10 Come Forth!

      Galeron mostly stayed cooped up in his room for the next two weeks studying his new Master Level texts. At times he would seek out Mirabelle Ervine for a quick chat about his reading list. She was surprisingly insightful at times but at other times Galeron could tell that the College's neglect of Mysticism had twisted her understanding of magic. Thus the knowledge Galeron obtained, during this time, was hard won through his own efforts to suss out the correct information.

     During a discussion concerning Master Level false souls, Mirabelle had tried to convince him that this was an aspect of magic that required extreme precision, that it's complexity demanded exact replication, and that a solid foundation in understanding and creating the Daedric Runes for 'BIND' were essential to its success.

     This, of course, wasn't exactly wrong but it left out so much pertinent information that it made one seem rather ignorant. Although, Galeron knew that this rigid mindset was something that had been taught to most mages of this era, presumably by people who saw the effectiveness of a particular way of doing things and simply assumed that it was the only way and then laser focused on that one path while discarding alternative methods. 

     This was, of course, simply a hypothesis as he had no real way of knowing how such a state of affairs came to be. What he did no was that his stay at the College was quickly coming to a close. After bringing up the subject of Summoning Dremora, Mirabelle had told him to seek out Phinis Gestor.

     Galeron was curious as to whether his name would come up during that particular discussion. Since it had, he was now preparing to initiate his first real life play through of an in game quest. 

     'Given that the quest in question wasn't particularly complex and was a minor side quest, it makes since that I'd be able to trigger it well before the starting events of the game. Although, I'm not entirely certain the word 'trigger' really applies here. Anywho, I've got some summoning to do. Phinis Gestor, here I come.'

     Having already learned everything he could from Mirabelle, he had spent the last couple of days Meditating on the Daedric Rune 'Oht.' The first day after he finished with Mirabelle, he had taken a few hours to assimilate both 'Seht' and 'Lyr' into his magicka core. With all three of the basic elemental runes now assimilated and with the 'Oht' rune partially assimilated, not only had his magicka reserves increased once again but he had also increased his summoning limit to four.

     Back when he had discovered this method, the Daedric Rune 'Hefhed' hadn't taken long to assimilate but this was due mostly to is already deep understanding of what this rune represented. It only took him a few hours to assimilate that particular rune. However, because 'Oht' represented something exclusive to the Elder Scrolls Universe, something he had never experienced first hand before his reincarnation, it was a much more difficult task to fully comprehend this rune.

      After first discovering that meditating on a rune's form would gradually increase his understanding of it and meditating on his understanding of it would solidify its form within his magicka core, he had placed this practice on the back burner, due to his specific circumstances in the Darklight Tower. Now that he was preparing to take on a task specifically designed to test the limits of his prowess in the field of conjuration and then surpass them, he wanted to make sure that he was thoroughly prepared

     Thus, his preparations were completed and he had absolute confidence in his ability to defeat his next opponent. Galeron awok early in the morning and entered the Hall of Countenance to attend a meeting he had requested with Phinis.

     "Good morning, Phinis!" Galeron greeted him kindly. 

     "Good morning, Galeron! You're just in time. I just finished my breakfast and had sat down to wait for you. Please, pull up a chair if you like and tell me what you require?" Phinis responded. 

     "Ah, thank you but no thank you. I had simply been curious about summoning Dremora and I was told you were the man to come to. Certainly, I haven't been led astray, now have I?"

     "I see, so that's what this is about. No, you were informed correctly but I should warn you it's a dangerous thing. Not that you didn't already know that but it bears reinforcing, since there are always those with eyes larger than their stomachs. Are you truly certain this is something you wish to attempt?"

     "Absolutely! I'm quite competent in both Conjuration and Destruction magic. Not to mention that I have a few other tricks up my sleeve should the Dremora prove to be more troublesome than anticipated."

     "Yes, well in that case...," Phinis got up from his chair, opened up his storage trunk, and removed a roll of papers and brought them over to Galeron. "Take these and head to the top of the Hall of Attainment. There you'll find a ritual site prepared specifically for just such occasions. Use the spell I've given you at the ritual site, conquer the Unbound Dremora that appears, command it to retrieve a sigil stone, and then return to me."

     "Thank you! I'll see you when I'm done." Galeron said, as he walked up the stairs and out the door exiting onto the top of the Hall of Countenance.

     Quickly crossing the distance between the two Halls, Galeron approached the prepared ritual site. Before even looking at the spell, he made sure to thoroughly analyze every detail of the ritual site. Once he had all of its details firmly in mind, he pulled out the roll of papers and began studying the Summon Unbound Dremora spell.

