Carrying the lit torch through the darkness, Onmund led Danielle to the forsaken Nordic city of Bromjunaar, where Labyrinthian was. They got there by midnight. It was a sprawling structure of ice and stone, and Onmund knew that there was even more of it underground. There were many sets of steps leading up into the various monuments, and as they began heading up the way where Onmund thought the Labyrinthian ruin was, they saw some movement in the darkness ahead of them.
They immediately drew out their spells and Onmund held the torch out in front of him.
"Is that…?" Danielle started.
"Troll!" Onmund cried, and he and Danielle immediately unleashed their attacks.
Onmund's Lightning Bolt hit the Troll and then Danielle burned it with her Firebolt. This barrage of fire and lightning attacks was enough to take the creature down before it could even get close to them.
As they went up a set of steps higher up into the ruin, they encountered another Troll sneaking out from behind a pillar in the darkness. But the two apprentices made quick work of this one, as well.
Onmund stood next to Danielle and declared to her, "We do make a good team, don't we?"
Danielle smiled and said, "Naturally."
"I think the entrance is up here," he went on to say, pointing up another flight of stone steps.
When they ascended to the top, Danielle suddenly stopped and squeezed her eyes shut for a second. Onmund stopped and looked at her in concern, and then she opened them and looked at him in confusion. "I…I just had a vision!" she declared.
"You did?" Onmund questioned. "What did you see?"
"I saw…Savos Aren," she replied. "He was here before."
"Savos?" he asked in bewilderment.
"Yes…back when he was a student, I guess. I saw him with other student mages, all standing right here," she answered. "It all makes sense now, how he knew so much about the Staff of Magnus. But…if he was here before looking for the staff, why didn't he find it?"
"Well, I doubt it's just lying out in plain sight," he said. "We're going to have our work cut out for us in there."
"But if Savos couldn't find it…" she started.
"We just need to believe in ourselves," he encouraged. "Mirabelle believes in us, doesn't she?"
Danielle hesitated before saying, "I guess you're right. We must believe that we can find it."
"Come on, let's get inside the ruin and have a look around."
They walked up to a very large circular stone door and there didn't appear to be any obvious way to open it. Onmund looked at Danielle and asked, "Well, do you happen to have any ideas on how to open this door? There's not even a keyhole…"
Danielle thought for a little while and then pulled the Torc out of her pocket. Studying it for a second, she then said, "Maybe this can open it somehow." She looked back up at the door. There was a knob-looking thing in the middle of it and on the knob were two holes. As she inspected the knob more closely, her expression changed, as if she discovered something. She snapped her fingers. "Ah! I think I've got it." She then proceeded to put the Torc onto the knob and managed to thread the two open ends into the two holes. It fit perfectly, and when she squeezed it into place, there was a loud clicking sound. It was followed by a great groaning noise as the doors into the ruin started to open.
Onmund looked at Danielle in amazement and she smiled back triumphantly. As the doors opened wider, a strong, musty smell invaded his nostrils. As they gazed into the ruin, they could see nothing but darkness, even with his torch. He hesitated, expecting Danielle to lead the way on in as she had taken charge of things up to this point. But she didn't go in right away. He turned towards her and saw her shrink away in fear and hesitation as she stared at the blackness within. It reminded him of how she had looked when they were exploring Saarthal. She no longer looked like the fearless and determined mage he had witnessed in Mzulft. She looked like a little girl again- afraid and vulnerable. Onmund was so moved that without at first realizing what he was doing, he reached over with his right hand and took a hold of her gloved, left hand, engulfing her tiny fingers with his. The look of fear suddenly left her and she looked up at him in surprise. He looked back at her, giving her a soft, reassuring smile and her hand a light squeeze, as if wordlessly assuring her that she was going to be okay with her friend at her side. Her face transformed and a look of resolute determination took over and together, they entered the dark ruin.
Once they crossed over the threshold, the doors slammed shut behind them. It took them awhile for their eyes to adjust, but it turned out that the light from Onmund's torch was sufficient to see with in the ruin. Suddenly, Danielle jumped and let go of Onmund's hand. "There're bones everywhere!" she cried.
