Chapter 53 - The Staff and the Eye

As they approached Labyrinthian, Yssha caught her breath in awe. It was badly damaged, almost in ruins, but even now, tremendous. In its glory, she thought, it must have been magnificent!

When they landed and dismounted, she turned to Odahviing. "Did you get to see this place before it was damaged?"

"Indeed, before this version was even built," he said, surprising her. "During what you call the Merethic Era, this was the location of Bromjunaar, the glorious city that was the capital of Skyrim during our rule and that of our priests."

"Bromjunaar was real?" Marcurio asked, his fascination obvious. "There's been a lot of disagreement about that. When we have more time, will you tell me about it, please? It would be a tremendous addition to our historical knowledge, especially from a primary source."

"Gladly. It will also show this era's people that we were not considered uncivilized beasts. If you have an artist, I can describe it well enough to provide illustrations as well."

Marcurio practically drooled at that, and Nevan showed interest as well. Yssha had to break Marcurio's historical trance, though, so she cleared her throat. "We do have a rather urgent task at the moment, beloved. That has to come first."

He shook himself. "Yes ... yes, of course."

Rather to Yssha's disappointment, Odahviing's presence had apparently scared away the trolls that inhabited these ruins - their fat was valuable for alchemy - and they made it to the entrance unopposed.

It was huge and impressive, despite being at the top of more stairs than Yssha cared for. Of course it was, being Skyrim, she thought. The two seemed to go together ...

When they entered, they saw a group of ghostly figures, including a youthful Savos Aren. "Come on," he said. "we're finally here! Let's not waste any more time!"

The Argonian sounded dubious. "Are we truly sure this is a good idea?"

"We'll be back at the College before anyone even knows we're gone," the Redguard said.

"You would care about that, since you're the Arch-Mage's favorite!" The Bosmer sounded bitter.

"Don't forget, this whole idea was Atmah's to begin with," Savos reminded them.

The Nord was impatient. "Let's just get inside, see what's in there."

The specters vanished, and Yssha's team moved forward. The torc she'd been given proved to be a magical key, fitting into a slot in the large door behind where the specters had been, and then turning into a knocker.

Once they entered the chamber, the specters appeared again,

The Dunmer said, "I can't believe we're doing this."

Savos chuckled. "Can you imagine the looks on their faces when we come back?"

The Nord said, "You keep talking like you're sure we'll find something useful in here."

"Given the history of this place," the Bosmer said, "it's more than likely there's still some amount of power here."

Savos was obviously excited. "Enchanted weapons, tomes of ancient knowledge, Shalidor's secrets themselves - who knows what we could find!"

"And what if ... What if there are things guarding this place?" the Argonian wanted to know.

The Redguard was more confident. "Against six College-trained mages? I think we'll be fine."

There was a set of double doors ahead, then a lever that raised a portcullis just long enough for one person to get through. Yssha went first, and was promptly dodging arrows and fighting skeletons. A strong "Fus Ro Dah!" threw them back far enough for the other three to get into the huge room safely and start targeting the archers at the far end.

Then a dragon skeleton got into the act, and Yssha had to replace her mace with Dragonbane, concentrating on it while her team handled the human ones. Other than Alduin, she quickly decided this was the most difficult dragon she'd fought, with no real vital areas. It was more a case of hacking it apart or otherwise shattering it with a combination of Dragonbane and Unrelenting Force, but she was finally successful, as was her team. They took time to heal various injuries, then went on. In the next room, the specters appeared again, but one was missing.

The Dunmer was upset. "We ... we have to go back. We can't leave Girduin ... "

"We barely made it out alive, and you want to go back in?" the Nord asked in disbelief.

"It's too late," the Redguard said. "There isn't enough of him left to go back in after."

"Gods, what have we done?" the Argonian said.

Savos was still determined. "We can't go back. Might as well go forward. We can still do this."

The Redguard woman nodded agreement. "Savos is right. We can make it if we just stay alert."

