Skyrim: A Sorcerer's Tale

Chapter 17: Chapter VI: Conjuration and Familiars



Spending an entire afternoon memorizing a new language was not something I expected I would have to do when I started my magical journey, now I understand why mages in most places are considered to be the nerds, this shit takes some willpower to read. It is not that difficult, but I can already see myself spending a few months of concentrated effort understanding it.

At first, it looks just like any other mystical script you might see in a fantasy setting, but after looking through it a bit it is almost like a programing language, well not exactly like that but you string words inside of your mind to essentially program the Magicka to do something, which is close enough.

After forcing myself through the driest reading experience of my new life I headed to the practice ground and completed today's Magicka exercise.

The spells that the Archmage said we would have to learn don't seem to be too complex or demanding, there is the heal, lesser ward and oakflesh, a sensible choice for not dying in seconds, but I already know these so I move on. We are also required to learn the base attack spell of all three main destruction elements, along with the calm and anger spells from the illusion school. There is a note that the conjuration spell will be given to us at the class for safety reasons.

What does surprise me is the Mark and Recall spell book lying among them, after quickly reading through it it does seem to have some limitations not mentioned in the games, the mark can only be placed on a pre-prepared spell circle, which is noted to already exist under the carpet of my room, and takes a whole ten minutes to cast with it sucking out the reserves of an average adept. It can be cast by someone with less Magicka but they would be bedridden for a good three days on average. Still a very useful last resort to have in my pocket.

The next morning I spend chatting with my fellow apprentices while partaking of the holy caffeine, today we will be having a lesson in conjuration and Tiberius seems to be the most excited among us, the man has made it his mission to get an army of minions even if it is the last thing he does.

We all discuss yesterdays lesson with the Archmage and I start complaining about how annoying and difficult the arcane script is, blowing it way out of proportion, the scared faces on most of my fellow students are a balm for my soul, Morrigan seems to sense my bullshit but stays silent, her eyes filled with mirth.

A/n: Playing around with povs again, do tell me your impressions, and yes some of the college characters will be modified to better adapt to my head-canon of how powerful and odd master mages are.

[General pov:]

As the students enter the bottom floor of the conjuration tower they are greeted by a balding, skinny and old Breton man, the conjuration professor feels like he has already died to Reyvin but he wisely keeps his mouth shut.

The voice of the man is a raspy and dry thing "Wellcome apprentices" He seems to take his time with every word. "I am Phineas Gestor, master of conjuring and necromancy"

'This man gives naught a singular shit huh'

At this some of the apprentices are startled, especially the nords, the master necromancer raises his hand and continues in his monotone "Before you start accusing me of ancestral defilement, know that I take great care about who or what I raise, and can confidently say that all that have suffered at my hands have most assuredly deserved it" It takes him almost a full minute to say this, which seems to work in his favor as everyone seems to have forgotten his introduction.

Reyvin thinks otherwise, detecting the mass calm spell that hit them. The feeling of getting magically calmed is odd, you still have your thoughts but it is almost as if the very idea of committing any kind of aggression seems foreign, which makes it even more scary. 'Guess illusion isn't a waste of my time after all' his thoughts are interrupted by the professors continued speech.

"As you can see I do not share the Archmages flair for dramatics so I will get to the core of the matter." Thankfully he decided to speed up his speech or they would be here all day at this rate.

"Conjuration is the art of binding spirits or Daedra to ones soul, through the medium of a contract you offer a constant trickle of Magicka to the bound spirit and are able to summon them at almost no cost." He demonstrates this by snapping his fingers and being surrounded by five different elemental atronachs. "The amount of possible contracts is naturally based on your capability to produce or gather Magicka, the former being preferable as you cannot always guarantee yourself being in a sufficiently magically dense environment." He snaps his fingers again and the atronachs are gone.

"Note that you are capable of summoning without a contract, but the Magicka cost is comparably enormous and there is no guarantee that something would respond. Or even worse, something beyond you does respond" He finishes ominously before waving his hand and floating a spell book to each apprentice.

"There are however two known spells that require minimal investment from you when it comes to conjuration, the first being the bound weapon as it is more of a Magicka shaping technique which you bind to yourself. The other, being the one now in your hands, is the conjure familiar spell. The spell has some ties to mysticism as it connects to your guardian animal, or spirit beast, or inner beast and so on and so forth, the interpretations are as many as there are cultures on Nirn. What is important to us is that it is a very low mantainance spell that grows alongside the potence of your Magicka, it is an eternally loyal guardian belonging to you and you alone, remember to treat it with respect" He looks at them with an unexpected seriousness.

"You will take half an hour to read through and understand the spell, you may ask questions but please don't bother me with trivialities" He sits down and starts scribbling something down as the students get to reading.

[Reyvin pov:]

'Apparently we have a litch professor, or at least that is what he feels like to me' I think as I start reading through the spell book, not really shaken by the fact. As long as he is civilized and doesn't bother me I will give him the same courtesy.

The conjure familiar is an introduction to all summoning spells, requiring a ritual to bring out the spirit beast and a simple contract to bind it. The ritual itself is rather simple, consisting of a potion to place you in a trance while you sit in a prepared ritual circle. After you enter said trance you need to find your familiar and befriend it, which is supposed to be very easy, as the beast is made of your own essence.

The half hour passes in silence with everyone being immersed in their work, we interrupted by Phineas "I hope you have all finished reading" after receiving nods from all of us he continues "Good, you will now all perform the ritual under my supervision one by one"

He points to Bor first, he hesitantly approaches the circle next to the professor and takes the potion from his hands, after drinking he folds his legs and sits in the circle. Nothing happens, and for a good five minutes everyone is silent, until the howl of a wolf is heard and a large grey wolf materializes in front of him.

After giving a reserved congratulations to the elated Bor he calls me forward. I take the potion and sit down, after drinking I start feeling woozy and disoriented, not even my third eye being able to bring me back into focus. Soon I find myself in a small park surrounded by concrete buildings. In front of me, giving me a curious look, there stands a....

A/n: Get cliffhangered!

But seriously while writing this I couldn't really make a choice so as any good procrastinator I left it for the me of tomorrow to deal with. Do give me some suggestions (nothing too outlandish please)

Also, anyone have any idea how to properly set up the upload timer? I set the previous chapter

up for two in the afternoon but it published itself in the morning.

Since I will be having a right chonky exam on Monday this will be the last chapter for this

week, also I think I will be uploading about five chapters a week from now on.

If you have enjoyed reading this toss me a stone/review.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om