Chapter 29: Deep in Saarthal

Mabel followed the Khajiit and met with the others outside of Saarthal. The ruin was located southeast of Winterhold. A couple of wooden paths led down to the entrance, where the rest of the class was already waiting.

"And here we all are. Shall we step inside?" Tolfdir said.

One of the students, the dunmer, raised her hand. "Is this place important somehow?"

"We're particularly interested in the prevalence of magical seals placed on the tombs here. It's rather unlike anything we've encountered."

"And what are we looking for?" The Khajiit asked.

"Anything! Anything at all that might be of interest. That's why I adore this location… we have no idea what we're going to find. And if, along the way, my message about the danger of magic should happen to sink in for a few students, that would be a happy coincidence."

To Mabel, that sounded like he was expecting a fight in there. Not that she had a problem with that possibility. Such a big group of mages could probably take on a dragon.

The group entered the ruin. The inside was clearly explored already, as a number of wooden ramps, bridges and platforms let down into the room. Urns and other artifacts were put aside in order, and no sign of Draugr, chests or treasure was to be found. "As some of you may know, Saarthal was one of the earlier Nord Settlements in Skyrim. It was also the largest. Sacked by the Elves in the infamous 'Night of Tears', not much is known about what happened to Saarthal. This is an exciting opportunity for us. To be able to study such an early civilization, and the magics they used…" For a moment, Mabel felt like she'd fall asleep. Even back home, she had never been one for theoretical subjects. "Well, are there any questions before we begin?"

Mabel raised her hand. "Is it possible that there are still Draugr in here?"

"It's highly unlikely. We've cleared out the entire tomb already. Now, let's see. What shall we have the rest of you do? Brelyna, my dear." He looked at the Dunmer. "Why don't you search for warding magics? Anything designed to keep people out. Don't interact with them, just identify them. All right, everyone. Onmund." He now turned to the nord. "Please search that area over there. See if you notice any… residual energies. Alive or undead." At last, he turned to the Khajiit. "J'zargo… what shall we have you do… Ah! Why don't you verify that we're the first ones here? Look out for any amount of tempering with the tombs. And you, Mabel. Why don't you see if you can assist Arniel Gane? He's one of our scholars, here working on cataloging our finds. I expect he'd appreciate some help in locating any additional magical artifacts here in the ruins. Any enchanted It's will do; the usefulness of the enchantment is irrelevant. If you find anything, the class can look it over. All right, everyone. Let's be careful, but have fun!"

Mabel began to search for Arniel, and finally found him in a hallway, hunched over a desk. "Don't touch anything." He said, without even looking at her.

"Are you Arniel?"

"Yes, I am. What's the matter?"

"Tolfdir said I should try to help you." Mabel explained, and looked at his desk. A couple of glowing rings were on it.

"What? Ah, yes. You. You're going to help? That's fine. Just… Just don't make a mess of my work. I've only looked through a portion of this section. You, uh, you can look in the chambers just north of here. Try and be careful, all right? We don't want to damage anything."

"Already done!" Mabel said and began to search the chambers for artifacts. She found three rings, and then a strange amulet hanging on a weird wall. As she took the amulet, the ground shook, and a gate dropped behind her. She was captured, with no way to get out.

Thankfully, Tolfdir heard the gate and arrived at the scene. "What in the world was this racket? Is everything all right?"

"Please help me. I'm trapped." Mabel yelled, and tried to melt the bars with a flame spell. They didn't move, or melt.

"How in the world did that happened?"

Mabel shrugged. "I don't know. I took this amulet and the gate fell down. And now I'm trapped. Please help me."

"Really? Perhaps the amulet is important somehow. Is there some way you can use it?" Mabel shrugged and put the amulet around her neck. A red Aura began to leak from the wall the amulet was hanging on. "Do you see that? Some kind of resonance… you and the wall. It must be connected to the amulet! I wonder… what effects might your spells have?"

She nodded and shot a Lightning Bolt at the wall. The wall literally exploded and the gate opened. "Whoa! Did you see that? Thats was awesome!"

"Well, would you look at that! This appears to lead somewhere. Let's see where it goes." They moved through the opened passage, and found themselves in a small room.

Three sarcophagi stood at the wall, and a table in the middle. "Well, this is highly unusual. And very interesting. Why in the world would this be sealed off? What is this place? I'm not sure what to expect here. Please be on your guard."

Then, everything went grey and time stopped. Mabel had an expectation who the cause of this was. "Bill? What do you want?"

