Chapter 12

Finding Septimus was no easy task. Between dealing with the freezing and frozen waters of the Sea of Ghosts, we also have to deal with bears, wolves, sabre cats and even ice wraiths for the wildlife. Bandits and Vampires have also somehow made their home out this way in the caves. The weather isn't any better either, dealing with snow and rainstorms. I'm just thankful I have the Clear Skies Shout.

It takes us nearly three days to find him, using clairvoyance wasn't any help either. We travel down another ice tunnel and find him, wearing once blue robes that are fading into gray as he's trying to break into some massive construct while muttering to himself. "Dig, Dwemer, in the beyond. I'll know your lost unknowns and rise to your depths."

"Has Sheogorath touched his mind?" Lydia whispers. "Who knows. Hey are you Septimus Signus?" Not hearing me he continues his rambling. "When the top level was built, no more could be placed. It was and is the maximal apex. How long will it be sung?" He gets to his feet and wanders around, going from bookshelf to table back to bookshelf. "My feet were set upon the rock, but it turned to mud and drew me down."

"HEY" Lydia yells. "Do you have an Elder Scroll?" He finally turns to us, staring at and even weirder, somehow into me. "I've seen enough to know their fabric. The warp of air, the weft of time. But no, in my possession it is not." "Do you know where I can find one then?" "Elder scrolls indeed." His eyes dart around then back to us. "The Empire. They absconded with them. Or so they think. The ones they saw. The ones they thought they saw. I know of one. Forgotten. Sequestered. But I cannot go to it, not poor Septimus, for I... I have arisen beyond its grasp."

"Oh, Jesus Christ" I whisper to myself, rubbing the bridge of my nose in frustration. "Who?" Lydia whispers back. "Never mind. So where's the one you know about?" "Here. Well, here as in this plane. Mundus. Tamriel. Nearby, relatively speaking. On the cosmological scale, it's all nearby." "Oh gods. Just tell me where they are old man." "One block lifts the other. Septimus will give you what you want, but you must bring him something in return." He started giggling like a little schoolgirl at that last sentence.

"What do you want?" "You see this masterwork of the Dwemer." "can't miss the thing." I think to myself. "Deep inside their greatest knowing's. Septimus is clever among men, but he is but an idiot child compared to the dullest of the Dwemer. Lucky then they left behind their own way of reading the Elder Scrolls. In the depths of Blackreach one yet lies. Have you heard of Blackreach?" he asks. Lydia and I both nod as he continues speaking. "Cast upon where Dwemer cities slept, the yearning spire hidden learnings kept." He descends into maniacal laughter for a few minutes before settling back down. Lydia goes to wait outside as she cant stand him any longer. "I'm going to hit him if I have to listen to him more."

"Tell me how I can find Blackreach." "Under deep. Below the dark. The hidden keep. Tower Mzark. Alftand. The point of puncture, of first entry, of the tapping. Delve to its limits, and Blackreach lies just beyond. But not all can enter there. Only Septimus knows the hidden key to loose the lock to jump beneath the deathly rock." "How do I get in then." I say, keeping my voice steady. "Two things I have for you. Two shapes. One edged, one round. The round one, for tuning. Dwemer music is soft and subtle, and needed to open their cleverest gates. The edged lexicon, for inscribing. To us, a hunk of metal. To the Dwemer, a full library of knowings. But." He gets right up in my face, his crazed eyes boring into mine. "Empty. Find Mzark and its sky-dome. The machinations there will read the Scroll and lay the lore upon the cube. Trust Septimus. He knows you can know."

He pulls away from me, walking over to a chest and takes out two items. One is a round ball like object made out of Dwemer metal covered in engravings, the other is a cube of the same metal. He hands me the ball first and says ""The deepest doors of Dwemer listen for singing. It plays the attitude of notes proper for opening. Can you not hear it? Too low for hearings?" Handing me the cube he continues. "To glimpse the world inside an Elder Scroll can damage the eyes. Or the mind, as it has to Septimus. The Dwemer found a loophole, as they always do. To focus the knowledge away and inside without harm. Place the lexicon into their contraption and focus the knowings into it. When it brims with glow, bring it back and Septimus can read once more."