Onmund looked down at the floor and saw that she was right. The floor was strewn with human bones and skulls. "We'd better be on our guard," he said, channeling his spells into both of his hands. Danielle followed suit by readying her Firebolt spell. They trudged further into the ruin until they came to a steel-barred door and a lever to the side. Onmund pulled the lever and let Danielle go through the open door first. As soon as she crossed over, though, the bars came slamming down behind her. Onmund had to jump back to avoid getting crushed by them.
"Onmund!" Danielle cried, turning around and putting her hands on the bars.
Onmund reached over and tried pulling the lever again, but it wouldn't budge. Suddenly, he saw some movement behind Danielle and he yelled, "Danielle! Look out!"
She turned around and screamed. Onmund put his face up to the bars and squinted, and gasped when he saw that it was a dragon! And it was nothing but a skeleton. But somehow, it was alive and it was scuttling towards Danielle. She stood ready with her Firebolt spell and then the dragon opened its mouth to shout. Onmund quickly jumped out of the doorway to the side, dropping his torch, as fire came shooting out of its mouth. He then looked back anxiously and saw that Danielle was unharmed, much to his relief, having had put up her ward just in time. He tried pulling on the lever one more time but it still wasn't budging. He had no choice but to watch helplessly as Danielle fought the Skeletal Dragon all by herself. Suddenly, he saw some Skeletons coming to life all around the enclosed chamber, and he screamed, "Danielle! Around you!" He then did his best to hurl his Lightning Bolts at them through the bars, as well as at the dragon, taking care not to hit Danielle with them. "Danielle! Lure him this way!" he shouted at her.
As she tried to keep her distance from the dragon and hurled Firebolts at it, she made her way backwards closer to the doorway where Onmund was. She then quickly ran around to the side of it so that Onmund could get some good shots in with his Lightning Bolts. She turned around to burn a couple of Skeletons running towards her. As the dragon thrashed, its right wing bones grazed Danielle's side. She yelped in pain as she barely rolled out of the way. Crying out in anger, Onmund furiously and repeatedly zapped the dragon with lightning until he successfully took it down. He saw a couple more Skeletons run towards Danielle who was just trying to get up on her feet and he zapped them, as well. Onmund breathed a sigh of relief and shouted to Danielle, "Are you all right?" He saw Danielle slowly get up and nod her head. She then scrambled over to the doorway towards him. As she came close to him, he saw that there was blood on her side. "Danielle!" he cried worriedly. "You're hurt!"
"I'll be okay," she replied, breathing hard and appearing to be struggling with something on the other side of the door. "Stand back, Onmund! I think this lever here will open this up."
He then took a couple of steps back as she pulled the lever and then, the bars went up. He ran through the open doorway and saw her hugging the wall, doubled over and out of breath. "Onmund…" she uttered weakly.
"Danielle!" he gasped and bent in closer to her, ready to assist.
"I have a healing potion in my bag," she said quickly, struggling to get her satchel off of her shoulders.
Onmund helped her with the satchel, opening it up to find the potion. He pulled out the pink bottle and quickly uncapped it for her. "Here," he said gently and held it towards her.
"Thank you," she uttered and took it from his hand. She drank the whole thing. She put the bottle down and began trying to stand up. Onmund took the empty bottle from her and held her arms to help her. "How do you feel now?" he asked her.
"Better," she replied. She was still a little unsteady, but no longer seemed to be in pain. "Thanks for your help in that fight."
"I didn't know what to do," he declared, still holding onto her by the elbows. "I'm just glad that door wasn't solid."
She smiled at him and said, "Let's get going."
"How's your side?" he asked, craning his neck to see if the right side of her torso had healed.
"It's a little sore, but the wound has closed up," she answered.
"Good," he replied, and took his hands off of her arms. Her arms had felt so fragile, and Onmund randomly thought to himself, I must look so awkward as a mage; me, with my big arms and shoulders, walking around with a tiny, little Breton mage girl. What would my ancestors think?
As Danielle took the empty potion bottle back from Onmund and stowed it away in her satchel, he looked at her and concluded, It doesn't matter what anyone thinks. This is the life I chose and the company I chose to keep. I wouldn't have it any other way. And this girl…is the most important thing to me and I will protect her with my life. With that resolve, he led her through the bone-strewn chamber.
