Author note

A small one! Buuut, with a cliffhanger ;-)

I still don't own any of the characters, wish I did!

Chapter 2 - 'Cross Veil and into the valley of dreams

The Harrowing Chamber was just as Alex had imagined it to look like; a large and dark room with the only light seeping in through the stained glass windows, which made the room look extra ominous. That's probably exactly the vibe they were going for, she thought to herself as she walked towards the center of the room, an excellent way of making apprentices feel uncomfortable before the test had even started.

Waiting for her were First Enchanter Irving and Ser Greagoir, the templar's Knight-Commander at Kinloch Hold. They were accompanied by several templar soldiers and she saw from the corner of her eye Cullen joining their rank.

Not sure if she was supposed to say something, she waited till Ser Greagoir spoke the words she had heard at least a thousand times since she had entered the circle. "Magic exists to serve man, and never to rule over him."

She hadn't seen much of the Knight-Commander, since he usually didn't mingle with unimportant mages like herself, but she had heard enough about him to know that he had a dislike for everything that had to do with magic. It was evident just now, in the way he was looking at her and as he continued with his speech, "Thus spoke the prophet Andraste as she cast down the Tevinter Imperium, ruled by mages who brought the world to the edge of ruin."

Alex knew where he was going with this and before the head of the templars could finish, she spoke up, "Our magic is a gift, but it's also a curse, for demons of the dream realm, the Fade, are drawn to us and seek to use us as a gateway into this world." She agreed at least with that templar sentiment. Her magic was both a gift and a curse, she knew that much to be true.

Before Ser Greagoir could react to her intrusion, Irving stepped in. With a much gentler tone than the man beside him, he said, "This is why the Harrowing exists. The ritual sends you into the Fade and it is secret out of necessity, my child. As we succeeded, so shall you. Keep your wits about you and remember that the fade is a realm of dreams. The spirits may rule it, but your own will is real."

"The apprentice must go through this test alone, Irving," Greagoir interrupted the First Enchanter before he could give her any more tips. Then he turned back to her. "If you fail, we templars will perform our duty and you will die." There was neither sorrow nor joy in that statement, just a sense of... distance? Yes, that was it, Alex realized. As if the Knight-Commander had already closed himself off of feeling anything about this whole ordeal. Maybe years of putting young mages through this test, with all the different kinds of outcomes, did that to a person.

Not wanting to wait any longer, she gathered all the courage she could, doing everything in her power not to grasp the medaillon hidden away under her robes. "I'm ready," she said, surprising herself with the steadiness of her voice. The First Enchanter and Knight-Commander stepped aside, revealing a pedestal behind them. Without anyone saying another word, Alex strode forward, closed her eyes and put her hands around it.

The moment Alex opened her eyes again, she knew that she had successfully entered the Fade with her mind. In just a moment's notice, the Harrowing chamber had been replaced by the eerie realm of dreams. The ground below her feet, the sky above her and all the objects that were around here were the same shades of grey and green. She saw columns, vases, plants and statues, but they all seemed different than what they looked like in the mortal world. She couldn't precisely say what it was that was so different about them, they were just... different. Maybe it had to do with the fact that even when she tried to focus on them, they remained somewhat blurry and glowy. The only thing she could see clearly was the Black City, floating somewhere in the distance.

Realizing that she was not going to pass her Harrowing by just standing around and admiring the views, she decided to follow down the only path she saw. After only a few steps, she heard a voice come out of nowhere.

"Somebody else, thrown to the wolves. As fresh and unprepared as ever. It isn't fair that they do this, the templars."

Alex turned around, squinting her eyes to see if the owner of the voice had somehow creeped up on her from behind and readying her hands in case she had to defend herself quickly. Except no one was there. When she turned back and took another step forwards, she saw something jump away from the foot she was about to put down. It was... a rat? The Fade had talking rats?!

The rat could somehow read her mind, as he continued, "You think you're here in your human body? No, you only look like that, because you think you do. Allow me to welcome you to the fade. You can call me... well, Mouse."

Alex quickly suppressed a giggle at the fact that the rat - no Mouse - was really talking and even introducing itself to her. Had he said 'somebody else'? Did that mean that he was an apprentice just like herself? She concluded that she should probably just ask him instead of trying to guess. "You took the Harrowing?"

"It's fuzzy, that time before and I don't want to waste yours. The templars kill you if you take too long because they don't want anything to escape."

Alex agreed that she might indeed be wasting her time talking to a mouse and brought her focus back to the task at hand. There was only one tiny problem: she had no idea what that task was. Okay, one last question to the mouse then. "So... Do you have any idea about what I am supposed to do here?"

It turned out that the mouse did have some information about her Harrowing, as he replied, "There is something here contained, just for an apprentice like you. A demon, raised as a test for you. You will have to beat it."

Anything can die, Alex thought. It could not be as simple as that right?

Sensing her doubt, Mouse continued, "You would be a fool just to attack everything you see. There are spirits here. They will tell you more or might even help you." At the same time Alex thought it, the tiny creature added, "If you can believe anything you see, that is."

Well, time to get on with it then. Alex thanked Mouse, again trying to ignore the weirdness of it all. As she walked past him and carried on her path, she noticed that tiny little paws were following behind her. "You are... going to follow me? There is no need for that you know."

"Oh it's no trouble, in fact, I could help you. I've done that before for a few other apprentices. My chances to leave this place are long gone, but you, you may have a chance to find a way out."

Not really feeling comfortable with her new companion, but also not knowing how she could politely get rid of him, Alex decided to let him tag along. Who knew, maybe he would turn out to be useful later on.

In that manner she made her way through the Fade, exploring every corner and corridor with Mouse in tow. She was surprised by the lack of spirits or demons she encountered, having expected to have herself fight or talk her way through hordes of them. When she made her final round through the part of the Fade she was in, she had only run into a few wraiths, one spirit and one sloth demon; the latter she didn't even have to battle in the end. She had gotten them to help her, the spirit providing her with an excellent staff and the demon teaching her companion to become a ravishing bear. Irving had stressed that she should 'keep her wits about her' and so she had. Nonetheless, it was going a bit too smoothly for her to feel like she was doing it right.

They came up to a big open field with a lot of fire erupting out of the ground that they had passed a few times before. This time, however, something felt different. Before Alex could analyze it further, the earth beneath her started to tremble. Just in front of her feet, the ground split open and a blazing red creature crawled its way out. A rage demon.

Hmppf, not the strongest of demons. All the same, as soon as it stood up straight, it towered above her. Finally, some real action. She rapidly hurled her Winter's Grasp at it, freezing it on the spot. This allowed for Mouse (or was it Bear now?) to have at it with his newly gained claws, while she fired all different kinds of bolts at it.

They repeated this several times, like a successfully rehearsed choreography, until the demon was defeated. Alex walked over to the spot where the rage demon had been defeated, still not trusting that this was the final test of her Harrowing.

Suddenly she heard a strange sound, a whoosh, behind her. When she turned around, Mouse had disappeared and in his place was... Alex felt her blood run cold as if she had also been struck by her own freezing spell. In front of her stood a boy, no more than sixteen years old. She had identified him in a fraction of a second; she recognized the face and auburn curls that had haunted her nightmares for the last five years. She felt her heartbeat increase and her legs turn to pudding, because standing in front of her was... Dairren.