A chill goes down my spine when he says the scrolls damaged his mind. "I know Urag warned me, but I didn't expect this. I should be fine though, surely they didn't make a game that would send you insane during the main quest. But that was a game, this is real life." "So what do you get out of this?" His eyes widen in madness once more. "Ooooh, an observant one. How clever to ask of Septimus. This Dwemer lockbox. Look upon it and wonder. Inside is the heart. The heart of a god! The heart of you. And me. But it was hidden away. Not by the Dwarves, you see. They were already gone. Someone else. Unseen. Unknown. Found the heart, and with a flair of the ironical, used Dwarven trickery to lock it away. The scroll will give the deep vision needed to open it. For not even the strongest mechinations of the Dwemer can hold off the all-sight given by an Elder Scroll."

I ask him one more question before leaving. "Exactly, what is an Elder Scroll?" "You look to your left, you see one way. You look to your right, you see another. But neither is any harder than the opposite. But the Elder Scrolls... they look left and right in the stream of time. The future and past are as one. Sometimes they even look up and down. What do they see then, other realms? Your realm? What if they dive in? Then the madness begins."

I stare at him for a few seconds as he goes off back to trying to open the massive Dwemer box. "Did the scrolls show him I'm not from Nirn?" I make my way out of the ice tunnel and back out to the frozen wasteland with Lydia standing by the door. "Did he stop rambling enough to tell you anything?" "He didn't stop rambling, but he told me enough. I show her the two items before rifting them. "There is one problem. The reason he's mad, remember what Urag said?" I watch the slow realisation and horror form on her face. She stops walking and yells, "NO. I'm sorry Thane but I can't let you do that. I will not let you throw away your sanity to try and save the world. There has to be another way." "Lydia I'll be fine. My dragon's blood will protect me. And besides, I've done this before." That last part was a lie, but she seemed to accept it after a few moments of her glaring at me in silence.

We get back to the college by mid-afternoon the next day, eating a late lunch and conversing with the staff and students. I let Urag know about Septimus, and his condition. "He was always to curious for his own good. At least he's alive." We then head off for the night before saddling up and making our way back to Labyrinthian by daybreak.

Lucky for us the trip to Labyrinthian is an easy one. The roads and sky (thank Talos) were clear and easy travelling. We leave Sunstar at Stonehill mine with permission from the miners that we wont be more then a day, and if we don't come back they can keep him and we walk the rest of the way.

Now that I'm back at Labyrinthian I can sense some faint magical energies dotted around. We walk around for a bit before coming to a building. Walking in, the amount of magic I can sense flares up and it's all I can focus on. Pushing deeper I find a shrine of some kind. Most of the heads have been cracked and broken, a skeleton propped up against the bottom of the busts, a dagger poking through, a note and another dragon priest mask but of wooden make.

The mask is what's radiating such energy. I pick it up and all of a sudden I'm overcome with the urge to put it on as Lydia picks up the note and reads it aloud, but I never hear it. My head clears the moment the smoothness of the wooden mask touches my face but it's too late as everything fades for a moment before sunlight enters my vision by way of the roof. Not sunlight on a snowy day but sunlight you'd find on nice day in Whiterun. I then notice that the busts of the shrine are complete and undamaged. Four heads on each side, and a dragon's head in the middle. I walk over and suddenly sense a familiar magic from two of the busts.

The top left radiates an the same magicka regeneration enchantment as Morokei's Dragon Priest mask while the bottom right radiates the same enchantments as the mask from Shearpoint. The name Krosis suddenly enters my mind as I stare at the bust. The other busts radiate different enchantments, but they feel clouded over, and making me think I might need to search out the other six. I then take notice of the dragon's head, and the magic radiating off of it. I look closer and notice a gap in the mouth and an outline of another mask.

