198 Chapter II: Uppity Nords and Uppity Magi

Davos appears within my study without a sound but a moment after Karsus left, the light barely moves as he practically glides through the barely opened doorway "You called boss." He waves cheerfully.

"That I did." I nod in greeting "It seems that the vampire scenario has occurred earlier than we expected." I toss the letter to him with a light push of telekinesis.

He grabs it without blinking and swiftly reads through it "This Isran seems like quite the character" He notes with a hint of amusement "You sure you won't turn him to ash if he speaks to you like this in person?"

I give him an odd look "Do I really appear so unreasonable to you Davos?"

He stares at me blankly, all of the many grievances I inflicted upon him waiting just at the tip of his tongue yet he holds back and simply shakes his head. Instead, he focuses on the problem at hand "So what do you plan on doing?"

I lean back into my comfy armchair completely at ease "I will naturally go and aid them in butchering the vampires, I sense many gains at the end of that journey, and even without them I would still help them fight out of necessity."

"Fair enough." Davos shrugs "You did tell me that that particular clan of bloodsuckers is a dangerous one so getting rid of them is the only reasonable option."

"Indubitably." I say in my most pompous drawl possible "While we wait you may as well tell me if there is any other news of note."

He scowls as he seemingly remembers something "The Nords in Winterhold are getting antsy."

It takes me less than a second to understand his meaning "It is the constant Dunmer immigration isn't it?"

He nods and adds with a grumble "That and the fact that Winterhold is still one of the old holds and most of those sided with Ulfric. The citizens mostly support the Jarl's choice but many of the villages and other settlements are far more uppity about the Talos issue."

"Yeah... I can see how that would soon turn into a problem." I sigh and light up a cigarette, one very impressive bout of blue smoke later I speak again "I will need you to ensure that Assur stays in power while I am away. Even if you have to 'accident' some of the more influential upstarts and spend some money for bribes." I swiftly add after a pause.

He sighs "You are running me ragged here boss." But a grin soon replaces his previous expression "But do not worry I will make sure your little puppet survives the war."

I chuckle darkly "See that he does."

Three knocks on the door draw our attention and after I voice my assent they open to reveal two of the newer guards, both of them armed and armored to my high standard, standing at both sides, and a duo of Falmer walking in.

The doors close and the Falmer bow before me "My lord." They greet me. Both of them wore robes of white accented with gold, the motif of the sun being the most prominent symbol in addition to some of my own symbolism creating a rather odd contrast to those who could recognize such things.

"Nightshade." I nod at the short female and then turn to the much taller yet far more nervous male "Alor, I trust that the two of you are doing well?"

"We are." Nightshade answers "How may we serve?"

"I need the two of you to join me for a long term task." I lean my head onto my hand and look at Alor "How is your solar magic coming along?"

"It goes w-well my lord." He barely holds back a stammer.

Nightshade simply rolls her eyes at the man's stuttering and states "High adept level."

I smirk at the tall Falmer "Impressive progress." He looks happy but my expression swiftly informs him that I was not done "I will be needing the two of you for some vampire hunting, your sun magic will be very useful in watching my back."

"Vampires?" Alor questions with a mix of fear and disgust "The bloodsucking Daedra worshippers that disdain the sun?"

I was not at all surprised he didn't immediately know what they were, the poor lad was a literal cave dwelling goblin until some months ago and his education would take time.

"Precisely the ones." I point at him in approval "Though the ones we will be facing are from the oldest still living clan in Skyrim which is why I feel I will need your support in combat."

"Why not summon someone more powerful to aid you? Surely you can recruit a Master from the college with sufficient gifts." Nightshade seems to have caught on to my hidden intentions nearly immediately.

I smirk at her question "Because I suspect we will be coming face to face with some ancient Falmer history by the end of all of this and thought you might wish to tag along."

It takes a moment for her mind to reboot but she immediately bows as it does "My thanks for your generosity, we will prepare immediately."

"We head out in the morning so you have all the time you need." I wave her off and the duo of snow elves leave the room with an almost maddened swiftness.

"Well, that got them all rattled and excited." Davos snarks from his corner of the room.

"Meh" I shrug "Got to ensure their loyalty somehow."

"Ah yes, because literally bringing them back to true life is obviously not enough." My right hand man quips.

I give him a pointed look "If things worked like that no one would ever rebel against any of the Dragonborn dynasties."

It takes him a moment to understand my point but he soon nods "Fair enough boss, got anything else for me before I leave?"

I tilt my head in thought "Hmmm..." My eyes snap back to him "How about I see how far you've come with your magic?"

The mildly terrified gulp I hear does not save him from the three hours of magical training I put him through, something I do not regret as by the end of it he came out with a crow familiar and a discovered talent for conjuration.

The despair in his eyes when I dropped a stack of books into his hands would make me chuckle for days to come.

