Chapitre 674: The Frozen Path
A/n: Another Double Chapter since I wasn't able to publish for the past week. The VPN service I used was blocked from Egypt along with many others. It was kinda impossible to access Patreon so I couldn't do much but after a lot of time trying to get it to work, I managed to get a "Chrome Extension VPN" of all things to work. Well, whatever gets the job done I guess.
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(Part 1)
Disasters strike with fortune on their heels, a concept of seeing the world that saved many souls more than any would dare count. A concept that pushed Glymet up from the disaster he just witnessed and put him on a straight path towards Winterhold.
Old as he may look, the 50 years old man was rushing on an exhausted horse that was the third on his journey. He would stop in every village with a good stable and switch horses not to get any horse lame and keep on a steady pace to the city.
In the matter of two days, which is a record by itself, Glymet arrived at the entrance of Winterhold, passed the checkpoint, and rushed straight to the city.
It was common knowledge that the Dare Dragon Trading Company had its old headquarters located in the main city of Winterhold right beside the Jarl's longhouse. In the recent months, the manor which belonged to House Dare was attacked by the Dragon Cult and Jon Dare relocated to the Dare Tower in the city of New Saarthal with his family, but the old place still houses the top brass of the Company including the management offices which Jon Dare's seconds-in-command are stationed during his absence.
But the moment Glymet stepped past the gates of the city, something terrible happened.
"RUN!"
"The Mages! They've lost it!"
"They're acting mad!"
"And here we thought we could trust them!"
Seeing many people rush in the opposite direction while he was getting off his horse and tying it to a post, Glymet went ahead immediately and rushed north to the College of Winterhold, the destination he was aiming for.
What he found was another disaster brewing in a spherical shape around the grand building of the college.
Standing on a spire rising from the sea, the College of Winterhold was shrouded in both honor and infamy. By having its bad relationship fixed with the locals for the past couple of years, the College was on the way to being the jewel of the north as it always should have been, but today and upon Glymet's arrival, the College was shrouded in a sphere of wild Magicka rather than honor and infamy and whatnot.
The sphere of wild Magicka seemed to be causing the wind to whirl and the weather to rumble. A storm started to appear on the horizon as if something sinister was brewing far into the sea, and an untimely spring storm formed above the city.
Glymet helped some of the citizens get up as they ran away from the direction of the College of Winterhold and as he reached it, he noticed that many young mages were running on the college's bridge, some bearing strange injuries, and others fully unconscious.
On the heels of the retreating mages was a Dunmer woman that was leading the crowd. She seemed to have been through a rough fight and her face carried serious expressions but aside from the anger and the shock, she was keeping all the young mages in order.
"Retreat! Put on warding formation at the sixth and the fifth allies! Make sure the people don't get near this place… And somebody find me Alina!"
The woman kept ordering the other teachers around while Glymet was looking between the crowds to see if Laaneth was among the teachers. He looked and looked again but he felt like she wasn't among this crowd at all.
He then headed towards the Dunmer Mage leading the evacuation efforts and was about to ask her about Laaneth if not for what happened next. All Glymet could do was unsheathe his sword and rush towards the woman with swift steps.
Nurina was a second too late to react to Glymet but he passed her like swift wind and behind her, she could feel the resonance of Magicka types clashing against one another. Just one look and she realized that the man had attacked something made of pure Magicka and shattered it with a swing of his blade.
"Be on guard! Magicka Anomalies are forming!" Nurina shouted in the crowd of Mages before turning to Glymet, "Thank you."
"Laaneth, where is she?" Glymet didn't have time for pleasantries and cut to the chase right away.
"Inside." Nurina replied, "She's trapped with other teachers and students. Please, be patient, we will sort this out."
"Sort this out?" Glymet looked at Nurina with a face filled with disbelief, "I can't wait."
He immediately darted off towards the College's bridge and rushed at the strange white spherical barrier. Nurina's shout for him to wait fell on deaf ears as he held his sword with two hands and attempted to slash at the barrier before he realized the stupidness of his actions.
His attack felt as if it was repulsed by a wall of metal that was left unshaken in the face of his fruitless strike. Moreover, the barrier formed a repulsive force that hit him back with the same amount of force he exerted and caused him to lose control of his energies for a second.