I look around to find chests and burial pots, unable to be opened and a locked gate, which was the way we entered the ruin and no Lydia. "She's going to kill me" I say aloud to myself. I stand back in the centre of the ruin and take the mask off, appearing back in front of a distraught and angry Lydia. "Tell me what happened or I'm going to kill you."

Lydia's perspective.

We walk into a ruined building, and even though I'm not as good as Thane Moric I can still sense the overwhelming magicka radiating in this small space. I line myself with a small warding spell like I was taught to resist the magical aura and walk in with him. I notice the broken busts of some shrine and a skeleton. I walk closer and see the dagger, poking out of his ribs and stuck to the wall. I notice the mask and note by his side. Thane Moric goes to pick up the mask as I pick up the note and as I start reading he puts it on and disappears.

One second he's there, the other he's not. As soon as he disappears the magical aura disappears. Leaving a very faint trace on the on the ruined busts. I stand in stunned silence for a couple seconds before I cast detect life. I turn around in a circle twice and let the spell fail as it completely drains me. "Thane. Thane, where are you?" I call out to the emptiness. "Oh gods, what have I done? Moric, get out here now or I swear to the gods I'll kill you myself and let Alduin destroy us all." I plead desperately.

Then just as quickly as he disappeared, he reappears. Mask in hand. "Tell me what happened or I'm going to kill you." I say trying not to yell at him.

Back to Dragonborn.

"I'm sorry, I promise if I knew that was going to happen I would've never put it on. I swear." Raising my hands in surrender. "The mask was radiating a heap of magic, and when I picked it up I was compelled to put it on. As soon as I did, it felt like I just blinked and I was still here, but it looked newly built. The busts were complete as well." I give her the biggest shit eating grin I can. "We have to find six more masks." "Nuh uh. We are not coming back here. I could've lost you. Who knows what'll happen if you bring those other masks." "Fine, I'll come back by myself then." I say grinning and dodging the punch to my arm.

"Hey, what did that note say?" I ask, quickly changing the subject. She glares at me for a few moments before reading. "It seemed like an easy enough job. Groz and me done plenty like it before. Some chinless Breton wants bodyguards for a trip into the mountains. Fine. Easy clink for us. He goes on about this twice-forsaken mask the whole way, of course. Got a pretty good laugh when Groz snatched it and put it on her – he threatened to fire us for that one. Not smart out here on your own, he realised that right fast and shut up about not paying."

"So we get here, he's thumbing through some papers while muttering to himself – never you mind that me and Groz had to cut through ten stinking trolls just to get him here, and without so much as a warning, poof. He's put on that mask and vanished. Could have put my hands on his throat one moment, the next he's not so much as thin air. Well, after a while we didn't know what to so Groz picks up her gear and is about to head home when he poofs back, mask in hand."

"Begs us not to leave, says he needs us to wait, and this is what he's paying us for. He puts the mask back on his sorry face and he's gone again. I'd seen cloaks do invisibility before, but a few swings of my fist proved he wasn't pulling that one. Nothing there to hit. Again he shows up, telling us he just needs more time. Has to figure out something about other masks and vanishes again. That was yesterday and I'm done with twiddling my thumbs and writing letters to myself."

"We're leaving come sunrise and if he shows up again I promise by the name of Azura I'm going to put this dagger through his chest to keep him in one spot. We can pull more loot from his corpse, then he could've paid us while alive. But not the mask. That cursed thing can stay and rot with him and the trolls."

"See, it's cursed. Now drop it." Lydia demands in a pleading tone. I throw it in the rift with a smile. "There, dropped. I promise I won't go as crazy as him. Also I know what I'm searching for now. Well kind of. I know there's six other dragon priest masks, but I just need their locations. Maybe Urag will have some texts. Or failing that, Paarthurnax. Also that dragon priest that we beat at Shearpoint. His name was Krosis." "Hold on, how do you know that?" I shrug my shoulders. "Dunno, it just came to me when I was in the restored shrine."

