A/N Second to last chapter.
My longest and hardest chapter ever.
For those who's follow this all the way here, thank you.
Dragon Age: Origins
Levyn
Chapter Nineteen – Gwaren, The Two World
"The Guardian?" Wolf stumbled back to his feet and gaped as Levy watched the Scholar writhe on the ground and cough blood: "You know that? The Guardian?"
"What?" The blood mage side-glanced at the templar: "Like it's hard?"
"It's a bloody Templar spell, mage." The senior Gwarenian Templar arched his eyebrows. "A high rank senior Templar spell, to be exact. There are only a handful of us who know how to cast this spell within the Order of Templars today."
"There was this one...one particular Templar back in our days at the Tower who obviously didn't think so." One corner of the apostate's mouth curved up slightly. "He seemed very keen to introduce my friend and I to such a spell. Come to think of it, I don't think he knew how to cast it, though. However, we can talk about this some other time, as we have some pressing matters to dealt with at the present…."
He turned his attention back to the Hurlock. "I am afraid Ogre didn't work, Scholar."
The sinister creature tilted his head and glared at the maleficar disbelievingly before he suddenly started to laugh wickedly, while his twin sister nearby burst out laughing, too. The entire Fade around them now echoed with hysteric laughter, filling everyone with a sense of dread.
"Arh, aren't you full of surprises, blood mage?" The Scholar grinned toward Levyn evilly. More blood gushed out of his ear-to-ear grin. "But has anyone told you those fools who entered the Golden City still wander about the Deep Roads when we became one of them?" His hands started to glow. "We wouldn't survive this long for no reason, tsk-tsk."
The Hurlock mumbled something under his breath. Crimson light beamed out of his hand and coated all over his body. It grew brighter and brighter; soon nobody was able to see anything at all. When the light faded, they noticed the Scholar was gone. Instead, it was a large red dragon spirit that stood before them. Its nostrils flared. Its huge orbs glared at them challengingly. At the same time, Xue waved her hands, her fingers flicked and mist started to gather around the malevolent spirit's body. Her figure began to shoot upward and expand, and slowly resembled some kind of tentacled creature. Around her, more Rage Demons rose up from the ground and charged toward them.
"Heh, nug-huggers," Daraga spat. She tightened her grip on her battleaxe, dug her heels onto the ground and hunched her back as the walking lava approached. "This is going to be…interesting."
The dwarf swung her weapon as the first Fade Demon drew near. The Demon snarled and shot a blast of fire at her. She dived away and rolled to the ground. The Gwarenian guard swiped her feet across the ground and waved her axe again. Another Rage Demon caught her mid way, using the momentum to drag her backward and pin her on the ground. Daraga hissed and writhed, unable to move herself away from the heat. Her armor became hotter and started to burn her skin. She dropped her axe and tried to punch the creature. The beast sneered, breathed fire onto her face, and laughed as her face scrunched up in pain.
Two Rage Demons also trapped Athras. Holding two scimitars in hands, the Dalish elf was fully aware of Daraga's situation, but unable to push the Fade creatures aside to rescue the Dwarven warrior. Frustrated, he vented them off at the foes in front of him, promptly hacked one of the spirit monsters toward the wall. The other Fade being sneered and launched forward, planning to used the same tactic its kind had just been using on the Gwarenian guard. The elf back flipped and landed on the rail of a house's balcony nearby, avoided the sinister being's attack skillfully. He drew out his bow and nocked two ice arrows and fired them toward the creature in one go. The Demon snarled in pain and fell slightly backward, before ascending up to the balcony and launching another round of the attack.
Clouds suddenly began to gather and wind started to whirl around them. The temperature soon dropped dramatically and hail fell wild and hard onto everyone. The Rage Demons hastily backed away from their prey and shrieked, trying to find a shelter to hide. The Dalish elf hopped down from the rail and sank his dagger deep into the Fade creatures surrounding him. Panting, he slowly walked toward Daraga and reached out his hand to pull her up.
"What…what just happened now?" the Dwarven woman coughed.
