They almost looked like normal storm clouds. They were dark and rolling, stretching along the horizon and flashing with bursts of lightning. To the untrained eye, they were more a sign of inclement weather than anything more sinister.

Duncan, however, knew better. The Commander of the Fereldan Grey Wardens may never have seen clouds like these before, but he had long since learned the warning signs: the hints of green around the edges, the broiling and twisting that was visible even from where he stood perched on a cliff over the vast wastelands known as the Korcari Wilds. He closed his eyes and for a moment almost swore he could hear strains of a sick and tantalizing music, music he hadn't heard for many years, music that could only mean one thing…

"What do you think?" one of his companions asked, joining him on the ledge. Radriline was a sharp woman with short dark hair and hawk-like eyes, which were scanning the horizon as her forehead began to furrow.

Duncan placed a hand on the hilt of his sword, an old habit that still managed to give him some comfort even as his pulse slowly began to pick up. "Not good," he said grimly.

"Well, that was quick," Eddric said, resting his giant body against a nearby tree. The cold temperatures of the far south had forced him to add the sleeves to his armor, and his muscles looked ready to burst out of the chainmail. "If I had known this was going to take five minutes I would have never left the tavern this morning."

"Non, mais putain, Ed," Radriline snapped. Her Orlesian accent, already thick, got heavier when she was angry. "If there was ever a time to show some respect, it would be now."

"It's all right," Duncan said, his voice distant. He had long since learned how to diffuse tension between his two best Wardens – what he hoped, however, was that they couldn't hear the strains of fear he felt creeping into his own voice. "And I agree with both of you. We shouldn't jump to any conclusions, but we need to keep our minds clear now more than ever."

"Would have kept a clearer mind at the tavern," Eddric muttered; Radriline scoffed and stepped ahead of Duncan, peering ahead as if trying to find enemies lurking in the far-off mists.

"You really think it's happening, then?" she asked. "Another Blight?"

"It's a very bad sign," Duncan replied. "Enough to make me worry."

She turned back to him. "Then we need to get the word out. Denerim, Nevarra, the Imperial Court – if it's starting, we don't have much time to get ready."

"The clouds aren't enough," Duncan said, walking up next to her. "We need something more tangible, something to take back as proof. Especially in this country."

"Only Fereldans could ignore a Grey Warden's warnings about a Blight," Radriline sniffed. "So what do we do, then?"

"We don't have much choice," Duncan said. "We're going to have to go into the Wilds."

"Now that's more like it!" Eddric cheered, leaping up from the tree. "You hear that, kid? You're gonna see some action after all!"

The last member of their party had been standing awkwardly in the trees, intimidated by the Wardens he had found himself with. He was a kind-looking young man with a nice smile and a shabby set of armor who looked better suited to a farm than a deadly mission to the heart of the Korcari Wilds. The boy's father had looked like that, too, when Duncan had first met him; he wondered if anyone had ever told him that. "Are you ready, Alistair?" he asked. "A Warden's first mission is never easy."

The boy nodded, albeit a little nervously. "As ready as I'll ever be, I guess," he said.

"Don't be foolhardy," Radriline said sternly. "Remember what we told you – stick close to us, and if you see something, say something. There's no telling what we're going to find out there, so keep your wits about you – and if you want to stay alive, do not panic, you understand me?"

Alistair's face had gone white. "Yes, ma'am."

"Well, at least we all know that you've still got that motherly touch, Rad," Eddric said cheerfully. He clapped Alistair on the back, hard enough to make the boy stagger. "Let's go, son! Adventure awaits!"

The two Wardens started to make their way down the ledge leading to the wastelands. Alistair began to follow them, a queasy look on his face. Duncan, however, sidled up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "It'll be fine," he said calmly. "You won't be alone out there."

Alistair smiled weakly at him. With his blond hair and blue eyes, it really was like looking twenty years into the past. "Thanks, Duncan," he said quietly. "I just hope I do well out there."

"You will," the commander said. "But come on, we should hurry up – we need to make as much progress as possible while there's still sun."

And with that the two men started making their way down the ledge as well, plunging into the depths of the Korcari Wilds.

The first thing Duncan noticed was the silence.

