9:30 Wintermarch ?
We went down the hill. Halo was really close to me. Niall was pacing and muttering to himself. There wasn't much I heard from his rant. The more I stared the more he looked…transparent. His body was slightly see through and that wasn't a good sign. I approached slowly toward the place with the pedestal. Niall looked at me before looking down and then looked up. He got startled and recoiled.
"What? Who are you? How did you get here?" Niall asked in a flurry.
"My name is Nia and I got caught by the sloth demon." I explained.
"Oh so that's what happened. Then how did you get out of your dream? It doesn't seem like you're a mage." Niall wondered.
"It…wasn't what I wanted." I lied. I didn't have a dream in the first place. I wondered if it was going to be a dream or a nightmare.
"Well it doesn't matter even if you did escape. I've been trying for so long to get out. It's hopeless." Niall sat down on the wall of the ruins. I went over to the pedestal. "You can examine that all you like. I've tried again and again to make it work. I've studied the runes countlessly but there is nothing to be found there." Niall sighed. I looked around and Halo was nowhere to be seen. I saw the rotating runes all around us. All of them were lit up just like in the game.
"Halo, what do I do now? There aren't any fade portals or anyone to teach me to turn into a mouse or something." I whispered. Halo appeared as a tiny ball of light in front of me.
'No mouse. Touch. Concentrate. Feel.' Halo vaguely explained. I rolled my eyes. I touched one of the runes and it felt warm. There was something else. A vision for just a second of Alistair. This was the realm were Alistair was! 'Reach out with feelings, with emotions, to him.' Halo described. I kept my hand on his rune and concentrated on reaching out to him. There was a vague falling feeling, the one you got from when you feel like you're about to sleep and yet jolt awake. It was the same sensation.
I opened my eyes and I was met with a huge fortress of some kind. Everything was beautiful down to the carpet I was walking toward the pillars that were carrying the ceiling. There was sun shining through the stained glass. It portrayed Grey Wardens, griffons, and Archdemons. I didn't recognize it at all. I walked along, the fire burning quietly in the torches.
"Wow." I breathed out. Halo floated in front of me.
'Keep your guard up.' Halo mentioned. I nodded. Then I heard a loud door slam before I heard Alistair talking to a familiar voice. I looked back and I saw Alistair in fine Grey Warden armor with Duncan walking with him. He looked at me and gave me a wide grin.
"Nia! We were just talking about you. Isn't that a grand coincidence!" Alistair laughed while hugging me. I was distracted by the sudden friendliness and Duncan chuckled.
"Say Alistair, why don't you invite her along to the banquet?" Duncan asked.
"That's a great idea! Stay, please say you'll stay!" Alistair grabbed my hands.
"What banquet?" I asked.
"The banquet to celebrate killing all the darkspawn of course! Don't tell me you forgot, after all, you were there!" Alistair patted my shoulder.
"We banded all our brothers and sisters together and overthrew them all in a grand battle in the Deep Roads!" Duncan explained. "Alistair led the charge and is now Commander of the Grey in Ferelden." Duncan said proudly.
"Yep, this banquet is also in my honor. Come on, it'll be like old times! You, me, battling darkspawn, it'll be great." Alistair laughed. I shook my head.
"Alistair, we only fought against darkspawn once and I wasn't even fighting them. We didn't defeat the Archdemon, it's still out there!" I tried convincing him.
"What are you talking about? We've been fighting darkspawn for…wait, how long was it now?" Alistair wondered. There it was, the seed of doubt. Duncan patted him on the shoulder though.
"Come now Alistair, just bring your friend along and we'll forget about this." Duncan's face twitched for a second.
"Alistair try to remember, we were in the Circle trying to save the mages. We've only just begun! Hell, we barely know each other!" I kept on feeding that seed of doubt.
"Alistair," Duncan said before Alistair shook his head. His eyebrows furrowed and he blinked repeatedly.
"Wait, I remember…there was a Tower in the middle of the lake and…a demon…" Alistair stumbled.
"Yes! That's all true!" I nodded.
"So is this all a dream?" Alistair looked concerned.
"I bring you peace child and you would deny it?" Duncan backed off from both of us.