This second was all that needed to send him off the bridge of the College down to the abyss below the College's spire.
"Hold on!"
But as soon as his senses came back to him, he was being lifted in the air by a mighty powerful Magical force that levitated him all the way back to the beginning of the bridge of the College.
"Rush like that again at your own peril, stranger!" Nurina shouted at Glymet as she placed him on the ground, "This is a force beyond our understanding!"
Glymet shook his head left and right to restore his jumbled senses and sat up while looking between Nurina and the College.
"Laaneth is in there!" He said desperately, "I can't leave her…"
"Laaneth is one of the most capable people I know, she'll handle herself and her students." Nurina replied, "It's not the right time or place to waste it for talking but if you are a friend of Laaneth, then you know a thing or two about what she can do."
Glymet's face was still painted with all shades of shock and worry but all he could do was nod.
"You're an adventurer?" Nurina asked.
"I am." Glymet replied.
"Then I have a task for you." She said, "Head out to the neighboring city of Saarthal to the Dare Tower and ask where Alina Dare is. Jon must have left her with something to deal with this. Tell her that the Magicka of Winterhold is being siphoned by the Eye."
Glymet's senses were still coming back together but he understood what to do.
"Alina?" He asked for more details.
"Alina Dare." Nurina replied naturally, "The wife of Jon Dare."
"Oh!" Glymet felt like his head was being hit with something heavy since it seemed unavoidable to run into the Dares and the Firemanes without consulting with Laaneth first, "Fine, I'll deliver the news."
Seeing the middle-aged adventurer stand up and rush outside the city, Nurina put her full focus on studying and dealing with the barrier that was creeping out of the College. Moreover, there was a danger coming from behind as the people of Winterhold and the Hold Guards were all agitated with the sight of a disaster brewing over their city.
It seemed to have reminded them of their hatred towards the College and the Great Collapse.
"Faralda, talk to me." Nurina called Faralda, who was busy getting rid of the Magicka Anomalies and defending the people.
"What?" Faralda had to leave her post for a young mage and approached Nurina while being on the lookout.
"What would Jon do in a situation like this with the people?" Nurina asked as she looked with worry towards the city.
"He's your son, you should know best." Faralda replied right away.
"But I can't just make a mistake here. This is a very sensitive issue and the College's reputation is on the line." Nurina showed her worry since neither Jon nor Archmage Savos are here to deal with this sort of stuff.
"Just focus on one thing, honey." Faralda held Nurina's shoulders, "The Barrier, the Anomalies, or the People!"
"I'll do the Barrier." Nurina said with a stern look on her face, "Once Alina comes, I know she'll have something in her sleeve for this situation and I'll handle the anomalies."
"What do you want me to do then?" Faralda asked.
"Coordinate with the Jarl. I am not as proficient as Jon in politics but we can buy some time with the people if we tell them that the Thalmor are trying to invade the College."
"Who's not proficient with politics again?" Faralda smiled in order to ease Nurina off.
"Just go, woman!" Nurina smiled but her face hardened back once again.
She was obviously worried. Many of the kids are still in there, some of her friends including Laaneth are still in there as well, and her cousin, Archmage Savos Aren, is in there.
So what exactly happened and what is this attack?
Earlier this morning, a man known as Ancano, the Thalmor emissary to the College of Winterhold, invaded the College's Hall of Elements and started to argue with the Arch Mage.
By the time Nurina arrived at the scene, Ancano and Savos were agitated at one another with their staves in their hands.
Nurina could hear Ancano telling Savos that the Dawn of Magic is wasted on a place like Winterhold. That was a reference to the Eye of Magnus that was located in the Hall of Elements since its origin is associated with the beings of the Dawn Era.
As their conversation reached nowhere, it appeared that Ancano had found a way to tap into the magic of the Eye and wanted to transfer it back to Alinor to the Aldmeri Dominion. Savos Aren opposed this and kept Ancano in check but the latter used the Eye to cast a powerful barrier that would separate the rest of the College's staff and students and push them out while he prepares for moving the eye.
