Chapter 1) The Vigil

Layla POV

One month after the Blight, funerals for the dead are held. Those who are missing are given candles, and are assumed to be deceased as well. King Cailan and former Warden Commander Duncan are given their own ceremonies.

Two months after the Blight, Anora Mac Tir, the former queen of Fereldan, accepts Teyrn Fergus Cousland's proposal, and moves to Highever. The ceremony is quiet, but hopeful, and is attended by most of the court.

Three months after the Blight, Valendrian, former hahren of the Alienage, is named 'bann'. Alongside Neria Surana, the court mage, and Lyna Mahariel, huntress of the Sabrae Clan, he serves as an advisor to King Alistair. Talks with Orzammar begin with having a permanent ambassador stationed at Fereldan's castle.

Four months after the Blight, Denerim is repaired, and the reconstruction is celebrated with the wedding of King Alistair Theirin and Lady Elspeth Cousland. The resulting after-party nearly destroys the city again.

Five months after the Blight, rumors begin popping up of darkspawn not retreating into the Deep Roads as is typical for a Thaw. Many hope it is simply a result of the Blight being so short.

Six months after the Blight, Warden Commander Aiden Tabris, and Arlessa Layla Amell of Amaranthine decide it is time to visit the new headquarters for the Wardens: Vigil's Keep. And here is where they discover that something dark is awakening.

"You know; it just occurred to me that you and I never did travel together unless we were in a large group," I noted as we walked down the path. Aiden and I were to have escorts, but both of us were made uncomfortable by how worshiping the guards looked, so we requested to travel quietly, just the two of us. It was much more peaceful. "When you joined up, Cleon was here, and whenever we split up, Nuada and I were paired together."

"That is true," Aiden agreed. He laughed at the observation, ducking under a low-hanging branch. "The first time was perfectly logical. I think the second time was an unconscious 'please, get together already' thing."

"Cad." I grinned to soften the insult and he laughed again. "How are you doing? I know Zevran originally intended to be here with us."

"Same to Leliana, for some reason." Though he looked thoughtful, I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes. Leliana was still interested, and it did not seem like Zevran minded one bit. If anything, I thought he encouraged it. "He's attempting to meet with a Guildmaster so that we can hopefully lessen the number of Crows that come after him, and we don't have to deal with another set of assassins trying to kill us while we're having sex."

"I imagine that was quite the mood killer."

"Well, Zevran thought it hilarious." He shrugged. "Leliana, though, was called by the Grand Cleric for an unknown reason." Maybe it had something to do with her protections of the Urn. "She also suggested we grow roses around the Keep."

"Well, I do plan to make a medicinal garden if there is not one already." I held up my pack. "I even have seeds."

"From that botanist that visited, right?" He helped me over some loose rocks. The path was still not quite cleared thanks to everything, but they were much better than before. "What was her name?"

"Ines Arancia. She's very well respected, and an absolute master of botany."

"She didn't seem to like Wynne very much." He snickered. "What was it? Miss 'I am so special the Fade shines out my bum'?"

"Yes, they do not get along. Wynne thinks her incredibly eccentric." I shrugged. "But she was most kind when I asked her for help. If we find any Northern Prickleweed seeds, though, we need to send them to her. They're rumored to be able to grow on blighted lands."

"Ah, is that what she was researching?" He sighed, looking at the area. "So many people lost everything because of the Blight. It will take years for us to recover." These dark rumors about the darkspawn were not helping at all either. "But, Layla, if you might humor me?"

"What do you need?" I asked, skipping so that I was directly at his side. According to our map, we should be able to see the Keep soon. "You look concerned."

"Well, by this point, we really should have had a welcoming group," he pointed out. I nodded slowly, realizing he was right. "I also think I'm sensing darkspawn."

I managed to hold in my groan until I closed my eyes and confirmed that there were, in fact, darkspawn nearby. "Why is it that something that should be simple is not?" There were many darkspawn around. "There are supposed to be Wardens here. Why have they not dealt with it yet?"

