"Ancano!"

Siulon's scream echoed off the stone walls of the Hall of the Elements, only muffled by the magic reverberating a few feet away forming a barrier. Mirabelle swore as she cast magic at it. Savos zapped at it with a spell of lightning while fire spewed from the blind dunmer's hands. Her magic was going haywire, whatever the Thalmor agent was doing behind the barrier with the Eye of Magnus was distorting her powers dramatically.

Ordinarily her proximity spell gave her an idea of what surrounded her, and the Eye had multiplied that power to a point in which it was almost far greater than natural vision without color. Now, all she saw were broken pieces within her mind, flashes of magic and shapes, painful and colored with emotions that melded together and shattered repeatedly. It was almost too great for her to bear, but she pushed through.

"Ancano!"

"We're never going to get through like this," Savos hissed, magic ceasing.

"We have to try!" Siulon shouted back, not giving up her magic just yet.

Mirabelle continued to cast, the twinkle of frost magic and a cold chill mixing with the electric air. "We should evacuate the students, in case things go bad," advised the Master Wizard. "Maybe even the whole town."

Savos grew still, and placed a hand on Siulon's shoulder. "My love, do you remember what we talked about?"

Her flames flickered out, dread overcoming her rage for the moment. She turned to him, eyes widening naturally. "No- That was if we were attacked!"

"Which we very well may be."

"My love…"

"Please, you must go. Take the students and head to the Labyrinth. I fear our only hope rests there," he pleaded.

Tears bubbled in blind eyes, horror clenching the pregnant mer's heart. Her heart ached at the thought, an unspoken truth between them. The likelihood of reuniting was slim if she fled. "I cannot just leave you…"

"Please," Savos repeated, voice cracking as he took her hands in his own. Spindly fingers held her trembling ones, rubbing her knuckles. "You promised."

Siulon gritted her teeth, and lowered her head. Before she could answer Mirabelle shouted in victory, an implosion of magic signalling the barrier had come down. Instantly Siulon's magic warped, the shattered pieces turning into vibrating waves, mixing together in nauseating patterns. It was a hundred times worse than before, up and down trading places and things she knew belonged down low became the sky. Her husband was a thousand stars, burning light and empty voids of Oblivion manifested. She wanted to scream. "I- I cannot… I cannot move." Her breath caught in her throat. "Savos- I-"

"Stay here," he ordered in a thick voice and led her to the wall so she could support herself. Cold stone was an uncaring aid, not the firm warmth of her husband she so loved. "Please."

She reached after him as he stepped away. "My love…"

"It will all be okay," he said, a waver in his voice she knew all too well. He was lying to her. The warmth of his hands slipped away, leaving Siulon stranded against the stone. She could hear Mirabelle and Savos advance into the main chamber of the Hall of the Elements. She wanted to go after them, but her head was a mess of chaos, legs shaking beneath her. A hand placed itself over her swollen belly, her promise to her husband echoing in her mind. She had vowed she would flee if something of this sort happened, but now there, on the cusp of disaster, she couldn't even move.

It made her want to puke.

"Ancano!" Her husband's furious cry echoed out, drawing her out of the swirling chaos. "Stop this now, before you kill us all!"

She wanted to follow him, but the magic running rampant was debilitating, playing with her proximity spell like a cat and a ball of yarn. There was no way she could leave now, the others were too far to help, and whatever Ancano was doing she wouldn't escape quickly enough. Siulon would not run, there was nowhere to go even if she wanted to. "Sorry Savos," she whispered, ending the spell and pitching herself into utter black. Her breath caught in her throat, her skull burned, every noise became as loud as thunder and the touch of the cold stone against her hand was almost jarring enough to make her scream. Instead, the blind mer put a foot in front of herself, hand still pressed against the wall for support, and began to go around until she found the archway.

"Dammit I told you to stay!" Savos screamed. She'd paused there, trying to get her bearings. She had the hall memorized from long ago, yet she suddenly couldn't quite remember where it sloped down and she'd risk losing her footing, or going into a pillar. She hadn't been in such utter darkness in centuries, the proximity spell always gave her at least some sort of sense of what was around her. Without her magic she was truly blind.

