Important Note for New Readers: Here is a guide for the differences in the text so there isn't any confusion.

Bold means that the Spirit of Hope is speaking to Jakson through their connection. (It may later represent a demon talking but I will make it clear if that is the case in future chapters.)

Italics shows Jakson's thoughts, whether he is talking to himself or the Spirit of Hope. (It may also represent another character's thoughts, but once again I will make it clear when that happens.)

Large blocks of text typed in Italics show dreams or memories, it will be made clear in the story.

And single words in the text that are Italics just show emphasis, particularly in the dialogue.

Please enjoy!

Chapter 1

Jakson's silver eyes flickered up as a couple of men and a woman in plate armor passed him by. He recognized the insignia engraved on the plate immediately. Templars. He turned back toward his brother and the dwarf who were bickering at each other. Jakson gave a slight huff and moved a hand over his short black hair, the slight fuzzy feel comforting him. He kept pace with them before the stopped. He stood by Carver's side as he continued to listen.

"No!" the dwarf looked like he wanted to gouge out his own eyes "Andraste's tits, human! The entire city wants to be my best friend right now"

"Look, we know you're going into the Deep Roads. You'll need to hire the best and we're…"

"No" the dwarf cut him off "You're too late! Already done!"

"The money from this trip could fix everything! You need us. How many of your men can say they fought Darkspawn without wetting themselves?"

"Look, precious, I don't care if you tore off the horns of an ogre with your bare hands"

The young man turned toward Jakson, his blue eyes flashing annoyance, and thrust a finger toward the dwarf "You make him understand! We're running from your bloody templars!"

"Could you say that a little louder? I don't think they heard you" Jakson replied quietly, cautiously looking around while Carver firmly shut his mouth. Jakson turned his attention back to the short bearded man before speaking "My brother has a point… it's on the top of his head, but still"

"Gee, thanks for that"

Jakson ignored his brother's agitated look "My brother can be hotheaded, but we do have the skills to be a great asset to you"

"More like a pain in the ass. You and every other Ferelden in this dump is trying to get out of the slums. Find another meal ticket" and with that the dwarf retreated before the Hawke brothers could get another word in.

"That's just great" Carver spat while rustling his black hair in frustration "Bartrand was our last option. You know, I'm starting to wonder if mother's right about us not getting any credible work because of those damn tattoos on your cheeks!"

"I'm not the one with a Mabari that can bark on his skin" Jakson smirked.

"At least I have it covered up!" It wasn't his tattoos, it was Carver's attitude and the fact most people in Kirkwall seemed to despise Fereldens. He couldn't really blame his brother's annoyance with the way people treated them. He also knew better than to point out Carver's temper seeing as his little brother wasn't really all that little, standing several inches taller and was far more muscular than Jakson. He'd lose a fist fight in minute without his magic. "What are you worried about anyway? The templars dogging us are mine after all"

"Did I really sound that bad?" Carver covered his face with his hands and sighed "Maker, I'm turning into Gamlen" he removed his hands to see his brother smile as he walked up and threw an arm around Carver's shoulders.

"You just need to get out of the house more often. It's far too stuffy in there"

"Gamlen! Maybe he can help us"

Jakson's eyes widened a little at Carver's sudden idea. "You catch more flies with honey but Gamlen's bullshit could work too"

"Well he did get us into the city, right? What choice do we have?" Carver shrugged his brother's arm off and started toward Lowtown.

As if their day couldn't get any worse, a man with red hair "bumped" into Jakson and ran off with his coin purse, not that it had much in it anyway. However, their luck seemed to turn around as the thief was pinned to a building by a crossbow bolt. A dwarf carrying an oversized crossbow strolled up to the man and claimed the bag before punching the poor sod square in the jaw. He yanked out the bolt saying "Off you go" before tossing the coin purse to Jakson. He introduced himself as Varric Tethras, younger brother of Bartrand and part of the expedition. He had his blond hair pulled back and wore a heavy leather coat with an open shirt revealing his vast amount of chest hair. Unlike most dwarves he seemed to be lacking along and intricately braided beard. The dwarf held laughter in his eyes and his smirk was mischievous.

Varric proposed an idea to them. If they could earn enough money they could help pay for the expedition and earn a share of the profit. Unfortunately they didn't have much on them but the dwarf said he could help find work as apparently everyone in the city needed something. At Carver's suggestion, the first thing the three did was travel up the enormous stairs to the Viscount's Keep to find the brothers' friend, Aveline. When they arrived, the woman with ginger hair seemed to be out of it, staring at the guard roster. She didn't even notice their arrival.

"Good morning, Aveline" Jakson beamed as he walked up to her.