"Maybe this is a recent attack?" We came around the bend, only to see that parts of the Keep were on fire. "Then again, maybe not." After all, you could not get fires that large, even with magic, unless they had been burning a while. "What's that curse Leliana likes? Blood and damnation?"

"I was thinking something simpler, like 'well, damn'."

"That works too." We both drew our weapons as we noticed a soldier being overwhelmed. "Take the left, Layla."

"On it, Aiden!" We both charged forward, he taking the right, and I taking the left. Between the two of us, the darkspawn easily fell. In fact, they fell so easily that I was unnerved. Their movements had been clunky compared to those at Ostagar and the Siege of Denerim. It was almost like watching a newborn attempting to walk, if you had seen a darkspawn during the Blight.

I did not much like comparison. It had some implications I did not want to think on.

"Easy, soldier," Aiden murmured, helping the soldier up. I came next to her and brought up my hands to check her over for injuries. "You're safe now."

"I… thank you?" she replied. She looked confused. "But who are…?" She gasped suddenly, eyes lighting up. "Oh, you're the Commander of the Grey and the Arlessa!" The girl saluted us, before slumping from relief. "Thank the Maker."

"So, what happened?" He glanced around, frowning. I knew he had noticed the same thing I had. There was just something 'off' to all of this. Was it because this was not a Blight or was it something more sinister?

"I have no idea. They came from nowhere." Now, how could that be? There were Wardens here, and they were supposed to sense these things. "I heard screams and people dying, and then someone ordered me to come intercept you two on the road." She sighed. "I thin it was Varel." I thought I knew that name. It seemed familiar.

"Who?"

"The seneschal, steward. Keeps things running for the Wardens." She saluted again. "I completely forgot to introduce myself. I am Mhairi, a Warden recruit."

"It's nice to meet you." Aiden nodded to the Keep. "Is there a way inside?"

"Yes, this way!" Mhair pointed to a hidden path, blocked by an ogre. "I managed to get it before escaping, but then I was-"

The ogre suddenly jumped to its feet with an ear-shattering roar. Aiden shifted to protect Mhairi while I encased its legs in ice. As it tried to move, though, Aiden rushed forward, and I used telekinesis to boost his jump to high over the ogre's head. With a yell, Aiden brought his greatsword down, splitting the ogre's skull, and killing it for good.

Just for good measure, though, I made sure to set the corpse on fire when he landed. I hated ogres.

"Ogres have a rapid regeneration rate," I explained to Mhairi. Her eyes were wide, and she looked ashamed. "You really have to over-kill the stupid things." Aiden walked over, rolling his shoulder. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Aiden reassured. He moved to put his greatsword back on his back, before deciding against it. "I was just loosening up my shoulders. I hadn't expected a fight." Neither of us had. If we had, we would have waited to come with Alistair, Elspeth, Nuada, and Cleon. "Mhairi, that path?" She nodded vigorously, eyes determined. "Then, inside the burning keep. I think that might be a new one." Now that he mentioned it... "Let's go."

Vigil's Keep was made of a strong, stable stone. There were wooden features, of course, but the main part was stone. As a result, the smell of smoke and char all but disappeared once we were inside. It was replaced, though, with the smell of blood and other bodily fluids. Rot had not set in yet, though, which was nice.

"Unbelievable…" Mhairi breathed as we came into the main room. She looked around at the carnage with wide eyes and shaking hands. "There was fighting here when I left. It hasn't been that long." Yes, you could see the remains quite clearly. "The keep has been overwhelmed." She slowly turned, as if she couldn't believe anything she was seeing. "How did the Wardens not sense the darkspawn coming? I don't understand it!"

"How many were supposed to be here again?" Aiden asked. Like me, he did not seem to care about how many dead bodies were scattered near us. I was not sure if that was a good thing or not. The Blight certainly had left its mark on us. "Wardens, I mean."

