Nelacar put the Azura's Star on the table and started preparing some necessary scrolls to seal the room we are in and not alert anyone if anything gets out of hand. After that, he started analyzing the Star.

"These fissures and cracks aren't encouraging. Malyn obviously was growing more desperate once he left the College."

After more analyzing…

"He did it. He actually managed to trap his own soul inside the Star, but it's falling apart. It needs more souls to sustain itself… The Star is being used to sustain Malyn's soul. I can't fix it while that fragment of him is inside."

"Is there any other way to deal with him?"

"There is… but it's not as simple as enchanting Malyn away. He's put up barriers. Souls are only allowed in, not out. If we were to... somehow... send a soul inside the Star. One that was ready to overpower Malyn from the inside...."

Nelacar seemed a bit depressed while saying so. He is going to ask me to kill his friend.

"Is it possible?"

Nelacar sighed and nodded.

"He's already dead. Worse, the enchantment keeping him intact requires black souls. I don't know how many people he must have killed. If we don't do something, the enchantment will eventually fade, and the Star will slip back into Oblivion. Azura will have the last laugh."

"So…"

"I could soul trap you. Place you inside the Star. Then bring you back once Malyn has been dealt with… It is a special type of soul trap. Placing you inside the Star without fully killing you. Once Malyn has been dealt with, I'll bring you back."

I was waiting for him to offer me that.

"I guess there is no other way then."

"I understand if you need some time to prepare. Let me know when you're ready."

"No need for waiting. Let's do this."

***

After some time, I lied on a bed and Nelacar started preparing the spell. Once he cast it on me my consciousness faded and I found myself in a strange place.

This was probably the interior of the Star. It was a light-blue, surreal world with spikes and chiming sounds.

"That looks great."

{What happened here?}

For some reason, I heard the voice of The Augur.

"Oh, brother Augur, I woke you up?"

{I suspect you got your soul trapped in Azura's Star?}

"Yes, how did you respond so quickly?"

{It happens that we have an Astral Link together.}

"Oh, right!"

{What is your plan from this point onward?}

"Can you collect the Data from this small world while I get stall Malyn for some time?"

{I can do that! What kind of data are you after?}

"Anything related to the structure and the rules of this small world."

{Not anything special, I will finish and notify you.}

"Thanks!"

The Augur was still as emotionless as ever but the Data I am after is important to some extent.

My job now was to look for Malyn who was probably in the deepest part of the star.

On the way, I happened to meet up with some with some ghastly remains and daedric vistages. Some of them were Dremora that seemed to be allied with Malyn but I got rid of them right away.

Malyn himself was found in a haggard state after being isolated by me for some time. He has clearly become madder than before.

From that time since I took the Broken Star from his cult, I have kept him sustained on some animals and white souls. These were far from enough but they kept his soul from pershing away.

Now his soul was in front of me cursing and screaming while calling his apprentices the 'trashes who can't hunt a prey.'

Once his soul saw mine, it turned into a berserk state and tried to devour me with its all. I only overpowered him with my sheer Magicka and kept him at bay for a few minutes until the Augur finished what he was doing.

{I have what you need.}

"We are off then."

I overpowered Malyn's soul further with only Magicka and it broke right away.

So weak!

At this point, Nelacar pulled me out.

***

"So, the Star cleansed itself?"

"Yes! You've changed the fate of a Daedric artifact and lived. Congratulations! And keep the damn thing, I'd rather put that chapter of my life behind."

"Thank you, Nelacar. If you ever want anything, you can find me right away. I will also notify my people to help you in any way they can."

I bid Nelacar farewell and left the inn in a hurry with the Black Star at my hand. It really has no use for me now so I'll just keep it as a trophy or whatever, after all, the real work starts now.

"Brother Augur, still with me?"

{Yes!}

"Can you please help me review the date from the 'White Phial' file and the date from the 'Black Star' file."

