Author's Note: I feel the need to remind my readers that I also post this story on deviantART, and that dA usually gets chapters first because the file upload is more convenient for me. Nevertheless, I will continue to upload here until further notice.

"This was once the largest of all Nord settlements in Skyrim, before it was ruined by the elves in what is known as the Night of Tears," Tolfdir carefully explained as we crept through the ancient halls. "This event is very poorly-understood, which is why this opportunity is so exciting. Think of the discoveries about early civilizations just waiting in these halls!"

A Nord student beside this one seemed insulted by our presence. "These are my ancestors. We should leave the dead to their rest!"

J'zargo, ever excited, cared only for himself. "Do you think there is any treasure here? Something to make J'zargo a powerful wizard?"

"You have much to learn about power," this one remarked. "It comes from experience. Not from magic."

"What about the jewelry that could make me immortal?"

"This one is sure such a thing does not exist."

"That makes no sense. J'zargo will find one some day," he said, pushing ahead.

The tombs, unlike every other Ri'saad has seen, were untouched by any sort of being. No bandits had attempted to plunder the riches, and no vampires had made a feasting chamber of the place. This one knew better to say that this place was peaceful. The Draugr were surely waiting for us within. Tolfdir led us through one large chamber with walls held by scaffolding. Once we had reached the opposite side, near another hallway, he stopped us and gave us each orders.

He turned to this one first. "Ri'saad, I want you to assist one of our scholars, Arniel Gane. He would probably appreciate it if you could help him find more enchanted artifacts." This one nodded in compliance, and he turned to J'zargo. "You will try to make sure we're alone here. Look for tampering."

He shook his head. "J'zargo finds nothing but dust in these ruins."

J'zargo sulked down the hall while the others each went in their own directions to investigate. This one continued as well, knowing Gane was somewhere deeper in the complex. The crevices in the wall seemed to whisper in this one's direction, making for a far from comfortable environment. The spectral noise ushered this one further, until Arniel Gane appeared around a corner, hunched over a desk of documents and small artifacts.

"Excuse Ri'saad?"

"Hm?" He shot a quick look from his work before looking back down. "Oh. A student. There should be some things left to look at up ahead. Just don't touch anything. Old stuff breaks."

"All right, then. Thank you," this one replied. Ri'saad continued past the busy researcher until this one came across a room. It was rather small and unfurnished. This one steered clear of the burial urns, but nearly stepped on a small stone ring. Picking it up, Ri'saad noticed a faint glow of red, and pocketed it to show to Gane later. Looking back up and straight ahead, this one noticed a pedestal on the wall, holding a very strange amulet. This one quickly grabbed it from the wall. Iron bars slid from the floor, barring the exit to the room. Ri'saad was trapped.

"Karal'e?", a voice called from outside my room. "It's Delphine. There's a lot to tell you about. You busy?"

"Yeah. I'm writing," I replied as I crawled out of my bed. "Just give me a moment to get dressed."

"Oh, um... okay," she called back.

I found a robe on the bed stand. I grasped it and pulled it slowly over my shoulders before making my way to the door. I opened it. Delphine was tapping her foot.

"What's going on?"

"Rodryck and Lydia haven't come back. They should've been here by now,"

"That's weird," I said with weary eyes. "Probably bad news, too. They were on a bandit raid." We had found a note that hadn't been placed very visibly.

"We can go for backup in a moment. There's a lot more to tell you."

"Not going anywhere."

"All right. I've been thinking about who I work for. I'm sure you want an answer."

It had nearly slipped my mind. There was so much else to focus on. "Are you here to tell me who that is?"

"Well, yes," she said, as though preparing to explain. "I don't actually work for someone. Meranden and I are all that's left of them. The group was called the Blades."

"Wait, stop. You're telling me that you're all that's left, but you work for us now, too? So, what's the point of staying with this Blades thing?"

"I was about to explain that. The Blades were initially assembled to protect the last Dragonborn as his personal guard."

That would explain more than a few things.

"Who was the last Dragonborn?"

"We don't know. It was hundreds of years ago. All we know is that he lived at a place called Sky Haven Temple, with the rest of the Blades."

"So... you want us to find that place, right?"

"Not yet. We don't know where it is. There is a man who does. Esbern. He knows a lot about the last Dragonborn, but he's imprisoned in the Ratways in Riften."

It occurred to me that we might need the aid of the Thieves to reach him. Although I wanted them as allies, they skipped my mind when more important matters came up. It would also help if I didn't need to worry about being pick-pocketed. I needed – well, wanted – to wait for Ri'saad to return, and it would probably help to have Rodryck and Lydia back as well.

I stood in thought for a moment before replying. "This is sort of a long-term issue, and I'd rather have more of the team back first."

"Fair enough. It bothers me to wait, though."

"It's a part of the job. You need to get used to it."

"I guess so. Finally, I've found no reason to believe the Thalmor are responsible for resurrecting the dragons."

"All right, good," I said. We stood in my doorway awkwardly for a few moments. Then we heard a crash downstairs, and Meranden stumbled through the hall downstairs.

"Mr. Dragonborn!" he yelled as he tripped over a rogue sweet-roll, landing on his shoulder. "SHIT!", he shouted. "C-could you come down...?"

With a sigh, I went out into the upper balcony and walked downstairs to him. "You need to do a better job cleaning up. What is it?"