Normally the Wilds were filled with noise: chipmunks or birds, sometimes even distant howls of wolves or bears. Now, however, the forest had fallen completely silent, carrying only the sound of rustling leaves and creaking branches. The clanking of their armor seemed to echo for miles, the only signs of life in an empty void.

The Korcari mists, of course, didn't make things any easier. The further they walked, the thicker they became, until at times it seemed to Duncan that they were walking amongst the clouds themselves. He himself had some trouble steering clear of tree roots; every few minutes someone in the party would stumble and squawk, barely managing to keep themselves from sprawling out on the ground. As always, the fog clouds started to play tricks on his mind, showing him images of animals, Wilders, and something much worse, an evil that seemed to be stalking them from just out of sight.

But that was not the worst part of being out in the Wilds. No, what made Duncan's stomach wrench with fear were the fleeting whispers that flooded his mind from time to time, a sweet melody of decay and destruction that made his skin crawl. As the day went on, the whispering became more and more frequent, and he could tell from Radriline and Eddric's expressions that they were hearing it, too. Duncan set his jaw; whatever that meant, it was not good.

As the sun slowly began to set above them, Duncan stopped his march in the middle of a clearing. "We'll set up camp here," he announced, letting his pack fall to the ground.

"Good choice, boss," Eddric said, slumping to the ground. "Nothing says 'home' like a nondescript field in the middle of an evil forest."

"Get up, you oaf," Radriline said, tossing the sack she was carrying at him. "You can rest after you set up the camp."

Eddric knocked the sack off his lap and stretched back with a yawn. "Let the recruit set up! Daddy needs his beauty rest."

"You would literally need to slip into a coma," Radriline said coldly. "And the recruit will do his part, just like you."

Eddric sighed and climbed back up to his feet. "And just what part are you going to play, Madame Radriline?" he asked, pulling a tent out of the bag. "Supervisor?"

She glared at him and took her bow from off her back. "I am going to find us dinner," she said. "Still feel like complaining, Ed?"

"Thanks, Raddy!" he called after her as she disappeared into the mists. "Be sure to get some rabbits!"

"Is she going to be all right out there on her own?" Alistair asked nervously.

Duncan nodded. "Radriline's more forest than human," he said. "Here, go and help Ed set up the tent. I'll get the fire started."

It took another two hours for Radriline to return to camp, by which time the fire had been burning for a while. "Maker's breath, I'm starving," Eddric roared upon seeing her. "Did you get any pheasant? I'd kill for a good pheasant."

Radriline's mouth was pursed. She through a sack down at his feet, one that landing lightly on the ground. "Something's not right," she said. "The Wilds should be full of rabbits at this time of year, but there was nothing. All I could get were mushrooms."

"Mushrooms?" Eddric gasped. "Mushrooms? Have you seen the size of my muscles, woman? Do you know what happens when I don't get enough protein?"

"All you ever talk about is your damn muscles!" she snapped. "And I'm sorry that you didn't get the dinner you want, but at least we have something! If it was up to you, we'd be eating rocks right now!"

"Rocks would be better than mushrooms," he said in horror.

"That's enough, you two," Duncan said. That had to be another sign – animals always seemed to know when trouble was afoot. "Thank you for getting the food, Radriline. We should eat and get ready for an early night."

They sat down around the fire and began eating what she had found. To her credit, Radriline had managed to scavenge enough in the woods to sate all of their appetites, even if Eddric was reluctant to admit it. "Mushrooms," he muttered after they had finished. "It's like being stuck in the Deep Roads again."

Radriline slumped her shoulders and sighed. "Saint Créateur, not again…"

It was too late; Eddric had already turned to Alistair. "I ever tell you about my time in the Deep Roads, son?"

Apparently horrified to find himself caught in Radriline and Eddric's crossfire, Alistair shook his head meekly, as if trying to shrink into himself. "No, not really."

"So there I was, miles underneath the ground," Eddric said, immediately throwing himself into his story. "The Deep Roads are these ancient Dwarven tunnels, see, and they're basically breeding grounds for darkspawn at this point. Well, I went down there with a bunch of dwarves on a mission like this one, just reconnaissance and whatnot – and let me tell you, kid, never trust a dwarf. The first sign of trouble down there, the whole troop abandoned me, and I was left all on my own."

"You shouldn't talk about dwarves like that," Duncan cut in sternly. "They've been fighting the darkspawn for far longer than any of us."

