After seven days of sitting in his office, refusing to speak to anyone or even seeing his son, Alexius finally emerged, looking strangely invigorated. He had the look of a man that was grieving yes, but he was clean, shaven and had a downright stubborn look in his eyes.

Dorian knew that look all too well and it was with a look of surprise that he stood up from his chair, heading towards his mentor as Alexius came into his son's room. Dorian, who had spent most of his time with Felix, watching and helping in whatever he could, couldn't say he felt as energetic as Alexius seemed to be, but he still wanted to make sure that Alexius was actually doing okay.

And that he would be ready to be updated about Felix.

While Felix had been stable, the Blight was still taking its toll, leaving him weaker and weaker with each day that went by. At the rate it was spreading, the healers suspected that Felix would only have a few more weeks to live at best, and only if they continued their current treatment; weeks that would most likely cause more harm than good to the poor man's body and spirit.

Alexius, however, did not look like a man whose son was dying.

Instead he passed Dorian by and kneeled by Felix's hand, taking his hand and squeezed it.

"We will cure you, Felix. We will cure you," he promised, voice firm and confident.

"Father…"

Felix' voice was as weak as the rest of him, but his eyes were clear. He was tired, weak, but he was still very much with them.

"You don't have to… Nobody has cured the Blight…"

"Then we will. I will find a way, Felix. I promise."

Alexius then turned to Dorian, giving him a look. "Dorian… Go to my office, please. We have much to talk about, but I need a moment alone with my son."

"I… Of course," Dorian said, giving his mentor a small bow before leaving father and son alone.

As he wandered down the hallway, heading towards Alexius' office as instructed, he hoped Alexius wouldn't upset or tire Felix out too much. Felix, ever the optimist, was ready to pass, and while he held sorrow and regret for his father, he wanted his father to move on and accept what was going on instead of wallowing in his sorrow and guilt.

And Dorian knew that Felix wanted Dorian to do the same. After all, he had told him as much; every day as Dorian sat with him in the last week.

No regrets, no sorrows. Just love and warm memories, and the knowledge that Felix would be with the Maker because he was a good man.

Stepping into Alexius's office, Dorian closed the door behind him before leaning back against it, letting the back of his head hit the hard, wooden surface as he exhaled heavily.

He was exhausted, mentally and physically so, but he wanted to do everything he could for Alexius. He had already made the decision to stay until Felix passed, wanting to be there both for his mentor and for his friend both out of love and out of concerned. Alexius… He worried about him. His mentor clearly did not accept that Felix was dying and Dorian knew he had to be there to help him accept it somehow.

He just didn't know how.

Pushing himself away from the door, Dorian started to slowly pace around the office, his mind already trying to formulate some sort of battle-plan. He had to be supportive, but he also had to be the voice of reason. That was easy enough, but he also had to be delicate, understanding.

Dorian was aware that sometimes he could be as blunt as a club to the face, especially when he felt frustrated and that was partly what worried him.

Jumping slightly as the door swung up, Dorian looked towards Alexius as he came striding into the room, wearing a look on his face that was hard to describe. A mix of eager, focused and delusional. Like he was a hundred miles away.

"Alexius?"

"Come Dorian," Alexius said as he walked past Dorian and headed over to his desk. "We have much work to do and precious little time."

"Work? What work?"

"Remember what we spoke off last year, Dorian?" Alexius said while looking through a stack of papers, eyes darting from side to side.

"Our theories in order to bend time itself?"

"Yes," Dorian replied slowly as he folded his arms over his chest, raising an eyebrow as he remained where he was, observing his mentor as he shifted through the papers.

"And I also remember that we came to the conclusion that such a feat is near impossible. The amount of magic, of power… Such a source does not exist in a form that we can exploit."

"Theories, Dorian," Alexius said while finding the papers he was looking for, holding them up for Dorian to see. "We only spoke of theories. We never tested, never tried. And I have thought about this closely and I believe I know what we must do!"

"Alexius-" Dorian started, his sceptical expression making way for a more concerned look.

"We must set to work, time is against us," Alexius said, holding his hand to shush his old student's words.

As Alexius started gathering books from his massive selection of rare tomes, Dorian felt himself torn. Torn between duty and torn between what was as close as family to him.

He had been prepared to stay with Alexius for a few more days, even weeks to help him process his grief and sorrow, but this...? If he stayed, if he dedicated himself to helping his mentor, he would lose his progress within the circle. He would lose his current position, he would fall behind on his work, his research and his assignments, and he would lose his chance to be considered for the position as senior enchanter.

