It had taken the party three days to reach the Dwemer ruins of Mzulft. The sun was beginning to set as they rode up the long row of steps, framed by stone arches, to see the outer portion of the once great city of the Dwemer. Steam rose from pipes, proving that there was still activity going on inside.

 

“I think we should make camp and go in with the rising sun,” said Eldawyn, looking exhausted on her horse.

 

Nora knew this mission was of vital importance, and that the clock was ticking to whatever unknown disastrous event was on the horizon. Still, she wanted her people fresh and alert before entering what she assumed would be a very hazardous dungeon.

 

“Very well,” she said, feeling the fatigue of travel herself. They had ridden well past dark on each day, waking while there was still no light and getting on their way. It was exhausting, but she wanted to get to the old Dwemer city and away with the information. She felt deep down that whatever was about to happen wasn't long in coming. “Make camp. I'll set the guard shifts once the tents are up and the fire going.”

 

Thundering Hooves was a Godsend, since without it they would have taken eight or nine days to get here. Still, Nora felt that she needed something faster. She was thinking maybe the Psijic's had knowledge of something that could move them around Skyrim at the speed of light, or at least the speed of sound. The problem was getting them to give it up to someone not of their order. If she could convince them that she needed such a spell to save the world maybe they would teach her. Or maybe they would turn out to be arrogant fools who cared little for the real world, even if Alduin would spell doom for them as well. Since they had contacted her and set her on a path to save the College, that last seemed unlikely.

 

Everyone was just too tired to even contemplate sex, so Nora decided she would pass on it as well. Her dreams brought her visions of the Eye of Magnus, erupting with power as it unmade the world. Something she realized in her vision the Thalmor were trying to achieve. Something about their philosophy to return the world to its primordial state, when they were still part of the spirit world, not individuals as they were now. Maybe something some of the Altmer hoped for, but not all of them, and definitely not the other peoples of Tamriel. After Alduin the Thalmor were the greatest threat on the planet to the races of men and mer. They wanted to stop Talos worship because he was the primary deity standing in their way, the protector of men. With him out of the way their plan could finally reach fruition.

 

I have to stop them, thought Nora in her subconscious. To stop Alduin, then lose this world to the supremacist elves, who only cared for their own vision of the Universe. That was unacceptable. After that vision the nightmares went away for the night, a gift of Kynareth bestowed upon her so she would be fresh on the morn, ready to face the coming ordeal.

 

She left Annekke and Elesia on horse guard, leading the rest of her people through the outer door and into the outer chamber of Mzulft. There was a dying mage sitting against the wall, blood oozing through the hand he had pressed against his side. Nora started to send a healing spell into him, but his life fled like a snuffed candle before she could even begin her casting. Nora cursed under her breath. She resolved to someday learn the resurrection spell, if such even existed, and be able to bring the recently killed back to life.

 

“I wonder who he was?” asked Nora, looking over at Eldawyn.

 

“Those look like Synod robes,” said the Altmer. “So I guess they're still here. Now the question is, have any of them survived?”

 

Nora hoped so. She had nothing against the Synod, no matter Mirabelle's opinion of them. And dead mages couldn't answer her questions about the Staff.

 

The door was locked, and it was one of the special Dwemer locks that would resist all attempts at picking. A search of the Synod mage revealed a strange looking key that fit the hole perfectly. There was a trail of blood leading to the door, then continuing on and stopping at a destroyed spider machine that had been blasted by a spell. The story was clear. The mage had been surprised by the spider, which had wounded him mortally. He had blasted it with magic, then crawled back through the door, which shut locked behind him. She wasn't sure why the man hadn't healed himself. Possibly too weak from blood loss to cast the spell. Whatever the reason, he was dead.

 

The corridor ahead was collapsed along one wall, plants growing through the gaps. There were Dwemer pots scattered about, and the wrecked form of Dwemer robots. The sounds of machinery were apparent, and steam rose from pipes. The ruin reminded her of the Corvega plant in the Commonwealth, with some similarities to the Saugus Ironworks.

 

“Sofia. You're in charge of finding anything of worth on these robots.”

