Chapter 6: A Magic College in a Cold Land

Weiss's Perspective

I walked up to the stairs that led to the college with the encouraging words of my teammates ringing in my ears. "You can't possibly fail twice!" That was enough to make me want to break Yang's arms. I reached the woman who stood at the entrance to the walkway to the school and prepared myself for a failure that may or may not come.

"Welcome to the Coll… Oh, it's you again." The woman said, clearly not happy to see me again.

"I can do magic this time." I told her with my head held high, as per the usual.

"Oh? Can you now, we'll see about that. Since you seem so confident, how about make things a little different this time." She said, grinning.

"In what way?" I ask, now suddenly concerned.

"Well, based on the way you're speaking, a simple spell such as Magelight must be far too simple for someone like you. So instead, let's have you conjure a Flame Atronach on the seal right here." She said, pointing to the seal on the floor.

"No problem." I say to her with the same tone as before. Thank Talos that I found that book in that cave. I thought about the book and the seal on the ground while I balled my fist. Within a second it glowed purple, which freaked me out so I threw it open at the seal on the ground. A bright red, floating girl that seemed to be made of lava suddenly appeared in front of us.

"Well then, perhaps I misjudged you. You are now permitted entrance into the College of Winterhold. Oh, and my name is Faralda, I teach Destruction magic here at the college." Faralda said.

"Pleasure to meet you. My name is Weiss." I told her.

"Now then, please follow me to the main gates, and try not to fall behind." Faralda said.

"Yes ma'am." I said to her, forcing the polite tone. We walked down the path and she began to tell me about the college.

"So the College itself isn't all too large, but you'll find it more accommodating than most places in Skyrim. The main hall, or the Hall of the Elements, is primarily where you'll find students practicing magic. Speaking of which, how familiar are you with the five schools of magic?" Faralda asked.

"Not very. I'm new here." I told her, keeping the forced polite tone.

"Well, that's plainly obvious. But based on your performance back there, you're more adept than most natives are, so you shouldn't have too many problems." Faralda said.

"That sounds fantastic." I say, smiling at the praise.

"Now then, you'll be staying in the Hall of Attainment, which is located in the left tower of the college when facing the entrance. The Hall of Countenance is in the right tower of the college, and is where all the teachers reside." Faralda said.

I sighed in relief at the thought of having a bed.

"And if you ever need to research anything, the Arcanaeum should have whatever book you're looking for. You can access it from the Hall of the Elements by entering the door on the left." Faralda said.

I paid close attention because this is where I would have to look to research those "Elder Scrolls".

"It's run by Urag gro-Shub, and he's very picky about the order of things. As long as you don't mess up anything in there, you should be fine." Faralda said.

"Thank you for the tip." I respond.

We walked up to a very large gate that loomed over the walkway. Instinctively, I reached my hands out to open it. It seemed to respond to us walking up, and opened, leaving me with my hands held out for nothing. Faralda giggled at me not knowing about the gate, causing me to blush with anger.

"Now then, Mirabelle Ervine, our Master Wizard, should be able to answer any more questions you have. She's standing by the entrance over there." Faralda said, pointing to a brown haired woman standing by a set of large wooden doors.

I walked over to her and said "Faralda told me to talk to you. I'm new here." I said, politely.

"Ah, pardon me, this is a bit unexpected." She took a moment to seemingly go over pre-rehearsed lines in her head before continuing. "My name is Mirabelle Ervine, I'm the Master Wizard here at the College, and you are?"

"Weiss Schnee, pleased to make your acquaintance." I said with forced politeness.

"If you had put more thought into that tone of yours, It would've been somewhat believable." Mirabelle said, a slight harshness present in her tone.

I was thrown back by the fact that she saw through my, seemingly, impregnable façade.

"I'm sorry. Let me try again. I'm Weiss Schnee. It's a pleasure to meet you." I say to her with, mostly, genuine politeness.

"The pleasure is mine, and for future reference, you should stave away from such obvious attempts at forced tones. There are people all around Tamriel who live and breath speechcraft, and I can clearly tell that you aren't one of them." Mirabelle said, with a mixture of politeness and sternness.

"Yes ma'am. Thank you, ma'am." I say with sincere tones.

