They then pushed the doors open and went on through. They came into a large, multi-level chamber where there were beams of energy being projected onto a platform above them. Up on the platform stood a glowing bubble where the energy was being projected. Upon seeing the strange sight, Onmund exclaimed, "What is that?"
"Let's have a closer look," Danielle urged, and Onmund followed her up the steps to the platform above.
As they climbed up onto the platform, they could see that there was something inside of it. As they drew closer to the bubble, they saw that the thing inside of it was actually a living being! Onmund and Danielle let out a gasp as they examined the being trapped inside of the bubble. It was very tall and wore some kind of long and flowy, black robes. Its arms and legs were stick-thin and grotesque-looking, but the face was especially so, with great, round eyes that appeared to be closed and a thin mouth set as straight as an arrow. The face was so hard and emotionless in its appearance that Onmund thought it might be wearing a mask. The being appeared frozen in place, its stick-like arms outstretched, with one hand carrying a staff and the other in an open-palm position like it was channeling a spell. Suddenly, a realization flooded him and his face became white. He put one hand on Danielle's shoulder and another over his heart to steady himself, sputtering, "By the Nine, that's a Dragon Priest!"
Danielle looked up at him with a puzzled expression. "Dragon Priest?" she questioned.
"Servants of dragons," he explained darkly. "They are some of the most powerful wizards in all of Skyrim."
"Why is he in that bubble?" she asked.
Onmund looked and saw that the beams of energy flowing into the bubble were coming from the platform above. There were two of these beams, and he followed the source of them with his eyes up to two strange-looking apparitions sitting up on the higher platform. They appeared to be the spirits of mages, and the beams were shooting out of their hands down onto the Dragon Priest. "I think…those spirits up there are trapping him in a ward, it seems. But why?"
Suddenly, Danielle gasped. "Onmund! Do you see that…staff he's holding?"
Onmund looked at the staff that the Dragon Priest held, having noticed it before, and was puzzled as to why she had brought his attention it. "Yes, but what about it?" he questioned. Before she could respond, though, he began to notice something. As he squinted and examined the staff more closely, he saw that the tip of it had a very familiar-looking design. It matched the design on the Eye of Magnus. He gasped and jerked back. "That must be…that must be the staff we're looking for! The Staff of Magnus!" he exclaimed excitedly.
"It's got to be!" Danielle exclaimed, looking up at him anxiously, and he wondered if she was wondering the same thing he was- namely, how they were going to get at the staff. They would have to get through the powerful ward somehow.
Onmund channeled his Lightning Bolt and unleashed it upon the ward. It had no effect, though, as it simply absorbed all of the lightning. Danielle then tried casting Flames upon it, but that had no effect either.
"Damnit," Onmund cursed. "We can't break that ward. Those mage spirits up there are casting it continuously, anyway. We'll have to…somehow stop them…" He looked up, and Danielle followed his eyes to the upper platform where the two mage spirits were. He then said to her, "Follow me."
She followed him up the set of steps to the upper platform. They looked on in bewilderment as they came upon the spirit. It just stood there at the edge of the platform, arms raised forward and casting the ward continuously. It didn't even seem to acknowledge Onmund and Danielle as they approached this wonder.
"I wonder who he is," Danielle whispered.
"Or who he was…" Onmund quipped.
Just then, the two mages jumped as the spirit, without turning to look at them, spoke the words, "Must…stop…Morokei…"
"Must stop Morokei?" Onmund questioned, puzzled. He then shouted to the spirit, "Hey…can you hear us?" He waved his hand at it, but the spirit did not seem to acknowledge their presence.
"Must…stop…Morokei…" the mage repeated, never once pausing from his casting.
Onmund looked at Danielle and they exchanged puzzled looks. They walked over to the other end of the platform, where another mage spirit stood at the edge, casting its ward nonstop towards the Dragon Priest below. This one seemed just as occupied and unresponsive as the first one was.
"Must…stop…Morokei…" this one chanted, as well.
