Prologue: Betrayal

Chapter 5: The Start of an Adventure

"Neria Surana, you are assigned Enchanter Amell as a teacher." First Enchanter Irving said with his voice like gravel.

Neria Surana, a eighteen year old elvish girl who had just been found and taken to Ferelden's Circle of Magi, sighed at the sounds that to her, meant she had a new master. It was bad enough she had to live her life in an Alienage as an elf. She was abused constantly in her so called home, and each time it grew harder and harder for her to keep her magic secret. She could not describe how much she just wanted to melt the flesh from the bones of her abusers. She had long and flowing red hair, and as luck would have it bright blue eyes that complimented her appearance very well. Clearly she had taken good care of herself, as her skin was smooth and silky, her face beautiful yet strong. Not a man in the world could spot an imperfection with her physiognomy.

Daylen Amell, a sixty year old human male sighed at the news as well. He hated training Apprentices, and unfortunately for him, that was all they had asked of him for the past three years. He made his way to his newly named Apprentice and examined her with his grey, weathered eyes. He had long, pure white hair as well as a thick beard. When someone thought of mages, he was what one would expect. He looked experienced, intelligent, sarcastic, and somewhat hostile as if every word he spoke would bring venom spitting at you. He had a scar running across his forehead horizontally, which was most definitely a peculiar sight.

"Great, a child elf." He grumbled in his worn voice.

This made Neria huff in annoyance, "What, do you have a hatred of my kind, shem?" She asked hastily. Perhaps too hastily.

"Not to any extent. You will find I hold hatred towards everyone unless they prove themselves worthy. Right now you are nothing but an Apprentice who doesn't know anything, and that irks me. Perhaps when I am done training you, we will be good friends." Daylen grumbled before using his staff as a walking stick. "Come, come. We should start your training immediately if you hope to get anywhere."

The elf simply shook her head, following the slow old man. "Don't count on it…" She hissed under her breath, more or less saying he was going to be useless to her.

"I heard that."

"Good."

They had made their way to what was known as the 'training sector' of the tower. This was where most Enchanters took their Apprentices to train and hone their skills in their chosen field of study. Unfortunately for Daylen, his specialties lied in multiple branches of magic, and as such, he had multiple people to train. Luckily, however, today he only had the Surana girl to train, though she seemed like a handful to say the least.

Neria huffed and eyed the old man, "What are we doing here?"

"Training."

She replied to that, annoyance rising in her voice with each word spoken, "Oh yeah? How, I don't see anything going on!"

Before she could speak more, she found herself slammed against the stone wall by some powerful force. Wind, to be exact. Daylen was pointing his staff at her, a grin upon his face as if he was challenging her.

"I need not tell you what to do, surely, young one." He said tauntingly, watching her facial expressions which jumped back and forth from annoyance and worry. Surely he wouldn't do anything too serious, right?

Suddenly, seemingly with no prior thought to it, Neria sent a large shockwave towards Daylen. It caused the stone underneath them to crack and send the old man flying, slamming into the other wall. He groaned as he fell to his hands and knees, looking up at her. Whilst he was aged, his body had the strength and endurance of a thirty year old.

"Interesting…" He muttered under his breath, examining the woman before him as she approached cautiously.

"A-Are you alright, Enchanter?" She asked, clearly worried about the elderly man's health. For reasons of her own safety, of course.

He chuckled as he slowly got up, "Yes, dear girl. That concluded our initialization training. You have left me with much to think about." He said before motioning towards the exit of the training wing. "Care to accompany me?"

"S-Sure…" Neria replied, following him as he began walking.

Two months had passed by since that day, and the bond between master and apprentice had taken effect on Daylen and young Neria. One of the apprentices had taken her Harrowing today, but unfortunately failed and its result ended in her death. There was to be a funeral the next day at dusk. Of course, knowing the consequences of the Harrowing only made Neria nervous for her own, which took place today. Her and Daylen were slowly walking through the library to get to the top floor where the Harrowing was being held.

"Daylen… I'm scared… I don't want to have to do this." She mumbled, holding onto the old man's arm.

He snickered, "You are more than capable, girl. You would not be taking it if you did not stand a chance at it. Not to mention I have taught you, that means that you have more experience under your belt than any other Apprentice here. You know how to handle demons, I have taught you, remember? Just do not give them any opening, and do not even think of offering them permission to see the world through your eyes. They will lie and cheat their way to your body. Much like most men."

"I know, I know… I just don't want to end up like that girl…" Neria sighed, looking up at the Enchanter. His closing statement flew past her head.

"You shan't. Just remember what you have been taught, and know that if anyone tries to kill you they will have me to deal with. Not even Irving dare challenge me, and the Templars know naught of my power." Daylen replied with a small smile.

Yes, in the couple of months they had to know each other, they had grown quite close. Daylen, since that first training session, had learned that she was more than she looked. Which, if anyone was being honest, she looked like nothing. Someone you could easily crumple up into a ball and toss on the side of the road. This was not the case, however, and she held within herself more power than even Daylen could comprehend. It was as if she could manipulate the entire existence around a place and use it against her foes. He had learned this when somehow or another a solid piece of square metal formed into a spear-like object that was thrust at him with extreme speed when she had gotten angered one evening.

