9:30 Wintermarch ?
After watching Sten kill the young girl mage, something in Talen snapped. We approached the mages quarters. The hallway gave me a familiar fright of horror movies. Long hallways with unopened doors with the light dimmed. I knew things were bound to jump out of those doors. Then I was proven correct when one door was nearly slammed off its hinges and two hunger abominations came out.
They were quickly snuffed out when Talen released a searing fireball at them that nearly scorched the melee fighters up front. Talen pushed past them toward the front of the group.
"Hey priss! You're only wearing robes!" Derek warned him as corpses came out of the next room. I've never seen undead but they gave me shivers of fear down my back. Skin clung to the bones, their mage robes hanging loosely from their forms. They had no lips but their teeth were sharp, ready to dig into flesh. What was most unnerving was the fact they had only sockets for eyes.
I didn't get to really observe them as Talen let out another fireball that took up most of the hallways in front of them. They continued even as they caught on fire and Talen decided to use his staff as a bludgeoning instrument though it didn't do much. Derek had enough and grabbed onto his robes and forced him behind as he, Alistair, Eren, and Sten went forward to kill the rest of the corpses.
It didn't take much as they were already reeling from the fire. After those were taken care of Eren came forward to Talen who had his head down. I expected him to get mad and yell at him so I tried to stop him but Eren ruffled Talen's hair and let him rest on his shoulder.
"I know how it feels like to lose your home and everything you loved. You are right to feel angry and to kill the ones who have done this. Try not to lose yourself though." Eren leaned away and put both of his hands on Talen's shoulders. Talen looked up with a detached look. "Push the pain down until you can grieve later. For now, we will retake your home and kill the ones responsible. We will do this as a group, you understand?"
For once there was some light in Talen's eyes. His eyes looked determined and he gritted his teeth. He nodded.
"Yeah, I'd like to have a talk with Uldred." Talen emphasized 'talk' which meant he really wanted to kill him. I don't condone revenge, I honestly don't. I'm not innocent from that either. After that small talk with Eren, we went into the mage quarters. They were a lot bigger from in game and there were several more rooms. At the end was a dresser and two rage demons.
Morrigan immediately froze both of the which allowed Derek and Sten to shatter them. They took a step back from the explosions and then I heard something scraping off the floor. In one of the middle rooms were bookshelves that looked like they were on top of each other. Then I realized it was a makeshift shelter when I heard a few whispers coming from there.
"I-Is someone there?" I heard from the shelter.
"Get out from the dresser before I blow it up." I heard Talen say.
"It's alright. We're not going to hurt anyone. We're trying to help the Circle." I said.
"Um we're kinda stuck in here." She said. Leliana and I looked at each other and also at the guy that came out of the dresser now talking to Talen.
"Derek we need some muscle over here." I said. He laughed as he came by. Sten as well. They both took the bookshelves off before someone with black hair came out with honey colored eyes. Talen came over to see what they were doing.
"Seems like we found a survivor who hid in a dresser. I recognized him and-" He did a double take at the girl. "Solana?"
"Talen!" She breathed. My heart dropped. Solana Amell, cousin to the future Champion of Kirkwall.
"Oh thank Andraste you're alright. Here, let me help." Talen went over and helped her out of the barricade…where a few children and teenagers were waiting.
"Are the abmindations gone?" One of them asked. Talen rubbed his face.
"Yes, we took care of them. Come on out." He said softly. I took a look at Solana. She had long black hair, pale skin, and a doll's face. She was a few inches taller than Talen though.
"I protected them the best I could. I'm sorry." Solana hung her head.
"Tch, don't be." Talen shook his head.
"It's good that you did all you could." Wynne came up.
"Senior Enchanter Wynne! Thank you." Solana nodded.
"It seems we have found more followers." Morrigan rolled her eyes.
"Being able to find all we can is the best thing that can happen." Eren came around the corner. "The mage isn't leaving the dresser."
"I thought so." Talen rolled his eyes.
"What are we going to do with this pretty one?" Derek wondered.
"One of us could lead her back to where the others are." Leliana suggested.
"There are others?" Solana wondered.
"We are centered in the apprentice quarters." Wynne nodded.
"But…the…" Solana fidgeted with her hands.
"Hey big guy, come with me so we can get them back to safety." Talen said to Sten. He nodded reluctantly. Solana was able to help the others out and they followed Talen out. I exhaled loudly and rubbed my face.
