Chapter Two: Tainted

It was a warm spring morning, the sun was just beginning to rise above the mountains in the east and began to slowly bring the ancient forest to life, this place had existed long before any creature of flesh and blood had walked these lands, and all the inhabitants within began to awaken, wolves began to leave their dens in search of prey, birds flew from their nests to search for buzzing insects, and wild halla were rising from their resting positions on the forest floor to stretch and begin to feed on the wild grass and low hanging leaves. It had been this way for as long as anyone could remember and this ritual would continue until the forest withered and died, long after the death of the last living creature. This timeless ritual was broken by a scream.

Three men ran through the forest, startling all other life within. They stumbled, tripped, and climbed over each other to get as far away from the opposite direction as they could. They broke through the thick foliage to come face to face with two elves, no not just elves, Dalish elves, the two hunters both had their bows notched and pointed straight at the chests of the three humans.

One of them was around the average height of a normal elf, with sandy blonde hair and blue eyes that shone with disgust. He wore simple leather armor, had a curved sword on his hip and a quiver of arrows on his back. But the second elf is what made them recoil in fear, he was taller than his companion, taller than any elf they had ever seen. He had short black hair and fair skin, and his armor was very different than his companions, while the shorter elf's armor was rather plain, the black haired elf's armor was adorned with feathers and bones and scraps of green cloth embroidered with leaf like patterns and a red scarf wrapped around his neck. And they could just make out a silver chain underneath.

He had a similar curved longsword in a scabbard on his back and he had two curved daggers on his hips, and a quiver of arrows strapped to his lower back, hanging horizontally. But what scared them the most was his eyes, they were an unnatural dark shade of orange that held a cold fury as he looked upon the three trespassers and made all three men want to cower in fear. Yet they tried to resist the urge and the leader of the trio mustered enough courage to speak, "g-get out of our way elves, we have no quarrel with you."

The shorter elf sneered, "very funny shem, ordering around the one who has a bow pointed at your chest, it's no wonder why such intelligent creatures as yourselves managed to conquer our lands." He swallowed the lump in his throat, "look, we didn't even know you owned these woods!" The black haired elf chuckled, "we do not own these woods shemlen, you stumbled far too close to our campsite, these lands are wild, free from your kind's corruption." One of his companions interrupted,"look buddy, we meant no offense to you, we were just trying to get away from the cave is all!"

The two Dalish looked at each other in confusion, before the taller elf spoke again," you lie, there are no caves in this forest, only ruins." The third human chimed in," but we have proof! We found this inside, we thought there might have been some treasure in there but we found this instead, before we were chased out by a demon! It even got one of our friends!" The blonde elf took the stone and snorted," so you're thieves then, not bandits." His look of disgust turned to surprise, "is this elvish? I don't recognize this symbol." He tossed the small carved stone to his friend and he appraised it as well for a short while before slipping it into a pouch. The dark haired elf's gaze hardened as he looked at the man again, "where is this cave?"

"J-just back the way we came, if that's all we should really be on our way.." He was about to take a step back when they both raised their bows again. The blue eyed elf smiled," ahhh.. but there's still the matter of what to do with you isn't there? We can't risk you telling anyone where we are and we can't leave a group of thieves go unpunished now can we?" He turned to his companion,"what do you think we should do with them lethallin?" The tall elf looked at each of them and thought for a minute and lowered his bow,"let them go, we don't need to taint this forest with their blood, just be sure to not come looking for us or we won't be as merciful next time." The shorter elf sighed in disappointment and lowered his weapon as well and motioned for them to leave. They ran off and none of them ever entered that forest again.

Tamlen turned to Theron and grinned," shall we go find this so called cursed cave?" He returned the smile and nodded in agreement. The duo began to make their way towards the place the humans had come from, neither of them realizing the danger that lurked within.

Out of all of the creatures that resided within the forest, none were as great as the Dalish, the elves who had dedicated themselves to preserving the lost parts of the world and protecting these wild areas that remained untouched from human hands.