But Alexius… He owed Alexius everything; his current position, all the chances and possibilities, possible even his life.

To him, the choice was obvious.

"Alright," he said slowly as he unfolded his arms, moving to stand by his mentor to help him with the books. "Where do we start?"

The look of gratitude and hope that appeared on his mentor's face was all the confirmation Dorian needed to know that he had made the right choice.

Time was off the essence, and Dorian and Alexius were quick to divide the labour between them.

The most important thing for Alexius was to get Felix stabilised; his health was deteriorating and while Dorian felt that letting the poor man die now would be the kinder option, he was ready to assist his mentor in his attempt.

The problem was, however, that the way the taint spread through someone's body was still very much unknown and even the attempted use of the cleansing effect of bloodmagic had not been enough to help remove the toxins and taint. The obvious and common knowledge was what happened to a body; if the taint spread far enough, you became a ghoul, forever lost to the taint and to life. Once it had progressed that far, nothing could be done except granting the person a swift death.

However, the Grey Wardens seemed to be the exception to the rule in one way or the other; they fought Darkspawn all the time and Dorian knew it was impossible for them to not get Darkspawn blood on them or inside them, one way or the other. They had a secret, they knew a way and Dorian was set on finding out exactly what that was.

Alexius had reached out to the Wardens that were located in Tevinter, all but begging for help, but after the first week had passed with no answer, he was getting impatient. He sent them more messages, asking, begging, saying he was willing to pay any price if they could be of assistance, but he got nothing back.

Not able to wait for a response that may or may not come, Dorian took matters into his own hands so while Alexius started working on his theories in relation to time-magic, Dorian started working on Felix.

It was already clear that even the best of healers that Tevinter had to offer could only do so much, but Dorian had an idea.

The idea of bloodmagic as a means to help had always been acceptable to a certain degree in Tevinter and while Dorian himself wasn't crazy about that kind of magic, he also found aspects about it fascinating. His father had always spoke ill of bloodmagic, how it was "the resort of the weak minded", but Dorian could see the possibilities in the healing factors. But more was needed.

So Dorian started digging, locating every little bit he could about Grey Wardens, legends, healing magic, spirit magic, the blights, the taint, obscure illnesses and old magic.

He sent for books, he wrote his colleagues at the Circle, even asked his father and mother to bring him everything they could from their own libraries.

It didn't take long before books, letters, tomes, documents and scrolls started flowing in, and Dorian eagerly set to work, devouring everything he could.

He created thesis and while most were scrapped he held onto a few with the hope that they would carry fruit.

He did not, however, expect that Felix's greatest chance would be shrouded in death.

It was an idea that Dorian had not even thought about, but it came from a colleague who had studied magic in Nevarra.

When younger, Dorian had visited Nevarra with his parents and he had desperately wanted to visit a Necropolis, having somewhat of a fascination with the histories of the undead that roamed the halls underneath the cities. Morbid, but for a curious boy who was still fascinated with everything magic could do, it was an adventure.

Now that he was older, he knew it was the art of Necromancy and when he read the letter from his colleague, his mind started working.

Necromancy… The art of binding a spirit to a body to help it move.

Closely linked with the art of spirit-magic, where spirits assisted in the acceleration of healing the human body, using their own energy to help the injured and sick.

Healing magic linked with magic of the dead, entwined.

Light and dark blended together.

When the thought was born, Dorian could not let it go.

He sent for more information about necromancy, his plan shaping more and more as he thought about it.

Sending for a necromancer would not do, it would take too long to explain his theories and even then, they might not be able to manipulate the magic correctly. It had to be precise and it had to be done right. If they did something wrong, it could cost Felix his life.

No. Dorian had to learn the art himself.

He transformed his room into a study and with Alexius blessings, he sent for test-subjects.

He started with rats, knowing he needed to learn how to bind a spirit to flesh and the only way he could do that was to actually have a body. He knew that a rat was different from a human, but he had to start somewhere and he honestly wasn't sure if he could actually get his hands on one. He knew Alexius could probably assist, but he did not want to bother him with the request until he knew that his theories actually could be accomplished.

Of course, he needed the bodies for one more reason…

Knowing he had to learn as much about the spread of the blight, needed to see it himself to know exactly how it coursed through a body, Dorian needed so test it on live subjects and again, rats were the best option. There was no way he would subject a living person to this.

Darkspawn blood wasn't easy to get a hold off and Dorian had to ask for many favours in order to get his hands on it and while he waited, he practised what he could.

