Dragon Age Abomination's Origin

by raw666

This is what happens when only a demon hears a girl cry and that ancient Desire Demon wants fusion, instead of possession. Read as this abomination mage changes the Dragon Age universe forever as the War and Blight threaten not only the mortal world, but also fade as well from the Archdemon. Abomination/Leliana Shianni/Alistair OC/Zevran Morrigan/Secret. Rewrite Complete

10. Chapter 10: Dreams are for Nightmares

Dragon Age Abomination's Origins

Chapter 10: Dreams are for Nightmares and Dwarves

Disclaimer: Yep, I still do not own this game. Didn't know Dragon Age had a third coming until recently.

Beta Readers: Albert

Last Update: 10/21/2014

Scene I

Shianni was in a dark place, a dark valley that had replaced her calm dreams. A valley filled with evil as a pitched black, sick purple dragon with red and black veins rose up from the valley, onto a ledge overlooking the dark valley lit up by torches from its minions, the darkspawn. Creatures that the dragon ignored as it held on a simmer of light as it roared echoed across the chasm and into Shianni's side. Shianni then began to shake as it turned towards her with a sickening roar and Shianni jumped awake as she roll and twitched out of her bed sack with a cold sweet from her horrible nightmare.

Shianni eventually rolled to her side, trying to regain her bearing when she notice Alistair was awake and he was starring at her. She raised her head towards Alistair as he asked her, "Bad dreams, huh?"

"It felt so real," Shianni commented as her pale face slowly returned to her normal tan color.

"Well, it is real, sort of," Alistair admitted. "You see, part of being a Grey Warden is being able to hear the darkspawn. That's what your dream was, you hearing them. The Archdemon, it… it 'talks' to the horde, and we feel it just as they do. That's why we know this is really a Blight."

"If that is the case, why didn't Duncan just tell everyone that?" Shianni asked.

"He did," Alistair told Shianni. "He said he felt the Archdemon's presence. Everyone just assumed he was guessing. It takes practice, but eventually you can block the dreams out. Some of the older Grey Wardens say they can understand the Archdemon, but I sure can't. Anyhow, when I heard you thrashing around, I thought I might tell you. It was scary at first for me, too."

"Thank you Alistair. I appreciate it," Shianni thanked Alistair with a heartfelt smile.

"That's what I'm here for. To deliver unpleasant news and witty one-liners," Alistair joked before he turned to see the third Warden, Aveline thrashing around in her cover. "Now I have never seen anyone react this badly. She may need more than words," Alistair stated before it got worse for the newest Grey Warden as Aveline gave an ear-piercing scream

Her screams were so loud that the entire camp awoke to something that would cause their own nightmares. They watched hopelessly as Aveline rose off the ground, screaming in pain as her clothing started to stain with her blood from large claw marks across her body. Her face had long gashes across her cheeks, as if the claws of a large animal had grabbed her and was trying to rip her body in two. It was then that Aveline woke up and unleashed a wave of mana to disrupt whatever dark hold held her before she dropped to the ground, unmoving.

As the mage twitched on the ground, Leliana came to her senses and rushed over to Aveline to try to help the girl as she removed her clothing to reveal long, deep cuts all over her body. Cuts that Morrigan recognized as she stated, "'Tis cuts I have seen them before, they look like they are created by dragon claws."

"How can you tell?" Shianni asked Morrigan.

Morrigan answered by telling them, "My Mother transformed into a high dragon against a squad of foolish templars when I was just a little girl. You can never forget the mutilated corpses."

"Okay, I can officially say that this has never happened before to a Grey Warden. Not even the old records reported such an attack before. This could be bad," Alistair nodded his head grimly as Leliana bandaged Aveline's wounds.

All the while, Aveline mumbled, "We won't tell. We won't tell you. Not in our dreams or even in death."

Scene II

The sun was beginning to rise when Aveline was finally able to move around camp. Her wounds had almost completely healed because of the strength of her medicine, healing spells and a bath in a nearby stream next to the camp. Once Aveline was fully dressed in her robes, Shianni asked a question that was on all of their minds, "What was that?"

