A loud knocking woke Kumeron up suddenly making the book covering his face while he slept fall off.
"MASTER YOU ARE MISSING YOUR OWN CLASS AGAIN YOU LAZY BASTARD!" Said a voice shouting through Kumerons door.
"LANGUAGE!" Kumeron shouted back at the door. "Fucking gods dammit." He said to himself as he rolled out of bed to quickly get dressed.
Kumeron was a nordic mage teaching at the College of Winterhold. He was a 45 year old well built mage with black hair, a black beard worthy of the old nords, and yellow eyes, the color of healing spells. He was a master in healing, alteration and destruction currently working in illusion and conjuration. He was almost always covered with a light layer of dirt from constant and excessive exploring of ruins and others in the like and he would always carry a staff for walking and fighting.
Kumeron quickly put on his pants then boots and his mage robes that he had reinforced with leather to give him decent armor while still looking like a mage. He grabbed his bag then a bandoleer for extra carrying and a belt with slots for potions and put them on. He filled his belt with different colored bottles of red, green, blue, pink, and other colors. He tripped on a pile of books he kept near the door as he put on his hood almost falling on his face but he caught himself then opened the door to see six students standing right at his doorway waiting for him.
"Good morning everybody." Kumeron said with a smile.
"Midday." The student closest to the door said. She was a young dark elf whose eye rivaled the fires of oblivion at the moment.
"Thank you Brelyna." Kumeron said. "Good midday then."
"Tolfdir said to meet him at Saarthal again." Brelyna said.
"Oh good we are finishing his lesson then." Kumeron said as he walked past his students as they followed him.
Kumeron opened the door leading out of the Hall of Countenance and stepped out into the main court yard.
It was busy this time of day with the students and apprentices outside doing what ever they did. Most either sat along the benches and tables discussing their lessons and assignments, others would tend to the small magical greenhouse the college had, and the last would practice spells in any open space they could find, along with anything else the students would do. Magic lights illuminated the yard and the corridors circling it giving off a separation from Skyrim making the college feel like a completely different world.
Kumeron lead his students out of the main gate and across the newly fixed stone bridge and into the small town of Winterhold. He saw the Jarl handing somebody a coin pouch in exchange for a bloodied bag. He was a nord with brown hair and a sword on his back but Kumeron didn't see his face and it didn't matter he would have continued walking either way.
They walked past through the town and went up a beaten pathway that to the snow and ice covered mountain side.
Finally they made it to a small crater in a ice glacier where a large excavation had taken place revealing an old nordic tomb with an old man sitting at one of the tables on a overlooking deck.
The old man stood up and waved at Kumeron then headed to the entrance while Kumeron lead his students down to the entrance.
"Good of you to finally join us." The old mage said as he shook hands with Kumeron.
"Apologies Tolfdir I hope you didn't have to wait long." Kumeron said.
"Only from dawn till now." Tolfdir said as he turned to open the door to Saarthal.
"Who in oblivion gets up at dawn?" Kumeron though to himself before stepping into the tomb with his students behind him.
They walked down a rotting but sturdy ramp into an open area.
"Now class." Kumeron started to speak. "We will be taking any and all artifacts from here and studying them. If its shiny its probably valuable and after it has been properly categorized it is yours to do with, if its magical, you are all experienced mages so I expected you to know what you are doing, in not than come me or Tolfdir. Now pair up in groups and dont be afraid to explore and have a little fun. And remember the only way to fail my class is by dying so... don't."
Kumeron clapped his hands and the mages dispersed into three groups of two.
"I'm going to the other end you stay here." Kumeron said to Tolfdir as he walked deeper into the tomb.
"There shouldn't be anything down there except for the draugr right?" Kumeron asked as he quickly turned around.
"I hired a Dawnguard Hunter earlier to clear it out this morning." Tolfdir reassured. "There should not be anything moving there except you."
Kumeron nodded his head and then walked back deeper into the tomb. He passed through a broken wall and into a open room with draugr corpses littering the floor. He pushed passed the room and went further.
The hallways were winding and long with more draugr corpses on the floor or hanging out of crevices in the walls. He walked to a open coffin in the center of a room with a large wall with dragon language on it. Kumeron looked at the wall with curiosity. He put his hands over the chiseled markings before moving to the coffin in the center. A draugr with heavy armor and a black horned helmet was sprawled on the inside as if somebody struck it down before it could get out.