{Both the 'Sealing Enchantment' from the Black Star and the 'Absorption Enchantment' from the White Phial were analyzed. What kind of an Item you want to use on them?}

"... A Soul Gem!"

{Are you trying to create another Unbreakable Soul Gem? No… that makes no sense!}

"Fufu! So even you can be ignorant sometimes?"

{I am purely interested in what new ideas can an otherworlder like yourself can come up with!}

"Haha, you can't just admit it, can you?"

The Augur didn't replay and seemed to be inwardly cringing at me.

"Fine! My project right now is called the [Magicka Reactor]. By using part of the enchantment from the White Phial, that one that absorbs Pure Magicka from Heaven and Earth to convert it later into matter. I only took the Absorption part as you know. The other thing I needed was a material that was able enough to store Magicka and nothing can do that except…"

{A Soul Gem!}

"50 points for Gryffindor… I mean you are right. Anyway, I wasn't sure how will the Soul Gem react at first so I needed an insurance and that was a way to Seal the energies inside a Soul Gem which you kindly provided when we were at Azura's Star. What we lack are some Dwarven Metal Wires which I already asked Wulfur to make we will get to do our sweat research right away."

{... A Magicka Reactor, huh? That seems promising.}

"I know right… To be able to Absorb Magicka and store it from anywhere, this is exactly the function of the Human Flesh and how it provides the Astral Body and the Soul with Energies."

{It is indeed promising.}

"Sure, there will be no need to kill any creatures and people to trap their souls anymore. I dare to say that if we succeeded, then the age of Soul Trapping is coming to an end."

I couldn't help but make an evil laugh even though I was doing something not evil.

This will be Epic!

***

Winter is over but it is still snow in Winterhold.

A few weeks have passed since I started my damnable research. Jullanar and Wulfur have given up on me and took Nefertiti away. The last thing I heard was them was that they got invited by Alina to the Moonblade Clan.

I also receive an invitation but I will go join them once I am done.

More or less, I am done. Most of the prototypes are working but they overheat and explode. I need a material to prevent the soul gem from overheating and I sent a ship to Solstheim to get such a thing.

There was a material that was called the Stalhrim that can only be mined from there but it was expensive. The only way was to hire some people from the Skaal, a very old and respected hidden clan that has good relations with the Firemanes.

I hoped that everything goes smoothly but Ongeim got a bit late, he sent a word that there are some troubles in Solstheim and it is very hard to find the material we need.

The Stalhrim is a rare form of enchanted ice found only on the island on Solstheim. Throughout history, it has served various uses. Originally it was used in the burial rituals of ancient Nords. The deceased would be encased in the material as a form of protection, a privilege that was typically reserved for Nordic individuals. It has also served as a crafting material and, with the proper tools and techniques, can be used to create weapons, armor, clothing, and even jewelry.

Stalhrim armor, and sometimes called ice armor, can be light, medium, or heavy in weight. It is very protective and is often made with steel or quicksilver. Due to its innate properties, frost enchantments placed on items made of stalhrim are more potent which will serve me very well in fighting the overheating problem in the 'Magika Reactor'. Also, in its raw form, it can be used as an alchemical ingredient that induces paralysis and inflicts frost damage.

Stalhrim is often described as being hard as iron and impossible to break by conventional means. The only known way to mine it is with an ancient Nordic pickaxe, made from superior craftsmanship. It has been described as a rigid, blue-white crystalline metal, faceted yet smooth, and unnaturally cold to touch. Working with stalhrim is much like ebony smithing, and can only be performed by a skilled blacksmith.

This all made my life go a few times harder, the 'Magicka Reactor Project' is the hope of Winterhold and the Dare Dragon Company. It will be a new source of energy that can probably be better and cleaner than anything the modern Civilization of Earth came up with.

But good research time can't go smoothly unhindered. This morning, I received some terrible news…

Alina, Jullanar, Wulfur and Nefertiti, four of the most important people in my life, have all disappeared!