Chapter 5: Time for a Race

She slowly walked towards the camp of humans. Ferelda smiled as she went, but her emotions told a different story; all she could feel was rage, a bottomless pit of anger than never went dry. She continued walking, taking her time; she was not in a rush. The other times she had ran into humans, she was just goofing off, playing the innocent act to make them lower their guard.

This time she was different; she was in full armor, her sword hungering for blood at her hip. Her orders were to eradicate all humans in this encampment, and even if she wasn't ordered too, she would have slaughtered every single one of them. She had a lot of anger to take out on these poor bastards.

After they left the research center, she was punished for not stopping Hawke from hitting Marlin. She had to stand, tied to a pole, as Marlin took out his anger on her, hitting her chest and face until he grew tired, then he would leave her there for the night. He called it giving her time to think about what she had done.

She was used to this punishment, and her body had grown durable enough to where it did not even hurt anymore; it was the fact that he could do it and she could not do anything in return that angered her. He created her, but she hated him with every fiber of her being; she did not asked to be taken as a child, to be turned into a monster that only felt rage. And he could do whatever he wanted to her; if she were to retaliate, she would have the humans and Darkspawn against her, and even she couldn't take on the whole Darkspawn army. So she had to bear the beatings, bear the insults, survive the starving. It only added to her pool of hatred and anger.

So she took it out on her enemies, killing anyone who dared stand in her way. She finally reached the camp, boldly walking past two people who were on guard. They just stared at her while she walked, trying to process what they were seeing, then they raised their guns at her. "Stop! Who are you?"

She turned towards them slowly, smiling. Her hatred for everything boiled over; she raised her hand and focused, and an orb of magic shot out of it, faster than an arrow. It hit one of them dead in the chest; it then exploded, splashing the human next to him and anything else nearby with a corrosive liquid. The human got out one scream before his throat melted away, along with the rest of him, until he was nothing but a puddle on the ground.

That one scream alerted the other humans, who started grabbing their weapons and running over. She drew her sword, making a screeching sound as it exited her sheath, her smile only growing wider; this is all she was good at, this is what she lived for. When the first human came around the corner of a tent, she didn't even hesitate; she rushed him, moving at inhuman speed and catching him off guard. He never stood a chance as she sank her blade into his chest, pushing it all the way to the hilt. The human gurgled, blood pooling into his mouth, making her laugh as it dribbled out of his mouth.

She heard other humans coming up behind the one she had just stabbed. She raised her leg and kicked the human with full force, sending him flying off of her blade and into his comrades behind him. He knocked down two people, and in a flash she was over to them. The first one didn't have a chance to resist; she flipped her sword in her hand and stabbed it down, sinking it into his head and killing him quickly. She ripped it out of his skull, something a normal human would have had trouble with, and spun around to see the other human get to her knees. She raised her gun to aim at Ferelda, but Ferelda was too fast; she leapt to the side just as the human opened fire, missing completely. Ferelda then swung her sword, taking off both of the humans' hands. As the human let out a pathetic scream, Ferelda placed her hand on the humans head. The human went silent for a second, and then started screaming louder as Ferelda applied heat to her head and increased it, then released a small explosion inside of the humans head, making her head pop and send blood and gore everywhere.

The rest of the humans arrived to see three people slaughtered, and a little girl standing over them, her face and armor covered in blood, laughing. Ferelda looked at them and focused, casting her favorite spell; just as they were all about to fire, they were struck with immense fear, freezing them in place like a deer caught in the headlights of a car. Ferelda just smiled; she loved this ability. It was unique to her, and it fit her twisted personality perfectly; she loved watching them shake in fear as she slowly approached and slaughtered them like cattle.

She skipped over to them, stopping in front of the first fool. Her rage had not subsided, nor had her blood thirst been quenched; she needed more. She cocked her hand back and swung forward, stabbing the human through the eyes with the claws of her gauntlet. She pushed her fingers as far as they would go, making sure to pierce his brain, then ripped them out, what remained of his eyeballs stuck around the fingers of the gauntlet. She laughed loudly as he fell, seeing the other humans shake more and the smell of piss hitting the air as someone wet themselves.

She was walking to the next one when there was a loud bang and a bullet hit her shoulder, making her stagger slightly. Her armor absorbed almost all of the impact; the worse she would get from it was a bruise. Her armor was made to block even bullets, to an extent. She swung around, her smile disappearing, and saw a young male human, shaking and holding a pistol.

Normally this would be no problem, but when he shot her, it made her lose focus and the humans were released from her fear spell. They staggered, as if they were all being held up a few second ago, and started to recover.

