Magical Anomalies

[A/N]: Bonus chapter! You asked for it and you got it. Don't get too used to it you greedy reader.

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Rictus wiped off the sweat dripping down his face. He was getting tired. They had been fighting for hours now and the sun was almost fully set. The waves of magical anomalies had become more frequent and the enemies more numerous.

It was not too much longer after Faralda had left when Rictus and Jarl Korir were notified about the changing situation from one of the guards. There were more magical anomalies appearing than before and they were appearing faster and faster. The mages were starting to really struggle with the battle. They already suffered a few casualties.

Korir decided to order his guards to take a more active roll in defending the town instead of leading enemies to the mages. He had asked Rictus if he could help coordinate with his guard captain and the mages since Rictus was a more neutral party. Korir was honest enough to admit his judgement was clouded when it involved the mages. He also admitted working with the mages would be the smartest and safest option for his men.

Rictus found it a little strange the amount of trust the Jarl was placing with him. They had only just met today, and yet the Jarl was asking his opinions and getting him to help lead his guards. Maybe it was because Rictus had saved his son. Maybe he was really a master manipulator and trying to trick Rictus. Maybe it was simply a desperate man grasping for any help he could get. At the moment, it did not really matter. There were enemies to battle.

The fighting was intense but controlled. The guards did a good job of keeping the anomalies off the mages. The mages did a good job of limiting the number of enemies which could get close. The two complimented each other very well.

Rictus was mostly acting as a reserved force to shore up and weaknesses in the line. He would create stone walls as barriers to limit the number of avenues of attack as well as create choke points the mages could unleash their most potent spells. He didn't forget to summon his familiar, Billy. Billy made quite the impression on all the defenders. Most the guardsmen were initially intimidated by the monstrous goat. They quickly warmed up to it after it had saved quite a few guards life by charging the enemies or moving the wounded. The mages were very impressed by the summon, and the mages who focused on conjuration were determined to find out how to summon such a magnificent creature. Between Billy, earth bending, and using his ax with telekinesis, Rictus appeared to be in control of the battlefield.

Faralda was a monster in her own right. Her mastery of Destruction really shone on the battlefield. She was easily doing more than any other 5 mages, excluding Rictus, combined. She was especially effective at utilizing the choke points and dishing out more damage than anyone else in a short period of time. Lightning seemed to dance in her finger tips just waiting to be unleashed on another victim.

Korir had even joined in on the battle. He mostly stayed near Rictus and Faralda acting almost like a personal guard instead of a Jarl. Both mages were actually very impressed by his fighting prowess. He used a sword and shield to deadly effect. Any enemy which got close was quickly dispatched.

With most of the citizens who lived near the college evacuated to the inn and the longhouse, the defenders were able to consolidate their positions. It was a good thing they did. As the rate those magical anomalies were appearing increased, the amount of rest the defenders were getting decreased. The guards' stamina was quickly being depleted while the mages were barely given time to regen their mana. Already, quite a few were down from exhaustion or mana depletion.

Everyone was resting during one of the lulls in combat. Korir was moving along his men and giving out praise and encouragement. Each man he talked to beamed with pride and seemed to gain bit more energy. Rictus was leaning back against Billy and observing the surroundings. He was surprised when Faralda joined him.

Faralda leaned back against Billy and partially slumped against Rictus to keep her from falling. She was utterly exhausted from the battle. It had been years since she had fought such a long-drawn-out battle. Her fights were usually fast, deadly, and extremely destructive. There were no more mana potions left either. No one had expected such a fight, nor did anyone have time to try and go back to the college for more.

Faralda couldn't help but be impressed by Rictus, both magically and physically. While he was sweating, Rictus was not breathing particularly hard nor seemed as tired as everyone else. He had also been casting spells almost nonstop during the battle which showed he had enormous mana reserves. His use of alteration spells was truly masterful. Faralda thought him and Tolfdir would have lots to talk about. She was a little embarrassed to be leaning on him like she was doing, but she had to appear strong in front of the rest of the mages there. They would lose moral if she flopped on the ground like she wanted. She needed to appear strong. Rictus understood what was going on and did not point it out.

He did chuckle a little when she put more of her weight against him after he didn't protest. Rictus was not one to deny a lady in need. She was relatively attractive after all. Not necessarily beautiful but definitely not ugly. Maybe a bit above average? Rictus also liked the way her hair was done.

'Does her hair look a little bit like curved goat horns?'

Before Rictus could contemplate the magnitude of this thought, Korir had returned to them.

