AN: I do not own Elder Scrolls.

Chapter 6

7th Last Seed 4E 201

Chamber of the Divines

Dibella entered the chamber to find an unexpected sight. Instead of just finding Mara sitting on the couch, all of the Divines were watching the screen. "Why are all of you here?" she asked.

Stendarr said, "Alduin will be arriving later this month and none of us want to miss it." There several grunts of agreement at that.

Dibella moved to her spot and asked, "Can I have the journal?" Zenithar tossed it over to her and she read quickly...

Divines' Recap

Frost Fall 4E 200

Mara: Talos decided to stick around for the dungeon. Ignis and his friends arrived in Markarth and cleared out a Dwemer Ruin of Falmer and spiders. Ignis found some Dwemer relics that he is interested in. They could be there for a few months the way he is working.

Sun's Dusk 4E 200

Dibella: That sounds about right on the time because not only is Ignis working on those terminals and Godur studying that Centurion but now there is a massive blizzard going on around Markarth. They are going to be stuck there for some time. Maybe now Ignis will make a move with Amelia.

Evening Star 4E 200

Stendarr: Somehow, I doubt that will happen. The blizzard cleared up enough that a Vigilant made it to Markarth to investigate Daedra worship in the area. Ignis and him worked together to destroy an shrine of Molag Bal. He is furious that Ignis could defy him with such ease. They found Bal's mace in the shrine and the Vigilant is going to take it to the Hall of the Vigilant to keep it safe from Daedra worshipers. Ignis has gotten back to work on whatever he is doing with those terminals.

Morning Star 4E 201

Arkay: Ignis has finished his work on his prototype portable terminals. One is able to store text from books that he has "scanned" into the device and read them at will. The other stores spells that he knows and seems to have a limited ability to make new spells and more delicate enchantments. He demonstrated this by making a gauntlet that can project wards. I think he has matched or surpassed the Dwemer in this field.

Sun's Dawn 4E 201

Akatosh: Ignis and his friends have returned to the college. They had a difficult time getting Ignis's terminals across the bridge. Ignis has resumed his studies to prepare for the master level spells. Ignis has officially mastered the School of Alteration. He is close to finishing a workable design for a "bag of holding." Apparently it will be able to hold more supplies. Ulfric Stormcloak has killed the High King. The fight between brothers has begun. Alduin will show up soon.

First Seed 4E 201

Zenithar: Can't wait to see that bag in action. If he sells the bags he could be loaded with gold. There is a massive market for the bag; adventurers will want them to carry loot and soldiers will want them to carry supplies. Ignis has mastered Restoration magic along with his friends Godur and Bri.

Rain's Hand 4E 201

Kynareth: Good news, everyone. Vondur and Neloth were kicked out of the college. Bad news is that it took the death of one of the younger students to happen. Ignis has mastered Illusion magic. Ignis has made the first bag using the terminal to apply the enchantments. It can hold a suit of armor in an area the size of a pocket.

Second Seed 4E 201

Julianos: Ignis has a finalized design for a "Spell Saber." However, it seems even the terminal can't pull this enchantment off. His first Spell Saber overloaded and broke. Ignis has found out about the existence of the Spellmaking Altars. He has asked the college if they could get one. Ignis has mastered Conjuration magic though he is avoiding the use of necromancy. The college has not made a decision on obtaining the altar.

Mid Year 4E 201

Talos: Ignis and Amelia are on a quest to master Destruction Magic. They have to travel all over Skyrim to find the altars for the ritual. Looks like something might happen with them soon. They have mastered Destruction magic. The Empire has sent General Tullius to Skyrim to deal with Ulfric.

Sun's Height 4E 201

Mara: Ignis made another set of terminals that are even smaller by using the same spells from the bags of holding he made to store all of the bulk in a smaller space. He calls them "Tablets." They are small enough that he can put both of them in an ordinary pocket. At the same time, he improved that Gauntlet to have a pocket space behind the panel similar to that of the tablets to allow him to cast spells even a master mage can't use once he obtains the Altar. I hope I don't jinx it, but Ignis and Amelia are really getting close. Maybe they will finally get together soon :) Ignis has made another Spell Saber but this one drains so much magicka that it is useless.

