Glad everyone is enjoying the fic! Thanks for the reviews, they always brighten my day. Big thanks to my beta and my wife for all your help in keeping my writing. Hope you guys like what I did with the cannon story. Let me know what you all think. Enjoy!
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Floor thirty was just up the stairs, but Damien couldn't bring himself to take another step. Having Daylen and Neria helping Wynne to keep everyone fighting and cast spells against the enemy had helped tremendously and they had saved another few dozen mages, multiple tranquil, and even a handful of Templars. Most of them had descended to the lower levels to take shelter and nurse their wounds while Damien and his comrades pushed forward.
"I'm sorry, but I have to stop," Lyna said slouching against the wall and sliding to the floor.
"We cannot stop. There are enemies to be slain," Sten thundered lifting his sword.
"Easy there, big guy. We know the enemy is still out there, but look up at the east wall windows. The sun is rising. We've been fighting and climbing this damn tower all night. We need rest. Honestly, I wouldn't mind a bite to eat to go along with it, but if you want to keep fighting, please, take the first watch," Damien said crashing to the floor.
"Are you alright, Damien?" Alistair asked sitting down against an overturned table.
"Cold floor, feels good," Damien responded. He didn't hear much else after that as dreams overtook him in a dark swirling cloud.
Suddenly, he was standing in a massive fortress with high archways and surrounded by men and women of every race brandishing the blue and silver armor of the Gray Wardens. As he started making his way forward, he could feel something was off about his surroundings. He had felt it before but he was not sure where or what it was.
"Welcome back to Weisshaupt," a familiar voice called from a table. Damien whirled around to see Duncan lifting a mug.
"Duncan? What are you doing here? How did you survive? I thought," Damien started but Duncan got up and put his arm around him.
"Why all the questions, my boy? The darkspawn are beaten remember? We set their underground lairs ablaze. You led the final march yourself," Duncan said raising his mug as the others roared their approval.
"No, this is wrong. How did I get here? What's going on?" Damien snapped pushing Duncan away.
"What's wrong? Don't you want a drink?" Duncan asked offering him a mug.
Damien took another step back. What the hell is this? Maker, am I going crazy? Did I die? No, no, just calm down and think. Try to calm your mind and remember. They said that this was Weisshaupt, the Gray Warden headquarters, but I've never been here… or there… whatever. So, a journey like that I would remember. And a march on the underground lairs, I should remember that. This has to be a…
"This is a dream. I'm in the Fade. That's all this is. You're demons trying to get control of me," Damien shouted. Suddenly, his scarf and hood appeared and the Warden armor he was wearing turned back to his leather armor bring his daggers and throwing knives back to this side. "I won't let you!"
Damien charged forward ripping his daggers from their sheathes and lobbed off the fake Duncan's head.
"How dare you," the others spoke in unison. "We give you a place to be happy and safe, but you refuse."
"Send me back to my body, or I will tear your world to pieces. I swear it!" Damien roared.
"You will not be leaving. You are mine!"
The exclamation caused the others to charge him. Damien dodged the first attacks and lay into them swinging his blades like a madman. He sliced, stabbed, cleaved, and slashed his way through the fake wardens until he came up on a demon standing at the top of a small ramp.
"You must be my captor," Damien said twirling his daggers.
"I could make you happier here. You really should rest," the demon said chuckling.
"Not a chance in hell," Damien shouted charging forward.
The demon extended claws that stretched to nearly the length of Damien's blades as the youth closed the distance on the creature. He used his forward motion to throw himself at the beast. He used his left hand to knock the enemy's long claws away from him and tried to slash at it with his right. At the last second, the demon managed to move just enough to dodge his attack and fling him to the stone floor. Leaping back to his feet, Damien charged forward again this time intent on forcing the devil to duel him continuously, perhaps there might be an advantage he could exploit. Yet, the moment his daggers crossed with the demon's claws, he knew he was out matched in strength. He would need to rely on his speed and outsmart the demon. Damien quickly leapt backward to try and reassess his advisory.
"So, what do they call you?" Damien asked as he studied his opponent.
"Introductions are so tiresome. Why must you ask for such a tedious exercise?" the demon responded.
"That might as well be an answer. You're a demon of Sloth. Easy enough to figure out. At least now I know whose fate to threaten other demons with next time," Damien snarled. He could see his advantage now. Sloth's footing was awkward to put it mildly. The beast stood with its toes pointed in at each other. There was no way that a demon of Sloth with feet like that could move very fast, especially if Damien managed to pin one down with a throwing knife.
Damien sheathed his left-hand blade and took his stance. He had to time the throw perfectly to pin the foot, then slice it off at the knee. Immobilized, he could finish the beast off. His left hand wrapped around one of the blades on his back as he started moving forward. The demon cackled as he picked up speed and hurled the throwing knife at the top of the beast's foot. It connected sending a small amount of blood up into air, but as Damien came in close enough to deliver his crippling blow, the other foot lifted and smashed into his side. The air poured from his lungs as he crashed to the ground gasping for air and losing grip of his other dagger. He quickly drew his left-hand dagger and switched it to his right hand as he stood. There was no time to look for the other one. Even short of breath, he had to charge while his enemy didn't expect it. He hurled two more throwing knives, burying them in the beast's knees before hurling his dagger. The blade and time itself seemed to slow down as the blade turned in the air. With a dull thud and a crackling sound, the blade buried itself in the beast's head. Damien reached behind him and grabbed a throwing knife in each hand and charged forward. Leaping forward, he landed knees first on the demon's chest sending it to the floor as he pounded the throwing knives into its chest over and over again.
