My next chapter has arrived! I hope you enjoyed the last one. Please, do not hesitate to leave reviews. I appreciate the views going up when I post a chapter, but a review here and there is highly appreciated as well ;-) Anyway, enjoy this chapter!

We arrived early in the little town. Something did not feel right though. It seemed as if this town was a ghost town. There was nobody left, and it was extremely quiet. Soon after we arrived I felt the familiar tugging inside of me. Darkspawn. We moved further into the little village and saw the Darkspawn I felt earlier. They weren't any different than the others we fought. After they'd been killed I looked around. The village was no more than a couple of houses all pointed towards the golem in the middle. This might be the golem that we were looking for. I moved towards it and said the words I received from the man who gave me the rod. Nothing happened.

"It looks like that guy betrayed us, or was given the wrong password himself." Alistair said.

"I hope for him it's the latter." I replied back. I looked around some more and decided to try and see if the doors of the houses were open. While I did that Alistair started looting the corpses with the rest. After having tried almost every door, one finally opened.

"Let's go guys, I found an open door. Let's hope we can find out more about the golem in here." I barely finished my sentence when I already moved into house. Darkspawn seemed to have taken over everything here, as I felt the tugging inside me again. I let out a sigh. - Here we go again - In the house we also found some strange crystals. One was placed on a desk. There were quite a few papers with it as well. I moved towards the crystal. It was pretty, and almost seemed like a diamond of some sort. I put out my hand to touch it, and before I was even close I could feel this wasn't a regular crystal. There was magic surrounding it. I ignored my instinct to walk away from it and picked it up. It didn't seem to do anything to me. I turned around and put it in the pack I carried with me.

"This might come in handy. Maybe. If we'll find out what it's for..." I grinned. We moved further into the house and, with the occasional Darkspawn, we found a barrier. We noticed people were behind it, hiding from the Darkspawn who we had killed. For them, the house was safe again now. I couldn't help, but think that these people were very lucky to have this barrier raised up somehow. While the rest decided to sit down for a moment and get some rest after the fight, I moved towards the man behind the barrier.

"Thank the Maker you have found us!" he exclaimed. "I thought we were going to die here for sure!"

"It's more luck based I'm afraid, but I'm glad we could help. Have you raised this barrier yourself?" I asked. The man nodded and prepared himself to remove it for us. While he did so, my curiosity won it from me. I moved closer to the barrier and touched it. My touch caused the barrier to ripple on that spot, like water would do when a rock is thrown in. The man removed the barrier and we walked towards the group. Everyone was relieved they were finally freed and after being reassured that the Darkspawn wouldn't return as we had slain them, they moved out of the house. I focussed back on the man. Something seemed to bother him, but I couldn't help being a bit selfish and ask my question first.

"That golem outside, is it broken?"

"The golem? What do you want that for! It hasn't worked for years." He started to look annoyed now.

"Well... We have received the words for it to be released, but it failed somehow. We believe the man who gave us the rod either betrayed us or gave us the wrong words."

"Which have you used?" he asked. I told him what words I received and he started to grin.

"That isn't correct no. The golem used to belong to my mother once. After it did more harm than we could handle, she made sure it could never be used again. I'm afraid I can't help you."

"If your mother knew the correct ones she must have told you about it." I continued. The man sighed, obviously not content with my pushing. Then I noticed something flicker in his eyes.

"Actually, there is something you can do. If you'll help me, I'll give you the correct words for the golem. Maybe it's better that it leaves this village."

"All right, what can we do for you?"

"My daughter got scared of the Darkspawn and ran further in the house through this door." he pointed towards the open door next to him. "If you get her back up here, I will reward you with the correct sentence. I'm afraid something has happened in there." I nodded and with my companions, moved through the door. This part seemed darker than the rest of the house, and somehow it felt more like a cave than a basement. Morrigan came up next to me. I could tell that she had noticed something.

"Magic?" I asked her. She nodded in return. I wouldn't feel any Darkspawn here, but same as in the Circle Tower these would be demons, I figured. We moved further and suddenly, when we were in the middle of the first room, four demons spawned around us. Everybody immediately started to do what they did best and it didn't take long for them to die. When we finally arrived in the last room, I could see a little girl talking to a cat. Alistair, who walked in front of us, nearly walked through the doorway when I stopped him.

