Fire and Lightning: Part 15

They quickly made their way through a series of tunnels until they got to a door that they hadn’t opened before.  Danielle pulled it open and gasped when they saw Ancano standing there.  “Ah ha!  Found you!”  he exclaimed and readied a spell.

Danielle instantly raised her staff and Onmund readied his spells.  But after a closer look at the Thalmor’s face, he realized that it wasn’t Ancano.

“So, you made it out of there alive,” he declared.  “Ancano was right…you are dangerous.”

“Who are you?!”  Danielle demanded, channeling a fire spell in her left hand and still holding the staff with her right.

“Estormo, a name you will remember well when I am through with you.  Not that you will, anyway,” the Thalmor mocked.  “I’m afraid I’ll have to take that staff from you now.  Ancano wants it kept safe…and he wants you dead.  Nothing personal.”

Danielle narrowed her eyes and warned, “Get out of our way.”

Estormo laughed.  “You fool.  You don’t stand a chance.”  In the blink of an eye, he shot Danielle with Sparks, hitting her before she could even react or ward.

“Ugh!”  she cried out and doubled over.

Onmund boiled with rage.  How dare he hurt her?!  “Argh!”  he screamed out, shooting out Lightning Bolts from both of his hands at Estormo.  The Thalmor cried out and bent over in pain at the unexpected attack as Onmund yelled fiercely, “You’re gonna deal with me, now!  Storm mage to storm mage!”

Panting and seething, Estormo got up and hissed, “You shall die, Nord!”  Onmund then quickly put up his ward as Estormo shot him with Lightning Bolts.

Recovering from the strike, Danielle stood up and aimed the Staff of Magnus at Estormo and unleashed its power.

“Gah!”  he cried out, writhing as the staff’s power affected him.

Danielle stopped using the staff on him and he tried to shoot her again with a shock spell but then gasped when he saw that he was suddenly unable to cast.  “No!”  he cried, looking at his hands in shock.  “My magicka is all gone!”

“Aww, too bad,” Onmund remarked sarcastically.  “I was beginning to enjoy our tete-a-tete.”

“You…you must not take that staff back to the College!”  Estormo cried.  “You don’t know what kind of power it has!”

“I think we know exactly what kind of power it has,” Danielle retorted, jabbing the bottom of his chin with the tip of the staff.  “The power to make wizards like you cry tears of mercy.”

Onmund tried not to laugh as the Thalmor looked at her with fear in his eyes.  “Please…give me that staff.  I will talk to Ancano.  I will tell him to end this madness!”

“You…are going to take us to Ancano,” she instructed, still keeping the staff jammed below his chin.  “And you are going to talk to him and tell him to end it.  But we are not giving you this staff.  Instead, we will show him exactly what it does if he does not listen to you.”

“F-fine…very well,” he responded, grimacing.

Danielle took the staff away from him and he huffed before declaring, “You will not get away with this!  When I return to the embassy, I will let everyone there know what happened here and what you College mages are really about!  And I guarantee that they will have the College in Skyrim shut down!”

“We’ll see about that,” Danielle mocked, forcing him through the ruin as Onmund followed, thoroughly entertained by this ensuing game.

They finally reached the exit, which was a hatch that they had to climb a ladder to get through.  Danielle climbed up first, followed by Estormo and then Onmund.  As Onmund climbed out of the hatch out into the open, Estormo snatched the staff from Danielle and clamped his hand over her mouth all in one fell swoop, jerking her back towards him.

“Hey…!”  Onmund cried out, immediately arming himself with his spells as the Thalmor laughed.  “You stupid College mages,” he scoffed.  “You’re as easy to ambush as fawns.”

Onmund nearly let go of his lightning spells, wanting to kill the elf for hurting Danielle, but he stopped himself just in time to realize that Estormo really had him cornered this time.  He wouldn’t be able to use any of his spells- shock or frost, without hurting Danielle in the process.  He still had her in his tight grip, her mouth completely covered by his hand, her eyes wide with fright.  He just stood there, unable to do anything.

