Claiming Control

Chapter 1: A Plucked Sleeper

Sophia headed out to the dark parking lot, shivering slightly from the cold. Despite the fact that she had been exercising for the last two hours, the wind-chill was cold enough outside that it still felt like a shock to her system as soon as she stepped out the door. She flexed her arms and sighed. She had been doing fencing long enough to know that she had pushed herself too hard, if she was having muscle aches after years of practice.

Perhaps she was a private masochist? Although she had a high pain tolerance so it was difficult to say.

She found her car and had to bite back another sigh. How had more frost formed on her windshield? She hadn't been gone for more than two hours! Was it even actively snowing? Sophia peered up into a nearby street light, trying to see if she could find flurries. Maybe a few. Ugh.

She unlocked her car and turned the ignition, cranking the heat. Then she took out a windshield scrapper, and got to work. By the time she was done, her car was blissfully warm, and she sat there for a few minutes holding her red, numbed fingers up against the vent.

The ride home was blissfully uneventful. She swung her bag over her shoulder as she locked her car and entered the brick apartment complex. She trudged up three flights of stairs and down a long hallway just in time to see the door to her room open and a man come out. Nick, a neighbor that had a room on the same floor, who had become her pseudo-friend. They had reached the point of exchanging small talk and small favors, but Sophia was uncomfortable with all of the flirting, so it hadn't really progressed much past that.

"Hey Soph. I just took Nala out on a walk for you. Just about froze my fingers off trying to hold onto the leash."

Sophia felt a brow raise. "Where are your gloves?"

Nick grinned. "Lost to the nether that is my entry closet."

Sophia snorted. "Well, hurry back to your room, then. Lord only know how you will entertain yourself without them."

His brows waggled suggestively. "I can think of a few ways."

Sophia gave him a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "I'm sure you can. Thank you for taking Nala out. Have a good night." She closed the door on him, only feeling slightly guilty, and called for her baby.

"Nala! Come here, sweet girl!" Sophia's beautiful brown pitbull bounded down the hallway towards her, and Sophia fell to her knees in order to greet her. "Who's the best dog in the world? Hm? Is it you?" Sophia let out a shriek of laughter has Nala started licking her fingers enthusiastically.

"Alright girl! Let's make sure you've been fed. Then mummy can heat something up for dinner…" Making her way into the kitchen, Sophia saw that Nick had refilled her food and water bowl. That twinge of guilt threatened to bubble up again, but she pushed it to the back of her mind as she heated some water in order to make tea.

She clicked through her emails, outlining her agenda for tomorrow. She needed to send her editor the article about the success and failures of foreign affair strategy when the nation was being run by businessmen by tomorrow, and she wanted to update her blog by the end of the week. Sophia smiled, looked around at her apartment. Books and plants everywhere, and she was able to enjoy them because she had a job that allowed her to work from home. Insert happy sigh here.

But what for dinner? Sophia opened her fridge thoughtfully. Hm. Not fish. Not pizza. Not week-old clam chowder…. Lasagna would work. Her mom had brought over the dish the day before yesterday, and Sophia was happy to dig in.

She brought her tea and the heated dish in front of the TV and considered her options. Netflix or video games? She knew she really should be working on her paper, but she had already written a lot today and thought she deserved some time to relax. Hm… Video games it is then. Now which one? Did she want to be the Dragonborn? The Inquisitor? The Vault-Dweller? Decisions, decisions…

She popped Dragon Age into her playstation. Another two hours later Sophia found herself talking to the television. Well, shouting really. "No! Solas, how could you? Don't be afraid to love! Your plans don't make any sense!" Nala whined from her place on a rug. "I know, girl. Why does he insist on being so fatalistic? I should have listened to Amanda and romanced Cullen." Another whine.

"I know. This is my punishment for being stubborn and contrary. Well, it's probably time for bed, hm? We've got an early morning."

