A Noble Age

Disclaimer: I do not own Halo or Dragon Age in any way, shape, or form. They belong to their respective owners.

Statess: A busty female?

stalarmik: Thank you, and you too.

Declanprosser20: Then I hope that this chapter was worth the wait.

Guest: Maybe a little, but when I get an idea, I just want to write it down before I lose it forever.

Dead344156: Cheers, man.

Granet: Don't you know? Spartans never...Um, I mean that Six is always chilling in his cave.

nantono: I wouldn't really call it a cliché, Six surviving in a cave is just a meme. And an Elite or Grunt wouldn't last long in the Dragon Age world/universe. Not because they would be overpowered but rather there would be nothing for their species to eat and would eventually die of starvation.

DireProphet: Thanks man, hope you enjoy the chapter.

Jestalnaker94000: I think that the special effects are fantastic, as well as the brutality of the Covenant as they slaughter the humans...everything else is just awful. With the Chief taking his helmet off every chance he gets even on the battlefield, him constantly acting emotional, and lets not forget the fact that he, a super soldier, tried to attack Halsey. And don't even get me started on the Emotional regulators and for some reason this version of Halsey didn't tell the Spartans of their origins.

Guest: Yes it was, and while it was said to be destroyed when SWORD Base was blown up by the explosives, I'm having a hard time imagining a Forerunner ship being destroyed by human explosives. The Mantel's Approach and the Keyship have shown that they're pretty much indestructible to both Human and Covenant weaponry.

Hellfire45: Glad you liked it, and you'll find out this chapter.

Guest: I'm not sure if they'll be insulted or not that a mortal is named after them. Of course, knowing the Desire Demon, they'll try seducing him if/when Six finds himself in the Fade.

DasChinButton: No, Six won't be replacing the Hero of Ferelden but rather doing his own thing. However, I might be including the other Origin characters instead of just having one as the Warden, which will most likely be Cousland. Although some might not become Grey Wardens and instead partner up with Six and Dot as they begin making an army/building a UNSC presence on Thedas.

Waceycorley: Yeah, you don't need to tell me. I will try my best to keep this story rather than abandoning it like I have with the last few attempts.

SixPathsOfKyuubi: A Darkspawn Spartan, Elite, or Brute would be the stuff of nightmares; and glad that you liked the opening. Using an Eluvian seemed like a good way to go mostly because it was better than having Six reach Thedas by a Forerunner portal or arrive by ship, the latter practically giving him a massive advantage on the Archdemon since if arrows can harm it then bullets would rip it too shreds.

Chapter 2.

Cutting through the first of the creatures with the two Energy Swords, Six cut through them like a hot knife through butter and continued his assault slashing left and right, up and down, and every other way in between as he potentially made his final stand. Not against the Covenant horde like he had envisioned after the Pillar of Autumn left, but by the creatures whose identity and intent eluded him.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. It was rather obvious what their intention was, they wanted to kill him and judging by how they were salivating from the mouth it was unlikely they were just going to leave his body there to rot.

That begged another question, what sort of disease had they been inflicted with that had turned an entire city into mindless beasts? A plague of some sorts? If that was the case and there was no cure for their affliction, why not put them out of their misery? Better yet, with all the advances that mankind had made in medicine...he stopped mid-thought when something suddenly dawned on him.

The diseased creatures were wearing a mixture of rusted chainmail, plate armour, and leather...how long had it been since anyone had worn that? Not for hundreds of years at least, not since his forebear were still on Earth wielding swords and staves fighting over the resources of their world; hmmm, now that he thought about it not a lot had changed in that regard.

Slashing through a dozen more, a shrieking resonated behind him. Turning around, a puff of smoke suddenly went off followed by another creature jumping out, one that greatly contrasted the the others. First and foremost, unlike the others it scarcely looked human. Truth be told it looked to be some sick experiment that ONI had committed splicing Human and Elite DNA.

It had grey rotting skin, something that it shared with the others, pointed ears at the top of its head, a long stretched, almost ape-like snout with razor-sharp teeth with two mandible-like tusks at the side of its mouth, soulless black eyes, had a lithe build and was hunched over; However, their most defining feature was the long, jagged blades attached to their forearm.

As it lunged at him, Six brought an Energy Sword up and cut up through it. "What are these thing?" He asked obvious question as the creature was split in two and fell in opposite directions.

"Unknown," Auntie Dot responded as the creatures leapt through the air and clung to the Spartan and started gnawing at him, their serrated teeth scraping across the thick titanium plates as they tried to eat him alive. "There have been no recorded sighting or reports of belligerents that match these creatures according to everything that I downloaded from the ONI severs." She explained articulately.

