It was three days after their departure from Denerim that one of the new recruits finally asked the question Duncan had been expecting.

"Commander Duncan, may I ask where our destination is?" Duran was still adjusting to his lack of authority, but adjusting well in Duncan's opinion.

"You may." Duncan waited a beat, giving enough time for the flicker of dissatisfaction to show on Duran's face and then be suppressed. It was a good test of the ex-prince's control. "My answer would be that we are headed to Ostagar, in the south."

"Why there?" Mora asked. She had apparently decided to listen in when she saw Duran approach their leader. Nalia was close by as well, but seemed to be paying no attention to Duncan and the others.

Duncan would have smiled at the question, but the topic that Mora's question led to was a grim one. "The objective of the Wardens in Orzammar was to scout the Deep Roads. This is because there is a Blight coming."

The reactions from the recruits were varied. Daren's brow furrowed, and Nalia – who apparently had been listening to the conversation – paled at the news. Mora, in stark contrast, just raised an eyebrow.

"A what?"

Duncan turned towards her. "Ah, I apologize. I had forgotten you would not have learned much about such history. I guess I should explain about the Blight, as well as what the duty of Grey Wardens." Ignoring the slight annoyance that the dwarven woman tried to hide, the Warden Commander began his explanation.

"The mission of the Grey Wardens is to guard against and combat the darkspawn. As such, Grey Wardens act as neutral parties, bound to no nation. That is not to say that we do not cooperate and get along with the various nations of the world, however. It would certainly make our job more difficult if we were not on good terms with the people we are attempting to protect, no?"

Mora cut in. "And a Blight?"

Duncan sighed. She definitely preferred to get to the point. Hopefully, she would learn that even information that wasn't immediately relevant was still useful.

"Blights are… terrible things. Have you heard of the Old Gods of Tevinter?" Surprisingly, even Daren shook his head along with Nalia and Mora. "They were powerful dragons, worshipped by Tevinter long ago. Little is known about what they truly are beyond that, but what is relevant is that they exist." Duncan paused for any questions, and continued when none came his way. "We know the Old Gods exist, buried deep beneath the earth. And the first one was found, hundreds of years ago, by darkspawn. When they found it, when the darkspawn touched it, the Old God awoke… and was infected with the darkspawn taint."

Horrified realization dawned on the faces of Mora and Nalia. "The Archdemons…" Duran gasped out. Duncan nodded grimly. Aware of Mora's confusion, he continued explaining.

"An Archdemon is a foul creature, a corrupted Old God. On their own, darkspawn are mostly unorganized, able to use basic tactics at best, and even then only with a powerful darkspawn commanding a small group. The Archdemon is powerful, and more than that, it is cunning and intelligent. Under the control of an Archdemon, the darkspawn will gather in immense numbers, and their strategies and tactics are on par with our own."

By the end of his explanation, Mora's face had paled, and her jaw was clenched. "And we're up against that now?"

Duncan sighed. "I wish it were not true, but it is. The Grey Wardens have methods of discovering the presence of an awakened Archdemon, and one has been awakened."

"And likely, no one wishes to believe that another Blight is possible, with four centuries having passed since the last." Duncan sighed internally. Duran had quickly pointed out the exact problem that had been plaguing his efforts recently.

"That is precisely what has happened. Thankfully, there are those that have faith in the Grey Wardens, and the increased presence of darkspawn on the surface has at least convinced others that they are a problem that needs to addressed."

"And that's where we're going to, isn't it? Wherever the fight against the darkspawn is happening?" Nalia's input was surprising, given her silence up until that point.

"Exactly." He gave the girl a smile, and she averted her eyes. If Duncan's smile grew more bitter at the sight, no one else seemed to notice. "Between his high regard for the Grey Wardens and the threat of the darkspawn, King Cailan was more than willing to mobilize his forces. After our time in Orzammar, I sent word of where the darkspawn were most likely to surface in large numbers. The stop in Denerim was both for recruitment," he gestured towards Nalia as well as Daveth, who was further behind them talking with other Grey Wardens, "as well to receive any messages Cailan might have sent for us."

Frowning, Mora spoke up. "If the darkspawn haven't come up yet, why did you talk as if they were already attacking on the surface?"

Duncan nodded in approval. "A good question. It is not that the darkspawn have not surfaced, but rather that their true numbers are still waiting. Enough of them have begun wreaking havoc among the southern part of the country, and that has convinced even the more reluctant among Fereldan's nobility that action must be taken."

The woman nodded, accepting the explanation. In contrast, Duran's brow was furrowed. The dwarf opened his mouth to ask a question-

Duncan's head turned toward south quickly, towards the forest they had been walking along, and he frowned. "Darkspawn are nearby."

The other Wardens were reacting as well, while the recruits watched them in confusion.

"Darkspawn? Here? How do you know?" Daren fired questions at Duncan, who was already turning towards the forest.

