Vigilance
"Awakening"
Fereldan is where my tale begins. It certainly wasn't the worse place it be raised in, I did hear that Kirkwall was slightly worse, what with all the insanity and the "rituals under the moonlight" and such. The Blight made it worse here. The day I finally passed my own Harrowing, I manage to get betrayed by my own best friend and get conscripted into the Grey Wardens. I know I must sound so happy and proud of myself, but the truth is that well…I just wanted to live in the tower and watch apprentices burn themselves and piss of Greagoir. No I am not a sadist nor a comedian! It would have been just very hilarious! Anyways, being thrown into the wild blue yonder was not on my to-do list. I'm pretty sure becoming a Grey Warden was under "Ride a High Dragon into Denerim to scare the Grand Cleric." Sadly, when you're a Grey Warden apparently you can't do that. All lies, Alistair got to ride a dragon!
During my days of apprenticeship, I became highly intrigued by the Darkspawn, the Blights, and the Taint. The Black City always came up as the focus point of my research. The Maker's own throne always came up in the books. Everything was about how mages brought darkness to the world and doom and gloom, nothing useful. A few days after we left the Kinloch Hold, my curiosity got the better of me. I poked and prodded Duncan for any information about the Taint. All I got was the "All in due time" speech. I swear why people keep secrets if they are going to tell me later!
Sooner or later my thirst for knowledge was over, for now of course, and Duncan told me that we were stopping in a camp. However my reaction was not ecstatic when I found out that it was a Dalish camp, in the middle of the Brecilian Forest. Thank you Duncan! A camp full of raving mad elves that have a tendency to kill humans on sight! Such a lovely treat for me, I see.
When we entered the camp, I was a little shocked to see that I was still breathing. My studies into Dalish culture were probably not as reliable as I originally thought. The Dalish literally welcomed us with open arms; I did however remain silent most of our time there, I didn't want to offend anyone or end up in a ditch somewhere. However my knack for sarcasm kicked in halfway into the camp. "So is this one of the perks being a Grey Warden brings? I was hoping for Darkspawn galore, giant spiders of doom, and cake! The Cake wasn't a lie was it?" Great, time for awkward silence and stares of doom and gloom from every elf in the camp. "Maker, strike me now please!"
We soon found ourselves to the edge of the camp. It was there we meet the clan's Keeper, Keeper Marethari. She called Duncan inside her aravel, and I got the nod of shame to wait outside. "I feel like a Mabari. I better not hear anyone whistling for me unless they want scars!" The few elves around me look at me like I was insane. Now that I think of it, maybe I am a little loose in the head. "Mission accomplished, I feel like Uldred!" I shouted into the heavens, and still with the looks.
Several hours passed as the sun then approached midday. While gazing at the clan's heraldry, I kept overhearing conversations between the clan members about "missing hunters, and roaming humans in the woods. I took no heed to it; I had no reason to think we would be staying here long. Well…not until Duncan and the Clan's Keeper stepped out of the aravel.
"So I suspect we will going now, away from the frolicking and the forest of complete and utter gloom and doom." "I am afraid not Nihlus." Using my name for once was shocking; my own name was never used during my travel south by Duncan. My only thought was "Well I guess it can't get any worse now. "The Keeper and I have assigned a task for you, a task that will allow you further your path into the ranks of the Grey Wardens," Duncan had said gravely. It got worse let me tell you. The Keeper's bone chilling but quiet voice then joined in to the conversation. "Our best two hunters have gone missing near a ruin that they were sent to investigate. They have not come back and we fear the worst. The group we sent to look for them encountered Darkspawn and only returned safely."
So…ruins filled with Darkspawn and missing Dalish elves that are possibly not even alive. Yep my day had gotten worse it seemed. "Well where do I start, if you haven't noticed, I'd probably end up in a ditch somewhere." "Duncan, if it will be allowed, my First can lead him to the entrance of the ruins." "I think that it would be for the best." Duncan did not seem like the most cheerful person when the Keeper mentioned this "First". But he did agree that I would get lost faster than a Mabari in a larder room.
