Sorry this took a while. Came out longer than expected, and we had to split it in half. A little note, if you make a guest review, I cannot respond to it. And I don't want to go out of my way to make a response to it, but I'll do it here this once. After this, no more.
No, the reviving of a dragon will not pull its scales from armor someone made from its own. It'll just grow new ones.
Other than that, forever give thanks to xTRESTWHOx and NaanContributor for making this as top quality as it can be.
Opus Planctus Magnus, Pars Prima
The group headed north quickly, only pausing at Kynesgrove to let Tolan know that their delay was going to be a little longer than expected. He was obviously displeased by the development, but Yang was able to convince him to wait while they headed up to Winterhold, describing it as a possible rogue wizard attack. Weiss had attempted to call the booth several times, but each time her scroll gave her the same number unavailable response. As they neared the old city after two days with only minimal stops, they could immediately feel an unnatural bite to the air. The horses were huffing and whinnying, and even Toggle was letting out tired grunts. The only thing keeping the group from getting strained muscles and saddle sore was their occasional switching to let everyone have a decent leg rest.
After they pressed through the light snowfall, leaving their beasts of burden at the stables, they went straight up to the College of Winterhold. While nothing destructive seemed to be occurring at the moment, several students and faculty were gathered in the courtyard, looking in at the Hall of the Elements. Just past the foyer, a sort of magical shield closed off the Hall, and as a consequence the Eye of Magnus, from the rest of the College. Weiss caught sight of her classmates and walked over to them. J'zargo noticed her first, quickly followed by Brelyna.
"Weiss! You're here!" the Dunmer woman said with a sigh of relief.
"What's going on?" the vampire quickly asked, now noticing Savos and Mirabelle up at the magic shield observing it closely.
"No idea," Onmund answered. "Ancano started doing things with the Eye. After the Arch-Mage told him to stop yesterday, he seemed to get… Antsy's not the word, but he went right back to it and made that…ward."
"He forgets to mention all the strange things Ancano's meddling has done," J'zargo added. "Just yesterday, the sea began to stir and it rained for a few moments."
"Wait, rained?" In Winterhold, there was only ever rain for maybe a month in the very middle of summer. This deep in autumn and so close to winter it should have been impossible, even with magic.
"Literally for only a minute," Brelyna said. "But it was enough to catch Arch-Mage Aren's attention. Now… Well, no one knows what he's up to."
"I see." Weiss looked back over to the two leaders and then back at her team and classmates. "We should let the Arch-Mage know about the Staff before anything else."
"We'll follow you," Ruby told her. "You know the place better than any of us."
Following Weiss, the group slowly pushed their way up to the front. Eleanor nearly dropped a stack of books moving out of their way, but kept her grip on the tomes. Talia began looking in their direction, and was soon staring at Yang in captivation, before a muscular Orc woman suddenly wrapped an arm around her neck and yanked her in.
"I don't care what it is, I want it down now!" Savos fumed. "I want to know what he's doing in there!" As Mirabelle continued looking over the barrier, he noticed Weiss approaching. "Ah, good to see you, dear. I was afraid you'd left us for other pastures for a moment, but your classmates assured me you were keeping in touch. I believe Mirabelle mentioned you asking about the Synod?"
"Yes. We got in contact with a research team, what was left of it. They came across a settlement of Falmer in the ruins of Mzulft."
"Well, I can only assume that didn't go well."
"More than that though, we think we found where the Staff of Magnus is."
"Truly?!" A zapping noise from Mirabelle interrupted their conversation, drawing everyone's attention to the Master Wizard.
"Right, we should be able to bring it down with enough lightning," she said while shaking a hand.
"Good. We'll talk more about the Staff after we stop whatever idiocy Ancano is doing. In the meantime, help us take this down, would you?"
"No problem, sir." Weiss began preparing herself as Ruby walked up.
"Ooh, I wanna help!" she offered.
"Very well," Savos said with a chuckle. "Just watch for any backlashing arcs."
Mirabelle and Savos began firing lances of electricity into the barrier, quickly followed by Weiss and Ruby adding to it. It went down, half-shattering half-melting, and then the mages walked in, hands at the ready. Ancano was at the other side, completely focused in on the Eye and interacting with it through magic bolts of blue energy. It almost looked like electricity, but seemed far more streamlined and directed. Actual arcs of electricity would have branched, but these energy bolts stayed solid, if erratic.
"Ancano, stop this at once!" Savos demanded of the Thalmor. "Ancano!"
Lightning began swirling around the High Elf like a cloak as he managed to tear his eyes away from the orb and he snarled at the group.
"Don't go near him!" Mirabelle warned. Yang and Blake ran in with Lydia right behind them, all seeming amazed at the sight of the Eye. Ruby reached back for her scythe, instantly putting them on their toes, and Savos began readying spells in both his hands.
"You," Ancano slowly said, a bright glow coming from his eyes. His hand meeting the flow of energy from the eye suddenly clenched, and sections of it moved and began turning and re-sorting themselves. His other hand pointed towards the gathering crowd. "Be gone!"
The Eye seemed to erupt. Weiss was blinded by a bright flash that seemed to burn into her skin. It wasn't until she felt her throat hurting that she realized she was screaming. Seemingly an eternity later, the white that had washed out all other color faded away and the deafening silence disappeared. The first thing she saw was Ruby looking down at her in concern, an empty vial in her hand. Erevan was just behind her, breathing a little raggedly.
"What…happened?" Weiss got out as she slowly sat up.
"I don't know," Ruby admitted as she helped her partner. "Anaconda did something to make… I think everything just exploded. He was aiming at the Arch-Mage."
"Savos?" Weiss asked in worry.