"Morokei must be what that Dragon Priest is called," Onmund concluded. "But why are they shielding him?"
"Maybe they're…imprisoning him," Danielle piped up. "Because of his power."
With a sinking feeling, Onmund knew that she was right. The Dragon Priests were not exactly friendly to mankind, as their masters, the dragons, most definitely were not. He now realized what this meant. In order to get the Staff of Magnus- what they came here for, they would have to fight and defeat Morokei, and that was going to be a very formidable task. And in order to defeat Morokei, they would have to release him from his prison, which meant that they were going to have to stop these mage spirits from casting their wards, somehow. Talking to them didn't help. So they only had one choice left. "Danielle, you stay here," Onmund instructed. "I'm going back to the other spirit, and on the count of three, we're going to destroy them in order to disable the ward. Things are going to start happening pretty quickly, though, so get ready for a long and tough battle once Morokei is released."
Danielle nodded gravely. Onmund then left her with the mage spirit there and went back to the other spirit. He stood behind it and readied his Lightning Bolt. He looked back over at Danielle and shouted, "Ready?"
He saw her nod again, and he found his mind flooded with many thoughts. I'm sorry, mages. We are going to let this malignant spirit free so that we can defeat him. We must defeat him! Because if we don't…he gulped, wondering about the unthinkable alternative, Winterhold and all of Skyrim will be doomed. Thus…this is for victory! For Winterhold. For Skyrim! He counted, "One, two, three!" He let go of his spell and the lightning burst forth from his hands, striking the spirit. It completely pulverized. At the same time, Danielle annihilated the other spirit with her fire spell, and the ward was broken.
Down below, he saw the bubble around the Dragon Priest, Morokei, disappear. He saw the wizard begin to move, awakening from his long slumber. Onmund gulped. This is it, he thought solemnly. He stood there on the edge of the platform, not sure if he should move or if Morokei had noticed him and Danielle yet. But the Dragon Priest looked right up at the upper platform at them, and they heard him speak in the same ghostly voice they had been hearing all along, "You have freed me and unleashed my power. Now it shall be poured out upon you…" Morokei then began glowing and electricity surged throughout his ghostly body. He glowed brighter and brighter until the sparks exploded from him, flying out all over the room. Onmund's nerves seared with pain as the sparks went through him and he doubled over.
Morokei let out a low, even cackle as Onmund thought, This isn't starting out very well…He slowly got up and tried to fire out a lightning spell but all of the magicka had been drained out of him. He ducked as a bolt of lightning came flying up at him and missed. The ledge that he was standing on jutted out from the upper platform and served as a barrier between him and the wizard below. As long as he stayed low, he was out of the way of his attacks. He wondered how Danielle was faring, but he couldn't see her from his vantage point as he quickly crawled over to a stone pillar nearby and sat behind it, struggling to get a magicka replenishing potion out of his satchel.
"Savos Aren or not I shall destroy you!" came the ghostly voice of the wizard.
Onmund pulled out the blue bottle, quickly uncapped it and drank it, feeling the magicka return to him. He then turned around and stood up, looking over the pillar and declaring, "This is the part where you die!" He then reached out with his arm and shot forth his Lightning Bolt, striking Morokei.
The wizard was momentarily stunned, and he saw a fireball fly down at him, as well, burning him. Yeah! Danielle and I can take him! he thought happily.
"Childish humans! You have yet to witness my full power!" the Dragon Priest exclaimed, and Onmund heard a sound behind him. He turned around and saw something materialize out of a purplish mist. It was a Storm Atronach.
"Yeagh!" Onmund shrieked and nearly fell off the ledge he was standing on.
The Storm Atronach came towards him and shot out a Lightning Bolt, which he blocked with a ward.
"Onmund!" he heard Danielle cry as she ran towards them and started hurling Firebolts at the atronach. "Hyagh!" The atronach turned and shot a Lightning Bolt towards her, which she blocked with her ward before continuing to fire at it with Flames.