"Remember when Alistair asked if we had had any weird dreams?" Aveline asked and Shianni nodded. "When we said 'yes,' we avoid mention that the fact that the Archdemon had taken an interest in us and now we know why. It wanted something from us. Something powerful, something that is very powerful."

"What do you mean?" Sten asked with a raised eyebrow.

"There are places in the Fade that hold much power. Power beyond all the worlds' magic and few know how to reach them," Aveline explained and the others perked up.

"Places that you know how to reach?" Morrigan asked and Aveline nodded 'yes.'

"Can you tell us?" Leliana asked and Aveline nodded her head 'no.' "Can I ask why? Is it because you don't… trust us?"

"It is not that we don't trust any of you," Aveline explained, "it is just that there are some secrets that must remain a secret forever and the fewer that know it, the longer it can remain a secret. That is why we can't tell you, for it is a secret that we plan to take to oblivion."

"So, not only do we need to worry about the Blight but also that the Archdemon is after one of us because he can sense that our only mage Grey Warden at the moment knows how to obtain the power that resides in the Fade. Oh, that is just wonderful," Alistair quipped.

"It shouldn't be a problem as long as we don't sleep normally," Aveline told the group, who all stared at her.

"Um, Aveline, I am pretty sure that everyone needs to sleep every now and then," Leliana stated as she stared at Aveline with concern.

Concerns that were unwarranted as Aveline had a plan, though maybe not one sensible to most people, but a plan nonetheless. "We don't need to sleep for four to seven days. And when we do need to sleep, we can use a drug that will send us into a comatose state. We won't be able to dream or use higher brain functions related to sleep, but we would still feel rested afterwards."

"You can do that? Wow, I bet many in the order wished they knew how to do that for that would be helpful," Alistair commented.

"However, there must be a catch, since you would have made some if there wasn't some problem," Morrigan pointed out.

"There are two," Aveline corrected Morrigan. "One is that we currently don't have all the ingredients needed, but that can be corrected by visiting a merchant. The second is that the body will not be able to wake up for at least twelve hours after taking the =potion as the brain all but shuts down from the potion."

"Is that really your only option?" Shianni asked.

"At this moment, it's the only option," Aveline stated as she stretched her aching body.

"Well, since we're going back into the town, I will pick up some supplies while we are there," Alistair explained while Aveline nodded.

"Well then, let's get on with it," Aveline stated as she gathered her stuff and moved to leave camp, much to the shock of its members.

"Now? You want to go now?" Shianni asked with a gapping mouth.

"We did not get a good night's sleep and we want to sleep soundly without fear. So yes, now," Aveline ordered as she left camp.

Sten and Shianni soon followed Aveline, followed by Morrigan while Alistair grumbled at missing breakfast before he too followed by the woman into Lothering, while off in the distance Sten saw two dwarves moving off in a ox drawn wagon.

Scene III

For the Grey Wardens and their companions, it was an odd sight returning to Lothering. The town was still crowded but with a dwindling population as the Chantry kept to its word and started hiring local mercenary forces like the Blackstone Irregulars to escort refugees to safety. Most of the refugees looked to the Irregulars as they only charged a small fee for their services. As they watched the village slowly empty, the group noticed a few merchants still hawking their wares in the city, trying to sell their goods to a desperate people before they flee while the town was begging to close shop. So Aveline and Leliana looked for ingredients to Aveline's dreamless sleeping potions while Alistair, Shianni, Sten and Morrigan turned in the bounties they unintentionally collected for the Chantry. Alone, Aveline and her support, Leliana found out the ingredients were more difficult to find then she thought, "What do you mean you do not have Rashvine nettles and madcap bulbs?"

"I'm sorry ma'am but even though those plants grow in Ferelden, they are very rare," explained a merchant. "I don't know anyone that sells them that doesn't get them from the northern portions of the kingdom, like Amaranthine."

Aveline sighed in annoyance as she stated, "Thanks for the help," before she moved on into the crowd with her companions.

She left with a minor twitch as she walked away, as Leliana tried to comfort the mage, "I'm sorry, Aveline."

Aveline let out a disappointed gruff, "Its fine, we just won't be sleeping anytime soon."

"Can't you make it without those two plants?" Leliana asked.