“What’s the matter, Nord?”  Estormo jeered.  “Can’t use your spells because you’re afraid to hurt your lady friend?  Tell you what; I’ll make it an easier choice for you by taking away your ability to cast completely!”  He then aimed the staff towards Onmund and unleashed its power.

“Agh!”  Onmund cried out as he felt all of his magicka drain out of him.  The shock spells that he had channeled in his hands fizzled out.  He hung his hands at his sides, gaping at the Thalmor in astonishment and defeat.

Estormo turned his head toward his captive and said, “And just to make sure you can’t try anything either…” He tipped the staff towards her and began draining the magicka out of her, as well.

Danielle’s face contorted in pain and she made a “mmpbth” sound.

“You…you bastard!”  Onmund cried angrily.  “You evil elf!”

“Evil?” Estormo questioned, acting shocked.  “Oh, no, my Talos-worshipping friend.  I’ve yet to do anything evil.  Evil would be…well, for instance, seeing what this staff does to a person when all of their magicka has already been drained.”

Onmund gulped as he first looked at Danielle and then at him.  With a sinister grin, he pointed the staff at Onmund and unleashed its power again.

Onmund felt a sharp, twisting pain right in the center of him that made him cry out and fall to his knees.  That staff drains a person’s health when they’re all out of magicka!  he concluded.  This can’t go on like this…or he’ll kill us both!  As the Thalmor cackled to himself at this discovery, Onmund fought through the pain and gathered up some courage.  With pure adrenaline pumping through his veins, he sprang up from the ground, projecting his arms in front of him, and propelled his body right at the Altmer, ramming him like an elk bull.  Letting go of the staff and Danielle, the tall but thin-framed Thalmor fell backwards and onto the stone floor.  Onmund fell on top of him, grabbed a hold of his head, and began bashing his head repeatedly onto the ground.  He was screaming obscenities incoherently, not really aware of what he was saying or thinking, but rather on auto-pilot, raging like a wild animal.  He then vaguely remembered Danielle yelling something at him and being pulled off of Estormo by her tiny arms.

When he looked down at Danielle’s face, he seemed to snap out of it.  He looked back down at the Thalmor on the ground, now dead, and saw how bloodied his head and neck were and cringed.  I did that?  I did that to him?  With my bare hands?  he asked himself in bewilderment.  He looked back at Danielle and asked, “Are you…are you all right?”

“Yes,” she nodded, still giving him that frightened look.

He looked down and saw that she had her hands on his arms, as if she were non-verbally trying to tell him to calm down.  Immediately, he felt ashamed and looked down at the ground, “I…I can’t believe what happened.  One minute I saw him ready to kill both you and me, and the next, I had him on the ground, bludgeoning him to death.”

“I didn’t…expect you to do that,” she said to him.  “To pounce on him like that.”

“I…I didn’t know what else to do,” he explained.  “My spells were useless, and he had me at his mercy.  I just…I just reacted.”  He looked back at Danielle and gazed into her eyes.  “I’m sorry if…if I scared you.  I won’t…do anything like that again.”

She continued to gaze up at him in silence for a few seconds before she finally said, “We’d better find the staff.  It rolled down the steps here somewhere.”

“Right,” Onmund said, snapping back to the current situation and following her down the stone steps.  They found the staff lying at the bottom, having rolled down there after the bout with Estormo.  Danielle picked it up and they went on their way back to the College.

As they neared Winterhold, Danielle and Onmund gasped as they saw that the College was completely engulfed in a swirling barrier of magicka.  “I…I hope we’re not too late!”  Onmund cried as they broke into a run towards the town.

A guard stood at the front of the street and stopped them.  “Halt!  Are you from the College?”

“Yes.  Yes we are!”  Onmund responded.