She prepared her Spells to defend herself, as another Mage projected himself into the room. At least it wasn't the triangle causing this. "I'm not the demon. Know that you have set in motion a chain of events that cannot be stopped. Judgement has not been passed, as you had no way of knowing. Judgement will be passed on your action to come, and how you deal with the danger ahead of you. This warning is passed to you because the Psijic Order believes in you. You, mage, and you alone, have the potential to prevent disaster. Take great care, and know that the Order is watching."

"Wait, who are you? What is the Psijic Order?" Mabel asked, confused and scared at the same time. Without answering any questions, the mage disappeared and the flow of time resumed properly. "Why do people like this always have to speak in goddamn riddles?" She muttered.

"I… I swear I felt something rather strange just then. What just happened?"

"Some mage, ghost, thingy appeared, stopped time and spoke to me." Mabel explained.

Tolfdir stroke his beard. "I'm afraid I didn't see anything… Can you tell me more about what you just saw?"

To her, it kinda made sense that he didn't notice any of it. "Of course. As we got into here, time froze and this guy appeared. He said that there is danger ahead and something about some sort of Order."

"Which Order?"

"I think he called it the 'Psijic Order'."

Tolfdir was shocked. "The Psijic Order? Are you quite sure about that?" Mabel nodded. "That's very odd. And danger ahead? Why that doesn't make any sense at all. The Psijics have no connection to these ruins. An no one's seen any of their order in a long time. Perhaps we should look inside these coffins…"

The girl looked at one of the coffins. "Yeah, maybe not. I don't have the best memories of coffins in ancient ruins. But why are these Psijics contacting me?"

"I have no idea, but it's fascinating. Assuming it's true, of course. The Isle of Artaeum disappeared over a hundred years ago, and no one has seen them since. And yet now, suddenly. They have chosen to contact you? Why, it's intriguing! If nothing else, I'd take it as a compliment. The Psijics have only ever dealt with those they feel worth."

That made Mabel kind of proud, something that wasn't holding long. The coffins opened, releasing two Draugr and a new way. "Get ready!" Tolfdir yelled and began to cast Fireballs at the Mage draugr.

Mabel took one the other one, which held an ax. The blade of the ax swiped over her, and she casted flames at the draugrs feet. It tried to get back, and left its defense open. Mabel used the chance, and shot an Ice spike into the Draugrs head. Tolfdir had finished his opponent and complimented the young Dragonborn for how fast she took care of the Draugr.

They entered the next room, opened a gate, and found a room full of coffins. Immediatly, four opened and Draugr-Archers stepped out. Due to her light armor, Mabel was agile enough to dodge some of the arrows. The few that hit bounced off her armor, but left little marks where they hit. She shot more Ice spikes at the Draugr, taking out two. Tolfdir wasn't as agile as his student, due to his age. He had quickly taken care of another archer, as the last one got hit by a lightning bolt, lost his stand and fell down from the ledge. Mabel quickly summoned a Sword and stabbed it into the undeads head. "I've never seen anything like this in Nordic ruins before."

The sword disappeared, and Mabel looked at the Teacher in confusion. "What? Draugr? I am dealing with them weekly."

"No, I mean such a number of coffins in one room. This bears closer inspection. I'd like to stay a while and examine this. You, however, should press on. See if you can find whatever this vision of yours mentioned. But if it is truly dangerous, be careful. Go on ahead, I'll be sure and catch up with you before long."

She hesitated, but left eventually. Without anyone helping her, she felt lost, and scared. But Tolfdir gave her an order, and she was not willing to get kicked out of the school, or anger the Psijic Order.

After opening the gate in the next room, three Draugr jumped out of their coffins.

She summoned a sword, deciding to hold it in one hand while using the other one for magic. The first Draugr died with a blade through its chest, and Mabel chose to revive him to aid her. The undead Draugr took his sword and attacked one of the enemies. Mabel tried to get away from the fight, and drank a Magicka potion. Fit for battle again, she shot a Lightning bolt at one of the Draugr, who paid attention to her again.

Her zombie was fighting against the other Draugr in the meantime. Their blades clashed, and both killed each other at the same time, after which the zombie turning to ashes. Mabel shot a Ice Spike at the Draugr, and then another lightning bolt. He finally fell down, just as another coffin opened and revealed an archer.

"FUS RO!"

The draugr stumbled back and missed. He tried to aim again, but had an Ice spike sticking out of his head. She searched the room, including the Draugr, for anything useful. While doing that, the girl noticed a rune on the ground. She wasn't willing to trust it and shot a lightning bolt at it, which caused it to explode into flames.

