The Wandering Mage

by Equinox73099

Captured by Imperials, Wagon-bound to Helgen for execution is where our protagonist's story begins. Once the Black Dragon gives him a chance at freedom, he sets off towards Riverwood with his… Two companions? One of whom has a hero complex and stick in a very uncomfortable place. not a dragonborn POV story. no/slash.

2. Chapter 2: Aventus and Winterhold

The Wandering Mage

Chapter 2: Aventus & Winterhold

Hey y'all, my muse is still dominated by skyrim, which is also stunting my writing time as i'm enjoying my current playthrough so much, so it might be awhile before anything actually gets posted, I am still writing, just smaller amounts than usual. Hope y'all enjoy. R&R pls.

"Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." -Stephen King

-LINE BREAK-

"The what?" Magnus asked confusedly.

"The Dragonborn, a legend among nords. The Dragonborn is a hero born with the body of a man and the soul of a dragon. The last of the Dragonblood was supposedly Martin Septim… if the Greybeards are calling him forth now of all times, when the dragons are returning…" she trailed off, losing herself in thought.

"Who is the Dragonborn, then?" Magnus pressed.

"I don't know, I doubt many people do, save the Dragonborn himself! I suppose we'll have to find out as he becomes known."

"Tell me more about this legend, then." he demanded.

She sighed but acquiesced. " there's much to be said about them. They're supposedly capable of using the voice in a manner that would surpass even the Greybeards. Many legends speak of their ability to absorb dragon souls, and knowledge that comes with them. There have been a few dragonborns throughout history, all well known and involved in shaping the world around them, names such as: Alessia the Slave Queen; Reman Cyrodiil; Tiber Septim was Dragonborn before his ascension to godhood, along with the rest of the Septim line. There are tales of the first Dragonborn to defy the Dragons, back when humanity was still enslaved to them. His name was Miraak."

"So basically great change is coming with his appearance."

"One cannot be certain, but... Aye, I think so." she finished in a whisper.

"What a time to come to Skyrim…"Magnus sighed.

"Right, enough talk of world-shaking events, I'm going to explore the city to find this Aretino kid, here's 5 gold to hold my room for me."

"I-I wouldn't go looking for that boy, mister… people talk, you know. They say he's been performing the Black Sacrament." she stammered.

"They talk a lot, but I digress. What's the Black Sacrament?"

"The ritual that calls the Brotherhood, sir."

"You're actually going to make me ask what the Brotherhood is, aren't you."

"The Dark Brotherhood, you know. The assassins." she whispered the last as though afraid she would be overheard.

"A ritual to summon an assassin group, now this I have to see." he got up from where he was sat despite the protests of the innkeep and made his way outside, only realizing after that he never asked her for directions to the kid's house. He wandered the city for a bit looking for anyone that could tell him, but only struck gold when he found a dark elf and a boy talking about him, near his house. The house was only locked with a basic lock, which Magnus easily picked when no one was looking, and he was in.

The house was fairly ordinary, if a little bare, from what he noticed on the bottom floor. Heading up the stairs he could hear a faint chant from the upstairs room.

"...send your child unto me, for the sins of the unworthy must be baptised in blood and fear… sweet mother sweet mother send your child unto me, for the sins of the unworthy must be baptised in blood and fear..."

Magnus crept up behind the boy and looked upon the ritual. There was a circle of candles surrounding pieces of a skeleton which had been gathered together, different organs and bits of flesh scattered inside the circle. The boy was reading from a book, iron dagger in hand while he chanted. Aventus suddenly stabbed downwards, piercing an already perforated heart laid in front of him. Magnus meant to take a step forward to try and gleam some knowledge from the book, but the floorboard creaked, and Aventus jumped up, having finally noticed him.

"You came, You've actually come! At last, I knew you would!" he exclaimed.

Magnus was so busy looking at the book at aretino's side which was still open, that he didn't speak.

"Now you'll accept my contract, right?"

"Hmm-what? What contract, boy?"

"Excellent, You're contract is to kill Grelod the kind, the orphanage owner in riften, she's a monster, I tell you! I can pay you with Aretino family heirlooms that were left to me, but my friends down there need her gone so they can actually get adopted."

Magnus was of two minds. Of one, he figured he could at least go down to riften and take a look at things in the near future, after he had established himself at the college. On the other hand, this was assassin territory, and Magnus was not a member of this… Brotherhood that Aventus was calling for.

Finally his curiosity won out. "Ok, I'll take care of her, don't worry about a thing kid."

"Yes! I knew you would, I knew it! Here, take these, they're the heirlooms I was talking about." he handed over a stack of antique plates and cups that were on a nearby crate. Magnus stuffed them in his knapsack and quickly exited the residence. It was still fairly early in the day, so he decided to go ahead and leave the city to get a start for Winterhold.

He exited via the front gate, and was quickly back at the stable. He debated buying a horse to speed him along, but realized he was shy about 400 gold when he asked how much they were, so he moved on.

