"Ow!" I murmured to myself as I hit my head on the low beam going down the stairs once again. "I seriously need to get that damned thing padded or removed."

"Um, can't remove it," my BFF/roommate Elissa replied from behind her black rimmed glasses, not shifting her evergreen eyes from her history book to look at me. She shook her fiery mane around for emphasis. She was sitting on the couch in our living room still in her pink flannel pajamas and curled up in the corner of the couch; her slender frame practically being swallowed into the cushion. "It's a header, darling. Load bearing. Of course if you weren't up all night playing your little video game you'd have been able to see the thing right in front of your mug, silly pants."

"Hey, the guys are hotter and definitely easier to talk to," I said as I stuck out my tongue at her and walked past, feeling my fleece pj pants swish comfortably as I walked. She laughed as I rolled my eyes and rubbed the slowly protruding egg on my forehead, making my way to the kitchen for breakfast. "Besides, can't catch a disease from a video game. Coffee made?"

"Yep, hurry before Cade gets up," she smirked, "he has first shift today so his travel mug will be in use."

"24 oz. of caffeinated fury, how do his coworkers put up with him?" I asked with a grin as I poured myself a healthy cup, adding cream and sugar. I heard a soft sigh in reply and giggled. "You LOOOOOOOOVE him…"

"Shut it," she grumbled as she followed me into the kitchen, nose still in her book. Suddenly we heard heavy footsteps coming down the stairs and we looked at each other. "And now the fun begins!" she grinned as she slapped her book shut.

Caden stomped into the kitchen with his usual fervor, practically shoving me out of his way to the coffee pot. I shoved him back playfully in the shoulder.

"Love you too brother, good morning!" I grinned excessively and batted my eye lashes in his direction. All I got was a glare and a huffing sound from the blonde haired, blue-eyed ape-man in my kitchen as he filled his travel mug… almost. I smiled and offered him the cream which got me an appreciative glance and a peck on the cheek. As he topped it off and added sugar he threw the top on it and stalked out the door in his jeans, t-shirt and work boots, kissing Elissa deeply as he passed her. She sighed yet again as he let the screen door slam shut behind him.

"How do I put up with him? Oh yeah, he's gorgeous and amazing in bed, I almost forgot for a second," she tapped a pen to her head thoughtfully as she opened her book again. I made a horrid gagging noise as I filled a bowl with cereal.

"EATING! Do you MIND?" I asked as I went to the fridge for some milk. The fact that she was discussing my twin brother in a sexual manner aside, calling him gorgeous is kind of creepy. I knew they'd been together for quite a few months, she moved in about a week prior, but he and I looked a lot alike. When we were little we cut my hair once and ran around seeing if we could convince the adults I was Cade (which worked to my dismay, by the way). As we aged I grew hips and other assets, and he shoulders, but he still brought up the fact that I passed for a boy. Jerk.

I meant that with love, of course. My brother gave up a lot to come live with me, his construction company in NYC was booming when the accident happened. But when I woke up at the hospital there he was, hovering over me like a hawk, bossing the hospital staff around and being his over-protective self. When we found out I had lost my memory he insisted on staying with me until it came back, hooking up with a family friend in the business to stay busy. Eventually it became a full time gig and, though he made good money, I often wondered if he wished he'd left me to my own devices.

I always referred to it as an accident because I had no idea what truly happened; my memory up to that point was lost, doctors claiming it was PTS. I always wondered about that, especially when they all said I would eventually get my memory back and yet there I was, a year later, not a glimpse of my life before. No family, no friends, just images of a few people and feelings. Not even my dead husband.

Yep, I was a widow at the ripe old age of 22. Thankfully my husband was apparently very wealthy. Between his life insurance and money we had invested or saved, not only was our house paid off but it was more than enough to sustain me for the rest of my life, maybe a few times over. So I mourned him, mostly because I felt obligated to. Having no memory of a man I vowed in front of God and everyone to love and honor for the rest of my life aside, a person was dead. People were dead…

And the police report stated it was my fault.

Apparently the accident started with the car I was driving swerving into the lane next to it, crashing into another car which started a chain reaction. It was rush hour on a three lane highway out in Massachusetts so everyone and their mother were on the road. Men, women… children.

I could still see their bodies, some strewn out over the highway among the wrecked vehicles. It haunted my dreams and, for a while, gave me terrible nightmares.

Thankfully those subsided after a few months but every once in a while one would pop up. I would fly out of bed, screaming and sobbing, but Caden would always be there. He would pick me up in his big, strong arms and carry me back to bed. Then he would lie next to me, stroking my hair and humming some tune to lull me back to sleep. To say we were close would be an understatement. He was literally my other half.

However one of my loving brother's faults was that he would take the last of something, for example - milk, and forget to replace it or even mention it when someone, another example - myself, was going to the store. Finding he had struck again, I growled.

"Seriously, I am ready to beat him to a bloody pulp. CADEN!" I shouted as I stormed out the back door to the driveway to confront my younger brother (I was born first and I never let him forget it). As I did the welcome mat slipped out from underneath me and I felt the back of my skull crunch as it hit concrete. Everything immediately went dark…

I tried to open my eyes but everything was still spinning so I slammed them shut again. As I reached for the back of my head I heard voices around me but didn't recognize them nor understand what they were saying. The back of my head felt gooey and as I pulled my hand away to squint at my fingers I almost gagged. They were covered in a mass of what appeared to be congealed blood.

"Young one, do you feel pain?" A motherly voice with a Scottish-like accent asked softly as I groaned and turned over onto my side, clutching my turning stomach. I nodded yes. She said a few more words, seeming to give direction to the other voices and I felt myself being lifted off the ground.

I don't know how long we traveled but once we stopped I heard another voice join the others, the voice of a man. I slowly opened one eye to survey the landscape.

Once I saw that things didn't swim around I opened the other. What I saw made me shut them tight, blink a few times, then open them again wide.

All of the people around me had pointy ears. And I'm not talking Vulcan pointy ears, I'm talking Dragon Age – Dalish pointy-ears. Long and slender, some bigger than others but all so much larger than a humans, I was in awe of them. How hard did I hit my head anyway? Then I recognized one of them and my jaw dropped.

Keeper Marethari?

"Keeper?" I whispered as I reached for her arm. She gave me a confused look, hushed the man speaking to her and came to me.

"Yes child, I am the keeper here. You know of our ways?" she asked. I must have given her a strange look then because she raised her eyebrows as if she got her answer.

"I'm sorry, I can't explain right now. May I ask where we are?" I could hear the fear creep into my voice at the end of that sentence. She could too, giving me a pat on my cheek.

"We are in Ferelden, child. You haven't been asleep that long," she smiled as she winked at me. Panic rose in my gut.

"The darkspawn," I whispered as I tried to sit up. Not only did Marethari and another elf stop me but the pain in my head did as well. I hissed as my head hit the cot I was laying on. "You need to get out of Ferelden, the darkspawn are coming. Are we in the wilds?"

"Rest now da'len," she chided as she covered my eyes, "rest and when you wake things will be better."

Once again everything got dark...