Dragon Age: Origins
Levyn
Chapter Eighteen – In The Alleyway
Levyn remembered when he was about ten or eleven years old, he and the other apprentices used to have swimming lessons at the Circle Tower. It was the only thing they looked forward to wholeheartedly every week.
Among his peers, he was the only one who knew how to swim properly at the time, given he came to the Tower rather a few years later than the others and had learned that from other village kids. Rather than endure a lesson in a skill he already possessed, he snuck away to find some secluded spot where he could relax while the senior mages were busy teaching the others how to paddle their feet correctly. Usually, the Templars found him by the time they were supposed to return to the Tower.
One of his favourite spots was a small pond below the Tower's herb garden. It could only be accessed via a narrow cave from the rock cliff. He loved that pond, and often spent ages in there. There was a small opening just above it, and he could see all the green bushes and flowers dangling from the garden above. On sunny days, the small pool would appear to be deep green, glittering with sunlight and looking absolutely beautiful. It made him feel as though he was in an oasis. If there were things that he truly missed about the Tower, that little pond was definitely one of them.
Gladys' eyes reminded him of that little pond under the Tower's garden. Deep, a swift undercurrent and looking like the most brilliant gemstone in Thedas when brimming with tears and viewed under the sun.
It was the first time he ever saw her real eyes. He presumed it was because it was in the Fade. Everyone appeared as what they wanted themselves to be in this strange realm. Gladys would probably prefer to have her eyes back.
The Chasind girl was breathtaking. It was like breathing life into a statue and watching it came back to life. Within those brilliant eyes, he could easily lose himself. The girl now seemed…complete.
"Levyn?" She seemed uncertain about Levyn and his companions. "Wolf?"
Levyn was about to shout out her name and hug her when Wolf grabbed him by the upper arms. The man gripped him so hard; the blood mage was certain there would be bruises underneath.
"Check," cautioned the Templar. "This is the Fade. Nothing is what it seems to be. Check if she's the real Gladys."
It took the mage a few moments to register that Wolf was telling the truth. Nothing seemed what it appeared to be, indeed. The girl who stood in front of them could be anything. She could be a dreamer, a Desire Demon, a Sloth Demon, or worse, another Pride Demon. They had to be cautious about those things. He turned his gaze back to Gladys, who looked like she was thinking the same thing. Her grip on the dagger hilt tightened and her stare became cautious.
"Gladys…you've never seen me in the…mortal world." He opened his mouth a little bit hesitantly. "How do you know it was me?"
"Your voice," replied Gladys simply, her tears still drying on her oval face. "It's a little bit hard to miss: It had a certain desperation and sadness about it."
Levyn's brows shot up. He had never thought about how she felt about his voice. The blood mage turned his head around instinctively to see Wolf's reaction, only to see the others squinting their eyes at him and scanning him from head to toe. Suddenly, he had this strange sensation, as though he were an animal in a pen.
"Humph…now that she mentions it," Daraga said as she rubbed her chin thoughtfully, "You did have that kind of tone in your voice."
"Reminds me a lot of our old keeper." Athras smirked a little. "He had that tone in his voice, too."
"Ask her something," Wolf urged. "Something that only she knows."
"Wha…I don't know!" Levyn snapped. "Arh…what was the last thing I said to you before I left for the Deep Roads?"
The Chasind girl's face suddenly turned red. Her emerald eyes continued to stare at the blood mage for a while before she opened her mouth again a bit tentatively and whispered, " 'Don't apologise, don't you dare apologise.'?"
Now everyone jerked their head around and stared at the mage rather curiously, all probably wondering why and how did such a phrase occur in the first place. His face now as red as a radish, Levyn slowly walked toward Gladys, whose tears began to well up again. For a while, they simply stood there, feasting on the sight of each other, as they could hardly believe they were both alive.
"I….that…" Eventually the Chasind girl let out a big sob and pointed at the dead Desire Demon she was looking at earlier. "She…she claimed she was you…she…. tried to…. It was impossible you would do such a thing. I knew it wasn't you. I had to kill her. I…"
"Sssh…" Levyn quickly shortened the distance between them. He reached out his hand and ran his fingers gently against her cheek, brushing away her tears. "It wasn't your fault, Gladys. You did the right thing. How did the darkspawn trick you into the Fade?"
"It came…." Gladys slowly regained her breath and wiped the tears off her face. "In the dead of night after you and the expedition took off. Mihi was staying with us. When the creature appeared in my room, she was with Boo downstairs."
"So the boy was safe," said the blood mage. All of them let out a sigh of relief.
"Yes." The Chasind girl took another deep breath.
"What happened next?" asked Wolf.