"Hello, Hawke" the guardswoman replied flatly, bright green eyes still focused on the roster.

"That's it? No 'oh Jakson how I've missed you' or 'get lost you crazy kid'?"

"What? Oh right sorry, it feels like we just talked. I've been keeping an eye on you two" she gestured between the brothers "Watch out for Bartrand, he's a son of a bitch"

"You'd have to be blind not to notice that" Varric chimed in "Actually, even blind beggars flip him the bird"

Jakson frowned slightly as he spoke "You know I don't like it when you have people watch me"

"Saved me camping on your doorstep. I look after my friends" Aveline sighed as she leaned back against the wall. Apparently her post at the guard wasn't turning out the way she thought it would. She was constantly stepping on someone's toes and hated how she couldn't go where she needed. An idea seemed to strike her as she turned back to the brothers. She asked if they were looking for any work and Jakson piped up immediately.

"Sign us up!"

"I haven't even told you what the job entails"

"I'm sure that it's filled with justice and sprinkled with good seeing as you're the one asking" Jakson chuckled which got him a glare from the guard. "Okay, okay" he waved his hands in defeat "What is the job?"

"Highwaymen are planning an attack up Sundermount. It's probably a caravan, funny thing is no shipments match up, but it doesn't matter. If we don't stop them they'll attack someone"

"And you can just hire civilians?" Carver broke in.

"The Guard is stretched thin sometimes, so the occasional outside help is common. As long as they're competent. You still claim to be competent right?"

"You've got yourself a partner, Aveline… or three"

"Good"

"As long as we're heading up Sundermount do you mind if we pay the Dalish a visit? We still have to pay off our debt and I'd rather not have a witch of the wilds on my ass"

"You didn't think I'd just let you wander off did you?" Aveline smirked.

"So, off to the Dalish after Highwaymen head bashing?"

"Yes"

"Goodie" Jakson smiled as the group quickly left the Keep for Sundermount. Aveline was right about the ambush. Well equipped highwaymen had set up along a secluded route. It didn't actually seem that well traveled so why they had set up there seemed odd. Aveline had mentioned how no caravans had set route through the path so everything seemed a tad off. It didn't seem to matter in the end anyway as the thugs had been dealt with so they couldn't hurt anyone anymore.

The bandits might have been easy but the task given to Jakson by the Witch of the Wilds, was not so easy. As expected, the Dalsih elves had shown hostility to the group as most were weary of humans. After explaining why they were there the two scouts relented and let them pass to find Keeper Marethari. Originally, Jakson though all he had to do was give the Keeper an amulet and be done with it but he soon realized there was more to it, as there often was with anything. They had to take the amulet from there, look for an elf named Merril, and travel to some shrine to perform a ritual. The Keeper assured that Merrill would know exactly what to do. The group walked a little past the camp when Jakson raised his hand to stop the group. He heard a faint noise, almost ethereal, that sent a shiver down his spine. The noise turned into a whisper that lingered in his ears. He could almost feel another presence and it seemed as though it wanted something, power maybe.

It is a demon. It desires power but I do not know where it resides.

Jakson flinched when he heard the feminine but strong voice in his head. After all these years he still wasn't use to the spirit inside his head. Probably because she wasn't really in his head, she just spoke to him through the Fade when she desired. Shit. Hope, I told you not to scare me like that. Knock first or something.

Should I decide to "knock" on something I do not think your reaction would change much.

You're probably right.

"Why are we stopping?" Carver bit out "We're not here to smell the roses." As soon Carver spoke the nagging voice dissipated.

"Didn't you hear that?"

"All I hear are the angry glares coming from the Dalish" Varric had walked up to Jakson "I don't think they liked that tea and cake joke as much as you"

"Wh-who's there?" a small and frightened voice came from behind a small hill. A young elven woman came into view as she climbed the hill "Oh, you must be the one the Keeper told me about. Aneth ara. Wait, I didn't ask your name… unless, it's not rude to ask a human their name, is it?"

"It's alright, you'll have to try harder than that to offend me" Jakson smiled as he jogged the small distance between them and held out his hand "Jakson Hawke. I presume you're Merrill?"

The woman nodded and stared at the offered hand with confusion before making a small 'o' shape with mouth. She took the hand gently and gave it a short shake before releasing the larger hand. The petite elf started rambling about her unfamiliarity with human customs because she never actually interacted with a human before. She quickly stopped her ramble and apologized for being a bore. She seemed like a nice enough girl so Jakson couldn't help but smile at her. She led them up the mountain where they came across another elf who sneered at Merrill. He stormed down the slope, complaining about how he couldn't wait for her to leave.