Following the road northwest he trekked on, until well into the night he saw an inn up ahead. He only knew it was an inn for sure when he saw the sign up front, which read 'Nightgate Inn' and he gratefully entered to get out of the cold, snowy night.

"Welcome, stranger!" the owner called out. Looking around, Magnus noted there were only two other patrons at the inn, an orc and a man. He went up to the innkeeper and laid 5 gold on the bar, stating. "Room for the night please."

"Of course, take the one on the right." the innkeep said jovially.

"Can I get an ale as well, preferably Black-Briar?" Magnus questioned.

"Sure, just a moment." Once he came back from a barrel at the back of the room, Magnus asked. "So what's the word, innkeep? Any work, or rumors of potential work around?"

"Well, I hear Dawnstar is suffering from nightmares, so if you keep following the road west you'll wind up there. Though a priest of Mara did pass through that said he was on his way to fix it, but who knows, maybe you can get paid for assisting him. There's also rumors if you're Windhelm bound of a boy trying to perform the ritual to summon the Dark Brotherhood. I'd rather avoid those types, but If he's calling for them, he must want someone dead… oh, there's also a bounty on a bandit chief the Jarl's men left here."

"Nightmares in Dawnstar and a bounty… I already knew about the kid, but those are interesting. Wait a minute… you said Dawnstar is west-is Winterhold that way as well?"

The innkeep slowly said. "...afraid not friend, Winterhold is taking the right turn instead of heading west as you did. Though I think If you followed the coast east from Dawnstar you would eventually happen upon the gorge that swallowed most of Winterhold during the Great Collapse. You could follow the canyon up until you found the road, then use the road to get to Winterhold."

"...shit." he said both internally and out loud. He was going the wrong way. Oh well, he would just have to turn around and make up the ground tomorrow as he wasn't going back into the frigid outdoors tonight. He departed for his room after he finished his ale, and started reading a book he picked up in Windhelm after the Greybeards summons called 'The Book of the Dragonborn'.

After he finished the relatively short book, he blew out the candle he was reading by and turned in for the night, hoping to not be disturbed by ethereal loud as oblivion voices.

-LINE BREAK-

After correcting his course, he pushed himself nearly to exhaustion to make up for lost time, wanting to hit winterhold before nightfall. It seemed like he would make this goal, as he could see the Statue of Azura in the distance, which was also something he wanted to visit while he was here, in the distance looming over the entire area from its place on the mountain.

He was drawn from his musing by a throaty growl coming from the snowbanks to his right, and he warily turned to see a snowy sabre cat eyeing him hungrily, muscles tensed and ready to pounce. The cat struck quickly, releasing its contained roar and jumping straight at magnus. The mage dove to the side, coming straight up with firebolts ready to be shot. He blasted the predator with three firebolts, but besides the smell of singed fur filling his nose, the cat was undeterred and charged once more. Magnus started raining frostbite on the beast, attempting to freeze it solid, but it's thick fur proved too much to freeze, and the cat leapt once more, this time landing a slash on Magnus' chest and arm.

At this point the mage had had enough, and drew his steel dagger he'd hidden in his robes, and threw it at the beast. His aim struck true, and the creature was felled, dagger sticking out of its eye. He began stitching his wounds together, starting on his arm with a hiss as the spell began knitting his flesh back together. Magnus sat down on the large cat, and pulled his dagger out of its eye with a squelch, wiping it on the animals fur and putting the weapon back in his now torn mage robe.

He finished his walk to Winterhold much more slowly, grumbling the entire way. His mood had plummeted from it's initial high at getting a good night's sleep, and now he only wanted to go back to sleep. But sadly there was still time enough left in the day to go speak to whoever was in charge of applicants at the college, and earn himself a spot.

He approached the gate to the bridge that led to the stone castle that was the college, and pushed it open, only to be pushed back by a high elf woman, who glared at him and stated, "cross the bridge at your own peril! The way is dangerous and the gate will not open. You shall not enter!"

"What?" Magnus asked bemusedly. "Is the college not taking applicants at the moment?"

She looked closely at him, then mumbled. "You do have to look of a mage, but it may be a trick… a test is in order! Should you pass, I will grant you entrance to the College. First, tell me, what do you seek within our walls."

"I wish to Improve my skills, so knowledge and experience I suppose."

"A noble pursuit, many in here are devoted to improving themselves. Secondly, I must observe your skills and ensure you are capable of offering the college something. Everyone who comes to this place comes seeking to learn, but only those who have the potential to make something of themselves are accepted. Perform some of the more advanced spells you know to allow me to test both your knowledge and power."

So Magnus did, he cast nearly every spell he knew, most basic but a few apprentice level spells. He cast flames, frostbite, sparks, and firebolt to demonstrate his destruction knowledge, oakflesh and candlelight for his alteration, the lesser ward and healing spells for his restoration, and a calming spell for the illusion branch. He was woefully unprepared in the conjuration category, and didn't know even one spell, something he wished to improve. Nor was he an expert in Alchemy or Enchanting, though he wished to train under enchanting as well so he could make his weapons better in the future instead of being forced to rely on a basic steel dagger.