Nurina tried to intervene but she couldn't overpower the barrier cast by the Eye and eventually got pushed out as well. Even her Chaos Infection wasn't working on the barrier and it felt as if the two things were made of something similar so they can't oppose one another.
This was maddening to Nurina and she knew that Jon, whose knowledge of the future has been very accurate so far, is having Alina deal with things related to the college and something like this is hardly outside his scope of perception, especially when he warned her not to get into fights with Ancano.
So, if Alina gets here, she should be able to deal with this as far as Nurina is hoping for. If not, this will turn into a true disaster.
***
(Part 2)
Glymet knew that the only way to Laaneth is behind that barrier and if Jon Dare's wife is the key to it, he should put aside his feeling of guilt and ask her for help.
As he arrived in Saarthal, the news about the trouble in Winterhold seemed to have been faster than him and he found it easy to get to the Dare Tower under the pretext of delivering a message.
He didn't meet Alina Dare as he hoped but he could recognize that the youth gathered in the tower were Firemanes and some of them seemed outsiders but what they all had in common was their overflowing power and talent.
As he reported to the one standing in the center, a large young man with black hair and sideburns, the group started looking at each other and whispering about Alina.
They all carried their weapons and told Glymet to rush with them to Winterhold and wait for Alina there. Just like her husband, she seemed to have gone on a small adventure too.
None of them seemed as impressive as the Dunmer Wizard lady who was standing in front of the College, but Glymet knew that this is as far as he can do for now. With them, he returned to Winterhold and they all started to organize the scene.
An hour later, Glymet could see a creature speeding through the sky and since he was the first to notice, others looked at where he was looking and reacted immediately.
"It is the Gryphon!" Isha shouted, "Alina has returned."
Glymet frowned at the sight of the creature but it was indeed a woman riding a snow-capped gryphon that is rare even in Summerset Isles. She kept rushing with the gryphon towards the barrier and held forward a staff that had a strong and impressive aura.
The staff shot a strong ray of arcane power and clashed with the barrier, causing part of the barrier to collapse, almost enough for the Gryphon to fly in. The barrier kept crumbling slowly and those who were outside readied themselves to swarm in.
As that happened, Nurina and Glymet were pushing their Magicka against the barrier. While Nurina was methodically destroying the barrier, Glymet was chipping its parts like a fighter rather than a magic caster. Still, Nurina noticed that he was a high-leveled Magicka user.
As they all pushed through all the way to the Hall of the Elements, it was only Nurina and Glymet who endured the anomaly of Magicka all the way where Alina was dueling Ancano.
Ancano was using the Eye of Magnus, whose parts opened up and turned from a sphere into different unstable shapes.
Alina was using a staff with a design very close to the Eye of Magnus, so it was safe to assume that this is the Staff of Magnus, the most powerful magic staff known, and an artifact made by a divine being.
Alina was skillful enough to keep the Eye contained while using a Sword on the other hand to send energy attacks at Ancano. While her skills were impressive, she couldn't put enough disadvantage on Ancano just yet.
He was using the Eye of Magnus to grant himself nigh-invincibility, something that Alina could take away from him by the staff she wielded.
However, once Glymet and Nurina joined the fray, Ancano's magical invincibility was bound to not last him longer than this. Still, Nurina looked around before doing anything and noticed that her cousin, Savos Aren, was resting his back on a pillar before with his appearance being pale and weak.
He was gravely injured by magic and he was getting tended to by Maribelle Ervine who managed to take him away from Ancano once Alina arrived.
As for Glymet, he finally saw the one he was looking for.
"Laaneth!"
"G… Glym?"
The moment he saw her hiding with a group of apprentices and protecting them from Ancano, he immediately left the quest of pushing ahead and ran towards her.
"I'll get you out of here." He said and tried to get her out.
"No!" Laaneth refused, "I am helping Alina. You get the apprentices away from here."
"I'm here for you." Glymet insisted, "Come on!"
"One of us stays and covers the retreat, the other has to evacuate them. Your choice!" Laaneth insisted with a face filled with determination.
To see her after so many years in a situation like this. Glymet's heart was filled with sadness and grief but he had to do what he had to do.
"You go. I'll stay." He turned away with his hand on his sword's hilt ready to participate in the fight against Ancano.