"Mirabelle, get her out of here!'

"There's no time!"

Something crackled with magic, rising in tempo at an alarming rate. Lightning shot through her spine, the air tasting of pure energy. Just above the crackling was footsteps, desperate and heavy. "I would not make it in time if I tried so I might as well help!" She screamed, a pit within her heart. She'd made a grave mistake.

"Siulon you promised!"

"You're too late!" Ancano's shriek came, maddened with power. "You're all too late!"

Arms wrapped around her, holding her tight, as the world exploded around them. Pure magic erupted from the center of the hall, Mirabelle's agonized cry swallowed up in the thunder. For a split moment it felt like they were hanging in the air, Savos' arms around her, shielding her as they fell backward into the entrance hall. A scratchy beard itched her cheek, fingers dug painfully into her body as he clutched her. Her skin burned, magical fire spreading over her. It felt like she was dying.

All she saw was white.

Siulon laid in the cold, soft moisture dampening her robes. Her mind was a constant low roar as she swam back to consciousness, trying to figure out where she was. When she opened heavy eyelids all she saw was black, a painful reminder of her condition. A groan bubbled out of her throat, every inch of her body aching as if she'd cast spells for a week. Her ears rang, the occasional burst of noise punctuating through the drone but unintelligible.

Someone grabbed her, lifting her out of the cold. The shift caused her head to swoon, and she once more felt like vomiting. A rock filled her stomach, jolting her alert for a moment. She placed a hand to her belly, dread filling her. With what little magic she could manage, she cast a life detection spell. She sighed in relief as a small fluttering heartbeat made itself known, her child safe. Then a rush of healing magic overflowed her, cast from another mage, and her senses leveled themselves out.

"Master Siulon? Are you alright?" It was Iona, the nord standing just to her side.

"I will be fine," she reassured, trying to figure out where the healing spell had come from. She could hear multiple bodies around her, a crowd gathered now it seemed. More than likely however, it had been Iona. Twinkling magic was a bit off to the side, and the sound of shuffling feet echoed in a particular manner she knew well. Snow was around her, cold and yet soothing for her burning body. She was in the courtyard. "Where is Savos?"

The air shifted, silent and thick.

"Uhm…"

She tried to rise but her body refused. "Where is my husband? Is he alright?"

"Master…"

"Tell me, now!"

Someone helped her sit up, holding her firmly. Claws dug into her shoulders, J'Zargo being the only possible owner of them. Whiskers tickled her cheek, a heavy breath on her neck. It wasn't him, but instead Iona who spoke next. "He's dead. I'm so sorry."

The ground changed places with the sky, Siulon falling heavenward into Oblivion. Even the heavy paws holding her couldn't keep her anchored to Tamriel. Everything was cold, no feeling left in the expecting mother as she tried to process the impossibility Iona had said. She had to be wrong. She had to be.

"Bring me to him."

"Please Master you need to-"

"Bring me to him!" She screamed, throat aching. Something wet was streaming down her cheeks. Her chest was heavy and something was pressing down upon her shoulders. Siulon struggled to realize it was another set of hands, arms wrapping around her, friends and students holding onto her. Bodies pressed into her, holding her, trying to comfort her. She could hear soft words, apologies uttered into robes and fur, lost to her frenzied mind.

She tried to cast the proximity spell, but all she got was a garbled flash of the students holding onto her. Struggling, Siulon screamed, trying to get free. They released her, and she tumbled forward into the snow, cold surrounding her once more. "Please," she begged, "Please take me to him."

Two pairs of hands lifted her, thin and spindly from decades of casting spells and writing books. Hands like her husband's. They helped her sit down properly, and guided her hand towards something low. Her breath caught in her throat as she felt a wiry beard, and a crooked nose. Shaking hands touched the entirety of his face, features she'd burned into memory over months. Siulon knew exactly where his brows creased and wrinkles spread across his long face. The small spot he always forgot to trim that would be a bit longer than the rest of his facial hair, or the patch missing from a scar long ago.

Savos was still.