Onmund took the opportunity to unleash Frostbite on the atronach, as shock spells were no good on it. But his frost spells were very weak since he hadn't practiced with them very much, and the Storm Atronach kept on attacking Danielle, casting a continuous stream of Sparks at her. She still had her ward up and was casting Flames back at the atronach but before long, her ward shattered and she made a run for it. Onmund leaped forward and continued the steady flow of frost from his hands, hoping to grab its attention away from her.
The atronach turned back towards him and attacked him with lightning as he warded again, but his ward shattered after only a short while. He stood, prepared to feel the sting of electricity again when Danielle shot a large fireball at it and it burned up, disintegrating into ashes. She ran up to him.
"Get down!" Onmund cried and grabbed her by the shoulders and they both fell to the floor just as a Lightning Bolt flew up from below.
"You will pay for defying me!" Morokei's voice rose up from below.
Just then, another spray of sparks flew up and hit both him and Danielle, and they cried out in pain as the volts of electricity stung every nerve in their bodies. Danielle got up on her knees and scrambled to get another magicka-replenishing potion out of her satchel. She pulled out two of them and immediately handed one to Onmund, and they both drank. "Get behind the pillar here," he instructed, pointing to the pillar next to them. "We'll both attack him from up here, but watch out for his Lightning Bolts."
Danielle nodded and went up to the pillar, crouching low behind it, while Onmund crawled over to the one on the other side of the thin ledge and hid behind it. He then proceeded to demonstrate his strategy as he stood up from behind the pillar, quickly firing off his lightning spell down to Morokei below, striking him. He then quickly crouched back down behind the pillar.
Danielle followed suit and fired off her Firebolt, but it took a lot longer for her because she had to aim. One advantage of shock spells was that they required very little aim, if any at all, since the lightning honed in on its target automatically. But fire spells definitely did more damage. Danielle ducked just in time for Morokei's Lightning Bolt to fly over her head and strike the ceiling, and then she crouched back down behind the pillar.
"We can get him like this!" Onmund explained. "And we can avoid his attacks this way." He then stood up to fire off another quick Lightning Bolt when he noticed that Morokei wasn't in the same spot that he was in before. "Huh?" he questioned, scanning the floor below. "Where did he go?" He slowly got out from behind the pillar to get a closer look.
Danielle slowly got up, too, and followed him. They both stood, ready to fire their spells below, but the Dragon Priest was nowhere to be seen.
"Three can play this game," they heard the ghostly voice say. Suddenly, they saw Morokei float out from behind a tall pillar on the floor below and Onmund cried out, "There he is!" He and Danielle were about to unleash their spells on him but he was quicker. In a flash, Morokei outstretched his hand and cast Chain Lightning.
In the amount of time that it took for Onmund to blink, the powerful lightning bolt struck both him and then Danielle. "Aghhhh!" he screamed as his body felt like it was being ripped in two. He saw a bright flash of colors before he fell to his knees. He glanced up to see Danielle falling to her knees, as well, and he struggled to breathe. He heard another crack of thunder and he quickly pressed himself flat on the ground as another Lightning Bolt flew overhead. For a few seconds, he felt totally consumed by the burning pain throughout his whole body, but he managed to pull Danielle over to him and get both of them to crawl back over to the pillar that he was hiding behind before.
"Ohhh, it burns!" Danielle cried out. "Here. Let me…heal you…"
"No!" he protested weakly. "Heal yourself, first!"
She then lifted a shaky hand up and proceeded to cast a healing spell on herself. Onmund struggled to fight through the pain he was feeling and get up to a sitting position so that he could get a healing potion out of his bag. He saw Danielle finish her healing spell and begin crawling over to him. Just then, another spray of sparks flew up from down below and hit her, and she doubled back over, nearly falling on him.
"Danielle…forget about me…" Onmund spoke, gritting his teeth. "Kill the Dragon Priest. I will…recover."
"Are you sure?" she questioned worriedly, not leaving his side.
"Yes!" he urged. "I…won't get hit as long as I…stay low."