It took them nearly an hour to find the cave the humans had told them about, the entrance was small, barely large enough for a grown man to fit through, and was obscured by several bushes. If one was not actively looking for it, they could have easily past it without realizing it was there. They squeezed into the entrance and had to crawl their way through into the first chamber of the cave. There was no light within the cave, if they had been human, they would have been totally blind in this place. Thankfully as elves, they could both see just fine in the darkness.

The room they were in had cracked stone floors and walls, supported by large pillars, but the strangest thing was that the entire place was covered in spider webs. But there was something very wrong with this place, and they could both feel it around them, as if the air itself was angry at their intrusion and wished them to leave. "What is this place?" Tamlen spoke softly, as if his voice would disturb something within this old ruin.

Before Theron could reply, three giant spiders descended around them from the ceiling. They both drew their swords and charged at the creatures. Theron dodged as one spider spit a glob of poison directly at him and charged forward, he plunged his blade into the monsters skull, killing hit. He just barely managed to dodge out of the way as the second spider jumped at him but it let out a cry of pain as it found a dagger in its soft underbelly, it writhed on its back for several seconds before going still.

Tamlen quickly finished off the spider that was attacking him and walked over and retrieved his dagger from the second spider. They both continued deeper into the ruins, they found themselves at a crossroad that lead to two different paths, but the left tunnel had collapsed, they continued down the right path into a large room filled with coffins. Seven more spiders landed on the floor in front of him, they hissed in anger and charged at them.

While Theron drew his bow and began firing arrows at the spiders, Tamlen charged them with his blade. They quickly dispatched six of them when the last one jumped at Theron. Intending to knock him to the ground, instead of dodging out of the way, Theron smacked the spider with his bow so hard that the weapon cracked in two. The spider landed on its back and hissed in pain, before the spider could flip back over, Theron took an arrow out of his quiver and drove it straight into the creature's stomach, killing it. "Damn it!" Theron cursed, Merrill had carved that bow for him, he was going to get an earful from her when he returned to the camp.

He heard Tamlen laugh,"you broke another one, Theron?" Theron grimaced,"shut up Tamlen, I know I am already going to hear it from Merrill, I don't need to hear it from you as well." Tamlen simply gave him a cheeky grin,"don't worry Lethallin, if you want, I can tell Merrill for you, it won't save you, but it will give you a few hours head start." Theron swung at his head, and he dodged out of the way and laughed.

Theron simply huffed as they continued down another hallway, there was a group of skeletal corpses in the middle of the hall, but that was not what intrigued the duo. In the hallway was an old, worn, statue of an elven man wearing robes, a strange headdress, and a skull-like mask and held a staff in his hands. Tamlen moved closer to the statue and gasped,"Theron do you know what this is?" He took a closer look at the statue, it's features were almost completely worn away at this point, yet it was still oddly familiar. He shook his head,"I'm not sure what it is, why do you ask?"

Tamlen turned and gave him the widest smile he had ever seen," I think this is a statue of Falon'din!" Theron's eyes widen in surprise, that was why this statue was so familiar to him, he remembered now, in one of master Paivel's old tomes from the dales, there was a chapter about the God of the Dead, about how he would lead the souls of slain elves into The Beyond when they could not find the way on their own. The book also had a drawing of a statue that looked very similar to this one.

"I thought the humans smashed all of the statues of Falon'din when they conquered the Dales?" Tamlen nodded in agreement, "I thought so as well, but this place is nowhere near the old lands, this place might be from the old empire, maybe it was a temple or something dedicated to him?" That would explain all of the coffins they saw before, and the skeletons, but this place still felt off, why would a temple to one of their gods feel so uninviting?

Theron shook his head, "it doesn't matter why its here now, we can come back for it after we finish exploring this place." Tamlen nodded in agreement, they both continued to the end of the hall where the corpses lied around another door, as far as they could see, this was the only way deeper into the temple. But something was very wrong, the unpleasant feeling they were experiencing was growing stronger. With a deep breath, Theron grabbed the door handle. As soon as he touched it, a green mist began to form around them, suddenly the corpses began to rise to their feet, they were hunched over, as if they had a great weight on their shoulders, wearing rusty iron and rotten leathers while wielding dull and broken iron axes or swords.

