Once Content . Once , we were great . Once , our battlereeves were masters of warfare , and our sapiarchs were wise and learned . Once , we ruled all High Rock from the Eltheric Ocean to the mountains of Wrothgar , and the Nedes were our thralls and concubines . Once , Direnni Cygnus , the Swan of Tyrigel , discovered Balfiera and its Tower and claimed it for her own , decreeing that all of her clan who came after would bear her name . Once , the art of Alchemy was all but undefined , until Asliel Direnni compiled his " Compendious Almanac of Reagents , " and was invited to join the first Psijics on Artaeum . Once , before Raven Direnni and her " Rules of Eldritch Binding , " all Enchanting was unique , and enchantments failed nineteen times out of twenty . Once , during the Alessian Reforms , Ryan Direnni stood up to the entire Empire . His Breton Legions , armed and commanded by Direnni Elves , controlled all the land as far east as Markarth and Elinhir . The Orc - hold of Orsinium has been sacked many times , but we Direnni sacked it first . Once , at the Battle of Glenumbria Moors , Aiden Direnni ' s vastly outnumbered troops routed the entire Alessian Horde , then chased them back to Cyrodiil . Once , before Corvus Direnni codified the rules of Conjuration , every summoning of even a minor Daedra was an act to be feared and avoided . Once , Peregrine Direnni drove an entire Ra Gada flotilla back to Sentinel by merging her very will with the waves of the Iliac Bay . Once , in a single day , Pelladil Direnni built Blackrose Prison from the scattered rubble of Lilmothiit ruins by summoning an army of Stone Atronach s . Yes , we were great once . But no matter what our individual achievements , every Direnni since Cygnus has been eaten from within by failure . Because we cannot solve the mystery of the Zero Stone , and use it to open the Argent Aperture which it wards . At maturity , every Direnni of high blood is brought into the Tower , conducted to the Foundation Vault , and shown the Zero Stone . We are allowed to touch it — once — so as to feel the transcendent mystical power that courses through it , a power we have never been able to tap . And we are shown the Argent Aperture in the adjacent metallic wall , that door with its lock of thirteen slowly counter - rotating rings , a portal we have never been able to open . And we console ourselves that if we Direnni have never been able to siphon the Stone or unlock the Aperture , well then certainly , neither could anyone else . We return to the world above , and we do something spectacular — so we will not have to face our failure . But once , as our lives near their ends , each of us gathers together all our knowledge , the fruits of all our achievements , and once more makes that descent to the Foundation Vault . To try it . Just once . Most are found within a day or two , dead and horribly distorted . Some , like my darling Heron , live on though terribly disfigured , too brain - blasted to understand what has happened to them . Me ? I keep to our chambers in the Tourmaline Steeple , caring for Heron by day , and translating Ayleid tomes in the library by night . And it ' s a good enough life , too . Though sometimes , when working on an ancient grimoire or librus magus I question whether the arcane writings of our long - lost cousins are not better left a mystery . But then I think , is not all knowledge useful for something ? And I think , what might this knowledge be useful for ? And I think I might take that long walk downstairs . Just once .