Chapter One
Orelia skidded her feet over the stone steps, conscious of how loud her breathing was getting. The Templars on either side of her made no comment as she stumbled between them. Their faces hid under the shadow and steal of a helmet, leaving Orelia unsure of who escorted her. Her reddish brown hair hung in tangles down her shoulders and back. They hadn't given her time to brush her hair. Orelia sucked in a breath and grimaced. Or her teeth. The staircase ended just ahead in a studded wooden door. The Templar to the right of Orelia thrust it open with a huff.
Inside waited more Templars, including Knight Commander Greagoir. He clenched his helmet in a gauntleted fist. First Enchanter Irving, with his foggy grey beard, waited in their midst. Orelia glanced around, arms clenched tightly over the thin violet robe cinched about her curves. Dust motes drooped lazily from the high arched ceilings, illuminated by the dawn light peeking through the towers arched windows.
"Orelia, child. It is time." Irving extended clubbed fingers in what he obviously meant as a welcoming gesture.
Orelia glanced back as Templars halted behind her, completing the circle the rest of the present order had formed.
"This is my Harrowing, isn't it?" Orelia had suspected as much. There really wasn't any other reason to pull a mage from bed in the middle of the night, unless the Templars had gotten too far into the wine. Orelia glanced at the stoic figures, blushing from the thought.
"Yes." Greagoir stepped forward, grey eyes narrowed on the young apprentice. "It is time to test your strength. See if you have what it takes to control your…abilities."
"What must I do?" Orelia leaned to the left to peek over Greagoir's shoulders. She was certain there must be a demon hiding behind him, waiting to possess her soul.
"You, Orelia, will pass into the Fade to test your strength of mind against the spirits that inhabit it." Irving waved the girl forward and they met at the centre of the room, in front of a white marble dais covered in fine glittery powder.
"Is that..?" Orelia leaned over the sparkling substance, nose twitching at its metallic scent.
"Lyrium, child. And I would advise not touching it until you are ready to enter the dream realm." Irving chuckled as the young mage jerked her face back. "Once the Lyrium touches your skin, you will be transported to the Fade."
"You mean I'll disappear? I'll leave the tower?" Orelia asked, eyes wide with fear.
"Your mind will leave, but your body will remain." Irving said. "Once in the Fade, you will face a demon. If you are able to overcome the demon, you will be granted status as a full mage, no longer an apprentice. If not,"
"I'll die." Orelia whispered.
"Only after you become an abomination." Greagoir interrupted, scowling at the two mages.
"Greagoir," Irving said reproachfully.
"No point hiding the truth from her." He turned the full force of his cold grey gaze on Orelia. "If you fail at your Harrowing, a demon will possess you, mangle that pretty little human body of yours, and try to kill everyone in this room. And the rest of the Circle if it gets the jump on us."
Orelia squeaked, green eyes flashing around the circle of swordsmen. Of executioners.
Irving frowned at her pale, round face. She was still so young. Was she ready? Greagoir certainly thought so, though if it was up to Greagoir every mage would go through their Harrowing after only being here a year. He didn't trust untrained mages, though for good reason.
Irving rested his large hand on the girl's shoulder. "Do not worry, child. You are ready. We wouldn't have brought you if you weren't."
Orelia swallowed hard against the lump in her throat and reached out a small hand to the glowing dust. The dawn sparked through the windows overhead, lighting up the circular room in a cascade of colours. The Templars glowed silver, the dust gold. The Lyrium red.
"Begin."
Greagoir squished his square helmet on and took a step back, motioning for Irving to do the same. Orelia heard the soft whistle of swords being drawn around her, but her eyes held fast on the rose pink sand. She stuck her hand into the Lyrium, fingers sifting through the grains. Pearly light glowed up from the Lyrium and blanketed Orelia's vision. Heart beating fast, she turned her head to look at Irving. White fog met her gaze, obscuring any hint that she still stood in the top of the Circle Tower.
Reality returned in a blaze of orange, green, and black. The colours swirled around Orelia, taking on the form of trodden pathways, eerie mountains, and twisted trees. Everything loomed and bulged as if she stared through a glass orb. The Fade.
Orelia twisted on the spot, goggling at the mysterious place her Masters had spoken of with such reverence, such fear. Dark shapes seemed to loom just beyond Orelia's line of sight, shivering behind the gnarled stumps of purple trees.
"Hello?" Orelia asked cautiously, her thin slippers coughed up purple dust from the path as she turned on the spot. "Is anybody there?"
