An Enchanting Tale

Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

The following morning, after further lessons in alteration provided by Brelyna, S'maash asked her for assistance. During their conversation, she decided to allow him access to her arcane enchanter and provided him with soul gems. He took to it immediately with the ancient elven boots he had recovered from Anutwyll.

She observed him as he efficiently broke down the enchantment. First, he placed the golden boots on the table. Focusing his intent on the force of magick as it broke free from the boots, he learned they had been enchanted with the ability to muffle footsteps, something he had missed while he wore them. Once the enchantment was freed from the boots, their physical structure became unstable. They fell to pieces. He then turned to Brelyna.

"Why do some artifacts resist disenchantment?"

"If the force of the enchantment exceeds that of the arcane enchanter, it is incapable of releasing the enchantment from the item. Moreover, if the item is held together by a powerful enchantment, the physical nature of the piece cannot be destroyed, so the enchantment can't be freed."

"A form of alteration?"

"Yes, actually; many fail to realize that enchanting is directly correlated to the school of alteration," she answered.

"I heard about a former enchanter, here. Where did he go?"

"Sergius Turrianus?" she chirped. S'maash shrugged. "He was our only instructor for the school of enchanting."

"The nords, Wulfgar and Wulfbore, said he worked with the Dragonborn."

"You must mean Arniel Gane...no one knows for certain. Weeks after his disappearance, we went through his room. There were some journals he left behind.

"It seems he and the Dragonborn had been working on some way to find the dwemer. Arniel was convinced that by using a warped soul gem he could replicate the power of Lorkhan's Heart. He then obtained Keening, a dwemer artifact. I don't know what happened after that. He simply vanished. I'm afraid the Dragonborn hasn't been seen in Skyrim for somtime, so there's no way to know just what happened...."

S'maash's heart pounded. He knew the story of how General Nerevar battled Dumac, and was familiar with the subsequent change of the chimer into the dunmer; it involved the Heart of Lorkhan, and the disappearance of the dwemer.

"Is anyone living in Arniel's room," he asked.

"No. No one wants to set foot in there. It's been twenty years, and still people are scared; nonsense, if you ask me, but I have no need to be in there."

"Do you think I could take his room?"

"I'll check with Tolfdir. If he approves, it's all yours," she said.

During the next few days, S'maash wrote his brother another letter explaining he had finally found his place in life. Next, he poured over the many, dusty tomes kept by Urag, the orc, in the Arcaeneum. The librarian's abrasive personality softened a tad once he realized the young elf was serious about reading. Finally, S'maash was given Arniel Gane's old room. With free reign over an arcane enchanter, endless soul gems, and complete silence, he engrossed himself in reading, working, and also writing down every question plaguing his anxious mind.

A week went by before he amassed an entire journal brimming with questions. What is the origin of the arcane enchanter? Are they ingrained with the force of alteration? Can they be amplified? How do soul gems function? Why do they shatter after use? What is it about the Star of Azura that allows it to remain in existence and subsequently refilled? For the most part, his questions remained unanswered.