"Let's go! I'll cover you all." As for Laaneth, she led the apprentices that were trapped inside out.
As she led them away from the fight, Laaneth took one final look at the sight of Glymet as he headed back into the Hall of the Elements where a fight of blinding lights and divine artifacts was taking place.
Between the Holder of the Eye of Magnus and the Holder of the Staff of Magnus, the Holder of Goldbrand would at least tip the scale for the side of good.
The Eye of Magnus is believed to be a literal body part of Magnus, leader of the Magna-Ge, the Original Spirits that fled the creation of Mundus after the scheme of Lorkhan took effect and rendered many Immortal Spirits mortal.
As a survivor of the Mortal Prison of Mundus, Magnus is an important figure to the mortality-hating Elves. An Artifact such as the Eye of Magnus is a sure way to negate the effects of Mortality and ascend as Immortals, or so many would be led to believe.
Just as Ancano tried to activate the Eye and draw power from it, he caused the Magic of the world around him to go on a rampage. Alina knew thanks to Jon that she had to collect a staff from a dangerous dungeon once she sees the signs that something is brewing within the college. She ventured to the Labyrinthian, a dangerous dungeon constructed by Archmage Shalidor, founder of Winterhold and the College, on the bones of an Ancient Nordic City to test the new Archmages of the College.
With the staff being the reward, Alina headed back with it to face the trouble caused by Ancano. The reason for that is the fact that the Staff of Magnus is the only thing that can control the Eye of Magnus, which brings us to the current situation.
With Ancano hell-bent on exploiting the Eye, Alina worked on sealing the eye once again in order to cut off the power that made Ancano invincible. With that, she hammered Ancano with all the firepower she could muster but she needed more help.
Seeing Nurina rush to her aid, Alina became more confident and used her sword to corner Ancano enough in order to make him easy prey for Nurina's heavy attacks. Yet despite the tactic, one variable was entering the stage with extreme power.
A swordsman rushed past Ancano and defeated the Atronachs that he summoned with a flaming sword before arriving behind the Altmer and driving his sword into Ancano's back.
The protection Ancano drew from the Eye was wearing off but it could put a halt to Glymet's stab. Still, Ancano was pushed down to the ground and tried to crawl away to get closer to the Eye.
Alina shifted her focus on the Eye of Magnus and used the Staff to seal it quicker than before to assist the swordsman who was keeping Ancano occupied.
At such a rate, Alina sealed the Eye of Magnus by 90%, Nurina stopped Ancano from casting any spell, and Glymet had him pinned down by the sword.
"No! Let me… You can't… YOU FOOLS! The power to Unmake the World! It's not meant for Humans! You won't… you won't… AAAAARGH~~~!!!"
Jon mentioned nothing about taking Ancano alive but the moment he was almost subdued without killing him, something started to change.
Ancano's energy started to shift and flow beyond Nurina's restriction and even further from what Ancano can control. He started screaming and screeching as if he was burning from inside and around his body, white fractures started to form.
Glymet retreated and saw the Magicka around Ancano's body materialize and get siphoned by the Eye. An Artifact started to devour a Mortal Soul, something that can only be done by a Soul Gem but rather than emptying Ancano's Astral Form of its Energy and damning it to the Soul Cairn, the entire Ghost of Ancano was being enthralled by the Eye.
It was different from necromancy or soul manipulation magic, the sacred Anuic visage of the soul itself was being devoured by the eye.
Ancano was being Undone and what was left behind was nothing but the white ash of his disintegrated corpse.
Glymet looked at the thing that was once a person and looked at the Eye of Magnus. It wasn't fully sealed yet and some of its cracks showed its white glowing interior.
Alina was working hard to seal the Eye so she wasn't noticing what Glymet had noticed and right in there, there was a silhouette… a being… an entity.
It wasn't the Elf that disintegrated just now.
It was something… ominous… deep… unfathomable…
And it was gazing at Glymet as he gazed at it just as the eye was fully shut.
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A/n: You'll love the coming plot after this last foreshadowing.