"You…you're not Duncan. He died." Alistair said with a heavy heart.
"It seems only war will satisfy you!" Duncan drew both of his swords. Alistair drew his sword and shield and I did with my daggers.
"Remember this is only a dream!" I said to Alistair as he defended against fake Duncan's swords.
"I know!" Alistair shouted back as he pushed Duncan away with his shield. Duncan's face twisted into a demonic looking one. I ran past and decked him in the nose. The fake Duncan staggered and Alistair moved in for the kill. He found a weakness in the demon's armor and stabbed him. The demon roared until Alistair removed his sword and bashed it with his shield. The vision of the ruins disappeared and we were standing in the true fade world.
"Alistair…are you ok?" I asked. Alistair wiped his eyes.
"I'll be fine. Um, try not to tell the others how easily I got trapped ok?" Alistair weakly chuckled. Then the same falling sensation came over me and I grabbed Alistair's hand. We both 'fell' back to where the original pedestal was with Niall.
"You're back and something has changed. It isn't like it was before. Things have become 'clearer' and…who is this?" Niall rambled when he came over until he noticed Alistair.
"This is Alistair, one of the Grey Wardens helping the Circle. Alistair this is Enchanter Niall." I introduced them.
"You're the one that has the Litany. Talen was looking for you after that storage keeper told us about it." Alistair described. Niall's face fell.
"Talen has come back and he's stuck here with all of us then…but seeing him here and you…that means you broke him out of the dream. How?" Niall came up to me.
"I put my hand on one of the ruins on the pedestal. I focused on it and went to his dream. Then it was just a matter of convincing him." I explained.
"So then all of us are stuck in a dream?" Alistair wondered. I nodded.
"We need to get them out. The more you stay, the stronger the sloth demon becomes." Niall answered. He went over to the pedestal. "Please show me how."
"I thought you told me that you didn't believe we couldn't get out?" I crossed my arms. Niall's face fell and then his eyes lit up.
"I know but…if there's a way to help then perhaps I could be of assistance. If you can do it, if someone without even a remote trace of magic can do it…" Niall gripped the pedestal. "Perhaps I can…"
"Whoa, whoa, slow down there. Calm breaths. Look, it's hard to figure out what we're up against. I know you want to help but we don't know what we're dealing with here." Alistair tried calming down Niall. Niall just glared at him.
"I wanted to help and that's why I got the Litany. It can help us, protect others from blood magic and demons. Instead, it found me. I couldn't…I didn't have enough power to…I can't cower away from this." Niall choked and wiped his eyes. "This was my home. I can't let it take it."
"What if I told you which dreams could be more dangerous than others?" I said. They both looked at me.
"Well, it would help but how do you know?" Alistair wondered. I thought about introducing Halo to the others. I tried looking for him but Halo always hid away when I came near them.
"I got feeling from then when I touched their runes and what their dreams might look like." I lied. I didn't like doing this. I really wanted to trust them but the Chantry made both spirits and demons dangerous…which they were but Halo wasn't like them. He protected me. He saved me. If only they could see him as he was then…but there was no point in showing them.
People fear what they can't understand.
I went over to the runes that were rotating by the pedestal. Alistair's rune was black. I noticed another one that was black as well. Most likely it was Niall's. I didn't have a dream in the first place so there was no way that a rune for me would be there. I touched every single one and got the feeling which one would be stationed there.
"Wynne's looks like she's in a battle field of some sort. Leliana is definitely in a Chantry. Sten…it seems like he's in a lake." I recited what I remembered from the games. Derek, Talen, Eren, and Alfred I wouldn't be able to make out. "Morrigan seems to be in a swamp with another older woman." I said, tracing a rune that felt like Morrigan. "I can't make out the others though, sorry."
"How are you able to do that?" Niall wondered with a curious glance. Alistair was keeping a close eye on me though. Templar training no doubt.
"I just can. There's a feeling to each and every one. If I focused hard enough, I can probably break through into their dream. Do you guys want to go now?" I asked.
"It would be best if one of us stays in case they come here too." Alistair looked at Niall.
"I want to help in any way I can. I'll have to get used to the same old scenery then." Niall sighed, leaning against a wall of the ruin. Alistair and I nodded. I held my hand out to him.
