Sorry for not updating recently, been busy with stuff! Plus pokemon x & y came out so that had me distracted for a week or so hehe! If anyone wants to trade/battle or what not my friend code is 4098-2934-7198. But before Pokemon; Saints Row 4, then had to get SR 2 because I'd never played it. I've as well been working on a little comic to practice drawing, it's slowly coming along... Anyway enough rambling, heres the next chapter!

CHAPTER 25: KEEP ON DREAMIN'

Reconstruction began almost immediately on the Estate. It wasn't to badly damaged, considering the state of the rest of the city. There were buildings worse off than here. The worst damage had been the front door, that had been broken in two and part of the frame was ripped off with it. One side looked like one of the Qunari decided to bite it.

Maybe he was hungry from rampaging down the street. He needed a snack. Mmm! Door!

The rooms were in shambles, and stuff was thrown everywhere. I don't think anything had been stolen. That wasn't why the Qunari were attacking the city. They didn't want our stuff, they wanted something else. No one really told me what it was other than it belonged to them. Garrett quickly mentioned that it was something Isabela had taken, not surprised, and she had vanished into thin air after the fact.

He was pissed with her from what I could tell. I asked Varric where she was, but he didn't want to talk about it. Merrill didn't know where she had gone, Anders didn't seem to care where she went, and the rest just were torn between going to drag her back and beat her senseless. I was sad to know that I might not ever see her again. At least she wasn't dead, or I hope she isn't.

On another note, poor Feng had been hurt protecting Leandra. The Qunari managed to break his leg and nearly slice off another before Varric had a chance to help. That dog was treated like royalty as soon as we got back to the Estate, and boy did he ham up the attention.

I've never seen Garrett so affectionate to anything before. It was cute and strange at the same time.

Carver stayed at the Estate for a little while, to make sure his mother was alright. He really didn't socialize with anyone else, other than the harsh glares from his brother, but shockingly they seemed to get along. If the pat on the shoulders they gave each other before Carver left was any indication. They fought like anything, but it was obvious they didn't really want the other to die.

They couldn't lose another sibling.

The next day I went out to find some blankets to replace the ones that were damaged. It was hard to find a merchant since the city was so torn up. What few were open had been so packed that when it was my turn the place had been emptied out. Well it was long before my turn that had happened.

"Great..." I crossed my arms and tried to find if someone maybe still had some food for sell. I managed to push my way up to one of the few stalls and pick out a few things.

The woman behind the counter brushed loose strands of hair behind her ear, she looked like she hadn't slept in a month with the dark circles under her eyes. "100 sovereign..."

I nearly dropped my coin purse to the ground. "What!" I squeaked out, sure I knew nothing was going to be cheap, but really 100. What in the world was that lady thinking. "How in the world am I supposed to pay that!"

"Look if you don't have the coin move along. I'm sorry." At least she had the decency to apologize, but that didn't put food in my stomach. Or anyone else's for that matter. I sighed putting away my money.

"Here is the coin." I looked over my shoulder at the man behind me. He handed the lady the coins, she just stared on in amazement at the heavy bag of money. She slowly pushed the small amount of food I had selected toward me and ran off with the money sloppily closing her shop as she went.

It was that old man again. The same one that had helped me find Garrett the other day. He just stood there smiling kindly. "Um... what was that for?" He picked up the food and handed it to me. What in the world was going on with this man. He was way to nice what in the world was he up to?

"I believe the word you are looking for is 'thank you'." His eyes crinkled in the corners as he snickered to himself.

"Right, thanks." We made our way out from the markets and into a less crowded area. "Why did you do that?"

He shook his head as though I offended him once more with my rudeness. "Child I have already told you that." I shrugged my shoulders but he didn't seem to notice. "Besides you are with child. May I ask where the father is. Why is he not taking care of you?"

"Sorry that's a bit to personal for me to tell a stranger." He chuckled again. "He's around though. Sort of." I added as an after thought. He was around, but not exactly at the same time.

"I understand. I have something I must discuss with you." He stopped me by placing a hand on my shoulder. "In private." He looked around at the few people littering the streets.

