I own nothing of Dragon Age. Amilee is my bad #&, however.
When the group had entered Adamant, Wynne directed everyone down, where she recalled her friend's laboratory should reside. She lit her staff for light, barely enough to stave off the darkness closing in around them.
"So," Rhys started as he backed up to walk next to Amilee. "You must be a pretty powerful mage to retain an animal form for so long."
Amilee quietly responded, "Yes. You would do well not to ask me about it."
"Oh, please. You're about, what, twenty-one, twenty-two? Where did you study, if not in the Circle. With the Chasind," Adrian commented wryly.
Shale, who's footsteps boomed in front of them, growled, "This one knows very little to assume the tiny mage is that young."
Pursing her lips in annoyance, Amilee responded, "I fought alongside the Hero of Ferelden during the Blight. That's how Wynne and I met."
"You must be joking," Evangeline scoffed.
Wynne smiled softly, while her eyes remained forward. "Not many people were privy to her presence. But she speaks the truth."
Rhys smiled. "Fascinating. So how old are you then?"
"Does it really matter right now?" Amilee snapped.
Shale turned to stare at them, the light in the pits of its eyes glowing red. "Perhaps the mages wish to cease their nattering, lest they draw unwanted attention? I care not, but soft and fleshy creatures should take greater care for their innards."
Amilee snickered to herself as Rhys and Adrian immediately quieted.
Evangeline took point, warily keeping her sword at the ready.
It was for good reason. It sounded as though things were moving beyond, but the way the passages worked they couldn't tell how far away they were. Sometimes it seemed as if they'd be around the next corner, or just behind them. It was unnerving.
After coming down the long stairs, they first passed through what might have been an antechamber. It was empty save for the blood that covered the floor and walls. Scraps of bloody cloth, bits of jewelry. It smelled like a butcher's shop. Still no bodies, however.
"Ugh, "Amilee groaned in disgust.
"I'll give them this," Rhys muttered. "These people really know how to redecorate."
"It's very welcoming," Evangeline agreed humorlessly.
"Perhaps the White Spire should consider a similar theme?"
"Where would we get all the blood?"
"With a tower full of mages? That's not a serious question."
"True."
Adrian glared at Rhys like they were mad and Amilee chuckled helplessly.
Suddenly, there were more stairs and branching hallways leading out from the bottom landing. Wynne confidently steered the group in the right direction: right, then left. Down a flight of stairs, then around a corner. Amilee mapped their procession in her mind, in case there was need of a sudden flight.
"How many people lived here, anyhow?" Rhys asked.
"Several hundred, as I recall," Wynne answered.
"But there's room for a thousand."
"As I said, this was once home to the Grey Wardens. At the height of the Second Blight they very likely had more than a thousand men . . . and griffons."
That perked the Knight-Captain's interest. "Griffons?"
"Of course. The old weyrs opened onto the chasm. They're sealed up now, but I understand they're still down there. Either way, this place has stood mostly empty for centuries."
"But if there were hundreds of people here . . ."
The thought was left unanswered. There had been, at best, two dozen bodies in the courtyard. That left a lot of people unaccounted for. All the blood left little to the imagination as to what had become of them, but how had they died? And where were their bodies?
They proceeded through several more rooms, once used for storage. The crates looked as if they'd been torn apart by animals, leaving a mix of grain and food strewn about. It was everywhere, some of it mixed with blood, a lot of it rotting. Flies filled the room en mass, flitting and buzzing about their heads.
A noise was coming from the room ahead. It was pitch black there, only the doorway lit by Wynne's staff... but they could see the hint of movement. They heard a low droning, and the sound of many things shifting about. Hundreds of things.
Amilee groaned again, curling her lip in distaste. "Undead."
Evangeline tensed, staring into the darkness. "Arm yourselves," she whispered.
Amilee pulled out two daggers in anticipation, as Rhys willed his staff to life, slowly channeling magic until it crackled with white energy. Adrian did the same.
Wynne quietly cast a spell, moving her hands in intricate patterns until light streams of energy appeared and settled onto each of them, except for Amilee, who absorbed the spell to heighten her power.
"Shale." Wynne motioned to the golem. "You go first. Ser Evangeline will be right behind you."
"Flesh creatures are so easily pulverized," it agreed. Clenching its huge stone fists, Shale charged into the room. The others followed right on its heels, Wynne causing her staff to flare brightly.
