Into Skyrim, Elder Scrolls 8 Nirn's Beta-Chapter 108: Self-Righteous Rats

Once the Eye of Magnus began to fully close I began to cast detect. Viree followed my actions as the Eye closed. She was ready for a second fight, but truth was. I didn't know how this would play out.

Gwenn shouted, "Got it!"

The eye closed and the ambient magic immediately shifted. It was still dense, but the mana-drenched status vanished. Stephan opened the the door to the college behind us. "Guys! There is a dr-"

I felt the world shift and I watched Stephan blur and grey. It was the Psijic Order they acted as soon as the eye was closed. Time began to slow and I felt like I was in syrup. I snapped my head toward the bundle of magic and spoke. "Qo Strun Kest Nos!"

The world returned to life as gore splattered across the Eye of Magnus. Stephan finished his cut of words, "agon! Whoa what was that?"

Gwenn covered her mouth and shouted, "Oh my god!" Some of Quaranir had splattered across her face. Stephan and Viree has similar reactions. "Holy shit!"

I looked at the remains of the monk. Nothing else existed of him other than a pair of boots. I turned to Stephan, "You said there was a dragon?"

Stephan stared at the pair of boots and slowly nodded. "Yeah, Kyne is helping the college kill it. The magic anomalies scattered across skyrim though just before it arrived."

Viree looked at the boots and back at me. She shifted her posture, "What do you need me to do?"

I nodded, "Take Gwenn out of the lecture hall, help kill the dragon. The other monks should arrive any second. When they do it would be best I am alone."

She nodded and grabbed Gwenn. She followed wordlessly as she stared at the gore. They all left the lecture hall and I breathed out. "My detect magic is extremely powerful. I know you have already arrived."

A monk stepped forward fading into existence. "You have made a rather terrible mess. Killing even on of our most valuable members."

I stared at the powerful mage. She tilted her head, "Do you think I can't stop you?"

The other two mages stood beside her, but far enough away to not be caught up into any magic. I nodded, "True, Spells like Time Stop, Undo, and even Spectral Fade are rather hard to deal with."

Her eyes widened as Spectral Fade was a the method the Psijic order they seemingly teleport with. I truly had no idea how it works sense it was only ever mentioned. Time stop and Undo though, I looked at Quaranir. If any magic could've saved him she would've already have casted it.

The silence continued so I spoke first. "I find it interesting that you would do nothing to save the college despite your ability too."

She looked at me, "The order doesn't interfere unless it is necessary. The crisis here was stopped as the order predicted."

I laughed at the covered response. She was lying, it wasn't entirely obvious. However I could feel it almost my instinct. "No, it wasn't. We both know it wasn't. You weren't expecting Ancano to act so quickly."

A crease formed in her forehead. She was thinking how to respond, until a smile appeared on her face. "I am Relic-Master Jessileh. You are?"

I scoffed, "Why would I tell that to a self-righteous rat like you?"

She frowned, "I am only trying to be polite. I don't understand how that is self-righteous."

I laughed again, "You are the relic master are you not? Which means you should have the Rite of the Fourth Kind. An artifact created by a worshipper of Hermaeus Mora. You write a name down within the book and it banishes the person into Apocrypha. It can be used as a potent threat. The catch is you have to hear the name of the person you wish to write from their own mouth."

The other two monks stiffened completely, while the Relic-Master went bug eyed. I smiled at her, "What? Don't you know, the more secrets someone has the easier it is to learn more about them?"

She clenched her fist, but none of them did any aggressive motions. "What do you want here?"

I smiled, "In what context."

She sighed, "We do not wish to use violent methods. So may we come to a trade?"

I shook my head, "One of the main groups that helped genocide the sload want a non-violent method?"

She jerked, "That had to happen. They were monsters who would've turned half the continent into undead."

I tilted my head, "And leaving a 15 year old girl to save Winterhold was needed too? No matter how messed up I am I would never leave such a duty to someone as young as her. Just meeting her I can tell she would've failed to kill Ancano. Half the time I watched her she was trembling. No matter how special, how skilled one is. They will fail if crushed under pressure."

One of the monks jumped in, "She could've been shaking from the adrenaline. You stepping in had caused major deviation from the projected time-line."