"He's feeling better." Wynne sighed next to me.
"From one thing to another." I mumbled, rolling my shoulders.
"This would not have happened if the fools in the Chantry tried to control them." Morrigan voiced her opinion.
"It's not because of their control that the Circle is in this state Morrigan. These are the actions of one disturbed man and those with weak minds. Do you think those apprentices or mages wanted to be turned into abominations or use blood magic?" Wynne chastised her.
"Tis because of their fear they have turned to the only tools on their person to grant them power." Morrigan snapped back.
"How about we agree to keep the fighting to a minimum until we can get things in order? Then we can fight amongst ourselves." Alistair smiled.
"I was asked to voice my opinion when you recruited me and I will not silence myself now." Morrigan glared.
"Point taken." Alistair huffed.
"The good thing in all of this is that we found survivors." I pointed out as Morrigan left the mage quarters.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you witch!" Derek cautioned.
"Leave me be!" Morrigan snapped back before exiting the room.
"I don't think we should leave her alone in an area infested with demons." Leliana said.
"Do we really have to go and get her? Can't we just say we tried and leave it at that?" Alistair pleaded.
"I think it's best that we stick together." Eren piped in from where he was leaning from. Alfred was sniffing here and there before picking up what looked to be a mage staff. He came over and wagged his butt.
"No that's not a throwing stick." I said, trying to take it away from him. He thought it was playtime and ran away.
"Alfred, come." Eren ordered. Alfred came and dropped it at his feet.
"Now where did he find this?" Wynne wondered, taking the staff from the ground, ignoring the bite and saliva.
"Is it valuable?" Derek wondered.
"Very. This is a staff from the forbidden cache we keep downstairs. Someone must have sneaked it here." Wynne sighed. "It's a powerful staff, perhaps Talen would like to use it."
"What would I like to use?" Talen wondered, coming in with Sten and Morrigan behind him.
"Alfred found a staff." Eren said and Wynne handed it to him.
"Not a bad weight." Talen felt it and the top lighted on fire. "Fire rune, not too powerful but I can switch my own for this one. Thank you."
"How are the children we saved?" Leliana asked.
"Spooked but at least they're safe." Talen said, putting down the staff he was using next to the wall. "Come on, we won't get everything done if we just stand here and talk." We got out with our positions in check. I held Morrigan in my peripheral vision. There was just something about that winning smirk that made me wonder. Did she ask Talen about the book? I wasn't sure. We came into another room where three other mages were in there.
Then we got hit with the blood magic controlling Eren. I felt something trying to wriggle into my mind as well. My vision got cloudy and I couldn't hear anything. It was like I was underwater but at the same time, my body was being moved by its own. My hands went down to my daggers and, even with the cloudiness, I felt my body ready to attack. All I could see were the spells from our mages while I walked or ran toward them.
Then there was a shimmering light from behind my eyeballs. I felt a warmth touch my mind. It felt extremely familiar. For a second, I thought Halo came to greet me. Instead, the cloudiness went away and the sounds of fighting rang clearly in my ear. Alistair was holding back Eren while two other blood mages had made a barrier around them, moving bookshelves and tables. I felt a migraine coming on before I jumped through their barrier.
They both shot me with cold wisps from their staffs and tried to whack me with them. The wisps gave me slight frost bite but they weren't strong enough to stop me from uppercutting the nearest one. They groaned in pain before I grabbed their robes and shoved my knuckles in their nose. The other was shivering from fright before I did a hammer fist on top of his temple, rendering him unconscious. After that, I felt a warm trickle of blood coming out of my nose.
"Are you alright?" Eren came toward the barricade. I nodded and wobbly made my way out of the broken bookshelves. He helped me down.
"Ugh." I shook my head out and massaged the small part of my head where I felt the migraine. "Remind me never to get mind controlled."
"If you had stayed longer in that state, I would have cut you down." Sten enforced.
"Which makes finding the Litany and Niall our top priority." Talen said. We followed the circular hallway into the storage room. Most of the supplies were strewn all around the ground and we were met with five abominations and a rage demon in the center. The rage demon flung the center table toward our group and we split to avoid it. It shattered while the abomination spread out to meet us.