"An ability that Grey Wardens possess," the Warden Commander replied distractedly. "We can sense darkspawn, with the accuracy depending on both their numbers and distance.

"Darkspawn this far north is worrying. From what I sense, it is no large group, but even a small group can bring devastation. Stopping them is imperative."

With their new purpose in mind, the group turned and ventured into the Brecilian Forest.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"We sure showed them, didn't we?"

Relden Mahariel rolled his eyes at his friend. "Tamlen, they were shemlen. It's not like killing them is any great feat."

Tamlen frowned at his friend. "Well, when you put it that way, it seems no great feat. But by doing so, we've made the forest a better place for the elves, keeping shems like them from ruining it."

"Always looking for a way to make yourself sound better, aren't you?" But Relden was grinning back at his friend. Tamlen slung an arm around Relden's neck, matching his friend's grin.

"Perhaps so, but with only so much excitement in our lives, is it so bad to make everything as exciting as we can?" Tamlen's voice came down to a hush with his next words. "Speaking of excitement, those shems did mention something interesting before they died."

"The ruins?" Relden frowned, ducking out from Tamlen's grip with practiced ease. Smoothing his dark brown locks of hair, he said, "I'm not sure that is such a good idea, Tamlen. Their talk of a demon… It unsettles me."

His friend scoffed. "Come now, Relden, don't tell me you believe that there was a demon? They were just scared shems who lost their nerve. The carvings on this stone they had is far more interesting." Tamlen held up the rock, and both elves were clearly able to see the written elvish engraved into it.

Relden attempted to sound reluctant, but his interest was difficult to hide. "Well, we will need to be careful, and we should inform the Keeper, but the possibility of finding an elvish ruin isn't something easily passed up."

This time, Tamlen was the one rolling his eyes. "The Keeper might be interested in these carvings, but there's not point in telling her anything until we know if there's more or not, and we're already here. Now come on, they said it was to the west."

Relden sighed, but couldn't prevent the small grin on his face. He and Tamlen had been friends their whole lives, and Relden could't remember a time when his friend wasn't jumping into as many adventures as possible. Whether it was hunting, exploring, or even just hanging around their camp, Tamlen always found a way to make everything more exciting… and usually more dangerous, as well.

In no time at all, the pair had found the entrance to the ruins they were looking for. However…

"I don't recall seeing this here before, do you?" Relden frowned. Tamlen's question brought back his worry about the situation.

"No, and that worries me. Tamlen, we should go get the Keeper, or at least Merill!"

To Relden's dismay, his friend just laughed. "Come now, Relden, you worry far too much. There's no point in running back without knowing there's something worth making a fuss over."

"At least be careful, Tamlen." Tamlen went to respond with a grin, but stopped, seeing the seriousness in Relden's eyes. He sighed.

"Always the careful one. Fine, my friend. We will be wary. Now, come!" Tamlen walked forward into the cave, and Relden followed close behind.

They quickly passed through what must have previously been an entrance hall of some sort. Relden looked about the room with uneasy eyes, seeing spider webs filling the corners of the room. Nothing unusual for an abandoned underground ruin, but Relden felt ill at ease.

Many of the hallways were impassable, the ceiling having collapsed and blocked the path with stone and dirt. The pair made their way along the few paths that were clear, Tamlen grinning with excitement while Relden kept moving his gaze about with a frown on his face.

A few minutes in, Tamlen saw a statue in the hallway in front of them. He gasped, and then ran forward. Relden went to follow, and suddenly heard a noise that turned his blood to ice.

"Tamlen, look out!" His friend barely moved in time, and a scrabbling, hairy body flew through the air where the elf had been only just before.

The large spider righted itself with ease, launching itself at Tamlen once again. Without the element of surprise, however, Tamlen was able to draw his sword and skewer the creature easily. Unfortunately, Relden could see more of the spiders swarming, making it impossible to even attempt to escape instead of fight.

"By the Dread Wolf," he cursed under his breath. It didn't help that they were stuck in an intersection of paths, with three directions to guard from. Two warriors would have difficulty guarding in that location. "Tamlen, follow me!"

With his friend's attention, Relden drew his own blades, and then rushed back down the path they had come from. 'If we can at least stay in a single hallway, it gives us only two groups to guard against. And if the group behind us is eliminated, then the larger group from the two other paths will be more easily managed.' Whether or not Tamlen knew what Relden was planning or not, he followed without hesitation, charging at the spiders.

The four spiders immediately began to attack, two leaping directly at Relden and Tamlen. Relden was able to throw himself to the side and dodge, while Tamlen simply skewered his. The other two spiders began spitting globs of some substance at the pair of elves. It splashed against the ground, missing both of them.

"Ah!" Relden winced at a pain in his leg. Looking down, he saw that whatever the spiders spit had splashed up, and a few drops had hit his leg. It burned against his skin. "Tamlen, their spit is acid!"