I stared the man down with eyes that meant to kill. "No, she was shaking because a threat to her friends and perhaps family nearly killed them. Which only would've weakened her resolve to kill Ancano. On top of that, to believe that you can perceive the true flow of time is idiotic. There is only a beginning and end. Everything in between is unpredictable."

My lecture just made the man turn red faced. The Relic-Master held out her hands, "I apologize for my subordinate. You are right, in no future is set. However we are not here for philosophical debates. What would you want to allow us to freely take the Eye of Magnus."

My eyes flickered to the massive power source I could siphon off for who knows what ideas. Summoning Durnehviir was just one of the many ideas I had. I stared at her dead in the eyes, "Let me ask you this. The Eye of Magnus is a Aurbic artifact that is a direct legacy of a divine being. It has nigh infinite power and magic to be utilized. What could you possibly give me that would be equal in exchange."

She frowned, "Tell me your demands first. We can negotiate."

My eyes darted between them all. I suppose they really wanted the eye since they were offering this deal. Not a single one of them acted with aggression despite their hostility. Even going so far as bowing down.

"Let me ask you this, if I start listing things will you give them no matter what?" If I list things and they say they don't have it when I know they do will annoy me greatly.

The Relic-Master paused and began to slowly nod. "If you can name it, and it is something that isn't dangerous to let go of. We will provide it, but I wish you tell me how you know we have whatever it is you name."

I smirked and held out a hand. A small roll of paper appeared in my hand enchanted with magic. "I'm not one to trust words. Sign this contract and I will accept your deal. Otherwise I will have to keep the Eye. I cannot pass up the infinite energy it can provide."

She took the contract made with magic. "A contract of bound deals, how do you have this?"

The other Psijic Monks peeked at the contract in her hands. Fascinated by the apparently interesting item. The Relic-Master looked up, "I can accept this contract, but I can only allow myself to sign it. I would like to keep the contract though."

The contract was made through the power I got by speechcraft. It required mana to create the contracts, but after that they just sustained themselves. "I am willing to give you a seperate contract, but I cannot give you the one you sign."

Her eyes widened further, "You have more than one? No, you can make them! Impressive! So few mages ever have the charisma to imbue a magic contract of this level."

That was interesting information, but I remained neutral. "Sign it, and I will give you a blank version."

She paused, "I would like to add something to our deal. Trade one of these contracts per additional item you can name past... five. I believe that is fair."

I winced it was fair, far more fair than she knew. If she broke the contract I would literally steal her stats and knowledge while her soul would be bound to the Star Prison. It was an unfair condition that was worded carefully to prevent people from backstabs.

The problem is it made me suspicious if I refused certain changes to the contract. Something as simple as trading a magic contract per item past five, it was a difficult refusal. I thought about it carefully, I could provide the contracts easily. The biggest con about this was I would have to give several of the contracts. I changed the wording, "I can do that, but any living creatures or research is not included."

She raised an eyebrow underneath her hood. "Living creatures? The research makes some sense, but living creatures?"

I gave a innocent smile, "I want two domino pigs. One boy, one Girl, Both of breeding quality. before you say anything about the pigs. I would have to cross-breed during the second generation. So they wouldn't remain domino pigs for long."

She nodded, but her expression was one of curiosity. "We sell the pigs normally as pets. Why do you wish to..."

I gave a slightly less innocent smile, "Pigs with mana? Why else would I use them for except dinner?"

One of the other monks looked horrified, "You monster! They are adorable companions."

The Relic-master silenced her subordinate and gave me a nod. "That works, as long as you don't try to clone them or something."

I shrugged, "I plan to give them to orcs to raise and breed for luxury pork. I think i will call it Wagyu Pork."

She just stared at me, "Are you messing with us?"

I laughed and shrugged, "I wanted to make sure things were tense when I start making my shopping list."

She held out the contract, she had signed it with blood. That wasn't really needed, but I pocketed the contract. Taking out a second contract I tossed it to her. "One blank contract for your signature."

She nodded, "Begin your demands. I do wish to remove the Eye before anything else happens."

My eyes darted to the door outside. From a distance it was hard to hear out there. "Actually I would prefer to take longer. The air is still dense with mana, it might help the mages here. However it isn't good for Winterhold. The longer the eye stays here the less likely magic anomalies created by the eye will die off."

