Relthreyn XVII
Reltreyn had just broken the wards with the Staff of Magnus. The group rapidly advanced across the courtyard, discussing a plan as they neared Ancano.
Essentially, Relthreyn was once again going to be bait. Since he had the Staff of Magnus, he was immune to any spells Ancano used via the Eye. The only was Ancano could hurt him was by attacking him personally. He would go into the Hall of the Elements first and keep Ancano's attention focused on him, the others would enter shortly after and aid from a distance.
He stood in front of the door to the Hall, wincing as he drew on his now overused magic. Between the Labyrinthian, the frantic trip back the Winterhold – where he had constantly used healing to replenish his and his horses stamina to make it back quickly-, and the immediate fight upon arrival, his body was really feeling the effects of over channeling his power, not helped by the massive amount of lightning damage he had received from Morokei.
He was so tired.
He ruthlessly ignored it. He had to kill Ancano. Just one more fight.
Relthreyn had entered the Hall, and upon seeing the deranged elf, immediately hit him with a lightning spell. The spell didn't seem to hurt him, but it definitely got Ancano's attention. The Altmer struck back, and the battle commenced.
His first strike was a wave of paralyzing magic emanating from the Eye. The power washed over Relthreyn without touching him, the Staff glowing briefly as the magic came into contact with him.
The Eye opened, revealing a dense pool of magicka within, from it streaming a horde of magical anomalies.
Ancano was invulnerable to all of his attacks. Once he realized this, Relthreyn stopped attacking to preserve his magicka, and focused of defense. His mind whirled, trying to find a way through Ancano's invulnerability. The words of the Augur came back to him.
'To see through Magnus' Eye without being blinded, you will require his staff."
Maybe if used the Staff of the Eye?
Relthreyn shouted "FEIM" becoming impervious to Ancano's lightning blast, and hefted the Staff, shooting a beam of energy the Eye, closing it and leaving Ancano vulnerable. An overcharged firebolt streamed into the room, impacting and destroying one of the anomalies. Good, his backup was here.
Anomalies distracted by his allies, Relthreyn focused on Ancano attacking in earnest, keeping the elf away from the Eye so that he would not reopen it. The elf way very fond of powerful destruction magic, but with the Staff in hand he was hardly a challenge. Relthreyn drained the Thalmor agent of his magic, and as the elf attempted to retreat to the Eye, he used a full powered Unrelenting Force on him. The Altmer flew across the room, impacting the wall with a thud. Abandoning the Staff, Relthreyn lunged after him and stabbed him through the heart with Dawnbreaker.
Relthreyn collapsed against a pillar, the events of the past month finally catching up to him.
He was so tired.
The Psijic Order had taken the Eye away, saying something about "the world not being ready for it" but Relthreyn was too exhausted to follow the conversation. He closed his eyes and just basked in the ability to be still. His body was throbbing with aches and pains, his pool of magic was raw from lightning damage and constant use, and he was still worried about what had happened in his and Savos' absence.
There was a comforting stream of healing magic, and his eyes opened, red meeting copper. Naya was kneeling in front of him, her power sending waves of respite through his body.
"Can you get up? You'll feel better in a bed."
He grimaced.
"Yes. Yes, just give me a hand."
She pulled him up with steady hands and he leaned on her as they made their way out of the Hall. As they made their way to his room, a thought struck him.
"The Staff…"
"Don't worry. The Arch-Mage has it. Just rest."
He lay on his bed, cast his worries aside, and slept.
Naya XIV
She saw the barriers fall with a shudder, the small group passing through.
Naya and the other members of the College turned back to caring for the citizens of Winterhold, quickly wrapping up the worst of it, before half of the group went up to the College to see how things had fared.
There were no more anomalies and the ward had not come back up, so there was a tentative hope for victory in the air.