Mabel opened the iron door leading out of the room and found herself in a corridor. As she walked through it, she heard a clicking noise and immediately duck down. A volley of darts flew over her head, and she crawled until she could get up again. After opening a chest, she was attacked by two Draugr. They were quickly taken care of, her agility and ranged capabilities giving her the edge in the battle.

After the hallway, she was confronted with something far more cruel than a Draugr: A puzzle. She turned the stones to show the images above them, and pulled the lever. The door opened and led to a set of stairs.

After them, she was in a big room again. It was two-leveled, with only one draugr patrouling. It had a warhammer. Mabel didn't want to get into any trouble and shot it down from the bridge with an Ice Spike.

The young Dragonborn had to burn down some cobwebs, and activated another rune from afar. This time it exploded into electricity. The puzzle that followed took more time than usual, as turning around one pillar turned others around to. After a frustrating hour she finally did it and the door opened and revealed another corridor.

As she walked through it, she heard Tolfdir yelling from behind. "Hold on, girl. Hold on! I thought it high time I caught up with you."

"Finally. There were a lot of Draugr on the way here."

He catched his breath. "I know. I've seen the corpses."

"And some weird runes on the ground."

"Ah, yes. Rune Spells. If you are interested in them, you should pay Faralda a visit." Mabel made a mental node to do that. The runes looked useful.

They opened the door, and were amazed by what they saw. The two stood on a ledge, and on the lower level was a giant, spinning sphere. A blue Aura eminated from it, and casted some kind of ward. However, before they could investigate, a coffin opened and revealed a large Draugr. It had way more armor than the ones before, and wielded a Waraxe. A blue aura surrounded him. Both immediately shot a barrage of spells at him, but to no avail.

"What? How are we gonna do this?" Tolfdir looked around in the room. "Keep it busy! I'll try to drain some of its power."

"Qiilaan us dilon!"

Mabel followed his instructions and attacked the draugr, blocking his ax with a summoned sword. After a couple of seconds, the blue aura around the Draugr became red, and it got incredible hot. "I've got it! Now kill him!"

"WULD!"

She used her Whirlwind Sprint to get past the Draugr, and noticed his aura changing from a flaming red, to a icy white and finally a sparking purple. It was clear to her what she had to do, and she used a spell that would be different than the one the Draugr had as aura.

An Ice Spike hit through the purple aura, and pierced an unprotected spot at the waist. The Draugr led down his ax, and hit her armor. It held however, and gave her an opportunity to burn his face. The draugr yelled out and grabbed her by the head. He then threw her into the coffin, and charged at her. She quickly looked around, and grabbed some kind of staff. She pointed it into the Draugrs direction, and it shot a Lightning ball. The knockback caused her to fall on her back.

Thankfully, it had the same effect on the Draugr, and she was able to get up before him. His aura stopped for a second, and Mabel threw an Ice spike at him. The Draugr, however, was already back up and crossed the space between him and Mabel. He slammed his ax down, and cut her arm. The weapon was stopped by the armor, but the blade came through, cutting into her arm. She cried out in pain, and used her uninjured arm to cast a healing spell. However, she had run out of magicka, and started to search for a health potion.

As it prepared to finish her, a Fireball hit its back. It turned around and saw Tolfdir, who stopped his doing to save his student. He casted spells at the Draugr, until it fell. Mabel meanwhile drank the potion, and felt how her arm was repairing itself. It hurt even more when that happened, but two seconds later, it was repaired already.

With the battle over, she looked if he had anything valuable with him. She found a note and part of some kind of amulet. However, Mabel decided to read the note later, as the giant ball was more important right now. She quickly drank another healing potion and approached Tolfdir. "So, what the heck is this thing?"

"I have no idea! This is amazing. Absolutely amazing. The Arch-Mage needs to be informed immediately. He needs to see this for himself. I don't dare leave this unattented. Can you return to the College and inform Savos Aren of this discovery? Please, hurry."

"Okay, no problem boss." She gave him a thumbs up and left the room. Chants were hearable in the next room, and she found a word wall. The new Shout burned itself into her mind.

Liz-Ice.

At least she could make out roughly what it would do. Something with ice. Mabel decided to put on the amulet from the Draugr, thinking that it actually looked pretty neat. After getting gold and other treasure from the chest, she made her way back to Winterhold.


Meanwhile, two humans and a vampire finally arrived at the vampires home, which was a giant castle on a secluded island. Dark mist surrounded the building, and a giant stone bridge connected it to the small dock. "So, is this your home?" Wendy asked with a raised eyebrow. They still knew nothing about Serana, especially since she answered no important questions on the way here.

