A/N Writer's block sucks! Anyways, here's the next chapter for you all.

As always... Read, Review, and Enjoy! :)


I feel weightless for a split second before I fly out of the tear and crash to the ground, I faintly feel the Veil mending around me before throwing up as I get to my knees and passing out as I roll to the side.


I take a sharp intake of breath as I wake and stare up at the night sky from my position on the cool ground.

Wha- Where am I?

Sitting up I take a few seconds to collect myself before standing up to look around in the darkness and barely recognize that I'm in a field of some sort. The dim moonlight barely allowing me to make out anything beyond a few feet in front of me. A sudden rustling noise causes me to whip around and stare at the darkness in slight fear of the unknown.

I was in a forest when-

The memories of my encounter with Pause flash before my mind and I nearly hurl again from the unforgiving flashback.

Oh, right. I made a deal and found out I'm a Drifter. Just perfect.

I check my gear and immediately draw my staff as I catch two red spots in the distance watching me, I look more closely to see they were eyes and hold onto my staff defensively. I try to build up my biotics and clench my staff tightly as it causes a piercing headache to stun me momentarily. I pant away the pain and stagger backwards as the creature growls menacingly. When I look up again the eyes are gone. My eyes dart around, looking for where the creature could have gone before my headache suddenly ends abruptly at a tingling sensation in my fingertips. I grip the staff tighter and gasp as the hidden power floods into my node- my mana pool. I shake my head.

Get your head in the game! You are NOT in Mass Effect anymore! You are weak, feeble, and easily able to be ripped apart and eaten by the smallest creature that decides you're worth the trouble!

I swallow at the thought of being powerless for the first time in a few decades and refocus as something gray and dark rushes past the edge of my vision. I cut off my question of 'who's there?' and substitute it with a sharp intake of breath as the creature dives towards me, teeth barred and shining in the moonlight. I yelp and swing my staff like a baton to whack the thing on it's side. A pulse of electricity sparks against it and it yelps before staggering back to try and get to safety. I don't let it have the option as I spin with rough precision to smash the bottom end of my staff onto it's head, surprisingly smashing the head into the dirt and setting it on fire from the high voltage shock my staff gives it.

"Wolves..." I breath just as I hear howling behind me and turn to see myself surrounded. "Fuck." I count three trying to corner me between them and the burning wolf behind me. I swing my staff threateningly, "Stay back!" I know they don't care, they look to be almost starving and definitely feral, a starving wolf is like a starving human, they do desperate things when they're hungry. I take a quick check to my surroundings just in time before the wolf to my right lunges. I barely jump back and surprisingly over the burning corpse to dodge the wolf's jagged teeth from ripping my side open. I notice it's back paw was caught in the flames and quickly approach as it whimpers to smack it over the head quickly and get in a moderately powerful shock. I watch the static jump through the twitching wolf and back away as it regains it's mobility and starts limping away into the darkness. I look around in a slight panic and curse as the corpse was starting to burn out. "Fuck fuck fuck!"

Actually I should be shouting 'sod' or 'by Andraste' or something but this is NOT the time or place to start yet!

I back up to stay within the dying light, knowing full-well that without it I didn't stand a chance.

I REALLY wish I knew a spell or two-

I blink as I realize I had a sword and dagger with me- "Yah!" I'm tackled by another wolf to the ground, knocking my staff out of my hands to barely catch it around the throat and stop it's sharp teeth from chomping down around my neck. It growls and snaps within inches of my face and digs it's claws into my black leather armor, desperately trying to kill me and get a meal before I let one of my hands go and grab my dagger to stab into it repeatedly as it nearly bites my ear off as I turn my head out of it's initial bite path and push it with my free hand. It howls in pain and I keep stabbing until it stops moving. I groan as it's full weight holds me down for a moment before I can push it off and stagger to my feet, my adrenaline seriously spiking my senses. "Fu-" I freeze as I feel something running up behind me and I turn to stagger back as the last wolf barely gets within reach before rushing away to try a different angle. "Son of a bitch." I look at my dagger and draw my sword in my left hand, my dagger in my right.