"Not many. A dozen?" Mhairi turned to face us. "There are other soldiers who came with them, though, and more recruits."

"But we still have the darkspawn creating a very effective ambush." Aiden glanced at me. "I don't remember them being this smart with an Archdemon."

"I do not either," I agreed. It seemed strange. All records indicated that the darkspawn were mindless without the Archdemon, but here we had them somehow becoming smarter with the Archdemon's death. "Do you think…?" I noted Mhairi was listening closely, and so chose to sign the next words: 'do you think this has something to do with Morrigan's ritual?'

'I hope not,' he signed back. Both of us knew Cleon would never forgive himself if so. He barely forgave himself now for it, more so because he had kept it secret. 'Did he ever give you those hugs and sweets you demanded as payment?'

'Yes, he did.' They were delicious sweets too. He, Lyna, and Ashalle made them. 'I think he promised to bring more when he and Nuada met us here.'

'Oh, that does sound good.'

"Um…" Mhairi hesitantly interrupted. I could tell that she felt unnerved. "What are you two…?"

"Cleon is deaf, and prefers to not speak, so we created a sign language based on the sign languages each of the group knew," Aiden explained. The result was our own unique language that we understood perfectly, but others… not so much. "You'll be taught it eventually. It's a pain to carry paper and pen while working in the field. But there's nowhere near enough time." He glanced at me. "Is there a chance you can…?"

"Well, I suppose now is a good time to experiment a little," I replied. Carefully, I drew on my blood magic, and tentatively 'mixed' it with a handful of spell wisps. Then, I let them go, hoping that they would seek out 'fresh blood', 'living blood'. They ended up going in two directions. One went through a closed gate in the distance, likely leading further into the Keep. The other went to a nearby door. "Well, if it worked, then we have living in those directions." I shrugged. "Of course, they could just be seeking out darkspawn."

"Even that is preferable than standing here in someone's intestines. Mhairi, you might want to move, by the way." While Aiden headed for the door we could reach, I gave Mhairi a sympathetic look as she squirmed back. "I can hear fighting."

"Aiden, hold on a moment." I turned to face Mhairi, noticing the paleness in her face. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yes, I'm fine," Mhairi mumbled. She bowed her head. "I'm sorry. I actually survived Ostagar, so some things…" Ah, I had been assuming she was a new recruit, not a traumatized veteran. That… was rather arrogant and patronizing of me, actually. "B-but I am ready and willing to fight, I assure you." Her eyes lit up as she raised her head again. "I've always loved the tales of kings, knights, and nobles, fighting for what they believe is right. While I know the reality isn't as pretty, it still doesn't change how that is the sort of life I want. To fight, live, and die for a cause I believe in. Destroying the darkspawn fits in nicely, especially after you Wardens saved my home." She smiled warmly. "So, I promise. I'll be fine."

"I hope so," Aiden replied. He was smiling slightly. "Your enthusiasm is appreciated, but I'm going to warn you now. Being a Warden is seeing the worst of battles again and again and again." Though, to be fair, we did join up during a Blight. Perhaps things were a little less gory outside of one. The Vigil's condition did not help that hypothesis, but this was already noted to be strange. "Opening the door in three… two… one…"

The door slammed open, and the three of us burst through. However, we only found a mage torching some darkspawn. He turned to face us after waving his hands, and looked rather startled to see us there. I was startled for a completely different reason.

"Er…" he began, glancing around before shrugging. "I didn't do it." Oh, I definitely knew this tone. He always used it to get out of trouble.

"Anders?" I breathed, staring at him. His nonchalant innocence faded for shock. "Anders, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, that is a good question, but I've a few myself." He pointed to me. "Why are you wearing armor for starters?"

"You missed a lot!" I ran over and gave him a quick hug before hitting his shoulder. "Damn it, Anders!"