Magic swirled around her trembling hands, weak but desperate as she cast the same spell as earlier, hoping for any sign of life. She found none.

Everything stopped around her, no twinkle of magic, no looming presence of mages; nothing at all. The world was simply the ground beneath her and the corpse of her husband. Every dream she'd ever dared entertain, of raising a child with the man she'd always loved, of growing old with tomes passed between them and warm nights in each other's arms, of being happy; shattered. Ancano had taken that from her. She was a widow.

For a few moments she felt nothing at all, no anger, no sorrow, simply empty. It was all black around her, the touch of charred cloth and burnt hair, the taste of burned flesh mixed with ice in the air and flooded her lungs. She clutched the fur of his cloak and hunched over, a scream stuck in her throat. Tears fell silently down her face, something escaping her with them. She felt empty.

Centuries of isolation spent hoping that one day she would reunite with her love came and went. The dreams she'd imagine while hiding from vampires across Tamriel, of how he'd hold her and love her until the sun had slipped into Oblivion, gone. Every fantasy that had suddenly become possible if they'd had just a bit more time together ran through her mind. Siulon had planned on taking Savos to a cabin in the woods when it was time for their child to be born, safe and isolated from the chaos of the College. They were to stay for only a few weeks, perhaps even a month, but it would be time spent just between their little family.

Now that was impossible. He was gone and she was alone again. Their child would grow up without a father. The College was without its Arch-Mage, and the threat yet loomed.

Ancano.

Heat seeped off her, a hiss of steam and smoke the only warning to those around her before she burst into flames. They harmlessly swirled around her and Savos, wild and vengeful. Startled voices accompanied boots shuffling back, a student stumbling into another and a crash barely louder than the fire in her ears. She couldn't see anything, could barely hear, but she felt the heat around her and the lurking power within the Hall of the Elements. Siulon rose to her feet, only the strength of fury allowing her to stand.

"Master!" Iona cried, "Please what are you doing?" There was a familiar strain in her voice, of one who had tragically lost her love. Siulon had never thought they'd share that in common so soon.

"It's something us dunmer can do naturally," Brelyna's voice split through the roar of fire, trying to soothe the others. "I've never seen her do it though! I thought she couldn't, given her past!"

"She's lost her damn mind!" Came Fabien's brisk voice, fear edging it. "Can we put her out?"

Various voices tilted around her, shouting and arguing about what to do. They were stuck in place, afraid, uncertain, in need of leadership. Their garbled cries soon became part of the fires that flickered around her, growing in intensity until she burned as hot as dragonfire. It felt good against her skin, powerful, flowing over in burning tongues. As some of the flames rolled over her left side, the scars from magical fire long ago sprawling up her neck and face, she did not flinch. She embraced the painful memories instead, something set in her heart that could not be extinguished.

"Please Master, calm down," pleaded Onmund, "I know you've just lost your love but we need to think, or we'll all perish!"

"I am thinking," she replied evenly, turning towards them. "I am thinking about the man I am going to slay. Tolfdir, Colette, take the students and secure the town. Get every citizen out. Where is Mirabelle?"

"She's… gone. Colette couldn't save her," Tolfdir said, his aged voice wobbling.

"So we have no leadership?" She asked curtly.

To her surprise, there was no hesitation. "We have you," many said as one. Iona added, "Please lead us, Arch-Mage."

There was but only a moment of pain at the title being addressed to her. There would be time to grieve properly, but right then she knew as well as the others that there was something more pressing. Savos was gone. It hurt unlike any pain she'd experienced before in her life, a sucking sorrow at her soul threatening to swallow her whole. Yet, she knew exactly what she needed to do, else none of them would be leaving the College alive. Siulon clenched a fist.

"I will."

"Faralda ran in saying some magical creatures are attacking the village, a few of the others went to help," reported Colette.

