I am Lena Wolf, Lena's life as it happens Options

[Lena Wolf]

Morning Star, 3E411 - Life in death

"Get him out of here," Evka said to Lucanis. "His wrists don't stop bleeding and I don't think there's any blood left in him to give away. And yet he won't stop."

"There are still people needing his help," Lucanis watched Anders slit his wrist again converting his blood into healing magic. "He will keep going until he collapses..."

"My point exactly," Evka nodded. "Get him out of here."

...

"But I still have patients waiting!" Anders was protesting but Lucanis put his arm around his shoulders and firmly led him away.

"Give the other healers a chance to be useful too," he joked.

"This Blight is different - the wounds don't heal properly!" Anders was saying with worry. "And that includes my wrists..."

"Which is why you should stop cutting yourself for today," Lucanis opened the door to their room, ushered Anders in and closed the door behind them. "I shall not insist that you eat now, I think sleep is more important. Let's get you to bed."

Anders didn't need convincing - he was collapsing. Lucanis caught him and put him on the bed.

"Gone too far again," he shook his head.

"Eh? No, I'm not dead yet," Anders came to. "But yeah... tired." He undressed and got into bed. "Join me."

It was late and they'd had a long and hard day, and Lucanis too was tired. As soon as he got into bed, Anders kissed him passionately.

"I thought you were tired," Lucanis was surprised. "I know I am."

"And I need you to rise above it. Hurt me."

"WHAT?!"

"Hurt me," Anders repeated. "Put your gentle manner aside and hurt me."

"What are you asking? Why?" Lucanis lost all sleepiness, this was more than strange.

"When I was a healer in Kirkwall," Anders looked serious. "I didn't do it for money. My patients couldn't pay and I never asked. You know what I did to earn some coin..." He gave Lucanis a long look and Lucanis nodded. "Well... it was then that I discovered that one pain can heal another. My wrists..."

"You want me to make you bleed elsewhere in order to heal your wrists?!" Lucanis shook his head vigorously.

"Precisely," Anders smiled.

"No," Lucanis said firmly. "I won't do it. I love you, I am not one of those men. There are other ways, Linus," he said softly. "Now we sleep, and in the morning I'll make you the largest omelette you've ever seen, I think we even have ham in the kitchen..." He stopped talking, realising that Anders passed out again. His wrists were still bleeding, if only slightly. This Blight was not like the others.

...

The following morning Lucanis insisted that Anders should refrain from healing for a day and actually eat that large omelette that he had promised him the night before. They didn't mention the other part of their conversation as if it never happened, but they both knew that of course it did.

In the afternoon a young Warden whom Anders had never seen before, came running to the Keep.

"Anders! Warden Anders!" He called. "Oh, there you are... Alistair wants you at the Head Quarters straight away," he delivered his message in a rush. "We just got here from Ferelden... yeah, I'm a recent recruit... you don't know me but I sure know you..." He had to stop talking to catch his breath. "Anyway... no, it's not an emergency," he shook his head, seeing a question in Anders' eyes. "But still, please come immediately. It's important."

"That's just as well," Lucanis nodded. "Neve still doesn't know what to do next and the Wardens here need to heal. Come on, I am sure Harding will send a message if anything changes," he added in a hushed voice.

...

When they arrived at the Head Quarters, they found a sizeable group of Ferelden Wardens making themselves at home in the dormitories, and Anders instantly felt at ease with so many familiar faces around. He went looking for Alistair whom he found in conversation with Roderik, the one Warden staying at the Head Quarters who could still walk.

"There have been strange sightings," Roderik was saying. "It's darkspawn but it's different. Deliberate, intelligent even - nothing like what we've seen before."

"Does that sound familiar?" Alistair turned to Anders. "You were with Wolf when you discovered this new kind of intelligent darkspawn just after the last Blight..."

"Yes, but what Roderik is describing, is even more intelligent than that..." Anders shook his head. "Who reported the sightings?"

"He died this morning," Roderik looked down. "An old Warden, he had gone to the Deep Roads... he'd had plenty of fights and was badly wounded, but then he found this new darkspawn and instead of pressing on and seeking relief in battle, he turned back and came here to warn us... but his wounds got him in the end."

"Peace be with him now," Anders said softly. "But we must act on this. He thought it was important, we should go and see."

"And you've got Roderik's map with Deep Roads entrances," Alistair pointed out. "Are you fit to fight? You look rather... err... under the weather." Alistair tried to be diplomatic and everyone smiled at his failed attempt.

"He has been doing too much healing," Lucanis jacked one of Anders' sleeves. The cuts were still raw, although the bleeding finally stopped.

"The wounds don't heal very well," Avernus walked up to them. "These cuts are from yesterday, yes? They should have been covered over, ready to resume... but you're not ready by any stretch of imagination..." He stopped talking as Anders glared. "Oh my boy, remember who put you back together time and time again..." Avernus smiled. "This reminds me of why you became a Warden. No magic and no potion could stop the taint from spreading... Nothing except the Joining Cup."

"Becoming a Warden is not a cure," Anders shook his head.

"No, but an Archdemon's blood that is a part of the mixture, does appear to be different from plain darkspawn blood. It gives you life, even if ultimately it kills you."

"Well, we did fight an Archdemon..." Anders rubbed his chin. "We all got its blood sprayed onto us, I am sure... But what does this mean?"

"That it is reacting to the Archdemon's blood that you had ingested during the Joining? And that they are at odds with each other?" Avernus looked at Anders searching. "I couldn't really tell..."

"We should investigate," Anders concluded. "Who's with me?"

...

No, they could not persuade him to stay behind. The best they could do was make him promise to forego blood magic and give his wrists a rest even at the expense of the power of his spells. Lucanis looked grim and resigned to stay close, vividly remembering the conversation from the night before. This new pain was not going to heal the pain that Anders already carried.

They noted several entrances to the Deep Roads on Roderik's map and decided to head for the one closest to the old Grey Wardens Vault. That area was remarkably free of blighted boils which, according to Anders, did not bode well. Non-Wardens could not see the logic of that, but Wardens all nodded in agreement. The absence of blighted boils meant that even more powerful darkspawn was holding that area.

"Plus, we've never actually gone to the Vaults themselves," Anders pointed out. "We got side-tracked by those boils!"

They assembled a group of half a dozen Wardens in addition to Dorian, Emmrich and Lucanis who did not let anyone to talk them out of going. If Anders was not allowed to use blood magic, he needed other mages with him to make sure his wrists remained uncut. It was already late afternoon, but it would be dark in the caverns at any time of day, and everyone was too high strung to sleep anyway. They set off without delay.

They reached the Vaults without any noteworthy resistance and dismantled the traps guarding the gates. Anders was shaking his head in disbelief - those traps weren't that hard to remove, how could Grey Wardens Vaults be only protected by something as flimsy as that? The answer was waiting for them as soon as they pushed the old doors open - they faced a fully grown griffon poised to kill them.

The Wardens froze, Anders included. Grey Wardens did not fight griffons. On the contrary, griffons had been Grey Wardens' allies since the beginning of the Blight, they had a natural ability to sense darkspawn and they slayed it ferociously. Unfortunately, griffons had all but died out after the Fourth Blight, and no one knew exactly why. There were still a few of them in the wilds of the Anderfels here and there, but only a few and they were no longer serving in Grey Warden ranks. The griffon facing them however was digging in aggressively, ready to attack.

"Wardens!" A hoarse yet clear voice was heard in the fortress, undoubtedly magically amplified. "Welcome, Wardens! Welcome home! Come join us in our eternal vigil at this old fort!"

The Wardens snapped out of their shock and exchanged glances, everyone waiting for Anders to act.

"Who are you?" Anders asked, looking around. The griffon was still angrily flapping its wings but did not attack.

"I have been the Keeper of these Vaults since the Fourth Blight," the voice replied. "You have nothing to fear. Come and join us!"

If it was a trap, it certainly was impressively authentic. A Keeper of the Vaults since the Fourth Blight? But the Fourth Blight was over four hundred years ago... even Avernus wasn't that old.

"Are you a spirit?" Anders asked, walking slowly and looking at huge cabinets lining the walls. Some had solid doors but others were only blocked off by bars. Strange artefacts were seen there, and many, many bones. Something about those bones was familiar... the shape, the size...

"These are bones of old Archdemons," someone realised. "The marrow is used in the Joining Cup... it's as good as blood."

"A nearly unlimited supply of Archdemon blood for the Joining," another Warden nodded.

"I am not a spirit!" The voice answered Anders' question. "I am a Grey Warden!"

They pushed the doors at the other end of the hall and entered a vast cavern, and there in the fog they saw the Head Quarters fortress, completely intact.

"Well, I didn't expect to find this here," Lucanis said what everyone thought. "How is this possible?"

"Wardens! Welcome home!" The voice said again and several figures stepped out of the fog. As they approached, Grey Warden crests on their armour became visible, yet with every step they took, the Wardens that were with Anders, grew more and more restless.

"Darkspawn!" One of them said in a worried voice. "These are not Wardens, this is darkspawn!"

"Wardens! Join us!" The voice spoke again. "You are tainted by the same Blight as we are! We have drunk your blood as you drink ours! Join us in our eternal vigil!"

"Darkspawn impersonating Grey Wardens?" Avernus shook his head in disbelief. "If someone had told me about this, I'd have thought they went mad..."

"We are not impersonating Grey Wardens, Avernus!" The voice sounded slightly hurt. "We are Grey Wardens! But I shall forgive you this misunderstanding. Ever since the Fourth Blight we have been gathering here, building the Head Quarters fortress so we'd have a place to call home... We are Grey Wardens who refused to die in the Deep Roads, for Blight is life! The song carries us forth!"

"This is more than a little confusing..." Dorian shuddered. "What do we do, Anders?"

While they were talking, several blighted Wardens approached them from the fog. They still looked mostly human, but their skin was completely blighted and their eyes had the same red glow that is often seen in actual darkspawn. Yet they were alive... They stood there, as if waiting for a command.

"This is darkspawn!" Anders proclaimed loudly. "We fight!" He attacked the nearest blighted Warden, and all the others attacked too, it was a fight of Warden against Warden, the worst kind one could imagine.

"You made the wrong choice, Wardens!" The voice shouted angrily. "Your lives end here!"

The battle was nothing short of overwhelming. The blighted Wardens were fewer in number, but they were stronger and more resilient than the living Wardens, easily winning even when outnumbered. Several Ferelden Wardens fell, but the others redoubled their efforts and evened out the odds, yet the losses were felt keenly. The battle was not going well.

"I have to help, I need power!" Anders took out his dagger and rolled up his sleeve.

"No, we need you tomorrow as well as today!" Emmrich quickly snatched his dagger and threw it away. "Leave it to me."

He started incanting a complex spell, with magical energy lighting up the fog around him. He raised his arms and several dead Wardens rose from the ground and joined the fight.

"What?!" Someone noticed what he did. "A necromancer!!!"

But the battle was too hot to consider moral implications of this. Raised Wardens fought well under Emmrich's control and together with the living, they finally defeated the blighted Wardens.

"You raised our fallen comrades!" One of the Wardens flew at Emmrich in anger. "Necromancer!!!"

"Err... yes... I am a necromancer..." Emmrich seemed genuinely surprised. "Of the Mourn Watch in Nevarra... oh... I see... I haven't considered..."

"He meant no disrespect!" Dorian stepped between the angry Warden and Emmrich. "He is Nevarran. It is their tradition. It is considered an honour to reanimate a fallen warrior like that!"

"And we did finally win," Anders joined in. "Without our fallen friends joining us again, that would not have been possible!"

Emotions ran high and it took Dorian and Anders all their persuasive powers to avoid another battle then and there. Eventually the Wardens cooled off.

"You have to promise us that their spirits were not affected!" They demanded.

"Of course they are not affected!" Emmrich rolled his eyes. "Their spirits have already departed! All I've done is reanimate their remains, they are nothing but bodies, flesh, they are no longer your friends! It is a really barbaric tradition to burn perfectly good bodies, they can be reused for..."

"Don't push it," Dorian cut him off. "These Wardens are Ferelden. They cremate their dead. Reanimating dead bodies is considered a desecration in their tradition... in everyone's tradition, except Nevarran, in fact..."

"He must promise to never raise Wardens again!" Someone shouted and everyone joined in.

"Oh alright, I promise!" Emmrich gave in. "But am I allowed to raise fallen darkspawn at least?"

"Darkspawn you can raise," the Wardens agreed. "As long as it's away from us!"

With the tensions thus calmed, it was time to take a closer look at the blighted Wardens that they had defeated. Were they darkspawn or were they really old Wardens twisted and consumed by the Blight? And just how old were they?

[Renee]

Hauk is in Hatmandor, Two Worlds II, this is. One of these days, Lena... I'll play me some Two Worlds.

Whoa, the Captain immediately wants Hauk on a job. That was quick. Medieval life was such a different world, even outside of High Fantasy.

Reesa seems shady. It's like she already knows about this package he's got. Uh oh...

http://chorrol.com/forums/index.php?s=&...st&p=341045

[Lena Wolf]

Well, Reesa knows everything. She's got the boss' ear... as well as other parts... She's very... talented. But you'll see. That's one heck of a gal.

[Lena Wolf]

Morning Star, 3E411 - Wardens of old

"I can't tell what we're looking at," Anders shook his head, having examined a corpse of a blighted Warden that they just defeated. "He's completely consumed by the Blight. He was human once, he was born a human, he wasn't produced by a broodmother."

"Agreed," Avernus nodded. "He is not first degree darkspawn... But I've never seen humans so badly consumed... Isn't he supposed to be dead?"

"We don't know," Anders said slowly, getting up from the ground. "I treated a lot of blighted people, humans and elves both, even some quanari. They all get so much pain that they either want to die or join Grey Wardens. I haven't seen anyone who chose to live like this..." He sighed. "I have never seen anyone try."

"I can attest to the pain," Avernus smirked. "Although my taint is no where near as advanced as this, or as advanced as the people you are talking about. Yes, yes, I know, I am over three hundred years old... ageing slowed and flesh preserved by magical means... and I hear the song loud and clear, it is really getting on my nerves now. But apart from that... I wonder..." He paused and rubbed his chin. "Walk with me," he said to Anders in a hushed voice.

They walked far enough to be out of earshot of the others, in particularly the other Wardens. What Avernus had to say would have been a shock, and he didn't think they needed to hear it then and there.

"Of course, I am a Grey Warden and not just a blighted person like those you treated," he said. "I had ingested Archdemon's blood during the Joining. I believe that is the key. That is why I am alive. The magic I used to slow down ageing, is nothing special. Just common rejuvenation spells. But I did research into our taint, I made some extracts, some elixirs, I tested a lot of that on myself... The final result was a success, you know of it, Wolf drank it and it gave him powers exactly because he too had Archdemon's blood in him. I was ready to prepare more but no one else wants to drink it... One Joining Cup is enough, they say," he smirked.

"So what you are saying is that these are in fact Grey Wardens," Anders looked at the corpses of the blighted Wardens. "But without your elixirs."

"Yes," Avernus nodded. "If I hadn't been drinking those mixtures all these years, I would have looked like them, I reckon... But I cannot be certain I would have been alive. Grey Wardens are not immortal."

"The Keeper said they drank our blood," Anders suddenly remembered something that didn't make sense. "Grey Warden blood... It's not an elixir of course, but..."

"It could have countered the Blight," Avernus nodded. "I mean, they are blighted beyond recognition, and yet they function, they speak, they act with deliberation... all those things that darkspawn cannot do."

"And they are darkspawn through and through," Anders rubbed his forehead. "I just can't get my head around it. We all sense them - they are darkspawn."

"But what is darkspawn, really?" Avernus squinted. "They are beings with severely tainted blood. It's the same taint as ours, there's just more of it. So what we sense in these blighted Wardens, is the level of their taint. We cannot actually sense whether they are first degree darkspawn or whether they were born human."

"May be we should not have fought them then..." Anders looked uneasy.

"No, we should have," Avernus said firmly. "I agree with your decision. They are darkspawn. Grey Wardens eliminate darkspawn. They are Grey Wardens no longer, they serve the Blight."

"Who is this Keeper, I wonder?" Anders thought of the voice they've heard. "A mage? Seems likely. A mage Grey Warden from the Fourth Blight... And what's with the fully grown griffon? There was something odd about it..."

"Ah, you noticed," Avernus smiled. "Of course we hardly ever see fully grown griffons since we don't keep them in our ranks. Those few hatchlings that we sometimes keep... they are released when they grow up. It's a symbol now rather than an ally."

"Yes, I noticed something odd about that griffon, and I don't mean the fact that it was an adult specimen," Anders returned to the matter at hand. "What do you think that was?"

"It is blighted."

"I didn't want to believe it... but I thought so too," Anders nodded.

"It was blighted deliberately," Avernus added gravely. "Griffons are immune to the taint. They can fight darkspawn, they can eat darkspawn flesh and not become blighted as humans would be. But Archdemon's blood is different... I reckon someone injected Archdemon's blood directly into the griffon's veins..."

"But with what purpose..?" Anders looked baffled.

"To make it stronger," Avernus looked up. "Blighted Wardens are much stronger now than they've been when they were still human. The griffon must be the same."

"We've got to find the Keeper," Anders said decisively. "Try to reason with him... her... I could not tell by the voice..."