"Those particular plants dispel magic and cause misdirection. Combined they would keep us from having dreams in the Fade and keep the Archdemon away so we could we sleep," Aveline explained as she sighed. "Without them, we would have a regular sleeping potion instead of a dreamless one."

Leliana nodded in understanding as she thought to cheer Aveline up, "Well, at least we were able to sell the bandit's equipment to the refugees."

"But it wasn't as much as we should have gotten, but some extra silver never hurts," Aveline nodded as they walked through Lothering towards the Chantry board to find their four companions collecting their rewards. "Shianni, Alistair, Sten, Morrigan, we see you are doing better than we are."

"We sure are," Alistair smiled as he waved a new, curved long sword. "They were so impressed they gave me this enchanted sword, it's known as the Oath Keeper. It's not much but it will get the job done"

"Well, at least you got something out of this adventure," Aveline commented as Alistair flexed his sword. "We on the other hand were not as successful."

"You couldn't find those plants?" Shianni asked.

"No, it seems no one has Rashvine nettles and madcap bulbs," Aveline sighed in annoyance. "We did not see a hint of a green leaf plant with purple flowers or a yellow sunflower with a red bulb at its base. (Sigh) We'll just have to see if our next destination has them and hope for the best."

"And if they don't?" Shianni asked.

"Then we have no idea what to do," Aveline admitted.

The group was quiet until Sten spoke up, "What about those dwarven merchants we passed by?"

Aveline blinked in confusion while Shianni asked, "What dwarven merchants?"

"The ones we passed by," Sten stated with a raised eyebrow. "They were very odd when I first spotted them trapped behind the cage with a large selection of mismatch items. Some of them could fit your description as I saw a large number of purple plants among their goods. I remember the plants because I was looking for anything with the word purple at the time as part of a memory and observation mind game."

"Wait, you played 'eye spy' with yourself while you were in that cage?" Alistair asked with a glint of amusement.

"There are a lot of things in your language that start with the letter G," Sten explained, much to the amusement of Alistair before he got back on tract. "Anyway, I just saw them on our way here. They were heading North West by ox, out of Lothering, probably heading towards Lake Calenhad."

"If we ride on the horses donated by Loghain's men, we should be able to catch the slow ox before they reach the outskirts of Lothering's," Morrigan pointed out.

"Then let's go right now before we lose them," Aveline ordered as she rushed out of the town, followed by her companions. In an hour, they would be ridding hard away from the town. Only Leliana looked back longingly as they road off towards them, not realizing this would be the last time they saw Lothering intact.

Scene IV

Barely at the edge of Lothering's lands were two dwarves backed into a corner, away from their dead ox and a dozen darkspawn led by an alpha that mutilated the ox. The lead dwarf in merchant clothing backed-up as his short brown hair stood up along with his mustache and beard tied into five points as he held out a sword with poor form. He yelled, "Back, back I say!" as he looked for a way to protect a second dwarf, young enough to be his son.

The shaven dwarf with blond curly hair and blue eyes boy looked up, not in fear but instead with a grin as he stated, "Enchantment, we need enchantment."

"Not now Sandal my boy, as Bodahn is kind of busy," Bodahn stated as he shook in fear.

He felt his end would come until an arrow appeared out of the sky and went directly into the alpha's throat. That was the darkspawn's only warning before they were attacked with overwhelming force from atop some horses. The Grey Warden's group had come to save the day, not that Bodahn knew it at the time. Ridding on horseback, the qunari, Sten came in close before he jumped off his horse right into a small horde and he cut them down. He rushed through the darkspawn horde while Leliana and Shianni slashed with their knives and arrows any darkspawn Sten missed. All the while Ranger protected the two rogues while Alistair rushed in front of the two dwarves to stop any darkspawn that got too close.

To the dwarves, they were perfect as they watched the darkspawn get pushed back before the five were joined by the magical duo, Aveline and Morrigan. The two sent swarm of insects, hexes, lightening and wind spells right into the center of the darkspawn. Bodahn watched in shock as the darkspawn were swatted away like flies, until Aveline used Toxic Spear to kill the last darkspawn, leaving a very grateful dwarf in their wake as he walked up to Aveline and her troops.