     After almost an hour, he had learned the spell, conjured a Storm Atronach and three Frost Atronachs, and sat down to fully recover his magicka.

     With his magicka fully recovered, he was now ready to face the Unbound Dremora. Standing in front of the ritual site facing the external College walls, with a Storm Atronach on the opposite side of the ritual, two Frost Atronachs on the left and right sides of the ritual, and another Frost Atronach behind him and slightly to his right, he gathered his magicka and activated the spell inside the ritual site.

     As soon as the spell was cast, Galeron quickly hopped backwards from the ritual site at the same time that the familiar purplish portal appeared and spit out a male Dremora wielding a sword and shield. The Frost Atronach stepped up to fill in his place and the four Atronachs immediately began attacking the Dremora.

     The Dremora, after receiving the first few attacks that he had no chance of dodging or blocking, readied himself and began his counter attack. Unfortunately for the Dremora, who might've otherwise been capable of overcoming these four Atronachs, his head was suddenly impacted by a hard and fast moving object. That object, immediately after impact with his head, released a powerful fiery explosion that, despite its power, seemed to have failed to reach the Atronachs that were assaulting him.

     Neither the fast moving object, which he now recognized as some type of flying sphere, nor the Atronachs seemed intent on giving him any reprieve. They were all relentless and, far sooner than he expected, he had already left the mortal plane and had reformed within Lord Dagon's realm.

     Galeron couldn't help but feel just a little bit sorry for the poor Dremora, despite himself. He was under no illusions about the strength of the Dremora, especially the higher ranking ones, but, when faced with such adverse conditions, there was truly very little that could be done about it.

     That minuscule bit sympathy, however, was quickly discarded as he had a mission to accomplish and time was a wastin. After sitting down to recharge his magicka, he resummoned the Dremora, wielded his Orbical, and watched as it was once again unceremoniously sent back to Oblivion.

     This cycle continued for a couple of hours before Galeron finally heard something other than the enraged Dremora spewing curses at him.

     "Stop this madness, mortal! I yield! No more!"

     Galeron ordered his Atronachs to stand down and addressed the Dremora thusly, "Are you prepared to do my bidding, Dremora? I could certainly make use of a capable Dremora at my command. What say you?"

     "Foolish mortal, do you tru..." Before he could finish his sentence, he found his body once again reforming in Oblivion.

     When the Dremora was resummoned, he attempted to reason with Galeron but Galeron was having none of it. For two more hours, the Dremora was constantly resummoned and violently banished.

     At this point, the Dremora truly understood his situation and had set his pride aside. He was now openly begging and pleading with Galeron to end his torture. After the Dremora had been resummoned and Galeron had resumed his assault, Galeron waited, until he began his pleading once more and pretended that this was the first time he had heard such a thing.

     "Ah, it seems you're trying to say something. Were you perhaps swearing your loyalty to me? Swearing to serve me in any capacity that I desire for as long as I live?"

     "Please, listen to my plea, Mortal. I will serve you in any way that I can. But these terms that you ask for are simply beyond my power to accommodate. I can only ever swear loyalty to Lord Dagon but I will swear to serve you in every capacity that I'm able, if you promise to cease this violent madness. Please, Mortal, be reasonable!"

     Galeron kept a completely stoic expression but on the inside he was dying from laughter. An Unbound Dremora was standing in front of him frightened and begging him to be reasonable. He couldn't quite put his finger on why but Galeron found this to be extraordinarily amusing.

     "Hmmm...yes, I suppose I could be reasonable for a moment... but then again. I'm in dire need of a Sigil Stone and I have no way of obtaining one. I had come up here to release my frustration so I'm not really in the mood to be reasonable. I really just want to kill things, because I can't get a Sigil Stone." After saying this, he move his Orbical into position to strike the Dremora, once again.

     "Please, Mortal! No more! I will retrieve a Sigil Stone for you! This is a simple matter! Please, allow me to return and I'll have your Sigil Stone within the hour!"

     Galeron slowly began retracting his Orbical as if he were about to stand down, as the Orbical was about halfway between himself and the Dremora he shot the magical sphere forward and directly into the Dremora's head. Immediately upon impact, the Orbical released a banishing spell, sending the Dremora and all four Atronachs back to Oblivion.

     An hour later, Galeron had resummoned his Atronachs, refilled his magicka, and was prepared to see if the Dremora had fulfilled his end of the bargain.

