20 The Eye of Magnus

Morrigan did not trust Rictus. It seemed too convenient for a powerful mage to have shown up right when they were about to confront Ancano and have access to the Eye of Magnus. Had she somehow changed something with her actions? She thought she had been quite careful to follow along without changing much of anything till this point. She had wanted to maximize her chances of becoming the archmage.

She also had a sneaking suspicion Rictus was one of the Skilled. The fact he had a strange goat summon and ridiculous mask made her suspicions even more justified. Those thoughts would have to wait for now though. They could address them when they were not about to fight a powerful Thalmor who had access to near unlimited amounts of power.

"So, Rictus, how do you normally fight? We should know this to better coordinate during combat."

Rictus figured it wouldn't hurt to tell them a little about himself. He wouldn't say everything he could do, but they would need something to better face Ancano.

"I usually try and stay back out of the fight if I can help it. I am still learning how to wield the ax, so I try not to resort to close combat. My favorite spell is probably telekinesis. I like to use it with my ax or other objects to attack at range. I am guessing you prefer ranged spells, especially with that staff. The Redguard, sorry I didn't catch your name, seems to be more of a battle mage type who will get in close with the enemy and use restoration magic to stay there."

The Redguard gave Rictus a slightly impressed look. That was exactly how he preferred to fight.

"My name is Dante. What you said roughly sums up my fighting style. I will be the physical distraction during this battle."

As they were making their way along the bridge, Morrigan had to use the staff of Magnus a few times to get rid of magical anomalies. The anomalies hardly slowed down the group since the staff was so effective at defeating them.

Rictus couldn't help but smile as Morrigan did all the work. He was more than willing to sit back and let her destroy the creatures with her new staff. He also liked how both her and Dante were so focused on the task at hand. This allowed him to sneakily grab the soul stones out of the ashes of the defeated enemies. No need to let the resource go to waste. He had been doing this all day and had collected quite a few of the stones. They would come in handy when he started practicing enchanting or if he needed to barter with the College for something.

The college was much bigger than depicted in the games. There were an additional 6 towers similar to the hall of attainment and hall of countenance. Rictus supposed this was to house all the additional mages. The fact that there were quite a few mages helping defend Winterhold indicated there were many more mages here than the game had. The courtyard was also more grandiose with various garden areas and gazebo areas. The air was much warmer after entering the gates. There was also an almost tangible magical feeling to the air. Rictus was sure it would be there even if the Eye of Magnus was not acting up.

Rictus was surprised to find there to be about 20 mages in the courtyard. 10 of them seemed to be in some kind of ritual circle while the other 10 were standing guard. At first, Rictus thought they were trying to break into the slight barrier leading into the college proper. After a few moments of observing them with his magical sight, Rictus was slightly appalled at their actions.

The ritual seemed to be siphoning off the magic making up the barrier. This was a good thing if that was all the ritual did. The siphoned magic had to go somewhere though. And where did these mages decide to try and send the magic? Directly at the town. They were the reason the majority of the magical anomalies were appearing in the town instead of here in the college. It now made sense to Rictus why there so much fewer anomalies here than in the town. They were basically waiting for the magic to build up, then shoot it away from the college.

"What are those idiots doing?! Do they realize what they have done?" Rictus could hardly hold back his frustration at the incompetent mages.

Morrigan and Dante shared a quick look. Morrigan seemed to think Rictus was being overly dramatic and did not understand what magic rituals were.

"They are siphoning the magic making up the barriers blocking the way to Ancano. It was actually a very good idea. This would weaken the barriers and would be a back up measure incase we failed to get the staff. All the master mages praised me for coming up with such an innovating use for a mana storing rune."

Morrigan was quite prideful of her actions. It showed resourcefulness and good thinking about how to hope for the best but plan for the worst.

Rictus could only shake his head at the woman. Her idea actually was a good one. It was the execution of the idea where it failed.

"And did you consider what would happen with the magic after it had been gathered up? Runes are not made to hold that much mana."

Morrigan scoffed.

"Well, it would release it of course. We made sure that after it gathered enough mana, the rune would expel the excess away from the college. That should have been obvious."

"…Did you consider where you were aiming the excess magic? The strange magic which seems to be able to create magic anomalies when it builds up to certain levels?"

Morrigan was about to answer when she heard Dante gasp. It soon dawned on her what Rictus was getting at. The magic had been going towards the town this entire time. The ritual was the reason there were so many magical anomalies in the town. She had thought the ritual would protect the college and the town by sending the magic away. Instead, she had almost doomed the entire town to ruin.

Before the ritual could continue, Morrigan and Dante rushed up to the mages and commanded them to immediately stop what they were doing.

Rictus kind of expected them to admit to what the ritual was doing, but Morrigan quickly talked about how since she now has the staff, there is no need to keep the ritual going. Rictus could only shake his head at such a blatant omission. Dante also seemed a little bothered by the omission, but quickly dismissed it. Everything worked out fine so no reason to get upset.

Morrigan then commanded half the mages to go around and check to make sure all the remaining mages of the college were safe and kill any remaining magical anomalies. She tasked the other half to go and support the town.

