Chapter three, finally up. This will be the last chapter in Avarielle's origin.

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age.


Avarielle looked around the room, staff at the ready in case a spider jumped out; she was seriously wishing she had just said no to Leorah. The storage room was a giant cavern that was used for storing things that the stockroom didn't have room for. Crates, desks, chests, and other assorted stuff were scattered all around. Avarielle slowly moved forward, praying to the Maker that Leorah had just seen a few shadows and overreacted.

The Maker truly had a sick sense of humor, as no sooner had Avarielle finished the prayer did she hear a sinister hissing sound coming from her left. Avarielle turned and pointed her staff in the direction the hiss came from, and meeped when she saw the spider. It was bigger than a mabari, and was infinitely more frightening as far as Avarielle was concerned. More hissing alerted her to the presence of even more spiders as they creeped out of the shadows. Avarielle counted at least five of them. There was no way she could take them all on. She turned and started running as fast as she could.

'Muster your courage!' Valor commanded. 'Stand and fight!' Courage surged through Avarielle, and she stopped and turned around in time to see one of the spiders leaping towards her. Avarielle struck it out of the air with her staff, and stabbed the end of it into the spider's head. She then shot a fireball at another spider as it jumped towards her, knocking it backwards and onto it's back. She then crushed another one that was crawling towards her with a stone fist.

Avarielle pulled her staff out of the first spider's head and pointed it at the remaining spiders, waiting for them to make a move. They seemed reluctant to press their luck, and retreated into a tunnel in the back of the storage room. Avarielle let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. What just happened? Where had that courage come from?

'Go after them!' Valor said. 'Do not allow them to regroup!' Avarielle heeded Valor's command and took off down the tunnel after the spiders. On a whim, she enchanted her staff so that it was coated in ice.

Avarielle followed the tunnel as it went deeper. She turned a corner and came face to face with a jumping spider, which she batted aside with her staff. The enchantment on it froze the spider, causing it to shatter as it hit the ground. Two more came running at her, and she reached out and caught them in an invisible force field. Avarielle began closing her hand, and the spiders began to crumple as the force field crushed them until they popped. Continuing down the tunnel, Avarielle dispatched spiders one by one. She thought it strange that she no longer held any fear of them, and wondered if Valor had anything to do with it.

After several minute of fighting, Avarielle came running into a large cavern filled with spiders. They were everywhere; on the groundc on the walls, in their webs. There were so many that Avarielle couldn't count them all. A hissing came from behind her, and she turned to find that several spiders had somehow gotten behind her. The spiders and her trapped.

'Fear not,' Valor said. Avarielle could feel his spirit rising up inside of her, and a bluish haze settled over her eyes. 'I will fight through you!'

It was as if her body began moving with a mind of its own. Avarielle turned and cast a stream of fire at the spiders in the tunnel. She then turned and batted away a spider that had jumped towards her, and then thrust her staff into another spider. Pulling the staff out, Avarielle turned in a full circle, spraying fire from her staff to ward off the spiders.

Avarielle's head turned from side to side, taking in her surroundings. Despite the number of spiders that had already been killed, there were still roughly a dozen of them. Avarielle wished that she could use the chain lightning spell.

'An excellent idea,' Valor said. Avarielle grasped her staff with both hands and struck the ground with the butt of the staff. Lightning arced from the jewel at the head of the staff and struck a spider as it tried to jump on her. The lightning knocked the spider back, and then began to arc from one spider to another, catching all of the spiders in the room. The spiders screeched in pain as they were electrocuted. After a moment the spell was ended. The haze was lifted from her eyes, and Avarielle found that she had control of her limbs again. She immediately felt weak in the knees, and had to use her staff as a support.

'W-what did you do?' Avarielle said. Now that the fight was over, her fear had returned, and as frightening as the spiders had been, whatever it was that Valor had done was even more frightening.

'I momentarily took control of your body so that I might properly aid you,' Valor said. 'With my superior combat skills, I felt that I could defeat the spiders with little difficulty. And I did.'

'Well thank you, but try not to make a habit out of that,' Avarielle said, calming down slightly. 'It was kinda unnerving, not being in control of my own body.'

'I'll be sure to do that only as a last resort, then,' Valor said. 'Before we go, take a look in the corner over there.' Avarielle didn't need to ask where Valor meant; she somehow knew. In the corner that Valor specified was a large cocoon made of spider webs. 'I believe that's an egg sack. It would be wise to dispose of it, lest we have to do this again.'