"Hmmm…"the Altmer mused. "Rough around the edges, surely. But, I felt power behind those spells that was second to none. I think, given time, you'll fit in around here. Welcome to the College of winterhold." she waved her hand in the direction of the gate, and it swung inward, granting him entry. As he walked along the long stone bridge, each mana well he passed flared up as it sensed his magic, glowing a bright blue.

When he arrived at the main gate, he was forced to stop and stare at the awe-inspiring statue of Archmage Shalidor erected in the center of the courtyard, arms raised in a position as though channeling a powerful spell, the largest mana pool he'd seen yet sending a beacon of pure magicka into the sky. He spotted a Dunmer in official looking robes and a woman chatting behind the statue, and made his way over to them.

They stopped their conversation when he got near enough, the woman choosing to speak while the dark elf observed. "Greetings, young mage. Are you a new applicant or here for information from the arcaneum?"

"New student." Magnus stated.

"Ah, then it appears I shall have to end our conversation prematurely, Archmage. I shall show our initiate around the compound. This way, young man."

"I must admit, I find myself surprised by the number of new applicants we've gotten lately." the woman began conversationally, leading him towards a side door to the right.

"Oh, am I not the only one?" Magnus curiously asked,

"No, you are the fourth in two weeks. We've gained a khajiit, a dunmer woman, a nord male, and now you…"

"Breton, my name is Magnus, miss…"

"Ah yes, I am Mirabelle Ervine, also Breton-born. As I was saying, you are our fourth applicant in such a short span of time. I shall first direct you to the Hall of Attainment, which serves as the quarters for all apprentices in the school. The Hall of countenance is where the professors and other scholars beyond apprentice level stay, and the Hall of Elements is where lessons are held, with the Arcaneum, our library, lies just above it. After I show you to your quarters, go to the hall, as Tolfdir is holding a lesson with your fellow initiates at this moment."

She led him into the Hall of Attainment, a welcome respite from the glacial northern weather of winterhold, and showed him to the first room on the right. The room came with a plain, but comfortable looking bed, two wardrobes and end tables, an actual table with a chair, and a dresser. On the dresser were a few lesser and common soul gems, presumably for enchanting practice, and a stack tomes to read. The table was bare except for an unopened bottle of ale and a wooden plate with a horker steak on it.

"Now that you know where you'll be staying, I shall take my leave. Remember to join Tolfdir's lesson as soon as possible as he will be explaining a future field trip of sorts at the end of it."

"Understood, thank you for the assistance, miss Ervine."

Magnus took one last look at his new room, before jogging back outside and over to the large double doors that marked the Hall of Elements. He opened one of the doors with a loud creak, though no one inside paid him any mind. He pushed open the second gate, metal barred with an insignia crafted into them, and walked over to stand next to the khajiit who was furthest to the left.

"Ah, there is the new member Mirabelle informed me of. Tell me young man, I know these youngsters names as well, so would you mind giving yours?" After he obliged, Tolfdir continued. "Now, as I was saying; magic is at its core, a chaotic entity. One must exercise caution when using it, or you will surely perish. We cannot simply rush into these lessons, much as you all may want to."

The khajiit spoke up. "J'Zargo is ready to learn, has been for over a week now, is your job teaching, or lecturing, master Tolfdir?"

"I would word it more kindly, but I agree, we're all more than ready to learn, have been learning since before we even came to the college." the nord said.

"Yes, I was practicing magic from adolescence. I am more than ready to learn, to experiment with new things!" The dunmer chattered excitedly.

"Hmm…" the man looked at Magnus. "You're being awfully quiet, mister Magnus. What is your opinion on how our lessons should proceed?"

Weighing his words, he slowly stated. "I...I think we should do something practical that could be useful, like an illusion spell or a ward or something."

"A fair opinion, and one I can get behind." The old man clapped his hands. "If you would be so kind, since this was your idea after all, please move to that circle there and be my test subject. Tell me, do you know the basic ward spell?"

"I do."

"Fantastic, use it to help me, and after the lesson I will show you how to improve it into its more advanced version, the steadfast ward as it's called. Yes, stand just there. Throw up your ward when I say so, and I shall launch a firebolt at it to test its effectiveness. All of you on the sidelines, take note of what he does, this is a very useful spell should an experiment go wrong and you don't have the time or space to run, or if you come under assault by less than reputable mages." he opened his hand, and a ball of fire formed in his palm. He nodded to Magnus, who put up a single hand to power his ward, causing a translucent wall of light to form in front of him, shimmering brightly. The ball of fire was launched, and struck his ethereal shield with a bang, dissipating against it on impact.

"Impressive, for a lesser ward it held up well against that spell. You appear to have already partly mastered the steadfast ward without my help, strengthening your shield as you did. A normal lesser ward would have dissipated after impact, but yours only wavered. It still has room for improvement, but admirable nonetheless."