 

“Got it,” said the spellsword, working her way around the fallen spiders and others. “Lots of filled soul gems here.”

 

“The Dwemer used the gems to run their automatons,” said Eldawyn, eyes nervously looking into all the dark places.

 

“Maybe I should have brought my power armor,” said Nora. The Dwemer robots looked very advanced to the people of this world. They looked primitive to her, and she was sure her armor would have been more than a match for any of them. Unfortunately, she would have had to detour to Whiterun, adding another couple of days to the trip, plus the wagon might not be able to handle the speed of Thundering Hooves.

 

They turned a bend, the sound of a skittering mechanical spider sounding from ahead. The constructs seemed to be nearsighted, and the party was moving quietly. Nora sighted in on one with her bow and hit it with an arrow, the shock enchantment from her weapon enchanting the shaft with electricity, frying out the robot.

 

There was a trap ahead, a pressure plate that obviously released something from the holes in the ceiling. And another dead Synod researcher, probably killed by the trap, stumbling forward a bit before falling. They found a Chaurus further on, a disgusting beast that spit poison, feeding on another Synod researcher. Nora put two arrows in it quickly, dropping it dead.

 

Up stairs, through corridors, finally reaching a room where steam powered pistons pushed out on the path periodically. A couple of cycles and they figured it out, getting the entire party past it. They started to find dead Falmer, and Nora shivered as she thought of encountering the disgusting creatures. Where there were dead Falmer there were probably living versions further ahead. There was plenty of loot, gems and potions mostly, enough to enrich the party from this trip. They stopped in front of a door from which the sounds of machinery resounded. Nora made sure everyone was ready, then opened the door.

 

The door led to more of the same, Dwemer objects all over the place, destroyed guardians, spiders and spheres. Pots, struts, cogs and gears. Sofia looted soul gems out of most of the constructs, everything from the small petty type up to the black that contained the souls of sentient creatures. Those still disturbed Nora, but she wasn't about to pass them up. The being was dead, its energy harvested, and tossing the gem away did nothing to help it.

 

Nora sighted in and put an arrow into a Falmer, the shaft penetrating into its lungs and hitting it with fire and shock magic as well. Sofia and Lydia looted some of the strange Dwemer chests, finding more potions and gems. Nora was not sure the potions would still be good, but an Alchemist could look them over to assess them. Lydia was hurriedly gathering ingredients as they went, many types of mushrooms, including the glowing variety, and Chaurus egg clusters.

 

The next room had a Falmer and a pair of Chaurus. Nora was hit with the poison of the large insect creature, burning into her eyes. Lydia and Jordis killed the Chaurus with arrows, while Eldawyn sent Ice Storm into the Falmer. Nora sat down quickly on the floor, weakness overcoming her.

 

“Are you okay?” asked Elda, coming over and throwing healing into the Dragonborn.

 

“I'll be fine. That wasn't that powerful of poison. Just something I had never encountered. Give me a moment.”

 

Nora felt her body and the healing magic fighting the poison, and was soon on her feet and leading the way. Two more Synod mage bodies were ahead, and more Falmer. The elves went down to magic and arrows, and the party moved quietly on. There was another Synod mage body, and Nora was wondering how many had come down here, and if any had actually made it into the heart of the ruins. If they were all dead she might very well be wasting their time, putting her people at risk for nothing.

 

Walking through a narrow tunnel they found themselves back in the main part of the Dwemer ruins, wide stone corridors again dominating. Lydia found a skill book, bringing it over to Nora, who opened it and found that her alteration skill had miraculously advanced. She handed the book to Eldawyn, who read it and passed it to Sofia, advancing all the mages in the group. There were more traps, and plenty of locked doors and chests for the Sole Survivor to ply her picking skills on. They killed two more Falmer across a wide room, then came to yet another door, up a ramp, another Synod mage body lying on the floor.

 

They found themselves in a large room, several Falmer in a camp at the top of the ramp. Nora moved quietly up to one and killed it with a thrust of her knife, while Lydia and Jordis took out the other two. Casting Clairvoyance, Nora led them up some stairs and to a closed door, locked. A few broken picks had Nora thinking this was another enchanted lock.