"Having said that, considering the unknown nature and capabilities of the teleportation system, it is possible that we have been transported to a world far beyond either Human and Covenant space and these creatures are what is left of whatever intelligent life had once been on the planet." She reasoned referring to the fact that they had seen the statue of the man that had dwarfism. "Perhaps there was a great cataclysm that devastated their world forcing them underground and reverted them into anthropophagi?"

"Some kind of dark age, perhaps?"

Just his luck, the Spartan thought bitterly as he continued to carve through the mindless cannibals, the ones that were clinging to him not slowing him down in the slightest. Seriously, what the hell had he done to piss of Lady Luck so much? Whatever it was, she sure did seem to have it out for him.

Before he could think about it too much, the ground started rumble followed heavy stomps that were heading his way. Turning in the direction that it was coming from, Six slashed through several others just as a massive fist slammed into him and sent him flying across the room making him drop the Energy Swords in the process.

Crushing the creatures that had been clinging as he landed on them, Six rolled across the floor before finally coming to a stop. With groan, he pushed his fist into the ground and forced himself up and looked over at his attacker to see that massive behemoth that was easily the size of a Hunter and considering the pain he was currently feeling also had the strength of one.

Towering over the others, it had large black horns, almost ape-like features, long pointed-ears, sharp teeth and incredibly muscular. On one of its shoulders was a massive pauldron, and round its waist acting as a belt or perhaps spoils of war/battle were several skulls that looked distinctly human. While it was certainly the size of a Hunter, it greatly resembled a Brute; something that only intensified when it started laughing at him.

Rolling his neck, Six brought his arm up and taunted it by doing a come-on gesture enraging the behemoth who roared back accepting the challenge, spitting out salvia everywhere then charged at him, even stepping and crushing the other creatures that got in its way; apparently having no sense camaraderie with the others that accompanied it.

Sprinting towards the charging behemoth, arrows flew through the air and bounced off his armour as they struck him. Reaching the hulking creature, Six jumped up and rammed his knee into its jaw shattering it and leaving it hanging off. Grabbing the horns, he swung himself around so that he was standing on its shoulders and finished it off by ripping the head clean off said shoulders along with the spine that was still connected.

As the body fell to the floor, Six jumped off and landed on the ground while still holding discarded head that was dripping blood on the floor as the creatures roared and barked at him as they descended upon him. Standing still and making them come to him, essentially dictating the battle, he waited until they were in range before letting the head slip from his hand and grabbed the spine.

Once they reached him, he swung the head and spine around like a Morningstar bulldozing through several of the creatures with a single swing before lobbing at another knocking them down. As they staggered desperately trying to get to their feet, he stood over one of them and stomped down on their head turning it into a thick bloody paste beneath his boot.

Prying the longsword from their dead hands, Six stabbed the blade through the back of the skull killing one of the creatures before removing the swords as the others got to their feet. Swinging the sword, he cut through them all with a 360-spin bisecting them covering the ground with tainted blood. For a few moments they dragged their severed bodies across the floor to continue their attack before finally dying on the spot.

Picking a battle-axe from the ground, he threw it straight at another of the creatures that was charging at him with a sword and shield with the axe embedding into their skull and killing them outright before they had chance to react or defend themselves.

As another ran at him, the Spartan brought his leg up and slammed his boot into the wooden shield turning it to splinters and shattering the shield arm making the creature roar out in anguish, only to be quickly silenced as Six rammed his entire arm through the middle and ripped out their spine, then used the spine and stabbed it into the skull of another finishing them off.

Finishing the second off, he grabbed their sword as they fell then began cutting down more of the creatures sending blood and limbs in every direction, but ultimately did little to deter them as they continued to press the attack.

Slashing and cutting his way through the horde that descended upon him, the streets were quickly filled with bodies; alas even then their numbers did not seem to quell. Hearing a shrieking behind him, he did even bother turning around to face them and instead thrusted one of the swords behind him and felt it lodge into the creature, then twisted the blade before ripping the sword out.

Hearing a thump as it hit the ground, Six carved through several more before the ground began to tremble once again. Spotting the cause of the tremors, he watched as another behemoth came charging towards him knocking the others out of the way or simply crushing them beneath its feet.