"I pulled you out as fast as I could. Blake grabbed the Mirabelle lady, and Yang tried to get the Arch-Mage."
"Tried? What happened to him?" Weiss looked around and saw the Arch-Mage laying right next to one of the magic-focusing wells. The crowd seemed to have scattered, but many still remained, looking on in anticipation and worry. Weiss jumped to her feet and stumbled over to Savos, then saw Collette going over him with yellow Restoration magic flowing from her hands.
"Is… Is he…"
"He's alive, but barely," Collette assured her. "Please, give me time to look him over. This won't be easy." The scent of blood hit her nose, and she looked down and saw the edges of a red pool growing from beneath him. "Damnit! Riane, find where the bleeding's coming from and stop it!"
"Yes ma'am!" As the healer began using a spell to seek out specific damage, Collette looked over to another in the crowd.
"Eleanor, go get Urag and tell him what's happening with the Arch-Mage. He'll know what to do."
"Y- yes ma'am."
Weiss heard a groan, and looked over to see Yang leaned against the focus well, rubbing her head. Realizing who else had been in the Hall, she quickly searched the area and caught sight of Blake and the two Khajiit looking over Mirabelle, who looked much better than Savos, but worse off than her.
"Yang, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." She looked over at the fallen Arch-Mage and winced. "I…tried to block the guy, but…I couldn't get him in time."
"It's not your fault. Something… Ancano's somehow using the Eye and he…" The Augur's words came to the forefront of her mind. "'To see through Magnus' Eye without being blinded…'" She looked back at the Hall of Elements and saw the new barrier swirling around Ancano and the Eye, the enthralled elf now completely ignoring their existence. "He didn't mean literally blinded. It's driven him insane."
"Yeah, noticed." Yang stood up and rolled her shoulders. "What do we do now?"
"Hey, something's going on in the town!" someone shouted. A few people went to go and see, but then those started beckoning to others. Tolfdir was suddenly running up from the main gate, huffing as he slowed to a stop.
"Something's happening in Winterhold! It's… I don't know what they are, but they're attacking!"
"What? What do they look like?" Ruby asked.
"I don't know! That's the thing! I thought it was wisps at first, but those can't exist on their own, and they're much too fast and large." At that, Ruby looked back at the unconscious Dunmer and then to her team.
"We're not doing any good standing here worrying. If the town needs us, we need to help them."
"Right." Weiss nodded, then pressed a hand to her head. Her mind was in a whirl after what had just happened, and right now thinking about any of it seemed to just make things worse. As they started hurrying over to Blake to let her know, she looked over to Erevan.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Miss Weiss. I was outside of the blast when it happened, but Lydia was thrown back a good bit." Said Nord was still following Ruby like the loyal bodyguard she was, so that couldn't have been that bad. "Out of all of us, you seemed to get the worst of it. I think the power may have burned into you like sunlight at its peak."
Weiss was going to concur when she heard screams from the townsfolk as they started down the bridge. People were running into their homes or shops, and strange floating creatures were chasing them. A quick glance showed they were clearly not wisps, but something else entirely. One of them sped towards a man who had stumbled and slammed him into the ground, leaving a frozen wound in his back. A guard tried slashing one, but it dodged the attempt and retaliated, bouncing off of his shield. Several turned towards the group as they approached, and Weiss could see a sort of rocky carapace on the front of the glowing blue magical anomalies.
Ruby was the first in, using her Semblance to close the distance on one and slice into it with Crescent Rose. The creature shrieked and shattered, leaving behind a pile of dust and a Soul Gem atop it. Two others tried to attack her, but Blake flashed in and stabbed up into one, resulting in another dust pile and Soul Gem. Yang smacked the other into a tree before swinging her ebony axe into it. This one left behind a Black Soul Gem, which caused Weiss to nearly balk before she shook her head and refocused. Quickly, she summoned up a Frost Atronach and pointed it towards the creatures.
"Keep them from hurting the townsfolk and destroy them," she commanded. The elemental obeyed and trudged forward, its vague head nodding. She drew Myrtenaster and stabbed towards one, but it spun away and let out a sort of roar before launching itself towards her. The creature bounced off her ward and she sent a lightning bolt into it, only for it to seem unaffected by the spell. She side-stepped another charge and this time coated it in flames, doing her best to hold down her own fear of the element as she did. This time the creature seemed harmed, but it was still coming. An arrow then hit it and the creature disintegrated. Weiss looked back to see Inigo smirking before he pulled three arrows from his quiver. He charged into a melee between several guards and the anomalies, kicking up off a porch railing and quickly let loose one arrow after another in the blink of an eye, each hitting its intended target. Before he landed, he grabbed another arrow sticking to the wall, drew it, and fired into a fourth creature. He landed and spun around, drawing three more arrows and loosing them into another three creatures, all in different directions. The guards were able to bring down the last two, and looked at the Khajiit in amazement. Weiss realized that the entire thing had taken him less than three seconds, and shook her head.
"Geez, I only ever saw Aela move like that," Yang declared as she came up to her, searching for targets. "I think that was all of them."
"What were those things?" Blake asked as they regrouped.
"I don't know, but I'm almost certain they have something to do with what Ancano's doing with the Eye."
"This is why people hate the Thalmor!" J'zargo growled as he came up rubbing several of his fingers. "We can't have anything nice with one of them around. Now there are magic resistant monsters popping up."
"What do we do?" Brelyna directed towards Tolfdir.
"The town seems safe, for now, but we need to find a way to stop this before it gets any further out of hand. Come, we should see if Mirabelle has recovered enough."
Back up at the College, things didn't seem much better. Mirabelle was barely able to stand with help, and Collette was still at work trying to save Savos. As they returned, the rest of the school body looked at them expectedly.