We make our way out of the ruined building and explore more of the outside, making our way to the left side where the magical energy is pinpointed. We come up to a door only to be blocked by a spirit that resembles Arch-Mage Shalidor as he's depicted in the statue in the middle of the college grounds. "Hold, only a select few may pass. State your name and title before you may be allowed to continue." The spirit demands.

"I am Moric Traven. My titles include Dragonborn and Arch-Mage of the college of Winterhold." The spirit stays silent for a moment before speaking again. "We will see if you truly deserve the title of Arch-Mage." He passes his hand over the door, and it swings open. I walk through first and Lydia tries to follow but is blocked off by a magical barrier. "Hey, let me in after him." She yells. "No. This test is for the Arch-Mage alone. He may have no help." "Lydia I'll be fine. Just wait around and ill be back before you know it." "Fine but make it quick." I give her a smirk before the door closes. "No promises.

I walk for a few minutes before coming out to a massive courtyard that leads to an even more massive maze. I take the dozen Deathbell and Dragon's tongue plants in the little garden before finding a burnt body laying on the ground with petty soul gem and a note that reads. Enter twice – exit only once. Alteration will lead you to Destruction. Only Illusion shows the way to Restoration. Conjure not, but be conjured instead. As I finish reading the note four magical staves shimmer into existence with the Shalidor's spirit guide.

"As Arch-Mage of Winterhold I'm sure your more than capable of casting magic by yourself, as such you will not be needing these." He waves his hand across the staves, and they disappear. He looks at the burnt corpse and says "A member of the College of Whispers. He could have passed if he had come later in life, but fate decreed he come before he was ready." He looks back at me before disappearing. I move forward into the first test, which is Alteration.

I come across a plate on the wall with the sign of Alteration. I look at it for a few moments before casting Mage light. It glows and I hear a gate open. I make my way through some more of the maze before I come to a small courtyard. As soon as I enter, three spirits form in front of me before my guide forms next to me and says "survive and beat them using only Alteration spells" before disappearing.

The moment he disappears, all three spirits start using destruction magic. Thunderbolt, fireball and frost wave are thrown at me. I dodge out of the way and use Ebonyflesh to armour myself. Before I can cast again I jump and roll out of the way of the triple elemental trio. I get up quickly and cast paralysis on one of them, causing the ghost to freeze up as it was about to cast another fireball spell.

The interruption during the casting causes an explosion of flame, engulfing the stunned spirit before it blinks out of existence. "One down, two to go" I think to myself. I dodge out of the way of a frost wave, but I'm hit directly in the chest by a thunderbolt causing me to be knocked back a few feet. "Could've been a lot worse." I get to my feet and dodge again from a double attack, I cast paralysis again but it has no effect. Dodging again I stick my hand out and cast telekinesis. Picking up the frost spirit I throw it into the wall and jump out of the way of another lightning bolt. "May the force be with you" I think to myself and use telekinesis on the spirits throat, crushing it. I get hit by another thunderbolt but hold my ground this time but unfortunately my Ebonyflesh spell breaks. I try to cast it again but I'm too low on magicka, so I decide to use equilibrium.

I feel my life force draining as my magicka refills as I keep the spell active, so I decide to take a risk. I start running towards sparky, spell still active and dodge the next thunderbolt. I cancel the spell as I get into the spirits face and cast transmute. The moment I cast it, the spirit turns a shade of grey and disappears. I drop to my knees in exhaustion as the guide reappears. "Congratulations for finishing the first part of the trial. You may rest for a short while before continuing if you so wish." I drink some magicka and health potions and lay against the wall for a few minutes before I get up and continue.

It takes nearly twenty minutes to get to the next gate as I get turned around and have to go back again. I eventually find a destruction plate that I cast fireball on and come upon another courtyard. Three spirits and my guide appear again. "Like before but Destruction this time." "Now this is something I'm good at." The three spirits this time all cast Ebonyflesh and then summon the three elements once again. Before they can get a shot off I use chain lightning, hitting all three of them but not making them disappear. I dodge the attacks and throw off two lightning bolts. The second bolt breaks through the fire spirits flesh spell so I cast a quick dual ice spike, both hitting the chest and it loses form.