Tamlen and Theron drew their swords and engaged their foes, but every time they struck the skeletons, their blows bounced off of their rotting bones, some magical force was protecting these creatures. Soon they began to be pushed back by the skeletons down the collapsed hallway, it was clear that the monsters intended to trap them against a wall to keep them from escaping. "We're not affecting them, Theron!" "I know!" he replied, they were running out of time, soon they would be pressed up against the wall and they would have nowhere to go. He made a decision. Sheathing his sword, he began to concentrate, drawing on the power of The Fade, a ball of fire formed in his hands and suddenly, he pushed his hands outward and a large jet of fire consumed the monsters, burning them into ash.

He kept the fire going for a few more seconds before letting the fire die out, he inhaled deeply before turning and looking at Tamlen. As expected Tamlen overreacted,"what the fuck was that!" Theron rubbed the back of his neck, "um.. you know how every once in a while I kept disappearing into the woods for days on end? Well… I was sort of trying to teach myself how to use magic."

Tamlen stared at him dumbly,"you went into the forest to teach yourself… why didn't you just tell The Keeper? I'm sure she would've trained you." Theron sighed," that's just it Tamlen, you know the clan rules, there can only be three magic users at a time. If Marethari ever knew I could control magic, I would've been moved to another clan or sent off on my own."

Tamlen slowly nodded,"I guess so… but really? You learned to shoot a fireball on your own?" He simply shrugged and nodded. Tamlen chuckled slightly, "what's next? Are you going to tell me you can turn into a dragon or something." Theron laughed in response,"no thats it, just please keep this a secret between us all right?" Tamlen snorted, "you kidding, I'm gonna lord this over you for the rest of our lives! I just found myself my own personal servant." Theron bowed playfully," as you wish my lord, shall we continue to explore this place or shall we continue to stand and gossip in this corner some more.?" Theron felt a slight twinge of guilt for lying to his friend, but he would only be safer if he didn't know about him.

They made their way back to the large wooden door and Theron grasped the handle. This time, there was no trap that activated as he pulled the door open. As soon as the door cracked open slightly, they were both hit with the overwhelming stench of rotting meat, piss, and feces. Theron fought the urge to vomit and continued to pull the old door open, inside laid the most horrifying creature they had ever seen, at first they thought it was simply a bear, but its skin was dark and blotchy, the fur was mangled and patchy. It had spikes growing painfully through its back. Its flesh was rotting and its bones were exposed in several places.

The creature began to rise to its feet at their arrival, it stared at them with pale lifeless eyes, it growled in anger and the monster charged at them. Both of the elves managed to dodge out of the way of the beast. The bear crashed through the wall behind them and into the hallway, they both turned around and while Tamlen drew his bow and began firing arrows at the monstrosity, Theron unsheathed his blade as well as one of his curved daggers and ran towards it. The creature quickly turned around and tried to swipe at his head with one of its large skeletal paws. But Theron managed to dodge the bear's blow and slashed it across the stomach with his knife, but it seemed to have no effect on the monster. The arrows managed to lodge themselves into its frame as well, but it seemed that the bear didn't even realize it had been injured.

He dodged another swipe at his head and before the bear could react, he severed the appendage. But it only seemed to anger the creature as it cried out in rage. The beast ran towards him again, but he stood his ground, at the last second, he sidestepped and brought his sword down on the creatures neck, beheading it.

Theron was panting heavily as Tamlen walked up next to him,"what.. what the hell was that thing?!" All he could do was shake his head, he had absolutely no idea what this creature was. Without another word, they began to look around the room, it seemed to be completely empty except for a single stone sarcophagus and a door that led into another room. Theron walked over to the sarcophagus and grunted in exertion as he pushed the lid off, exposing a skeleton with a belt on top of its chest. He took the belt and examined it closely, it was simple in design and was very light in his hands, and it seemed to have not suffered at all from decomposure in the coffin. Shrugging he replaced his own old worn belt with the ancient one. And he felt a bit lighter and stronger than he had felt before.

They continued through the last door into the largest room of the temple, yet the only thing inside was a large, ornate, golden mirror on a pedestal with a set of stairs leading up to it.