“Then go tell your colleagues to stop this madness at once!”  the guard demanded.  “They’re going to destroy Winterhold!  We’ve already evacuated the city.  If you’re not here to go tend to this mess, then you’d best get out of here.”

“We have business there, and we’d like to go through,” Danielle declared.

“Then hurry up!”  the guard urged.  “Before the whole town is destroyed!”

Onmund and Danielle ran past him and up the town street until they got to the bridge.  They saw Tolfdir, Faralda, and Arniel battling with more wisp-like Magic Anomalies and Onmund cried, “Oh no, not again!”  and he and Danielle ran into the fray.

“Onmund!  Danielle!”  Tolfdir cried.  “You’re back alive!”  A wisp then flew at him and he destroyed it with a fire spell.

Onmund struck one of the wisps with his Lightning Bolt as Danielle yelled to Tolfdir, “We got the staff!”  The wisp then flew right towards Danielle, and Onmund struck it again just in the nick of time and the three of them shielded their faces as the explosion of ice crystals flew all around them.

He heard Arniel breathe a sigh of relief.  “Are they all gone for now?”

“For now…” Faralda replied.  “I have a feeling that’s not the last of them, though…”

Arniel groaned and replied, “I don’t know how long we can keep this up.”

Tolfdir looked at his two worn-out colleagues with concern and then back at Danielle.  “Danielle…things are not looking good here.  Everyone else is trapped inside the College.  Those Magic Anomalies keep appearing and we’re trying to keep them away from town.  Ancano’s power is growing by the minute.  I don’t know how much longer we can hold down.  Let’s hope the staff is as powerful as the Psijics believe it to be.  Do you know how to use it?”

“I-I think so,” Danielle stammered.  “If it does what I think it does, it should be able to drain Ancano’s power.”

“Then let’s go,” he replied.  “I’ll be right behind you!”

With that, Onmund and Tolfdir followed Danielle across the bridge.  She then stopped in the middle and raised the staff towards the College.  As she began using it, the huge barrier around the building began to shrink.

“It’s working!”  Onmund exclaimed.

Tolfdir, Arniel, and Faralda just stared in disbelief.

As Danielle continued using the staff, the barrier became thinner and smaller until it completely disappeared.

Tolfdir laughed with joy.  “You did it!  The ward has been brought down!  Hurry, we must go inside!”

The five of them ran towards the campus and into the gates.  Tolfdir then began giving instructions.  “Arniel, Faralda, go make sure everyone else is safe.  Danielle, Onmund, let us go into the Hall of Elements and take care of Ancano.”

Arniel and Faralda obeyed the Destruction professor and went their separate ways while the rest headed for the Hall of Elements.  “Tolfdir,” Danielle piped up.  “Where’s Mirabelle?”

Tolfdir’s expression darkened as he replied sadly, ““She…she didn’t make it.”

“What?!”  Danielle and Onmund uttered at the same time.

“She…she’s dead.  When it was clear we were going to have to fall back, she stayed behind and made sure the rest of us were all right.  But disaster struck when another explosion like the one that killed Savos occurred, and she was caught up in it.”

Onmund and Danielle let the words sink in and he saw Danielle’s face become torn.  But they had no time to reflect on the loss as they had more urgent things to tend to at the moment.  They hurried into the Hall of Elements.  Once inside, things looked as they did before with the Eye floating in the training hall and Ancano casting energy from it.  As they began approached him, Tolfdir yelled, “Ancano!  This ends now!”

Ancano stopped casting and looked at the mages who had entered.  He was glowing with a bluish aura, and his eyes were wild.  “So you’ve come for me, have you?”  he sneered.  “You think I don’t know what you’re up to?  You think I can’t destroy you?  The power to unmake the world at my fingertips, and you think you can do anything about it?”

“You have no idea what you’re doing,” Tolfdir hissed.  “You don’t even know how to control the power which you speak of!”

“I have all the control I need!”  Ancano bellowed.  “I can control the Eye!  I already have control of the College!  And now, I will have control over you!”

