THE ART OF AN ENCHANTER
From the Journal of Lutherus Sotasius. Date of Entry: Heartfire, 6th, 4E, 201.
Lutherus and Alinstein had breakfast the following morning together, before making their way to the Enchanter's Worskhop situated just above the Student's Quarter. On the way, they discussed the previous night's unexpected interruption, and were understandibly worried as to what punishment would await them for being caught out of bounds past lights out. "Do you think we'll be expelled?" Asked Lutherus, worryingly.
"I doubt it. Arch-Mage Aren, whom you saw at Saarthal won't be expelling us on account for being out of bed." Explained Alinstein. "He may want an explanation though."
"What do we say to him?"
"You're the Imperial. You tell him." Whipped Alinstein, as they entered the Enchanter's Worskhop. They were there along with several other students, who had all taken the chance at extra curriculum in the practice of Enchantment. There waiting in front of them all, stood a Breton carrying a rather large and heavy Soul Gem in both hands.
"Welcome to the Enchanter's Workshop, and thank you for coming. I am Phigise Phirnius, Master Enchanter in service to the College. Throughout your stay here at Winterhold, I will be giving seminars and instructional lectures on how to harness the true power of Enchantment. How many of you here have Enchanted an item before?" Only a few hands amongst the students rose. "Okay, so we have more that are less experienced in this field. That is not a problem, that's why I'm here. This morning's seminar will briefly discuss the practice of Enchanting, and will also involve the fundamental ingredients you will need in order to succeed in this field. So, when you approach an Enchanting Table." Said Phigise, as he pointed to the one table in the Workshop. "Ensure that you have learned the Enchant you wish to apply to the object you intend to Enchant. This process is known as Disenchanting. Keep in mind that when you Disenchant an object, the object in question will be lost instantly. For this instruction, I will now hand out to each of you a Ring that you will Disenchant on the table." Lutherus, Alinstein, and the rest of the attending students in the Workshop were each handed a Ring that glowed pink in their palms. "One at a time, I would like you all to Disenchant the Ring at the table. Please do form an orderly queue."
The students marshalled in a single line leading to the Table, and one by one successfully and unsuccessfully Disenchanted the Ring. For each student that succeeded, they noticed the energy of the Ring siphon from it and into the illustrative nature of the Table. The table glowed with every successful disenchantment, leading Phigise onto his next instruction. "Excellent! Well done to those who successfully Disenchanted the Ring. If you were unsuccessful, please do not worry! Sometimes it happens. Look at the table now, it is glowing. This tells any Enchanter that the Magic you have distilled from the Ring is now ready to be manifested into another object of your desire, providing you also have a filled Soul Gem to manifest the Enchantment, which I will now give out to you all. I would now like you to repeat the process by Enchanting these rings." Each student was given a Gold Ring as well as a Petty Soul Gem by Phigise. Lutherus, Alinstein and the other students again, marshalled into a line and took turns in Enchanting the Golden Rings. Many more were successful this time. "Superb work Apprentices! You will already notice that the enchantment on this ring is significantly weaker than it's preceding example. This is only due to your lack of skill in this field. Now, let's try enchanting weapons." He scanned the room, before opening up a large chest on the ground and presenting several Wooden Swords to each of the Students. "For this tutorial, you will be given an Enchantment to apply to this piece. You will then rename the Sword by adding your name to it, so we know whose is whose. Once again, you will need a Soul Gem." He said, as he handed out the Wooden Swords plus another Petty Soul Gem to each student. "Remember, the greater the Soul Gem, the greater the Enchantment!"
"Where would we find better Soul Gems Sir?" Asked a Student.
"The responsible way of acquiring more advanced Soul Gems is to purchase them from any Court Wizard." Replied Alinstein instinctively.
"Precisely." Replied Phigise. "Soul Gems are acquired by purchasing them from a certified Court Wizard. You can find them in any of the Hold Capitols. There is of course the 'other' way of acquiring them, but that is strictly forbidden here and I therefore will not need to explain it to you." By the time Phigise had finished speaking, Alinstein, the last student in line had approached the table with his Sword, Soul Gem and Enchantment ready. He placed the Sword down upon the table gracefully, added the Soul Gem to the socket in which it sat in, before applying the Enchantment that Phigise had given each of the Students. He could see the magical power from the Soul Gem and the table manifest into the Wooden Sword, swirling around it's carved blade and hilt before glowing around it, indicating the process was complete. "Well done Alinstein!" Congratulated Phigise. "This is a fine example of a well managed Enchantment. Might I send this to the Arch-Mage?"
