Cassandra led him up the stairs into a huge hall. Mehenion looked his eyes out. His eyes seemed to fixate on the door on his left. "Come." Cassandra said and tugged at him gently. The light hurt his eyes and he used his arm to shield them from it. As soon as his eyes got used to the light, they fixated on the green gaping maw in the sky.

It was so much more impressive in real life, and he tried to imagine what reaction it would give "back home." Most likely people would try to shoot it, nuke it, bomb it. It would be all over the news and conspiracy theorists would say it were aliens, other would say it was the wrath of God. Nations would fall and crumble when the first demons would surface and rifts would appear. For however advanced his world seemed to be, they sure as hell weren't ready for something like this. Neither was this world. People here suffered as well. He would soon find that out.

"We call it the breach." Cassandra explained. "Breach." Mehenion repeated. Only now, in the stark light, Cassandra realised how mismatched his low voice was with his looks. He looked lithe, young and, in a way, almost feminine to her. His hair and face were almost as pale as snow, his pale eyes looked like they were going to penetrate her.

She was caught off guard when the boy screamed in pain. The mark hurt a hell of a lot more in real life. And it felt like his arm was going to fall off. It felt like his muscles were cramped up, but it also felt like a jolt of electricity, leaving his hand almost numb and tingling after.

But his face stood resolute. He started gesturing. To his chest. A finger across his throat. To the breach. To the mark in his hand. "I kill the breach, with this." was what she understood from it."Then…" She started, but before she could finish her question, the elf stood up and was marching in the direction of the gate. The direction she would have lead him herself.

"Where do you think you are going?" She snarled. The elf turned around. "Come" He mimicked her in the same bossy tone she used before. A mischievous smile on his lips. "Ugh." She followed him. How did he even know where to go? Who was supposed to be in charge here? "Wait for me." She said. As soon as they were outside the doors of Haven, she cut his bounds. "There will be a trial. I can promise no more." She said, then sighed. "Come." Her tone was now softer, but she barely needed to nudge him anymore. How this boy knew the way so well was beyond her, but he acted like he knew the place from birth.

"Ugh." This time, the gutteral sound came from him, as he put his hand in front of his mouth and nose for the stench of the dead bodies. There were so many of them. Some of them were already being bound and prayed for. "Open the gates! We are heading for the valley!" Cassandra shouted at the guards, who moved instantly. At the moment, they were still standing on the bridge towards Haven. The bridge was blocked off by two gates. They now walked over a sandy path, covered in snow. Simple battlements were set up here and there. Even carts had to make due as battlements. "Maker, it's the end of the world!" A man yelled in panic.

They passed some carts that were already burning. One of them even had the burnt remains of a human on it. "God…" He gasped as the stench of burnt flesh infiltrated his nostrils. But then it started again. A painful jolt up his arm and the mark that flashed green. This time it caught him off balance and he fell in the snow. He held his pained hand and gritted his teeth. Cassandra almost felt pity for him. Was he guilty? Was she wrong? What happened? She helped him up.

They didn't talk much. Cassandra didn't really see a point in it. IF he survived, they would learn him the language and she would make up for lost conversation by teaching him everything.

But the silence gave Mehenion time to think. But his thinking patterns were different. They didn't even seem to correlate with who he once was. Who SHE once was. Now his head was clear, he started to remember cleary who he was before the blast that ended him up in the fade. That life was no more.

It surprised him how much ease he had with letting go all that she was. The seeds were laid when he first looked to his own image. He didn't understand it yet, back then. But he remembered. This is who she wanted to be. But she...was no more. And tonight, or even before that, his life might end.

However, if the game was anything to go by, he would survive this. He would do what he always did when playing the game. He would immerse himself. He would roleplay. He knew that sooner or later, he would falter, and his real personality would shine through. He would come clean with them as soon as he knew enough words to explain everything he knew. But he could no longer be the way she was. He had to be strong now. Strong like she would like him to be.

