Ch 29 Lord of Cinder

Frostback Mountain Top

After we had left the temple, the "holy man" Kolgrim, the man I hold partially responsible for Leliana's death, greeted us. Darrian remained quiet as he talked to us.

Kolgrim: "Already the weight of the past seems to have lifted off the mountain. You are Andraste's knight…"

Darrian looks away while I look Kolgrim straight in the eyes.

Sten moved in front of Kolgrim. "We did what you asked, now where is our payment?"

Kolgrim backs away from Sten a little. "Yes. It would be a grave sin to deny you your just reward. You will share in the power of the dra-"

Sten: "The blood. Now."

Kolgrim: "Of course… Behold! The blood of the dragon!"

He gestured to the person behind him, a mage by the looks of it, holding two silver cups. Silver cups again?

Alistair: "Uhhh, is this safe?"

Kolgrim: "Of course it is!"

I look as Sten takes a cup from the mage and drinks it in one gulp, Darrian follows suit. After they drank the blood, both of them collapsed onto the snow.

Alistair: "Shit!"

Kolgrim: "Do not worry! Happens to all of us."

Is it my fault? If I had share the power of pyromancy with Darrian, would Leliana still be alive?

After a while, both of them got back up.

Kolgrim: "How do you feel?"

Darrian rubs his throat.

Kolgrim: "That is the nature of dragon blood, it is flame given life. And with it, all the experiences of our ancestors."

I'm getting tired of his dramatic antics, tired of looking at his happy face. Even though it was out of self-defense, we still killed your people. Why are you so happy?!

"Are we done? Is the power giving ritual over?"

Kolgrim: "Yes, now even if you leave, you will take us with you. You will forever be one of us."

Sten: "No, I am forever of the Qun."

And I step forward and bury my spear right up Kolgrim's chin and out the back of his head.

"What…?" Said Alistair in shock.

"Do you really think I'm just going to let you murderers walk away?"

I'm furious right now, and since I can't take it out on Darrian, I'll kill these bastards instead. I pull the spear out of Kolgrim's head and immediately move on to the mage. He tries to stop me by blasting me with a gust of cold air, but I ignored it and spread fire all over my body and impaled him. I then kick the mage off of my spear.

BUZZZ!

I turn to see a paralyzed warrior with his axe lifted, Morrigan had fired a bolt of lightning at my opponent. I strike him with the butt of my spear while he was still paralyzed, knocking him over. Since he has heavy armor and a full face helmet, I just keep hitting him in the face with the spear's crossguard until finally he stops moving.

Morrigan: "Ferocious as always."

Alistair: "Why did you do that?! The whole point of negotiating with them is so that we don't risk our lives and waste time fighting them!"

"These people are deranged killers." I replied.

BUUUU!

I look over to the direction of the weird sound, and saw three man, one of them blowing a horn.

Alistair: "They are calling for reinforcements! What do we do now?!"

"We will kill them." Said Sten, drawing his sword.

The sound of wings flapping, and then a roar, echoing through the air. I look up, and saw a drake flying towards us.

"O Great Andraste! Avenge you people!" Cry the cultists with their hands raise in the air.

BOOM!

As the cultists were praying, the dragon lands on top of them with a thunderous bang, crushing them!

"Are you kidding me?!" Said Alistair, as he draws his weapon.

"Ataashi." Said Sten in awe.

"Interesting, it seems the dragon sees us as a threat." Said Morrigan, observing the dragon.

Alistair: "How can you be this calm!"

"How many of you have fought a dragon before?" I turn and ask them.

Sten: "I have killed dragons."

"That makes two then."

"You? Killed a dragon? Hmph!" Said Sten in disbelief.

No, I didn't just killed A dragon.

Alistair: "You expect us to fight that thing?"

"The Archdemon is a dragon too, this will be good practice. If you can't beat this dragon, how can you hope to defeat the Archdemon?"

My weapon is made of dragon's tooth, meaning it should be able to pierce the dragon's scale. Alistair bangs his shield to draw the dragon's attention while Sten and I go around it.

"Morrigan! Focus on healing us!" Said Darrian as he fires a few arrows at the dragon.

I move to its right and with all my might I bury my spear into the dragon's right back thigh. The dragon screams in pain as I pull the spear out and thrust it again. On the other side Sten lifts his greatsword and continuously hack down at the dragon's toe, it didn't decapitate the toe, but it still drew a little blood. The dragon tries to step on us, but both me and Sten evaded. The high dragon then turns its head towards Alistair and breathes fire at him, but the fire was blocked by Morrigan's magic.

"Shit!" Said Alistair as he raises his shield and slowly moves backward.