"Sorry but I don't really know you well enough." The little warning bells in my head were going off again telling me to get away.

He though looked saddened by how I treated him. "My dear child I mean you, nor your unborn child no harm."

"Sorry, just a lot of really weird things have happened to me lately. Nothing personal."

"I understand your concern." I thought he was going to back off, but he didn't. "It is strange, what I feel from you." What in the world was he talking about. Please don't tell me that he was attracted to me or something, that would just be to weird. Not to mention creepy.

"Excuse me?"

He cleared his throat and leaned over to whisper in my ear once he was sure no one else was listening he said. "You have a very powerful magic within you."

"Woah hold the phone here. I'm not, you're crazy." I jumped back from him. What in the world was he talking about.

"Ask your brother, or that very protective friend of yours. And when you do, and when you learn that I am right. Come to that house over there, alone." He pointed off to one of the semi fancy houses that hadn't been hit as hard. "I will be awaiting you." With that he walked off giving me no other explanation as to what in the world was going through that weird mind of his. "But know the Fade has left it's mark on you."

The Fade... where have I heard that before?

"Alright..." Why did he make that sound threatening.

He left to go into the house he pointed out, and left me to either follow him or go back to the Estate. And I sure as hell wasn't going to do that or stick around here.

Most of the afternoon I wondered about what he had said. How in the world would he know anything about me. Maybe it was me being from another world he sensed, or something like that.

"Garrett, can I ask you something?" I came up behind him as he finished reattaching the curtains in the library.

"About what." He jumped down from the ladder and began to head to the next window.

I really didn't know how to put what I wanted to ask. It's not like I really knew anything about mages or magic. Even though I hung around several of them for ages now. Maybe I should have just gone to Anders. "It's about mages."

"What do you want to know." Wow he was being calmer about this than I figured he would.

"Well it's mostly about the Fade. Can anyone who's not a mage go there?"

"Everyone can." I nearly breathed out a sigh of relief but that only ended up in me swallowing it back down. "Mages are the only ones who can remember our time there."

"Have you seen it?"

He turned around to look down at me from the top of the ladder. "Why are you so curious all of a sudden about the Fade?"

"Just curious is all."

He gave me a look like he knew I was lying but answered me anyway. "Of course I have." He came back down the ladder and left it leaning against the wall. "Why?"

"You guys don't really talk about it much, and I'm interested in knowing how magic works." I picked at my nails trying to figure out coherent sentences. I was struggling to figure out what to ask and how to ask it so he didn't become suspicious. Wait what am I thinking, I don't have anything to hide... do I? "Say theoretically that someone from another world goes through the Fade, could they end up here?"

Garrett's eyebrows vanished under the fringe of his hair. "I don't think it works that way Valerie."

"Just work with me here. If someone from another world went through the Fade, and ended up stuck here. Would that make them a mage?" My heart was racing, hoping that in a way he wouldn't put two and two together.

"I've never heard of anything like that happening, but I suppose there could because of Tears in the Vale. As well I don't think that necessarily means they're a mage." Ok, now we're getting somewhere.

He pulled up chairs for the two of us and had me sit down at a table. Garrett went to look for a book, but instead of pulling it straight out he pulled out a pile of papers muttering a 'damn-it Anders' and shoved them back onto the shelf. The book he picked out looked old, it was made of leather with several straps holding the loose paper inside.

He dropped the book down on the table and sat down heavily in the chair beside me. "My father was a mage, as am I he taught me everything I know." He opened the book flipping around through the pages to pull one out and slide it between us. "You first asked about the Fade. There is a barrier between our world and the Fade. It's called 'the Vale'." According to him he just figured that tears in the Vale could potentially cause something from one world to be able to cross into this one.

He put his finger on the page pointing to a drawing that took up a quarter of the page. It didn't look like much, other than a giant smokey haze. At the bottom of it where the ground should be looked like a hand clawing it's way out.

"Demons can make their way through the Tears. But as for people I've never heard of that."

"Well how do demons do it?"