This isn't smart since my dominant hand is my right, but this worked with sword training before so fuck it!

I shift my stance to accommodate the heavy longsword and take in an invigorating breath before quickly slicing the sword to my left at a shifting shadow to barely shave a patch of fur off it's tail before it dashes silently away again. "Come on..." I hop on the balls of my feet and shift around, keeping myself light and quick for any dodging required.

*HOWL*

I look behind me and raise my sword just in time to be tackled to the ground, again, my dagger flying off to the side as I hold onto the sword for dear life to try and keep the wolf back as we fall. The sharp teeth snap at me and I cringe at the nasty breath of the wild beast before noticing my sword was stabbed into it's belly. It whimpers and stops snapping, just slowly dying on my sword. I meet my eyes with it's bright yellow ones and watch as the life leaves them, a painful and desperate look permanently planted in the yellow orbs.

I swallow as my heart clenches and I whisper some words for it's passing. "Emma ir abelas, dareth fen-falon, sahlin bellanaris." (I am filled with sorrow, be safe wolf-friend, go to eternity) I push the wolf off of me and stand up before yanking the blade out of the body with little difficulty. I sheath it in it's spot at my side and squint in the darkness to see my dagger laying off to the side. I walk over and pick it up. Stopping for a moment to notice how the hand grips no-longer fit my hand. I turn it over once or twice in my hand before sheathing it and seeing my staff off to the right, stuck in the mud of a small pond. I step up carefully, noting how my feet don't sink in as deeply as they should have. I look at my feet and see they look fine, but they were just slightly smaller. I shrug and shake my head while grabbing my staff and carefully walking back towards the wolf corpses, remembering how much wolf pelts are worth in the DA universe.

Do I even have-?

I blink as I mentally go through some small pieces of vital information needed to properly skin a wolf, or any animal. "What the shit?" I sigh and wonder what Pause did to me to make me so confused. "First the heightened dexterity, lower weight, quicker reflexes, better hearing and vision from what I've seen, and add to the fact that I SEEM smaller..." I keep my voice a whisper as I kneel beside the first wolf and draw my dagger to stab into the hide near the single cut through the pelt my sword made. "Either I'm younger, which I definitely feel." I pull the blade easily just deep enough into the skin to get a decently thick hide to work with. "I'm just disorientated because I've just essentially dropped out of the fade to land on my ass... literally." I peel the skin back for better grip and keep separating the hide from the corpse. "But neither of them explain the weight difference or the fact that I'm retrieving a wolf pelt from a wolf corpse." I start pulling the legs out from under it to better work on getting the WHOLE pelt just like the Dalish taught me.

I stop and think about what I just thought.

"Oh my god..." My eyes widen. "I never looked up what elvish was from the DA universe! Pause said to me 'Bellanaris Falon Elgar' and I instantly knew it was elvish and what it meant!" I whisper franticly. "Oh shit, shit, shit!" I drop the dagger and immediately grab at my ears. They're pointed. I double and triple check before taking my dagger and using the shine off of it to look at myself. I gasp in shock at my appearance.

I look like an elf!

I blink and turn my head to look at the ears and cringe, "No, I AM an elf, you son of a bitch..." I internally curse Pause while marveling at the pointed cartilage in my new ears.

The biology behind the elvish people always fascinated me for some reason. The high cheek bones, hard yet strong features in every male-

I quickly look down to make sure and sigh.

Yep male, although being a female elf would have been interesting, and dangerous, and psychologically traumatizing... you know what this is just a bit better.

I catch a glimpse of my staff in the blade and sheathe it to bring the staff around. I notice thin carvings along the exterior, elven carvings or runes at the very least. Each individually glowing as I trace then with my slim fingers. I feel the... lyrium pulsing inside like a heartbeat. "Magic... I never expected it to be so difficult to comprehend but it is. At least with biotics I had made theories about how dark energy effects matter and applied it to my training, this... this is beyond my imagination."

