I posted this a few month ago, but the fandom in spanish it's really small :( so I decided to give it a go with the translation. So, english is not my first lenguage, and I have no beta reader. I would happily accept any advice or corrections.
The story it's mostly done, I just need time to translate. Hope you enjoy it!
{Thank you so much to the Judy who told me that I didn't uploaded properly. Hope you can actually read it now!}
I felt some odd needles picking against my skin. It wasn't really painful, like a recent wound, more like an old scar that itches now and then. But I didn't have any of those in my hand.
It reminded me of the feeling when I got my vallaslin. A constant pain, but after some while, the skin gets used to it, and it is not more than a bother.
After a few minutes, my mind was able to focus on something else that my hand. My body is still unmoved on the floor, slightly groggy still. I noticed the floor against my body, stif, like if I just had spent hours in the same odd position. My senses were starting to go back to work.
Cold stone floor, darkness, dusty air. I was not in a cave, or neither in a tree, places where I used to sleep when I traveled away from my clan. Something was not right.
I slowly opened my eyes, hoping to find my bow or my daggers next to me. But all that met my eyes was a sleepy soldier, who appeared to be trying to keep himself awake. As soon as he saw me opening my eyes, all the sleepyness left his face. He blinked like 20 times before I could say or try anything. He just ran away screaming.
"Lady Seeker. The prisoner is awake! She is alive!"
Prisoner? Oh fenedhis….
After meeting my not so nice captor, being interrogated about crazy green lights coming out from my hand, I was forced to follow her through some other path that was supposed to take to my other slightly nicer captor. Some people may have actually considered it a nice walk, ignoring the huge and terrifying Breach in the sky, that eventually threw away some demons and green lighting to make the way a little bit more exciting.
"Hurry up, Leliana is expecting us" Comand the soldier, as she had any authority over me. I stopped for a second to look around me. The huge Breach in the sky was just above the ruins of the place that not so long ago was holding the Conclave, the meeting place where important decisions for mages of all Thedas were supposed to take place.
"I don't get what's all the rush about. It's not like I have any idea about what you're talking about." I said as I kept walking. The closer we got to the odd thing, the weird feeling in my hand got stronger. "And even if that thing has anything to do with my hand, it doesn't mean I have the slightest clue of how to fix it."
"Keep walking, elf. We need to try the mark in a smaller breach first." She stopped before adding "And if I were you, I will put considerable effort in my attempt. You'll still have to face a trial."
I rolled my eyes at her back. Yes, sure. Like if I was going to stay for a shem trial. An explosion turns out to kill several of their leaders (the half who haven't been killed before, anyway), a huge hole shows up in the sky and they only found a lonely elf survivor. It was almost too convenient. I have no intention to stay. I just needed to follow her until I find a way out. Away from their reach, I could figure out a way to remove the green beacon in my hand.
"Whatever you say, shem."
"Let the bow. Now."
"Whatever. Hope you enjoy dealing with those demons by yourself." I mean, if she got hurt, it would be easier to escape anyway. I made the gesture to drop the bow. She squint her eyes, but eventually said,
"No, better keep it. It will not be a trial if you're not able to defend yourself. It'll be no use to judge a dead elf. Take these too." She handled me some potions and kept going.
I didn't say I don't need their pathetic bows to defend myself, and that it wasn't going to be any trial, but I kept walking. I have met a lot of shem, and not many of them would share their potions with a extrange elf.
About a kilometer away, we ran into one of those breaches. It was smaller, but not less fighteng than the one in the sky. Demons were falling from it, killing the soldiers dump enough to close. Two figures caught my attention. There was an elf and a dwarf between the soldiers, and they were doing a considerably better job.
"We need to help them." Said the woman before running to them. Well, I wasn't exactly thrilled about helping them, but, again I didn't have a lot of choices. Once the last demon was down, the elf came close to me and grabbed my hand. I mean, he practically dragged me towards the breach.
"Hurry up, before more comes through," He said, as if those words would have any meaning to me. And just like that, the mark in my hand reacts to the proximity. A foreing, unknown energy came through my body, pouring out of my hand, closing the breach, like it was never there.
I looked at the elf confused.
"What did you do?" Everything was getting crazier by the minute.
"I did nothing. The credit it's all yours" Oddly, he seemed pretty safistafaded.
"I close that… thing. How?" I repeat, just in case that someone could actually explain to me what was going on.
"What created the breach in the sky, it most likely created the mark in your hand as well. I theorized it may be able to close the breaches." He's voice was smooth, nice to hear. He used a calm tone, like if he were explaining something common and natural, like the rain, or the movement of the moon.
My captor came closer with her own questions.
"Does that mean it could be able to close the first breach, the one which creates all the others?" Her eyes shone with excitement. When she wasn't so mad, she was quite pretty. For a shem, at least.
"Possibly" He said to her. But his eyes went back to me. "It looks like you hold the key to our salvation." The confidence in his voice made a silly tingle in my tummy. He had a half smile on his face, as if his happiness couldn't quite reach his eyes. Like if he was remembering some kind of inside joke I wasn't aware of.