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The Relic-Master froze while her expression gave away her mistake. "We had not thought about that. Magic anomalies created by this event might've been freed from the their connection. It seems the order has made several mistakes regarding this incident."

I smiled, "That why I hate you guys. You contain powerful artifacts, but don't actual do anything important. I know like three artifacts that were contained by people forgetting about them. I mean the Eye was literally one of those artifacts."

They made no motion to dispute that fact. They couldn't defend against my words simply because the important things they did were all deep secrets. This helped me reinforce the idea that I knew some of the things about them. Though not enough about them to be a threat to the Order entirely. They were still powerful mages if enough of them gathered against me it would be a problem.

I paused though and looked at Quaranir, did they not care about him? I eyed is corpse and looked at them and laughed. "You have a method to revive him. That's why you didn't mention anything during the dealings." I scoffed, "I won't ask how. I have a good guess and rather not reveal said information myself."

The Relic-Master smirked, "It seems we both missed out on adding something else to the deal."

I waved my hand, "On with my shopping list." I made a gesture of thinking even though I knew exactly what I wanted. "To start I want a mana battery charged from the Eye. Something that can store around... 30k units of mana."

The Relic-master winced at this, "We can provide two containers that could store and release mana that hold up to 15k units of mana. Though the fact you insist so much on the need for so much mana. I would like to know why you needed it."

I thought about it, "I wish to resurrect a dragon who is trapped in the Soul Carin. I won't elaborate further." She frowned when she realized this was me telling her to not worry about what I am going to do with it.

"Fine, I won't ask questions, specially if you won't tell the truth." I smiled at the idea she thought I was joking.

So I continued my shopping list with a deep breath. "I'll start with the research I want. Let's see... I want notes on your Obscuros device, the Mechanical heart, notes on the Groundsplitters, notes on the unraveling staff, everything you have on the hourglass of perceived time, the recipe for the skinmail. As well as Sload Documentation on the Thrassian Plague, Abyssal Pearls, as well as a translator dictionary. Whatever you have on Atmora and Rosecrea. I could use an Elder language translator as well if you have one. Documentation of Maormer, Lefthanded Elves, Dragonlings, Imga, Mantikora, Tsaesci, and finally if you know anything about the Deep ones of Hackdirt. Finally Production methods for Frog-Metal and Tyranite Calx."

They just stared at me as I paused. "Oh! and whatever you have on the Aurbical Abacus"

The monks were frozen, while they processed my list I flicked my eyes to the entrance. It was cracked opened and I could see some spying eyes. I looked back to the monks and found them whispering. The Relic-master turned to me, "That can all be provided, except the Aurbical Abacus."

I smiled I hadn't expected them to have all that. Some of the things were just to satisfy my curiosity. I mean I even through in the Aurbical Abacus just to confirm my suspicions. I shouted, "Great! I assume the notes on the Aurbical Abacus was stolen? If so, I do suggest you dismantle the Obscuros and recalibrate it."

The Relic-Master nodded, "That is fair advice, it seems you knew those notes were stolen."

I recognized her look and slid backwards in the conversation. "No, just a really good guess. I had a theory about the Thalmor's plans. Putting together some things I came to the conclusion they acquired information about the previous cycle."

She gave a slow nod and I was spared an awkward future. "It seems we need to interact with the world a little more. Telling that you had asked research notes to not be included in the trade of contracts. It would be safe to say you want certain artifacts?"

I had asked notes on the things to dangerous to ask for or to dangerous for myself to research or use. I breathed in, "Okay, I want the Psijic's elemental gauntlets if you can only give me one I'd prefer restoration bas-

She cut me off, "How do you know about those? They are provided to only wardens and are treated with extreme illusion magics."

I rolled my eyes, "You are wearing some."

She flinched as she frowned, "They are treated with several illusion spells!"

I sighed, "I feel like I have to ask this. Can you not feel the flow of mana? I mean enchantments are hard to confirm, but surely you can sense ambient magic, right?"

All three monks stared at me dumbfounded. One of the other monks spoke, "That is an incredibly rare skill."

I stared at them, "Is it? I've been using it constantly."

They looked stupefied at my words. The Relic-Master just shook her head, "No wonder you want the eye."