"Look. It's.. different. Can you see what I mean? As if another barrier has been raised here to protect something."

"Tis probably to keep something in that room." Morrigan continued. "Can you see that square thing overthere? Maybe something is trapped within."

"We'll have to get in there anyway, as you promised to save the girl, Ave." Alistair noted.

"True. Okay let's move in and see what we're up against." When we moved in the cat stared at me. I started to feel strange. I tried to ignore the cat and speak to the girl.

"Your father is waiting for you. Are you coming with me? I know he would be very glad to see you as he's really worried!"

"I can't leave kitty alone here! We were just playing. Can she come?"

"I'm sorry, she can't. If you get to your father I'll see what I can do though?" I said, trying to persuade the little girl.

"Don't leave me alone!" I suddenly heard. When I looked down I noticed the cat's eyes had turned purple. So this is where the demon has been hiding. The cat was looking at the little girl and the demon used its power to persuade the girl of staying.

"I won't go, kitty! I promise."

"See? She doesn't want to leave with you. She trusts only me. Now tell me, who are you and what are you doing here?" it asked.

"I am Aveline, and I'm here to take the girl to her father."

"Well, that is not going to happen, but you might have guessed that already." it slyly said.

"What do you need from her that you won't let her go?"

"She is my ticket out of here. It won't take long and she will allow me to take over her body and see the world with my own eyes. Then, I can finally leave this place. I've been here far too long. In this form I'm unable to move through that barrier, but in her..."

"You know I can't let you do that, demon."

"Ah don't spoil things so fast. Maybe we could reach a compromise." I crossed my arms. A compromise with a demon would always result in bad news sooner or later. I raised my eyesbrows and waited on what the demon had to say. It continued asking if I would allow the little girl to be taken over. I sighed and turned around. How could I let a little girl's life get ruined and let a demon out in the world. I lowered my head, still standing with my back towards the demon, and agreed to it's request. It was excited to finally have a chance to see the world and informed us that we needed to solve the puzzle in order to let the barrier go down. The puzzle was a giant square with little squares within. Those little squares had arrows and we had to find a way to let it point into a straight line towards the bottom right of the giant square. Each arrow which was pointed in the right direction was set in flames.

Alistair walked towards me and took me aside before I could start finishing the puzzle.

"You're not seriously considering this are you? I mean, it's a demon. We cannot let a demon go just like that?"

"Alistair, you have to trust me on this. It's not 'just like that' at all." I whispered back. I took his shoulders and looked in his eyes. "Please, just wait and see all right?" He nodded and I moved towards the puzzle. I could move the pieces very easily. It took me a while, but I was now standing with the last puzzle piece, which I only had to move to the right. I pushed the little square and the flames started to spread to the end of the line. We could hear some kind of "woosh" sound and knew the barrier had been removed. I walked back to the demon, who was still in the cat.

"It's done!" the demon said. Not a muscle moved in my face. "Thank you! I will take over the girl and see the world. I can't wait!"

"No you're not." I looked it in it's cat eyes and saw the surprise.

"What do you mean, no! You have betrayed me?" I glanced over to Alistair and noticed he was smiling.

"Well, I could say that I'm sorry, but I'm not." The demon used it's magic to grow into it's full size and the cat was gone. There was now a purple femalelike demon standing in front of me.

"You will pay for that." it said. Fire demons started to spawn from the corners of the room, and my companions and myself were immediately triggered to go into battle. The demon didn't linger on words anymore and started to attack the person closest do itself. In this case, it was Zevran.

