[Encanto] 14 – Saarthal

Feeling the bitter cold of Skyrim's north, I waved my hand, recasting [Sun's Embrace] to shield me from the bitter cold.

I then took a deep breath before taking control of the gravity around me. Taking another breath, I rose into the air, seemingly flying to those ignorant about what I was truly doing, which was controlling the gravity around my person, making my body weightless then using gravity to direct my body by pushing and pulling.

Ignoring the confused and amazed eyes beneath me, I climbed higher and higher into the air, until I spotted the first of my objectives.

I had roughly nine hours before the day would end, and while I'd prefer to get some of the bounties down today, I wanted to first satisfy one of my curiosities.

To do that, I flew higher and higher until I got a good vision of a good chunk of the region.

That's when I noticed my target, an ancient Nordic ruin peaking out from the snow, showing signs of the beginnings of an excavation.

Without waiting, I began my flight toward the first city of the Nords.

...

Meanwhile, in a different place, a beautiful young girl with puffy brown hair and glasses could be seen kneeling before a small altar. One covered in candles and photos.

That girl was none other than Mirabel, who was lost in thought, staring at the memorial built for Salem.

She couldn't believe it.

She blamed herself, for the death of Salem, and everyone in the family knew it.

Mirabel mindlessly climbed to her feet and walked up the stairs of the newly rebuilt Casita.

After Salem...the magic candle of Casita reformed, recreating our home with it, but even with Casita's help, they never did find Salem's body.

A few days after Salem disappeared, her door still shone ever beautifully, not becoming dim or dark like Uncle Bruno's door whenever he had not used his gift for over a decade. That's when in the middle of the night, her door suddenly became as bright as the sun for a brief moment, lightening up all of Casita and a good chunk of the Valley.

Of course, the Family quickly exited their rooms to check out what was going on.

That's when they noticed a change in Salem's door.

It was different.

At the center of the tapestry, was Salem, in her black and red dress surrounded by floating books and candles, that remained unchanged, but now in the top right corner of the door a new picture began to take place.

In the picture, they could see Salem seemingly in a robe surrounded by floating scrolls, strange-looking artifacts, masks, and even a strange orb covered in what looked to be scribbles and strange symbols.

Not waiting for a moment, Mirabel entered Salem's room and spent an hour searching, hoping to find her, but she did not. Instead, she found some new things, things that were not in Salem's room before.

A strange...workshop of sorts, with multiple strange glowing tables covered in images.

One was green and had a mortar and pestle as well as multiple flasks and strange instruments.

Another featured a glowing blue pentagram with four strange crystals sitting in 'cups' in each corner of the pentagram, and more unusual, was the strange horned skull with another pentagram carved into it melded into the table on the back.

Lastly, there was a strange table with various embedded gems and a strange pulsating red orb at the center of the table.

While these tables were new, what caught Mirabel's attention more were the new floating bookshelves around the strange tables.

Reaching out, one of the shelves floated down to reveal series upon series of books, ones that were not in the library before.

'A Children's Anuad,' 'A Dream of Sovngarde,' 'A Kiss, Sweet Mother.'

A great many books, all unknown to Mirabel.

Salem was alive, and wherever she was, she was changing.

...

With liberal uses of Gavity, I easily excavated Saarthal, uncovering any snow and rubble in my way. It was clear that while someone had begun excavating Saarthal, they were only at the beginning stages of excavation, trying to dig out the entrance.

In the future the College would have a sort of field trip that the player would embark on to delve into the ancient city of man, but to be frank, I did not want to wait.

Especially since I didn't want the Last Dragonborn to steal the things before I could.

Just a few problems, however.

There were going to be a lot of Draugr down there.

Not to mention a big bad Dragur that I can't remember the name of that is supposedly invincible while being shielded by a rather large magical artifact buried deep within Saarthal, the Eye of Magnus.

Some believe the artifact to be the literal Eye of the Et'Ada and an Original Spirit, Magnus, patron of Mages and creator of magic, while others simply believe the artifact was named so because of its sheer power and I wanted it.

If I could somehow harness the power of the Eye of Magnus, I should be able to easily return to my home as it would give me an impossibly large amount of Magicka I could use, but for now, I won't touch the Eye of Magnus, in fear of the Psijic Order from noticing me. The Psijic Order is an ancient order of powerful mages that would guide the Last Dragonborn into Saarthal where they would find the Eye of Magnus.

By the end of the College's quest line, the Psijic Mages would take the Eye stating that it was too dangerous and that no one was allowed to wield it or something along those lines.

So, I won't grab the Eye until I know I can take on such an order, or at the very least develop some spells that would allow me to hide the Eye from their gaze.

That does not mean I won't grab the Saarthal Amulet, the accessory that would alert the Last Dragonborn to a hidden tunnel that would eventually lead them to the Eye. Taking that away should give me some time, and I wanted to examine the amulet's enchantment that I remember lowered the cost of casting spells in the game.

So, I calmly walked through the ancient halls, pushing aside any ruble that was in my way, quickly reaching the small corridor that housed the amulet.

Soon, I found it, quite easily at that as it was right where I remembered it, resting on a small pedestal in a wall covered in carvings.

Reaching out, I grabbed the Amulet, taking it in hand and off the pedestal as the iron gates slammed close, trapping me within the room.

Shaking my head, I merely waved my hand, and the iron bars that made the gates creaked and bent, creating a small hall that I could simply walk through.

As I walked out of Saarthal, I made sure to put back whatever I moved, making the route to the amulet inaccessible once again, and once I was outside, I simply waved my hand, sending a great amount of snow to cover the ruins once more.

Flying back up into the air, I began my flight toward the mountains, the amulet now around my neck, providing a small but noticeable tingle to my body as the enchantment did its work.

It was high time I got rid of some of the troubles bothering Winterhold, and what better to start with than some Bandits?

Though...would I need to kill them? Could I really do that? Was I capable of it?

With a worried mind, I continued my flight, soon to arrive at the first of many bounties I would need to have cleared within the next few days.