Part 1 – Home
"It's finally over," he thought as he leaned on the bow of the ship, after three years of war, three years of suffering, war injuries, and watching friends fall.
Sasuke Uchiha watched from the deck of his Army Unit's ship, and saw Orlais, it was 9:7, the Orlesian Civil War had ended, and he was returning home.
Sasuke was six foot five, very muscular and handsome with a head of thick, spikey black hair, and onyx-black eyes.
Sasuke's armor was standard leather, he carried a simple longsword made of Grey Iron, the blade had seen him through his adventures in the war, and his shield which was a simple Heater-style shield with the Orlesian crest impressed into the face.
The leather gauntlets and boots he had on weren't exactly comfortable, but he didn't mind, he'd been wearing them for the past three years.
His thoughts of returning home to his proud parents and brother took a turn for the horrifying when he saw smoke and ash rising from the town of Cumberland and heard the screams of dying Orlesians.
Sasuke ran over to the alarm bell, grabbed the clapper, shook it as hard as he could, and shouted, "TO ARMS! TO ARMS!"
His Army friends ran onto the deck with their weapons at the ready, and when they saw the port, they grabbed the docking-hooks, chucked them onto the docks like their lives depended on it, and pulled at the ropes as much as they could.
After they were close enough, Sasuke was the first to jump over the side of the boat and onto the docks, and as he did, he instantly recognized the growl from the end of the pier, he looked up, and standing at the end of the docks was a fully-grown Qunari male dressed head-to-toe in iron armor carrying a large two-handed sword that was coated in blood.
Sasuke stood up, and charged.
The Qunari did the same, after the Qunari came in high with an over-head chop, Sasuke held up his shield which slightly cracked, then sheathed the entire blade of his sword through the space between the Qunari's breastplate and belt, and used his shield to push the man off the blade.
His friends then charged ashore as he cut down another Qunari.
Sasuke was quick to join in with his friends as the Qunari advanced toward them.
As they did, Sasuke had just finished off another Qunari with an up-hand swing when a Qunari female swung at him with her own longsword, and cut Sasuke across the chest, his breastplate would have failed him if he didn't dive backwards.
The blade only grazed his armor, but the outer-lining of his armor tore, and he lost his shield.
The Qunari then stabbed at Sasuke who moved out of the way of the blade, the tip making a slight 'clang' as it struck the ground, Sasuke grabbing the pommel, and swung his sword as hard as he could at the woman standing over him.
The blade tore its way through the Qunari's neck, sending blood in every direction, and getting a large portion on Sasuke's face.
After wiping the blood off his face, he reached over to pick up his shield only to have it kicked away by a Qunari wielding a warhammer, and he was then kicked in the gun, sending him to his side.
The Qunari lifted his warhammer, and as he was going to bring it down, Sasuke brought his foot to the Qunari's groin.
As the hulking humanoid bent over, and opened his mouth to scream, Sasuke turned around with his blade raised, and swung it at the hostile.
The blade sliced into the Qunari's jugular, and that was it.
He then heard screaming, and saw women and children running from the Qunari who had their blades raised, prone to strike.
Sasuke ran toward the Qunari, and as the women and children went around him, Sasuke raised his weapon, and brought it down.
The first Qunari fell to his blade while another swung at him in time to have his swing deflected, a swift upwards swing sliced through the Qunari's exposed chest, and as another came at him from behind, Sasuke turned around with his sword held high, the blade took the right side of the Qunari's jaw clean off, and some of the man's neck.
Two of the Qunari came at Sasuke from his left and right, Sasuke just moved his stomach forward, and the two Qunari skewered each other.
Sasuke stepped on the spears, and turned around, his blade took one Qunari's leg out from underneath him.
As he turned around, about seven more Qunari came running toward him.
Sasuke raised his blade, and was prepared to fight to the death if a sudden stream of fire hadn't engulfed the Qunari.
Sasuke lowered his weapon as a woman came out of the alley dressed in a mage's robes carrying a staff that probably could have been made of iron or steel if you didn't see the texture in the wood.
