Author's Note: This idea has been kicking around in my head for quite some time and now that it's NaNoWriMo, I decided to write it down. It's my own version of the event, and I hope to have at least three chapters down a week. This story will take a sharp left turn from the DA:O plot towards the end of the story and I am hoping everyone will like it.

Destini Ingannevoli

Prologue: Sogno

The Fade could be a strange and wondrous place. Full of shifting, ever changing scenery, spirits both benevolent and harmful. The only thing that never changed was the Black City. Sitting at the heart of the Fade, all the realms, dreams and nightmares circled it. It was the eye of the storm, the forgotten seat of the Maker. Humanity aspired to reach it and tainted it with their touch, causing the Maker to turn his back on them. As punishment, the Maker cast the Mages back down as twisted heaps of flesh now known as the Darkspawn.

The actions of the Tevinter Magi ruined the lot of all mages for every Age since. 'What vile things mages are', the humankind now whispered, 'the Chantry protects us from their wicked sorcery. Never trust a mage, never let them out of the Tower'.

"… What a pile of rubbish." A rock skittered across the broken landscape of a Fade island. Another soon followed it. "We aren't to blame, what happened was Ages ago!"

Rayel threw a third rock, this one flying farther and bouncing a few times when it landed. His mind circled the words that had been drilled into his head by the Revered Mother, whispered by the Templar's, and by his Teachers. It was always this way when he came to the Fade, always, and his Guardian was silent. "It's not like any mage nowadays could just… do that anyway. Not without a stupid Sword of Mercy in their heart." Alien eyes glanced at his Guardian, quickly amending his words. "Though it's not like anyone would want to do it!"

A rumbling chuckle was his only answer. The boy frowned and tossed another rock. No sound… no clinking of rock on hard earth, or the whistle of it as it flew through the air. This was the Fade after all and it operated by different rules. What was normal was alien here and what was alien… was normal. Utter silence unless he spoke, twisted trees that looked more like some monsters' groping tentacles then plant, Avvar or Tevinter statues that served no purpose but to be there. There was no water, no life, nothing to be called human on his little island.

Unless he willed it into being that is. He was a mage after all and his will in the Fade was as real as any Templar's' sword.

The human cupped his hands together and concentrated. It looked and felt like that… tasted like this. When he opened his hands four round and dark balls sat in his palms. "I did it!" Rayel showed his Guardian, earning another chuckle and mimicry of a smile. "I told him I could and now he can try them. Can't say he never had the chance!"

"Never had the chance for what?"

The child spun around, clambering to his feet at the same time. Hands closed tightly around his prizes as he faced his friend. "To try the cocoa balls I told you about!" He grinned at the elven child. "I didn't think you'd make it."

He shrugged, tucking a thick and stringy lock of hair behind an ear. "They were easy on us today." It was all that Rayel would ever get as an explanation when the elf was present.

"Good! I haven't seen you in a week and I missed you." A pout decorated his lips as he thrusted out his hands to show him the treats. "You said you've never had candy before and now you can. I went through all the trouble of making them, so don't say no." The pout curved up into a smile when the elf wrinkled his nose. "Oh come on, live a little!"

Rayel watched him consider the little balls, cautiously taking one. His friend was strange, not even a mage, and so foreign. It was improbable that he would be here but possible, not impossible like that stuff shirt Ferren said it was. 'Non-mages can come to the Fade but they don't know it is the Fade; all they see are their dreams. Only Mages can tell it is the Fade.' Well poo on him, because his friend knew it was Fade and he couldn't do magic at all! Showed what Ferren knew.

The elf-boy was from a country far away. Something exotic sounding that he could never remember. Not with the senior mages trying to cram rules and spells and Maker knows what else into his head. Gold from his hair to his dirty feet, like the afternoon sun, clad in dirty rags that had once been a tunic and breeches. Rayel was more like the moon or stars, from his dark black-silver hair and tanned skin to his unnatural blue-white eyes. They made quite the pair, the elf and human. Mage and… something else.

