184 Chapter XLVII: Poking Eyes

(Reyvin's POV)

As the final attacker has their head unceremoniously ripped off by a disturbingly gleeful Fishy the grand chamber falls silent. Well, it would be silent if not for a certain cat man wailing in pure agony while clutching his now far shorter tail.

I land next to him, causing him to stop his yowling "Do you have the bit that was cut off?"

He nods rapidly and points to a corner where a small length of furry spine is lying. I levitate it toward me and without any warning smack it back onto the bleeding stump with a burst of restoration. J'zargo screams out for a moment before turning completely silent.

And as if transforming into another person he jumps upright and assumes his usual cocky posture "J'zargo thanks you for the help."

I snort at his theatrics "Yeah, whatever. Just make sure to get at least an ironflesh spell if you don't want this to happen on the regular, most people worth a damn know how vulnerable a Khajiit tail is."

He winces lightly, his proclivity for focusing exclusively on flashy magic battling with his desire to avoid pain, before nodding in defeat "J'zargo will take this under advisement." Which was practically a yes.

I turn to the rest of the students "Anyone else in need of healing?" Most shake their heads while the rest are already doing the healing themselves, or getting help from their friends. "Well if that is the case get to looting!" I command with a grin.

And as if a beast was awoken they fall upon the bodies of those they slew themselves, waste not want not and all that.

I hear armored footsteps approaching and turn to see a surprisingly satisfied Minthara "What did you do this time?" She asks, her voice that of simple curiosity.

"This was always going to happen" I shrug "I just made sure it would be on our terms."

"Oh glorious student of mine!" The voice of Shalazar reaches me from the center of the chamber "You must go forth swiftly for time is of the essence!"

"Right" I suddenly remember that the crisis is far from over "Will you lot be fine here?" I asked my student just in case.

She just waves me off tiredly "Just go and do your thing."

"But of course madam." I snark and go to join the Archmage and Shalazar.

As I approach I hear Savos ask "Anything we should expect down there?"

The Argonian shakes his head "You need not my aid this time, you yourselves are enough!"

"Not going to join us?" I barge into their conversation.

"No." He declines promptly "I have to make sure no one sneaks by."

I raise a surprised eyebrow "They have someone who can evade even your sight?"

He huffs "The first thing you should know about clairvoyance-"

"- is not to rely on clairvoyance." I finish for him "Yes, you did drill that into me."

"Ah, so you did listen!" He squeaks in joy "How auspicious." Then he starts waving us both off "Now off with you, you have a nasty twig to snap."

We need no further prodding as I start speeding toward the secret passage, Savos following closely behind me. As we pass through the tunnels I see a bunch of newly raised Draugr crumpled against the walls or impaled by earthen spikes.

They even got a necromancer to slow Tolfdir down it would seem...

The further down we went the more I realized that the entire ward system had been destabilized by whoever managed to infiltrate the place. It still blocked teleportation by sheer virtue of hazardous Magicka emission but the weakening wards were barely working and they even tried to latch on to the two of us.

It was a very good thing that Tolfdir gave me the 'password' then.

Soon the sounds of battle greeted us, and as we passed through the final gate we were met with a sight both inspiring and alarming.

Tolfdir in all his glory facing off against a good two dozen Thalmor while surrounded with a near equal amount of bodies. Our enemies seem to have gone all out for this one as I can easily see four different kinds of troops working in tandem and trying to take Tolfdir down, everything from battlemages to assassins.

The alarming part however is the stupid fuck Ancano playing with the Eye of Magnus by shooting lightning at it randomly like a gods damned apprentice.

"Deal with the eye" Savos' voice brings me back into the present "I will go and help Tofldir."

I nod and bring out the Staff of Magnus and activate my future sight, better not risk fucking this up. Yet just as I am about to start casting my spells a group of Thalmor break off from the fight and start surrounding me while casting ineffectual magic to distract me.

One of them seems ready to start monologuing at me but I have long since grown tired of Altmer arrogance and without even deigning to look at the fuckers I simply chant "Arise." And they suddenly find themselves outnumbered by an entire unit of magic-wielding shades.

My calculations finally complete, I point the Staff of Magnus at his eye and let forth a surge of potent magic. The swirling ball of power starts opening up, letting forth waves upon waves of purified Magicka, yet just as it does so it also lets out a blast of force, immediately cutting Ancano off from whatever he was doing and smacking him into a wall.

I stabilize the eye as much as I can and swiftly fly over to where the orchestrator of this whole thing is slowly getting up, his underlings too busy to intercept me.

Ancano glares at me with eyes of such hate that I almost pity the dumb moron. He grits his teeth and snarls "You ruined it all! I was going to finally redeem myself and you just had to interfere above your station!"

I sigh, shaking my head in pure disappointment "If you still believe yourself my better even now then there is nothing to talk about." And raise the staff toward him.

His eyes suddenly blaze in the same color as the Eye of Magnus as he sneers "No, I might have failed but I still ha-" His head bursts like a watermelon as I launch a bolt of searing fire from the staff.