"Now then, what is it that you seek from the college?" Mirabelle asked.

"Where is my room?" I ask her.

"We'll get to that once you answer my question." Mirabelle said.

"And it was?" I ask her, now confused.

She sighed, clearly annoyed. "Everyone who comes to the college seeks something, so what is it that you wish to gain from the college?"

"Knowledge about the Elder Scrolls." I tell her plainly.

"Hmm…" She paused to think about it. "The college may have the knowledge you seek, but it would be very limited. Now then, is that all you seek?" Mirabelle asked.

"I also want to learn more about the 'Arcane Arts'" I said, quoting Faralda.

"Ah, of course. Now, which of the five schools are you most interested in?" Mirabelle asked.

"What are there?" I ask in response.

Mirabelle cringed slightly, clearly she was hoping that I had at least some idea on what I wanted to study. I mean, come on, I only arrived here a few days ago.

"There's Destruction, Conjuration, Alteration, Illusion, and Restoration." Mirabelle said.

"Alteration and Restoration sound interesting." I reply, making my decision.

"Ah, then you should speak with Colette and Tolfdir after I show you to your room. Tolfdir teaches Alteration and Colette teaches Restoration, and you'll find both of them either in the main building or the Hall of Countenance." Mirabelle said.

"Thank you ma'am." I respond to her, keeping the genuine politeness constant.

"Now then, let me show you to where you'll be staying." Mirabelle said.

"Alright." I reply, falling in line with her.

We made our way to a door located on the left side of the wall, which leaded into one of the other side towers. When we walked in, I immediately noticed that it had another one of those weird blue light-pillar-things in the center of the room, with side rooms surrounding it. We reached the center of the room and turned right, and entered a small but nice looking room. It had a decent looking bed in the center with two wardrobes on either side of it, with two large and one small wardrobe on the right. The left side had a small table and chair next to three barrels, for now, I think I'll stick to the bed.

"This is where you'll be staying. The bed and wardrobes are yours, so feel free to put anything you want in them." Mirabelle said.

"Sounds good." I comment, staring longingly towards a comfortable looking bed.

"Now then, once you get settled, be sure to stop by the Hall of the Elements for a brief lesson in Alteration. We're supposed to be having some more apprentices come in a few days, but I'm sure Tolfdir won't mind giving you a headstart." Mirabelle said, leaving the room.

As much as I wanted to go to classes, I was too tired to move any further. I never really got a good night's sleep at any of our locations, so a bed is amazing.

I rolled over and felt great after my short nap in a comfortable bed. I fell out of my bed when I saw the human skulls and goat head on the wardrobe in the right side of my bed.

"Who puts these kinds of things there?" I asked no one in particular.

While I mumbled about weird things lying around in my room, I prepared for my Alteration classes with Tolfdir. I put on the Mage's robes, hood, gloves, and some shoes that I was given in my wardrobes and walked over to the main building. I hesitated by the door, thinking it would open on its own like the front gate. When it didn't, I pushed it open and walked in.

I saw high-ceilings and a long walkway to a grand circular hall, which I assume is the Hall of Elements. An old looking man was talking to Mirabelle, discussing lesson plans. When she referred to his name as "Tolfdir", I knew this was the teacher I was looking for. Good. I don't have to ask people for directions. After they finished talking, I walked over to the man Mirabelle called "Tolfdir".

"Hello. Are you Tolfdir?" I asked him.

"Indeed I am, and who might you be?" Tolfdir asked.

"Weiss Schnee. I talked to Mirabelle and she said that you teach Alteration. And I wanted to learn Alteration." I tell him, saying my name as only a formality.

"Ah! So you're the new apprentice she mentioned! It's always good to see young people taking an interest in magic. Now then, do you know the concepts of Alteration?" Tolfdir asked.

"Not really. The only spell I know was the one that got me into the college." I admit to my teacher.

"Well then, let's start with a basic explanation, are you ready?" Tolfdir asked.

"Yes." I reply, preparing for something that I have no idea about.

