/ Chapter 4 / Melancholy in the good news. /
After hearing Duncan's response, my world fell apart.
He approached me and grabbed my arm to keep me from falling, but I could only think of one thing: I was going to die.
Later in the day, tomorrow, in a week or a few days, it didn't matter how much, but sooner or later, the disease would kill me.
My body was being infected by the disease of the Dark Spawn, and if I focused on it, I could feel it growing inside me. Consuming me from the inside and getting bigger… stronger ... It was truly horrible.
There was no way I could be cured soon enough, I knew that in theory, the cure for the Dark Spawn disease was to take the blood of a Great Green Dragon, but I didn't remember the specific details and I didn't know where to find a Great Green Dragon at this moment, and less if I could get his blood or if I would have to kill it alone.
That left me with only one possible solution: To become a Gray Warden.
I would have to consume the blood of a recently dead zombie and join my body with the swarm of parasites that were those creatures of nightmares.
Oh cruel destiny, why do you expand with a poor chubby guy like me? What did I do to deserve this!?
(What I did in my freshman year doesn't count, ok?).
Duncan spoke to me in his Spanish accent.
- "Worry not, young friend, you are in the best possible place for cases like this and as a Commander of the Gray Wardens I can offer you an invitation to join the ranks of-"
- "I accept" -I answered without blinking and looking him in the eyes seriously.
- "Okay, you didn't let me finish" -he replied in amazement.
- "¡And what other fucking option I have!? If I don't take the blood of a damned Dark Spawns, ¡I will die!"
- "... you are really are a seer" - Duncan replied, surely he didn't know many people who knew what the initiation of a gray Warden was like, and much less that someone who was was anxious to take it - "Although it is true that what do you say, I can offer you a better way if you will like "
- "No thanks, I prefer to keep breathing, just let me take the blood of some corpse from outside and I will come back with you right away ..." - I responded discouraged and panicking.
- "I'm afraid it's not so easy, if someone sees you drinking blood from those corpses, they may want to cut your head off, for acting so strange and I could not stop them, not all of them at least."- Duncan said.
- "Then what do you want me to do!?" - I asked scared.
- "First of all calm yourself down and breathe deeply; I have something for you and in case you didn't know, !hoo my great seer¡, the men and women outside, still are just simple recruits for the Gray Wardens, and they still have to go through their initiation
A friend is waiting for us in Ostagar, that is a 2 days away trip, and I have a remedy that will help you with your condition, and still manage to arrive at Lathering on time."-Duncan explained.
- "The remedy of the Dalish leader ?" .- I asked him remembering the time I played with a Dalish thief elf; In retrospect, I was letting my mouth speak before my brain, I must star to filtering more things that I shouldn't tell the people of this time.
- "Again you are right there; Come on, take a little of the remedy and with that, you can get to Ostagar without problems." - Duncan said giving me a bottle with a strange ointment.
- "You see, the plan is to reveal to all the recruits the truth of initiation in Ostagar, as to not give them time to run away if they change their mind.
And also according to some scribes of Weisshaupt Fortress, more fresh blood samples could help you in your chances of… not to die in the initiation "- He continued speaking.
- "Do you mean that the fresher the blood is, the more chances for survival does one have?" - I asked the gray Warden.
- "Not exactly young friend, each body is different, but I know that people with ... big bones like you are better suited for the initiation with fresh blood, something that the power of ruin cannot deal with so much fat, I mean... meat, and so the effect is trapped between the body's fat and ends up coming out of you naturally after a few days."- Said Duncan, he says chubby isn't? ouch.
- "But well it is still not very safe either way, skinny or fat, the blood of the dark creatures acts differently with everyone and the condemnation ends up being the same when one takes the blood of those creatures.
You'll be dead or coursed for life and then dead, I'm sorry, really, but that's the way things are. "- Duncan said returning to his serious look.
-"In any case, I really think that that will be the best time for you to join us." - Explain the Warden.
His explanation relaxed me a little; But after thinking it over and remembering the number of deaths that occur in these acts, I return to fear.
- "And do you really think I will survive if I take the blood of a dark spawn?, Don't you think I need much more muscle to withstand the pain that is the initiation?" - I asked.