I was with Eren, Alfred, and Morrigan. Two abominations rushed at us. Eren and Alfred went to meet one while I went to the other. I dodged its attacked by crouching down. It swung downward but stumbled when I rushed past it, onto its back. I dug my daggers into its back and it roared in pain. It started to buck and threw me off. I landed on a pile of rubble. I let out a cry of pain as the stone hit a weak point in my armor.
Another abomination was above me and it tried to capture me. I got up and ran. Then a GIANT spider rushed me. I screamed in terror before it rushed at the abomination and clamped down on it. I was terrified and nearly hugged the wall. I tried not to focus on the spider but the arachnophobia was causing me not to think clearly.
Eren came over to me with a worried look, parts of his armor singed by the abomination exploding. Then the spider vanished and turned into Morrigan. I felt such a relief that I fell on my knees.
"Oh spiders, I hate spiders." I naturally shivered.
"Tis only an ability." Morrigan sauntered over while Eren helped me up.
"An ability that freaked the hell out of me!" I shivered while trying to swipe off the imaginary spiders off my body. "Can't you transform into something else?" I pleaded. Morrigan had an amused smile.
"Of course I can though whether the battle permits it or not is the question." Morrigan chuckled while joining the others. I gave Eren a flat look.
"She's going to keep doing that to scare me, I know it." I let out an exasperated sigh.
"Perhaps." Eren smiled. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine just jumpy now." I pouted.
"Demons being summoned from the fade doesn't make you flinch but a giant spider does?" Eren chuckled. I glared at him before punching his arm.
"Everyone has something they're afraid of." I grumbled. "For me its spiders. Ugh." I shivered again.
"You are so odd." Eren said.
"Join the club, we have cookies." I said flatly before going over to Talen as he tried to open the storage room.
"Nope, it's locked. Unless we find the key somewhere in this mess, we won't be able to restock." Talen sighed.
"We'll make do priss. Each of us have about five potions and then there's the healing stuff with you and the Senior." Derek leaned against his propped up hammer without a care in the world.
"Excuse me?" Wynne wondered. "Senior?"
"You're a Senior Enchanter right? Not only that, you're also a senior in years." Derek chuckled.
"Don't mind him. He's always making nicknames for other people. Must be a dwarf thing." I shrugged. He wasn't the only one that did it considering Varric never really calls anyone by their given name.
"We waste time here." Sten remarked. We all got out of the mess of the storage room and entered the Chantry. There was nothing and no one in there. I found a vial that was broken on the ground with its oily black fluids around it. My eye twitched. Someone must have accidentally woken up the revenant. I saw no bodies around though, not even the revenant's.
"Weird…" I mumbled but then I noticed the temperature drop significantly.
"Whoa, did someone open a window or was that just me?" Alistair wondered. I was about to retort until I saw a hulking figure appear right behind Sten.
"Sten, DUCK!" I shouted in panic. He did so without question. Good thing too because, if he hadn't, the revenant's sword would have lopped off his head. Every step the Revenant took, another chill was added to the air. It turned its helmeted head toward me and lifted up its arm.
"Shit!" It was too late. There was a force surrounding my body and, before I knew it, I was thrown at the feet of the Revenant. It lifted its longsword to stabbed downward before it was pelted by fire and lightning. I got up to get into a safe distance but it grabbed my arm and smashed me into a pillar.
"Nia!" I heard someone call my name. The world spun and warm blood trickled down my head. I fell ungraciously to the floor. I couldn't even get up. The world span too much. I felt someone grab me and drag me somewhere else. There was a soothing sensation before I was able to shake the vertigo off. Talen nodded at me before grabbing his staff and shooting off fire at the Revenant that was battling against Eren, Derek, Sten, Alistair, and Alfred.
"Stay there for now. I managed to heal your head wound but most likely you have a concussion." Talen did a barrier for the warriors before launching another string of fire.
"So that's what happened." I rubbed my eyes. I saw Leliana was able to shoot into the Revenant's eye and neck but, even with five fighters on it, it wouldn't go down.
"Everyone, away!" Wynne called out. They all stepped away and I saw a glyph on the ground. The revenant took one step on it and froze. Morrigan came and transformed into a bear. She reached high, bit onto the head and yanked it off. The spell dispersed and the body fell to the floor. Talen helped me up. I was still slightly dizzy.
"Remind me not to get caught like that again." I groaned in pain, rubbing my head. "We definitely need some helmets." I mumbled.
"Nia, are you alright?" Eren asked, grabbing my shoulders.