When the specters vanished again, Yssha's team went down a flight of steps, where a door was frozen shut. "Wo meyz wah diil vul junar?" a disembodied voice asked, and Yssha felt her magica drain. She hastily asked the rest, "How is your magica?"

She had been drained, Marcurio and Nevan weakened, and Serana had noticed nothing. Interesting, then, but as long as the other three could still function magically, they would be all right.

Then Nevan asked, "What was that voice, and what did it say?"

"I do not know what it was," Yssha replied. "But what it said was, 'Who comes to undead dark kingdom?'"

A Flame spell opened the frozen door, and they came face to face with a number of draugr Deathlords, who took time and inflicted a few wounds. After healing themselves and exploring a nearby room, where they found a spell tome for Equilibrium, which she'd never heard of, they continued down a narrow ramp with more Deathlords. The mysterious voice spoke again. "Nivahriin muz fent siiv nid aaz het."

Yssha translated before anyone asked. "Cowardly humans will find no mercy here."

She was drained of magica again. As long as the others weren't completely drained, there was no damage done, and if she needed a distance attack she could always Shout, but it was annoying.

They continued, fighting various types of draugr along the way and collecting plenty of small loot - this promised to be a very profitable run! As they came to a door, the mystery voice spoke again. "You do not answer... Must I use this guttural language of yours?"

The dungeon was surprisingly straightforward, for something named Labyrinthian, so they continued fighting and looting their way along, interrupted every so often by the mysterious voice and its magica-draining effect.

"Have you returned, Aren? My old friend?"

"Do you seek to finish that which you could not?"

More draugr, then a room with wisps and a Wispmother, which yielded a couple of rare ingredients.

"You only face failure once more..."

"You... You are not Aren, are you? Has he sent you in his place?"

Hah! Yssha thought. About time whoever it was realized that!

A door sealed with fire was next, and the voice yet again.

"Did he warn you that your own power would be your undoing? That it would only serve to strengthen me?"

Fortunately, Yssha thought, magic was the least of her powers, and she had strong backup for that one. A fire spirit showed up, and Serana neutralized it with her ice spikes, then Marcurio cast Frostbite to unseal the door.

In the next room, they saw the specters again, with Savos encouraging the rest. "Come on, we can't stop now. We have to keep moving!"

"Where's Elvali?" the Redguard asked. "She was right behind me."

"Dead," the Nord said grimly. "Something grabbed her from behind. Gone before I could do anything."

"This is insanity," the Argonian put in. "We never should've come here."

The Redguard sighed. "You're right. This is all my fault. Should we turn around, head back?"

The Nord shook his head. "I don't think going back is a good idea."

Savos agreed. "Going back would be the end of all of us. We keep pushing forward, and we'll make it. We will!"

The Redguard woman nodded, looking resigned. "Come on, we can make it. Let's go."

The next room was guarded by a skeleton, a Spectral Warhound and a ghostly draugr wight. And that Divines-cursed voice again: "Come, face your end."

Once those were taken care of, the team went through a passage to find more draugr wights.

A little bit past the next door, they ran into more enemies and found a spell tome of Steadfast Ward, which she gave to Nevan. He was rapidly becoming an accomplished Destruction mage, but he didn't have dragon armor yet, so some good defensive spells could be vital.

They went down some stairs, dodging a lightning rune on a landing halfway down, then saw the soul gems on pedestals that were spellcaster traps. She took the opportunity to try a technique she'd worked out that seemed promising since they were never aimed at each other.

Signalling the rest to wait, she used "Feim" to get beside one, waited till she rematerialized to grab the gem powering it, "Feim" again to get beside the next, and repeated that until all five were inert and she had five more soul gems. Then she called the others to join her, pleased with her success.