Duncan looked at me very seriously for a second and after getting a little air he replied:
- "If you want the truth, I can tell you stories of children younger than you, they were the only ones to survive the rite among thousands of candidates and I can also tell you stories of how Gray Wardens, planned their lives, sure to survive like their parents or grandparents before them only to be the only ones to fall dead.
In truth, I would like to tell you that if you do, you will definitely succeed.
But truly, everything depends on the individual person and the Maker's will. And whoever tells you something else, is lying"- Duncan spoke in a grave voice.
…Duncan sucks at this... of being a comforting… guy.
- "What I know for certainty" - continued the gray Warden - "Is that if you don't even try, sooner or later, the disease will consume you from within, in agony and pain."
Shit, He was right… at least the initiation gave me a small chance to try.
- "Hay madres... why is that all of my options are shitty ones?; Alright, I understand. What do we do now?" - I asked my now-soon-to-be-boss.
- "Truth be told… I'm not sure, I thought I'd have to try harder to convince you to join us for a little while, but now ... I don't ... tell me, what spells do you know?" - Duncan said.
"None." - I replied.
"Stop joking young one, I've seen what you can do you with those fists of yours, I know you are a Mage, you have to know some secret spell of the oracles of Rivanni." - Duncan said.
"I'm sorry Duncan, but I really didn't know I could use magic until yesterday"
"But how? The priestesses didn't teach you to use your gift? If you have told me that you are a powerful Seer¡ "- Duncan complained.
"Being a seer has nothing to do with being a Mage, okay? Many people have the gift of seeing or feeling things that will happen soon or in the future! Okay?, it's called a hitch and that's not a reason to be a Mage! "- I shouted.
- "You speak truly?" - Duncan asked me.
Ok, I had to lie, I had dug this hole and now I had to get out of it, if I said something that I was convinced of or at least had some reason, I could get away with of it.
- "Yes indeed, but it's just that they just don't know how to read these feelings well, apart from that I can only see them in my dreams, and I don't go everywhere screaming for them to find me, If I did it, the Templars will up locking me up in the magic tower, do you understand?"
"I see ... a Mage who can not take care of himself and a Gray Warden who cannot fight; You are a whole chip aren't you?"- The Warden answered me.
"I'm sorry, Duncan," I replied, lamenting myself for my lack of a Gym Card.
"Okay, it's not your fault ... hem ... How do you say you're named?" - Duncan said.
"I'm Sebastian, Raul Sebastian Vargas Almeida , but you can call me whatever you want, boss" -I answered.
"Okay, Sebastian, truthful, I'm a bit busy with all this of a new Ruin, so please listen, I'll spread the word of you so everyone in the camp will treat you with fairly.
Now you'll be one of us, understand?, in return, you help me with your gift of seer to create strategies and keep everything in order where we need it, and please don't talk about your gift with others. Just when you are alone with me"-Duncan told me.
I nodded with gusto.
- "Very well, you can begin by indicating where is the camp of Commander Gerod was, we had messages from the Gray Wardens of Orlais and he should have much more equipment that could help us to stop the Ruin." - Duncan indicated.
Soon Duncan takes out from a drawer a map of the area and he told me to show him where the camp was, I told him he was near a lake but I could not tell him exactly, he said it was okay, that there was only one lake nearby and with my help we could return to the camp by the first light of the sun.
This was followed by a comic scene, where when we push the doors of the tent, we ran into a lot of the recruits trying to spy the tent and were very surprised when they saw us leave in awe.
- "Que creis que estais- ?, * Settles the throat * , sorry ... What do you think they are doing?" - Duncan asked the recruits, but his question started with the native language of Rivani: Spanish, and after a Quick fix, he returned to his normal accent and continued speaking with the common language of the games, English.
"A thousand pardons Duncan, but we heard shouting inside and we didn't know what had happened, we tried to see if you had problems, but we could only guess what was happening because you were talking with that strange foreign language" -Speak the dwarf with a tattoo on her face.
- "Where the hell was that dialect?, And who is he ?, Please tell me you're not going to recruit for the Gray Wardens, or what?" - I speak the elf woman who was at his side.