"The Keeper might fight us," Avernus looked concerned. "There are likely more blighted Wardens around. Possibly more griffons. And if the Keeper commands them to fight..."

"We'll die here," Anders nodded. "But do you have a better idea?"

"Don't go all at once?" Avernus smiled. "Let me go. I am already old. If I die... I've written down everything worth knowing, my notes are in the tower at Soldier's Peak... you know, that big cupboard behind the desk..."

"Stop that, Avernus!" Anders shook his head vigorously. "We both go. The rest must stay back. I'll tell Dorian."

"Lucanis won't stay behind."

"Lucanis... he must. I promised his grandmother he would survive. This is too dangerous."

"I think you don't know Lucanis very well if you think he'll agree," Avernus grinned.

"Agree to what?" Lucanis caught the end of the phrase as Anders and Avernus rejoined the others.

"Avernus and I will go into this replica Head Quarters Fortress in search of the Keeper. Everyone else, including you, must stay behind. If we don't return within a few hours..."

"Out of the question!" Lucanis and Dorian said in unison. "You are not going alone."

"We must find the Keeper," Anders looked at them in turn. "The Keeper is bound to be very powerful, and there likely to be more blighted Wardens there, we will not be able to defeat them if they choose to fight, not even with Emmrich's necromancy. We will all die there. This cannot be permitted. So... in case the Keeper does not want to talk... Avernus and I will go, and if we die, then only two of us will be dead. The rest of you must return to Alistair and he will carry on. Dorian, you are to lead the party back if we do not return."

"I cannot let you go without me, you know that," Lucanis said softly, taking Anders aside. "You need me. You need Spite."

"I promised your grandmother you would survive. You cannot go," Anders shook his head.

"Caterina... she will understand," Lucanis sighed. "The point is however that with me around we both might survive."

Avernus was right, Lucanis was not going to stay behind. Anders sighed but had to accept the inevitable. He told Dorian everything they discovered and explained why they needed to find the Keeper. The other Wardens didn't insist on learning every detail, most of them already guessed what it was. They were tired after the battle, they grieved their fallen comrades and the Blight song was too loud in their heads... bad news could wait until they were back. And so, Anders, Avernus and Lucanis entered the replica Head Quarters fortress in search of the Keeper.

...

"This is incredible," Anders was wandering through the halls as no one stopped them yet. "This building is exactly like the original... oh look - the dungeons."

"Why do Grey Wardens even need dungeons in their own fortress?" Lucanis was looking into the cells noting that they appeared to have seen some use. "I mean, whom are you locking up?"

"Well, the First Warden wanted to have me locked up..." Anders grinned. "But normally it's just used for those Wardens who are too drunk and rowdy to stay at the dorms... We don't actually take prisoners," he winked.

"You can't have a fortress without a dungeon, and so this one also has it," Avernus dismissed the topic. "I am more interested in why we have so far not been challenged."

"There's movement in the building and I sense darkspawn, so I assume it's more blighted Wardens," Anders nodded. "But they are staying out of sight. Hmm. Let's try the central courtyard."

They walked out onto a large square courtyard completely enclosed by the walls of the fortress. An adult griffon was relaxing in the middle of it, and a strange being was stroking its feathers.

"Welcome, Wardens, I am the Keeper," the being said. Looking closely, they realised that it was a human or an elf completely consumed by the Blight. It was but a skeleton covered in dry and withered skin; it wore a very old and frayed robe that turned into strips from decay. The being's head was crowned in somehing that looked like a support rather than a decorative piece. It seemed to have completely fused with the skull. Yet the being moved with fluidity and ease that were surprising in a skeleton, and its eyes were not just red with the Blight, they were glowing. This being was clearly a mage.

"We fought your Wardens just now, and yet you welcome us again?" Avernus spoke. "Who are you? Who were you, perhaps, before the Blight took over? You are completely consumed!"

"I welcome you because I believe the fight was but a misunderstanding," the Keeper replied. "I am... I was a Grey Warden, like you. I served during the Fourth Blight, my name is Ishala."

"Ishala? The mage? The elven mage in charge of the griffons?" Avernus looked up. "There are records... you were supposed to be dead..."

"As all the other Wardens here," Ishala nodded. "But the Blight gave us life."

"Giving in to the Blight... that's the opposite of what we stand for," Anders said quietly. "What happened?"

"What happened?" Ishala gave a short laugh. "Oh, I believe there are no records of that! Or at least not for everyone's eyes... the archives... you have to search the archives... they are still intact, yes? There are many records there that you have never seen." Ishala turned away from them for a few moments, stroking the feathers of the griffon again. "I had to stay alive. I had to take care of the griffons. It is our fault that they are extinct."

"Not completely, but close," Anders nodded. "We take hatchlings sometimes... then release them when they mature."

"I hid the eggs... then took them to the most remote corners of the Anderfels... I hoped the griffons would survive. It seems they did," she looked at them with an expression that resembled a smile. "During the Fourth Blight... I blighted the griffons."

"What?!" Anders nearly jumped but Avernus kept him back.

"It was an order," Ishala continued. "We were losing to the Blight... We lost many battles, many Wardens, many griffons... The Blight was exceptionally strong... The Archdemon... was invincible..." She shook her head. "Not really invincible of course, but too powerful for the likes of us. And we had griffons! I commend you for having defeated the Fifth Blight without griffons... and with problems, too, I hear..."

"Wolf and Alistair defeated the Blight," Anders nodded, calming down. "Gathered allies from all over Thedas... Just two Wardens..."

"Incredible," Ishala agreed. "But here you see what can be done with determination. And in my time the First Warden gave the order to blight the griffons so as to make them stronger. He did not see another way. I disagreed, I protested, it was so very wrong... But Grey Wardens will do anything and everything in order to defeat the Blight, and everything else we tried up to that point, had failed..." She sighed and shook her head. "And then I obeyed the order. I injected Archdemon blood into the veins of every griffon in our ranks. It helped - we defeated the Blight. And then the troubles began."

"The griffons went mad hearing the song," Avernus said softly. "They turned on the Wardens."

"Yes," Ishala looked at him. "Have you read about this?"

"No, I guessed."

"We had to kill each and every griffon." Ishala turned towards the griffon again, stroking its feathers and it looked at her and put its head under her hand.

"But this griffon..?" Anders was looking into its eyes, seeing the Blight staring back at him.

"I saved some," Ishala said quietly. "Not all of them went mad, the Blight progressed at different rates... I was too late for most of them... but I worked out how to calm them in the end. But of course they could not be released."

"Grey Warden blood?" Avernus too was looking at the griffon. "Counter taint with taint?"

"Exactly," Ishala nodded. "You've done something like that as well, Avernus," she turned to him. "I know of your research. We... have agents."

"Darkspawn?" Anders gave her a long look. "Darkspawn that can talk and reason?"

"But what is darkspawn?" Ishala pinned him with her piercing gaze. "I am darkspawn by your definition. This griffon is darkspawn. My Wardens are darkspawn too. So what of the first degree darkspawn who changed? You met some... are they all that different from you and me?"

"There is a difference," Anders said firmly. "I can feel it in my bones."

"The song has not overwhelmed him yet," Avernus turned to Ishala. "I, on the other hand, am so much closer to it... I hear the Call of the Black City... I hear but I do not obey."

"That is why Wardens are meant to die in the Deep Roads when the song is getting loud," Ishala nodded. "In order to make sure they do not submit to the song. Because blighted Wardens serve the Blight, they are Grey Wardens no longer..."

"You know all this, you understand all this..." Lucanis spoke in a hissing voice and Anders wasn't sure whether it was Lucanis or Spite speaking. "And yet you continue serving the Blight."

"But what is the alternative?" Ishala turned to him. "What will become of my griffons if I were to die?"

No one had an answer to that. Perhaps that question did not have a suitable answer.

"There is a Blight on - the Sixth Blight," Anders suddenly changed the topic. "I expect you know. Two old elven gods have escaped from their prison in the Fade and aim to destroy the world. One of those gods allegedly invented the Blight. We have to kill them."

"Yes, her return is the reason for the rise of this Blight," Ishala nodded. "But she is no longer in charge... She can alter it but she no longer controls it. The Blight is like a disease... it exists all of itself. But you know that, I suppose. You've killed the Archdemons, and you will kill those gods, but the Blight won't stop. Grey Wardens will be needed forever more."

"We will leave you be," Avernus took another look at the resting griffon. "We shall leave and close the Vaults. You will not be disturbed again."

"But I am a Grey Warden still," Ishala said firmly. "Or rather, I still remember what it was like being a Grey Warden. I shall help you. Defeating the Blight is what we do. When these two gods are slain, the Blight will retreat again, it will search for a new leader, a new Archdemon. You have to suppress it this time like every other time before." She looked at them with fiery, glowing eyes. "I know where to find the goddess. But the other one..."

"The other one is connected to Fen'Harel," Spite materialised among them. "Only Fen'Harel knows where he is."

They kept talking for a while longer, discussing strategies to use against the goddess, against the new Blight that rose since she returned. And then Anders, Avernus and Lucanis bid Ishala and her griffon goodbye and left their fortress, leading away the rest of their party. The Grey Warden Vaults would be sealed again, for the artefacts they contained were to be left undisturbed forever more.

"The goddess of the Blight is next," Alistair nodded when they told him what transpired. "Do you want to get the Wardens from the Keep? I'm sure they'll come running, Neve has no say in these matters."

"No, leave them be, I think," Anders shook his head. "Leave them alive. After the goddess, we still have two more elven gods to defeat."

"Two?" Dorian looked up. "Oh..."