I shoot off lightning again, breaking frosty's flesh spell but sparky stands in front, tanking the next shot as frosty recasts the spell. Sparky falls back to do the same so I shoot off chain lightning again, multiple times breaking frosty's protection and going from two to one. I feel my exhaustion coming back as I start to run out of magicka but have to dodge quickly as multiple lightning bolts fly towards me. I throw off a few fireballs breaking his flesh spell, but I can't cast anymore as I've used up my magicka.

He casts it again and sends more lightning towards me. In desperation I activate my Dragonskin power to try and absorb the magicka, but I have to resort to absorbing glancing blows as a direct hit would take me out. Once I feel I have enough magicka I let off a barrage of fireballs again, breaking through the spell and taking him out. "Well done Arch-Mage. You are starting to prove yourself to be worthy of such a title. As before you may rest and recharge before you continue." I use the equilibrium spell to get a decent portion of my magicka back up and then fill in the rest with potions. After resting, I pick myself up and continue through the maze.

It's not long before I find the next plate on the wall which turns out to be illusion. I cast calm and walk through the opening gate. This time only two spirits appear, "Illusion, make sure to see beyond." Is all my guide says. I notice as he disappears a wall of energy blocks the way forward but as soon as that comes up they start attacking. Two columns of frost and flame come flying toward me, but I dodge them easily. The real problem is the lightning bolt that strikes me outta nowhere, sending me to the ground. I pick myself back up and just barely dodge the next strike, I use "LAAS" to illuminate the area. Both spirits in front of me light up but also one next to them.

Dodging more magical waves I cast Rout on frosty, it steps back but doesn't move anymore. I cast it twice more to get it to take two steps back and start to turn before planting its feet once more staying put. I dodge two more lightning strikes and a column of flame before I manage to dual cast rout and hit frosty and that's when it takes effect and causes it to make a run for it, it hits the magical barrier and disappears. I dodge another heat wave before I use Pacify to no effect. I cast it twice more before flamey releases the magicka and calmly walks to the barrier and disappears. I use the Aura Whisper Shout again to illuminate my invisible target but get hit in the arm with a bolt of lightning causing a pretty serious burn at the same time. "Fuck you." I cast frenzy but nothing happens, so I have to doge another round of lightning bolts.

I quickly open my rift behind No Show Sparky and use muffle and invisibility to get past. Looking through the rift for a minute I find a scroll of Mayhem. Pulling it out and closing the rift I doge some more lightning before unrolling the scroll, bringing forth the magic and sending it into the invisible spirit as Aura Whisper fades. I use the shout again as the spell hits sparky and starts running towards me with lightning in his hands. I jump out of the way and move to stand in front of the barrier, sparky tries to hit me point blank with a lightning bolt but I move again, getting behind him I push him into the barrier and watch him fade. "Well done, not many are able to win battles using Illusion alone. Two more to go."

Resting and healing my arm I push forward. The next plate isn't that far away, and I cast a simple healing spell to open the path ahead. "Don't die" is all he says. Before they cast their magic I cast Turn Greater Undead and watch the first one flee and disappear into the barrier. "At least they're classified as undead." Dodging a fire and lightning bolt I pull up a Greater Ward and run towards them. One spirit is knocked out of the way while the other is pinned against the ward, I keep it pinned and push it back before it goes against the barrier. I'm about to drop my ward but keep it up as a fireball is shot towards me. I raise my other hand and use a spell I only recently learned from Master Colette, Absorb Magicka.

Once the spell makes contact with burny he staggers but tries to keep up the flaming assault. It's not long before the spirit can't cast anymore magic, and its corporeal form dissipates. "Magnificent, turning the restoration school against the enemy. One more left." I rest only for a few moments before coming to the Conjuration plate and using soul trap before moving into what is my final test.