Dibella whistled in awe, "So he mastered all the Schools of magic in a little under two and a half years. Not bad."

Julianos added, "It's even more impressive considering how much time he spent on the tablets and studying Dovahzul. Add to that the time spent on the bags, he really only spent less than two years on studying and mastering magic."

Arkay spoke, "I wonder what he will do for the rest of his life now that he has mastered magic?"

Mara suggested, "Have a family, grow old, and die peacefully?"

"Reconquer Tamriel?" Talos said.

Kynareth offered, "Study more mysteries such as 'What is the meaning of life?'"

Zenithar said, "Become the richest man alive?"

Akatosh shook his head and said, "First, he needs to defeat Alduin and any other threat that shows up. Then he can figure out what to do with his life."

College of Winterhold

Ignis walked out of the Archmage's Quarters, sighing in relief. 'Finally got approval to go to Cyrodil and obtain one of those Spellmaking Altars for the College.' Ignis walked over to the dorms to tell his friends about this thinking as he walked. 'Now I just need to figure out what I could offer the Synod that they would value as much as an Altar. The Tablets...no those are too valuable and I don't have anymore lexicons to make more of them. The bags of holding...they can't make them without the Tablet. The Spell Saber...without a working model that will not be enough and I can't make one without the Altar. The Spell Gauntlet... perhaps a weaker version with just the Ward and Armored Fist. FAST...if I pair it with a Gauntlet, that should be enough.' He reached the room his friends were studying at and said, "They finally gave us permission to go ahead with the deal."

Amelia looked up from her book to say, "It's about time. When are we heading out?" She then glanced over to where Godur and Bri were helping a first-year student and slightly glared at the girl.

"I was thinking tomorrow. That should give us enough time to pack and get our 'offering' ready." She raised her eyebrow. "I was going to give them a Shield Gauntlet and show them how to use FAST," he clarified. "Godur, think you can make a Gauntlet in less than a day?"

Godur grabbed to object next to him and tossed it to Ignis who caught it in surprise. "I had a hunch that you would need one to trade so I planned ahead." Ignis looked at the object and saw that it was a smoothed Dwarven gauntlet that had the gems set up in the right spots to make the enchantments. "Just make sure that the you are able to get the spells on that saber to work this time."

Ignis averted his eyes, remembering the two times he tried to make a Spell Saber. The first one had materials that could not withstand the spells and shattered when it was turned on. That led to the second failure. 'Since the first one was only active for a second, I did not know how much magicka was needed to maintain the sword.' Ignis said, "I've managed to find the issue with the last one and I know how to fix it with the new model though I can't test it without the Altar."

"Good job, Stella. You got it," Bri said. The others looked over to the two girls to see the first-year using the FAST and was moving the armor around her body with ease.

"Thanks. I probably would of taken much longer without your help," Stella said as she moved the armor around in wonder.

Ignis could tell that she was really happy to learn the technique. Most of the students have difficulty learning FAST and take months to learn how to do it. To learn the technique in a few days was impressive. 'Then again it is only to be expected for the top first-year student.' Stella Dimma was a black haired, blue-eyed Nord only a year younger than Ignis but her skills were comparable to Ignis's group despite only joining six months ago. The woman was humble about her magical abilities though and really looked up to the four remaining third-years. "Not bad. Shall we see if you can use it offensively?" Ignis said.

"Sure," Stella said as she walked towards Ignis. She looked at Ignis through her eyelashes and asked, "Are you ready?" Ignis nodded. Stella did a high left kick right towards his face and a loud impact was heard. His friends were amazed to see Ignis's right hand caught the attack and still looked bored.