 

“We need to find the key. Search everything.”

 

There was not a key on any of the bodies, though Sofia did find some kind of lens, one that Nora thought might be important. They moved to the corridor leading off the main room, finding dead Falmer in room after room, finally ending in a dead end with four bodies. Nora wasn't sure what had killed them, until a very large Dwemer automaton came out of the shadows.

 

The creature let out a blast of lightning that felled Lydia and Valdimar. If not for their enchantments they would have been on the way to Sovngarde. It fired a blast of steam that forced Sofia back. Eldawyn and Nora sent lighting into the creature, while Jordis charged forward and struck it in the leg with her glass sword. Fire played over the limb from the blade, and the construct fell over on its side. The three mages sent more magical lightning into it, what seemed to be the best elemental attack, and the creature died, if such a term fit a mechanical construct.

 

“I thought it had us there,” said Valdimar as Nora poured healing magic into the man. Lydia was sitting up as Eldawyn did the same with her, and Sofia cast a spell on herself. They fanned out through the room, searching, and this time Valdimar made the find.

 

“This looks like one of their keys. May Kyne grant that it's the right one.”

 

It was, and the lock clicked open, revealing yet another corridor. Nora was beginning to wonder if this ruin was ever going to end. They had been down here over three hours with no end in sight. Except for the one large Dwemer construct, they hadn't run into anything they couldn't handle with ease. Until they came to another door with an enchanted lock that their key didn't fit.

 

“Crap.” Did they have to go back and search more of the place to find the key to this door. And what if they couldn't find it? Was the trip for nothing. So far they had found no live Synod mages, and it was looking like this mission was going to be a total failure.

 

“G…Gavros? Is that you?” asked a voice from the other side of the door. “I'd almost given up hope. Let me get the door…”

 

The lock clicked and the door swung open, to reveal a man in Synod robes, his eyes blinking as he looked on the newcomers with shock.

 

“What the… Who are you? Where's Gavros? What are you doing here? What've you done with Gavros?”

 

The man looked like he was about to lose it, completely, and Nora wondered if they were going to have a fight on their hands when all she wanted was a conversation.

 

“You friend Gavros is dead. We found his body, a lot of bodies, back in the ruins.”

 

“It was the Falmer, wasn't it?” growled the man, glaring at Nora. “Curse them! They've ruined everything! If Gavros is gone, there's no hope. He was supposed to return with the crystal… Without that, all our efforts are wasted. And you. If you're here for treasure, or wisdom, or anything, I'm afraid you've wasted your time.”

 

“I really didn't come here looking for whatever it is you're working on. I came here looking for the Synod.”

 

“And just why would you be doing that?” asked the mage, eyes narrowing. Then he shrugged his shoulders. “Oh, it doesn't matter now. Gavros is never coming back, and he was supposed to have the crystal. Without that, we're lost. It's all been for nothing. So congratulations, whoever you are, you've found the Synod. Just me, alone, surrounded by angry machines and angrier Falmer.”

 

“And what's this crystal you're talking about,” thinking of the lens that Sofia was now carrying.

 

“It didn't work the first time,” said the mage, the words rushing out. “I tried to tell Gavros, but he wouldn't listen. "No, it won't be too cold" he said. Well, I was right, wasn't I? Focused completely wrong by the time we got here! The cold had warped it! Gavros had to cart it all the way back to Cyrodiil. Left the rest of us here to fend off the damnable Falmer.”

 

“If I happen to find this crystal out there, will you help me?” asked Nora, making a hand motion to silence her followers.

 

“I don't know what sort of help you expect from me, but if you can actually find the crystal I'd certainly be grateful.”

 

“And just what is this crystal for?” asked Nora, thinking of ways she might get the information she needed from this man.

 

“It was a brilliant idea, really,” said the man, his tone on the verge of mania. “Mostly mine, though Gavros took the credit. Secret, though. Official Synod business. Can't talk about it.”

 

“And just what are you doing here?” asked Eldawyn, clearly getting impatient with this mage.