He just shrugged a shoulder. "They live in the Fade and are trapped there, it is not just as simple as they walk out. It's a bit more complicated than that. For the most part they have to be summoned to this realm." With what little information Garrett was going to allow me to know I sat up in my room sorting through my thoughts.

Garrett just wanted to keep me protected by not telling me everything, but maybe someone else could give me the answers that I've been needing for so long now. It couldn't hurt to try, but in this world I really don't think I can just take chances with a complete stranger all willy-nilly. After all he did want me to come alone, that had so many things that could go wrong with that. If I didn't go though there's no telling what all I could miss out on. This is one thing that I should probably sleep on before I go rushing into something stupid again and end up god knows where.

I tossed and turned all night, and ended up just pacing around my room biting on my finger nails. It took ages for me to even realize that I had bitten them all down to the quick. I walked quickly over to my window and looked outside. There were a few people wandering around in the early morning, mostly stumbling around drunk trying to find their ways home. I sat down on the large ledge and continued to watch over my shoulder out the window.

There's no telling how long that guy's going to be here, or if he even has anything that's remotely going to be useful to me. I jumped up as quickly as I could manage and headed out of my room.

"Feng, here boy!" I snapped my fingers trying to get the dogs attention. I could hear his claws clicking on the floor as he walked up to me he soon stopped and stretched giving a big yawn. "Feng I need you to do something for me ok?"

The dog's tongue hung out of his mouth as he panted and his head tilted to the side.

"I need you to come with me." I turned around and took a piece of paper and quill and began writing. "If something goes wrong, I need you to run back here and give this to Garrett." I looked at his legs as he walked, he wasn't limping much anymore thanks to Anders and his healing. I didn't want the dog to get hurt again, but there wasn't much more I could do. "Valerie this so so stupid, you better hope this ends well." I muttered to myself as I lead Feng through the street. I stopped a little ways away from the building where I was told to come and turned back to Feng.

He whined up at me his ears going flat to his head.

"Remember to take this to Garrett, ok?" He whined again giving the back of my hand a lick with the end of his tongue. "Everything's going to be fine. This is just in case." Reassuring myself or him I reached my hand out to grip the door knob. My hand shook so badly it was hard to open the door.

I felt sick to my stomach as I twist the door open just enough to peek inside. It was dark, only being lit by blue fire torches. From what I could tell the first room was completely empty except for the torches. I looked around and found something heavy enough to keep the door propped open, and slowly walked inside.

"Hello? Anyone here?" Dumbass he's probably asleep!

Owell, better just go back home! Right? "Ah, I knew you would come." I jumped at the sound of the old mans voice and turned around to face him. "Do forgive me for that, I did not mean to frighten you." He smiled as he walked down the stairs.

"No problem." I chuckled no I wasn't scared at all...

I swallowed loudly enough for him to hear. I took a glance at the door where Feng had hidden himself. "So what did you mean earlier? About me having magic or something?"

He smiled as he took a long decorated staff from beside the stair case. "I do believe such magic hasn't been seen in a long, long time." He gestured for me to come closer to him, but all I could do was shuffle slowly forward.

"I'm just a plain regular person. There's nothing special about me."

His smile faded causing him to look sinister in the dim lighting. "Who has convinced you otherwise?"

"I don't know what you thought you saw or whatever, but nothing about me stands out from anyone else." He took a few steps toward me, and I tried to back up but I felt rooted to the spot. I looked away from him to see that was just the case. Vines snaked up around my calves and headed toward my upper legs. The shock of that nearly sent me to the ground but the vines kept me upright.

"What are you doing!? Let me go!"

"I'm sorry my dear, but not until I've convinced you of your own power." Oh shit, Feng now would be a good time to go and get Garrett please. The vines picked me up off the ground raising me into the air to be eye to eye with the old man, and held my arms trapped against my chest soon pulled away from each other. I could hear the door slam shut and block out the early morning sun from the room, the force that closed the door blew out the torches one by one in rapid succession.

