Chapter XLVI – The Aftermath

A sudden light shock went through Bishop's body.

It took a while for him to remember what happened to him. Although he still wasn't sure. There were those noises and the weird quake of the whole building. Then just the overwhelming light. His head was throbbing and his whole body was buzzing strangely. He was lying on a cold ground and he heard some strange sounds – some swirling, some rumbling and a lot of other things that he couldn't place. Every noise seemed to drown out every other one and it all turned into an incomprehensible flurry in his head. His eyes were still closed and he didn't feel like opening them just yet.

Another light shock passed through him. It was some sort of electricity but it wasn't painful or burning. It seemed really mild.

Finally he determined himself to open his eyes. He needed to know what was going on.

All he could see at that moment was the swirl of large rocks and violet lightning that enveloped them as they hovered above him. It took a while before he noticed the head-like shape with a stony face carved into it.

An atronach.

But it wasn't attacking him. When he opened his eyes, in fact, it seemed to lose interest in him entirely and it floated away.

Bishop let out an exhausted groan as he tried to pull himself up at least a little onto his elbows. The weird buzzing in his body was still overwhelming him, but he really needed to find out what was going on.

His eyes immediately went to the strange glowing teal barrier that separated the rest of the library from the entryway where he was. The Orc was standing in front of it with his arms raised. There was some strange magic coming out of them and it seemed like he was holding the barrier at bay… or creating it. Bishop still had no idea what any of this was.

His eyes were drawn back towards the storm atronach a second later. It floated above the ground towards the barrier before it stopped. That was when he finally noticed Aeyrin's limp body lying motionlessly on the ground below it.

Fuck!

He sprung to his feet as fast as he could to rush towards her. The atronach swirled above her in the meantime and a soft small lightning shot from its form and jolted Aeyrin's lifeless body briefly.

"Stop!" the Orc's booming voice interrupted Bishop before he could reach her. "The atronach will rile her up. Wait."

"What's wrong with her?!" Bishop barked at him, unable to contain the panic in his voice.

"Same thing that was wrong with you. Just wait," the Orc explained curtly.

Bishop fidgeted nervously in spot, but, fortunately, after a minute, the next shock from the atronach made Aeyrin's eyes snap open and she let out a light gasp.

Thank the fucking Gods!

He rushed towards her and knelt by her side on the ground instantly as she hazily tried to sit up. The atronach floated away again, disinterested, and it positioned itself behind the Orc idly.

"W-what?" Aeyrin didn't seem to have a firm hold on her surroundings yet. Bishop carefully helped her sit up while she blinked rapidly before her eyes settled on the prominent teal barrier.

"What the fuck is happening?!" Bishop barked at the Orc again.

"It's the Eye. There's something… wrong with it," the Orc grumbled.

No fucking kidding!

Bishop had told them that it would blow up! He knew that something like this would fucking happen!

"It creates this field. It needs to be held at bay," the Orc continued to explain. "It knocked us all out, but Phinis rushed in some time ago to rile me up with his atronach. He had to go back down, but I conjured my own to wake you. Now I need to hold this thing down so that it doesn't destroy more of my damn books!"

"W-what about them?!" Aeyrin pointed towards one lifeless body in the distance, enveloped in the Eye's field in the middle of the library. The man was concerned about books but not the mages caught in this thing?!

"It's too late. Be glad that you were standing this far," the Orc shook his head mournfully.

They were dead?! All of those people caught inside this field were dead?!

"Go downstairs. They will need help. I can hold this in the meantime," the Orc inclined his head briskly, leaving them no time to ponder or hesitate.

How were they supposed to help with this?! They didn't even know what was happening!

They collected themselves with some difficulty and got up on their feet. The Orc seemed to be concentrating fully on his spell and he didn't pay them any more attention.

Hopefully they would get more answers downstairs.

This was just as confusing as it was concerning.

…

Bishop and Aeyrin rushed down the stairs to the ground floor to finally see what was happening from outside the confines of the library.

They were met with an already familiar sight – the gate into the circular room was wide open, but there was that same teal barrier, preventing any access inside. The Eye was barely visible behind the swirls of magic, but the hum that was emanating from it was almost deafening.

Three mages were standing in front of the barrier and holding it back, much like the Orc did. It was Faralda, a faintly familiar old Breton in purple robes and the Dunmer illusionist. Three more people stood by their side – Tolfdir, Darren and Colette, the Master of restoration.