"Read this," he said, panting and clutching his shoulder.

I was pissed at first about the uncleanliness. However, the note brought news that shocked me even more than that. I pushed past Delphine towards the front door. "Get to the armory, both of you," I ordered.

"What happened?", Delphine asked.

"We need to get to the bandit camp. This is a ransom note. They've been captured."

Stuck in a Nord ruin. That is not how this one wanted to die. Frostbite spiders, skeevers and draugr do not make for good room mates. Thankfully, the sliding of metal against stone was loud enough for the others to hear, and Tolfdir appeared at the exit.

"We need to get you out of there!"

Really, now?

"What are we supposed to do?", Ri'saad said. This one turned around, back to where the amulet sat. The pedestal was beginning to glow and emanate some sort of magic. Tolfdir seemed to notice it, as well.

"Try hitting that with a spell!"

This one stood to face the pedestal head-on. Ri'saad held his hands up towards his chest. Flames began to brew within the palms of this one's hands, and were quickly expelled with a shot of the arm. The fire-bolt hit the pedestal, ceasing the magic effect, reopening the passageway. Then another exit revealed itself in the wall.

"Incredible!", Tolfdir spoke with awe. He continued quickly down the new passageway.

This one had a hard time keeping up without running. Eventually, Ri'saad gave up, and sped up to a jog before reaching him.

"This one is fine, by the way."

"Oh, I knew you were fine. I didn't need to ask. I think this leads somewhere."

"Really?", this one said, unable to care any less. Eventually, we reached a small chamber with an ancient desk in the center. Tolfdir inspected the sarcophagi in the walls of the chamber, seeming disappointed at the discovery. This one was ready to turn and leave him there when the old wizard froze in place. However, it wasn't that he had simply stopped moving; Time itself had frozen. A spectral figure appeared floating atop the desk.

"Listen now," the image said, seizing this one's attention. "On behalf of the Psijic Order, I must warn you of the events of the near future. Soon, you will make a decision that will cause great destruction. Your choice is unpreventable. However, you may still be able to interfere with the catastrophe. Go on, and prepare for these events, or you shall pay with your life."

The spirit vanished as soon as his message was finished. Tolfdir resumed moving about the room. He then turned to Ri'saad, and saw the empty expression on this one's face. "What's wrong?"

"A spirit spoke to me," this one replied. "He said he was from the Psijic Order. Warning about... this one's future choices, and some sort of disaster... that Ri'saad must prevent."

"The Psijic Order? That makes no sense. They disappeared hundreds of years ago."

"There is no mistaking what this one saw."

"It couldn't be. I wouldn't worry about it," he said.

"You do not worry much to begin with, do you?"

Before he could retort, this one heard the (by now) familiar bursting sound of tomb covers breaking from their seams. Three draugr challenged us with rusted axes and swords, their eyes glowing with eternal determination. Tolfdir was shocked, despite knowing of the threat. Ri'saad was somewhat relieved at the chance to toss more undead bodies to the floor. This one unsheathed his daggers, swiftly and fatally stabbing the two draugr facing me. Tolfdir, without a blade, shocked the third to a second date with death.

Giving Tolfdir a moment to catch his breath, this one inspected the caskets in the walls. Ri'saad pushed on the back panel, causing it to fall to the floor of another hallway. We were on our way in a moment's notice.

Thankfully, the draugr in Saarthal produced little challenge to us. It did not take too long to reach the giant iron door that usually guards the most important of the rooms in ancient Nord complexes. Opening the door, a task that once proved too difficult for this one, was rather easy after all of the practice and preparation. This next chamber glowed a strange teal color. We walked further in towards a balcony, catching sight of the light source. A giant orb inscribed in an ancient language floated within a rippling force-field in the center of the chamber, glowing and pulsating a bright ocean color. It seemed that this powerful mystery had a guardian as well, which awoke from its slumber to unsheathe a decaying battle-axe.

This one jumped down from the upper level to begin attacking the draugr guardian. However, this one found that this opponent was sapping magic from the orb's force-field, making it invulnerable. All this one could do is defend while Tolfdir tried to take down the barrier. This one's first move was to summon the Sabre cat as a distraction, but when the cat lunged at the draugr, he was deflected and launched into the wall. The fierce lion shrunk to a house cat, weakened, and scurried away behind a burial urn. The warrior charged toward Ri'saad with the axe ready to impale this one through the head. Ri'saad quickly conjured a war axe, blocking the attack inches from this one's nose.

Tolfdir tried every spell he could remember, while Ri'saad grew weaker with every new attempt. Finally, he drew a powerful lightning spell, which weakened the forcefield enough for Ri'saad to knock the draugr to the ground. As the enemy tried to get back on its feet, the house cat returned with a vengeance, growing back to the Sabre form and pinning it to the ground. The draugr was soon nothing but a pile of ancient bone and flesh. Tolfdir was impressed at the display. Our unseen spectator on the upper balcony, however, stood agape with awe.

"That was... awesome!", J'zargo exclaimed. "How did you...?"

"Lots of practice," Ri'saad advised, not a breath taken from the fight. The Sabre cat sat at this one's feet. Ri'saad then tossed the conjured war axe across the room. "Fetch, boy!" He jumped and caught it in mid-air.

Never gets old.