A/n: So most of you can already tell from the title of the chapter what's about to happen. Good! Still, in some Patrons comments on this chapter, they told me that they thought that Jon had already acquired the Eye when he rebuilt Saarthal.
While the Patrons are mostly Smarter and Sexier than the average reader, I'd like to remind you all that this didn't happen, He rebuilt the City near the old one on the way west of Winterhold where the players randomly fight a troll or some wolves. He left the Crypt of Saarthal untouched.
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*Sneeze*
"Alina, you're alright?"
"I… I… *sneeze* I hate dust. I hate walking corpses. I hate everything at this moment."
The situation wasn't looking good for Alina who started to explore the Ruins alone with Gleam. There were no longer sincere annoying notes from Jon so all that she had to do was to explore the Ruins on her own.
Draugrs were one thing but this particular ruin was not crawling with unordinary ones. There were Hulking Draugrs and Deathlords leading a number of Draugr Scourges and Scourge Lords. It wasn't exactly a walk in the park but nothing Alina couldn't handle.
Other than Alina who was exploring alone, Master Tolfdir lagged behind as he was trying to secure anything worthy of studying. After the vision Alina experienced from a Psijic Monk, she told Tolfdir about what she saw and he seemed to be hardly believing it but encouraged her to uncover the truth about this place. She was also interested in the Legacy that the Nords might have left behind to attract the attention of the Psijic Order itself.
Aside from the line of Divayth Fyr's disciples, there are a few schools around Tamriel that are just as honorable and prestigious among them are the Greybeards of Skyrim, the Direnni Clan of High Rock and the Psijic Order of Summerset. However, none could rival the Psijics in terms of foretelling and knowledge as they are the true Masters of Mysticism. It is also known that Divayth Fyr and Sotha Sil were once members of the Order.
It is strange that Jon knew about this place and the appearance of the Psijic monks. Alina would have guessed that Jon wouldn't miss a meeting with those monks for the world but he simply gave it to her, it didn't seem like something he would do.
Still, she can't miss such a chance either. The Psijic monks didn't appear for a long time in the world and she was the first person to meet them after 200 years of their disappearance. Even Nurina would die from jealousy.
And finally, here it was. Alina broke through all the traps and the enemies until she arrived at the largest chamber in the Crypt.
"Wow!"
In all its glory, the prize of her effort stood at the other end of this as nothing she has ever seen before. A spectacle to the eyes and all the other senses as well; if she was to say it, she would lose the words as they come to mind.
A hovering orb covered in the most mystical of runes rotating majestically on an array of Magicka focus points. The style of the array seemed primal compared to today's applications but its shocking power made someone with the level of Alina have a hard time breathing.
"Alina, watch out."
Amidst the mesmerized state of mind she was in, Gleam's voice pulled her back to reality.
Her awareness returned as she barely avoided a magic projectile that almost hit her face. Still, the magic managed to rip her face veil away.
"Bastard!"
Her rage was instantly unleashed as she waved her staff to return the attack almost tenfold. Her target was the Draugr that was resting down the chamber which she only noticed just now. As Jon said, her awareness is terrible.
Alina is a Diviner Mystic completely opposite to Jon who is a Seeker Mystic. The two branches of Mysticism are about gaining knowledge, one through Time and the other through Space. Alina was natural with Divining through Time which made her sense of space become rather poor, the weakness that she couldn't manage to cover till now. Still, once a Diviner Mystic is triggered into Battle Mode, they are already several steps ahead of their opponent.
Alina's attack just now was followed by another then another. The Draugr wanted to retaliate at her but each magic he cast was broken and countered ahead of its time, that's how a Diviner fights.
Still, that wasn't omnipotent as people would think. She may know ahead but she is still bound by time and if she can't figure out a way to retaliate before the future she saw becomes present, it would be useless.
Another weakness of knowing the future is not fully knowing it. For example, the Resistance properties. Alina may have attacked the Draugr with Magic but to her surprise later on, it didn't even scratch the undead.
"Damnation! What are you made of?"
"Teacher Alina! Wait up!"
From behind her, Master Tolfdir came in as he was out of breath.