"Thank Kyne that you are alright!" Colette exclaimed when she noticed them approach. She seemed like she wanted to rush towards them to check them for injuries, but the hum of the magic suddenly got even louder.

"Look out!" a shout from Faralda interrupted any question that they may have had.

The teal barrier swirled intensely and, at three different spots, some strange bulbous shapes started to form. It didn't take long before three odd wisps shot from those spots and started circling around everyone in the room.

"Quick! We need to dispose of them!" Tolfdir exclaimed and he instantly raised his hands. His body got enveloped in a mesmerizingly glittering layer of fiery speckles and his hands formed two small balls of lightning.

Bishop and Aeyrin didn't even know what was going on at that point. Everything was happening so fast. And what were those things? They've never seen wisps like those. They had the same teal color as the barrier and they were overwhelmingly fast, swooshing everywhere around the room.

But there was no time to study those things. Aeyrin unclasped her mace from her belt promptly while Bishop unsheathed his sword. One of the strange wisps was already squirming under Tolfdir's magic while Colette encased another one in a strange ward-bubble, preventing its movements.

The last wisp quickly flew towards the two of them and Aeyrin didn't hesitate to meet it with her mace.

To her shock, the weapon went straight through the wisp harmlessly, but the flames of the enchantment stuck to its ethereal form, making it float around briskly in a small circle. It was like a ghost – only magic could harm it.

Bishop didn't wait either before he thrusted his sword into the frantic wisp and a small burst of lightning wreaked through its circular form.

Only a second later, the wisp dissipated into nothing and, when they looked around, they noticed that there was no more sign of the other forms either.

"They form every once in a while from the magic field. Anomalies from the clash of powers, we've assumed," Tolfdir let out a forlorn sigh as he approached the two of them.

"What happened? What's going on with the Eye?" Aeyrin quickly questioned him.

"It's Ancano. He demanded access to our research and to study the Eye himself, but when we refused him, he…" Tolfdir turned towards the Eye with another deep sigh. Only now they noticed the barely-visible black figure standing near it. Was that Ancano? That Thalmor agent? "He said that its power is wasted on us and then he did… this."

"'This' what?!" Bishop scowled at the old man impatiently.

"We didn't know. He rushed towards the Eye and only Aren and Mirabelle followed. Then there was the burst. We reacted quickly and held back the field of magic to prevent it from spreading further. We had to act fast so we sent whomever we could to the other parts of the College, even below the mountain into the Winterhold ruins to hold the power back. We cannot let this spread. Aren and Mirabelle survived that field for less than a minute," Tolfdir explained.

"But… what is he doing?" Aeyrin gaped at the mage. This was a lot to process. She didn't know who Aren and Mirabelle were, but that probably didn't matter. Less than a minute inside of that thing and they were dead? That was not encouraging. Thank the Gods that the mages could hold that thing back! They needed to know what that Thalmor was doing to cause this. Did he want to kill everyone at the College, just so that he could study the Eye freely?

"We had no idea, originally, but Faralda had ventured into the Midden to ask the Augur," Tolfdir continued while they only stared at him blankly. They had absolutely no idea what he was saying. What was the Midden? And who was the Augur?

"How long were we out?" Bishop frowned. The man was talking about sending mages to all corners of the College, even outside to the bottom of the mountain. And now to some place called the Midden. That must have taken longer than a few minutes.

"Almost two hours," Tolfdir gave him a regretful shake of his head. "Our priority was to contain this and to find out how to stop it. You and several others were only unconscious and we needed to prevent losing more people first. The Psijic monks were rather… vague so we needed to ask the Augur. He said that Ancano tried to absorb the power of the Eye but… something went wrong. Now he is trapped in there and his life force sustains the field."

"What?" Aeyrin asked rather desperately. This was all so confusing. Tolfdir was constantly talking about some people and things that she'd never even heard of before.

"His 'life force'?" Bishop raised his brow at the mage. "That's easy then." He quickly reached to his back to unclasp his bow. He could just shoot him from a distance. Didn't the mages try? They had ranged spells. How hard could that fucking be?

Tolfdir tried to protest, but Bishop was already approaching the barrier with his bow ready. He narrowed his eyes to pinpoint the black smudge behind the swirl of magic and he let his arrow loose when he was sure that he had the Thalmor in his sights.

The arrow with a faint green glow of the paralyzing enchantment from Bishop's bow flew quickly, but once it reached the barrier and slipped behind its edge, it only flew a very short distance further before it stopped and clattered to the ground instead.