"Solas is not walking away from this either," Anders nodded. "The fight is only just beginning."


~~~~~~~~

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Feb 7 2025, 01:54 AM

[Renee]

Cool, Lena is back with Hauk again. I see, so Hauk was telling a story that whole time, ha ha, guess I missed that!

They're looking for an artefact in the basement of some dwelling. Where are they? Says a friendly inn. Whoa, she's not going in the crack in the wall?? Why not?

"Oh why not?" Hauk agrees.

[censored], that's right, she's carrying. Pregnant. Plus, she spoke to Sithis.

topping up her goblet with the better Tamika wine

Tamika's > Surilies in this fiction, I see. 🍷 Everyone thinks different, right? I once had a character who even preferred Cheap Wine! Anyway, she's getting married to Lucien, as well. Lots of events on the horizon.

"I'll be around for as long as you want me, I am not backing away, but I am not your man

Interesting.

[Lena Wolf]

topping up her goblet with the better Tamika wine

Tamika's > Surilies in this fiction, I see. 🍷 Everyone thinks different, right? I once had a character who even preferred Cheap Wine!

There's no accounting for taste. However, Tamika is better than Surilies also in the game - just check the stats and the price!

"I'll be around for as long as you want me, I am not backing away, but I am not your man

Interesting.

She chose Lucien. Therefore Hauk is not her man. Simple male logic.

[Lena Wolf]

Morning Star, 3E411 - The goddess

"Ishala said that the goddess made herself a home in the first section of the Deep Roads just to the West of the Vaults," Anders was pointing at a spot on Roderik's map. "It is a large cavern, not unlike the one where they built that replica fortress. The goddess is apparently working on the Blight again."

"Not surprising," Alistair nodded. "She probably has a laboratory and she certainly has a lot of darkspawn."

"Blighted boils, I reckon," Anders nodded.

"Remember what those blighted boils could do to you," Lucanis looked at Anders and Dorian. "They can control mages. Last time all of you were taken to the Fade."

"Last time we were asleep," Emmrich spoke up. "But yes, the danger is clearly present. They may not knock us out immediately, but it will be a bother..."

"We'll need a warrior next to every mage," Anders decided. "Don't stray too far... we're in your hands."

"But what do we do if you get knocked out?" One of the Wardens looked unsure. "How do we stop the influence of the Blight?"

"Err... I don't know," Anders had to admit. "Improvise. Call someone if you're unsure..."

"Who helped you last time?" The Warden squinted.

"Last time..." Anders shot a glance at Lucanis, it was his story and Anders didn't want to be the one telling it.

"Last time I used Spite to go into the Fade to fight the Blight there," Lucanis said somewhat uneasily. "Spite is my... demon."

"Ah." The Warden sighed. "Don't stray too far from the mages then, Demon of Vyrantium, in case we need your help..."

They didn't say it, but everyone understood that "call someone" really meant find Lucanis and have him go into the Fade to rescue the mages again. Which also meant that they could not fully count on their master assassin - Lucanis could not be in two places at once.

"Let's hope the mages will remain conscious this time," Alistair concluded. "We set off tomorrow morning. Until then, we rest."

...

It was still late morning but Alistair wanted his Wardens to be well rested and well prepared. Cooking and eating was on the agenda for the rest of the day, without excessive drinking, to Oghren's disgust. At first people were tense, but after a while they started relaxing, after all, it was not their first campaign, even if going after a goddess would come very close to going after an Archdemon... but this wasn't to be the final battle, and everyone had to try not just to win, but also to survive. "No sacrifices," Alistair made it very clear. "If you are getting overwhelmed, retreat and find another way. We've got two more gods to defeat after this one, and I want all of you alive... Well, as many of you as possible," he sighed.

Anders went to talk to the three old Wardens that were staying at the fortress - Roderik, Markus and Linus. Roderik was the only one who could still walk.

"It won't be easy but I want you to bring the head of that goddess back here, I want to see her face!" Markus sat up on his cot. "It is her fault that I can't walk! I got this wound when she came crushing onto this very fortress!"

"She's got an ugly face, I've seen her last time," Linus smirked. "Tentacles growing out of her body. She is no longer a woman, no longer an elf."

"Be careful though... but I don't need to tell you, you were there," Roderik gave Anders a long look. "She is not to be taken lightly."

"Oh, we are not taking her lightly," Anders nodded. "It will be a massacre... which is why Alistair's been drilling into everyone that they must try to survive."

They were talking about the upcoming battle and about the one that raged in their Head Quarters a few months ago, and after a while the three old Wardens started slipping into their native Anderfels tongue, and somehow Anders kept up, without even realising it...

"You no longer speak Ander, do you?" Roderik switched back to the common tongue. "But you seem to understand us alright."

"I was taken to Ferelden when I was but seven," Anders shook his head. "I remember some words... but speaking... no... I've lost it, I fear."

"A few months among your people and it'll come back to you," Markus smiled. "When the Blight is done..."

"Don't bother with Hossberg," Linus interrupted. "It's a city for the rich, no different to any other. Kassel is better... or else try Tallo or Laysh."

"The ports!" Roderik laughed. "If you want to get to know the Anderfels, go inland! Leave the ports to the sailors!"

"You're only saying that because you're from Nordbotten," Linus shook his head, also laughing. "And here you have it, Anders... just travel the land... where it's not too blighted." He looked up watching Lucanis enter the room with a heavily laden tray. "Take your Crow with you... it'll be an adventure."

"Ah, the man who can cook!" Markus looked over the tray enthusiastically. "You made the right choice, Anders!" He added, tucking in.

"I wasn't the only one cooking today," Lucanis smiled. "I picked a bit of everything here for you, seeing how you can't easily get down to the kitchen..."

"Easily..." Linus smirked. "Nicely put..." He picked a few pieces and started eating, then suddenly went pale and fell back onto his cot. Anders was at his side in one jump, dagger in his hand, wrist extended. Before anyone realised what was happening, a cloud of shimmering mist descended upon Linus and entered his body. A few moments later Linus sat up. "You didn't have to do that, don't waste your blood on me, I haven't got long to live," he said quietly. "But thank you."

"I know... a few days, perhaps..." Anders sighed. "This isn't a cure but it will help with the pain."

"What was that?" Markus asked. "I've never seen healing magic like that..."

Anders shifted uncomfortably and looked away, so Linus answered for him.

"He summoned a spirit for me," he smiled. "Compassion, I think... it's soothing."

"Blood magic..." Markus shook his head.

"Blood magic is but a tool," Linus objected. "It's what you use it for that matters."

While Markus were debating the moral rights and wrongs of using blood magic for healing, Lucanis sat next to Anders and put his arm around his shoulders.

"That wasn't just another spell," he said softly. "You are shaking."

"I had to be quick," Anders replied just as softly. "It was..."

"Intense," Lucanis pulled him close. "But I've got you. It's like a tango."

"Antivans..." Linus was watching them. "It's been so long since I heard those words..."

He said it very quietly, probably to himself, but Lucanis looked up.

"Another Crow? I noticed you watching me," he smiled.

"Your gait is unmistakable... it's your training, I expect," Linus nodded. "It brings back memories... my friend was killed many years ago... by another Crow..."

"It's a plague, yes," Lucanis nodded. "Faction feud. My parents were killed that way. My cousin's parents too. And yet the House did not fall."

"I wondered why my friend was killed... I blamed myself - he joined me for a time, and I thought the Crows killed him because he stopped taking contracts... I should have sent him away, but..." Linus shook his head slowly.

"No, Antivan Crows do not kill their members just because they take a holiday," Lucanis said firmly. "His death was not your fault."

...

The following morning a fairly large party was seen marching from the Grey Wardens Head Quarters towards one of the Deep Roads entrances. It consisted of a dozen Ferelden Wardens led by Alistair, accompanied by Avernus, Anders, Lucanis, Dorian and Emmrich. Alistair tried to convince Avernus to stay behind, but he was having none of it - he was by far the most powerful mage among them and he was not going to sit back with the wounded. Alistair tried to object that he was also by far the oldest person in the group but gave up when Avernus threatened to turn him into a toad. It was a joke of course, but it did end the discussion. Avernus was going into battle, and that was that.

Such a formidable group had no difficulty dispatching stray darkspawn blocking their way; they also didn't have much trouble with blighted boils inside the cavern, not giving them any chance to use their magic on the mages. The progress thus far was steady, but they were not in a rush - Anders made sure that all wounds were treated as soon as possible. Some Wardens were getting impatient and Lucanis recalled his own annoyance with Anders for the same reason, but it was only this diligence that got them through the more difficult campaigns. They all knew that of course, they all knew that the real fight had not yet begun, and so they all dutifully treated their wounds at every stop.

"You wouldn't say that, but Anders can be extremely persuasive," one Warden was telling another while bandaging his cuts. "This is nothing, just a flesh wound... but no, I've got to bandage it or he won't leave me alone," he smirked.

"Anders doesn't look like a bully, but I would never cross a blood mage," the other Warden replied. "Have you seen him angry? You will today... darkspawn gets him angry. He's not a mage to cross..."

Finally they reached a large cavern that looked like a Blight goddess might reside there - blighted boils were everywhere, and they were huge, flailing their tentacles around, making it impossible to walk anywhere. And then, as soon as the Wardens started cutting off the tentacles, darkspawn appeared.

"What the..." one of the Wardens gasped. "I've never seen darkspawn like that! They are like walking blighted boils!!!"

Indeed, instead of the usual genlocks and hurlocks, these darkspawn resembled bloated bodies of drowners, covered in smaller blighted boils... Some even had a blighted boil instead of a head. These creatures were not particularly hard to kill, but therein lay the danger: they exploded spraying their poisonous blood over a large radius, and that poison was sufficiently potent to kill a healthy man within just a few minutes unless an antidote was administered immediately.

"We have no antidotes for this poison," Anders shook his head when Avernus pointed it out. "But there are other ways," he grinned. "This is your teaching! Quick!" A particularly large darkspawn exploded a short distance away, covering several Wardens in poison. Anders rushed to them starting his usual healing wave on the way, but then he did something different: he slit his wrist but did not cast a spell - instead he sprayed his blood over the Wardens, a trick that he learned from Wolf who used to spray his blood over the enemy. Anders' blood fell on darkspawn blood, canceling it out, and now Anders also cast a spell. "You'll be alright now, but be careful... I may not always be at hand," he smiled at the stunned expressions on their faces.

"What did I tell you?" One Warden nudged the other. "And he wasn't even angry!"

"You drank my mixture," Avernus laughed when Anders rejoined him working up a storm for another group of blighted boils. "I wondered what happened to that extra vial!"

"I saw what it did to Wolf, and I wanted the same," Anders grinned. "Of course, it isn't the same because I'm a mage and he's not, but the effect is well worth it."

"I'll have to examine you when we're back at Soldier's Peak," Avernus was making mental notes, never stopping shooting lighting over the entire cavern.

"If we get to return to Soldier's Peak..." Anders' voice fell. "Here comes the goddess."

They were undoubtedly in the right cavern. The creature that appeared before them could no longer be called a woman or an elf. Medusa would probably be the nearest description. Her once elven body had huge tentacles growing from almost everywhere, and she had smaller tentacles on her head instead of hair. She wore a solid mask covering her face, and Anders thought it was just as well, she probably didn't have a face any longer. She wore a garment that was once a robe but that had now frayed and split into strips that were moving with the tentacles as she moved. She still had arms, it seemed, for she only used two limbs to cast spells. She probably still had legs, but instead she walked on tentacles and it looked as if she hovered.

"You are destroying my creation!" She cried with a clear voice, perhaps the only thing about her that was still elven. "You killed my dragon!" She sounded angry. "You seek to kill me as well, it seems! How very foolish!" She laughed an angry laugh and a large fireball started gathering before her.

"Take cover!!!" Anders shouted and everyone tried to find cover, wondering how futile it was.

The goddess cast her spell and the whole cavern was incinerated. No one had seen such power before.

"Are we dead?" One Warden asked another.

"You're asking me?" The other shook his head. "I dunno... but I think not. The others are also stirring."

Indeed, after the initial shock, the Wardens and the mages carefully got up and moved to the next line of dead blighted boils that they used for cover - cover that actually worked. No one was certain for how long, but having survived the first fireball, they were determined to survive the next one as well. Their strategy was to surround the goddess and to go about cutting off her tentacles that were feeding off the Blight on the ground - Ishala had told them that, that was a way to deprive the goddess of her power and then eventually kill her. It was going to be a lengthy battle, they had to be careful... but at the same time they had to advance.

"We need to draw her attention," Anders got out his dagger. "We cast a blizzard... err... can I power a blizzard with blood? Never tried it before... We cast a blizzard together, Avernus, and let's hope it'll douse her fire for a time..."

"You can power anything at all with blood," Avernus nodded, joining in the casting.

Their blizzard swept the cavern, freezing some of the goddesses tentacles solid and certainly getting her attention. While she searched for the pesky mages who spoiled her hairdo, the Wardens got her surrounded and started chopping off whatever they could reach. With the lowest tentacles damaged, the goddess dropped to the ground. Yes, she still had legs.

"Insolent mages!!" She bellowed. "You don't even know what magic is!"

"Take cover!!!" Anders shouted again, seeing a lighting orb gathering strength in the goddess' hands. He wasn't sure cover would help against lightning, but he had to try.

A massive storm engulfed the cavern, lightning was shooting from everywhere, or so it seemed... but by luck or by miracle, it was hitting blighted boils instead of the Wardens... and no one was seriously hurt. Somewhat dazed, the Wardens got up and continued their assault.

...

They cut off a lot of tentacles but the goddess was showing no sign of weakening. She cast another spell and grew in size, now towering over all of them, shooting spells from above. Anders tried to tell everyone that it was only an illusion, that she wasn't really that tall, but everyone was too busy fighting to actually listen.

"We must get to her head," Lucanis stopped attacking tentacles and found Anders. "Otherwise it will take too long. She is weakening, but only a little. It will take us days to wear her down..."

"And we will be worn down ourselves by then," Anders nodded. "But... how to get to her head? Now that she's that tall?"

"Is she or is she not actually that tall?" Lucanis squinted. "Because if I am going to stab her in the eye, I need to know where that eye is."

"You cannot be sure," Emmrich stood nearby and overheard their conversation. "It could be an illusion, that's what we would do, but she's an ancient elf - they had different magics. She could have physically enlarged her body by dispersing the matter--"

"Never mind how she did it," Lucanis cut him off. "But does this mean that her eye is actually where I see it?"

"Yes, it does," Emmrich smiled. "But mind the mask."

"Cast me a blizzard," Lucanis looked at the mages. "It's better if the target isn't moving around too much."

This time three mages were casting a blizzard together, and it had the desired effect - the cavern froze over and the goddess found herself rooted to the spot, at least for a short time. Lucanis leapt, his spirit wings carried him up, straight to the goddess' head. He thrust his sword into an eye opening of the mask, hoping he would hit something worth hitting. A sharp scream told him that he did. The goddess shook off her stiffness and threw him off, flinging him away with incredible force. Her illusion magic was dispelled and she shrank to her normal size, and although her tentacles were still deadly and she could still cast powerful spells, the Wardens charged at her all at once and with the help of the mages they finally overwhelmed her. It wasn't Lucanis who dealt the killing blow and in all honesty it was impossible to tell which of the myriad of cuts was the one that finally got her. She stopped moving, her tentacles lay limp. A shimmering orb rose from her body, hovered over the cavern and disappeared in a tunnel leading into the earth.

...

That victory was hard won. Several Wardens were dead and all were injured, mages were exhausted and wounded and Lucanis was unconscious from his fall. Anders insisted on a short rest before going back and proceeded converting his blood into healing magic for everyone else... until Alistair finally stopped him.

"You need strength to walk back, I don't want to carry you," he said, taking away Anders' dagger. "No more bloodletting. It's an order, Warden." He looked stern, and Anders realised that Alistair never really gave orders, never pulled rank or even referred to anyone as "Warden".

"Yes, Commander," Anders nodded and smiled. "Let's go home."

[Lena Wolf]

Morning Star, 3E411 - Concussion

Lucanis had a concussion. When the goddess flung him away with great force, he hit the ground hard and passed out. He remained unconscious for the rest of the battle and even for some of the way back to the Grey Wardens Head Quarters. He came to at some point along the way, but the rocking of the stretcher made him dizzy and unwell and he lost consciousness again. By the time they arrived at the fortress, he was awake but couldn't even sit up.

"At least I am alive," he was saying with difficulty, his voice slurring. "Stop fussing over me." He tried shaking his head but quickly realised that it was a bad idea. Anders was right - he should lie still and allow his body to heal. Of course Anders wasn't going to leave him without help, and so fussing continued.

Lucanis wasn't the only person in need of healing, however. Every Warden and every mage that went to fight the goddess and that weren't dead, were injured one way or the other. Most injuries were magical, caused by fire and shock spells, but necrosis was also common, induced by some new fast acting blight magic. It wasn't the usual blight, it was like black rot eating at the flesh, and those black spots were spreading quickly. Anders was using his blood to counter the necrosis, not through blood magic but directly, by applying his blood onto the wound. The Wardens were very suspicious of this technique at first, but soon became convinced in its efficacy and allowed Anders to proceed... after all, they didn't have much choice. Avernus was watching it very closely, it was thanks to his mixture that Anders had drank years ago, that his taint was now able to counter the Blight itself.

"We should be able to use my blood as well," he said after another application. "Your wrists are getting very scarred," he added with concern. "Only my blood is so much more tainted than yours because I'm older... it will need to be tested to make sure it's safe."

"What would be the consequence if it is unsafe?" Anders straightened up. "We must not make things worse!"

"I don't know what the consequence would be," Avernus sighed. "This is uncharted territory. I only meant the mixture as a weapon, but you are using it for healing, and this new blight is nothing like what we've seen before... Someone will have to take a risk and try my blood instead of yours."

"I am not sacrificing any of my patients!" Anders cried a little too loudly and several heads turned. "Ugh, I didn't mean to announce it like that," he cleared his throat. "But it still stands: no testing. I have enough blood for everyone."

"And that's my point," Avernus looked stern. "I don't think you do." He paused, watching Anders glare at him. Then he asked with a smile: "Tell me, how did you first discover that your blood could be used for healing? It wasn't the intended effect and I didn't tell Wolf anything about it because I didn't know it myself."

"Well... when those blighted boils started exploding... I had to do something," Anders said with unease. "I used my blood against darkspawn before - spraying them with it, like Wolf did. It harmed darkspawn, so I figured it would counter the poison in blighted blood... yes, yes, alright, I see where you are going: the first Wardens I sprayed with my blood were my test subjects. But it isn't the same! Wardens got my blood on them before and no one suffered any ill effects, so I knew it would not harm them! I just didn't know whether it would help... but it did."

"And someone will have to try my blood instead of yours because you are running out," Avernus said quite firmly. Then, turning to the wounded Wardens on the cots around them, he called to them: "You've heard what we were just discussing. Someone will need to be the first to try my blood instead of that of Anders. I think it is safe, but I could be wrong."

"I'll do it," one of the Wardens spoke up. His whole leg was covered in necrosis. "I got it real bad. I reckon I'll either die or you'll have to amputate the leg, and quickly - I need to keep my groin intact for... reasons," he grinned. "So go on. It can't get any worse."

His joke lifted the mood and everyone laughed, even in the middle of all the blood, burns and necrosis. Avernus took out his dagger and slit his wrist, and a spray of very dark blood fell on the Warden's leg.

"Wow, your taint is really deep," the Warden whistled. "How can you stand the song?" He looked at Avernus with new-found respect.

"With difficulty," Avernus shook his head. "I keep busy. Now, let's see. How do you feel?"