Jakson walked up to her and tried his hand at humor "So Sundermount looks very… mountainous today, doesn't it? Lots of rock… and hillside." All his comment received was an awkward cough from behind and a sad look from the Dalish girl. She apologized for her people before continuing up the mountain.

As they climbed the mountainside stones started skittering across the ground. Skeletons crawled from out of the dirt and attacked them almost every step of the way. Merrill had surprisingly jumped into the fray but instead of a bow or sword she conjured magic to aid them. Jakson wasn't really that surprised that she was a mage, in fact he was curious about how the Dalish handled templars and possessed mages but they had no real time to chat with the dead rising from the ground. They had to travel through the mountain at one point before they reached the other side.

The party was exhausted as they finally reached a magical barrier that was between them and their destination. Jakson studied but he couldn't sense any way around it. Merrill walked up to the barrier and asked the others to stand back. Not sensing anything wrong with her request they all stepped away. Merrill turned back to the barrier as she pulled a knife from her belt.

"Uh, Merrill? What are…" but before Jakson could finish the elf had sliced her hand open. The smell blood filled the air along with uneasiness from the companions. The air felt thick and heavy, looming over them and Jakson could feel a small tear in the veil form. The blood from Merrill's hand slashed out at the barrier, turning into a large red haze of magical energy that quickly dispelled the barrier.

"The way forward is clear" Merrill spoke softly.

"That was not normal" Carver said as he looked to his brother uncertain. Varric and Aveline seemed to be just as uneasy about the situation but weren't entirely sure what happened so they looked to him for an answer.

"That was Blood magic" Jakson almost growled but restrained himself. He was afraid of inciting her because a blood mage could be dangerous. "You summoned a demon!"

"Yes, it was a demon but I know what I'm doing" the elf said defensively "The demon helped us."

"Maybe so but demons don't keep helping. They just use you"

"Demons are just like spirits. Like honor or joy" she shook her head.

Jakson felt as well as heard the voice in his head again. It spoke calmly but seemed a bit offended. I do not think I like being compared to that of a demon, regardless that both spirits and demons are embodiments of your mortal emotions and morals.

The spirit of Hope's words did not reach anyone else's ears, they only listened when the elf next spoke "Tread carefully, the veil is thin here and the dead do not like visitors."

Soon enough, just as they approached the altar, bones slowly emerged from the dirt and formed complete skeletons wielding various weapons. Jakson quickly ducked a blade before weaving magic to form ice crystals that shot from the ground, immobilizing three skeletons. Varric fired a hail of arrows on a few archers near the back as Carver and Aveline took their swords and charged the closest enemies. Merrill stood next to Jakson as she summoned roots from the ground to impale the dead that had passed the warriors.

Jakson turned as he heard casting to see a figure call upon arcane energy and aimed for the unsuspecting elf. He shoved Merrill aside only to get caught by the spell instead. He was thrown several feet before hitting the side of a large boulder, air knocked from his lungs as he slumped to the ground "Carver!" he shouted after he took a deep breath "Mage!" He didn't need to explain to his brother. After cutting the skull off his opponent Carver turned on his heel to see an Arcane Horror preparing another spell. He leapt into the air swinging his greatsword into the creature's side. It howled in pain before releasing the spell. The ground around the two started to glow blue and Carver felt as if his blood was being drained from his body but the feeling soon vanished as a barrier of arcane energy wrapped around him.

Jakson had regained his senses in time to erect the barrier hoping to at least slow the effects of the other spell. He switched from offensive to defensive spells immediately to keep Carver and anyone else from more harm. He followed with a small bit of healing magic once the bubble around his brother was set.

After years of training and lessons from their father the brothers had a system for dealing with mages. Carver could do the most damage so he would attack while Jakson kept any magic him and provide support. They knew mages had to go first otherwise a battle could go from bad to worse in an instant. Luckily for them it wasn't just the two of them.

Carver stumbled a little but regained his footing and took another swing too little too late as the Horror teleported across the graveyard. The Horror started another chant but was silenced as a bolt lodged itself in the creature's skull and it crumpled to the ground. The group heard someone shout "Bianca! That was beautiful" but they ignored it in favor of dealing with the remaining undead. The rest of the fiends didn't last long.

Once the danger had passed and Jakson checked everyone for injuries the group approached the altar. Merrill placed the amulet upon it and started an elven prayer. When it was finished the companions were blinded by a light that swallowed the mountain. It slowly faded, revealing an old woman with a sinister smile and demonic yellow eyes.

"Ah, so refreshing to see someone who keeps their end of the bargain" the old woman replied, a laughter in her eyes "I half expected to find my amulet in a merchant's pocket"

"No one wanted to buy it" came Jakson's cheeky remark "probably because it had a witch inside."

The woman only cackled "I see you haven't changed."