"Looks like our mage friend just saved us." He cocked his head side ways, gestured at Levyn not very far from them. The apostate lowered his staff slightly, giving them a slight nod, before his eyes returned to the shape-shifted red dragon and its twin in front of them. The mist slowly drifted away, revealing a giant, glowing three-headed spirit dragon. Shimmering in a blue hue, the beast joined its twin and glared at the blood mage challengingly.
"Two…two dragons," Wolf stuttered, unable to believed his eyes.
"And four heads." The corner of the maleficar's mouth tilted up. "Charming, no?"
"Indeed." The templar waved his sword and watched as the red dragon flapped its taloned wings and leaped into the air. The beast roared, inhaled deeply and breathed out a large fireball at the party below him. The howling blizzard slowed down the downpour, but still slammed the ground hard, sending sparkles flying everywhere, and Levyn and his companions wavered. At the same time, his twin in spirit form jerked her head and cast several lightening bolts at them. The electric lights bounced back and forth around the small alleyway, making certain the party had little place to hide.
Wolf swung his sword in one hand, his grip on the large shield tightened and charged out. The templar rushed to the front of the red dragon and aimed his attack at its large claw. The beast roared, breathed out another surge of fire and swiped his spike tail at him. He managed to avoid both attack by diving away from the monster and holding his shield over his head. He took a roll on the ground, back to his feet and hunched his back, readied for another attack coming his way. Daraga, having just gulped down several vials of healing poultice and healed to a combatable degree, picked up her battleaxe again and rushed to the fellow Gwarenian's aide. She dived past the giant beast's tail, carefully avoided its claws, before waving her weapon and hitting the base of the dragon's back leg.
The shape-shifted monster hissed. It flapped its wing vigorously. The wind around them twirled and twisted, forming a large tornado, which lifted and tossed everything within its powerful diameter. Hails from the blizzard began to smack everyone and everything hard. Seizing this chance, the spirit dragon stretched out one of its necks, its eyes crackling with sparks as it attempted to break the protective spell around Gladys.
"I think I said leave her alone!" Levyn growled through his gritted teeth. Arms outstretched, silver lights beamed out from the tip of his ironbark staff. The head went stiff and fell onto the ground. The remaining two turned around, hissed and glared at the blood mage.
Athras replaced his longbow with the scimitars shiftily, sneaked up to the three-headed monster and attack the sinister spirit being from its side. Caught slightly off guard, the spectral dragon took a few hits before it turned its attention to the Dalish elf. Seething, the spirit monster swiped its long tail at the hunter, attempting to knock him to the ground. The elf leaped, flipped and landed on a stack of nearby wooden boxes. He narrowed his eyes, moved his scimitars into one hand and quickly reached for his belt. Several daggers shot out and flew straight toward the dragon's orbs. The creature avoided some, but was hit by a few. It roared, casting more lightening bolts and swiping its tail even more viciously.
Levyn staggered back to his feet. With one hand blocking the showers of hail blasting toward him, the blood mage wrenched one of the daggers from a crack in the wall, straightened up slightly, lowered and stabbed his hand. Blood once again poured out of his palm. He murmured the Tevinter syllables under his breath and splattered the blood forward. Crimson shadows rose from the ground. Each had two dark glowing orbs that resembled eyes. They circled around the Spectral Dragon, seething and sneering, before each launched onto the stunned and slightly terrified beasts.
"Children of the Black City," Wolf blurted out, temporarily distracted from the red dragon. "Maker's Breath, you know that, too?"
"You know." The apostate placed his hand on the lyrium vein recharging his mana, turned his head around and grinned at the Templar. "For someone who's been taught by the Chantry that blood magic is bad, you certainly know an awful lot about the forbidden spellcraft."
"We have eyes in Tevinter," replied Wolf simply, before he lowered his head and dodged another swing of the dragon's tail. Seemingly not pleased to be ignored, the shape-shifted creature snarled and sent another jet of fire at the party beneath it. The Gwarenian dived aside, using the large shield as supporting point to get him back to a hunching defensive position. "At any rate, this is not a place and time to discuss this."