They wished she hadn't.
The room might once have been a barracks of some kind, but now it was changed into a morbid, monster nest. In the glaring light, they could see a huge crowd of people... or what had once been people. Now they were twisted creatures, gorging themselves on meat and bloodied flesh. They crawled over piles of bones and even each other like primitive beasts, fighting over scraps. Their skin was covered in blood and filth, little more than rags remaining of whatever clothes they'd once worn.
"Ewwwww, gross, gross, gross! Friggin zombies," Amilee wined to herself, shuddering from the sight. She wasn't so callous that she didn't care the beasts had once been people, but she never expected she would one day have to fight the undead. She was not one of those who were obsessed with the apocalypse back in her world and it always freaked her out, almost as badly as darkspawn.
As the horde spun around to stare at the intruders, their eyes shone like malevolent beacons, as if some dark force spilled out from inside them. They bared sharpened, bloody teeth, hissing and growling.
"Beware!" Evangeline cried. She raced forward as the nearest creatures rushed at her. The first she cleaved nearly in half with her sword, but the others leapt on her and almost dragged her to the ground.
Amilee came from behind to swipe her daggers around, forcing the enemies off her ally, and one immediately sprang back up, hissing loudly. Evangeline took off its head with a great swing.
Shale was already ahead of them. The golem charged forward, each step making an earth shattering boom. It scooped up several of the possessed men and women in its arms and threw them across the room. They screeched as they sailed through the air, plowing into others and knocking them all down.
Already more were climbing over Shale. As it tore each one off, another replaced it. Shale resorted to ignoring them, swinging about with its fists as the creatures tried to get to Amilee and to the mages beyond. Each one it struck was sent flying from the impact.
But more were coming. A surge of them rushed into the room, howling and screaming in outrage as the tawny haired mage cast a cacophony of force to push them back.
Behind them, Wynne, Rhys, and Adrian prepared themselves.
A ball of black energy burst from Rhys' fingertips and hurtled across the room. It flew past Shale and Evangeline, and when it struck the far wall it expanded. It became a sucking void, drawing the nearest creatures into it. They disappeared into its depths, screaming. And then it grew, its power becoming more immense. A ring of blue energy surrounded it, sucking air, debris, and everything else into its core. Creatures not close enough to be drawn inside were slowed, as if fighting against a powerful wind, they bent down and struggled to take even the slightest step.
Amilee took advantage of this and sent a few of her kunai to fly like arrows, wiping through a half dozen or so of the creatures, slicing them to ribbons.
Adrian was next. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes they glowed red with flame. She held up a palm and a swirling ball of fire coalesced over it. Then she threw it, and as it flew it grew larger and hotter. It struck a group of creatures and exploded into an inferno. They emitted earsplitting screeches as the flames engulfed them.
Wynne fired lightning from the tip of her staff. As each bolt struck a creature, killing it instantly, the energy arced to another nearby. Still more of the creatures managed to get by Evangeline and Shale, and as they rushed at Amilee, Wynne unleashed a wave of cold. The entire group froze solid where they stood. Still others ran around their frozen comrades, ignoring them completely. Wynne blasted several, but one leapt high up into the air. It descended with fangs bared, knocking her to the ground.
"Wynne!" Rhys cried. He launched a magical bolt from his staff, hitting the creature just as it was about to sink its fangs into her neck. It was blown off, and as it scrambled to its feet, Amilee stabbed it in the head with a iced over dagger and it fell back to the ground, frozen solid.
Wynne gave the two a grateful look, and they all continued to fight the hoard.
"There's too many!" Adrian shouted, although they could barely hear. Each lightning bolt Wynne fired filled the chamber with thunder. That, combined with the screaming of the creatures as they swarmed Evangeline, Amilee, and the golem, made it deafening.
"I know!"
Adrian looked out at the mass of creatures. Rhys did the same.
Already, more pushed past Shale, who all but crawled with them. Even though the golem was made of stone, they were still strong enough to slowly tear it to pieces. Evangeline was wounded as well, blood flowing from a gash on her forehead down her face and over her armor. Amilee remained unmarred save for the onset of exhaustion, the lack of free range mana wearing her out. They were all sweating, and wouldn't be able to keep this up for long.
"I'm going to summon the storm!" Adrian concentrated, pressing her palms together and forming a ball of red flame, which slowly began to grow in intensity.