They continued on through narrower corridors, and the place began to remind them more of Saarthal. They came into a chamber and Onmund noticed an ice crystal growing right out of the ground in front of a door. "How odd," Onmund spoke and he and Danielle went closer to it to inspect it. Suddenly, a low, ghostly voice spoke from beyond the doorway, "Wo meyz wah dii vul junaar?"
Onmund felt a strong breeze overtake him and the lightning spell that he had readied in his hands grew dim. He looked at Danielle in surprise and she looked at him with the same expression. "What was that?" she questioned, noticing that her spells had weakened, as well. Whatever the voice was or where it came from, it had drained both of their magicka reserves! Just then, they saw something materialize right from the door. An apparition appeared in front of them, and it was carrying a ghostly axe. As it swung it towards them, they both dodged out of the way to the left and right. Now standing on both sides of the hostile spirit, Onmund and Danielle shot it with Sparks and Flames, which were not even their strongest spells but were all they could do with most of their magicka having been drained, but the spirit went down and disintegrated into a pile of ashes.
"Did you feel that voice?" Danielle asked. "It had the power to drain our magicka!"
Onmund nodded. "There's something definitely valuable in here. Or this place wouldn't be guarded so strongly." He then looked at the ice crystal on the door and said, "I guess this is the only way in."
Danielle nodded and proceeded to cast Flames on it, melting the ice. The door then opened and they went on through. This room had a series of walkways leading down to the lower floor, and as they carefully made their way down, they heard the ghostly voice again, "Nivahriin muz fent siiv nid aaz het."
As Onmund felt the magicka being drained from him again, he said, "It's the ancient language of the Nords. He said something about 'cowardly men,' but I can't translate the rest."
Danielle didn't reply and instead just gave him an uneasy look.
As they descended the walkways, they saw movement down below. Something was coming from the bottom and making its way up towards them. As it came closer, they saw that it was a Draugr! Onmund charged ahead and blasted it with the few Lightning Bolts that he had enough magicka for, killing it. Danielle ran and caught up to him and they looked down at the dead body. Onmund shook his head and said, "To think that this might be one of my ancestors. I hope never to suffer his fate after I'm put away in a tomb."
They moved on through a narrow tunnel, and as they neared the end, the ghostly voice spoke out to them, this time in a comprehensible tongue, "You do not answer… Must I use this guttural language of yours?"
Danielle shrank back. "Who in Oblivion is saying that?" she asked.
"I don't know," Onmund replied. "But if this being has the power to drain magicka, then I'm worried."
"Well, I have several Restore Magicka potions if we need them," she said.
"Good. I've got a few, as well. I have a feeling we're going to need them sooner rather than later."
The ruins continued to lead downward, and soon they had found themselves on the lowest level in a tunnel full of water. Fortunately, the water was only a few inches high. As they waded towards the end of the tunnel where there was a door at the end, they heard the ghostly voice yet again. This time it spoke, "Have you returned, Aren? My old friend?"
They both gasped at the mention of their Arch-Mage. "So it's true then," Danielle declared. "Savos was here before."
"And he made it this far," Onmund added. "I wonder when he and his group turned around."
"I…I don't think I want to know," she replied uncertainly.
"I don't think I do either," he agreed. Nor am I looking forward to finding the owner of this mysterious voice…
They opened the door and went on through. The ruins down here were even more broken down and ancient-looking, and immediately they heard noises. Danielle jumped and hid behind Onmund as they heard something closing in on them from around the corner ahead. Finally, a Draugr came into view and Danielle let out a scream. Onmund immediately blasted it with his lightning and it reeled back. With some courage, Danielle jumped out from behind him and threw a fireball at it, and it sent the Draugr flying back where it hit the wall behind it with great force and then it fell limp.
"Good shot!" Onmund marveled.
Danielle looked at him with a slight smile and declared, "I'm sorry if that was one of your ancestors."
He sighed and shrugged. "We have no choice but to defend ourselves. Besides, I doubt they are the same people they used to be in their undead state. So I wouldn't think too much about it. Just protect yourself, no matter what the cost."
They continued on, and the voice spoke again, "Do you seek to finish that which you could not?"
"As a matter of fact, we are," Onmund muttered, however doubting that the mysterious speaker actually heard him. In a way, we are avenging Savos' death.
Further on down in the ruin, they heard the voice mock them a second time, "You only face failure once more…"
"We must be getting close…" Danielle declared frightfully.