Kumeron looked back at all the dead draugr on the ground. "Effective aren't they?" He said to himself as he took a seat on the side of the coffin and looked around as he waited for his students to make it further in. He pulled a vial out of his belt. It was a honey colored liquid. Kumeron uncorked it and sipped from it.
He looked around the room once more as he saw Brelyna and Onmund enter. Kumeron quickly downed the rest of his drink.
"Find anything?" He asked.
Onmund shook his head.
"Not yet." Brelyna said.
The two continued to look around the room. Onmund looked around the coffins that weren't open while Brelyna looked at the corpses.
"Did anyone find anything yet?" Kumeron asked making idle conversation.
"Not really." Onmund said. "J'zargo did find some old scrolls but didn't pay much attention to them."
"His loss." Brelyna smirked. "There was still legible writings on them, so I took them."
"Do let me know what you find." Onmund said as he looked over at the dark elf.
"Do make sure you have it properly translated and written out." Kumeron said as he closed the conversation.
A few more mages walked in and started looking around followed by a few more then Tolfdir.
"A little while longer then we go back and you all can start you research." The old man said.
"I don't agree but I suppose. Lets finish gathering what you have then we go back." Kumeron said as he stood up and dusted off his robe as he waited for students to finish.
"Wasn't that orb in the lecture hall found here?" one mage asked.
"Yes and its called the Eye of Magnus." Kumeron answered. "Just down that way you will see the platform and the pillars that held it there."
"Can we go see?"
"I don't recommend that at the moment." Tolfdir said.
"Yes." Kumeron said as he then turned to Tolfdir. "Why don't you take the students back who want to leave and I'll take the rest to its resting site."
Tolfdir wrinkled his nose then went to the door with only two students following him.
"I will see back at the college then." Tolfdir concluded then left.
Kumeron waved then took the rest of the students deeper into the tomb. He lead them in to a two floored open room. The top floor where they entered was half the size of the bottom floor making a large open balcony. There were two large decaying corpses at the entrance near where they came in.
"What are they?" Onmund asked.
"Theses are dead daedroth titans." Kumeron said as he took his staff as a pointer. "They breath a fire that could rival a dragons." He tapped the maw. "And their strength could break any one of us like a decaying stick."
"Do you know what killed it?" Another mage asked.
"Probably the dawnguard hunter that Tolfdir hired." Kumeron said as he headed to the bottom floor leaving the students starting at the daedroth corpse in shock.
"Now here you can see the four pillars slightly curved in to-" Kumeron started but he looked back to see his students still looking at the daedroth so turned invisible and walked up behind them then scared them making more than of of his students jump.
"What are you all thinking about?" He asked.
"About the dawnguard." Brelyna said. "What are they? How skilled are they? And is the one that killed these still around?"
"Most likely they are at the inn. Lets finish the lesson here and class is done when we reach the border of town. Then you are free to do as you wish." Kumeron said as he headed back to the platform where the Eye of Magnus use to rest. "And should anyone go to the inn, try not to pester the customers there too much."
Kumeron continued his lesson on how the Eye was sealed and how they transported it to the college lecture hall with a nasty and unstable teleportation spell. He showed the magical residue and the shimmering streaks it left along the platform. Then he explained the platform itself and how it had to be a perfect circle with triangles cut into it making it look like an evenly cut pie slice.
He finished his lesson and answered any questions to his abilities and the questions he was unsure of he told his students of some books to reference in The Arcanaeum library then he lead his students out of the tomb and back across the ice fields to the small town of Winterhold.
"Ok we are done." Kumeron said right as they entered the town of Winterhold. The rest of the mages headed for the inn while Kumeron went back to the college and then back back to his room leaving the door open while he recorded what he did today in his journal.
After he finished Kumeron walked around for a bit to clear his head. It was near dusk and the life in the courtyard died down a bit. Most of the students had resided to the library and the rest back at the lecture hall or their room in the Hall of Attainment.
He saw Mirabelle Ervine the master wizard of the college sitting near the fountain in the middle of the courtyard writing into a book.
"Mirabelle." Kumeron said as he walked over to her.
Mirabelle looked up and smiled at her colleague. "Ah, Kumeron, how was your class today?"