"Mighty timely arrival there my friend, I'm much obliged," the merchant bowed. "The name's Bodahn Feddic, merchant and entrepreneur. This is my son, Sandal. Say hello, my boy."

"Hello," Sandal replied while he stared at Alistair with a far off look.

"The road's been mighty dangerous these days. Mind if I ask what brings you out here?" Bodahn asked.

"We were looking for you," Aveline stated as the group scavenged the darkspawn for anything of value. "We were hoping you might have some plants known as Rashvine nettles and madcap bulbs."

Bodahn blinked and smiled as he went to his wagon and pulled out the plants she mentioned, "Well, good fortune favors you as I still have the plants you need. Here take them with my compliments."

"Thank you," Aveline bowed as she put the plants into her pack while Bodahn smiled.

"You are welcome lass, I'm just glad to be rid of them to be honest," Bodahn explained as he double-checked his supplies. "Anyway, might I inquire who you all are? It would be proper to know my savior's names"

"Our name is Aveline Wolf Oracle, along with Grey Wardens Alistair and Shianni," Aveline introduce for the group. "Our companions are Leliana, Sten, Morrigan and Ranger."

"Grey Wardens you say, well that explains why you did not hesitate to kill the darkspawn. Just wish you were here before they killed my oxen" Bodahn exclaimed as he formed a thoughtful expression until he had an idea. "Say, since the roads are mighty dangerous, I was wondering if we could tag along."

"What?" Shianni asked for the group.

"I promise we won't be a bother and I'll sell my wares at a discount and buy merchandise at a high rate if you agree to let me travel with you," Bodahn quickly explained. "My boy, Sandal will also offer his enchantment services for free."

"And how's good is your son in the art of runes?" Aveline asked but got an unexpected answer when Sandal went up to Alistair and touched his armor.

"Enchantment!" Sandal yelled and activated every rune built into the armor designed for templars, increasing attributes when it came to will, dexterity, armor penetration and stamina.

"Wow," Alistair exclaimed as he flexed his new power. "I did not know my armor was enchanted."

"You did not know?" Morrigan asked in shock. "How could you not know? I wouldn't wear these robes or use my staff if they did not have runes that increased my magical power"

"I bought this armor for 15 sovereign," Alistair explained. "I thought it was just ceremonial."

"Wow, it cost me seven times more just to rebuild the armor I'm wearing and activate its runes," Leliana whispered as she traced the runes on her armor. Runes that increased her archer skill sets like dexterity, cunning, will and aim

Leliana did not realized she spoke out loud when Aveline, "Your armor probably did not cost as much as ours. It took a fortune to buy the custom-made robes, the weapons Day and Night Wolf Fangs, and the Staff of the Magister Lord with its ability to cause serious magical damage and increase the necessary power. It may have cost us a fortune, but they are worth it to have all our abilities enhanced, with an emphasis on magic and mana."

Leliana looked sheepish while Shianni looked left as Bodahn stated, "As you can see, my son is a natural when it comes to runes to the point that he can activate them without lyrium. He can also add any runes you want free. And if you don't have any, I sell a few runes for both weapons and armor my boy made if you are interested."

Aveline thought it was a good idea and wanted the opinion of the others, "Well, what do you think?"

"I think it would be foolish to turn them down," Morrigan pointed out. "While they may not be offering the moon, they are giving us a very good deal."

"Few people would be hurt and it would be beneficial to us," Shianni pointed out.

Just as Leliana added, "Plus we're not exactly merchants. When we tried to sell some extra things in Lothering, we were less than successful. So having experts wouldn't hurt."

The two warriors nodded in agreement while Ranger stuck his tongue out without a care. Aveline also agreed as she stated, "Very well, you can come with us."

"Sweet, I call dibs on the shield," Alistair stated as he pointed at square shield called Earth Heart's Portable Bulwark, another enchanted shield that magically increased a warriors attributes.

"Hold on Alistair," Aveline ordered. "We need to first get out of here before more darkspawn show up. We'll go through the merchandise once we have left the area."

Alistair backed down as the group quickly gathered two horses to attach onto Bodahn's wagon before they piled on their horses and the wagon and rode far away from Lothering. They never looked back as they moved on to their next exploits.