 

“I am on official business of the Grand Council of the Synod,” said the man, pulling himself to his full height and looking down his nose at the Altmer. “That's all you need to know. I might well ask the same of you, running around by yourself in this dangerous place.”

 

“Well, if you hadn't noticed, there are six of us,” said Nora. “Six entered this place, and six blasted our way through all opposition. So I guess you can say we were more dangerous than this place that killed all of your companions.”

 

The man seemed to be taken aback by that and shuffled his feet.

 

“And for your information, we're here looking for the Staff of Magnus.”

 

“Are you? Are you? Well. I'm afraid I can't help you with that. I need the crystal to do anything useful, and I don't have it.”

 

“I happened to have found a crystal,” said Nora, motioning for Sofia to bring it forth. She took the crystal and held it up for the mage to see.

 

 “You found… how in the world… That's it. That's it! I don't know who you are, but you may have just saved this little project…” The man reached for the gem and Nora held it away. “In fact, who are you, anyway?”

 

“I'm with the College of Winterhold, and I'm here for information on the Staff.”

 

“You are, are you? Savos wouldn't even grant us an audience when we came to you, but now you come here expecting something from me? I don't much like this, I'll tell you. But you've saved my skin, so maybe I can overlook the past for now. Come on, I'll explain on the way.”

 

The mage led the way into a large room and up a ramp. At the top was a large construct with several lenses, while others were attached to the three rings around the walls of the structure.

 

“No matter what Gavros said, this was my idea first. I, Paratus. The Council is going to know that when I get back. I was the one who thought of using this… this Oculory. I don't know what the dwarves called it. Something unpronounceable, I'm sure. From all our research, it seems they were intent on discerning the nature of the divine. This machinery, all of it, was designed to collect starlight, and then... I'm not sure. Split it, somehow? It was my idea to replace one of the key elements with our focusing crystal. Months of enchantments went into it. Let's just hope they got it right this time. Here it is. Magnificent, isn't it? Took an incredible amount of work to get it running again. Now I'm hoping it'll all be worth it. Place the crystal in the central apparatus, and we can start the process for focusing it.”

 

Nora stared at the machinery, wondering if it was a good idea to follow the directions of this mage.

 

“If you insist on holding onto the crystal, then you're going to have to place it. It's very important you do this correctly.”

 

“So, what do I do?”

 

“Place the crystal in the center of the armillary. Then we can worry about attuning it.”

 

Nora looked over the mechanism, finding the spot where the crystal fit. It slotted into place perfectly, and she had to admit that the Synod knew what it was doing. Sending a poorly equipped party into such a dangerous place showed that they hadn't known what they were doing in that case.

 

“What do I do now?”

 

“Now the crystal needs to be focused,” said the mage, crossing his arms over his chest. “It was created so far away; we knew that some adjustments would have to be made. Heating and cooling the crystal will cause it to expand or contract, which will change how the light passes through it. You'll need to use spells to do that. Being from the College, I assume you know them already.” The man looked down his nose at Nora once again and said in an arrogant tone. “There should be a few basic tomes around here somewhere in case your training is even more sub-standard than I've heard.”

 

“I've about had it with you,” said Eldawyn, fire playing over one of her hands. The Synod mage stepped back, pulling up a spell.

 

“Remember,” said Nora in a menacing tone. “We came here through all the threats that slaughtered your party. I don't want to fight you, but you would do well to remember that.”

 

The man nodded his head and looked down, and Nora turned her attention to sending fire magic into the device. The beams from the oculary shifted, not enough, and next she sent cold into it. She shifted back and forth from cold to heat, until each beam was pointed into a different circle. Nora looked up and saw the devices on the stand at the top of the ramp. Moving to that position, she pushed one of the buttons until the beam of light hit the focusing crystal on the wall. Repeating the procedure until they were all hitting one of the crystals, she waited for the result. She ran down the ramp, to see that a map of Tamriel, outlined in bright light, had appeared on the wall.

 

 “Years of work, finally going to pay off…” exclaimed the excited mage. “…but what's this? These results… They're not at all what they should be. This projection should be lit up like the night sky… Something is creating an incredible amount of interference. Something in Winterhold, it looks like. What are you playing at? Is this some attempt to stall my work?!”

