Author's Note: Happy Christmas Eve Eve (the 23rd)! Two more sleeps (yes, I do have the mind-set of a 5 year-old)! I was on Skyrim for all of yesterday so I didn't get the chapter out, but I did get my one-handed skill to 100! You know Raffiki from The Lion King? Remember his weird song; "Asante sana, Squash Banana, we we nuga mi mi apana." It means "Thank you very much, Squash Banana, you're a baboon and I'm not" (no lies). Lets pick up where we left off; in a Dwemer ruin with a terrified High and Jen because someone just died (how sweet)! ON WITH THE STORY!
8. Written in the Stars
I started hyperventilating. I was in a Dwemer ruin, something I had never visited. A man had been killed and he had saddled us with a vague mission I didn't understand. Just when I was about to faint, Jen grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me. "High! Snap out of it! I've been to plenty of Dwemer ruins, the only thing in the early stages are dwarven spiders, - extremely weak - Dwarven Spheres - easy to handle - and occasionally centurions, but they're no match for us. You'll be fine. Lets search him, ok? You don't come to a Dwemer ruin armed with a dagger and novice spells, especially with no armour at all." She said soothingly. I shakily nodded. She was right. It was foolish of mages to wear no armour, even with mage armour spells, you were vulnerable. Fair enough, I wore robes and a circlet, but I wore leather boots and bracers for protection also. We crouched down beside the man and searched him. There was a key and a journal titled 'Research Log'. I picked it up and read it.
"Ok, so this man was Gavros Plinius. He was returning to deliver a new focusing crystal - whatever that is - to Paratus, a Synod worker still here. I think the crystal was stolen. So we have to find the crystal, it's probably important. Lets just hope Paratus is still alive." I explained. We used the key we found on him to open the door and moved on.
We came to a pair of doors that were visibly rigged with traps. Suddenly, two golden spiders sprang out of pipes and started attacking us. Dwarven spiders. I screamed with shock and shot one with ice. They were not half as scary as frostbite spiders but they shocked me by jumping out. Jen stabbed the other. They died very easily and we moved on into a more natural cavern. Jen started trembling.
"What's the matter?" I asked.
"More natural caverns mean Falmer. Falmer mean Chaurus." I nodded. I stood closer to her to protect her. We went down the tunnel and I saw Jenassa's fear. The Chaurus was hideous and creepy, but I bravely incinerated it while Jen stayed back and shot arrows. I saw it had killed two more Synod workers. We searched them but they had nothing useful. We progressed on, fighting more Chaurus, and I had my first encounter with a Dwarven sphere and a Falmer. The halls went on and on and on. It seemed like we would be here for eternity...
"Jen, watch it!" I yelled as I shot a firebolt at a Falmer. Jenassa ducked the sword aimed at her throat and stabbed another. Three tough-looking ones had bombarded us and we were in a battle for our lives. We had quickly slain one but the other two were more resilient. Mine was quickly closing the distance between us. I needed distance to make full use of my magic.
"For Auri-el's sake!" I yelled, giving up on my magic and drawing my steel war axe (A.N: Alvor gave it to her, remember?). I spun and slashed at the Falmer, decapitating him. I let loose a stream of vomit at the sight of the head rolling around like a runaway melon and went to help Jen. threw the fire in my other hand and he collapsed, something rolled off of him. I picked it up and saw it was a sort of crystal, covered in blood. The focusing crystal!
"Jen. This might be the crystal mentioned in the research log!" I exclaimed.
"I think you're right." She said. We walked up to a door up some stairs. It was locked. I growled in frustration and turned, searching for another place where there might be a key for the door. The door at the other end of the room was our best bet so we opened it and walked down the tunnel. After a few minutes we came to a door and opened it. Inside was a Dwarven spider that launched lightning at us. Jen quickly stabbed it and we went to a chest at the back of the room. Thankfully, there was a key inside it. We went back to the locked door and fitted the key in. We heard scuffling on the other side readied ourselves for an attack. The door swung open and we nearly killed a Synod worker.
"Who are you?" He asked fearfully.
"We're from the College of Winterhold." I explained. An annoyed look ghosted his face but he quickly got rid of it.
"I'm Paratus Decimius."
"...It's really stunning technology!" Paratus said enthusiastically. I didn't like him. He acted superior to us and seemed to think it was our fault that they had found nothing at the College and that they had been quickly dismissed by Mirabelle. I could tell Jenassa was itching to shove a dagger up his nose. It turns out that the Synod had come to Mzulft to use a machine called the Oculory to find powerful magical items, purely for the protection of the Empire, Paratus had told me. I didn't believe him. We were ascending a ramp that lead to the Oculory. The ramp ended and we beheld a massive machine, the Oculory. Paratus instructed me to place the crystal into a gap. I did so and it sprang to life, sending out three beams of light. I ran up to a platform and found three buttons. It was a puzzle. I pressed a button and a segment of the roof moved. I noticed there was a strange green object - a mirror? - that reflected the light. I pressed the buttons and got the three mirrors as close as I could but the light was still off. I turned around for inspiration and saw two spell tomes; flames and frostbite. I smiled and readied each spell (I already knew them) in my hands, fire in my right and frost in my left.