Scene V

It was miles away when the group stopped to make camp at mid afternoon. On the way, the group went through Bodahn's stuff, bartering and trading with the merchant while setting aside runes to increased their weapon's power. Alistair and Sten went for elemental damage, with a flaming, spiritual sword with wind to increase its power, and a lightening great sword with water enhancement along with silverite that increase the damage against darkspawn and undead. Along with some simple runes etched onto Shianni and Sten's armor for increased protection from an enemy's weapons.

Sandal had the time of his life as he was enchanting weapons and armor into the evening as Bodahn talked the ear off of anyone who would listen. Mainly Shianni, who was free, "So you were once from Orzammar, the only real dwarven city left in the world, until you had to run away because a noblewoman nearly had you executed because you had gloves that looked similar to her brother's after buying it from people who retrieved riches from old thaigs long abandon."

"Well, I guess that is one way to say it," Bodahn stated as he took a sip of broth. "It does lose some drama when put it that way."

"It still sounds amazing," Shianni smiled before she turned her head towards Sandal.

The boy was a mystery to the group. At first he seemed slow or simple minded, but that was far from the case as he was a savant when it came to enchanting and even making runes. Even the more magically attuned members of the group had ever seen such skill as he possessed. Aveline was extremely impressed and when she inquired about his skill, she got even more curious when he said, "It's a sign of magic returning to the world."

That is why Shianni switched focus onto Sandal as she asked Bodahn, "What about your son?"

"Ah, yes…" Bodahn commented as he stroked his beard. "I'm married to a fine woman back in Denerim, it is true. She would give me a son if she could, but… that's not likely to ever be."

"He's not your son?" Shianni asked in shock and Bodahn shock his head 'no.'

"I found him in the Deep Roads years ago. Abandoned, I think, and he was never quite right in the head. I took him in and brought him with me when I came to the surface. He may not be my blood, true, but I think of him as one," Bodahn smiled as he watched his son work.

"That's very generous of you," Shianni stated but Bodahn disagreed.

"It's not as if I don't benefit, mind you. It turns out the boy is a natural working with enchantments. He might even have been lyrium-addled. I never thought of that before, to be honest. It happens sometimes. But Sandal can work an enchantment on just about anything, given some time. He could probably open his own shop, if he knew how," Bodahn stated to Shianni.

Just before he broke into a chuckle as Sandal yelled his catch phrase, "Enchantment!"

"Well, he does seem to enjoy it at least."

Shianni agreed with Bodahn as Shianni got up, "I better see how the others are doing. Good night, Bodahn."

"Good night Grey Warden!" Bodahn called back as Shianni walked to the other side of camp.

On the other side of the camp, Aveline was making her dreamless medicine as she mixed her ingredients and ground them into a paste to dissolve into the liquid in a flask she held over the fire. After an hour of cooking the liquid, she took the flask out from the fire. She then waited as it cooled and the concoction crystallized. As she waited for her medicine, she decided to take the opportunity to train her two warrior companions in some extra skills, improve the skills of her allies and to keep in shape herself. Each warrior had a skill that could be useful to the others and Aveline felt it important to have some extra skills.

So the group took this chance for extra training and began to learn from the others. Alistair particularly got a chuckle out of teaching his templar skills to Sten, despite promising not to. Aveline gave each magical scrolls and techniques in how to use them in their attacks as they tested their new skills in pairs. Alistair faced off against Leliana while Morrigan faced off against Sten. Shianni watched their progress.

Alistair used a style called the Spirit Warrior due to his interest in magic as he faced Leliana. While Aveline would not say how she did it, Alistair was able to use magic from the Fade to increase his strength as he rushed Leliana. The swirl of magic made it easier to deflect Shianni's arrows as he moved up close to attack with a blade that was dark with the purple of spiritual energy. He struck at Leliana and she was able to catch Alistair's sword with her bow and hold it with strength she did know she had. She was able to keep up with Alistair and even was able to take a hit she missed that would have hurt her by using the dwarven technique known as a Legion Scout she learned.