"Oh…" Bishop let out a frustrated sigh.

"Brilliant," a familiar grating voice echoed behind his back, followed by a slow sarcastic clap. Bishop turned to shoot a nasty glare at Darren who had been strangely quiet up until then. What was he even doing there with the actually somewhat capable mages? Wasn't he just a measly apprentice?

"Wait… maybe I can…" Aeyrin's eyes lit up and she quickly replaced Bishop by the barrier. She concentrated as best as she could for her target. It would really not be good if she couldn't control the trajectory of her Shout just then. And Ancano was quite far. She wasn't even sure if her Shout would reach, but she had to try at least.

"YOL TOOR!"

The flames left her mouth and she felt the familiar burn in her throat. They made it through, spreading inside the field, but only briefly. It barely took a second before they evaporated as if they were never there.

"What I wanted to say," Tolfdir sighed. "Nothing which is not imbued with magic can penetrate the field – no regular weapons or arrows. And the field itself consumes magic. We can only hold it at bay. Enchanted items can enter but the momentum of the throw gets disrupted by the field instantly when it sucks out the enchantment. Living things can enter due to the magicka in their blood, we assume, but… as I've said, they cannot survive for long. The field consumes their magic in an instant. Magic is life. We have no other choice. We need to push the field back into the Eye."

"How?" Aeyrin questioned him.

"We need your help," Tolfdir looked at her pleadingly. "The Psijic monk told us what the Eye was and we have determined what we need to control it. The Augur pointed us to the right place. We need to find the location of the Staff of Magnus, but…"

"Tolfdir! Could you hurry this up?!" the Dunmer illusionist called out to him suddenly with a strained voice. He looked really tired as he shakily held up his hands against the teal field.

"We need the best mages here. We need to hold down the barrier to keep this from spreading and harming more people," Tolfdir explained further with a much more hurried pace in his voice. The Dunmer mage really looked like he was struggling to keep up his spell. "Arniel theorized that the location of the Staff could be revealed by a Dwemer mechanism that had been uncovered recently in the ancient city of Mzulft. We need your help with this. We can't venture there ourselves and leave the field unguarded. We need to take shifts while we keep this up. It is… straining and we will need to hold out for days."

"Mzulft? Seriously?" Bishop groaned. He knew that place – Thorn had sent him and a group of men there once to search for metal and treasures. That place was a deathtrap. And more importantly, its depths were impenetrable. "I've been to that place. You can't get further in than a few chambers."

"Actually, a group of Synod researchers had breached the place some time ago, according to our reports. They have requested some materials from the College a few months back," Tolfdir attempted to smile weakly, but the strain of the situation was palpable on him.

Out of the corner of their eye, they noticed the Dunmer stagger back from the barrier and Colette rushed instantly to take his place in holding it back. It was no wonder that Tolfdir wanted all his capable mages to be there to help. Especially since they would have to wait for them to return from wherever Mzulft was.

"Please. We have nowhere else to turn and time is of the essence. We know that you have braved Dwemer ruins before. If we don't contain this, it could not only destroy the College, it could spread further… maybe across all of Skyrim. Or… even beyond that. The Eye… it's powerful," Tolfdir shook his head.

"You fucking idiots! You've just figured out how powerful this thing is?! Why would you ever think it was a good idea to drag it here if you knew sweet fuck-all about what it could do?!" Bishop barked at him angrily. Typical. That was so fucking typical of those haughty fuckers. Only mages could ever come up with something so idiotically dangerous.

"Bishop, this isn't helping now," Aeyrin sighed. He wasn't exactly wrong, but they shouldn't really waste time arguing.

"If Ancano didn't temper with it, none of it would have happened," Tolfdir scowled at Bishop. "But it does not matter now. What is done is done. Now we need your help to find the location of the Staff with Darren and bring it here, please."

"Wait, what?!" Bishop stared at him in shock. "Why the fuck would we drag some incompetent apprentice with us?!"

Darren instantly threw him a piercing scowl, but he didn't say a word himself, allowing Tolfdir to continue.

"We are still not clear on the details and the Psijic Order has been helping us stop this. You will likely need their advice on how to reach the Staff. The Augur had mentioned that it was sealed but he didn't know where. The Psijic monks might know, but they are… stingy with their information. We hope that they will be more forthcoming once you know of the location, but… the important thing is that Darren is the only one whom they talk to and he has more insight into all of this than anyone save for Aren but… Just… if he comes with you, you should be able to find out how to get to the Staff without having to return here and waste more time."

