As the group made their way out of the inn, Saya found herself pondering about everything that had happened. She had only then realised that she was in another world, where the way out was uncertain and who knows what kind of terrors await in this world. But maybe it wouldn't be so bad... she was lucky enough to have met Leliana, or else she might have frozen to death in the rain. But what the lady they met said, bothered the girl. She said they are Grey wardens... and they're marching against THE BLIGHT? All this information being thrown at Saya at once was too much to handle.
After completing a few favors for the villagers of Lothering, the group was moving towards the giant wall they called the Imperial Highway. After they killed a few men, that for some reason started to attack the group for no reason, they made their way to the highway, only to hear screams for help, coming from the top. Elissa rushed up onto the highway, before anyone else... then it was Alistair, Morrigan, Leliana and Saya. They saw two little fellows cowering from something in front of them. And as the group turned their heads to where the two short fellows were looking at, they came face to face with several monstrous beings... They growled in the most inhumane way possible and their flesh was rotten. Two rows of sharp and crooked teeth decorated their mouths. The two archers in the back were shorter than the ones in front, wielding swords.
"darkspawn..." Elissa muttered under her breath and charged at the nearest darkspawn. Alistair followed her and challanged another on of them, holding him back so that the ranged attackers of their group could focus on the other enemies. Saya noticed that the other one with the sword was charging at her. The girl turned to the other direction and raised her hands in defence, awaiting for the darkspawn to attack. The girl felt very weak at that moment, and the slightest sound of gurgling could be heard from nearby. As Saya removed the hands from her face she saw what she had done... The darkspawn that was charging at her was impaled with a large purple spike and stReaks of blood were running down the sharp spike. It disappeared when the girl lowered her arms and the dead carcasse of the being feel to the ground. From what the girl gathered, this was another one of her powers and it drained her quite a bit, to the point where she could barely stand up.
"Saya, are you alright? Were you hurt?" Leliana said as she held the girls shoulder, preventing her from swaying back and forward from being tired.
"No, no... i-i'm fine... just feel a bit... w-weak" Saya said she felt her legs go numb and she fell in the grasp of the red-head... unconcious at that.
~Time skip~
As Saya started to regain the feeling in her body and conciousness was starting to return. She opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was the dark sky that was decorated with loads of stars that were varying in size.
"you're awake..." Saya heard a male voice speak as she turned her head to the source. She saw Alistair sitting next to the fire, set up in the middle of their camp. The girl nodded as she sat up and held her head, since it still felt a bit heavy.
"What happened?" The girl asked curiosly, hoping that the templar could give her an answer.
"Well, it happens all the time to mages... not the fainting part, but the feeling weak one... when mages use spells they drain their mana and if your mana reaches the "dangerously low bar" well... you feel drained and for those who aren't yet skilled in magic, faint... nothing too bad" Alistair explained to the girl. She nodded in understanding even though she could hardly process what was just said to her.
"heh, nothing too bad? You mean that fainting in the middle of battle is not bad?" Saya questioned humorously.
"Well, when you put it that way... i guess that could be quite bad..." Alistair said and laughed nervously. "So, that must mean you haven't been edcated in the matter?"
Saya shook her head and thought of a good answer:
"No, I... I found out only recently that i had powers like these...". The girl played with the edge of her armor. She noticed Elissa sleeping nearby the fire... she must've been tired.
"sooo, is she your mother?" The templar asked once again as he looked at Leliana.
"oh, no, no... she's just taking care of me, for the time being" The girl answered.
"And what happened to your real parents?" Alistair threw a question once more. Saya sighed and damned the man for asking that question.
"Well... They didn't die or anything... i just got seperated from them, or at least from my mother... i don't really know where my father was at the time..." The girl answered as truthfully as she could, while not revealing too much.
"I'm sorry that i asked that question... it must've been hard for you" The templar spoke in a comforting tone.
"No, it's nothing... i've almost gotten over it" Saya said and brought her knees to her chest hugging them. It was at that moment that the girl noticed Elissa stirring in her sleep. She sat up and held her head, in pain it seemed.
"Bad dreams I take it?" Alistair asked concerned. The woman slowly nodded and replied almost too quietly:
"There was a dragon..." she started and sighed. "It just seemed so real..."
"It IS real... sort of... that's the archdemon, the thing that controls the darkspawn... and us grey wardens tap into their group mind... some can even understand it" The templar explained. They chatted a bit more, while Saya just listened and pretended to know exctly what they're talking about.
"So, Saya, was it? How did you end up with Leliana, you two seem to have a bond" Elissa asked all of a sudden. Saya was startled by the sudden question, since she didn't expect to be questioned at this time.
"Really? I've only been with her for a day... she... uh, saved me from the rain yesterday evening and took me in". Saya looked over at the red-head who seemed to be minding her own business in the other side of the camp. Elissa nodded in understanding, but she still had a question lined up.
"And, you haven't recieved any mage training, have you?" she asked. Saya shook her head and looked down at the ground. She noticed Elissa's expression changing to a slightly worried one, as she started to contemplate something.
"I think you would be a good ally, Saya, but from what i've seen your spells are something i haven't seen before and who knows how much destruction you could cause if you don't learn to control them... i-i don't mean to sound rude, but... maybe we should get you to the circle of magi, where you could be educated in the matter?" Elissa talked slowly, as every word she said made Saya worry even more. She had no idea what a circle of magi was, or what kind of circumstances she'll be kept under without Leliana. But Saya had to admit that she agreed with Elissa. If she doesn't know how to control these new-found powers of her, she could seriously injure someone.