"I told you not to break anything, it is of absolute importance that we… oh! That looks dangerous." Tolfdir was about to lecture Alina for causing a ruckus until he noticed the floating orb and the dangerous-looking undead.
"Duck!"
Alina hurriedly pulled the old man away from harm as the Draugr cast another almost instantly.
"I take that as this is no ordinary Draugr to cause such ruckus!" Tolfdir went back on his lecturing attitude.
The look on Alina's face was like "No shit?" but she then pointed to the large Orb.
"That is probably its power source." She said.
"It seems you are right. I can sense a strong link." Tolfdir agreed, "One of us has to cover the other to disturb the link."
"I'll take the Draugr."
Alina nodded and went forward while blocking another spell by a ward and repaying it with the hazardous spell Freeze to bypass the Draugr's resistance while Master Tolfdir simply Teleported across the Chamber. The fight continued as the Undead which walked off the frozen surface without even flinching. From what it seemed, this Draugr was particularly an expert of Frost Spells and has a high resistance to them.
"Game on."
Alina's pride almost felt hurt as she switched from Frost to the anti-undead Sun Magic. Her radiation spells made the Draugr wither in pain as he cast his best Ward shields and started conjuring a number of Frost Atronachs.
The towering Atronachs started climbing the platform up towards Alina with the ground shaking to their heavy footsteps and the interior of the ruin started vibrating and cracking. Alina didn't want to destroy the interior so she acted right away.
"Gleam, take my staff."
Alina surrendered her staff to the small fairy Gleam who could cast its basic spells and from her robes, she grabbed two gripps and pulled them out with the sound of unsheathing swords.
Two deadly looking sabers appeared in Alina's hands as she finally became serious. Those blades were [Bloodscythe] and [Soulrender], a pair of deadly swords that are infamous for their ability to turn their wielder into an Eternal Berserker. These were parts of the [Deathbrand Set] which Alina owns.
She nimbly kicked the ground and jumped like a monkey in the middle of the Atronachs, her small size in comparison to the Frost Atronachs gave her the complete advantage of slipping through those Daedra without being so much hindered. Each one didn't require more than two slashes as her moves were akin to a mad dancer from the east on the sounds of a raging Zar.
"Hya! Hya! Hya!"
Her Aura conjured the Wind and the storm that is Alina was dancing with breathtaking motions. Her College Robe couldn't keep up with her motions as it fell off showing the perfect slender Stalhrim armor she was wearing and the hair that moved after her like a dancing ribbon.
With the end of her nimble show, she spread her arms like wings with the blades in Reverse grips as the last of the Atronachs was put down. She joined the sabers together and faced the powerful Draugr that caused all this mess.
"Sovngarde Saraan!" The Draugr opened its rotten maw and spoke.
"Sovngarde Bahlaan!" Alina replied in the same language, the Dragon Language.
[A/n: it means "Sovngarde Awaits!" "Sovngarde Welcomes!" … reminds you of something?]
The Draugr became enraged as he heard Alina's reply and shrieked badly as he charged at her shooting magic from his staff and waving his axe.
Alina didn't move or dodge, she stood silent and received the magic as if she was unaffected but once the axe strike cut through her, her image disappeared as if she was never there from the start.
A Decoy!
*Slash*
The Draugr didn't even realize when he was beheaded or from where. Alina appeared behind him as the head of the Draugr flew off upward and landed perfectly on the side of her blade. Alina faced the head with a sneer as she "served" him true death.
With no further interest, she slipped the head past the side of her blade and artistically returned the two sabers to their sheaths.
"That was incredible, teacher Alina!"
"Thank you, Master Tolfdir."
Toldfdir stopped the spell he used to interrupt the connection between the Draugr and the large Orb just to relax and take a breath before focusing on the strange floating orb and its mysterious ruins.
"What… is that?" He asked.
"I have no idea." Alina replied, "I guess if Master Tolfdir doesn't know then we should bring the rest of the research team down here?"
Tolfdir thought for a while then shook his head.
"No, that wouldn't be good. Let's inform the Archmage first and cancel the Excavation class for a later date. This artifact… I don't know how but it provided the Undead Draugr with unending power. It is dangerous." Tolfdir said.