They went on, and yet again she felt the magica drain, though she heard nothing. So she just kept going, and opened the next set of doors. There was what looked like a draugr Death Overlord on a throne facing away from her. Quietly, she led her team to one side, where they were all able to launch ranged attacks on her signal. That done, she was free to go to the Word Wall to the southeast of the throne and learn Klo, Sand, the second word of the Slow Time Shout.

Next was a corridor with a series of columns on each side. A number of skeletons and ghostly draugr attacked, at the same time the magica drain struck yet again. Yssha was accustomed to fighting her way through dungeons, and really didn't mind normal enemies, but this random drain was another matter entirely. If she weren't primarily a melee fighter, it would have been worse, but between that and her Shouts, she was in good shape, just becoming increasingly annoyed.

At the other end of the corridor, the spectral Savos and his two remaining companions were having what sounded to Yssha like a final discussion.

"We shouldn't have left her there to die!" the Redguard said.

"What else could we do?" Savos demanded. "Stay there and die with her? She refused to go on, we didn't have a choice!"

"This is it, you know," the Nord said. "Through this door. Can you feel it?"

"We're not going to make it, are we?" the Redguard asked wearily.

The Nord said, "We stay together, no matter what. Agreed?"

"I'll be right with you," the Redguard agreed.

"Agreed. We all stay together," Savos said.

When the specters vanished, Yssha opened the door slightly to see what they would be getting into.

It looked like two mages feeding power to someone who looked dismayingly like a Dragon Priest. That was not good, though she and Marcurio had taken a couple down already, and they'd added Nevan and Serana since, so it might not be as bad as she feared. She closed the door, and turned to the team. "Nevan, there are two mages above us and to the left. It looks like they are feeding energy to a Dragon Priest's shield. Your bow is the least obvious of our ranged weapons, so would you see if you can kill the mages from here?"

He nodded. "Let me take a look." He opened the door a crack, and looked through, then turned back with a grin. "No problem, thuri. Just say when."

"Very good. When you have done that, we go up, trying for a height advantage. Dragon Priests are powerful, and seem to prefer avoiding melee combat, but we are four to his one, so I anticipate no extreme difficulty." She smiled at her vahriin. "Whenever you are ready."

Nevan readied his bow, nocking an arrow. When he was ready, he nodded, and Serana opened the door. Two arrows in rapid succession, and two dead mages, then up the stairs to a position slightly above where the Dragon Priest had been.

He attacked, holding a ward spell against both physical and magical attacks, but the four of them were able to get to him more often than the other way around. When his defenses started to weaken, Yssha waded in with her mace, battering him until he went down. As she was recovering his mask and the Staff of Magnus, the rest joined her, grinning. "Ain't teamwork wonderful!" Nevan exclaimed.

Once Yssha caught her breath, she ageed. "Indeed it is! Is everyone well?"

She got nods from all three, and smiled. "Excellent. Let us return to the College, then."

On the way out, they saw Savos once more, apologizing. " ... I'm sorry, friends. I'm so sorry! I had no choice! It was the only way to make sure that monster never escaped! I promise you, I'll never let this happen again! I'll seal this whole place away ... "

As they entered the next room, a Thalmor in mage robes entered from the far door. Three spells and a Fire Breath Shout hit him immediately, and there wasn't enough left of him to loot.

Odahviing had to drop them off at the bottom of the causeway to the College, because it was surrounded by a magical barrier. Partway up, the team found Tolfdir, Faralda, and Arniel Gane battling the energy balls she'd found out were called magic anomalies. The team joined the battle, and the anomalies were soon gone.

Yssha turned to Tolfdir. "What is going on?"

"Look for yourself. Ancano's power is growing. We can't crack whatever magic he's using to shield himself. I hope your trip to Labyrinthian was worth it."

"It was," she replied. "We killed the Dragon Priest and recovered the Staff of Magnus. Where is Mirabelle?"

"I'm afraid she's dead, my dear. She was killed making sure everyone could escape from Ancano." Tolfdir sighed. "You have the staff. If it can help us get inside the College, and reach Ancano, we'll have to hope there's a way to stop all this."