"I don't think that would be necessary... i will decide if she goes or not, since she is under my care" Leliana stepped in out of nowhere and spoke. Elissa sighed and spoke again:
"Leliana, i know it might seem unfair, but she needs to learn to master her skills..."
"I know... but i believe that she can master them on her own... she's stronger than you think" The red-head protested as she stood next to Saya.
"Oh well~ i actually think that she's really strong, from what i saw... you know, you don't really see kids summoning vortexes which have demonic hands in them, these days..." The warrior said humorously and smiled. Saya felt a little embarassed that all the talking was about her. The three talked about something irrelevant and the girl didn't pay any attention to their chatter. She even managed to sneak away from the camp without them noticing...
Saya took in a deep breath and inhaled the smell of the forest. She never experienced a moment like this back home. Speaking of home, Saya realized how much she already felt home-sick, even if her mother kicked her out. As she walked on a small path in the small forest near the camp she found herself thinking about multiple things. She started to hear strange noises coming from deeper in the woods and Saya started to get a little freaked out. She contemplated going back to camp before anyone noticed she was gone, but it was as if she was influenced by someone or something to go see what the strange noises were...
As she treversed deeper and deeper into the dense forest, she felt a peculiar change in atmoshphere here and she felt a strange stirring inside her. Saya started to notice a greenish light among the trees. All of a sudden the cracking of twigs could be heard and it startled the girl making her stop immediately. Saya surveyed her surrounding for any threats, but it seemed like her imagination was spooking her. As if she hadn't been scared enough a raspy female voice spoke from no perticular direction:
"Come, child". Saya stared wide-eyed in the direction where the light was coming from. It seemed that the voice was getting restless. "Do not waste anymore time, girl, come!" it said once more. Saya relucantly started to walk towards the strange light, curious to figure out what it was...
As Saya stepped out from behind a tree, she came face to face with source of the light. It came from a small entrance to what seemed like a larger cave. She felt curious to what might lie inside, so she treversed further and entered the cave, not sure what monstrous things might be inside... She stepped into a fairly large room, in the middle of which was the source of the light Saya saw. A bright green crystal-like object layed on a stone table in the middle of the room, on which were multiple items like vials of unknown liquids inside, several peculiar-looking tubes, stone-like objects with strange writing on them and a book covered with dust and spider webs like everything else on the surface. It caught the girl's attention since it was wide open, and it looked like it was recently used, but the dust shows the opposite. Saya also felt a strange sense of calm and strength in the cave. The girl approached the book and wiped the dust from it. She started to read the page that the book was opened on, using the greenish crystal as light. Unfortunetly for the girl everything in the book was written in a language she didn't know. Deciding to leave the book alone, she stepped away from it and turned towards the exit. Suddenly a huge gust of wind blowed into the cave. Saya held her ground and turned her back to the wind, since it was hard for her to breath when the wind blew into her face. The strong wind seemed to have flipped the book several pages further and knocked over the crystal in the process and it fell on top of the book... Once again something was drawing the girl towards the book and she couldn't fight back. Saya started to walk towards the odd tome and was shocked to see the picture on the page that the wind had flipped it on, once she got close. It showed a black figure drawn on it holding his (Saya figure) hand in the air, now this might not seem shocking, but the other part of the picture truly made Saya wonder. In front of the man a large spike was coming from the ground as it impaled what seemed to vaguely represent a rabbit. 'That's what i did... this might be a spellbook of some sort' the girl thought in her mind. She decided to take the book in hopes that she might be able to read it and learn something from it. Saya placed the book in her bag (that she luckily took with herself on this venture) and quickly made her way out of the strange cave.
Saya made it back to camp safely, encountering no oddities like the voice she heard. Immediately she was approached by Leliana.
"Where have you been? I've been worrying about you… you should not just run off like that" she scolded the girl. Saya hung her head trying to show that she is sorry for the trouble she caused. "Well at least you're safe… where were you all of this time?" Leliana sighed and asked in a calm tone.
"I was just… taking a little walk… nothing too dangerous…" the girl explained to the red-head. She seemed to believed the girl and let her go. Saya decided not to tell anyone what she encountered in the forest or that she took the book from an ominous cave.
"Ah, there you are!" Elissa said cheerily as she approached the girl with an over-sized dog at her side, the likes of which Saya has never seen. "You haven't met him have you? His name is Fluffy, he is a mabari war hound if you've ever heard of one" the warrior introduced the hound. He barked as if greeting the girl. Saya smiled at him, as she crouched down. The dog approached the girl and licked her face. "Aww, I figured he'd like you" Elissa said and chuckled. Saya petted the dog as he was licking her face non-stop.
"His name's a bit weird…" Saya stated and stood up, wipping the slober off of her face.
"I named him that when i was little… and i guess i never wanted to change it, but it fits him" she exclamed and petted her hound. 'Not really' Saya thought in her mind.
"Right, well we'll be heading off soon, so go get ready…" Elissa said.
"Where are we going?" Saya questioned.
"Redcliffe, apparently something happened to Arl Eamon and we need to found out to get his help…" the warrior explained before she turned to make preperations for the leave. Arl Eamon… this name souned familiar to Saya, but she couldn't put her finger on where she heard it. Deciding that this was irrelevant, Saya went off to prepare for a long journey. A new world awaits the girl and she's willing to face the dangers in this fantasy world…
Alright, hey there readers… i'm back after a very, very, VERY long brake… it don't really know why i kept you waiting for this long, but i'm back and i'm keeping this story going… expect many more updates and yeah… hoped you enjoyed this and hopefully this story doesn't suck :3