I have seen that kind of smile before. It was a liar's smile.
Okay, maybe staying for a while wouldn't be that bad. At least until I could figure out his name. His gray eyes were a nice change of scenery, with all the green and the demons around.
He was oddly tall for an elf, and even muscly. It was properly clean, fed and dressed, unlike most of the alienage elves I have met. There was no vallaslin in his face, so he wasn't dalish either. I saw him fighting, maybe some Circle mage?
"Good to know. Here I thought we'll deep ass in demons forever." The dwarf took his moment to talk. "Varric Tethras: rouge, storyteller and occasionally unwelcome tag along."
Apparently I wasn't the only prisoner here. Varric and Cassandra had a not so friendly discussion, but it ended up with all of us keeping our way to the main breach. It wasn't the nicest destination, but I appreciated the extra competente hands in the way.
"My name is Solas, if there's to be any introductions." Said the elf kindly.
I barely could hold my chuckle. Solas, of course. Only someone like him could have a name like that. I wonder if he had any idea of what it meant. The elvhen knowledge was fussy and fragmented in most of the clans, and the city elfs barely knew a few words. He seemed to notice my reaction, by the light titl in his eyebrows, but he didn't say anything.
"I'm glad to see you alive." Well, that was an odd choice of words.
"He means, I kept the thing in your hand to kill you in your sleep, you're welcome, by the way." Add Varric.
Okay, brand new information. This guy was sounding more and more interesting by the minute.
"So you seem pretty well informed about this kind of thing." I said, glancing at my palm.
"Solas is an apostate." Said Cassandra.
"Technically, all mages are apostates now, Seeker." Replied, "And this breach in the sky threatens anyone, no matter our origin."
His words made my stomach feel odd again, but not in a nice way. How far could the consequences of this thing reach? Could Ada and the other be in danger?
Staying was starting to feel more like an obligation than an option.
Minutes after, Solas spoke to Cassandra.
"Seeker, you must know that I have never seen something like this. Even if the carrier of the mark may have any magical training or ability, it's hard to believe that anyone could manage it. That connection to the Fade is to summon great power."
I strained my back in a second. Fenhedis. I haven't even said my name and that idiotic elf was already spilling my secrets.
"Well, then it's a good thing that I have no magical gift. Hope it's enough to keep me safe from posesion." I looked Solas right into the eyes, hoping he would get what I was trying to do. Again, a small tilt in his eyebrows, and he was back at the same calm expression.
"It should be. It may present some difficulties to learn how to use. However, every elf has a natural affinity to magic. After some practice, you should be able to do it effortlessly."
What a good liar.
Ufff, by the Creators. I may have to say something to Solas later, but at least it would buy me time.
"It 's true? I have never hear that about elves…" I asked to drive the conversation else where. And out of curiosity, of course.
"I think that the lecture about the elves and their nature can wait, Solas" Intervine Cassandra, claiming our attention back to the group of demons in our way. There was still a long way until the top of the mountain.
After those demons, Varric gave one more attempt at conversation.
"What about you elfy, do you have a name?" I took a few seconds to think which answer could be the best one. I tried to get closer to the truth.
"You can call me Di."
"¿Di? It doesn't sound very dalishy."
"Oh, are you an expert in dalish names, dwarf?" I said with a smile. "Di is short for Dirthda. Hope it's dalish enough for you."
Now it was Solas turn to let go a soft chuckle.
"Any problem with my name, Solas? I'm pretty proud of it." Said raising my eyebrows. So he did know some elven after all.
"Nothing at all. It suits you quite well, if I may say so." He replied, again with a half smile. That silly smile almost makes me forget he was about to share some of my secrets some minutes ago. Almost.
So he finds me puzzling. That makes two of us.
"¿Dirthda? I like it, but it doesn't have quite a ring to it. Don't worry, I'll come up with something for you."
"Whatever you say Varric, but only if you let me have a closer look at Bianca later."
"I'm sorry, Bianca is a lady. She doesn't enjoy strangers touching her."
"Strangers? Varric, you wound me. Here I thought that we prisoners need it to stay together. Also, I can go slow with her. Let me buy her a drink first." Jokes came easy with him. Maybe I could consider him for an escape in a few days. "You can come too, Varric. If you think you can handle being with two ladys."
I heard some kind of ugh from Cassandra, and some other soft chuckle from Solas.
We came into some old temple ruins. Red lyrium and green light was everywhere.
Screams, voices, words overlapping each other. But suddenly I heard one voice. My voice.
I don't know what's going on.
If I knew, I'm sure by the Void that I wouldn't be here.
"I don't remember." That's all I can say when the questions start all over again. There was no way I was going to admit why I was in the Conclave.
All happened way too fast. In a second I was standing in front of the breach, at the next, we're facing a huge demon. I remember my hand extended toward the green hole, the energy running through my body. Solas was right. After some trial and error, it didn't feel as bad.