Chapter XXV: Ilinalta

"I am genuinely impressed that they managed to make the place habitable" I mutter as I look over the barely above water level tower that served as the entrance to the necromancer's lair "How by Dagoth's saggy sack the place didn't collapse yet I will never understand."

"Could it be they used magic?" Nightshade gives me a look of subdued mockery.

I give her a deadpan stare in return and she chuckles "You've been growing way more cheeky in the past few days." I cannot help but point out.

She shrugs "I am an old woman, no matter how I may look right now... And you have made it no secret you do not care for... pedantry?" She tilts her head and then nods seriously "No, it was pageantry, right?"

"Finally getting used to the more flowery parts of Tamrielic, eh?" I smile in praise "And you are completely correct, as long as you do not contract a severe case of stupid I don't really care how you behave."

"You say I am the one getting used to surface speak and yet it is you who causes everyone confusion whenever you yourself talk." She helpfully points out.

"They just cannot understand my genius" I sigh with fake sorrow.

"As expected of my master..." She deadpans.

I snicker and straighten after a moment "Let us get going then, do try and not drown if I blow up the fortress on accident." I say with great cheer only to hear my follower stumble in fright.

(General POV)

A gaunt young Nord shivers as he hears the waters of the lake flow over the eerie home of him and his fellow students. Across him an equally malnourished Breton woman is busy reading a ripped book on what he guesses is healing magic while she holds a barely lit candle above it.

"Why do you even bother?" The young man asks with a dead tone.

His partner glares at him "Because" She grits out "I haven't given up on life like the rest of you cowards."

He chuckles without a hint of humor "What do you think will happen when they finally run out of souls to feed our 'great teacher'?" He smirks but it is a smirk of pain and cynicism "They barely give us any food at this point, I wouldn't be surprised if they wanted to make sure we couldn't fight back when they finally decided to damn our souls in their madness."

His friend snaps her book shut, not truly caring about damaging the pitifully written notes within "What do you suggest then?" She asks while looking at him like he is an idiot.

"We should escape." Is his firm response.

She stares at him before slowly breaking out in a tired cackle, moments later she calms down and blinks in surprise "By Manimarco, you are serious aren't you?" She near gasps "Where would we even go?"

He frowns and shrugs "Wherever we could really, anywhere is better than here that much is certain."

"You heard what happened in Solitude" She hisses "Being a necromancer is not safe anywhere, at least here there is a chance we might survive."

"Better to die to a random guard than get our souls damned for all eternity!" He says firmly and just as his partner is about to respond they hear the hatch at the entrance open and someone swiftly jumps down, cracking the stone beneath.

Both of them jump at attention, destruction spells flickering into their hands only to completely freeze at what they see.

Robes of black and purple, a red sash, a crown of ebony and a flaming glaive.

""Oh shit"" Both mutter in perfect sync.

(Reyvin's POV)

I stare at the two malnourished necromancers with some amusement "Never before have I been greeted in a more apt manner." I say after some very uncomfortable (for them) silence "I have to admit, my fame preceding me does feel quite good."

The girl starts shaking in fear, close to hyperventilating but not quite, while the man raises his hands in surrender and very cautiously steps into the light doing his very best to show he is not a threat.

"You know" I begin as I realize they were not about to speak up "It is amazing just how many lives would be saved if people actually used their brains like you are doing right now." I clap my hands mockingly "Good on you."

As the two are trying to come up with an appropriate way to beg for their lives Nightshade leisurely descends the ladders, her white and gold robes contrasting heavily with our current environment.

She gives me a confused look and asks "Why are they still alive?" There is no judgment in her voice just pure curiosity, almost as if discussing the weather.

"A rare case of common sense" I drawl and turn back to the duo "I am waiting."

The Nord finally speaks up in a shaky voice "We will tell you everything, just don't kill us."

I roll my eyes "Cease thine simpering and begin with your explanation."

He takes a deep breath and begins spinning his tale. Apparently, Malyn Varen was still partly sane when he gathered his students and fled the college, in his moments of lucidity he even tried to found a new institution focusing on freedom of study and welcoming all those willing to learn.

And then the madness started...

He began asking for more and more souls, soon going from consuming white ones to black ones, students started disappearing and only his closest disciples seemed to be safe. Soon the hopeful little school turned into a hellhole as misfortune seemed to strike at the worst possible moments and now, three years after they left the college only about a dozen students remained among the living. A single maddened apprentice still hunting for souls to feed their master.

"That is..." Nightshade begins, her voice dripping with disappointment.

"Pathetic" I finish with a scoff, my eyes drifting over the many skeletons hung around the entrance, some of them crucified in very painful ways "All this because one idiot got sick and wanted to play with something beyond himself. Honestly, you all deserved what you got for following him."

"Wh-what do you m-mean he played with something b-beyond him?" The Breton girl speaks up for the first time since I descended.

