. He figured that he would not find out anytime soon since Ignis wasn't going to work on getting his memory back. He shrugged and updated the journal before turning back to the screen.
A week later in the Arcanaeum...
Ignis grabbed the last of his usual set of books on Armor Spells and began walking towards the table his friends were sitting and talking at, deep in thought as he did so. 'How is it that casting a spell that has never been done before is easier than explaining how to cast it?' It was frustrating that the explanation was the hardest part since it was a very important part in creating spells. 'If I can't find a way to explain how to cast this spell, the secret will be lost when I die and mages will have to rediscover how to do this again, though next time they will not have access to what I saw.' He reached the table, put the books down and sat at his chair before greeting his friends, "How are you all doing?"
"Great. I finally managed to cast the invisibility spell," Bri Cheile answered as she cast said spell. She disappeared for a second before reappearing with a small frown, "Still can't hold it for long." Bri was an intelligent Breton at the adept level in Illusion and Restoration magic. She was also an attractive young woman with brown hair and eyes, was friendly with everyone and tended to get better deals from men when she shopped around.
Godur just shrugged and said, "Same as usual." Godur Stor was not a person that you would expect to be a mage at a glance. For one, he was a Nord and apparently they are not a fan of magic. Secondly, he was huge even by Nord standards, Godur was eight feet tall and looked like he had the muscle to punch through a stone wall. Finally, Godur did not act like an intelligent person in class and had difficulty following lectures. But he was still a great mage and friend due to his kind personality and his natural talent at restoration magic. He was also a skilled smith who was fascinated by the Dwemer metal and studied magic to find a way to create more of the metal without melting existing pieces down.
Amelia kept her face down in her book to hide a slight reddening of her cheeks and shyly said, "Fine and you?" Amelia Schivo was a shy and young Imperial with long blond hair and blue eyes. She was such a bookworm that Ignis and Godur suspected the only time she did not have a book in her hand is when she was listening to a lecture. She tended to be quiet in class do to lack of confidence in herself. Despite that, in terms of a single school of magic, she was by far the most skilled student in the group, having reached the level of expert in Destruction magic before arriving at the College to study enchanting.
Ignis sighed and answered, "Annoyed. This focused armor technique is proving to be difficult to explain and I've made no real progress on it despite a week of study."
Amelia asked, "How did you cast it if you can't explain how to cast it?"
Just before Ignis answered, Godur got up and walked away, "It is hard to explain, the night before I tried to restore my memory and, while I learned nothing about who I was, it seemed to restore memories of... things I saw. In this case, it was a vision of a guy blocking a sword with some black stuff moving from the area around his heart to the spot where the sword would hit." Ignis left out his suspicion that the black stuff came from inside the man's body. He continued, "I tried just picturing that effect in my head as I cast the spell but it did not work."
Bri asked, "So what did?" She kept glancing behind Ignis for some reason.
Ignis thought about it and responded, "I tried a few ideas like that. I tried thinking about the armor like it was water and I could move it freely. That worked until something hit the armor and it fell apart. Then I thought of the the spell as liquid metal that hardened at the spot I wanted and that seemed to work bu-"
"Got it!" Godur said from behind him. Ignis turned around and saw Godur cast the focused armor technique perfectly. Ignis was surprised as Godur moved the focused part around his body with ease and adjusted the size of the spot with no trouble. Godur said, "The metal explanation made it work." Before Ignis could say anything, Bri spoke up.
"We kind of thought if you didn't think you were explaining the spell as if you were teaching it it might help."
Ignis said, "The thing is, the metal comparison didn't work for me."
Amelia asked, "Then how did he cast it?"
Ignis thought and realized what was going on, "I think there is no explanation that will work for everyone but if a person pictures what they are doing and uses their own explanation for how it moves, it will work."
Two weeks later...
Ignis was talking to Urag about the planned addition of the Focused Armor Technique, 'F...A...T... I need a new name and acronym for that,' to the books on Armor spells when Urag mentioned they found out where some of Archmage Shalidor's writings were and needed someone to retrieve them. Ignis responded, "My friends and I could get them for you if you tell us where they are." Urag told him where they were rumored to be and Ignis smiled. "I think Godur will be happy about that." Ignis turned to leave and said, "By the way, you might want to hold off on adding the new technique until I can come up with a better name for it." Urag just groaned when he realized the reason.
Ignis went over to meet his friends and greeted them. Godur just asked, "What are you so happy about?"
Ignis said, "You know how we were having trouble deciding where to go on that adventure?" They all nodded. "Well, I was just talking to Urag and he mentioned some rumors about Archmage Shalidor's writings being in a dungeon nearby."
Bri asked "Which one?"
Ignis smirked "Mzinchaleft. It's south of Dawnstar."
Godur smiled, "Guess we better start planning our trip."