"Since when do you curse?!" Still, he hugged me back warmly, laughing all the while. "Well, damn. I go off on my own for nine months, and look what happened!"

"Where have you been? Did you not hear of the Tower?"

"Oh, I did. That's why I'm in Fereldan, and not Kirkwall like I had planned." He pulled away and poked my cheek. "The place was crawling with refugees, by the way. I felt so sorry for all of them. If I hadn't heard about the Tower, I definitely would have been tending to them. I only recently got back to Fereldan."

"Why were you in…?" I remembered that Karl had been taken there, and that Anders had tried to reunite with him before. "No, let me rephrase that. You came back?"

"Yeah. I was worried." He shrugged. "Remember, Layla, you guys are my family. I couldn't stay in Kirkwall, knowing that something had happened. How is Neria? Jowan?"

"Neria is the Court Mage of Fereldan now." I tried to keep my voice light, but the next bit of news made them heavy. "Jowan is dead, though. It is… complicated…" It haunted me even now.

"…I see…" Anders closed his eyes, to hold back tears. "Well, I was afraid I'd come back to all three of you being dead. One out of three isn't… so bad…"

"Might I ask what you meant by you 'did not do it'?" Aiden suddenly asked. I knew he was asking more to distract Anders than out of any real curiousity. "I take it you're a friend of Mistress Layla's."

"Ah, yes," Anders confirmed. The slight warmth to his small smile told me he knew what Aiden was doing, and appreciated it. "I'm her older brother, basically."

"Oh, you're going to love meeting Lord Nuada."

"Who?" Anders frowned and looked down at me. "Wait, did you pick up a boyfriend while I was away?"

"Yes, and I have had sex with him too," I retorted, blunt words bringing a blush to my face. Anders gasped dramatically, shaking his head. "Actually, I do think you two will get along." I poked his side, knowing he was ticklish there. "But, seriously, what were you referring to?"

"Well, them?" Anders answered, pointing to the corpses on the floor. It took me a couple of blinks to realize that the mangled pieces of metal used to be templar armor. "I didn't kill them."

"Well, of course you did not. Despite your numerous escape attempts, you are not stupid enough to fight a templar."

"Precisely. I'm more of the run away sort." That he was. Despite his nonchalance and sarcasm, at his core, Anders was always the gentlest of us four. He hated fighting more than anything. "Okay, I will admit that I'm not all that sorry at them dying, but that's more because of how they liked kicking me awake." He sighed. "I know most people adore that, but I'm just so picky. And, you know, they kept dispelling my magic whenever I did try to help."

"Well, that was smart."

"Did you acquire a sense of sarcasm with the rapier?" He leaned away from my attempt to bat him on the shoulder. "Well, you're still short."

"And I've seen her destroy armies," Aiden teased. Anders looked startled by that. "I don't think I've introduced myself. I'm Aiden Tabris, Commander of the Grey. You know Mistress Layla, but you might not know she's the Arlessa now."

"Wait, she is?" Anders yelped. He definitely looked startled now. "But… mages can't hold titles?"

"Technically, neither can Wardens, yet both she and Lord Nuada both hold titles, and Alistair is a former Warden." Aiden grinned. "We just arrived."

"Oh, I figured that. I definitely would've remembered Layla, and even if I somehow missed her, I doubt I would forget seeing such a handsome lad and lovely lady."

"…Are you Antivan?"

"Nope, I'm from the Anderfels. I picked up my personality from the Circle."

"Regardless," I began, interrupting the conversation. "We are in a burning building filled with dead, and Mhairi looks ready to throw up." I tugged Anders's sleeve. "Fall in. You are on healer duty."

"You're a Spirit Healer too," Anders protested. Still, he went over to Mhairi and, with a simple spell, helped ease her nausea. I wondered if she was remembering fallen friends from Ostagar. "What will you be doing?"

"I will be fighting, obviously." I crossed my arms, and looked to Aiden. "Shall we follow the path?" He nodded, and moved ahead. "Let us go, then.