"Alive," the Warden grinned. "Better. I think the stronger taint actually helps... and look - the black rot is retreating!" The blackness on his leg was indeed retreating slightly. Avernus wasn't holding out any hope of actually clearing it but at least it seemed to stop spreading. The leg would have to be amputated anyway, but it was no longer urgent. The test was a success.

"So, you will now leave these patients to me," Avernus pulled down the sleeve on Anders' arm. "No more bloodletting for several hours at least - you must regenerate. Go see to the other patients, the ones that just need herbs and potions and traditional healing." He nodded to himself and turned to the patients. Anders stood aghast - this was the first time that Avernus took charge of a situation, and his authority was unquestionable.

"Good to have you finally completely with us, Master Avernus," he said quietly but distinctly and several Wardens nodded.

"Yes, yes, I've been hiding behind my research long enough," Avernus brushed him off, examining the next patient. "Go on. We both have work to do. Celebrations will have to wait."

...

Lucanis was having very strange dreams. His concussion was making him dizzy and he thought that sleep would be his best medicine, and so he tried to sleep rather than just pass out. But his dreams had him wake up in cold sweat which was hardly restful and not just a little embarrassing. Master assassin was afraid of something in his dream, and the worst part of it was that he could not remember what it was once he woke up, although the feeling of fear and almost panic lingered for a time.

He didn't know how much time passed since they arrived at the Head Quarters; it could have been a few hours or a few days, but this time Lucanis could sit up on his cot without immediately falling back because the world was spinning around him. Of course, the world was perfectly stable, it was his concussion making it seem that the world was spinning... he knew that, but it didn't help.

Lucanis sat up and looked around. He was in the infirmary wing, or rather a part of the dormitory filled with wounded Wardens. Several healers were walking from cot to cot, looking tired. He noticed Avernus in the far corner slitting his wrist. Anders seemed to be in the next room, he thought he heard his voice. What about Dorian and Emmrich? They both had more burns and scrapes than they were used to, he was sure. Perhaps they were next door...

He decided to get up and go see for himself. He felt a little hungry too, which he took to be a good sign - his concussion must be healing. He stood up, then took a few steps, holding onto furniture. The world was still rocking around him but it was no longer spinning out of control. One of the healers shot him a glance but he must have looked stable enough because the healer turned back to his patient. Lucanis walked to the doorway and looked into the next room. Anders wasn't there, it was just another room filled with cots with wounded Wardens. Perhaps Anders was taking a break... nah... Lucanis smirked to himself. No way. He'd be healing someone, slitting his wrists until he passed out... perhaps he did pass out... at least this was not Kirkwall, someone would help, of that Lucanis was sure.

The next room down the corridor was the one where the old Wardens were staying - Roderik, Markus and Linus. It had more cots now, most of them occupied by other wounded Wardens. He looked in, holding onto the door frame. There was Anders changing bandages on one of the Wardens... "Ugh, that rotten flesh looks bad..." Lucanis noticed himself thinking, as if he was outside of his mind somehow. Perhaps his concussion wasn't healed yet after all. Sharp smell of burned flesh briefly filled the room - Anders was carterising the wound... That smell made Lucanis twitch and gag, it hit a nerve, it was strange, he was never that sensitive to smells of the flesh before, not in his line of work... Then, as the sweet scent of fresh blood reached him, he felt dizzy and the world started spinning again... he was holding onto the door frame but the nearest cot was too far, even though it was just a few steps away... he would collapse then and there...

"You should be in bed, you are not ready to walk yet," he heard a familiar voice somewhere in the fog. He didn't fall, someone was holding him close, someone smelling of burnt flesh and fresh blood... "I've got you. Let's get you to bed."

...

Lucanis slept badly, strange dreams were tormenting him, he kept waking up in cold sweat, not able to remember what it was that terrified him so much. Not being able to remember made him angry. If only he could remember, he would deal with it, dissect the dream, apply logic to it, show to himself that it was all nonsense, nothing to worry about... and after that the dream would not return. But by making him forget it, the dream kept eluding him and kept tormenting him again and again.

He woke up again and saw himself on a cot in the room with the old Wardens where he collapsed. Whoever helped him, must have put him on one of the empty cots there. The smell of burnt flesh was long gone, the smell of blood too, now he could only smell herbs and infusions, besides the bodily scents of half a dozen people sharing one room...

Lucanis decided to try getting up. Surely, his concussion must have healed some more, the world didn't seem to be spinning. He sat up, then got up from the cot, making sure to hold onto something, just in case.

"It's still too early," Anders stood behind him, now smelling of infusions. "You'll get dizzy again. You're impatient," he smiled, putting his arm around Lucanis.

"I... couldn't sleep," Lucanis found his voice. It still hissed and slurred a little but was better than before.

"Nightmares?" Anders looked concerned. "I saw you thrashing a few times. The Fade can be very disturbing."

"The Fade?" Lucanis faced him. "Those are just dreams..."

"We go to the Fade when we dream," Anders nodded. "Well, not physically, but our spirits go to the Fade. Mages realise it, non-mages don't, yet it's the same for all of us. The Fade... well, you know. You've been there yourself."

"That was different," Lucanis shook his head and regretted it. "When I went to fight... I remembered everything. But these dreams... they are just slipping away."

"That's the usual way, yes..." Anders got a better hold of Lucanis and tried to nudge him towards his cot. "And still you should return to bed."

Lucanis was going to protest that he would rather walk around a little, he jerked his head and it gave him a sharp pang of headache that felt like an explosion inside his head and he blacked out, if only momentarily. He should have collapsed but again someone was holding him close.

"I've got you," Anders said in his ear. "Can you hear me? Yes? I am here."

"I met Mathilda in the Fade," Lucanis suddenly remembered all of his dreams. "Mathilda of twenty five years ago, just as I remember her... and I was a young man as well. We spent time together... I never stopped loving her... But it was she, Mathilda, not a memory of Mathilda, you understand? She was there... I know, I touched her... I kissed her... we made love... in her old room where she used to live when we were young... I didn't want it to stop..."

"How did you get out of the Fade?" Anders asked in a whisper.

"My heart was bleeding... too much pain... It was Mathilda and we were twenty years old... But I am not twenty years old any longer, something kept reminding me of that. Like a knife through the heart... My Mathilda could not be real... Then I'd wake up in cold sweat." Lucanis looked Anders in the eye and saw that Anders was very serious. This was not just a dream. "I could not remember the dream until just now," he continued. "I would fall asleep and Mathilda would be there. Everything would repeat. Too much pain in my heart, and I wake up again. But every time she is more beautiful than before, every time she tries harder to please me, to keep me there, and I am willing, oh so willing, I don't ever want it to stop... I love her still..."

"It isn't just a dream," Anders said gravely. "You met a Desire Demon. The demon took the shape of Mathilda, it is quite real. The demon aims to please, it will make you happy and you will stay in the Fade forever."

"But why?"

"The demon will devour your soul."

"That's... terrifying." Lucanis suddenly felt the terror that made him wake up from his dreams. "I thought only mages could be possessed by demons like that."

"You are not possessed, and no, not only mages," Anders sighed. "Demons really don't care whose soul they devour, but mages are easier to find. Mages face demons all the time, we have to learn to resist them or to avoid them if we can. Some mages cannot overcome the terror though... some indeed ask to be made tranquil - that severs the connection to the Fade. That too can be done to anyone, not just mages. It's just..."

"I get it, mages light up in the Fade, attract demons... and I guess I light up now too..." Lucanis smirked. "How do you stand it?"

"Don't give in."

"I shall never go to sleep again," Lucanis said with determination.

"It's not that bad... you'll learn to avoid them," Anders nudged him towards his cot again. "It's not like you've got an Archdemon singing you lullabies..."

"Good grief..!"

"It can always be worse, right?" Anders smirked. "So, go back to sleep. You are not alone in the Fade. Where did the pain come from? Who made you wake up? It wasn't you, you wanted to stay, so who was it?"

"I have to go back to find out."

"You already know the answer."

"Can you defeat a demon in the Fade? In your dream?" Lucanis looked resolved.

"Yes, you can," Anders said slowly. "But you can also lose the battle and die. Be careful. Nothing is as it seems in the Fade."

[Renee]

Dang, where's my bookmark? Ah, here. First Seed 10, 4E 192. Hauk is about to escort Yrseke to a business meeting. "Keep me alive!" Love that.

Meeting is in the sewers! Yikes.

Three against one, yeah, that's really not fair. But really it's going to be three against two.

"I don't believe in fighting with honour, I prefer to win myself" -- Sometimes this is the best way.

Hauk gets seduced by Reesa, whoo. That was a funny scene.


http://chorrol.com/forums/index.php?s=&...st&p=341155

This post has been edited by Renee: Feb 17 2025, 05:44 PM

[Lena Wolf]

Sun's Dawn, 3E411 - Nothing is as it seems in the Fade

"But really, Anders, you are not gay and neither is Lucanis. What do you think will happen once the novelty of your relationship will have worn off? You are both confusing friendship with love."

Neve was sitting on a large cushion plucking the strings of a teardrop-shaped guitar. The room was dimly lit and the fog from her waterpipe was hiding the walls. Anders was reclining on more cushions covering a large divan, blowing rings of waterpipe fog of his own.

"Are we confusing it?" He looked at Neve through the fog. "And how do you know all this? And more importantly, why do you care?"

"I've been watching you," She smiled. "You cut an impressive figure, Warden. Quite to my taste."

"Oh?" Anders lifted himself slightly on an elbow. "Are you... chatting me up?" He grinned.

"I am, I suppose," Neve smiled radiantly at him. "I should be the one dancing the tango with you, not Dorian or Lucanis!" She pouted her lips in mock offence.

"Well, we can still dance a tango!" Anders laughed. "I'm sure neither Dorian nor Lucanis would mind. Right after the Blight, at The Gay Vint. It's a date, Neve. Don't stand me up." He was still laughing gently, watching Neve with interest. She focused on her guitar for a while, playing a variation on a traditional song, something that was both familiar and novel at once.

"You killed the goddess," Neve said to her guitar.

"We did," Anders looked up, blowing a thin jet of fog through the rings that were still hanging there.

"Without us," Neve sighed.

"So?" Anders turned, now facing Neve, but still reclining on the divan.

"We are no enemies."

"We are rivals."

"We should not be," Neve shook her head. "I want to get close to you." She put down her guitar and moved to the divan, reclining next to Anders. "Even closer than this..." She pressed herself to him. "What do you taste of?" She put her arms around him and kissed him.

...

"Blood!" Anders sat up in his bed, having woken up in cold sweat. "She tastes of blood!"

He jumped off the bed, realising that Lucanis stayed on the cot in the common room. He wanted to face the Desire Demon in the Fade... and that could be deadly! He was so unprepared... he wasn't a mage, he never faced a demon before... he should not be undergoing a Harrowing! But of course he could not become possessed and turn into an abomination because he already was one... Anders shook his head, trying to steady himself. Was he confusing friendship with love? Who was it that he met just now in the Fade? What kind of a demon..?

Anders got dressed and went to find Alistair. He looked in on Lucanis and breathed with relief finding him sleeping quietly. For the moment he was safe.

"Alistair," Anders touched his shoulder. "Alistair, wake up."

"Hmm..? What time is it..? Huh? Anders? What's up?" Alistair finally woke up, rubbing his face.

"Do you still remember how to be a templar?" Anders touched his shoulder again. "Can you feel it?"

"Feel what?" Alistair sat up. "Your magic always tickles, I feel nothing unusual. What happened?"

"Demons," Anders sounded dead serious. "Demons in the Fade. Not here, no, but we have enough mages that... and Lucanis..." He shook his head.

"Lucanis what?" Alistair was trying to make sense of the half sentences that Anders was uttering. "He is already possessed. And you..? You aren't possessed, I can tell!"

"Lucanis met a Desire Demon in the Fade who's been trying to make him stay there. But he woke up every time against his wishes - the Desire Demon appeared as... well... was successful in making him want to stay. It must be Spite that kept waking him up. Spite, that is, the Spirit of Determination. Lucanis finally remembered the dream and I told him it was a demon. He wants to fight it in the Fade. Do you understand what it means?! He could die! That demon's been feeding on his soul all this time! It's been growing in power! This is dangerous! I've got to help him! Sacrifice someone, open a portal, one person's blood will suffice..."

"STOP!!!" Alistair raised his voice, grabbing Anders by the shoulders with both hands. "Stop right there! You'd NEVER sacrifice anyone! Anders I know is a blood mage, yes, but he gives his own blood to others, not the other way around! What else happened?"

"I think I met a demon in the Fade too," Anders snapped out of his trance. "I just can't figure out what kind. It seemed just like a regular dream... until she kissed me. She tasted of blood..."

"So, that explains your tirade just now," Alistair said in a calmer voice but didn't let go of Anders. "Who was it?"

"Neve," Anders looked him in the eye. "Chatting me up. Wanting to... well. But if it was a Desire Demon, there are so many other women that it could have picked... with immediate success..." He smirked. "So why Neve? And that taste of blood..."

"There's more than one kind of desire," Alistair said softly. "May be it's being subtle?"

"You are a templar, can't you tell? Here's a mage in need of protection," Anders smiled weakly.

"But I cannot sense any demonic influence on you," Alistair looked puzzled. "Are you sure it wasn't the actual Neve?"

"In the Fade..?" Anders looked up. "It is nearly impossible to find another person in the Fade when one is dreaming, so she had to enter it physically, and even then..." He shook his head. "Unless... she had help."

"Solas."

"He can see me, of course... but what is she trying to do?"

"Get you killed, by the looks of it," Alistair smirked. "If you actually went ahead with bleeding someone, I would have to stop you."

"Death by templar."

"You would have been too far gone to listen to reason at that point," Alistair nodded. "I would have to kill you."

"Blood magic messes up the mage's own mind more than anyone else's," Anders nodded. "But Lucanis? What do we do?" He looked worried.

"Lucanis is not a mage; the danger he's facing is just that of battling a powerful demon in its own domain... which is bad enough," Alistair rubbed his chin. "Get Avernus. Come on."

...

Avernus was not in his room. They looked in the infirmary wing but he wasn't there either. Eventually they found him in the courtyard opening a portal to the Fade.

"Lucanis..." he started saying noticing Alistair and Anders approach. His wrists were bleeding badly but there was no sacrificial person involved.

"I am going," Anders looked around for a staff. "You keep the portal open," he nodded to Avernus.

"No, I am going," Alistair picked up a sword and a shield from a rack. "I am a templar. I shall fight that demon."

"Straight through the portal and turn left," Avernus smirked. "Spite is waiting on the other side... his appearance may surprise you..." he shot a glance at Alistair. "Just remember: nothing is as it seems in the Fade."

[Lena Wolf]

Sun's Dawn, 3E411 - Your wish is my command

Alistair stepped through the portal into the Fade and Avernus lowered his arms, letting the portal shrink until it's needed again. Anders was still staring at it, unsure what to do.

"Go sit with Lucanis," Avernus turned to him. "I'll stay here and maintain the portal. Go. Keep Lucanis alive. Help him from here. You know you can."

Anders looked up, snapping out of his indecision and shaking off lingering effects of the blood magic spell that he was subjected to in his dream. Having a purpose always helped to overcome mind manipulation of blood magic, and he now knew exactly what he had to do. Keep Lucanis alive until Alistair slays that demon. Right.

...

"Alistair? You're not whom I expected..." A spirit copy of Lucanis greeted Alistair on the other side of the portal.

"Spite? Or do you prefer Determination?" Alistair squinted. "I am a templar. I am better placed to fight a demon."

"Umm... if you say so..." Spite squinted. "My name is Determination. But Spite is shorter. And... may be not too far from the truth... I'm used to it now..." He was saying in a hissing voice, chopping phrases into chunks. Spirits were not accustomed to talking. He led Alistair to a clearing nearby. "It's just here. Lucanis will appear shortly... Avernus has been shielding him... but he is asleep... he will appear... and so will the demon..."

They didn't have to wait long and indeed Lucanis walked in from the fog. He was not physically in the Fade like Alistair, it was Lucanis' spirit dreaming in the Fade while his body was lying on the cot in the infirmary wing. But he looked solid enough... nothing was as it seemed in the Fade.

"Mathilda?" He called. He did not seem to see Alistair or Spite standing there.

"Luca... my love..." A sweet voice sounded from the other end of the clearing and a Desire Demon walked in.

"Mathilda..." Lucanis took a step back, quite involuntarily.

"This is not how he sees her," Spite hissed. "He sees Mathilda..."

"Who's there?" Lucanis turned towards Alistair and Spite, looking straight at them, yet not seeing them.

"Just someone at the door, my love," the demon responded sweetly. "It will be just a moment..." She walked up to Lucanis and kissed him, caressing him gently. Alistair saw a faint shimmering strand flow from Lucanis to the demon. The demon was feeding on his soul.

She let go of him, but he was still looking at Alistair, or rather, at the spot where he heard voices. He was not yet entranced. The demon said something to him softly, embraced him ever so gently, kissed him... until he stopped looking at the spot where Alistair was standing... The demon led him to the far corner of the clearing, waved her hand and made furnishings appear, and there Lucanis sat down on a sofa waiting for her to "answer the door". He was no longer wondering where the voices were coming from.

"Well, it seems we've got guests," the demon walked over to Alistair and Spite. "Intruders, rather," she frowned. "You are intruding on a private moment."

"You cannot have Lucanis, demon," Alistair said rather aggressively. "I am here to fight you!"

"Oh? But Luca seems quite happy to stay," the demon swayed her hips at him. "He has his Mathilda back... like he could never have in your world," she smirked. "Just look at him," she waved her hand and he waved back from the sofa. "He cannot see you. Now, shoo."

"No!" Alistair shouted, plunging his sword into the ground in a cleansing strike that purged all magic around them. The demon shrieked and jumped up - that hurt. But the strike didn't reach far enough to pull Lucanis out of his trance.

"Insolence!" She cried. "I said out!!!" A powerful lightning bolt sent Alistair reeling but he picked himself up and lunged at the demon with his sword. The demon spun in place and swiped at Alistair, shredding his light armour - the demon's fingernails were now long, razor sharp blades...

"Ugh, I forgot how nasty you Desire Demons can be..." Alistair swore. "But no matter! When was the last time you faced a templar?!" He lunged again, this time cutting a gash on the demon's body, and she responded with another shriek. Yes, he still remembered how to be a templar - each of his strikes depleted magicka as well.

They danced, and it was only after a while that Alistair realised that Spite was no longer standing next to him. Spite did not join in the fight either... where was he? But Alistair had no time to ponder this question as the demon kept attacking. Then suddenly she shrieked when Alistair was himself recoiling... someone stabbed her from behind. Alistair looked up - Lucanis stood there with his sword at the ready.

"You are not Mathilda!" He cried, lunging at the demon. "You deceived me! Merda!"

Two fighters were stronger than one but the demon was more than a match for both of them together. Her spells knocked them back and out, her swipes cut through the remnants of their armour and clothing and were now inflicting serious bleeding... They had to work together if they were to gain an upper hand, but she never gave them a chance to regroup. It very much looked like that demon was going to get two souls for the price of one.

...

"Don't give in," Anders was sitting cross-legged by Lucanis' cot. "She'll get you entranced again... there... I think she already got you... Come on, shake it off!" He put his hand on Lucanis' shoulder sending a healing wave through. He didn't know which spell to use, he acted on an instinct. "You know it's an illusion, I told you. You remembered the dream," he kept talking hoping that somehow some of it might come through. But Lucanis remained motionless and his breathing was slowing - he was dreaming.

...

"This is not good," Alistair was rising heavily from another knock-out. "Those lightning bolts... ugh... they hurt." Yet he took a deep breath and resumed his attacks, trying to match Lucanis' lunges, but Lucanis too was reeling from the bolts. "Just keep going..." Alistair told himself. "Nothing else for it. We'll wear her out eventually..." He thrust his sword into the ground again in a cleansing strike, then pulled it out quickly and lunged at the demon while she was momentarily incapacitated. She shrieked - that was a successful move. "Right. Templars do it all the time," Alistair told himself. "Got to think like a templar. Negate all magic. Slay the mage. Slay the demon!" Another cleansing strike before the demon could cast another spell, and now Lucanis lunged at her at the same time as Alistair. Finally they were working together.

