With the raw materials of Skyrim's magic and the power of the Dragon Souls in his grasp, Aurelian retreated to a hidden laboratory he had excavated within the ruins of Blackreach. Surrounded by the hum of Dwemer machinery and the glow of giant mushrooms, he began his most ambitious project: The Grand Synthesis.
He wasn't just going to learn these spells; he was going to Enchant his very existence.
The Synthesis of Blood and Steel
Using the Enchanting table he had modified with Arithmantic runes, Aurelian began to craft a new set of gear. He didn't use mere iron or steel. He used Aetherium and dragon bone.
He created a set of inner-robes enchanted with Fortify Magicka and Fortify Destruction, reducing the cost of his spells to nearly zero. He enchanted his bracers with Regenerate Health and Magic Resistance, making him nearly immune to the elemental outbursts of this world.
But the centerpiece was the Soul Trap enchantment. He applied it to a new set of silver daggers, designed to harvest the essence of any being they touched. He looked at the Horcruxes in his soul-space. Using the knowledge of Soul Magic, he began to experiment on the Diary. He realized he could "re-soul" the fragment, stabilizing it using the energy of a captured Dragon Soul.
He was no longer just containing Voldemort; he was repurposing him as a battery for his own magical output.
The Silent Harvest
While Aurelian labored over the metaphysical geometry of the Grand Synthesis, he did not allow his physical presence in Skyrim to go underutilized. He deployed a specialized Sustained Echo—a clone imbued with just enough of his cognitive sharpness and a vastly expanded reach—to act as a biological harvester across the province. While the Prime Aurelian hummed Tonal melodies in the depths of Blackreach, the Echo was a blur of motion across the tundras and peaks, systematically capturing the very essence of Skyrim's ecology. From the crystalline Ice Wraiths of the Pale to the bioluminescent Chaurus of the deep, every creature was subdued and dematerialized, their physical forms converted into pure informational constructs. One by one, they were shunted into Aurelian's Soul Space, where they were stored in a state of suspended animation within partitioned sub-dimensions. By the time the clone collapsed back into his primary essence, Aurelian's internal landscape was a sprawling, silent menagerie of every dragon, Falmer, and forest beast in the realm—a living library of magical DNA ready to be unleashed at a moment's notice.
The Master of the Song
Aurelian spent the next several months mastering the high-tier shouts. Dragonrend allowed him to force the immortal dragons to understand mortality—a concept he found poetically similar to his own time in the void. Storm Call gave him command over the atmosphere, allowing him to summon lightning that rivaled the power of Balthazar's world.
He practiced Slow Time in conjunction with his Lightning Bolt spells. To an outside observer, Aurelian would simply stand still while a dozen enemies were struck by lightning simultaneously, their bodies turning to ash before they could even perceive his movement.
He achieved Thu'um Mastery, realizing that he no longer needed to shout. He could hum the words under his breath, the vibrations of his soul carrying the intent. He had reached a point where he was no longer a mage casting spells; he was a Tonal Architect rewriting the laws of the world in real-time.
The Return Preparation
As his time in Skyrim drew to a close, Aurelian stood atop the ruins of Skuldafn. He had absorbed a dozen dragon souls and mastered every school of magic. He felt his heart—the cold, fractured thing—pulsing with a new kind of heat. It wasn't the heat of human emotion, not yet, but it was the heat of Creation.
He pulled out his tablet and checked the "Potter-Verse" status. His clone was currently sitting in the Great Hall, eating a shepherd's pie and laughing with Ron. The Diary was missing, but the world was still stable.
Aurelian looked at his hands. One held the Portal Gun, the other crackled with Chain Lightning. He had integrated:
● Destruction & Restoration: Total elemental and biological control.
● Conjuration & Illusion: Mastery over souls and the minds of men.
● The Thu'um: The power to command reality with a breath.
● Enchanting: The ability to imbue objects with permanent, god-like traits.
"I have the power to destroy Tom Riddle," Aurelian said to the wind. "But why destroy a resource when you can transform it?"
He set the coordinates for the Burrow. He needed to see Molly. He needed to remember why he was doing this. The power was intoxicating, but without the "Anchor" of his adoptive family, he knew he would drift back into the void of nihilism.
He pulled the trigger. The green rift opened, the smell of Hogwarts' damp stone and the Burrow's cooking pumpkin pie wafting through.
Aurelian stepped through, the Dovahkiin hiding inside the skin of a fourteen-year-old boy. The Fourth year of Hogwarts was about to get much more interesting.
The Architect was back, and he had learned how to Shout.