Naya made it to the Hall of Elements just in time to see Psijics materializing to surround the Eye. She ignored them, eyes scanning the damaged Hall looking for her friend. She found him slumped against the pillar near Ancano's corpse, Staff of Magnus, and Dawnbreaker scattered on the ground before him. She ran to him, fear spiking, until she noticed he was breathing.
He looked terrible, exhaustion evident in every line of his body. His usually orderly hair had escaped its ties, hanging in tangled strands around his angular face. He eyes had purple bags under them, like he hadn't got any sleep, days old growth of stubble dotting his face.
She quickly grabbed the Staff and handed it off to the Arch-Mage, managing a quiet "heal Mirabelle" as she gave it to him. She went back to Relthreyn and cast a very low powered healing hands, not wanting to strain his no doubt over used magicka reserves.
He opened his eyes, slowly focusing on her.
"Can you get up? You'll feel better in bed."
"Yes. Yes, just give me a hand."
As she helped him up, she noticed that there were strange lightning patterned marks on the parts of his skin that she could see.
'Lichtenberg figures? What had he faced in the Labyrinthian?'
Supporting Relthreyn, she led him to his bed so he could get some rest.
After he had fallen asleep, she looked over his wounds. They were barely closed enough to keep from bleeding, and with the condition Relthreyn's magic was in, they were going to have to heal naturally until his magicka recovered from his overuse.
She cracked her knuckles and got down to work.
It was her turn to care for him.
After healing Relthreyn as best she could, Naya hurried back down to Winterhold.
The fight was over, and now they had to deal with the aftermath. And as all aftermaths were, in some ways it was worse than the event it had stemmed from.
Now that the Eye was gone, they could focus on rebuilding the town itself. Alteration mages helped to rebuild damaged building, working with those who specialized in enchantment to fortify. They wanted to make sure that if and when there was another incident, the city would have greater protection than could be cobbled together in a few days.
As for restoration mages such as herself, they went to look back over the people they had healed during the fighting. It had been long hours of thankless work, and there was only so much they could do. Those who were killed in the attack had to be buried, and their affairs set in order. Those that had survived had to be re-examined with a closer eye in order to detect the side effect of the power of the Eye.
And there were aftereffects.
People who had never used magic in their lives now found their natural magicka pools greatly expanded and acting up. Mages who had honed their abilities now found their proficiencies changed, some in good ways others in bad. It was a mixed bag, for every benign effect, a malicious one. For every blessing, a curse.
It seemed that the entire city of Winterhold had been impacted by this event. The Eye may have been gone, but its presence was still felt. And it would continue to be for years to come.
Mirabelle had woken up. The Staff of Magnus having purged whatever the Eye had done to her from her system. She was still weak, confined to bed and prohibited from magic usage, but she was alive. Relthreyn had awoken as well, though he was in much better condition, his main issue being exhaustion from pushing himself so hard.
He had told her about what had happened at the Labyrinthian, and of the revelations about his family. She was happy for him, maybe now he would feel less alone.
The College had settled into a comfortable pattern of repairing the college building and reaching out to Winterhold itself.
As for herself and Relthreyn, they left.
Ancano was a Thalmor agent. He had died in exceptional circumstances. They had to leave before more agents came through.
Mirabelle and Arch-Mage Aren had seen them off, their conversation brief.
"Here." The Arch-Mage handed them both a bag of septims, Relthreyn's larger than hers. "Your wages. You both operated as members of the staff during part of your time here and deserve the appropriate payment."
Mirabelle spoke next,
"Know that you will always be welcome here, especially after your assistance with the Eye. As for you Naya, I've provided you with more spell tomes, as well as an introductory book on enchanting."
"Thank you, Mirabelle."
"We must be off now." Relthreyn hesitated for a moment, turning to his uncle "…I'll keep in contact with you."
He helped Naya onto her horse before swinging on top of his own. He turned back to the duo.
"Congratulations, by the way."
Was that a blush she detected on Mirabelle's face? Oh, that was actually very sweet.
They rode out of the town, making for Windhelm.