Author Note: This story is my version of the mage origin with both Surana and a sort of Amell. It goes with my main story, 'Blood Bond', so Duncan will not be at the tower. This is just my explaining what happened before my Wardens reached the tower. So I hope you enjoy, and reviews are always appreciated! Thank you. Bioware and David Gaider own everything Dragon Age, while I barely own my characters.
Cruel Fate
Fate, it seemed, had a cruel sense of humor. For all the things that he knew. For all the answers that he looked for. He could not find the reason or the significance for why he was chosen to kill her.
It wasn't like Cullen couldn't do it, or at least he thought he could. It was just out of all the mages here, and all the templars, why was he assigned to her? As if it was meant to be. As if it supposed to be this way. He having to be the one that killed her if she did not succeed in her test. He knew she could do it. He knew she was a very special mage, in more ways than one, and was more than capable of performing the task with ease. But his fear still smoldered in his heart. He was afraid of taking the finally blow, and ending what could be something amazing.
Cullen stood still in the circular room, eyes closed and shaking away the feeling that had begun to engulf him. He couldn't let such thoughts plague his mind. He was a templar, and she was a mage. He had a duty to watch her and to take her down if it ever came to it. His feelings could not stop him. His mind needed to be clear and not clouded with such thoughts.
But he couldn't help it. It was as if she was the only thing his mind could think of. Nothing else mattered, and this scared him more. Cullen grew up in the abbey, along with most of the templars that stood with him in the circular room. There he had been taught and trained by the Chantry. Taught to love the Maker. Trained to be a templar and to work for Him and His bride, Andraste. Duty had been pounded into his head again and again. Magic was shown to be something to fear. Mages were the reason why the Maker left His creation. Mages were the reason why darkspawn plagued the earth. It was this reason why they had to be managed and watched over. That was his job. That's what templars were trained for. So why couldn't he get her out of his mind?
Cullen sighed deeply as the men around him shifted with anticipation. She was not here yet. They would be collecting her now. Rousing her from her bed since it was late in the night. They would be walking her up the steps, all the way up the tower to the very top, to the Harrowing Chamber. The very room that Cullen now stood in. It would be in here that her test would proceed. The Harrowing, it was called. A test that pitted an apprentice mage against a demon in the Fade. If the apprentice was able to resist the demon, then they would become a full mage of the Circle.
Again Cullen thought of her, despite his desperate but futile attempts to push her from his thoughts. He hoped beyond hope and prayed to the Maker that He would give her the strength to defeat the demon. He also prayed that the Maker would give him the strength as well to complete his duty if she should not.
The minutes began to tick by and his mind began to drift as they waited patiently for her arrival. She would be here any moment. As they waited, he began to think of the first time he had ever seen her. It was nearly six months ago when he first came to the tower. Right after he had taken his vows and became a templar. He had been assigned to the Circle, something he thought to be a good thing. Or at least he thought it was before he looked into her eyes for the first time. Then he wasn't so sure.
