Two weeks had passed since Serana's departure and the sudden ascension of my establishment from a mere inn to a gathering place for Daedric drunkards.
I exaggerate of course, Sanguine had only visited once more and was to my great surprise rather reserved with his powers and influence and contented himself with chatting up Savos, whom I learned was a very old... drinking buddy of his.
I want to judge him, I really do but I have no ground to stand on there.
Reports about the war were also still streaming in at a constant pace, I was adamant about receiving news about even the smallest of skirmishes ever since the attack on Helgen Pass just in case I would be able to notice another discrepancy in enemy movements.
Thankfully there was no need for me to engage in any further warfare as all three, now two fronts had regressed to simple constant skirmishes as the two forces attempted to scramble and react to the development of Falkreath's fall.
Tullius wanted to press the advantage now that he had the enemy outnumbered but Ulfric had a massive terrain advantage to his defense and he had somehow managed to smuggle uncountable raiders into the territories of Dawnstar who were now harrying all the holds surrounding it, forcing the legion already overburdened with pacifying Falkreath to spread out and attempt to catch their erratic raids.
In short, the war was slowing down, and as Skyrim's harsh autumn winds started to blow snow had already begun to cover the northernmost areas of the province, no doubt delaying any large scale battle even further.
No one wanted to attack Nords during winter, not even the Nords themselves.
I ceased my pondering on politics and warfare once I reached my destination. Tolfdir had sent me a message via wizard's orb that he was close to making a breakthrough with the dragonskin spell and wanted me to participate.
The fact that using such a spell would push me into low mastery of alteration went unsaid.
The metallic doors opened leading me straight into Tolfdir's own lab and study where the ancient Nord was eagerly writing on a copy of the spells ever expanding runic matrix. The enlarged version covered half the damn wall, and it was a big wall as well.
"Ah! You are finally here." Tolfdir greets me without turning around.
"I wouldn't miss it for the world." I respond genuinely "You said you've finally had a breakthrough?"
He turns around and nods eagerly, his eyes practically shining with excitement "I have indeed. The final hurdle of replicating the true magical resistance of the dragons was indeed hidden behind the usage of dovahzul, as you have said." He chuckles "Since you were absent so often I've had to invest the time to learn the alphabet myself.
I wince slightly "My sincere apologies for that, I-"
A raised hand interrupts me "I did not mind learning an ancient tradition of my people" His eyes narrow "The only reason I've not touched it before were the Greybeards' teachings but with what is coming I cannot allow a potential avenue of defending my people to go unused due to base dogma."
I blink slowly, a trace of terror running down my spine. Tolfdir with the thu'um...
'Fuck' Scorch wisely surmises my thoughts.
"Well, I am glad you enjoyed learning it." I praise somewhat lamely before deciding to return to the main topic of today "Now, about that spell."
The old man begins excitedly explaining the whole process to me, his enthusiasm at the making of this specific spell was so infectious that I couldn't help but be drawn along with it and we both spent hours tuning the final bits of the spell, making sure that the thing is as efficient as possible before we even attempted it.
Finally, as the sun had started to set we stopped our brainstorming session with the wall now being fully covered by a mindboggling runic matrix. If one were to run a downright unhealthy amount of Magicka (for most people) through said wall it would find itself covered by illusory scales which would outright ignore any offensive magic below the expert level and resist most of the things above it, and as if that wasn't enough it boosted its receptiveness to further alteration as well.
I found myself standing at the room's center, most of my clothes save for a pair of pants gone as I kept observing myself over and over and running constant calculations in my mind. Just thinking about even attempting to do this with my once mundane mind sent a feeling of dread straight into my heart but I refocused easily enough.
It was decided that I would be the first to attempt casting the spell as I could see the magic moving around without outside interference and my natural toughness was actually higher than Tolfdir's own.
Though I doubted it would remain as such now that he was practicing the voice.
The time came and Tolfdir spoke, his voice filled with both worry and excitement "Begin."
An immense torrent of Magicka surged from within me as I started forming rune after rune, a mix of arcane and draconic soon covering most of my body in a dazzling display of amber. As the final thirteenth layer of the spell connected with the first, I felt a sudden metaphysical snap within my mind and felt my skin tingle as it glowed with power.
Grey skin was replaced with blackened scales tinged with purple as I felt nearly all of my natural Magicka reserve leave my body. I took deep breaths and found that I could move as well as before casting the spell, even better I found after jumping lightly.
"Reyvin!" Tolfdir's concerned voice brought me out of my thoughts "Are you well?"
I blinked, did a couple of stretches, and scanned myself from within and without. Nodding to myself more than I did to him I spoke "Yep, feeling juuuust fine." I flex my right arm lightly, feeling the magically imbued flesh constrict with immense power "Better than ever really."
He sighs in relief before his eyes suddenly take on a dangerous glint "Good." He says ominously as a ball of fire forms in his hand "That means we can begin testing."
I couldn't stop the concerned gulp in time as I asked "Is that really necessary?"
"Don't put yourself down like that." He smirks "How can a mere wall compare to you?" His smirk widens "And I need to teach you to not ignore an old man's concern."
"Isn't that a bit petty?" I ask with growing fear.
A second fireball joins the first.
'Good luck!' Scorch exclaims helpfully.