It did not take us long to push through to find the controls for the inner gate. It did take us a moment to get it working as the mechanism had been damaged, but Aiden picked up a few things from Zevran and Leliana, so we managed to get the gate to open. As soon as it did, darkspawn came rushing through, and a random dwarf appeared out of nowhere.

"Oh, we're scared now!" …Who was this dwarf, and where had he been hiding? "Don't come over here! Ha!" Why was he taunting the darkspawn?

The answer came in a giant explosion, one that made my ears ring and brought down stones from the ceiling.

As the sound and dust faded, I tentatively looked down to where the darkspawn were, finding only blackened stains and rubble. Well, that was… unexpected. I suppose it was good to be reminded that just because I went through a Blight, I had seen everything, but I doubted I needed to nearly lose my hearing like Cleon in order to remember that.

"Aiden, I do not recall there being explosives so powerful," I murmured. That seemed to surpass even cannon fire. "Certainly Elspeth and Morrigan did not know of it." I highly doubted either of them would have refused to use them. Both could be incredibly pragmatic.

"Yeah, it reminds me of the gaatlok that Sten once described to me," Aiden agreed. He ran a bloody hand through his hair. "Something about it being a more powerful, more refined black powder thing." He shrugged. "Regardless, it's clear that what survivors are here are not aware that reinforcements have come."

"Well, to be fair, their 'reinforcements are two Wardens."

"Layla, I have literally seen you take out an army of darkspawn, and you froze a port."

"You are never going to let that one go, are you?" I sighed at his smile, and turned to Mhairi and Anders. "How are you two holding up?"

"Oh, I just got a reminder of why I hate explosives," Anders deadpanned. He sighed, rubbing at his ears. "Think there was some damage, but I cleared it up. Mhairi?"

"Yes, I'm fine," Mhairi confirmed. Her eyes were thoughtful. "I had heard there was a dwarven alchemist, the brother of a stonemason hired to check the walls of the Keep." Well, we just met him. "Should we head inside?"

"Yeah, probably. You sure you don't have a ringing in your head?"

"No, it passed."

"Soldiers." He and Mhairi dissolved soon into an argument, and Aiden and I exchanged slightly amused looks. While Anders was being a little pushy, I did notice he was not calling a single spell without permission, so I did not think we needed to intervene. He was just arguing about why he thought it necessary to give Mhairi a check over, reasons Mhairi refused, likely due to how time consuming they would be. She wanted to move on.

"Okay, children, let's just stop there," Aiden finally sighed. He leapt over the side of the second floor and landed below with all the grace of a cat, though with the sound of a stone hitting the ground. "We need to keep going."

"Yes, we do," I agreed. I called on the markings and jumped down too, landing with a bit less grace, but also with a bit of less noise. "Will you two be jumping down as well?" Anders just shot me a dirty look. "Then find a staircase down."

It was a bit fun to tease them with how weird we were.

The inner part of the Keep was far more chaotic than the outer. It remained mostly easily to control, though the clunky way the darkspawn moved still bothered me horrendously. But still, we fought our way through, protecting survivors as we could, and sending them to cleared areas.

At some point, sounds of fighting caught our attention, and we rushed forward intending to reinforce whoever they were. When we opened the door, though, I was surprised to see a lone person fighting a large group of darkspawn alone, and winning. At least, I was surprised until the person paused and turned to wave at us before going right back to killing darkspawn.

What was Oghren doing here?

Oghren cut down the last of the darkspawn, took a swing from his 'water bottle' no doubt filled with some sort of ale, and came over to us. "There you two are!" he laughed, smiling warmly at us. I could not help but smile back. "When these darkspawn showed up, I thought 'just you wait until Aiden gets here and you'll be spitting teeth out of your arses!'" That was a delightful mental image. "Then Layla will come by and take care of the rest!"