"Tolfdir, what is it?" the Master Wizard asked.
"Whatever it was, we fought it off, but we don't know if it will stay that way."
"Damnit!" she muttered before clutching her side. She looked back up at Weiss and cleared her throat. "You said you know where the Staff of Magnus is? If I'm right, then that might be the only thing that can really stop him now. We need it, as quickly as possible."
"It… It will take a while. It's in the Labyrinthian."
"Labyrinthian," a weak voice said from the side. Everyone gasped and looked to see Savos, bleary-eyed but conscious. "You're…sure…?"
"Arch-Mage, you need to conserve your strength," Collette advised.
"Have to…give…" He reached into a pouch at his side, a sort of spell coming undone as he did, likely meaning it was enchanted against anyone but him ever opening it. From it he pulled a large, iron ring-like object embellished with knotting patterns. "Take…the Torc… Open the gates…to Labyrinthian." Weiss gingerly took the object from her teacher's bloodied hands, looking at it and then at him. She saw tears leaking from his red eyes as his hand fell away. "Forgive me…"
Weiss almost felt her heart stop when his eyes closed again, but Collette shook her head. "He's unconscious. He shouldn't have woken up in the first place, but it might be a good sign. He'll be fine, child. You do what you need to."
Weiss looked at the Torc of Labyrinthian again and then nodded. "Yes ma'am." She stood up and looked towards her team.
"All we have at the moment is four teleportation scrolls keyed to Winterhold," Sergius said as he passed the enchanted scrolls to Weiss. "The Eye's making it impossible to teleport in and out of the College grounds. Safely anyways. It's good that Phinis knows how to swim."
"So only four of us can go?" Weiss looked back to Ruby and the others. Inigo and M'rissi met eyes and nodded to each other.
"We can stay here and keep watch in case anything else happens," the blue Khajiit offered.
"She owes the people here a lot, so she'll keep them safe."
"Erevan?" Weiss asked.
"I'll guard the place with my life."
"Okay, so, that leaves me, Yang, Weiss, Blake, and Lydia." Ruby winced at that and looked over to her housecarl, who seemed to immediately understand what was coming.
"My Thane, I'm not sure if I feel all right with letting you…" Her words faltered and she began to look downcast.
"Lydia, you are the number one person from Nirn that I would trust with anything, and right now, I need to trust you with this." The Nord looked back up as Ruby stiffened herself, seeming to come up with what she needed to say on the spot. "Right now, I need someone that I know will protect and serve to the utmost of their abilities. The mages need all the help that they can get, especially since those anomalies are magic resistant. These guys are Weiss' friends, and Weiss is my friend, so that makes them my friends by default, and I protect my friends. What is your vow?"
"…To defend all that is yours."
"Will you protect my friends?"
"I will," Lydia steadfastly declared, and Ruby smiled and patted her arm. With that, the two teams split up, Team RWBY heading down the bridge from the College. Tolfdir and Mirabelle were awaiting them, the Master Wizard now looking far better than she was earlier.
"Were there enough?" she asked when they came close.
"More than we feared, less than we'd hoped for," Weiss answered. "Just four, but that's basically perfect."
"I knew we should have stocked up, but the damn things are expensive to craft." The woman sighed and looked over to her colleague. "Alright, you stabilize the points, and I'll cast the spell."
"Right," Tolfdir agreed as he began gathering magicka into the ritual.
"Over here," Mirabelle indicated to the girls, who walked to where she was pointing. "I'll teleport you just outside of the Labyrinthian. There are old magics and wards that prevent direct teleportation, but it's not much of a walk to get in. I'm not sure where you need to go once you're there, but the Torc should be a clue. Once you find the Staff, leave the Labyrinthian, then use the scrolls. Understood?"
"Yes ma'am," Ruby answered with a small salute. "We'll have that Staff back here in no time."
"That's what I like to hear."
"Ready when you are," Tolfdir announced.
"Right then, hold still, and keep your breath steady," Mirabelle said as she extended her arms from opposite sides, one hand with her index and pinky finger held out while the other hand had all the knuckles curled and spread. She slowly brought the two together, blue-green and dark purple energies slowly mixing until they came out a pinkish shade. With the spell in hand, she threw it towards the feet of Team RWBY. They saw the energies swirl about them before it faded, revealing a different, snowy landscape. They looked around and saw that they were, indeed, at the mouth of the main entrance of the Labyrinthian.
"Okay, so we're here. What do we need to look for?" Blake asked.
"I'd assume an entrance of some kind," Weiss suggested. "This is an ancient city, so there's going to be a lot of ground to cover."
"Okay, we can split up, but everyone keep their scrolls on," Ruby began. "I'll go up that way. Yang, you try the east side. Weiss, head down the middle. Blake, head around that bend over there. If anyone finds a possible entrance, call the others. If anyone runs into trouble, call the others. No doing anything alone, okay?"
"Right," the three answered.
"Then let's move."
The team started to split up, with Weiss and Blake walking side by side for a few moments. Weiss began looking inside the old huts that likely once served either as minimal housing or some form of storage.
"Weiss, what happens if we don't find this Staff?" Blake asked. The heiress paused for a moment and looked back towards the east.
"I don't want to think about it."
"Not wanting to doesn't make me stop thinking about it." Weiss sighed at that and took in a deep breath.
"If the Eye of Magnus is the actual eye of said Magnus, then that means its connection to the world would be second only to the Heart of Lorkhan." She looked over to Blake and shook her head. "I don't know what the limits of the Eye are, but, theoretically, it could unmake the world."
"Would he do that?"
"It's driven him insane. There's no telling what he would do. We need to get it away from him either way."