I spit near the corpse in pure disdain and leave it there to rot as it deserves.

Looking back to the eye, I once more get back to stabilizing the damn thing.

The battle around me was also coming to a close as no matter how skilled our attackers were, they still faced off against two archmagi. Their fates were sealed the moment they stood before Tolfdir.

I do not know how much time passes as I patiently and carefully channel magic through the divine staff, but just as I was about to finally close the orb shut I feel a sudden tug coming from it. Quickly assessing the situation I cannot help but grin as I yank back with all my might, causing a flicker of bright blue flame to lash out at me from within the eye.

Instead of flinching, I welcome it and the moment it touches me I feel such power flow through me that if I wasn't a sensible and well-adjusted individual I would have declared myself a god then and there.

Using my newfound strength I channel more power through the staff and runes start spreading across the floor all around the eye. The massive ritual circle completes itself and with a pulse of power the eye simply... disappears.

I take a deep breath as a feeling of weariness assaults me and plop my ass down onto the ground but a moment later.

The dark chamber is quickly illuminated by Tolfdir casting a large mage light. He and Savos approach me with a mix of trepidation and their own weariness. But instead of immediately questioning me the old man hurriedly asks "Are you alright?"

Bless your sweet soul you eternal grandpa. I scan my hands which even now bore slowly sealing bright blue cracks under my gauntlets and nod "I will be fine after a good rest."

"Good" He smiles kindly, almost as if he didn't just go through an entire troop of elite fighters and mages "What happened to the eye then?"

I hum for a while and then much to their surprise shrug "The feeling I got was that it would be hidden from the mortal world until it was needed once again, and I know better than to take further risks by keeping it here for too long."

"Good." Tolfdir preempts any of Savos' disappointed whining "Better to be rid of that thing instead of being foolish about it."

"But we could have learned so much from it!" The Archmage pesters.

"Not much you can do about it now" I shrug without a care "Besides, I plan on researching the staff thoroughly with the help of my sigh. I should be able to make sense of some of the runes."

Tolfdir scratches his beard "Are you certain that is... wise?"

I raise a quizzical brow "I am not going to spread the knowledge wantonly but I sure as hell am not just going to let it collect dust either."

"That is fair." He chuckles good-naturedly "Now we really should get back to the stu-"

The moment the ward finally fizzes out due to a lack of a power source, a trio of Psijic monks appear within the chamber. The first one approaches us with rapid steps while pointedly glaring at me "What did you do with the eye?!"

Too tired to keep myself from rolling my eyes I slowly get up and stare back at the tall elf, Magnus' staff bursting with power in my right hand "And how is that any business of yours, you Altmer fuck?"

He flinches as he realizes we are completely surrounded by Thalmor corpses and swiftly explains "We are not with the Thalmor, the artifact that was hidden here is a thing of great danger, it must be hidden from the world swiftly!"

"And you are the only ones who can do so?" I ask with a raised eyebrow.

He sighs and starts what must be a long practiced speech "The Psijic Orde-"

Too bad I do not care "The Psijic Order is incredibly arrogant to believe they are the only ones capable of doing the right thing when faced with something that powerful." I cut him off without a hint of hesitation "If you were not arrogant fucks, and actually met us about the damn eye first without trying to infiltrate yourselves into our business with fucking time magic we might have had something to talk about."

"The eye must still be removed!" He insists.

"And it has been you obstinate fuck" I snarl at him "Now since your purpose here has been accomplished, kindly get the fuck back to Artaeum and do something productive like stopping the Thalmor from assailing the world towers instead of bothering actually honest mages with your bullshit!"

My frothing rage washes over the likely ancient Altmer like a calm wind as he nods "Your words ring true, very well we will leave you to your works." As he goes to walk back to his comrades he turns to me with a strained smile "Even if our meeting was not a pleasant one, the order still thanks you for doing the right thing."

I point my finger as if to say 'Get moving' and the trio complies, soon disappearing back to whatever magic wonderland they came from.

"That was probably unwise." Tolfdir muses, but I can hear his amusement from a mile away.

"Fuck them" I scoff "If they wanted to get at the eye they should have helped in the first place."

Tolfdir gives me a very odd look "Was it not you who wanted to make sure they couldn't interfere?"

I raise an eyebrow "And your point being?"

The two old mages stare at me blankly before deciding to file the whole event somewhere in the 'Reyvin's shenanigans folder' and shake their heads in amusement.

"Well then, we really should get going" I state and start walking toward the exit "Today has been a long day and I need some street horker to tide me over."

"I will never understand your obsession with those" Savos mutters in exasperation.

"And that is why you will always be a little bitch, while I will be a Mer of true taste and culture." I answer with a shrug.

Tolfdir interrupts Savos' incoming outrage with a calm smirk of his own "I think I might partake of a couple myself." He taps his stomach happily, completely ignoring the now grumbling Archmage.

And like complete and utter psychopaths, we leave the corpses of our enemies to rot while planning lunch.

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That eye do kinda be looking like a powerstone ngl.

Speaking of powerstones, gimme!

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