"It is good to see you too, Oghren," I laughed, unable to help it. It was nice to see a familiar face, and I had not been able to see him much in the past few months. "I think I last saw you at Alistair and Elspeth's wedding?"

"Yeah, and I won that bet with Teagan." That had involved something about pickle juice. "But ancestor's tits, you two are slow. I've been here a week waiting for ya."

"Waiting?"

"Yeah, I thought I'd give a try at being a Warden." I shared a look with Aiden, and nodded. Something had happened, but we would wait for him to explain. "So?"

"It isn't something you can back out of," Aiden reminded him. He shrugged. "So long as you remember that, I don't mind. I know your strength personally."

"Great to hear it!" Oghren replied. His smile implied that he appreciated that we had not pressed the issue. "Oh, and look who you have. The recruit with a great rack." Oghren!

"Let's keep comments like that more unsaid." Aiden shook his head. "What can you tell me about the situation?"

"I know they got ambushed. Bad." Oghren's voice turned serious. "And I have never seen them pull something like this before." That was bad. Oghren was a veteran of the Deep Roads, meaning he had seen a lot. "There were some soldiers heading to the roof to try and cut off the leader."

"How did the leader get on the roof already?" Aiden bit back a groan. This was definitely not how either of us had thought the day would go. "Which way?"

Oghren's answer was to silently show us the door, and we were soon running through, hoping we could make it to the soldiers before they all died. Along the way, though, I tripped over something, and yelped. I yelped again when I realized the 'something' had been a heavily injured person.

"Rowland!" Worse still, it was a person Mhairi knew. "Rowland, it's Mhairi!" she whispered, kneeling next to him. The man groaned in reply, eyes fluttering open to reveal they were clouded with pain. "Commander Tabris, Rowland is a knight recruited from Denerim like me." She looked back at us, eyes pleading. "We must do something for him!"

I studied the man closely, noticing the deep wounds that bleed sluggishly, and shook my head. I, at least, did not have the power to help him. "Anders?" I whispered, glancing at him. He had always been better at healing than me. "Can you?"

"No, he's beyond healing magic," Anders sighed. His fingers twitched at his side, and I knew he wanted to try anyway. "If I had a field medic kit on me like Irving always said I should, I might be able to combine them…" His tone implied he did not think it would work. "Does anyone have whiskey? It might help dull the pain."

"What about blood magic paired with healing magic?"

"The main problem is that there's some sort of poison in the blood, along with there being too little, and…" He trailed off, looking at me incredulously. "Wait, hold on. Blood magic?!"

"A lot of things happened during the Blight, and I am trying to find nice ways to use it." Still, if there was a poison in the blood… "Let me check." I knelt down and cast my magic on the blood. I recoiled instantly. "It is the Taint." Nothing we could do to save him, save put him through the Joining right now. "There is truly nothing we can do."

"It's… fine…" Rowland managed to mumble, startling all of us. He had a rather sweet smile. "It's fine… Mhairi, relax… soldiers are prepared…" But I could tell by the look on her face that she had desperately not wanted to lose him. Were they close? Was it simply her remembering Ostagar and how everyone had died? There was no way to tell.

"I'm sorry," Aiden whispered. He knelt by Rowland and brushed his hair out of his face. "I'm sorry I did not come sooner." Oh, Aiden… "But please, can you tell me everything you remember?"

"They… they were on us in a moment. The seneschal ordered a counter attack, but they came from… from nowhere and everywhere! The walls, the ground…" It seemed the Vigil was not as secure as we had thought. "The one who leads them has powerful magic and talks." …Did he just said it talked?

"Riordan mentioned being able to listen in on the Archdemon, but I don't think this is the same." Aiden sighed, and glanced at me. "Is there truly nothing to save him?"

"There is none," I confirmed. I drooped, reminded of the others I could not save. It had been a while since then, yet I still… "As Anders said, the best we can do is do something for the pain, or to put him out of his misery now." Mhairi moved to protest, but I held up a hand. "He will not get better. We can do nothing but watch him die."

