It feels like I've only just closed my eyes when Evelina shakes me awake. "Faellathi, honey wake up, we've got to go," she says in an urgent whisper, tossing me my robes.
"What's going on?" I ask blearily, struggling to get my robes on in my half-woken state.
"Shit, how do I explain this, uh, there are, uh, monsters. In the halls. Come on love, the others are waiting, we've got to go." Monsters? Others? Evelina half-drags me by the hand into the hallway, where a cluster of mages, some of whom I recognise from the meeting, are waiting for us. We set off at a fast pace, but it's not long before I see not one, but three of these monsters. Some of our group are armed with staves and they immediately attack the monsters. Someone, not Evelina, pushes me against the wall to shield me, covering my eyes with their hand.
"Don't look," he insists.
But it's too late, I've already seen the creatures who lunged at us. They look kind of like people, but their skin is grey and impossibly twisted, and their faces are barely distinguishable as faces. Where did they come from? How did they get into the tower? And where are the templars? The skirmish is over before its begun, and we keep going, down the stairs to the apprentice quarters. It's chaos. There are monsters, mages and templars everywhere, some fleeing, some fighting the monsters, and so many are screaming.
Our way is blocked by a large battle up ahead, so we flee downstairs into the basement. I've never been down here before, but I quickly realise it's practically a labyrinth of small storage rooms. The monsters haven't made it down here yet, but we keep going, crossing through one room after another. For some reason, we stop abruptly at one particular room. I look around, but I can't see anything worth stopping for. Everyone is gathering at something in front of us, so I angle my way forward. They're all staring at a desk laden with… vials of blood. Ew.
"The apprentices' phylacteries," the woman at the forefront of our group confirms, awestruck. She picks one off the table, and reads the label.
"It's yours," she announces, handing it to me. Suddenly, as if I'm dreaming, I see the templars hovering over me in that barn, clutching my fist over a glass vial. I'm seeing myself from the outside; a skinny, crying child, weakly trying to wrench her fist from a templar's grasp. As soon as it begins, the vision ends. I feel a bit nauseous; that was a memory, my own memory, but it was so real, like I was really there for a second, watching from outside the barn.
I haven't experienced a vision like that since before I came to the Circle. My eyes refocus on the vial of blood in my hand. Ew. Wait, this is what the templars use to make sure we can never leave.
As if reading my mind, another mage pipes up. "We should destroy them, give the apprentices a fighting chance." To prove his point, he snatches the vial from me and throws it against the wall, immediately shattering it. A weird wispy smoke trails from the blood now dripping down the stones.
Evelina shakes her head. "There are so many, what if—" But she doesn't get to finish her sentence, because another mage swipes the rest of the vials clean off the table with his staff. The sound of smashing glass rings through the room. Everyone is shocked, to say the least.
"What have you done?" she whispers, horrified.
I look to the rest of the group to see their reaction, but several of them have this weird, glazed-over expression in their eyes. The mage who shielded me before starts coughing uncontrollably. His skin is turning grey, and its twisting of its own accord. Oh. Oh no. Evelina grabs my hand and we flee again with the others who haven't started turning yet. I hear a shriek behind me and glance back; most of our group have already turned into monsters, and one is lunging towards us already. We bolt back through the rooms we came through and up the stairs. We reach the apprentice quarters.
There are people lying everywhere; mages, templars, monsters. Unmoving. There's only me, Evelina, and two other mages in our group now, and we run in the direction of the Great Doors which lead to the tower's entrance hall. Surely, at a time like this, we'd be allowed to leave the confines of the tower, even if it does mean being stuck at the lake's shore. Out of nowhere, three monsters ambush us.
Evelina snatches a staff off the ground. "Get in the wardrobe, now!" she shouts. I'm going to assume she means me, and she does not have to tell me twice. I scramble into the nearby armoire and pull the doors shut. From inside I can hear shouting, and footsteps, and angry snarls. Within a couple of minutes, the noises die down. I wait, breathing as quietly as I can. The silence is even scarier than the noises were. What happened to Evelina and the others? Did they fall? Are the monsters standing nearby, waiting for me to let my guard down and venture out of my hiding place?
I don't have to wait for long. I hear voices, normal people voices, and several sets of footsteps getting closer.
"What did Greagoir tell you?" an older woman's voice asks.
"That some mage called Uldred started this, and that a horde of abominations have been attacking templars and mages alike." Neria?
I burst out of the wardrobe, nearly tripping over my own feet. "Neria!"
Neria is understandably surprised. "Faellathi?! What are you doing here?" she strides forward and envelops me in a hug. Ah, I've missed Neria's hugs. But how do I even begin answering her question?
"There are monsters everywhere, and the other mages I was with, they broke all of the phylacteries, and then most of them turned into monsters themselves, and then we ran away again and I hid in there and I don't know what happened to the others. Can I go with you? Please let me go with you, I don't want to say here, please take me with you, the monsters are killing everyone!" I pause for breath while Neria takes in everything I've just said.
I glance at the others who are with her. A knight of some kind, an archer, one of the senior enchanters, I'm guessing, by her robes, and another lady wearing... not much, actually. But she has a staff, so I guess she must be a mage too.
"We can't bring her with us now, surely, it's too dangerous?" says the archer, a red-haired shem woman with an accent I can't quite place.
"No, I know, but I won't leave her here, either," Neria says, considering. Her expression grows determined. Apparently, she's made a decision. "Morrigan, can you get her out of the tower without being noticed?"
The scarcely-dressed lady scoffs. "Out of the tower? Shouldn't we take the child back to the care of those mages with the rest of the children?"
Neria shakes her head. "She's my cousin, and she's not safe here, so she's coming with us. Can you do it?"
Morrigan rolls her eyes. "Alright, if that's what you wish. It's preferable to spending any more time in this tower, at the very least." Charming. Neria crouches down slightly, to my height. "Go with Morrigan, and do what she says. She's my friend, you can trust her."
"Can she, though?" the knight teases.
"Shut up, Alistair," Morrigan retorts. "Come along, cousin of Neria."
