*disclaimer no I do not own dragon age or bioware or ea this should count for the whole story since its well a story*
*just for the record a few things will be changed around in this fanfic thats because it's a fanfic it won't be anything major but if anyone see's any plot holes let me know reviews would be appreciated*
DRAGON AGE THE RISING
Chapter 1
A letter
Kenshen sat reading an official looking letter at the edge of his and Morrigan's camp he considered it quite an achievement that the messenger had tracked them down considering they had been on the move raising their child,who was now approaching his 7th birthday though Kenshen thought to himself "half the time I can't tell if he's 7 or 7000" due to the fact that his soul was the soul of Urthemiel the archdemon that kenshen slewm his magical talent was unmatched as was his intellect though he was still 7 years old,very mature true but still 7 years old. This child now stood a few feet away from him skinning and gutting a large deer he had killed and throwing the non edible parts to Reaver,Kenshen's large mabari war hound,now they both looked at him curiously
"whats the letter say?" Urthemiel inquired.
"It's a letter from the king of ferelden he wants me to come to Weisshaupt and help them decide on some new treaties" Kenshen answered only half paying attention,he was trying to recall were weisshaupt the Grey warden headquarters was located.
"have you finished reading your ever so important letter?"Morrigan asked with heavily placed sarcasm as she walked back into camp.
"Aye" Kenshen answered then asked
"do you remember were weisshaupt is located?"
"The Grey warden headquarters? I believe ti's located in the Anderfells is it not? why do you ask?" Morrigan answered and asked giving Kenshen that look she often gave him when she was trying to discern the twisted paths his thoughts often took.
"Because I intend to go there and help Alistair negotiate some new treaties" he answered
looking up at her mentally bracing himself for the tide of scornful bitchiness and rapidly imagining responses to both insult and inquisition that he had come to expect when discussing civilized topics with her,what he did not expect however was the slightly concerned note in her voice which would have been well concealed from anyone besides him and Urthemiel.
"This must be a trap laid by the chantry you know" Morrigan shot "they have been hunting you since you and your friend Anders killed all those templars after you resigned as warden commander."
"I recall one of those guys did the funniest twitch after I hit him with lightning" Kenshen said with a small snigger. It was true the chantry had sent both him and Alistair threatening letters demanding that Kenshen step down as warden commander after one of the recruited templar spies 'accidentally' swallowed a bottle of demonic poison. Strangly enough it was the same templar who 'accidentally' dropped an acid flask on the head of a newly recruited mage rumored to be a malificar.
The letter stated that Kenshen must step down as warden commander immediately because it was the maker's will that no mage should ever hold a position of power,he had to admire their nerve sending him that even after he stood in front of the grand cleric and declared to her that he thought the chantry was "a corrupt power obsessed incarnation of greed only in power because it fed on peoples superstitions by feeding them the absolute load of mabari shit that was the chant of light".
He been considering leaving anyways since the blight was no longer a threat he had stayed to help rebuild Amiranthine and Vigils keep but it was practically done anyways all that was left was the figures which he was Maker awful at. Then on the on the night he was to leave with Anders and justice they were attacked by the only 2 templar wardens and about 13 regular templars,all cut down with relative ease except for a problem with Justice.
His head fell off Kristoff's body had been rank for awhile so one good jerk was really all that was needed to send the head flying off and Kenshen laughed his ass off at it for whatever reason. Anders and Justice however panicked and in that moment of panic justice fled into the body of Anders.
Kenshen's words had been
"absolutely fascinating I've never seen someone possessed by a spirit instead of a demon I suppose it's an abomination but an unheard of one".
Ander's words had been "Makers lyrium infused saggy left nut what did you do Justice".
And so Anders and justice fled into the night and Kenshen stayed to return Kristoff's body to his wife and to write a letter to king Alistair detailing the attack by the templars and to avoid roasted cabbage. He had then said the goodbyes he hadn't the previous night and left Vigil's keep.
"nah they'll be after my cousin and his friends because they were the ones who really started this whole mess course he's in hiding as well" Kenshen
"interesting how they look to the ones they persecuted and robbed to rebuild their little empire" Urthemiel interjected in the sarcastic yet interested manner that he had inherited from his father.
"Well you can't blame them" Kenshen replied amused at the thought
"after they declared the mages guild was a league of malificarum and abominations set to lead the world away from the maker things really fell apart".