'Right.' Avarielle pointed her staff at the egg sack and cast a grease spell. A stream of greenish liquid shot from the end of her staff and onto the egg sack. Avarielle made sure it was liberally coated before throwing a fireball at it. The egg sack instantly went up in flames thanks to the grease. Avarielle was half afraid that she'd hear the little baby spiders screaming, or worse, see them coming out of the egg sack. Thankfully, neither happened, and Avarielle turned to leave. Time to give Leorah the good news.


Avarielle sat down at a table in the library with a copy of 'Dane and the Werewolf', feeling refreshed after the bath she had taken; she hadn't noticed while fighting the spiders, but she had gotten blood and dirt all over herself in the storage room. So, she had gone to the washroom to clean up. She had tried washing her robes as well, but the blood stains had already set in. All she could do was request another set of robes from Owain. Fortunately, he had another set of robes in her size.

Avarielle was just getting to the good part of the story when she was interrupted by a nervous looking Jowan.

"There you are, I've been looking everywhere for you!" he said in a hushed tone, which struck Avarielle as odd.

"What's wrong, Jowan?" she asked. "Why are you whispering?" Jowan quickly shushed her.

"Not so loud!" he said. "There's…something I need to talk to you about." Hushed voices, hesitation; something was definitely wrong.

"You're starting to worry me, Jowan," Avarielle said, and she meant it.

"You're not the only one," Jowan said. "Please, just come with me." Avarielle had a bad feeling about this, but if Jowan needed her, then she couldn't just turn him away.

"Alright, but you'd better explain what's going on," Avarielle said. Jowan seemed relieved at this.

"I will," he said, "just follow me." Avarielle put down the book and followed Jowan out of the library. Jowan led her into the chapel, of all places, and into a secluded corner, where a young priest was standing. "Alright, we should be safe here." Had he lost his mind?

"Jowan, there's a priest standing right here," Avarielle said.

"Oh, I'm not priest yet," the girl said, as if a pair of mages walking into a secluded corner with her was natural. "I'm still just an initiate." This was getting confusing.

"Jowan, what's going on?" Avarielle demanded. Jowan scratched the back of his head and blushed.

"Well, I told you a month ago that I'd met someone," he said nervously. He then gestured to the girl. "This is Lily." Avarielle didn't want to, but she just couldn't help herself.

"My deepest condolences, Lily," she said apologetically to the initiate.

"Ha ha, very funny!" Jowan said annoyed. "That's not why I brought you here, anyway."

"Then why did you bring me here?" Avarielle demanded again. As happy as Avarielle was that Jowan had found someone special, she didn't like the fact that that someone was an initiate; such relationships were forbidden, another reason she avoided Cullen at all costs. If Jowan and Lily were found out, they would be severely punished.

"It's horrible, Avarielle," Jowan said, suddenly looking very worried. "They're not going to let me take my Harrowing. They intend to make me Tranquil!" This came as a shock to Avarielle. What reason could Irving and Greagoir have to make Jowan Tranquil?

"Why would they do that?" Avarielle asked. "And how do you even know, for that matter?" Lily raised her hand.

"I told him," she said. "I saw the papers on Greagoir's desk."

"As for why," Jowan said, suddenly looking more nervous than before. "There's a rumor going around that I'm…a blood mage." Avarielle gasped at this; blood mages used blood to fuel their magic, and could use blood magic to do horrible things, such as control people. Blood magic was forbidden by the Chantry, and any mage who used it were proclaimed as maleficars, and sentenced to death.

"Jowan, please tell me it's not true," Avarielle said worriedly. The very thought of Jowan being a blood mage frightened her. Jowan raised his hands in front of himself.

"They're all lies, but that doesn't change the fact that they're going to make me Tranquil!" Jowan reached over and took hold of Lily's hand. "They're going to take everything from me! My hopes, my dreams, my love for Lily…all gone." This was all very heart wrenching for Avarielle. Nearly everyone in the tower believed being made Tranquil to be a fate worse than death.

"I wish there was some way for me to help," Avarielle said. Jowan gave her that nervous look again.

"There is a way," he said. "Lily and I are going to escape. Tonight. But to do that we need to get into the repository and destroy my phylactery. And for that…we need your help." Avarielle took a step back at this. They wanted her to help them break into the repository?

"I…" She should have said no. She wanted to say no. But at the same time she couldn't. It all sounded so much like one of her romance novels, and being the hopeless romantic she was, Avarielle couldn't bring herself to say no. "What do I have to do?" Jowan and Lily both let out breaths that Avarielle hadn't noticed they were holding.

