Dragon Age: Origins
Levyn
Chapter Fifteen – The Scholar
The Disciple, at least that was what Tainjen called the talking darkspawn, led them to the Gwaren Shaperate through a dark, dimly-lit corridor. Like most areas in the Deep Roads, the walls were smudged with grime, blood and dust. Cobb webs hung in almost every corner. Unidentified skeletons and flesh were piled up in the corners every now and then. Levyn dreaded to think what they were. The image of what happened to the farm the day he met Gladys still lingered inside his mind.
"You know this 'Scholar'?" Zac whispered to the Grey Warden not very far behind him.
"Heard of him, in my dreams and among those creatures who talk," the Chasind Warden replied in low voice. "Other than the two that are scrabbling up North at the moment, he's the oldest."
"The oldest?" Wolf joined in. "Was he one of the magisters that entered the Golden City?"
"Not quite." Tainjen cast the leading dark creature another look thoughtfully. "But he was old enough. Exactly how old is he, I do not know. After all, I've never seen him myself. It was said that he was here when Gwaren first fell."
"So we are about to meet one of the oldest darkspawn in history," Levyn gasped. "Maker's Breath!"
They walked along the Gwaren street in silence. From the stone carving and Dwarven runes on the doors, these quarters once belonged to the city's wealthiest. Marble facades could be seen on almost every household, and gold foil still glinted beneath the grime on some doors. There were darkspawn bodies strewn all over the place.
"Some of them weren't…." The Disciple sniggered, "as patient as we. They tend to question the Scholar's motives and goals.
He continued to lead on without further comment. The group reached the far end of the street and found themselves standing in front of a large door decorated with copper and small fragments of lyrium-enchanted gems. On both sides, golems as tall as a small wooden hut stood and glared at them wordlessly. Their eyes shimmered in a faint red glow, sending shivers down everyone's spine.
"Golems." Zac grunted. "And activated. Humph…it's not good. Not good at all."
"How do they get hold of the control rod?" another dwarf caught up with the weaponsmith and murmured next to his ear. "And have you noticed their eyes? They look different. Are those Caridin's work?"
"Doesn't look like it," The Keykeeper replied. "Those sodding darkspawn did something to them."
"How was that possible?" the man whispered back.
"Well, they are in our Shaperate," Zac pointed at the door. "What do you think?"
The Disciple drew out his hand and knocked on the door. A loud metal scraping sound echoed from behind the door. The next thing they saw was the heavy door slide sideways and open in front of them. A small genlock stood just behind the gate, hands bound by a set of huge, heavy chains, and grinned at them, almost ear to ear, baring all its jagged teeth. It watched them step in, inclined its head slightly, turned around and disappeared into the mist.
Heavy mildew and the stench of rotten flesh rushed up to their nostrils. Several people quickly covered their noses to stop themselves from gagging. As the mist gradually cleared, they found themselves inside a rather large, well-lit cavern, plastered with large carved stone pillars and polished marble floors. Aisles of stone shelves extended as far as their eyes could see, with bowls of raw lyrium glittering at almost every corner. Between shelves, a stone table big enough for all of them sit side by side overflowed with books and vellums. The heavy index books, however, were surprisingly free of dust and spiderwebs — a sign that someone had been using them recently. Large spiders, genlock and runners rushed past them hurriedly, carrying scrolls, deep mushrooms and books with them. Several large hurlock omegas, armoured ogres and genlock emissaries stood next to the shelves, glaring at them wickedly and taunting toward them as they walked past.
"If I remembered this correctly," Zac whispered again under his breath. "We are heading to the chamber at the other end."
"Oh?" asked Levyn absent-mindedly. He was busy looking at the large cocoons, glowing in crimson light, clustered here and there around the well-carved column. He couldn't help but to have a sickening feeling in his stomach.
"What's in that chamber?" asked Tainjen the Grey Warden. "Other than lyrium?"
"It should be just the lyrium," Zac said as he chewed his lips thoughtfully. "But then again, it's been a while since the last time I was here."
They went past two large piles of what they presumed were dead men's tissue and found themselves facing another set of ornate doors. The Disciple came to a halt in front of the entrance and more knocking ensued. There was something grunting from the inside. The talking darkspawn bowed his head, his skeletal face was filled with the mixture of reverence and fear.