I need to take out its eyes, so while it's breathing fire at Alistair, I ran to the right of the dragon's head. But the dragon saw me coming and let out an Ear Piercing Roar, forcing me to stop and block my ears, or try to - my helmet got in the way. It then began to flap its wings, creating an air current and a snow storm that further immobilized me.

"NO! Do not let it take flight!" I said to Darrian and Morrigan as I thrust my spear into the ground and pull out Leliana's longbow. "Put some holes on its wings!"

"Why? Just let it go!" Said Alistair.

"It's not running away! Dragons are proud creatures." At least in my world. "It will fly up and rain fire on us!"

And just as I said, the dragon hover above us and breathes fire down on us. We immediately dodge to the side.

Alistair: "Shit! The Steam!"

The fire melted the snow and created steam, and not only that, the wind created by the dragon's flapping wings is sending steam and snow everywhere, making it hard to see anything.

"It will keep doing that unless we take out its wings, or it runs out of breath!"

Darrian and I shoot multiple arrows at the beast, but the dragon's skin is too hard, even on its wings. The wind created by the dragon flapping its wings makes it even harder for the arrows to land a blow. If only I had my Greatbow. I left it at Firelink Shrine as I can't exactly carry that thing around. But then again, I don't think I can even draw that bow as I am right now.

I look at my spear. No choice, I lift my spear and take on a throwing stance, and begin to run, then with all my might, throw the spear at the dragon's left wing. The spear penetrates the wing and the dragon falls from the sky and hits the ground with a huge impact, shaking the earth. I had to look around to see if that had caused an avalanche, it was then I felt pain all over my body, and I was lifted off the ground.

Morrigan POV

The high dragon lifts Baldwin off the ground in its jaws, flails him around like a toy, then throws him at least 10 feet into the air before he falls back down on the snow.

"Morrigan! Heal him!" Darrian shouts at me as he drops his bow and draws his swords.

I run up to him. Heal him? His helmet is deformed, his limbs are all bent and twisted, his body has huge holes all over… I'd be surprised if he isn't dead!

He's dead…

In all my life, every person I met have wanted either my power or my body, even my mother. Though in Flementh's case, she literally wanted my body. I admit the reason he conversed with me was because he wanted information, but twas' enjoyable…

Yes… I…did enjoy the time I spent with him, twas' like we were… friends…

Suddenly, his body was lit on fire. I was confused but then his body began to move. His head, arms and legs moved back to their original positions, the holes on his armor were seemingly burned away by mysterious flames; the tunic he wore turned from blue to red, and when he began to sit up… When he got up, I took a better look at him - his whole armor had changed, and his helmet looked like it had a face on it…

Baldwin POV

I am still here. I looked at my hands, there are what looks to be veins of fire running through my armor. I recognize this power, I was bathed in it before, The First Flame. I see, when The Flame burned away the souls in my body, it left behind embers. So this is what Gwyn has become, although to him, this must be a downgrade.

Morrigan: "What…"

I look over to Morrigan, I guess this is quite a shock, it is to me.

"Where's my spear?" I ask her.

She points to the dragon's left wing - so it's still stuck there. I look around and found a sword hilt in the snow. I walk over and pull the sword out and find there's a crushed body attached to it. This must be one of the cultists that got flatten by the dragon. I pull out the longsword, and the vein of fire moves to the sword. I give the sword a few swings - the fire better not make the sword brittle.

"Who? Wait… What happened to your armor?" Asked Alistair as I walk up beside him.

I run up to the dragon and slash at its thigh, and even though it only left a scratch, the cut burst into fire, and the dragon cries out in pain. Dragons are usually resistance to fire, but despite that, my attack seem to have really hurt it.

"Magic." Said Sten in disgust. From what I know, the dragon blood you just drank also gave you magical powers.

The dragon swings its tail at me and I duck under it while raising my sword to cut its tail as it swings above me. The dragon now turns towards me and opens its mouth - I immediately cast Flash Sweat and run towards it and thrust the sword into its mouth. The dragon bites down while my right arm is still inside of its mouth, crushing my arm, but just then my arm bursts into flames, forcing the dragon to open its mouth, allowing me to pull my broken arm out. That is when I saw both Alistair and Sten thrusting their swords into the dragon's neck! When the dragon opens its jaw and screams, I stand my ground and spray a spiral vortex of chaos fire into its mouth with my left hand.

Darrian is on top of the dragon's back, stabbing it with his dagger as he makes his way to its head. When he got to where my spear is, he pulls out my spear and jump to the back of the dragon's neck and bury my spear in its neck, and the dragon falls to the ground. Sten lifts his greatsword up in the air, his eyes seem to turn red, and with all his might, hack at the dragon's neck repeatedly. Blood was raining down everywhere, but instead of getting out of the way, Darrian and Sten bathe in it.

"What are they…" Asked Alistair.