"There will be two doors to the phylactery chamber," Lily said. Avarielle wasn't surprised to find that Lily was the one with the plan; Jowan was never the brightest apprentice. "The first door is designed to require a mage and a templar. It requires a password provided by the Chantry, and any spell from a mage. It will be simple enough to pass. The other door," she said, "is another matter. It requires two keys, one carried by the Knight-Commander, and the other one by the First Enchanter, and we can't very well get both of them." Jowan's eye widened and he raised his hand like he was in class.

"I once saw a rod of fire melt through a lock!" he said.

"Or I could freeze the lock," Avarielle said. "I read in a book that if you freeze metal, it becomes brittle."

"Even better!" Jowan said. "We can go right now!" Avarielle couldn't remember the last time she had seen Jowan so happy about something, and Lily looked equally so. It warmed Avarielle's heart to see two people so clearly in love. She was happy for them, if not a little jealous. "Come on, the repository is on the first floor."

"We can't all go at once," Avarielle said. "Wouldn't you think seeing a mage, an apprentice, and an initiate all going into the repository at once was suspicious?"

"You're right," Lily said. "We'll have to go in one at a time, and whenever no one's paying attention."

"I'll go first," Avarielle offered.

"Alright, good luck," Jowan said. Avarielle nodded and left the small corner they were talking in. She exited the chapel and began made her way down to the first floor. When she reached the entrance to the repository, she looked around to make sure no one was there. Seeing no one, she went in and waited. While she was waiting, Avarielle examined the door that was at the end of the short hallway. It had no lock as far as she could tell, but there was an enchantment of some sort on it. She would've examined it more, but Jowan then came in, followed shortly by Lily.

"Alright, we're all here," she said. "I was able to get the password for the door from a templar. The password primes the ward, and then a Harrowed mage needs to use any spell on it." Lily walked up to the door and spoke in a clear voice. "Sword of the Maker, tears of the Fade." A strange humming sound started up, and Avarielle could feel a shift in the enchantment on the door. "Now, Avarielle. Any spell will do." Avarielle fired a simple arcane missile at the door, and the enchantment was dispelled with whooshing sound.

Avarielle opened the door, and the three of them went through. The other door was just in front of them, with another hallway to the right. The door was covered in strange markings and had a lock on it that had two keyholes in it. Without waiting for any sort of prompt, Avarielle walked up to the door and touched the lock with the end of her staff and began channeling ice magic to the lock. But no matter how much magic she used, the lock wouldn't freeze over. Avarielle carefully touched the lock and found that it wasn't even cool to the touch.

"We have a problem," Avarielle said while turning to the others. "The lock won't freeze."

"Maybe it's some type of ice-proof metal?" Jowan said. "Try using fire."

"Right." Avarielle extended her arm towards the lock and tried to call fire to her hand, but nothing happened. "What's going on?" Lily walked up to the door and examined the markings.

"It's these markings," she said. "They're an enchantment meant to neutralize a mage's magic. That's why the door uses regular keys, because magical ones don't work!" Lily put her hand over her face. "How do you keep a mage out? By making their powers useless! That's it! There's nothing we can do!"

"We can't just give up!" Avarielle said, feeling bold for some reason. She felt Valor back down almost sheepishly. It seemed she wasn't the only one who wanted to help Lily and Jowan. "There has to be another way into the phylactery chamber!"

"Avarielle's right, we have to find another way!" Jowan agreed. He looked down the hallway to the right pointed. "Where does that door lead?" Avarielle and Lily looked to where he was pointing. At the far end was another door that seemed to be clean of any markings.

"Let me check," Lily said, pulling a map out of her robes. "It looks like that door leads to a series of hallways that end at the artifacts room, which is right next to the phylactery chamber."

"Maybe we can find a way in through there?" Avarielle suggested.

"Maybe," Lily said, giving it some thought. "The phylactery chamber is kept chilled, so it's possible that the wall that separates it from the artifact room has been weakened."

"It's not like we have very many options," Jowan said. "We'll just have to find out when we get there. Let's just hope this other door isn't magic-proof, too." The three of them walked up to the other door. Avarielle touched the lock with the end of her staff and tired to call cold. This time it produced the desired effect as the lock froze over. Avarielle propped her staff against the wall and placed her hands on either side of the lock, wincing at the sting of the cold metal. She then fired an arcane missile from both hands, breaking the lock into pieces, which she then let drop.

"That was impressive," Lily said. She looked at her map again. "Follow me, I'll take us to the artifact room."