Ignis moved his magically armored right hand to the right and said, "Your armor was too spread out to do much damage. That being said, that was a great kick and would have done serious damage to anyone without armor." He let go of her foot and she went back to a normal standing position.

Stella said, "Okay, I wasn't sure how much I should focus it to do damage. What were you guys talking about earlier though about leaving?"

Bri answered, "The four of us are going to Cyrodil to get an Altar of Spellmaking."

"Can I come too?"

Amelia said in an angry tone, "Third-years only."

Ignis just gulped, 'Crap. This is not going to end well.'

Chamber of the Divines

The Divines were laughing at the situation Ignis was stuck in. Dibella said, "Stuck in a room with two powerful women. That should be fun to watch." And it was until Godur broke up the cat fight by picking both of the girls up. "AWW."

9th Last Seed 4E 201

Castle Dour, Solitude

"Here you go. These papers will allow your group to cross the border," the Legate said as she handed over the papers to Ignis.

Ignis said, "Thank you." He placed the papers on the table next to him and put his Archive Tablet on top of them. He pressed a button on the tablet screen to copy the papers into the tablet.

"What did you just do?" the nearby Legionnaire Hadvar asked.

Ignis said, "I copied the papers into this tablet just in case I lose the papers."

"How?"

"Magic and Dwarven science."

12th Last Seed 4E 201

Arcane University, Imperial City

Ignis finished talking to the secretary and sat down with the other members of the group as they waited to meet the Synod Council. After almost half an hour of waiting, Godur asked, "What is taking so long? They can't be that busy, can they?"

Bri and Amelia shrugged, not having an answer, but Ignis responded, "It is a basic power play. By making us wait until a time of their choosing, they present themselves as the stronger party and mentally weaken us before the negotiations. It only makes a small difference but used properly it can decide the results of the negotiation before the first word is spoken." The rest of the group just looked at him in surprise. "What?" he said defensively. Before any of them could respond, a voice came from the hallway.

"I think you give the Council too much credit to be able to make use of such tactics," the man who spoke walked into the room. He was an Imperial with green eyes and blond hair going down to his chin, only looked a couple of years younger than Ignis. He was wearing a unique set of chainmail and leather armor similar to Legion armor though with pants rather than a skirt and with a Synod symbol on his left shoulder. He had a three point belt around his waist and right shoulder, on his left hip was an Ebony sword and everywhere else on the belt was covered in potions that were definitely not normal.

Ignis thought, 'Okay this guy has to be one of the elite members of the Synod.' He spoke up, "Surprised a member of the Synod has so little faith in the Council." He just shrugged at that.

The secretary spoke up, "The Council will now speak with the representative of the College of Winterhold."

Ignis walked over to the warp panel that lead to the Council chambers but before he entered he turned around and asked, "By the way, who are you?"

The man smiled, "I'm the best fighter in the Synod. My name is Viridis Fortuna."

Chamber of the Divines

Talos spoke immediately, "I remember him. He was the battlemage that survived the fight that killed Rufus. When did he join the Synod?"

Akatosh did a quick scan and said, "Looks like he joined at the beginning of the year."

Stendarr pondered, "I wonder why he left the Legion. It's not like he wasn't skilled enough to stay."

Mara pointed out, "Maybe the trauma of the fight was too much for him?"

"Guess we will have to wait to find out," Dibella said, pointing at the screen. "The meeting is starting." The Divines watched as Ignis negotiated for the one of the Spellmaking Altars. While at first it seemed to be a complex negotiation that could take hours, one of the Synod offered a quicker solution.

"Magical combat to decide if they will give one up?" Julianos said. "Well that should be easy for Ignis to win. He is the best combatant there." The Divines watched as the Council selected Viridis to fight for the Synod. They watched the Synod and College mages head to the arena to decide the outcome of the negotiations.