Sophia made her way into her bedroom, forced herself to take a quick shower and brush her teeth in the connected bathroom, and climbed into bed. Her tank top and sweatpants were just light enough that she felt the need to add another blanket, and she snuggled into the fuzzy flannel. Nala jumped up on the bed, and laid down beside her. Sophia rubbed her head for a minute, making sure to rub a spot behind the canine's ears, before turning off the bedside light. Warm almost to the point of discomfort, sleep came quickly.

There was a woman who blazed blue, so bright that Sophia couldn't see anything else. "Ar usul'ema ash'ala to ma. Ea soun. Ma ane as'var vun. As'var dys sul revas." Was that… elvhen? The woman came forward and touched Sophia's forehead with tender fingertips, before disappearing. The touch felt strange, warm and cool all at once, an energy that sent tingles down her spine…

But then there was a being that reminded Sophia of the phrase "fire and brimstone". An earthly rage and terror made of flames and rock that screamed and burned, and reached for her… Sophia ran. Fear rushed through her body and made her limbs tingle from the adrenaline rush. She looked behind her as she sprinted, and cried out when she saw the demon at her heels. It let out a crackling laugh that sounded like wind howling through trees. She tripped in her surprise, and suddenly that terrifying mass of negative energy was all around her, and all Sophia could feel was pain, and all Sophia could hear were her own screams…

Sophia shot awake and looked around, panting from the earlier exertion. She froze in shock. This was not her bedroom. She was not on her bed. Was she still dreaming? She struggled to move her arms and realized she was bound in chains. Looking down she could see a complicated rune circle drawn on a stone floor, and blood…. It was everywhere. It saturated the air, until everything tasted and smelt metallic. Sophia started hyperventilating. What was this? She had to still be dreaming, right? There was no way this could be real? Just her fault for playing video games before bed.

Her attempts at rationalizing her situation ended when a door at the far end of the chamber shot open, and an aged man wearing ostentatious crimson robes entered. His hair and beard were grey and whitening at the tips, and the skin around his wrinkled eyes was an unhealthy purple. His gaze was focused and intense, and gleamed with intelligence and malicious intent. "This is the one?" the man asked, scrutinizing her skeptically. "I can see nothing special about her." Sophia assumed the question to be rhetoric, because she couldn't see anyone else in the room, but suddenly the demon from her dream manifested in front of her.

"She is the Vun. She is what you need." The voice of the demon was similar to its laugh- a cackle, like burning wood popping.

The old man sneered. "We shall see. Wait until after the experiment has been conducted. Your end of the deal will not be fulfilled unless she lives." Wait, experiment? He was going to conduct a potentially lethal experiment on her? Another wave of fear and anxiety rankled through her body. The man strode forward unaware of her internal turmoil, and backhanded Sophia across the face.

Motherfucker, that hurt… but it helped to ground her amidst the anxiety. Sophia turned towards the man with a defiant glare, and spat a mouthful of blood and saliva at the hem of his robe. She had never been the type to just roll over and let people take advantage of her. She was stubborn, and plucky, and stuck to her guns. Or so she told herself. It had caused problems when she was a kid- repeatedly standing up for bullied kids had gotten her in the middle of several fist fights. But she wasn't afraid of conflict. She wasn't afraid of pain.

To Sophia's surprise, this demonstration seemed to assuage the man's fears, as he nodded, his face still in a state of derision. "There is potential. We will see if this attitude lasts."

Their exchange was interrupted by a knock on the inside of the open door. "Danarius? The shipment you ordered has been put in the chamber." A young auburn-haired man in robes entered the doorway nervously.

"Everything is as expected?"

"Yes, sir. A few of the dwarves and blood mages have managed to distill the raw red lyrium into a processed, diluted version that we believe will work well for our purposes."

Danarius shot the young man a look, who sounded eager to anticipate the question and fill the silence. "With minimal casualties. Only half died in the procedure, so they should be able to replicate the process should we need more."