"Alright…"
Alina agreed and sealed the entrance to the chamber then directed her attention to trying to identify the Large Orb with Master Tolfdir. She was almost certain that Jon knows exactly what's going on here and he wanted her to take the credit for it. It doesn't suit Alina's style to be put in puzzles and circles but she found this one to be a mystery that she sought out the answers.
First, she tried to find a relationship between the Undead Draugr and the Orb but soon discovered nothing in that direction other than Unique Draugr's ability to manipulate Magicka almost better than Nurina herself.
Now that was something to contemplate on. A Draugr with such ability had to be someone incredible in life but he was no Dragon Priest or anything of the sort. In the end, she found a writ of Seal.
"Be bound here, Jyrik, murderer and betrayer. Condemned by your crimes against realm and lord. May your name and deeds be forgotten forever. And the charm which you bear be sealed by our ward. Hmmm… A Criminal? And… a Charm?"
"Something you found, teacher Alina?"
"Hm? Nothing. It seems our friend here was some sort of condemned criminal." Alina said as she kept the sealing talisman.
"A Criminal? I can hardly believe it. A mage of such caliber doesn't need to resort to crime. Ancient Nords honored mages like that."
"Well, who knows?! At least there is no foreseeable clue on his lead regarding the Orb. I'll return and inform the Archmage right away."
Tolfdir nodded and returned to focus on the mysterious orb while Alina looted the [Staff of Jyrik] which was even more powerful than her own and took the charm that was on what remained of his neck that she just decapitated.
It seemed like a fragment of an Ancient Nordic Amulet but its power was something to behold. Alina could feel her power soar up a few folds when she tied it around her hand like a bracelet.
"So this was the source of the Draugr's skill. If other mages were to find out about such an item, some of them might go crazy and try to steal it." Alina thought as she covered the Amulet carefully.
A powerful Staff and a ridiculous Amulet, Jon sure knew how to throw rewards in the way of his friends just like how he guided Wulfur to a certain Dwemer Ruin that made the poor guy almost go crazy. Still, Alina knew that the Large Orb is the mystery Jon wanted her to uncover.
She didn't stand idle and hurriedly exited the Crypt heading towards the College but on the way back, she ran into a pair of familiar faces.
"You have seen it, right? Master said you will do it." Beth spoke.
Alina stopped facing Beth and Jax who seemed to have taken their fair share of frostbites in the middle of this snowy road.
"What are you two doing here?" Alina asked.
"Master said to wait for you and confirm that you found the Eye." Beth said.
"The Eye?"
"Yes, he said that you will find the Eye of an actual et'Ada and wanted us to remind you that you must take the Amulet of the Draugr that was guarding the Eye."
"So he was aware of all that was inside. I knew it." Alina held her head but she was somehow satisfied with her findings.
"Then… he asked me to give this to you." Beth said.
Alina received a note from Beth that was filled with Jon's writings. She was fed up with his notes and didn't have the mind for his silly jokes but while she was reading it, her face went pale in an instant. She instantly incinerated the note and took Beth by the hand and as if to make sure the girl is safe.
"Master Alina, what is wrong?"
"Hush!" Alina signaled to Beth not to speak.
"Is there… anything wrong?" Beth spoke carefully.
"Jax, take the girl home!" Alina shouted but the time to retreat was over.
All of a sudden, figures emerged from the snow surrounding Alina, Beth and Jax from every corner.
Humans, Elves, Undead. All strong and bloodthirsty, Alina couldn't see how they snuck up on her but they didn't manage to take her by surprise.
"Identify yourself?" Alina shouted.
The leader of the mysterious group pointed his blade at Alina.
"Kill the beast and the child, capture the Wife!"
His sinister words gave off how unnatural the man or the creature is yet Alina didn't flinch one bit. She simply drew power from the Amulet around her wrist and held the [Staff of Jyrik] firmly.
"Want a piece of the queen, eh? And here I was thinking about some target practice."
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Messy, fast-paced and bloody. This was that kind of fight that awaited Alina.
She was outnumbered and isolated. She had to protect Beth and try to cover for her and Jax to retreat safely to the town.
"Master Alina! I called for help but I couldn't reach!"