His friend didn't respond, already going to attack the spitting spiders, but Relden knew his friend had heard. That left Relden with the spider that had missed its leap initially – and was trying again.

Following Tamlen's example, Relden simply moved out of the way and stabbed at the creature while it was in midair. Black ichor spilled out, and when the spider crashed to the ground, its legs waved about in death throes before curling up in a sign of death.

He turned to see that Tamlen had finished off the other two. Good – that left them with no enemies at their back.

Now that their position was secure, it was easy for Tamlen to guard against the spiders that flooded them from the other direction, while Relden switched out his knives for his far more familiar bow. With sword and arrow, it was easy for the pair to finish off the remaining spiders.

"Well, that was certainly exciting."

Relden glared at Tamlen. "If you hadn't decided to rush into that hallway, we wouldn't have had any issue with them." He was even more exasperated when Tamlen just laughed. Both of them made their way past the horde of spider corpses that littered the hallway, returning to the statue that had caught Tamlen's attention.

"You recognize this, don't you?" Tamlen's voice was full of excitement.

"A statue honoring the Creators," Relden murmured in surprise and awe. "Back from when our people lived in Arlathan…"

His friend's tone turned angry for a moment. "Yes, before the shems enslaved us and we lost so much of our lore." Tamlen took a deep breath and then continued. "Anyway, this looks like human architecture, but with a statue of our people. Do you think these ruins truly date back to the time of Arlathan?"

Relden looked at his friend, brow furrowed. "This forest is nowhere near Arlathan, and a statue of our people being in a shem creation means nothing."

"But look!" Tamlen pointed to the base of the statue. "It isn't something that could have been taken and moved here, it was built in this place. Even if the elves didn't live here, its architects knew of our gods."

"And it still means nothing," Relden replied, biting out his words. "Shems have done nothing but evil to our people, and a statue in shem ruins does not change that."

There was no response from Tamlen, and Relden's anger disappeared.

"Tamlen, I apologize. You did not deserve that outburst."

He received a small grin from his friend. "Think nothing of it. I know where your anger points, and that it is not at me." Given Tamlen's personality, the elf immediately moved on. "Now, let's look through the rest of the ruin. If you truly think the Keeper should look at this, we should at least know where anything important is, no?"

Relden smiled at his friend, thankful for his understanding. He didn't thank Tamlen out loud, but he knew the other understood without anything said. "If you insist. Let us see what else this place has to offer!"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

They stared.

Their reflections stared back.

"What do you think it is, Tamlen?" Relden whispered. He didn't know why – other than another group of spiders, they hadn't encountered any other life in the ruin.

"Besides a mirror? I don't know, but it's beautiful, isn't it?" There was something in Tamlen's voice that worried Relden, but he brushed it off. His friend might be reckless at times, but there was no harm in being interested in a mirror. "I wonder what it says?"

"Unless you've been taking secret lessons with the Keeper, I doubt we are going to find out," Relden deadpanned at his friend.

Tamlen sighed. "Odd that it isn't broken like everything else here, though. With how old this ruin must be, some scavengers must have made it in here at some point, right?"

"Odd indeed."

Suddenly, Tamlen gasped, leaning forward. "Did you see that?" He asked fervently. "I think something moved inside the mirror!"

Once again, Relden heard a fervent tone in Tamlen's voice, and this time he didn't dismiss the worry it brought. "Tamlen, I think we should leave the mirror alone…"

"I just want to know what it is," his friend said dismissively. "Don't you see it? There it is again!" Tamlen stepped toward the mirror as if in a trance. "Can you feel that? I think it knows we're here. I just need to take a closer look…"

Relden's blood ran cold. If Tamlen was feeling some presence in the mirror, then that meant there was some magic involved. And if that presence wanted Tamlen to go to the mirror…

"Tamlen, no!" Relden leapt forward, grabbing his friend's wrist to yank him backward. But Tamlen was stuck in front of the mirror, staring into it as the glass began to swirl with unearthly light.

"It's showing me places, I can see some kind of city, underground, a great blackness," Tamlen babbled, even as Relden tried to pull him away. "It- it saw me, Relden! I can't look away!"

"Hold on, Tamlen!"

The light from the mirror intensified, shining and shining until Relden could see nothing but light-

And then everything turned to black.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Can you hear me? I am… very sorry."

And I'm a week late… Whoops.

I really have no excuse, except that I am terrible at simply sitting down and doing something.

But here we are! I started the chapter off with Duncan and the recruits, since I wanted to give a small explanation of why Duncan was going around to the places he was. Hopefully it was somewhat believable… especially since we still have a few Origins left to cover.

Now we meet Relden Mahariel, elf of the Dalish clans. I know that I not only took a lot from the original script, but also cut out parts of the ruins, but I intend for the next part to have more unique dialogue – mostly because I'm not even going to look at the actual script for anything besides Relden talking to the Keeper.

With all luck, the next chapter will be up either on time for next week's update, or possibly early to make up for missing a week!