This only made Fereldas rage grow; she yelled, slamming her hand against the ground. The ground shook for a second, then spears of earth started sprouting from the ground, impaling the humans who were to slow to dodge them, sending their bodies up with the spears and making their blood rain downward. She wasted no time, charging at the nearest survivor, who was confused and scared. She swung her sword, cutting the poor bastards throat, making blood spray everywhere as the human fell to the ground and bled out. The blood hit Ferelda full in the face, getting in her eyes, mouth, and nose. She felt pain in her eyes as she tried to rub the blood away, focusing and casting a barrier around her while she was blind.

She cleared her eyes, looking around and seeing that most of the humans were running away. That was fine; the instant she started fighting them, the rest of the Darkspawn surrounded the encampment. There would be no survivors this day.

She looked around until she found the boy who had shot her, in the same spot, his whole body shaking in fear. She lowered her barrier, not seeing him as a threat, and approached him slowly, smiling as she saw his fear grow with every step she took. He at least had the decency to not wet himself when she got to him.

She stopped in front of him, standing right in front of the gun, though it was shaking too much to be of use. She sighed and snatched it from his hands; most likely so fast he barely saw it. He fell to his knees, knowing that his fate was sealed. She stabbed her sword into the ground, her smile growing soft as well as her eyes. She slowly cupped his face with her hands, forcing him to look her in the eyes. He saw that her eyes, which were red before, were now a beautiful purple, and her expression was a caring one; this is what she would look like if she had been a normal human.

"You not only fired when you knew you had no chance, but stood your ground when your comrades fled, leaving you to die" She said, regaining some of her humanity; it happened every once in a while, when she least expected it. It didn't last long, but she did enjoy it, not feeling this endless rage and blood lust she felt the rest of the time.

She saw the boy was crying. "Fear not young one; I will grant you a merciful death." She gripped his face firmly and twisted it, snapping his neck and killing him quickly. She let him go, his body falling to the ground as she fell to her knees, tears rolling down her face; she let them, glad to feel something beside anger, and sat there, crying while what little humanity she had left slowly faded away.

.

.

"So how did you two meet?" Jane heard Kasey say, and assumed that Kasey was speaking to her. Jane looked back at Kasey, who was smiling as if she didn't have care in the world. The little girl was adorable; Jane wasn't into women or anything like that, but it was impossible not to notice. She was short, had big eyes and her voice even squeaked. It amazed her how Steven didn't hit on her or anything; guys tend to fall for girls like Kasey, yet for the few days they have been traveling together, she hasn't seen Steven show any signs of interest.

She shook her head, clearing her thoughts. It was a nice day, not too hot with a cool breeze. She guessed that made people more talkative. "I was searching for food when I ran into Clint being mugged by a group of guys. I helped him out and he's been traveling with me ever since." She saw Kasey look at Clint, eyes wide with curiosity, and he nodded, confirming it. "What about you? How did you meet the legend over here?"

She heard Steven grunt at that, and Kasey looked at him, grinning. "Actually, it wasn't much different. I had been chased down by two guys and was in a very bad situation. Steven just walks into the house and starts searching for food as if we weren't there."

Jane turned to look at Steven now. "He didn't help you right off?"

"No." She said, and Jane felt a flicker of anger. He saw a small girl getting beat by two guys and didn't help right away?

"No, he told me that he would help me if I helped myself." Kasey continued, unfazed. "At first, I didn't understand what he meant. But I caught on, so while the guys were looking at Steven, I took a pistol from one of them and shot him. Steven shot the other."

Jane continued looking at Steven, whose face had not changed at all; he had one hell of a poker face. She tried to calm down and asked, "Why did you wait to help her?"

He didn't respond right away. They kept walking for about a minute in silence when he finally spoke up. "Because, as she was, she would have just died another way later. She wasn't ready for this new world we live in, so I made it clear; If you prove to me that you will fight to survive, I will help you. There would be no point in saving her if she wasn't ready to fight." He then looked Jane dead in the eyes, his brown eyes staring into her soul.

"And she did. She proved to me that she could survive, and instead of dying, she has actually saved me as well. I'm not worried with her watching my back." And with that he went back to walking and glaring ahead. He may not have meant to, but she sensed from his words that he was proud of her. Her anger melted away; it wasn't how she would have handled it, but then they were two very different people. He did end up saving Kasey, so she couldn't complain.

As they walked, she wondered if she and Steven being so different would bring problems later. She wasn't much for killing, trying her best to spare someone's life. Steven, on the other hand, seemed to just kill whoever pissed him off. She sighed, deciding to cross that bridge when they came to it. The man rushed an ogre to give them time to save themselves. He was a big help when it came to combat.

She saw Steven stop and raise his hand, telling everyone to stop. They stopped, all looking at him. He was looking up at the sky. She followed his gaze and saw what caught his attention; smoke, and a lot of it, was in the sky, coming from somewhere not far ahead of them. "What are you thinking?" She asked, relying on his military expertise.