"They're here, Scholar," announced the sinister creature.
A surge of red light emitted from the stone surface. Then the door made a quiet click, swung forward and opened automatically. The Disciple stood aside, bowed and gestured for them to enter the room, his eye glittered with something wicked.
"I don't like the way he looks," Wolf mumbled as they stepped through the door.
"I don't like the way any of them look," Levyn grunted. Lanaya behind him chuckled, trying to suppress a laugh.
As if someone read her mind, suddenly there was a childish laugh echoing around the cavern, setting everyone on edge. Innocent, children's laughter should be heart-warming and sweet, yet it somehow made the hair on the back of their neck prickle. They jerked their heads around, trying to locate the source of the mirth. They couldn't find it.
"Ah…welcome," another voice interrupted their distraction and snapped them back to the present state — they were there to meet the Scholar. "It is such a privilege to finally be able to meet the visitors who successfully went past my …unique defense system."
They turned their heads back and saw a rather large hurlock standing in front of them, wearing an unusually large and bulky hooded cloak over his armor. His face was surprisingly human. White as porcelain and smooth as marble, the only things that reminded them he was one of the darkspawn were the haunting shadows around his eyes and the tears on the corners of his mouth that went all the way to his ears, dribbling with blood, making him look terrifying.
"You're the Scholar?" Tainjen arched his eyebrow.
"And you are the Grey Warden who had not yet succumbed to the taint within you." The Scholar cocked his head sideways. As he talked, more blood poured out from his mouth. "How intriguing."
Again, several other people shot the old Chasind Warden curious stares. The Grey Warden had kept most of their matters secret. Until a few hours ago, most of them had no idea why they chose to disappear into the Deep Roads after approximately thirty years or so. Now all of the sudden they learned enough about the legendary warriors. What else didn't they know?
Something moved on the darkspawn leader's right shoulder. The Scholar reached out his gloved hand and gave it a gentle pat, before side-glancing at the group in front of him.
"Forgive me, or any of my men here, for not attacking you on sight." His obsidian eyes seemed able to stare directly into their souls. "We aren't as barbaric as our less intelligent brothers, you see. I figured we could have a little chat first, don't you agree?"
"Cut the pleasantries; we aren't afraid of your kind," Wolf growled.
"In that case, we shall give you exactly what you came for." The Scholar laughed.
"Why have you repeatedly attacked Gwaren?" asked Levyn with a frown.
"Arh…." The darkspawn leader's eye suddenly lit up. "What do we have here, a blood mage? It's been a while since we last had someone like you enter this place. Then you must understand what I am about to explain, yes? Why did I keep attacking such a small town, rather than a major city? You're right; with now almost every major city in Feralden recovering from the Blight, I could have easily taken any one of them. But attacking and taking a city is not my specialty, you see. I am a Scholar, after all. We have two completely useless and immature young ones up north taking care of that, if they aren't too busy scrabbling and bickering with each other at the moment." One side of his bleeding lips went up.
"So you aren't going to aid any one of them?" Lanaya chimed in.
"Why?" The Scholar shrugged. "The golden rule when dealing with two scrabbling children is never to side with either one of them. No, I am not going to aid either of them, child of Dalish. My dutiful job is to record everything here, everything darkspawn. But…let's just say something…something we've been looking for for so long finally came along, it was hard ignore. We were very close, so close to getting it."
"You are talking about Gladys." Levyn suddenly looked at the darkspawn with an enlightened expression on his face. "She's the reason you keep attacking Gwaren, is'nt she?"
The childish voice once again echoed in the room. This time it was more desperate and filled with certain dread. "She's the one! My love, the Chasind girl is the one! Tsk-tsk, tsk-tsk! We cannot wait, we cannot wait any longer!"
"Patience, my love." The Scholar's smile deepened as he saw the mixture of confusion and fear that flew upon everyone's face. "Our guests deserve to know, don't you think? After all the trouble getting all the way down here? Don't worry, we will attend that matter very shortly."
He paced around the cavern, and kept eyeing the huge round dial at the other side of the chamber. It was the first time everyone noticed the device. The mechanical feature resembled the metal gate they unlocked when they were about to descend to the Deep Roads. It was slightly smaller, however, and there were no signs of any slot people could slip their hand into to open it.
