It was not a normal day at the Circle. A sort of fluttering, nervous excitement had fallen over the it, much like the morning fog from the Lake Calenhad below.
"Wake up Anaise! Get up!" Jowan hissed, shaking the mage into wakefulness.
"Hmm, wassat?" Anaise mumbled, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. Before her stood Jowan, two years her senior, looking extremely nervous. Behind him was Sienna, who kept looking over her shoulder towards the door.
"What's wrong you guys?" Anaise asked, concern floating into her voice.
"You know how Cullen has been acting all fidgety all week? We finally got it out of him!" Jowan said in a rush, Sienna nodding along with wide eyes.
"Wha-"
"Your Harrowing is today! Gregoir with some of his lackeys are coming to get you now!" Jowan practically shouted at her, his voice growing towards hysteria.
"My Harrowing?" Anaise repeated, her voice pitching upwards with disbelief. "I'm only 18! That's ridiculous!"
"There's no time!" Sienna barked, glancing at the door once more. "At least get yourself together before they get here and take you the Chamber in your nightgown!"
Anaise practically bounded out of bed, running behind a changing curtain and pulling on her apprentice robes. "Are you guys absolutely sure? Completely positive it wasn't just Cullen pulling your leg or something?"
"No!" Called Sienna as Anaise washed her face and tried to calm herself as well as her unruly bed-hair. "I mean, he was stuttering all over himself when I finally got it out of him. That man couldn't lie if his life depended on it. It's gotta be-!"
The distinctive clank of armor, and a small gasp made Anaise's blood go cold. As calmly as possible, she pulled on her slippers and walked out from behind the curtain. Standing there as Knight Commander Gregoir, looking fairly irritated at Sienna and Jowan. He was flanked by three Templars , the last an overly anxious looking Cullen. His eyes were wide and apologetic. Staring at his ashen face made her stomach drop.
"Well I see you have already been informed…" Gregoir grumbled, a glare at Sienna and Jowan who stood to one corner of the large dormitory, trying and failing to look inconspicuous. "But no matter, you're up and ready now. Come."
Anaise walked slowly forward. Her normally glib manner gone, instead replaced by the bone-deep fear that was instilled in all mages at the Tower: fear of the Harrowing and what it might bring. No one was allowed to talk about what went on during the Harrowing. Those who had survived the experience and made their way to Senior Enchanters took a vow of silence on the matter. All they were allowed to know is that is was the one true way for the Templars and the Circle to know that a mage was vigilant and strong against demons and possession. (To be honest, Anaise knew that they just wanted to make sure mages were "safe" and if not, made safe through Tranquility, which was a whole different thing Anaise was uncomfortable about.) All the apprentices knew about the whole thing was that sometimes mages didn't make it out alive, for various reasons. With this thought in her head, Anaise slowly trod towards the Harrowing Chamber, circled by Templars.
The Harrowing Chamber was located at the top of the Tower. It was huge and open, with intricate stain-glass windows. It was by far the most beautiful room in the whole Tower, or at least, the most beautiful room Anaise had seen. As she took in the space, she noticed First Enchanter Irving. He stood off to one side, and after spying Anaise's pale face, he smiled, making him look more like a grandfather than an executioner.
"Irving?" Anaise started confused, and he joined the small party's steady march towards the center of the chamber.
"Do not worry. We would not have asked you to come if we did not think you were ready," Irving replied softly, a small smile on his face. His confidence helped ease her fears, however the shining blade of the Templars' swords did not.
"Here we are," Irving said breaking the tension. He stood next to a large basin of something that glimmered with it's own light. Lyrium, Anaise recognized.
Gregoir then moved across from Irving. "Well, you know why are you here, those two little weasels told you that much, but what you don't know is how this works."
Irving took over then, "The Harrowing is to test your metal, my dear. By using the lyrium in this basin, we will send you to the Fade."
"You're sending me to the Fade?" Anaise asked, trying to not let her hopefulness leak into her voice. The Fade? She had been there many times already! She visited it in dreams and had started to learn Fade Walking, an ancient Elvhen technique, when she was just 13. She had learned Shapeshifting from Fade Spirits at 15! If all she had to do was traverse the Fade, Anaise was golden!
"Yes child," Continued Irving. "From there you must defeat the demons who tempt you to pass. If not-"
"If not, and you are possessed or turned, the Templars here will stop you," Gregoir finished. Anaise paled again. She was confident in her abilities but not in Gregoir.
"You won't kill me unless I'm possessed right?" Anaise asked slowly, unsure if she should try running. She knew Gregoir didn't really care for her much. But as if sensing her thoughts, one of the three Templars, not Cullen she noticed, moved to guard the stairs.
"Yes Anaise," Gregoir sighed. "Believe it or not but we do not want to kill you or any other mages. Irregardless of how we feel about you or any mages, you are all people in the eyes of the Maker."
A short pause, then Anaise looked at Irving. "So I just…?"
"Touch it, yes," he responded. So she did and before she knew it she was in the Fade with her body unconscious on the chamber floor.
"I can't believe you're an Enchanter now!" Sienna raved, as she helped Anaise move from the dormitories to her own small room on the next floor.
"Yeah. Once they told me I was going to go into the Fade I knew I could do it" Anaise smiled at her friend. "It's not like I haven't been there before or anything!"