"Underground? Not saying it won't work but how? We'd get spotted miles out before we could get close enough to even start digging." Tolmen asked scratching his bald head in confusion.
I pointed at the stone below my feet and channeled [shape stone] to create a hole in the previously solid floor that I then close up seamlessly.
"Who said anything about digging?" I asked with a grin.
"Well Elendey?" Nahir asked looking at the Altmer woman.
"I can't say without casting the spell myself. For all I know it requires an absurd amount of magicka." she said with a huff.
I open a small portal to my storage plane and pull out the book of infinite torn pages. I casually open it, tear out a page and then put it back. With another thought the page in my hand is branded with the spell matrix for [shape stone].
"Knock yourself out." I say floating it over to her with [telekinesis].
She tentatively takes the page and looks it over before looking at me like I slapped her.
"This has to be a joke. This matrix is barely even apprentice level." she said flatly.
I chuckled "Of course it is. All it does is convince the earth to move. It's as rudimentary as alteration gets." I said amused.
"How has no one figured this out yet?" she asked with a look that said she was having a slight existential crisis.
"Who said no one did? I'm willing to bet a hefty sack of gold that there's been countless people across history who have. It's just so simple that it's easy to ignore in favor of ever more flashy or costly magics." I said frankly.
She looked at the page for a bit longer before focusing on the ground and casting the spell.
"It's like molding clay with hands I don't have." she muttered with a frown.
"It's just magicka control with an alteration skin. You can't turn the earth into something else but asking it to just reconfigure? Easy as waving your hand." I say with a grin.
"What's any of this mean for what he said?" Tolmen pressed impatiently.
"It means it'll work. Your mages will need a few potions so they don't run out of magicka but otherwise it's a perfectly actionable plan." I answered casually.
"He's right. With this spell and a few potions it'd be simple to tunnel under the ground and slip into the towns and cities without anyone knowing until we want them to." she said as she played with the spell.
"And you'd just give this to us? Just like that?" Nahir asked skeptically.
I shrugged "I don't like the Thalmor at all. The spell's nothing valuable, not really. Anyone with the right foundation could replicate it easily. So long as we can continue on our way it's a bargain." I said bluntly.
"He's right again. The spell is insultingly simple for how versatile it is." Elendey said as she closed up the stone and stopped messing with the spell.
"Why not stay and kill some of the bastards with us? It'd be an honor to fight beside a tongue like the legends of old." Tolmen asked with a smile.
I shook my head "The Thalmor deserve a culling aye but a graver threat rides the horizon. A prophecy of old set to come to pass soon in our homeland." I said seriously.
"A prophecy? Which one?" Nahir asked curiously.
"The return of the world eater, Alduin, and with him the dragons and end times." I said gravely.
Tolmen's smile vanished as he paled "Are you certain?" he asked.
"When misrule takes it's place at the eight corners of the world. When the brass tower walks and Time is reshaped. When the thrice blessed fail and the Red Tower trembles. When the Dragonborn ruler loses his throne, and the white tower falls. When the Snow tower lies sundered, kingless, bleeding. The World-eater wakes, and the Wheel turns upon the Last Dragonborn." The prophecy of Alduin's return in full. Only one single line remains unfulfilled and it's about Skyrim. I intend to be ready when the wyrm comes." I say firmly.
"This era really hasn't been kind it seems. First we lost the Septims and then the Thalmor and now the end times." Nahir said a little bitterly.
"No era is kind. Doesn't mean we don't fight for the future all the same. You don't see me rolling over do you? I might not be able to win but there's glory in trying all the same." I say firmly.
"Aye! Well said! If I weren't pledged to this cause I'd offer my arm to yours." Tolmen said patting me on the shoulder hard in approval.
"We can't offer much help against a threat we can't see yet but I'll message the other resistance leaders to try." Nahir promised.
"If you really want to help, there's an alliance in the works. Hammerfell, Skyrim and Morrowwind. A solid block in the north to cede from the empire and drive the Thalmor out. Throw your support there and you'll be making my cause easier ten-fold. " I say seriously.
"We've heard rumors from our people in the forebears courts. We weren't certain they could be trusted or if it was another trick by the Thalmor." Elendey said surprised.
"I understand. It sounds too good to be true. Ulfric is the one spearheading this endeavor and has already got initial agreement from the noble houses of Morrowwind however." I revealed.
"Truly? It's common knowledge Ulfric is dissatisfied with the empire but none of the tales paint him as the sort to plan something like this." Nahir pointed out.
"He's not the architect of this plan true but he is still the one pushing for it the hardest." I say not denying that points validity.
"Do you know who is the architect?" Elendey asked "It would be best to ascertain their motivations before we throw our weight behind the endeavor." she added.
"I do know. How could I not when it's me?" I said with a chuckle.