Disclamer: I hold no rights to Dragon Age or any of BioWare's characters
A/N: This is my first DA fic so any and all thoughts are welcome! I hope you guys enjoy the first chapter.
It was just another day in Kinloch Hold, the mage's circle tower of Ferelden, Liara was lay on her bunk, gossiping with her best friend, Jowan. Rebellious as always, she had ducked out of one of her training sessions to lay it on him about a templar she had her eye on. He was laughing at her, of course. No templar would ever think of dating a mage, it was completely against the rules. Liara played with her soft, brown locks as she sighed.
"He likes me, Jow. I just know it. You should see what he's like when I'm around. He gets all cute and scared and-" That was when the templars walked in, she froze up and gave Jowan a slight smirk. "Busted." She giggled a little, sobering up immediately on realising who it was that had came in. "Knight-Commander Gregoir, Sir!" She stood up so fast she tripped over Jowan, landing right on her face. A blonde-haired male mage stifled a laugh from the other side of the room, as she stood Liara threw him a glare.
"Liara, the first enchanter and I have decided you Harrowing will take place today. It's time to go, child." The mage girl's eyes widened and she nodded stifly, telling the templar that she was ready to go. As she walked out of the room, Liara threw a glance back to her best friend, who gave her a thumbs up and a 'you can do it' face.
Not a few hours later, Liara found herself in a place like nowhere she'd ever seen before. The air was light and the ground almost translucent. Nothing seemed real or still. There were so few colours, mostly shades of grey or brown. It was as if she was in a muted, cloudy dream. She had entered the Fade. Gingerly taking a few steps, Liara scanned her surroundings. It really was true, you could see the black city far in the distance, just like she had always been told! Forgetting for a moment that this was a test, Liara wondered the Fade, not straying very far from where she entered due to constant distractions. She wanted to scan and survey everything with her mind. In fact, the young mage was so consumed with wonder that she almost stood on a mouse.
"Someone else thrown to the wolves, as fresh and unprepared as ever. It isn't right that they do this, the templars. Not to you, me, to anyone." Liara jumped back at the sound of a voice, looking around, suddenly on her guard. Then she saw it. The mouse she had almost stepped on a minute ago.
"Uh… Are you a talking rat?" Unsure of where to look or how to act, Liara dropped down to the ground so she was closer to the mouse's height as she questioned it, feeling like an idiot for talking to an animal. But the mouse only sighed and was suddenly enveloped in a bright, white light. She had to look away. Upon looking back, Liara found that she was faced with a man, dressed in apprentice robes just the same as her.
"You're in the same situation I was, aren't you?" The man sighs. "Allow me to welcome you to the Fade. You can call me, well, Mouse." He looked like an ordinary man, just the same as the other human apprentices at the circle. At first sight it seemed like there was nothing to worry about.
This is the Fade, Liara reminded herself, nothing is what is seems here. You have to be on your guard. "That's, uh, not your real name, I take it? Would be quite the coincidence if it was… y'know what with you being able to, well y'know, and everything" She gestured at his body, rambling in her discomfort and coming out barely comprehendible.
"No I don't remember anything from… before" Likely story Liara thought to herself. "The templars kill you if you take too long, you see. They figure you failed, and they don't want something getting out." The hatred and anger were clear in his voice, and his words were beginning to worry Liara. "That's what they did to me, I think. I have no body to reclaim. And you don't have much time before you end up the same." They wouldn't do that… right? Cullen wouldn't do that. Would he? A new resolve coursed through Liara and the mage decided she would get this trial over as quickly as possible, no more sightseeing.
"What do I need to do?" Her voice showed her newfound conviction and determination like nothing else could, electricity sparking between her fingers.
"There's something here, contained, just for an apprentice like you. You have to face the creature, a demon, and resist it, if you can" Mouse sounded afraid as he spoke, as though he didn't believe that Liara could do this. The mage barely supressed a shudder at the thought, what if she never escaped? What if she was killed in the waking world like Mouse? Then his voice grew darker. "That's your way out. Or your opponent's, if the templar's wouldn't kill you. A test for you, a tease for the creatures of the Fade." Mouse's voice went from afraid to terrifying in very little time. This time, Liara failed to repress her shudder, though she composed herself mighty quickly.
