Darktown, the foulest most repulsive place in all of Kirkwall, and I choose to make my living here. Sometimes I question my own sanity, but sometimes I wonder why I ever thought I had any in the first place. Although, it is the best place to be when you are trying to hide from the wretched Templars. At least the residents of Darktown have the decency to warn me when a band of hunters appear, which is not very often. I know that I won't be able to hide from them forever, being the famed renegade apostate healer of Kirkwall. Healing has made me vulnerable to capture, but it is the only thing that has kept me from the edge of darkness.
Lying on this diminutive sack that passes for a bed, I try to find comfort in the Fade. An infinite panorama of darkness is all that I see as I struggle against the seething black tendrils obstructing me. They drag me into an even darker abyss, an obsidian sky with writhing red stars. I can see them approaching, the most hideous creatures in all of Thedas with glaring crimson eyes and the sharpest teeth I have ever seen. Millions of Darkspawn are all advancing on my helpless form. They are led by the Archdemon, a malicious dragon clouded by the Taint. It speaks to me in a grating, screeching tone that makes my skin crawl. "You will never be rid of the darkness, mage. You cannot hide from the taint." I watch in abject horror as the teeth of the beast come closer to me.
I jerk awake and I can still smell the breath of the Archdemon, rotting flesh and brimstone. The Fade will bring no interlude this night. I force myself out of my bed and make my way out of my clinic to light the lantern. As I step outside, my nose is met with the nauseating odor of the sewers, mixed with the despondent haze of the refugees stranded in this hole. I watch absentmindedly as an orange spark of fire flows lazily from my fingertips, relieving some of the darkness in its wake. Darktown got its name because it is so stubbornly dark all the time. No matter how many fires are lit, the shadows adamantly stick to every crevice.
Sometimes the shadows are sinister, holding the dark promise of poverty and death. If you look closely enough, you can see the grim reaper standing within them, red eyes glinting with malevolent intent. Staring at the reaper in the shadows, I realize that he is here for me. My nightmares are getting worse and worse, and it won't be long before I succumb to them. If I'm lucky, the taint will kill me. If I am unlucky, I'll become nothing more than a ghoul, prowling the Deep Roads for all eternity...
"Anders? Are you alright?" a deep voice startles me out of my reverie, and I look around to see Hawke gazing at me worriedly.
"Hawke, do you remember me telling you about The Calling?..."
END
