Chapter 5

MewLover9000- We'll see what he specializes in. Not telling if he's going to be the Master of Death or not. Probably can cast a spell sword though. What rivals do you have in mind?

OCansino- Don't use many mods, honestly. Just the Serana marriage option mod and the Skyrim unofficial patch mod. That's about it.

WightGrimmBorn- It's sort of like that. The Dunmer Great Houses act more like Political Parties than royal families. Though she's still loaded. She is, after all, a part of House Telvanni.


College of Winterhold


"Mommy, can you show me that spell again." Said Harry, now nine years old, as he looked at Brelyna, who was reading a book regarding illusion magic. The two were currently in the gardens of the College with Brelyna taking a rare free period for her to spend time with her adopted son. Brelyna had been studying illusion magic from a book about it when Harry spoke.

Marking the page she was on, Brelyna sighed before smiling at her adopted son.

"Oh, alright." Said Brelyna as she raised a hand, gathered energy in it, and soon cast a spell on the ground. Doing so, she summoned a spectral wolf that soon began to play with Harry, who giggled and watched as the wolf began to circle around him, barking happily at seeing the young boy. As the conjured wolf and Harry played with each other, Brelyna thought back to the days after she adopted Harry, becoming his stepmother.

After Brelyna made the decision to become Harry's mother, she told the instructors of the College that she was fully planning on adopting Harry for herself. There were some stunned and shocked looks on the instructors, but no protests. Though Tolfdir and a few other instructors expressed their concern for Brelyna as she had to both take care of a child and do her studies in the College, Brelyna was adamant about keeping Harry. She assured the instructors that she can handle the extra work and both Onmund and J'zargo promised to help her with taking care of Harry. Eventually, after many assurances from the three students and Serana's backing, the instructors allowed this and thus Harry has been a part of the College of Winterhold ever since.

Since adopting Harry, Brelyna made several adjustments to her daily schedule to accommodate her new responsibilities as a mother. Amongst those were purchasing supplies for children from Winterhold as well as playing with Harry and helping him in controlling and advancing his natural magical prowess. The former was easy enough to do, though Brelyna was more than certain that she was sold the items at a higher price than they were worth, the latter was surprisingly easy as well, despite a surprising revelation.

To Brelyna's surprise, Harry's magical prowess was a bit different than those in Tamriel. To everyone's fascination, Harry's magic all came from his genes rather than the environment around him like every other mage. All mages, of course, harness their magic from everything, including their own body, as magic is found in everything, even the food that one eats, but Harry's comes completely from his body and nothing else. Tolfdir and the other instructors were understandably curious and fascinated by this and wanted to study Harry, but Brelyna denied their requests, fearing his safety despite their claims that the studies will be harmless to him. Harry was already subjected to a set of tests already, he didn't need more. Plus, after some investigating by Brelyna herself, she learned his magic while fascinating on an academic level, wasn't anything different from her own in any substantial way beyond where it comes from. In fact, J'zargo argued that Harry's way of doing magic was inferior to everyone else's due to the limited source of magic he can use. After all, if he is just using the magic inside him and not that around him, he's at a disadvantage against another mage. Brelyna saw the logic in J'zargo's argument thus she began to train Harry to try and harness the magic around him during the free time she had.

Moving on, Brelyna was happy with the pace that Harry was learning magic. He already knew some of the most basic spells that one can learn for a child his age. Not the basic offensive spells that every mage knows to cast, but elementary and safe spells that were perfectly acceptable to teach to children. Things like Candlelight were taught to Harry by Brelyna when Harry showed an interest in magic. Any more advanced spells will have to be taught when Harry was older and he expressed a further desire to advance his magical prowess. Her son was disappointed at her insistence on this, but Brelyna was adamant about it.

Teaching even the most novice of spells from any of the main branches of Magic could have dastardly consequences. Destruction was the most obvious, but things like even Altercation and Illusion can cause serious consequences if one misuses any of their spells. Tolfdir warned her of such misuse during her initial stay in the College. Her parents and elder siblings also warned her as well, citing various points in Dunmer history where mages have caused serious consequences to their local environment and cities. And that then there was the whole Eye of Magnus situation years ago. That was a big example of magic being misused.

Sighing as her son played with her conjuration, Brelyna wondered on what to do next for him.

No doubt he'll attend the College. He's showing an increased interest in Magic. That she didn't have a problem with. The problem she had was what to do beyond that. He didn't really show much interest in Nord culture and history. There were very few kids in Winterhold and none of them held a desire to interact with a Mage's son, much less a kid that knows magic. And, to top it all off, what will he do after he graduated from the College. Skyrim didn't have much need for mages beyond serving as court wizards for the Jarls or important nobles.

He could find employment with the Legion in Skyrim, which was always looking for more recruits to fill its ranks. Those that have skills in any of the arcane arts were especially sought out. Such employment guaranteed a long and potentially lucrative line of work for her son as mages were hard to come by in Skyrim, but Brelyna wasn't sure if she wanted him to join the legion.