Aveline was convinced they were done as she directed them to stop quietly and directed Sten and Morrigan to fight. Sten took it as an opportunity as he rushed Morrigan with his sword raised high but Morrigan, trained as a battle mage swatted him away with a burst of wind, sending Sten backwards. Sten grunted as Morrigan summoned an elemental field to keep Sten back. It was not as powerful as Aveline's, but it was enough to keep Sten back. Sten, frustrated at the magical attack unleashed a mana disruption field that took down Morrigan's field before she was hit by a Holly Smite. The attack knocked Morrigan to the ground hard as she lost focus.

She growled as she pushed herself off the ground, "You did not need to hit me that hard."

"Your opponents will not show mercy," Sten pointed out with a blank face. "If you could not take one hit, then maybe you're not as powerful as you think."

Morrigan tsk, "Are you trying to get me angry."

"You're doing well enough yourself," Sten shot back, and Aveline took it as a sign to step in.

"Okay, that's enough you two," Aveline stated as she stepped. "Sten, we can't treat live training as full contact. It would not be wise to lose people before meeting the enemy."

Sten nodded as he backed down, "Very well."

"Morrigan," Aveline directed at the witch who stared back at the qunari who now was walking away.

"I'll stand down if he will," Morrigan added as she put up her staff. "Though be warned, if he tries that again, I will retaliate in kind and he'll be a bloody smear on the landscape."

"Whatever," Aveline sighed as she grumbled, "we don't need this."

She turned to see Shianni in front of her with her medicine in hand, crystallized into small greenish white crystals within the beaker. "I think they are done Aveline."

"Excellent!" Aveline exclaimed as she took her medicine and dumped them into a red health poultice. "This should count as a week's worth of sleep in half a day!" Aveline smiled as she mixed the crystals until a unified green color in the health poultice

"So this will help you sleep?" Leliana asked as she looked at the now green liquid.

"Yes and it is suppose to be fast acting too. It will act just as quickly as a health poultice does to wounds when applied and drunk correctly," Aveline explained to the group.

"In other words, if the wounds are minor, it will act immediately," Morrigan commented and Aveline nodded yes before she turned her head towards Shianni.

"You will have to take care of things while we sleep."

"Don't worry, I got everything taken care of," Shianni told Aveline.

"Which is a relief, especially since Alistair is not in charge," Morrigan added.

"Ah, well there goes my plan of having you go missing," Alistair shot back to Morrigan. "After all, me leading and losing my pants in the process is worth it if I can make you disappear."

"Please don't attack each other while we are asleep," Aveline stated. "We want to return to camp when this is over."

"Don't worry, I'll make sure everyone plays nice," Shianni stated.

"And we'll be on our best behavior," Leliana promised Aveline.

"Bottoms up," Aveline cheered before drinking the sleeping potion, ready to escape the ensuing argument to come.

"So Aveline, how long until…" Leliana did not get to finish, as Aveline fell to the ground, dead to the world.

"Wow, that was fast acting," Alistair had quipped.

"Indeed," Sten nodded as everyone took care of things while keeping an eye out for darkspawn as Aveline was 'sleeping' without nightmares. Too bad, it only lasted twelve hours.

Scene VI

In Aveline's last sleeping minute, she dreamed as she moved out of her comatose state. She dreamed not of darkspawn, but of a stone fortress. High in the fortress tower a wicked old man with fangs experimented on living men while in the tower's bottom, demons and corpse' stalked about.

The old man turned to face Aveline as it snarled, "Stay out demon," before he forced Aveline to the waking world, where Leliana was looking over her, making sure she was all right. Aveline almost cracked a smile as she greeted Leliana.

"Well, looks like our day got brighten by the angle before us," Aveline stated with a small smile as Leliana began to blush.

"Well," Leliana chuckled as she helped Aveline up, "I am glad to be able to brighten your day."

Aveline nodded as she shook the kinks from her stiff body and took in the sights of camp. It was a sunny day and she noticed they were alone. "Where are the others?" Aveline asked.

"They are dealing with our guest," Leliana answered.

"Guest?" Aveline asked.

"Yes," Leliana nodded before she explained to Aveline what she had missed while sleeping. "A man name Levi Dryden was hoping to collect a favor that Duncan had promised him."