"It's beautiful," Theron heard Tamlen whisper, and he could only nod in agreement, there was something oddly intriguing about the mirror and he wanted to take a closer look. Yet the same uncomfortable feeling he had experienced before was back as they both walked closer to the mirror. With every step they took the feeling of revulsion grew, he wanted to get as far away from the mirror as possible, but he couldn't stop himself, he couldn't speak, he couldn't even tear his eyes away from the mirror.

Now they were standing only a few inches from the strange mirror and the feeling of dread was so powerful he nearly doubled over, it took all of his willpower to stop himself from touching it. Yet that didn't stop Tamlen from touching the relic, as soon as he touched the mirror, the glass turned black and the room began filling with whispering voices he could not comprehend. And dark energy began to pour out of the mirror while the whispering began to grow louder and louder, in his ears.

"Get away from the mirror you fool!"He heard a voice shouting that seemed so familiar to him, when he suddenly returned to his senses just enough to pull away from the dark artifact and throw himself off the ledge of the pedestal just as an explosion of dark energy washed over him, just before he lost consciousness. He saw Tamlen screaming in fear as a large golden eye formed in the mirror and the sound of a dragon's roar before everything went black.

Theron did not know how long he was unconsciousness, yet when he awoke he found himself alone inside his tent at camp, clothed in soft white linens with his father's armor folded neatly and washed beside his bedroll, yet his weapons were nowhere to be found. Panicking slightly, he grasped at his neck and was relieved to find his mother's necklace was still safely around his neck. "Was it all a dream?" He wondered aloud, and was surprised when a voice answered in reply,"it was no dream, boy."

Looking up, he could just make out a glowing transparent figure looming over him, "Falon?" The spirit was tall, at least several inches taller than Theron, he had long hair that fell down far past his waste, high cheek bones, angular features and cold uncaring eyes. He wore an ornate set of light steel armor and a crown upon his brow. The only indication that this man was not alive was the fact that he was glowing an ethereal whitish-blue and you could see right through him, he had learned long ago the spirit could not be seen by anyone except himself.

"What happened?" Theron asked as he rose to his feet and began to dress himself. "You came into contact with a corrupted eluvian." Theron turned,"a what?" The ghost stared at him and sighed in annoyance,"an eluvian is a magical artifact that allowed our people to travel great distances at the height of our empire. But it seems the one you encountered has been corrupted by some form of dark magic, you nearly died when you were exposed to it." He was surprised, he nearly died, the only reason he was still alive was that Falonhad managed to bring him back to his senses, unlike Tamlen. "Tamlen!" In his confusion, Theron had completely forgotten about his friend, he was lucky that he had gotten away from the mirror at the last moment, but his friend was right next to it when the artifact went off.

Theron quickly finished dressing himself and exited his tent as the ghost faded away for the moment. He looked around at the chaos the camp was in, everyone was frantically packing and loading the aravels. He managed to navigate his way through the camp and located the Keeper,"Marethari what is going on?" The woman looked surprise to see him,"Theron? I did not expect you to wake up so soon!" The woman shook her head,"it does not matter, look, I need you to tell me exactly what happened to you and Tamlen out in the forest."

Theron was confused but he answered anyway,"well we encountered three humans out on patrol, who told us they found a cave with some elven ruins. We went inside and found a mirror along with some monsters." He saw Marethari's eyes widened and her gaze hardened," Theron, I need you tell me exactly what happened in this cave." So he did, he told her about the giant spiders, the reanimated skeletons, the statue of Falon'din, the large decaying bear like monster, he finished the story with the corrupted mirror and the dark energy that was unleashed and infected him.

She nodded along and remained silent, he broke it."Marethari, what is happening?" She looked up at him and took a deep breath,"Theron, you were found by a Grey Warden, if he hadn't found you in that cave you would most likely be dead at this point." His eyes widened," a Grey Warden?" The Keeper nodded,"he came to warn us, there are darkspawn encroaching on these lands. We need to leave Ferelden before war breaks out."

"Where is Tamlen?" But Marethari shook her head," I don't know da'len, the Warden has gone back to search for him but he has been gone for some time. I need you to listen to me, you need to take Merrill and go back to the cave and bring them both back here. Do you understand me?" Theron nodded in understanding and bowed before leaving.

