Petrichor

Chapter 1

You were born amidst the Dalish elves: noble wanderers who refuse to join the society of human that subjugated their homeland so long ago. The Dalish travel the land in tightly-knit clans, struggling to maintain their half-forgotten lore in a human world that fears and despises them. -Dragon Age: Origins, Dalish Elf Origins

"Come on, Tamlen, don't be such a Shem!" Saoirse laughed loudly, twisting an arrow in her hand. She hopped over a fallen tree trunk and held up her bow, drawing an arrow back in one swift motion before letting it fly. The arrow soared proudly through the air before hitting a large bird that had been perched high up on a branch.

Saoirse was a young Dalish elf - She had waist-length red hair (which she always kept up in a bun), emerald green eyes, and pale milky skin. She was not especially beautiful, but rather possessed a sort of delicacy that was pleasing to the eye. She was a slight girl, but years of hunting had developed strong wiry muscles on her form. Standing at 5'3", she was short even for an elf. But where she lacked in height, she made up for in personality, being friendly, confident (Most of the time) and somewhat of a prankster.

Today, Saoirse and her close childhood friend Tamlen were out hunting. Technically it was a chore, but together they managed to make it a fun affair by making up games or having competitions. Today they were having a competition to see who could bag the largest number of kills, and due to Tamlen's sudden inability to hold a bow right or shoot straight Saoirse was winning by a long shot.

Letting out a whoop of victory, the young Dalish girl skipped over to the bird and scooped it up.

"You see that, Tamlen?" Saoirse exclaimed happily, turning "That's how you make a kill! Tamlen?"

Realizing that her friend was not behind her, Saoirse quieted. She walked back over to the fallen tree trunk, and looked around.

"Tamlen?" She called again.

"It's a Dalish!" Saoirse's head snapped up at the sound of unfamiliar voices nearby. From the accent she could tell the voice belonged to a human, a Shemlen. The bird forgotten, Saoirse quickly made her way towards where the voice was, knowing that the Dalish the Shem had found would be Tamlen.

"And you three are somewhere you shouldn't be!" Confirming her suspicions, this was Tamlen's voice.

The Shem spoke again, and as Saoirse rounded a corner the group came into view. She saw that Tamlen had his bow drawn, and quickly swung her own bow around. Drawing an arrow, she neatly sidestepped over to where Tamlen stood. He looked over at her, but did not meet her eyes.

"You're just in time." He said "I found these... humans lurking in the bushes. Bandits, no doubt."

"We aren't bandits, I swear!" one of the Shems spoke up in a frightened voice "Please don't hurt us!"

"Tamlen, maybe we should let them be." Saoirse whispered "They're not too close to camp, and they don't look like bandits to me."

Tamlen glanced back at her. "Saoirse, they're Shems. They must be up to no good." He looked back to the Shems before adding "You're too soft."

"Please, don't hurt us!" one of the Shems pleaded "We didn't know these woods belonged to the Dalish! We were just exploring the caves is all!"

"Foolish Shemlens." Tamlen spat "These woods do not belong to the Dalish! We reside nearby, and you," He pulled his arrow back "Are too close."

"What do you mean, caves?" Saoirse added, glaring at Tamlen until he loosened his hand "There are no caves around here."

"Oh, but there are! Strange caves, they are; seem to be human-made but Dalish design! Not that we, erm, got very far inside them."

"And why not?" Tamlen growled.

"We, erm, got attacked. By monsters."

"And I suppose these monsters also put those treasures in your backpacks?"

"These were laying around near the entrance. We didn't steal them, I swear!"

"Only a fool would believe that!" Tamlen pulled his arrow back again.

"I must be a fool, then." Saoirse said loudly enough for Tamlen to hear. He froze as Saoirse stepped in front of him, and dropped his bow.

"If you tell us where the cave is, you are free to go as long as you do not venture closer to our camp." She said, ignoring her friend who was silently seething behind her.

Without hesitating, the Shem told the pair exactly how to get to the caves. After quickly thanking her and glancing nervously at Tamlen, the trio ran.

A hand fell on Saoirse's shoulder, and Tamlen turned her roughly to face him.

