Chapter LXXIV: The Orb (TM)

(Savos' POV)

I slump into my chair after a long day of annoyances and curse "I swear to Julianos if I hear about another idiot purposefully caving themselves in just to steal a petty trinket I will lose it!"

"Have you considered... burning them?" Brightburn asks unhelpfully.

"Yes, obviously." I grouse "But hiding that many bodies is more annoying than merely reprimanding them and fining them into poverty."

"Not to mention more profitable." The bird adds smugly.

I chuckle at that "Oh, the sacrifices we make."

Brightburn shifts suddenly "Oi, your orb thingy is glowing."

I look to the side of my table and find that my orb was indeed glowing, a message of some sort going by the pattern. It takes only brief skin contact for me to connect to it and open up the ingenious messaging system Reyvin had set up.

[Big D: Oi gramps, grab the Azura-botherer and have him set up an illusion ward at the northern garden, make sure that no one can see what is going on inside. I am coming in with something big and I don't want the entire city to panic.]

And of course, not even a second passes before Shalazar butts in.

[LizardWizard: Ohohoho!]

This is going to give me a headache, isn't it?

Even my familiar gives me an amused look.

[Savos: What exactly are you bringing if I may ask?]

[Big D: Now that would be telling!]

[LizardWizard: hohoho!]

I groan.

[Savos: Why must you do this every time?]

[Big D: Because you are a pleb and refuse to play along.]

Dear gods give me patience.

[Savos: I am not coming up with a dumb name just to satisfy your 'traditions']

[Big D: *Sigh* To think I once considered you fun...]

[LizardWizard: He too shall learn one day, oh glorious student mine!]

[I Cast Fist: Truly disappointing....]

'Even you Tolfdir?' I bury my face into my hands and speak to my familiar "Get me Neloren."

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"Is everything ready?" I ask the illusion master as the cold sea winds batter my robes.

He nods, hiding his annoyance at being woken up "Yes, Archmage. No one will see anything or anyone. Even should someone walk in, they will see nothing if they are not keyed into the wards."

"Excellent!" Shalazar squeaks and hops "Prepare yourselves my mighty colleagues for our bones shall be rattled most thoroughly!"

Tolfdir hums quietly "I do wonder what has got him so excited."

"Another dramatic entrance, no doubt." Phineas grouses, though he fails to hide the tiny hint of amusement in his voice.

We are left with little time for further pondering as the distant nightscape seems to shimmer and from just above water level a massive shadow rises up, before any of us can so much as twitch a ebony-black dragon lands in front of us in perfect silence, Reyvin standing proudly on his back.

"You know what?" I mutter "I am not even mad."

(Reyvin's POV)

"A fine evening to you, my dear gentlemen!" I spread my arms grandly as I levitate down from Krein's back, the vampires following suit and getting off at his sides.

"A most majestic display!" Shalazar proclaims even more grandly "As expected of my student!"

Phineas and Savos mumble their reluctant agreement, while Tolfdir's own eyes remain focused firmly on Krein, his Magicka bubbling just below the surface in preparation for a possible battle "Your... guest, do you trust him?" He asks me.

"Certainly." I nod immediately and for the sake of politeness point to the elder vampire "Everyone, may I present the lady Valerica Volkihar, she is to be our guest for the foreseeable future."

"But of course, we of the College of Winterhold are happy to host one of her renown." Savos offers her a light bow, earning a smile from the ancient vampire.

"At least someone here knows how to treat a lady." Valerica directs a narrowed look towards me.

I naturally ignore her completely "You all already know Serana." I add quickly, making her chuckle "And last but not least, meet my newest ally, Kreinaarvokun."

"Greetings mortals." The dragon rumbles as he looks down on them, his eyes twinkling with amusement as Neloren starts to hyperventilate, and then turns his eyes to me "And there is no need to try and soothe my pride. I have sworn myself into this brave fahlil's service. His enemies are my enemies and his allies are my allies."

Arriving with a dragon may have surprised the gathered magi, but this outright stuns them into silence... well everyone but Shalazar but he is... him.

Aren is the first to recover "...What?"

Or at least I thought so "Long story." I explain simply.

"One that you shall regale us with, no?" The Lizard Wizard quirks his eye.

I nod but raise an index finger "Yes, but first the ladies need to be escorted to their quarters so they can recover and reconnect. Krein will remain hidden here until I am able to create a proper lair for him." I turn to the dragon "That alright with you?"

"There is no need to rush, Thuri" He hums "I shall enjoy the sea wind's caress while I wait."

A brief silent moment passes as everyone is yet to get used to the amicable dragon, and then Savos gets everyone moving, far too eager to learn of what has happened.

