Dragon Age:

Origins

(Book 1 of 7)

Chapter Two.

When Neria awoke she realised that was probably the wrong word, her vision was hazy and everything seemed like it was far off and in the distance. In the grey-green sky she could see large chunks of land floating in the sky and if she strained her ears she could hear someone whispering even through there was no one near by.

"So, this is the Fade." Neria realised with a sigh before she shook her head, there wasn't any point in standing around feeling sorry for herself, sure she was stuck in a realm filled with demons and sprits but countless others had manged to pass this stupid test and she would be no different.

She picked a random direction and began to walk, she was a little unsure about wither she was looking for a specific demon or if she could just kill any demon and that would do. She had to admit that she was a little unsure about using her magic in actual combat, she knew various offensive and defensive spells but she never been in a position where she actually had to use them before.

The layout of this place made no sense, the land seemed to be...shifting. Abstract shapes dotted the land and there was no smell, no taste in the air. This place was unreal, no awake mind was ever meant to come here.

Suddenly there was a loud and booming laughter and Neria wimped her head around to see where it was coming from but there was nothing around her, the laughter was coming from nowhere.

It stopped as suddenly as it started and Neria felt disoriented, her head was pounding and her hands were sweating and her back felt cold and she took large gulps of air but she couldn't seem to fill her lungs no matter how hard she tried.

She didn't have worry to about wither she was having a panic attack or not because at that moment, what she could only describe as living shadows peeled of the ground and began to encircle her. There was laughter again but it wasn't the booming laughter from before, this was a deep chuckling.

Shades.

They were trying to trap her, they were going to kill her and she was surrounded on all sides by them. She had to get out, she had to do something.

A desperate idea suddenly came to her, she closed her eyes and pressed her fingertips to both sides of her temple and focused, there was a deep pressure and as what felt like a cold, bony hand reached out and clasped around her arm she let it out.

The shades screamed as the blast of mental energy sent them flying back, Neria didn't have time to worry about being dizzy as she knew that her mind blast wouldn't hold them back for long, she ran for it and turned around as soon as she was far enough away from them.

The shades had recovered and were coming after, slithering and looking almost like a tidal wave of darkness. She wanted to run but she knew that she would never pass her test if she did. She held out her hands, breathed and pushed.

A jet of flame rushed out of her hands and struck the swarm of shades, the creatures screamed and broke off from one another and swarmed around the small area like an angry hive of wasps. Soon, the creatures fade away almost as if they had never even been there to start with.

Neria panted and closed her eyes and tried to catch her breath, she had managed to survive but she wasn't doing the best on her Harrowing. This was certainly...harrowing, she couldn't help buy let out a bitter chuckle as she realised how perfectly named this test was.

When she was feeling slightly better she resumed her search, she didn't even make it two steps when she heard a loud scream off in the distance.

Neria didn't even question it, she ran in the direction of the scream. If it was a trap then it was probably set by the demon she was meant to kill.

When she reached what had made the scream she was more than a little surprised, a demon made of what could only be called living flame was chasing a little mouse. The sight would almost be amusing if it wasn't so surreal.

"You! Help me!" The mouse screamed as Neria decided right there and then that nothing about this realm made any sense and she was never going to come back here by choice.

The demon's attention had been drawn to her by the mice's shout and the creature let out a scream full of rage and it began to slide towards her, leaving a trail of fire behind it. Neria focused and threw her arms out to her side, channelling her magic and sending a blast of cold towards the demon.

The demon shirked in pain and reeled back before Neria followed up her attack by blasting the demon with a blot of lightning. The demon roared as it hit, it fell to the ground and almost seemed to melt in to it.

The mouse painted and scurried over to Neria, it looked up at Neria with black eyes and spoke. "You saved me! Thank you so much!"

Neria wasn't sure what voice she expected to her from a taking mouse but she certainly wasn't expecting him to sound like a twenty year old man, mind you she hadn't expected a taking mouse at all today.

"You're mage aren't you?" The mouse said and Neria nodded.

"And you're a taking mouse." As soon as she said that the mouse let out a heavy sigh.

"I wasn't always." The mouse glowed and grow in shape and standing now where the mouse had been was a man with sandy blond hair and not looking much older than her, he was dressed in apprenticeship robes. "I was once a mage like you, let me guess. You're on your Harrowing, right?"

"I might be, why?" Neria asked as called on her power again, ready to strike if she needed to. She couldn't trust anything about this place.

"Because I was you once, I was a mage on my Harrowing. I was so full of Pride, I was ready and I was certain that I would pass with flying colours. I took too long and the Templars...I don't know what they did but my body died." The man said, his voice had suddenly gone quiet. "If you body dies in the real world then your mind gets stuck here, if I been here for...I don't how long."