"What were you thinking?" He almost shouted "They were Shemlens! We should've killed them on sight! Not to mention they had loot from what they said was a Dalish cave!"

"They said it was Dalish designed, human made actually!" Saoirse shot back "And they were doing no harm. Don't you dare tell me you haven't ever gone through chests left out to find loot, what they were doing is no different. They were harmless, and you know it!"

"Don't you listen to any of the elders, Saoir?" Tamlen growled "All Shems are bad. They should be killed on sight! It's how the Dalish have lived for centuries, and you know that."

"Tamlen, you focus too much on the past." Saoirse turned out her palms in reasoning "Not all Shems are bad. Anyway," She grinned "I bet you're just as curious to go discover this cave as I am."

"I don't know, Saoir. We should probably go back and tell the Keeper -"

"We'll tell her afterwards!" Saoirse jumped up excitedly "Let's go explore!"

"If you insist." Tamlen replied, hiding a smile.

"One on your left, two on your right!" Saoirse yelled to Tamlen as they were ambushed by a pack of wolves. Easy enough to take care of, it only took a few experienced shots and their teamwork earned through years of hunting together for Saoirse and Tamlen to dispose of the pack. Then, they carried on through the woods.

In no time, they reached what Saoirse guessed to be the front of the cave. It was strange; large white pillars dirtied with age stood proud, enticing the pair in. As they moved down the narrow path set out for them, Saoirse felt something calling out to her, and a strange sensation started up in her chest. It felt akin to the ringing of a small bell, and made her feel both giddy with excitement and faint with terror at the same time. She was about to tell Tamlen that they should turn back when they arrived at the mouth of the cave.

"So this must be the cave." Tamlen had a knack for stating the obvious "I don't recall ever seeing it here, do you?"

"I don't." Saoirse peered into the darkness, looking for movement "But I think we should go back to camp and find someone to help us. Who knows what could be in there. The Shems did say they saw monsters."

"First you wanted to come down here, now you want to go back." Tamlen pulled a face "Make up your mind. Anyway, there's no-one around, and I'm not running back to camp over some silly little cave. Come on, don't you want to see what's inside? How dangerous could it be?"

Ignoring the ringing in her chest, Saoirse nodded.

"Come on." She said before flashing her friend a smile "Before I change my mind."

Tamlen grinned back, and the two slipped inside.

"Wow." Tamlen exclaimed, looking around with awe "Those Shem were right. Though it looks more human than elven. I wouldn't expect a Shem to be able to tell the difference, though."

"No, I wouldn't either." Saoirse breathed, padding down the tunnel. The further they went the narrower it became, until the pair were pressed up against each other. Tamlen was blushing furiously, hoping Saoirse wouldn't notice. Before she could, they were spat out into a large chamber.

The room was like nothing either of them had ever seen before; Even though they were underground (At least, Saoirse thought they were underground) the chamber was bright. Trees grew up from the ground and supported the roof, along with man-made columns. The floor was tiled, and covered in a thin layer of dirt and dust.

Tamlen was about to make some snarky comment to cover his embarrassment at being too close to Saoirse when two huge spiders fell from the ceiling. Saoirse bit back a cry of horror as Tamlen drew his sword from his belt. She hated spiders! To add to her horror, the bell in her chest was ringing louder than before, and the sensation was starting to make her panic.

Cursing herself for not bringing along a sword as well as her bow, Saoirse nimbly hopped backwards and fired off a few arrows at the spiders. The hits were effective, and along with blows from Tamlen's sword the spiders soon went down.

"What they hell were they?" Saoirse spluttered as Tamlen wiped spider-blood onto his slacks. He turned to her and shrugged.

"Huge spiders, but apart from that I have no idea. I guess we found the monsters those Shem were talking about."

"True." Saoirse agreed "Let's keep moving."

As the pair ventured forth through the tunnels, they came across more of the huge spiders. As they had now faced them before, it was less of a surprise to see them. The pair managed to fell almost all of them, but on the last one Tamlen faltered and as a result was stung by the spider. Saoirse finished it off, but the damage had already been done. Tamlen had been pierced in the chest, and whilst he wasn't bleeding he was starting to sweat and shiver.