Siulon gave a nod. "Good, now the rest of us must protect the village. We must secure the people of Winterhold before we make this scum pay," she ordered. She could feel them shift around her, attentive even without her gaze. Her heart was burning, swelling and screaming in her chest. As much as she wanted to fling herself at Ancano, she knew she must pause and think. A mage's truest power was their mind after all, and she would not lead them all to their deaths. She inhaled sharply, exercising her control over the fire, feeling the curl of every flame as it spun around her until they calmed. Gasps of awe hit her ears as she forced them to obey her will, curling precisely around her instead of with wild abandon.

Turning her sightless gaze to the College, she spoke with power. "Let us go."

Unholy shrieks pummeled Siulon's ears as the magical anomalies wreaked havoc on Winterhold. She'd split most of the mages up to defend the homes of the citizens, but every so often she heard a smash of glass followed by terrified screams. She'd lowered her flames enough to recast her proximity spell, hoping to sense the flying monstrosities, but the fire had proven useful to protect herself from their ethereal fangs.

"How many are left?" She shouted, summoning another flame atronach that instantly sent fireballs sailing. The fwoosh of fresh heat at her side was almost enough to make her jump in memory, but she steadied her nerves.

"Twenty!" Faralda informed her, and then a fresh shriek came from a few feet away, followed by Iona's victorious cry. "Nineteen!"

"What are our potions at?" Siulon demanded, focusing her magic to strengthen an atronach she'd summoned earlier. It struggled against the bite of anomalies, but with her focus resurged to kill its attackers. "Who's low on magicka?"

A few shouted pleas for assistance rose further down the street, and without hesitation Onmund took off from the cache he was guarding. His footfalls on iced cobblestones and the clink of bottles bumping were soon consumed by the roar of Fabien summoning a flurry of lightning, the energy wild and violent. Someone screamed, fresh curses filled the air, and Siulon hissed. "Damn his lack of control. Who just got hit?"

"J'Zargo and Nirya," Faralda reported, "nothing severe but they're going to need a minute to recover. Damn girl wasn't even looking." Her words soured with distaste, only to pitch in warning. "Look out!" A shoulder smashed into Siulon, making her stumble away as Faralda screamed in agony. The vile shrieks of the magical monsters accompanied her cries, as well as the tear of flesh. Faralda swore and screamed, pops of magic getting drowned out by unholy cries. Blood squelched, a terrible crunch followed a moment after then it was eerily quiet, the dark world spinning around Siulon.

Siulon gritted her teeth, and struggled up, something extremely difficult given her heavy pregnancy. This close Siulon could detect their presence, a writhing swarm now where Faralda had just been. They were chewing on something. It would be impossible to miss even with her blindness and she blasted mighty fire at the assailants. They shrieked, fizzled, and then a magical implosion shook the ground around her, stumbling Siulon once more.

"Are you alright?" She crawled closer, uncertain on her feet. Sweat dripped down her brow only to be evaporated by the fire, lungs struggling to catch her breath. When no response came her heart quickened. "Faralda?" Still there was no reply. Siulon reached out and brushed bloodied clothes, patting further around only for a squelch of organs make her blood chill. She applied more pressure and something thick and wet covered her hand.

She froze in place.

Azura please, no! Please!

A wailing shriek came from the left, Brelyna's, and feet dashed closer. "Please tell me she is alright," Siulon begged raggedly.

Brelyna hunched down next to her, robes brushing Siulon's side. "They tore her open," the horrified whisper came, a hand taking Siulon's and pulling it away. "She's… she's gone."

"She pushed me out of the way," Siulon whispered, trying to wrap her mind around it all. "She saved me." Fresh tears burned in Siulon's eyes, her fires growing in fervor around her. She dipped her head, teeth gritted and blood in her mouth. It was all she could taste now. "Ancano will pay for the lives he's taken today." Brelyna shifted next to her, and helped her stand.

The fighting sounded as if it were dying down, or perhaps the mages were running out of magicka. Siulon struggled to pick out the specific voices singing the cacophony of violence, unable to tell who was still alive. They were surprisingly hardy creatures, the abominations summoned by whatever Ancano was doing with the Eye, and she fully intended on putting them down before another could perish.

"Is anyone else dead?"