"Thank you sir. You're right, I did alter my ward slightly from the original, as I felt it wasn't strong enough for my purposes. I'm still working on improving it more, so your insight would be valuable." Magnus affirmed humbly.

"Now Magnus, back to the line-up. I think I'll have you pair up with Miss Maryon. J'zargo you and Onmund pair up. One of you will fire the basic frost spell while the other practices their ward. I say frostbite because it will harm the least quickly, while spark and the novice flames will both leave injuries that need to be tended to."

Magnus walked over and smiled at Brelyna and was about to speak, but he was cut off aggravatedly. "Before you ask, yes I have an ancestry steeped in magic, and no I don't want to talk about it."

"I'm sorry what?" Magnus bemusedly questioned.

She got an apologetic look on her face, and sighed, shoulders slumping as she did so. "Sorry, sorry. It's just that...that I'm sick and tired of the same questions every time just because I'm a dunmer. You have no idea how annoying it gets, I even get those questions here at the college occasionally."

"I can understand it getting old, I suppose. Must be a pain to deal with."

"You have no idea. Sorry we got off on the wrong foot, I'm Brelyna Maryon."

"Nice to meet you, I think you got my name earlier."

She smiled. "I did, nice to meet you Magnus. Let's get this lesson started. Hope you don't mind if I practice my ward since you already have the basic version mastered."

"No problem, I was going to suggest the same thing."

"So… how exactly do I do the thing." she gestured with her hands, straining trying to form a shield.

"At first it's mainly willpower and intent. You have to want the shield in front of you, then command your magic to do it. Eventually it just becomes second nature, that's when you start tinkering with improving it, or learning an outright better version if there is one."

She got a concentrating look on her face, thinking so hard her eyes began to cross slightly, but she did form a weak ethereal ward.

Magnus chuckled. "I don't think it's supposed to be that difficult, Brelyna."

"Just shut up and do the thing!" she gritted out.

"Fine, fine." he blasted her ward, which held up for nearly 2 seconds, before blasting her and covering her in a thin layer of frost.

"That was kind of weak for a frostbite, more like a cold breeze." she noted.

"I toned it down because I saw you were doing the spell wrong. You're mixing up intent with the mind. Intent is what you want to happen, not what you think you want to happen. That might be my fault for explaining it poorly the first time, but oh well. Let's try something else. I'm going to give you 5 seconds to put up a ward, then I'm going to blast you again." he got an evil looking grin at this.

"W-w-w-wait hold on a second! That's not fair!" she panicked.

"1...2...3…" he kept smiling and raised his hand, causing her to become further distressed. She raised her arms in front of her and started hoping for it to work this time, closing her eyes.

She opened then nearly 7 seconds later to see she had a full on ward going, granted it was weaker than his, but it was to the normal standards of the lesser ward. She whooped, then yelled out. "I did it!" at this point she lost her focus and the shield collapsed, causing her to get hit with a much colder variant than before, that actually hurt.

Magnus ran over to her and apologetically said. "Sorry! I started scaling up the power when your shield held off the initial blast. Wanted to test your limits a bit."

"It's...f-f-fine." she said, teeth chattering. She glanced up at him, and, red eyes sparkling with happiness, said. "I think I understand what you meant by intent a little better now, so it's fine. I have to hope, to want it, then will it to happen. I was just trying to force it out, not really thinking about wanting it, just assuming it would appear. Thanks for the help Magnus, you're pretty good at this."

"Eh, I think I'm better suited to the practical stuff, but thanks for the compliment."

They continued practicing for a bit, increasing the time Brelyna could hold up the ward. Eventually Tolfdir came in between their duo and the other duo and spoke. "Good job today everyone. Remember tomorrow we set out for the College's excavation at Saarthal. We'll turn it into a learning experience, and who knows, you may even find something of use there! Remember we set out at 10 sharp! I'll see you all then unless you require my help." he started walking towards the doors, but stopped and turned around. "Oh wait, Magnus my boy, please stay behind. I forgot I promised you advice for improving your ward."

When it was just the two of them left, Tolfdir led him back to the area he'd initially shown off his shield. Tolfdir began speaking as he strolled back to where he was originally. "I noticed when you demonstrated for me that your ward was much more durable than an ordinary lesser ward, but it also wasn't at the potential of its evolved counterpart, the steadfast ward. I saw that you focused mainly on strong defense in the center of the spell, pooling your magicka there. I think that should you manage to make your magicka spread evenly across the shield, it will strengthen it as a whole. Would you try that for me, please, whilst I send another firebolt at you."

Magnus did so, evenly distributing his magical energy instead of leaving it as a strong center with weak edges, and waited for Tolfdir. When the alteration master's blast landed, though, it was not a firebolt, but a fireball, the much more explosive version of the spell. His shield held strongly, not giving an inch as the flames curved around the shield, attempting to find a crack to exploit.

"Just as I thought…" Tolfdir mused. "Had that been your previous shield, your imperfect edges would have shattered and caused a reaction that would have imploded the ward as a whole, causing you to take damage as well. But this one held up against it well."