- "Hey!" - I complained, she kept talking without paying me any attention.
The elf ignored me- "Look at him! Just look at him! He's a good for nothing and he's morbidly fat, I assure you that he's an abusive noble with power and that he escaped from his parents' house to seek an easy life without rules "- The elf kept moving showing how much she disliked my person-" Surely he has not worked a single day in his life. Why should we allow him to stay with us the night? "-Exclaimed the golden-haired woman ... ouch ... I felt offended.
- "SUFFICIENT KALLIA".- Grunt Duncan .- "I have the right to recruit whoever I like best !, and if you don't like my decisions you can return to Denerim to hang you in the square from the ankles. Until then I hope that everyone in my camp will treat him with the same respect as any other in this camp, understood? "- Duncan complained.
- "... If my commander desires" -the two answered in unison. Without much desire in truth.
- "Very well, then, as punishment, you two must accompany us tomorrow for the gear of Commander Garod near the lake, we left before sunrise. The forest is not safe so be prepared to have problems. "- The gray Warden responded in a military voice, it was obvious who was the one in charge around here. Duncan would not let anyone insubordinate him.
"... Is Commander Garod dead?" - the dwarf woman asked.
Duncan showed eyes of astonishment and I think for a second that he had been wrong, but he just blinked and his eyes were the same old eyes again.
"It's a long story, but for the time being." Duncan turned to see me. "Sebastian, I'm going to need you to go to Amell's tent, our Mage Warden, and explain her your situation, she'll know what to do with you, I have to inform everyone what happened."
"I understand Duncan, are you sure you don't need help?" - I asked him.
"Not, for now, Sebastian, I will inform Amell of my plans regarding you, please go talk to her and rest for tomorrow, I feel it will be a long day and as for the two of you ..."
And with that, I immediately retired to Amell's tent, I found her inside on an improvised hammock, she is reading one of those gigantic books when she seer me.
- "Ho it's you, so you decided to stay?, Duncan let you join us?!" - Asked excited the Mage, who jumped from his bed to meet me at the door.
- "Yeah, something like that, Duncan says I can stay here for a while, I will try to become a Gray Warden as soon as we get to Ostagar, he also gave me some of the medicine he got for the elves for my ... condition." - I explained to Amell.
- "Wow, so you know... I'm sorry, I know it's not easy to take, but I'm glad that you join us in the Gray Warden, finally I'll have someone to talk about magic without believing that his face will explode at any time "-said the human.
- "Speaking of magic, I wanted to talk to you about it" -
- "Ho?, Ready for your first magic lesson?" - Amell asked me.
- "Yes, the truth is that I have been thinking about it, and if the king is gathering an army to fight in Ostagar, he most likely will have many Mages in that place and where there are many Mages ..."
- "There are many Templars ... Yes." - Amell answered.
- "Si, I can not let them see me throwing fire and lightning in the middle of a camp full of people if they suspect for a second that I can't control my magic" -I turned to see my wounded hands.
Amell just stared at me very seriously for a second, just nodded.
- "Hopefully it doesn't have to reach such an extreme, but your words are right, as soon as you can maintain control of your powers, then much better." - La Maga answered.
- "Ok, let's start with something simple, I have to go on an expedition tomorrow morning, so tell me, what is the first thing that an adult Mage should learn?" - I asked anxiously.
She opened her eyes in amazement and brought her hand to her white chin as if thinking for a second.
- "... The truth is that I don't know" -Responded her.
- "How!" - I asked incredulously- "Aren't you supposed to teach all the Mages in the circle regardless of their abilities?"
- "Yes, but is normal children who have to learn to control their magic ability, the older Mages who don't enter the circle ... usually fall for their own powers or for the Templars who hunt them for being apostates ..." – The girl answered depressed.
- "Honestly I don't know where to start teaching you Sebastian, I had heard stories like yours in Tevinter, but I never expected to see them in my own flesh.
An adult Mage simply doesn't learn like a child and I can not teach you like an adult Mage from the circle because you don't know anything about anything.
Apart from that, I don't have the equipment to teach you properly, here I have potions and weapons, not books and ink to take notes.