"I'm not exactly sure." Gladys frowned. "It…I think the creature tapped my face. I could feel the burns on my skin when it touched me. I began to swoon. When I steadied myself, I found suddenly my vision returned and I was looking at the monster right in the eyes. I must say…it terrified me."
"Did the darkspawn hurt you?" asked Levyn.
"No. He said he was only ordered to deliver the 'present.' " The Chasind girl sounded slightly bewildered. "Then he turned around and left. That was when I realised I wasn't in the Gwaren I thought I knew…."
"How did you get the weapons?" asked Athras.
"They were on the wall?" Gladys blinked bewilderedly.
"I think he meant, how do you know how to use them?" Daraga chuckled.
"Oh, that." The girl blushed and smiled a little. "Jethro and the others crash-trained me. There was this little incident after you left. We had a darkspawn attack from the dock and…"
"And?" chorused everyone.
"Well, I miraculously fended off one of them." Gladys grimaced. "So, they thought they might teach me some basic stuff. Of course, I still can't do much in my condition…".
"Other than this Fade creature," Levyn looked around, checking if there was anything nearby. "Was there anything else trying to approach you?"
The Chasind girl shook her head.
"Now this is really strange." Wolf rubbed his chin. "You are here. And we were under the impression that the Scholar was coming for you. Yet…."
"Who's the Scholar?" Gladys cocked her head sideways.
"Those sodding things' leader," replied the templar simply. "You will meet him, arh, or her, soon enough. As for now, I suggest we'd better get moving."
"To where?" asked Athras.
It suddenly reminded them that there was no exit in the Fade this time. Zac had sealed off the entrance by destroying the Lyrium Wells. They needed to find a place where the Veil was thin, and figure out a way to create a tear before the Scholar caught up with them.
"Humph…." Levyn stared into the alleyway where Jethro's house was. His brows were in tight knots. "Where did you said those darkspawn attacked you?"
The Chasind girl pointed at the front of the house. "Right outside of the door."
The blood mage went silent. He grasped Gladys' hand and carefully approached the house. The others followed. As they arrived, he slowly paced around the door and kept glancing at the spot thoughtfully.
"What do you think, mage?" Wolf stood next to him, with his sword tightly in hand.
"They used a portal to get to Gladys from here." Levyn cautiously scanned around the main entrance: "I wonder…"
"Wonder what?" asked the templar.
"This should be easy, if a portal had been created here twice." Levyn arched his eyebrow. His hands stretched out and touched the air in front of him: "I may… I may not need any Lyrium, or much blood, to create a tear."
"You've learned how to do that?" Wolf was surprised. "Please don't tell me…this is basic, too?"
"No, it's not." The blood mage cast him a side-glare. "What makes you think it is?"
The apostate carefully drew out his dagger and flipped the beautifully-craft Antivan blade in his hand. He cast a few minor sensory spells and felt the magic current around him. Just like he had guessed, the flow in the alleyway was extremely uneven. There was a certain foul taste of blood in his mouth. He inhaled deeply, steadied his mind and slit his hands.
The blood gushed out almost as soon as the metal slid through the skin. It soon overflowed his palms and dribbled onto the sandy ground. Before he could cast anything, a ripple of a shockwave quaked through the entire alleyway, followed by a child's excited laughter.
Everyone other than Gladys' face turned white.
"Who's that?" asked Gladys in a rather high voice. Her grip on Levyn's hand tightened.
"Blood mage, so predictable!" Xue's shriek echoed around them. "So predictable! Open a tear? Cha-cha! Oh, my love. This is so amusing!"
Some unseen force suddenly grabbed the Chasind girl by her feet, dragging across the alleyway and tossing her toward the stone wall behind them. Caught completely by surprise, none of them was able to react in time. They watched in horror as her body rapidly bashed against the rocky hedge. Her painful scream was unbearable to hear, especially to Levyn. He looked around wildly, trying to locate their hidden attacker, but unable to see anything.
"Haven't those Tevinter puppets told you that blood magic here is largely ineffective?" The Scholar's voice was thick in the mist. "And yet here you are…pfft!"
Levyn finally managed to cast another spell through gritted teeth. Blood smudged all over his hands flew toward Gladys, forming a red bubble around her. The bashings finally stopped. The poor girl floated in mid air and seemed unconscious. The blood mage chewed his lower lip and watched the Chasind from below, trying his hardest to disable the protective blood magic shield and touched her.
There were other priorities to deal with first.
Purple shimmering lights suddenly appeared at the door of Jethro's house. Soon, smoke began to gush out in an amazingly large amount. In front of everyone's astonished eyes, the Scholar's veined and waxy hand emerged from the lights, and then it was his whole arm, his shoulder, his head, and finally, his whole body. One of his hands was holding something—something large and dribbling blood. It took them a few moments to register it was Xue's dead body—her conjoined twin had cut it off since entering the Fade.