Chapitre 675: Prepare for the Clockwork
A/n: Hello, my name is Don and I specialize in double chapters! ➡️ https://linktr.ee/donovel ⬅️
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(Part 1)
The Fight with Ancano took a toll not only on the College but on the entire city. A lot of damage happened due to the strange anomalous wisps that started to appear and randomly attack everything.
While the Local blamed the Mages for not controlling their experiments and wanted them to just "dispel" the things, the Mages insisted that these wisps are the byproduct of the Thalmor's attack on the College and it would have been much worse if not for the rapid response of Lady Alina.
It is a known fact that House Dare and the Thalmor are the very prime example of "archenemies" and siding with one is automatically being an enemy of the other. Jon Dare stated many times in public that if any Nord on Nirn was to ever support the Thalmor, he would go right to their homes and burn it down on their heads.
So this was as far as things would go. However, this is the first time the Thalmor attacked after the Battle of Winterhold when Jon slew ten of their Arch-Wizards when he was on Godmode. Even when Jon was absent for 3 years, they didn't retaliate at Winterhold ever. This caused a little bit of confusion in the rumors that were being spread.
But the confusion was a good thing in this situation. Alina had to take the next day working on soothing the city and repairing the damages to the College. She even spread some of the rumors herself and showed up on the doorsteps of many houses in order to heal anyone injured and such.
During her visits, she made sure to spread some rumors. The first was that Archmage Savos Aren was a victim of an assassination attempt and he is now in critical condition. The second was the fact that the College of Winterhold houses a score of Expert and Master Mages, who in terms of power are at par with Jon's occasional displays of power. Moreover, there is a handful of Arch-Wizards in the College including Archmage Savos, Lady Nurina, and Master Tolfdir.
While in terms of raw firepower, Jon was a brute of a wizard with many deadly toys in his arsenal, the rest of the Arch Wizards are able enough to put on the same level of display. Alina made sure to deliver those facts subtly and carefully to embed them into the hearts of the people and make them aware that there is no good in confronting the Mages, and making sure to remind them that such a confrontation will be exactly what the Thalmor hope for.
But away from all the crowd control, Alina was worried sick about this whole situation.
Archmage Savos was indeed in a critical condition since he suffered the full burst of energy coming from the Eye of Magnus. Moreover, Nurina hasn't left his side since then and she seemed to be in great sadness.
According to Nurina, Jon seemed to have passed a gift to Archmage Savos once he returned to Skyrim last year. Jon said that this Artifact was something that he discovered in Elsweyr and it is used to nourish the vitality of its user. Such an Artifact was precious to any Mage in any class of the Arcane Arts and Savos decided to keep it on himself.
According to Mirabelle Ervine, this artifact glowed in Red Aura and released a whisper of Thu'um that seemed to have been stored inside. This somehow saved the life of Savos Aren.
It also meant that Jon lied about the Artifact being from Elsweyr and was aware that the Archmage's life would be in danger. How Nurina felt about this concerned Alina quite a bit but it seemed that she was more worried for Savos rather than being mad at Jon for not telling her what he knows.
On another front, there was the matter with the Eye of Magnus. Alina wanted to move it away and seal it with the Staff of Magnus but four Monks from the Psijic Order appeared and said that they were to take it away.
Alina was furious at them and accused them of standing aside and watching while letting the disaster brew in front of their eyes. Quaranir, the leader of the four monks, apologized to Alina and told her that even her husband Jon knew something like this would happen and didn't seem to be interrupting Fate as well. However, once Quaranir found out that Archmage Savos was rescued, his face showed surprise for the first time, and started stuttering around his words as if that was out of his calculations.
Quaranir then told Alina that in any case, Archmage Savos won't be able to keep his duties as Archmage for long, and as the person who conquered the Labyrinthian of Archmage Shalidor, there is no one as fit as her to take the mantle of the Archmage of the College of Winterhold.
This worried Alina quite a bit but at the same time, it was an honor greater than anything she can ever think of. Being a Nord and an Archmage of the College will take the institution to new heights in Skyrim among the Nords once this recent incident passes smoothly. It will also give House Dare a very incredible boost since, from this moment, they will control both the City and the College, a unification that has never occurred since the time of the College's foundation.
And so, the whole situation in the city was being managed. Still, another situation was brewing inside the Dare Tower where Glymet met Jonrad.
