100 Prompts – Beginnings
As I lay in Darktown with the rats and spiders skittering over my feet I ask myself: How did I get here? Where did this begin?
Let me rewind and start with the death of some cursed Templar escorts falling, one by one, and the stench of burning darkspawn flesh filling the air. I shook my hands to put out the last flickers of flame from my fingertips and turned. My escape was already all planned out you see, I was going to head south to Denerim and maybe even contact the Mages Collective for protection. But there, with one eyebrow cocked, stood a man between me and my freedom. Now, twas not so bad, a simple change of plan. He seemed amiable enough and trustworthy, though something was certainly unusual about him.
Little did I know that was the moment. That fleeting moment, was the beginning of the end.
The Warden-Commander saved me, in a sense. I was free from the Templars in technicality, but at what price? I asked myself that question more times than I can count. It turned out later that without the Commander to protect me, the Wardens were a crueler Master than the Templars ever were.
Why is it that every beginning marks an end?
I say that when the Warden-Commander found me it was my beginning, but as I share this with you, I realize that no, that is not entirely true. That Anders was a happy man, free, lighthearted, and loyal. I would have faced any abomination for my Commander. The way he would throw his head back, and laugh, then meet our gazes, a passionate fire alive in his eyes. He would finally meet my eyes and smile, saying, "My friends! Today you have made me proud!"
That Anders would have made an ever-faithful Warden. But when the Commander disappeared, gone, like mist when struck by the morning sun, so was my anchor and safety. The Wardens and Templars fell on me like vultures, picking at the fresh wounds of my bleeding heart, for I had not just lost a leader, but a mentor, an idol, a friend.
That was my beginning. This Anders beginning. With no purpose, I blindly searched for one.
To top it off, they took Ser-Pounce-A lot and sent Nathaniel to Denerim for such and such business with King Alistair and the Couslands. I was alone once more, no one needed me, and no one cared.
So when Justice came to me, needy, alone, and wanting for a friend, I, weak in spirit from loneliness, offered the one thing I should have never bargained with:
Myself.
Thus, the beginning of my end.