"We cannot keep this up for much longer. We can handle the next wave, but it will be tough. After that, casualties will become more common. Why can't we just hold up in the buildings with the civilians and wait for this to pass?"

This last statement was directed towards Rictus. He shrugged his shoulders and sighed for what had to be the 10th time he answered this question.

"Because then the anomalies would be more likely to appear inside the homes and attack civilians. These things are created from pure mana. With the mages being here with us and casting spells, they are drawn more to this area. If we holed up inside, we could not maneuver, and the creature could appear right in the middle of a group of civilians. Similar things would happen if the mages left us. Right now, they are the reason we can keep most the creatures forming near us instead of those left inside. We have already ben over this and even did a small test. You know it to be true."

Korir cringed at the reminder of the test. They had lost a couple guards, a mage, and a family of 3 when he questioned Rictus's initial theory about the way the creatures spawned. He had separated everyone up and moved his men farther from the mages. The spread-out nature of the enemies had led to those casualties which weighed heavily on the Jarl's heart.

"I know. I know. I am just tired of being on the defensive with no end in sight. I did send a rider to one of our forts to gather reinforcements, but they could still be a couple hours away. It also seems like there will be no additional help from the mages either. Something will have to give soon else we will have to evacuate the city which could mean the end of Winterhold."

Rictus agreed. They were in a losing battle right now. He wasn't too worried about his safety though. He had already carved a small underground chamber with a charged teleport glyph beneath him just in case he had to retreat. The people here were growing on Rictus, but he was not about to die with them.

Rictus was also contemplating if he would be able to pierce the barrier to the eye of magnus. He had no idea if he would be able to figure something out for it. It was still tempting though. Rictus wondered if he would be able to control the power of the artifact for himself. He wasn't so sure, but it was still a fun thought. Before he could get too caught up in his thoughts, Faralda spoke.

"The team we sent to retrieve the staff should be back any time now. They should have been back yesterday, but obviously something slowed them down. Once they get back though, we will be able to pierce the barrier and stop Ancano."

Rictus was quite interested to hear about this. It should mean there was someone else like him here at the college. He wondered what they may be like. Before he could question Faralda, Korir questioned her.

"What makes you so confident they are not dead? I don't know how much longer I can keep my people here. We cannot fight forever."

"I am confident because that group was made up of some of our best and brightest members. They have proven to be extremely resourceful over their time here. These mages have immense potential. More than many senior members. Morrigan is especially impressive with her enchantments. She should be more than capable of leading them back here in time."

Rictus was very interested in that tid bit of information. It seems his earlier assumption was most likely correct. This Morrigan most likely had Enchanting as her Skill. He wondered what she would be like and how they would get along. Some people knew much more about the Skyrim game than he did. Rictus was a big fan of the game, but he never really memorized the lore or knew everything that happened in the game. He remembered most the major quest lines, but he didn't remember the names of all the different places and characters involved in them. Rictus wondered how this woman would fall on the scale of knowing nothing about Skyrim and knowing everything.

Rictus could feel another wave of anomalies forming. He made sure to warn everyone about the incoming enemies. Rictus gave Billy a good head scratch and some pats for being such a good familiar and letting them rest against him. He then helped make sure Faralda was steady on her feet. Faralda smiled at Rictus, grateful for the steadying hand. She did not want to think about how poorly the fighting could have gone had he not been here.

The fighting continued as usual. The guards kept the anomalies away from the mages. The mages kept the anomalies from overrunning the guards. Billy would charge into the fray and push back any enemies which were breaking though weak points in the line. Faralda continued blasting enemies with her magic. Rictus worked to control the battlefield with his earth bending and destroy enemies with his ax and telekinesis. Korir stayed watching over Rictus and Faralda, attacking anything which got too close.

Rictus could feel something getting closer with his magical senses. He did not know what it could be, and he was too occupied fighting to give it too much attention. Hopefully it wasn't anything terrible.

Suddenly, a stream of bluish magical energy blasted one of the magical anomalies at the edges of the fighting. The stream seemed to almost absorb the magical anomaly, quickly reducing it to nothing. Many defenders were surprised and gaped. Striding past the houses were 4 people, casting various spells and defeating more of the anomalies. The mages which had been defending let out a cheer! Even Faralda seemed to get second wind as she smiled and continued destroying the enemies.

Rictus spared the time to observe the 4 newcomers. They were obviously mages based off the spells coming from them. The two more unassuming mages were a female dark elf and a male nord. Both wore traditional mage robes and were casting destruction magic at the anomalies. The other two were more interesting looking.