She gave him a torn look before getting up to deal with Morokei.
Onmund could feel the pain beginning to subside now. But his body was beginning to feel numb, starting with his legs. It took great effort to roll over onto his back and slowly sit up. He then struggled to pull open his satchel and his heart sank when he looked inside. Several of the bottles were broken and the bottom of the bag was all wet. All three of his healing potions and one of his magicka-restoring potions had broken, spilling the contents and rendering them useless. "Damnit!" he uttered and closed up his satchel in a fit. Right about now, he wished that he had taken the time to learn the Fast Healing spell that he had bought from Phinis. He had spent so much time working on his Destruction spells that he didn't have time to sit down and read the other spell tome. He looked over at Danielle, who was employing his strategy of hiding behind the pillar and only getting up to fire shots below at Morokei. His legs felt like rubber, and he slapped at them to force some feeling back into them. It wouldn't do to be completely immobilized, he knew, but the effects of the Chain Lightning on his body were deleterious, and he had to be healed, fast. He was worried, though, that if he had Danielle concentrate all of her magicka and time on healing him, then it would leave them very vulnerable to another devastating attack. He especially didn't want to give Morokei the opportunity to conjure another Storm Atronach. Just then, he remembered something that he had put away in the back of his memories. A very long time ago, when he was first being schooled in the arcane arts under Frodrig, he had learned a single Conjuration spell. Frodrig had taught him how to conjure up a Frost Atronach, an ability that he had used a few times when he underwent his tests down in Shriekwind Bastion. If he could conjure up one now, then perhaps it would buy them enough time to have Danielle heal him. But it's been so long…he thought, and he closed his eyes, trying to think back to the old incantations and the long-forgotten technique. He pictured Frodrig's old face, teaching him the art of Conjuration, and he tried to remember the words. Bits and pieces of it were slowly coming back to him, and with his eyes closed, he brought his hand up and began channeling his magicka. As he whispered what he remembered of the incantation out loud, he felt his hand become cold, as if he were casting a frost spell. He struggled to recall the full spell, to feel it. As the magicka built up within his hand, he opened his eyes and finished the spell in his mind. He then twisted his body around so that he could peek out from behind the pillar and he brought his hand up, carefully channeling the spell. Please let this work, he prayed. Please let this be right…He then aimed and unleashed the spell, and in that instant, something began to take form on the floor below. Morokei seemed to be taken by surprise as he looked to his left to see this strange phenomenon. The conjured shape took form, and to Onmund's joy, a Frost Atronach appeared! "Yes!" he exclaimed excitedly.
Danielle let out a gasp and she stopped casting. "Onmund, did you…?"
"It's been many years, but I can still conjure!" Onmund declared proudly.
They watched in amazement as the Frost Atronach attacked Morokei, and Morokei tried to strike back with his lightning. Onmund quickly remembered the pressing need at hand. "Danielle," he said urgently to his friend. "I need you to heal me. I…I'm slowly losing feeling in my body!"
"Oh! Right away!" Danielle cried, and immediately hurried over to him. She crouched down next to him and quickly removed her gloves. She put one hand on his forehead and the other right over his heart. As her eyes met his, he gazed at her with her face merely inches from his and he felt his heart begin to flutter. He saw her cheeks turn slightly pink and she blinked quickly and looked downward, closing her eyes to speak the incantation. Her hands began to glow white, and Onmund felt a very peculiar sensation overtake him. It was as if the very spirits of the gods began to flow through him, and he breathed in deeply, feeling lightheaded. For just an instant, he shut his eyes and an image of a cool, sparkling stream flashed in his mind and he even felt as if he could taste the clear waters upon his lips. He opened his eyes and gazed at the woman before him, and he thought, She is so beautiful. Why haven't I ever told her this? She looks so beautiful sitting before me, doing her work as a healer.
She finished her spell, and the light from her hands faded. Before she could take her hand off of his heart, he placed his hand over hers and she looked up at him in surprise. "A-are you…better?" she stammered nervously.
