Chapter 3

Callidus remained silent at the end of Kenshen's extraordinary tale contemplating all that he had heard how it had changed him into the iron willed good humored but not shit taking man he now called master,how his use of love to attempt to manipulate Morrigan had poisoned him as well,how watching countless people and darkspawn die many bye his own hand had shown him the beauty in death in life and everything in between,how it had taught him the values of friendship,respect and sacrifice he had indeed changed a great deal from the cold,malicious sadistic boy he had been and probably still would be if Duncan had not come to his aid and recruited him,well that or dead probably dead.

"Well you certainly didn't come out of that little misadventure unscathed" Callidus quipped

"no I didn't though I think it smoothed over some of the rougher parts of my personality and kept me from spiraling any further into madness than I already have" Kenshen replied sagely

"madness" Kenshen thought to himself "I wonder how far thedas has really fallen into madness"

remembering his recent encounter with Varric who had mistaken him for Hawke and nearly been frozen,chopped into tiny pieces and eaten by Reaver,although he had still been kind enough to tell Kenshen of the delicate political situation in thedas something he had missed somehow on his occasional forays into a town they happened to pass or a merchant caravan they happen to bump into whenever they used an actual road when he had asked Varric at the docks of small village what shenanigans Garrett had gotten into to lead up to that fiasco he had thrown him a scuffed looking leather journal before boarding a ship hemmed by Isabela whom he had also met on a few occasions the journal contained the bare facts of Garrett's misadventures in Kirkwall as well as a passage that detailed his attraction to a raven haired dalish mage named Merrill.

"Meh you have a point" Callidus began then stopped and squinted,something that looked odd indeed on a cat.

"whats going on up there?"

"what I can't see that far" Kenshen responded Callidus quickly sent him an image of a burning village

"we should get up there and fast" Kenshen said

as he began channeling mana inwards to the various parts of his body to,his muscles to moves faster and with more force,his lungs to inhale more air and to increase the tempo,to his heart to increase it's beating so his body got the appropriate amounts of fuel,to his sensory organs to keep up with the increased speed and strengh and to his mind so it could comprehend the increased amounts of information rapidly passing through it and react faster than any normal person could dream of all this being experienced at once brought him a sort of buzz as well as the to urge channel more mana to his systems,he quickly blocked them out by plotting and formulating the type of enemies he would be facing and the best strategy to take them down.

"Callidus shape shift when we get there maximum lethality minimum collateral damage" Kenshen barked having gone into his commander don't screw with me mode

"I could use a bit of inspiration if you don't mind" Callidus complained

"fine" Kenshen allowed him to view memories of creatures he had fought careful to keep the manipulative creature blocked off from the rest of his mind

Callidus rapidly scanned the memories before settling on a revenant

"yes I think that will do just nicely" he purred as his extracted himself from his mind.

they arrived at the village to see Darkspawn and villagers fighting but not each other instead they were fighting creatures neither Kenshen or Callidus had ever seen before these creatures while completely obscured in their white steel armor where certainly not human,elf,dwarf,qunari nor any breed of darkspawn they were tall but to short to be qunari and their armor had 2 prominent humps in it on the back,but that was all he could tell in the chaos. He threw a carefully aimed fireball into a knot of the creatures before leaping into the fray his great sword harvester in his hands,forged using ancient dwarven methods and enchanted to channel magic as well as any staff with ancient elven techniques and forged in the style of an ancient and very light elven longsword called a katana though much larger and with more squared tip that was better for thrusting. The spine and sides forged from soft starmetal and volcanic aurum alloy that left it pitch black except for the glowing blue ruins running along it,the edge tempered separately and made of razor sharp, blood red and qunari skull tough dragon bone this potent mixture of ancient and almost lost forging methods left harvester light as a broad sword yet it hit with enough force to cleave through all but the thickest armor.

Kenshen spun swinging Harvester over his head and bringing him down on the upraised shield of one of the monsters slicing straight down from the top and halfway through it's arm,normally this would've continued down through the arm like wet paper and exited out the bottom of the shield,he was startled to see this wasn't occuring. Instead he sent a mana parasite into the wound with a good bit of lightning and one last slice with Harvester sent the monster staggering away the parasite sending it's energy outwards in a violent explosion,damn he loved the walking bomb spell.