"No but lots of injuries. Colette and Iona are doing their best," Brelyna informed her, guiding her a bit aways from Faralda's corpse. Being dunmer that she was, she remained untouched by Siulon's flames, the special trait they all shared, though not all could do it. "Arch-Mage, how are you still doing that?" She asked, letting her catch her breath at the bottom of the steps.

"I'm over five hundred years old and have dedicated myself to the study of magic my entire life, how could I not?" Siulon briskly replied, struggling with a potion. When she downed it she felt renewed, but there was still a deep gnawing pain in her chest. "I cannot keep it up for much longer. Who is still fighting?"

Brelyna took a moment to scan the one-street town, the tell tale sound of combative magic still ongoing. "I… I think there's more of them now."

"Blast it all!"

"What should we do?"

Siulon pinched her brow and inhaled sharply, trying not to think about the torn open corpse a foot away. "Savos instructed me to take you students to Labyrinth before he died. I suppose something is there that he believed could stop this. If the abnormalities keep coming then we are simply fighting a war of attrition and we will lose. Get your classmates and go there immediately, find whatever my husband thought could save us and return. The teachers and I will protect the village."

"What? We can't abandon you!" She gasped.

"You are not, you are our only hope in fact!" She turned her head out towards the street, trying to hear a particular nord among the fighting. "Iona!" Siulon shouted. A pained shout was her response. "Come here, swiftly!"

Cobblestones scraped under boots, glass bottles clinked together, and heavy breathing signalled Iona's approach. "Yes, Arch-Mage!"

"Do you know where Labyrinth is?"

She gulped. "Yes."

"Lead the other classmates there immediately. Something within that maze can save us, and you must find it," instructed Siulon.

"Wh- what? What are we supposed to look for?" Iona gaped. "Oh fuck. Faralda…"

Siulon dipped her head. "I know, but we cannot get caught up in it now. You must find a way to get there as swiftly as possible and come back. Savos said our only hope rests there. Thinking back on our research… I believe he meant the Staff of Magnus."

The two students grew quiet for a moment, before Iona cleared her throat. "Alright. I'll go. Brelyna?"

"I'll help you get the other three. So long as Fabien doesn't accidentally destroy the whole village himself," she replied. "Arch-Mage, does someone need to guard you?"

"Urag, send him my way. Tell the others to pull back closer to the College. We need to work together."

They gave affirmatives and ran off, their voices louder than the shouts of fighting. She sat on the cold stone steps, trying to gather herself with a hand resting on her stomach. She wasn't anywhere near the fighter she was seven months ago. It took every part of herself to not think about the torn body next to her, or Mirabelle and Savos in the courtyard, to dwell on the people she'd dared to call friends and loved ones only for them to be stripped away. Her new family was being torn apart around her, and she'd be damned if she didn't protect what was left.

Heavy feet signaled a fresh approach, growing in number. "Arch-Mage!" Came the hardy voice of Urag gro-Shub, the orc librarian and resident muscle. "Are you wounded?"

"Just my pride," she grimaced, accepting his hand and rising to her feet. She wobbled for a moment, inhaling sweat and blood. "Are you?"

"Just my pride," he repeated with a grim laugh. "The students are leaving?"

She nodded, having to focus on the magic around her for a moment. Expanding her view of what was around her, she could tell the rest of the College was running towards her, while the five students darted to the west, the surviving citizens of Winterhold with them. Relief flooded her that they'd saved nearly everyone, and she nodded. "Aye. They must retrieve the Staff of Magnus, it is the only way we will defeat Ancano now."

"What are we to do in the meantime?"

"Hold the line."

AN: Hey everybody, been around a year now hasn't it? At least, for some Elder Scrolls that is. Writing has been... difficult. Life's been difficult, though I don't need to tell anyone in early 2020 huh? I've had this story scripted for over two years now, just sitting in my docs. It's funny to say it, but I miss this world I've built up every so often. SO! Let's go on an adventure shall we? I'm going to warn you right now, that this story is going to be darker than most others, if not the darkest thing I've written. It's short, and violent. It's also, very important, and didn't feel like it should be shortened into something just in Tales From Tamriel. It felt worthy of its own story. So here we go- into the breech!