"Where are they?" Aveline asked and Leliana pointed to them.

Aveline walked over to them to hear a brown-headed man with a short beard tell the history of his family, the Drydens. The Drydens were once a noble family that fell by King Arland's hands, just before Arland's death and the war of succession that followed, which destroyed much of Ferelden's history. He was also the same King that had banished the Grey Wardens from Ferelden a century ago, and he gave no apparent reason other than the lie that the Wardens were a waste of resources.

Levi suspected it was tied to Sophia Dryden, who was a hero in charge of the Ferelden Grey Wardens at the time; a woman whose family was revered to this day. So revered that is was one of the reasons Levi and his family along with several others convinced King Maric, King Cailan's father, to allow the Grey Wardens to return after a hundred years of exile. It was then that he met Duncan when Genevieve was the leader of Ferelden Grey Wardens, before her premature death.

It was at that point that Aveline walked in. "Fascinating history, but it does bring up the question of what do you want?"

"Aveline, good to see you awake," Alistair spoke up with a squeak. "Did you have a good night's sleep?"

"We are very rested and ready to continue on in the mortal world, um… Levi is it?" Aveline asked the man.

"Yep that is me, Levi the Trader, Levi of the Coins," Levi answered Aveline with a small smile before he continued his conversation. "Anyway, I was here to ask you to help my family uncover the truth. My family reveres Sophia Dryden. We know she died at the old Grey Warden base, Soldier's Peak. We want evidence to clear her name. It won't restore our land or our tittles, but it'll restore our honor."

"You don't need the past to do it," Aveline stated. "Honor is how you make it."

"Perhaps, but it wouldn't hurt for the past to help us restore our honor," Levi told Aveline.

"That is wise," Sten stated as he nodded along, "assuming that the past even holds one's honor."

"Why don't you go up there yourself?" Shianni asked out of curiosity, slowly stepping up as the group's second in command.

"Well, no one's been to Soldier's Peak since Arland's days. At least none that's come back," Levi admitted. "I spent years mapping the maze of tunnels to the peak. And I found the way a few years back. So I went to Duncan, I did, and I said that he could reclaim the old base and my family could have its honor."

"Why didn't Duncan help you?" Alistair asked.

Levi answered Alistair, "Darkspawn surfaced in southern Ferelden and Duncan got very busy recruiting new Wardens and meeting with good King Calian. Duncan said he would help after the battle of Ostagar. Said there might be useful things at the Peak but he never had the chance."

"What is it you need exactly?" Aveline asked.

"I can pick my way through the tunnels at the base of Soldier's Peak, but the place… well they say it's haunted, and it'll be dangerous for certain. Especially since Loghain's men are supposed to be heading that way too," Levi explained to Aveline.

"Why would Loghain try to claim the old Fort?" Shianni asked in shock.

"Many reasons," Levi stated. "Duncan said Soldier's Peak is of strategic and symbolic importance. Important records were kept there, and a few old relics that were designed to fight the darkspawn. For anyone to claim it would be a major victory to anyone for the war against the darkspawn and possibly for Ferelden as well as it can be used as place to hold their last stand."

"Group huddle," Aveline ordered and her companions huddled to talk among themselves.

"We need to stop Loghain, there some pieces of Grey Warden history there that if it gets out will do some serious harm to their reputation," Aveline explained.

"What are you talking about?" Shianni asked.

"The Grey Wardens had done some extreme things to end the Blights that would be very harmful if the public finds out," Aveline explained to Shianni. "The least harmful was that they recruited blood mages in their battle against the darkspawn."

Shianni and Leliana were shocked, especially when Alistair confirmed it, "I know blood magic is terrible, but the Blight is worst and we must do what we must to fight it."

"That's terrible," Leliana shook. "That they allow such corruptible evil within the order."

"Maybe, but blood magic is not the only thing corruptible or the most dangerous. Sometimes a noble corrupted by the power they wield is more dangerous than a blood mage. An outside force not apparently tied to human nature is easier to swallow then what men can do in the name of greed," Aveline pointed out to the group.