Crossing the swords over, he cut through another then jumped back as the behemoth reached him and tried to grab him. Bringing one of the swords down, he sliced the hand off with a single strike making the horned creature reel back and howled as it held it bleeding stump, then sliced through its leg resulting in it losing balance and fall; then finished it off by slicing its head clean from its shoulders.

The behemoth's head rolled along the floor as the body hit the ground kicking up years of dust and spraying blood from the missing appendages. As it hit the ground, Six looked up and sighed when more of the diseased creatures coming out of the alleyways and rushing into the street; what he wouldn't give to have a HMG right now, better yet just a gun would be nice.

As they swarmed towards him something caught his eye, one of the creatures that was much short than the other ones that had a staff on their back was waving their hands around in front of him. At first, he thought nothing of it until a sphere of fire suddenly materialized between its hands before the fireball was thrown at him.

Bringing up and activating his shield gantlet, the fireball slammed into the shield making him grunt slightly as pushed back a little. "Was that..."He processed what he had just seen as he deactivated his shield.

"A fireball? Yes, I do believe so," Dot confirmed as Six made his way down the street and began chopping, slashing, and cutting his way through the horde. "How it was achieved, that I cannot tell you. I would suggest magic, but that would be nonsensical. No, if anything the inhabitants of this world have a biochemistry that is vastly different to humans and any other known species," she reasoned.

"Maybe," Six concurred as he used one of his weapons to block what could only be described as a great-sword, then used his other to slice their head off. As the creature dropped to its knees, he placed the two longswords on his back next to the empty DMR and picked up the sword and rotated it in his hands to get a feel for the rather unique looking weapon.

Grabbing the hilt with both hands, the Spartan became a whirlwind of death as he spun around slicing through the multitude of creatures, dismembering them and spraying blood in every direction as one fell after the over. Thrusting the sword forward, he skewered several through the abdomen then lifted the sword up and slammed them into the ground finishing them off.

Ripping the blade out of them, he did a 360 spin and sliced through the creatures that circled him. As they were dismembered and the streets were filled with both bodies and blood, thunder suddenly rang out reverberating through the cave/city. Looking up, he blinked a few times wondering if he was beginning to lose his mind when he saw a large black thunder cloud spitting out lightning in every direction above the city.

As lightning struck the buildings scorching them, Six looked at the transgressor to see that it was the same short creature conjuring the thunderstorm. Running towards them, his shields cracked at a bolt of lightning hit him which he shrugged off before jumping through the air and over a large group of creatures and brought the great-sword up above his head, then brought it down and sliced the short creature straight down the middle splitting it in two.

With the wizard dead, Six looked up and frowned when he noted that the storm still hadn't disappeared and was still raging above with lightning still striking the buildings breaking them apart and zapping the rest of the creatures. Speaking of which, he didn't have much time to ponder as more came charging at him and roaring what he could only assume to be a battle cry of some sorts.

Blocking a sword strike with his arm, the blade ricocheted off his forearm protector making the creature stumble back and clearly angered them seeing as how it snarled, bearing it teeth like an angry dog. As it swung its sword at him again, Six grabbed them by the wrist snapping the hand back making it screech before killing it with its own weapon and stabbed the blade through its throat.

Pushing them away, Six leaned back dodging another sword that had tried to take his head off...and probably would have had he not been wearing his helmet. As he avoided the sword strike his motion tracker suddenly went erratic as dozens of blips appeared, followed by the sound of chainmail rattling behind him.

Swinging his arm around, he rammed his elbow into the face of one of the creatures caving it, then spinning his weapon he swung it around caving through the rest that circled him, cutting them down to size. As they all fell, he stumbled ever so slightly when one tried to take him by surprise jumping on his back and started gnawing on his helmet, it's razer-sharp teeth scratching away the paintwork.

Reaching over his shoulder, Six grabbed the creature that began gnawing at his arm and threw it to the ground before bringing his leg up then stomped down on its skull. Arrows hammered away at his armour and looking up he saw an archer standing atop one of the buildings; alas before he could think too much about it his attention was drawn towards the group of smaller creatures that were conjuring more spells.

Thrusting their arms forward and opening their palms, a huge stream of fire was conjured and combined to create a massive wall of fire that began burning the dead bodies and scorching the buildings. As the bodies burned up and black smoke choked the air, Six stepped back and turned down an alleyway to escape the fire. Rushing around the side of the building a stream of fire followed.

Pressing his back against the side of the building, the fire washed past him scorching the building before it eventually dying down. Waiting for a few moments, he stared back the way he came to see that both the building and the floor were as black as sin; albeit, while certainly destructive it was nothing compared to a planet being glassed.