"You… You did it," a voice said from behind him.
Damien jumped off the demon and pulled two more blades from his pouch. Before him stood a mage with greasy black hair and dirty robes. He looked like he had been through hell three times over.
"Who are you?" Damien demanded.
"I am Niall, Mage of the Circle. I was on my way to try and stop Uldred when that demon attacked me, but that was several days ago. My body has long since died. I am stuck here," the mage stated.
"You better not be asking for a ride back," Damien snarled raising his blades.
"No, no, not at all. Have you ever heard of the Litany of Adralla?" Niall asked.
"I'm not a mage you dunce. What the hell is a Litany of blah-blah?" Damien said sheathing his blades.
"Litany of Adralla. It is a defense against blood magic and mind control. Uldred has been turning the mages one at a time through torture and mind control. The Litany is the only option we have to negate his power and save those that have not been turned yet," Niall explained.
"Where is it?" Damien asked.
"I had it in my right inside pocket in my robes. My body should be in the main chamber of the thirty first floor, but be careful. Since you killed Sloth here in the Fade, he should be dead in our world, but I don't know for sure," Niall answered. Damien nodded and placed a hand on the mage's shoulder.
"I promise you, I'll stop Uldred and avenge everyone who died here," Damien assured him. Niall smiled and nodded.
"For the first time since I got here, I actually have some hope. Thank you." As the man spoke, Damien watched his physical form fade away as his vision blackened. He could hear someone calling his name in the distance calling him back. He closed his eyes tight and did everything he could to open them both in the Fade and the real world.
"Damien, time to wake up," someone snapped as he felt a hard smack across his face. Sitting up quickly, he nearly smashed his forehead into whoever had slapped him.
"What's going on?" Damien asked rubbing his cheek and looking around. Alistair had fallen back on his butt, apparently he had been the one to wake him.
"You wouldn't wake up. You've been out for five hours," Lyna said kneeling down next to him.
"A demon had a hold on you, didn't it?" Wynne said crossing her arms.
"Yes, a demon of Sloth, but I met a mage named Niall and he told that he had something called the Litany of Adralla and we could use it to beat Uldred," Damien reported sliding back so he could rest against the wall.
"The Litany? That is for use against blood magic and mind control. Is that what's going on here?" Wynne asked.
"That would be my guess. Besides, Niall was in the meeting with Uldred and Irving. He would have known what's going on," Daylen said tapping his chin.
"But, where is Niall? Shouldn't he be here with you if you met him in the Fade?" Neria asked.
"He said he had been there too long and his body had died here in the real world, but he did tell me where his body was and where to find the Litany," Damien said sighing and trying to get to his feet. Leliana offered him her hand quickly to help him up. He smiled and accepted her help.
"So, there is no saving him…" Wynne said sorrowfully.
"He did give us the means to save Irving and any other survivors at the top of the tower. They need to be our main focus now," Damien stated.
"He's right. Now that we're rested, we should make for the top floor as quickly as possible," Lyna agreed adjusting her quiver.
Damien checked to ensure his scarf still covered his face and his hood was still up before drawing his daggers. For the past few floors, with Daylen and Neria having joined their merry band, he had been able to use Alistair in the front ranks allowing them to carve through their enemies much faster. If they kept their pace, they could be at the top of the tower by nightfall depending upon the tenacity of their opponents.
"Lyna and I will scout ahead and recover the Litany from the next floor. Everyone else, you are under Alistair's command. Clear this floor and meet us at the stairs," Damien ordered. Having Lyna with him would not slow him down and he could be sure that she would be just as quiet as he was if not more so.
"Why me?" Alistair asked.
"Would you rather put on a dress and dance the Remigold?" Damien asked glancing back at this fellow warden and smirking.
"That's where I draw the line!" Alistair exclaimed causing the rest of the group to laugh heartily.
"Honestly Alistair, you need the practice. If we need to divide up into teams later for any reason, I'll be relying on you," Damien said.
"We're dead," Lyna said exaggerating the motion of feeling faint eliciting more laughter.
Damien quickly pulled Alistair aside to speak softly to him. "As the Senior Warden here, I need to be able to trust you with this. You know how to lead, I've seen you do it at Ostagar. Come on, I'm counting on you. Besides, it's only one floor," Damien whispered.
"I've been wondering… Why are you telling everyone that you are the only Warden left?" Alistair whispered back.
"It's the easiest way to keep you and the others safe. If Loghain only knows of one Warden who survived, then if he sends anyone after us, they'll focus their attacks on me," Damien confessed. "But keep this to yourself. I don't want Lyna or Alyssa to know. If they ask, just say I'm enjoying the fame or something like that."
"More like infamy," Alistair responded.
