9:30 Guardian ?
We walked through a small foyer that had dead guards and walked into the long main hall. The pillars of stone held the high curved ceiling. The throne was at the end with a large roaring fireplace except the throne held a child that was clapping and Bann Teagan was dancing erratically. Guards were at his side who had an empty look to their eyes. The child looked to our group that strolled in front of him. The shadows seemed to circle around him as he got up from his chair. Bann Teagan stopped dancing and rolled to Connor's feet.
A child shouldn't have that maniac glee on their face unless they are playing with their favorite toy. Having it while tearing apart of village slowly and killing with no remorse is a sign of something broken. Either way, it wasn't Connor's fault. It was the demon and we were here to deal with that not Connor.
"So, these are the foolish travelers that you have told me about, mother." Connor glared at us, his voice coming out guttural and harsh. Isolde weakly looked up to us.
"Y-Yes Connor." Isolde's voice wavered.
"That's Connor?" Leliana whispered, shocked.
"What happened?" Alistair looked on in horror.
"And these people are the ones that stopped my plan of reclaiming my village? They are the ones who killed my soldiers?" Connor seemed to taunt us with the control he had over his mother.
"Yes Connor." Isolde nearly sobbed.
"I'm beginning to think that isn't Connor anymore." Eren whispered darkly.
"And now it's looking at me Mother! I can't see it very well, you must tell me what it is!" Connor demanded. Talen came up to take a closer look at Connor, letting out a small magical wave.
"That's a definite possession and one from the top of the hierarchy, desire or pride." Talen said.
"That is an elf Connor. You have seen them, the servants in the castle…" Isolde explained and Talen glared at her.
"Oh I remember now!" Connor laughed with a screech. "I cut off their ears and fed it to the dogs! They were chewing for hours! Should I send it to the kennels Mother? I think it would enjoyed having its ears torn from its skull!" Connor took a threatening step forward. We all got ready for a battle before Isolde got to her knees.
"Oh please Connor, I beg you, don't hurt anyone!" Isolde broke down. Connor groaned, his hands going up to his head before there was finally a break. The shadows seemed to retreat and a fearful look passed over Connor. He was back again.
"Mo-Mother?" He looked for her and she grabbed his hands.
"Co-Connor? You can hear me? Listen and-" Connor back handed her, the demon taking over in an instant. Isolde cried out as she fell down the few steps leading to the throne.
"Isolde!" Alistair shouted.
"I told you not to touch me, you stupid woman!" Connor stepped down the steps, hovering over Isolde, angry. "You are beginning to bore me." He said calmly. It was that calm that seemed to make the room darker. The shadows grew thicker and my adrenaline was pumping again, my body sensing a large enemy, getting ready to fight or flight. She held her cheek and looked to us.
"Please you must help my son! I beg you Grey Wardens. Connor is not responsible for what has happened, please don't hurt him." Isolde sobbed.
"No, it wasn't his fault but yours. You should have done the right thing and sent him to the Circle instead of going around behind people's backs! At least he would have been able to have someone teach him how to truly control his magic! Now he has made a deal, hasn't he demon?" I looked to Connor and the demon inside of him smirked.
"It was a fair deal! The boy wanted to keep his father alive and I gave him the means to do so! Repayment was in order so I took his body for his wish! I will raise an undead army and conquer the world and no one will stop me from getting what I want!" Connor shouted.
"No one will stop him! No one!" Teagan cackled.
"Quiet! Or do you want to suffer the fate of the last toy?" Connor threatened and Teagan fell silent. "But there is no reason not to be civil." Connor went back to the throne and sat down while Isolde sobbed on the floor. "The irregularity will have her audience as she requires. Tell me, why have you come here to my domain?"
"We came here to stop you and save the village, save everyone in the castle, and Connor." I demanded. The possessed Connor laughed.
"Such lofty goals but you will not stop me! I am not finished playing with your small and insignificant lives! I won't have something like you spoil my fun! Mother has deprived me of my soldiers, of my sport! I require excitement and action! I will see your lives hanging on the balance of blood and death! No one will take that away from me. Pay the price for spoiling my mood!" Connor got up from the throne and let out his magic that blinded us. Connor was gone while the guards took out their weapons and Teagan got up, taking up a shield and sword that was near him. Isolde tried to go up to Teagan who threw her against the wall.
"Try not to kill them. They're being controlled." Talen said.
