DARKNESS FALLS

-Nessa Mahariel-

"TAMLEN DON"T!"

My voice cried out as I woke up in the darkness of a large tent on a plush cot, on closer inspection I recognized many of the surrounding artifacts and texts and realized that I was inside of Keeper Marethari's tent. As I sat up I found that I was wearing nothing but my smallclothes, some clean leggings were folded next to the bed along with a thick linen shirt along with a few flowers and wreathes.

Closing my eyes, I could also hear voices outside the tent; however I also could also make out some stranger voices somewhere nearby as well, though I couldn't tell where, it sounded almost as if they were singing. It was all wrong, the last thing I remembered was Tamlen yelling for help, screaming that something in the mirror could see him after touching that strange mirror, than there was a flash of light and then nothing. How did I wake up here?

Getting out of the bed awkwardly, I slipped on the clothes, noticing a strange patch of bruises near my elbow, strange, my other wounds that I'd sustained in the ruins were gone, a few bruises shouldn't have mattered. I made for the entrance flap, pulling it open and cringing at the sudden abundance of sunlight, shielding my eyes I could make out that I was somehow back at the camp, the colorful banners and tarps flowing along the sides of brightly painted wagons, the sound of children playing at the side, a group of hunters talking a short ways away. One of hunters suddenly turned around and caught sight of me, his face lit up as he made his way quickly over to the tent. I walked out to greet him halfway.

"Your awake, you've the gods own luck lethallan, your back at camp, everyone was worried sick about you, how do you feel?"

"Fenarel, what happened? How did I get here, where's Tamlen?"

"Lethallan from what I know you were brought back by a group of Grey Wardens who passed near where you fell, you were wounded and very sick, the keeper said you are fortunate to still be with us, thank the creators"

"Grey Wardens, wait what, there are Grey Wardens, here?!"

"Yes, three humans and a big dog, they're staying in a small clearing just outside of the camp, the keeper felt it best to separate them from the rest of the clan."

"This was all wrong, I was saved by humans, wait they brought me back, where is Tamlen, why haven't you mentioned him, is he alright?"

The young elf suddenly looked crestfallen and bowed his head as if trying to find the right words to say. "Lethallan, the Gray Wardens only brought you back, when we asked about Tamlen they said they only found you, that there was no sign of anyone else nearthe ruins, the lead warden said something about darkspawn and the taint, than they left with the keeper to show her where they found you. That was two days ago" a pained look crossed his face again, "I'm sorry, we had all of our hunters comb the forest once they got back and the keeper said the danger was dealt with but we couldn't find a trace of him"

"No, No he was with me, right there next to me, he can't be gone!" Tamlen was, is, one of our clans best hunters, he was my best friend, would have been, no, he couldn't be gone

Fenarel came closer and put a comforting arm around my shoulders. "Let's go to the keeper, she wanted to speak with you as soon as you woke up, please, she'll have more information than I can give, it will be all right"

No it wouldn't, but I steadied myself and let him guide me, hand on my shoulder to another small campsite near the edge of the encampment. My clan mates kept coming up to us along the way, greeting me, asking if I was well, and giving condolences. I think I was just giving responses halfheartedly putting on a brave face.

As we neared the tent that was set up, the first thing I noticed was the large hound that bounded up to us. I stepped back, I'd always been more of a cat person, dogs were sometimes used to hunt the Dalish when humans came seeking blood and I still had bad memories. After a few sniffs the dog barked and bounded back to a human male dressed in fine looking leather trousers and a woolen shirt with sleeves rolled back sitting on a log near the entrance of the tent cleaning pieces of armor and settled at his feet. The human looked up at us and I cringed a little inside when he set his sights on me, the man's eyes were too cold and focused for someone barely into adulthood, by human standards he probably wasn't much older then myself. Looking to the side I could see another dark haired human in a long coat leaning against a tree with a staff leaning at his side, scribbling in a small leather-bound book humming a tune keeping an eye on us.

Noticing my discomfort, Fenarel stepped in front trying of me and stood up straight trying to look intimidating however I noticed a slight quaking in his voice when he spoke, "Wardens, the one you brought back to us has woken up, our keeper wished to speak with her as soon as she did", the wardens looked at each other and then back at us.