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Hours later, with the vampires left to their own devices and a quarter of the college's gardens closed off, I found myself sitting in my library, surrounded by the arch-magi and Phineas (who was apparently getting very close to the title himself if his constant progress in alteration was anything to go by). Their reactions as I told them about what I found in Volkihar were either a complete lack of surprise or contained seething fury in the case of Tolfdir.

When I got to the part about raiding the library Savos' eyes practically burned with greed and I merely pointed at a couple of my servants currently copying down a veritable mountain of books in another corner of the room.

His look told me he would probably spend the following months living as a library caveman.

The moment I mentioned the portal to the Soul Cairn it was Phineas who almost fell off his chair in surprise "You entered the Cairn?! Are you mad?!"

"I made sure I was protected." I answer easily.

"And what guarantee of protection do you have against something as dangerous as the Ideal Masters?" He drawls "Do you have any idea how many entered that damned place and never left?"

"Yet here I sit." I smirk at him.

"Yet here you sit." He snorts "I guess you are only wrong if you lose."

"Them are the rules." I chuckle and continue with my tale, describing most of my experience within the cairn and earning a very amused eyebrow raise from Savos when I mentioned Jiub's presence.

Then I got to the part where I fought Durnehviir and all of them started taking notes like the bunch of nerds they were, immediately recording any possible weakness a dragon may have. Which fair enough, they all knew about the upcoming apocalypse but it was still funny to see.

Glossing over my near-death experience because I did not want to listen to a lecture I spent the last parts of the story utterly shattering their minds with how I bound a dragon and ripped the cairn apart, invoking literal divine intervention and then spitting on Harkon's face for good measure.

"You blew up the cairn?" Phineas asks slowly after nearly half a minute of complete silence.

"Yup." I pop the p "Though it wasn't fully destroyed, unfortunately, it will still take millennia for it to recover."

"I can confirm this." The amused voice of Mephys cuts into our conversation as she saunters up to behind me and lays her hands on my shoulders "It was most delightful watching the upstart soul thieves scramble to keep what little energy remained."

"Oh?" I ask "How did the princes react?"

"They" She begins, hiding her amusement "All fell upon them like a bunch of rabid animals, only stopping when what remained of the Ideal Masters barricaded themselves within their now tiny realm and swore to pay tribute to Molag Bal."

A skeletor-esque bark of laughter breaks the ensuing silence "Hah! Serves the bastards right."

I look at the lich "Have a history with the parasites?"

"Yes." He scoffs "I tried making a bargain with them when I was still young and naive. Managed to get out of it by paying a large tribute but it has been a stain on my mind for decades."

"What did you try getting?" I ask curiously.

"Their way of creating undead. It was to be a large step in my research which would have allowed me to uncover a superior form of lichdom." He grouses "After my failure I was forced to be content with this form."

I summon a stack of books I looted from the different parts of the cairn and levitate them toward him wordlessly.

"Is this?" He almost gasps, his illusory eyes widening.

"It is." I smirk "Enjoy~"

"Well, he won't be hearing us now." Tolfdir chuckles as Phineas starts ignoring the world "Now Reyvin, I find myself wondering why exactly did you not use the dragon to simply end the threat while you were there?"

I shrug "Dragons are powerful yes, but not that powerful. There were hundreds of old vampires in there and I defeated him mostly on my own."

Tolfdir hums contemplatively "So they can be slain in honest battle then?"

"If by honest battle you mean using solar magic with a divine staff against an undead weakened by a shout created specifically for killing them then yes." I deadpan.

Tolfdir's relaxed demeanor shift as he frowns "That is not enough." He states.

"It is not." I agree "We need a better way to face them."

"And your most potent minds have already reached the same enlightenment!" Shalazar jumps onto his chair.

"Alright then" I grin at Tolfdir's eager look "Project Dragonslayer is a go."

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(General POV)

A well built Dunmer wearing distinctive ebony platemail was humming rhythmic song while striking heated steel, his hands moved with expert precision as a sword slowly took shape in his hands.

He was tired of the constant fighting, the numerous challengers sent his way simply to satisfy a bloodthirsty demon's desire for violence. He wanted to create instead of destroy and the foolish decisions he made as a youth would not hold him back again.

Naturally the world chose this exact moment to prove him wrong as he felt himself get pulled into a vision.

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The steel cooled in his grip as he turned toward the seated Daedra, who looked at him with a mix of respect and disappointment.

"What do you want?" He spat.

"Your tenacity has impressed me." His patron grinned at him, it was a disturbing and hungry thing "I have come to you with one final challenge."

The Dunmer scoffs "As if I would ever believe you."

Her following words stunned him "I will swear on it if I must."

He stared at her briefly and then grunted "Fine, what do you want."

"I wish for you to challenge Reyvin Dagoth and do your utmost to slay him." She says with a unsettling grin "Should you succeed I will leave you to live out your lifetime as you desire. So swears Boethiah."

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