Author Note

I started writing this years ago but totally lost any interest I had. Then last week I found the first few chapters in DocX so I figured I'd get back to it.

I've decided to make the three parts of the game into three stories, and I plan to the DLCs as well. Legacy will be set between the second and third story.

Mage Gothic

9:41 Dragon

Skyhold

"Champion" a voice said to me "May I have a few moments of your time?".

I turned my head away from the impressive view that could seen from the walls of this fortress and looked upon a Seeker. I knew who she was thanks to Varric, and I had been expecting her to come talk to me.

"Of course" I replied "How may I help the Inquisition".

The Seeker expression made me think that this wasn't really Inquisition business, this was something more personal, but no less important to her.

"I've already heard Varric's account of your years in Kirkwall" she told me "but I was wondering if I could hear your account of events. There is still so much we don't understand about what happened before the Mage uprising".

This I understood as while I'd seen those events play out, both as part of a game and for real, I still didn't fully understand. There had been much more going in Kirkwall than the growing conflict between the Mages and the Templars.

"I don't have time to tell you everything at once" I said to the Seeker "but I'll tell you what I can, when I can".

Cassandra nodded to signal her acceptance.

"I'll start with when I arrived in this world" I told her "It was during the Blight. The battle at Ostagar had just come to an end, and a special family was fleeing Lothering. Lucky for me our paths crossed".

(Line Break)

1 - The Hawks, Aveline and Flemeth

The Wilds

I'd been in the world of Dragon Age for less than an hour and already I was panicking, but then who could blame me. It wasn't as if anything I'd lived through so far could have prepared me for this.

A gang of Darkspawn were sprinting right at me drawing closer with every second and I had frozen up. I was simply unable to act and even if I had been able to move all I could have done was try to run away, and the Darkspawn were clearly faster than I was.

Now I was feeling real terror. I'd wondered a lot about death during my life but I'd never really faced my own mortality before. Sure I'd had a few accidents that might of done me real harm if I hadn't been lucky enough to avoid injury, but no one had ever tried to kill me until now, and there were a lot of killers heading my way.

Then I felt my heart pounding like a war drum in my ears and adrenalin coursing through my veins. I realised that I might as well go down fighting. I could just accept death as fighting and surviving would be a near impossible task, but in the end I decided to leave this world more or less as I had entered my own. That is screaming my head off after causing another living being a lot of pain. Thankfully I wouldn't be naked.

There was a sword on the ground next to charred corpse. It looked like a good blade, not that I was fit to judge such things, but it seemed to be nice and new. I held it in a way that hopefully made me seem bad-ass and at least somewhat capable of fighting.

When the first Darkspawn reached me I thrust the weapon at his waist as he, assuming it was a he, lifted his axe behind him for a savage over head strike that would have most likely killed me had the blow ever connected.

I'd never fought with a real sword before so it was amazing that I was able to stab anything. Sadly for me the weapon was now stuck in the Genlock's body and since I didn't let go of the sword I was sent tumbling to the ground along with the monster.

Things looked grim indeed as I literally had dead weight in the form of a Genlock pinning me to the ground, and the next thing I knew another Genlock was standing over with a an evil grin on its face and more worryingly a nasty looking mace in its hands.

I had just enough time to scream as the creature brought its crude weapon down for a killing blow. Then everything went dark and I felt something strange pass through me, it was like nothing I had felt before.

When I opened my eyes again there was a man who had to be Garret Hawke given the mark on his face, he looked like a knight in his armour and he carried a two handed great sword which he was using to cut down the Darkspawn with the kind of grace no real life warrior should ever be able to achieve.

He fought like the hero of a epic saga, every blow was perfectly placed to end an enemy's life or to save his own. The 'spawn never had a chance they might as well have killed themselves and saved Hawke the bother.

Granted I was seeing things through a bit of a haze due to my eyes having watered up, and as such I wouldn't say that I saw everything clearly, but I was pretty sure that Garret was singlehandedly taking on a dozen Darkspawn and he was winning.

A Genlock which I guess had been slowly creeping on me with a nasty looking dagger suddenly found itself impaled on over-sized blade nearly as big as the one Garret held.

Then there was another warrior here to battle the Darkspawn, and I found myself rapidly forming another man-crush on Carver Hawke, Garret's younger brother. Carver had just saved my life and had sped off to fight another of the 'spawn.

Next a flash of light and intense heat directed my attention to a charred Hurlock on the ground close by which told me that Bethany the Mage was around here somewhere.