A shadow detached from the scraggly brush on the edge of the path. It squeaked and scurried at the young mage. Orelia shrieked and jumped back, waving her arms and sending a bolt of spirit infused fire at the thing. It missed, but the shape squeaked and jumped back into the brush.
"I'm sorry!" Orelia folded her purple robe under her knees and knelt to look at the creature. "You startled me, is all."
The shape twitched back into existence, staring up at Orelia with a wiggling black nose and scraggly whiskers.
"Oh, a mouse? What are you doing in the Fade, cutie?"
The mouse glowed a sharp white, forcing Orelia back as it coalesced into the shape of a man. Orelia blinked up at him, face growing pale in the half light.
"Your instincts were right to attack, little mage." The man brushed back coarse blonde hair, as scraggly as the mouse's whiskers. "A demon can take many forms."
"And are you a d-demon?"
The man grinned and offered her a hand up. Orelia scuttled backwards, purple dust clinging to her purple robes. He frowned and dropped the proffered assistance.
"I'm not a demon, sister. I'm a mage like you. Or, at least, I was. When I took my Harrowing."
Orelia pushed herself off the ground, keeping one green eye on the man's hands. They hung limply at his side. He was certainly wearing apprentice robes, dirtied with purple dust and pulled threads, and his face was young beneath the seven-day scruff on his cheeks.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I mean," he said with an exaggerated sigh. "That I was a mage, from the Circle, just like you." He pointed at her dusty robes with a grimace. "Before they sent me into the Fade to face my Harrowing. I failed. Well, sort of. I never defeated the demon. Never got possessed either, but that doesn't seem to matter to Templars."
"You just stayed here?" Orelia shook her head in confusion. "But then, you should still be alive. In the real world, I mean. Can't you just go back?"
The man laughed, his frumpy hair bouncing. Orelia jumped at the volume, casting cautious glances back over her shoulder.
"Who knows? Can't seem to find the exit. Still here! Part of the Fade." His smile dropped and he glanced around too, as if worried his exultations may have attracted notice. "Sorry about that." He muttered to Orelia. "Never could defeat that demon, anyway. And now they send more lambs to the slaughter." He squinted at Orelia, eyes slowly widening. "But, that power…Maybe you could beat him!"
"Well, that's what I have to do, right?" Orelia shivered at the hungry look in his eyes.
"Indeed." The man slacked off, tucking his hands into the pockets of his robe. "Well, off you go. Battle with the demon and good luck to you." He started walking down the path, away from Orelia.
"Wait!" Orelia jogged after him. "Where is the demon? What do I have to do? Do you know?"
The man glanced over his shoulder and shrugged.
"What's your name?" Orelia cried in exasperation, jumping in front of him.
"Mouse." He said with a grin. "A little obvious I guess, but, not like there's anyone to impress around here. Except the demon."
"Mouse." Orelia offered him a shy grin, following him down the purple pathway. "I'm Orelia. It's nice to meet you." Mouse winked at her, nudging a crippled branch out of the way with his bare foot. "So, where's the demon?"
Mouse pointed to a clearing up ahead. It was perfectly round and full of beige sand, normal looking sand, like the kind you could see at the base of the Tower being lapped at by Lake Callenhad. Orelia paused at the edge of the clearing, Mouse hovering behind her.
"Once you step in the ring," Orelia noticed a black smudge running around the circle of sand. "Your Harrowing truly begins."
Orelia turned to the boy, eyes wide with fear. She could feel panic radiating through the soles of her shoes. It felt like it was dripping into the sand, soaking into the Fade and Mouse alike.
"Could you, would you help me?" Orelia asked, shyly. She knew she was supposed to do this alone, but no one had told her she wasn't allowed to ask for help.
Mouse offered her a sad smile. "I could never face it alone, and if I did, with you, if I defeated it and woke up, what then? Would I be freed? Or would I simply find out they killed my body when I never came back."
Orelia frowned. "But if you never try, you'll never know. Isn't that worse?"
Mouse glared at her, anger sparking in his brown eyes, but it quickly softened and he offered Orelia a sheepish smile.
"I guess you're right." He squared his shoulders and stepped forward to face the ring, Orelia followed suit. "Let's do this."
The two mages stepped over the line and white light flared around them, sealing them into the ring with… Fire erupted from the centre of the clearing. Two long clawed fingers the colour of lava, pulled a burning body out of the earth. The demon towered over Orelia and Mouse, the heat thrown off him hotter than any fire Orelia had ever known.
"Once again mortals are thrown to my feast." The voice rumbled from the centre of the being. Terrible and tremulous, like the roar of flame passing through a confined space. "And Mouse along with it. Finally here to test me, Mouse?" The demon laughed, sparks flying and singing the sand around its base. Orelia watched with wide eyes as the sand melted into bubbly glass around the creature's feet.