Arcane University Arena

Amelia sat in the circle of seats surrounding the arena and looked around. After using the warp panel to enter the arena, she expected a more 'magical' look to the place but instead the arena was similar to a standard pit with seats surrounding it like a Fighting Pit. The only difference were the runes along the walls of the pit and the fact that the entire structure was underground. 'At least I think it is. For all I know we may not be anywhere near the Imperial City after that warp panel.' The members of the Synod Council sat down next to the College mages while Ignis and Viridis entered the arena and took their positions in the center of the ring. One of the Synod mages stood up and yelled out, "Weapons and magical items are permitted in this fight but no one is to use lethal force. Do both fighters understand?" Ignis and Viridis nodded. "Good, then begin on three. ONE...TWO...THREE!"

Ignis cast Ebonyflesh in its focused form and moved it to his left arm to block Viridis's sword. He pushed the sword to the left then shifted the armor to his right hand to deliver a punch to Viridis's chest then shifted the armor back to the left hand to catch the sword. The pattern continued for a few minutes until Ignis's armor spell went down. He jumped back and conjured a blade in his right hand to continue the fight by narrowly deflecting the stab Viridis attempted. The two clashed several times before something became apparent to those watching.

"Ignis is...losing the fight?" Bri said disbelievingly. Bri and Godur were shocked but it was true. Ignis was getting pushed back the longer the sword fight lasted. While Ignis was a powerful mage, he never needed more than basic sword skills to kill his opponents. After all, most of his enemies were non-sentient or poorly armored and were killed with simple strikes. He had never faced a swordsman with real skill.

The Synod mages were smirking. "So that is the best the College of Winterhold can offer?" one of them said. "After all their boasting over the years, I would have expected a better fight."

Amelia smiled and said, "I wouldn't be so quick to celebrate if I were you. Ignis is holding back the vast majority of his power and skill until he is sure that Viridis can survive the fight." The Synod mages didn't believe her but when they looked back to the fight, the situation had changed.

Ignis cast Telekinesis on Viridis's armor to push him back and give Ignis some breathing room. Viridis grabbed one of the clear potions on his belt and threw it on the ground. The potion shattered, creating a blinding light similar to that of the sun at that spot. Ignis quickly covered his eyes with his right hand and activated the Ward Shield on his Gauntlet. The audience could not see much either but everyone heard another potion vial breaking and a spell being cast. When the light faded, the ground was covered in a white substance similar to snow. Ignis deactivated his Shield, looked around and smirked, "Not bad. Disrupting my vision to cast a repeated rune spell and hide them in a similar colored ground."

Viridis raised his eyebrow, "I'm surprised you noticed the repeated part. It is not exactly a common addition to Rune Spells. How did you recognize the tactic itself so quickly?"

Ignis answered, "I used a similar method of hiding runes in a fight against some Forsworn over a year ago. However, while your version is good, there is a serious flaw."

"And that is?"

Ignis started to charge a Master Level Spell, causing fire to build up in his hands as he answered, "You chose to use Frost Runes. I can easily turn that against you." Viridis's eyes widened as he started casting Lightning Bolt spells at Ignis, who blocked them with a reactivated Ward Shield. The Synod mages were shocked to see Ignis maintain the shield while casting a powerful spell with both hands. Ignis cast Fire Storm by placing his right hand on the ground. The blast wave hit all of the hidden runes in the arena but rather than creating several icy explosions, the combination of the frost runes and fire created a mist in the arena and blocked both mages from sight. After a moment of silence, the onlooking mages heard a series of loud footsteps on one side of the arena followed by a barrage of Firebolts from the opposite side heading towards the sound.

The mages heard a shout, "I yield!" The mist cleared and the Synod mages were stunned to see Ignis holding a conjured sword to Viridis's neck. He gulped and asked, "How did you move over here that fast?"

Ignis let the sword fade away and answered, "I was never over there. I used a Muffle spell to hide the sound of my footsteps and used a spell one of my friends invented to create the sound of footsteps at a distance. Then I followed the path of the Firebolts to find you and sneak up behind you."