"That's going to be easier said than done." I said as our two groups clashed. The four guards and Teagan still had their battle sense, even if they were being controlled. Teagan's shield bashed into Eren's and they were locked in a battle of strength that Teagan won. Eren staggered, nearly getting his head lopped off by another guardsmen. Talen had put his staff away and came into the battle himself. He had put a finger in his mouth before going over.
"Talen!" Alistair shouted as he grappled with a nearby guard as Leliana and I kept two others busy. Talen came up to the one that nearly slashed Eren and placed his hands on the guard's face for an instant. The man's eyes rolled into the back of his head.
"Keep the guards occupied!" Talen rolled up his sleeves as Eren's sword met Teagan's own to make sure Talen wasn't in the way of combat. Leliana and I looked at each other. She twirled behind the guard, placing herself low to the ground. I did a battle grunt and pushed the guard over her. As soon as he hit the floor, Talen ran up and put his hand on the guard's face. I held up my daggers and caught the guard's sword, causing me to almost kneel as they pushed their weight on me. Alistair came up and bashed the guy's helmet with his shield, making him go down. Talen used whatever he was using to keep the guard still.
Leliana managed to get the last guard on the ground where she held him in a chokehold. Once they grew limp, she let go. Talen checked him over. Eren and Teagan were having their own duel in the middle of the large throne room. Eren had ducked underneath his slash and football tackled Teagan. He grounded his feet and maneuvered his shield in front him at the last second. Eren grunted but let go first, twirling his sword in his hand as Teagan and him circled around each other.
"Eren, we don't have much time!" Alistair said as we stood around them.
"Give me a second!" Eren avoided a low slash and stumbled backwards, keeping his shield in front, waiting for a time to strike. Teagan wasn't wearing armor meaning Eren had to be extremely careful not to kill him accidentally. I took in a breath and put away my daggers. I ran right behind Teagan and reared my leg back to kick his knee. Teagan groaned as he knelt and slashed at me before I grappled it from him. He tried to get back up but I grabbed the front end of his nice shirt.
"Time for cognitive recalibration!" I yelled, headbutting Teagan so hard that we broke both our foreheads. Teagan grunted in pain, stumbling to the floor. He rolled on his back, his eyes becoming clear. We all surrounded him with Talen keeping his hand over Teagan.
"What…what happened?" Teagan croaked out.
"I hit you really hard on the head." I explained, feeling the blood run down from my head. It stung like a bitch. Isolde came over and knelt to Teagan. Talen healed my head wound while putting down his sleeves.
"What did you do?" Alistair wondered with a curious eye.
"…Scrambled their thoughts slightly." Talen mumbled. I then noticed that one of his fingers had the skin broken, with small amounts of blood coming out. He had used blood magic but I kept my mouth shut. Hypocrite.
"Teagan, forgive me." Isolde sobbed as Teagan sat up.
"It's alright Isolde I am fine. They broke me out of the mental enchantment." He laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. Eren helped him up and Talen healed his head.
"I am so sorry Teagan. I was a fool to have brought you here. I would never have forgiven myself if I had caused your death. Please Grey wardens, my son is not responsible for all this! You all saw that a sliver of my son still lives inside him. We must find a way to save him!" Isolde begged.
"Look your son may not even be your son anymore…Right now he's-"
"An abomination." Jowan came from hiding behind a pillar, interrupting Talen.
"You!" Isolde screeched. She launched herself at Jowan but was kept at bay by Teagan. "This is all your fault! You brought this horror to my family!"
"I might have done that to your husband but I never summoned a demon! I've done a lot of things wrong but let me help, please!" Jowan begged.
"Help!? You want to help me after you tore my family apart with your demon magic?! I trusted you to teach my son and you go and poison my husband!" Isolde screamed. Teagan began to add the situation up in his mind.
"So this is the mage you spoke to me about. Wasn't he in the dungeons?" Teagan wondered.
"He was. I had hoped those creatures would have killed you by now." Isolde glared.
"We let him out. I thought that since he was a witness to all of this he might be able to help." Eren explained.
"You have every right to hate me. You opened your home to me and I betrayed your trust. I know you can't forgive me and I didn't know what I did could lead to this but I am serious when I say I want to help. Please." Jowan said sincerely.
"We can't turn him away. The more mages in this the better." Talen crossed his arms, still glaring at Jowan. "But like I was saying, Connor is an abomination. A demon has possessed him, not completely, but a possession is a hard thing to beat."