"That won't happen to me." Neria said quietly.

"That's what I thought, beware your pride." The man said. "Let me help you, I think I know where the demon your looking for is."

"Why would you help me?" Neria asked with narrowed eyes.

"I wouldn't condemn anyone to this walking hell, what do you say?" The man asked and Neria nodded with a sigh, the man smiled and glowed before turning back into a mouse.

"So, uh. What do I call you?" Neria asked as she and the mouse began to walk.

"Mouse will do, I forget my name a long time ago. Spend too long here and you forget everything." Mouse said, the tone making it clear that he didn't want to talk about it.

Neria nodded and kept walking. "How can you turn into a mouse and back? Shapeshifting was declared unholy and all texts on the subject were burned centuries ago."

"It's one of the few tricks I've picked up here, it's rare being that small for others to notice me so I'm usually safe." Mouse said as he started to pick up speed. "Hurry up, just over that ridge I think!"

Neria ran after mouse and reached the top of the ridge just after him, she looked down into a clearing and standing there was a small cottage. Neria could only stare at it dumbly, it looked...familiar.

She followed Mouse down to the cottage, almost as if she was in a trance. Even from the outside she could smell something, something pleasant but she supposed that anything would smell okay after not smelling anything at all. Just as the cottage was familiar, so was the smell.

Neria breathed and pushed the door open, the inside of the cottage was dark and the small was so much stronger inside. In the middle of the room was a small wooden table and on the floor near it was a brown teddy bear. Neria walked over to the bear and picked it up. "Grumplefur." She muttered.

"Snap out of it, something's coming!" Mouse shouted and Neria looked up just in time to see another elf, this one male with tanned skin, grey hair and purple eyes step into the room. He was holding a large brass pot which Neria knew was full of his famous stew.

"Papa." Neria breathed, clutching her bear close to her chest. Her father gave her a comforting smile and walked over to the table, placed the pot in the middle of it and walked over to her and pulled her into a hug.

"Hello love, I've missed you so much. Look how big you've gotten! Oh, you're just as beautiful as your mother." Her father as he brushed a lock of black hair behind her ear. "Sit down, you're far too thin. Don't the people at the circle feed you?"

"This isn't real, you have to snap out of it. That isn't your father!" Mouse hissed and Neria frowned, something was wrong.

"Papa, when the Templars came for me..." Neria said, furrowing her brow. It was so hard to remember. "You wouldn't let them take me, you tried to stop them you...

"Don't think about it love, it's in the past. I'm alright and so are you and we're safe." Her father said soothingly but she noticed that there was a hint of frustration in his voice. "Sit down love, eat."

"No. No. The Templars, they came and then you tried to stop them and they..." Her mind was suddenly assaulted by images, the door of their house being broken open, her father yelling at the Templars, two of the Templars grabbing her, her father trying to stop them, her father lying on the ground with a pool of blood around his head.

"You're not my father!" Neria shouted and stepped back, a dark frown appeared on the imposter's face and he swung out of his arm in a wide arch. An unseen force picked Neria up and threw her into the far wall, the bear slipping out of her fingers.

"Foolish child! I offer you your heart's desire and you refuse it!? Very well, if you will not give me what I want by choice then I shall take it by force!" The imposter began to walk towards her and Neria, without thinking threw out her arm and a lightning bolt shot out of her palm and struck the imposter in the chest.

The bolt had been fuelled by anger, rage and pain and grief and mourning for a life not had. The imposter jolted as it struck and it fell to the ground not moving.

Neria cried as the imposter and the cabin began to fade away, leaving only her, Mouse and the landscape. Mouse turned back into a human and walked over to her. "You did it, you resisted the demon and killed it with one spell. I've never seen a mage with such potential before."

Neria sniffed and looked back up at Mouse. "Thanks for the complement." She said bitterly.

"You know...there may be a way out for me. You're so powerful I might be able to follow you out. All you need to do is...let me in." Mouse said as he knelt in front of her.

Neria chuckled bitterly. "You know, I'm starting to think that demon wasn't my real test after all."

A look of shock appeared on Mouse's face. "What? No! You passed the test, you killed the demon! You-" Mouse closed his eyes and laughed. "You are far to smart."

Mouse stood up and spoke, his voice was different now, deeper and older. Powerful. "The real dangers of the Fade are careless trust, preconceptions. Pride." Mouse glowed and grew, Neria gasped at the demon in front of her. A purple creature which had head with twenty eyes and stood ten times her size. "Keep your wits about you mage, true tests...never end."

And just like that, the demon was gone.

Suddenly the entire landscape began to fade away and Neria was overcome by darkness, before she fell into it however she heard someone's voice, she wasn't sure but it sounded like the first enchanter."

"Thank the Maker, she's done it."

End of Chapter Two