The woman then raised her staff, uttered some words, and all of a sudden everything froze, the flames flickering all around froze like they were made of ice, the Orlesians and Qunari stopped moving, the sounds of battle, the screaming, and the flickering of the flames was gone, there wasn't even the sound of wind whistling, as if time itself had simply frozen.
Sasuke walked up to the woman, his shoes echoed like he was in a canyon, completely alone.
As he reached the woman, she turned to face him, and Sasuke instantly knew she was blind because her irises and pupils were a very light grey, almost white, and there were no veins at all visible in her sclera, but she looked directly at him like she could see perfectly.
"Thank you." Sasuke said.
"No," the woman said as she turned toward Sasuke, "Thank you. Let me take a look at you," she placed her hand on the side of Sasuke's face, and tilted his head to the right, "For someone with such a big destiny, you seem to be so small."
"What are you talking about," Sasuke asked, "Who are you?"
"You know me," the woman said, "I'm part of your past, present, and I will be part of your future. It was no coincidence that I was here when these Qunari attacked, and it was also no coincidence that you returned just in time for the attack."
"What destiny," Sasuke asked as the woman removed her hand.
"The Maker sent you away to train, and he has brought you home to use those skills for the good of Orlais," the woman said, "He has given you a gift."
"Wait a minute," Sasuke said as he looked at the insignia on the Qunari warriors' shields, "I don't recognize these symbols," Sasuke looked up at the woman, "These are not the Coat of Arms of the Qunari royal family."
"Yes," the woman said, "These are not Pureblood Qunari."
"This gift," Sasuke said, "What is it?"
"You will soon find out," the woman said as she raised her hand, and what she held was a pendent with a different kind of symbol on it, a blazing sun with a circle, "Hold out your hand."
Sasuke exchanged his sword from the right to his left, and held out his hand hesitantly, the woman then said, "The other hand."
Sasuke held out his left hand, the woman placed the pendent directly onto his palm, then uttered some words, and the entire thing glowed red in his hand.
Sasuke then screamed in pain, and let the thing fall from his hand, as he looked at his palm, there was a Cross (patty style) branded into his palm.
The pendent disintegrated upon contact with the ground as the symbol branded into his hand then glowed white, and he felt an understanding among his confusion and pain.
"Your gift," the woman said as she placed her hand in his, "You will soon learn how to wield it. Now go, this town needs you."
As time returned to normal, the woman disappeared, and the battle returned to normal.
Sasuke then looked forward as he was shot in the shoulder by a needle-tipped arrowhead that went through the three-layer leather breastplate, and pierced his shoulder.
Sasuke jolted into reality when he was shot, then reached up, and yanked the arrow out of his armor.
He then threw the arrow to the ground as another Qunari charged at him.
Sasuke ducked underneath the blade, then sliced the man across the back, and as he turned around, Sasuke sheathed his sword through the roof of the Qunari's mouth.
As the Qunari fell to his knees, Sasuke gave the blade a swift push, and as he did, the Qunari's head jolted backwards, and the tip stabbed a charging Qunari in abdomen.
After removing the blade, the next strike Sasuke delivered was an over-hand chop to the top of the Qunari's skull, as he did, the blade, worn down by the tide of battle shattered in the man's head.
Sasuke couldn't believe his own eyes with what he saw, his sword which had carried him through three years of war had broken before his eyes, and he froze for a brief second.
After that brief second, he noticed a Qunari dressed in blood-stained armor was walking toward him, in his right hand was a blood-soaked falcata, and in his right was a spear.
Sasuke then reached down, and picked up a Qunari falcata, his sword was still shattered, but there was still a jagged edge that came to a serrated point.
The Qunari growled, and swung at Sasuke with the falcata, Sasuke blocked the swing, and came in with his broken sword, the Qunari just held up his spear, and pushed his arm aside, completely disarming his sword-hand.
The Qunari then struck Sasuke across the face with the pommel of his falcata, sending him to the ground.