"I am sorry. Your son was taken to another world."
"YEAAAAAAAAAAS!"
Jonrad's reaction wasn't expected by Glymet… or rather it was expected from Jonrad knowing his situation with Jon.
"Shut up, Jon!" But it was Hilda that shouted at him and turned to Glymet with a serious face, "What happened, Glym?"
Glymet's eyes were narrowed as he looked at Jonrad while he started to tell Hilda his account of what happened in the Rift and to her son. He also highlighted the critical detail that their son was taken to Clockwork City by the ring known as Barilzar's Mazed Band.
"To his stupid lawyer face!" Jonrad shouted again… in absolute happiness.
"Will you be quiet? I just put the kids to bed." Hilda focused her fiery glares at Jonrad once again.
"It is just, honey, when that boy made fun of me last time at Solitude while I was drunk, I've been meaning to return the favor and… Glymet here helped me out so…" Jonrad tried to explain his latest grudge with Jon.
"I didn't do anything to him!" But Glymet defended himself right away, "We were all trying to acquire the ring and your son was tossing everyone left and right. I swear no one had the chance to do anything with him being that aggressive."
"Don't worry about it, Glym." Hilda assured Glymet that he is not in any trouble and returned to her husband, "You and I need to talk."
"Oh!" Jonrad realized that he is in for an earful.
But just as they were meeting at the entrance of the second section in the Tower, Alina walked in with a tired face.
"I want to sleep so bad." She said as she dragged herself across the hallway before running into the three elders, "Oh, I didn't realize we had a guest. You are the Adventurer who helped last night."
"Alina, this is Glymet, a friend from the War days." Hilda introduced Glymet to Alina.
"Oh, hello!" Alina's face turned bright right away, "Jonrad told us a lot about you."
"You are young Jon's wife?" Glymet asked while trying to be careful around his words.
"Yes, did he do anything bad?" Alina asked while being fully prepared for what comes.
"He was forcibly taken to Clockwork City." Hilda said.
"Oh no!" Alina's reaction was that of pure shock, "Without me?"
"Forcibly taken!" Glymet highlighted the important words.
"Come on!" Alina held her head, "Being forcibly taken to another world again! Damn it!" She then turned to Hilda, "Mom, dad, if I find out that your son has cheated on me over there…"
"He's all yours, daughter." Hilda didn't even bother arguing for her son.
"Totally." And Jonrad was somehow hyped for what would happen.
"Should I feel sorry for him?" Glymet asked himself in a quiet mumbling.
"Traveling to other realms is kinda his thing, Glym. Jon can handle himself." Hilda said while getting up, "Now if you excuse me, Thor and Idun have been quiet for some time, I am afraid they're up to no good again."
As she left, Glymet couldn't still drop the concerned face.
"Alright, if he's in there, I should at least be less worried about Swims-at-Night with him." Glymet said while massaging his temples.
"Wait. Your Argonian friend is over there as well?" Jonrad asked with wide eyes.
"Yeah, he was the one who got taken with him." Glymet nodded.
"This is bad." Alina held her chin.
"What is?" Glymet turned to her with his heart almost jumping out of his chest.
"Jon is in Clockwork city and you have a friend missing over there as well." Jonrad showed concern too.
"The problem with Jon is that he loses his marbles the moment he is surrounded by Dwarven toys… meaning…" Alina explained.
"He won't bother with anything… let alone Swims-at-Night." Jonrad confirmed.
"Alright…" Glymet took a deep breath in and waited for a few seconds before continuing, "I need to get to Clockwork City."
Alina and Jonrad looked at each other and thought for a while.
"To be completely honest, I have no idea how to get there." Alina said.
"Then get me in touch with Laaneth." Glymet said, "I can't find her since after the attack."
"She's camping with Master Nurina." Alina said, "Archmage Savos is badly wounded so the two of them are looking after him. You need to go to the College and see Mirabelle Ervine to get in contact with Laaneth."
"I understand… thank you." Glymet thanked Alina and took a step backward, "I'll be off then."
"Wait!" Alina called, "Make sure to not bring up any word about Jon getting missing in Clockwork City in front of Master Nurina. She's a bit sensitive right now and it may upset her hearing about Jon's situation."