Blake nodded. "We will." She looked over to the bend Ruby pointed her towards and thumbed to it. "I'll head on. Be careful."
"You too."
Yang found a couple doors where she was, but had no way to tell if they were the right ones. The fact that they looked like plain iron doors wasn't a point in their favor, but one set was down a ways into the floor, giving it a bit of an important air. Deciding to test it, Yang opened the other door that was more visible, but positioned in a spot that made it hard to notice. She went in, but immediately noticed that it wasn't a room like she'd expected. Rather, the place was like a cave, though it had a bit of ancient structure inside, perhaps statues and tables. The most interesting thing, however, was that at the very back a Draugr was standing, almost looking peaceful. It was unarmed and unarmored, and had a feminine shape. Grinning, Yang figured she could easily end it then move on. She started towards the undead, which looked over to her but made no move to attack.
"A subject approaches…," it said, causing Yang to halt in her steps. "No, you must not look at me… Not like this…"
Yang almost leaned back in shock. The draugr was talking, and the first words out of its mouth were about how it looked. Wanting to inject some levity into this already surreal encounter, she offered an awkward grin.
"Yeah, you could use a little lotion, or maybe some aloe. Don't mind me though. Been there, done that." Finding the idea of a talking draugr novel, Yang took out her scroll and set it to record. 'If nothing else, I'll need the proof when I tell the story.'
"You choose to use humor, but if I laugh, it is only because my sadness exhausted all tears." The draugr then raised her hands and watched as she rubbed her fingers together. "I once had skin that glistened without the aid of oil, and only seemed to grow smoother and softer with age." Her hands curled into fists and she lowered her arms. "I was once the envy of all…a queen. Queen Iorel of Mereth, and my subjects averted their gaze out of respect, and not disgust."
"Oh, uh, that's neat." Immediately regretting her tactless attempt to enliven the morose undead, Yang quickly decided to change the subject by focusing on the names she just heard. She wracked her brain for a moment before giving up. "Where's Mereth?"
"Do you mean to mock me, stranger? Surely you know the name of the land we stand on. Mereth, settled by the descendants of the first men. Or has history erased all that I am as punishment for my deeds?"
'Okay. This is a little awkward.'
"Well, there was a Merethic Era, but it was…very long ago. If you're from then, how're you still around?"
"I am a draugr," she answered plainly. "Drah-kgon Servants such as myself are despised for our loyalties, as we are thought to have betrayed Man in our service to the dragons. Neither tome nor song will sing my praises, if they sing for me at all. For the dead can suffer no greater wound, no harsher penalty, than the hollows of empty silence."
"Well, Queen Iorel, the people of today call this land Skyrim," Yang explained as she set her scroll aside.
The draugr almost seemed to scoff. "If you believe this to be the rim of sky and heaven, then your people have not ventured further north. In my time, this land was to the south, a land whose winter was far warmer than the summers in Atmora." Yang winced at that. It wasn't even winter yet and she felt like she was going to freeze to death every other day. She couldn't bear to imagine a place where the summer was colder. "There were many who fled south to escape the war, but I led my people here because the crops tended to flourish in lands baked in the sun. Those who migrated here named this land Mereth, in honor of the Mer who called it home."
'This is so cool,' Yang thought as she realized the implications of what she was hearing. 'I might be getting a firsthand account of some of the earliest migrations by humans onto Tamriel. I'm literally talking to history.'
"So what was it like when you first came here, with the locals and all?"
"Our people learned to cooperate with the Mer, just as we had with the Dov-rha, the dragons who were worshipped and served."
For a long time, the two kept talking, with Yang asking questions and Iorel giving as good of an answer as she could. She talked about how she communicated with the Snow Elves, trying to bridge the gap between their peoples. How she was trained as a Dragon Priest, and the responsibilities that came with it. But then the subject became something familiar to both, to an extent. When Yang mentioned how history talked about Ysgramor being the one who established Saarthal, Iorel grimaced.
"On the ruins of a kingdom. Our kingdom. Ysgramor came as a settler, and stayed as a conqueror. He was a tyrant."
For a second, Yang wanted to object to that. After all, he was the founder of the established guild she was a part of. Then the memory of how Kodlak mentioned the Companions hadn't always been so honorable came back and she bit her tongue. Remembering that Iorel was, or at least claimed, to have been there made her decide to hold back any sort of accusatory tone.
"Thus, my reign lasted no longer than a season. All that effort, all that goodwill I had established…shattered by the blade of his inglorious axe."
"But why?"
"The Nedes came to Mereth to escape war, not find themselves entrenched in another. However, they are a prideful people. The massacre in Saarthal gave Ysgramor the perfect excuse to eradicate the Mer from this land." She seemed to gnash her teeth at that."He baited the Mer into an attack on farmers, hunters, and maids. All the while he and his sons built an army of Companions in the caverns to the north."
"It was said that the Mer attacked Saarthal to try and drive the Nedes away because they felt threatened."
"History rarely tells the whole truth. It was true that the Mer attacked Saarthal, but it wasn't for fear of our strength. They sought that which was promised to them. A great source of power, a shimmering orb of magicka, encased in runes of an ancient tongue."
'Oh, you have got to be shitting me!'
"The Mer thought it to be older than the world itself. The all-seeing eye of the Great Architect, the blind witness to all of creation; Magnus. The Eye was the price of peace. Only when our kingdom was conquered by Ysgramor, he deemed it too heavy a price to pay. Then came the Night of Tears, and Ysgramor's Return, when all beginnings came to an end, and all ends came for a single beginning."
Yang took that all in silence for a moment, before nodding. She wasn't sure how much of what Iorel said was true, but it was at least worth looking into and thinking about.