"I think so," Onmund agreed.
They came upon another large, open chamber with a narrow stone bridge in the middle. As they began crossing the bridge, Onmund heard something behind him and turned around to see a Draugr coming after him. "Hey!" he cried and shot it with Lightning Bolts. The Draugr stepped onto the bridge after him and swung its sword at him. Danielle cried out helplessly as he put up his ward just in time for the sword to hit it instead of him. With his other hand, he shot out his Sparks, stunning the Draugr. Just then, he heard a loud roar behind him and he looked over his shoulder to see a Troll heading right towards them from the other side of the bridge! "Danielle, behind you!" he warned. Danielle turned around and saw it, too, and with a gasp, stood her ground and tried to fend it off with her fire spells. After recovering from another strike of Onmund's lightning, the Draugr took a step forward and opened its jaws to utter, "Fus…"
Oh no…no, this isn't good! Onmund thought in a panic as he braced himself for the inevitable.
"…Ro DAH!" the Draugr finished the Thu'um which was accompanied by a powerful blast that seemed to burst his eardrums. The ward that he was holding the entire time shattered and he felt himself being thrown back against Danielle and the Troll as all three of them flew across the bridge to the other side, hitting the wall hard. But as fortune would have it, the Troll had hit the wall the hardest, which not only killed it but also served to cushion the blow for both him and Danielle, and they only suffered minor whiplash after bouncing off of the Troll's large body and falling to the floor. Onmund slowly picked himself off the floor, holding his neck tenderly, and looked up just in time to see the Draugr sprinting towards them. He quickly readied his Lightning Bolt and struck the Draugr with it, which blasted the Draugr clear off the bridge.
He turned over to Danielle and helped her up to her feet, and together they hurried over to the ledge where they looked down to the floor far below and saw that the Draugr was dead. The mages both heaved a sigh of relief and wordlessly exchanged triumphant looks before moving on. Onmund could feel the beginnings of tiredness in his bones, and he knew that he would require another stamina potion, soon, if they were to go much further.
They came upon another barred door with a lever to the side. Remembering what had happened the last time they had tried to go through a barred door together, he said to Danielle, "This time, as soon as I pull the lever, I'm making a run for it with you."
"All right," she replied, and they approached the door.
Suddenly, the same ghostly voice that they had heard throughout the ruin boomed, "You…You are not Aren, are you? Has he sent you in his place?"
They both stopped short. "That sounded close," Onmund commented. "I think we're just about there…wherever 'there' is."
Danielle wore a nervous look as she stood in front of the barred doors and Onmund stood in front of the lever. "Ready?" he asked her as he put his hands on the lever.
Danielle nodded.
Onmund began counting, "One. Two. Three!" He pulled the lever down and as soon as the bars retracted, he let go of it and sprinted through the doorway after Danielle, yelling the whole time. Both he and Danielle skidded to a stop and he looked behind him. The door was still open. He sighed and threw his hands up in defeat. "So much for rushing through," he quipped.
To Onmund's surprise, Danielle suddenly burst into giggles. He looked at her and questioned in a defensive tone, "What?"
Danielle grinned, her eyes sparkling, and replied, "You…"
Onmund felt his face turn red at first, but then he tried to imagine what he must've looked like making a mad dash through the open doorway and yelling like a maniac. He had been so frantic about it, as if his life had depended on it. He must've looked pretty silly, especially when it concluded so anticlimactically after he realized that the door was in no danger of closing on him. He started laughing. "I guess that was pretty silly of me," he admitted.
"I have never seen anyone run so fast before," she remarked. "You could've won a race!"
The two laughed on for about a full minute over the endeavor, enjoying this sudden injection of humor into their situation. Despite having been laughed at, Onmund didn't feel offended. He actually felt good. It was the first time he had ever felt this way in such a situation. And it was because Danielle wasn't cruel about it; it was as if she were part of the joke with him. He felt like they had shared a special moment- just the two of them. Little did he know that this would turn into an ongoing joke between them for a long time to come.
They came to another elemental door that was reminiscent of one of the first doors they had encountered in this ruin. This door had flames leaping up from the bottom of it, but it didn't appear that the door was being consumed by the fire. As they came closer, sure enough, the mocking voice spoke again, "Did he warn you that your own power would be your undoing? That it would only serve to strengthen me?"