What Urthemiel had stated was true the mages guild that Kenshen had established after freeing the mage circle in ferelden from the chantry and merging it with the collective had recruited most of the magi who had fled their respective circles after the incident in Kirkwall, which was quite a few because 2 chantries had ordered rights of annulment shortly after said incident because of the rumors of an organized rebellion.
Many templars also left after this some left them to help these magi and try to find a compromise though many merely left to hunt magi freely,the Chantry did nothing to stop the ones who
hunted magi however and there were rumors that the chantry was paying bandits and mercenaries
to attack and if possible torture magi to the point of possession those rumors proved to be true unfortunately though very few people outside the guild knew. However though there were witnesses to these crimes that were actively spreading this news though many were kept quiet by the threat of eternal damnation their local chantries held over them.
At some point the Chantry decided it should try to recruit the hero of Ferelden and the champion of kirkwall and their companions and use them as a figurehead to rebuild their power and bring order back to the world that had fallen so deeply into turmoil.
The chantry was certainly right about one thing the world had certainly fallen into of the rogue templars and rights of annulment kings and some nobles had sided with the chantry while the majority of their nobles had sided with the magi as a result several civil wars and attempts of rebellion erupted but mostly it didn't sink violence but stayed in the realm of politics,and brutal politics they were,assassination and blackmail became almost as common in the the rest of Thedas as in Orzammar and Kal-Sharock,and even worse the Imperium had tried to give military assistance to the guild and in so let the qunari slip through to the rest of Thedas adding further to the chaos.
The only good thing about it was that more and more countries seeking order were starting to consider adopting the republic ideals mainly invented by the great philosophers Nicolo markasen,Ceasre dirk and franksin nicarmenden some years previously.
Kenshen had been at the council along with 36 other philosophers gathered by Allistair to create an ideal form of government shortly before the Kirkwall incident there were also 11 members of the chantry and nobles who had no business being there but Allsitair had invited as a matter of courtesy. Kenshen thought the plan absolutely ingenious unfortunately all the assembled nobles opposed it vehemently because it took away their power and the chantry labeled heresy because it called for the removal of the Chantry from the goverment together they had just enough sway to make sure the new form of government wasn't adopted though Alistair had begun subtly changing,canceling and passing new laws that were shifting Ferelden steadily towards it .
"Well then you must intend to leave and never return because it takes at least 3 months to travel from western Antiva to Weisshaupt so I don't know how you intend to locate us once your gone."
Morrigan told him waspishly even as she looked away.
Kenshen replied tentatively "Well you know that hand mirror I gave you-well I placed a tracking spell on it similar to the one on the ring you gave me holding up his left hand showing the plane gold band on the 4th finger of his left hand
"And you did this without telling me?" Morrigan inquired agrily
"slipped my mind" Kenshen answered back truthfully though humorously,
"well are there any other enchantments on any other of my things hm?" Morrigan demanded with death in her eyes
"let me think hhhhmmmm wait yeah there's another one on the mirror it will allow me to speak with you through it if I cast a spell I invented over a reflective surface" Kenshen replied while standing up and stretching his legs.
"Wait why do you intend to walk directly into a trap obviously set by the chantry to capture the hero of ferelden and use him as a mascot" Uthemiel asked suddenly before his mother had a chance to murder his father.
Kenshen's lip twitched in annoyance he bitterly hated being called the hero of ferelden simply because it was an empty title,people usually only met him with suspicion and fear after he survived slaying the archdemon because of the dark rumors the chantry circulated through their ears,even most of his fellow Grey wardens made it a point to avoid him because of it,well all except the Ferelden Greys he had recruited.
"Well I think the Mages guild could use a moral boost and I want to make the chantry look like idiots for the umpteenth time" Kenshen answered with a smile as He stood up started looking for his pack,
"You Urthemiel could come if you like" Kenshen said having found his pack and now picking up a few spare provisions
"A brief foray into the urban wilderness would do you both good"
"No I don't think it would because an apostate woman and her apostate son would draw templars like a carcus draws vultures" Morrigan answered back irritably."
"Nah just say the staffs a walking stick,bite your tongue and maybe pick up some normal people clothes" Kenshen jibed gesturing at the revealing robes she wore they were slightly less revealing and much less ragtag than the spare bits of stitched together leather cloth she used to where.