"What are you- STOP!" Paratus yelled as I torched the focusing crystal. Nothing happened, the crystal must already have been heated to its maximum. I used frostbite and the lights moved! Excited, I ran up to the buttons and pressed them again until they aligned, casting light into the focusing crystal. I had solved the puzzle! Jen and Paratus ran up to the wall which I was standing on. I jumped down and followed their gazes. There was a map of northern Tamriel.
"Yes! Yes!" Paratus yelled triumphantly. "Huh? Wait, this map should be lit up like the night sky, but something's causing a massive deal of interference here in Skyrim..." I surveyed Skyrim and found a bright spot. My blood ran cold.
The College was the bright spot. The Eye of Magnus was causing interference.
Paratus turned to me hostilely. "What is it you treacherous mages have up there, huh? Is that why you came here? To interfere with the Synod?"
"Calm down. Sheogorath is preying on your mind. In simple terms, you're going mad." I snapped. I could see madness in his eyes. "We didn't want to interfere. We just discovered something in Saarthal and it's very mysterious. The reason Jenassa and I came here is to find the Staff of Magnus, we need it. Can you tell me where it is?" Paratus looked at the map.
"Labyrinthian." He grunted.
"Thank you, we'll be off." We set off down the ramp but Paratus spoke, still facing the map.
"You know, I can't let you just go skipping off into the sunset."
"Why ever not?"
"Because you are obviously hiding something dangerous or illegal at that College of yours."
"What proof do you have?" I challenged confidently.
"I don't need it. All I have to do is show the leader of the Synod the map and he'll find someway to get your College shut down. The Legion has enough troops." We turned around, Paratus was still facing the map.
"You realise you would be sending flimsy Imperial soldiers into a Stormcloak Hold to shut down a College full of the most powerful mages in Skyrim... oh, and Jenassa, an expert stealth fighter. Do you want a hole scorched into your Legion?" I replied calmly, but with hints of threat in my voice.
"I suppose that would be foolish." Paratus agreed. "Maybe I should just send a... message." My stomach did flips. When he said 'message', he did not mean a piece of paper delivered by a courier. I nodded to Jenassa who fell into the shadows.
"Message?" I enquired.
"Yes. Kill you two and send a note threatening more if this object at your College is not reported." He turned to face me, madness in his eyes and a maniacal smile on his lips. As he readied his weak novice spells, Jenassa plunged her dagger through his back. Paratus collapsed.
"Madman." Jen spat and kicked his head. We went out of the machine room and towards a door obviously leading to the exit. Everything turned blue and Jen froze.
Psijics, great.
A monk materialised from thin air and faced me.
"Well done. Now return to your College, I feel there is trouble brewing." He told me. He vanished and everything returned to normal. I told Jen what happened. We got out of the ruin.
When we got out of the ruin, we encountered some bandits. I threw a fireball and they died in the blast. They had brought two horses. I went to pat the mane of one and noticed she had a pin on her saddle with the Winterhold emblem on. The stallion had one too. They must have been stolen from Winterhold. Me and Jen decided to ride them back. It would shave a day or two off our journey and we might get rewarded. We set off.
When we got back to Winterhold we were met by cheers. The Jarl even came out to meet us.
"Thank you for rescuing my precious horses, Grace and Nix. It isn't much, but a Stormcloak from Winterhold found this and used this to cut his bindings and escape Helgen. He brought it up to me. I want you to have it." He said. From his belt, he produced an Elven dagger with a shock enchantment. My eyes widened
It was my dagger. My gift from Amaryllis.
I took it and hugged the Jarl tightly. "This is my reminder of my little sister. Thank you for returning this to me." I whispered. I looked at my dagger. The inscription was still there; I will always be with you in spirit.
A tear rolled down my cheek before I ran up to the College.
When I got into the Hall of Elements, Aren and Mirabelle were rapidly conversing. There was a ward-like barrier blocking the entrance to the actual chamber. Inside was...Ancano! And he was casting a spell at the Eye!
"What's going on?" Jen asked.
"Ancano has seized control of the Eye and is blocking us all out. We can't get through. I need you to help us get the barrier down." He explained. I knew Ancano could not be trusted. Aren and Mirabelle cast shock and frostbite, respectively, at the barrier. I added flames and the wall dissipated. We charged in and I shot spells at the power-mad Thalmor. They had no effect.
"Ancano, what's going on? Stop now!" Aren yelled.
Ancano laughed. "You cannot control me!"
There was a blinding flash and I drifted into unconsciousness...
Author's Note: Hope you liked it. Auri-el is the High elf version of Akatosh. Sorry if my Mzulft geography was wrong. Fav, follow and review! MERRY CHRISTMAS!
