Obligatory Chapter Heading:
Preface:
A year.
A whole year of my magic fighting me, of it fighting me. I wasn't sure if it was ignoring me or what, but I couldn't do anything. The only "magic" that happened was the sky turning dark and the people turning in to coffins at eight am, sometimes nine. It depended on daylight savings time. The shadowy creatures pouring out from seemingly thin air. Like when I was a kid, before I wound up in Thedas.
I sure as hell didn't miss that.
Other than that, and the beings that formed when I called on them-Alice, Helel, Lilith, Kohryu, among others-there was no magic to be had.
I was stuck here, with the memories of having lived here the entire time I'd been gone. With a mother who acted as though I hadn't disappeared one day. It was... really weird.
Thankfully, with Alina popping in every once in a while, being so kind as to deliver a message here and there between me and Zevran, we were able to keep in contact. Albeit the bare minimum, but hey. Every little bit counted.
With her help, I was able to write that letter for my right hand man, so he could go see Alistair's secret library.
I continued on, going to school and doing homework, going through the motions of day to day life. Wearing turtlenecks under everything.
But it didn't matter what I did, I was lonely.
Something about me was off-putting to everyone around. Even my own mother. I wasn't sure what it was, but everyone gave me a wide berth. No matter how hard I'd tried, no one gave me a second glance. The worst part of it, I think, was that, according to the memories I had, it had always been like this.
Me, alone. Class projects, such as they were at this grade level, alone. Lunchtime, alone. Recess, alone, staying inside and cleaning the classroom because I didn't want to be around the other children. Home, alone, my mother glued to the tv. As long as she had that, she was fine. If I disturbed her, without a commercial playing, she went off, so... I spent most of my time alone.
When Alina was gone, more often than not of course, the voices of the Wellbeing were my only company. They were deeply knowledgeable about mathematics and literature, actually. Science, too. It made me wonder what ancient Arlathan had really been like, for them to know so much. It also helped that they absorbed every bit of knowledge, too. If I read it, heard it, thought it, they took it in as their own. As the end of the school year drew nearer, I didn't have to do anything, save for looking at the books and handouts. Letting the voices take it all in, having them whisper the answers for everything to me.
It became a game of sorts, to stretch the limits. There was nothing else for me to do. And it paid off, really. I could fluently speak, read, and write Spanish and French. It had been a little touch and go, with the speaking, always needing a few seconds for the voices to translate because it wasn't instantaneous. But, honestly, I'd thought writing would be the hardest part. As long as I let the Well guide me, I could do it all.
It made me wonder what someone with ill intentions could do with them, and it made me shudder every time I thought about it.
May 2005
It was a week or so after my thirteenth birthday, which had passed without fanfare of any kind. My mother having forgotten or chosen not to celebrate. I wasn't sure which. It wasn't anything abnormal, if my memories were anything to go by. Every year passed like that.
Dropping my schoolbag onto the floor of the room, I let myself faceplant onto my bed. A groan left me. I hated the wide berth people at school still gave me. I wished I could just melt into the mattress and go back to Thedas.
I missed it with a fierce passion.
After a few minutes, I became aware of being cold. So very, very cold. Pushing myself up to my knees, staring down at the ground beneath me in confusion. Looking all around me as I rose to my feet. Nothing but darkness and-
A woman. Clad in revealing armor, wearing a large ram-like skull mask, she stood in the middle of the dark space.
She didn't speak, the both of us standing in silence while I took in the change of scenery.
"Who are you?" I asked, feeling drawn to step toward her. Wondering if I should fight it or obey.
"I am the Spirit of Death, in this world."
"I'm not dead, so why am I here?" My feet carried me toward her, until I stood but a foot away.
"Lagendia is in trouble, and its people need you to return."
"Return...?" Lagendia didn't sound familiar, I had no idea what she was talking about.
Flashback, Unknown Time Ago
I was myself, but not in control. A passenger along for the ride, the ride being a vision of the past, though I didn't know how long ago.
I was sitting on a blanket, a basket of food beside me as I sunbathed in a patch of grass, trees encircling the glade. Older, just by a few years, than I currently was. Seventeen... eighteen, I wasn't exactly sure.
Something in the brush moved, grabbing my attention, but I kept my eyes closed and on the sun behind my lids. Giving no sign that I'd heard anything amiss.
The grass lightly crunched as someone, or something, landed from one of the tree branches high up just a couple feet away from me.
My spirit reaching out, I saw with my mind's eye a boy, no older than sixteen, dressed in classic Assassin gear, his expression clouded.
"I have food, if you're hungry." I offered quietly.
He swallowed hard, shaking his head. "I'm here to warn you. I'm traveling with-"
I slowly opened my eyes, irises the purest silver, a sign I was in a vision. It stopped him short, his mouth falling open at the sight.
"Lunaria isn't far behind you." A sadness settled on my features.
It was strange, I was the me lounging in the meadow, but I had glimpses of myself. My eyes, my mouth, my expression. As if I was seeing it from yet another perspective.
"I wish we could coexist, but as long as she intends to kill me, that can't happen." Standing I brushed myself off, the sundress flowing around me. "I'll leave. Go somewhere she can't find me."
"You've already tried jumping through time, there's nowhere you can go..."
"Ah, but there is. She can't world walk." I smiled softly, gesturing toward the basket. "Feel free to stay and eat. I didn't prepare it for me."
A doorway to another world, resembling an ornate mirror, opened just behind me, and I stepped backward into it.