They both stared at Tolfdir in confusion. Who were these Psijic monks that he was constantly talking about? And why would anyone want to only talk to Darren of all people?

"Please. Darren can explain everything to you on the way," Tolfdir sighed when he saw their confused stares. His eyes darted nervously towards the mage in purple robes who didn't seem like he would hold out much longer either.

"Alright, alright," Aeyrin nodded hurriedly. There was not much choice in this anyway – they couldn't just let everyone at the College die. And it might even spread further! If this was what it took, fine. They would just get their answers from Darren on the way. After all, this strange field would kill them too if it got out of hand. They needed to help end this and the mages had nowhere else to turn. They were lucky enough that the two of them were at the College when this happened. And she really didn't want to think about what would have happened if they were closer to the Eye and caught in that deadly field.

There were millions of questions on their minds and millions of concerns about every little thing, but the frantic panic in the Hall of Elements did not provide a good place for contemplation and explanations. Maybe it would be best to just do as Tolfdir requested for now and make sense of things once they get all the information out of Darren.

"Thank you. Please, head out right away. We know that the journey will take long and who knows how much longer finding the Staff will take, but… the sooner you leave the better. We will stay here and devise a system for us to hold the field at bay for days if need be, but please, hurry," Tolfdir gently squeezed Aeyrin's shoulder before he rushed towards the barrier again to take the tired mage's place.

Darren approached them with an obviously disgruntled expression and he merely inclined his head towards the exit with a deep sigh.

"Let's just get this over with."

…

"Fucking insane mages. I said that some shit like that is gonna happen, but no. They needed to 'study' the fucking glowing orb that was guarded by a dragon priest and almost killed this little shithead once before already."

Bishop had been grumbling the entire time while they were making their way from the College grounds. Surprisingly enough, his constant complaining was a somewhat welcome distraction from all the chaos around them.

When they entered the courtyard, they were met with an unorthodox scene. There were people everywhere, running around in panic. Some of them were carrying things around, likely for the mages that were holding up the barrier – food, blankets and pillows and water. They were clearly preparing to have all the more powerful mages practically living at the edge of the magic field for Gods-knew-how-long. Other people, mostly young students, were trying to get out of the College grounds altogether, but a Dunmer woman was standing in front of the firmly closed gate out of the courtyard adamantly, making soothing gestures with her hands. She seemed to be convincing the students to stay and help.

A subtle hint of the familiar hum of the Eye could still be heard, even outside, but it was getting steadily drowned out by the constant shouting of the panicked people running around.

"Where the fuck do you think you're going?!" Bishop barked at Darren impatiently when the Breton turned his direction towards the Hall of Attainment instead of the bridge without even saying a word.

"To get my things for the road, imbecile," Darren snapped back at him instantly.

This was already shaping up to be an uncomfortable journey. And the chaos around and the lack of information about what was actually happening certainly didn't help Bishop's mood.

"Well hurry the fuck up. We're not gonna wait here until that shit blows up again!" He clenched his fists almost involuntarily. It was kind of a reasonable thing to do… to get some supplies for the road, but Bishop was still rattled from the events. The proximity of that weird field only made him jumpy and nervous and he still didn't get why they had to drag that annoying tit with them to the ruins. He would just get in the way and they would only have to babysit him the entire time. Besides, he was still so infuriated by those fucking mages. They practically didn't give them a choice in this! What were they supposed to do? Leave the mages alone and hope that when they couldn't hold out anymore, the imminent explosion wouldn't catch the whole fucking world in its impact?

Darren had disappeared into the students' hall without another word and Bishop turned to Aeyrin with a frustrated sigh.

"I know," she nodded at him in understanding. "But… what else is there to do?"

Bishop just shrugged before he drew his hand over his face in an exasperated motion. Of course there was not much else to do. There was no one else to rope into this shit. If the people in Winterhold knew what was happening, they would likely march on the College with pitchforks instead of helping and that would not end well for anyone. There was no time to waste by getting someone who could actually help and, to be fair, the two of them were usually the ones who would be asked for help with this kind of situation. It didn't change the fact that they were forced to undergo this with that little shithead along, and only because the mages were just as stupid as Bishop had always predicted.

"At least we can get some information when Darren comes along. I… still don't really understand any of this," Aeyrin sighed. She tried to encourage Bishop, but she herself was rather rattled by all this confusion and the sudden impending doom.