The dance went slightly better from that point on. Lucanis had finally seen Alistair, mostly because Alistair's cleansing strikes caught him in their range a few times and the demon's hold over him began to weaken. Lucanis finally remembered what Anders had told him - it's a demon, don't give in. Mathilda was but an illusion. His heart bled at the thought, he lost her again, and this time it was forever. His Mathilda was not dead but it was worse - she changed, she was his Mathilda no more. Half of him wished he'd never learned that he was living an illusion these past days - he had been so happy again. It was better to die happy than to live in pain. Perhaps the demon would make him forget all that? Perhaps the charm could be restored..?

He stopped attacking and lowered his sword. Alistair shot him a glance and realised the danger. The demon had regrouped. Lucanis was entranced again.

"No! Not on my watch!" Alistair leapt towards Lucanis and plunged his sword into the ground at his feet - that cleansing strike was for Lucanis. It worked, he shook his head, looked at Alistair in bewilderment, looked at his sword...

"Merda! Not again!!" He swore and lunged at the demon, but the demon was expecting it. She parried, swiping at both Alistair and Lucanis with the blades of her fingernails, sending them back again... The dance continued.

...

"She is bleeding you," Anders noticed droplets of blood appearing on Lucanis' hands. He opened his shirt and saw blood on his chest as well. "No, I've got to stop this... I cannot stop this... Look at this... it's all over the body!" Anders started panicking, not knowing how to deal with injuries inflicted from the Fade. "Keep him alive, he says!" He rolled his eyes at what Avernus had told him. "How? I cannot give him my blood, he'd get the taint..!" He jumped up and started pacing the room, surely there must be something he could do...

"Stop panicking," Avernus stood in the doorway. "Yes, yes, the portal is holding," he nodded to Anders' alarmed look. "Use conventional healing. Use potions. Use magic. Be there. That's what I did when you were fighting your demons..."

...

Alistair and Lucanis were now attacking together, standing shoulder to shoulder. That way each of Alistair's cleansing strikes also caught Lucanis and cleared the charm that the demon kept placing upon him. Time and time again Lucanis would shake his head in bewilderment then lunge at the demon again. It was going to be a very long dance.

And then suddenly a large bird swooped down on them all... a griffon... no... a crow... A crow the size of a griffon. It circled once then plunged, dissolving into a devastating blast of lighting just above the demon.

"Ahhh..." The demon sighed, spinning. A luminous sphere appeared around her, then dissolved. She stopped spinning and stood smiling, facing her attackers. The blades on her fingers had retreated turning into fingernails again, her demeanour was peaceful, soothing, appeasing... "You are strong, let us stop the fight..." She said in the sweetest of voices and both Alistair and Lucanis could not resist the compulsion to sheathe their swords. "Ahhh... That's better. My brave warriors. My handsome knights..." She smiled radiantly at them, swaying her hips. "Why should we fight..? Why fight when I can give you exactly what you want and more... give you what you don't know yet that you want... long for..."

"You lie, demon!" Alistair exclaimed, shaking his head. His templar training was now paying off - he was not that easily charmed. "All you want is our souls!"

"But that is such a small price to pay for real happiness, is it not?" She looked at each of them in turn. "Alistair... a king's son, but not quite... a king, but not quite... a templar, but not quite... and now, Commander of the Grey, but not quite the same as the one that came before... ahhh... Would you rather not see at least some of it complete? I can make you a templar, a real one - and all without the lyrium addiction. I can make you a king, if you wish it... but no, that's not it... something is lacking in your life, is it not? Ahhh... you never found love... or rather, you thought you did, but she was a mage and you thought you were a templar, and so, again, not quite..." The demon came close to Alistair and was now almost touching him, her bottomless purple eyes locked with his. "What will it be, Alistair? Templar or lover?"

"Do not give in!" Lucanis shook off his trance and grabbed Alistair by the shoulders. "This is a DEMON!!!"

"Huh?" Alistair's eyes were still glazed over, but he was shaking his head again. "Get off me, demon!!!"

"Ahhh..." The demon sighed and started spinning again. "Such a pity... I do rather prefer peaceful resolutions... but your wish is my command..." She raised her arms incanting a spell and a ball of luminescence started gathering above her head.

"Stand back!!" Alistair grabbed Lucanis by the hand. "It'll wipe us out!!"

"If only Anders was here..." Lucanis was watching the demon's growing orb. "He casts a storm like you wouldn't believe!"

"Anders..." Alistair started saying something but the orb suddenly burst with blinding light pushing them right back into the fog.

"Anders warned me of this," Lucanis was trying to decide whether he was already dead. "You can die in your dream... Anders... How I need you now, my friend..."

"Come on, get up!" Lucanis heard Alistair's voice. "We've been blinded. But we are not dead! Get up!" Someone was tugging on his sleeve. "Up, up you get!!" Alistair was urging him. "Follow my voice! I can sense her! I am a templar! A REAL templar, you hear me, demon?! I am coming for you!!!"

...

Lucanis was thrashing in his cot, even despite the lavender incense that Anders was burning right next to him, despite all the calming magic that Anders poured into him - Lucanis was thrashing to the point that sometimes Anders had to hold him down so that he wouldn't tumble to the floor.

"She really has you fight for it, doesn't she," Anders shook his head. "Well, you're fighting, so you're not charmed, that's something at least... Keep going... I am here... I'll heal your wounds... I'll catch you if you fall... my friend... my lover... my love..." He focused on another healing spell, pouring as much as he could without using blood. "Do not give in!"

...

Alistair charged the demon. He could not see her, everything was erased by an orb of blinding light hovering above them, but he could sense her, her presence, her magic. He was a templar, he did not need eyes to see evil! He suddenly remembered an old templar they met during the Fifth Blight somewhere in the capital. He was almost completely blind, a common affliction resulting from taking lyrium since young age. He was ageing, and his strength was not that of a young man, but his will compensated amply for that. He did not need eyesight to find the demon. "That templar died that day," Alistair sighed to himself. "And he had known from the start he would die... he only hoped he would take the demon with him... and he did... with a little help from us..." He sighed again, all while slashing and slicing at the demon before him without needing to see it. "And this here is my demon, it seems... She came for Lucanis but she met me... Well, hello, darling! Let's dance!"

Lucanis couldn't see the demon either, he too was completely blinded by the orb. He could not sense the demon like Alistair, but he could hear Alistair's grunts and the demon's shrieks and moans, and he tried to hit something in that direction, hoping it wouldn't be Alistair. Which way? He did not know... but something seemed to guide his hand... he lunged and the demon shrieked, he lunged again, and again he hit his target. "Spite?" He reached inside himself and felt his presence. "Is that you? Alright! You don't need eyesight, do you? Together we fight!"

"I guide you, partner..." Spite's voice said inside his head. "Open your wings..."

But Lucanis could not open his spirit wings in the Fade, not being there physically seemed to be the problem. Surely, Spite knew that... spirit wings were Spite, after all... unless he meant something else?

"Anders... Mathilda is gone... Gone from my life, now for good... Gone from my heart... it bled out... I know how you feel, my friend... Bésame, bésame mucho... Que tengo miedo a perderte, perderte despuis..." He lunged and slashed at a streak of purple appearing among all the white, and every time there was a shriek or a moan, he was hitting his target again and again, so then perhaps there was a chance to survive this, to win even, may be despite all odds... "Stay with me... Quiero tenerte muy cerca mirar me en tus ojos verte junto a mi... That wasn't a tango... you still owe me another dance..."

The orb finally started dimming and Alistair and Lucanis found that they had not been permanently blinded. Their vision was returning, but what they saw did nothing to lift their spirits - the demon was still there, still spinning, still fighting... Were they even hurting her?!

"It's an illusion, keep going!" Alistair shouted to Lucanis, noticing his dejected look. "We are hurting her! I can sense it!"

"Anders..! Your storm! We need your storm!!" Lucanis shouted into the void, not expecting anything really, just acting on an impulse... again... "Stay with me..!"

They did not immediately notice a large bird swooping over the clearing, a crow the size of a griffon. It circled once and then dissolved into the mightiest lightning storm they'd ever seen, pushing them back into the fog...

...

"NOOOOO!!!" Lucanis on the cot lost his pulse. "No, no, no! You do not die on me!" Anders jumped up, ripping off Lucanis' shirt in preparation for a heart massage. "Stay - with - me! - Stay - with - me!" He punctuated his movements with a breath between each phrase, he was not going to lose his friend to a demon in the Fade! If only he could be there... demons were weak to lightning... he would whip up the biggest storm they'd ever seen, his wrists were healed, he'd give it his all..! But he was not in the Fade and his friend was lying lifeless on a cot with only his chest compressions keeping his blood circulating... "Stay - with - me! - Stay - with - me..!"

...

"Stay back, demon!!!" A hissing voice ripped through the air, someone was casting more lightning bolts and the demon was shrieking...

By the time Alistair and Lucanis recovered from their knock-out, the mage in the clearing was finishing off the demon.

"Take that!" He hissed one final time and they saw the demon's form go limp and slide to the ground, then dissolve into the Fade without a trace.

"Anders..?" Lucanis stared at the spirit shape of the mage. "What are you doing here..?"

"But I am always here... always with you..." The mage replied with some surprise.

"This isn't Anders," Alistair smiled. "This is Spite in his new human form." He paused as Lucanis and Spite stared at each other. "Time to go," he patted Lucanis on the shoulder. "Avernus must be tired keeping the portal open. And... no one needs to know what that demon was offering... not to you and not to me, right?" He smiled again as Lucanis nodded. "It's all but a dream anyway. Time to wake up, Lucanis."

Alistair watched Lucanis vanish and Spite follow him, then grinned picturing the first time Anders were to see Spite in his new human form... that'd be a laugh! And indeed, no one needed to know what happened that night in the Fade.

[Lena Wolf]

Sun's Dawn, 3E411 - Friends

"That was a hard fight," Avernus greeted Alistair when he stepped through the portal from the Fade. "You look dreadful."

"Yeah... it was pretty tough," Alistair nodded.

"But you were successful."

"Lucanis should be waking up shortly."

"How does it feel - being a real templar?" Avernus asked softly, closing the portal. "Should we mages worry?"

"Of course not," Alistair smirked. "Templars are meant to protect mages from evil, that's how I see it... It's just that sometimes that evil hides in the mages themselves..."

"I see you still remember the good book," Avernus patted him on the shoulder. "If more templars remembered their true purpose, the whole mage-templar war of the past ten years could have been avoided..."

"Which is why I prefer being a Grey Warden," Alistair frowned. "I hate politics."

"The Queen of Ferelden was very happy when you said that... and abdicated your birthright to the throne in her favour."

"Yeah... she was also very happy to learn that Grey Wardens cannot have children," Alistair smirked, returning his sword and shield to the rack and shaking his head at his shredded armour.

"It's best she doesn't know the whole truth," Avernus grinned.

"Like, how many Grey Warden children are serving with us? They have a near immunity to the Joining Cup... having joined at conception already..."

"But none of them are yours," Avernus closed the topic. "Come. We'll find a healer to patch you up... I am too exhausted at the moment."

"How's Anders?" Alistair gave Avernus a long look turning towards the infirmary wing.

"He was panicking last time I saw him... he never treated wounds inflicted from the Fade before... But I have faith in the boy - he will have redressed himself."

"Hardly a boy..." Alistair grimaced. "He's past forty five."

"And I am past three hundred," Avernus objected. "I remember when Wolf brought him in..."

"Point taken," Alistair smiled. "We should look in on him."

They were just coming into the room where Anders was still very anxiously checking Lucanis' pulse every few minutes. He had recovered from his cardiac arrest, but there was no telling what else was to come...

"We're done," Alistair told him. "Lucanis will wake up eventually."

"Thank you!" Anders hugged Alistair tightly to Alistair's great surprise. "But... you look dreadful! Hang on - let me just..." He grabbed his dagger.

"No, Anders, no blood magic today," Alistair stopped him. "You look dreadful too. I'll get another healer. You still have a patient to look after."

Alistair and Avernus left and Anders dropped back to where he'd been sitting - at Lucanis' side, cross-legged by his cot. So, he didn't have to check for pulse every few minutes any more, Lucanis was just sleeping now... exhausted after the fight, no doubt. He would wake up eventually... it's best to let him sleep. Anders put his head on Lucanis' shoulder and his arm across his chest and fell asleep too. It had been one hard night.

...

Several hours later Lucanis woke up. He had a slight headache and his neck felt stiff but otherwise he seemed to be alright. He remembered everything that happened in the Fade, and it didn't feel like a dream. He half-opened his eyes just to make sure that he was definitely back in Mundus. Of course, he already knew that - the smells and sounds of the infirmary wing were unmistakable, but still he had to see it.

The first thing he saw was a blond head resting on his shoulder and a scarred arm across his chest - he couldn't see the rest of Anders, just his head and arm. He was still sleeping. Lucanis smiled to himself, propped his head against Anders and closed his eyes. He'd seen enough.

Another hour or so later Lucanis woke up again. Someone was watching them, he could feel it. He looked around, trying not to move so as not to disturb Anders. No, that someone was standing behind them, he could not see who it was... oh well... no matter. He propped his head against Anders again, burying his face in his hair and closed his eyes. There was no rush.

The lavender incense that Anders was constantly burning by Lucanis' bed, was all used up, and the lack of familiar smell woke him up. He should refill the burner... He sighed, and with that slight movement felt Lucanis' face against his hair. Perhaps he shouldn't move, shouldn't disturb him... But Lucanis woke up too and stirred, and when Anders finally decided to sit up and lift his arm from Lucanis' chest, he found Lucanis' fingers intertwined with his.

"It's done," Lucanis whispered in his ear. "The demon is no more... and with it, also Mathilda."

"That must have hurt," Anders turned his head and found Lucanis' lips.

"You have no idea..."

The infirmary wing was buzzing with conversation around them, healers were going in and out with salves and potions, bandages were being changed, healing magic performed... and they heard none of it. Finally Anders realised that he was still sitting on hard stone floor, and had been sitting in the same position for hours...

"We should get some privacy," he pulled away slightly.

"I have no issues kissing you in public," Lucanis grinned. "Let them watch."

"It's not kissing I'm thinking of..." Anders grinned, his playful smile returning. "But really, I want to get off this stone floor... and you need a bath - you are covered in blood, head to toe."

"Why am I covered in blood?" Lucanis finally realised that his chest was exposed and indeed covered in blood. "What happened to my shirt? I don't walk around with my shirt undone like some slob!"

"You were dead," Anders' voice went hoarse at the recollection. "I was massaging your heart. The shirt was in the way."

"Huh... But I thought... it was just my spirit fighting..."

"It's like I told you - you can die in the Fade," Anders frowned. "I had no idea how to treat injuries inflicted in the Fade... but the demon was bleeding you... What did she have - razor-sharp blades for fingernails? One Desire Demon I fought had blades like that..."

"Blades, yes," Lucanis nodded. "And magic."

"Right," Anders sat up, really pulling away from Lucanis this time. "Come on. There should be hot water down in the kitchens. Hold on to me - you still have a concussion, remember? You can't walk on your own yet."

"Concussion?" Lucanis got up and realised that the world was rocking again, although not spinning. "I had no concussion in the Fade..."

"That's because your concussed head was here in Mundus," Anders smirked. "But now you're back in your body and your concussion."

...

"Ahem," Harding cleared her throat. "Guys? I've got something to tell you."

"Huh? Just how long have you been standing there, Harding?" Anders turned to her, a steaming bath in the middle of the wash room.

"Long enough to..." Harding giggled. "You could have locked the door!"

"I didn't think anyone would just stand and watch!!!" Anders' nostrils flared, but Lucanis was laughing heartily at the scene.

"Next you'll tell us you'd never expected to see a master assassin in quite such a position..." He was finding it hilarious.

"The thought had crossed my mind..." Harding giggled again.

"Alright, alright, you like to watch! You're a scout! It's in the job description!" Anders was still angry and Lucanis thought it was the funniest part.

"Oh never mind," he patted him on the back. "I'm sure she'd seen you in worse settings before..." He laughed again. "I am going to make coffee."

Anders scowled and decided not to tell Lucanis this time to make tea for Harding instead, but Lucanis remembered.

"So, Head Scout," Anders looked sternly at Harding. "What compelled you to find us with all haste?"

"Well, actually..." Harding gratefully accepted a cup of tea from Lucanis. "Actually, it isn't funny at all. Neve means to kill you," she looked at Anders with significance.

"Yeah, I know," Anders nodded, cooling off. "She already tried. Again."

"How..? When?" Harding was taken aback. "She's been at the Keep all this time... I've been watching her door!"

"Blood magic in the Fade," Anders frowned.

"Wow... that's worse than I thought..." Harding looked lost. "I cannot help you there... we dwarves don't dream... never enter the Fade... I cannot watch her in the Fade..."

"It's alright, Lace," Anders said softly. "No one can watch her in the Fade. Solas is helping her. Perhaps I should try to find him myself."

"That is too dangerous," Lucanis shook his head. "Merda! I should have killed Neve ages ago!" It was Lucanis' turn to get angry.

"Then Solas would have simply found someone else," Anders shook his head. "No, leave her be for now. Till the end..."

"Let's hope it's not your end!" Lucanis retorted. "Talk to Dorian... Avernus? Emmrich too, he knows about the Fade and spirits and stuff..."

"Yeah, let's just put an advertisement in the papers!" Anders snapped. "Blood mage looking for an elven god. Catchy."

"Sounds like a dating request," Harding smirked. "But Lucanis is right, you know - you should talk to someone. Solas is not to be trifled with."

"Oh alright..." Anders sighed. "We should include Alistair as well... and Taash..."

"Taash?" Harding looked surprised. "Taash?" She repeated, as if trying to figure it out. "Taash has been at the Keep all this time... following Davrin around, mostly... and... err... why Taash?" She finally asked, having given up trying to solve this riddle herself.

"Taash does dream," Anders looked straight at Harding. "The qunari have their own powerful magic. She's been visiting me... in the Fade. She is our Fade scout. Did she never tell you that? Perhaps she didn't want to hurt your feelings..."

"Oh..." Harding did look upset. "May be she trusts me less than I thought..."

"Nonsense, Lace," Anders said softly. "It's just that... well... the qunari have different customs around love and sex and friendship... and duty... And even though Taash was brought up in Rivain... she is still a qunari, she follows the Qun. Perhaps you should talk to Dorian about his discoveries with The Iron Bull... and I don't mean the sex part."

"Looks like we all have something to discuss," Harding nodded and Anders thought he saw a tear in her eye. "I'll return to the Keep... I might talk to Dorian on the way... I'll send Taash over..." She got up, throwing one last glance at Anders and Lucanis, still completely naked. "I won't join you for the big discussion, that'd look suspicious," she said matter-of-factly. "But I hope Taash will fill me in afterwards..." She sighed.

"She will," Anders got up and walked over to Harding, then dropped to one knee and hugged her. That way his face was level with hers, his face rather than his midriff. "Friends?" He looked at her and smiled.

"Friends," she smiled back, and this time Anders was sure he saw a tear in her eye.

"What about Varric?" Anders suddenly realised that Varric, being a dwarf, would have the same issue as Harding of not being able to follow things in the Fade. "Does he even know what Neve is doing?"

"That... is a very good question," Harding smiled brightly. "That I can find out!" Her mood visibly improved. "Right! I never thought of following him! Oh! I'll let you know!" She smiled again and ran out of the room.

[Renee]

Lena and Hauk, heading to Arenthia (or so Hauk thinks). Which is Valenwood, if I'm not mistaken.

Besides, you don't know it's mine - you can't be sure. We won't be sure for several years after the child is born."

Several years?

Yea, Hauk's tale of Reesa is pretty darn wretched! Until next time.

[Lena Wolf]

Sun's Dawn, 3E411 - No quiero perderte nunca despues

"You're upset, aren't you?" Lucanis watched Anders close and lock the door after Harding had left, then walk over to the bath tub. "Harding upset you."

"Yes," Anders nodded without turning around. "She just stood there and watched..." He smirked. "I didn't think anyone here would do that."

"She was intruding and she knew it," Lucanis nodded.

"It wasn't what we did..." Anders faced him. "It was how we did it... That was for you only."

"But you forgave her..."

"And you laughed it off... I could see through it, you know."

"Harding is an ally, but not a friend."

"Quite," Anders nodded. "That's why there was nothing to forgive. It was not an offense but a disappointment." He turned back to the bath tub and resumed washing off the traces of their love making. "She will never become a friend."

"I wonder..." Lucanis took the other side of the bath tub. "I wonder how Taash sees Harding..."