"Well outside of that cheery thought, I just want to make we agree it's important to get to the Keep first," Shianni suggested and Aveline noted in agreement.

"Yes, but the problem is that we have to pass Lake Calenhad to get to the Coast Lands and then onto Soldier's Peak," Aveline explained. "To get to Lake Calenhad is at least a full day's travel by the horses we stole from Loghain's men."

"Don't worry, we have time," Alistair explained. "While you were out, I saw some traveling templars and intercepted them to get them away from our group. I just talked to them and they told me that the entire country is in disarray with all the maleficarum (evil mages) showing up from the wood works. Oddly enough, some of them claim to be under the command of this Rendon Howe. They disappeared days later and the templars who were holding them were killed."

"I believe that. Howe attacked the Cousland castle with a blood mage," Shianni pointed out as Alistair continued.

"Well regardless if it's true or not, the point is that they have their hands full. So it would take weeks before they could gather the forces to call a march against the Circle. Especially when you count its takes five to six days to get to Denerim from Lothering, and it would take a week from Denerim to get to the Circle as they gathered enough men to take the Circle."

"How far is it to Soldier's Peak?" Aveline call out to Levi.

"Three days on foot," Levi told Aveline.

"That is plenty of time to go there and back before the tower is threatened," Leliana stated.

"It also means we can't stop for anything, including Lake Calenhad," Aveline sighed in annoyance as she turned to the qunari. "We're sorry Sten, but we are going to have to wait in finding your sword."

"That is fine as we have more pressing concerns then to look for a lost sword," Sten told Aveline so bluntly she could not tell if he was sad or uncaring about the news. At least she could count on his loyalty at the time.

With their course set, the group agreed to hit the fort first, much to the delight of Levi. Especially, since they decided they could not waste time and immediately went on the move. They broke camp with Bodahn and Sandal proving their worth by as the picked up the camp quickly and loaded it onto the horses and wagons provided by Bodahn. They ran as fast as they could to undercover the past, as well as uncover a dream tied to the fort.

Scene VII

High up in a large tower that stood tall over the whole fortress, a old man in green robes looked over the courtyard, watching in disdain as he surveyed the snowy field. "Oh you demons, you monsters, you have no idea what is coming," the old man chuckled, "But soon you will as I can sense it. The Grey Wardens are coming to correct the past through dreams I left in that boy's mind. And once they fix the gaping hole you monsters left behind, I can continue my work."

The man continued to chuckle in glee as he rubbed the skull of the man that was trapped behind a iron cage, "After all, power and progress will wait for no man, and the truth of our rebellion will come to the light," the man hysterically laughed.

Well done with the rewrite, now the Keep is in one chapter. Keep reading to find out what happens next.

Omake

In the center of a burning crater were an old man and woman looking over a child. The man named Jon started by asking. "How did a child survive that? The crater is still smoking, but it's a boy with five fingers and five toes, that is really all that matters to me. The Maker has answered our prayers! Let's go home, Marta, and raise the tyke as our own."

As the group watched them take the child away, Aveline asked, "Why does this seem familiar? And why do we think, it's a bird, it's a dragon, no it's Superman?"

The group raised their shoulders in confusion and just took the raw orb from the crater that was crafted into a legendary sword, a sword that could be used to save the world from dangers beyond this world. The weapon was destined for a man that would have the strength of a hundred qunari, or something like that. It mattered little to them as they had darkspawn to deal with, and so they left to finish their quest.

Author Notes

1) Aveline now needs dreamless sleeping potions to sleep at night. Bet you wonder what is it that Aveline knows that the Archdemon was after. Too bad I am not telling, at least yet.

2) I did a lot of changing around for the rewrite, including Bodahn's scene. Especially as I looked back at it, I felt the characters were cheated and made them not so important despite being such in later chapters.

3) I thought since the mage could call to Levi in his dreams, then a sedated Aveline would be able to hear it too if he's nearby.

4) For major quest, I wanted to do Soldier's Peak first, so I added Loghain to give a reason to go their first. I felt it odd that his men weren't there in the game to claim the fort but figured since he thought it would be unless.

Character Stats

Name: Alistair

Added School: Spirit Warrior

Nest

Name: Sten

Added School: Templar