Another quick look around told me that all the Darkspawn were now dead. By the looks of things I had gotten one of about thirty, and the three Hawke siblings had gotten the rest in a very short amount of time.

They had made it look so easy as well. I could only conclude that either the Darkspawn were not the threat they appeared to be if you had decent weapons or magic powers, or the Hawke family was made up of the most powerful warriors and mages this world had ever known.

Garret and Carver were making sure the Darkspawn were all really dead and possibly looting them as well. Watching them stab corpses and then sort through the remains made me feel a bit ill so I decided to turn away, and to offer my thanks to the female members of that family.

I started with Leandra, the mother. She looked younger than I would have expected even with the stress and dirt of the road upon her. Granted her hair was all grey, but there was still some fire in her eyes and she moved with more energy than someone old enough to be a Grandmother should.

As for Leandra's daughter she was quite the hottie I soon realised. She wore a man's boots and slacks (which is smart because dresses were not made with running in mind) but the top she wore hung off her shoulders and showed just enough of her chest to ensure that no one would ever mistake her for a guy.

"Thanks for the rescue" I said to Bethany and her mother.

Now that I was looking her in the eyes, which were well worth looking at, I couldn't have failed to notice that odd look she was giving me.

Granted I must of looked odd, what with my modern clothes and all but she was looking at me in way that made me think that it wasn't my physical apprentice that was so very interesting to her.

"Why didn't you use your magic?" she asked.

I struggled to give her an answer.

"Err what?" I asked in reply.

I must have misheard her.

"You could have defended yourself with your magic" said the female Hawke in a matter of fact tone of voice that reminded me of a school teacher "You're clearly not a warrior".

That last part I did understand, and I agreed, it was the rest of what she had said that I had trouble with.

"I'm not a Mage" I pointed out "I don't have any magic".

Bethany gave me something of a sympathetic look.

"You don't need to pretend" she assured "I'm an apostate too, and the Templar with us is in no state to drag you off to the Circle".

I quickly recalled what that word meant. She was referring to Mages that were outside the control of this world's main religious body. As for the Circle, well that would soon be full of demons so I was very glad that no one was going to be taking me there.

"I've never used magic. I wouldn't even know how" I protested.

For valid reasons, I really didn't want to be a Mage. Their lives in this world sucked.

"Sorry but there's no denying it" said Wesley the Templar, who had limped to catch up with the rest of the group "we saw you throw those Darkspawn away with magic".

I almost denied it. Then I remembered feeling that force and then I'd been standing up which meant that the dead Darkspawn that had been pinning me down had somehow been pushed off me. I didn't lift it off, so I must have used magic.

"How could you not know that you're a Mage?" questioned Aveline.

I pushed aside my thoughts about how the future Guard-Captain of Kirkwall was a giant of a woman even when she wasn't wearing armour and I answered the question.

"We don't have Mages where I am from" I tried to explain "and nothing like that has ever happened to me before".

I heard Carver mutter something along the lines of 'lucky for your people' but unsurprisingly it was the Templar who reacted the most.

"Two rogue Mages..." he began with a concerned look on his face.

Thankfully his wife cut in.

"Wesley, we've been over this already. I'm sure the Maker understands" she assured him.

Wesley grimaced before accepting defeat

"Forgive me. Sometimes it is difficult to forget my training" he said.

I imagine that the Chantry brainwashing was very effective. It had to be to produce so many fanatical Mage-Hunters.

"Sorry to interrupt" said the eldest Hawke sibling "but if we don't start moving then we'll all be meeting the Maker very soon".

We all started moving and soon there was another battle, but there was nothing I could do other than stand there while holding my recovered sword. Still no one seemed to mind my lack of activity or perhaps they had simply failed to notice due to all the frantic fighting.

After enough running to make me think I was guest staring episode of Doctor Who the whole group stopped for a breather and some introductions were made by the eldest living male Hawke, who pointed to each member of the group in turn.

"My name is Garret but you can call me Hawke" he said "The one with the permanent frown is my brother, Carver. And of course this is my mother, Leandra. Then there is my sister Bethany who is your fellow apostate. Lastly we have Ser Wesley and Aveline. Everyone this is Gothic".

For a few moments I was confused until I remembered that I was wearing the jumper that said Gothic on it. Garret would assume that this was my name because in his world it only made sense to pay for the expense of personalising an outfit if you were rich and wanted everyone to know your name. Or at least I assumed that was the reason.

"If you're a Mage why are you using a sword" enquired Carver.

