The campus buzzed with excitement. Students flocked the Hall of Elements in waves so violent that new restrictions and time limits had to be put in place. Everyone wanted to see the orb. Tolfdir, along with Savos Aren and the other professors, discovered it was in fact the Eye of Magnus.

Onmund lounged in the library, which was more crowded these days than usual. To Urag's displeasure, it was the best spot to wait for a turn to view the archaic device. The orc stood sentinel over at his desk, arms crossed and eyes daring the loitering students to give him an excuse to kick them out. Onmund glared back, still upset that the orc had confiscated the books without sharing his own insights. The only acknowledgment was the gruff promise, "I'll look these over and tell Mirabelle if I find anything relevant." Even though Lili had all the information stored in her head, they too had to wait their turn to mess with the Eye.

Bre and J'zargo lingered nearby, the former trying her best to peruse the bookshelves, the latter uncomfortably sitting beside the ice mage scratching at his spots of shaven fur. He bristled as the door opened, which sent a breeze over the bald patches, and pulled up his hood to defend against the chill.

Lili closed the door behind her and walked up to the group, a smug smile on her golden face. Onmund did his best not to be jealous that she'd squeezed into the group ahead of him.

"Have they figured anything out?" he finally asked, brimming with curiosity.

"No more than when it first got here," she admitted, her smile falling into her usual flat line. "They are beginning to expect something is missing. Perhaps a tool for activating it."

"Like a lever?"

"Possibly." She pulled the book lying in front of him towards herself and skimmed its contents. "Brief History of the Empire," she read. "Must be fascinating."

"I put that in front of me to keep Urag off my back." Onmund remarked.

"There has to be better way for us to study the orb than this," she muttered, running a hand through her long hair.

Before they could continue their complaints, Tolfdir appeared in the doorway, sending a breeze that tore through the pages of the various opened books. Knowing what the old professor was about to say, Onmund shot up immediately and began packing his bag.

XXX

Lili sat in her room reading one of her alteration books. It was late, but with the excitement of the orb the past few days she couldn't afford to fall behind on her studies. She was only a week ahead of the professor's lesson, after all. Hunched by her candle, the soft light and late hour soon got the best of her and she began to nod off. The sleep was quickly ended by a rapping on her door.

Jolting upright, Lili felt the wave of panic subside and rubbed the tiredness from her eyes. Placing her marker in the textbook, she pushed her chair back and called for the knocker to come in. She felt her heart sink slightly when it wasn't Onmund.

Rennis approached her, twitchy and catlike. He hadn't slept well in weeks. His white hair was greasy and sticking in all directions, and ink stains covered his pale hands. But despite his exhausted and delirious state, the Breton's eyes were still wild. Lili felt a twinge of guilt for not watching over him more like she'd promised Nirya. But with everything going on, she couldn't find the time to be the older student's babysitter.

"Rennis," she tried anyway, "It's late. You really should go get some sleep."

"Lili I've figured it out," he announced, rambling about his own studying and calculations of the Eye. He rubbed the ink stains on his hands, smearing them up is arms.

Lili could not follow the man's logic. "Rennis, you're making yourself sick," she asserted, standing up to face him. At full height, she towered a good foot and a half above the small man. Feeling as if she was scolding a child, she again ordered, "Go to bed."

"Lili—you're not hearing me!" Rennis exasperated, though still keeping his voice down. "The Eye's power—my understanding on how to unlock it, the ability to harness it! But I need your help! Will you help me? All we have to do is sneak down to the Hall of Elements and knock out the guards. Then I can begin my work! Lili we could become gods!" Lili stepped back, her heart beating nervously.

"That's it," she said, "I'm getting Ervine. You need to be subdued. For your safety and other's." She tried to walk past the man but he grabbed her arm, his grip tight and cold. "Let go," she ordered, "or I will call for help." That was an understatement, for she was prepared to lob a fireball at his head.

After a tense moment, Rennis released her arm and his face relaxed. "You're right, Lili," he laughed, sounding a bit like his former self. "I've stayed up way too long. I'm not even thinking straight anymore!" He laughed and ran his hands through his filthy hair. "If I want to study the Eye of Magnus at my best, I'll need something to tranquilize my nerves. My brain feels like it flying! Do you have anything potions that will help it slow down?"