"Well, they are 'an item', as we used to say when we kids," Anders smirked. "But the qunari don't equate sex with love and friendship, and Harding should remember that."

"Humans don't always equate it either," Lucanis grinned. "Mostly we don't equate it."

"Let me rephrase: for us love leads to sex, for the quanari it doesn't. In fact, they are taught to keep it completely separate. I don't know how closely Taash follows this teaching... but I fear Harding might be misunderstanding the nature of their relationship from Taash's point of view." Anders finished washing and picked the largest towel from the stack.

"Was that what Dorian discovered on his own experience?" Lucanis finished washing too and eyed Anders' towel with envy - there were no big ones left.

"Dorian was just playing, to start with," Anders nodded. "It was a game, it was for fun... then I think it got a bit more serious for him, but not for The Iron Bull... Bull explained it to me once: he could never become emotionally involved with Dorian because of sex... It sounds bizarre to us but such are their traditions."

"And Dorian had to accept it, of course," Lucanis threw off the towel and proceeded with getting dressed. "This shirt is covered in blood... these trousers also... on the inside..."

"Well, you were covered in blood, that's why we came here," Anders looked up. "There should be a clean robe in the chest... there's usually something."

"I don't wear robes!" Lucanis scowled. "But I suppose it will have to do..." He pulled on the robe and dropped his shirt and trousers into the tub to wash. "So I suppose Dorian was upset when The Iron Bull turned on you all in that fight I heard about?" He picked up their conversation again.

"If he was, he didn't show it," Anders mused. "He killed Bull without hesitation."

"He must have been very hurt," Lucanis decided.

"Dorian never spoke of it, although some people had to ask. Dorian is a very private person."

"Of course, being gay in Tevinter..."

"The only kingdom in Thedas where gay marriage still doesn't exist."

"Bizarre, really," Lucanis shrugged. "I mean, what's the big deal?"

"Dunno," Anders finally unwrapped himself out of the towel and decided to get dressed. "But he's had difficulties at the Magisterium because of that. It is only slightly worse than blood magic... imagine that! And then, when everyone finally had to accept an openly gay Magister, he had to go and buy a blood mage for a slave - me! That put him right back in the centre of unwanted attention."

"Is that why you slept in his bedroom for weeks on end?" Lucanis shook his head at the blood stains on his shirt and trousers that weren't easily coming out.

"The problem is that you cannot prove that you are not doing something. The only thing you can do is try to prove that you are doing something different," Anders nodded, examining his own robe and tossing it into the bath tub to wash. "The suspicion was that he bought a blood mage so that this mage could bleed a few slaves for him to augment his power without Dorian himself having to perform a blood magic ritual... keeping his hands clean, so to speak."

"Disgusting," Lucanis grimaced. "That's worse than doing it yourself."

"Exactly. So the other option was sex... I mean, why else would he buy a blondie like myself?" Anders grinned. "Blonds are not common in Tevinter."

"And of course you being a man, that fits," Lucanis agreed.

"Besides, Dorian doesn't have a permanent partner... so there's always talk that he might be open to marriage one day... To marry a woman, that is. He is a very rich man, and plenty of women wouldn't give monkeys for his preference, as long as they get to his gold..."

"It's always the same, isn't it?" Lucanis looked up from his washing. "Money and power."

"So yeah, he asked me if I would consider doing him a favour... pretending that we were intimate. Of course I obliged. I was coming and going at first, just so that the servants would see us enough, but then someone sent The Crows after me..." he grinned. "And then Dorian insisted I moved into his suite permanently to be protected by his bodyguards. It turned out a good precaution, too."

"Plus the bodyguards could join in the gossip," Lucanis smirked.

"For sure..." Anders laughed, looking up. "Sometimes they'd have to check on us as well..." he winked.

"Didn't Dorian get cross with them for that?"

"He did, and they stopped." Anders gave up trying to wash out a stain left by his potion belt. "I'll need to get a new robe when this is over... these stains don't come out."

"What - you just have the one robe?" Lucanis looked up in surprise.

"Yep... I normally just wear some Grey Warden stuff... never had the coin for clothes..."

"We'll have to change that," Lucanis rinsed out his shirt and trousers decisively. "I think you deserve a few gifts."

"When I was younger..." Anders smiled. "I had a pretty golden earring," he fingered his earlobe. "Then we got into a fight with some darkspawn, they slashed at my ear and I lost it. Wolf gave me a new one later... just as pretty. I had that one for a long time, but then we got taken into a darkspawn prison and, well, I guess darkspawn like gold too... because it vanished. I never replaced it..."

"I can see you still wearing it," Lucanis said softly.

"Yeah..."

Anders focused on washing his robe for a while, and splashing water made his face wet.

"Dorian is a very private person, you know," he returned to their conversation. "You can lie naked next to him and still feel your privacy respected. I just don't know how he does it."

"He doesn't stand and watch?" Lucanis offered.

"Makes you appreciate your friends more when something like this happens," Anders agreed. "We should see how he's doing. And Alistair. Alistair looked dreadful when he came out of the portal..."

"Alistair is a real templar," Lucanis straightened out his shirt on the washing line by the fire. "He could sense that demon even when we both were blinded. Went right for it! I've never seen a templar at work... impressive!"

"I always knew he's a real templar, even when he doubted it," Anders nodded, rinsing out his robe. "It doesn't take lyrium addiction to be one. They are taught to sense magic... they've got the cleansing strike... if that's not magic, then I'm a toad," he smirked. "Magic has many forms... they are just never told that. Wolf believed that everyone has magic... to a varying degree - that's what they believe where he's from. And it makes sense, you know... we all go to the Fade to dream..."

"Don't remind me," Lucanis shook his head. "I've had enough of the Fade to last me a lifetime..." He watched Anders hang up his robe on the washing line. "Done? Then before we go, there's something I need to show you... while the door is locked."

"Oh?"

"If it wasn't a temporary effect..." Lucanis rubbed his chin in doubt. "Then we'll both find out. Here... Spite, show yourself!"

There was some movement of air and a spirit form of a man in a robe appeared in the room.

"It's still the same..." Spite hissed.

"What?!" Anders stared at him. "You are me?!"

"No, I am I but I look like you," Spite shook his head. "For some reason."

"Come on, you know why this happened," Anders squinted at him. "What did you do?"

"It's what you did, not I," Spite contradicted. "Kept pouring magic into him..." He jerked his head at Lucanis.

"Healing magic..." Anders wasn't convinced.

"I think I did this..." Lucanis watched Spite for a while, then stood next to Anders. "I called to you... a few times... Bésame, bésame mucho... Remember that song?" He sang the start of it. "But no... let's change it... No quiero perderte nunca despues..."

[Lena Wolf]

Sun's Dawn, 3E411 - A god's way

"Well, hello, Fen'Harel," an elf walked up to the invisible wall that's been locking Solas in his prison in the Fade. "This prison is superbly designed, I must say," he smirked. "No miscalculations this time."

"What do you want, Elgar'nan?" Solas scowled.

"Oh, nothing, I just thought I'd come and say hello to an old friend," Elgar'nan smiled pleasantly. "Because we used to be friends... ahhh... such a long time ago... Don't you remember, Fen'Harel?"

"I remember," Solas nodded. "I remember it all... how you betrayed us all, All-Father, how you turned on your people, enslaved them... God of Vengeance! But what did your people ever do to you?"

"They turned out to be inferior," Elgar'nan said with disdain. "Not worthy of being elves. They were only good for one thing - obedience."

"You made them this way!" Solas replied hotly. "With your endless retributions! You know no mercy!"

"Mercy is a miscalculation," Elgar'nan smirked. "The word you like very much. Because Fen'Harel does not err but occasionally makes a miscalculation. You killed our people when you created the Veil. It is far worse than 'enslavement', as you call it."

"I miscalculated, true," Solas looked down. "But you are wrong - I err, I recognise that I err. Miscalculations, mistakes, errors - call them what you like, they all have one thing in common: my intent is always pure, which cannot be said about yours."

"Are you quite sure?" Elgar'nan squinted. "Or perhaps are you again mistaken? They call me All-Father for a reason. Between Mythal and myself, we are the elves. All elves come from us. Even you."

"That's rubbish, Elgar'nan, and you know it," Solas grimaced, spitting out the words. "You are not a god! I am not a god! Mythal was not a goddess! We were all created along with this world, the Fade, Mundus, everything. You cannot claim creation!"

"Ahhh, there is the old fire of Fen'Harel!" Elgar'nan laughed. "I was wondering what would bring it out. How is dearest Mythal? It's been a long time since I've heard from her... I miss her so."

"Mythal... is no more." Solas said with a fallen voice and turned away.

"Really?" Elgar'nan came as close to the invisible wall as he could. "I cannot believe you killed your mistress."

"I have."

"Well... actually I lied: I can believe you killed her." Elgar'nan walked back a little. "We warned her of your treachery, but a heart in love does not listen... whatever she saw in you, I never knew."

"Yeah... killing her is perhaps my greatest regret."

"So, what now, Solas?" Elgar'nan looked stern. "You changed your name... ever since you started that rebellion... three hundred years of war... The elves were destroyed by it! And then the humans came, and we could not defend our lands because there wasn't much of us left! And all for what?! Freedom? What freedom do they have now?"

"Things have gone far worse under humans than they'd ever been under the Evanuris," Solas admitted. "But how could we have known that humans would come?"

"You did not need to know that," Elgar'nan objected. "You should have stopped the war after the first hundred years or something! It was clear already then that the war was destroying the people! But no! Solas proved true to his new name!" He scowled. "I wonder how many know what it means. Solas. Pride. Personally, I preferred Fen'Harel. I like wolves."

"Have you come to torment me, Elgar'nan? Is this your vengeance?" Solas looked up, his face torn.

"Actually, no," Elgar'nan replied in a calmer tone. "I came to see whether you were indeed locked up in a prison, and it does look that way. What would bring it down? The death of Ghilan'nain and myself, no doubt? Well, Ghilan'nain is already dead... killed by your puppet!" He scowled. "And I'm next in line, of course. But your Warden will be surprised when he meets a real Old God..."

"Anders is not my puppet," Solas scowled too. "Anders is an arrogant brat who listens to no one and acts without thinking! I am here because of him! It is all his fault!"

"Is it now?" Elgar'nan laughed out loud. "I would have liked to see that! I mere human spoiling Fen'Harel's ritual! But of course I could not see it because I was imprisoned at the time!" He glared at Solas. "That previous prison wasn't as perfect as this one and Ghilan'nain and I were already making cracks in it... Then suddenly it crumbled and here we are! But the world has changed in the meantime."

"Oh yes, the world has changed..." Solas sighed. "My plan was however to restore it! To restore it for the elves!"

"And to destroy it for the humans, no doubt? Eh, Fen'Harel? Is that why the humans got up in arms and did everything they could to stop you? And even succeeded?"

"Well, yes, sacrifices had to be made," Solas nodded. "Yes, alright, the world they know would have been destroyed. Everyone except the elves would have been dead but..."

"No buts!" Elgar'nan interrupted him. "Don't you dare to rebuke my retributions! They never included destruction of a whole world!"

Solas and Elgar'nan stood there, glaring at one another.

"We're both ancient elves," Solas said softly. "And unless we work together to eliminate all humans, we will be two dead ancient elves. We aren't immortal, you know."

"Work together? I've heard that before," Elgar'nan spit. "No, Fen'Harel. You are probably right, but I cannot trust you. No."

They stood silent for a while, eyes locked, continuing the conversation in their thoughts.

"Then we shall likely both be dead," Solas finally said. "You can kill Anders, but another Warden will rise where he falls. You can kill all Wardens, and someone else will pick up their banner. They are more united than we ever were. That's why we lost."

"I see... so your Final Solution was exactly that..." Elgar'nan said softly. "Cleanse Mundus and open it to the Fade again... all races except elves will die... That's genius, Fen'Harel. Crude and cruel, but genius still... Too bad it can no longer be done."

"Oh but it can," Solas looked up. "Even if we don't work together. The Blight..."

"Ahhh..." Elgar'nan laughed softly. "Ghilan'nain's pet project... Gone entirely out of hand... It's a disease now, Fen'Harel, have you not seen it? It no longer obeys its creator... Yes, Ghilan'nain could still alter it, she thought she could control it... but no... no one controls the Blight. We should be fighting it, not letting it consume the world!" He added in anger. "The Blight does not discriminate! It consumes every living being and every race, elves included!"

"I realise it now, yes," Solas nodded.

"A bit too late, wouldn't you say?" Elgar'nan glared at him. "First you give your key to the Golden City to one ancient darkspawn lord, you help him make a giant hole in the Veil so that demons inundate Mundus, you practically push him to take over the world and merge it with the Fade... and then when the lord dares to think for himself and discovers red lyrium, you join the Inquisition and make out yourself as the hero of the day! Pah!"

"That was another miscalculation..."

"Oh, keep your excuses to yourself!" Elgar'nan spit. "Solas. The one thing that Pride can never accept is that others may have a will of their own!"

"What are you going to do, Elgar'nan?" Solas raised his voice. "You have a plan of your own, I know you! And it won't be anything short of destroying Mundus, either. So stop lecturing me!"

"I have no plan to destroy Mundus, no," Elgar'nan replied calmly. "I actually want the Veil to stay intact. The Blight will do the destruction and I want to be safe from it in the Fade."

"And?" Solas didn't believe Elgar'nan.

"And from there..." Elgar'nan smiled. "Do you remember the Forgotten Ones? They aren't exactly forgotten. Not by me, that is. I don't know yet, is the answer. I only just escaped from an eternal prison," he smirked. "The Blight cannot be controlled but it can be exploited. How and to what end, I do not yet know. I just need... to rest a while... to gather my thoughts..." He paused, watching Solas. "But there is a problem with it, isn't there? As long as I am alive, you are locked in this prison. Ah. You understand now why I do not believe that working with you would do me any good."

Solas did not reply, there was nothing more to say. The cards lay bare. Solas needed Elgar'nan dead, and therefore Elgar'nan needed Solas dead in turn, as impossible as it appeared.

...

"Ugh," Anders sat up in bed, he'd had another nightmare. He stretched for his Conscription Ale and swallowed several gulps. He shook his head and got up. Lucanis woke up too but didn't need to ask what happened - he already knew the signs. He got up and started making coffee.

"It's almost dawn, the Wardens will start waking up shortly," he said, looking out of the window.

"The Wardens are probably already awake," Anders smirked. "I bet most of them had the same dream as I - Solas and Elgar'nan talking. Too bad I couldn't catch more of what was said."

"I thought it was only the Blight that gave you nightmares," Lucanis squinted. "And we killed that Blight Mistress."

"And the nightmares lightened up a lot since then," Anders nodded. "I am not exactly sure why I'm hearing these two... hmm... it didn't seem like either of them was talking to us..."

"Perhaps they are unaware that you can hear them?"

"Perhaps... but unlikely," Anders wasn't convinced. "I'll need to talk to the others. The older Wardens, they'll know. Avernus too."

Lucanis nodded. That was Warden business and he wasn't a Warden. That was the line in the sand between Anders and him.

...

Anders walked into the room with three old Wardens - Linus, Markus and Roderik. All three of them were awake, as Anders had expected. But most other Wardens seemed to sleep peacefully.

"The dream?" Anders looked at them.

"Not everyone, it seems," Roderik looked around. "Only older Wardens... so it takes a certain level of taint... You should not have had it."

"I light up in the Fade..." Anders smirked. "Solas has a connection to me, whether he knows of it or not. It seems it was made when I interrupted his ritual... He can always locate me, and perhaps this is why I had the dream."

"Did you hear what they were saying?" Markus moved closer, he didn't want to raise his voice and disturb those that were still asleep.

"Elgar'nan wants the Veil to stay intact so that he could withdraw into the Fade and gather his thoughts and his strength," Anders summarised. "But Solas needs him dead in order to destroy the prison he's in. For this reason Elgar'nan wants Solas dead, although it is unclear how to achieve it."

"And the Blight?" Linus didn't think that was all.

"Don't know, didn't catch it," Anders shrugged. "They didn't say anything directly about it... but I have a feeling they both can manipulate it."

"Which is why we are hearing them," Linus nodded. "Which means that for us, each of them is like an Archdemon."

"So then the plan remains the same: kill Elgar'nan, then kill Solas. Two Archdemons to go," Anders agreed. "But wait... something has changed. Elgar'nan can no longer hide from us."

"Neither can an Archdemon, and yet with every Blight it is the Archdemon who comes to the Wardens and not the other way around," Roderik reminded him. "We may sense him but we cannot reach him unless he comes to us."

"It's a game of cat and mouse," Linus agreed. "We prepare and wait. What has changed is that now we know that he is coming."

[Renee]

Ah, so that's the guy in Two Worlds. Hauk himself, eh? Not sure if the guy has some other name in TW. But that's Hauk as portrayed in Two Worlds, neat.

Hauk now has an audience as he continues the story of Reesa.

Holy [censored], look at Riverhold. That's gotta be a fun place to explore, wow. And look at Grand Castle Hall! And the Mages Guild is here too, very cool.

They walked around town trying to avoid jumping down from terrace to terrace, but there wasn't always a connecting staircase, and Lena was getting tired of zigzagging left and right over the mountain stream

http://chorrol.com/forums/index.php?s=&...st&p=341328

[Lena Wolf]

Ah, so that's the guy in Two Worlds. Hauk himself, eh? Not sure if the guy has some other name in TW. But that's Hauk as portrayed in Two Worlds, neat.

It's a bit odd in Two Worlds. The main character is the same in I and II, so he has a back story. But we don't know his name... I played two games with him, and I still don't know who he is! I gave him a name, of course.

But Hauk's game is different - he is not doing the main quest as such. He is a mercenary, so he's focusing on side quests and exploration "not by the rules". Note that the game is unmodded, but there are ways to do things that developers didn't block well enough... So this way Hauk is a different person in the same land.

Hauk now has an audience as he continues the story of Reesa.

Holy [censored], look at Riverhold. That's gotta be a fun place to explore, wow. And look at Grand Castle Hall! And the Mages Guild is here too, very cool.

Yeah, and all the shirtless Khajiit too. Keep on reading.

[Lena Wolf]

Sun's Dawn, 3E411 - A first time for everything

"I think I did this…" Lucanis watched Spite for a while, then stood next to Anders. "I called to you… a few times… Bésame, bésame mucho… Remember that song?" He sang the start of it. "But no… let’s change it… No quiero perderte nunca despues…"

Anders stood transfixed. Spite, the spirit possessing Lucanis, had a new human appearance - that of Anders. Spirits had no control over their appearance in Mundus, that had to come from the person they were possessing - in this case Lucanis. But to change the spirit's appearance was no simple magic. There was no spell or ritual for it - that came directly from the soul. Which meant...

Emotion rose in Anders' heart and overflowed it. He was finding it hard to breathe. Tears were just at the back of his eyes, tears of some new and unknown quality... Anders never felt like that before. He was looking into Lucanis' eyes and drowning in their depths.

"For me?" Lucanis was looking into Anders' eyes in turn. "Am I your first?"

"I... yes..." Anders finally managed to take a breath. "Never before..."

"I know the signs... Mathilda..." Lucanis smiled softly. "I felt like this for her. But I feel no less for you now - may be more. More intense, more mature... And of course, you are my first, too."

"Always women before, eh?" Anders smiled. "Just like me... with one exception. You know."

Anders finally regained some measure of control and realised that his legs felt weak. He took a step towards Lucanis and wrapped his arms around his shoulders. Lucanis responded by taking Anders in a tango grip, and just as well, there was no longer any danger of Anders falling.

"Dorian - yes?" Lucanis spoke very softly as there was no need for loud words. "You owe me nothing. Exclusivity is not required..."

"But it is given... the same as you," Anders smiled.

"Ah... no... Mathilda - or rather the demon impersonating her... I wasn't dreaming."

"Mathilda doesn't count, she's from the past. She's a part of you..."

"She was, yes... That demon killed her..." Lucanis sighed. "I think I am still grieving."

"You don't need to make any promises."

"Dorian is very fond of you... He would like to see more of you, I am sure. I am not stopping you... if you feel the same..."

"No, it's... different," Anders smiled. "Before Dorian men were never for pleasure. They were for coin or for pain or both... or just because as young lads my friend and I couldn't get girls to do it with..." He smirked. "But we both hated doing it with each other... So I always hated having sex with men."

"But..."

"You kissed me first," Anders pointed out. "You started it."

"I didn't know what I was doing, I admit," Lucanis laughed. "I still don't understand how it happened... I just... wanted to kiss you... and I did..." He kissed Anders softly. "I never kissed a man before, and never wanted to."

"I never wanted to before either," Anders pressed his forehead against Lucanis. "Perhaps this is what they call a mid-life crisis. We're the right age for it."