"But Connor is still inside, fighting whatever has taken ahold of him! He breaks through his possession at various points which means he is still in there. There must be a way to save him!" Isolde sobbed.
"I'm guessing though that breaking through takes a lot of energy. We have to think of something fast if we want to save him." I mentioned.
"I don't want to kill a child…but if Connor is an abomination-"
"Do not even start Alistair." Leliana interrupted him.
"There's nothing we can do. The demon has taken over and there are no other ways! Or did you forget what we did to those other abominations back at the Circle?" Alistair shot back.
"Abominations at the Circle?" Jowan wondered.
"Don't get sidetracked." Eren sighed and rubbed his face. "Can I ask why Connor isn't down here?"
"Violence…frightens him." Isolde sighed. "He must have run upstairs to his room."
"For how long?" Eren wondered.
"Hours at a time if we are lucky." Isolde replied.
"We can go up there and-" Alistair tried pushing the subject.
"No and that is final. We won't kill Connor. He was only trying to save his father." Eren looked down. He was comparing his own feelings with Bryce.
"But what other way is there to get rid of the demon from inside him?" Teagan wondered.
"There is…a solution if you would listen." Jowan offered. Everyone looked to him. It was odd like the shadows seemed to circle around him. Maybe that's part of the Blood Mage thing. He noticed he had everyone's attention and cleared his throat. "I can send someone into the fade where they can battle the demon and kill it. That should release Connor from the possession of the demon."
"Isn't the demon inside of Connor?" Teagan wondered.
"Not exactly. Mages connect to the fade and that's where the possession occurs. They can't take over bodies unless we met them here in real life. A mage goes into the fade to do battle with demons on their turf though so it's very risky and extremely powerful magic. They use the same technique and send us into the fade to overcome demons as a part of a test in the Circle." Talen explained.
"They what!?" Leliana gasped.
"I'll tell you about that later." Talen looked at her. "Speaking about the power, I've never seen someone do that unless they had a team of mages and plenty of lyrium, stuff we don't have here."
"No but I do know of a loophole out of that…at a cost." Jowan said.
"Can you stop skirting the issue and tell us?" Eren demanded.
"In order for me to skip the process of using lyrium to enter the fade, I must use another person's life. Their blood will power the spell and allow a mage to pass into the fade." Jowan explained. The tension fell like a hammer.
"A life for a life." I mumbled and glared at the floor.
"Human sacrifice." Leliana stated.
"Blood magic." Alistair shook his head. "Two wrongs don't make a right." Eren looked contemplative though.
"Maybe I should-"
"Then use my life. I will gladly sacrifice myself for my son." Isolde stated, interrupting Jowan who could only gape at her.
"Isolde! Have you even considered the consequences? Eamon would never allow you to do this." Teagan shot back.
"Nothing else is clearer to me. My life for my son." Isolde stood her ground.
"Or someone can go to the Circle, recruit some mages, gets some lyrium and come back here to do all of this with no one having to sacrifice themselves." I offered.
"That doesn't sound that bad and the Circle isn't too far from here!" Talen looked optimistic.
"No." Eren commanded. I swiveled my head and stared at him at shock.
"Eren, we have a way to not have anyone sacrifice themselves! Why the hell not?" I looked at him with incredulity.
"Even at one person on a horse, it would take two days for them to come back. You have seen the village and its soldiers. They barely took last night's fighting even with all the preparations we have done for them. Do you really think they can fight once more?" Eren explained.
"They have us! We can do this Eren, we can fight with the soldiers. All we need is one person and we can stop this." I stepped towards him.
"I agree with Nia." Alistair said.
"It doesn't matter if you agree or not! What's the point in trying to save one life when so many others will die! We got lucky last night but if we take this risk, would you be able to even look at yourself when others can be killed?" Eren seethed.
"Oh now you care about the villagers? Who was the one that actually thought about leaving them to die just so you can get to Arl Eamon in the castle hm?" I shot back. A low blow yes but I was angry.
"We have a shot of ending this, right here, right now, and you want to put all your faith in something that will put everyone at risk!" Eren shouted.
"It's better than Isolde sacrificing herself! A mother is supposed to be there for their kid, raising them, worrying for them, showing them what they need to do! I know Connor will eventually be going back to the Circle but that's the reason why she needs to be there for him before he goes damn it!" I yelled. "Children aren't supposed to bury their parents, when they still need to be around to teach them more! Or did you already forget that with yours?" I knew that wasn't what I really wanted to say but I got so angry. Apparently, so did Eren.