"She's in the tent with our Warden Commander Duncan, at the moment, I'll let her know you're here" The human on the log put down the shoulder piece he was shining and stood up, by the creators he towered over us, easily one of the taller humans I'd ever seen, the pressure he gave off however, made him seem even bigger, the man moved to the tent entrance and stuck his head in, after a few muffled words he was pushed to the side by a small figure that ran straight at me and threw herself at me, before I could do more than gasp I was caught in a crushing embrace with enough force to put us on the ground.

"Merrill, calm down, Merrill I can't breathe" all I could feel her shaking as she looked up at me with teary eyes.

"Nessa, your alive, I mean the keeper said you would wake up but you were just so sick and with Tamlen gone, I couldn't lose you too." All I could do was start stroking her back slowly, in all the activity I'd forgotten how Merrill would feel about all this.

Merrill was always a bit of a social outcast to most of the clan except for Keeper Marethari but a shared love of history brought us together, Tamlen joined us soon after and while I was on good terms with pretty much everyone else in the clan, Merrill had just lost a good third of her whole world with Tamlen's death.

"Da'len" the keeper's voice broke through the new well of grief as she stepped out of the tent, the elderly woman was accompanied out by a dark skinned human in elaborate armor. I picked myself and Merrill up onto our feet, Merrill still a little unsteady, clinging tightly to my arm.

"It is a comfort to know you are still among us, I had my doubts on your chances of survival even with my treatment. Perhaps we should talk later, give you time too…" The grey warden commander, or Duncan the tall human had said he was called, stepped forward.

"I'm sorry but there are pressing matters, keeper Marethari, that must be attended to, first of all I would like to hear this young woman's tale of how she and her friend came to be near those ruins. Any information at all would help me piece together what happened."

"Duncan, she has just been through a terrifying ordeal and lost someone precious to her, she needs time." I appreciated the keeper's words and while I was far from fine, the shem was right. If Duncan could help me shed light on what happened then I could accept his help.

"Fine but one thing first, keeper, is there any chance that Tamlen is alive, any at all?" I asked, a note of desperation in my voice. The keeper took a moment and gave me a sad look.

"I'm sorry da'len, I was only narrowly able to save your life from the sickness, Duncan can go further into detail about this after you tell us what transpired. If Tamlen did survive, it is unlikely he escaped the same illness and without treatment or any of the advantages you had, I doubt he would have lasted this long, Paivel is seeing to his funeral preparations.

"Merrill buried her face in her hands with renewed sobs, and I could see the two humans behind Duncan give sympathetic looks, I didn't need pity not from them, members of their kind started all of this shit. I took seat on the log that the tall shem had vacated.

I then proceeded to tell the story of how I had dodged my responsibilities for that day to join Tamlen on a late night patrol around the camp, how we'd seen some humans running through the forest, we'd stopped them and found that they were running from some type of demon or some nonsense in some elven ruins. I'd wanted to kill them but Tamlen convinced me that they weren't worth our time and we moved to check on their story. Beyond a few wild animals, including a twisted creature in the final room of the ruin. After we'd somehow managed to take it down, Tamlen became entranced by a mirror-like object , I'd tried to stop him when he made to touch it but didn't get to him in time. He told me that he was looking into a whole other place through the mirror, but described a dark presence; he became hysterical, screaming that it had noticed him, and when I pulled him away from the mirror a sudden burst of light knocked me out.

As I finished my story, the grey warden brought his hand to his chin looking pensive. He nodded then looked back to me. "If what you've told me is true then we were right to suspect the mirror as the source of this event, the creature you described was a bear, likely infected with the blight, a virulent disease inherent to the dark spawn horde, by the time we had gotten to the room however the corpse was little more than bones, I needed this to be sure."

"I can't pretend to understand the bear bit what about the mirror, what was that?" I asked, the human sounded as if he knew what he was talking about but grey warden or not, I had trouble believing it. Our clan knew of the blight in the southern reaches of the country, which was why we were endeavoring to travel north to Gwaren and take ship to the Free Marches, a long and arduous journey but necessary, we had no wish to test our hunters against the darkspawn.

"I can answer that question da'len" the keeper picked a worn book off of a nearby desk and carefully opened it to reveal an almost perfect sketch of the mirror. "The mirror as you refer to it is to the best of my knowledge an eluvian, a relic crafted by the old elves of Arlathan, portals for communication and perhaps even teleportation across long distances between the cities of their nation in seconds."

"Then why did it respond like that, Tamlen and I were members of the people, descendants of the Dales, wouldn't it have recognized us?"

