The weirdest night

Chapter 21

It was no secret that Carli hated icy dank dungeons .The Midden was no exception . She didn't want to be there ,but couldn't miss the experience for anything . As they progressed through the dungeons passing through doorways they had to fight a lone Draugr and skeletons . There were also ice wraiths and of course frostbite spiders which Carli couldn't stand . She helped the others but felt like running away as she shivered at the thought of a hairy leg touching her .The ice wraiths she hated the most as the things was hard to kill without fire . Luckily the six of them could do fire spells . ''Boy do I hate this place already '' Desmond says kicking a dead spider out of his way after a fight .Carli watching him comments by saying ''You can say that again ,I mean why these thing don't just go extinct I have no idea ''. Desmond gives her a smile and then wink at her before moving on . Carli follow him closely and is just behind him when they walk over an icy bridge . A voice echo's trough the silence of the place telling them to leave and that there is nothing for them there .

The six decides to ignore the voice and moves on . Carli can't help but feel as if they are watched from every corner or wall . That eerie feeling stays with her for the rest of the time and long afterwards it would haunt her dreams . As they walk the six find places that Carli remembers looks just like the room where the Augur of Dunlain are . The same round circle that actually reminds her of a small fountain pool without the water of course . Just like when she played the game she wonders what that Circle is for . Only the game makers would know ,she guesses while that nagging feeling of wanting to know runs amok in her mind . It's like when something is missing and when you search and don't find it, it feels like you have to find it no matter what otherwise you won't be able to sleep or eat for ages . ''Do you think that we are close ?'',Arren suddenly wanted to know . His voice sounded a bit angry as if he was going to lose it soon .

Carli didn't say anything . She wasn't sure if she wanted to know much of the place they were , though she knew the way but only roughly . She didn't dwell into places when she finished quests in the game like her brother did .So when she found her way out of the Midden she simply made as if she never was there . Looking at Arren she remembers that the last time this character was there Barbas and Lydia was there too . ''Maybe this place is bigger than Carli's game '', Connor says confusing Arren more . ''Enough with the talk about a game '', he growls ''Tell me in simple words what in Oblivion is going on , I thought Carli knows the way already , she always does ''. With a sight Carli says '' I know the way Arren but sometimes a person can forget certain things . so anyways we need to find a door that is locked behind it the Augur will be waiting ,that voice we heard is his ''. The door they find is right there in front of them and Carli simply ignored that .

As Arren tries the door it opens revealing a big round light on one of the circles they have seen throughout the whole place . ''You are too late young friends ,the event you are trying to prevent is already in motion . There is nothing here more to say than that which I told to the Thalmor who came here to seek answers ,find the staff that would help you ,and hurry for there is not much time left ''. These words is not all the same as Carli remembered though it gives the same warning . It's then that she realises that not everything about the game could be the same in real Skyrim life though much of it was . The way things are said or the words that are said might not be the same as she remembers though she knows it still tells the same stories .

When they leave the Augur she wonders if their coming to this world had something to do with words and phrases changing . They are half way to the hatch when a big blur of fur attacks them .Screaming she tries to get out of its way and nearly gets hurt when one of its claws barely misses her when it tries to hit her. Ezio is the first to attack it . Altair is the one who deals the death blow after a long fight . When they examine it they find that it's a mix breed troll . To their horror it had spider like legs and pinchers coming out of its mouth . ''This is just nasty '' , Desmond commented . Carli shivered and felt a bit nauseas . Who in the world would have thought something like that was living there ? .Who crossbred things like that? .She hoped that it wasn't someone as nice as Tolfdir .She'd hate it if it was him . This was something Necromancers would do .

With a job still at hand they decided to leave , wishing they could stay and study the strange beast . The Arch Mage is in the Hall of Elements gazing strangely at the Eye of Magnus when they get there .Carli can't help but wonder if he is wanting to caress the stupid orb, at the way he is looking at it as if it's a long lost love or something . Arren is once again the one who has to go talk to him while the others stays back just looking at the big glowing ball on its pedestal. When Arren returns he tells them that Savos is an ignorant fool and that they should go talk to Mirabelle Ervine who in his opinion should have been Arch Mage rather than the crazy one they have now .