"Very well." Yssha raised the Staff of Magnus and used it on the barrier, which went down immediately. The group ran for the Hall of the Elements, where Ancano was somehow opening the Eye.

He turned to them. "You've come for me, have you?, You think I don't know what you're up to? You think I can't destroy you? The power to unmake the world at my fingertips, and you think you can do anything about it?"

Tolfdir cast a spell at the Thalmor, but it had no effect, and Ancano sneered. "I am beyond your pathetic attempts at magic. You cannot touch me."

"Use the Staff on the Eye!" Tolfdir shouted. Yssha did, and it began to close.

"Enough!" Ancono exclaimed, casting Paralysis at Tolfdir, who fell. "Still you persist? Very well. Come then. See what I can do now."

The Eye opened fully, and Ancano cast lightning bolts at Yssha. She retaliated with Unrelenting Force, but it had no effect, and she flashed back to the fight with Jyrik Gauldursun under Saarthal, where the Eye had fed him energy until Tolfdir somehow stopped it. Tolfdir was out of action, so she'd have to use the Staff to close the eye and keep it closed, trusting the rest to take care of Ancano while he was vulnerable.

She concentrated on that, barely aware of the battle going on around her. There were magic anomalies, she thought, but couldn't take her attention away from Staff and Eye, except to heal herself and keep the Staff charged, praying she had enough soul gems to outlast Ancano.

The others quickly realized what she was doing. Marcurio and Serana joined with Faralda, attacking Ancano whenever the Eye closed. Arniel had gone down, and Nevan was doing his best to protect his thur from the anomalies since it was obvious she couldn't break her concentration long enough to do it herself.

Ancano weakened, slowly, taunting them with comments about his invincibility even as his struggles became more desperate. At last, though, he screamed, "Nooo ... " and collapsed.

Yssha was exhausted, and with the strain suddenly relaxed, came close to collapsing herself, unsure how she managed to remain on her feet. To her relief, Marcurio hurried over to support her, and Tolfdir rose unsteadily, then helped Arniel up and approached. "I knew you could do it!"

"What ... what do we do now?" Yssha asked, once she caught her breath.

"I ... I don't know," Tolfdir replied. "Ancano is gone, but whatever he's done to the Eye doesn't seem to have stopped. I have no idea what to do!"

Quaranir and several other Psijics appeared, apparently from thin air, and he approached Yssha. "We knew you would succeed. Your victory here justifies our belief in you. You have proven yourself more than worthy to guide the College of Winterhold."

Yssha repeated the question she'd asked Tolfdir. "What do we do now?"

"The Eye has grown unstable. It cannot remain here, or else it may destroy your College and this world. It must be secured. Ancano's actions prove that the world is not ready for such a thing. We shall safeguard it ... for now. You now have the opportunity to maintain your College, and carry on with your lives. You have our gratitude, Arch-Mage."

Once the Psijics and Eye were gone, Tolfdir approached her, smiling. "You've done it! The College is safe again, thanks to your work. I knew you had it in you."

He paused. "I daresay the Psijics are right. There is no one more deserving to be Arch-Mage, in my opinion." He handed her a set of robes. "Here, consider these yours. And the Arch-Mage's quarters, as well. I shall be here for advice if you need me."

Yssha was dubious. "Are you sure, Master Tolfdir? I am the weakest mage on my team, not to mention the lack of time and attention I will be able to give to the job. You are far more qualified than I."

Tolfdir was grinning. "I am quite sure, my dear. Those robes will boost your magica, and spell tomes will quickly remedy your lack of knowledge. As for your lack of time, I will be happy to handle the day-to-day affairs of the College as Master Wizard, just as Mirabelle handled them for Savos."

"In that case, I accept." Yssha smiled. Greats-Grandmother would find it amusing that her magically-limited descendant had acquired that title - she did, herself - but she would be proud anyway, and that pleased Yssha no end.