*One unnecessarily long testing session later*
The spell finally stopped working after one entire hour, the highly efficient Magicka cycle working a bit too well for my current situation. I slump on a nearby seat with a sigh, my robes summoned the moment Tolfdir stopped pelting me with different kinds of magic.
I didn't even know the man could use master level spells of so many elements!
"In conclusion" Tolfdir begins with only slight smugness in his tone "The spell works even better than projected!"
"Yeah," I nod "Though that isn't much of a surprise when you remember that most of our tests were done on a damned wall."
"Observations?" He asks in his teacher voice.
And just like that, we spent even more time brainstorming now that we had 'live data' improving the spell even further and increasing its efficiency to downright scary levels.
If I were to cast it again it would last for even longer and only take two-thirds of my natural Magicka!
And that was going to be blatantly unfair in battle considering that I had more than double that just from my rings and the spell made me outright immune to non-divine fire and made most destruction magic feel like a nice breeze against my skin.
And that is without even mentioning the strength increase! If before I could crush iron now I could outright grind it to dust.
Another two hours later, and well into the deep night it was Tolfdir's turn to stand in the room's center half-naked. The man was, as one might expect, utterly ripped below those wizardly robes and now he was about to make himself even more disgustingly powerful.
Good.
He took a deep breath and after a nod from me started channeling his own Magicka. The arcane runes covered him with even more efficiency than when I used them but his lack of skill at applying dovahzul still had him finishing the casting far slower than I did.
The spell made him feel outright invincible to my sight as he was covered in scales of earthly bronze, incredibly dangerous-looking claws extending from his fingers as well.
Was the color scheme a subconscious thing or did it have more to do with one's lineage?
No matter, I had vengeance to serve!
Seemingly feeling the sudden danger he was in Tolfdir looked up from his clawed hands just in time to see me overcharging solar fire in my right hand and crimson lightning in my left.
The ancient mage gulped "You wouldn't strike an old man, would you?"
I smirked at him, my wide smile no doubt giving my face a demonic appearance as I cruelly declared "Dodge."
-----------------------------
I left the Tower of Alteration well after midnight, a satisfied sigh leaving me as the catharsis of 'testing the spell's integrity' on Tolfdir still lingered in my mind.
He took it all in good humor, obviously, and we spent a short amount of time going over the last bits before I left for another expedition and he could focus on developing the full 'flesh' version of the spell.
All in all, today was a most productive day! Especially considering the notification I got when I left the tower.
[Alteration: Expert => Master]
[Mind: 53 => 55]
[Vit: 46 => 47]
[Mag: 1020 => 1080]
[Trait enhanced, Unbound: The bindings of your race are less stringent, allowing you abandon your roots or refine them with sufficient effort]
I let out an appreciative whistle, the path of my long term plans smoothening once more as my power grew and both quantity and quality.
Though I felt I was forgetting something important...
I arrived at my home in the dead of night, the guards at the door giving me oddly sheepish looks as I passed. My mind swiftly came to the conclusion of what might be going on but I decided to be sporting about it and pretended not to notice the trio of massive magical presences in my study.
Entering said study I found Savos, Shalazar and Tolfdir already seated in formal robes, all three of them giving me expectant looks as I took my seat.
"One might wonder if there is some kind of crisis happening with all of you gathered like this." I quip, pretending to not know what is going on.
"Or a party." Savos wisely points out.
Shalazar raises his hairless brow at me "A fool you are not, my glorious student. Cease playing pretend at being one." He tries sounding firm but the excited squeak in his voice reveals his true feelings of pride.
"We have gathered tonight." Tolfdir, as the oldest, begins his oddly official speech "To welcome the fourth member of our little company of scholars and warriors."
"Indeed!" Shalazar squeaks, no longer hiding his true mood "For too long have we languished at a mere trio of thunderous terrors!"
"So it is my greatest honor" Savos summons an ornate cup filled with no doubt incredibly expensive wine "To welcome Winterhold's fourth resident Archmage!"
I stare at them all for ten long seconds before blurting "How long did it take you all to choreograph that?"
The trio stares back at me, all tree attempting to look aggrieved by my words but Shalazar bursting into a fit of squeaky laughter while the more humanoid duo stare at him in annoyance soon breaks the atmosphere.
"So we have some kind of Archmage club now?" I ask as we finally calm ourselves.
Savos shrugs "Just a nice little formality that Tolfdir came up with when I first reached the rank."
"Indeed!" Shalazar adds "Mine was a glory most potent when I was invited by the dynamic duo and my pride most overwhelming when we turned it into the terrifying trio!" He spreads his tiny arms "Now the world shall tremble before the fearsome foursome!"
Tolfdir hums, a hidden melancholy hidden behind his happy expression "I felt that those with the potential of living as long as we no doubt will should connect, and so I begun with myself and my student."
I slump into my chair with a mildly annoyed huff "What a sobering thought."
A couple of knocks at the door breaks the ensuing silence and seeing who is on the other side I bit them "Enter."
The doors open, revealing Serana, her clothes covered in blood and eight of my guards half pointing their halberds at her.
The trio of Archmagi all look at her at the same time, the weight of their combined gazes sending a shiver down her spine.
"We have a problem." She declares, uncaring for the present company.
Well, this ought to be interesting.
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A dramatic powerstone for a dramatic entrance?
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