"I'm not sure if I can take you unless you're holding onto me." I said. Alistair fidgeted before taking my hand. I touched one of the runes and felt that it was Wynne's. I allowed myself to feel through and let my feeling guide me. We 'fell' again and I heard Alistair gasp before I opened my eyes. We were in a battlefield. There were people dead all around us. Weapons were scattered about and the forest was right before us. I looked up and saw the bridge in Ostagar.
This was the battlefield where Cailan's troops met with the darkspawn. There was a foreboding atmosphere as we walked the battlefield. We ended up near the back where Wynne was cradling one of the mage's head. It almost looked like he was taking a nap in her lap. There were other bodies of mages strewn about. Wynne looked helpless as we approached her.
"Wynne?" Alistair said softly. She looked up at him with empty eyes then looked at the apprentice she was cradling. "This must be where the mages were when the fighting began. The Chantry didn't want them in the fight so they were forced to be at the back."
"Stupid. Mages can turn the tide of a fight." I sighed and shook my head. I crouched down to Wynne's level. "Wynne?"
"Why are you two here?" She looked at us. She shook her head. "Never mind. Please leave."
"Wynne what is all this?" I asked.
"Death." She snapped. "Can you not see it? It's all around us. I tried." She held the apprentice closer to her. "I tried so hard to save them all but there was nothing I could do. I was powerless to stop the horde. And where were you when we needed you?" Wynne glared at Alistair. He fidgeted uncomfortably as Wynne started to cry.
"Wynne, listen to my voice, none of this is real. It may have happened in the past, yes, but you are not at Ostagar. This is just a nightmare in the fade." I tried grabbing her shoulder to console her but she swatted it away.
"Your blatant disregard to the death is unbecoming of you." She glared before shaking her head. "Leave me. I shall burn their bodies and scatter their ashes to the four corners of the world before I too lay with them. I must atone for my mistake, my failure to protect them." Wynne brushed the hair of the apprentice that was with her.
"If you do that and stay trapped in here then the apprentices that you have saved already will die or worse. Don't you remember the Circle? We came here to help you find Irving and save you all from the Rite of Annulment!" Alistair came and stood in front of her. "What about Petra and the others? Are you going to leave them too?"
"Petra? I was at the Circle when…when..?" Wynne blinked. "That's strange, my memory seems foggy."
"Think hard Wynne. You were at the Circle protecting Petra and Kinnon from the demons! We even found Solana and other apprentices!" I kept going, trying to persuade her. Wynne blinked her eyes. There was a light there for a brief second.
"Perhaps it would be best to…get away from this." Wynne said, letting down the apprentice. We helped her up and then I saw the 'dead' apprentices come to life.
"No, don't leave us Wynne. Stay, stay in the comfort of our embrace." The apprentice's words echoed.
"Foul demon, stay away!" Wynne was able to conjure her staff and immediately sent an arc of lighting through all the apprentices. I hit the throat of the one that was raised and it immediately fell. Alistair took care of two others that were paralyzed. Wynne conjured earth around her staff and punted another apprentice away. Two others came at us with fire and ice spells but Alistair brought his hands together and nullified their magic.
I came in and slit both of their throats. It was different considering I knew they were both demons. After they all died, the battlefield vanished. We were standing in the fade and Wynne rubbed her head.
"I can't believe it. That was all a dream?" Wynne sighed. I grabbed both Alistair and Wynne right before the 'falling' feeling overcame all of us. We were back at the ruins with Niall and the pedestal.
"Senior Enchanter Wynne?" Niall stood up from where he sat.
"Niall! Thank the Maker you are alive." Wynne came up and hugged him. Niall cleared his throat in the awkwardness as she let him go.
"Alive yes but we're all still trapped. I am surprised that you weren't the only one to escape your dreams." Niall said.
"What do you mean?" I wondered.
"After you left Talen and another young mage came by. They did the same thing and went to the pedestal to track down another dreamer." Niall explained. I walked over to the pedestal and noticed three more runes were turned off. Talen, Morrigan, and Wynne's. I sighed and smiled. Talen must have gotten out and helped Morrigan.
"Talen has always been an exceptional mage." Wynne smiled proudly.