"Ah! I remember." Glymet replied with an understanding face, "The adoptive mother, right?"
"That she is." Jonrad nodded.
"I'll be careful then."
***
(Part 2)
It was unknown what situation the Archmage was in but so long he is alive, things would be stable in the College for some time.
His life was saved by Jon's artifact and if not for it, he wouldn't be around. Nurina understood that and wanted to thank him for saving her only surviving blood relative in the world.
While Nurina and Savos aren't really getting along, she considers herself to be his elder sister of some sort and he was family. Saving his life, no matter the cost, is a big deal to her. However, she didn't understand why Jon kept the info that Savos' life was threatened by her.
"His mind is still active. I can conjure some Daedric Energy from Vaermina's realm of Quagmire to induce nightmares in his head and allow it to find its way during this coma." Laaneth said.
"The method is a bit radical, don't you think?" Nurina asked.
"The Archmage is no simple man. If we give him a chance, he will easily push through it and fight his way back to us." Laaneth said, "In my opinion, a Coma is like a mental block except that it actually blocks one's brain from his body. The senses still work so we can give him just a little push."
"I see. Let's hold on that idea for the night and see if there are any orthodox options on the table. Colette Marence still hasn't shared her opinion with us."
"Restoration is a valid school of magic." Laaneth tried to ease up the mood with an inside joke to the college.
"It is indeed." Nurina appreciated the comment.
"Well, it is all up to you in the end, Lady Nurina."
"Thank you, Laaneth."
While it was all true, it wasn't ethical to do this to Savos. Inducing nightmares from Vaermina's realm into his head will add variety to whatever is locking him in there and will probably pull him through this.
But Nurina wasn't so heartless to let it happen. After all, Savos Aren has too many regrets to not be allowed to face. Some of these regrets were still fresh news to Nurina once Alina told her what happened in the Labyrinthian.
The Labyrinthian was the place where the Staff of Magnus was being kept and it is also a place where Archmage Shalidor, the founder of Winterhold and its College, has set up a test for his successors as the Archmages of Winterhold.
Usually, it is not a place that one can conquer on their own or even as fast as Alina did but she had all the toys Jon kept lying around in the Dare Tower and had some help as well. Still, once in the past, Archmage Savos Aren attempted to challenge the Labyrinthian as well and the result of his expedition wasn't all good.
In Savos Aren's expedition, he had five Masters of Winterhold with him, Atmah the Redguard, Girduin the Bosmer, Takes-in-Light the Argonian, Hafnar Ice-Fist the Nord, and Elvali Veren the Dunmer. All of which were possible candidates for the seat of the Archmage, all but Savos got their souls trapped in the Labyrinthian whereas he survived the fool's errand they called expedition and became the Archmage.
The death of his friends weighed too much on Savos' soul to the point where he was committed to the College his whole life and never once thought about giving up the seat that he got by the sacrifice of his friends. He didn't truly conquer the Labyrinthian since he failed at the final test but things would have turned out badly if it wasn't for him leading the College of Winterhold all this time.
And so, Nurina didn't even know how to approach his coma knowing that in his long sleep, Savos is somewhere he wants to be.
But while she was contemplating, the door to the Archmage's chamber was opened and Mirabelle Ervine walked in asking for Laaneth. From how it seemed, Laaneth had a guest, but while she was reluctant to meet him, Nurina urged her to do so.
Still, from what Nurina could tell, it seemed like this man named Glymet was the one Laaneth told her about.
Her ex.
As for Laaneth, the Dunmer conjuration sorceress, she was thankful for Glymet's help during the fight against Ancano while being a little bit on edge with him since the time they broke up.
It wasn't that pretty how they ended up.
Before they were an item, they were friends from the War and adventure companions for some time but the situation with them being distant caused them to go their separate ways. Long-distance relationships hardly succeed to begin with and Glymet has met someone else a few years ago. While Laaneth doesn't know all the details, she knows that Glymet watched that someone die and it wasn't a peaceful death.
[Reminder: Alisanne Durpe, the former Listener of the Dark Brotherhood from the story of Jonrad and Glymet, the one Jonrad killed in order to steer Glymet away from the path of Sithis.]