"Continue, I will keep the demon occupied." he said and before I knew it he was dancing around the demon. Wynne was freezing the fire demons who were close to herself. She wasn't a warrior, and I thought to myself that she would need help first. Alistair could fight those on him off more easily. I found it strange that fire demons could be harmed just like any other person, with daggers. The fire demon bursted out of it's freezing state and raged at Wynne. It let out a trail of fire, moving towards her. Before I could yell to Wynne to move out, the fire was exploding and threw her against the wall. I finished the demon from behind it's back and moved to Wynne. She was hurt, but she already tried to get up her feet. When she did, she casted out a mass rejuvation. When all the fire demons died, I moved straight towards the demon who wanted to take over the little girl. It didn't use any swords, but could somehow cast off my weapon's blows every now and then. Alistair taunted the demon, so it would attack him and I moved behind it's back and stabbed it. When it fell on it's knees I walked so I was in front of the demon and slit it's throat. This demon would be no threat to the people here anymore, and the girl was saved.

"Where did the girl go?" I asked. The fight must have scared her off.

"I think she went up again. Maybe her father has found her already." Zevran replied. I nodded and we moved up again. When we arrived in the room where they were, we could see the girl. She was indeed with her father and he was more than happy that she wasn't hurt.

"Thank you so much for saving my daughter. I promised you the right words. Hopefully you can make sure the golem won't do any harm anymore." he calmly said. He gave us the words as promised and we got outselves ready to move up and out of the house again.

"It wasn't a problem and I'm glad she's okay. Thank you, we'll get the golem away from here." I replied when we left. When we were out of the house we walked towards the golem. I looked at it, examinering it from the bottom to the top. It really was just stone, and I wondered a brief second if it really was something that could speak and think for itself.

"Let's do this." I said, and I said the words I just received out loud. When I was finished, something shifted and I could see the golem stirr. It came to life and now it looked like it was stretching and freeing its muscles. The eyes opened and they were shining. My mouth opened a bit in surprise and not long after it stared back at me.

"Aaaah. Finally I can move again! I assume it was the reason for that?

"It? Oh.. me? Well, yes I was."

"It has my thanks. It cannot imagine how boring it was to look at these people all that time."

"You could actually see them?"

"Yes of course, did it think I was standing there for my fun? Does it have a name by the way?

"My name is Aveline."

"I am Shale. I am glad to be free, but something is quite different. Could it try to command me? It does have the rod doesn't it?"

"Yes I do. Okay... Hug Zevran!" I said. I could see Zevran backing up, realizing a huge stone golem was a bit too much.

"Nothing." Shale said, obviously surprised at it. "Nothing has happened. That means I am free? What shall I do now that I am free? Maybe I can help it with whatever it is doing?"

"You're more than welcome Shale." I replied. I was glad to have extra companions for our quests.

"Oh," I said, realizing I still had something in my pack. "Maybe you can use these?" I took out the crystal and looked at it. Then I looked at Shale and noticed there were tiny holes around the shoulders. I put a crystal in and it started the light up.

"It has found some crystals? Oh they look wonderful! I love them, I really do. If it finds more it knows who to give them to!" Shale said. With Shale as company we started to leave the little village. There was nothing left for us to get or to do. The people here were now freed from the Darkspawn and freed from Shale. When we were nearly out of the village Shale stopped. I turned around to look at the huge stone golem and noticed there was some bird poo on the left shoulder.

"I will make sure these species are killed..." Shale said, annoyed that birds excisted. I silently laughed and we continued our way to camp. Shale quickly had an own place to stand and sleep. If it would ever sleep at all. When we had all eaten it was already dark. I offered to take first watch. This was a very long day and I didn't had a moment for myself yet. There weren't many sounds at night, and those that were around were from insects, or flowing water. When my watch had nearly ended, nothing much had happened. Alistair had woken up as he was coming to sit next to me. He put his arm around me and pushed me towards him and gave me a kiss on my cheek. I smiled at him and continued to stare at the fire.

"It's nearly time for Leliana's watch. Care to join me in my tent when she's ready?" he whispered in my ear. I nodded and he walked towards his own tent again. It didn't take long for Leliana to come as I noticed her changing in her tent. I stared at the ground. With a stick I drew in the dirt. I made a circle and in the middle I made a tiny candle. When I could hear Leliana walking towards the fire I made myself ready to go to Alistair's tent.

"Happy Birthday to me." I silently sung to myself. Leliana soon sat next to me and I stood up to go to Alistair's tent.