"You asked, templar," the maleficar snorted.
The Red Dragon fluttered its wings. Another surge of strong wind whirled past them. With one hand grasping a nearby pole tightly to steady himself, Levyn cast Stonefist at the giant beast. The giant shape-shifted monster's head knocked sideway. Its yellow glowing eyes glared back at him angrily. It stretched out one of its claws and tried to grab the apostate. The blood mage quickly moved away, and cast another jet of Blizzard above the alleyway.
Daraga snuck up to the back of the beast and managed to hop onto the ridge of its tail. The Dragon jerked its head up, aware of the presence of the Dwarf moving along its back, and stomped vigorously, trying its hardest to shake her off. The Gwarenian guard found some deeper cracks among the scales on the beast back. She dug her heels in and waved her battleaxe. The creature roared in pain as the first hit smacked through its thick scales.
As though sensing the pain, the spirit dragon nearby also shrieked.
"Think that hurt?" asked the dwarven warrior through her gritted teeth. She staggered a few more steps, raised the weapon over her head and slashed again. Another earth shattering roar, and more broken scales, flesh mixed with blood splattering onto the dwarf's armor. "Well, this is just the beginning!"
The beast shook even more violently, trying its hardest to shake her off. The Gwarenian guard grabbed the large spike nearby and did another round, this time very close to the base of its neck. More screaming ensued.
"This is for what your twin and her lovely pet just did to me earlier!" Daraga roared. One more axe blow sank deep into the ridge of the red dragon's back, once more it screamed.
The spirit dragon now abandoned fending off the crimson shadow being and tried to come to the aid if its twin. Blinding light and a foul wind of power surged through the entire battlefield, people on the ground saw the dwarven warrior's body freeze and roll off the back of the shape-shifted dragon. Still holding the battleaxe tightly in her hand, the dwarf's eyes widened with shock and disbelief.
"Paralyze spell!" Levyn shouted at the worried Athras and Wolf. "She's still breathing…for now! We need to get her away as fast as we can!"
The Dalish elf bolted out from his position, using the blizzard as a cover, and dragged the stiff Dwarf away from the red dragon, who was still recovering from the heavy blows, before the beast came around and squashed her. He placed her at the foot of a stonewall and drew out his longbow before giving the apostate a thumbs up.
Lights once again beamed out from the giant dragon's body. They soon found the Scholar had returned to his original form as it faded. His robe was disarrayed and soaked in blood. The Hurlock staggered forward and stumbled onto the ground. Panting, the Maker-forsaken creature closed his eyes and grunted, muttering under his breath and several Rage Demons roused up from the ground at once. He reached out his withered and knotted hand to one of the Fade creatures nearby. The thing let out a loud squeak before being dragged toward the darkspawn. Levyn and his companion's eyes widened in shock as the sinister being started to absorb energy from the Demon.
Relief and satisfaction washed over the Scholar's waxy face. Nearby, the spirit dragon grunted, seeming to be pleased that its sibling had regained his strength.
"This is not good," Levyn murmured, almost to himself. Actually, nothing is good, by the way this is going.
Something was trembling and shaking, from a distance, another world, another place.
Someone was shouting, shrieking, and running. Small objects were hitting on some strange surface.
Gladys's hands relaxed slightly. Her eyes fluttered, but felt too heavy to open. Her body ached like it was being squashed by an Ogre. Every inch of her bones were shattered and reassembled in the roughest manner possible. The Chasind girl moaned, and then hissed when one of her cuts was pulled. She also felt her head was throbbing, like thousands of needles stabbing through it.
What was happening here?
Where was she?
Get up, girl.
Someone was talking to her, sounded as though coming to her through a thick layer of fog. She could not quite distinguish who that was or where was the voice come from.
Who…who's that?
I believe you know who I am, girl.
What? Flemeth? How….?
You will need to get up.
Gladys tried, and ripples of pain nearly torn her in half.
I can't!