A twig snaps behind me and I'm brought back to reality, fear crawling up my spine as I turn abruptly to see the two burning red eyes glaring at me through the darkness. A loud roar hits my ears and the massive creature starts charging. I grip my staff tightly in panic as I see it's a Black Bear. The runes glow and twinkle in my grip and something whispers into my ear, something I both understand and can't comprehend. I drop the staff and raise my hands, hearing myself recite the strange archaic language before flames fly from my fingertips and engulf the Bear just as it gets within two feet of clawing me in half. It roars in pain and I don't hesitate to let the strangely impulsive nature of the spell wrap itself around the bear in an inferno of flames. It collapses, skin melted off and bones charred in some areas, not even taking one last breath before dying. I feel faint and fall to my knees before collapsing and passing out.


I gasp awake, only to cough out a mouthful of ash and soot as I try and push myself to a sitting position. Looking up I yelp in surprise at the charred skull staring back at me before falling back and onto the ground roughly, "Ah..." I rub my elbow where it made contact with a small rock and remember the night before, the panic, the wolves, the... Bear. I look back at the corpses in surprise that I actually survived such an assault before shaking my head clear and checking my equipment. "My dagger." Looking around I find it stuck in the not rotting wolf corpse that I was trying to skin. I grab it and cringe at the foul smell the steaming flesh has in the-

What time IS it?

Looking up I see the sun is just about halfway across the sky, maybe a bit after noon I'd guess. I look back at the wolves and bear and swallow nervously, "Being so close to death always unnerves me." I bite my lip, wondering if I could still salvage the pelt before saying screw it all and finishing my work, a bit more nauseated then I soak the pelt in the pond for a few minutes, scraping my dagger against the surface to smooth out the hide. "So strange how I know how to skin a dead animal so quickly, I wonder what other skills I have from this new body." Finishing it, I stand up and tie the front paws gently around my neck to keep it from getting lost and judge a direction to go before hearing some sounds in the distance, I frown and step closer, keeping hidden in the tall grass until I come through some trees and see a farm. I spot six workers tilling and planting new crops while some children play in the dirt around them. I take a step out of the tree-line and freeze. "Oh shit..."

I'm a mage, an apostate mage, in a world where there's a Chantry and Circle to coddle and entrap my kind. That's another thing, I'm going to have to convince everyone I meet that I'm not just another elf but a nice elf, or at least a respectable elf.

"God- I mean... hmm..."

What should I say in these situations? Maker or Creators?

I look at myself in the reflection of my dagger again and see I have one swirling mark curving around my left and right eyes that cross into a swirling vortex on my forehead.

So I can pass as Dalish, well, former Dalish. What do I do if someone asks? Shrug them off? And what about my staff? I know people don't really recognize them in the games but this is reality! People aren't that thick-headed!

I shake my head and grab my staff to prop myself up and act like it's a walking stick. I step slowly up to the fence surrounding the farm, hesitant of approaching the former enslavers of my kind.

Wow, talk about prejudice... I'll have to work on that later.

One of the workers notices me and quickly jogs over. "Hey! What are you doing elf? This isn't where you belong!"

I scoff at him, "Where would I belong then?" I fake-fall against my staff to show how fake-tired I am. "I've been traveling for days and need a place to rest, this fence was simply convenient for the moment."

The dark haired and scruffy-looking man watches me for a moment before sighing, "Sure sure, just... leave before anyone else notices you, we don't like strangers here."

I frown slightly, but subdue it before he notices, "If it isn't any trouble, I wish to know where the nearest town or village is with an inn."

He stares at me, looking conflicted before turning and pointing at a road on the other side of the main farmhouse. "That road leads to Lothering, maybe another half hour's journey, it has an inn if you have the coin."

I nod and smile slightly, "Thank you human, always refreshing to find a helpful soul amongst a sea of prejudice."

He waves his hand dismissively and walks back to his work while I push off the fence and regain my solid posture.

Simple-minded but willing to help others, strange.

I ignore it and walk slowly to the road before sheathing my staff and hopping into a mild jog.

Now all I need is coin and a way to find out the date. If it's too close to 9:30 Dragon I'm screwed.