The three of them finally made it into the artifact room. There had been so many twists, turns, and rooms, that they might've been wandering around the repository for hours without Lily's map. She was still looking at it, until she pointed to one of the far walls of the room.

"The phylactery chamber is on the other side of that wall," she said. "We just have to find a way through it."

"Right, give me a moment," Avarielle said as she approached the indicated wall. She began running her fingers along the wall, trying to see if she could find a weak spot. She was about to go around a bookshelf when her fingers brushed against it, and found that it was cool to the touch. She reached behind it and found that the wall behind it was cold. "Jowan, help me move this bookshelf!"

"Sure thing." Together they were able to pick up the shelf and move it to the side. If apprentices didn't regularly move beds around in the apprentices' quarters, they might not have been able to do it. The wall behind the shelf was covered in mold and showed signs of collapsing at any moment, given the right amount of force. "Now, how are we going to knock down this wall?"

"By using this," Lily said. She was standing next to a statue of a mabari with it's mouth open. It looked to be Tevinter in origin. "Statues like this one were created by the Tevinter magistrates to help amplify their spells. Avarielle could use it to break down the wall."

"That's brilliant, Lily!" Jowan exclaimed, hugging her and kissing her cheek. It was so sweet that Avarielle awed, which instantly made Jowan blush. "Hurry up and blow up the wall, will you?" Avarielle snickered at Jowan's embarrassment as she turned her attention to the statue. Turning it slightly so that it was facing straight at the wall, Avarielle shot a fireball at it. The spell was instantly absorbed into the statue, and then a massive fireball shot out of the statue's mouth.

Avarielle eeped and covered her face as rubble went flying. She seriously hoped no one upstairs heard the explosion. She felt a draft and uncovered her face. The wall was completely gone, revealing the inside of the phylactery chamber. The three of them stepped inside and looked around. As Lily had said, the room was cold on the inside. Ice had formed all over the walls and ceiling. All along the walls were shelves holding dozens of phylacteries.

"How do we find Jowan's phylactery among all the others?" Avarielle asked.

"It's up there, somewhere," Jowan said, pointing at a desk up a set of stairs. "I cant explain it, but I knew one of those is mine. I can feel it calling to me." Jowan walked up the stairs and picked up one of the vials. "To think this tiny vial is the only thing standing between me and freedom," he said before dropping it. "And now I'm free."

"Alright, I think it's time we left," Lily said. "We should be able to leave through the main door."

"That's good," Avarielle said. "I'd hate to have to walk all the back through the-" She was cut off, though, by the sound of a heavy footsteps from within the chamber. She turned to see a massive set of armor running towards her with a sword raised. "Watch out!" she exclaimed as she pushed Lily out of the way, narrowly avoiding the sword herself.

'I can help you!' Valor said as his spirit tried to rise up.

'Stay down!' Avarielle told him as she dodged another swing and blasted the sentinel with an arcane missile. For all it did, she might as well have thrown a rock at it. 'I'd rather not have to explain to Jowan and Lily that I have a spirit inside of me!'

'Then at least follow my instructions!' Valor said. Avarielle mentally agreed. She dodged when Valor said to dodge, and parried when he said to parry. Jowan was casting arcane missiles from a distance, but they weren't having any effect other than making the sentinel angry. 'Tell him to stay out of the fight, or he will get himself killed!'

"I'll handle this, Jowan!" Avarielle said while ducking another blow. Jowan looked like he wanted to protest, but Lily said something to him. With Jowan reluctantly keeping to the sidelines, Avarielle had the sentinel's full attention. Valor was getting her into the right position before having her go on the offensive.

'Do it now!' Avarielle parried another blow and slipped under the sentinel's defenses. Moving behind it, Avarielle stabbed her staff into the back of the sentinel's knee, crippling it. She then shot a fireball over it's head at the mabari statue, and jumped out of the way as another massive fireball blasted the walking armor to pieces.

Propping herself up from her spot on the floor, Avarielle took a moment to catch her breath. Jowan walked over and helped her to her feet.

"Avarielle, that was amazing!" he said. "Where did you learn to fight like that?"

"Uh," Avarielle had to think fast. "Instinct?"

"If I had those instincts, I'd have just marched out the door, daring any templar to stop me!" Jowan said jokingly. "It think it'd be best if we left, just in case there's any more of those things."

"Right, let's go." The three of them left via the main door, and made there way out of the repository. But when the reached the main floor, they were greeted by a group of templars, with First Enchanter Irving, Knight-Commander Greagoir, and Duncan at the front.

