K.C's notes: Okay so I spent hours doing a little soul searching last night and I decided to carry on with the story because it's but fair to all the people who love it and PM me about it. I won't be dissuaded by one nut-job. I'm sorry the last chapter was so short :( So in this chapter we find out what happened to Alexius and we see the conclusion of the fight with Solas. I think this is my best chapter so far so please read and review.
Chapter 15: The Crimson Warden
Through the haze of slow motion time magic, Alexius could see Darkspawn Solas preparing to launch himself forwards in some insane kamikaze attack on him. The Tevinter readied his bladed staff to pierce Solas's blighted heart...but something wasn't right...something inside him felt...wrong. Cold, hard, empty, gnawing, stalking, inescapable wrongness. It began as a shiver running down his spine unexpectedly and then developed quickly into a creeping doom that enveloped his whole being and felt like it would consume him whole. It was a whisper in his mind that evolved in a matter of moments from a nagging distraction into an all-encompassing cacophonous shriek...no, it wasn't a shriek...it was a...a...song? Darkspawn Solas saw Alexius' facial expression twist from one of stoic combatant to one of sheer agony and torment. The once-elf stopped in his tracks and just watched the scene unfolding in front of him, baffled and a little afraid of what he saw. Inside the time magic bubble Alexius had dropped his staff and had fallen to his knees, his gauntleted hands reaching to grasp at the receding hair of his temples as if trying to claw out something that was embedded in his very brain.
His life flashed before his eyes as he felt like he was drowning in one thousand voices and memories all at once; his wife Livia's sweet voice, his son Felix's birth, addressing the Magisterium, young Dorian as his apprentice, Livia's death and Felix's tainting, committing himself to the Venatori, the eyes of his newfound lady-love - the Dragon Archon of Tevinter - as she caught his gaze from across the grand palace... A desperate cry escaped his dry, cracked lips as the time magic began to fade and bring him back to reality, leaving him kneeling alone on the magic scarred ground. His eyes flickered open and Solas howled in disbelief. For reflected in Alexius' deep amber eyes was the same familiar taint that lurked in Solas's blight-blackened heart. Alexius had been tainted by darkspawn blood - had ingested some of the spatters of Solas's blood that had splashed his face in the fight - and he had survived. He had conquered the taint...at least for a few years until the Calling took him and he heard the Song once more. Gereon Alexius had unwittingly become a Grey Warden.
In all of the confusion and epic revelations, Dorian's corpse had been released from its levitation spell and plummeted back to the ground with a sickening thump. This shook him out of unconsciousness and slowly he opened his eyes. To his dismay he still had the body of a dracolisk; he rolled his eyes in dismay. Across the Keep from the Solas/Alexius face-off, Servis was lying on the ground temporarily blinded by poop. Unfortunately for Servis, the Dracoman was the only person...well, 'thing' would be a more appropriate term...who had not been standing stationary and entranced by Alexius' revelation. The ugly, weird creature had managed to rip most of Servis' robes off from his waist down, exposing the darkly tanned skin underneath, and had also managed to ram it's penis into the unsuspecting Tevinter's rear passage. It had this ridiculously stupid look on its face as it girrated and pumped away whilst Servis floundered and tried to get away, but even he could not hide the groans of pleasure that had begun to rise from his throat. Could it be that he actually liked being drilled by Dorian's old man-meat? He started to buck his hips backwards to meet the unnatural monstrosity that was doing him with increasing speed. The Dracoman was loving every second of this newfound consent and began to lean over Servis, holding him by his waist and continuing the ridiculous, shameless display in front of the others in the Keep. The Dracoman had begun to think of Servis as it's 'mate' and this was to be the beginning of a very strange relationship indeed.
Darkspawn Solas had enough of the stalling and decided to fight good new arch-nemesis, Alexius, once more. But what he did not expect was for Dorian to run up behind him and headbutt him back into the earthquake crevasse from where he had appeared! Dorian was helping his ex-mentor once more! Dolad screamed and screamed as he held onto the rocky edge of the crack with one gnarled and taloned hand. Dorian started stomping on his hand with his front hooves, which ripped off two of Solas's fingers, and Grey Warden Alexius brought the blade of his staff down upon Solas's other ear, slicing it clean off as well. The pain radiated through Darkspawn Solas and eventually he lost his grip and, with a terrifying scream, plummeted back into the Deep Roads that lay far below. Alexius turned to Dorian, staff still at the ready, and spoke in his usual low and composed voice,
"Dorian...Why? Why would you help me?" A look of confusion passed over Alexius' lined face and his eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion. Dorian trotted over to his old friend and saw how the older Tevinter was looking at him oddly due to his bizarre centaur-like appearance.
"I helped you because we have a common enemy, Alexius. Darkspawn Solas may be even more powerful than Corypheus for all we know. We've wounded him so many times and so severely and STILL he comes! It's like he's supernatural. When he was... assaulted by the Archdemon, everything in this war changed. And as for my appearance, it's a long story but now i finally understand why you taught me never to meddle with blood magic." Dorian whittered on whilst Alexius held a hand to his head as if he was in pain. Looking a little concerned, Dorian continued, "That'll happen occasionally from what I've heard. Try not to let it bother you."
"What happened to me...?" Alexius managed to croak out, his honey brown eyes betraying the fear that the Magister had been so used to keeping hidden for most of his life. "I feel...different. Like something isn't quite right..." His face paled and he locked Dorian in a horrified gaze, as if the realisation of something truly awful had just dawned upon him, "It couldn't be...it isn't... Dorian! Is it demon possession?! Tell me what do you see when you look into my eyes!? I've worked so hard, I've trained my mind to resist even the most powerful of demons, I..." His fear made him rant and Dorian had to step in. Even though they had become enemies when Alexius joined the Venatori, he could not stand to see his old friend in such a panic.
"Alexius you are not possessed! You ingested darkspawn blood...and lived. You do know what that means, don't you?" Dorian was met by the continued confusion on Alexius' face which gradually turned to one of incredulous realisation over the course of a minute or so. When he replied it was shaky,
"I'm... I'm a Grey Warden?!" Dorian nodded in assent and was about to speak when suddenly, from the ramparts, Varric leapt into he courtyard and fired two rounds from Bianca towards the Dracoman's head. It howled in pain, but luckily it was in the process of dismounting Servis or else the two may have been speared together and died horribly. Servis was left sexually unsatisfied and annoyed. Upon seeing what had become of Dorian, Varric did a double take and then had to stifle the urge to laugh,
"Sparkler? Is that YOU?! Nice...uhm...tail..." Varric managed to say before allowing a laugh to slip past his parted lips. Dorian smiled a little - the first smile for a long time it seemed - and trotted over to Varric,
"It's good to see you, Varric. But we can't rest, there's much to be done. Solas has turned into a Darkspawn and is possibly an even greater threat to Thedas than Corypheus! But luckily for us...we've just been gifted with a new Grey Warden ally to help us." He indicated to Alexius by tilting his head over his shoulder and Varric gasped in disbelief. Alexius held his head in his gauntleted hands...perhaps this was his destiny all the long?
K.C's notes: I hope you like it. I'll have another chapter done by the weekend. Thanks for all the PM's of support. You guys are the bestest!