174 Chapter XXXVII: Saarthal (Part 2)

After spending a bit more time bantering with Minthara the time had finally come for us to move in, I summoned everyone to the entrance of the ruins and made sure to check if anyone was doing something stupid (Like carrying around half-active scrolls.... Gods damn it J'zargo...). The gathered apprentices were giving off an air of nervousness and excitement while the more experienced among them looked like this was just another Morndas.

Without any preamble, I opened the door and was immediately greeted with the sound of moving machinery as a bunch of mages were currently directing my automatons to proceed with the excavation.

We passed through the initial hall and came to a stop as a rather unique sight greeted us. One massive hall, the size of a plaza, stood before us with hundreds of doorways surrounding it on multiple different levels of height.

It honestly looked like the inside of an apartment complex built by human-sized hobbits...

"Alright everyone" I call out and give the pre-prepared instructions "You are to go and assist your fellow mages throughout the initial level of the city, do not and I repeat, do not go toward the unmarked zones or I will not be able to guarantee your safety."

I sincerely doubt many of them had heard me as, as soon as I finished speaking they dispersed like water, everyone going in their own direction.

Well, so long as they were distracted... 

I look at Tolfdir and nod "I will leave you to your work Master Tolfdir, do inform me when you are finished."

He nods calmly and pulls Neloren with him, heading to the dead center of the chamber.

I activate my eyes, information rapidly entering my brain as I walk with purpose toward the northernmost spot at the deepest level of the plaza. The thrum of ancient magic attracts me like a moth to the flame, to the point I fail to notice a curious Dragonborn following me.

After some twists and turns, and absent-mindedly disarmed traps, I stand before an iron gate protecting a stone stand holding an ancient amulet. Ancient texts surround the gate, older than even the oldest dialect of Nordic, I find myself unable to read them.

But the uncanny ability of my eyes to gather information rapidly tells me of their vague meaning... danger, calamity, eye, beyond, and many other ominous impressions.

'How cute' I snort and easily rip apart the ward guarding the entrance to the deeper tombs, the gate lowering as if unlocked, as I approach the amulet instead of grasping it I merely sit on the ground cross-legged and await patiently.

As my focus returns to reality I finally notice the one who followed me and without turning state "Something dangerous waits beyond, if you wish to stay then prepare for battle."

"Not going to ask me to leave?" She asks, somewhat bemused.

I snort "Don't play dumb with me, we both know you must fight to become strong and you of all people must become the strongest."

I can practically feel her shift around uncomfortably before grasping her warhammer firmly and nodding to herself. Some more silence passes before she asks "Just how dangerous is what we are about to face?"

"World ending if not handled with care" I explain without the tiniest shift in my voice.

"And you think you can make it... not world ending?" Minthara asks with only a bit of sarcasm.

I stare into the amulet, partly entranced by its ancient aura, before shrugging "A plan is in motion to contain whatever is below and prevent others from interfering. All we need to do is remain on the path and murder whoever dares stand before us."

"So just like everything else we do ever?" She quips.

A smirk worms its way onto my face unbidden "Just another Morndas."

We go back to a comfortable silence as I wait for the signal, and just on schedule ten minutes later I feel a pulse of Magicka spread through most of the buried city, completely blocking any spatial or temporal magic.

(Minthara's POV)

Reyvin stands up abruptly and then without even the hint of a warning yanks the amulet hanging off the wall and blasts said wall with a telekinetic push, immediately smashing the entire thing and opening up a passage.

"And how exactly did you know what to do here?" I cannot help but ask.

He walks into the tunnel before us, shrugging as he does so "Clairvoyance."

"That seems like a very useful thing to learn..." I mutter just a bit greedily.

He raises a hand, still walking, and shakes his head "I would not recommend it, you either need to be a skilled mystic or cheat like I do to make any real use of it, anything below that is just vague impressions that usually lead you to make idiotic decisions."

I frown "That is disappointing."

"You will have superior options later on" He redirects the conversation as always "You might not be able to have my sight but your shouts should reach a ridiculous point after some more training... that is without mentioning the souls you will consume." He adds the last part offhandedly.

'Oh yes, go ahead and consume souls Minthara, whatever could go wrong?' Ugh, I hate how lightly he puts it, why don't you have a dragon's life shoved into your head asshole?!