"She's fine. Wynne can you heal her head?" Talen asked. Wynne came over, shooed Eren away, and placed her hands right next to my head. A strong green healing energy pulsed from her. Then, oddly enough, I started to feel a pull. It was slight but it was noticeable to me. When Wynne stopped healing at me, she gave me a confused look. The dizziness was gone permanently that time.
"You really need to stop letting yourself get caught by demons and blood magic. I heard it's bad for the body." Alistair quipped at me.
"Ha, ha. So funny." I said as I wiped the blood away from the top of my head.
We all got out of the Chantry room and continued on. The last room was Irving's study room. Oddly enough, it wasn't trashed like the other rooms. It looked pristine.
"We should look around and see if we can find anything that might help our cause." Eren said.
"I was hoping to find Irving here even though I knew it was not likely." Wynne sighed. I went toward the books. Most of them were in languages I couldn't even hope to learn. They were still very interesting. Someone tapped on my shoulder and I looked back at Wynne. "Please come with me." She said softly and she walked out. I looked back to see Leliana helping Talen with a chest while the others loitered or rested.
I followed Wynne down toward the storage room. She looked around before finding a small lockbox. She grabbed a key from her robes and opened it. Inside was a bigger key. I looked at her confused before she moved toward the storage doors and opened it. I was impressed. She motioned to follow her and I did. Inside were stairs that led down to a cavern. I awed slightly before I started to get concerned.
"Why did you bring me down here?" I asked.
"There is no time for pleasantries so forgive my bluntness, are you a mage?" Wynne asked. I blinked a few times before shaking my head.
"I'm not a mage." I said. Wynne crossed her arms.
"They why do I sense a spirit besides you?" Wynne asked. Ah and there's the medium we all know and love.
"That's…complicated." I replied.
"I do not have time for this young lady. I must know whether or not I can trust you with a spirit beside you." Wynne chastised me.
"Uh yes, sorry." I cleared my throat. "The reason I said it's complicated was because I don't know how the spirit attached itself to me. It's been there since I arrived in Ferelden. I mean, the only strange thing that happens to me is that I walk through the fade occasionally."
"Do you honestly believe that the fade is a tourist attraction? If you have no magic ability, the most you could do is dream and not control them." Wynne explained.
"I know but I swear I'm telling the truth. I do dream but sometimes I 'wake up' in the fade. You don't have to worry about my spirit, he's a good one. He's protected me against demons and things that wanted to do harmful things to me. I'm not going to do anything either. All I want to do is help." I tried reassuring her. Wynne gave me a calculating look.
"How did this happen? What can you remember?" Wynne asked.
"The only thing I really remember is that I was about to die and my spirit saved me." I answered. Wynne's look softened at that. Probably because she was thinking that the same thing happened to her.
"You will need to be careful. The spirit not only protects you but it also causes a sort of fountain like symptom." Wynne said, going over to a crate and pulling out a hood.
"A what?" I raised my eyebrow.
"Spells are much easier to cast when I am near you. You are a fountain of magical energy though it would be more accurate to call you a trickle at this point." Wynne gave the hood to me. "It is not noticeable to those who aren't as sensitive to spirits as I am but it is worrisome. You must be careful not to let your desires corrupt your spirit. I will be keeping a close eye on you Nia. Put on the hood. It is enchanted to protect against head injuries without the cumbersome effect of a helmet." Wynne explained before we came out of the storage room.
"You're not going to tell the rest are you?" I asked, putting the hood on.
"It is your secret and everyone carries one I'm sure. I won't use it against you." Wynne smiled. I nodded before we went out. The rest of the group were waiting outside of the stairs.
"About time you came back Senior and missy! We were just about to leave without you!" Derek laughed. I noticed a black grimoire hanging from Morrigan's left thigh and she gave me a smirk. She got it.
"Let's go." Wynne opened the doors and we followed her into the next floor.
So I was planning to write...but then Pokemon Go took my time away as well as getting the Herald trophy in Inquisition so...yeah, no writing but I did promise a chapter after the wait. The reason why I didn't update yesterday was because I actually don't like updating in odd days. I know, very weird but anyway, we finally see another origin! :D
Shout out to Zaxarus for following/favoriting! Thank you Chimera Spyke ( I hope you liked your answer) and Syutaku for reviewing! PLEASE REVIEW! :D