The stories of Mages who learn outside the circle are full of endings where they end up turned into demonic abominations or destroyed by their own magic for not preparing everything well or culminating in their destruction by their own hand "-Explain Amell.
- "And do you think it's true?" - I asked the Mage afraid that this was my destiny.
- "I think it's propaganda that gives us the Circle to never try to escape the tower, but if I'm honest I think it's very possible that that really happens." - Said Amell.
- "Wow ... Have you ever been told that you are someone who knows how to comfort people?" - Ask.
- "Not the truth is that I have not ..." - She said.
- "It's for a good reason!" – I exclaimed without shouting, but with sparks coming out of my hands. Ho no fuck, not now.
Amell was watching me expectantly of my reaction and had his hand in a defensive position, I think I notice my sparks, I had to reverse the situation and fast.
- "Ok, calm down please, I truthfully don't want to become a master of the arcane overnight, just help me to manage my powers before arriving in Ostagar" -I answered sincere and calm
- "Ho Maker ..." -the Mage replied.- "Sebastian, 2 days is very little time to teach anyone anything useful magic ..."
- "Well, I have no other choice. Amell, Duncan and the other Wardens will be arriving in Ostagar in 2 nights and there will be many Templars in that place. If you can not help me control these cases of crazy fingers, I may end up dead before Duncan can intercede for me and it's not a good idea to call a fight in the middle of a battle, "I replied to the Mage.
- "By the shorts of the Maker Sebastian, I don't do miracles!" - Shout the Mage
Note that even with her anger, sparks didn't leave her hands, what I saw is how he immediately put his hand to his mouth and took a breath to control herself.
- "... ok, I ... I'll think of something ... but you better get me another sleeping bag if you intend to sleep in my store.
I stared at her for a moment ... were we going to sleep together?
- "Look, if you want me to teach you how to control your powers, we better use all the time available, and that implies starting from now, do you understand?, also lose care, you're not exactly what I'm looking for in a partner" - Responded the girl taking the hands to the chest and doing a gesture . I didn't understand it well.
- "Doesn't bother you at sleeping with a strange man in the same tent?" - I asked surprised.
- "Of course not" -I turn to look into my eyes- "I know how to defend myself and at the end of everything, Mages have to help each other…
I already have lost a friend before, when I didn´t support him…
If we don't help each other, who else will?, so if you ask me to help you save your head from the pyre, I don't see why social norms should matter to me "-said Amell with great passion in his eyes
She looked at me a second and quickly turned around to look for something in her drawer. I had a great feeling of camaraderie and admiration for the girl, she really believed in what she was doing and could feel it.
- "... Thank you Amell, you are a really good person" -I answered with the truth
She tried to accommodate her feelings and not show anything, but she ultimate fail, and without taking her eyes off her papers she said- "... Go outside and look for someone to give you a comfortable bedroll, I'll take care of this, okay?"
Without saying anything else, I opened the store and went to look for what he asked me in the camp, and it was not difficult, I could see that there were more people than I remembered, surely many of them were already full-fledged gray Wardens, I saw it in his armor, but it was still impressive.
Soon the grocer gave me an old semi-clean sleeping bag and a change of linen cloth, Lino I think, that reminded me of the uniforms worn by PEMEX employees at the gas stations in the city.
What surprised me most, were the black boots that she simply gave me.
- "So that you have something to wear that doesn't attract the attention of all the Dark Spawn in the forest and you can leave a battle with your limbs intact" -the manager told me.
I could not believe my luck, I almost cried holding those boots.
I remember looking for hours in the center of the city to find shoes of my size, and this woman without having the big clothing corporations behind her, takes out a box and gives me the boots as if was nothing.
I almost cried again when I tried them on, (I'm finally free of those disgusting cheap plastic Crox!) ... and then I remember that in these times the shoes are no different for the left or the right foot.
Ouch, they squeeze me a bit from the arch of my foot and under my big toe, but even so, it's better than walking with shoes that let the earth enter through their holes.
After trial and error, I manage to return to the store and Amell is already waiting for me.
- "Very good Sebastian, please come in, the lessons are about to begin ..."