You will have to, as Levyn's life and the others depends on it!
Levyn.
Suddenly, everything returned to her head. Being pulled through to the Fade by a darkspawn; the sinister demon disguised as Levyn trying to seduce her before she killed it; the real Levyn and the party turning up; the investigation of the small alleyway; something dragging her and bashing her against the wall; and…..
And everything went blank.
By the Spirit of the Forest, what happened to Levyn?
Trying to put aside the constant throbbing pain' presence, the Chasind girl managed to open her eyes in a slit. Immediately she saw a three-headed dragon spirit waving its heads and shooting lightening bolts at the ghastly red shadows and everyone else around it. From the carnage scattered around the small alleyway, it had been happening for some time. A silhouette, who she recognized was the Dalish elf Athras, hovered on the rooftop of a nearby hut. Firing arrows toward the giant beast, his arms moved in such a fluid motion that it became blurry. At the feet of the dragon, Wolf cast a Holy Smite. Bright silvery light beamed out from his well-built body, knocking off several Demons near him. By the wall, the Dwarven lady lay stiff and seemed paralyzed. Behind the templar, another horrible Fade Creature in bright glowing red color was snarling at a mage. The mage had several burn marks all over his robes, and his hair was soaked and plastered to his face. Yet, his eyes sparked with determination as he cast yet another spell toward the hideous being in front of him.
Levyn.
Gladys gasped, instinctively reaching out her hand as she tried to call out to the apostate. It was then she realized that she was wrapped up in some form of barrier, possibly placed by the mage, to protect her. He has been protecting her from the start. He had always trying to protect her….
And now he was a few meters away, trying to protect her, and everyone in Gwaren…
No.
She had to do something. But… what could she do?
Listen, girl. You will do exactly what I ask you do to. We have very little time.
The old voice once again echoed around her, within the barrier. The Chasind girl dragged herself to a sitting position and gave her surroundings another look. Another spell exploded over her head, she saw the Dalish elf fly across her and smash on the wall. Her heart twisted.
There was very little time.
What should she do? What could she do?
You will need to open a tear, sending everyone back to Gwaren.
What? How in the world was she going to do that?
You are in the Fade, girl. Anything is possible. Just do exactly what I tell you.
The Chasind girl tightened her fists. All right, tell me.
Excellent, girl. Now, reach out your and toward Jethro's house door and aim your thought at the area where the darkspawn appeared and repeated exactly what I am about to say…
What about me? What would happen to me? Gladys thought frantically.
You will return to your body of course.
In other words, return to the blind girl she used to be.
Gladys shook her head slightly. As long as everyone is save, she suppose it didn't matter…
Carefully followed by the instruction of the voice, Gladys pointed her shaking hand at the destined direction, tried her best to calm her mind and repeat the strange tongue. It took her a few tries to finally get it right. Strange light flickered from her fingertips and slowly drifted toward Jethro's hut. The air stirred. Suddenly, the battled paused; both the demons and the remaining party stared at the light.
"No!" It was the giant Twisted Demon who cried out first, filled with fear and horror. "Stop it! Stop it at all cost! Don't let the light reach the house!"
Other minor Demon leaped forward and tried to stop the light, but by then it had reach the spot. A loud humming noise vibrated through the whole battlefield area and a huge airwave rippled past all of them. It was followed by a bright green light, which quickly covered everybody in the small alleyway…
"They are here!"
"Quick! Weapons up!"
"Mages ready!"
The mist that usually filled the Fade lifted. Suddenly, the air around them was filled with voices. Levyn jerked his head around and realized they were once again returning to the realm of living. Athras and Daraga had been carried aside and tended by the Gwarenian mages. Several guards and Dalish fighters were fighting with the Rage Demons. Knights and a few sisters from the Chantry were holding up the spirit dragon. The templars had joined the fight with Wolf to the Sloth Demon, shape-shifted from the Scholar while they were in the Fade. Relief suddenly washed over him—a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulder. He shook his head, still unable to believe how his luck had changed in a blink of an eye.