By now I was starting to feel better, a little giddy even.

"Because they don't hand out the free staffs until you join the Circle" I quipped before giving a more serious answer "Like I said before we don't have Mages were I'm from and I have no idea how to use a staff but I can use a sword, at least a little".

Garret laughed a little.

"If we weren't in the presence of a Templar I'd suggest letting Bethany show you a few tricks" he suggested.

Clearly he wasn't totally joking about that only Ser Wesley didn't seem to get that.

"The proper place for a Mage's instruction is the Circle" the wounded man reminded everyone.

I'd avoid joining any Circle if possible. They would make me wear robes and attend classes, such horrors needed to be avoided at all cost.

"Maybe I'll join one later" I lied "assuming I live to see civilisation again".

Which wasn't looking likely at the moment, at least not for me.

"None of us will if we stand around talking all day" Bethany pointed out "We should get moving.

Her brothers nodded in agreement.

"She's right" agreed Garret "If we stay here any longer the entire Blight will catch up with us. We'd best all stick together".

We all started moving again but it seemed that the question and answer session wasn't over yet.

"Do you really have no Mages were you're from?" questioned Bethany.

It was kind of hard to answer questions and to keep up this sort of pace, but I gave it my best shot as I'd never had much luck resisting a pretty face.

"Yes" I replied "no one has any magic, or if they do they hide it really well but even if they do I've never seen an Abomination or a Demon so I don't think my people are connected to the Fade".

It wasn't as strange as it might have sounded. The Dwarves of this world seemed to be cut off from the Fade so it wasn't as if the idea was hard for her to grasp.

"So how did you get here?" she asked next.

I really didn't want to answer this question as if I did I would sound like a mad man, so I waited for a few seconds thinking that the universe would provide a few Darkspawn as a distraction, but they failed to appear.

"Well I went to bed and I feel asleep... then I met someone..." I told her

For some reason I'd been in Fade, or at least what I guessed to be the Fade, and someone or something had been there. The being had talked to me but I was starting to forget what they had spoken about, it was like a dream and I was forgetting it.

"It might have been a Demon" I admitted "but it didn't try to make a deal with me or anything like that it just told me that it was sending me here".

Perhaps a powerful Spirit could have brought me here, although I couldn't imagine the reasoning behind such an action. It really made no sense.

"Any idea why?" asked my fellow Mage.

I thought about it for a moment, and tried to recall what the hooded figure had told me.

"Something to do with a reward" was my honest answer.

We were both puzzled by that.

"Well I don't think your possessed" said Bethany "if you were the Demon inside would have done something to protect its host. What you did wasn't at all planned".

From what I knew Demons like being here and if it had been a powerful enough Demon to disguise its presence within me then it would have killed all the Darkspawn or at least done a better job of trying to keep my body intact.

"It's strange that you have never shown signs of magic before" said the female Mage "most of us have a few experiences with magic as children".

I couldn't recall anything like that.

"I've heard of someones magical potential not being realised until they were an adult, but then it only happens if you're exposed to Lyruim" Bethany informed me.

I spent a few moments more thinking about what had happened to me.

"Or maybe if you got drawn into the Fade" I reasoned.

Bethany nodded.

"It's possible" she said "If you were somehow drawn into the Fade it might have given you the same link to it that Mages have".

Any further musing was cut short.

"There are Darkspawn ahead!" Garret called out before issuing orders "Carver, Gothic you're with me, Aveline stay with Wesley. Bethany look after mother".

He didn't give me a chance to remind him about my almost total lack of fighting skills, because he was screaming a war cry while I struggled to keep up with two men who wearing full body armour, but that didn't matter much as the two Hawke brothers seemed to have the situation well in hand. However I still got to bloody my sword again as one of the Spawn reached for a crossbow so it could shoot Carver in the back.

The 'spawn had died without ever knowing who it was stabbing him the back, if I wasn't a Mage I might make a decent Rogue.

"Well that was easy" boasted the older Hawke brother.

I really wished he hadn't used those words I knew he had jinxed us as that was when I felt a faint thumping noise through base of my feet. It was an Ogre that was getting closer and closer.

"Hey everyone" I said, as I knew I had to do something to warn them "I think we're about to be attacked by an Ogre".

Everyone looked at me as if I was insane. Which to be fair could be the case as it was possible that this was all the product of my delusional mind.

"How could you possibly know..." started Carver.

That was when the Ogre appeared and ended all debate on the matter.