"Hmm… I don't get why the fuck would we need him. We already know that he's fucking incompetent," Bishop growled. That idiot better explain why he is so fucking 'integral' to this. Maybe then it would become clear that he actually wasn't and they would be able to ditch him somewhere in the wilderness. Bishop certainly didn't want to suffer his annoying personality throughout the entire ordeal.

"Well, for now, we need him to tell us what happened and what exactly we are doing, I guess. Then we'll see," Aeyrin shrugged. She wasn't exactly thrilled about the prospect of travelling with Darren of all people and she had no idea why they didn't send one of the Masters with them, but hopefully they would get some answers soon. Though they likely needed the much more capable mages here to deal with the barrier.

Bishop only nodded, but his brows were still creased deeply as his eyes darted back towards the main building housing the Eye.

"Hopefully we'll get some answers before this thing wipes everything out."

…

Karnwyr had finally located their small group when they were already a small distance south from Winterhold. Thank the Gods that they never took him along to the College. They were never sure whether the mages would allow it and that place was too dangerous for him anyway. Someone insane enough would surely want to experiment on him too. But even staying outside the College with all the commotion inside must have been nerve-racking for the wolf as well. He looked really worried with his lowered ears and a constant low whine escaping his throat.

"It's just those crazy fucking mages. Don't worry, we're going far from here," Bishop leaned down briefly to rub the wolf encouragingly behind his ear. Of course he could sense the strange magic surrounding the entire College, even if the field wasn't visible. He could smell vampires and Gods-knew-what-else. The magic from the Eye was without a doubt even more unnatural.

"Great. Like one unwashed dog wasn't enough," Darren scoffed at Karnwyr's presence instantly, earning a sharp glare from both Aeyrin and Bishop.

"How about instead of whining you finally start fucking explaining this shit?" Bishop growled at him in retort. Darren had refused to discuss the happenings in the vicinity of the town, which, granted, was quite understandable. There was a chance of someone overhearing them and then the mages would certainly not escape the mob lynching.

The citizens still clearly knew that something had been happening, but they had no way to even get past the gate at the bridge to investigate. Not that any of them looked brave enough to approach the College.

When Aeyrin, Bishop and Darren appeared in town, straight from the bridge, the people rushed towards them with questions about the strange noises and quakes. Aeyrin tried to reassure them that it was just a magical experiment and that nothing happened – they didn't really need to raise panic in the town after all. But when the people still didn't look convinced, Darren had snapped at them, telling them how their small intellects could never even begin to comprehend what was going on.

That was hardly helpful. The citizens looked even more frightened than before.

They had no time to deal with this, however, so with a few more hasty reassuring words from Aeyrin, the three of them turned south to head along the shore and past Windhelm towards the Dwemer city at the edge of Eastmarch.

And now when they were far enough, Darren could finally provide some explanations.

"Why would you need to know about any of this? Hired thugs shouldn't ask questions. Just get me to those ruins so I can put a stop to this," Darren growled at them.

"Nobody 'hired' us and we don't follow orders blindly, especially not yours. Tolfdir said that you know about all of this, so you better start talking, unless you'd like to test your skills in the ruins alone," Aeyrin scowled at him fiercely. She wasn't really serious about letting him go there alone, but she was so fed up with all this confusion. She needed some answers already.

And why wouldn't he talk? What else was there to do on the journey anyway?

"Whatever. But don't expect me to explain the particularities of magic and the forces of Mundus to you when your miniscule brains can't comprehend this," he scoffed at her derisively.

"I think we'll manage. How about you start at the beginning?" Aeyrin growled at him in return. He was already making her angry, not even after half an hour in his company.

"It… started after Saarthal," Darren sighed. "After I awoke at the infirmary, one of the Psijic monks contacted me."

"What's a Psijic monk?" Aeyrin asked quickly before the story got filled with more unknown terms again, but Bishop had a question at the same time.

"Contacted how?" he scowled at Darren. He remembered that Brelyna had mentioned something about Darren 'seeing things' before. Was that what she meant? Tolfdir said that no one else could talk to those… monks or whatever.

Darren sighed in exasperation at the questions, as if he was already tired of explaining himself, even though he had barely started. "The Psijic Order is this mage collective from Artaeum. They've been in hiding for over a century because they don't conform to the Thalmor rule. They are rumored to be the most powerful collective on Nirn. So… one of their monks contacted me to talk. He found me because I touched the Eye and the disruption to its dormant power alerted the Order or something. And before you ask like everybody else, no, I can't talk to him whenever I want, and no, you can't talk to him yourself instead. I'm the only one that sees him," he scoffed as he rolled his eyes to accentuate the point.