"Not to be rude Father but you don't really have any right to talk about normal people clothes" Urthemiel remarked
gesturing mockingly at Kenshens robes,which were odd indeed even for a mage not only because a layer of black high dragon hide had been sewn on top of the lyrium infused cloth that was actually a growing trend for the few arcane warriors,but because on the gloves and boots each had a plate of blood red super tempered volcanic aurum from the shell of an inferno golem sewn on them there was also a small chest plate made from the same material that he wore on top of the robes when traveling.
"True my son but I am a master of anonymity" Kenshen replied "but while we're on the subject of robes have you seen my boots"
"how do you lose those things they're like the size of Mother's attitude" Urthemiel exclaimed humorously
"might your flea-bitten war hound have hidden them?" Morrigan asked ignoring the quip from her son while looking over at Reaver who sat with his large head in Urthemiel's lap dozing peacefully
"Nah he won't touch them not after the time I rubbed qunari pepper juice on them" Kenshen responded with a smile recalling the event
"I can't imagine he found that appetizing" Morrigan remarked with a slightly malicious laugh
"He howled for 2 straight days but it kept him from eating my boots" Kenshen said having found his boots and now sliding his long feet into them.
Then suddenly a large cat stalked out from the underbrush that surrounded the camp a limp rabbit in its jaws and laid down and began eating,pointedly ignoring all of them. This wasn't an ordinary cat however,it was a bit smaller than a wildcat with a broad muscular body,large paws,long ears and fangs that hung down past it's lower jaws but the most stunning aspect of this animal was its magnificent coat a coat which was dark red,blue,green or gold depending on the angle it was viewed from. It also had trace amounts of every other color one could think of and small scattered black spots,this all worked together to create a completely magnificent was a fade cat as they had been deemed though having nothing to do with the fade but being from a realm beyond it. A fade cat whose mind and soul were bonded to Kenshen's as a result of him saving it's life while in the realm beyond the fad, now he reach out to its mind and said to it
"hello to you to Callidus."
Callidus then looked up at them all with his greenish-gold cat eyes and projected his thoughts to all of them
"I seem to have missed a rather large piece of news anything interesting?"
"Well I'm going to Weisshaupt to make the chantry look like idiots care to come?" Kenshen replied using the same method
"ah now that does sound interesting indeed I think I will accompany you as long as HE doesn't come along" Callidus hissed both physically and mentally at Reaver who had watched him intently since he had stalked into camp.
"well Morrigan and Urthemiel unfortunately won't be joining us so I don't suppose Reaver will be either" Kenshen sighed
"I'd like to come" Urthemiel muttered indignantly
"Come on now your mothers the better care giver,you have to stay with her if we separate for any amount of time" Kenshen replied in a tone that made it clear he wished it were otherwise
"though you could try to persuade her to come." he murmured
"Kenshen don't put the boy up to tasks he can't accomplish" Morrigan interjected
"well you never know the boy might surprise you" Kenshen replied with a wink at Urthemiel
then shouldered his pack and slipped his staff and great sword into their respective sheaths and projected
"I've gotta piss then I'm ready to go what about you Callidus?"
Callidus looked down at the rabbit having eaten the leg muscles the eyes and the liver there wasn't really anything left he wanted on the rodent he projected a mental sigh and said
"I suppose, well goodbye to you all try not to die and the mongrel can have my scraps"
Reaver gave the fade cat a dirty look but started inching toward the carcass nonetheless.
After Kenshen returned from his piss said his goodbyes and stole a kiss from Morrigan they set off at a healthy pace. After they were a good ways out of the camp Callidus projected curiously to Kenshen
"Do you think Urthemiel will be able to persuade his mother to come?"
"Maybe" Kenshen replied casually "Morrigans pretty tough but I've managed to turn her semi-human at least and I taught him the method persuasion now it's a matter of whether or not he has the talent".
"True,you know I never would've thought of you as a family man Kenshen" Callidus said mildly.
"I neither did I not after all the death I've seen,all the creatures I've fought,all the things I've done but I guess all that experience what made me eligible for it" Kenshen said with a slightly nostalgic sigh
"well that and your insane love for that bitch and that abomination"
"aye but their my bitch and abomination."
Callidus produced a small series of jumping purrs that Kenshen interpreted as laughter then replied
"you know you never told me how you ended up the hero of Ferelden and enthralled with her"
"it's quite the long story"
"we've got quite a large amount of time"
"all right then I suppose I'd better start at the beginning."
*I do apologize if my structure or grammar isn't very good but I right when I have time so I don't have alot of time to proof read*