The first thing he needed to do was get some weapons first, he doubted this Warden had taken the time to collect his weapons before bringing him back to his clan. As he began to make his way to master Ilen, he was confronted by Fenarel, who looked at him with worry and surprise," Theron! Thank the gods your alright, where is Tamlen?"

He shook his head,"I don't know Fen, the Keeper is sending me to go look for him." His friend nodded,"I see, then I am coming with you." Before he could protest, Fenarel fixed him with a stern look," he is my brother Theron, I need to know if he is alive or not." Theron's shoulders sagged, he couldn't blame Fenarel, he would feel the exact same if he was in his position. The duo continued to make their way through the camp and came across Hahren Pavel and a group of children.

Hahren turned to look at him and his eyes were filled with a mixture of relief and anger." The man embraced him in a tight hug and clapped him on his shoulder," I am glad to see you awake Da'len. We all feared that this sickness would be the death of you. How could the two of you have been so stupid! Do you not know how much you risked by going to that cave!"

Theron was confused," What do you mean Hahren?" The older man sighed,"You must understand Theron, like many of the other Dalish clans, we are few in number compared to the other races, and every year there are fewer and fewer of us. Every death is a blow to us and losing two of our best warriors would be a great loss, you need to understand that your actions affect more than just yourself. Do you understand?" He nodded,"I am sorry Hahren, I will try and be better about this from now on." The older man looked satisfied,"thank you Da'len, now I have taken enough your time, go on about your business, and stay safe. There are dark days coming."

Theron continued to weave his wave through the camp until he reached master Ilen who smiled at him as he approached," it's good to see you awake again Theron. You are here for some new weapons, yes?"

He nodded and Ilen pulled a new dar'misaanout of a chest along with a halla leather scabbard and handed it to him. Theron admired the blade for a moment before sheathing it,"Master Ilen, would you happen to have a bow for me as well? I'm afraid the one I had was broken in the cave." The man looked thoughtful for a moment before searching through a second chest before pulling out an ornate oak bow with silver halla engraved on it, he looked wistfully at it for several moments before handing it to Theron,"take care of it lad, my father crafted that bow himself, I would hate to see you smash it like all of the others." Theron hesitantly slung the bow on his back, careful to make sure he did not damage such a priceless artifact as he bowed to his elder,"thank you for this generous gift Ilen." The man simply grinned and handed him a quiver of goose feathered arrows.

With his sword on his hip, he made his way to the edge of the camp where Merrill was waiting near the forest. She smiled as her eyes met his and the smaller woman embraced him in a tight hug." I was so worried about you Theron!" Merrill looked confused at Fenarel's presence and looked to him with a questioning look, Theron shrugged" he insisted on coming, how could I deny him this."

Merrill gave him a disapproving look but didn't say anything in retort, the trio walked into the forest, intending to find and rescue their friend.

It took them nearly four hours to find the path to the cave, they walked a path along a cliff side, when suddenly Theron stopped, he felt strange as a burning feeling began to emanate in his chest near his heart. He groaned in pain when suddenly five horrifying creatures charged out of the trees, they were corrupt, foul, evil looking reptilian creatures with empty and hateful black eyes. They wore twisted and mismatched armor and weapons made of bone and iron, Two of them were as tall as men but their companions seemed to be as small as dwarfs.

The creatures let out horrifying shrieks and charged at them, Merrill began launched bolts of lightning at the creatures while Theron ran towards the two tall creatures and Fenarel attacked the short monsters. Theron dodged under the axe of one creature and severed its leg with his blade, black blood began to pour out of the wound as the creature screamed in agony while clutching its stump.

While that one was distracted, he turned and barely managed to backpedal away from the sword that intended to sever his head from his shoulders. As Theron regained his footing, the reptilian creature let out a sinister hiss as the two began to circle each other, and Theron dashed forward and slashed at the monster, it managed to block his strike with a clang! Theron slashed at it again, going for the creatures left arm, but the creature managed to block him once again. He growled in anger, Theron pushed the blade out of the way with his own and swept the monster's feet out from under it and drove his blade through its stomach.