"Do you believe in such nonsense?" Lucanis laughed. "I don't. We're just... whatever..."

Their next kiss lasted forever... or at least this was how it felt.

"Dorian tells me you asked him for sex... so I assumed it was because you enjoyed it..." Lucanis returned to the one point that was puzzling him. "But if in fact you didn't normally enjoy it... then... were you trying to change your mind?" He pulled back a little and looked Anders in the eye.

"Dorian is a very gentle person," Anders nodded. "If anyone could change my mind, it would be he. Or you. But I didn't know if you wanted to go as far as that."

"And so... you did it for me..." Lucanis' heart skipped a beat. He usually held his emotions in an iron grip, but now they were getting out of control. His heart felt heavy, it was overflowing.

"Just in case you wanted it... I wasn't going to offer or suggest..."

"And you didn't... I did... Not knowing what I was starting again..." Lucanis' voice sounded hoarse, emotion was cutting his breath.

"Always in control..."

"It's an illusion... I am easily tricked by a clever mage."

"We do what we can to get people into compliance," Anders smiled. "I promised not to do it again."

"I know, I'm just teasing you..."

This time it was Anders who started the next kiss. Lucanis wasn't always leading.

"And now? Where do we go from here?" Lucanis pulled away when his heartbeat started to overwhelm him. "We have a Blight to fight..."

"The Blight can wait..." Anders stroked his hair. "I am not about to ignore this... feeling... I may not live past the Blight... none of us may live past this Blight... So let's forget it for today..."

After another kiss they both decided that the wash room was not the most romantic place in the fortress, and besides they were getting hungry. They unlocked the door and stepped into the kitchen hoping to find something to eat. Evka was stirring in a pot over the fire.

"We've got stew," she shot them a glance. "You look like you could eat. You also look very tired, both of you - I've heard of the bad night you've had. Alistair and Avernus are both exhausted..." She stopped talking when she noticed their baffled looks. "You... ah," she smiled. "Hello, love birds, have some stew!" She sat two bowls of stew on the table. "Oh, don't mind me," she grinned. "I welcome another couple around! Antoine and myself being the only couple here... it hasn't always been straightforward," she sighed. "But at least we no longer have to lock the door - everyone learned to knock by now." She watched them sit down at the table and start eating without a word. "But you locked the door... why? I didn't think Fereldens locked their doors..." She looked at Anders.

"Someone stood and watched," Lucanis grimaced.

"Who?!" Evka frowned. "Who needs to be taught manners again?!"

"No one from here and not a Warden," Anders gave her a long look.

"Ah," Evka sighed. "Well, if any one of ours give you grief... you just let me know!" She said forcefully.

"Sounds like you've had trouble with that," Anders touched the topic hoping that Evka would stop talking about them.

"Well, no, not really. I mean, nothing besides the usual Elf and Dwarf jokes," she smirked. "Which is complete nonsense, really... Antoine is an Orlaisian elf... he's half the size of an average human... he's still taller than me, but not like you're taller than me..." She shook her head. "He took those jokes personally though... An elf in love with a dwarf - that's a theoretical impossibility, they said..."

"That's a cruel thing to say," Anders looked up. "And untrue, of course."

"Yeah... he took it badly at first..." She sighed again and turned away to stir the stew for a while.

"How long has it been now? A few years, I reckon..."

"A few years, yes... But I still see it before my eyes as if it is happening all over again... Such things don't leave you... The Blight is... forever etched in your mind..." Evka left the stew pot alone and sat down at the table. "A caravan was attacked by darkspawn, some people killed, others wounded, and not just a little... We were nearby and responded... Cleared the darkspawn, tended to the survivors... Took them to the nearest village... Antoine was so badly hurt, he had to be carried. The village didn't have a healer, so we stayed a while. And then... the usual," she looked at Anders. "Some die, some survive, some..." She looked away.

"...are in so much pain, they want to be dead," Anders finished her sentence. "Yeah... I know the requests."

"I bet you do," Evka smiled. "Jacques didn't make it... Another elf, he asked to join us... he was dying, the blight spread throughout his body, so quickly... I was wondering whether he'd been blighted already before the attack, but I never asked..."

"Jacques' sacrifice will not be forgotten," Anders said solemnly. "Did you make a record?"

"Of course," Evka nodded. "Antoine watched him die... It's never easy to watch, and it's worse when it's your friend..."

"That isn't an easy death."

"No..." Evka sighed and paused, looking at Anders and Lucanis in turn. Lucanis was listening without saying anything. "Antoine's blight was spreading quickly too," she continued. "Too quickly... I wonder if it was some new variant already..." She shook her head. "We did what we could to slow it down, but..."

"...it's pointless..."

"...yeah..."

"Then Antoine asked to join us too?" Anders prompted her to continue.

"He did, and of course we would never refuse," she nodded. "He made it. His blight receded, it was again... remarkable to see... never seen it retreat like that..."

"Antoine has unusually keen senses, it must be because of this strange new blight," Anders suggested.

"Or because he's paying attention," Evka smirked. "He is actually listening to the song... I mean, he doesn't just hear it, he is listening to it... while the rest of us are trying to block it..."

"...unsuccessfully..."

"I blame the song for the lot of it," Evka laughed. "He actually loves me... Me!" She rolled her eyes. "Evka of Dust Town... castless..."

"Don't say that," Lucanis interrupted her softly. "Warden Evka."

"You see past the cast too..." She gave him a long look. "You haven't spent much time in Orzammar, have you..?"

"I have not been allowed in," Lucanis shook his head. "Antivan Crows..."

"Of course," Evka nodded. "Well... Antoine's never been to Orzammar either..."

"So he saw you for who you are," Lucanis continued in a soft voice. "The same as we see you..."

"Antivans..." She laughed. "You have a way with words, you do..." Then, turning to Anders, she added: "He's a handful... the same as Antoine..." She jerked her head at Lucanis. "They worm their way into your heart and never leave..."

...

"Alistair?" Anders pushed the door of Alistair's room. "Are you asleep?"

"I was but you woke me up," Alistair sat up. "Nah... I'm just teasing you," he grinned. "What are you two doing up?" He looked at Anders and Lucanis in turn. "You don't look like you've had enough rest yet."

"We are here checking on you, thanks," Anders shook his head and came closer to have a good look at Alistair's bandages. "You've taken some scrapes."

"Nothing I haven't had before," Alistair dismissed it. "It was... a tough fight," he admitted looking at Lucanis. "But we won. It's done. What happens in the Fade..."

"...stays in the Fade," Anders nodded. "Very well."

Anders was satisfied, leaving Alistair in the care of the other healers. He wasn't the Chief Healer of course, there was no such thing... but he took his duties seriously. Being a healer was a calling, after all.

"Emmrich? Dorian?" Their room was next. "How are things? Sorry I couldn't come check on you sooner..."

"We are fine, really," Emmrich smiled, looking up from his book. "We're not being left out. You've had other fish to fry."

"I... was busy," Anders nodded. Still, he made it a point to check Emmrich's bandages which weren't many, while Emmrich kept his eyes on Lucanis.

"You look much better, Lucanis," he finally said. "You seem at peace with the other spirit inside you."

"We made peace, yes," Lucanis nodded. "And... well... I suppose you can sense it... He changed... for the better, I think," he smiled.

"Spirits do take on change," Emmrich now looked at Anders. "And it isn't always peaceful. I can only imagine the kind of turmoil you must have gone through with Justice..."

"What..?" Anders was taken by surprise. "Oh... Well, he's out." That was all that Anders was going to say on the subject and Emmrich didn't ask any further questions - as curious as he was about it, he also did not want to pry. After all, Emmrich's interest was merely professional, while for Anders it was a deeply personal matter.

Dorian was watching them from his bed, keeping a large book on his lap even when Anders walked over to him.

"I'm fine too," he said cheerfully. "Just minor scrapes." However, Anders saw through it.

"What's under the book?" He looked at Dorian sternly. "No, wait..." He came closer. "Oh no..." Of course, he could sense it.

"I'm afraid so," Dorian smiled with sadness and removed the book. Black veins were visible under the gauze of the bandage across his leg. "I hadn't seen it coming. A tentacle."

"Damn..." Anders quickly removed the bandage to see the full extent of the blight. "It's spreading quickly," he said with worry.

"Actually, no, it's much better now than it was yesterday," Dorian looked up. "Avernus has been treating it... Remarkable, really."

"He didn't tell me..."

"You were busy," Dorian pointed out. "You had quite enough on your plate already... How's that blood magic spell affecting you? Worn off by now, I trust? Any side effects? I know a thing or two about being subjected to such spells..."

"Yes, but... No, I'm the healer here!" Anders shook his head. "I'm the one asking questions," he smiled. "You know it cannot be cured, right? Avernus can delay it, slow it down..."

"But he cannot free me from the grip of the Blight, I know," Dorian became serious. "However, his treatment is effective at keeping it stable. There's no time for melancholy now, or for life-changing decisions like joining the Grey Wardens. I'll be fine for now. We keep fighting, we defeat this Blight, and then we'll see how much pain I'm in... and whether I'm ready to drink anything to stop it, such as Archdemon's blood..."

"Well..." Anders sighed, taking a small step back. "It's..." He shook his head, then leaned over to Dorian and hugged him tightly. "Whatever you need..." He said in his ear. "I am here for you."

"Shhh... I am not dead yet," Dorian waited for the emotion in Anders to ebb before pulling away slightly. "I'm still with you in this fight, like before. Nothing has changed."

Anders started protesting that everything had changed, but Dorian silenced him with a kiss.

"We'll dance another tango at The Gay Vint when this is over," he smiled. "Let's just focus on that."

[Lena Wolf]

Sun's Dawn, 3E411 - Spirits

"Hello, blood mage," someone said behind Anders' back making him spin around. "You do light up in the Fade," the person smirked.

"Elgar'nan," Anders recognised him. "What do you want?"

"Oh my, you are abrupt, Solas didn't lie," Elgar'nan laughed. "Don't be alarmed, I just want to tell you a few things, nothing more... It is in your interest, as well as mine."

"Alright, I'm listening." Anders folded his arms.

"Just like that?" Elgar'nan sounded surprised. "No protests? No tantrums? Disappointing, really."

He waited for Anders to respond but Anders just stood there, saying nothing.

"Well... that is rather boring," Elgar'nan scowled. "To business then. I suppose you overheard me talking to Solas... you and a few other Grey Wardens... I should have realised you'd be able to hear us... oh well. Which is why I am here. As a Grey Warden, your duty is to stand against the Blight, yes? Not against ancient elven gods as such, am I correct? I know I am," he said without waiting for Anders to reply. "And yes, both Solas and I can influence the Blight... to a certain extent. Ghilan'nain created it, and even she could not control it. But she is dead now, thanks to you. That I understand - you stand against the Blight, you kill its creator. I even understand why you had to kill my dragon... it was an Archdemon, of course. But I am not one, I do not lead the Blight."

Elgar'nan paused again, perhaps expecting a reply, and again Anders said nothing.

"So, before you Grey Wardens decide whom to kill next, you should get your facts straight." Elgar'nan looked Anders in the eye. "Solas is not as innocent as he likes to appear. You need to learn about him. Feel free to learn about the rest of us as well, while you are at it. You have someone with you who can talk to spirits - that Nevarran necromancer. Take him to the Arlathan Forest - the Veil is very thin there, you can practically walk in and out of the Fade. Seek out Elven ruins, seek out Tevinter ruins, ask yourself why Tevinter ruins look so Elven... Ask your necromancer - he should find a lot of spirits there willing to tell you what really happened a thousand years ago, and more importantly what had been happening for three hundred years before humans arrived. That's all I ask. Educate yourself before making your next mistake." Elgar'nan smirked. "See you later, blood mage."

He waved and vanished.

...

Anders woke up with a start.

"Another nightmare?" Lucanis opened one eye - it was the middle of the night.

"Not too bad, this one," Anders shot him a glance but still took a few gulps of his Conscription Ale. "Go back to sleep."

"Not without you," Lucanis insisted, pulling Anders back under the covers. "You're letting in cold air. Close your eyes. We sleep now."

...

"Well, I am coming with you, and that's final," Lucanis stood his ground when Anders was trying to talk him out of going to the Arlathan Forest. "I have a feeling Neve will show up and I am not letting her succeed in murdering you," he said firmly. "Besides, Spite can help when we are in the Fade."

"Yes, I think Lucanis should come with us," Emmrich agreed. "I won't be much help in a fight if I am to focus on talking to spirits... Someone will need to watch out for the unexpected."

"I hope you're not planning on going without me," Dorian joined in. "Tevinter ruins! Learn what happened when my ancestors arrived in Thedas! Obviously, I am coming along."

"Oh, why don't we just bring the entire Grey Warden contingent along as well - the more the merrier!" Anders scowled.

"Don't be ridiculous," Dorian sighed. "It's just the four of us. You simply don't go on such trips alone."

...

A few days later Emmrich, Dorian, Anders and Lucanis stood at the edge of the Arlathan Forest in Northern Tevinter. The place did feel strange, even to Lucanis, and he thought that it must be overwhelming to mages. The three mages next to him did look uncomfortable.

"Well, we're here, might as well go in," Dorian said when no one dared to go through the gate into the forest proper.

"It doesn't feel right," Anders said in a hoarse voice.

"A lot of disturbances in the ether," Emmrich agreed. "Spirits walk in that forest, I can sense them from here. The Fade and Mundus co-exist there... It's like Solas' lighthouse, I suppose."

"Ugh..." Lucanis grimaced. "I couldn't wait to get out of there."

"Alright, let's go," Anders took a step forward. "It's like jumping through a waterfall - it will get better once we're in. We'll get used to it."

"Says who?" Dorian shook his head but followed Anders. "There's a reason no one ever comes here..."

"Apart from the Dalish elves, of course," Emmrich reminded him.

"Weirdos," Lucanis swore under his breath.

"Now, now, just because they choose to live in a forest... and wear strange pointy clothes... and meddle in magic that they don't understand... Oh, forget it!" Emmrich gave up.

After a few minutes walking they realised that it was indeed much like jumping through a waterfall - they were getting used to the forest and the strange energy filling it.

"Darkspawn!!!" Anders cried, rushing forward. They turned a corner, and there on the clearing there was a sizable group of new-style darkspawn, complete with squishy heads and tentacles growing out of their bodies...

"Ugh! That smell!" Dorian coughed. "Why does the Blight have to smell so bad?!"

But of course they had no time to ponder that question. They dealt with the darkspawn, carefully avoiding any contact with the tentacles and trying not to get bathed in the puss emitted by the boils.

"This bodes well!" Anders scowled. "Darkspawn already! I bet the whole forest is infested with it!"

"This is a trap," Lucanis said darkly. "Learn about ancient history and die while doing it."

"Let's try not to die," Emmrich laughed softly. "But yes, it definitely looks like a trap... What else would you expect from an ancient elven god stuck in the wrong epoch? We've been naïve."

"It's not that bad," Dorian approached an abandoned elven caravel. "Here, this looks serviceable," he put his hand on the door handle. "We should find a place to spend the night, the sun is about to set..."

Dorian pulled on the door handle and the door opened without a sound.

"What did you do?!!!" Emmrich shouted, pulling out his staff and starting an incantation. "Look what you released!!!"

"What..? I don't see anything..." Dorian was looking around in bewilderment. Anders seemed to sense something too and started summoning a storm. Even Lucanis felt something and readied his sword. But the odd thing was that all three of them were immobile. "Oh... that's not right..." Dorian pulled out his own staff but couldn't decide which spell would help him restore the flow of time.

"Ahhh... we meet again... Dorian," a soft voice sounded all around him, as if the words were carried by the wind.

"We meet again?" Dorian was still perplexed. "We met before? Who are you?"

"A castle filled with gold and silks, we chatted and ate grapes and then you resisted me!" The voice reminded him, sounding sweet and soft at first and finishing on a sharp note.

"Oh, my personal Desire Demon!" Dorian laughed. "And what do you desire from me now?"

"Why, your soul, of course!" The voice breathed. "But fear not - I no longer desire possession!"

"No? Why not?" Dorian was still hoping that the demon would show itself. "Oh... the Blight."

"Ahhh... Such a waste..." The demon breathed. "But your body is blighted, and I am rather particular about that."

"I am rather particular about that myself, but I can't just swap this body for another," Dorian nodded.

"Perhaps I could help with that?" The demon materialised in front of Dorian.

"Imshael," Dorian sighed. "At least this time I know your name."

"Yes, it was awfully uncourteous of me not to introduce myself the first time we met," Imshael smiled. "But then the second time you actually tried to kill me!" He pouted his lips.

"We did kill you," Dorian frowned. "Why are you not dead?"

"Because I am a spirit? A demon, even?" Imshael laughed pleasantly. "We are not that easy to kill. I was defeated and left, that was all."

"So what do we do now? Time needs to resume flowing," Dorian looked at his companions, still immobile.

"Now... I offer you a new body," Imshael smiled. "This one."

"I don't understand," Dorian shook his head.

"You come with me to the Fade and I'll let you have this body as your spirit form," Imshael explained. "It is fully functional, I assure you," he smiled. "I've got others I can use, not to worry."

"Nice try, Imshael," Dorian gave a short laugh. "But would that not require killing my current body, by chance?"

"Your body is already dead, my boy," Imshael said gravely. "It is only a matter of time. You are already in pain, the blight is spreading. You can join Grey Wardens but it won't stop it, plus the rest of your life will be forfeit in their service, provided you survive the Joining, of course. Your freedom will be gone. I offer you a way out."

"In exchange for my soul."

"You won't need it in the Fade. I'll give you an animated spirit for all the fun stuff that you enjoy so much."

"My memories..."

"Will remain with you, your mind also," Imshael kept smiling. "You will even be able to talk to your friends in the Fade when they dream... You can live an endless life of pleasure and comfort here."

"Is that your final offer?" Dorian squinted. "Do you really know me so little? Or have you grown too lazy to look into your victim's minds? No deal, Imshael."

"Oh, but I forget the most important thing: him," Imshael smiled brightly, flicked his wrist and a young man appeared next to him. Dorian paled. "Ah, that's better!" Imshael clapped his hands. "Awww, but now you'll want your old body back... the one that you had when you and this young man were friends... and more..." Another flick of his wrist and Imshael's appearance changed, he now looked like young Dorian. "You can have it all! Remain yourself, but younger. Have your lover back, your amulet too, keep it, enjoy life here in the Fade! You are too pretty to die, Dorian Pavus!"

Dorian took a step towards the young man who looked at him and smiled.

"Hello," he said. "We should have never broken up... it was stupid, but we were young and hot-headed. But now we can start again... I love you still..."

He took a step towards Dorian, wrapped his arms around his neck and kissed him, and Dorian... All the memories rushed into his mind in a flood... Was that true..? Was he being given a chance to start again..? What was he waiting for?! He'd give anything - anything! - to feel that love again...

"Begone, demon!!!" A loud, harsh and hissing voice cut through the romance. "You cannot have his soul!!!"

"What..?" Dorian broke off the kiss and looked up. Anders stood between him and Imshael, his dagger and arcane sphere drawn, ready for a fight. "Anders..? How is it that you are here..?" Dorian shot a glance to where Anders stood incanting a storm, and yes, Anders still stood there incanting a storm... and he also stood between him and Imshael, poised to cast a spell... "No... not Anders... Spite?" Dorian let go of his young lover who promptly took a step back. "You came for me..?"

"Do not give in!" Spite hissed. "This is a DEMON!!!"

The sight of real Anders frozen in time and Spite as a spirit copy of Anders made another flood of memories rush into Dorian's mind - those of recent events. He was no longer twenty years old. His young lover was no longer young, they never got back together, that love was dead... while Anders, although not his lover any longer... well... never been his lover really... but just a good friend... and yet...

"Let's get him, Anders!" Dorian cried, starting on a spell. "Imshael, begone!!!"

The fight was short. Imshael was not in the mood, it seemed, he flicked his wrist and vanished, taking his young man with him. Spite's lightning bolts were still hitting the ground and Dorian's fire was still burning around them when time resumed its flow.

"You called?" Anders stopped his incantation, turning to Dorian. "Are you alright?" He ran up to him, grabbing his arm. "You look... disturbed. What happened?"

But Dorian was too caught up in the moment to speak. Here was Anders, his friend, who heard his call from the Fade itself... it was worth infinitely more than what Imshael had to offer.

"A demon, I think," Emmrich observed when Dorian did not reply. "Gone now."

"Well done, Spite," Lucanis said softly, folding his spirit wings. He walked around the caravel, examining it inside and out, then nodded with satisfaction. "It's safe to sleep in. There's a fire pit too. I'll make coffee."

The sun was setting, it was high time to settle down for the night.



