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-1st of the Second Seed, 4th Era 202-
After so many days of travelling, having gone to the Solitude Library first just to make sure only to come up with nothing, Rahgol finally arrived at the College of Winterhold with Lydia at his side, having stopped in Whiterun to speak with her and asked her to join him on his quest to find the Elder Scroll, something she excitedly agreed to.
However, as they walked to the bridge that leads to the College, they were stopped by an Altmer woman. "Cross the bridge at your own peril! The way is dangerous, and the gate will not open. You shall not gain entry!" She said.
"Get out of my way, I don't have time for this." Rahgol growled but the woman glared at him.
"Who are you?" Lydia asked, trying to prevent a fight especially with Rahgol's attitude.
"My name is Faralda. I am here to assist those in seeking the wisdom of the College. And if, in the process, my presence helps to deter those who might seek to do harm, so be it. The more important question is, why are you here?"
"To find an Elder Scroll." Rahgol said with his arms crossed.
"Do you? It is true that some here who have spent studying the accumulated knowledge of the scrolls. But what you seek does not come easily, and can destroy those without a strong will. It seems that the College has what you seek. The question now is, what can you offer the College? Not just anyone is allowed inside. Those who enter must have some degree of skill with magic."
"Would you grant entry to the Dragonborn?" Rahgol asked, eyebrow raised.
"Dragonborn? It's been so long since we had any contact with the Greybeards. Do you really have the Voice? I would be most impressed to see that." She said, looking doubtful of his claim. Rahgol rolled his eyes, he'll soon fix that.
Looking up at the sky, Rahgol shouted. "FUS RO DAH!" A very powerful shockwave came out of his mouth and moved upwards. A thunderous roar echoed through the town and he saw a shocked look on the Altmer's face.
"So the stories are true… You are Dragonborn! Normally you need to show some aptitude with one of the schools of magic, but you… I think there's much we can learn from each other. I think you'll be a superb addition to the College. Welcome, Apprentice."
'Okay, wasn't expecting that but alright.' Rahgol thought with a little frown.
"I'll lead you across the bridge. Once you're inside you'll speak with Mirabelle Ervine, our Master Wizard. Please, follow me."
Rahgol shared a look with Lydia but they followed Faralda while she was setting on some blue liquid in a stone bowl, on some spots on the bridge. She saluted them and walked back towards the gate, while they stepped in the massive yard in front of the main gate into the College. Rahgol saw a Breton woman talking with an Altmer in Thalmor robes.
"So what's the plan?" Lydia asked, looking to the Dragonborn.
"Find out if this place has knowledge or the location of the Elder Scroll, then go and get it." Rahgol said like it was so simple and easy. Easier said than done though. As they walked to the main doors of the college, they heard the conversation between the woman and elf.
"I believe I've made myself rather clear." Mirabelle said.
"Yes of course. I'm simply trying to understand the reasoning behind the decisions." The Thalmor said rather politely.
"You may be used to the Empire bowing to your every whim, but here I'm afraid you'll find the Thalmor receive no such treatment. You are a guest to the College, here at the pleasure of the Arch-Mage. I hope you appreciate the opportunity."
"Yes of course. The Arch-Mage has my thanks." The Thalmor said, tone angry, before he walked off. Mirabelle sighed and rubbed her forehead before she turned and noticed Rahgol and Lydia.
"And who are you two? New Apprentices?" She asked, looking unimpressed though Rahgol didn't really care.
"No, I'm here for the location of an Elder Scroll. I'm the Dragonborn." Rahgol said and Mirabelle's eyes widened.
"Are you? Prove it." She said, arms crossed. Rahgol did just that with an Unrelenting Force to the sky. "Okay, so you are the Dragonborn. Go to the College Library, speak with Urag."
Rahgol nodded and entered the College with Lydia. They walked up several stairs until they came to a room filled with books, an Orc at a desk who looked up from his work upon hearing them enter.
"What do you want?" He asked gruffly.
"I'm looking for an Elder Scroll." Rahgol said shortly, causing Urag to look at him sharply and like he was stupid.
"An Elder Scroll? What the hell do you need that for?"