It doesn't take more then ten minutes with my jog before I'm entering the front gates of Lothering, noting how I recognize about half of it while the rest looks completely off and larger, looking like a proper town now.

Well, this is real so they aren't constrained by base programing and data caches.

I hear the Chanter at his board reciting the chant and I walk over. I nod to... Devin as I look across the board and sigh at my height.

I'm literally JUST short enough to not touch the top of the board. I'm maybe five foot, five foot five at the most, about six inches shorter then I was before. Oh the irony... even as a human I wouldn't be tall enough to pass as anything but a half-bread.

I sigh and turn to Devin to ask for help, "May all receive the chant of light-"

I cut him off, "I'm sorry, but could you reach that task in the top right for me? I can't reach it." He simply nods and hands it to me. I look it over and frown at the strange wording before internally slapping myself and re-reading it in Old English.

I can read Shakespeare so I can probably translate this pretty well. Ok, so... ok that word goes there, and this one is a prefix to that one... ah! Ok... oh a pack of wolves are terrorizing a farmer's small herd outside of Lothering and he's offering fifty silver for their deaths. The date for it is-

I freeze.

Oh my... third of... what month is that? Maybe June? 9:27 Dragon. Ok, so I'm about two and a half years before Dragon Age: Origins... that's just wonderful.

I sigh and shake my head slightly.

Two and a half years to learn how to control my magic. Looks like I'm seeking out Flemeth after-all...

Thinking about the bounty itself I blink and look back at the wolf pelt I have. "Uh... I just killed these wolves, in a clearing just outside a farm. This is one of the pelts, the other's weren't salvageable." Devin smiles and takes the pelt from me as proof before handing me a small pouch of coins. I take it and wish I had a backpack or something to put it in. "Where is the nearest store?" I ask him. Devin simply points at the Chantry and I nod in slight confusion before ignoring his reciting of the chant and walking away, a bit surprised the Chantry had a bounty for those wolves.

"Luck, or fate? I can never decide..." Flemeth may be bat-shit crazy but she's a good philosopher.

"Hello traveler, what brings you here to the Chantry?" A fully suited Templar asks from the side of the main doors.

I blink at the Templar with a bit of apprehension, "I was wondering where a store might be Ser Templar." I say respectfully.

He nods, "I see, there are a few across the bridge just north of here. A blacksmith, potions shop, and general store to your left in a small market, the inn and tavern share a building to the right when you cross the bridge, you can't miss them."

I nod, "Thank you Ser Templar, and have a pleasant day."

I turn to walk away when I feel a plated hand grip around my left shoulder, "Sir, you seem... very odd to me. You'd better stay out of trouble while your here or not many will be willing to keep the mob from trampling a suspicious-looking elf." I raise an eyebrow at him and he lets go.

"Thanks for the warning Iron-skull." I mutter before walking away, a bit steamed at being treated so poorly simply because of my background.

Whatever, he and all the other bigots can rot for eternity, hell I'd even feed them to a demon if I was cruel... which I am, but I have to keep away from Templars from now on, a minimum five meter birth should do it.

I shake my head and step across the bridge, noting the strange looks people are giving me as I pass them.

A heavily armored possibly Dalish elf walking casually through a human village does raise an eyebrow or two I'd imagine.

I look left and find where that woman... Alison I believe... stood in the game there's a sign hanging from a pole, 'Miriam's Remedies' burned into the wooden sign.

Miriam... the village elder Miriam? Huh...

I push the door open and step inside. The shelves around me contain vials and salves of varying import and size, some dark and labeled as a certain poison, others as curatives. Surprisingly even some basic level traps and such are sold here.

Huh, maybe Alison was standing outside the store waiting for it to open when the Warden walks by and catches her attention? Seems correct. Miriam must have ran out of supplies and decided to move outside to better service the populous.

"Hello good sir," I turn to find Miriam, looking bright and not as withered as during the game, standing behind her small counter on the far side of the room. "What ails you?"

I smile and step up to the counter, "I was wondering if you had a backpack for sale, and maybe some poultices or potions?"