Theron was breathing quite heavily as he sheathed his blade and saw that Fenarel and Merrill had managed to kill off the smaller creatures. As he walked towards them, they both looked at him concerned when Merrill touched his cheek,"Theron? Are you feeling alright?" He was confused,"I feel fine." But they did not look convinced and Fenarel replied,"are you sure lethallin? You look pale and you're breathing quite hard for such a quick battle." Theron shook his head, brushing off their concern,"its just the exertion, lets get moving, there may be more nearby." Without another word, the trio continued to make their way along the path.

It did not take them long to find the cave, they crawled inside and made their way through the temple, following a trail of dead darkspawn and giant spiders to the door that led to the mirror. They passed through the collapsed doorway where the large bear like monster had broken through and passed the final door. They found a dark skinned man in light chainmail armor studying the eluvian. He turned to look at him as he entered," ah, I see you have recovered, Theron is it?" He nodded, with a mistrustful look in his eyes," Who are you and what are you doing to the mirror?"

The man bowed,"I am Duncan, leader of the Ferelden branch of the order of the Grey Wardens." Duncan turned around to face the mirror again and motioned for Theron to stand beside him,"I originally came here to look for your friend, but all I found was the mirror, it seems it is attracting the darkspawn to this area and corrupting the forest. Tell me, what exactly happened here?"

Theron grimaced,"the last thing I remember before waking up was Tamlen touching the mirror, then a giant eye and Tamlen screaming in fear." Duncan nodded and stroked his beard in deep thought," I see, yes that would explain the.. oh dear." The older man turned to him with a worried look," I am truly sorry Theron, but if what I suspect is true, we need to destroy this mirror immediately, I fear your friend is lost to whatever dark creature you saw that day, as long as the mirror remains, it will continue to corrupt the forest and draw the darkspawn here." Without another word Duncan drew his sword and shattered the mirror with the pommel, shards of glass fell to the floor as a black smoke began to rise out of the remains and disappeared.

Theron was furious," and exactly how do you know that Tamlen is dead?" Duncan shook his head,"even if he managed to evade the darkspawn, without treatment the sickness would have killed him in a matter of hours. Now enough talk, we must leave this place before more darkspawn come, and I have something of great importance to talk to your Keeper about."

It was nearly sundown when the trio returned to camp, they did not speak at all on the way back, while Merrill and Fenarel silently mourned their missing brother and friend. Theron was brimming with anger and hate for himself, he should've stopped Tamlen from touching the mirror. Hell, he should've dragged Tamlen out of that place kicking and screaming as soon as the skeletons came to life. They passed through the treeline to find Marethari waiting for them, he grimaced as he saw her hopeful look turn to sadness as she realized that they failed to find Tamlen.

Marethari turned to Duncan," I assume that Tamlen has passed on?" Duncan simply nodded, Theron wanted to lash out, to yell that Tamlen was still out there somewhere, waiting for him to find them as the darkspawn closed in, but what good would that do? He knew there was no way Tamlen could have survived without treatment, he barely survived with Marethari's aid, he couldn't even imagine what would happen if the sickness progressed any farther.

Marethari finished talking with Duncan who walked in to the camp and she turned to him," Theron, will you tell Paivel to prepare a funeral for Tamlen?" He simply nodded and walked off, he couldn't believe this was happening. It took him a few minutes to locate Paivel and without waiting for him to speak he said,"Marethari wants you to prepare a funeral for Tamlen."

He couldn't stand the look of pity that Paivel gave him as he nodded in understanding," I am sorry Da'len, I will do this right away. Do not mourn him my friend, he is in a better place now." Theron nodded and walked off, he briefly thought about going back to Merrill and Fenarel, but he didn't want their pity, he stopped for a few seconds and turned to his left and continued walking, he needed to talk to Ashalle.