Rictus couldn't help but be a little impressed at how easily she managed the other mages of the college. They seemed more than willing to listen to her commands. Maybe she would be easily accepted as the next archmage?

With the help of the staff, the group quickly entered the college. There were another 10 mages focusing on the bright magical barrier blocking the way into the large hall where Rictus could faintly make out Ancano and the Eye of Magnus. A familiar looking older man turned to them once they fully entered the room.

"Morrigan my girl! Wonderful you were able to make it back! Is that the staff of Magnus I see?

Morrigan couldn't help but smile at her mentor.

"Yes Tolfdir. This is the staff. Time to see how well this will work."

"Be careful. Even if we make it through the barrier, there is no telling how powerful Ancano many be with the Eye under his control. I will confront him with you. The other masters will stay here and contain the excess magic and to be our reserves should something happen. Ancano will not escape."

Tolfdir barely even spared a glance at Dante or Rictus during this time. He was solely focused on Morrigan, the staff, and what was about to happen.

Morrigan approached the barrier with staff raised. Dante was right behind her with sword and ward ready to protect her if anything attacked. Tolfdir and Rictus were on opposite sides of her waiting for the action to start.

A beam stronger than the ones before shot out of the staff. There was a fluctuation of power and energy as the barrier suddenly collapsed. The 4 mages quickly charged in to face Ancano.

Ancano saw the mages enter near him.

"You've come for me, have you? You think I don't know what you are up to? You think I can't destroy you? The power to unmake the world at my fingertip, and you think…"

Tolfdir launched a fireball at him which promptly shut him up. Apparently, monologuing is not as well respected in the world as the game portrayed.

Morrigan also began channeling the power of the staff at the Eye before anyone could say anything.

Ancano quickly shouted out and cast a mass paralyze spell.

"Enough! You will all see the folly of your ways and the power I know hold!"

The paralyze spell immobilized Tolfdir and the other master mages. Dante's ward seemed to struggle with the magic, but still protected him from the brunt of it. He would not be frozen long. Morrigan was completely unaffected by the spell. It almost appeared as if Ancano purposely did not attack her. Ancano wanted to personally battle her it seemed.

The duel between Ancano and Morrigan began with a great explosion of fire. Ancano had flames encircling him in a protective cloak as he continued lobing fire at Morrigan.

Morrigan quickly conjured a cloak of frost too reduce the damage of the incoming attacks. She responded to the fireballs by launching lightning bolts. The entire time, she continued to keep the staff aimed at the Eye.

The amount of magic being thrown around quickly became staggering. Ancano seemed to have an unlimited source of magic with the Eye powering him. Likewise, Morrigan used to staff to continually drain and absorb magic which provided her unlimited magic for as long as the staff held its charge.

Morrigan was also able to counter some of Ancano's spells by using the staff to absorb the magic before it could make contact with her. This was not easy and mostly used to slow his spells down to make them easier to dodge. With her trying to split her focus between using the staff on the eye, dodging spells, and casting her own, Morrigan was in a tough spot. Ancano just casted as much as he wanted since he had a powerful ward up in his off hand which was absorbing whatever Morrigan could throw at him.

The exploding fireballs, the arching lightning bolts, and the room being covered by a flame cloak on one half and a frost cloak on another was truly a sight to behold. Hundreds of spells had to have been cast in an insanely short about of time. It was a wonder the building was still standing at this point. There was little finesse with the spells either. Both mages were just using brute power and hoping for one or the other to mess up. It was a stalemate at this point.

Dante had smartly moved Tolfdir back outside of the chamber as soon as he became unfrozen. The confrontation between Morrigan and Ancano had become so intense he was afraid to try and interrupt the flow of battle. One distraction could prove fatal to Morrigan. Dante did feel bad about Rictus. There was no way he could have survived for so long being paralyzed with so much destructive forces being thrown around.

One of the large pillars on the far side of the room was a little unusual. The stone almost seemed to bulge out at one point. Making the base almost 5 feet wider than usual. This place was not able to be seen by those mages at the entrance due to all the magic flying around. The 2 dueling mages were way to focused to notice it either. If one looked closely, there even seemed to be a gap about the height of where a person's eyes would be while sitting down.

Rictus sat comfortably inside his little stone haven watching the amazing magical fight while eating a sweet roll. The fight really was impressive. Rictus could admit that he would be unable to use so much mana so easily. He still thought he could be a contender in the fight, but it would not be as easy, nor could he just constantly cast magic without running out.

When he had been initially paralyzed, Rictus was impressed by the power of the spell. Regardless of the power, Rictus was able to easily get out of it. He was a master of alteration and chosen as the Skilled of Alteration. He instinctively knew how to get around such a spell.

Once he was out, he moved to the stone pillars for protection. He tried to bend the stones, but they were so infused with protection spells and runes, it would have taken too long. Good thing he had a dimensional storage. He pulled out enough stone from there to form a protective shell around himself, just to be safe. He knew adding all those materials to his storage would come in handy.