The blood mage frowned slightly, remembering they all saw a small flickering light drift past them and hit the weakest spot prior to their return to this world. Obscured by all the effects of the spells and creatures, he honestly could not see who cast it. Who, in a realm full of demons, would see they could no longer hold on? Who, instead of revealing themselves, decided to remain hidden and help them from a small distance?
Who could be that powerful, to cast a spell to create a tear?
A loud shriek jerked his thoughts back to the present. The apostate turned and saw that the spectral dragon had called forward some Children to assist the battle. Large bug-like darkspawn emerged from the shadows and joined the attack with the Demons. Their loud screams nearly deafened everyone around them. The sinister creatures leaped and launched themselves toward their prey and sank their long teeth deep into their terrified victims' flesh.
Back in the realm of Thedas, the Scholar and his twin still wielded great power.
Large explosions occurred overhead. Levyn looked up and saw the Rage Demon had shape-shifted back to the Red Dragon form. The beast was now firing more fire bolts at both the Gwarenians and its own allies. A swarm of insects drifted from the balcony and began to move toward the darkspawn below. The mage's lip curled up. It looked like Mihi had joined the battle. The blood mage narrowed his eyes. The only way to diminish their power, by the look of things, was that one of them had to go first.
And he had a fair idea as to which one.
He took out his dagger and sliced his hands. Familiar Tevinter syllables streamed from his lips naturally as he drew a rune circle on the ground. Light beamed out of the runes almost as soon as his writing stopped. A loud cry pierced the air, the blood dragon once again summoned and circling just above them, breathing crimson mist and inflicting blood wounds upon the opponents below.
Not very far from him, Wolf managed to cast several Holy Smites, temporarily stunning the Spirit dragon and several minor demons around him. The templar dug his heels into the ground and sprung forward, his greatsword charging toward the Red Dragon. A couple of other templars and knights followed. The giant beast flapped its wings, knocking over a handful of those who came near. The senior templar came to the side of the beast, spat and began to hack away at its feet.
The monster roared. It raised its large leg and tried to stomp the templar, but he managed to jump away just in time. One of the other mages stepped forward with hands outstretched. He called out a spell, and suddenly the energy around them began to swirl. Elements of all kinds hit almost everyone on the field. The dragon staggered, losing balance for the first time.
Several huge bolts zoomed through the sky and hit the shape-shifted dragon. The beast roared, and dark blood instantly splattered everywhere. Levyn raised his head and saw one large ballista erected at the alleyway entrance, with no one but Ser Ciaren and Jethro standing behind it.
"Y'right, mate?" The Chasind logger circled one had around his mouth and shouted.
"Much better now!" the blood mage shouted back.
Jethro grinned and gave his friend a thumb up before he drew out his dagger and rushed in to join Wolf's party.
Stone elven warriors poured into the alleyway. Levyn's smile deepened as the familiar stone fighters charged toward the three-headed spectral dragon. He turned around, glanced up at the sky and saw the blood dragon still doing its best at making the opponents' blood boil.
Another loud shriek sent the ground shaking. It looked like the Red Dragon could not hold up much longer.
The blood mage murmured and cast another Blizzard before he conjured a swarm of stinging insects to the monster's direction. Jethro climbed up the back of the beast, seizing the chance of all the hail battering around them. The logger stabbed a couple of daggers deep along its neck. The dragon snarled in frustration, as it was unable to shake off the Chasind man. Wolf managed to move close enough to the monster and thrust his sword deep past its scale. He watched in satisfaction as black blood splashed onto his armor. The templar squinted, waiting as another heated fire bolt shot past, and continued to shove his weapon deep into the creature's hide.
As if sensing its sibling was in trouble, one of the spirit dragon's heads turned around and called out. It tried to cast a healing spell, but was trapped in a Force Field cast by a battlemage below. The ghostly being twisted and writhed before the glowing light on its body went even brighter. When it faded, people realized the beast had changed into a large drifting orb, floating about a few meters above the ground.