But for Glymet to come after this long time and ask to see her, she wasn't that excited, to begin with, until she met him.
"Thank you… for meeting me." Glymet spoke with his not meeting her save for a single second.
"Glym." Laaneth looked at him and noticed many things, "So, like all humans, you became an old man so quickly."
"Older indeed but not any wiser, I am afraid." He replied with an awkward smile.
He has grown from the young man she met during the Great War to a late-middle-aged man with white hairs lining the sides of his hair and his beard. Aside from that, some wrinkles and blemishes marked his face as someone who is almost 60.
If he was like any of those clans who had giant-blood or ancestral magic, he may have lived to an 80 or something before looking this old but Glymet was just the epitome of regular humans. On the other hand, Laaneth is well beyond 100 with the looks of a young woman in her 20s or 30s.
"Laaneth, listen…" He pushed all awkwardness aside and focused on the thing that matters, "It's about Swims."
"Swims?" Laaneth was surprised, "What happened to the old lizard? Last time I checked on him, he was going around Winterhold."
Laaneth smiled vividly as she remembered their mutual trouble-maker friend, Swims-at-Night.
"He came to Winterhold?" Glymet asked.
"Yes. He was here looking for a crew of adventurers but Tyr showed up and ruined his whole thing. Classic Tyr, right?" Laaneth laughed as she remembered the situation from a month ago but seeing how she immediately started laughing around Glymet, she was the one to feel awkward this time around.
It has always been like this. She was always comfortable around him for some reason and he was always distant and seeking something greater than himself.
If he can just settle down and be…
"He has been taken." Glymet said.
"Who?" Laaneth became alert immediately, "Swims?"
"Yes. It happened when he came to find me in Dawnstar…"
Glymet then told Laaneth a full account of what happened until now. Her reaction was to take in a few deep breaths and hold her head.
"A fight in the Rift with an unknown Arch Wizard, the Ruins of Forelhost which are forbidden even to approach, drinking Magicka draining poison, fighting with Jon Dare over the Barilzar's Mazed Band…" She repeated what she understood, "And what on Nirn were you planning to find in Clockwork City? Oblivion! That's not even Nirn, to begin with, it is a different world altogether, a branch dimension!"
"Just tell me that you know how to get there." Glymet asked patiently.
"Easy! You don't." Laaneth replied, "Barilzar's Mazed Band is one thing but that's a legendary thing… something unique… a backdoor of… sorts." Laaneth started to mumble at the end as her head was getting some ideas at the moment.
"Alright?" Glymet waited for her to finish her thoughts.
"Look, I'll be honest." Laaneth said, "Barlizar was not just some ordinary wizard. He was a Clockwork Apostle who learned under Sotha Sil then left him and went to serve Vivec to gain access to real Dwemer Technology."
"And what does that have to do with this?" Glymet asked.
"I am trying to say that if you want to do something Barlizar did with his Mazed Band, you need someone on equal footing if not greater than a genius like Barlizar. The only one I know of is Lord Divayth Fyr."
"That's impossible." Glymet laughed, "Is he still alive?"
"Who knows?! Lady Nurina and Jon Dare said that he is but if it is Divayth Fyr, maybe it is some clone of his or whatever. That doesn't matter either way since he has multiple clone wives." Laaneth said.
"Clone wives? Oblivion!" Glymet couldn't imagine cloning one's self, to begin with, let alone cloning a wife of yourself.
"It is called Selfcest, but who are we to judge at this point?" Laaneth shrugged her shoulders, "Either way, one of the clones happens to live just outside Winterhold."
"So if not Divayth Fyr, we can just ask that female Divayth Fyr." He said.
"Yes." Laaneth said, "Lady Alfe Fyr is her name, just make sure you don't upset her, she can kill us with her mind and we won't even know it."
And so, Laaneth and Glymet sat out to meet with Alfe Fyr for access to Clockwork City to save Swims-at-Night and possibly Jon Dare if he wanted any saving.
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A/n: 13 Early Access Chapters on P4treon and MORE! ➡️ https://linktr.ee/donovel ⬅️
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
200+ Classement
Power Stone 
30 Power
stone 
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