When the other boy popped the treat into his mouth the mage shifted from foot to foot eagerly. "It's got licorice inside it, or licor… or whatever Da called it! Said it wasn't for kids but I snuck some when the Stall Lady wasn't looking. It's good, isn't it? Tastes like cherries or almonds." The golden boy nodded, eyes now stuck on the cocoa balls, fingers twitching with the want for more. "Go on, you can have them. I made them for you after all."

Before he was even finished they had been snatched away. It only made him grin to watch him savor each one. "After I ate the bag I snatched my head felt all funny. Everything spun and it was bright!" Rayel remembered that vividly. It had been fun until he'd gone to sleep, waking the next morning with cotton mouth and a pounding headache. Every noise made his head hurt even more and the sunlight had been unbearable.

His Da hadn't been happy and made it known. Rayel had expected a spanking but no, his evil father had kept up a steady stream of chatter through the day and refused to walk in the shade. He'd hated him so much that day!

Rayel sank back down to the ground beside the elf, not daring to interrupt him while he was eating the treats. His friend was skittish every time he came here. At least he'd stopped saying it was a test the Master's were putting him through. It always made him wonder if that's why he knew it was the Fade. Had someone else sent him here?

He'd never tell him who the Master's were or why they were testing him. The elf-boy would divert the topic, want to play a game or explore their island. He didn't know much about him, though Rayel was open with his world: the Mage Tower and the times before he'd been brought there. While he was curious the boys company was fine enough for him.

When the boy was done he tugged on the sleeve of his dirty tunic. "Want to play Climb the Mountain?" It was their favorite game, though probably his Guardian's least favorite game. The mountain was always the Guardian, because the dragon made it fun. Always shifting and shaking to make things hard.

"Yes!" And his friend was gone in a flash, racing for a foot to start the climb.

"Hey! That's cheating!" Rayel sprinted after him, laughing as he followed the faster boy up the spirit's front leg.

There were spikes aplenty to give the boys good leverage and the scales were good handholds. Every now and then the large dragon would shift, sometimes sending one of them back to the ground. Whoever could hold on the most would usually win. The elf usually won, he was far more agile and better at holding on then Rayel was. Faster too. He was already at the shoulders, where the spikes were less and the wings got in the way.

Rayel wouldn't give in without a fight however and scrambled to reclaim the ground he'd lost when his Guardian had last shifted. Spikes and scales propelled him up and up, and by the time he'd reached the dragon's head the golden elf was already there, grinning like a loon. He flopped down beside him and giggled. "I'll beat you one day."

"No you won't, because I'm King of the Mountain!" The other puffed out his chest, making the human giggle harder. Some King of the Mountain he was when he looked like he hadn't had a bath or good meal in weeks, and was wearing rags.

"But if you're King of the Mountain I can't rescue you." Puppy dog eyes made the other boy deflate like a balloon after a well-placed pin. He almost made the same high-pitched sound. The saucer-round eyes made Rayel giggle even more.

He tilted his head to the side, tugging on an ear like he hadn't heard him that well. "Rescue me? Why would you want to rescue me?"

Rayel waited for his dragon's head to touch the broken ground before he said anything else. "Last year I had a dream of a lady and she said I'd save someone!"

'Please save my son.' The light-colored eyes bored into his as the amulet seared into his skin. White-hot pain that scorched his body, burning out the illness and placing new power, a new sentience into his flesh.

He scrambled off the large head, pivoting on one foot to face the boy again. The elf was hanging onto a large horn and watching him like he'd gone mad. Maybe he was. "I don't know who her son is, but I'm going to save you." It was a novel idea wasn't it? Him, a forsaken mage, escaping the tower and travelling the world to save his best friend! They could run forever, climbing mountains and dodging stuffy Templar's.

Before the other could say anything he dipped into a bow. He'd seen someone do it at Redcliffe Village and had secretly practiced it. One leg tucked behind the other, foot resting on its toes, while one arm was behind his back, and the other hand placed over his heart. Head bowed the fall of his long hair marred his view of his friend. He hoped he looked courtly – whatever courtly was – and not stupid like Jowan said.

"I swear I will find you and rescue you from your Masters, Zevran."