"Alteration provides pure mages and magic dabblers alike the ability to bolster their defenses. However, until expert level Alteration is purely defensive. In addition, Alteration normally levels slowly because the 'flesh' spells will rarely be cast more than once during each combat encounter. Their high cost also means that pure mages sacrifice tons of offensive potential by casting a flesh spell at the beginning of combat. You with me so far?" Tolfdir asked.

"Mostly." I reply, trying to memorize what he said.

He paused to get his train of thought back. "Now then, as I was saying, Alteration spells are most useful for a mage who in the long term wants to be more resistant to magic, a mage planning to be able to paralyze their foes, a pure mage who isn't confident in their ability to avoid weapons based attacks and so uses flesh spells, or a warrior who dabbles in magic. That's Alteration magic in a nutshell, any questions?" Tolfdir asked.

"No, sir." I respond.

"Excellent! Now then, I suppose we should get to practicing, shall we?." Tolfdir said, moving to one of the seals on the floor.

"Let's." I reply, following him to one of the seals.

"Now then, normally you'd have to buy one of these, but since it's your first lesson, you get this for free." Tolfdir said, handing me a orange book with a weird tree on it.

I grab it and see the title. Oakflesh is written on the first page. I flipped through the pages like when I read the first one, and it disappeared when I finished, also much like the first one.

"Alright. Let's try this." I say to him, ready to practice.

I thought of the book that Tolfdir gave to me as I held my left hand open, and not a second later, a singular light blue-ish green polygon appeared in my hand, with smaller polygons floating around it. After remembering what I did to get into the college, I closed my hand slightly, and I could feel the spell draining away a good portion of something in my head, which gave me a slight headache. Regardless, I released the spell, which coated me in a light-green glow after making the sound of a tree growing. I guess that's why the call it Oakflesh. After a minute, the glow dissipated in a small flash of light. While I was still partially confused as to what happened, Tolfdir seemed to be pleased.

"Marvelous! You casted that spell perfectly!" Tolfdir said.

"Great! So what does Oakflesh do?" I asked him, ready to learn more about the spell that I just casted.

"As I mentioned previously, the 'flesh' spells increase one's defenses. Oakflesh is the most basic, and is most common amongst new mages who dabble in Alteration. The most advanced as of right now is Ebonyflesh, but that falls into the expert level of Alteration spells. With enough practice, I have no doubt that you'll be able to achieve that and more." Tolfdir said.

"Alright, sounds good. Now, what's next?" I asked, looking to find another spell to learn.

"Well now, aren't we the anxious one? Very well, I'll teach you one more spell for today." Tolfdir said, handing me another book. I reached for my money pouch.

"Oh no, you can have this one for free as well, from here on out you will have to pay for them though." Tolfdir said.

"Thank you." I say, moving my hand from my pouch to grab the book. I read the first page and the spell was called "Candlelight". Sounds interesting enough… I read through it and it disappears.

"Okay. Here I go." I say to him, preparing to cast the spell.

I replicated the process from a few minutes ago, but instead of a blue-ish green polygon thing appearing in my hand, a ball of light did. I didn't think much of it as I clenched my hand and released it, what caught me slightly off-guard was the fact that I now had a ball of light floating near the right side of my head. I moved around slightly to see if it followed me, and sure enough, it did. It only lasted a minute, but it did keep a small area around me nice and illuminated.

"Excellent! You really are a natural at this." Tolfdir said.

"Thank you. I always try my hardest." I told him.

"Now then, I'll leave you with that. I still have to make lesson plans for when the other apprentices show up." Tolfdir said, making his way out of the Hall of the Elements.

I guess I should talk to the other teacher I want to learn under, before researching the Elder Scrolls.

I looked around the Hall of Elements and noticed that I was the only one still in it. Now is as good a time as any to go and read up on Elder Scrolls. I walked towards the entrance to the main part of the college and up the stairs that led to the Arcanium. I walked up two short flights of stairs that leads to the entrance to the Arcanaeum. I cautiously entered the Arcanaeum and looked around to see who was there. I saw a man with two large tusks poking out of his lips from the bottom jaw, which didn't fit with his olive green skin. That's weirder than a faunus… I walked through the left most aisle looking for a book on the so-called Elder Scrolls.

"Is there something I can help you with?" The man asked.

"No, I think I'm alright." I say to him, still looking at the books on the shelves.