'Ysgramor was kinda…murderous, from what I know. But people say he was smart too. Not exactly a good mix when you think about it.'
"There's gotta be some kind of record of you, though. Something from old Mereth?"
"All that remains of who I am…my beauty, my fears, my heart…lies in this caricature of a human being. And it seems I myself am a poor caretaker of that legacy." The draugr hung her head as she said this, before looking back up at Yang. "When I look back at everything I was, from my flesh to my name, it feels like I am staring at a portrait of someone else's memories."
"Damn," Yang muttered. "I guess there really isn't… Huh, I just realized, no other draugr ever talked to me. They said things, but I never understood it."
"The draugr exist as but a whisper of life, granted by the word of a Drah-kgon Priest, who themselves were given eternity by the Dov-rha. It is normally blasphemous for anyone not of the priesthood to use this tongue, but as queen it was my duty to serve and speak for the Dov-rha gods. The same is true of my existence. I am not a draugr bound to the will of any priest. I have been granted life and speech by a Dov-rha. A dragon."
"So that power's still in you keeping you alive."
"Yes. Some would call this a blessing. How am I blessed? What sort of madman would call this anything but a curse? I can never again feel the warmth of another, or be able to reward that warmth with a smile. Not even the wind deigns to acknowledge my presence. It passes through my body like a cold shoulder."
"Well, at least you still have your mind," Yang supposed.
"It's a small comfort to keep a mind, when the spirits of others have passed on. How I long for the same."
"Well, can you die? If something killed you, I mean."
"I… I do not know. Many draugr who are slain rise again, but only because they are granted life by the priests they serve. The Dov-rha who imbued me with life was slain many centuries ago, and with him gone, perhaps I too can finally rest." Iorel then held out her arms. "Will you grant me this kindness stranger? My body may resist, but my mind…my voice…it will not shout."
"Whoa! Um…" Yang took a breath and rubbed the back of her head. "Okay, that's a really…heavy request. I mean…" Yang looked back at the draugr, and could feel the misery waving off of her. As far as the blonde knew, the Merethic Era was around four thousand years ago. That meant that Iorel had been around every day since then, likely having to go into hiding once her body simply became too old and dry to feign simple old age. That likely meant thousands of years of loneliness, with most of the world hating her by default. She wasn't even meant to live half that long. Hell, elves didn't live even half that long without magical interference. Yang then sighed and nodded.
"Alright, I'll do it. Just make sure you end up in the good place."
"Thank you. You are both kind and merciful, and while I may be a queen, I am humbled by your grace. The old Nedic tradition says that there is no greater honor than to die in battle, and this is my final request; that you slay me as you would any nameless draugr, and that you forget that I was anything else. I beg you, forget that you ever spoke to this rattle of bones, this ugly carcass, this foul, stinking corpse. I ask that you forget who I was…so that someday perhaps, in the great halls where spirits are laid to rest, we can meet again, and you can know me for who I truly am."
"...I doubt I can just forget about you after everything you've shared with me." Yang straightened her posture respectfully. "But I can at least promise you that just as you've entrusted your story to me, I'll pass it on to the rest of the world. The history of your Kingdom won't disappear quite yet. My name is Yang Xiao Long, and I will remember you not as a draugr, but as Iorel, Queen of Mereth."
The ancient being nodded her head. "Goodbye Yang Xiao Long, and thank you. May the wind forever be on your back, and kindness forever in your heart."
As Weiss searched the derelict city, she came across an ancient set of double doors just east of the shrine Ruby and Yang had described to her before. Past the doors and down the stairs she came into an opening where two trees were planted on either side of the square. Walking forward cautiously, she kept her eyes peeled for threats. When none were forthcoming, she eased up on her tension and kept going, passing by the wall opening and heading to what seemed to be a dead body on a sort of pad. Suddenly four staves rose out of holes in the ground by some magical means, each in a different style. She went around what was now obviously an actual corpse and took the one with a crystal orb, and let her power run through it. It was a focus staff which, unlike an enchanted staff, would allow her to cast most any one-handed spell through it, simply with less magicka expenditure and to greater effect. After observing the staff, she noticed that in the corpse's hands was a Soul Gem and an old, tattered piece of paper. She picked them both up and looked at the blurry words written on the paper.
Enter Twice - Exit Only Once.
Alteration will lead you to Destruction.
Only Illusion shows the way to Restoration.
Conjure not, but be conjured instead.
'I feel like I've heard this before.' Weiss thought it over for a moment before snapping her fingers. "A Minor Maze! Wait, then that means that this is…" She looked forward to see two iron columns just past the twin carved ends of two stone walls, leading into what certainly looked like the beginning of a maze. "The Labyrinth."
Weiss took out her scroll and quickly sent a group text. Seconds later, Ruby called, and she answered.
"You found it?"
"I think I did. But there's a problem. This maze is made for one person at a time."
"Weiss, I don't normally advocate for this kind of behavior, but maybe we can skimp out on the rules for this one. Hold on, Blake's calling."
"Hey guys," their Faunus teammate greeted before an explosive sound erupted, followed by animalistic shouts.
"Blake, are you okay?"
"Just a troll nest. Turns out baby trolls are just as ugly as the adults, and just as savage. Also, trolls are cannibals." Another explosion rang out. "Using Frenzy works wonders against large groups of stupid creatures. Takes a minute to build my magicka back up though."
Yang's call then came in. "You found it, Weiss?"
"Yes, I believe I did. Just head east from that shrine. Don't head into the maze, though."
"Weiss, I really think we're allowed to break the rules on this," Ruby restated.
"Ruby, it's a magic maze. It might zap us to death or send us halfway into a portal where we'll be eaten from the waist up by scamps and clannfears. Don't worry. If this is too much, I'll stop and turn right back around."
