Chapter 1: Prologue.

Jack's mind was shrouded in a haze left behind by the alcohol he had drank earlier and yet through the haze the piercing, shrilling cries of the young girl still echoed loud throughout his brain. He gritted his teeth trying for the umpteenth time to forget about her, the whole incident, but to no avail. What ate at his conscious most was the guilt he felt. It was not his fault what happened to that poor girl but neither had he did anything help her.

He had been all alone in a two roomed hall on the tower's top floor. Apprentices like him were not allowed on this floor, the templars themselves hardly ever came up there and this was reason enough for Jack to go there. That night he had been having some trouble sleeping and so he had snuck up there for his favorite pastime. He sat on the window's ledge gazing out. The sky was clear and the stars shined brightly, their light reflecting from the water in the lake surrounding the lake. From what he could see the tower's reflection in the lake glowed like a diamond having an aura of silver starlight light around it. Like countless times before Jack was awed by the beauty of the scenario that laid out before him. The outside world which he had been rejected was more beautiful than he could ever imagine and right now with every fiber of his being he wished that he could break free of the chantry's dominion over him.

Thuds of footsteps, rattle of heavy armor and a sharp cry of pain instantly brought jack back to reality from his dreams.

"Oh shit," Jack cursed. He knew the templars were here and if they caught him then...well there was no telling what they would do to him. Being Irving's favorite pupil had helped him get through most of encounters with templars unscathed but the First Enchanter had left the tower for a few days and so had Knight-Commander Greagoir. The absence of both the authority figures had made the junior templars braver. They openly beat any mage who they took a dislike to and the mages who took a stance against their bulling were taken down to the dungeons for extra "punishments".

Quickly Jack dashed across the hall, went through the door and closed it behind him. The room he was in now was barely bigger than a broom closet. He stood with his back hugging the wall. His heart was still pacing. The room he was trapped in had no other exits if the templars came here he would not be able to escape. He was a sitting duck in that small room all the templars had to do was open the door and claim their prize.

After a few moments of silence which felt like an eternity to Jack the door of the hall he just vacated banged open. Jack knew that his capture was both inevitable and immanent. He waited for them to come to his little room and nab him but from what he heard it seemed like they had already brought someone along to toy with.

Jack pressed his ear to the door and listened carefully.

Rattle of armor and a girl's crying was the first few things he registered and then a commanding voice utterly drenched in malice boomed out.

" You two sodding imbeciles! Make that little whore shut up. Gag her or better yet just cut her tongue off."

"Yer right away boss," replied a man with a squeaky voice.

"No stay away from me you mons-," the girl ended up choking mid sentence, she had been gagged summarized Jack.

"Are we sure about this?," came a third masculine voice. This one sounded apprehensive.

The first man who seemed to be their leader replied " Listen carefully you turd Greagoir and Irving are both gone for at least week. We three are gonna leave for Orlais at the first sight of dawn and this little piece of mage filth...well she was brought to the circle just today, no one even knows about her so no one's gonna give a damn if she disappears. So what do you say why don't we make our last night in Ferelden memorable?"

A shiver ran down Jack's spine he had finally realized where this all was going. The utter malice and venom in the man's voice had left no doubt in him, the girl was about to get raped.

Jack stood there with beads of sweat suddenly appearing on his forehead. The muffled screams of the young girl told him that it had already begun. He creaked open the door and from what he saw he quickly tore his eyes from. His own breathing grew jagged, his mind and heart repeatedly begged him to do something yet his body stood rooted to the same spot.

There are three templars outside they will easily disrupt your magic if you try to do something, The girl is already done for don't get yourself killed for her, even if you kill theses templars for her the others in the tower would kill you instantly they would never believe a word you say. A tiny voice in his mind came up with all the logical reasons to not do anything for the girl. Jack listened to all of them intently and to his own shame he agreed with the voice on everyone of them.

A single shriek then tore out the night which drove Jack to his knees. The gag had fallen out of the girls mouth and now she shrieked freely. The templars shouted and laughed all the while like mad barking dogs. The shouts of insane perverted pleasure and the screams of horror pounded away at Jack's brain. He covered both his ears and yet all the noises magnified tenfold in his brain.

Jack crawled over to the corner put his heads in between his knees and waited for it to be over and cried for his own cowardice.

" Slit her throat and then toss her out the window into the lake, it still dark out there no one would notice"

What? No no no you don't have to kill her just leave her be Jack pleaded.

Sound of a sword being unsheathed, footsteps and then a gurgle of blood was what Jack heard. This time round there had been no protest from the girl.

"Let's leave".

When Jack came out no one was there, just a small pool of blood.

It had been a fortnight since then. Jack hadn't told anyone about the incident. The criminals were long gone and the only victim was dead because of his cowardice. All he did now was wallow in his own misery.

"There you are, I have been looking all over for you," said a voice.

Jack turned his head to the right and saw a blurry vision of his friend Jowan.

"Maker's breath you are drunk again," exclaimed Jowan.

"No I'm not," mumbled Jack as he gingerly tried to stand up. Jowan helped his friend up and guided him to the apprentices quarters.

"Well you better lie down, I think you have had enough fun for one day," said Jowan disapprovingly.

"It would be so awesome if you were a woman with a nice ass Jowan," and with that Jack fell on his bed and instantly dozed off.

What felt like only a few minutes later Jack was awakened by a couple of templars.

" What do you want?" Jack asked through gritted teeth in a steely tone.

"It's time for your hollowing," whispered the younger templar.