He had no longer time to ponder how she got sucked in and how body and mind melted together. An explosion blasted them off the second bridge they came across. It threw them on the hard ice. No sooner had they scrambled themselves together or they were being attacked.

"Stay behind me!" She gestured as she charged towards a creature that reminded him of a Grim reaper. They were called "shades." But he had yet to learn the word they used here. He grabbed the wooden staff in advance. The second shade would come right about...NOW!" Before it fully emerged, he gave it a smack with the end of the staff.

"Uh oh." It didn't seem to do much damage. These creatures were a lot harder to kill than he thought. He also realised something else. Demons...smelled. This shade smelled musty and earthy, like something long dead that was dug up.

Now was the time to test how magic worked here. He shot a bolt of fire out of his hand. It missed the creature and only barely missed the seeker. "WATCH OUT!" She yelled as she ducked away, then glared at him. This was EXACTLY the reason why mages were feared around Thedas. "Whoops."

Note to self. There was no such thing as "friendly fire." And he would find out more things that didn't quite work the same here.

He took his staff in hand and used it as a spear before he remembered the staff could channel his magic. But it felt clumsy in his hands. It would most likely take practice. He rammed the staff against the ice and willed the thunder to shoot down the creatures. Trial and error but at last the creature fell and at the same time, Cassandra ended the creature she was fighting as well. Mehenion let out a sigh of relief. But Cassandra was less happy.

"Drop your weapon." She commanded, pointing at Mehenion's staff. Without much hesitation he dropped the staff he was holding, then let lightning form around his hand, causing her to step back. He lifted one eyebrow, although the white hairs were barely visible against his pale skin.

This guy didn't need a staff to be dangerous. She sighed and gestured him to pick it back up. "Better to keep that staff than burn my hair off, or the whole forest. The world burns enough as it is." She said, more to herself than to him, but she caught his confused eyes.

She gave him a couple of phials with a red liquid. She made a show of it, trying to make him understand that if you were hurt, these would make you better. Mehenion smiled. "You are enjoying this, aren't you?" She glared at him. She should remember that at least he came willingly. She was even trying to remind herself that it was her leading him and not the other way around, because again the boy wandered a while before her.

She gasped when she saw him hunch over a dead body, trying on his helmet, then laying it back and searching for Maker knows what. "What are you doing!" She yelled and yanked him backwards so he fell. The boy looked confused and startled. Then he frowned. "He dead." He gestured. "What of it?" Cassandra snarled.

Was this a custom among the Dalish? Because, for as far as she knew, looking at him, she saw a Dalish elf mage who played at being a mute. What if he WAS a mute, though. What if he WAS deaf? It would explain a lot, even though she had never heard of deaf mages. What must he think of her? She pulled him up, then sighed. "Come." She lead him forward.

Mehenion followed her for a while again before he took the lead again and charged headfirst towards the demons in front of them. "Demons." She said. She took good care to make sure he read her lips. "Demons." He repeated. Her face lit up. She nodded. He WAS deaf! He moved up closer now so he had a clearer aim. He rammed his hand against the chest of one the "shades" and made it turn to ice.

This wasn't a move he "learned" yet, before they went to the second rift in the game. So apparently the skill tree didn't hold any power here. Then perhaps nor did the class system. He stomped the frozen shade and shattered it to pieces.

Cassandra looked at him in horror. She saw the maniacal grin across his face. He was having FUN with this. This elf either had totally lost his marbles in that explosion at the temple OR he was possessed. He walked in front of her and shot a ball of fire towards a green demon. A wraith. His style was different from the mages she had seen before. Most, even the apostate, used the staff in battle.

Mehenion was having fun while he was testing the boundaries of what this body could do. He headbutted one of the demons, making Cassandra suppress a laugh. But it made him dizzy though. Not something to repeat. But they needed to be quick. They needed to get to the rift.