The woman looked over the castle, and smiled. "Yes, yes it is. Home sweet home."

"I wouldn't call it sweet. Looks more like a 90's horror movie." Dipper muttered, and received a confused look from Serana.

They crossed the bridge and stopped by a closed gate. "Hey, so… before we go in there… I wanted to thank you for getting me this far. But after we get in there, I'm going to go my own way for a while. I think… I know your friends would probably want to kill everything in there. I'm hoping you can show some more control than that. Once we're inside, just keep quiet for a bit. Let me take the lead."

The kids nodded. "Got it!"

"Okay then."

The guard greeted them. "Lady Serana's back! Open the gate!" The gate opened, and the watchman waved to Serana, but threw suspicious looks at the other two.

They entered the castle, and a vampire of dunmer origin approached them. "How dare you trespass here!" It seemed like he just now noticed her. "Wait… Serana? Is that truly you? I cannot believe my eyes!" He turned around and walked over to a balcony overlooking a food room. "My Lord! Everyone! Serana has returned!"

He was clearly excited. The three followed him into the dining room, and Dipper and Wendy had to hold back their need to throw up. A smell of death hang over the room, and bloody corpses, bones and organs laid on the tables. A number of Vampires ate from the humans, and Wendy could have sworn some of them were still alive. If anything, they wanted to get out as fast as possible.

A royal looking vampire stepped forward. He wore a outfit similiar to that of Serana. "My long-lost daughter returns at last. I trust you have my Elder Scroll?"

The two friends were surprised that this guy was Seranas father. "After all this years, that's the first thing you ask me? Yes, I have the scroll."

The Vampire put his hand on his forehead. "Of course I'm delighted to see you, my daughter. Must I really say the words aloud? Ah, if only your traitor mother were here, I would let her watch this reunion before putting her head on a spike."

"This guy seems like a real sunshine…" Wendy whispered in Dippers ear.

"Now tell me, who are these strangers you have brought into our hall?"

"These are my saviors, the ones who freed me."

Serana's father now looked at Dipper and Wendy. "For my daughter's save return, you have my gratitude. Tell me, what is your name?"

"I am Dipper and this is Wendy. Who are you?" Dipper tried his best to not make his fear visible, even though he had the feeling that he could sense it.

"I am Harkon, lord of this court. By now, my daughter will have told you what we are."

"Cannibals?" Wendy said snarky. She hoped that this guy had a sense for humor, although it was more judging than humorous.

"Not quite, though I can see how an outsider might arrive at that conclusion. No, we are vampires, along the older and most powerful in Skyrim." He clearly wasn't one for humor. Harkon began to walk up and down. "For centuries we lived here, far from the cares of the world. All that ended when my wife betrayed me and stole away which I valued most." It sounded like he meant Serana, but Dipper was sure he meant the Scroll. What was so special about it?

"And now?" Wendy asked.

"There is but one gift I can give that is equal in value to the Elder Scroll and my daughter. I offer you my blood."

"What?" Dipper and Wendy shouted in unison, and took a step back.

"Take it, and walk as a lion along sheep. Men will tremple at your approach, and you will never fear death again."

It was pretty clear that he offered them to become vampires, something neither of them wanted to. The only good thing about that was the immortality, but even this was something the vampires back in the crypt kind of lacked. "A- And if we don't accept?"

"Then you will be prey, like all mortals. I will spare your lifes this once, but you will be banished from this castle." Now this was something both could life with. "Perhaps you need convincing? Behold the power!"

Harkon suddenly morphed into a abomination, something straight out of a demon film. His skin was green, with giant claws and bat wings. "I will accept your gift!" Wendy said.

"Wendy!"

"Sorry, sorry. I was in panic. We refuse." She changed her mind, much to Dipper's joy.

"So be it. You are prey, like all mortal. I banish you!"

He casted a spell, and teleported both back outside. Thinking about that they maybe just did something wrong, they entered the boat and made their way back to the Dawnguard.


And here's Chapter 29.

Before anyone wonders, no, Wendy won't become a vampire. If anything, she'll become a werewolf.

And now, to reply to some reviews:

Glitter Bomb: Yeah, a lot of fanfictions concetrate on Dipper. Makes sense though, seeing as he's the main character of the show. I'm trying to give everyone equal 'screentime'.

A potato: Yes, I'm taking my time, but I try to stick to the schedule.

Elder Scrolls belongs to Bethesda; Gravity Falls belongs to Disney