"I'm going to get through this and beat this demon. I've trained for this and nothing will stop me." Steel filled the girl's voice as she stared at Mouse, her eyes almost daring him to tell her she couldn't do it.
"I'll follow, if that's all right. My chance was long ago, but you… you may have a way out." Liara grinned at him, and with a quick 'welcome aboard!' she was off. Mouse turned back into a mouse and scuttled after her, barely keeping up with her pace until she had to stop to fight some wisps.
Not letting the spirits get in her way, Liara quickly dispatched the glowing, unshaped balls with no small amount wonder as she tried to simultaneously stop them and identify what they actually were. To her disappointment, she only succeeded in getting rid of the curious spirits, by throwing arcane bolts at them. Staring at them, she watched them vanish into thin air, disbelief written all over her face. What kind of entity doesn't leave behind a body? Gingerly, Liara continued to walk, running into only one or two more wisps before she came across what appeared to be a templar ghost standing in front of ghostly weapon racks. He looked exactly like the templars she had grown to know around the tower, right down to the flaming sword heraldry that adorned his breastplate. For a moment, Liara grew wary and her posture became defensive; the young woman shook herself of her prejudice. It's unlikely there's a templar ghost in the Fade Liara. It's probably a friendly spirit. Having talked herself down, she approached the spirit carefully, not wishing to anger it needlessly. This seemed especially necessary once she noticed the floating swords and raging fire pit behind him. Liara noted that the fire was possibly the most colourful thing she had seen since entering the Fade, even the colours of her robes had seemed dulled when she came in.
"Another mortal thrown into the flames and left to burn I see" The spirit's voice almost echoed around him. If Liara wasn't looking right at him she would have had trouble discerning where the voice came from. "Your mages have devised a cowardly test. Better you were pitted against each other to prove your mettle with skill, than to be sent unarmed against a demon." The tone of the spirit's voice got under Liara's skin, who was he to judge the methods of the circle? Calm down, Liara had to force her breathing to calm, knowing that a hot head wouldn't do anything to help her in this situation. No matter how bigoted the not-templar seemed.
Fighting all the questions and comments she wanted to throw out, like 'don't pretend to know us' or 'we're no warriors', Liara eventually settled for the more diplomatic "You know why I'm here?" Deciding that that was the best way to not end up having to try to kill a spirit templar, and probably failing.
"You are not the first sent here for such testing. Nor, I suspect, shall you be the last. That you remain means that you have not yet defeated your hunter. I wish you a glorious battle to come" Gee, thanks. You're a really useful spirit. Glad we talked. Liara didn't even try to stop the groan of frustration that left her when he finished talking.
"So, you're not even going to help? What kind of spirit even are you, anyway?! I can't exactly get through this unarmed with no knowledge of where I can find this demon!" She had given up on trying to control her temper, being dipolmatic was getting her nowhere and she needed to finish this test. Quickly. Liara wasn't ready to die, not yet.
"I am Valor, a warrior spirit. I hone my weapons in search of the perfect expression of combat." Valor stared at Liara for a few moments before speaking again, his tone curious. "Do you truly desire one of my weapons? I will give one to you… if you agree to duel me, first. Valor shall test your mettle as it should be tested." The spirit's tone made it clear that this wasn't up for discussion. Liara could walk away now with nothing, or duel him and gain a weapon to aid her in her coming fight.
Taking a long, wavering breath, she nodded. "All right Valor, I agree to your terms."
And so the duel began. For the first time, Liara found her love for acrobatics was actually paying off as she flipped and span away from Valor's blade, freezing him with a Winter's Grasp before shocking him and throwing a bolt at him. It was then that Valor came towards her once again, having shook himself out of the mage's frozen grasp; Liara realised that she was stood at the edge and could go no further back, so she ran braced herself and as the spirit got closer she jumped over his head, flipping and landing on her feet facing him just far enough away that she would be out of his sword's reach. As Liara threw one last bolt at the spirit, he laid down his weapon, his demeanour showing his pride in being beaten by such a worthy opponent.
"Very well mortal. You prove to me that you possess the strength to defeat this demon." Standing from his yielding position, he walked to his ghostly weapons stand and produced a staff "Go, take Valor's staff and prove your worth as you must. I am confident you will succeed." Liara grinned wide and took the staff, thanking Valor possibly four or five times and all but jumping for joy.