"I don't really carry potions on me," Lili answered, feeling like she was suddenly dealing in skooma. "But I've got some narcotic ingredients, for restless nights." She went to her bed stand and rummaged through the drawer. "Here's a deathbell, it'll definitely knock you out. Just be careful not to consume too much, as it is poisonous in large doses."

"Excellent," Rennis said over the instructions, snatching the dangerous plant away. "What about something that will paralyze?"

Lili hesitated, moving her hand to shut the door. "Why would you want something like that?" she asked. "I don't think combining deathbells with paralysis ingredients would be a good idea—,"

"You've seen how crazy I am first hand!" Rennis argued, waving his hands around like a mad man. "If I wake up too early, who knows what I'll do! I need something to keep me put."

Reluctantly, Lili pulled out an imp stool. "Be very careful with this, Rennis," she ordered, handing him the dried mushroom. "It paralyzes, but it also can poison. If you mix too much with the deathbell, you could make yourself very sick."

Rennis pocketed the ingredient with an ecstatic smile. "Oh, I will be very careful. This potion is just what I need." He ran over and gave Lili hug, nearly jumping into her arms. "Thank you so much for your help, you're a true friend! Nirya is lucky to have a bestie like you!"

"Nirya is not my best friend," Lili replied awkwardly. Though she was still on edge, Rennis's words made her happy. She was being a good friend, and she was being included. Relied on, even. Prying the Breton from her limbs, she gave him an awkward pat on the shoulder and sent him on his way. She watched him as he left to make sure he returned to his bedroom. Once his did, she returned to hers.

Lying in bed for a while, she mulled the exchange over in her head. She knew she did the nice thing, but she couldn't help feeling it was right. Jolting upright, she realized she'd been played for a fool. Rennis wasn't looking to knock himself out for a good night's sleep. He was going to knock out the mages guarding the Eye. He was endangering not only himself, but the entire college. And she had helped him.

Cursing herself, friends, and emotions, she tore out of bed and screamed for help, waking all the students in the Hall of Attainment in the process. Onmund and Nirya were the first out of their rooms. Lili didn't wait to explain what was wrong, but ran to Rennis's room, praying to the divines he was still there. The room was dark. He was already gone.

"What wrong?" Onmund asked, panting and clad in sleep clothes.

"Is Rennis okay?" Nirya demanded, saddling up beside the two other adepts. "She looked into the Breton's empty room and nervously asked where he was.

"The Hall of Elements," Lili responded. "He is going to activate the Eye."

XXX

Bursting into the hall from the night snowstorm outside, Lili, Onmund, Nirya, and several professors they called for help ran into the Eye's chambers.

"Students, please!" Ervine ordered over her shoulder. "You'll only get into the way!"

"Don't hurt him!" Nirya cried. "He doesn't understand what he's doing!"

"Better him than the whole college," Arniel growled, bearing his conjuring staff. "That white haired bastard is going to ruin all my hard research."

Two guards lay unconscious on the ground outside the Eye's chamber. Professor Marence ran to them and began checking their vitals. Lili's face burnt in shame. It was her fault Rennis made it past them. But as crazy as he was, perhaps he would've tried something more dangerous than a drug if she'd refused to give him the ingredients. While they were being tended to, Headmistress Ervine approached the entrance and halted, putting a hand out to stop the group behind.

Over the short woman's shoulder, Lili saw the light emitted was more powerful than in Saarthal. And something about the Eye was different. Instead of being a perfect sphere, the runes on the sides had opened allowing blue electricity to pour out, sparking across the tiles and up the pillars of the hall. The power flowing from the orb made Lili's skin crawl and she felt herself brace in fear, as did her companions beside her. In the center of it all stood Rennis, enveloped in chaos.

"Back away from the Eye, Rennis!" Ervine ordered. But the headmistress did not make any move to advance or stop the crazy adept. The woman was frozen in fear.