"Fine, but don't you die or I'll never forgive you."
"I won't, promise."
"Hey Yang, are you okay?" Blake asked, just now noticing the sad look on her partner's face..
"Yeah, what's up?"
"Well you've got this faraway look in your eyes, and I half expected some joke about being eaten."
"Eh, just not feeling it, I guess. Besides, you're the one with the dirty mind."
"Hanging up," Ruby and Weiss said in sync before doing so. Weiss took a deep breath and headed into the maze, the first test being practically in her face, a glowing symbol representing Alteration in front of a gate. She cast a Magelight upon it, and the gate slid down, letting her through. She walked in, and, a moment later, the gate closed. She started going at a brisk pace, turning at a sharp corner and then heading in what was practically the opposite direction. Similar turns kept coming up, making Weiss feel a little dizzy after a few. She had to stop to keep her head from spinning, and almost screamed when she thought she had lost her path, only to find relief when she saw a number of skeletons that she hadn't seen before in one direction. The relief was soon gone when she realized people had actually died in this place.
"It'll be fine, it'll be fine," she reassured herself. "If it really comes down to it, I can always jump out." With that thought as a small comfort, she continued forward again. After a few more zig-zags, she came upon a trap door with the symbol for Destruction over it. Smirking, Weiss fired a bolt of lightning at it and the trap door opened. Hopping down safely, she couldn't help but laugh a little.
"A test for Archmages. This is like reviewing the basics with some light exercise." Down a small hallway, she noticed a symbol for Conjuration, but it wasn't aglow like the other two had been. "Conjure not, but be conjured instead." She turned and headed down what seemed to be the hall of a crypt, which brought up a number of questions, but when she noticed how she was heading to a rock wall, the wall seemed to slide and reveal a staircase. She entered, and the structure rose up like an elevator. Humming in appreciation for such an application of magic and the ideas it was giving her, she walked up and out of the elevator stairs, which then sunk back into the ground once she exited. Looking around, she realized she was likely at the other end of the maze. "Enter twice, exit once." She walked over to where she believed the secondary entrance to be, finding it between a pair of trees and across from a familiar wall. Weiss quickly took a picture of the Word Wall and sent it to Ruby. A moment later, Ruby sent her a less than three.
After briefly smiling, Weiss sighed as she once again had to enter the maze, this time using a Calm spell to enter. Its twists and turns were once again dizzying to the vampire and made her groan as her head began to spin once more. When she finally reached the next trap door with the Restoration symbol above it, she just lazily flung Leech Seed from her staff and dropped into the room with her glyphs. Groaning miserably, she stood stiff when she heard something that sounded eerily like a Conjuration spell at the other end of the hall. She looked forward and saw an orb with a blue, translucent outer side and a dark, shadowy center, appearing almost like an eye. Steeling herself, Weiss walked forward.
"Guess it's time to be conjured," she muttered. The portal enveloped her, and for a second she felt weightless. Then things came into focus and she was somewhere that seemed to be nowhere at all. Before she could really take in the emptiness of where she was, a Dremora apeared and snarled as he brought up his hands, both casting.
"You meet your end, mortal!" he shouted before releasing the spells, only to draw a steel scythe from his back and charge her. Weiss hesitated for a moment, and then leaped out of the way of his attack. Immediately she launched a Hailstone at his feet before drawing Myrtenaster. A Fire Atronach appeared and began launching fireballs in her direction, forcing Weiss to evade the projectiles. She dashed at the Dremora and slashed at him, only cutting half as well as she could thanks to his magic armor. She side-stepped his slice and brought her staff around, a Cold Touch ready on it. As the Daedra fell back with his arm half frozen, Weiss prepared to skewer him, only to feel something pull the both of them and teleport them both away.
The two reappeared in what Weiss recognized as the entrance to the Labyrinth. Her attack had fully missed the Dremora and now two more beings had been thrown into the mix on top of things, Lightning and Frost Atronachs. Weiss skated away from a lightning bolt loosed by the first elemental and summoned up her own Frost Atronach as far as she could to deal with that one. The enemy Frost Atronach charged at her and brought a mace-shaped fist down, which she barely got out of the way of. The Fire Atronach continued throwing fireballs to harry her, and then the Dremora charged in once again with a yell. Weiss summoned a directional glyph beneath the Frost Atronach, causing it to topple over before being sent rolling away from her. As the Dremora chopped at Weiss, she easily ducked under his swing then stabbed upwards, piercing his belly.
"I've trained with someone who puts you to shame," she declared before channeling a lightning spell into the Daedra. He cried out and pulled himself loose just before Weiss heard the crackling shriek of the Fire Atronach. Looking in its direction, she saw that Blake had just gone by it and sliced through its body in two places, killing it. Yang was running up and bringing her fiery axe to bear on the Frost Atronach that had yet to pull itself up, and Ruby rushed the Lightning one, sending a Frost Breath at it before a number of jagged ice pieces and then a water beam. Weiss then came in at the Dremora with a series of thrusts that found their way past his defenses before the last pierced his chest. With blood pouring from multiple wounds, the Dremora dropped his scythe and stumbled back.
"You've done well. You have passed, Archmage." Taking the circlet from his head, he offered it to Weiss, who skeptically reached out to take it just before the Daedra collapsed and expired. The others walked up to her, Yang brushing bits of ice from her bangs. Weiss looked over the circlet, realizing that it was likely the token given to those who proved themselves in the Labyrinth.
"Uh, I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that's not the staff we're looking for," Ruby reckoned.
"And neither are those three free-floating over there," Yang pointed out.
"No, they're not," Weiss admitted with a sigh. "It wasn't here."