“Ward!”  Tolfdir yelled as Ancano cast a powerful bolt of lightning at all three of them.

Onmund and Danielle put up their wards as well as Tolfdir as the lightning hit them without doing any damage.

“Your wards are useless!”  Ancano declared.  “One more strike, and I will have you all on your knees begging for mercy!”

“Don’t be so sure!”  Danielle declared, holding up the staff.  “You will be at our mercy.”

Ancano looked at her with a smirk and mocked, “I am not afraid of your Novice spells.  My power is greater than all three of yours combined!”  He then got ready to cast another spell and Danielle raised the staff and used it on him.  Ancano gasped in surprise as his spells fizzled out.  He looked at his hands, his face faltering for a moment before turning into a smirk. He snorted and said, “So you know how to wield an enchanted staff.  Impressive.  But still no match for my infinite power!”  His eyes gleaming wildly again, he turned towards the Eye and cast some sort of spell on it, which made him glow blue again.  His hands then charged up with another spell and Tolfdir yelled again, “Ward!” as he unleashed the barrage of lightning bolts on them.

Everyone put up their wards again, but as the lightning struck Onmund’s ward, which was the weakest of the three, it shattered, leaving him vulnerable.

“Danielle!”  Tolfdir cried.  “Use the staff on the Eye!”

As Danielle immediately raised the staff towards the Eye, Ancano broke out into derisive laughter.  “Still you persist?!  This is most comical!”  He got ready to cast another spell on them again and Onmund gulped.  If I’m struck again, I could be a goner…

Suddenly, the Eye began to glow very brightly as Danielle continued using the staff on it, and they all turned towards it.  “Huh?  What’s going on???”  Ancano demanded as it glowed brighter and brighter.  Just then, it exploded, and all Onmund could see was bright white as he was thrown backwards.  He fell against the steps around the outer edge of the hall, feeling his tailbone hit the floor hard.  He picked himself off the floor and glanced all around him.  He saw Tolfdir and Danielle picking themselves up off the floor, as well, but didn’t see Ancano.  Where is that despicable Thalmor?  he wondered, looking all around him.  He then saw him.  He was lying on the floor near the Eye, and he didn’t appear to be moving.  The three mages ran over to him.

With his face set, Tolfdir announced, “He’s dead.”

Onmund and Danielle looked up at their professor as he continued, “It is finished.  His tyranny and destruction is no more.”  He looked at his two students and smiled.  “You have conquered the Eye’s power.  I knew you could do it!”

The two students, while vaguely understanding that they had saved the College, could barely muster smiles of their own.  Relief and joy were overshadowed by exhaustion and grief.

“Onmund and Danielle…you have done our College a great service,” Tolfdir went on.  “I promise you that this will not go unrecognized.  But you’re both probably exhausted.  There will be no more training today while we try to recover from all this damage, so you both may take the day off.”

I’m glad to hear that, Onmund thought with relief as Tolfdir added, “Tomorrow, though, we will have an assembly in here at ten in the morning.  Everyone in the College is required to attend.”  He then dismissed them.

Onmund and Danielle walked out of the Hall of Elements together.  As they walked across the courtyard in silence, suddenly Danielle stopped.  He turned over to look at her, and he saw that her head was bent down so that her hood completely obscured her face.  He was about to ask her what she was doing when he saw her shoulders begin to shake.  She was crying.  Overcome with compassion, he put his arm around her and pulled her to him, wrapping both of his arms around her as she buried her face in his shoulder.  She wept quietly, and while Onmund could only guess why, he supposed that there were a lot more emotions involved than just grief over Mirabelle’s death.  There was immense physical exhaustion for one, and he shared that feeling.  Despite having downed a stamina potion before they left Labyrinthian, he knew that he was running on pure adrenaline from the time he had violently attacked Estormo to when they had fought and defeated Ancano.  And now, he just felt tired in every sinew and muscle.  Compounded with all of the events that had transpired and the deaths of two prominent College members, Onmund wondered that he wasn’t a weeping mess, himself, right now.  Instead, he just held his grieving, broken-down friend in his arms- his best friend, and knew that their world would never be the same again.