"Pfft. Convenient," Bishop snorted at him. Why did the mages even believe that? The whole: 'I'm the only one who can see it' excuse was weak at best.

"You think I wanted this?" Darren snapped at him. "You think I wanted to have my life disrupted by constant vague warnings from some stranger?"

"Maybe you shouldn't have touched that giant fucking glowing orb then," Bishop smirked at him with a hint of disdain. He wanted to pretend like he found that stupid Eye, even to kill the two of them for the discovery and now he was complaining? He was lucky to have even survived that.

"Can we get back to it, please?" Aeyrin shook her head at them. She still felt like she didn't understand a thing. "So this Psijic monk contacted you because he found out about you touching the Eye? What did he want from you?"

"He was just spewing some vague warnings! He didn't even want anything. He was just constantly talking about how I've 'set things in motion' and how 'mankind wasn't ready for that power'. I don't know. Everyone thought that I was delirious! But… Aren believed me." Something strange flashed through Darren's face at the mention of that name and his angry expression faltered.

"'Aren'?" Aeyrin asked. They've heard that name several times before and they only assumed that he was the Arch-Mage of the College, but they'd never heard a confirmation or paid much attention to it.

"The Arch-Mage, obviously. Savos Aren. I'm not surprised that you haven't met him. He was interested in the real mysteries of this world, not some glorified mercenaries with a few vocal-induced spells," Darren scoffed derisively.

"Why would the monk not talk to the Arch-Mage directly, instead of some annoying apprentice whelp who nobody's gonna believe?" Bishop scowled at him in suspicion. He was still pretty sure that Darren was making up that whole shit about that monk or whatever.

"I already told you, I'm not going to explain anything that you don't even have a meager chance of understanding with your subpar education," Darren snarled. The two of them instantly threw him a piercing glare, but his face got promptly decorated by a smug smirk in turn. "Fine. A full-body projection that involves a time-stopping element would need to be anchored by accessing a strong energy residue that had been attached to a black soul. It allows a projection of another black soul in the same temporal pocket, formed out of the residue into whatever image that the caster chooses, but only for a fraction of a second. That's why the time-stopping element is integral. The only black soul carrying a residue of such power is mine because of the full-contact manipulation of the Eye during a time of hibernation."

"Just shut up," Bishop growled. He got lost somewhere around the 'anchoring' or whatever he had been blabbering about. Aeyrin looked none the wiser after the explanation either, despite her knowledge of some magic at least.

"Alright… so… the Arch-Mage believed you about the Psijic's warnings. What happened then?" she sighed, instead of trying to ponder on the particularities of 'temporal pockets' or whatever Darren had been talking about. It was probably not important for their quest anyway.

"Well, nothing, for a while," Darren answered. "The Eye was already at the College and its hibernation was already terminated. And before you get any bright ideas of accusing me of that, remember who actually awakened the Eye in the first place by disrupting its protective barrier to kill its current guardian?" he scoffed at them.

Well… that was disturbingly correct. He wasn't the first one to mess with the Eye – they were. But what were they supposed to do?! That guardian was attacking them and this was the only way to kill it.

"So Aren wanted to study it, to see what the actual danger was, since the Psijic wasn't exactly forthcoming," Darren continued. "I've gotten a few more warnings from the Psijic, but when I asked whether we should return the Eye where it came from, he said that it was 'too late', that it was already 'awake'. So what else was there to do but to find out what it was and what it could do?" he threw up his arms in exasperation. "In time, we found out that the orb was the Eye of Magnus. A legendary thing. A myth, we had assumed. It contains unimaginable power, on par with the force of a God itself. Like… I don't know… like the Heart of Lorkhan, I guess," Darren gave them a meaningful look, as if he was doing them a favor by providing a more familiar example for comparison. He was not. They didn't know what that 'Heart of Lorkhan' was either… not exactly. They just knew from stories that it had something to do with the fall of the false god Dagoth Ur back in the Third Era, like everyone did, but not much else. It was only making the explanations more confusing now though.

"Ugh… just… what is it for?" Bishop asked in exasperation.