Yes, there were many benefits to joining the Legion for Harry. Not only would he be in an environment that doesn't discriminate against him because of his magic, but he could receive great benefits from the Legion if he worked hard and long enough with the Imperial Legion in Skyrim. Tullius was a man that valued competence and efficiency in one's field and will surely promote her son for his good work in the Legion. However, with all that being said, she wasn't sure it was a good idea to have her son be a part of the Imperial Legion.

While there weren't any significant dangers in Skyrim anymore aside from the occasional Vampire or dragon attacks, she still worried for her child and his safety. Just because there wasn't as much danger in Skyrim as it was when she first arrived Skyrim, doesn't mean that there wasn't any danger around anymore that didn't warrant caution. She also wasn't sure if a career in the Legion was the right thing for him.

Her child had no real excitement or interest in joining the Legion. Beyond curiosity about what it was, what it meant for Skyrim, and how it worked in the grand scheme of things related to the Imperial military, Harry didn't particularly want to join the Legion.

For one, the military requirements and restrictions of the Legion didn't appeal to her son. It wasn't that he disagreed with them and wanted them to change, mind you. Rather it was that he didn't want to follow them. They were either too restrictive for his tastes or too demanding for him to really enjoy wanting to be in the Legion. And that was fine with Brelyna. She wanted her son to enjoy whatever career he decided to partake in and will support him no matter what.

Sighing again, Brelyna wondered how the Dragonborn was faring. He had recently returned to the College, only to depart shortly after in order to attend to something that was causing problems in Winterhold. Something dangerous. Watching Harry play, Brelyna hoped that the Dragonborn will be alright in dealing with whatever threat was upon Winterhold at the moment. Though it may not be much against the powerful Argonian, Brelyna knew that even the mightiest of trees could be felled with the most insignificant of swords if certain circumstances are met.


Meanwhile

Dragonborn


"So, you're telling me that the source of Winterhold's problems is located on this island or ice and rock?" Asked Serana as she looked at her lover, the Last Dragonborn, and many other titles that Serana didn't bother to list, a hand on her left hip while the other was around her hood as it was daytime currently. Her lover amused a bit at the sarcasm of Serana, turned around to face her.

Armored in mostly black armor with some red that was forged from both the black ore known as Ebony and the heart of a being from the plain of Oblivion, a realm of existence occupied by demonic beings known as Daedra, the Dragonborn was quite a fearsome person to see with that armor on. Although that was a given with armor that was forged with a Daedra.

Daedric Armor, as it was universally called due to the Daedric Heart required for its forging, was an armor built to be intimidating. Spikes and segmented plates were found in all aspects of the armor, particularly in the shoulders and chest armor. In addition, the helmet, which also had spikes and horns on top with intimidating edges around the user's head, had the eye sockets covered with a blackened glass material that only the most expert of smiths can forge, preventing one from seeing the eyes of the user. Meaning that people only saw black holes for eyes, further adding the intimidation factor of the suit of armor.

And then, to top it all off, Daedric Armor was some of the toughest armor out there, only eclipsed by certain high-quality Glass Armor, a type of eleven armor and the finest out there, and armor made of Dragon bones or Dragon scales. Blades were known to break upon contact with Daedric armor. Arrows clatter effortlessly against the black metal. Even giant, two-handed Warhammers leave little more than dents on the plates of Daedric Armor. And on top of all that, the armor can be enhanced further with arcane means to make it even more durable, and defensible, and even enhance other attributes of the user when worn. The only things that even have a chance to penetrate the armor were those that held a magical nature or were made of materials of high quality like elven Glass Armor or those made from Dragon bones or scales. Weapons forged from Oblivion or forged with the essence of Daedra also worked. Anything else had a hard time getting past the armor that was Daedric Armor. As a result, Serana wasn't surprised the Dragonborn was using it. He'd have to be a complete fool to not use it. It also didn't help that Serana found him quite ravishing in that armor.

"Indeed." Said the Dragonborn, his voice rough and hoarse as a result of the helmet. "I had Tolfdir help in locating the disturbance that was causing Winterhold's people to have nightmares and unrest."

"And you think you know who is behind it?" Asked Serana as she looked at her lover, who was looking back at the entrance to a cave. A cave that he was all too familiar with.

"Given what was here and who had contacted me, I believe I know who is responsible for what occurred in Winterhold. And if I know him, then he has something worse in order to coerce something from me." Said the Dragonborn. "Or rather something that he wants from Winterhold." The Dragonborn took a breath before venturing into the cave with Serana following soon after. It was when the two entered the cave that the source of Winterhold's current folly revealed himself.

"Ah, Dragonborn. How nice of you to respond so quickly to my presence." Said a mass of floating tentacles and eyes as it formed before both Serana and the Dragonborn in a calm and deceptively friendly voice. "Of course, it was timed around the time when you next arrive to Winterhold and assist in it whatever befalls this poor hold, but I still thank you for realizing that Winterhold's plight is caused by me. I do enjoy working with those that actually know what they're trying to do. It prevents the unnecessary waste of time for all."

"Hermaeus Mora." Said The Dragonborn as he looked at the Daedric Prince of knowledge, fate, and memory. "What is it you desire?" Hermaeus Mora just let out a chuckle before responding.