Onmund nodded, not taking his eyes off of hers. He opened his mouth to speak- to tell her how beautiful she was to him when all of a sudden they heard an explosion, like glass shattering. They both gave a start and Danielle immediately stood up. "Your Frost Atronach!" she cried. "It's destroyed!"
Onmund stood up quickly, as well, and looked down at the floor below. His atronach was gone, and Morokei was still alive. However, he was doubled over, as if he had taken a pretty beating. A well of hope began to rise within Onmund. "He's…he's pretty much done for!" he proclaimed. "Come on. Now's the time to get him!" Danielle followed him to the edge of the thin ledge and they went all out, unleashing their most powerful spells on Morokei as the wizard faltered and became weaker and weaker.
Finally, the Dragon Priest looked up at them and yelled, "Nooo!" He reached up, grabbed a hold of his mask and pulled it off of his face. As Danielle cowered and Onmund recoiled at the sight of his hideous-looking face, he began disintegrating. The mages watched in awe as the Dragon Priest's body began slowly falling away in a black mist. The staff and mask that he was holding fell to the floor with a thud. There was nothing left of Morokei except a pile of black ashes.
"We did it!" Danielle cried, looking at Onmund in disbelief. "We killed him!"
"We did…we did kill him…" Onmund breathed. He was just as incredulous as she was.
Suddenly, her expression changed and she exclaimed, "The staff!"
Onmund now remembered. They both hurried back down the steps to the platform where the pile of ashes was. Danielle picked up the staff and held it triumphantly. Onmund bent down and picked up Morokei's mask. "This is a Dragon Priest mask," he declared. "No doubt it has all sorts of enchantments on it." He examined it in his hands.
"You can keep the mask," Danielle teased. "This is more important."
Onmund chuckled and looked at her. "Oh, I'm not doubting that in the least!" he responded. "Come on, let's go take that back to the College. We have no time to lose and we'll need to backtrack all the way through the ruin again!"
"I think…there may be another way out of here. Behind those platforms," she said, pointing to the platform that they had spent the battle on, "I thought I saw a door back there."
"Oh, then let's go see!"
Together, they made their way up to the platform again, and sure enough, there was a set of steps behind it that led down through another passage with wooden double doors at the end.
"Let's see where this leads," Danielle said, and they both went on through.
When they crossed the threshold, Danielle was suddenly overcome with emotion. "Onmund!" she cried. "I…I just had another vision again."
"What was it?" he asked her.
"Savos…" she started. "He stood here…alone. Those mages that we saw up on the high platform previously? Those were…Savos' friends. They…they all perished."
"What?!" he questioned. "What do you mean?"
"They sacrificed their lives to seal Morokei away within this tomb," she explained. "And Savos…he left here alone, sealing this place away vowing never to return."
Onmund looked down at the ground, letting the story sink in. "They…they couldn't defeat Morokei when they came in here, then. So they sealed him inside the ward, instead. It all makes sense now…"
"Poor Savos."
"Our College is just so full of secrets. So many stories of conquests and tragedies." He sighed and then looked at her. "Do you realize what this means? We are the only ones who could defeat Morokei! Savos and his friends couldn't. And who knows how many countless others have tried and failed? Danielle, you and I…we've accomplished an impressive feat!"
Danielle looked up at him and slowly nodded. "I don't know what to say. I guess Mirabelle and the Psijic monk were right to believe in us."
"And we've still got work to do. I'm going to need some energy, first, though." He then reached into his wet satchel and pulled out a bottle of stamina potion, one of the only potions that weren't damaged during the fight. "Want one, too?" he asked.
"I have one," she replied, and reached into her own satchel. She pulled the bottle out and together, they drank and instantly felt more energized.
"Let's go back and put a stop to Ancano's destruction!" Onmund proclaimed.
Danielle raised the Staff of Magnus up and declared, "For Winterhold!"
"For Winterhold," he echoed, and they continued onwards.