I'm definitely going to need to learn how to use those soon.

She shakes her head, "No dear, I am sorry I could sell you some poultices and mild poisons but that's just about it."

I drop my shoulders slightly, "Alright, how much for a-" I think for a moment. "-standard health poultice."

She looks around before grabbing a small rectangular wooden tin and placing it on the counter. "I sell them for twelve silver fifty copper a piece." I blink twice in mild surprise. "But if you're willing to gather some ingredients from the forest just north of here I'd be willing to teach you some of the basics, help you start your dabbling in the curative arts." She smiles at my slight shock that she sees how inexperienced I am.

I ponder it for a moment before nodding, "That is acceptable, though beyond elfroot I couldn't tell what any of the ingredients look like, or even how to handle them properly."

She nods and hands me a small book, "Here this is a book on basic Herbalism, use it to identify the plants you encounter and how to gather them. I need ten elfroot samples, five deathroot fruits, and six spindleweed stems. If you can manage to collect them by the end of tomorrow it would help me a great deal." I nod in agreement and flip through the small book to see a little bit over twenty plant species detailed inside. "Oh, and take this as well," She hands me the health poultice. "Lightly spread it onto any wounds directly to accelerate the healing process and dull the pain."

Huh, like medi-gel.

I take it and put it in a side pocket in my armor. "Thank you, though I do not know your name, mine is-" I take a second to think of an appropriate one, "-Darien."

Miriam smiles, "My name is Miriam, I'm the elder for Lothering and one of the few still willing to hire strange elves without question to do vital tasks."

I snort a laugh and bow to her before stepping out and into the street- "Oh, by the Creators..." I gag at the stench of sweat, shit, and piss. With a slight waft of ale and throw-up drifting from the tavern across the street.

Now I remember why people didn't live long in the medieval ages... so disgusting.

I shiver at the stench and crinkle my nose as I hold my breath to avoid breathing the sickness and micro-particles of- "Oh I don't want to think about it..." I sigh and take in a deep breath through my hand before stepping over to the tavern, feeling unfortunately like I could eat even with the horrible stench. A sign stares back at me on the front door.

Rules of the tavern:

1. No rowdiness

2. No drunken brawls

3. No smart-mouthed peoples

4. No complaining about the prices

5.-

I ignore it and push inside. Immediately a wave of stale ale hits me like a gust of wind and I feel like I might get drunk just breathing in here. I look around and am surprised by the amount of people actually here during the day.

Don't these people have families or jobs to get to?

I shrug and sit down at the bar, listening to the bard playing a soft tune on her lute. "What can I get for ya stranger?"

I smile at the friendly bartender, "A bowl of whatever stew you have and a mug of whatever drink doesn't taste like piss but keeps you steady." He nods and walks back into the kitchen to get my order.

Hopefully it doesn't cost that much, I'm kind of limited on funds right now.

"Hey why don't you go back to the forest little elf?!" I look across the room at a quite drunken patron failing to get to his feet and ignore him to read up on some of the properties of elfroot as the bartender comes back with my order. He places the bowl of gray muck, a mug of relatively decent-smelling ale, and a hunk of bread to scoop up the 'stew' I'd guess.

"One silver for the stew, two for the berry ale."

I smell the ale and nod in surprise at the sweet smell to it. I gladly drop five silver down. "Keep the change." He smiles at the extra silvers and pockets them to go back to scrubbing a mug with a dirty rag.

Oh... just ignore it, just ignore it...

I take a swig of the ale and smile at the taste before dipping the bread into the stew and taking a bland and nearly gag-worthy bite. "Not half bad." I mutter before looking between the bowl and ale and pouring some ale into the stew and stirring it with the bread to taste it and smile at the now edible substance.

"Huh, never saw someone do that before."

I smile at the bartender before breaking a piece of the bread off and handing it to him. "You should try it, the berry ale makes the stew have a bitter-sweet taste." He stares at the bread for a moment before taking it and dipping a bit of the thinned stew out to taste. His eyes light up as he chews it.

"Andraste's holy knickers..." I laugh at his shocked expression.

