Narrating

''Narrating in speech''

Reading

Ronan woke up. He had several goals to reach this day, and he did not want to lose any time. Thankfully, Kharara was already awake and ready, and within an half an hour, they were already outside. Ronan had brought all the equipment he thought would be useful for his new experiments, and he started moving. First, he wanted to return to Illinalta's Deep, to search for any information relevant to the star. The place was close by and secured enough to be searched thoroughly. They were there before long, and thankfully, Ronan did not have to search the decomposing corpses at all. Indeed, first checking Varen's remains, he found his grimoire. The Black Star: An Achievement of Magic over Daedra, exactly what he was looking for.

Although he was wondering how Varen manages to write a grimoire outside of the star, he soon remembered him being taunted by the Daedra, and wondered if he would share the same fate. Hopefully since Nelacar modified the star the Daedra could not talk to him through it anymore, or simply find him. Since the star was changed, Ronan was not sure that the book would be of any use, except for minor details. However, reading the book next to the skeleton, he stumbled upon something he completely missed until then.

A short while ago I finally managed to capture a black soul into the star, and I immediately started what I've been aiming for all this time. Capturing my own soul was very painful, but I managed to enter the star. There was only cold, bright blue stone, except for the follower that I used for the first capture. Now, all that I needed to do was to absorb his soul. It is the same thing as capturing one, but much more painful for its owner…

Capturing a soul of a captured soul? It seemed simple enough to Ronan, and he wasn't stuck in a star. He would most probably look into that, but for now he grabbed the book, and left the place. He had all the information he wanted. Now his next goal was to perfect his soldier further. He first thought about going in a bandit's camp and "borrow" their skills. However, the fact that he could use the star on sleeping people brought new ideas to Ronan. Now, he could actually steal knowledge from the masters, without raising much suspicion. After some reflection, he decided that he was going to try that out in Whiterun this night.

He never really talked to the Companions, as they relied on flesh and steel rather than magic. And with the Gray-Manes in the guild, they weren't going to have any Thalmor problem. As a former Thane, Ronan knew the city quite well, and so he heard several stories about the Skyforge. What interested him was not particularly the forge, but its renowned blacksmith, Eorlund Gray-Mane. Forging the armors and weapons of the Companions, his skills as a blacksmith were praised. Ronan had little use of such skills, but there could be no downside to Kharara having them either.

An hour after leaving Illinalta's Deep, Ronan and Kharara reached Whiterun. It had been quite some time since he came here, because of how busy he was as the Arch-mage. He walked through the first districts, and sat down below the blooming Gildergreen Tree. Kharara sat next to him, as he finished reading Varen's Grimoire. The rest of what he hadn't read was only about killing people inside the star. Apparently, absorbing a soul wouldn't extend his life for more than a month. Ronan thought about all the things he discovered about the store effortless, and wondered if he could actually surpass Varen with Nelacar's modifications. When he was done reading the book, he took out his notes. There was not much more to test with the star, but Ronan wished he had a lot more time for it. His role as an Arch-mage was clearly getting in the way of his experiments. Also, it didn't bring much advantage anymore. Indeed, Ronan had a home, a grand stack of gold from all of his trips, and the star. Giving up the title would probably do more good than bad, no matter how crazy it sounds, Ronan thought. For now, he had to wait for night to come, and so he and Kharara rested for some hours.

As the descending sun and its light began to fade away, Ronan saw Fralia Gray-Mane returning home. It was only after another hour that Eorlund left his forge and joined his wife. Ronan was getting tired of waiting, and so he reached in his bags for all the enchanted equipment he brought. Gloves, amulet, ring, magicka regeneration and fortify illusion. Ronan could feel his magicka flowing by, abundant. As a Conjurer, Ronan loved to summon his Dremora Warriors, and hide in the middle of the battle, unseen and unheard. He was a master Illusionist, and knew how to sneak around anywhere without being detected. He took the star, put his favorite mask Morokei, chose the biggest book he had, and turned to Kharara, that was napping.

"-Kharara?

-Mmh… Yes, Ronan?

-I'm going to go get some information. Guard my bag. I'll come back in two hours or so.

-Stay safe, Ronan."

He cast his first invisibility and muffle spells. He couldn't open doors without being detected, so he knocked on the Gray-Mane's door, and turned back to invisible. After several seconds, Fralia opened the door, and stepped outside. Swiftly, Ronan entered the house behind her back. Confused, she closed the door as no one answered her call. Ronan then found a small spot in a corner where to stay while waiting for them to go to sleep, since the Gray-Mane family was still having dinner. He opened his book, and started reading to pass the time.

When they were done and started leaving, Ronan followed Eorlund upstairs, in his bedroom. He was obviously sleeping next to his wife, and Ronan hoped that she wouldn't be too much trouble. Infiltrating people's personal lives felt strange to Ronan, but because he was buried in his book he was barely taking notice. When he had finished the book, Ronan felt like it was a good time to finally try out his plan. He laid himself down on the floor next to the bed, and cast the spell very slowly. As he didn't meet any resistance, he assumed the spell worked and entered the star.

Indeed inside was a confused Eorlund, sitting on the floor, looking around him. As he noticed Ronan, the sorcerer summoned two Dremora Warriors and slowly walked towards him.

"-Lay down on your stomach, hands on your back, or this is going to be painful.

-Who are you and what do you want?!

The man was dead scared, and was now trembling before Ronan and the imposing demons.

-Do what I say, now!"

With a small shriek, Eorlund obeyed. Ronan crouched down, and laid both hands on his head. As usual, the small stripes of fumes appeared. Doing the opposite this time, he located and started to extract the blacksmith's skill. Not sure what to do with these small stripes in his hands, he approached them to his head, and could indeed feel the knowledge flooding in. How to bend the metal in almost incongruous ways, what does a sturdy blade looks and feels like. The firmness the different materials have… Satisfied, he made sure that the blacksmith still had the knowledge too, and let go of him. Acting quickly, before Eorlund could react, Ronan came out of the star, cast his invisibility spell, gave Eorlund his soul back and approached the door. Eorlund was looking around, nervous, and got out of his bed. He quickly opened the door, and step out of his room, and examined the first floor and the entrance door. Meanwhile, Ronan simply followed him closely outside, and started going down the stairs. Eorlund raised an eyebrow, breathed out, and returned to his bedroom. Ronan waited for several minutes before slowly opening the door and leaving the house.

Kharara was still on the bench, next to the sack. Ronan quietly sat next to him, and waited for the spell to come off. When the Arch-mage suddenly appeared, inches from him, Kharara jumped back a little.

"-AH! You're back!

-Yes, and got exactly what I wanted. Let's go back home."

Ronan had not installed the necessary equipment for forging around his mansion, but he still gave Kharara the smithing skills. Indeed, he feared a little that since these are knowledge, memories, they can also fade away. Since Ronan didn't need it, he gave it all to Kharara, who would try hard not to forget his new skills. The Arch-mage was getting used to the whole procedures, but he was worried that the next steps he wanted to take with the star might really be obstructed by his duties as the Arch-mage. Tired, he put these thoughts away, and simply went to sleep. The night was surely not going to bring counsel this time, he thought, as he chuckled.