"You could've told me you were going to do that, I would've put more energy into the ward to make sure it held!"

"My boy, you never know what spell will be thrown at you by a foe, nor its power. Should you have been hurt, I would have taken full responsibility and done my best to ensure you were recovered fully by the end of the day, at the latest. Collete does owe me a favor after all… but I'm going off on a tangent. Congratulations my boy, You've just mastered the steadfast ward in… oh about 6 minutes by my reckoning."

"thanks...I think." Magnus said, then walked for the door.

He went back to his room in the Hall of Attainment, which the other students were now also in, ate, then went to sleep.

-LINE BREAK-

"Up and at em, my boy. It's time to head to saarthal!" the old man's voice wheezed excitedly.

"Wha...what time is it. Can't be past the crack of dawn…" Magnus mumbled into his pillow.

"Crack of da-It's after 9 Magnus! You must have been more fatigued than you thought. Come on, we're leaving within the hour."

And so he dragged himself up and readied for the journey. Magnus was out front at the gate with Brelyna and J'zargo ten minutes later, waiting on Onmund and Tolfdir. Once everyone had arrived, Tolfdir literally pulling a tired looking Onmund forward by his collar, they set off without ceremony.

As it turns out, Saarthal was very close to winterhold, not very far outside the city, so they made it after just over an hour of walking through the light snow that currently held winterhold. The old man led his four apprentices down into the deep dig site, to an uncovered door sticking out of the ground.

"Everyone, while inside here, please stay close to me. We have excavated a portion of the ruins thoroughly so it should be safe, but it is always better to be prepared."

"Why is the college interested in a random nordic tomb in the first place?" Magnus curiously asked.

"There are magical runes and seals inside here unlike anything we've seen before. It has our… attention to say the least. To scholars like ourselves, something like this is like scenting prey is for a predator."

"Are we looking for anything specific?"

"No my boy, we are not!" Tolfdir stated excitedly. "We are looking for anything and everything that could prove interesting or unique. It's one of the reasons I adore this location so much, we have no clue what we'll find down here! And should my lessons about the dangers of magic happen to sink in along the way… we'll call it a happy coincidence." he whispered the last and winked at Magnus mischievously.

"Come along then, everyone."

He led them into the depths of Saarthal's excavation site, explaining the history of the tomb along the way. How it was one of the earliest, largest nord settlements in skyrim, and how it was subsequently sacked by elves in the 'night of tears' and how afterwards it simply dropped off the radar, and very little that happened is known from the night of tears to present time.

Once they were at the bottom and Tolfdir had pretty much finished his lecture, Magnus questioned. "What do you want me to do, sir?"

"Sir makes me feel older than I already am, please just call me Tolfdir. And I would suggest going to find Arniel Gane and assisting him. He's another one of our scholars who is here to catalogue our finds. I'm sure he would appreciate some assistance searching for artifacts. Just search for some enchanted items along the way and he'll be pleased to have them."

Ten minutes of hunting later, Magnus had found 3 enchanted rings that, from what he could tell, increased his vitality and sped along healing slightly. He handed two of them over to Arniel and kept one for himself, and went back to searching.

He found an open room with a large stone tablet on the wall less than five minutes later, and saw an enchanted amulet hanging from a bust on the tablet. When he yanked the necklace off the wall, the gate that was previously allowing entry to the room closed with a bang.

"Damn it." Magnus cursed. He made his way to try to look for a lever, and when that failed, resorted to trying to lift the gate up, to no avail as it was made of solid iron and weighed more than he could even slightly lift, forget opening it enough to get out.

"Tolfdir! Arniel! Brelyna! Anybody! I'm stuck damn it, I need some help!"

"I'm coming my boy, just hold on a moment." Tolfdir strolled in front of him, and began stroking his beard while pondering Magnus' predicament. "Did you happen to do something that could cause the gate to close?"

"I took this amulet off that stone tablet over there."

"Maybe try placing it back, and if that doesn't work, destroy the tablet and see if it reveals the opening mechanism." Magnus placed the amulet back, but nothing happened, so he took it once more and blasted the stone with a firebolt. The stone remained unaffected, as though mocking him.

"Hmm...most curious. I felt a slight magical reaction when you took the amulet off its pedestal. Maybe try wearing the amulet and firing a spell at the tablet." Tolfdir hypothesized.

He did so, and the tablet exploded, leaving behind tiny shards as though he'd tried to vaporize it instead of throwing an apprentice level spell at it. Luckily it also revealed a passage, and caused the gate that was blocking him to rise once more. He was about to exit the trap room when Tolfdir suggested they explore this new area, causing Magnus to curse internally.

They walked down a long hallway, entering into yet another small room. Upon entering, a wave a magic hit the room, tinting everything slightly blue, and an ethereal man appeared before Magnus. Shocked, he jerked his head to look at Tolfdir, who was frozen like a statue examining a wall carving in the room.