As it was he continued ducking dodging swinging Harvester's deathly smooth edge through armor and only having it's potency blunted as all of the momentum was absorbed by the under armor forcing him to start swinging again this was awkward and tiring for him because entire style consisted of swinging Harvester and keeping him going in a circle to keep momentum so he got maximum impact for minimum energy. He realized after having swung at 10 of the creatures and only killing one he was going to have to burn through the exoskeleton,so he started sending flames across the edge of the weapon increasing the heat till they turned blue then concentrating them into one continuous stream across the edge and swung at the nearest one easily burning through the armor but it took half a second on the under armor and in that time he sustained a gash on his arm but the under armor gave way he burned straight through the soft flesh.

"take that shit sucker" he cried triumphantly while rapidly aplying a small bit of poltuce from a container on his belt to the gash.

A full 30 minutes later the duo saw the last one of these creatures fall the villagers and guard were all dead or gone and most of the Darkspawn were dead as alpha was still alive however and walked up to him and said with the raspy voice and prominent lisp most talking darkspawn had,granted most talking darkspawn didn't have lips.

"We are being grateful for your arrival Warden" she rasped "My brothers and I were unprepared for these monsters if you had not come we would all be being dead"

"I see my reputation proceeds me as always" Kenshen responded with some amusement "but you are welcome my lady you should attend to your lost brothers while I tend to the wounds of my companion and I and see what we're fighting."

The big hurlock nodded and stalked back over to her troops and started barking orders while Kenshen went to inspect Callidus. he had returned to his usual fadecat form and frankly looked like he had been dragged through a horde of starving fire ants as Kenshen told him,his fur was ruffled and ragged due to the amount of small wounds he was covered in none of them looked especially serious except for one over his eye but he patched them all up anyways he couldn't risk the wounds getting infected the cat was from another dimension after all so he probably couldn't fight thedan diseases well if at all. Though it took all Kenshen's poultices which meant he had to leave a few small wounds open on himself any others however were cauterized that had been much more painful than any of the actual wounds but Antiva was warm and humid perfect for jungle rot and with him being from the frigid climate of Ferelden he didn't think it would be wise to test his immunity.

Kenshen having tended all the wounds he could despite his complete inability to do healing magic or any creation magic for that matter. At the moment however he was draining leftover energy and mana from the corpses using his entropy magic which was where most of his talent lay actually.

"Don't you have potions that can do the same thing and quicker" Callidus asked him Irritably,

angry at having sustained so many wounds during the fight and now he couldn't even smooth his beautiful coat because these damned poultices were plastered to him.

"Yes but these corpses are fresh and I'd hate to be wasteful" Kenshen answered rather maliciously

Callidus snorted in response a very odd sound coming from a cat and went to investigate these enemies that had taken them so long and so much effort to beat,with one claw he cut away the straps that held it's mail on and hissed with surprise as it fell away

"what did you find ehhhhh that's disgusting" Kenshen remarked with a grimace

staring down at the horrifying remains that lay before him cased head to foot in a shiny black shell with knees that faced backwards and elongated curved heels it had a wide head had a small crest on the top and a short, thick beak with mandibles on the sides kind of like a beaked locust it also had purple markings around the eyes,bulging eyes twice as long as a humans so long they stretched all the way around to the temple they were also completely lidless but as he inspected further he noticed they weren't eyes at all they were merely openings on the exoskeleton,to see the eyes he was going to have to dissect the disgusting creature. Though first he wanted to continue his superficial examinations before he got covered in the moldy blue greenish colored blood that was so hard to clean from his blade and armored robes.