"Wait, you do not know?" I ask, bewildered.

Both cautiously shake their heads.

I stare at them for a while before lightly laughing "Oh boy, you are so unlucky." I make a dramatic pause just to fuck with them further before finally explaining "Dumb idiot stole the star of Azura and tried to make it his phylactery. It backfired, hard."

"That would explain it" I hear the Nord mutter before he looks up at me, his worry somehow growing even further "...and you are here on the behest of Azura, are you not?"

"That I am" I respond with cheer.

He sighs "Be honest with me sir, is there a chance for us to survive here?"

My brain rapidly comes up with ideas as he asks the question and a smile worms its way onto my face "There is one way..." I lie "If you were to say... offer your services to the legion for the upcoming conflict I might be inclined to not butcher you all on principle."

He sighs in relief "May I invite the others as well?" He asks with some hope.

After quickly using clairvoyance just in case I shrug "Go and do your thing, you know what happens if you get funny ideas."

He nods and runs off, leaving his shaking friend alone with the two of us.

It didn't take long before a dozen necromancers of varying states of malnourishment stood before me with fear in their eyes, they were completely at my mercy and they knew it, even without showing a hint of my Magicka they knew they stood before a Master of Winterhold.

Just when I was about to begin my mocking speech to these reprobates the door they came from slammed open and a Nord walked in, he was an older man and his face was one of those that even an extremely enthusiastic mother might have trouble loving.

"What are you bumbling idiots doing here?!" His voice is grating to the ears as he yells at the students "I ordered you wastes of good Magicka to guard the damned entrance in shifts, is it so damn hard to understand one simple GODS DAMNED INSTRUCTION!?"

All of the students flinch in fright at his approach, likely having been conditioned to fear the weak little thing before me. He finally looks up to me "And you, who are you to dare enter my master's great sanctum? Have you come to offer yourself as fue- "

A blizzard covers him in an instant and shreds him into tiny pieces.

"Why so aggressive?" I ask my companion with a raised eyebrow.

"He was wasting our time." She tries and completely fails to lie to me.

"Uh-huh..." I nod mockingly "And the fact he was a Nord had nothing to do with it?" I ask without any accusation.

The Falmer very suspiciously chooses not to answer and looks away, all the while the few Nords among the gathered students stealthily move behind their foreign colleagues.

"Right then" I look at the gaggle of necromancers "You lot will stay here and behave, Nightshade here will watch over you and she is permitted" I look at her with a smirk "And encouraged to deal out punishment whenever someone decides to be a smartass, any questions?"

Before anyone can even get the chance to speak up I nod happily "Excellent, I will be going in now, do behave yourselves."

And so I descended deeper into Ilinalta's Deep, part of me was slightly disappointed that the mages decided to be intelligent for once but contrary to popular belief I was not in fact a rampant murderer so if they surrendered I may as well get some use out of them.

The halls the disparate collection of necromancers called home were in a state of complete and utter disrepair, my clairvoyance showed me in great detail the utterly pathetic living conditions they were forced to endure... if they could even be called as such.

There were two entire beds in the entire sunken fort and most others were forced to sleep on thin straw, most of them not even having a pelt to cover themselves from the biting cold of the submerged stone that surrounded them.

And disappointingly much like the state of the place would suggest the most valuable thing I could find was a single silver spoon.

Soon I found my way to the deepest part of the structure, no longer submerged under water but dug some meters underground, positioned in such a way that even if the higher levels flooded the central sanctum would survive.

Rather foolish considering that the 'master' of the place had to feed on souls but then again if he was enough of an idiot to soul trap himself he deserved to die of starvation... not that he would get the chance now.

I approach the reinforced door guarding the inner sanctum and with barely any effort snap the protective enchantment out of existence, the doors bursting into splinters due to the rampant Magicka.

A grunt of pain coming from within surprises me and I tense up, immediately activating my sight and noticing a duo of Dremora guarding the broken star of Azura which radiated power even in its current state.

I do not wait nor banter and immediately start charging flames through my staff while channeling defensive spells in my left hand. The heavily armored Dremora looks ready to start insulting me in the usual manner of its kind but I do not give it the chance and launch an overcharged firebolt bolstered with dovahzul at his face, he doesn't even have the time to twitch as his head is blown up like a watermelon.

The other, robe-wearing one, responds in kind by launching bolts of lightning at me. Unfortunately for him, he is nowhere near powerful enough to go through my newly bolstered wards, my new reserves and skill allowing me to freely use dovahzul in most of my spells.

Naturally, when I decide to end him as well he too tries to ward my attack off. His defenses crack faster than the guards of this pitiful place and he is sent back to Oblivion.

I quickly scan the room for any further traps and after making sure I wasn't about to get blown up by some spiteful cunt I approach the broken star.

An otherworldly gaze bearing down on me all the way there.

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Soul gems look like stones right?

Quickly pillage Azura's star for everything she is worth!

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