     The familiar purplish portal appeared and the Dremora, holding a Sigil Stone in one hand, instinctively raised his shield as if expecting an attack.

     Galeron sent his magicka out and, before the Dremora could say anything, grasped the stone with Telekinesis to retrieve it. Galeron stood there expressionless for a moment, as he inspected the Sigil Stone both with his eyes and his Mage's Eye. Once he had thoroughly inspected it, a evil grin slowly spread across his face.

     While still grinning at the Sigil Stone, Galeron  issued an order. "Sit!"

     The Dremora was watching Galeron inspect the stone, when he was suddenly surrounded by a Telekinetic force that forced him into a lotus position.

     "Stay!"

     While still grinning at the Sigil Stone, as if it were a lover, Galeron turned and walked back inside. Returning to Phinis Gestor's quarters, Galeron noticed that Phinis had yet to return.

     This wasn't particularly problematic, as he was still quite entranced with the Sigil Stone. He could tell that it held many secrets and that a talented Conjurer could, most likely, unravel those secrets given enough time.

     Unfortunately, time wasn't something that Galeron had a lot of. He knew that the Dragons would eventually return and he needed to be as strong as possible when they did. As such, he had little time for research.

     A few hours later, Phinis returned to see Galeron sitting in his room inspecting the Sigil Stone.

     "My, my, you certainly weren't lying about your abilities. You've already gotten the stone and there's narry a speck norscratch on you. I must say, I'm quite impressed. That being said, may I see the stone."

     "Certainly. Here you are." Galeron said, as he handed over the stone.

     "Yes, yes, this will do nicely. Hmmm...it may take me a day or two to see what needs to be seen. I'll deliver it to you, once I'm done."

     "Excellent! It shouldn't be hard to find me, since I spend most of my time in my room studying. I look forward to seeing your results." Galeron said, as he walked out of the room. 

     Two days later, Galeron was sitting in his room finalizing an altered version of the Master Level false soul, when Phinis arrived with the Sigil Stone in tow.

     "Ah, Galeron, there you are. I've completed my study of the stone. It's now properly inscribed so as to allow the summoning of Bound Dremora. I will say, however, that summoning Dremora can still be a dangerous business. It's best not to get to relaxed  around such creatures." Phinis greeted him.

     "Indeed, Phinis. You warning is well taken. I promise to exercise caution. I must thank you for your assistance in this matter."

     "Not all, young Galeron. I've also benefited greatly from this endeavor. I'm currently on my way to class but, if you ever require my assistance, you know where to find me." Phinis offered, as he made his way out of the Hall.

     "Until then, Phinis."

      Galeron had already made preparations to leave the College, as soon as he reacquired the Sigil Stone. Now that it was back in his hands, he made his way back to the top of the Hall of Attainment.

     The Dremora, that many college residents had been speaking about, was still there sitting in the lotus position. Galeron approached the Dremora and commanded, "State your name, Dremora!"

     The Dremora, although somewhat anxious at this mortal's arrival, was also somewhat relieved, since he had no idea whether or not he should just leave after being left alone for so long.

     "I'm called, Orthe." He quickly responded.

     "Stand, Orthe!" Galeron commanded.

     Orthe stood up and waited for his next command.

     Galeron stood several feet in front of him, while studying the stone in his hands. 'Yes, I see. So that's how it is. If I'm not mistaken, this stone has a connection directly to the Oblivion Plane from which it was taken. 

     'The inscriptions that Phinis placed upon it, however, allow mortals like us to utilize that connection as well as the slight compulsion that it holds over the Dremora within the reach of its power. With the stone in this state, I could theoretically summon twice as many summons as my normal limit. 

     'Not only does this make it much easier to bend the creatures of Oblivion to my will but it also allows summoned Atronachs to maintain their potency through the connection established by the stone. 

     'Hahahaha! I'll definitely be doing more research on these Sigil Stones in the future but for now...' Galeron looked up at the Dremora and held out the stone.

     Inserting his magicka into the stone, he invoked the stones binding along with his own will and understanding of magical binding. The Dremora's body froze for a single second as a shiver ran down his spine.

     "What is it that you command, Master?"

     'Good, good, with that confirmation out of the way, I can finally leave this place and continue my journey.'

     That night, after everyone else was sleeping soundly, Galeron entered magical stealth mode and crept silently out of the College. Using his levitation to lower himself down from the College's bridge, Galeron made his way around Winterhold and towards the ruins of Saarthal.