"It's good. The more dreamers that break out, the weaker the Sloth demon becomes. Once you have all broken out of your dreams, we'll be able to face the Sloth demon." Niall came to the pedestal. "I believe the last rune that holds the demon might be able to be accessible once all of these stop moving. It's only a theory though." Niall shrugged.
"But one we can aim for. How do we proceed?" Wynne asked.
"Don't look at me, she's the one that's been messing with it." Alistair shrugged and pointed at me.
"We'll have to go through another dream then." I said, feeling the last three runes, I stumbled on Eren's. "Let's go here and hold onto me. You won't be able to transport to the dream unless you do." I explained. Alistair and Wynne put their hands on my shoulders. I touched the rune and focused on the dream. We went through.
I gasped when I saw the surroundings. It was Highever castle and everyone was there. All the servants, all the guards, and apparently there was a party going on. It hurt to see all of this. Too good to be true indeed. I rubbed my eyes for a second when tears welled up.
"Are you alright?" Wynne asked.
"Yeah just...memories." I exhaled before I saw Nan coming toward me.
"There you are! You are late and where are your wedding clothes? I can't believe you're wearing your armor again!" Nan berated me while grabbing my arm.
"Wait, what?" I fought against her.
"Hey! Let her go!" Alistair followed after me before Wynne stopped him.
"Let's see how the dream plays out. We must be careful until we can find Eren." I heard her say before I was whisked off toward the main hall. The guards opened the door with cheery faces. I heard everyone laughing inside. The table was set with a feast. I saw Oriana, Fergus, Eleanor, and Bryce. Eren was at the table with Oren in his lap. It was a stab to the heart when I saw them all again. I can see why Eren wouldn't want to leave. I saw Alfred in the corner with his ears plastered against his head, nipping at the people coming near him.
I knew that Alfred figured out that this wasn't real. As Eren laughed and looked over to me, I knew he was long gone. It hurt to know that this was his dream. That he was still home with the rest of his family. Eren gave Oren back to his mother and sauntered over to me with that cocky grin he used to wear.
"About time you came back and where is the gown I bought for you?" Eren wondered, putting his arm around my shoulders.
"Gown?" I wondered, not liking where this was going.
"Yes, your wedding gown! Anyway are you in your armor, we're supposed to be celebrating our big day." Eren chuckled, pushing me toward the table.
"What big day?" I asked.
"Our wedding? Don't tell me you've forgotten the ceremony we had this morning?" Eren stopped and laughed. I'm pretty sure that my eyes grew twice their size. I pulled his arm off.
"What? No, no we couldn't have gotten married. I'm already married remember! I have a husband and two kids." I explained to him. Eren's face slightly broke.
"Yes but they're dead, love. I saw the papers from Antiva. You told me you were ready to begin anew with me." Eren chuckled lightly, his face getting red. It was sweet but to think that Eren thought of me this way was unnerving.
"Your first fight already?" Fergus shouted from the table.
"Come, we can speak of this later in our room." Eren winked.
"No." I stood my ground. Eren raised an eyebrow.
"No?" He wondered.
"I told you that paper was a lie. My family is still out there. I'm not going to marry you. This," I motioned my hands toward the celebration, "Will never happen Eren. It's all a dream and you need to wake up." Eren scowled and shook his head.
"What are you talking about? You said, you promised me you'd be there for me." Eren said.
"I did but I don't love you Eren. I promised you, yes, but that was when your mom died." My voice broke. "I know you don't want to remember. I don't either but…" I swallowed the lump as Eren's face slowly realized what was happening. "There was a massacre at Highever. Rendon Howe killed everyone. We barely escaped with Oren…your parents." I put my hand up to my mouth.
"…They're dead." Eren breathed out. That was the trigger to end the dream.
Beta'd by FearaNightmare
It's so odd going back to my old story to make sure my original ideas can stay. Man, I've grown and it was all for you guys! :D
Shout out to redcollecter and Meghan-Amell for favoriting/following! Thank you Chimera Spyke (Yeah I hated this part of the game too), Syutaku (I'm glad you're liking the fighting scenes), and WindBear47 (I had to look up cavalier but thank you!) Please Review!