"Poison." Saoirse told him as she dropped to his side calmly. They had both seen poisoned Dalish before, and Saoirse had even been poisoned before herself by accident when she had accidentally mixed up Elfroot and Deathroot plants. It was easy to cure, and without fuss, she quickly pulled out a health poultice, and applied it to Tamlen's wound. Immediately, the poultice was drawn into his chest, and his fever dissipated as quickly as it had arrived. He sat up, and blushed as he came face-to-face with Saoirse. She grinned.

"Well, looks like we've now both been poisoned. She rocked back on her heels and stood up, reaching out an arm for Tamlen to take. He did so, and she pulled him up.

"Thanks." He said as he steadied himself. He paused, and then spoke again. "Listen, Saoir..."

"Yeah?" Saoirse answered.

"There's something I've been meaning to tell you... It's important and I've wanted to tell you for a long time now..." his heartbeat quickened "I- I think I-" he trailed off.

"What is it?" Saoirse looked at his quizzically. He sighed.

"I - I - Ah, never mind. I'll tell you later."

"Suit yourself. Come on, we better go." Saoirse let go of Tamlen's hand.

Deeper into the tunnels, the pair came to a long chamber. Stepping inside Saoirse gasped, the bell in her chest ringing again. On the ground were skeletons. It wasn't as if she hadn't seen skeletons before, but these skeletons radiated something menacing.

"Come on." Tamlen put a hand on her shoulder and they moved forward. A few paces later, Tamlen stopped.

"I can't believe this!" He exclaimed, rushing forward.

"What is it?" Saoirse responded, her eyes falling on a statue.

"You know what this statue is, don't you?" Tamlen asked, stopping beside it. When his companion shook her head, he sighed.

"It's a statue like the ones our people had back on Arlathan. Most of them were lost when the Shems enslaved us. It's curious to find something like this here, where humans were... this statue most likely dates back to the times we still ruled Arlathan!"

"It could." Saoirse nodded "It's a shame there's not more artifacts are down here. After all, we know so little about our heritage."

"That's true." He sighed, and then smiled "Come on, let's see if we can find anything else down here."

Countless defeated giant spiders and disarmed traps later, Tamlen stopped again.

"What is it?" Saoirse asked, stopping next to him.

"We're back here." He pointed at the statue.

"Oh." Saoirse stared at it "Are you sure it's the same one?"

"I think it is. The skeletons here are exactly the same. Oh well, come on. We didn't go through this door earlier."

"Was this door even here earlier?" Saoirse stepped forward in front of Tamlen, walking towards the door. The bell in her heart rung again alerting her to danger. Tamlen let out a cry as Saoirse stepped on an intricately-carved rune circle, triggering a trap. Clouds of green smoke hissed out from the runes, surrounding the girl.

There was a screech from behind, and Saoirse whirled. The skeletons, previously very dead, were now getting up. They scooped up their weapons with pale bones and started to move towards Saoirse and Tamlen with ungodly speed.

Tamlen immediately pulled out his sword, and swung for the closest skeleton. Saoirse took a second to survey the enemies; three of them, all with swords. She pulled up her bow, and shot at the skeleton closest to her, embedding an arrow into its ribcage to confuse it and then firing two to its head to crush the skull, stopping it in its tracks.

"The skulls! She called to Tamlen, who was battling the two other skeletons "Crush the skulls!"

Tamlen aimed for the skull of one of the remaining two skeletons, and at the same time Saoirse fired an arrow at the final skeleton. In sync, the two skeleton's skulls exploded on impact, cracked pieces of bone falling to the floor.

"Those skeletons!" Tamlen breathed, looking down at the skeletons in disbelief as he tried to get his breath back "They came alive! This place is haunted!"

"It was the runes on the floor." Saoirse pointed out, kneeling by the inscriptions "I've never seen anything like it."

"Neither have I. Perhaps the Shems have runes of their own, and this is their work. With something as hideous as reanimating the dead, it wouldn't surprise me if it was a Shem's work." Tamlen squeezed his hand into a fist.

Saoirse eyed a fourth skeleton warily as she opened the door. The skeleton did not move, and she was thankful for that.