Pushing himself away from the wall, he didn't have to wait long for the creatures to find him as they jumped down from the building and tried to assassinate him only to be grabbed around the throat making them screech before they were permanently silenced as he crushed their throats and let them drop to the ground. As he stepped out of the alleyway a large axe head struck the wall chipping it away as another creature, one that was wearing thick rusty plate armour and a helmet with horns.

As the axe-wielding creature tried to swing the axe at him again, Six grabbed the wooden handle making his attacker frantically try pulling it back to no avail before yanking it from them then lifted it up and brought it down cracking through the metal helmet and embedded the axe head into its skull. As they fell to their knees a shrieking sound resounded in the alley making him sigh.

Turning, Six watched as a puff of smoke appeared before him and just like the previous times a twin-bladed creature leapt from the smoke and tried to impale him. As it lunged at him, he grabbed it by the face getting a muffled shriek as his entire hand covered its face. The shriek was suddenly replaced with a groan as it was slammed into the wall breaking the stone apart before it was caved in as Six pushed his hand through it.

Letting them fall, he swiped as much of the blood from his hand as he could before heading around the corner to see more of the creatures coming out of every crack of crevice of all different shapes and sizes. Throwing his head back and closing his eyes in frustration, he wondered if perhaps it would have been easier dying on Reach instead of fighting against these...things.

Whatever they were they were as relentless and numerous as the Covenant.

Shaking his head, Six heard them roaring and pounding their shields that reverberated across the city chanting and riling the others up as they spotted him and when they did they charged at him making the ground tremble. Gripping the handle of his borrowed great-sword with both hands, he lifted it up and prepared himself for the fight of his life.

A deafening silence filled the city as the Spartan-III commando sat atop the pile of corpses with blood covering his armour as he took a moment to catch his breath, suddenly feeling the last few weeks and the battle with the diseased humanoids catching up with him; not only that but he needed some food and drink, the latter more so.

"Any idea where we are?" Six asked breaking the silence and asking the question he had wanted to know ever since they had arrived.

"Negative," Dot informed him. "However, I am detecting another unidentified energy signature that I regretfully cannot pinpoint."

"Another mirror?" Six questioned with renewed vigour as he got back to his feet and held the blood-covered great-sword in his hand.

"Unknown," She answered. "As I said, there seems to be a lot of interference preventing me from pinpointing the source of the energy signature. For the time being I would suggest looking for a way out of the city, perhaps to the surface...assuming of course that we were not transported inside of an asteroid." She suggested getting a nod from the Spartan.

Making his way down the street that was overflowing with both bodies and blood, Six suddenly stopped when he spotting something glimmering in the darkness and walking over to it he realized it was the energy swords that he had dropped during the battle. Picking them up and activating them to make sure they were working, he switched them off and placed them on his hips.

With the energy swords back where they belonged, Six continued making his way down the deserted city looking for a way out before he suddenly stopped again when he spotted a rather large building. Deciding to investigate, he walked over and stopped in front of the large stone door and tried to open it, unfortunately time had seized the hinges up preventing the door from opening.

Leaning the great-sword against the side of the building, he grabbed the door off freeing it from the doorframe and placed it to one side. Retrieving his sword, he ducked and entered the building. Once he was inside and stood back up a subtle smile, which for him was the equivalent of a full-blown grin formed as he found himself standing in an armoury.

What made him smile however was the fact that there were weapons everywhere. Swords, Great-swords, Shields, Axes, battle-axes, Maces, Warhammers, Daggers, Bows, Mauls, and armour that were all coated in gold and silver as well as cobwebs. While they might not have been guns, he certainly would never turn down good quality weapons.

Making his way down the room, he suddenly stopped when he spotted a skeleton on the far side of the room. Walking over to it, he noted that whomever it was had died a long time ago considering the colour and brittleness of the bones. Not only that but they were incredibly short, and the bones looked more thicker, stockier even than any human skeleton he had ever seen.

Between the large statue inside of the treasure room that depicted the bearded man holding the Warhammer and the skeleton on the floor, Dot's comment about dwarfism was beginning to hold merit.

The Spartan reeled back in surprise as two ethereal figures suddenly appeared before him, both short and sporting thick beards and wearing heavy plate armour.

"You cannot be serious, Tridon!" One of the figures cried out, their voice sounding distant and otherworldly.

"Look around you, Alithur," The second shot back with the same otherworldly voice that reverberated throughout the armoury. "Orzammar has abandoned us and unless we want Darmallon to end up like Felhammer we need warriors to defend the city!"

