mereanafj - Honestly, that's pretty much all fair. Though if your theory is right, it's hard to blame her for wanting revenge against the Thalmor, given they kinda massacred her entire organization, drove her and Esbern and possibly a few others into hiding, and it's the Thalmor. But yeah, she shouldn't have dragged the DB into it. She's lucky they're a demigod with limitless potential.

As for the Dragonrend thing, I always figured the knowledge of that shout and what exactly happened during the confrontation was lost, since Alduin's wall only has the word for "shout" on it. Plus its literally been thousands of years, several empires and wars of succession could definitely lead to those kind of specifics being lost (especially since there were only three people at the scene and only two of them survived). The only reason Esbern knew was because he was a nerd...and also the archivist. It's possible this wasn't commen knowledge even within the Blades. But then again, Skyrim is really the only Elder Scrolls game I've played so don't quote me on that (yes you can all boo me now).

Thank you so much for all the reviews! It really helps!

Onmund

Onmund was working in the library when he heard the explosion. It was so loud and strong that it threw him from his seat, scattering his books around him.

Urag looked up from his desk, frazzled. "What on Nirn was that?"`

Onmund shook his head and stood up dazedly. "That...that came from the atrium, right?"

Urag didn't say anything. Onmund gulped and ran out of the Arcaneium as fast as he could.

What he saw in the hall made his blood freeze. There was a shimmering barrier around the gate leading to the atrium. Standing in front of it were Savos Aren and Mirabelle. Savos was waving his hands around, looking more frustrated than Onmund had ever seen him. "This is Anacnos' doing! Can't you get it down?"

Mirabelle shook her head. "It's like some kind of ward I think, but I can't tell how Ancano is casting it! Something this powerful should deplete the caster's magicka in seconds!"

Savos shook his head. "I don't care how he's doing it! We need to get this down and find out what he's doing!"

"What's happened?" yelped Onmund. "I was just in the library and-"

Savos turned to him, his expression softening. "Onmund. I need you to listen to me very carefully." He leaned over and unclipped something from around his neck and pulled something large and heavy out of his pocket. He pressed the objects into Onmund's hands. "The staff is in Labyrinthian. Go there."

Onmund's eyes widened. He'd been asking about the staff ever since he got back but... "You knew? Why didn't you tell me where it was before? Why did you keep ignoring me?"

Savos sighed. "I was...I hoped we wouldn't need to go. That we wouldn't need the staff. But..."

"Savos! I got it!" yelled Mirabelle as the barrier fell.

Savos turned to her briefly and nodded. Then he turned back to Onmund. "Stay here. Don't come any closer until we know what he's doing. And keep those things safe. Understand?"

Onmund nodded mutely. Savos stood up straight and followed Mirabelle into the room proper. There was a loud humming coming from the room, and Onmund could see the Eye glowing brightly. He could see the silhouettes of Mirabelle and Savos, as well as a third that was standing near the Eye, apparently manipulating it. Onmund supposed that it was Ancano.

He could hear yelling. "Ancano! Stop this! I command you!"

"Don't go near him!" yelled Mirabelle.

But it was too late. There was a flash of white light. Onmund felt himself fall to the ground. Someone or something flew past him.

Then it was gone. Onmund opened his eyes, blinking away the spots in his vision. He saw Mirabelle lying by the gate and ran over. She was clutching her stomach. "Mirabelle!" yelped Onmund, running over with healing spell.

He didn't get to do much before Mirabelle waved him away. "I'll be fine. Savos was blown clear, though. Go find him!"

Onmund looked back towards the entrance door, which had been blown to pieces. There was a fierce snowstorm outside, but Onmund could see several figures standing around, looking at...something. Brelyna, Tolfdir, J'zargo, that strange lady who'd showed up, and a few others.

He ran outside to see, and found that what they were looking at was the Archmage. Colette was by the Archmage's side, readying a healing spell. But she didn't cast it and let the lights flicker out. She shook her head. Brelyna choked back a sob.

Onmund's stomach twisted. "No...no way...Shor's blood! How did this happen?"

"Don't look now, but I think we've got more problems," gulped Tolfdir. He pointed across the bridge to the town. Dimly, Onmund could see several bright lights dashing around the snow-covered streets. "Magical Anomalies," Tolfdir explained. "They get released whenever a powerful ritual gets out of control. They're extremely dangerous!"

"We have to go help!" yelped Faralda. "Come on!"

Arniel Gane groaned. "Why? They'd never lift a finger to help us."

Onmund looked at Brelyna and they both rolled their eyes. "We don't have time for this!" groaned Onmund. "If you want to stay, fine. But we're going!"

Well, Onmund could see why these things were so dangerous. These things were quick as Oblivion. Swinging his dagger...shooting spells...any of these things missed more than they hit. At least ice wraiths weren't mostly immune to magic!

Onmund had freezing bites up and down his arms as he slashed another one. There were so many...how many more were there?

Onmund's vision blurred. He could see more clumping together, coming towards him...he readied his blade.

"FUS RO DAH!" The anomalies shattered. Onmund blinked, looking to where the sound had come from.

Standing there was a short figure with dark brown hair. "Wow. What happened while I was gone?" Minerva asked hoarsely.

Even with Minerva's Shouting, it still took a few hours to totally clear the anomalies from the town. The apprentices were all soaked and covered in anomaly bites by the time they managed to get back to the college. Mirabelle ran out to greet them. "Thank the Divines you're all still alright!" She saw Minerva. "We were wondering when you'd return! I wish it was at a better time..."

Minerva shook her head. "So Ancano finally decided to destroy us all, huh? Where's Archmage Aren? I didn't see him out there."

Mirabelle silently pointed to where the Archmage's body lay. It had been covered with a sheet of hide to protect it from the weather. Minerva's eyes widened. "Oh, shit..."

"What do we do now?" questioned J'zargo.

Onmund pulled out the objects that Savos had given him. Looking closer, one appeared to be a bronze torc or door knocker, while the other was a necklace with the telltale hum of an enchantment. "Right before he...went to confront Ancano, the Archmage gave me these. He said...he said he knew where the staff was. It's in Labyrinthian."

Brelyna's eyes widened. "Labyrinthian? You mean that old city that's infested with trolls and Azura knows what else?" She shook her head. "Malacath's hairy toenails! Of all the places..."

Mirabelle side-eyed Brelyna after the creative swear but nodded. "Labyrinthian is an old city with a long history. It makes sense for it to be there."

"He knew the whole time! I tried asking him about several times before now, but he ignored me!" Onmund gulped. "If he was going to...why didn't he say anything? Why did he wait until..." he waved at the Hall of Elements. "Until this happened?"

Mirabelle looked down. "I'm not totally sure...but I think..." She shook her head. "It happened a long time ago, so I don't know much. All I know is that when Savos was a student, he and some other students went to Labyrinthian." She laced her hands. "Only Savos ended up coming back. He was probably trying to prevent the same thing from happening to you..."

"But once he saw what Ancano was doing, he realized he had no choice," Minerva finished.

Onmunnd looked down at Savos' amulet. "Archmage Aren..."

Minerva put her hand on Onmund's shoulder. "Come on. Let's go find that staff so we can kick Ancano's ass." Onmund looked at her. "What? You didn't think I was letting you go there alone?"

Shorter chapter today, just trying to transition into the Labyrinthian portion, which is probably going to be a lot longer.