"Yes, like how you are there for your children?! How do we know this whole elaborate story of coming from another world isn't some elaborate ruse to fool yourself that you left your family. That you couldn't handle being a wife or a mother and you just left!" Eren spat.
"Eren!" Alistair came forward but I stopped him. I bit my lip so hard I caused it to bleed. I glared at Eren.
"I haven't forgotten. I wanted to take her but…this is different! We were running not trying to defend ourselves. We must think of the greater good. We can stop this now then we take our chance instead of trying to wait for reinforcements two or three days from now! Connor won't be stuck in his room for those days. The attacks will happen again and who knows how many others will die during that time. You are a naïve fool if you think that life is only a series of choices that present themselves in front of you and all you have to do is choose the best option. This is real life Nia! Either way, you are not the leader here I am unless you want to take the position yourself. Ask yourself this though: Are you ready to burden the consequences of your choices upon your shoulders? And I am sure, this will not be the last either." Eren looked down at me.
"I may be a fool like you said but at least I'm not someone who has lost their heart like you have!" I shouted.
"This isn't the time for ideals." Eren glared at me.
"This is exactly the time for ideals! To show others that we won't stoop as low as Loghain and fight back to at least do whatever we can to save everyone! If it's within reason, then we can do it!" I argued. Eren wasn't backing down though and no one was backing me up except Alistair.
"We are Grey Wardens. We're not heroes no matter how much either of you think it. You know what it means when Grey Wardens are present, a Blight just as its happening now. We come during the worst of times because we are the ONLY ones to defeat an Archdemon! We don't stay in villages and protect them against the undead. The only reason why we are here is to save Arl Eamon who is being kept by his demon possessed son. The sooner we can get out of this, the sooner we can go back on the road and get more allies! Archdemons can only be taken down by armies! What do you see here? What are we Nia!? A bastard prince, a blood mage, a criminal dwarf, some idealistic Chantry sister, a fallen Qunari, an apostate witch from the woods, a crow assassin, me, who has lost everything and thrown into this, and you, someone who was too stubborn to leave! We are no army and this is my decision to make, not yours!" Eren towered over me.
"I thought you could be different. I thought you could be a hero, someone that can show everyone how to rise up and do what's right." My voice trembled. Eren has changed but not for the better. "I guess I was wrong. Whatever, do what you have to do." I shook my head and looked to Isolde. "This whole entire thing was your fault. If you had swallowed your pride and sent Connor to the Circle like you were supposed to then you wouldn't had to hire Jowan, Eamon wouldn't have been poisoned, and Connor would have been safe. I hope you are happy with your sacrifice because you are leaving Connor with the biggest scar on his heart that he will ever have!" I stormed out, kicking the door, and settling myself on the stairs outside.
I hugged my knees and looked out at the snowy courtyard. Tears came falling out as rage seethed in my heart. I was so angry! There was another way, there was ALWAYS another way! Why couldn't Eren see that? Why can't he see that we can protect others, that we can fight! But he was right. I wasn't the leader and I couldn't judge him for that. He's only doing what he thinks is best, regardless of what others think. Grey Wardens…in my heart I was always the hero. I jumped to help everyone, save everyone, get the best possible ending out of all endings.
This isn't a game anymore and that was firmly shoved into my face.
There are no choices on a screen, nothing to choose, no auto travel. I hate to admit it, Eren was right. I wasn't going to say it out loud.
The door opened behind me and Alistair sat next to me. He ran his hands through his hair and stared out toward the courtyard just like I did.
"We should have gone to the circle." He whispered.
"They did it then?" I wondered.
"They moved into Isolde's study to do it. Teagan is bawling his eyes out in the throne room." Alistair let out a shuddering breath. The door opened again and Leliana came out to sit next to me. I rested my head on her shoulder and then she put her head on mine.
"Was I wrong?" I wondered.
"No…neither was he I believe but…it doesn't feel right." Leliana sighed. I saw that light flutters of snow started to fall from the sky. My anger was replaced by sadness. I understood it but it didn't feel right to me either but…
This is their life. Their story. Just like Eren said, I was just someone too stubborn to leave. Now I have to live with that.
Beta'd by FearaNightmare and Syutaku
Just on time, syutaku made a little change just slight but man does it really change the whole entire chapter! And I'm wondering, have I made Eren too much of a d~~~?
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