Sasuke reached up to his nose, and wiped a small trickle of blood off the area above his lip.
After standing up, the Qunari swung at Sasuke with his spear, Sasuke held up the falcata, as they struck there was a high-pitched ring that emanated from the shaft, and caused Sasuke to cover his ear.
The Qunari then swung the falcata at Sasuke who moved out of the way, the falcata slicing a large gash in his leg, and all Sasuke did was shrug it off.
Sasuke then came in low with the falcata, and sliced the Qunari across the hip which was only protected by a simple leather belt.
The Qunari reached down to his hip, and removed his hand to see how bloody it was.
Sasuke raised the falcata as the hulking man raised his spear, and threw it at Sasuke who quickly moved to the side.
When he turned to look back at the man, he saw a fist the size of a warhammer coming straight at him, and made contact with his face.
Sasuke stumbled backwards, and landed back-first against the side of a building, slightly dazed, but he still had time to move out of the way as his opponent came at him with a powerful swing.
The swing imbedded the Qunari's falcata two inches inside the side of the hut, and caused wood to flying everywhere.
Sasuke quickly recovered, and swung the falcata as hard as he could which cleaved the Qunari's left arm clean off.
The hulking man screamed in pain as he fell backwards, his sword dislodging, and following him to the ground as he grabbed his now hanging shoulder.
Sasuke then fell to his knee, the adrenalin high he was riding just then died down, and his heart was racing.
The Qunari stood back up, and swung once more at Sasuke who held up his the falcata to defend himself.
Sasuke felt the swing in his arm, and lost the falcata he was using before receiving a powerful back-hand from the Qunari's good arm.
As he fell backwards, he felt blood trickle down the side of his face.
"You're good," The Qunari said in a very low, menacing voice, "I've faced a lot of soldiers, and no one's ever been able to land a blow on me," he then gestured toward his arm, "Let alone slice my arm off. But I'm still the best," Sasuke then noticed his destroyed sword lying on the ground ahead of him, and crawled toward it, "You're a persistent little shit aren't you? Resistant to the death."
Sasuke got a good grip on his discarded sword, and as the Qunari raised his weapon to deliver the killing-blow, Sasuke swiftly turned around.
The blade tore through the exposed area right below the Qunari's breastplate, right above his belt, and sent blood flying.
The Qunari coughed blood, and as he did, Sasuke stood up, and sheathed the broken sword into the beast's throat.
As he withdrew the broken blade, it was coated blood, and the Qunari fell back, blood stained the outline of his mouth, and a thick stream of blood streaked down the sides of his throat.
Sasuke then removed the Qunari's mask, and what he saw didn't look like any normal Qunari, this Qunari had four horns, solid red eyes, and canine-sharp teeth.
While he was examining the Qunari, several of his army friends came running up to him, "Sasuke," Sergeant Mordred said, "You good?"
"Yea," Sasuke said as he picked up the falcata he lost, and turned to face the Qunari he saw charging at them.
One of the Qunari came riding up on a horse, as the friends raised their weapons to fight, he pulled out a war-mace with the spike on a chain, and as he swung, the blow got Sasuke on the right side of his chest.
As Mordred dismounted the Qunari from his horse, and killed him, Sasuke fell backwards against the road, blood staining his leather armor.
"Sergeant," Corporal Damien Neal said as he looked knelt next to Sasuke, "He's alive but wounded."
"Get him out of here," Mordred exclaimed as he gestured Damien to run.
"But sir…" Damien began.
"GET HIM OUT OF HERE NOW," Mordred yelled, "THAT'S AN ORDER!"
"Yes sir," Damien said as he lifted Sasuke onto his shoulders, and carried him away from the battle.
Sasuke was fading fast, as he looked back at the battle, he saw Mordred had picked up his broken sword, and was using it in tandem with his own battle-axe.
"Maker help us all," Sasuke thought as everything went black.
The adventure begins, why did the Qunari invade, what was that Qunari he killed, and who was that old woman that branded the cross onto his palm…