"So, it was as your informant said, Irving," Greagoir said. "An initiate conspiring with a blood mage!"

"I'm disappointed in you, Avarielle," Irving said. "If you knew about Jowan's plan to escape, you should have come to me."

"I'm sorry, First Enchanter," Avarielle said, "but I couldn't turn by back on him. I simply couldn't stand by and let Jowan be made Tranquil." She saw Duncan raise an eyebrow, but it didn't matter.

"The initiate seems to be within her right mind," Greagoir said. "It seems she wasn't under the blood mage's control. Arrest them, men. The initiate is to be taken to Aeonar."

"Not the mage's prison!" Lily said, backing up in fear as the templars approached. Jowan stepped in front of her and drew a knife.

"I won't let you take her!" he exclaimed before stabbing the knife into his hand. Avarielle felt Jowan's magic flare up as blood poured from the wound. Jowan raised his hands and sent out a surge of magic that sent the templars, Irving, Greagoir, and Duncan flying. Avarielle could scarcely believe it; Jowan had used blood magic! And after he told her that he wasn't a blood mage!

"Blood magic!" Lily said, appearing equally horrified, which meant that Jowan had lied to her too. Jowan seemed to realize what he had done and turned to Lily pleadingly.

"Yes, I dabbled in blood magic," Jowan said, "but I'm giving it up! All magic! I just want to be with you, Lily!"

"Blood magic changes people, Jowan!" Lily said backing away. She closed eyes and held her hand out in front of herself. "I don't know you, blood mage! Keep away from me!"

Looking heartbroken, Jowan ran away as a few of the templars were coming to their senses, including Greagoir.

"Pursue the blood mage!" Greagoir ordered, and several of the templars that had gotten back on their feet ran out after Jowan. A few of them stayed behind to help Greagoir and Irving to their feet, Duncan being able to get up but himself. "To think he was so powerful! Where is that initiate?"

"I'm right here, Commander," Lily said, stepping forward. Avarielle tried to intervene on her behalf.

"Please, Commander," she said, "Lily didn't know Jowan was a blood mage!"

"I thank you for what you are trying to do," Lily said, "but I can speak for myself." She then turned back to Greagoir. "I have been accomplice to…a blood mage. I submit myself to whatever punishment you deem necessary…even Aeonar."

"Right, you two, take her away." At his command, two of the remaining templars escorted Lily out of the room. Greagoir then turned his attention back to Avarielle. The rage in his eyes would've scared a demon. "You are in a lot of trouble, mage."

"If I may, Knight-Commander," Duncan said as he stepped forward. "I didn't just come to the tower to request more mages. I also came looking for potential recruits." He then gestured to Avarielle. "This girl has shown extreme dedication to her friends, and Irving has spoken very highly of her aptitude with magic. The Grey Wardens would benefit from someone like her." Avarielle was stunned, to say the least. Was Duncan really suggesting that she be recruited into the legendary Grey Wardens?

"No, absolutely not!" Greagoir exclaimed, outraged that such a thing was suggested. "She could be a thrall to the blood mage! That is a risk we cannot take!"

"Unless I am mistaken," Irving said, "the Grey Wardens still have the Rite of Conscription." Greagoir looked like he was on the verge of an outburst. But before that could happen, he threw his hands up and started walking away. "Fine! I wash my hands of this!" The templars followed him out, and Avarielle was left in the room with Irving and Duncan.

"So…I am to become a Grey Warden?" Avarielle asked.

"Indeed," Duncan said. "In fact, I've had my eye on you since Irving told me about you. I believe you would make an excellent addition to the Wardens." And that meant Avarielle would get to leave the tower! It sounded almost too good to be true!

"Might I have a moment, Avarielle?" Irving asked. Avarielle walked with him a short distance away from Duncan. "While I am disappointed that you didn't come to me with Jowan and Lily's plan, I am proud of you for standing up for your friends." Irving put his hands on Avarielle's shoulders. "I want you to show the world what we mages can do."

"Yes, First Enchanter." Avarielle returned to Duncan. "Allow me to gather a few things, and I'll be ready to go."


A.N/I'd like to give a very warm thank you to Hikari86 for sending people my way in her last chapter of Blood Promise. Since she put me on the spot, I'm going to do the same for her. If you haven't read any of Hikari86's work, then I strongly recomend that you do. Her first fanfic is Blood Bonds. Find it, read it, and give the girl some love! She's worked hard for it!