In addition to necromancy, Dorian tried to learn the art of healing by observing the healers that tended to Felix, using their knowledge and guidance to learn about anatomy and the human body in a different way than he had before. He learned to bend the veil and use the given energy of spirits to mend wounds, ease pains and slowly draw poisons and taint from wounds, which in return gave him hope.

He also helped Alexius with his research and together they started working on making Alexius' theories a reality.

They already knew that it could be done, but in order to harness the possibilities, they needed a focus. An anchor.

It was exhausting and Dorian would work for days and nights without sleep before finally passing out for almost entire days at a time when exhaustion finally caught up to him.

They had as many breakthroughs as they had set-backs, and it took them two months of careful experimenting from Dorian and the healers to find a power that helped cleanse Felix, keeping him stable. It was by no means a cure and it would only buy him a little more time, but it was enough.

It was after the first half year of work that the first letters started to arrive from school.

He wasn't terribly surprised when he read them; he had dedicated everything to help his master, but it still stung.

Because he had not reported to any debates, any classes or submitted any work, he had been removed from the list to be considered tested for the title of senior enchanter. He was, they reassured him, still a valued member of the school board and he would be more than welcome to try again, but he would have to start from scratch.

Everything he had worked so hard for was not thrown away, all because he wanted to help Alexius and Felix.

He didn't say it, of course. He didn't want to add to the stress Alexius was under, but Felix knew. Felix, it seemed like, always knew.

With the help of the powder and constant healing, he was well enough to stand and move around from small periods at a time, and Felix spent that time encouraging Dorian in his work the best he could. He would bring him treats from the kitchen, just like he had when they were younger and Felix had still lived at home, and the gesture was enough to bring a smile to Dorian's face.

"If you and father can do this, you will have your ticket to that title faster than you can say "Vishante kaffas"," Felix said with a small grin, which made Dorian laugh as they shared the treats Felix had gotten him and for just a moment, it felt like everything was okay.

Like they were children again.

Alexius seemed to get encouraged by Felix's new-found health as well, which was needed as his work were starting to hit more setbacks than breakthroughs.

That's when Dorian started presenting his own work.

It had taken a lot of time coming to the stage he was at, but Dorian was confident that he was on the right track. He was not close enough to actually cure the blight by any stretch, but Dorian believed he was getting there.

It had been slow, painstaking; observing the rats as he infected them with the darkspawn blood before trying to blend the spiritual healing magic with necromantic magic. At the start, the rats had only been alive for seconds, but as he practiced, trained and perfected his spells, he was able to keep them alive for minutes, then hours, days and finally weeks. He moved on then from rats to monkeys, needing something closer to a human and that was as close as he could get.

He took no pleasure in what he was doing; tainting their blood before letting them get as close to death as he could before attempting to bind a healing spirit to their still alive bodies. The main issue was finding a spirit strong enough to sustain a living being without being completely consumed in the process, but weak enough to not take over the body completely.

Admittedly, he was hesitant to show Alexius his research because he wasn't sure how Felix would take it, both physically and mentally. He had only experimented on animals and while the theories were still the same, a human was vastly different from a rat or even a monkey.

Still, he presented what he had for his old mentor, show his research and his current result; a monkey that had been brought to the very brink of life and then revived again.

"It is not perfect," he warned Alexius, swallowing hard as he watched his mentor, trying to guess what he was thinking. "It… It is not complete. I have tried a few times now and this one is the first to have survived for over a month. I have tried monitoring it as closely as I can and while it shows no obvious signs of distress, it's sluggish and tired."

"This is what you have been doing when not with me?"

Dorian nodded, somewhat feeling like a naughty child who had been caught playing instead of doing his homework. "Yes. I felt that first and foremost, we needed to buy Felix more time than he had and I believe this is as close as we can get. For the time being."

"It won't cure him though."

"No, there's… I need more time if I am to work on a complete cure."

"But it will buy Felix time?"

"Ah…"

Dorian hesitated for a moment before nodding. "Yes. Yes, I believe it will. He is at a stage that is better than the monkey was so I believe his body will respond more positively to this."

A part of him wanted for Alexius to say no.

This was highly experimental and Dorian felt he was stepping on a fine line between what a regular man was supposed to do. He honestly could not guaranty any results except "buying Felix time", but he knew he needed time to fully document what would or could happen.

Time they did not have. Time Alexius was desperately trying to get them.

Alexius as he knew him would say no, that it was still too risky. Too unknown. That they needed more time, more experimenting, to do more work to limit or remove any or all risks.

But Alexius said yes.