Zac's face whitened. He seemed to recognize the dial. The dwarven weaponsmith's body began to tremble. Eyes bulging outward, he pointed his shaking finger toward the darkspawn leader.
"Where…where did you get that? It's not…it's not supposed to be here. You are…you are not suppose to know it!" cried the Dwarf. His voice was thickening with fear.
"Cha-cha, someone know about this thing, aye?" The Scholar laughed wickedly. "I found the record of it in this very Shaperate, Keykeeper. Surprised? No one other than those from Amgarrak thaig should have known, is that what's going on in your head right now?" He took a step forward, watching in tremendous satisfaction as the weaponsmith staggered backward and nearly tripped over the Dalish elf behind him.
"I've read your record here, all of them." The darkspawn grimaced and continued to taunt Zac. "And I reconstruct one! Yes, in this very cave. Surprised? Darkspawn aren't supposed to do such a thing? It's too complicated for their walnut-sized brain? Don't forget, the first of our kind were once magisters, we darkened the Golden City, how hard would it be to rebuild a small little device like this, aye?"
"What's behind the dial?" Tainjen asked the KeyKeeper nervously.
"The Lyrium Well," Zac's lips quivered. "The lost secret of Amgarrak's Lyrium Well."
"A Well full of Lyrium?" Wolf frowned. "What so scary about that? Shouldn't Dwarfs be immune to such a thing? It's us that needs to worry about, isn't it?"
"The Lyrium Well is a device built by our finest smithy and Tevinter magister," the Dwarven weaponsmith explained. "It can shift anyone, including us Dwarves, directly into the Fade."
"What?" several people yelled out in surprise.
"I learned about it when I was here on my passage last time." Zac inhaled deeply. "It was our best kept secret. No one, not even the noblest nobles in Orzammar, knew about it. Every Shaper and KeyKeeper has to swear by their ancestors' name they won't tell a living soul about the event that had taken place in that ancestor's forsaken place. Sodding creatures, rummaging through our stuff and sniffing out everything that belonged to us!"
"Why, I couldn't even explain that better myself," The Scholar sniggered. "Sniffing? I kept this place nice and tidy, shouldn't you be thanking me? As for the creature that usually came with it, don't worry; I merely rebuilt it here, not moving it all the way from Amgarrak. I was told the Warden Commander had recently visited the place herself. Perhaps she had dealt with the creature you were so concerned about."
"Has she?" The weaponsmith arched his bushy eyebrow. "If you say so."
"Why haven't you opened it now?" Tainjen pointed out. "Why lock it up?"
"I am waiting for the right time." The darkspawn smiled.
"The right time for what?" The crease on Levyn's forehead deepened.
"The right time our present is open!" The infant voice squeaked again. "Tsk-tsk, I love presents! "
It started to laugh and laugh. The high pitch voice echoed within the chamber, nearly deafening their ears. The Scholar started to laugh, too. He came to a halt in front of them and slowly left off his cloak. Everyone's eyes soon widened in shock. On his right shoulder was attached the most bizarre creature they had ever seen. As if it was sitting on a slab of tissue and tentacles, a small girl's body grinned toward them wickedly. Her hair was wild; her face, although bloated, still looked somewhat older than her voice; her eyes were bloodshot and filled with madness; and her mouth was also splitting from ear to ear.
"Allow me to introduce my twin, my sibling, my love." The Scholar's grin deepened, to a degree all they saw was a bloody gash. "Xue."
"They are surprised!" The little girl on his shoulder squealed and clapped her hands enthusiastically. "Look at them, my love, they were surprised!"
"You are a Hurlock," The Grey Warden blurted out disbelievingly. "As well as a broodmother?"
"Intriguing, no?" The Scholar cocked his head sideways. His head leaned toward Xue on his shoulder. "It was actually quite simple really. Our tribe had always treated us as some sinister creation from the Spirit. To them, we were the cursed ones; we were no different from the darkspawn. They seized their first opportunity, abandoned us as they ran from the darkspawn, and left us to die in the forest. The darkspawn took us, injected their taint in us, and for the first time since we were born, we realised our full potential. We thrive in this cruel, mindless place. We were able to cast magic. We slaughtered those who despised us, those who thought we were weak, darkspawn or not. When the Dwarven Empire fell, we studied, and we learned. When the Tevinter fell, we did the same. We were one. We were whole. We were complete."