 

“I play at nothing, Paratus. What's happening?”

 

Obviously something unexpected was happening. The part of the map that represented Skyrim was blurred with a bright light. One source appeared to be the College. Another was a spot in the mountains to the southeast of Morthal.

 

“So, what is it?,” yelled the mage, balling both fists “What have you done? Did you know what we were attempting? Are you here to make sure your plan worked, that our efforts have been for nothing? Well, explain yourself!”

 

“You had better calm down.”

 

“You and your College have ruined years of my work,” screamed the man. “I've lost colleagues and friends to the Falmer, and you want me to calm down?”

 

“Yes. Calm down so we can talk about this rationally. Did something go wrong?”

 

“Go wrong?,” screamed Paratus, his voice rising to a high pitch. “Go wrong? Everything is wrong! Everything! Whatever you have at that College has completely interfered with our work here.”

 

Nora noticed that her people were now on edge, hands on weapons hilts or magic playing across hands. “I swear to you, I don't know what you're talking about.”

 

“You show up here, just as our work nears completion, and now I can't get any results from this because of something at your College. Do you think me a fool? Do you think I'm too stupid to make the connection? How did you do it?”

 

“I haven't done anything. I swear.” Nora was beginning to wonder if they were dealing with a mad man.

 

“Either you're lying to me, or…” The man had calmed a bit, and seemed to be thinking.

 

“I really don't understand why you're so upset. We set the crystals and it gave a result. Maybe not the one you wanted, but there it is.”

 

“Just look! This should be lit up brighter than the night sky, and it's not! Clearly you've interfered somehow. Or…You have something at your College, don't you? Something immensely powerful. Beyond anything I'd anticipated. What is it?”

 

It all made sense to Nora, and the sense it made was chilling. This entire continent, filled with magical items and sources of power. And the Eye of Magnus was dwarfing them all. How much power was in that orb? The power to destroy Winterhold, obviously. Possibly enough to destroy Tamriel. Maybe even the world. They needed to find a way to remove it from this world before it went critical.

 

“The Eye of Magnus,” Nora whispered in fear.

 

“The Eye of Magnus?” hissed Paratus, eyes widening. “Well, I suppose if that means what I think it does… Well, that's interesting.”

 

“We might have something, yes,” said Nora, wondering if she had already said too much.

 

“Well, now,” said Paratus calming some. “This I hadn't considered. If that's taken into account, these results make more sense. So you do have something, then. Whether this was intentional or not, it suggests some interesting results.”

 

“What in the hell are you talking about?” Nora felt she was on the verge of the answer, and this man was talking nonsense.

 

 “You're looking for something, yes? The… Staff of Magnus. Well, even if you are trying to ruin my work, there's still something to be learned here.”

 

“Well, can you help me find it or not? We're running out of time here.”

 

“Yes, the staff. Interesting… I can't explain the details. That would be giving away many secrets the Synod have learned over the years. Also, I doubt you'd be able to comprehend the details. Have you ever seen the Orrery in the Imperial City? It was the inspiration for this idea. Instead of projecting the sky, we project all of Tamriel, and then harness the latent energies to overlay the positions of… What's important is that all of this work was designed to reveal to us sources of great magical power. Purely to help safeguard the Empire, of course. And yet, in the end, only two locations have been revealed to us. One is your College. The other… Well, that can only be Labyrinthian.

 

“So, mage from Winterhold, despite your intentions I've beaten your little game. Even if all you said here is lies, I know you have something in Winterhold the Synod Council will be very interested in. So fine, trudge off to Labyrinthian in search of your Staff. I shall return to Cyrodiil and deliver my full report to the Council. This is not over, I assure you.”

 

“So you're saying the Staff of Magnus is in Labyrinthian?” Nora did not like the sound of that. From everything she had heard that place was the worst kind of news possible.

 

“Well, yes. Probably. I mean, yes. Certainly it is, but that doesn't matter now, because I know you're hoarding something even more important at your College. The Council will be informed of this. They will find out what you're up to.”