Eddric shrugged. "Well, these ones sure didn't want to – and you know better than me that all dwarves are a little shady, boss." Duncan conceded the point with a shrug. "Anyways, kid, I'm all alone down there – and trust me, the Deep Roads are not a place you want to end up on your own in. They're dark, it's cold, all you have to eat are mushrooms…" Radriline huffed and crossed her arms. "That's not the crazy part, though," Eddric said. "The weirdest thing I ever saw happened down in those tunnels."

Alistair frowned. "What was that?"

Eddric leaned in. "I'd been roaming down there for days," he said dramatically. "Completely lost, almost going out of my mind, at the end of my rope, right? Well, just when I thought everything was over, I stumbled upon a whole horde of darkspawn."

"Shit," Alistair breathed.

"That's what I said," Eddric said. "I mean, I'm good, but I'm not that good, right? So I say my prayers and hope the Maker's listening – and then this tall darkspawn comes up to me." He paused for the effect, letting the crackling flames add feeling to the story. "He bends down…and he starts talking to me."

Radriline scoffed. "Bullshit."

"It's the truth," he said. "I can't remember what he said, I was too out of it – but he went on for a while. Next thing I knew, they had dumped me near a patrol of dwarves from the Legion of the Dead, and they were able to get me back to Orzammar."

"Don't listen to him," Radriline told Alistair. "Darkspawn can't talk – right, Duncan?" Duncan grunted – that was a memory he preferred not to think about.

"I've got the marks to prove it," Eddric said, glaring at her. "You've seen them, too. They took my blood, I'm sure of that – although Maker knows what they wanted with it."

The conversation subsided for a moment, each person lost in thought about a different part of the story. "How smart are darkspawn?" Alistair asked suddenly.

Radriline frowned. "What do you mean?"

He shrugged. "I don't know – I guess I just don't know anything about them. If they can't talk, they can't be that smart, can they?"

The three Wardens glanced at each other. "Some are smarter than others," Duncan said finally. "During a Blight, they're able to organize themselves into huge armies, and they're definitely smart enough to put up a nasty fight – speech does, however, seem to be too complicated for most of them."

"But not all," Eddric insisted.

"And so what even are they?" Alistair persisted, leaning forward. "All they ever told us in the Chantry is that they're a type of punishment for the hubris of mages – is that what you think, too?"

Radriline rolled her eyes. "The Chantry says a lot of things."

"Do we not believe in the Chantry?" Alistair asked quickly. "Sorry, I don't want to sound stupid."

"We don't have any set way of thinking or believing," Duncan assured him. "Some of us believe, others don't. The only important thing is that we're independent. Even if you believe in the Chantry, your only responsibility is to the Wardens once you join our Order."

"But what are the darkspawn, then?" Alistair asked.

"Monsters," Radriline said.

"Ugly, evil buggers," Eddric added.

"Both ways of saying no one knows," Duncan said. "All we do know is that they appeared one day and nearly destroyed the world, whether they were sent by the Maker or not."

"But what are they like?" Alistair wasn't backing down. "What do they look like, how do they act?"

"They look like people," Duncan said. "But sick, twisted copies of them. You'll see for yourself soon enough. As for how they act…"

"Darkspawn show no mercy," Radriline finished for him. "All they want is to destroy and kill, no matter what they come across. To them, an armed warrior is the same as a defenseless child."

"Killing's like a game for them," Eddric added. "They don't need to eat – sometimes they'll chew the poor bastards they catch to pieces, but we think it's more to terrify people than anything else. They do it just to do it."

"They're evil," Duncan said quietly. "That's all there is to it."

They all fell silent again. All of a sudden, the vast emptiness of the Wilds surrounding them seemed oppressive, an almost-living thing. "We should get some rest," Duncan said, looking out into the night. "I'll take the first watch."

The others nodded, glad to retreat back into the tent. The commander turned his back to the flames and looked out into the night. The darkness looked back at him that night, and deep in his heart he knew that something was changing irrevocably.

