AN: as of 10-28-14, the title has changed to BTROR: A Dream of A Dragon
Hi, everyone! Thanks for dropping in! Beyond the Realms of Reverie: A Girl in Ferelden, focuses on a girl named Diora, who is literally whisked away into Thedas through the Eluvian. I wanted to model the story in the fashion of a high fantasy fairy tale. "It's not a story in which the characters grow up, it's a story in which they they draw on the strengths they already have inside them, brought out by the particular circumstances."
Expect lots of adventure and romance. It's going to be epic! =) I invite you to follow and thank you for your support and patience and reviews as the chapters get revised and posted. After all, if you don't review it, how do I know if you like it?
And thank the Maker for Bioware, the creators of Dragon Age, Alistair, and the rest of the characters we love and care so much about (or hate, for that matter).
Prologue
The Boy and the Star
"Clear your mind, child, and listen to what the stars have to tell you…"
Had she been hypnotized? Dreaming? Or was it been a vision brought on by the scents on mothballs, herbs, and burning incense? Diora herself had no clue. She only knew that as soon as she gazed into that crystal ball, the veil of space and time was drawn aside, and she stepped into a place beyond the realms of reverie…
A small cloud filled the crystal ball, shaping itself into an entirely different scene. Her bluish-grey eyes, so clearly reflected in the gazing ball mere seconds ago, were gone. Diora saw an entirely different scene playing out before her, a quiet hayloft with dust floating from the wooden beams in the rafters.
Gone was the crystal ball. Gone was the ratty fortune teller's shop. She was no longer sitting in the chair she had been sitting on. She was in the barn loft now.
A young lad, no more than ten years of age, slowly stirred from his slumber on a soft bed of hay. He brushed aside the thick wool blanket and yawned rather languorously, only to huddle back in the blanket's warmth as the cold nipped at him. His still sleepy eyes stared lazily through a streaky glass paned window and into the grey morning light.
An ordinary observer would have seen a young urchin boy, more often covered in mud than not. He was garbed in a thin, tattered, yellowed white shirt and a worn out pair of tan, patched-up breeches. He had a small, dust-streaked face and a head of untidy blond hair. His lips were wide, and so were his eyes, which looked like ambered honey in some lights and moods and deep hazel brown in others.
But Diora saw something else. Beneath the smudges of dirt, the forehead was broad and full. As they awakened, the eyes were intelligent but full of mixed longing and sadness, as though the boy was earnestly and hopelessly searching for something.
He looked so sad…. Why?
She looked out the window, hoping to discover what it was the young boy was searching for. From the high vantage point in the hayloft, she could make out the entire village nestled in the red hills and cradled by the gently lapping waters of great lake. A chilly late autumn wind swept across the lake through the village, carrying with it the mingling scents of smoke and hay, dead leaves and fish brine. Though the sun's rays had not yet broken through the eastern horizon, the horses were already stirring in their stalls. An old barn owl, satiated after a successful night of hunting, hooted softly and rustled its feathers before perching on a rustic ceiling beam to slumber for the day.
But the boy wasn't looking down at the village. He was looking up at something in the sky.
Her gaze followed his up into the sky. A a lone star, a twinkling yellow sparkle of light in the eastern skies.
A Golden Star.
As if he sensed her presence, the boy turned his face to hers and their eyes met. Something lit up in his eyes. Surprise? The boy stood up from where he sat and slowly started walking towards her.
Then she was drifting, drifting, drifting…
The barn loft and the boy, who was now running and shouting after her, were shrinking, shrinking, shrinking...
Drifting, drifting, drifting….
She was now outside the crystal ball.
A cloud once again filled the ball, smoking, thinning, clearing.
Diora was back in her chair, back in the fortune teller's shop, gazing fixedly into the crystal ball.
A voice, thick and raspy, whispered to her,
The inevitable time is soon to come, be it for good or evil.
Your spirit dances under the moon of uncertainty.
Your star shines ever more in the dominion of the Red Dragon.
Your reflection is cast in the mirror of illusion, darkness, and blood.
The great power of the sacred blood within you will emerge.
Fate will lead you to one who is destined to stand vigilant in the shadows.
As he shall be your savior, so you shall be his.
AN: So what's up with the star? I love symbolism and recurring themes. This story will have lots of references to those little twinkling celestial object that dots our night skies. I thought I would make it a personal challenge to try to include the word "star" at least once in every chapter, kind of like Psych (love that tv show, so sad it's over! T_T) and the elusive pineapple. I dunno, we'll see it I'm up to the task.
Dear readers, what did you think? Reviews are always appreciated. If you feel like sending a nastygram, then please have the courtesy to do so in a pm.