It seemed that Beth was trying to reach anyone in the city via Telepathy but her efforts were useless as if she was being jammed. She knew this feeling from that time in Hammerfell when there was an interference from the Soul Snare spell.
"Careful! They are using the Soul Trap spells." Alina on the other hand was aware of the disadvantage.
At that moment, a Sorcerer standing behind the group of the attackers cast Dark Magic which released a dozen dark chains towards Alina and the other two. Jax carried Beth in one arm, cast [Bound Flaming Wings] by the other and took the air while attacking anyone chasing him by [Lava Whip]. Thankfully, he could protect Beth giving Alina the space she needs to worry about herself and the enemies.
At first, she attempted to Conjure a number of Atronachs to aid her in the fight but no matter what she did, the Dark Sorcerer in the back countered it. He even managed to Turn some of the Atronachs against her while the others were sent back to Oblivion.
"Bastard!" Alina cast an overcharged [Ice Spike] to get rid of the annoying mage but he warded it off almost effortlessly.
"Get her! The Lord will have great use of her." One the other, the man who led the warriors surrounding her shouted at the others.
Alina rolled her eyes and fried three of the warriors who were walking towards her with Lightning. She then faced the man and spoke.
"You know what… FUS RO DAH!"
Her shout was very accurate as it left the man no leeway to even be surprised. Once the shout landed, it blasted the man far away and tore off his arm.
Alina then gave off the best [Chain Lightning] spell she could use with the [Staff of Jyrik] paralyzing more of the enemies that were chasing Jax and Beth, now she was facing the annoying Sorcerer.
"You and me!" She called for a duel but the man didn't even react. It was as if his hidden face under the large hood was sunk in the abyss without even the hint of him breathing.
Maybe it was an Undead Mage but Alina cared less. She cast a [Sun Fire] spell and teleported away as a few arrows landed on her location. Instantly, she appeared behind the Archer and with her [Bloodscythe], she cut the man's arm, leg, gutted him and split his skull. [A/n: I started playing For Honor sooo…]
Her eyes landed on the mage who seemed unfazed by the Sun spell she cast at him meaning that this foul evil Aura surrounding him is not Undeath. Yet whatever it was, it is just as evil.
Alina was now free from restrictions as Jax and Beth had successfully escaped, she aimed her attention at the Sorcerer and he cast multiple Flame spells towards her. Once a spell hit her, she disappeared as if she was made of illusion and appeared behind the Sorcerer with her blade aimed at his heart.
It hit, stabbed, tore skin, muscle and bone and went from the other side but the man cared even less. Alina's instincts screamed as she let go of the sword and moved her hand quickly to hold a dagger that was aimed at her side by that Sorcerer.
Her hand held it from the blade but it injured her ignoring how strong her skin was. The dagger didn't stop at this point and started digging its teeth in her palms as if it was growing thorns causing a strange black substance to spread through the veins of her hand.
It was unforeseeable to be injured this easily and to even be poisoned with her Clan's bloodline that is very resistant to poison. Alina jumped off her place, kicked with her two feet at the Dark Sorcerer sending him a few meters away and landing badly.
"Hehehehe!"
The man who led the party of attackers, the one who lost his arm by her shout, came towards her while carrying his torn arm and a disgusting smile forming on his face.
"That's a naughty girl!" He said as he placed his torn arm where it should have been as if he is putting himself back together.
In a bizarre scene, his arm started to reattach itself back where it was torn as if the man was no mortal. This crazy scene frightened Alina but her anger was far greater at the moment. She took out the dagger that dug itself in her right palm and puked a mouthful of Dark poisonous blood all of a sudden. The man saw that and froze as he couldn't understand how she managed to take the poison of her bloodstream and puke it from her mouth but as mysterious as he was, as mysterious as she is.
And a Glare!
Alina's red devastating glare.
No Man, Mer, Beast, Undead or even Daedra can survive that.
"AAAH! AAAAAAAH!" The man wailed and screamed from the pain that caused his veins to pop out and burst open gushing out blood from even his eyes.
"GRAA*voice transformation*AAAAH!"
The screams of the man changed from the normal voice of a human to the shriek of an evil being. The man was still screaming but something else was screaming inside him, Alina focused on that and put all her focus on it as she screamed as well then… it disappeared!