"Can't you see it?" Rennis called turning around. His eyes were whiter than his hair. Nirya called for him to stop, tried to push past the wall of mages, but her efforts were in vain. "Can't you see—everything?" He threw his arms outward, sending a blue shockwave across the floor. Several protection wards went up, blocking the surge.

The Eye spun with the movement, whirring so loudly that Lili and Onmund dropped their wards to cover their ears. Ervine, being at the front of the line, stumbled under the force and fell to the ground. Then one by one they began to collapse. It felt like the Eye was in Lili's mind, like electricity crawling under her flesh. Her cells tried to process the new energy, tried to soak in its magicka, but even a bloodline mage as herself couldn't consume so much raw power. She collapsed to the ground with the others.

Staring at Rennis from the floor, feeling like her skull would crack in two, Lili watched as the Breton turned back towards the orb, his silhouette shifting as if he existed in every movement, every moment, at once. Suddenly, his body lifted up and began seize. Light poured from his orifices. His rambles turned into screams, sounds that changed between agony and pleasure. Patches of his skin crumbled away, letting light pour out of the open wounds. His screams died away with his dissolving body, leaving a blinding light the shape of a human body.

Everything in the room began to shake, and Lili felt the pressure lift from her being. Pushing herself up, she stumbled away from the light and Eye. "Everyone, get out!" Ervine shouted over the whirring and electric chaos. Nirya complied, though still bawling, and the professors grabbed the bodies of the unconscious guards.

Onmund lay on his side, his body shaking. It seemed the Bretons and elves had recovered from the magicka surge, but the nord had not. His small magicka pool was not enough to absorb the Eye's power. It was destroying him. Pulling him up, Lili draped his arm around her shoulder and hobbled out of the room. Each step demanded all her strength, as the Eye's magnetic spinning threatened to pull her back.

"Hurry," Ervine ordered, her voice barely distinguishable. "I can feel it—it's about to explode!" Lili could feel it too, the power the electricity—it was all welling up inside of Rennis, or what was left of him.

Suddenly, the tower door flew open revealing Savos Aren on the other side. The arch mage strolled past the group and whipped out his staff. His red eyes were slits against his dark face. The electric force buffeted him, and only for a moment did he stumble back. But the accomplished dark elf was able to hold his own in the face of the Eye.

Pushing forward, he raised his staff and shot a ward into the air, separating Rennis's essence from the Eye's power. The ward crumbled as soon as it was up, but he did yield. Swishing his staff again and again, his wards began to break the hold the Eye had over the adept's being. Lili watched in awe as the light began to fade. The electrical tendrils withdrew back into the Eye and the floating pieces closed back together, making it an orb once more. The light form of Rennis, however, did not fade. Instead it began to swell in brightness until the human shape was no longer visible.

It was a mixture of Rennis's essence and the power of the orb. He was a ball of cobalt blue light. Besides a gentle hum and swirling power, he was now still. Lili felt the chaos ebb away, but still sensed the presence of great power.

With the danger gone, Ervine moved to the arch mage's side. Nirya ran past them in a flurry of tears, screaming Rennis's name. She stopped short in the face of the blue light. "What happened to him?" she cried, crumbling to the ground.

As curious as Lili was, Onmund was still unconscious on her arm. The Eye's power did a number on his body, and though he was no longer shaking, his breath was very shallow. "Professor Marence!" Lili called to the restoration expert, Laying Onmund gently on the ground. "He hasn't recovered from that force we felt earlier!"

Flinching, the small, quirky woman scampered over to the adepts, healing hands already flaring in her palms. "The magic must have overwhelmed him," Lili explained, glancing between the Eye and her hurt friend.

"I'm not sure what I can do to help that, but perhaps if we gave him a boosting potion he'll be able to process the energy more," Marence prattled, uncapping said blue bottle from her pouch. As she poured the syrupy liquid down Onmund's throat, the nord began to visibly perk up. Opening his eyes with a deep breath, he looked around the room in confusion. Though awake, his gaze was somewhat vacant.

"Onmund," Lili asked, giving his shoulder a nervous squeeze. "Can you hear me?"