They find Mirabelle in her quarters eating a rather late lunch . Altair starts to question her about the staff . At first she does not recall anything that might be useful . Carli who knows the outcome wishes that she could push Mirabelle in fast forward mode to tell them about the Synod who have come by not so long ago .When Altair tells her that the Arch Mage who she Idolises has send them to her, her memory is coming back faster than anyone can say 'Hidden blade '.Carli sights softly as Mirabelle tells them about the Synod who had been interested in the staff and needed to know where it was . So when the college couldn't tell them much about its location they went to plan B which was Mzulft .

In a raise against time they have no choice but to go just then to those ancient dwarven ruins .As there's a journey ahead of them with no time to even think of rest ,they quickly refill their stores of provisions . ''The ruins is located in Eastmarch hold,south east of Windhelm '', Arren says to them as they walk out of Winterhold . The others says nothing as they believe he would know because this was his province ,as Skyrim was still one under imperial rule it was still a province . Carli hated it that they were going back to Ulfric Stormcloak's hold ,but she said nothing about that .

They arrived at the old ruin a day later , tired and cold as there was another snow storm that just began without any warning . The ruin shined in the cold sun that shined down on them . Ancient carved stone columns and huge archway entrances as well as pipe works that still hissed so many years after their owners had disappeared . The six looked at the spectacular view and felt so small but also eerie as if the ghost of the past would jump out of the walls at them . When they walked through the huge golden doors they found a dying Synod researcher . Ezio kneeling beside him catches the last whispers that he'll ever make . After saying the words '' Requiscat in pace '' like he always do , he tells them that the man whispered something about a Crystal that one of the falmer stole from him . ''Whatever can it mean?'' Connor asks . Shrugging the others except Carli shows that they really don't know . Carli instead goes down on her knees beside the dead man and starts searching through his clothes .

Protesting Ezio tries to get her to leave the poor guy alone but when she stood up eventually he can't help but notice the two things she held in her hands . A book and a key . ''He means the Focusing Crystal '' , she says holding the book out to Arren who takes it . ''It's all in there ,anyways this key takes us through the next door ''. She hands it to Altair who walks to the door, pushing the key into the lock and turning it he opens it . They follow the path east and then they turn north . And after a while they encounter a trap trigger that drops spikes from the ceiling . A dead Synod Researcher is the evidence that the spikes are very much deadly . Looting the body they find all sorts of things even a soul gem .As they walk on they turn east again and then north again encountering Dwarven Spiders that leaves them in awe as it is clear to them that the dwarves was an advanced race . '' Wow !'',Desmond shout-whispers , ''They are like nothing we have seen before really ,this is awesome ''. Smiling Carli says ''Wait until you see the Spheres or the Centurions ,now they are awesome though they too wanna kill you if they see you ''. They continue their course of first going east and then north again seeing more wonderful things ,like Dwemer architecture and pieces of machines they really have never seen before . They find more Spiders that they have to be quick to kill . Some of the spiders explodes when they die scaring Carli with the sounds they make when they explode . Staying clear of those with the blue lightning bolts helps her a lot .

When they get to two golden doors ,so huge a giant can walk through easily without hitting his head ,they have to find the door that will take them forward . Connor uses his eagle vision to choose . He stops Arren from opening the door on the left showing him the trap . The other door brings them to a ramp winding up to the east . ''I hate heights '',Carli says grabbing Desmond's arm tightly . He says nothing on that ,but gives her a reassuring smile . The next door leads them to a cave like place with moonstone ore that they could have mined if they had the time .

Going up a wooden ramp they find two more dead researchers . The bodies are empty of any useful loot . When they walk a bit further they are attacked by none other than a Chaurus . Carli forgets completely about her magic and tries to hide because of the thing's pinchers that could poison one in an instant . The others ignores this behaviour and rather focus all their energy on killing the ugly insect like creature . After its dead Altair gives Carli a stare that makes her quiver . He is obviously not happy with her damsel in distress act .