One was a Redguard man. Rictus could tell he was very physically fit and was of moderate height. He was wielding a curved sword in one hand with his other hand aglow with restoration magic. He was wearing blue and tan robes with a metal breastplate. His feet and hands were also armored. The man seemed to be defending the other casters in the group and keeping back the enemies with his sword and the occasional ward.

The final person deserved most of the attention. 2 things immediately jumped out to Rictus. One was the staff she was wielding. Rictus could tell it was the Staff of Magnus. It held a power which was felt even this far away. It easily mowed down the enemies before it and seemed to allow the user to cast spells to her hearts content by absorbing the magical energies of the anomalies. The second thing which stood out was the mask covering her face. It was obviously a dragon priest mask. Rictus was not 100% sure what it did, but he thought it had something to do with mana regeneration. That combined with the staff of magnus would make her a nightmare for any mage challenging her. This was obviously the Morrigan Faralda mentioned before.

Other than that, the woman seemed to be of average height and build. Her black hair was tied up on the back of her head with a few strands hanging loose here and there. She was wearing multiple rings, each having a slightly different glow to them. Rictus could also discern that her robes were hiding a well-proportioned body based off how the robe clung a bit tighter to certain assets.

With the new additions, the fighting was quickly over. Mostly thanks too the staff of Magnus.

Faralda seemed to sag even more than before. She went a little bit over the top once she realized help had finally arrived. She probably would have fell if Billy and Rictus were not there to grab her. Rictus gently moved one of her arms around Billy so the familiar could more fully support her.

The new group of mages quickly approached Faralda, Korir, and Rictus. The group seemed to have varying reactions to the 3 defenders. They were concerned over Faralda's exhaustion. The Jarl gained looks of surprise from 2, while the Redguard hardly acknowledged him. Outside of a quick appreciative glance at Billy, they ignored him. Finally, they seemed apprehensive and wary of Rictus. It could be his magical aura or his modified dragon priest mask. The Redguard and the masked woman seemed especially suspicious.

The Redguard seemed to decide against staying with the group and moved on to the gathered guardsmen to help heal their injuries.

As the woman got close, she removed her mask to reveal an attractive Breton woman. Rictus was actually quite surprised to find she looked almost identical to Morrigan from Dragon age. She must have been a big fan.

Morrigan was curious about what had been going on here. She was very surprised to see all the destruction around the place. It seemed this battle had been going on for quite some time. There wasn't supposed to be a battle in the town at all, but apparently, she was mistaken about that.

Morrigan also was curious about the man wearing a weird looking dragon priest mask with what appeared to be goat horns on it. Time was of the essence, so she ignored all the distractions and got to the point.

"I am going to the college to stop Ancano. Do you know the status of the college?"

Faralda shook her head as it dipped from exhaustion.

"I don't know. We have been fighting here for hours now. When I left, the various masters were working to contain or breakthrough the barrier. You should quickly go there with the staff."

Morrigan nodded in agreement. Looking at the state the defenders were in, she commanded the two normal mages with her to stay and help them. The Redguard quickly joined her after finishing healing one of the more injured guards. Rictus spared the duo a look.

"I think I may join you two. Maybe there will be some way I can assist."

Morrigan and the Redguard shared a look. They really did not know about letting a stranger join them, especially such a suspicious one. Morrigan was the first one to reply.

"I am not sure that would be such a good idea.

They were surprised when Faralda seemed to disagree and side with Rictus.

"I think he should go with you. Rictus has a mastery over magic rarely seen in others. He would be a great help to you. Besides, the faster this gets done the better."

Korir nodded and agreed as well.

"Having another powerful mage will only help resolve this disaster sooner. He should accompany you."

Korir also shared a look with Rictus. Korir trusted Rictus more than these mages and believed he would make sure everything was resolved. He was also worried the mages might spare the Thalmor or hide what exactly happened. Rictus would be there to tell him what really happened.

Morrigan let oud a sigh. There wasn't time to argue here. She simply nodded and headed towards the college. The Reduguard following behind her loyally.

Rictus simply smiled and followed the duo. It was time to kill a Thalmor and see what another summoned was capable of doing.

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[A/N]: I think this was good practice on diverging a little from what happened in the game. It made sense to me though that more of these creatures would be attacking the town so I wanted to explore that a little bit.

I was initially going to include the fight with Ancano, but then decided this was a good stopping place. Don't want to spoil any one with extra long chapters. People might start thinking its normal.

I hope the introduction of Morrigan was not too horrible. I was going to make her more original in appearance, but I recently played DAO and couldn't help myself. If too many people hate it, she could always suffer a terrible accident....