"Know that you have set in motion a chain of events which cannot be stopped." the voice echoed throughout the room in an eerie way. "Judgement has not been passed, as you had no way of knowing. Judgement will be passed on your actions to come, and how you handle the dangers ahead of you." he paused for a moment to take a breath. "This warning is passed to you because the Psijic Order believes in you. You, mage, namesake of the architect of Mundus, have the potential to prevent disaster on a cataclysmic scale. Take great care, and know that the Order is watching." the ethereal man faded to nothing, and the blue tint went away, restoring time to its properly flowing state.

"I-I swear I felt something happen just then…" Tolfdir muttered. "What just happened." he questioned Magnus.

"A mage that called himself a Psijic monk froze time to deliver a warning to me… though it was so cryptic I don't fully understand it."

"I'm sure it will make more sense in time… for a Psijic to reveal themselves to you, though, is a strange sign. They must sense great potential in you, Magnus, as the Psijics disappeared along with the isle they made their headquarters on years ago, centuries even. Would you be willing to repeat what they said to you, perhaps I could be of service deciphering it."

Upon his repetition, Tolfdir simply shrugged, "it is as I said, the warning shall make more sense as time passes. We have no way to know what we have started for now, nor do we know who is being judged for what fully, though I think they are judging you personally, but one cannot be sure."

"Come my boy, we still have ruins left to explore!"

"Alright." Magnus shrugged and made to follow him. The duo came to a room with three coffins vertically stacked against the wall. Entering, one of them must have stepped too heavily, as the coffins burst open, the draugr within awakened and ready to end those who disturb their slumber. They kept the undead warriors back with ease, though, blasting the creatures with firebolts. The central sarcophagus revealed a tunnel for them to continue onwards, the only way further into the ruin from the otherwise dead end room. The passage led to a barred gate that Tolfdir was too busy examining for odd markings to open, so Magnus just sighed and pulled the lever, causing the old man to flinch back, surprised. They swept the room and cleared it of the few draugr within, then moved onto the next.

The next room contained more coffins that, once again, burst open upon their entry. Four more draugr were revealed and slain in short order, and two chains pulled later, the gate barring their entry to Saarthal proper was opened. Tolfdir chose to stay behind and examine the odd style of the room which, according to the old mage, has never been seen before in Nordic burial tombs. So Magnus went ahead solo, putting down any undead unlucky enough to happen across him. He was nearly waylaid by a rune someone placed on the ground the he didn't notice until the last second, literally being saved by his accidentally knocking an urn onto it before he had the chance to step on it.

Magnus was forced to solve a few Nordic pillar puzzles, though in all fairness the order of the pillars was revealed in stone tablets placed behind and above the actual pillars, so he found it fairly easy. By the time he was ready to pass through a large double door, Tolfdir yelled out from a distance behind him. "Hold on my boy! Hold on!" he jogged up to Magnus and put his hands on his knees, breathing heavily. "I...I thought it high time I caught up with you, give me a moment and I'll be ready to continue. After a quick breather, they pushed open the heavy wooden doors and entered into a large circular room that held an eerie, pulsing blue glow coming from an unknown spherical object in the center of the room.

"What on earth…" Tolfdir muttered, but it was enough to set off the draugr that had until then been sat on a sort of throne in a thinking position.

"Qiilan us dilon!" the living corpse boomed.

Magnus and Tolfdir readied their spells and blasted the Draugr, only to find it had no effect on the zombie. The fiend drew a sword and picked up a staff off of the table behind him, and blasted a lightning bolt at the two of them, forcing them to dive to either side to avoid it.

"Aav Dilon!" the draugr rasped out, voice echoing in the large room.

"Magnus, I have an idea," Tolfdir shouted urgently. "I need you to distract the creature whilst I put it into effect. Buy me time!"

Magnus gave a true battlecry befitting a mage of the College of Winterhold, "If I die you'll be the one I haunt, Tolfdir!" and charged straight at the undead, dropping into a roll when a lightning bolt was sent his way. He came up with his trusty steel dagger drawn, deflecting the creatures sword now that he was in close range. The creature attempted to bring his staff around to vaporize Magnus, but it was slapped away absentmindedly with a backhand, the living mage already making a stab at where the draugr's heart should be. The dagger was slapped aside by the ancient blade the zombie employed skillfully, but Magnus was nothing if not determined. He spun with the blow, bringing his dagger around once more and burying it in the creature's side. He was kicked away with an armored boot as the thing growled, whether it was in pain or not Magnus couldn't tell. Suddenly a lightning spell flew over the combatants heads and collided with the mystical orb, which subsequently sent a lightning bolt straight at the draugr, driving the thing to its knees.

Magnus didn't waste his opportunity, and drew his hands together to dual cast a spell, then tried firing as powerful a firebolt as he could muster straight at the creature's head. He actually overpowered the firebolt so much it turned into an entirely different spell, the fireball. The adept spell exploded against the creatures center in a ball of flames, finishing it off.