Under me I could see a faint glow as lines snaked their way through the floor. A soft hum came from them as they changed from pale blue to a deep shade of red. The old man produced a small bowl of silver liquid from somewhere in his robes, and the vines holding my arm pulled them toward the bowl. Then all of a sudden... I felt so tired.

x-x-x-x-x-x

Feng raced through the streets as soon as the door slammed shut. His animal instincts screaming danger a mile a minute. He skid to a stop and sniffed the air, someone else that smelled familiar was much closer than his masters home. He looked between where he was ordered to return should things take a turn for the worse and the new smell. He gave a whine and ran to the closer person. Once he spotted a head of white hair and a giant sword he began barking to get his attention. At first Fenris ignored the sound, but at it's continued noise he turned to see the dog charging toward him.

It was to late to duck out of the way as the massive dog slammed into him and took both of them to the ground. All the while Feng never stopped barking, the massive dog stood on Fenris' chest sending a shower of saliva into his face as he barked what had happened to the woman.

"Get off..." Fenris finally managed to unpin himself between the ground and the massive pooch. Who only stopped to paint for a second before he barked urgently in between pants. "What has gotten into you..." He pushed the dog away with one hand before he saw the folded piece of paper shoved into Fengs collar. "What is this?" He pulled the paper free and suddenly Feng stopped barking and started whining. Fenris looked back at the dog knowing something was wrong. He didn't want to open the letter knowing it might contain something that he didn't want to know.

Garrett,

I've gone and made a mess of things again, and I'm sorry. If Feng is bringing this to you then I need your help. I'm so sorry, but something happened and I need answers to questions I've left unanswered for to long. And if it comes to it, and Feng doesn't make it in time, please tell Fenris that I'm sorry. Please forgive me.

Valerie

"Where is she!?" Feng jumped back to his feet and ran off the way he had just came with the elf behind him. Damn just hold on I'm coming.

x-x-x-x-x-x

Ow ow ow! Damn-it that asshole... wait what happened? I rolled over to my back and sat up feeling my swollen stomach. Wait... this all seems so familiar. I know I've been here before. I stood up with the help of a tree stump. My feet began shuffling through tall brown grass. All around me was a barren waste land of dead trees and what appeared to be cars.

All of which looked older than me, rusted beyond recognition. The husks of what once were automobiles sat silently all across the dead forest. Once my feet hit something a bit more solid I nearly tripped over the edge of a path, no wait. It's a concrete road. I turned around only to see the scenery change all together from nothing into a small rundown suburb.

Only there were no people, it was quiet. There weren't even birds chirping anywhere. Just dead silence other than my foot steps. "What is this?" I whispered to myself.

"A shadow of what will become."

I jumped back and slammed my back into a car. It was that, thing again... Hope? Only wait no it, she... she looks familiar.

"Grandma?"

x-x-x-x-x-x

"Oh Maker bless you for saving my son!" The woman cried holding onto her child. While she wailed her son just pushed on her shoulders trying to get her off of him muttering under his breath for her to stop. "Please if there is anything I can do for you just name it."

"I am happy to be of service." Aveline gave a small laugh happy enough to just know the child was safe again, but her attention was torn away from the woman and child to another disturbance. The other woman pushed her child back into their small home and stood watching with Aveline.

"What is happening?" Her voice was meek nearly being overpowered by the screams of shock coming from people up the street. Aveline pushed her back as the cause of the commotion came rushing past. "W-was that an elf and... a Mabari?"

"Fenris? Please excuse me." She apologized to the woman and took off after the elf. Where is he going in such a hurry? She thought as she lagged behind him several paces before finally getting a burst of speed and catching up with the man. "What has happened?" After Fenris gave her a double take he gave her a short message.

"She has gotten herself into another situation."

He wondered what could have been so important that she would jump so recklessly into something without at least asking someone for help. He knew she had some kind of secret that she stubbornly refused to share with anyone; what it was though he could only speculate. When he got to her he promised himself he would make her tell him, at least then it might become easier and she wouldn't endanger herself so often.

That's all she seemed to be doing lately.