"Yeah, I think I found the real entrance," Ruby pointed out while indicating the exit with her thumb.
"You did? Why didn't you say anything?"
"I did. I texted you right after I found it. Then I called." Perturbed, Weiss took out her scroll and saw that she did have an unread message, as well as a missed call. "When you didn't pick up I came right over and found you fighting a bunch of Daedra, so I guess that's why you missed it. Was that part of the maze, because if it was then we helped you and nobody got busted for breaking rules, so that's an 'I told you so'."
"Okay, yes, that was silly in hindsight, but what exactly did you find?"
"It's just over there. Follow me." Ruby walked away, the others immediately following.
The team walked up the stairs towards the highest point of the ruins, each of them either feeling miffed or mirthful. As they topped the stairs though, they all paused in their steps, and Weiss almost broke down in tears, shoving a knuckle into her mouth and biting down as she forced herself not to cry out, a faint taste of copper on her tongue. Just before them was a ghostly version of Savos Aren, looking at the ruin's entrance excitedly.
"Come on," he eagerly called out, "we're finally here. Let's not waste any more time."
Almost instantly, five more ghosts appeared out of thin air, four of them humans or elves, their features difficult to make out thanks to their ethereal countenance, with the last one being an Argonian.
"Are we truly sure this is a good idea?" the female Argonian asked nervously.
"We'll be back at the College before no one even knows we're gone," a woman answered.
"You would care about that, since you're the Arch-Mage's favorite," a man accused the woman.
"Don't forget, this whole idea was Atmah's to begin with," Savos defended.
"Let's just get inside, see what's in there," the other man, Nordic by his accent, concluded. The ghosts disappeared right after that, leaving the girls to themselves.
"What was that?" Ruby asked. "I've never seen ghosts do…that."
"Those weren't just ghosts, those were impressions. Ghosts of memories more than ghosts of people," Blake answered. "They're similar, but they're not necessarily dead people. It just means that something very impactful with a lot of magicka happened here."
They heard a crunch of snow and looked over to see Weiss having fallen to her knees. Ruby rushed over and pulled her up, nudging her a little to get her out of her semi-catatonic state. The vampire shook her head, then looked forward before taking a deep breath.
"I'm sorry. I just… I really thought he was dead when I saw that ghost."
"It's okay, Weiss. Savos will be there when we get back."
"If she could fix up my guts after they got shredded by lightning, she can fix whatever problems he has," Blake added.
"Yes, I guess you're right. Let's… Let's go and do this then." Team RWBY walked up to the ruin's entrance, a circular door deeply engraved with runic carving and a stylized goat head at the center.
"I noticed this while I was looking around. You still have that Dorc thing?"
"Dorc? Ruby, do you mean the Torc?"
"What's a Torc?"
"It's like a stiff necklace ring," Yang answered.
"So a choker?"
"Not exactly, but close." Yang shrugged as Weiss pulled the Torc from her belongings and handed it over. "Why do you need it anyways, sis?"
"Well, I thought it was called a Dorc because it had something to do with doors, but now… Nah, should still work." Ruby went over and pushed the open end of the Torc into the goat carving's mouth. It seemed to fit perfectly, and then the young girl raised it up and knocked against the door a few times.
"Oh, so it was a knocker," Yang realized as the door slowly slid to the side. "Yeah, that makes sense. Looked too heavy for wearing around."
Inside the ancient building, the girls were able to see stellar examples of Pre-Reman Dynasty Skyrim architecture. Columns were carved like tapestries with stylized iron animals hanging from near their tops. An almost lifelike dragon skull carving blended seamlessly into the stonework above on a bridge. The floor was covered in intricate carvings that offered a story to any that knew their language. Unfortunately, the awe ended when they all noticed the inordinate number of complete skeletons around them.
"Sweet daddy dragon, this is more bones than a necromancer's lair!" Ruby shouted.
"There's at least a dozen," Blake reasoned before making a quick count. "Okay, ten complete ones, but there're scattered bits. I see at least three extra left arms."
"Guys, don't worry," Yang tried to calm them. "We went in a couple of tombs filled with draugr and came out okay. What's a few skeletons?"
"I guess…" They started forward, but then ghosts reappeared before them again.
"I can't believe we're doing this," a girl said.
"Can you imagine the looks on their faces when we come back?" Savos asked them giddily.
"You keep talking like we'll find something useful in here," the Nord complained.
"Given the history of this place," the other man argued, "it's more than likely there's still some amount of power down here."
"Enchanted weapons, tomes of ancient knowledge, Shalidor's secrets themselves," Savos declared the possibilities aloud, "who knows what we could find!"
"And what if… What if there are things guarding this place?" the Argonian asked, her tail moving around nervously.
"Against six College-trained mages? I think we'll be fine," Atmah reassured her.
The ghost disappeared and Ruby winced. "Oh no!"
"What?" Weiss asked
"That was a red flag. Whenever anyone says something like that in a thriller or horror movie, bad things happen."
"Don't be absurd."
"No, she's got a point," Blake agreed, nodding while she cupped her chin. "I don't remember ever meeting any of those other people at the College."
"Savos is centuries old you guys, and this was obviously in his student years. This was likely back in the middle of the Third Era, and all the others have died from old age since then. Now, no more of this silly speculation stuff. We need to find that Staff, yesterday." Weiss marched up and through the door to the next room. The other girls looked to each other for a moment before following her. The hall they entered was almost like an underground street, with a wide cobblestone path and walls that wouldn't have looked out of place as the walls of buildings on either side. The ceiling then drastically lowered and they were funneled back together just before reaching a small gate with a lever. Ruby pulled it, opening the gate, and looked over at her team.