Whatever was screaming inside that man, it was purged by Alina's Glare.
The man who stood in front of her suddenly lost his power and died on the spot.
*Swoosh* *Swoosh*
Two arrows were shot at Alina, one hit her right shoulder and she rolled on the ground before the other would hit her. In fear of poisoning, she took out the arrow almost immediately groaning from the pain but managed to take a look at the Archer.
It was that Archer… the one she butchered just a minute ago. He was standing with no cut limbs or split skull, even though there were blood traces and cut marks where she hacked him, that man didn't only get miraculously healed but was revived.
Revived?
Alina didn't seem to understand what was going on but two things were certain. First, these men are not humans anymore and neither undead, they do not smell like wet dogs either so they are not like the werebeasts who have a supernatural healthcare insurance. Second, they are possessed by something evil as when she purged that thing by her glare, both it and its hosts died.
That's a new threat she never even heard about.
Even the Dark Sorcerer that annoyed Oblivion out of her was standing up and taking out the sword she drove through his heart.
Alina wasn't sure of what creatures she was fighting but one thing she is sure of…
"You bitches messed with the wrong bitch!" She spoke in rage as she turned towards the sky "KYNE, HEAR MY PLEA!"
Her voice tore through the wind and reached the heavens. She didn't shout the [Storm Call] shout but as the Child of Kyne just pleaded, a storm was brewed.
The Staff of Jyrik was a legendary artifact and it suited the Daughter of the Storm very well. Alina conjured a dozen Cyclones around her making the Archer's arrows all useless. The Dark Sorcerer started using magic to revive the Fallen Allies Alina took down but the Storm's Frost and Lighting struck them down and kept killing them.
The raging cyclones roamed across the battlefield rampaging and taking down anything in their wake. Alina was carried by the wind as the staff in her hand acted as the punishing whip of the scourge. She would take the revived enemies one after another up to her level by [Telekinesis], purge the entities inside them with her eyes letting them experience the most terrible death there is.
Pushing her to a corner had its limits as Alina is a Monster that is second only to Jon around these parts. Above all that, she was insanely powered with the Amulet around her rest. The Amulet that is the axis of a Forbidden Legend.
Who was left standing was the Dark Sorcerer and a few of the Elites who were barely fending for their lives. They didn't scream or beg for mercy but rather, they groaned in their demonic voices that were almost like the sound of the grinding of metal.
"We will come back for you, Red Witch! Next time, our Master shall make you his bride and will scotch this land back to the ruins it rose from!" The Dark Sorcerer announced the most infuriating thing that Alina didn't really need to hear at the moment.
Alina's storm settled down gradually until it was no more but the thickening gloomy sky could clearly reflect her mood. In her wake were the corpses of those whom she purged each in a bloody mess. The battle was so one-sided that Alina's red and black made her more like a villainess queen from Oblivion rather than the lady who was just under attack.
She finally spoke.
"You know how angry those words of yours made me feel, whatever you are. But know this… you are a being of pain and this land… the land you want scorched, and this woman… the woman you so brazenly declared to belong to some man she never heard off, they can cause you pain more than whatever you experienced in your damnedest lowly life."
"Curse you, Red Witch! I am immortal." The Dark Mage said.
"You think so?" She asked, "Alright, you are even more stupid than I thought you are. An advice on my part… you may want to say less stupid things when that person is standing right behind you."
As Alina pointed, the man didn't simply turn his head as he was certain she was trying to trick him.
But that wasn't the case.
There was a very angry person right behind him.
All of a sudden, two rows of teeth bit on that man's left ear and tore it away like a beast. The man hardly flinched from this level of pain but as he turned back, two daggers were driven into his guts. One went up, the other went down.
The person who did that simply grabbed the sorcerer's intestines and rounded them around his neck then dragged the sorcerer by them and slammed him on the ground.
"You! Don't! Get! To! Speak! Like! This! To! My! Daughter!" Hilda spoke every word while serving a punch to the sorcerer's face whose hood was torn away revealing his semi-Daedric appearance.
The other Elites saw the champion of their Lord taken down and all rushed at Hilda with their blades high but there was another… something… greeting them.