Feng lead the two into an alleyway and went straight to a door and began clawing at the wood. Aveline was the first to try the handle. It wouldn't budge a centimeter. She looked to Fenris and the both gave a nod of the head before backing away from the door and running at it with their armored shoulders ahead of them.

x-x-x-x-x-x

The shimmering form gave a shake of it's head and as it did the face changed appearance all together. It moved around me leaving trails of smoke as it walked. "Why do I keep finding you?" I would like to say it was me that asked that, but it seemed the spirit even wondered the same thing.

"How would I know? I don't exactly plan to take vacations here." Hope turned back to face me clearly not amused with my answer.

"I have wandered for centuries without encountering anyone, and yet now? I seem to find you far to often." I shrugged, that still didn't mean I knew why. "Who are you human."

"Valerie," I looked around the ever changing landscape. "so what's happening here?"

Hope turned back to watch the surrounding area contort and change between a decaying forest and broken suburb. "Even I do not know. The Fade between the worlds is... unstable. I can feel an evil trying to come through."

"What is it?"

"I could not tell you, for I do not know." It sent a shiver through my spine, all I want to do now is wake up from this nightmare and forget it ever happened, but something tells me it's not over yet. Not by a long shot. "I feel it is connected to our meeting." Hope glanced down over its shoulder to eye me suspiciously.

"Before I came here, everyone was going on about some 'end of the world'. That's when I came here." Hope didn't say anything to me so I took it as a cue to keep going on what happened. "I haven't been home for almost 4 years now. And a lot of what happened is fuzzy, I just remember coming home from college and then waking up on the streets in Kirkwall."

"I have felt several pass through the Veil the same day. I thought it strange, but nothing felt threatening."

"Now it does?" If something like that isn't supposed to happen and it does, shouldn't that send up red flags or something? "So I wasn't the only one?"

Hope began walking away down the path and I followed after it, hoping that it would be able to help me or give me some kind of insight. "Most perished before they made it to the other side, or were lost to the Fade. Few made it through like yourself, if what you tell me is true."

"So why me? Why didn't I die or become lost?"

"Perhaps you are to change the world, or be its end." The spirit stopped and began to change into a small orb and began floating around at eye level. "I do not have the power to see the future, but events that will change everything are about to unfold. And I do not know if it will be for the greater good or for the end of all."

The spirit orb hovered silently for a few more seconds before it spoke again.

"I can not leave the Fade, but you can. I will remain with you until we find an end to this." A bright flash of light caused me to cover my eyes with my arms, and after I finished rubbing my eyes and allowing them to adjust I looked around. Hope was gone, and the area was once more changed.

"Who are you!?" I jumped not expecting to hear anyone else. I turned around to see another woman about my age, dressed in denim jeans a leather vest and woolen cloak half hiding behind a tree. She looked more jumpy than I felt. "You're not one of those demons... are you?"

"No?" She visibly relaxed and stepped away from her hiding place. "What about you?"

Her eyes went wide and she gave a gasp. "Oh, no I'm not. My name is Corrine... who are you?"

"Valerie. How did you get here?"

"Me? Oh I'm dreaming. I assume you are as well." Right well now that the obvious is out of the way, now why are we both here. Other than Hope I've never seen anyone else in this place. Plus I can't be sure if this Corrine person is who they actually say they are, but somehow I know I shouldn't be alarmed by her. "You know, it's weird. When I first figured out I could bring myself here when ever I wanted it was scary. But now it isn't so bad."

She idly spoke as though to fill an awkward silence.

"How much do you know about this place?"

She sighed as she spoke. "Next to nothing really. A friend of mine is the one that helped me learn that I can come here." She began walking down a newly formed path and I followed after her. "We had to leave though, so I haven't really had a chance to talk to her since though."

"Who's 'we'?"

"His name is Zevran." She lead me around through the winding paths as if she knew just where to go. After a few minutes of traveling through the erratic forest we stopped and looked to each other. "That wasn't you was it?"

"I was about to ask you that." She pulled a staff from under her cloak and the sound of voices became louder.