"Where is your twin?" asked the apostate.
"Why, I am glad you are concerning about my beloved's health." The Hurlock inclined his head. "Perhaps we should leave you to be the last to die? Or the first?"
He shifted away from the glowing door slightly. The lights once again rippled. This time, it was a small drifting light floating through the portal. As it glided toward the Scholar, it began to expand and shapeshifted into a humanoid shape. By the time it stopped in front of the group, it was revealed to be the spirit of a woman. Surrounded by thin layers of dark cloud, the spirit seemed utterly familiar. It wasn't until she grinned toward them and opened her mouth that they recognised she was Xue.
"The blood mage cares about me?" Xue appeared to be less bloated in spirit form. Still wearing a haunting look, however, the Hurlock's twin sister tilted her head and stared at Levyn curiously. Her long hair was neatly combed along her bony cheekline. The split on her face and dribbling blood still quite apparent.
"What did you do?" Wolf blurted out toward the Scholar.
"Tsk-tsk," the Hurlock started to laugh. "What did I do? I merely destroyed the cage that had trapped her since the day she was born! She no longer needs it. Once we kill the Chasind girl right over there— " he paused and pointed at Gladys in the floating bobble, "—my love will take over her bodym and she will be free for eternity!"
"I'd like to see you try!" Levyn snarled back at the darkspawn angrily.
Xue laughed hysterically. "Oh, my love. I like this mage! Look at how he guards this girl so fiercely! Promise me you will let me play with him? Promise me!"
"Play with any of them all you want." The Scholar grinned, showing his ear-to-ear mouth and jagged teeth. Blood drooled out of his lips and splattered onto the floor. "Just don't forget to save some for me!"
"The girl?" The wicked spirit cocked her head toward the bubble.
"You will not touch her!" The blood mage growled. His eyes narrowed and his hands crackled with sparks.
"Try us." The Hurlock's smile deepened. "Cha-cha. You have no idea who you're dealing with. "
"I know enough," the apostate sneered. His hands shimmered with golden light.
A stone fist flew out of nowhere and hit directly toward the darkspawn. The Scholar stepped sideways and avoided the spell completely. The stone fist smashed onto the ground, broken rocks flying everywhere. Xue's wicked laughter went a few pitches higher, causing everyone's ears to throb in pain. The darkspawn twin waved her hands and summoned several Ash Wraiths to assist in the battle. The Fade Demon lashed out toward Athras, who dived sideways and unsheathed his weapon before he started slashing back toward the hissing beast.
Two other Ash Wraiths headed toward Daraga and Wolf. The Dwarf shield-bashed one of them, pushing the Demon up against the wall and nearly crushing it into pieces,while the templar cast out Holy Smite, promptly vaporising the other one. The Scholar grinned at Levyn wickedly; his image became blurry and soon turned into a large mass of dark matter. When the shadow reclustered and reformed again, it became a large Ogre.
The blood mage glared at the shape-shifted Scholar, and his face suddenly broke into a somewhat amused grin. The corner of his mouth curled upward as the Ogre looked at him bewilderedly.
"Ogre?" His eyebrow arched as he prepared his next spell. "Oh, you made a very unwise mistake, darkspawn."
"Oh?" the Hurlock taunted back. "Convince me, clever blood mage."
The apostate murmured the desired incantation. A surge of shimmering golden light gushed through his body. Everyone soon heard roaring thunder rapping from the distance. The bewildered Ogre was about to ask Levyn what was he up to when a giant golden knight pushed past the forest, climbed over the walls, and stopped abruptly in front of the gaping crowd. Its glowing orbs soon scanned toward the Scholar. A hint of fury burst out of its eyes. The spirit drew out its battlehammer and smacked the weapon down at the darkspawn. The sinister creature leaped sideways, avoiding his attack successfully, but he did not expect that as soon as the hammer touched the surface of the ground, it would cause such an earthquake; no one was able to stand straight, mortal or spirit. At the same time, thousands of sparks crackled around them, zapping the Fade Demons and their leaders so hard, some of the minor ones vanished into the thin air straight away. The spirit continued to do so in several rounds. At the end, it was back to Xue and her twin, the Scholar.
Returned to his original form, the Hurlock collapsed on the ground. His robe was even more battered, his mouth was gushing out more blood, and surprise and anger were written in his large obsidian eyes. Panting, he glared at the blood mage, unable to utter a single word.
"Thought all I know is blood magic, no?" Levyn smirked. "Think again."