A whisper in her mind, cascading into a deep rumble until it was a shriek. The warm feeling of the air around her turned into a coal heat while a huge dragon walked closer to her, keeping eye contact with her, watching every movement. Being the child to stick to the shadows, she sticked to her stealth capabilities to make a shadow over herself. Taken aback, she realized it did nothing to keep herself from the eye of the dragon. Suddenly the dragon pounced, picking her up and swallowing her whole.

()()()()()()

Slightly shaking, Ava Cousland jumped out of bed. She awoke with a cold sweat and scratched her dogs head. She wasn't about to let a nightmare ruin her day with Ser Gilmore. She planned on having a day with him at the local market, and then sparring later on. He was her best friend at the castle, and her dog, Paws. Of course, this was all thrown from her mind when she heard crashing and banging from outside the family wing. In fact, she only heard screaming and the like all around the estate. She shook her head, looking outside her window to see it was actually night time, not morning. She quickly put on her family heirloom armor and ran out of her room, to see Howe soldiers butchering what was left of the Cousland soldiers not sent to aid the King. Readying to take the men down without any other thought than to avenge the family soldiers, she threw one dagger, landing it in one mans head. She then ran towards the other soldier like a bettering ram, taking him by surprise and knocking him down. She then pointed her free dagger at his throat, just waiting for him to explain what in the Maker was going on.

()()()()()()

I couldn't and wouldn't believe the things going on around me. My home, my family's legacy, all being torn apart by one snobbish, selfish, power hungry man decided so much blood on his hands was worth it to achieve his goals. The Chantry was right with man giving into pride. It truly seems to be the strongest of the demons...

I had to shake my head to get that line of thinking out of my mind. I was going to become a Warden, and Duncan would need me at my best instead of at my worst. However, I didn't know how well that was going to go. First my brothers wife and child killed, and mother and father. If my brother was dead... I didn't know what I'd do.
There's a part of my mind that says to stay strong, but it seems cliché. To stop myself from going crazy, I go off to be by myself before going to see another Warden, Alistair. Mother always said to take a moment to yourself before getting into the thick of things into the unknown. Or was that another whisper from those dreams?

()()()()()()

After a full hour of sobbing and cradling the necklace from mother, I made my way to the Warden Alistair. Of course, I was taken aback by his... wit. I was expecting a more serious Warden. With all they do, I guess there had to be some comic relief. It wasn't a bother on the whole witty ex-Templar thing, just a bit too immature in my opinion of what a man in his position should be. However, his caring tendencies while we were in battle wasn't a bad thing. In some ways, he reminded me of Gilmore. At the thought, I frowned. Gilmore was dead, along with everything else...

"Ava, look out!"
I turned around, just lucky enough to jump to the side while Alistair cut down a darkspawn. Afterwords, him, Jory, and Daveth looked over at me.
"What, did you stop to look at the flowers or something? Always like woman..." Daveth muttered.
"I'm sorry, I was distracted. It won't happen again." I nodded, agreeing with statement over my blacking out when needed.
"Well the Wardens need all the soldiers they can get. Don't become a casualty." Jory huffed, taking on the role of being the father of the group.

The men went off to walk a bit behind me, leaving the girl to her own devices. Of course, this gave me more time to think to myself. I had the tendency to be more in my own head than thinking on the battlefield.

()()()()()()

Much to my own prayers to the Maker, we finally came upon the old building with the papers Duncan wanted us to get. "And they're gone. Great." I huffed, rubbing my head to fend off from the growing headache from the day. Nothing seemed to be going as it should.

"Well, well. What do we have here?"