"Try or die, as my good friend Orelia informs me." Mouse smirked up at the demon, his previous fear apparently burnt away by the demon's presence.
"Orelia." The demon purred out her name, ember eyes sliding to the slighter mage. "Here to test me? Or is it I, who is testing you."
The demon whipped out a white hot claw, aimed at Orelia's chest. She jumped back, the gold brocade on her robe singed. Orelia waved her arms wildly and conjured a shield. It slid into life as a faint blue bubble shivering around Orelia's waggling arms. Mouse darted to the side of the ring, the demon whipping a flaming arm in his direction. Orelia chanted as the demon's attention was distracted and sent a cold blast of ice at him from the ground up. The demon screamed in pain, his colour changing from orange to a white tinged blue. The heat in the clearing intensified. Orelia could feel it shivering through the barricade of her small bubble. Mouse darted across the demon's vision, distracting it from targeting Orelia. The demon whipped a clawed hand at the boy.
"Mouse!" Orelia cried as the hand slashed through the air.
There was a flash of white light and Mouse scampered across the sand, formed once more to his namesake. The demon's hand flowed without making contact.
"Attack!" Mouse squeaked, darting behind the monster.
"Right!" Orelia focussed her attention on the rage demon, narrowing her concentration to the sputtering flames that connected him to the earth. "Freeze!" she screamed channeling another burst of ice magic into the weakened creature's foundation.
The demon groaned and doubled over, swiping fiery fingers at its smoking base. The demon grew smaller, smoke spilling out from every fiery pore. With a keening moan, the demon shrank back into the sand and vanished with a slight pop.
Orelia gasped for air, her shield spell falling off with a silent splash.
"You did it!" Mouse crowed, materializing as a human in front of her. "You actually killed the demon!"
Orelia looked up into the mage's face and sneaked him a shaky grin.
"I did it. I did! I passed my Harrowing!" Orelia jumped up, slippered feet kicking up sand. "Woo hoo!" She grabbed Mouse's hand. "And you helped! You'll get to leave the Fade now, too!"
Mouse nodded excitedly. He glanced around the clearing and covered Orelia's hand with his.
"Time to go home, sister-mage."
Orelia nodded, beaming at him, but her smile dropped when nothing happened. The clearing was silent, green clouds blossomed and shrank overhead, nothing stirred in the shadows.
"Now what? I thought once I defeated the demon, I would wake up."
"You have to will yourself awake." Explained Mouse. "Close your eyes and clear your mind." Orelia did as told, tucking her bright green orbs under brown lashes. "Think about letting go, emptying your mind of any thought, and bringing me in. Bring me with you. Inside." Mouse's voice deepened, taking on a hypnotic cadence.
Orelia's eyes flickered beneath her lashes and a frown curled her lips.
"Mouse, this doesn't seem right."
"Just keep emptying your mind. Closer. Closer." Mouse hissed.
Orelia opened her eyes and screamed.
Mouse had doubled in size. He loomed over her head, face transformed into a gaping, bloody hole. His hands had turned pale and flakey, still curved around Orelia's with a dangerous grip. The hole in his face wavered back and forth in front of Orelia. A dripping yellow tongue slipped over the edges of the lipless mouth and wriggled against Orelia's face. Orelia shrieked and jerked her hands out of Mouse's grip. She kicked at his bent, spindly legs and fell backwards, out of the demon's grasp.
"What are you?" Orelia cried, scrambling farther backwards.
The gaping face waggled in front of her, following her movements on an elongated neck. Sick, gasping sounds permeated the clearing and puss began seeping from the creature's mouth. The head curled back and jerked out at Orelia like a slingshot. A pair of glittering fangs dropped out of the upper jaw, ready to stab and tear through the girl's throat.
"Die, demon!" Orelia slashed her hands up in front of her.
A burning wall of golden light zapped from her palms, blasting the demon back and pinning it to the clearing sand. The creature thrashed under the glowing barrier, screeching and blistering wherever the light touched it.
Orelia climbed to her feet, eyes cold as she surveyed the slowly burning demon. Its form shivered and warped back to the human guise of Mouse.
"Orelia! Stop! Stop! Please!" Mouse screamed in agony as the skin of his face started to melt and drip to the sand. "Please!" The word was drawn out into a scream as patches of skull began appearing around the boy's terrified brown eyes.
"I believe I have passed the Harrowing." Orelia said, eyes narrowed on Mouse's oozing face.
The Fade went black.