"They crave more dragon's blood." Said Morrigan.

They gain power from dragon's blood, and now they instinctively yearn for more… it's almost like me with souls. But of course here I am trying very hard to reject absorbing that powerful dragon's soul. It's almost like holding my breath.

Killed a Dragon and only died once, a new personal record. I can't even remember how many times I died while fighting that four winged, large mouth dragon at the Depths.

"Your arm…" Said Morrigan pointing at my right arm.

Only when Morrigan had asked that I remembered about my broken arm. I check and find that my right arm has completely healed.

"It's fine."

I don't really understand, my best guess is that the First Flame healed me, but even my armor was fixed. It's less like healing and more like… time reversing itself… I didn't even feel it.

Alistair: "Did you change armor in the middle of the battle?"

I look down at myself, my armor has indeed changed. The leather glove on my right hand is now metal, the tunic is now red. Also the vein of fire seems to have disappeared. I close my eyes and focus on the powers inside of me, and I can't sense the embers within me, guess I used them all. I pull off my right glove and check my hand, it's human, and also no fire veins. I take off my helmet and found that the front of the helmet resembles a face, and the top looks like a crown…

"My old armor got crushed, I just found this one laying around."

Alistair: "You change armor fast…"

I can't believe you believed that. I walk over to that crazy Father's body and begin to examine the armor he was wearing.

Alistair: "What are you doing?"

"Claiming my spoils of war."

I also found what I assume to be that crazy man's helmet nearby, but the helmet doesn't have a face plate. Fortunately my eyebrows have grown back, so I wouldn't look that weird.

Alistair: "You're going to change armor again?"

This "First Flame Armor" I'm wearing now is the best armor I've ever worn, it fits me so well that it's unnatural, I don't even know if I'd be able to take it off. Unfortunately, it stands out too much and makes me look like some undead inferno knight… thing.

Morrigan POV

We stood here, in the cold, waiting for the knight to finish striping the dead Father's body. There is a silent consensus to not talk about what happened to Leliana, and sir knight pretends he didn't just pull off a resurrection miracle! If he thinks for a moment that I would just let this go, he's dreaming.

I walk up to him as he was pulling the legging off the dead man, rather violently I might add. Well, I'm sure the good dead Father wouldn't mind.

"What exactly happened? And don't even think about giving me that "I don't know" crap."

Baldwin: "You saw that, hmm."

"You're not human are you? Are you an abomination? Wait, you did say your magic can mutate people. Is that what you are?"

Baldwin: "No, I am not a demon."

"Stop lying to me. And take off your helmet when I'm talking to you!"

He pulls off his right glove and checks his hand, and then takes off his helmet.

"Why do you always do that?"

Baldwin: "Do what?"

"You always remove your glove first, check your hand and then remove your helmet."

Baldwin: "It's just a habit."

"Forget it. That not important right now. You… even if you were still alive, no magic can heal that fast."

No, what happened was neither healing or transformation magic, he was dead! There were at least five large holes on his body!

Baldwin: "You wouldn't believe it even if I told you."

"Try me."

Baldwin: "Fine. The truth is that I came from another world. I am a gods slayer who saved… no, prolonged the world by sacrificing myself to The First Flame. The power you saw was the power of The First Flame, the life giving fire, the fire that brings disparity."

"So… you are a minstrel." Or delusional. Really, really delusional, maybe more than those cultists. "A fire that brings disparity? That makes no sense. Please, enough with your creation myth."

Baldwin: "And there you have it, I knew you wouldn't believe me."

"Of course not. You've been lying to me from day one, why should I believe anything you say?"

Baldwin: "Then why even ask? And in my defense, I didn't lie, I only withheld information."

"In other words, you were not honest about who you are, you lied. Or does lying also have a different meaning in your "world"?

Baldwin: "You of all people, accuse me of… Did you really think we didn't know you and your mother were scheming something? Forget it, I'm not in the mood right now." And he takes the armor he had just stripped and enter the temple.

In truth, I believe about half of his story, I just haven't decided which half. But what about the girl… what's her name again? She seems to share his… tales. And the Silver Knight… I don't know if his power was really on the level of what is considered a god, but that thing was no Qunari. Alistair told me he lifted Sten's body with just one hand. I for one am not someone who would just believe everything Alistair says, but if he was telling the truth, then that Silver Knight is at least many times stronger than Sten. And his magic, a lightning spell that can destroy a stone golem in one strike, and a shock wave as powerful as a hurricane, and all without the Fade, not to mention that hex… I had never felt so weak and so vulnerable in my entire life.

At best, I will assume he is somehow from a different continent, or maybe a really closed off country beyond our maps. But even then, until I see proof, I will not believe it.

To be continued

This fight was inspired by Monster Hunter.