He frowned. "Well, since there's smoke but no sounds of battle, I would guess that there was a battle not too long ago. Now the question is whether the winners left soldiers behind; if so, it could be a problem for us no matter who won."

That last part surprised her. "Even if humans won?"

He nodded. "Yes, even then. The only humans that would make a camp around here are the Last Light, and they are against anyone else. Either you join them, or they kill you and take your weapons. They are no better than the Darkspawn, and I wouldn't want to blindly walk into a group of them." He looked back at them, as grim as ever. "Believe it or not, humans can be worst than the Darkspawn."

"So what do we do then? Waste time and go around?" She heard Clint ask, and he sounded snotty to her. If Steven noticed it, he didn't show it. "No, we just need to be cautious once we get close. Stay together and pay attention; for all we know, we could be walking into a trap."

Jane didn't like the sound of that. She gripped her rifle a little tighter as they continued. She glanced at Clint, who was frowning. Why was he snotty with Steven earlier? It was out of character for him. He had always seemed nice, though wary of people. He noticed her looking at caught her eyes, making her look away. Maybe she was just imagining things.

As they got closer, two smells hit Jane at once; the strong smell of smoke, and the smell of the dead. Who ever one, they showed no mercy to the other side, that's for sure. The trees opened up into a clearing, and Steven stopped them at the edge of the trees. He glanced over the corner, and signaled them to do the same. Jane looked around the tree, curious as to what she would see.

Right off the back, it was clear that the Darkspawn won. Tents were either destroyed or on fire, and there were bodies everywhere. She saw signs of magic, seeing scorch marks on the ground and what looked like spears of earth jutting out from the ground, and she saw a few people impaled on the spears. She covered he nose, the smell of death now stronger than the smoke as the crows picked at the dead. She saw a few Darkspawn here and there, eating the corpses that were still fresh. The sight made her sick, but she held it down, ducking back behind the tree.

"Well, it's obvious who won here." Clint said, wrinkling his nose at the smell. She nodded in agreement, but noticed that Steven said nothing, only looked deep in thought. "What are you thinking Steven?" She asked, and noticed Clint glare at her out of the corner of her eye.

Steven frowned, tugging at the strands of hair that had began to grow on his chin. "Well, while all you guys noticed were the bodies, I noticed that there were a few things that weren't on fire. One of those looked like a vehicle, and in working condition."

She peeked back around the tree and scanned the area. Sure enough, she found the vehicle, obviously of military make; it looked like it could withstand bullets. She ducked back. "Well, yes there's one there. Why isn't it on fire like everything else?"

Steven shrugged. "Well, either the Darkspawn don't know what it is, so they see no point in burning it, or…"

"Or it's obviously a trap." Clint finished, sounding snotty again. Jane was going to glare at him but she saw Steven nodding in agreement.

"Yes, it could be a trap. That's what makes this annoying; this was obviously done by Hak's group. That means that he is still very much ahead of us. At this rate, he will reach Denerim before us, and all will be lost. But, if that car had the keys in it and was still in working condition…we could easily get there before them."

"So the question is whether to risk it or not, right?" Kasey said. Steven nodded, and Clint looked mad. "I say it's obviously a trap. There's no point in trying if we die anyway."

"But if Hak reaches Denerim before us, we will all die anyway." Jane said, making Clint look surprised. She looked at Steven. "What do you think we should do?"

He looked at her. "Well, either we try the car, or we get our asses heading in the opposite direction and hope we run into another army that can take on the Darkspawn. At this rate, they will reach Denerim first."

She looked at all of them and realized they were staring at her, waiting on her to decide. She blushed, not knowing what to do. She was about to ask why Steven didn't make the decision, then realized the answer; if Steven said to go, Clint would argue with him. If Jane said to go, they would all agree.

She sighed. She wasn't a leader, and definitely wasn't ready to be put on the spot like this. But it seemed like she had no choice. "Let's go for it. If it's a bust, we will figure out where to go from there."

"If we live through this." Clint said, but to her relief he left it at that. Steven nodded and rushed out from the tree, not waiting any further. He fired his gun, showing amazing accuracy as he hit a Darkspawn dead in the head, taking half of its head off. Now that he was using lead slugs instead of buck shot, he could hit them from farther away, and he seemed to enjoy this; Jane only got to kill one. Steven slaughtered the other six, not missing a single shot. Most didn't even get to stand up before they were put down. When all the Darkspawn were dead, Jane looked at Steven, who didn't look fazed at all.

"Remind me not to piss you off." Jane said, and saw she actually got him to smile. She heard Clint grunt, and they all walked over to the car. Steven tried the door, and they all sighed in relief when the door opened. Steven plopped into the driver's seat and started searching the car. Jane expected the keys to be above him in the mirrors, but was surprised when Steven opened the middle console and pulled them out, twirling them on his finger.