All of the torture I'd endured, all of the many lives I'd lived. Being reborn, found, experimented on. Reborn, found, experiment. The cycles I'd lived through, finally breaking two lifetimes before the current one, they'd all stemmed from the vision I was having, had had?, at the time he'd approached.
I'd need it all, to gain the strength needed to help defeat what Lagendia would go through in a few hundred years' time.
Present Time
"Will you offer aid?"
The world returned, piece by piece, around me, and I was once again staring at the mask.
"I will." There was a lot to sift through in that vision, a lot to think about. Luckily, the Well would be a great help, in processing it all. I wouldn't have to do it alone.
"Welcome home."
Another flash of light, and I was standing in the middle of the woods in an unfamiliar land.
Home?
The sound of metal clanging against metal reached my ears after several minutes had passed, where I'd been adjusting to the scenery around me. Wondering what to do, where to go. That seemed a dangerous direction to head.
So, being me, I set off that way. Because of course I did.
A minute, two, three passed, before I came upon the fight. Little... goblin-like creatures, wearing only loincloths, had a teen boy wielding a sword pinned at the edge of a cliff. Scattered around, behind the goblins, were three other teens. All unconscious, it seemed. One of them looked to be a magic user, judging from how she was dressed. That was all I needed.
"Oi! Over here!" Sticking out my tongue when, as a unit, they all turned to look over at me.
Most of them broke away, swarming my direction. Waiting until they were close enough to reach out and touch, I shrouded myself in fire. The flames dancing all around me, setting the closest creatures on fire, jumping from one to the next in a domino effect.
Instead of being surrounded by corpses, they all... disintegrated...? Like they were made of ash, floating away on the breeze.
Weird, but okay.
The boy was having a much easier time dispatching the remaining ones, so I turned my attention to the people lying on the ground. Going over to the two closest to each other and putting a hand on their shoulders, briefly waiting for them to regain consciousness, before doing the same for the third. As they sat up, the boy ran over, panting hard.
"You're all alright." Disbelief clear in his voice, looking over his companions. Eyes turning to me, he grinned. "You're a game changer."
"I do what I can."
"Ugh. I feel like a herd of fluffalo stomped all over me." The mage got to her feet, hand to the side of her head. A blue energy flashed, and she gave a sigh of relief. "That's much better."
The cleric-looking boy quickly stood, reaching down to help up the fashionably-dressed girl.
A flash of soft white light surrounded the lot of them, and their wounds healed over.
"Okay. That's much better." She corrected herself, laughing.
I liked her already. Pulled back from the brink of death, and she was laughing.
They talked amongst themselves while I stood there, looking around. Still zero clue about where I was. Waiting for the opportunity to cut in and ask.
Taking the time to really look them over, I noticed that the well-dressed girl's hair was purple, as were her eyes. She was wearing a blue dress with a long back and short front, a dark, almost black, pair of leggings? Tights? underneath. The ensemble completed with a pair of blue and white knee-high high-heeled boots. The cleric boy's hair was white, his eyes a deep blue. The open trench coat, shirt underneath, and slacks matching the girl's outfit. The mage had pink hair, eyes almost the same shade. Her pantsuit, I now realized that's what she was wearing, a dark purple. Kitten heels matching. The warrior, dirty blonde hair and soft brown eyes. Finally having a moment to notice after all the chaos, I saw he was wearing a light brown tank top and dark brown baggy pants, which were tucked into brown workers boots. Boy really liked brown, I guess. Or liked that they matched his eyes? Huh.
The purple haired girl's eyes flicked over to me, and she fixed a dazzling smile on her face. She was used to taking the role of hostess, I assumed. "So, who are you?"
"I'm Anastasia."
"Thank you for helping us, Anastasia! We would've been toast without you."
"You look... a little lost." The healer spoke up, his voice quiet, eyes kind.
"I am, actually. I, um. I have no idea where I am. Or how I got here, really."
"Oh, no! You weren't kidnapped, were you? That's been happening quite frequently!" Her eyes were the size of saucers, the concern dramatically clear on her face.
Where the hell was I?
"Oh, don't listen to her." The mage rolled her eyes, pushing the other girl out of the way so she could stand in her place. "A girl from Prairie Town, she had visions, was kidnapped. For her blood or something. He's helping track her down." A thumb jerked over her shoulder toward the warrior, who was still standing a little ways off, watching the conversation unfold.
He gave a little wave at my glance. I could feel the smile spreading. I liked these people. Who's names I still didn't know.
"Anyway, we can help you get back to Calderock. It's not that far." She pointed to herself. "I'm Illaria, a sorceress. That's Elreid, a Lancea. One of the Justitias. I say "one of" because there's a billion of them."
"There are not!"
"And they all virtually look the same."
"We're cousins!"
"Your sister is your cousin?"
"You...!" Crossing her arms, Elreid pouted.
"I'm just teasing her. She's fine. Where was I?" A second of thought, and she pointed to the cleric. "That's Zethial, he's our token cleric. Healer. Person. Super religious. Doesn't actually fight, just heals. Which is fine. Means more blood for the rest of us or whatever. And that's Liam. He's our tanky warrior. As evidenced by the fact that he was the last one standing." An expectant look in my direction.
"I'm... just Ana."
"I think... she should meet Black Opal." Zethial murmured to the others, barely loud enough for me to hear.
"Do you know when it is?" Illaria was in my face, now. Almost close enough to touch noses.