Rictus figured he could probably shrug off most of the damage to himself with his dragonscale spell, but he felt no reason to risk it as of now. Sure, he could probably of made a difference early on, but this was not truly his fight. He would help of course, but no reason to risk his life in the process. Rictus preferred to fight smarter, not harder.

He was also taking this time to try and study the Eye. If he could figure out some of its secrets, maybe he too could have unlimited mana. Sadly, it seemed this would not be the case. A mistake was made in the massive magical fight.

Morrigan had moved to get better positioning. In her haste, she did not see notice one of the stone steps near here. She slightly stepped too far, and part of her heel caught on the step. This caused her to lose her balance and almost fall. She was able to catch herself in time, but the damage was done. While she desperately tried to mount some kind of defense, Ancano had redoubled his efforts with a blistering barrage of fire. Morrigan was able to raise a ward, but she knew it would not hold for long.

Right before her ward broke, another appeared right in front of her.

Dante had shown up to support her at the last moment. He channeled everything he had into his most powerful ward. These crucial seconds gave Morrigan all the time she needed to get back into the pacing of attacking Ancano. With Dante providing protection, she was able to cast more aggressively than before.

One of Ancano's hands seemed to suddenly drop, as if some great weight was placed on his glove and it tried to pull him down. The sudden change caused one of Ancano's fire spells to land right in front of him. The explosion of fire partially blinded him.

Morrigan did not waste such an opportunity. Channeling as much power as her body could hold, she cast a massive beam of lightning. The lightning show across the room and destroyed Ancano's last defense. Ancano was blasted across the room and crashed wetly into one of the pillars.

Before he could truly recover, a giant ax lodged itself in his neck. Ancano had a look of surprise as his head rolled across the floor and his body slumped into the ground.

Morrigan and Dante looked and saw Rictus casually standing there with a confident smirk on his face. The two of them were in shock. After all that fighting, Rictus was the one to land the final blow. Neither of them even thought the suspicious mage was still alive for that matter! Let alone able to sneakily throw an AX and decapitate Ancano. Rictus looked at the now headless Thalmor.

"Well…that's a weight off our shoulders. Making powerful allies will get you a head, right guys?"

Morrigan and Dante stared at Rictus blankly.

"Did you just make a fucking pun after all that?"

Rictus just laughed as he went to inspect the fallen Thalmor. He saw Tolfidr and the other master mages approach Morrigan and Dante. It seems it was almost time for her to become the archmage.

The magic of the Eye seemed to be gathering more power. There was a growing instability not there before. Rictus was not really worried about though. Someone should be able to solve that problem soon enough.

Rictus began a quick inspection of the Thalmor. He was especially interested if there were any changes from channeling the power of the Eye. As he had studied the body, Rictus noticed something was strange with one of his arms. There seemed to be some sort of energies lingering within the arm. This arm was also the one Ancano used most often to channel the power of the Eye. Deciding to take some more research materials, Rictus quickly cut off the arm to the elbow and placed it into his storage.

Rictus was a little surprised how easily he decided to cut off and store an arm. Such an action would have made him queasy in another life. Apparently, he had been changed during his stay here. Rictus was thankful for this change since it made survival in this harsh world much easier. As long as he didn't become totally unfeeling, Rictus was happy.

Rictus felt the unmistakable feeling of magic altering space. Looking up, he saw a new figure in the room. It must have been that mage from the secret order, whatever it was called. He was speaking to Morrigan about how she was ready to lead the college or something like that. Rictus was not really paying attention to that.

He was interested in how he could have so easily teleported here. It seemed this order was not so simple if they could easily teleport across Tamriel without the help of some sort of artifact or glyph. Rictus wondered if they really were that powerful. If they were, he should be cautious of the group. Maybe he could even join them and learn their secrets someday.

Soon, two more mages appeared, and they started a ritual to contain and transport the Eye. After a moment or two, the mages disappeared with the Eye. The rest of the mages were staring in wonder at the amazing display of magic.

Rictus simply smirked. He had figured out the trick. Apparently, there was a giant teleportation glyph hidden within the stone of the college. Rictus never would have found it had he not had experience with earth bending and teleportation glyphs. The mysterious mages wanted to seem all powerful when they had easy transport here the whole time. Rictus was a little curious as to why they let this whole thing happen like it did. Ancient magic orders were strange.

Regardless, that was one more worry gone from Skyrim. Rictus was very interested how Morrigan would lead the college. Especially if she already had the loyalty of Dante who was most likely the Skilled in Restoration since his ward was powerful enough to stop the magical barrage from Ancano and the Eye.

Rictus knew his turn to be questioned will come once things settle down. Still, it would be interesting to see what the future of the College would hold.

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[A/N]: Hope everyone is doing well! If you have anything to add to the story, please share with me! We will get to hear more from Morrigan in the next chapter.

Also a couple questions:

1. If I realease bonus chapters, do people prefer them same day, next day, or a couple days later?

2. Do people have any ideas of followers for the MC? I have an idea for 1, but I'd love any input even if it is an OC. No promise I'll use them, but it could spark ideas.