"S...Sure!" Said Alinstein in response, equally surprised and excited that his Enchantment had done so well.
"On that note Apprentices, I would like to thank you for coming this morning. Please do drop by at your leisure to continue practicing Enchanting here, my hours are nailed to the front door. Have a nice weekend!" Finished Phigise as he left with Alinstein's Sword. He recieved a lot of compliments and congratulations from the other Students because of this, making the relatively inexperienced Bosmer blush. In the days that followed, Alinstein's Enchanted Sword was displayed proudly in the Arch-Mage's Quarter which did wonders to reaffirm Alinstein's confidence in himself as he practiced with Lutherus. The following Middas however, brought this brief enjoyment to a halt. After having met with each other following their morning class, Urag, the Arcaneum's Archivist stomped toward Alinstein and Lutherus.
"You two." He demanded, pointing at both Lutherus and Alinstein. "Arcaneum. Now." They stood frozen, and worriedly followed Urag. Upon arriving he demanded every other student inside the Arcaneum to leave, leaving all the books they had inside right where they were. Urag led the two upstairs, to a secluded study area. Apart from them, the Arcaneum was practically deserted. "I will say this once, and only once. I want my books back. Right now." Lutherus and Alinstein looked at each other in confusion.
"W...what books?" Asked Lutherus.
"Son, I am too old to be fooled by that trick. Produce my books right now."
"I'm telling you!" Put in Alinstein. "We don't know what you're talking about!"
"Lying only makes it worse. Give. Me. My. Books. Back."
"Please. Sir, please listen to us. We really have no idea what you mean!"
Urag slammed his palm onto a table. "DON'T PLAY DUMB WITH ME! You were both up here past bedtime last night! You obviously snuck in whilst I was restocking my Inventory!"
"We did sneak in Sir, but we definitely didn't steal anything!"
"Yes! We're innocent!" Put in Alinstein.
"LIARS!" Shouted Urag. "It's one thing to sneak in here underneath my nose. It's a TOTALLY different thing to lie to my face about it! You will remain here in the Arcaneum whilst I and the Arch-Mage will search your rooms. Do not move a muscle!" He angrily paced downstairs toward the Arcaneum entrance, and in front of the gathered students outside slammed the door shut before locking it.
"That stupid old fart. He probably misplaced his damn books." Said Alinstein across the room.
"What do we do now? Are we in trouble?"
"Of course not. We didn't take a thing from here, stupid old geezer." The two waited for an hour through their lunch period before the door came open. Urag had returned with the Arch-Mage. The two staff members paced quickly to Lutherus and Alinstein, the Arch-Mage looked particularly unimpressed, but not with them.
"I don't care what you saw. You DO NOT lock students up Urag!" Said the Arch-Mage furiously. He stopped in front of the boys. "Lutherus, Alinstein. My name is Savos Aren, Arch-Mage of the College. Please accept my profound apology on behalf of Urag's actions this afternoon." Before he could continue, Alinstein rightfully interjected.
"So he should be! We're starving here! What kind of College locks away it's Apprentice's like slaves?!"
Lutherus jumped in, hoping to defuse the situation. "Did you find the books at least?"
"No." Replied Arch-Mage Aren, earning a sarcastic tut from Alinstein whilst also folding his arms. "The books were not found in your rooms. But boys, we do want to know what reason you had to be in the Arcaneum past lights out."
"We were chatting." Replied Lutherus. "It was our first night here. We were too excited to sleep after Saarthal so we went to the Arcaneum to chat. We lost track of time I guess."
Lutherus' answer picked Aren's interest. "You were at Saarthal?"
"Yeah. We were there when you arrived at Tolfdir's request. He asked us to stay with him until you arrived." Replied Alinstein. The Arch-Mage contemplated, whereas Urag slowly nodded his head in silent disapproval.
"Urag. Did you see them take anything?" Asked the Arch-Mage.
"They were up here last Fredas and they ran-"
"Yes, but did you see them take anything?"
Urag squirmed. "No." Alinstein smirked at this response. The Arch-Mage turned back to them both.
"Boys, go get your lunch and then take the rest of the day off."
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