He murmured incoherently and then winced as he tried to sit up. "No, no, no!" Marence scolded, pushing him back down. "You need to stay still. Your body underwent a real doozy from that power blast, and though I'm an expert in restoration, I don't know what kind of stress you're going through."

Looking back at the scene, Lili watched Savos Aren approach the essence that was once Rennis. He reached his dark hand into the light and gingerly drew it back.

"Arch Mage!" Ervine gasped, recoiling from the orb.

"Do not be alarmed, Maribelle," Savos said softly. "He can do no harm now."

"He?" Ervine asked, her brow furrowing. "So you mean this essence, is still Rennis?"

"Rennis?" Nirya yelped, her sobs subsiding. "He's still here?" She looked at the ball of light then at the arch mage. "He looked like a man before, and then you interfered? What did you do to him?"

As Ervine hushed the younger woman's unruliness, Savos Aren replied sadly, "I saved his life, Miss Nirya. The orb was consuming him, but I stopped its pull. Unfortunately, I was too late to save his entire being. This is all that is left. Perhaps if I would have been come to directly," he shot a look at the headmistress, "this fate could have been avoided."

"Arch Mage, there was no time!" Ervine defended herself, though with a tone of guilt.

"We will discuss this later, Mirabelle," Savos interjected curtly. "As for Master Rennis, he has become quite the anomaly. I am not sure there's a way to ever recover what he once was."

"Can he," Nirya hiccupped, "Can he hear us? Can I talk to him?" Savos smiled ruefully, and gestured for the young altmer to try.

"Rennis?" she begged, attempting to stand. She reached her hand toward the blue light, but withdrew it hesitantly. "Can you hear me? It's Nirya. Rennis?" After a moment of silence, the blue light swirled. From the swirling came the echo of a voice.

"I—I am Rennis no longer," the ball of light whispered, somewhat unsurely. "I am more than him, but also less." The light pulsed with each word, and the voice was only a shadow of Rennis's. Like the orb said, there was something more, or something less now. Either way, the Rennis they had known was gone.

Nirya collapsed again, dissolving into tears. But her cries received no sympathy. Instead, the Arch Mage turned his attention to the orb, a curious expression on his face. "What are you?" he asked. "What do you feel?"

"I know, but cannot see. Images, flashes, feelings. The past, the present, the future—they are like dreams. The more I concentrate on one, the harder it is to see the others. But one thing I know is the will. The will of the divines. I cannot touch them, I cannot see them. But I can feel them. I am—I am the Augur of Dunlain."

"The Augur of Dunlain," Savos laughed, though the sound was empty. "A bit of Rennis's pride still lives in there. His memories as well." The orb did not respond to this statement.

"Arch Mage," Ervine whispered, grabbing the dark elf's arm with urgency. "What do we do about this? The college can't afford another incident. They'll close us down for sure!"

"The young man did this to himself," Savos explained. "He was zealous and uncontrollable. This is his doing, not the college's. As sad as Rennis's fate is, we cannot offer him any sympathy."

"How can you say that?" Nirya yelled, rage carrying her upward. Two small novice flames danced in her palms. "You brought that damn Eye here, you endangered us all!" She gestured around the room. "I could, I could kill you!" Savos watched her sadly, unmoved by the threat. Eventually her rage subsided into more tears.

"Headmistress," Savos said, turning towards Ervine, "The Eye is off limits until we sort this all out. After tonight, I do not think it is safe to interact with. As for our Augur here, we must study what he has become, figure out what he knows, and try to find a way to reverse his state." He added the last part with a sad glance at Nirya. "If it's possible to move him, I think he will be the safest in the Midden."

Onmund blinked hard and shifted his head in the professor's lap. Glancing at Lili, she sighed in relief as his eyes began to refocus. "What happened?" he asked softly.

Lili looked towards the swirling ball of light, The Augur of Dunlain. The all-knowing power that was once their peer. He'd sacrificed life and freedom to get a taste of godhood. Some pursuits of magick were not worth the cost. She looked from the hysterical Nirya on the floor, to the mystified eyes of the arch made and headmistress.

"Rennis is gone," she finally answered, "and the Eye isn't safe."