As I walk through an arch I'm transported into a room with an armoured Dremora that draws forth a Daedric Greatsword. I dodge the initial swing and move backwards, summoning two Storm Atronachs. The Dremora summons two of it's own and it becomes a battle between Atronachs. I summon two bound blades and rush in, swiping at the Dremora's legs and sides. The blades slide off at first before they start to rip off pieces of armour and sink in. I back off as the Dremora swings a fist at me and then uses the newfound distance to use the sword.

The blade swings past, breaking the skin just enough to start drawing blood. I back away and then fall to my knees as the health drain enchantment takes effect. I roll out of the way as the Greatsword is brought down on my head. I see my Atronachs win the battle but dissipate not long after, so I recast them quickly. They send dual lightning bolts towards the Dremora and make it stagger. I cast Bound Battle-axe and run up, bringing it down on the Dremora's shoulder, cutting deep. The Dremora raises its sword to bring back down on me, but my Atronachs manage to knock the blade out of its hands with another barrage of lightning attacks.

With no weapon it swings a gauntleted hand knocking me back to get some distance and get back it's weapon. My Atronachs have other plans and decide to circle around and block it off. I resummon the axe and swing hard, cutting deep in its side. It roars in pain and anger and reaches to grab me again. I let go to gain some distance again and finally use the rest of my magicka to cast Expel Daedra. The finally weakened Daedra screams in rage before being sent back to Oblivion.

I dispel my Atronachs and heal my wounds after drinking a magicka potion. I get to my feet and notice the Daedric Greatsword still laying there so I pick it up and place it in the rift before going through the back path. I turn a corner and the all too familiar chanting fills my ears, as my eyes gaze over the word wall. I walk closer and absorb the word FAAS, instantly unlocking the first word to the Dismay shout.

I turn to see my guide appearing behind me "Ah Conjuration, sometimes it's better to have others fight for you instead of yourself. Congratulations, you clearly and rightly deserve the title of Arch-Mage." He waves his hand and chest appears by his side. "Your reward, worthy of being Arch-Mage of Winterhold." I walk over and open the chest finding a dozen black soul gems, a few high-quality alchemical ingredients including Daedra hearts, a bunch of scrolls titled Shalidor's insights, a circlet and necklace that both radiate a powerful magicka reduction enchantment, quite a few gems and a spell book, Bound Armour. "You have completed my maze, now begone." With that said I'm enveloped in a purple aura and I'm back at the doors to the maze.

Lydia was practicing with her glass and bound sword, practicing on a wolf familiar but the moment I appear she drops her swords and comes rushing over. "Told you I wouldn't take too long." "Yeah yeah. I'm just interested in what you got in there." "Wow no concern for my safety? I nearly died in there you know." "Eh, you look fine. So what did you get?" We both start laughing for a little bit before I show her. She's only interested in the Greatsword though, gushing about how rare Daedric weapons and armour are.

We go through another ruin that Lydia found while waiting for me, we learn later it's called Lost Valkygg. Taking over an hour we clear the dungeon and come out with nearly five thousand gold, few dozen gems, some ebony weapons and some high quality magicka and health potions. Once out we rest in the doorway for the night, taking turns on watch before leaving at first light. We mount Sunstar back at Stonehill mine and ride back to Winterhold. Once back I head up to the library and see Enrano talking to Urag before he turns around and walks towards me.

"Ah, Arch-Mage I was hoping to speak with you." "Yes?" "I was wondering where you had run off to. I had asked the other students and staff, not even Tolfdir knew or would tell me." "Well Enrano it's not really your business where I run off to and no one is obliged to tell you, but I've been researching. I'd like to know more about the history of Skyrim, so I've been going through ruins. Now if you'll excuse I must talk with Urag, and I'd like to not be disturbed." I walk off towards Urag and Enrano tries to follow but Lydia stands in his way and glares at him. He glares back for a few moments before leaving the library.