~~~~~~~~~~~~

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Mar 12 2025, 04:57 PM

[Lena Wolf]

Sun's Dawn, 3E411 - Rosa sangrenta

"Show me your leg," Anders rolled up his sleeve. "It's been three days."

"My leg is fine," Dorian rolled his eyes. "Avernus' treatment is holding, the blight isn't spreading."

"Show me," Anders wasn't giving up.

"Just do it, he won't leave you alone until you do," Lucanis smirked.

"Oh very well..." Dorian proceeded demonstratively unbuckling his boot.

When the clothing was finally removed, Anders carefully unwrapped the gauze bandage around Dorian's thigh. Black veins were spreading from a black spot underneath it, but the skin had closed over it.

"I'll have to reopen it - this will hurt," he said, looking up. "Brace yourself." And without waiting for Dorian's objections, he slashed the black spot with his dagger letting a few drops of black, viscous blood ooze out. "Here it comes!" He warned, slashing his own wrist and letting a few drops fall on the open wound.

"That... does hurt," Dorian breathed through clenched teeth, a few sweat pearls appearing on his forehead.

"Almost done," Anders looked up quickly, then returned to the wound. A few more drops of his blood mixed with Dorian's blighted blood in it, foaming up. "That's the best I can do," he sighed. "Not as good as Avernus, but..." He started bandaging up the cut. "The pain should subside... eventually..."

...

The following morning the weather was foggy at first, allowing them time for an extended breakfast and coffee, but once the sun cleared the air, it was time to start the exploration of the Arlathan Forest in earnest. They were looking for elven ruins that still bore the scars of the war of a thousand years ago. They spotted some ruins not far from the caravel where they spent the night, and decided to start there.

"I think we can just pick any ruins, really," Emmrich was walking around the remnants of a rotunda. "The whole forest is filled with spirits. Let's see if I can get any of them to speak..."

As Emmrich's spirit lantern illuminated the rotunda, the light seemed to flow into it rather than out of it, with the ambience dimming around them. The sound of a flute sounded from a distance, slowly approaching. Was that the wind? [Listen to the wind.]

...Pensem nas crianças mudas, telepáticas...

...Pensem nas meninas cegas, inexatas...

...Pensem nas mulheres, rotas alteradas...

...Pensem nas feridas como rosas cálidas...

Verses of a song came from no where.

"That's... not Elvish," Emmrich looked around. "Who is here?"

...Mas, oh, não se esqueçam da rosa, da rosa...

The voice seemed to circle around them, repeating the verses over and over.

...A rosa com cirrose, a anti-rosa sangrenta...

"Tevene..." Dorian was listening closely. "Not quite like we speak today, but close..."

...Sem cor, sem perfume, sem rosa, sem nada...

"Are you a human spirit trapped in the Fade?" Emmrich addressed the voice.

There was no answer but the verses of the song.

"That song..." Dorian paled. "It tells us what happened here..."

Think of the mute, telepathic children...
Think of the blind, stumbling girls...
Think of the women, their lives uprooted...
Think of the wounds like melting roses...
But do not forget the rose - the rose -
The rose scarred, a bleeding anti-rose...
Without colour, nor fragrance, nor heart... nothing...

The flute kept playing and the voice kept singing the verses over and over...

"Blood magic," Lucanis finally said, as if to himself.

"And not just any blood magic," Emmrich echoed his words equally softly, no louder than the eerie sound of the song. "They bled some people in order to curse the others..."

"The rose is life, of course," Dorian nodded. "When my father..." He shook his head, emotion cutting off his breath. "That's how he knew how to do it... We did it... here... a thousand years ago..."

"You don't know that," Anders said unexpectedly firmly, putting his arm around Dorian's shoulders. "Who performed that magic here? You assume it were humans, but it could have just as easily been the elves..."

"The song is in Tevene, not Elvish..."

"The song does not specify..."

"I think we've heard enough," Emmrich shot a glance at Dorian who was very pale and  shaking slightly. "No other spirits will talk to us here." He extinguished his lantern and the sunlight filled the rotunda. The wind died down and the song stopped. "Let us return to the caravel. Exploring can wait."

...

"When my father realised that I was not going to hide from being gay, he decided to 'cure' me," Dorian said when they were sitting around the fire with Lucanis' special extra-strong and extra-sweet coffee. "It was a blood magic ritual that he performed... he actually performed it himself... it wasn't some evil blood mage, it was my own father..." He paused, taking a sip of his coffee. "He bled two slaves..." He shook his head. "He did something... The room was filled with red mist... My whole body was boiling... my blood was boiling..." He paused again, then looked at Anders. "You know how that feels."

"Neve," Anders nodded. "My mind was in a fog... I was saying things..." He squeezed his head between the palms of his hands. "I wanted to do those things, too! If it hadn't been for Alistair stopping me..."

"You were lucky to have kept some of your reason to go to Alistair in the first place," Emmrich pointed out. "Otherwise..."

"Yeah..." Anders sighed. "Remember Adamant Fortress? Warden-Commander Clarel?" He looked at Dorian who nodded. "I could have sworn they were under some blood magic spell even before they started with their rituals."

"Possible," Dorian agreed. "Warden-Commander Clarel was a very level-headed woman... It was hard to believe she'd just fall for a such an unbelievable fable as the end of all Blights..."

"What did you want to do?" Lucanis interrupted their musings looking at Anders. "What did Neve try to compel you to do?"

"Bleed someone in order to open a portal to the Fade to go fight your demon," Anders smiled. "Oh, she had it all figured out... Of course, I'd do anything... it would only require one life... may be two..."

"Anders, the spell wore off, remember?" It was Dorian's turn to put his arm around Anders' shoulders and shake him slightly. "It wore off. The side effects will linger though..." He looked Anders in the eye. "It is up to you to resist that."

"And you? What side effects..?" Anders started asking, then changed his mind, but Dorian answered anyway.

"No side effects, no effects even... but it replaced my mind with someone else's. I wasn't me anymore. I lost myself." He smirked and let go of Anders. "It persisted for a long time, too - a month may be, or more. They even tried to marry me off and I didn't resist... Imagine that!" He laughed. "But it didn't work, I still didn't fancy women... I fancied no one, in fact... it was all... gone... Do escuro eu via um infinito sem presente, passado ou futuro... An infinity without the present, past or future... It's an old song..." [Listen to the song.]

"That wasn't a common ritual," Emmrich said softly. "That is forbidden art by any standard."

"No doubt!" Dorian looked up. "Firmly forbidden in Tevinter as well! Not easy to get hold of any text that even hints on how to do it... I always thought we didn't have such texts, that the magic was foreign... But now I think I was wrong..."

"You don't know that," Anders objected again. "We don't know who performed such magic here."

"It were the elves," a woman's voice spoke behind them. Neve.

"Well, if that isn't our special guest," Lucanis rose to greet her, his face white as a sheet. "Come, have a coffee with us. And why not. I want to see just how you plan to kill Anders this time."

"Oh, I'm not here for him," she smiled radiantly at Lucanis. "I am here for the secrets of old Tevinter. The proof that we didn't do it. We did not destroy the elves or their city - the elves did it all themselves well before we arrived. We simply picked up the pieces..."

"Get out." Dorian too rose, his eyes blazing.

"Or what, Magister Pavus?" Neve glared at him. "You want the glory for yourself, I see! But I was here first!"

"I recommend you leave, Neve," Emmrich stood between Lucanis and Neve. "Now."

Neve looked at each of the in turn, shrugged and smiled.

"Alright, have it your way - I leave." She turned around and walked a few paces. "Solas will not give you Elgar'nan, Anders. And without Solas you'll never find him. Dorian won't live and your lover..." She shot a glance at Lucanis. "Well... there's always another demon in the Fade..." She waved and walked away.

For a while no one moved or spoke.

"Remind me - why am I not allowed to kill her?" Lucanis glared at everyone, but mostly at Anders.

"You are, but not yet," Anders sighed and sat down. "I don't need Solas to find Elgar'nan since Elgar'nan found me already... but she didn't know that... hmm..."

"She knew plenty other things though," Dorian sat down too. "Such as my blight..."

"No other demon in the Fade will catch me unprepared," Lucanis said firmly. "Mathilda is dead to me."

Emmrich was watching them silently, his coffee drunk. Memories were crowding his mind... memories that normally left him well alone...

"Johanna..?" He whispered, looking into the distance. "Here..? After all these years..?" He got up and walked out of the circle of light of their campfire. The night had already fallen, a few steps further and Emmrich would disappear from view...

...

Dorian was the first to react. A wall of ice in front of Emmrich stopped him from walking into the night and whatever trap was waiting for him there. They ran up to him but he didn't seem to see them... all he saw was Johanna, he kept calling to her, kept trying to reach her... They took him by the arms and led him into the caravel, closing the door to the cabin.

"Blood magic," Dorian hissed. "Neve."

"He is completely zoned out," Anders nodded. "Johanna... he mentioned her once... she was his friend some twenty years ago... more than a friend, I think..."

"Definitely more than a friend," Lucanis nodded. "So what do we do?"

"We can try to give him coffee, if he takes it, it will shorten the time until the spell wears off," Dorian looked up and Lucanis nodded. "Extra-strong, extra-sweet... But other than that, there isn't much we can do..." He paused, checking Emmrich's pulse. "I'll stay with him, you two go make coffee."

...

"She will not have you," Lucanis took the coffee pot off the heat and sat it down to cool off, freeing himself from the need to watch it. "She... I wish she was dead already but you keep stopping me..." He gently pushed Anders onto the grass by the fire, lying down next to him. "Mathilda..."

"...does not matter," Anders interrupted him, rolling over on top.

"Were you really going to do blood magic to fight my demon for me?" Lucanis asked.

"I do blood magic every day," Anders smirked. "I am a blood mage."

"Not of that kind."

"There's just one kind."

"Not true, I kill the other kind."

"I love you..."


~~~~~~~~~~

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Mar 14 2025, 01:42 PM