When they walk further up a sloping passage he ignores her completely .She don't mind since she know she could have been of much help and not a burden .Connor walking in front use his eagle vision to see if there's more surprises. ''There's trip wire in front of us '',he informs a moment later . ''We should climb over it very slowly and be careful not to trigger it ''. Nodding they all agree . Desmond helps Carli over it as her legs are shorter than everyone else's . Past the trap they fnd a bigger cave than the other one where a mammoth skeleton can be seen. They have no time to admire it as more Chaurus attacks them . This time Carli has no choice but to fight back as theirs a lot of the creatures that blocks their path .Ezio cuts of a chaurus's pinchers quickly before it can hurt him . The creature was really to close for comfort . Altair slices away with his swords doing a strange fighting dance that would have intrigued Carli if she wasn't too busy throwing firebolts at two chaurus that was in her opinion the two smallest ones she could find as she believed the thing about picking on someone her own size . Arren used his Warhammer bashing in the ugly heads of the creatures while Connor shot his opponents with arrows that was luckily sharp enough to break through the thing's scales . Desmond used his sword trying to copy Altair and also trying out a new style that was completely his own . They were tired when the fight ended . It was not easy to kill the creatures but they got it right anyway .The door they walk through next brings them yet again to another ramped passageway . Here they find their first Dwarven spheres who attacks without warning so yet again they have to fight for their lives . The strange robots on wheels is far more awe inspiring than the mere spiders they had encountered earlier . With swords where their hands are supposed to be they slash at their enemy making them deadly opponents .

Tired but with no choice but to fight the six push forward . When they finally gets rid of the last one they feel relieved but only for now since they don't know what awaits them as they continues further into the old dwarven ruin .

They turn north again and then east onto a ramp that leads to a door that brings them to a very noisy corridor full of dwarven machines ,that huffs and puffs steam . They have to walk down this noisy corridor to get to a T intersection . Altair finds the right way this time .This path leads them to one lonely dwarven spider that they kill quickly . A walkway leading straight then right brings them yet again to another T intersection . ''Oh come on !'',Desmond exclaims annoyed that once again they have to find the right way . They take the stairs when Ezio says that the other way only leads to a room . And once again they find another T intersection which Desmond hopes is the last one . ''I remember this one ,we take the path left ,but be careful where you walk otherwise you guys or I are going to go down as the pipes will be triggered to extent throwing an unsuspecting victim down to that lower level down there and then we have to use the stupid stairs and start all over again . The best way is to jump on the pipes and use them as a walk way .Oooh I hated this part '' ,Carli says cringing away from the thought of falling to her doom though it's not so far a drop really . The others just smile at her words but they take her advice seriously .

On the other end of the walkway they find another sphere . Thankfully it's alone and they can kill it quickly . In the next passage they find dead Falmer and wrecked dwarven spiders . They follow a ramp up to a door that leads them out to the second zone of the ruin . Deciding to take a rest they sit down on broken down machinery . ''So we survived the first part of the ruin what awaits here is not for us to know I guess '',Connor says . ''Falmer and maybe a centurion or two '', Carli says resting her head against Desmond's shoulder . Wrapping an arm around her and pulling her more securely against him Desmond can't help but to fight the urge to kiss this strange girl that had come into their lives maybe more than a year ago . He knows that they all had lost track of the months that had gone by since their first meeting but he simply don't care all he cares about is his love for the girl and his friends that made his heart swell .