"Did you?" he asks quietly. "No not yet. I've been doing something else." I pull the circlet, scrolls and bound armour spell book outta the rift. Urag's eyes open wide as he looks through the loot. "Get that spell book copied so we can spread it through the college, find out what those scrolls can do, and I've got an amulet with the same enchantment as the circlet so can you do whatever." "Thank you, Arch-Mage. Your contribution to the college is amazing. Here, for your troubles." He goes to a bookshelf and grabs a dozen books, handing them to me. "These should teach you different ways to apply magic in battle or study." "Thank you Urag, I'll put these teachings to good use and return them just as they were."

The next two weeks is spent at Winterhold resting, increasing our knowledge of the Arcane, doing some bounty jobs for Jarl Korir and helping the Chethir family finish building their home. "Thank you Arch-Mage, you didn't need to help but it is much appreciated." "Nonsense Jathvar, apart from being Arch-Mage my titles also include Dragonborn and Thane of Winterhold. My duty is to help those throughout Skyrim." "I thank you again Arch-Mage, and may I ask a question?" "Of course, speak your mind." "I am by my own admission a decent alchemist and speaking for my wife she is more talented then I, but would it be too much trouble to build a Greenhouse at the College. I can front the costs and it's hard not to notice that we have quite enough room, especially on the roof. It would save some time and coin to have it grown here instead of merchants bringing it and it would hopefully start bringing more people to Winterhold, and I don't think I need to tell you the rest."

"No my friend, you make some interesting points, and the rest is easy to figure out. I will speak with Tolfdir and get this plan in motion. I'll halve the cost with you. As the college is my responsibility I must help as much as I can. So deal?" "Deal." We clasp wrists and speak with Tolfdir who calls it a most brilliant idea and they go off together to start making the idea become reality.

Before I leave Urag comes to see me in my quarters to talk to me about what I found in Shalidor's maze. "I've copied the Bound Armour spell into numerous tomes and handed them to the other masters, under your instruction they don't cast it in front of Enrano or failing that, not to teach him." I give him a grin "Good work, what the Thalmor don't know won't end up hurting us. What else?" "The scrolls are a different story. I was unable to copy them, but I found out what they can do." "Tell me."

"They permanently decrease a portion of casting time and magicka cost and increase duration and damage for each school of magic, the sixth scroll gives a permanent boost to your magicka pool. Now, for the last thing. The circlet is, if my research is correct is one half of the Diadem of the Savant. It's a powerful pair of artifacts created by Shalidor himself. Using one item it will reduce the cost of your magicka by at most a quarter. Both together and you're looking at a reduction of at most, half your magicka. Most wizards have to spend decades to achieve this result, but you found two items and scrolls that do the job and some of your gear reduces the cost even more. In my opinion, you will be one of the most powerful wizards Skyrim and quite possibly Tamriel has ever seen."

We speak for a few hours more before he retires for the night, and I use Shalidor's scrolls. The magicka increase feels amazing, practicing I notice I can cast multiple Expert level spells in quick succession without tiring. The Diadem of the Savant items boost me even further and I do some practice before sleep.

The next day I look through my quarters and find some more notes left behind by Savos about some deaths at the college a few years ago. The notes are vague and only mention that if I seek answers I must go speak to the priestess of Azura at Azura's shrine south of Winterhold. Sitting around I think to myself if going to another Daedra is really a good idea or should I leave it alone. My curiosity gets the better of me when I ask Lydia "want to go see Azura's shrine?" "Sure, but I get the artifact this time" she jokes. I tell Tolfdir I'll be back by tomorrow and we set off for the shrine.

Authors Note

Didn't expect to see chapter 12 so soon did you. Yeah neither did I but it's a welcomed surprise. Shalidor's maze was kinda disappointing to me in game, created to test Arch-Mages and you can get through it in like five minutes. Nah let's make it an actual magic test and have it be hard.

I decided to also take bound armour from Oblivion and bring it in here as a prize. You may see some spells from other games but also from other places of fiction make an appearance.

What will happen with the Azura's star? Will I keep it white or turn it black or keep it in the rift forever? Stay tuned to find out