"You might be right on that one," Damien said returning his voice to its usual volume and laughing. Alistair smiled and laughed with him.
"Alright Damien, I can handle this," Alistair assured him.
Damien nodded his agreement and waved for Lyna to follow him as they sprinted silently down the hallways. They snuck past several demons as they made their way to the staircase to the next floor and crept slowly up the stairs.
"So, when they said that a demon had a hold on you, was it because of your magic?" Lyna asked.
Damien looked back at her before wetting his lips. Sure, that probably had something to do with it, but it seemed like the demon had specifically targeted him. He wasn't sure if it was because he was mage or not. If so, he was the weakest one in the tower. His power was so weak, the other three mages with them did not even notice what he was.
"That might have helped, but I think the demon was more trying to slow us down. What better way to stop a group then to take out the leader," Damien answered softly. It might as well be the truth.
"I guess. Is that what you and Alistair were talking about?" Lyna asked.
"Sort of. More of motivation to help him get in a leader mindset," Damien replied. Omission wasn't that much of a lie, right? He just wanted to protect the other Wardens. If a little lie kept them safe, what was the harm?
The pair stepped through the door at the top of the stairs and peeked through to try and see if there were any enemies waiting for them. The coast was clear but Damien still had a bad feeling and quickly drew his daggers.
"What is it?" Lyna asked notching an arrow as they slipped through the door.
"Tingle up my spine," Damien said looking around cautiously. As they started forward, Damien could see at least a dozen corpses up ahead. Several were that of mages but others were demons along with a single Templar.
Damien knelt down next to one of the mages and found a long cut across the man's hand. The sight of the wound wasn't as revolting as what the wound represented. The mage was a maleficar. A blood mage. He examined another and found the same thing but with a slice across the man's forearm.
"We have to find that Litany. Most of these mages were blood mages," Damien reported.
"So, that explains this," Lyna said as she pointed to the Templar at her feet. Damien raised an eyebrow before stepping to her side.
The scene was truly horrifying. The man's face was twisted in pain with hardened blood wrapped around his neck with brighter shades of dried blood staining his face.
"I've never seen blood magic at work. Fenedhis lasa, halam sahlin," Lyna snapped looking over at the demon.
"My elvish isn't that good. What did that mean?" Damien asked. Lyna turned back to him and smiled weakly.
"It doesn't have a direct translation, but I think the closest thing would be 'damn all of this, I'm ending this now'," Lyna answered. Damien smirked and nodded.
"That's my girl," Damien said twirling his daggers and leading her further into the floor, but the moment they opened the door to the next corridor walking corpses turned to confront them.
The creatures smelled worse than darkspawn with flesh rotting off their bodies. The magic was so strong coming from them, it made Damien a little sick to his stomach. They need to destroy these things fast or he might actually get sick.
"And here I was thinking this might be a little too easy," Damien said taking a quick look around the room. He spotted a familiar looking mage on the floor on the far side lying next to a massive demon. That must have been Niall. Fighting the corpses was their only option, but how do you kill something that is already dead.
"So, what do you want to do?" Lyna asked.
"The Litany is over there in that mage's pocket," Damien stated pointing with his blade at the dead body. "But I have no idea how to kill the undead."
"If we cut off their arms and head, they can't fight any more," Lyna suggested. "But I won't be much good in that kind of fight."
"Just cover me. Undead or not, a shot from your bow will at least knock them over," Damien said smiling and charging forward. He needed to attract their attention and keep them away from Lyna, but if he got swarmed, they would kill him. He would need to keep moving and strike when one became isolated.
He slid down and hacked off a corpse's leg as he passed before hopping to his feet and slicing off another's head. Lucky for him, the headless creature stopped moving and collapsed. If that killed them, maybe a headshot would too.
"Lyna, aim for their heads," Damien ordered blocking a strike from another corpse and cutting the arm off of one that had approached him from behind. Knocking his opponent's blade away, he sliced its head off before turning and hacking the one behind him across the chest separating the creature's head, left shoulder, and left arm from the rest of the body.
"Watch the floor," Lyna shouted. Damien didn't even look to confirm. He quickly jumped back and away from the enemy. He spotted what she was talking about. The corpse that he had subtracted a leg from in his first attack crawled across the floor like an ant.
Damien pulled his scarf a little tighter and charged forward again. He kicked up hard under the undead on the ground sending the head flying and swiping both blades outward. He caught one corpse off guard and chopped its head off at the nose level, but the other only left a deep slash across the eyes. An arrow quickly buried itself in between the slashed eyes less than a second later sending the beast to the ground.
"Nice shot," Damien shouted blocking another attack, but felt a clawed hand grab the side of his face and pull him backward.
"Damien!" Lyna screamed. Time seemed to slow down as he felt the claws dig into his skin. What could this thing be? There were no corpses behind him were there? Could it be a demon coming to reinforce its thralls?
The claws dragged across his skin sending searing pain through his entire face and he hit the floor and spotted what had grabbed him. A hand made up completely of blood hovered over him. A blood mage had attacked him, and now their crimson creation was descending on him with lethal intent, claws ready to rip his throat out.