Deep breaths Minthara, you've had this conversation before, some things just need to be done and this is just one of them... just a tradeoff for power and longevity... yes, let's look at it like that, that ought to lessen the unimaginable pain of having your mind repeatedly ripped apart! 

"You good?" Reyvin, having stopped as we reached a walled-off circular section of the passage, turns around and asks with only mild concern.

"Yeah" I nod "Nothing that hasn't bothered me before."

He snorts "And that is not worrying at all!" before turning around and muttering to himself while looking around, he steps before a small altar and looks around rapidly before looking back at me "Did anything happen just now?" He asks tersely.

I shake my head "Nothing except you behaving erratically."

He gives me a dry look before nodding to himself "It seems to have worked."

"What seems to have worked?" I immediately ask, I hope he finally decides to stop with the constant cryptic bullshit because I swear if he continues I am kicking his ass the moment I grow powerful enough.

"Outside forces are working to acquire whatever waits below, I have been working with Masters Tolfdir and Shalazar to stop any such interference from occurring" He easily explains while giving me an amused look.

Ugh, why must you always read me like an open book?

"Because it is funny" He adds helpfully.

"Fuck off." I flip him the bird.

He snickers but then looks behind me, I also turn around and there stands Master Tolfdir, his ancient face completely serious.

"Master Tolfdir, I trust that everything is proceeding as planned on your end?" Reyvin asks, utterly unsurprised by his presence.

The old man nods... before giving me a light bow "It is an honor to fight beside the Dragonborn once more."

I gape at him before nodding wordlessly, my mind incapable of quickly processing what just happened.

Reyvin places a hand on my shoulder and explains the situation "Master Tolfdir is one of the few people in these lands I trust implicitly, besides it would be incredibly hard to hide something like a dragon soul being devoured literally meters away from him."

"Quite" The old man smiles at us both and then points his hand toward a sealed sarcophagus "Shall we then?" He asks with his hidden battle-lust coming out.

Reyvin snaps his hand outward and telekinetically pulls the sarcophagus lid off, completely pasting the Draugr it held in the process, and starts leisurely walking forward "Let's" He quips excitedly.

We followed the winding tunnel for a while before stepping out into another circular chamber, this one was far larger than the previous one and held about two dozen sarcophagi surrounding some kind of ritual pond if I had to guess.

The moment we stepped inside the signature growl of the Draugr resounded as all of the lids were blown off by the tomb guards behind them, and without any warning they started lumbering toward us, their glowing ghostly-blue eyes still piercing my soul even after I had already faced so many of their kin.

Yet as quickly as it started so did it end, as Reyvin called us to stand close to him and cast a simple fire cloak. Well, it looked like a simple fire cloak... that is until it spread through the entire room and turned golden for an instant completely disintegrating all the undead that surrounded us.

I couldn't help but gawk at the display while the probably insane Dunmer stood there smugly like he didn't just cast a spell that would butcher an entire unit of warriors before they could blink.

"Masterfully done my boy." The old man held no such contentions however, if rumors were believed he was more powerful than even the official Archmage, my drifting thoughts were interrupted as he continued speaking "You two should go on, I will remain here to check some things out."

Wait why would he-

"Of course Master Tolfdir, do catch up whenever you feel you have learned all you can." Reyvin nods with one of his usual 'I know more than anyone else does' smirks and just walks through the gate without even consulting me.

Honestly, I would be surprised if he was actually reasonable for once...

(Reyvin's POV, ten minutes later)

"I swear when I get out of this mess I will fucking end you, you grey skinned bastard!" Minthara growls at me as she smacks yet another Draugr to pieces. Two more try and gank her but a rapid shout of "FUS RO DAH!" blasts them back just long enough for her to decapitate one with wind magic while smashing the other.

She has very little time to celebrate her victory as another two dozen of the dead Nords rise up from their cushy stone alcoves and start to swarm her once more. She fights them off for some time, utilizing multiple shouts in quick succession, but soon starts getting overwhelmed, so I finally finish my sweetroll and summon a blast of sunlight, obliterating most of the Draugr and allowing her to finish the last couple of them.

As she turns to glare at me I simply toss her a stamina potion and start walking toward the massive door made of metal that stood guard at the end of the hallway "Come on, we are almost at the end."

She huffs and hefts her warhammer with renewed vigor.

With every step I took the feeling of being metaphysically blinded increased as the literal conduit to the sun and the source of all magic grew closer.

Now all I had to do was defeat an undead mage powering himself on sun juice... joy.

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