Duncan pulled me aside before I went to search for the First. "You path is clear my pupil, but there is another task you must do on this quest." "And that would be what?" I drew a blank to what he was going on about. Duncan only continued, "Finding the hunters amongst the Darkspawn will be no fair task, but necessary, for now you must collect a vial of their Blood, to progress into your Joining. "Well, I never would have guessed that, but since I'm going to become a Grey Warden, now it isn't much a surprise, Darkspawn blood and all." "No it should not be", Duncan calmly said. Blood, it always was about the blood. Why can't it ever be sweat, spit, or even a lock of hair? "Well, I guess I'll be on my way."
The sun was still high in the sky, and now I had to get directions from an elf. "Well at least it is a lovely day."
"I always liked Fereldan, the dirt gives it character" an odd but childish voice had said behind me, and it spoke once again, but more directly to me. "Are you a mage?"
What a… odd question let me see; robes check, magic check, and sarcastic sense of superiority… sadly checked. I turned towards the figure to rebut, only to be mildly struck. It was an elvish woman with a hint of nativity. I was such a bastard in my time; I was helpless but to mess with her. "Um, I guess you could say that, of course I could be lying, what with me having no staff an all."
"Oh well, I thought you would be, I could of sworn I smelled magic," the elf had quietly said.
"You can…smell magic?" Smelling magic, I really couldn't tell if I was dreaming or possessed. But then I was smacked back to reality. Not literally but figuratively.
"Well it's more of a sense more than anything, you just seem like one and…I'm rambling again aren't I?"
"Well at least you're not rambling to yourself, I am actually listening and I am quite entertained by the fact." Why was I so intrigued by her? Wait… of course. That blasted mirror.
"My name is Merrill, and I suppose you are the Grey Warden?"
"Bah you caught me, and here I was having so much fun." She had a look on a face that was close to sad but next to disturbed, it was hard to describe. So I apologized, "Well yes I am a mage and a "Soon-to-be Grey Warden". By the way, my name is Nihlus; sorry I have a cruel sense of humor."
"It's quite fine, we don't usually have guests, and Grey Wardens are usually the only ones who ever visit us. But I know you don't want to hear that, we must search for Mahariel."
"Mahariel? Is that a plant?"
The next thing I hear is laughter ringing through my ears, only when she calmed down she said, "No, Mahariel is one of the missing hunters. One of our clan's best."
"Um isn't there another hunter, I'm sure I'd like to know whose sorry ass I'm saving."
"Oh…yes, Tamlen. He is our other best hunter."
"Hmm…this "Mahariel" sounds close to you, a question if you will? Did you request this from the Keeper?" I'm such a bad man, I find myself questioning why I have any friends.
"Oh no, this is part of my training as a… I missed something dirty, didn't I?"
"Never mind Merrill. We have to search and find your friends hopefully and I'd rather have no one die because of my obsession with humor."
"How did you know they were my friends?" Merrill asked as if it wasn't obvious.
"I didn't." I've never seen someone like her, so easily confused. I guess I felt a bit pitiful for her, but one thing I know is that no one likes to receive pity for the way they are.
The path to this ruin was fairly a distance from the camp and naturally I was exhausted in my robes. Merrill was quiet and seemed focus on the path ahead. Well of course she was leading the way. Honestly I'm astonished the Dalish knew where this thing was, and that their hunters were missing. But I didn't put too much thought into it. Nonetheless it was a distance to the ruins and I decided to break the silence.
Wanting to at least learn about her people a little more authentically, I had to catch up to her first. "So what does a First do exactly, I suppose you're not the first one in line for supper?"
"A First is an apprentice to the Keeper, the leader of the clan; we learn the recovered history of our people. We are to learn and protect the heritage of the Elves." "I assume that also means Dalish magic too," I said. "Yes, all Keepers know a little bit of magic, any part of our culture is important to my people. We try to recover whatever was lost to us,"
"I guess that makes sense, I'm from the Circle you know, I know nothing about my heritage or anything, only my name." I guess I could relate to the Dalish, having your history literally trashed away by the Chantry and their laws. "I however choose not to look to the past; I might not like what I find." "We're close to the entrance the hunters found, hopefully no one is…" She interrupted and then she stopped all of a sudden, only now I realize what fear truly is and that both our faces were filled with fear.