 

“I think you've been here far too long, Paratus. You're crazy.”

 

“Am I? Am I? I think I've discovered more here than I could've hoped to. Your trickery won't confuse me. I think we're done here.”

“You can go back to your Synod, or you can go fuck yourself. I really don't care. I don't think I have ever run into a more arrogant, self-absorbed, asshole in my life.”

 

“You can't talk to me like that.”

 

Nora looked up and sent Unrelenting Force into the ceiling. “Can't I,” she yelled. “Just be glad I'm not a murderer, or you wouldn't be leaving this place alive.

 

“We need to move,” Nora told her people. “We have a long way to go, but we need to get this information back to Savos Aren as soon as possible.”

 

“Can't you com Farengar and have him send the information?” asked Eldawyn.

 

Nora pulled the device from her pouch and tried to establish contact, soon giving it up as a bad job. “That damned Eye is putting out so much interference that this device can't break through. So we'll have to do it the old-fashioned way.”

 

As the party was heading for the side exit from Mzulft, a figure appeared before them. Nora recognized him as Nerien, the Altmer mage who had appeared to her in Saarthal.

 

“You have done well thus far, but trying times are ahead. It is imperative that you return to your college at once. You will be called on to take swift action. Rise to the challenge, and discover what you are capable of. You are on the right path, and you will prevail.”

 

“Any way you can help me out?” asked Nora, sighing. “It's a three-day ride back to Winterhold, and I'm not sure that's fast enough to be at once. You people seem to be able to teleport where you want, when you want. Could you share that secret with me?”

 

The mage seemed to be taken aback by the request, but then he smiled. “If it was anyone else but you, Dragonborn, Sole Survivor, I would have to say no. But since we of the order have no more desire to have our souls eaten than anyone else, I will gift you with the knowledge.” The mage made some motions, calling up a spell, and Nora knew. The knowledge of the Psijic spells were in her mind and at hand.

 

“The spells are yours. But realize that the long-range spell will use all of your magicka, and will tire you severely. But it will allow you to move yourself and your people to selected places in Tamriel.”

 

“How much can I move?”

 

“Fifty tons is the maximum, though just teleporting yourself will result in much less fatigue.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

“My colleagues in the order may not approve, but I think you are the champion this world needs. And anything we can do to help you is a good investment.”

 

With that the mage was gone, and for a moment Nora wondered if it was all a hallucination.

 

“He gave you teleportation spells,” said Eldawyn in a hushed voice. “It has always been rumored that the Psijics had such spells, but only for their own.”

 

Nora went over the spells in her mind, feeling each unlock as she contemplated them. Shadowstep, and apprentice level spell, taking few of her resources, and letting her teleport behind a close enemy. Or friend. Blink, a short-range adept teleportation that would let her disappear and reappear a couple of hundred yards away. And finally, Teleport, a longer-range expert spell that would let her travel for miles, carrying her followers and mounts with her. That one took a lot of resources, and not many mages would be able to cast it. Nora had the reserves to cast it multiple times before she had to rest. The one caveat was she had to know where she was porting to, to be able to visualize it in her mind. The last, Omnipresence, was a master level spell that would allow her to transport anywhere in the world, if she had the magicka for the distance. She wouldn't be able to unlock that one for some time, but it was there when she reached that level of spellcasting.

 

“I'm not sure how this is going to work,” said Nora, looking over her people. “So everyone touch me, and let's get back to camp.”

 

Nora had a slight bit of trepidation at casting the Teleport spell. What if it went wrong, and they ended up coming to be inside of rock. She didn't think that was going to happen, but even the possibility made her nervous. But she had to try.

 

Nora said the triggering word and the world faded away, to instantly fade back in. Annekke and Elesia jumped up from where they were sitting, shock on their faces.

 

“We found out where the staff is,” said a smiling Nora. “And I've got a better way for us to travel.” Most of the time, she thought, since the spell would not bring her to any place she couldn't visualize. Which still gave her many places she could go. But first, back to the College, which she predicted would take at least ten to fifteen jumps.