The Synod mages were muttering among themselves before one of them spoke up, "Impressive, it seems like the College did not overstate your skill. We shall reconvene to discuss your offer." With that the Council mages left the arena, leaving Viridis and the College mages behind.

Amelia asked Viridis, "Is it normal for them to take this long to make a decision?"

Viridis responded after a moment, "No. On a simple matter like this, they should have made a decision in less than an hour at most." He smirked before he continued, "But if you want to use our Altar of Spellmaking while they are meeting, no one will stop you."

Ignis asked, "Where is it?"

10 minutes later...

Ignis looked at the altar in front of him. It was a four feet tall pedestal made of some unknown material and gold edgings. The top had a stand to place an open book and four unlit candles were attached to the side. Ignis lit the candles with a few quick Flames spells and placed the Enchanting Tablet on the stand. This new version of the terminal was far superior to the old one in many ways. First, it only weighed a couple of pounds and was the size of a small book. Second, rather than using a keyboard to control the enchantment creation, the tablet had an advanced touchscreen. Third, the bottom of the tablet had a piece of metal that could slide out and connect to objects like Enchanting Tables or his Spell Gauntlet. 'Amazing what can be done with the pocket space enchantments. This model is both larger and more complex than the previous one but it fits into a smaller space. Now, let's see how well the scan works.' The fourth improvement was the ability to scan new enchantments in without destroying the object. 'Time to completion is...FIVE HOURS!?' The major downside was it could take some time based on the complexity of the enchanted object.

Ignis took a breath to calm himself before he thought, 'Okay, so I don't have the time to copy the altar's enchantments to recreate it. Guess I'm going to have to find another altar after all.' Since he did not have much time, he quickly got to work creating the spells that he planned ahead of time. 'Slow Fall; Touch Spells for Fire, Ice, and Lightning along with their combinations for the Saber; Chaos Wave...Super Chaos Wave... damn that might be a bit too much power; Infinite Blade Storm... that should be the the last of them.' He picked up the tablet, pulled the connector slide out and placed it on the Spell Gauntlet's panel. He pressed a few spots on the tablet to transfer the last two spells into his gauntlet. The panel on the inside of the Gauntlet's forearm lit up for a moment, showing two symbols. One was a collection of several blades and the other was a triangle of fire, ice, and lightning inside a circle of magical energy. The symbols darkened but could still be seen if one looked closely at the glass panel.

"Hey, the council as made a decision on the Altar," Viridis said from the entrance. Ignis put his tablet away and walked over. "I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you though. The council rarely hands over a magical artifact even if they have a dozen of them."

"Considering that I gave them the Focused Armor Spell Technique and the Ward Enchantment, I think that they would be willing to give up one Altar..."

10 minutes later...

Ignis struggled not to yell as he said, "So you will not give up one of the Altars despite the offer the College has given you?"

One of the Synod wizards answered, "That is correct. However, as a consolation, we will give you the location of another Altar of Spellmaking that is on the way back to Skyrim."

"Where is it?"

"Frostcrag Spire."

Chamber of the Divines

Akatosh groaned at the mention of Frostcrag Spire, knowing that trouble was coming. He reluctantly asked, "Who is going to get... where did Talos go?" The Divines looked around and noticed he was missing. They then heard shouting behind them.

"Get in there!" "Not without my cheese." "I don't care about your cheese." The Divines turned around to see Talos dragging Sheogorath into the room. He then threw Sheogorath onto a chair before returning to his own spot.

"What is going on now? I was having such a good vacation and then this brute just comes in an-"

"Ignis is going to Frostcrag Spire," Stendarr said, cutting Sheogorath off. "Is there anything dangerous that you left behind in the tower from when you were a mortal that could be a threat to him?"

"What? Noooo," Sheogorath started to say. The Divines breathed a sigh of relief just before he continued, "But the Oblivion gates, traps, and thousands of Daedra I put there over the last two years might be a problem."

The Divines shouted as one, "WWWWHHHHAAAAAAATTTT?"

AN: Please review