They lingered over the torn bodies of what I could see were more Dalish, possibly the Dalish that were sent after this Tamlen and Mahariel. Second by second, I sensed that Merrill's hopes of finding her friends were slipping from her grasps. "What…are those things?" Merrill whispered as we threw ourselves against a nearby rock to hide. "I…think they are Darkspawn, they may be what happen to…" I stopped myself short; I knew when to shut myself up back then. "Never mind, we have to find a way around them." As I whispered to Merrill, My eyes were trained on the group ahead, led by an emissary, but it was about to get worst, much worst. "Merrill run, hide, blow something up!" I shouted to her, and she followed, as the first fireball from the emissary hit the boulder we were using for cover.
The strike was strong, as it sent me flying a few feet. Thank the Maker I wasn't knocked unconscious. Merrill had hid behind a wall of stone ten or twenty feet behind me. I couldn't really tell then. I stood up slowly and I could see several of the beasts running towards me. "You will burn, vile creatures!" I shouted as my fingertips glowed with ambient lights from the bolt of flames flying towards one of them. The bolt hit one of the shorter spawn straight in the face going limp within seconds of being hit. Another came at me too fast and jumped on me, knocking me back down. I tried to keep its large mouth from biting my face off while also worrying about its large arms. Genlocks are brutal things, of course now I know that.
"You shall know pain!" My hand, lit by magic, landed on the genlock's head, I can still hear its skin being singed and burned by the magic coursing through my hand. It grunted in pain as I was able to push it off me and started to run towards Merrill. She shot a few bits of magic here and there but nothing too fancy. A few of the hurlocks following me, passing the genlock I had disabled, were not expecting what came next.
A burst of blood, bone and flesh shot through the air as the genlock blew up into nothing. The hurlocks flew in the air for half a second and when they landed they went limp. And the Templars called magic a curse, hah! Thank the Maker it was a small group, but there was still the emissary to take care of. I regained my breath as Merrill cheered in the background. The emissary replied by casting several bolts of magic at me. I tried dodging them but robes aren't exactly the ideal attire for ducking and rolling on the forest floor full of darkspawn and crazy elves.
I knew I couldn't keep this up for long, but I wasn't going to end up like the elves. But I was not going to give in. I summoned whatever strength I had left and unbuckled my carving knife from the Tower. I threw a fire bolt towards the emissary. As it dodged it with ease, I threw the knife at the blighted thing. The knife landed in the chest but nowhere near any vital organs I believe. The emissary laughed at my attempt but I had another trick up my sleeve.
I remember the tingling sensation the most as the last bit of lightning flew from my arms and into the chest of the emissary. I took a moment to regain my breath as the darkspawn laid before me rotting into oblivion. I stepped closer towards the body of the emissary taking the phylactery from my pack and filled it without getting myself recklessly tainted. No idea why I would be worried about that of all things. Merrill came out from behind the stone wall and approached me. "That was…amazing. I never seen someone so brave!" she yelled in my ear as she avoided the corpses. I can't remember if she was frolic or scared at the sight of burning flesh. "I wouldn't say amazing, more like insane. I'm surprised we lived through this." I said as she then moved to the bodies of her brethren.
"I can't believe…they're all dead…what if? No, they wouldn't be. They couldn't be…," she collapsed as tears started flowing down her eyes. Never have I ever seen anyone so heartbroken, well except for Jowan but he deserved it.
"Merrill…they will not have died in vain, if your friends are as strong as your clan says they are, they will be still alive," I said as walked towards the overlook of a small chasm. "Because we will find them and slay everything in our path." "How…but how…?" she said. "I believe in going head first and ask questions later." She looked behind herself towards me as I pointed to the entrance of the ruins. "Also, it's in my job description, being Grey Warden and all." Well a recruit at the time…