The Deep Roads were swarming with darkspawn. They formed an underground sea of corrupted flesh, a thriving horde that left a sickening black taint on everything it touched. Duncan was floating above it, powerless to do anything to stop it. The farther he flew, the more horrified he became, until it was clear that he was witnessing the formation of a massive army. Reeling with disgust and despair, he felt in spite of himself a dragging sensation towards a dark hole near the back, a hole that would not stop calling until it had consumed him entirely…

Duncan yawned blearily as he trudged through the Wilds the next morning. His dreams that night had made his sleep so restless that he finally decided to just keep watch for the rest of the night. Sensing his fatigue, Radriline had assumed command of the group, blazing a trail through the Wilds that was surprisingly easy to follow.

"Feeling all right, boss?" Eddric muttered as he ducked under a branch.

Duncan shook his head. "The nightmares getting worse."

"Same here," Eddric said. "Rad's said as much, too."

Duncan grunted. Neither said what they were thinking, but they had both reached the same conclusion on their own. The reports that had rolling in from the south for months now seemed to be true, something they couldn't have imagined in their worst fears. A Warden's mind was linked to the darkspawn Taint; nightmares as bad as those could only mean one thing.

"Duncan," Radriline said sharply from the front of the line. The huntress had drawn her bow, scanning the trees surrounding them. Looking up, Duncan started and drew his blades as well.

Three mangled bodies were pinned by crude swords to the tree in front of them, twisted so unnaturally that they were almost hard to recognize. One's head had been hacked off; the others were so horribly disfigured that he couldn't tell what was missing and what wasn't. Revolting blotches of decayed brown skin were splayed along all three bodies.

"Darkspawn," Duncan breathed in thrilled horror.

Alistair looked revolted. "Darkspawn did this?"

"It wasn't the Wilders, that's for sure," Eddric said grimly, gripping his war axe. "Do you think they're still here, boss?"

Duncan turned to answer him. Then the whispers in his mind began to scream, and a flight of arrows flew out of the trees. "Cover!"

The party retreated back as a band of tall, burly hurlocks and squat, stout genlocks began pouring out from the trees, bearing down upon them. Duncan turned around and faced his companions.

"Radriline," he growled, "into the trees. Ed, concentrate on those hurlocks to the left; I'll take out the ones by the rock. Alistair," he said, turning back to the recruit. The boy nodded at him, face pale. Duncan had a vivid flashback to when he had first confronted a darkspawn himself; he reached forward and put a hand on his shoulder. "It's time to prove yourself," he said.

Without blinking, Duncan leapt up and began running at full speed to the group of darkspawn by the rock. His blades flashing, he slammed into the one nearest him with his shoulder; it staggered back, giving him the opportunity to plunge a sword into its chest. Ripping it back out, he used it to block a swipe from another hurlock, whose stomach he quickly opened with his other sword. He sensed another one behind him and turned to strike it. However, by the time he spun around, one of Radriline's arrows had found its way into its head. He nodded his thanks before slashing out at a nearby genlock that had been avoiding the wide range of Ed's swinging war axe.

Meanwhile, Alistair was struggling against his opponent, a genlock of at least half his height. Despite being short and stocky, the creature was surprisingly agile, and it was all the boy could do to keep it from opening up his entrails. Concerned, Duncan began to run over to help him. However, at that moment, Alistair grunted with effort and slashed out exceptionally fast, catching the darkspawn off guard and hacking off its hand. Ignoring its shrieks of pain, Alistair jabbed forward and drove his sword into its head.

"Well done," Duncan said as the corpse fell to the earth. Alistair started and looked back up at him with wild eyes. Behind them, Eddric felled the last of the hurlocks with a mighty swing from his axe and began crowing. "It's not every man who can kill a darkspawn by himself, let alone on his first time."

Alistair stared down at it for a few seconds, breathing heavily. "They're pretty ugly, aren't they?"

Duncan laughed grimly. "You haven't even seen the worst of them."

"Great," Alistair said. "Something to look forward to."

Duncan smiled and turned back to his fellow Wardens. Eddric was covered in blood and looked thrilled to be so; Radriline, however, looked extremely somber.

"Duncan," she said, "an organized group of darkspawn on the surface? Do you think…?"

He nodded. "We need to get back to the king," he said. "Ferelden is about to see its first Blight."

NOTE: After a really long hiatus, I'm currently revising a lot of what I'd originally posted for this story. Dragon Age has meant so much to me for ten years now, and it's very important that I write this the best that I can. At the same time, my original post got a lot of extremely lovely support (particularly from the spectacular mille libri!) - I'd just like to thank everyone for their encouragement, it's always meant so much!