Chương 540: The Eye
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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