"Nobody died and the students are possibly harassing a dawnguard hunter at the inn right now." Kumeron responded.
"Ah yes very low standards like always." Mirabelle commented.
"Our teaching styles are different you know that."
"Yes because I want my class to actually learn something by instructing them on how to do things properly."
"And that is where we disagree, you want to actually tell the students what to do, I want them to guide them."
"How is that different from my style?"
"Because I let my students explore on their own. When they first join the college and are introduced to us they pick who they want. When they pick you, you immediately take them to the lecture hall and start teaching whatever regardless of their skill or knowledge. I show my students around the college and get to know them. Then I show them their resources here and let them be on their way while letting them know that I will be here if they need help."
Mirabelle gave him a small look of irritation then went back to writing in her book.
"So how is working with Ancano?" Kumeron asked breaking the silence.
"Gods its horrible, he thinks that just because he is a Thalmor that we should just kneel down every time he graces us with his presence, its infuriating." Mirabelle said with frustration.
"Then here is what I suggest." Kumeron said with small excitement. "We grab Tolfdir, Colette, and Faralda, and maybe some others and we go drink around the fountain in the Hall of Countenance."
"That does sound nice." Mirabelle agreed. "Mabye."
Kumeron gave her a look of extreme seriousness.
"Ok, yes then." Mirabelle finally gave in.
"Perfect." Kumeron said as he tapped his staff on the ground making it bounce up and grabbed it midair. "I shall let everyone know you finally pulled that stick out your ass."
Mirabelle let out a small chuckle as Kumeron went to gather drinking buddies.
"So how was your class today Phinis?" Tolfdir asked as he sipped on some wine.
"Terrible." Phinis responded quickly taking a large gulp from his drink.
"Oh?" Faralda seemed suprised. "How so?"
"Well one of the students conjured an annoyingly powerful daedra and didn't bind it properly. I was able to get it to the Midden and contain it but the bastard is still running around down there."
"There are two Dawnguard Hunters in town, you could hire one of them." Tolfdir said.
"Is one of them asking about the elder scroll I keep locked up?" Urag butted in.
"The one I hired didn't asked about the scroll." Tolfdir said as he was now curious. "What he look like?"
"Brown haired nord with blue eyes and a sword on his back." Urag said as he took a drink.
"Besides the eyes, I think I saw him doing some work for the jarl." Kumeron said as he stretched and laid back in is chair.
"Well did you see a vampire woman with him as well?" Urag asked.
Kumeron shook his head.
"Black hair, nord, cute skinny thing." Urag pressed.
"Nope." Kumeron said as he uncorked his second bottle.
"Now that is odd." Mirabelle said. "A monster and a monster hunter together in the same room, let me guess working together as well?"
"Wouldn't know." Urag grunted. "Maybe she had him under her alluring gaze or something."
"I doubt that." Faralda said as poured her glass. "Aren't they immune to that?"
"Fuck if we know." Phinis burped. "Mabye we could capture one and do an autopsy." He joked.
"I doubt that." Kumeron said swishing his tankard. "Me and Tolfdir both saw the handiwork of one back in Saarthal, capable warriors that lot."
The old mage nodded as he took another sip of wine.
"Well, whatever the case may be we need that daedra in the Midden dealt with." Mirabelle said.
All the mages agreed on that.
"The whole thing of them wanting the Elder Scroll Urag." Kumeron said getting the attention of the orc. "Are going to give it to them?"
"No." Urag said quickly. "But I will allow them to rent it for 100,000 coin."
"Rather hefty price for mercenaries." Colette said as she walked into the hall.
"Look who finally joined us." Mirabelle said as she handed Colette a cup and poured some beer into it.
"It is, which is why he fought me down to the price of 55,000 and one of us has to go with them." Urag said as he raised his glass to Colette who returned it then both drank.
"How kind of you." Colette said as she took another drink.
"But then the question is who is going to go with them?" Tolfdir said as he poured more wine into his glass.
The mages stayed silent thinking up of excuses to avoid going.
"I think a better question." Phinis finally said. "Will they ever get the money?"
"I think a better question." Kumeron said. "Is whose going to watch whose class while they are gone?"
"You think they are going to get the money?" Phinis said.
"Its not everyday a monster hunter comes into the college asking for an Elder Scroll." Kumeron said.