Several archers emerged from the balconies of the houses in the alleyway. All nocked their arrows and fired at both creatures at top speed. Lanaya appeared among her Dalish fighters, casting one Paralyze spell after another to stop the orb from moving anywhere. Being refrained by several powerful magic spells, the glowing light ball took multiple hits and started to flicker.
"Take it down once for all!" shouted Ser Ciaren.
Levyn cast another Force Field around the silver orb, stopped it from taking life force from the demons and darkspawn around it. The light slowly diminished and returned to a faint spirit collapsed onto the ground.
"What in the Spirit was that?" Jethro cried out.
"Xue," replied Wolf simply. "The darkspawn twin."
Unable to move, the spirit became more and more transparent by the minute. She looked up and turned toward the Red Dragon, her voice sounded like a helpless child's.
"My love… I am sorry…." Xue tried to smile, but the expression was sarcastic, mocking. "I am sorry…. I want to be…to be free…so much…."
The Dragon growled, as if trying to answer its twin.
The darkspawn turned her head around and glanced at the door of Jethro's house longingly one more time, before her body completely faded and vanished.
The Red Dragon's howl could be heard throughout all of Gwaren. It was now in a totally devastated state. The monster shook its body violently, completely ignoring the gashes and frostbites on its body, not to mention countless arrows that sprouted from its scales. Two more Mass Fire Bolts showered from the sky and smashed onto everything on the ground. Its glowing red eyes were filled with total fury. The creature flipped its wings; blood burst out of those darkspawn's veins around it and flew toward it.
"Watch it!" The swamp of insects returned to the ground the returned to the form of Mihi. "It's recharging!"
The monster roared. Its tail swept vigorously, knocking off a hug chunk of the wall and several archers on the top of it. It once again stretched out its front claw, attempting to grab Levyn. The blood mage cast a Winter's Grasp to fend off the attack.
Wolf waved his greatsword and cast another Holy Smite. The shape-shifted dragon stumbled as it was hit. Another templar stepped forward and cast another one. The sinister creature's body started to shake. It shrieked, making another last-ditch effort by breathing anther spit of Fire, intending to take everyone in the alleyway with it. Jethro tried to avoid the engulfing flames as they shot his way and lost his footing. The Chasind logger tumbled down from the dragon's back and onto the ground heavy and hard.
"Jethro!" Levyn cried out. The blood mage watched in horror as the Red Dragon flapped its wings and caused another set of whirlwinds, with the archer's barely conscious body right underneath it. Luckily, two knights happened to be near and dragged him away to safety.
Totally exhausted and nearly drained of mana, the Red Dragon could no longer perform any powerful attack. All it did now was flap its wings to stop anyone who went near it and send everything flying in all directions.
Levyn drew out his dagger. Instead of slashing his palm this time, he leaped forward and slid all the way to the dragon's stomach, using all his remaining strength to push the Antivan weapon upward. Warm blood poured down and covered his body from top to toe. He felt the creature above him stiffen, and its roaring stopped abruptly.
The next thing he knew, it began to fall on top of him.
The blood mage quickly crawled back out and ran. The ground shook as the dragon fell with a loud bang, dust gushing from beneath the beast as it collapsed onto the ground. When he looked over his shoulder again, he saw the dragon was dead.
Finally, it was all over.
Relief washed over him. Levyn's knee buckled, and the next thing the mage noticed was that he was kneeling on the ground, watching Wolf carefully approach the dead being and insert his weapon into its head to make sure it was really gone. Around him, the others chased off and blasted the remaining demons and darkspawn. Some of the fighters started to cheer and hug each other, celebrating the victory over one of the most difficult battles Gwaren had ever endured in the decade. The worst part of this ordeal was truly over.
A soft, tentative hand touched Levyn's his shoulder. The apostate slowly looked up, and saw Gladys smiling down at him. Her eyes were opaque and sightless once again. Still, her presence filled him with joy and serenity.
"Levyn." The Chasind girl was very close to tears.
"My name is Jowan." Levyn grinned back. "Allow me to tell you a long story."