"Yeah, I like to experiment with taste, it makes every meal a bit interesting yes?" He nods and ducks into the kitchen to shout, "Add some berries and ale to the stew! It's marvelous!"

"Just a pint of berry ale should do!" I shout as well.


Moments later the entire inn was a bit less sullen, people loved the 'new' stew recipe the strange elf at the bar created.

A few large gentlemen walk in at that moment to sit down at the bar as I finish off my second meal and third pint complimentary of the house for selling my 'recipe'. They look heavily armed but I don't give them any attention as I practically devoured my meal.

Who knew I was THIS hungry?

"A pint." The tallest and most heavily armored of the group grunts, most likely the leader.

The bartender smiles, "We have regular ale, berry ale, and dwarven ale."

The large man looks up as I watch him out of the corner of my eye. "Berry ale? What am I an Orlesian? Give me some flat ale or I'll rip your head off and feed it to Berik here." The fat as hell man next to him burps.

Oh... how lovely...

The bartender looks relatively frightened but I notice he's looking at me out of the corner of his eye as he turns, eying the heavily armed elf for help I'd guess. I internally sigh and wonder why I even bother to deal with drunks anymore before pounding back the rest of my ale and slamming the mug down, silencing the entire tavern. "It is unwise to threaten the person handling your food human." I say bluntly while tapping a finger against my sword hilt lazily.

The two 'alert' men turn to snarl at me while the fat ignores it, "What's a knife ear doing here? Don't you have some tree to hump or something?" They laugh at the supposedly clever joke.

I simply draw my dagger while they're distracted and stab it into the counter literally in-between the closest bandit's fingers, slicing the leather covering his middle finger and pinning his hand, unharmed, to the counter. "If you call your mother 'tree' then I indeed humped her last night." The pinned man jumps in shock and starts pulling at the dagger franticly. I grab my sword as the leader stands to draw his, I bring it up against his throat as I kick the second man's leg out so he trips and hits his head on the bar. "Tell me human, is this worth dying for?" I whisper to him, taking a page out of Isebela's book of intimidation. His eyes narrow and I press the blade against his neck, enough pressure that if he gulps, he dies.

He stares at me with wide eyes and drops his sword to clang to the ground beside us. "Leave me be knife-ear and I leave you." I narrow my eyes at him and note the fat one of them wasn't even moving, content to just watch, but I can spot a crossbow at his side in the shadows, aimed at my head.

Damn it, it's a sure-hit if he fires at this distance.

"Agreed as long as you take your knife away from my private parts and leave after a pint." He blinks and retracts the knife I only guessed was at my crotch.

Lucky guess.

I sheath my sword, turn, and rip my dagger from the counter, dropping the dazed man to the ground as I sit down in the dark corner near the door to watch them.

Just far enough away to dodge the bolt if need be... I hope.

They stare at me before grumbling and sitting back down. Everyone collectively breathes a sigh of relief and the bartender winks at me in appreciation. I allow a small smile on my face before sitting back to hold my silent promise.


Just like we agreed to, the men had a pint, paid their fines for rowdiness (five silver each), and left without too much hassle. "You are a miracle worker my friend." I look up to see the bartender there with a leather pack in his hands. "Here take this." He tosses the pack at me and I grab it before it hits my face.

Nice, actual leather... duel strapped too...

"It's a spare pack I kept from when I used to travel, all yours now. Thanks again for all your help. You're welcome here anytime, pointy ears or no." I smile at him and nod in acceptance as I stand to shake his hand.

"I'd like a room as well, nothing special, just some place to stay for a few nights before I move on."

He stares at me as he takes the five silver from my palm before nodding. "Sure, the inn is upstairs, the ladder outside gets you up there, take the first room on your left."


When I get to my room I bar the door and plop down onto the hay mattress, still completely armed and armored, to pass out from my still weary and tiring trip through the Fade.


A/N Yeah... the chapters for this are going to stay around 5000 words so I can possibly get through Dragon Age 2 before 2015, that way I can include Inquisition. :)

Have a wonderful day!