"Okay, so this place looks pretty…" the gate slammed shut, and they looked back to see that it had closed. Ruby saw the lever had gone back up and pulled it again. The gate went back up, and, a few seconds later, closed again. "Uh, the gate's timed."
"This smells like a deathtrap," Blake interjected.
"Yeah, but we gotta go forwards. Okay, Yang, wanna go first?"
"Might as well," the blonde said nonchalantly while walking down. Ruby opened the gate and she ducked through, Blake close behind. After it shut again, Ruby nodded to Weiss, who prepared to go through it and shot by as soon as it opened. Ruby then zipped in, trailing rose petals, right before it closed shut. Ruby smirked a moment, but her smile was wiped away when she realized that they were surrounded by dozens of skeletons, all readying themselves to attack the group. Several began bashing their shields with their weapons tauntingly, while others ran their bony fingers across their ancient blades. One archer flipped up his middle finger at them. The four stood in a defensive semicircle while Ruby began to calculate a plan.
"Okay, Blake, Weiss, you guys pull a Checkmate on those heavy weapons guys while I take Dawnbreaker to the opposite side and try to take down as many as I can. Yang, hit the center with your holy axe ready, and then-" A gurgled roar interrupted Ruby's planning just as a dragon's skull popped out of the ground from the far end of the massive chamber. A whole dragon skeleton pulled itself loose and began walking towards them, its eye sockets glowing blue like the other undead around them. "New plan; scatter!"
The dragon skeleton came in and snapped as the girls split up. Blake and Weiss decided to go with what they had and started bashing apart skeletons with larger weapons before going at the archers. Ruby took out Dawnbreaker and swiped off three heads, causing a trio of holy explosions that shattered several more and turned a few into ashes. She quickly sheathed the sword, not wanting to risk harming Weiss with it, and took out Crescent Rose. Several skeletons went down quickly, like dry twigs to a machete. Yang started mowing through them, taking at least one down with every swing of her axes. Weiss slid through the masses, blasting them down with spells and parrying their blows with her sword. A summoned scamp was causing chaos by aiming for their ankles and knees, often toppling them by filching a supporting bone before they even realized it. One undead in particular tried to surprise her with a swipe at her waist, but she ducked down and went to her knees, passing under the blade as a glyph formed beneath her and slid across the ground with her momentum, allowing her to strike the skeleton's back. Blake managed to kill a couple before catching the bone dragon's attention and then distracting it from the rest of her team. Yang then came in from the side and tried swinging the frost axe at the skeleton's wing, but barely managed to dig it into the bone. The draconic thagomizer slammed into her, knocking her across the massive room and into a wall. Yang picked herself up, only for a piece of rubble to fall onto her and make her wince.
"Yang!" Ruby called out before rushing to her. The elder sister shook herself and looked up at the skeletal creature with raging red eyes. "Are you all right?"
"I'm good. Hit me."
"Huh?"
"I'm gonna charge up my Semblance, and then hit that thing with everything I got."
"Yang, that's a terrible plan."
"Normally, but this is different. I knocked that joint out of place for a second. This thing doesn't have vitals we can hit, but we can break it apart." She looked around at the scattering of bones that were still being kicked up by their teammates and their bony enemy. "Kinda like the others. We just need one good hit."
"Okay, I see your point, but… I don't think I can hit you."
"Ruby we hit each other all the time! You literally hit me three days ago right after we grouped up!"
"You were hogging all the sweet rolls!"
Blake yelled as she wrapped her legs around the neck of the dragon skeleton and tried jabbing her daggers between two of the vertebrae. She attempted to pry them apart, but even when she was making ground she could see magicka working to hold it together.
"Damnit! Don't you have some anti-undead spells?"
"Why would I have anti-undead spells?!" Weiss yelled back as she blocked a facsimile of Frost Breath with a ward.
"To fight undead!"
"I am undead!"
"What kind of excuse is that?"
Before Weiss could answer, Blake was slung off, but landed against a glyph that slowly drifted to a stop, keeping her from hitting the sudden stop the ground offered. As she got back to her feet, she looked over and sighed. Weiss saw what she was looking at and shrieked.
"Are you kidding me?!"
"Guys, you're supposed to be beating this thing up, not each other!" Blake shouted to them. Yang currently had a playful stranglehold on Ruby, who was repeatedly punching up at Yang's head.
"We are, just hold on a moment!"
"How is that helping?"
"Just a –oof– sec." After taking a few more wallops to the head, Yang let Ruby go and her hair began shining. The dragon seemed to notice the light and turned towards them.
"I can't believe you noogied me!" the younger sister accused.
"Well, it got you over your tizzy." Yang punched her fists together as flames began to surround them and her hair, before drawing Volendrung from her back and slapping its haft into her other hand with a hefty smack. "Now, are you going to throw me at that thing or do I got to do it myself?"
Ruby smirked and reached out to take her sister's hand before they started running towards their foe together. The bone dragon let out a gurgling roar as it closed the gap between them and both Ruby and Yang began to coalesce into a swirl of red and bright yellow petals. The dragon tried to snap the two bundles of rose petals, but completely missed as the twin swarm spun from its jaws, around its neck, nearly straight up and then down. Halfway back down the sisters reemerged and Ruby was throwing Yang at the dragon skeleton's back. Yang raised both her arms and brought the Hammer of Might down onto its spine. A ripple of force traveled across the bones as several came apart. Magic tendrils tried to hold the whole thing together, but then Ruby came down with her ebony scythe, swiping through the neck before catching the skull in her spin then throwing it away. Giant dragon bones scattered about, with Yang at the very center and Ruby at the head, both standing proudly in victory.
"Yeah, we rock!" Yang declared.