"You sure? I can tell that you have no idea what to look for, based on the way your looking at the books." The man said.

"I am looking for books on the Elder Scrolls." I admit, after feeling offended that he thinks I don't know what I'm doing.

"Elder Scrolls?" He paused to stand up. "Do you even know what you're asking about? Or are you just someone's errand girl?"

I looked all around trying to decide whether or not to tell him about how I got to this place called "Tamriel". I sigh and start to explain how I got here.

"So, my friends and I were going through this weird dungeon." I pause to look to see if he is still listening to this vastly important story of mine. I continue anyways. "Long story short, we find this weird scroll at the end. One of my friends opens it and me and three other of my friends wound up in the forests of Falkreath right before Helgen was destroyed. We came from a place called 'Remnant'. I was told that the thing that took my friends and I here was called an 'Elder Scroll'. I just wanted to find out if it was possible for us to go home…" I tell him, choking up by the end at the thought of not having my mountains of money at my fingertips.

"Hmm…" He sat there in thought for a good five minutes before speaking again. "So, if I'm understanding this correctly, you and your friends were transported to Skyrim by an Elder Scroll after you went through a 'weird dungeon', and you want to know how to find one so you can get back?".

"Yes." I tell him, pouring on some sadness so he'll be more willing to help me.

"Hmm, well then, while I can't help you locate one, I have some books here that might help you better understand them." The man said, moving over to a shelf by his desk.

"Thank you very much." I said sweetly, while walking up to his desk with a sad smile on my face.

"Now then, these are the only books I have on the Elder Scrolls, but even then, they're mainly rumors and conjecture." The man said, placing two books in front of me.

"Thank you." I told him, as I picked up the book nearest me. Ruminations of the Elder Scrolls.

"Imagine living beneath the waves with a strong-sighted blessing of most excellent fabric. Holding the fabric over your gills, you would begin to breathe-drink its warp and weft. Though the plant matter fibers imbue your soul, the wretched plankton would pollute the cloth until it stank to heavens of prophecy. This is one manner in which the Scrolls first came to pass, but are we the sea, or the breather, or the fabric? Or are we the breath itself?"

I closed it quickly and threw it down causing the librarian to look at me surprisingly. He then started laughing, which I found very rude.

"I take it you read 'Ruminations' first?" He asked, still chuckling.

"How'd you know?" I asked, now surprised.

"That's the reaction most people have when they read it." The man said.

"That makes perfect sense." I comment.

"What was wrong with him?" I asked after a pause.

"He's the world's leading expert on Elder Scrolls, it's just that…well…" He trailed off for a minute. "He's been gone for a while, too long."

"Where'd he go?" I asked, not getting what he meant.

"Well, gone as in mad. The scrolls have varying effects on people, and he got hit with a lot of it." The man said.

"Ah." I reply, not willing to open the can of worms.

"Now then, if you have any more questions, feel free to ask." The man said, moving back to his chair.

"No. I think I'm good." I say, before thanking the librarian again for his help.

I walked back to my room in the Hall of Attainment. I tried to read the other book that I picked up called "Effects of the Elder Scrolls". True to its name, it was mainly about how different knowledges of the Elder Scrolls affect a person's sight and mental state following their reading it. Maybe Septimus Signus knew a lot about Elder Scrolls when he read one… Once I realized that the Effects book didn't have much in the way about Elder Scrolls, I went back to reading Ruminations.

"Can we flow through the Scrolls as knowledge flows through, being the water, or are we the stuck morass of sea-filth that gathers on the edge?

Imagine, again, this time but different. A bird cresting the wind is lifted by a gust and downed by a stone. But the stone can come from above, if the bird is upside down. Where, then, did the gust come from? And which direction? Did the gods send either, or has the bird decreed their presence by her own mind making?"

With that happy note, I went to sleep.

/AN: Sup Guys! Sorry for the delay again, but the chapters that we're currently working on require a lot of detail. Add the fact that my job takes up a lot of my day (depending on what shift I have) and the fact that I'm going to be starting school in a couple of weeks, the chapters might remain spread out for a while. But trust me, my friends and I are working our hardest to get these chapters out to you so you can enjoy them! So hold tight, and see you the next time I upload a chapter!