When Danielle felt that she had had enough of Onmund’s comforting, they walked into the Hall of Attainment.  The other students were there and were anxious to hear what the two apprentices had to say, but Onmund only remembered telling them, “Ancano is dead.”  This was followed by cries of relief and exclamations of joy, but Onmund and Danielle were too exhausted to celebrate.  They both went straight to their rooms and passed out in their beds.

Onmund slept for sixteen hours straight and then woke up every now and then in the middle of the night.  Whatever celebrations and jubilee that took place for the past day, he had no recollection or awareness of as he was out cold the entire time.  He had an inkling that Danielle was in the same boat.  Now the Hall of Attainment was quiet and dark.  No longer feeling completely drained of his mental faculties, his mind alighted with many different thoughts.  She and I have been through a lot in the past several days.  I wonder if she feels the same way as I do?  I feel like the life of a mage so far has been a lot more than just lots of studying and learning different spells.  There are very real moral implications of everything we do.  At one extreme, there’s Ancano who only wanted absolute power and was going to harness it at whatever cost.  And it ended up costing him- namely his life.  Then at the other end, there’s Tolfdir who’s very cautious about magic and its effects.  So where do I fit in on this spectrum?  He pondered this for a while but still felt unsure about where he stood.  He greatly valued the benefits of magic, especially when it came to healing injuries and when it came to defending one’s self in a fix.  And he did feel powerful every time he unleashed his lightning spells, especially after those spells helped him take down a dragon and a Giant.  In contrast, there was just no comparison to the awful, powerless feeling he got when Estormo had drained all of his magicka with the Staff of Magnus and he was unable to cast.  He cringed as he remembered how he had reacted in the heat of the moment- how he had assaulted him with his bare hands, murdering him.  Any other Nord would be proud of such a feat, but Onmund only felt shame, especially when he remembered the way Danielle had looked at him when she pulled him off of Estormo’s body.  She looked at him as if he were a dangerous animal, and he couldn’t blame her because that was what he had basically become at that very moment- he had acted no better than an animal.  Danielle…He pictured her face again in his mind, this time picturing her as she was smiling at him and laughing at his jokes.  Why do I care so much?  Why do I care so much what she thinks of me?  Brelyna’s words began echoing in his mind again.  Danielle…having a crush on me.  Me…having a crush on her.  I don’t have a crush on her.  I see some of myself in her.  I long to understand her more.  I admire everything about her.  I…I love her!  As this realization hit him, he knew that there was no denying it.  He was in love with Danielle.  And if to Brelyna, that was a “crush,” then so be it.  But what am I supposed to do?  Should I tell someone?  Should I…gulp…tell her???  And what would she say?  She was his best friend.  He imagined that if he told her these things, then she could either react good or bad.  And it was the latter possibility that scared him the most.  If she reacted badly, then…she won’t want to be my friend anymore.  And all of the good times that we could have together would be essentially over.  I don’t know if that’s worth it.  But if she reacted well, meaning if…if she also shared the same feelings then, well...that would be wonderful.  Onmund began to feel torn.  He couldn’t decide which was the better choice.  But he knew that he definitely didn’t want to lose her as a friend.  He finally decided to just wait.  He could wait until the right time to make his decision.  Maybe if we…spend more time together…I can become sure of whether I should tell her or not.  The answer may come to me, then.  With the threat of Ancano gone, things at the College should be returning back to normal.  We’ll go back to studying together, taking walks in the courtyard, and going out to lunch.  Maybe we can also go on another field trip together, and we’ll have plenty of opportunities to spend time talking and getting a deeper understanding of one another.  With that decision made, he fell back asleep looking forward to the days ahead.