"Exactly, warriors!" Six listened as the man known as Alithur argued. "And you want to arm the Casteless?! I'd rather take my chances against the Darkspawn!"

"It won't be long until you will be," Tridon shot back. "Most of our Warriors have returned to the Stone, how long do you think we can hold out without people willing to defend their home?"

"They're not Warriors, and to speak otherwise is madness. " Alithur spat letting his opinion be known, an opinion that Six thought was foolish. "The other Castes will not stand for this; you betray generations of tradition."

"What good will tradition be when Darkspawn feast upon our corpses?!" Tridon asked rhetorically earning a scowl from Alithur. "We have the weapons, we have abled men and women that are willing to fight and lay down their lives to defend Darmallon from the Darkspawn…. not letting them would be madness." He voiced walking away. "If you won't do that…I will."

"I'll see your head on a pike first!" Six frowned as he watched as Alithur grabbed his axe as Tridon spun around threw it at his head killing him. His head snapped back as his body hit the ground exactly where the skeleton was laying. "Your name will be stripped from the records for tour treachery," He vowed ripping the axe from his skull before the images disappeared leaving the Spartan standing alone.

An empty silence filled the room as the Spartan processed everything he heard and looked down at Tridon's skeleton. "It would seem that we tripped the security footage when we entered the room," Auntie Dot said coming up with the only logical explanation for seeing the two ghosts. "No doubt the room is fitted with motion detectors which picked you up."

Six nodded in agreement. "In addition, there is a high probability that the creatures that you fought were these Darkspawn that Tridon mentioned. Not only that, but we've finally discovered the name of the city, Darmallon," Dot continued as he tore his eyes away from Tridon. "As well as the fact that there seemed to be a Caste System in place before the city fell."

"One that was intransigent," Six remarked looking back at the skeleton of Tridon. Before either of them could say anything else something suddenly caught his attention from the corner of his eye and his body seemed to go on autopilot as he headed over to investigate.

Walking past the weapons of gold and silver that were glimmering in the darkness, Six walked over and stopped in front of a large wooden chest. Looking down at the padlock that looked to have seized over the years, he gripped the lock and ripped it from the chest and tossed it to the side. A loud creak rang through the room as he opened the chest and was puzzled when he found a rather common looking axe stored inside.

Compared to the other weapons that were in the room it was rather bland in comparison, its most defining detail being the rune patten that was engraved on the axeblade and the empty slots that ran down the side, a long wooden handle that had leather bindings near the middle and a dragonhead pommel that was roaring at the bottom.

Privately wondering why a regular-looking axe had been stored away and not one of the more extravagant weapons, Six grabbed the handle and lifted it out of the chest before his eyes widened as the runes on the axeblade started glowing and watched as ice began to form across the blade.

"Fascinating," Dot voiced what he was thinking as ice formed across the axeblade followed by a thick cold mist. "It would appear that among creating an interplanetary teleportation system, they also discovered a way to enhance their weapons." She remarked as Six examined the axe and suddenly realized why it had been stored away.

Deciding to keep it, he removed the swords from his back and let them drop on the floor and placed the axe next to his DMR. Glancing over his shoulder, he watched as both the ice and mist melted away returning the weapon to its previous state. Checking the rest of the weapons and frowning when none of them possessed the same attributes as the axe, Six left the armoury and stepped back out into the city and was greeted by an dead silence.

"As I mentioned before, I would recommend looking for a way out of the city," Dot advised for a second time and once again got a silent nod from the Spartan as he began making his way through Darmallon and eventually discovered large tunnel that was filled with skeletons, both from the soldiers that had given their lives to defend the city eons ago and the Darkspawn that had attacked the city.

Seeing no other alternative, Six began yet another long trek into the unknown lands and headed down the tunnel and disappeared into the darkness.

And cut! Well, here is the next chapter of A Noble Age, I hope you all enjoyed it. Originally, I was going to have Six find his way to the surface this chapter but decided to make it next chapter. I'm still deciding where Six and Dot will come out when they reach the surface, but it won't be Ferelden since it's unlikely that Darmallon and Orzammar were close together considering that the Deep Roads stretched across all of Thedas.

They will eventually find themselves in Ferelden since I plan for them to participate in the Fifth Blight.

Also, as you can see Six and Dot still believe that the ghosts of Tridon and Alithur was some sort of holographic recording; it's going to take time for them to believe/accept that magic, Dwarves, and Elves as they try to come up with a logical explanation for them, especially the former.