"I'm afraid that might well be what happened" Duncan suddenly cut in, "I believe that the relic was corrupted through its close proximity to the taint, taking on its qualities, when you and this Tamlen discovered the mirror, it reached out to you through contact, infected you with the taint."

"So what happened to the mirror, if it's such a danger, we could use it to find out what happened to Tamlen, so we can at least find him." I pointed out hopefully.

"I'm afraid that such a thing is impossible, the mirror's level of corruption was considerable, if we had left it unchecked the entire forest might have fallen to the blight." Suddenly his face took on a stony, determined look "As a grey warden I could not let that happen, I consulted with your keeper and with her help destroyed the relic."

I looked at both of them aghast, the keeper most of all, I noticed Merrill was staring daggers at her back. "How could you allow that, keeper that mirror was a link to our history, a link to finding Tamlen, how could you, on the word of a shem!?"

Her response was calm but her eyes could melt eye with their heat.

I noted that I was trying to shrink down into my seat as much as I could. I hadn't earned the keepers ire in years, I have been alive for twenty years, and adult submitted to the blood writing, however under her knowing gaze I became little more than a child who had spoken out of turn, even Duncan backed off a little.

"I did what was right for the clan da'len as a guide and as a leader in such matters, I eliminated a threat to the clan which had already taken a member of those I am sworn to protect, protect just as your father once did, and had almost taken another, I won't as forgiveness, but I ask you to understand." She then turned to Merrill who was at that moment to trying to blend into the canvas of the tent. "You as well Merrill, my responsibilities will one day be your own, I would have you learn from this." Merrill looked as if she would try to stand up to her but soon her eyes dropped down in shame.

"Speaking of present dangers, Keeper, we must get to the next matter, which concerns her greatly" he then looked at me with a curious look, judging me, I didn't like it.

"What do you mean by "Concerns me", warden". I stared right back at him, a defiant look on my face, "You already broke the mirror, and I'm fine, what else is there, what's your point?"

"My point, is that you are not cured" he moved faster then I even believed possible for a someone his age, grabbing my arm in a gently but iron grip and pulling up the sleeve. Fenarel shouted reaching for the curved swords at his sides while Merrill's hand caught fire, her arm pointed at Duncan, suddenly the two other wardens burst into the tent responding to the commotion, the mage had his staff drawn pointing it at Merrill looking nervously at Duncan, the other one carried a long sword in both hands, runes stamped along the blade near the hilt and obviously enchanted, calmly focused on Fenarel, waiting for him to make a move. The dog stalked in growling at his masters feet waiting to pounce.

"STOP!" the combined voices of both the keeper and the warden commander reverberated through the tent, both were staring angrily at their respective charges. The wardens lowered their weapons and exited the tent, Fenarel betrayed a short breath, Merril lowered her arm.

Still glaring at his recruits retreating backs, Duncan slowly pulled the sleeve past my elbow revealing the bruise, "As I was saying, you have not been cured" he said calmly, releasing my arm.

"It's just a bruise, what of it?" I retorted angrily, wary of him. Growing up I'd heard the stories told about grey wardens by our hahren, Paivel, around his campfire, as had every child in the clan. An order made up entirely of great warriors and powerful mages, fighting the stuff of nightmares in the dark depths of the deep roads. These stories became legends among the small, with Garahel, the elven grey warden led the charge against the blight who slew the last archdemon taking the lead in hero worship. I couldn't even follow him.

"The bruises are just the first sign, your keeper was able to isolate the corruption and slow it. This is only a stop-gap measure which at best has bought you two, three weeks at most."

Merrill clapped a hand over her mouth while Fenarel muttered a quiet curse.

"Eventually the corruption will spread freely through your veins, you would lose yourself physically and mentally, if you're lucky, a painful death awaits you, if not, you'll become a ghoul, twisted to the darkspawn's will and your clan…" he looked to the keeper eyes stony "will be forced to put you down" I couldn't breathe, all of the noise in the tent faded into the background, my knuckles stood out white as I clasped my hands together, suddenly all I could hear was the pounding of my heart, and the strange singing at the edge of my awareness. Burying my head in my hands I tried to shut the sound out but if anything it got louder. "You hear them, that sound is the call of the old gods, the call to war and death and pain

"However there are options open to you" I looked up to find Duncan kneeling down in front of me, eyes sympathetic. "I have been speaking to your keeper; and have had my recruits ask around the camp as well, you are by all accounts the most skilled huntress within this clan, skills such as yours will be sorely needed in the coming days"

Such heavy praise, I was a Dalish trained woodsman which I suppose did put me heads and shoulders above human standards. And I could outshoot any of the other hunters during Clan festivals, beyond that my skills weren't to impressive, I had my mother's hunting dagger but I never was able to get the hang of close combat, that was Tamlen's forte. The memory of Tamlen brought on new waves of pain, but I pushed it down.