"Unslaad krosis…" the thing muttered as it drew one last, rattling breath, the blue light in its eyes dying as it did. Magnus strolled over to reclaim his dagger, and grimaced as he withdrew a half melted piece of junk from the draugr's side. Tossing it aside, he instead picked up the thing's staff, and tested it out by firing a lightning bolt at a nearby wall, leaving a large scorch mark. "I could get behind this… I still need a legitimate blade, though this will work in the short term." he muttered. Further searching of the creature revealed another enchanted amulet, which he took for himself. Walking over to the table the staff was on to pocket a gold pouch he had seen, he also found a piece of folded paper on a pedestal, and opened it up to read it.

Be bound here, Jyric, Murderer, Betrayer

Condemned by your crimes against realm and lord

May your name and your deeds be forgotten forever

And the charm which you bear be sealed by our ward

'Interesting…' Magnus mused, and pocketed the note, mentally noting to research this 'Jyric' later. He walked over to Tolfdir, who was examining the levitating orb, and questioned. "So what exactly is this thing?"

"I have no idea! This is absolutely astonishing." Tolfdir gushed. "The Arch-Mage should be informed of this immediately, but I cannot bring myself to leave this…this thing unattended. Will you return and inform Savos in my stead, please? He needs to view this object for himself."

"Sure, but what should I tell him?"

Let him know we've uncovered something… unique is I suppose the best word at the moment. It's clearly magical in nature, I'm sure you can sense the magicka coating the air as well as I can. Beyond that, It's like nothing I've ever seen before. This should greatly interest him."

"Alright… are you sure you'll be alright here by yourself?" Magnus concernedly asked.

"I'll be fine my boy… at any rate, we already seem to have cleared the area of any danger in this thing's guardian. Whoever placed this here certainly wished for it to be well guarded, which begs the question of why..."

Magnus bid farewell to the man who was quickly becoming a sort of mentor to him, and went through an iron door to the next room, which revealed a strange wall covered in the writings of an unknown language, very little of it even decipherable as anything beyond chicken scratch. More importantly, Magnus also noticed a large chest by the wall, and to his delight, found it unlocked. He quickly scrounged out over 200 gold from the chest, along with an elven sword, a fantastic replacement for his lost blade. He would be sure to get some practice from someone in enchanting, though, so he could make this blade more durable and deadly. The path he had chosen led right back to the beginning of Saarthal, and he was Winterhold bound once more.

-LINE BREAK-

He made it back to the college as quickly as he could, and ran tiredly up the steps to where Mirabelle said he would find the Arch-Mage. He stopped for a breather before he decided to interrupt the Dunmer's reading, then walked over and cleared his throat.

"Sir, if I could have a word?" Magnus requested.

"Sir, how quaint. Call me Savos, Aren, or Arch-Mage, boy, no 'Sir' or 'Mister'."

"Ok si- Arch-Mage, but I really need to speak with you."

"About?" Savos pressed.

"It's about Saarthal."

The Arch-Mage put a hand to his forehead and groaned. "Don't tell me another apprentice has been incinerated, I have enough to deal with already."

"No, Savos. Umm… Tolfdir told me to tell you that you would find what we discovered 'very interesting'. All I can tell is it's some sort of orb and it's clearly magical."

"I trust Tolfdir will provide me with a more in depth analysis. Very well, I shall make for the excavation immediately. Oh, wait, you should be properly rewarded for bringing me this information without delay. I'm assuming it is important information, yes?"

"Tolfdir seems to think so, and what do you mean by reward?"

"Tell me… do you know the magelight spell?"

"No, but I know the candlelight spell. Prefer it in all honesty as it stays by me instead of having to constantly recast it."

The Arch-Mage thought for a moment. "Well… I was going to gift you a staff of magelight, but as you are not partial to that spell, I suppose I shall give you something else." he walked over to a nearby safe and pulled out a ring. "The gem in this ring is enchanted to hold Magicka, it shall drain a small amount while you sleep, and feed the energy back into your body when you have need of it, therefore giving you additional reserves. It served me well in the past, and I hope it will do similarly for you."

He made to leave, but turned around before descending the stairs. "I would also ask that you begin researching this yourself. Go down to Urag in the Arcaneum and see if he has any relevant information available."

"As you wish, Arch-Mage." he stated, slipping his new gold and sapphire ring on his finger.

He went down the opposing set of stairs from the Arch-Mage, going to the library instead of back to the Hall of Elements, and entered the large room. The Library was, besides the entrance area, circular in shape, and completely covered in closed bookshelves. He ignored those, in Favor of walking over to the Orc librarian, Urag Gro-shub.

The Orc took one look at him and growled out in that tone that only an orc could manage, "Take a look around you. You are now in the Arcaneum, of which I am in charge. You might as well consider this my own personal plane of Oblivion. Should you… disrupt my Arcaneum, I'll have you torn apart by angry Atronachs. Now, do you require assistance?"

It took a moment for Magnus to move past the threat into the question, but he eventually answered. "Y-yea, I need to learn more about Saarthal, specifically an object we found there. An orb, taller than me, as wide as it is tall, strange carvings and markings all over it."