"What? I told you, it's powerful. It has power. People. Want. Power," Darren gave Bishop and obnoxiously useless explanation. "Ugh, where were you two educated? People try to take power from wherever they can, you know? The Heart of Lorkhan, which you two obviously don't know what it was, people, the False Tribunal, used its power to become living Gods. That's the kind of power that I'm talking about."

"So who wanted the Eye?" Aeyrin scowled. It was a little bit clearer now at least.

"I'd get to that if I wasn't constantly being interrupted," Darren rolled his eyes. "When Ancano learnt what the orb was, he got curious. And then I got another warning from the monk. 'Don't let it fall into the wrong hands'. Aren interpreted it instantly as to keep it away from the Thalmor. But Ancano was persistent. From the rumors about my… episodes… he deduced that the Psijic monks have been contacting me and all Oblivion came down upon us. He kept demanding an audience with the monk, as if it was in anyone's power, and he demanded to be allowed near the Eye. He wasn't. Nobody let him in on any of the research or any information whatsoever. And that's how we ended up here today."

"He was arguing with Aren in the Hall of the Elements and the others tried to diffuse the situation," Darren continued to explain the events of the day. "Ancano refused to be curbed any longer and he said something about… 'seeing the power for himself'. He marched towards the Eye with Aren and Mirabelle chasing him and… he did something… cast a spell… we don't know what. The explosion was instant. The Masters barely managed to react and hold back the shockwave to rein in that field. Aren and Mirabelle… they were dead." Another glint of something inscrutable flashed through Darren's eyes. He was surprisingly somber and mournful. Bishop and Aeyrin didn't think he cared about anyone or anything at the College. He certainly acted as if he didn't, but this seemed to indicate otherwise. "The Masters quickly sent us running to alert as many mages as possible to hold the barrier in several integral places, to prevent the field from spreading. I only got one short message from the monk… he said that… 'It has begun' and that if we don't stop it and find a way to control the Eye, 'everything is doomed'."

That certainly sounded final and not just like it would only involve the destruction of the College alone.

"Our library was cut off and no spell could breach the field. Anything with magic and soul died inside within a few seconds, so the atronachs and Dremoras couldn't help either. So we needed to find something to manipulate the Eye and with the Psijics being their usual unhelpful selves, Tolfdir thought that we should go ask the Augur."

"Right… so… who's the Augur?" Aeyrin prodded. She needed to ask questions right away, otherwise she was pretty sure that this all would get very confusing again. Right now, she was somewhat capable of making sense of things in her head.

"Ugh… I have to explain everything to you," Darren rolled his eyes again. "He was a student at the College a long time ago and… surprise, surprise, he was obsessed with getting more and more powerful. He tried to do a similarly idiotic thing as Ancano did, I assume, and in a failed experiment, his body was dissolved into nothing and he was transformed into a formless mass of magical energy. A giant shiny ball of light, if you want a simpler explanation," he smirked meanly. "Anyway… he's sort of… half-here and halfway in Aetherius. Look, I'm not going to explain this to you again. He's a giant ball of light which is also a seer of sorts, so there. He's residing in the Midden – the caverns below the College where… failed experiments go."

Aeyrin and Bishop exchanged disturbed looks, but this time, they didn't interrupt Darren. There was probably no point in obsessing over any more glowing orbs and other experiments right now. And definitely not about some cavern full of 'failed experiments'. That just sounded horrifying.

"So, being a sort of a seer and all that, the Augur already knew what happened," Darren sighed slightly as if he was getting tired from the explanations already. "Faralda went to see him and he told her that Ancano tried to harness the Eye's power and that he failed because he wasn't strong enough to control it. But, in the attempt, he managed to disrupt the Eye's protective barrier. He… absorbed that barrier in fact. So… now he's the sole vessel for the barrier and without killing Ancano and the soul and the magic in his veins that binds the barrier to his form, the Eye will just continue to direct all its power… outwards." he gestured with his arms all around himself, to likely indicate that the power was really supposed to envelop everything. "That's how Faralda interpreted it at least."

"The Augur confirmed what the monk had said. We needed something powerful to control the Eye. And the Augur told Faralda that 'to see through the Eye without being blinded, you need his Staff'. Meaning the legendary Staff of Magnus, of course. But apparently, when she asked where we could find it, the Augur only said that he can feel it… 'sealed beneath'. He didn't have any more information," Darren sighed. "By the time Faralda got back, the other Masters were already sending those that knew restoration and some atronachs to tend to those who had been rendered unconscious by the blast of energy. Those caught inside… it was too late for them…" Darren shook his head again regretfully. It was still a strange thing to see from a man who had no qualms about summoning Daedra in the middle of a populated town. But maybe he cared about someone caught in the field. His voice did soften a bit whenever he mentioned the Arch-Mage.