He found her packing up the last of her belongings into a chest and she turned as she heard him approach, she gasped as she saw him and wrapped him in a tight hug."I'm so sorry Theron, I heard what happened to Tamlen." It seemed that the news of Tamlen's death had spread quickly throughout the camp. Her words seemed to ease the pain in his chest slightly and he looked at her and studied her features, her beautiful red hair was starting to go gray at the roots, there seemed to be a few more wrinkles around her eyes then he remembered and he was quite a bit taller than her now. How long had it been since he truly looked at her? Instead of a passing hug and a few quick words of endearment. This was the woman who raised him, who loved him unconditionally when the rest of the clan feared him, she was more of a parent to him than his ever were and he couldn't even remember the last time he sat down and just talked to her.

He relaxed deeper into the hug and his body shook as the tears began to fall, she said nothing and merely held him as he let out his sorrow. She led him over to her campfire and sat him down, she said nothing and waited for him to get a hold of himself," I couldn't save him Ashalle, I left him there to die alone in the dark." His voice cracked, his eyes threatening to tear up once again. The older woman shushed him and wrapped him in another hug," you can't blame yourself for his death Theron, you had no idea what would happen in that cave." Seeing that he was unconvinced she walked over to her chest of belongings and pulled out a small ornate wooden box and handed it to him,"these are a few things that belonged to your mother that I couldn't bear to part with after she died.

He opened the box to find a dagger in a sheathe, and a leather bound journal. He pulled the dagger out of its sheathe to find a short slightly curved blade with a green tinge that glinted in the firelight, it must be made of veridium. It was the only metal he knew of that was green in color.

He saw Ashalle smiling sadly at him, your father gave your mother that knife, it was one of the few things his family managed to bring from our homeland. That journal is your mother's diary, she would write and draw in it every day. He was grateful,"thank you Ashalle." Suddenly another elf walked up to them,"the Keeper is looking for you Theron." He nodded and stood up, Ashalle gave him one last hug before he went to his own tent to drop the box off before returning to Marethari.

He found the keeper talking to Duncan in the center of the camp and they turned as he approached them, Duncan was the first to speak,"its good to see you again Theron, the Keeper and I have reached an agreement. He was confused, "what agreement?" The Keeper looked at him sadly, "I am sorry Da'len, my magic wasn't strong enough to cure you of the darkspawn taint, only suppress it, Duncan has agreed to save your life, in exchange you will join the Grey Wardens in their war." His eyes widened, "but Keeper, this is my home! I don't want to fight any human war!" Duncan shook his head, "the darkspawn don't just threaten humanity Theron, if they are not stopped, they will kill every living being on Thedas." Theron continued to shake his head, "I don't care, this is all I've ever known, this is my life! I can't just abandon my people."

Marethari replied, "this your destiny my child, you must do this for the good of the people." Theron begged, "please don't cast me away, this is where I belong." Duncan sighed, "I didn't want to do this but you leave me no choice. I invoke the right of conscription, Theron Mahariel of the Sabrae Clan, you have been drafted into the order of the Grey Wardens." Marethari replied, "as Keeper of the Sabrae Clan, I acknowledge your rights of conscription and cast Theron out of the clan and name him clanless."

His fear and sadness turned to rage, "damn the both of you! May the Dread Wolf take you both!" He cursed them and stormed off to begin packing his things, now that Marethari had cast him out, he would have no choice but to join the human under threat of death.

He only took the bare essentials, his tent, his weapons and clothes, the mementos Ashalle had given him and his pendant. Duncan allowed him to stay for Tamlen's funeral, the service was short since they lacked a body to bury and were forced to plant a sapling over a grave with just a set of Tamlen's clothes in his place. The clan had come to see him off by the path out of the forest where Duncan was waiting with his horse and one of the clan's own horses that they usually used to pull the aravels.

He gave Ashalle, Merrill, and Fenarel each a hug before walking towards the path where Marethari and Duncan waited. The keeper offered him an enchanted silver ring with a tree inscribed on it, he took it and stuffed it into his pocket. Without a word he and Duncan mounted their steeds and began to ride off into the night. He took one last look at his home as the camp grew smaller and smaller the further they rode away. Perhaps one day he would be able to return, that is, if he managed to survive this war between the humans and the darkspawn. They rode to Ostagar, where the events that would change the face of Thedas would begin.

Authors Note: This chapter took a lot longer then I expected. Now were finally moving on to the main story of the game which is good. Here's to hoping the next chapter doesn't take as long.