"What's your point?"

"If you wish it, I can give you a chance at living, it's not a cure, not really, and it may end your life as surely as the blight will, but if successful, it will be a hard life but it will extend the time you have considerably."

He hesitated, and then offered his hand towards me "Nessa Mahariel, I offer you a place within the Gray Wardens, know that if you accept, your life will never be the same, being a grey warden is a calling, not a choice." I couldn't believe what I was hearing, me a grey warden, that was impossible, I was no hero, no great warrior.

Sudden realization hit me like a punch to the gut, "If I go, will I ever be able to return to the clan?"

I felt the keepers hand on my shoulder, I looked up into her grandmotherly face, "I truly do not know, Da'len, but we could not watch you suffer, the grey wardens offer you a chance to survive."

"Let me be perfectly clear" Duncan stated seriously "You will likely never return here, we go to fight the darkspawn hordes to the south, a battle that will take you far from your clan, I will admit that my motives are not entirely charitable, I need you and people like you such as the two men traveling with me already."

"Why should we trust anything you say, keeper what if he's wrong?" I interjected looking to Marethari desperately, hopefully.

"I cannot be sure, Nessa, but what I do know that is if this new blight isn't stopped, if the danger rising in the south persists, nowhere will be safe. Long ago the Dalish made an agreement to fight alongside the wardens against a blight if the need arose, it is time to honor their agreement. It breaks my heart to send you away from us, just as it would to see you die slowly of sickness. This is your duty and your salvation?

I was nervous, afraid, angry, sad, but I understood that if I wanted to live and find justice for Tamlen and safety for my clan, the darkspawn had to be stopped. Joining the wardens was my best and only shot to do this and at least Duncan was being perfectly honest about my chances. He could have lied I suppose, make it easier for me to say yes, I appreciated his candor if nothing else.

"Fine, if it's my duty to join you then I will, let it be done" I said, firmly clasping the humans hand, Duncan visibly sighed with relief releasing my hand. "Then I welcome you Nessa, the Dalish are rare within our ranks, but those that are have always only ever served with distinction, you will undoubtedly do the same."

The keeper smiled sadly and took off a small ring carved from halla horn, small inscriptions covered the band, she held it out to me, "Da'len take this ring, it belonged to your father before he passed, let it stand as a symbol of your heritage and where you came from. It will protect you during this coming darkness" I took the ring and placed it around my ring finger, the band felt warm against my skin. At the edge of my vision I could see Fenarel standing awestruck while Merrill stalked out quickly head down.

"I'm sorry Duncan, if it's alright, I would like to at least stay for Tamlen's funeral and say my goodbyes."

"We have ground to cover before reaching the army camps at Ostagar and we have delayed long already, however I could not in good conscious deny you this, however afterwards we must go, we have delayed a great deal already and the need for us there grows with each passing day.

With that he exited the tent, the keeper followed behind him turning her head to look at me, then went through the flap of the tent leaving me alone with only the singing voices of the darkspawn for company.

-END

Elven Translation

Da'len (dah-LEN): little child

Eluvian (ehl-LOO-vee-ehn): mirror

Hahren (hah-REHN): Elder

Lethallan (leth-ah-LAHN): "cousin" or "clansman", friendly term for a familiar

A/N: Alright, we've finally met each of the characters, I am probably going to continue along the last part of origin in the first part of the next chapter, and then it's off to Ostagar and the blight. Nessa belongs to a friend of mine, I myself have never played this origin and this was a good chance to do so. The origins are pretty easy to write with such a clear direction, meaning I can churn them out pretty quickly, I doubt it will be as easy once I start delving into the plot especially with the fall semester around the corner. Despite this, all in all I've had more fun with this story then I thought I would. Thank you all for reading and for your reviews, this is huge motivation to continue. I promise things will start speeding up soon.