"Because I'm the Dragonborn and I need to stop the Dragons." Rahgol said with an irritated sigh at the explanations.
Urga raised his eyebrows. "Wait, are you, are you the one the Greybeards were calling?"
"Yes." Rahgol nodded. "So, know anything about where one might be?"
Urag scoffed. "Do you know what you're asking about?" he sighed. "I'll do what I can. What we do have are plenty of books. I'll bring everything we have on them, but it's not much. So don't get your hopes up. It's mostly lies, leavened with rumor and conjecture."
Urag stood and walked off somewhere while Rahgol and Lydia shared a look with each other. A few seconds later, the Orc retutned with a couple of books in his hands and placed them on the desk.
"Here you go. Try not to spill anything on them." He said before going back to his work.
Rahgol rolled his eyes and read one of the books, Ruminations on the Elder Scrolls.
Rumination on the Elder Scrolls - by Septimus Signus, College of Winterhold
Imagine living beneath the waves with a strong-sighted blessing of most excellent fabric. Holding the fabric over your gills, you would begin to breathe-drink its warp and weft. Though the plantmatter fibers imbue your soul, the wretched plankton would pollute the cloth until it stank to heavens of prophecy. This is one manner in which the Scrolls first came to pass, but are we the sea, or the breather, or the fabric? Or are we the breath itself?
Can we flow through the Scrolls as knowledge flow through, being the water, or are we the stuck morass of sea-filth that gathers on the edge?
Imagine, again this time but different. A bird cresting the wind is lifted by a gust and downed by a stone. But the stone can come from above, if the bird is upside down.
Where, then, did the gust come from? And which direction? Did the gods send either, or has the bird decreed their presence by her own mindmaking?
The all-sight of the Scrolls makes a turning of the mind such that relative positions are absolute in their primacy.
I ask you again to imagine for me. This time you are beneath the ground, a tiny acorn planted by some well-meaning elf-maiden of the woodlands for her pleasure. You wish to grow but fear what you may become, so you push off the water, the dirt, the sun, to stay in your hole. But it is in the very pushing that you become a tree, in spite of yourself. How did that happen?
The acorn is a kind of tree-egg in this instance, and the knowledge is water and sun. We are the chicken inside the egg, but also the dirt. The knowledge from the Scrolls is what we push against to become full-sighted ourselves.
One final imagining before your mind closes from the shock of ever-knowing. You are now a flame burning bright blue within a vast emptiness. In time you see your brothers and sisters, burning of their own in the distance and along your side.
A sea of pinpoints, a constellation of memories. Each burns bright, then flickers. Then two more take its place but not forever lest the void fills with rancid light that sucks the thought.
Each of our minds is actually the emptiness, and the learnings of the Scrolls are the pinpoints. Without their stabbing light, my consciousness would be as a vast nothingness, unknowing its emptiness as a void is unknowing of itself. But the burnings are dangerous, and must be carefully tended and minded and brought to themselves and spread to their siblings.
'Seems this Septimus guy may hold the answer to where an Elder Scroll is.' Rahgol thought to himself before he looked at Urag. "The "Ruminations" book is incomprehensible."
"Aye, that's the work of Septimus Signus. He's the world's master of the nature of Elder Scrolls, but... well. He's been gone for a long while. Too long." Urag said.
"Where did he go?" Lydia asked with a frown.
"Somewhere up north, in the ice fields. Said he found some old Dwemer artifact, but... well, that was years ago. Haven't heard from him since."
Rahgol raised his eyebrow. "He's dead?"
Urag scoffed. "Oh no. I hope not. But even I haven't seen him in years, and we were close. Became obsessed with the Dwemer. Took off north saying he had found some old artifact. Haven't seen him since. Somewhere in the ice fields, if you want to try to find him."
Rahgol turned to Lydia. "Hope you like the cold."
"I'm here with you, aren't I?" Lydia asked with a smirk, causing him to chuckle as they left...
Bit of a short chapter but more will come. I was originally planning to involve the College of Winterhold questline into this part but decided not do. Rahgol has only one interest and that's finding the Elder Scroll, nothing else.