"And the other thing I requested?"

"Adralla's notes have been uncovered and organized by way of relevance. They have been placed on your desk."

"This is good news," Danarius stated, the edges of his lips turned up in a grim smile, but his eyes remained intense and haunted. The overall effect was disturbingly creepy. As was the information Sophia was currently process. Adralla? As in the mage responsible for the Litany of Adalla? So the man was looking into demon possession? But didn't red lyrium act as a catalyst for power that had the opposite effect?

Danarius turned back to look at her with a calculating stare. "Send a few men in and take her to the chamber. Chain her to the table." He then turned and strode out of the room. The demon disappeared as soon as he left the room. The young man left, and Sophia was left alone.

She needed to escape. Everything about that exchange boded ill for her, and she didn't intend to stick around. She looked down at the chains around her arms, and pulled experimentally. It chafed at her wrists, burning all of the skin the metal came in contact with. Magic? She looked around the shackles and couldn't find a keyhole. So these really were controlled with magic. Perhaps she could will herself free? Sophia still wasn't completely convinced she was dreaming. She had never had a lucid dream before, but what better time to start?

She thought about escaping with every part in her being. She thought about the shackles opening and becoming free. She even thought about mentally drawing energy from the Fade to assist in her escape- perhaps it would help if she was making her attempts according to context? Nothing happened, however, and in the next minute three men entered the room. One of them turned to the other two. "You disengage the magic around her lock. You grab her before she can try anything. We don't know if she has had any training."

Alright. It seems she would have to attempt to fight her way out.

She waited until the lock disengaged and she was grabbed from behind, before taking his right wrist in both hands and twisting it as she spun away. She kept turning his arm until she heard the pop of a dislocated shoulder. Then it was an immediate jab to his eyes and a kick to the groin, before she sprinted for the door. Self-defense classes for the win!

"Stop!" one of the men called. The leader threw himself in front of the door, and Sophia had no qualms about punching his nose, feeling the cartilage give way. Then it was a side kick to his chest, and she hopped over her body before he had a chance to recover. Which way? She took an instinctive right, and was unpleasantly surprised to see an ascending staircase. So, wrong direction? She kept running anyway, and eventually made her way past a woman in robes. The woman tried to grab her, but Sophia side-stepped at the last minute and continued running. Eventually she could feel her calves and thighs burning from the exertion of going up several flights of stairs. Her fear and the sound of following footsteps and voices pushed her forward. She made it to the top and pushed against the door, and had to blink at the sudden light of the outside.

Looking around she spotted a chair, and wedged it under the door. She then looked over the wall surrounding the tower's roof to see a sprawling city. Other towers and buildings made of stone and wood stood in the distance, but most of the buildings were elegant and beautifully colored. She ran to the edge and circled the roof, looking down the side of the building, but there was no way down. Just a seventy-foot drop onto the walkway below.

There was pounding against the door, and Sophia turned just in time to see the edge of a battleaxe break through the solid wood. She scrambled onto the top of the stone wall, and backed into the edge.

More of the door was destroyed, and at least a dozen people poured onto the roof. Once they noticed where she was, they paused in wary apprehension. "Girl! This is nofin' worth dyin' ova. Come back fro' the edge." Sophia stuck out her chin and pursed her lips stubbornly as she strengthened her resolve to jump. More than likely, she would wake up in her bed and need to hug Nala for a few minutes. And even if it wasn't a dream, better a swift death than be subject to painful medical experimentation.

The crowd suddenly parted, and Danarius and the demon joined them on the roof. "Girl! I had to sacrifice fifteen people to bring you this side of the Fade. You will come down and allow me the benefit of my investment."

Fifteen people? Good lord. But she would ensure that they did not die in vain. Her death would prevent the unsavory, right? The aged man took another step towards her, and Sophia stepped back off the edge, her arms flung wide as she began to freefall.

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age.