"Arniel Gane, he's the foremost expert on the Dwemer, aside from the court wizard in Markarth anyway, he's had an idea on how to locate the Staff. He mentioned a device that the mages of the Synod uncovered in Mzulft during their latest expedition. It's a Dwemer Oculory which can be focused to locate sources of magic according to the positions of the stars and planets and other heavenly objects. The Synod use it to uncover magical artifacts. We can use it to locate the Staff by searching for the signature that the Eye emits on the device. Since the Staff is intrinsically linked to the Eye, the signature should be the same and we should be able to pinpoint it among any other objects of power."

"You know how this thing works?" Aeyrin scowled at him. Darren didn't seem like someone who could operate a complex Dwemer mechanism. He was just an apprentice, after all.

"The mages of the Synod do," Darren gritted his teeth a little at that for some unknown reason.

"And the Synod is…?" Bishop asked as he still tried to make sense of everything.

"Oh, I know that one!" Aeyrin beamed. "They're one of the factions from Cyrodiil that formed after the Mages Guild had dissolved."

"An oversimplification, but… generally, yes," Darren snorted.

"How do you even know that the Staff is in Skyrim?" Bishop scowled. What if it was in another province altogether – like the Summerset Isles? It sounded like something that the Thalmor would snatch for themselves. Or… it could have been on another continent even. For all they knew, it could be hidden in one of the planes of Oblivion, couldn't it? There was no telling where a thing like that would be.

"We don't. But… Aren was confident of that. He said that since the Eye was sealed here, that the Staff would likely be nearby," Darren nodded determinedly.

"Staff is a lot fucking easier to carry then a giant orb," Bishop scoffed at his reasoning.

"It's still sealed. The Augur had said so. No one took it with them for some personal artifact collection," Darren shook his head at Bishop. It was not as if they had any other plan anyway – this was their only lead now.

"Anyway… Tolfdir thought that… you two could come with me to the Oculory," Darren rolled his eyes with derision. "But I guess some meat-shields are an appropriate security measure."

"'Meat-shields', is it?" Bishop smirked at him. "What I'm wondering is why the fuck would we need you to get in our way. We'd be better off without having an incompetent little jackass like you tagging along. What are you here for anyway?"

"To ensure that you don't fuck things up," Darren scoffed.

"In what way?" Aeyrin scowled at him instantly. "Like… by summoning Daedra to menace innocent people? Or by trying to settle scores with anyone that insults us by magic duels? Yeah… I get why we would need your help to rein us in." He was supposed to be the voice of reason on their journey?! That was laughable.

Darren shot her a mean glare, but he didn't even try to dispute her. He clenched his fists firmly, but his voice was surprisingly resigned. "I am the only one whom the Psijic monk talks to. He promised help after we find a way to avert the disaster. We may need him. And I need to be there to explain things to the mages of Synod. Or are you willing to provide all the details or did you forget them already?"

The two of them threw him another glare in return but, this time, they didn't protest. He did have some insight into the situation. A lot more than they had expected, in fact. And the mages of the Synod might not have let them use the contraption without any proper explanation, which they were certainly not confident enough to give. And what if the mages in Mzulft were dead? If nothing else… Darren did have more knowledge about magic than the two of them. If any of them could figure out how to use the machine on their own, it was likely him.

"So the mages have cleared the Dwemer ruins? Because I've been into these ones before, and there's no way that you could survive that," Bishop narrowed his eyes at Darren. He really hoped that the mages made the place a little less… fatal. He'd seen that deathtrap take enough lives already.

"How should I know? They're inside, that's all the information that we have. They didn't specify how they got in when they explained their research and asked the College for supplies in their letter. Besides, that was months ago. They might be dead by now," Darren shrugged.

Hopefully that wasn't the case. Going into Dwemer ruins without proper preparation or a map was really stupid. But then again, letting the Eye overpower the mages was even worse. They had no choice in this.

An uncomfortable silence fell on all of them when Bishop and Aeyrin ran out of questions. Darren was at least tolerable when he was explaining the happenings, but even through that he was still his old obnoxious self. They really had no desire to deal with his moods and tantrums and he himself didn't look any more eager to be spending his time with the two of them.

This was already promising to be a long and arduous journey.