They don't rest too long because they need to get back to the college soon because they somehow knew that trouble were brewing as they spoke and the college needed their help to fight it . A ramp going up once more leads them to a large area where one falmer patrols the north side . Slamming an arrow into the bow ,Connor shoots it straight through the head taking care of it quickly . As they take yet another ramp up they find another falmer lurking around at the top . Altair kills it silently since it didn't see them as they went into stealth mode when they saw it . They turn north again and find a room full of cage doors and two more falmer . Ezio and Desmond kills them quickly before the six takes the eastern path through doors and into a dirty tunnel. This tunnel turns north . Chaurus and Falmer are more here and the six have to fight hard to survive this onslaught . Continuing north they find a small camp of falmer with more chaurus and once again they have to fight . ''So sad ,they were once a proud and beautiful race of elves until the nords got greedy and they had to retreat into the dark places of Skyrim ,no offense Arren but that's how it happened '', Carli says as they walk on, after the fight, over a tripwire and into another passage that still leads them north . ''I know Carli and I am ashamed to call myself a nord when things like this happened , I wonder what the ancient nords thought when they did what they did ?''. ''Probably wanted nothing but more land '', Connor says in a bitter voice when he remembers his people who had a hard time keeping their land .They grow quiet not wanting to start an argument that could have stayed for all they cared where it should at the back of their minds . The passageway ends into a large room with another falmer camp and yet another dead Synod Researcher . ''Gee I thought we were past finding the stiffs '',Carli groans . ''Have more respect for the dead '',Ezio lectures sternly . Hanging her head she says ''Sorry Mr dead Synod guy I didn't mean it ''. Ezio can't help but smile at this . They have to fight more falmer to get away .

A path out of this room leads north to another room with a chaurus that Ezio and Connor kills . They continue going north after this and return to Dwemer build rooms leaving behind dirty passages and rooms of mud and soil . Another falmer patrols the area . ''Oh great another of those crazy killers '', Desmond growls ''Can't they just disappear completely ''. ''Don't worry Desmond we are nearly past the second zone just a little more walking , and it isn't his fault that his like that it's the nords '',Carli says earning a stare that speaks a lot from Arren . They kill this one just as quickly as they did with every lone falmer they found . They turn west now finding that the spaces are more open now and that the ceilings are so high up that they have to cringe their necks to see better . In a huge gallery with a flooded sunken central floor area they find Falmer in their hords swarming it . They attack the six in no time making it hard for them to see which way to go next . Carli falls into the water twice and Altair who has learned not to fear water helps her out then . Connor and Ezio are in their element when they get to swim and dodge falmer arrows . Desmond aren't too happy about it since he hates water especially dirty stinky water . Arren don't care much leaving Carli and Altair who defiantly don't want to be in the water because it's a bit freezing . When they finally get to leave they take the northern path again . This path brings them to the last corridor of the second zone . And to the doors that leads to the Aedrome . ''Yay we are nearly there !'',Carli exclaims earning shushes from her friends .

Behind the door of the third zone they find yet another ramp going east . At the top they find a chaurus and a falmer giving them a hard fight because they are so open and there's nowhere to dodge any arrows or poison being thrown their way . The next path stops short before a short wall . ''Be careful you guys there's a lot of falmer there and one has the focusing crystal so anyway I say we split up and go around the wall and attack ,but be careful still because these falmer hasn't lost their magic '', Carli whispers . The others just nod and decides who goes left and who goes right . In the end Carli are pushed in between Connor and Altair to keep her safe from the first attacks . This makes her feel useless like when she first met them and couldn't help them with any fight . The fight is long and hard but they survive with minor wounds that they quickly cure with healing potions .

The hardest job comes to find what they are looking for . They find all sorts of useless scrap as they loot and search the falmer . Altair finds the crystal first by using his eagle vision making it stand out . ''Is this it ?'' ,he asks Carli as she kneels down searching a falmer not far from where he is standing . Looking up she gazes at the round crystal and gets to her feet . ''Yes but now we need to go find the key that leads to the last zone . See that corridor over there which only you and I can see right now because we are standing in the right place ,we need to follow it ,it will take us into three other rooms ,one may contain a centurion or another falmer in that room we will find the key in a chest , are you up for some more fighting ?''. Smiling at her Altair nods . Smiling back at him she says '' Let's go then Mr ibn LaAhad ''. They leave the others to the looting and walk down the corridor . Just like Carli predicted they find the last room occupied . And it's something big that reminds her of the Autobot transformers she used to see on TV . ''Eeek ! it's a centurion . '',she exclaims backing up a little . Altair who has no fear whatsoever starts to attack it just as Carli remembers something important about why she don't want to fight a centurion . ''Altair ! stay away from it , the gas that comes out of it can kill you !''. Altair don't listen and to her surprise nothing happens to him as he fights and kills the thing by himself . At that moment the others come running having heard Carli's scream . They can't help but admire the big shiny dead robot while Carli just slumps down feeling drained all of a sudden . Altair ignores everyone and opens the chest to retrieve the key .