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"Ah! There is just something in the air of the Rift that makes the simple act of existence relaxing." I smile contentedly as I ride my fully barded warhorse down one of the less travelled roads in the hold.

Alor shivers atop his mule "It is so open here, I feel naked."

Nightshade who had already gotten competent at riding snorts at her kinsman "You will get used to it soon enough, then you will never wish to return underground."

The jittery Falmer continues looking around like a paranoid loon "All of the restoration tomes I've read in the library say that adaptation takes far longer than that."

"A fair point." I interject "However you are failing to take into account the manner in which we turned you into proper Mer."

"Did you not evolve us into an optimal state my lord?" He questions with genuine interest.

"Nope." I say cheerfully "What I did was revert you to your undamaged and unravaged form. Reverting something back using the memories in one's blood is far easier than imposing evolution where it doesn't truly belong, so you will soon find yourself enjoying the cold far more than before and your comfort under cave walls shall be replaced with an appreciation for the sun's radiance."

He furrows his brows "Does that not mean I would no longer be myself?"

I shake my head "No, it simply means that your instincts will change to better fit those of your ancestors and while you may lose some of your advantages underground you will still retain some of your previous instincts."

"I see..." He trails off, his mind churning with existential questions.

We remain silent as we ride even deeper into the wild east of the Rift and closer to the Velothi Mountains.

It is only half a day later that we notice a number of robed travelers followed by mercenaries causing a commotion next to a stony rise. I recognize them as the Synod from Cyrodiil and without a care in the world I ride up to them and greet them "A fair evening to you friends, what are you doing so deep in the wild in these trying times?"

Their leader, a balding robed Imperial looks at me warily "And who wants to know?"

His weariness is really unsurprising considering I look like a bloody sorcerer-king of old but I continue pretending like nothing is amiss "Oh, just a curious traveler."

He frowns "What we do is none of your business, kindly leave us to our work sir traveler."

I shake my head "I am afraid not my good sir, see a bunch of fools from the Synod operating within the territory of the College of Winterhold is not something I can simply let go without questioning."

All of them tense up at the mention of the college.

The college itself is an anomaly when it comes to magical education considering that all knowledge is available for what can easily be called a pittance. All other institutes of magic I know about hoard knowledge like a bunch of retarded cultivators, and the Synod which proports itself as the inheritor to the Mage's guild is one of the worst when it comes to this self destructive habit.

The leader looks just about ready to start slinging spells but I simply unleash my presence and half of what I presume to be his apprentices simply faint due to the sensory overload of so much Magicka suddenly slamming into them "Do I have your attention now?" I ask lazily, my two Falmer companions already aiming blizzards at the stunned mercenaries.

The sweating old man breathes heavily and lacking any words simply nods.

"Most excellent!" I clap my hands and the pressure vanishes "Now then, what are you doing here?"

He grits his teeth and practically hisses out the answer "We are transporti-"

"Kindly do not lie to me." I interrupt him, my voice still completely relaxed.

This time he sighs in defeat "We are seeking the secrets of Mzulft."

"Oh... okay then." I shrug and nudge my horse into moving forward, my companions wordlessly following behind me.

The bewildered old man cannot help but squeak out "Wait... you aren't going to stop us?"

I shrug without turning around "Why should I stop you if you will all die without even piercing the initial defenses?" My horse enters a trot and any further questions go ignored.

(Old Synod mage's POV:)

As the monstrous Archmage finally leaves I cannot help but take deep gulps of air.

Though my newfound relief is utterly ruined when one of the mercenaries slams his armored ass onto the ground "By the gods! Did we just survive pissing off the Flame-tongue?"

Another mercenary spits out the water he was drinking and coughs violently "That was him!?"

"Aye." The first one answers "Fought under him at Haraldstead, bloody elf fought like Ysgramor was on his ass."

I turn at the rather talkative mercs and ask "You two know who that was?"

The one sitting down scoffs at my question "What kind of idiot doesn't?" I force myself to ignore the insult "The man is the Court Mage to the king, and a bloody living legend."

"Oh..." I manage to hold back any outward reaction but I can feel my cheeks warm up due to the utter shame of being so uninformed.

The mercenary takes my silence as an opportunity "We shouldn't enter the ruins."

"Wha- what do you mean?!" I sputter "Are you saying you are betraying your contract?"

To my surprise the man doesn't even look offended at my slight upon his honor "If the Flame-tongue says we will die in there, then we will damn well die in there." He shakes his head "The man is a total ass, that much I remember from when I was under his command, but he is also not malicious and most importantly, he knows his shit."

I look at my slowly recovering apprentices and once again sigh in defeat "Very well, I guess we will have to content ourselves with exploring some Nordic ruins."

'Why can things never go as I hope?' I lament my foolishness as we start moving once again.

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We drink to our youth

to days come and gone

for the future of Skyrim

is to give me my stone

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