Like her, Daylen himself had strong powers that remained hidden from public eye. The more she showed hers, the more he realized that his own were some form of 'anti-Neria' powers as his seemed to be able to counter the elf's pretty well. For example, she could cast a fireball at him, but in response to this he could just spray water at it and end its short lived life. This made them the perfect team, and they shared the mutual knowledge that if they befriended one another and came to respect one another, they could topple nearly any challenge. With the Chantry keeping a close eye on both of them after an incident with another Enchanter and her Apprentice, they had to be careful with everything they did. The walls of the Tower had eyes and ears all over them. One mistake and you would end up in the Aeonar. The Mage's prison. A place neither of them wanted to be in.

"But you don't know that!" Neria protested after a moment of silence.

Daylen shook his head, stopping in his tracks and placing his hands on the young woman's shoulders. "Look," he said, "...believe in your training, and believe in yourself. Everything will be fine. I'll be waiting for you to wake up, and then we can begin our assignment the First Enchanter has given us."

The young elf tilted her head. Sure, she knew they were a part of a secret section of the mage culture within the Circles. They, unlike many others, were permitted to leave with permission from both the First Enchanter, and Knight-Commander. Usually, when they were granted leave from the Tower, it was because they were assigned to a task. This specific one was to hunt down a Maleficar whom was once a student at the Tower. Jowan. They both knew the man well. He and his two friends, a Chantry initiate, and a mute mage. Whilst the initiate got taken away to the Aeonar, the silent mage forced Daylen's hand. He was there with both the Knight-Commander and First Enchanter when it had happened. As such, the mute mage died a painful death given to him by Daylen for trying to kill both the Knight-Commander and First Enchanter when they were downed. The Blood Mage, however, escaped before Daylen could get to him. None of this, however, broke her worrying. The Harrowing… it was not just a matter of life and death, it was a matter of whether or not she'd get possessed. Forced into pain and torment for Maker knows how long.

"Stop your worrying, I can sense it. You know me. If anything goes wrong, I'll be there to pull you out of it, young one." Daylen reassured her with a warm smile.

It was the dawn of a new day. Neria had passed her Harrowing, and Daylen watched over her whilst she slept. He and his apprentices got their own little headquarters along with bedrooms, located in an unknown part of the Tower. The reason for this simply had to do with their power, their freedoms, and their duties. Each of them was hand picked by the Knight-Commander and First Enchanter to carry out their tasks with extreme efficiency and precision. Their missions were the ones King's feared and often were classified as 'suicide missions.' They dealt with demons, undead, possessed mages, abominations, Darkspawn, all sorts of foes that were deemed too dangerous to let others handle. They were the best, yet, at the same time, they were all disposable. Even Daylen himself.

They were seen as antisocial because of their work. They were not allowed to speak so openly, so freely to other mages. Many found it mysterious, but, with a little encouragement from the higher-ups, wrote it off merely as them being mentored by an overly strict teacher. Of course this meant Daylen had to play his part, which in reality, he secretly enjoyed every minute of doing so.

Neria's eyes fluttered open and immediately ran into Daylen's. "Master…?" She asked as she rubbed her forehead.

"Yes, it is I. Welcome back to the real world, young one. Get up and wake up quickly… Irving wishes us to meet with our client." The elderly mage said with a warm smile, "He is a Grey Warden. The Grey Warden in fact. Warden-Commander Duncan himself. We are to leave with him to the village of Lothering where we are to meet with others before heading down to Ostagar."

"Grey Ward- Daylen! You aren't saying we are becoming one with-" Neria said before getting interrupted, her face was flushed due to overwhelming confusion.

"Where did you get such ideas? No… we are simply going there to aid in the fight against the Darkspawn. No need to look too far into things, young lady. He is recruiting for the Wardens, yes, but he is also just looking for support against those monsters." The man said before standing up and stretching, several bones popping in his body. "So, get up! We don't have all day before he leaves and we must be going with him."

Neria allowed her head to fall back down into the comforting embrace of her pillow. Her head was spinning, she had just woken up and was already told she had to go with a Grey Warden to fight Darkspawn. She hadn't become a mage for such things, in fact, she didn't want to do anything with her powers other than live peacefully. How did she get tangled into this? Before another thought could get through her mind, she felt a pillow slam against her face.

"Get up! Now is not the time for slumber!"

Damn it Daylen…

"And never call me 'master' again! I'm the master of no one, I'm simply a teacher!"

Ugh.

"Wait... what about Jowan?" She asked.

Daylen smirked and shook his head despite her eyes being covered by the pillow, "He is a secondary objective for us as of right now. Should we encounter him, we shall bring him to justice accordingly." He replied. "Now again... GET! UP!"

Hey guys, Saren here, sorry about the long pause between uploads. I'm afraid I must announce another long wait as my life has been fairly busy as of late. The next chapter posted will probably be more with Lyna, Shadow, and the others who in present time are currently gathered and waiting in Lothering. Also, sorry if this chapter didn't come out as grand for such a long wait, but do not worry. The chapters to come will only get better to make up for any inconveniences this one caused.