"I think instead of talking about money and who might or might not get it." Mirabelle said. "Tolfdir have you heard anything about Cyrodiil?"
"Why is that?" Kumeron asked.
Mirabelle gave Kumeron a confused look.
"Oh because of a possible war, right." Kumeron said slightly embarrassed.
"Well I heard that the Thalmor have their own version of the Thieves Guild her in Skyrim called the Summerset Shadows." Tolfdir started. "But the guild destroyed them or something along that line."
"I heard their leader was found dead in an alley way in Riften." Colette said. "He was an orc, hard to believe isn't it?"
"And then the guild killed the rest of their members." Tolfdir continued. "Now I think the guild in Cyrodiil is having a small war of shadows with them."
"A lesser of two evils this." Faralda said. "In which case I hope the guild wins and the shadows are driven out back to The Summerset Isles or are destroyed."
"I agree with that." Kumeron said. "And speaking of elves where is Enthir?"
"In bed or something I think." Faralda said.
Kumeron let out a small chuckle. "You would know." He said under his breath.
Faralda threw her glass at him and he caught it with a telekinesis spell and gently had it float back to her.
"I apologize." Kumeron said still smirking.
"But back to the topic." Kumeron said. "Do you think there will be another war Tolfdir?"
"Mabye. And if there is then it will be one where desperation will rule all." Tolfdir said.
"Meaning?" Faralda asked.
"Meaning if a war breaks out and the empire loses, any nord or any race that stood against the Thalmor in short... is fucked." The old man said.
"Do you think Ulfric Stormcloak will wage another war?" Phinis asked.
"I don't think so. If anything it will be to truly liberate Skyrim and get Talos back as ninth divine again regardless of whether or not he gets the throne of High King." Tolfdir answered.
"Didn't the Dragonborn show something at the peace summit at High Hrothgar that just destroyed the war completely?" Faralda asked.
"Yes, it completely demoralized Ulfric and might as well have slapped Tullius in the face." Tolfdir again confirmed a suspicion.
"What was it?" Colette asked.
"My best guess, would be a book." Tolfdir said taking a sip.
"A book?" Mirabelle seemed shocked.
"Well according to Wuunferth, Ulfric came back looking like he aged a century mumbling something about a knowledge he wish he knew before it all started." Tolfdir said. "And he completely stopped the war and Tullius left him alone in Windhelm so long as he never leveas unless summoned by the empire to fight the elves again."
"A rabid caged dog." Faralda said.
"No if Ulfric was truly rabid as many depict then he would have killed Tullius the moment they were far enough away from High Hrothgar." Kumeron said.
"However." Tolfdir said. "If Ulfric didn't abide by the treaty and still waged war he would have a harder time of it since he traded his best commander for two holds."
"One person worth two holds?" Phinis was shocked. "I genuinely doubt that."
"Wait, he traded Galmar?" Kumeron asked.
"No." Tolfdir said washing away the doubt. "He traded Mallory. The only one of his commanders to actually turn the tied of the war when Tullius arrived in Skyrim."
"Oh I do remember that." Kumeron said taking a large gulp of his drink. "Ulfric wouldnt listen to her at one point and thats why he got captured and sent to Helgen."
"Why would Ulfric trade her?" Faralda asked.
"Pride, what else?" Phinis said.
Kumeron pointed at Phinis the same way a teacher pointes at a student when they answer a hard question after everyone else gets it wrong. "Exactly, pride."
"Either way." Mirabelle said finishing her drink an pouring another. "Ulfric is now stuck in Windhelm and the war has ended peacefully, regardless of who won, Skyrim is unified again and until the next possible great war, we are safe from the Thalmor."
"We are?" Phinis questioned.
"Yes." Mirabelle confirmed. "I was there helping Sybille Stentor with a project when the general sent a letter to the Elder Council to break the concordat, along with some evidence, he now builds up Skyrim's army because a war is coming and it is coming soon."
"Shit." Kumeron said. "Well here is to hoping we are ready for the next war and that we aren't fuck by the end of it."
They all raised their drinks in a toast and took a sip.
"Oh, Faralda and Tolfdir, decide among yourselves who will be watching my class when I go with the Dawnguard." Kumeron said as he took another drink and went to his room for the night.