"Is this a magic thing?" asked Garret as he drew his two handed sword.

He had been looking at me, but I wasn't the one to answer.

"Not normally" replied Bethany as she raised her staff "but he's hardly a normal Mage".

Now there was no more time for talk. The Ogre charged and so did the Hawke brothers. Bethany fired off a spell as I stood there unable to act as I tried to remember how I felt just before I'd blasted a dead darkspawn off myself.

There had been something inside me, some sort of energy. It had passed through my body and blasted outwards. If I could just focus that power on the Darkspawn then no one would have to die.

For all my concern about either Carver or Bethany dying, brief as if might have been, it was actually Garret who got lifted in the monsters paws and then crushed, but not before he was able to badly wound the monster

The shock of his sudden and very violent death made everyone freeze and then the creature turned towards me and I got very scared.

Suddenly it was as if the emotion itself was the catalyst for my magical powers. When my hand moved to futility block the incoming blow I felt the power move through me and lightening burst out of me. There was so much that it seemed to fill the sky and the terrible beast died in agony.

"Bethany!" I heard a woman scream.

The Mage was at her brother's side in a flash she tried to use magic to heal Garret, but he was already dead. Sadly this wasn't the Forgotten Realms. This sort of magic couldn't bring him back to life.

I didn't get myself involved in the mourning process as I had no right to share their grief even though I understood just how fucked we all were thanks to his death. Because of that I was extra glad that the Ogre had died screaming in pain.

"That was an incredibly brave" complemented Aveline.

From her view it must have looked like I'd held my ground and then had cast a very powerful spell when in fact I'd been too scared to run away.

"Thanks" I muttered.

Anything else we had to say would have to wait. Even more Darkspawn were now heading towards us.

"There's no end to them!" shouted Bethany "we're surrounded".

This was indeed the case.

"Then we'll make our stand here!" called out Carver who seemed to be doing an impression of his now dead older brother "And make them pay for our lives".

I was so hoping not to die.

"Come on Dragon Lady" I whispered.

Spells flew through the air as Bethany did that spinney staff trick and Carver had picked up Garret's sword which he was using to pretty much destroy the Spawn. Aveline was understandable sticking close to her husband and the Hawke sibling's mother. Meanwhile I was trying to focus in the hopes that I could use my new magical gifts.

The roar of a dragon caused everybody, Human and Darkspawn to stop fighting and to look up. We all watched as a dragon came in and scorched the Darkspawn. It was a massacre the monsters never stood a chance and I found myself really wishing that I had the kind of power that would allow me to turn into a dragon.

Then everyone watched in awe as the fearsome dragon transformed into Flemeth, the legendary Witch of the Wilds. This moment was a lot more impressive in real life, when you could smell the roasted Darkspawn and feel the heat of the fire on your face.

Also not only did she sound like Captain Janeway of the U.S.S Voyager she also looked like her too. Which worried me a lot as that bitch was crazy. But then again so was Flemeth so it kind of made sense.

"Well, well. What have we here?" she asked of us "It used to be that we never got visitors to the wilds. Now it seems to be this year's number one holiday destination".

Carter Hawke made some noise about 'Witch of the Wilds' however it went unheard mostly as the others were focused on Wesley who had just fallen down. The witch ignored the dying Templar and focused her attention on me.

"And another from beyond. Are you his brother or is it just mere resemblance?" she enquired of me.

My brothers were a long way away from here, so I didn't know what she meant by that, so I focused on what I could respond to.

"We'll I'm not local if that's what you mean" I told the wild witch.

She made eye contact with me and it was scary.

"Yet like him you have such... potential and power".

My mouth failed to work if it had I would have asked: Like who?

"Will you help us get out of here?" Bethany half asked and half begged.

The expected deal came up. In exchange for us taking an amulet to the Elves camped outside of Kirkwall, Flemeth would guide us to a ship that would take us to Kirkwall. She gave me the amulet, and I got these sense that she would unhappy if I wasn't the there to deliver it.

That it was something like Horcrux made me very weary of the object but I couldn't refuse the deal. Besides she likely had a backup plan anyway, and might kill us all for not doing as we promised.

When that was done it looked like the old bat wanted to talk to me some more but I shook my head and turned away from the dragon lady. Wesley was dying and while he was strictly speaking my enemy what with me being a Mage out of the Circle, I didn't intend to disrespect his death by chatting through it.

"Without an end there can be no peace," Flemeth said with what could have been real compassion as Carver ended the Templar's suffering.