Jon would call that a Dwarven Locomotive if he saw it from the same angle those people did but this was simply a large man wearing a full Dwarven suit of Armor and carrying an oversized shield that looked like the face of a train.
The men were all swooped in one charge by Wulfur. Those who didn't get disabled were done by the full might or a dreadful Warhammer that he swung around like a maniac. Once he was done, he stomped on the undamaged limbs of these men completely crushing them.
"Those fuckers! They even came after Alina!" Wulfur was so annoyed to the point where he shouted out his frustration.
"Even?" Alina questioned as she walked over to Hilda, "Mother, what's going on?"
Hilda stood up as she stomped on the sorcerer's head burying it in the snow and breaking it open.
"Attacks! They are attacking everywhere around Winterhold. It is like a War!" Hilda replied.
"A War?"
Wulfur came over dragging a survivor for questioning.
"These bandits appeared from nowhere. An army of them rushed over Winterhold from the East through the Ice Wastes. No Heraldry, no Flag. We just fended them off Whispering Town an hour ago while the rest escaped south." Wulfur said.
"Bandits? Army? Hold up, guys. These are no bandits." Alina denied.
"What… do you mean?" Hilda questioned but Alina didn't need to answer.
"Kukukuku!"
An evil laughter came from under Hilda's feet. She moved away quickly only to see that the Sorcerer whom she just mercilessly massacred was laughing like a freak. Truthfully, Hilda was scared.
"What… what in the world?!"
Alina sighed as she was already past that shock. She held the man from the head, grabbed her other sword and decapitated his head from the neck then stuck the sword into the body.
"AAARGH! Red Witch! That's painful!"
The head screamed at her causing Hilda to go even paler and Wulfur to remove his helmet in awe.
"How did you do that?" Wulfur asked Alina.
"I didn't do it. These bastards are semi-eternals and from the looks of this one, they are some sort of Daedra… heh! A human body but it was possessed by a Daedra. I understand now."
As Alina took a closer look, she was able to determine the strangeness of this sorcerer. It is almost impossible for a human to host a Daedra by normal means other than curses like Vampirism and Lycanthropy. However, this was something even darker.
"So! Who is the Master you spoke of? A Daedric Prince who has a grudge against my Husband?" Alina asked.
"Hmph! I won't answer anything, Red Witch. You can't kill me! You can't harm me!"
Alina's face hardened.
"I just purged your friends."
"Hehehe! Weaklings! They are lowly weaklings but don't worry, my Master has more powerful servants like me. If I wasn't enough, then an army of my equals will scotch this land back to ruin!"
"Hmmm… so evil!" Alina commented as she verified the truth with her eyes, "We will have more questions for you but let's purge the rest of your friends first then preserve your head in a jar filled with Blessed Oil!"
"Bl… Blessed Oil!"
Blessed objects were the bane of dark creatures, such an oil exists and if a Daedra's head for example was trapped in one, it will be forever a torturous prison for the being.
Alina gagged the head and gave it to Wulfur then instantly vaporized the rest of the possessed bodies with her eyes. They finally have a prisoner they can extract information from.
As they were about to move to Winterhold, a Storm Atronach Horse interrupted them in the way and its rider was no other than Isha.
"Alina, here you are." She jumped off the Atronach.
"Don't worry, I am fine." Alina assured her.
"Good. But there is news, bad ones!" Isha replied, "Fort Kastav was overrun by the bandits that just attacked the south. The Stormcloak Commander was killed and the survivors reported treason in the ranks."
"You say what?" Alina freaked out.
"That's not just it." Isha said, "Vampires… Vampires were sighted assisting the Bandits."
This situation turned even darker on this horribly eventful day. Assassins, Daedra, Bandits and now Vampires; whoever after this has brought War to Winterhold.
Alina's eyes finally showed anger she can no longer hold. She turned to the head of the Daedra and grabbed it from Wulfur.
"Wulf, you go to Kastav. Mother, tell father Jonrad that there are Vampires. Isha, find Jullanar and tell her to meet me at the College." Alina said.
"Why will you go to the College?" Hilda asked.
"We need answers and I think we all know just the person who can make the Daedra sing."
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