"Looks like we might be able to save humanity yet."

.

.

Steven hummed as he drove, patting the wheel to the music in his head. Sadly, all of the radio stations seemed to be down, and he couldn't find any CD's, so they were stuck with the sound of the engine as they rolled down the road. Steven was actually in a good mood; it was about time they had some good luck. When shit hit the fan, it was like all of the vehicles disappeared, forcing everyone to walk or hope to happen across a horse. With a car on their side, they would reach Denerim in a few days instead of a few weeks, and the beast of a vehicle had not only a full tank of gas, but a few canisters of gas in the back, giving them enough fuel to easily reach Denerim.

Steven looked over at his jolly little group. Kasey was sticking her head out of the window, grinning like a fool and enjoying the wind. Jane seemed to be sleeping; her head against the window, and Clint was looking out the window, glaring at the world. He frowned at the sight; he wasn't dull, he noticed that Clint had something against him. He had no idea what he did to set the mage off, nor did he really care; he had bigger problems than the mage being jealous of him for some stupid reason.

"It feels like forever since I've been in a car!" Kasey exclaimed, laughing. Steven shook his head, not responding; after everything, it was like the girl didn't have a care in the world. She sure had bounced back since their first encounter. He didn't forget that she saved his ass either; the little girl could run! He was going to pay her back for that, one way or another.

"I've…never actually been in a car." Steven heard Clint say, causing both of them to look at him. He blushed at this, looking out the window and not meeting their eyes. "Never?" Kasey said, looking at him like he was a different species. He just shook his head in response.

"Well, now you get too." Steven said, trying his best to be nice, which wasn't one of his strong suits. "You aren't missing out on much anyway; most of the time people just crash and kill themselves in cars. He only reason I know how to drive one is because they force you to learn in the Ferelden military."

Clint didn't respond right away. They drove for a few minutes in silence before he finally spoke up. "Have you ever killed a mage before Hawke?"

The question surprised Steven, and so did Clint using his last name. He nodded slowly. "One. We had a mage who was using blood magic to take control of people in a small town. When we got there, we underestimated how powerful he had gotten; he literally had the entire town under his control. He sent them at us like his own private army, and we were ordered not to kill any civilians. We lost a lot of good people that day, and I was the one to personally put a bullet between the mage's eyes."

It was quiet for a few minutes before Clint spoke up again. "After that, what is your view on mages?"

Steven didn't have to think too hard on this one; everyone had an opinion about the situation with the mages. "I think they got the shitty end of the stick. A few mages go crazy and people just assume all mages are like that. To condemn a group of people for the actions of a few is bullshit, but people are cowards and shun what they don't understand. I lost faith in humanity a long time ago; the only things humans are good at are destroying everything around them. Just look at our history; killing each other based on stupid things like skin, what gods someone believes in, or for living in a different area. It's like people don't understand that all humans, no matter what skin color, what religion, or where you live, are the same species. I think that, even without the Darkspawn, we would end up killing each other anyway. We are a doomed race."

"I disagree with you." Kasey said, surprising him again. He looked at her. "You have my attention short stack. Why do you disagree?"

She gave him that defiant look again. "Well, you said its bullshit to condemn a whole group of people for the actions of a few. But isn't that what you were just doing? Not all humans are bad just because a small portion of us are. Sure, we are far from being a perfect species, but people only seem to remember the negative things, like the wars and such. No one remembers the good things, like how even though Ferelden and Orlais are always at each others throats, we come together whenever the Darkspawn threaten us. And not just that; there are plenty of examples of humans working together to save and create, not destroy. Just look through out history; the Warden who ended the fifth blight had mages, assassins, and other races helping out, like Dwarves, Elves, and even Qunari. The same with your ancestor, Garret Hawke, and the Inquisitor. They are living proof that we can all come together. If people focused more on the positive instead of the negative, we would be more positive."

Steven whistled, clapping his hands in applause. "Well I'll be damned, that's the best argument I've ever gotten. If any of us survive this mess, you should become a politician. We need more people like you, willing to look at the bright side." He saw her blush, smiling and playing with her hair. Steven smiled as well, looking out his driver side window to see where they were.

What he saw killed his smile in an instant. "Oh shit." He said, not knowing what to do. He knew they would catch up with Hak's small army, but he thought it would be later rather than sooner. But as he looked out his window he saw Hak's group with Hak himself in the lead, marching onward. Somehow they hadn't noticed the only car on the road yet.

Please don't notice us, please don't notice us. He did his best not to press on the gas and make anymore noise than he was. Just as he was about passed the clearing and would be blocked by the trees, one of the Darkspawn saw them and roared.

"Well shit." He said, flooring it and hoping for the best.