After taking various samples of tissue from the shell,the barbed purple tongue,the claws and the horns Kenshen decided it was time to dissect one of the creatures. He looked for one that wasn't completely mauled or sliced into ribbons by the surgically precise edge of Harvester,as he looked through the corpses beginning to think Harvester and Callidus had done their jobs a bit too well,as he was looking he noticed that there were about 20 of the creatures corpses vs. the 12 visible templars and from the looks of the pyres on the outskirts of the village about 25 of about 40 darkspawn

"damn" he thought to himself grimly "they don't go down easy."

With Callidus's assistance Kenshen finally found one with only a shallow gash across it's arm he took it into the chantry, cleared off the alter and threw the corpse onto the makeshift operation table,though it was so tall most of it's legs fell off the end.

"How do you intend to cut through that shell" Callidus asked having used his revenant from to pull a pew up to the alter and now sat watching him like some bizarre medical student.

Kenshen did not answer but sparked a flame on his left index finger and focused it till it was dark blue and constant,and gently sliced through the shell on the head what he saw was moderately disgusting. The flesh was a sickly Grey color similar to lobster or crab which he being a native to Ferelden had never been fond of now he thought he'd never be able to look at it again.

The crest it seemed, was only part of the exoskeleton he noticed it wasn't connected to the flesh,as for the eyes there were 4 of them on the front of it's face and 4 on the back but it seemed only the lower pair on it's face where the only ones fully developed. It's mouth also seemed undeveloped he could see the beginnings of another beak. Further dissection showed the humps in the back of the creature

were developing wings they seemed to be the most developed part of the creature,but the most interesting part was that it seemed to have 2 hearts,4 lungs,2 pairs of what seemed to be a gizzard like organ like birds in their digestive tract based on the food and stones still in it as well as a few other unidentifiable organs and their developing duplicates.

"hm this seems like a pupae stage similar to what insects go through" Callidus observed

"my conclusions exactly"Kenshen replied not looking up " but look their muscles they're only thinly connected to the body inside the shell so its plausible they are detached when the creatures mature they probably only develop to the point of being usable then development slows considerably as nutrients are diverted to develop the secondary organs truly extraordinary"

"so they develop duplicate organs are they for use when they mature" Callidus speculated

"possible" he responded distractedly "but not likely only organs absolutely necessary for survival are being duplicated I think it's hard to tell most of these organs are completely new to me,but they probably serve as back up if the primary organs fail I'm going to have to dissect more subjects to obtain a real idea of what we're dealing with

he continued muttering to himself while cutting,extracting and taking samples of the creatures and making notes and sketches in a small book,a full 3 hours later his various tissue samples taken and preserved carefully,notebook stored away, a full body sketch and most prominent discoveries detailed in his codex he stood up and cracked the various stiff bones in his body.

Callidus awoke grumpy at having to sit on the pew with an ungroomed coat for so long while Kenshen played madman and cut these disgusting coppery smelling creatures into tiny pieces and preserved them in bottles

"finished now are you" he shot irritably

"yes I am" Kenshen replied with irritating cheer "now let's go we can still get a few hours of travel in before it gets dark."

Callidus growled annoyance but hefted himself up off the pew and trotted out beside his master the funeral pyers left the stench of burning darkspawn in the air and caused him to wrinkle his nose. The surviving fiends had probably left as soon as all the bodies were set fire to,as far as he knew they had no religion thus no funeral practices besides looting and burning all who fell.

"how did you know the Alpha was a female" Callidus inquired after a moment of thought

"huh" Kenshen said without thinking having been pondering what Morrigan and Urthemiel were up to. "oh her scalp"

"what do you mean" Callidus asked annoyed at his masters incomplete answers it bothered him more than usual because he was still grumpy about his coat (and withholding information was his job dammit!)

"exactly what I said" was the man's subtly amused reply

"you can't do that to me" Callidus said with an irritated hiss.

"why not? you do it to me" Kenshen teased

"yes but I can fill your tent with hairballs carrion and dead mice while you sleep" Callidus threatened

"you wouldn't put that much energy into something just because of an incomplete answer"

"do you really want to take that chance master"

"hm" Kenshen weighed the odds it was his use of the word master that worried him Callidus never called him that unless he had something nasty planned,he was also very curious and very immature so he wouldn't put it past the Fadecat.