"No! You'll kill Evangeline and Amilee!"
"It's either that or we're all dead!"
"I can cover myself!" Amilee shouted, close enough to hear them, and cast a barrier over herself.
Rhys dashed to warn Evangeline, reaching her and knocking her to the ground to cover her. And then the firestorm began. It was an immense display of the red head's power despite the fact she had already used much of it. The many beasts screamed as they burned, scrambling in vain to avoid the flames. When it was over, the room was blessedly silent.
"Mages are occasionally useful," Shale grudgingly admitted, as she stood to brush off the ash from her shoulders.
Both Wynne and Adrian lay on the floor not far away and Amilee and Rhys went to one each. Neither moved.
Wynne looked singed and disheveled, but otherwise unhurt, and waved Amilee away with a scowl.
Adrian was deathly pale, barely breathing.
"Adri?" Rhys whispered, fear in his voice.
"Am I dead?" she moaned.
He laughed in exhausted relief. "Not yet, no."
"That's a shame . . ."
Evangeline walked over, sheathing her sword. Coated in blood and soot, she looked every inch the battle-hardened warrior she was. "There doesn't seem to be any more. We're safe, at least for the moment."
Wynne lit up her staff again, nodding with approval when she saw Shale was unharmed, and looked about. "The passage on the far side leads into Pharamond's laboratory. He is inside."
Evangeline looked incredulous. "You can't think he's still alive!"
Wynne gave her a serious look. "I do."
Amilee's mind indeed buzzed with the nearby presence of a demon. "It is just beyond. Since I cannot proceed any further without the risk of hurting him, I will make sure we will have no surprises waiting for us on the way back up."
Wynne looked at Amilee and nodded her agreement, but the others looked at her like she had grown a second head.
"What do you mean by that?" Evangeline demanded.
Sighing with impatience, Amilee responded, "Demons don't whisper to me, templar. If they are physically present in the real world, I absorb them like a normal mage would absorb lyrium. If they are possessing a body or in the Fade, I absorb them by touch. I don't know why I am thus, but it is what it is. Now if you don't mind, we have better things to do."
"Do be careful, dear," Wynne said, smiling tightly. Shale nodded behind her and the others stared on as she turned to go back the way they'd come.
When she was out of their line of sight, she dashed through the storage rooms, down the corridors to the stairs, a familiar hum growing within.
"Rhys?" came Cole's voice, echoing from up the top flight. "No wait, warmth. A-Amilee?"
She took each step two by two until she reached him at the top. His light blue eyes were wild upon her, his fear and confusion apparent.
"Amilee?" he whispered in shock.
She smiled widely and moved slowly to reach out to him, halting her hand just before touching his arm. "Hi, Cole."
"You're a girl now," he stated, cocking his head to the side as he studied her from her feet to her face.
"Last time I checked," she quipped happily, looking down at herself as well. "Although I'm probably twice as old as you, so that would make me a woman." Her gaze came back up to look him over, making sure he was all in one piece. "I'm going to hug you now. I've been wanting to since we met. Is that okay?"
He gave her an odd look, wiping at his clothes absently but then nodded his head.
She only just came up to his shoulders, even while he was slouched. She managed to tucked herself in his arms, hers folding around his lean frame tightly. After a moment or two, he seemed less awkward about it and settled to embrace her as well, his chin sitting on top of her head.
Somehow, it felt right to be there, more so now that she was human than she did in wolf form. Time slowed as he sighed, adjusting his hands at her back.
"You're so warm," he noted with awe and she felt him playing with the ends of her hair.
His true meaning was lost on her. "Well I may not be a wolf now, but I do layer myself fairly well."
"You didn't come to me last night," he pouted at her softly, tightening his grip. "I was scared you forgot me..."
She smiled at his attempted guilt trip. "Wynne needed me. I'm sorry, hun. I can't be in two places at once."
"That would be hard, yes. Where's Rhys?" he asked quietly, as they reluctantly pulled apart.
Taking his hand gently, she replied, "I'll show you the way." She slowly led him down the stairs, but then halted abruptly at the bottom.
The slight buzz from the demon overcame the hum, and her skin crawled. "Cole," she cried as a ringing in her ears started, and she turned to see her friend falling to his knees, holding his head as if in pain. Kneeling over as if to shield him, the Veil tore open and they were both yanked into the Fade.
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