"When we find you, we're gonna silence you for good!" Onmund yelled, finding his courage.
Just then, another apparition appeared to them from the door, and the two mages found their positions on either side of it, defeating it with their low-magicka spells. Once that threat was taken care of, Onmund recalled the Frostbite spell that he had re-learned in Mzulft and sent it forth through his hands towards the flames on the door. The flames abated and the door opened.
When they went on through, Danielle stopped in her tracks again as if she had had another vision.
"What is it, Danielle?" he asked her. "Did you see something again?"
"Yes, I did," she said solemnly. "Savos and his friends did make it this far. But…not all of them."
"Ooh," Onmund winced. "That's not good. What happened to them?"
"I don't know," she shrugged. "The Draugrs probably."
He nodded sadly. "Well, you and I have been faring pretty well against them. That's something, isn't it?"
"Yeah," she answered slowly. "We'd better be…very careful, though."
"Understood."
As they came to another door, the ghostly voice spoke to them one last time, saying, "Come. Face your end."
"We're not afraid of you!" Onmund yelled, shaking his fist.
However, little did the two mages know that the hardest battles had yet to come. As they journeyed on, they encountered a new type of undead creature- Spectral Draugrs. These were just like regular Draugrs except that they seemed to float and they looked transparent. The tunnels and chambers that followed were riddled with them, and it took some doing to take them all down.
Exhausted and feeling pretty beat-up, Onmund leaned his body up against the wall and said breathlessly, "I…was not expecting that."
"Me neither," Danielle replied just as breathlessly. She reached into her satchel and pulled out a green bottle of stamina potion.
"Good idea," he said and did the same.
After they had taken a dose of the potion, Onmund already began to feel like his energy was coming back to him. However, he still felt uneasy. "I'm beginning to not like where this is going. I mean, we just got by by the skin of our teeth back there!"
"I'm worried, too," she agreed. "But remember, the College needs our help. If we don't find that staff, we have no hope of stopping Ancano."
"Ancano…that cad!" he growled. "What makes him think he can away with this?!"
"He was interested in that Eye since the very beginning," she mused. "He knew that thing had great power. He wanted to take over the College- it was one more avenue for the Thalmor to further their agenda of dictatorship and hate!"
Onmund scowled and said, "Damn the Thalmor. Damn Ancano. We've got to stop him!"
With her lips set, Danielle narrowed her eyes and nodded. "We will," she proclaimed in a low voice. "We must find that staff."
"Then onwards!" he proclaimed boldly, and the two mages went on their way further down through the ruin. They didn't encounter anymore live Draugrs, but did have one scare. As they went down one corridor, they came to a closed door. Danielle reached up to open the iron door, and just as it swung open, a Draugr that was just behind it fell limp at her feet. She gave a yelp and jumped back, immediately clinging to Onmund's robes. He caught her small body and held her protectively against him for but a brief second before she let go of him and breathed a sigh of relief when she realized that it was dead.
"Gave you a scare, didn't it?" Onmund asked her good-naturedly.
She shook her head exasperatedly. "Oh, those Draugrs," she fumed. "I've had it with this place! I am not afraid anymore! Undead creatures or not, we are going to do whatever it takes to get that staff!"
Onmund looked at her in amazement. What a change from before! he observed with a touch of admiration, as he remembered that when they first came in here, she was as frightened and meek as a mouse. Now, she was a fearless mage again, as fiery as the spells that she wielded. He relished this side of her.
When they came upon a set of wooden double doors, Danielle stopped in her tracks and blinked. She then put a hand up and Onmund stopped, as well. "Hold on, Onmund," she urged. "This is it. This is the door that leads to…"
"The staff?" he inquired.
"I think so. The vision…it came back again. Right here, Savos and his fellow students stood, about to go in and face…face some kind of danger."
"Then…let's go and face it."
She nodded. "Be prepared to use everything we have learned thus far."
I just wanted to say again that I absolutely appreciate your reviews and support for this story. To M: I don't mind the questions, at all, so please, ask away! I am happy to indulge readers in understanding this story better or the thought process that went behind it. I am surprised myself at the scarcity of stories with Onmund in them as I've really begun to adore the character. I just hope that I am doing him justice!