"I heard about it, word travels fast here, you know. Supposed to be some big mystery. Don't even bother asking, because I don't have anything to help you… not anymore anyway."

"You don't have anything?" Magnus despondently moaned.

"Not anymore. A mage that ran from the college named Orthorn stole some and ran away to join a group of summoners at Fellglow keep. He hoped to use them as a peace offering of some kind, if I remember correctly. One of those books has relevant information for you, but I can't remember which book or what it is. You want the information, find Orthorn and inquire about the books with him. I'll be willing to compensate you if you manage to return them to the library though. I… do not like knowing that someone stole my books and that they're still out there."

"Ok, I'll do it. How long has this guy been gone anyways? He can't have been gone that long what with him having college property and all. Were you all planning on sending someone after him?"

Urag sighed. "Aren's approach to these things is to let them sort themselves out, no one cares enough to bother with fetching them so I thought they were lost, though now it seems like you'll be doing the sorting, so good luck with that."

"I'll do my best to get them. Why'd this Orthorn leave the college anyways. I assume he was an apprentice?"

"He was. The summoners and him became… fast friends. They researched things beyond what the college allowed, though. Orthorn became taken with them, and in turn took my books to aid in ingratiating himself with them."

"All right, thanks for the information, I'll track him down." he went to leave the Arcaneum, but was pulled aside by Faralda, the Altmer who tested him when he entered the college.

"There you are, I've been looking everywhere for you. Be wary, Ancano is searching for you."

"Who?" was Magnus inquisitive response.

"The Thalmor advisor here at the college. At least… officially. Some say he's just here to spy on our business."

"Would those people be correct?" Magnus questioned lowly.

"In my personal opinion… yes. But I could be wrong."

"Understood. Why is he looking for me?"

"I'm not sure, but either way, mind what you tell him."

"I will. I do not suffer spies lightly. Thank you for the warning, Faralda."

"No thanks are necessary." he got up and left without impediment this time, only to be pulled aside by the very same 'advisor' Faralda had warned him about once he was headed towards the Hall of Attainment.

"You there. I have questions for you, about what was found in Saarthal. You were there, yes?"

"Possibly…"

"Don't insult my intelligence, I know very well that you were. Tolfdir is still there, yes? I expect a full report when he returns."

"Mmhmm."

"And now the Arch-Mage has just rushed off as well. I assume you informed him about this discovery and he went to verify it himself?"

"...why does this even matter to you?" Magnus irritably asked.

"Something was discovered in that ruin. Something that Tolfdir deemed important enough to send an apprentice, a newly inducted apprentice at that, alone, to inform the Arch-Mage to come and personally investigate it. That sounds precisely like something that matters to me."

"Not really, it sounds like college business and whatever the Arch-Mage deems you should hear he could tell you when he got back."

"As advisor to the college, I need to stay up to date on the latest information, and who knows when Savos will return. Thank you for your help, you are dismissed." Magnus entered the Hall of Attainment and collapsed into his bed, weary beyond belief at the day he'd had. He was asleep within minutes, deciding to wait until tomorrow to fetch the books.

-CHAPTER END-

-EXTRA SCENE-

Sigurd was gasping for air at the extreme altitude of High Hrothgar, trying to get a decent breath in the low oxygen air. He was dragging a sack of supplies for the Greybeards behind him, given to him by a man named Klimmek at the bottom of the mountain. The man was distraught at not being able to make his monthly supply delivery to the Greybeards because of his body's limitations, so how could Sigurd do anything but offer to take the supplies up for him.

Besides the ridiculous number of steps, seven thousand of them to be precise, he had also been forced to fight a pack of frostbite spiders that had made the lower part of the mountain their nest. He handled that fight well, cutting them down easily with the steel greatsword he wielded. The frost troll he encountered, though, had required a more heavy handed approach, in this case one of the shouts he'd learned while accompanying his shield brother Farkas into Dustman's Cairn, YOL. he found out after killing a dragon that had been attacking a group of hunters in the wilderness, his second kill, that YOL meant fire in the dragon tongues. And frost trolls were especially vulnerable to fire.

Needless to say, the troll was not long for this world, and Sigurd tiredly clambered further up the mountain, eventually reaching his current position. He'd just rounded the corner and come into view of High Hrothgar when he collapsed tiredly, deciding to rest in the snow for a moment, as his legs felt both like jelly and lead at the same time, how he did not know, but it was true. He managed to pick himself up eventually, and staggered over to the donations chest, dropping the heavy sack he'd lugged all the way up the seven thousand steps inside. He climbed the last few steps up to the front door of the castle wearily, and pushed open the door to reveal a sparse, dark interior.

-EXTRA SCENE END-

AN: Hope y'all enjoyed. Took awhile cause skyrim's awesome, but another chapter for a story is done. Also working on sword and storm and fresh start, they're slowly but surely coming along. No more inspiration for defiance of fate, so it might be a bit before the next chapter of it comes out, but no worries i'm not gonna abandon anything. See you when i see you.