"alright" he relented 'the most recognizable difference between male and female darkspawn is that the females grow patches of hair on their heads instead of being bald though they also have all the other...components of female anatomy but you can't tell under the armor "

"thank you" Callidus purred "and may I how do you know about darkspawn female anatomy" Callidus asked rather maliciouslu

"due to the most horrifying and unfortunate encounter with hurlock I have ever experienced" he replied

with a shudder

"ooooohhhhh what happened" Callidus asked seeing his advantage and pressing it

"you don't want to know" Kenshen replied "so I will tell you think of a female hurlock,chest plate straps snap and they don't where clothes underneath the armor".

Callidous shuddered and raised his hackles

"we will not talk about this again"

"agreed"

They walked in silence for awhile each absorbed in their own thoughts.

Callidus thinking back to when he had bound himself to Kenshen back in his own dimension.A place called Terra,he had been living as a rogue wanted and hunted by all other Caraban as they were called there as he was responsible for the death of their king. He had been attacked by some kind of fiend from the edge of the Forrest of Direnad the forest of the damned,as he lay wounded and dying there came from the shadows a man and his companion,but it was the man who commanded his attention a man with long black hair held out of his eyes with a black strip of cloth,large intense red eyes that looked capable of kindness and cruelty but most of all he sensed his air of calm authority,his incredible magical strength and intelligence. This man could save him,this man would meet his requirements for the contract ,his soul would be strong enough to survive the joining without twisting his mind,this man could be his master.

He had called the man over,sympathy but no pity sparked in his eyes when he beheld the dying Caraban which he noted with approval

"anything I can do for you you before you pass on" Kenshen had asked

"you could save me" the harsh desperate thought had echoed through the minds of of himself and Morrigan weakly

Callidus then added much more politely "if your in the market for a Caraban servant that is"

"hm a Caraban we don't even know hardly seems like a good servant" Morrigan had remarked with a note of disdain she didn't bother to hide.

"a funny talking apostate from a swamp hardly seemed like a good idea 3 years ago but I took a chance" Kenshen reminded her

Morrigan rolled her eyes in response then addressed the dying Caraban

"you seem to be dying and quickly too so how would losing your freedom save you"

"I can bind my soul to his and the contract would use his strength to heal me" the Caraban had rasped mentally.

Kenshen knowing full well how the contract worked he had to provide sufficient care and leadership and the Caraban would be his servant but it would devote vast amounts of time to breaking the contract, stretching the bounds of his orders and probably just being a general pain in the arse but he welcomed the challenge,now he would have someone else to have mental battles with besides Morrigan which he never got tired of really but a new competitor for his unofficial title of master manipulator would be welcome.

"you know how we Caraban sustain ourselves I hope?" He had asked sceptically

"by feasting upon the souls of the fallen and drawing upon their essences for strength yes I know how it works" Kenshen said casually as if he had asked him if he knew how the weather was "and don't worry we kill quite a lot of people so you won't starve."

"hm that may be but I would like to get at least a brief glimpse of the mind of the man whom I would be swearing my soul to " Callidus replied rather skeptically if a bit faint

"fair enough" Kenshen complied before Morrigan could protest he let Callidus get a glimpse of his mind allowing him just deep enough to see qualities and nothing else

The dying Caraban blinked weakly in surprise. This human wasn't from this dimension he could tell,but he knew of the Caraban that alone marked unusual intelligence since most natives of Terra knew little to nothing about them,there was also a complete lack of fear,a burning curiosity that contradicted the large amount of wisdom he possessed,along with a very open yet firm mindset he was confident in his answers and theories to things but was willing to reconsider with enough proof,there was something else he could sense it was like a twistedly gleeful,sadistic and oddly calm blood lust what he sensed madness. Callidus as convinced,this man would make a fine master.

"I still advise against this" Morrigan protested "we don't even know this creature"

"I doubt the creature will even be able to breathe unless I order him to after he's bound " Kenshen reasoned

Callidus had interrupted weakly "whats your name human?"

"Kenshen" he replied "and yours?"

"Callidus now let us begin"