Resting a moment before moving on the six wishes that the whole search would end quickly . They just wanted to get out of this ruin as fast as they could because they were tired of old ruins . ''We have only one ramp and a locked door before are last part comes '', Carli says '' Behind the locked door we will find the only surviving Synod in this place Paratus Decimius ,be very careful in what you tell him because he is an imperial that only wants to ruin the college if he can to be in the Emperors good books ,we are here only to find the location of the staff and although I already know where it is we need to do this to convince the Arch Mage who we all know is one of those persons who think nothing of anyone's advice .'' The others listens to her quietly ,thinking of how things would have been so much simpler if she'd just tell them the location . But Carli didn't want to because blabbing would mean that she could forget the name Carli and be Miss Mary Sue ,or Miss know it all and she didn't want to be someone as common as that .

They finish their rest and walk down the corridor that leads to the ramp . The ramp is clear but at the before the door they find one last dead Falmer . Trying the door to see if its lock they hear a somewhat muffled voice coming from behind it and then it's opened quickly before they can reply . Before them an old man in the same dark blue robes as they've seen the other Synod wore stands . ''Oh I thought it is Gavros '', the old man says not sounding too happy to see them . ''His dead , We found him at the door to this ruin '',Connor says flatly . ''Oh '',the old man says again ''now I guess all my work has been for nothing ,Without the crystal I cannot continue my research ''. Saying this he looks so defeated that Carli can't help but feel sorry for him . Pushing pass the others she says ''It's alright we have the crystal , a falmer stole it from Gavros and we found it when we killed it ,so you can continue your research and we can get help finding something we have to ''. With this said she pushes past him making sure he can't protest or anything though she is pretty sure her friends will kill him if he tries to hurt her .

And so she wins another heart when he simply follows her small figure to Oculory ,which is a big round globe with a ramp leading up beside it . ''Altair ,go and activate the globe the crystal must be added to the globe ,''Carli orders . Altair listens . Carli waits until his finished before she orders him to direct Frostbite and Flame spells at it . Watching from the side the others watch with interest how Altair works . They notice that blue mirrors direct the light to the ceiling that is made up of rotating rings . When Carli is satisfied that the light beams are focused on the right rings she directs Arren towards the control panel . ''Push the buttons until the button closes it will mean that the beams are at its right place ''. Arren obeys . They watch as the light beams are reflected back to the centre . When all are aligned Carli go grab the old man's hand taking him to a map that is projected just below the control panel . She gives the others just enough time to look at the map before saying ''Goodbye '',quickly and leaving without telling the old man anything . The others greet him and wishes him goodluck before running to catch up with her leaving the old man gaping like a fish for air .

They stop at a side corridor just to meet up with the Psijic monk who waits there to talk to them . He informs them that they should make haste back to the college as trying times are ahead . He says that swift action is needed and that they will prevail as he believes . He disappears just after this leaving them to wonder what his haste was all about . The open a door just behind where the monk was standing to find that it leads outside .

''Well guess we finished this part next stop Winterhold College ,'' Carli says . The others nod silently happy to be alive after their ordeal .

This is the end of this chapter hope you enjoyed .sorry its late and I know I took a long time to write it I got stuck on playing the sims again and yeah well lets say its very addictive . Please review and thanks for all the great comments I appreciate it a lot hugs to all readers . oh next we will be going to Labyrinthian .

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