"In which case, I would prefer to give him a clean death, instead of risking him becoming a twisted ghoul, like what happened to Tamlen," Aiden murmured. He focused on Rowland. "Is that all right by you?"

"Yes, it's fine…" Rowland whispered. His smile was bloody. "It was an honor to meet you. I wish I could have fought at your side…"

"You gave me information that might save our lives, Rowland. Do not doubt that." Aiden pulled a dagger from his boot; I recognized it as his mother's. "Rest easy."

I tugged Mhairi away as Aiden sit Rowland's throat, rubbing her back as she shook. "Mhairi, you do not have to pretend to be unfeeling," I whispered. I gave her a sad smile. "But battles and death are common to Wardens. It does not need to be as dramatic as Ostagar. If you let it break you in the middle of a battle, then you will never be able to accomplish your goal."

"I…" she rasped. She shook her head roughly, and took a shuddering breath. "Yes, of course. I'm sorry."

"It has been a very weird, very rough day." I looked back to the others, and saw them standing. "We are ready here. Are we continuing?" The boys nodded, and headed for the door. "Mhairi?" I glanced at her, and she nodded too. "Stay close to me if you feel yourself panicking."

We followed the boys, and it was not long at all before we reached the door to the roof and burst through. As we did, though, we saw a darkspawn kick a soldier off the roof, and saw other darkspawn holding soldiers hostage. What was this? They had not done this during the Blight, right?

"It has ended… just as He foretold." Maker have mercy. It really was a talking darkspawn. "Be taking this one gently," it hissed as it knelt in front of the older man with armor. "We are wishing nor more death than is necessary."

"That really makes me question how much you thought was necessary," Aiden drawled, walking up. The darkspawn turned to face him. "Let the soldiers go and then we'll fight like we normally do."

"You are thinking you know of our kind?" It shook its head in an almost patronizing way. "It is understandable, but that will soon be changed." He looked to the other darkspawn. "Capture the Grey Wardens." Wait, was all of this just to capture us? "These others, they may be-" Aiden lunged forward, not even drawing his weapon, just punching the darkspawn as hard as he could in the face.

I laughed as he sent it flying. "My apologies," I managed through the laughter. This was just so… ridiculous. We had a talking, thinking darkspawn that had attacked and killed all these people just to get us? "But you would have been better off just ambushing us directly." I used telekinesis to launch all the fallen weapons in the air, wrenching some from the darkspawn. "All you did was piss us off." I wrapped fire around the blades, waiting until they were red-hot. "Die." I launched them with a wave of my hand, focusing to make sure they only hit darkspawn. It was tiring work, and by the time I was done, my vision was graying.

But that did not matter. Aiden had tapped into the power of his Tainted blood, accidentally unlocked by Avernus's research, and was just punching the talking darkspawn to death. While Anders and Mhairi were startled by the display, Oghren just charged forward to take care of the darkspawn I had not killed. He was far too used to our weirdness. Mhairi quickly went to support him, though, and Anders went to tend to the freed soldiers.

It did not take long for Aiden to just twist around and snap the darkspawn's neck before throwing it off for good measure. I stumbled over to the edge, and noticed that Aiden had thrown it right on a jagged piece of rock, ripping its spine as it fell. Just in case, though, I used what little magic I had left to set the body on fire as it continued to fall. Then I turned back, and looked at all the bodies, all the blood. There were so many dead, and there were likely even more injured.

Well, this was a lovely start to my rule as Arlessa.

Author's Note: Welcome to Saga of the Wardens: Awakening. Just like Saga of the Wardens, it will be written through multiple POVs, and will follow the same 'cycle', beginning with Layla. It's mentioned multiple times during that story that Layla is a personal friend of Anders, considering each other siblings. Ines is a character from a future sidequest; while I won't be writing it, I did want to include her at least in passing.

Next Chapter – Aiden with the aftermath of the assault