Ancano's secret

C7 Daal wah zu'u ( Return to me )

"Fin Dovahkiins fahliil los krah sil!"

The dragonborn's elf is cold-hearted!

I could hear the taunting already, spirits of the Labyrinthian seemed to search my soul.

"Rok Los sizaan!"

He is lost! I bit the inside of my cheek as I raced through, killing skeletons and drauger.

"Hi fen saan!"

You will lose!

"I will not!" I started firing arrows left and right as I ran, killing ghosts, a troll, skeever, spiders, a whisp mother, etc. All the while I was seeing some type of time loop, the place was recalling Savos's memories from when he had come here.

"Fin fahliil fen mah naal hin haal!"

The elf will fall by your hand! "Never!" I shouted back. Soon enough I had made my way through, avoiding traps and killing creatures until I found myself face-to-face with a dragon priest. "I will not leave here empty-handed!" It laughed at me. I killed the ghosts that were keeping a barrier around the creature. Every hit resulted in it teleporting around and spawning cop cats of itself to try to dupe me but it didn't work and I left there with not only the staff but with a new dragon priest mask.

"Lun nau tol!" I shouted. Suck on that! I exited using a shortcut. Savos once again appeared apologizing for sacrificing his companions to keep the dragon priest imprisoned. He swore to seal the ruin. I unbarred and opened the door. I opened the gate to the next room and a thalmer ran up. "Who are you? What do you want?" The elf snickered. "My name is Estormo, I'm an associate of Ancanos. I'm here for the staff and to kill you, under his orders." My heart sunk. He.. wants me dead..."He wants the staff kept safe and you out of his hair." I backed away and shook it off. "Lies!" I placed a fire rune underneath his feet and it went off quickly, the mage was set ablaze and I shot multiple poison arrows at him. He fell to the ground and I stood over him, holding my ebony dagger. "You... Won't... Win..." He gritted through his teeth, the posions were coursing through his bloodstream and I smiled. "I'm afraid you won't either." I cut his jugular and ran as fast as I could out of the Labyrinthian. I ran all the way to Winterhold. I took a minute to catch my breath. I ran up to the college and passed the gate. Toldfir and the others looked at me as they battled anomalies. I helped and caught my breath once again.

" Ancanos power is growing! There's no way we can stop him." I sighed heavily. "Where's Mirabelle?" He shook his head sadly. "She's dead, died trying to get everyone to safety." Damn that elf!'' I said. ''We need to go inside and try to stop him!" Tolfir said to everyone. I nodded. "Your the one with the staff my dear. If it can help us get inside the college and reach Ancano, we'll have to hope there's a way to stop all of this." I aimed the staff at the barrier and it dissipated, allowing us to safely go into the college. Once inside the hall of elements, Ancano's hallowed laugh could be heard. "I have the power to destroy the world at my fingertips. You can't stop me!" Toldfir gasped. "He's connected to the eye!" He casted a fire spell and shook his head. "Use the staff on the eye!" He shouted and I nodded. Pointing the staff at the eye and the eye opened, a blinding flash happened and I was briefly stunned. Is he still worth saving? A tiny voice whispered. I noticed Tolfif was paralyzed. The eye fully opened and magic anomalies appeared in the hall. He lost his connection. The eye lit up and it hurt my eyes but I continued to use the staff til it closed. I pulled out my sword and started slicing anomalies until I was face-to-face with Ancano. "Please, don't do this this." My eyes filled with tears. Ancano bitterly laughed. "Poor little dragon, have I pulled and plucked your heartstrings? Allow me to cut them!" He drove forward using fire and electricity to attack. I ran at him, dropping my sword and tackling him to the ground. I held his wrist above his head. He fought and struggled even kicking and moving his legs. "Stop! I.. Must!" He opened his palm as if trying to reach the eye again and I smacked him across the face. He seemed taken aback and stared at me, his mouth a gap. "STOP IT!" I shook him. "Haven't you done enough?! Savos is dead. Mirabelle is dead! You tried to have me killed!" He shook his head slowly as if trying to deny it. "I.. never wanted you hurt. I tried to keep you in the midden. I tried to keep you safe!" I slapped him again. "AND WHAT ABOUT WHEN YOU WOULD HAVE EVENTUALLY BLOWN THE ENTIRE COLLEGE UP? THE COLLEGE? THE WORLD?!?!" I breathed heavily and Ancano went rigged. I removed a giant bottle of paralysis and uncorked it. "What.. are you doing... Aren't you going to kill me?" I let one tear fall before shoving it into his mouth. His eyes went wide. It would be a good two hours before he could move again. The psijic order appeared three on either side of the orb. Quaranir faced me. "You have done well mage but it seems the world is not yet ready for the eye and so we will safeguard it. You are now the new Archmage of the college." He turned to leave. "Wait!" He paused and turned his head back slightly. "Please, take him with you. I know he doesn't deserve the chance to live but please take him. Give him the chance to make his own choice after that. To find me... To kill me..." He nodded silently the other two raised both arms up and Quaranir put one arm up while holding one down at Ancano and left. Toldfir suddenly was back to normal and I dropped to my knees, silently crying. He ran over to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "What happened?" I sighed. "Ancano is.. dead and the eye has been taken by the Psijic order for safekeeping. It's over..." Toldfir sighed with relief. "What now?.." I looked up at him. ''Now we need a new Archmage and I think you'd be excellent at it." He placed the archmage's robes in front of me and the key to the archmage's quarters. "I'll... leave you now then..." I grabbed the things sadly. "I need to take a break from the college before I do anything formerly as the new Archmage." Toldfir nodded. "I understand." I went back to my dorm room and gathered my things, I moved everything to my new room. It was weird to be moving in here, after all this was Savos's and all of his things are here. I packed a bag and left. I went South from there, I felt like there was a hole in my heart. I set up a tent in the middle of the woods, away from any villages or towns. I wanted to sulk in peace. I started a fire and unrolled my sleeping mat under the tent. The sun was setting and I yawned. Poking at the fire with a stick.

I heard a twig snap behind me, I shot to my feet and turned around. I casted mage light on the ground around the woods and their Amber eyes were shown, and silver hair flowed. "Ancano." I froze. It was him but he wasn't wearing his thalmer attire. He wore what looked like a miner's outfit and had on black boots. I looked down at my feet and waited for the moment his knife or magic would slice right through me. He walked up to me, he was so close I could smell him. He lifted up my chin and his laps crashed into mine. Surprised, I slowly went along with it until I picked up the pace. We broke it and stared at each other, breathing heavily. "I..." He placed his hand over my mouth. "I love you." My heart melted and we wound up making love under the stars. "I'm free from the thalmer... Free to be with you and so much more." I smiled and we entwined our fingers together. "I was trying to follow orders and I wound up killing people... I hurt you. I'm so sorry." I nodded gently. I could see the guilt in his eyes.

I didn't know where'd we go from here.