"Yet you want something." Levyn pointed out. His hand rested on his chin. "You searched for that. All the records of fallen empires, all the legends and lore, you searched for it."
"Why, aren't you a smart chap." Xue suddenly gazed toward the blood mage and took some interest on him. "Yes, indeed. We were searching for a cure, a cure!"
"A way to separate us without one of us dying,." The Scholar continued. "It took us some time. But we finally found it. A descendant of our blood, from our own tribe—"
"Gladys." The blood mage's eyes narrowed.
"Finding her was purely an accident. But as soon as the taint was within her and we were able to sense her, we knew." The darkspawn leader grinned.
"She's the one! She's the one!" squeaked Xue excitedly. "Trapped her in the Fade, and she will be MINE! We will be two at last! My love, at last!"
A loud bang erupted in Levyn's head. His mind went blank. He read about this ritual long ago, inside the First Enchanter's office. A blood ritual of swapping bodies. It was one of the lesser known blood magic. The book he found only recorded a handful of cases. He suspected there was more, however, given the Chantry's ban of blood magic after the fall of Tevinter and all maleficar had to go in hiding.
Now this mad darkspawn was planning to use it on Gladys?
The large dial behind them suddenly started to click. The sound of a metal chain scraping could be heard clearly once again. The Scholar pat Xue's head and half turned toward the huge door.
"It's time," said the darkspawn simply.
The dial soon finished turning and the whole door swung forward. In the chamber behind them, there was a hug blackened sphere floating in mid air. Surrounded by four stone pillars carved with runes, each had a bulky, heavy chain that linked them to the wall. The sphere was jabbed with raw lyrium and humming in a low buzzing noise.
"By the Ancestors!" Zac gaped at the device. "A Lyrium Well! You... you really recreated this. I can't believe it…I…"
The darkspawn leader flashed him a proud smile before turning his head back to the gadget. The room somehow was filled with blue glowing light. The Scholar seemed in no hurry to go near the Lyrium Well. He stood by just in front of the faint blue light, and seemed to take a profound interest in the glow.
The sound of someone opening the door behind them sent their heart jumping to their throats. The Disciple who led them in earlier once again stood by the entrance. His face looked as though he was seeing a ghost.
"My… milord," he stammered. "He has returned."
"Excellent." The Scholar bared his jagged teeth. "Let him in."
The Disciple stepped aside, revealing another talking darkspawn behind him. This one, however, was transparent and shimmering in a cerulean hue. Not saying anything, he walked straight past everyone in the chamber and headed straight to the Lyrium Well. The darkspawn stopped in front of the device and carefully placed his foot on one of the stone tiles on the floor. Suddenly the black lyrium sphere above him began to turn. When it stopped, the blue light in the adjoining room disappeared.
"Milord." In everyone's gaping gaze, the Disciple now returned to the cavern they were in, completely materialized without a single ray of light beaming out of its body.
"Is it done?" asked Xue.
"Yes," replied the talking darkspawn.
The small broodmother started to laugh again, the childish tone sending shivers down everyone's spine.
"Did you hear that? She got the present!" she exclaimed excitedly. "Oh, my love, I can't wait to get in there! I want to get in there to meet her!"
"All in good time, my heart." The Scholar grinned at his twin sibling lovingly. "All in good time."
"Wait, who's in the Fade?" Levyn called out as the darkspawn leader was about to step in the smaller chamber the Lyrium Well was in. Fear began to trickle down from the top of his head. "This Disciple just returned from the Fade, hasn't he? The one in the Fade, who's she?"
"Why, isn't he an excellent student, my heart?" the darkspawn sniggered. "You are aware that such a ritual exists, are you not? Who do you think?"
The blood mage's face turned chalk white. Without the creature even telling him, he knew who was in the Fade at this point and time. They sent on a single darkspawn to Gwaren above. It was easier to get past the defense line without being detected. The Disciple had found her and successfully trapped her in the Fade. Without a soul, her body was free and at their disposal.
He entered the room and placed his foot on the tile. It was once again filled with blue shimmering light.
"Dispense our visitor, my men," said the Scholar over his shoulder. "They know the truth and they are not allowed to live. And after that, go fetch the body; I want that here when I return. "