The bell is her heart rang out louder than ever, and he head snapped forwards as a loud growl echoed out through the chamber. Her mouth formed an 'O' as a giant bear-like creature bounded towards her, ready to attack.

An arrow flew and struck the creature in the neck, forcing it to turn away. Saoirse looked behind her, and saw Tamlen with his bow out.

"Come on, Saoirse!" He said loudly, panic colouring his voice "We've got to kill that thing!"

Getting over her own panic, she fired a few arrows at the beast. It had recovered from Tamlen's shot, and was now heading towards them again. Quickly thinking over the hours and hours of hunting training she had had, Saoirse recalled that on a four-legged beast like the one in front of her, it was best to go for the legs and face.

"Tamlen! Slice at its legs! I'll go for the face!"

"Understood!"

Tamlen had his sword in hand, and fearlessly he taunted the beast, enticing it to charge at him before leaping out of the way at the last second and slicing at the thin skin on its legs. Saoirse had her bow in hand, and was quickly embedding arrows into the face and neck of the beast, which was not easy as the beast was constantly moving and switching directions as Tamlen taunted it.

After an age, the beast fell down, dead. Saoirse fell to her knees in relief, and Tamlen rushed to her side.

"Saoirse!" He cried "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

Saoirse looked up at his face, his pale blue eyes filled with worry. She laughed.

"I'm fine." She said, looking at the beast and laughing. "I'm fine!"

She leapt up and threw her hands around Tamlen's neck. He stood, frozen in surprise. His arms twitched to encircle Saoirse's waist, but he was too slow and she had already moved away.

"We make a good team, Tam. We should do this more often." She held up her hand, and Tamlen high-fived her.

"We do make a good team." He agreed, and then pulled a face at the dead beast "But by the Creators! What was the thing?"

"I don't know." Saoirse looked over his shoulder "What is that thing?"

Tamlen turned, and Saoirse pointed. In the middle of the room stood a mirror, flanked by two large stone guardians. The whole thing was raised, and there were steps up to the mirror's face. Carved across the mirror was a strange language, one that neither Tamlen nor Saoirse could read.

"It's beautiful." Tamlen breathed.

"Isn't it?" Saoirse took a step towards it. "I wonder what the writing says."

"Maybe the Keeper would be able to translate it." Tamlen replied "Some of the books she has use this language."

"Look at how clean it is." Saoirse marveled "In a place as dirty and old as this, you would imagine such a delicate thing would at least have a layer of dust."

"It's strange." Tamlen agreed "But I'm starting to get used to strange down here. Wait, did you see that?"

Saoirse looked up at the mirror. "See what?"

"I swear something just moved inside the mirror." He breathed, and stepped towards it.

"Tamlen, I don't think you should go any closer." Saoirse felt uneasy, and the bell was ringing in her chest again.

"I just want to get a closer look." He began to ascend the steps "Look! It moved again! I think it knows we're here…"

"Tamlen, I REALLY don't think you should go any closer!" Saoirse was captivated by fear, but as if they did not belong to her, her feet moved her towards the mirror.

"It's showing me places!" Tamlen said in awe. He reached out his hand to stoke the surface, and as his skin came into contact with the mirror a purple light shone across it, rippling around where his fingers were. "A city! Underground!"

"Tamlen, please! I think we should leave now!"

"And there's… A great blackness." He looked back at Saoirse for a split second before turning his attention back to the mirror.

Suddenly, his brow furrowed. Then shot up.

"It… It saw me." He said in a low voice. Then, he yelped. "Help!" He cried "Help, it saw me!"

"Tamlen, look away! We've got to run!" Saoirse pulled on Tamlen's shoulder, but he wouldn't budge.

"I can't! I can't look away! Help me, Saoirse!"

Saoirse looked into the mirror, and froze in fear. Something was coming! And it was coming fast! She tried to pull on Tamlen one last time, and relief flooded her as he took a step back.

But her relief was short-lived. The darkness had arrived, and it shot out of the mirror with the speed of a charging bull. It smashed into Saoirse, and she flew back.

The last thing she did before she hit the floor and fell to darkness was scream.

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