Quick note: Thank you so much to the people who have already followed and favorited! I didn't expect so much support so early in the story! I already have the next couple of chapters ready, but I'm trying to pace myself so that I'm really putting out my best stuff that I'm happy with. In the past I've just thrown what I had out there, but with the weekly updates, now I'm forcing myself to sit down and revise everything so I'm happy with what I'm putting out. By the way, I updated the first chapter to reflect some changes I've already made to the story, so it should read a little better.
Thanks again and let me know what you think about!
-Jade
Zero was in the fade.
It was an interesting experience, as an academic who had studied Thedas and its people since the days of the Hero of Ferelden. The Fade was an intricate part of their lives that effected them on large scale level, and to be able to walk among her studies was almost a dream come true.
Almost.
The Fade had decided to shape into the Luminary, the place where she and other threaders spent their days reading the threads of their assigned thread-worlds. She knew she was in the Fade because in her twenty years as a threader, she had never known the Luminary to be as desolate as it currently was.
She was the only person in the room, all the looms were empty, their thread-worlds tightly coiled in their assigned racks. There was never not someone in the Luminary; most of the time it was threaders who were night owls and couldn't sleep, but there was always someone there. However, here, there was not a hint of life besides her own. Zero shuffled down the walkway, making her way to the loom she had claimed when she first started threading, which was located in the very back of the Luminary. As she sat down on the wooden bench, smoothed with age and wear, she paused to think to herself.
The Fade was a place of demons and spirits.
Zero would have to be careful and keep her wits about her. She would listen to whatever the spirits might say to her, but she would be very careful not to agree to anything; soak up any information she could, but she would never make promises here. There was no point in escaping the guardians if she was just going to fall into a demon's trap.
But, for now, she would enjoy all that she could learn from this place.
Breaking out of her thoughts, Zero ran her hands over the worn golden loom, the familiar feel of the metal and threading lending comfort to her. She would miss her life on the other-world, but over time, she would learn to live here. She'd probably be happier too.
The other-world treated threaders much like mages were treated in Thedas. The guardians were like Templars, watching the threaders, hunting them down when they escaped from the 'safety' of the Barrier. Zero would, of course, miss all her friends from her section and the other divisions, and hoped that the next Captain for units 300 to 350 would be as kind as she was, but there was no real sense of loss in leaving. Zero had no close friends in the Barrier, not since Thirteen and Kalen. But that didn't matter either because Kalen was dead and Thirteen had ascended to guardianship.
Thedas was a new start; a new beginning free of her former chains.
With that thought, Zero rolled the threading back onto the loom and stood up, stretching her arms. A shadow shifted near the entrance of the Luminary. Ah, it seems I've been found out.
"I know you are there, there is no sense hiding. Would you please come out?"
The stillness resisted her request for a moment, then a large black figure stepped out of the darkness of the shadows. It was a large black wolf with six red eyes. Zero raised her brows, but did not approach or attempt to speak with it further. The wolf, however, moved closer until they were within a good distance of one another. It cocked its head, noticing Zero's tenseness.
"Be at peace." The wolf spoke, sitting on its haunches, its tongue lolling out of its mouth. "I mean you no harm. I was only curious."
Zero hid her grin. "Curiosity killed the cat, you know."
The wolf blinked. "Why would Curiosity kill anything? He is a peaceful spirit."
"Ah," Zero blinked back. "Sorry, that is a saying from where I am from. It means you should be cautious while being curious because curiosity often leads to trouble."
"I see…"
Not your best first impression Zero. she scolded herself. Why don't we try again? "What were you curious about? I will answer your questions as I see fit, but will not offer or agree to any promises, I'm afraid."
The wolf nodded. "That is very wise of you. How did you come to be here? You are not of the Fade, nor of Thedas."
"That is true." Zero gestured to the looms. "I am from another world, but am not quite certain how I came to be here. I know it happens sometimes, but the means of how people fall into other worlds is not information that is common knowledge. All I know is that I cannot return to my world."
The wolf tilted its head, its eyes narrowing slightly. "Why can't you?"
Zero sighed. "In my world, I am a threader, someone who studies, or rather studied, a world's history and all its possibilities. In that world, threaders are similar to mages, but without magic. There are guardians who fit the mold of Templars, watching over them by day, and killing those who try to escape. They have most likely already noticed my escape, however unintentional it might have been, and are coming to get me."
"Are the guardians who are after you a threat to those around you in Haven?"
"It is not impossible that they might be hurt." she admitted. "But the guardians will leave them alone so long as they do not interfere with their mission to kill me."
"Why do they want to kill threaders? How will they find you?"
"I was once told that it was because the threaders knowledge 'corrupts' the thread they have assimilated into, but I think it is because they only care about the threads that are 'pure' to them. If the thread has been touched by a threader, people are influenced in certain ways that they most likely would not have acted before. This is only my own personal theory though." Zero shrugged.
She began rolling up her pants leg and showed the wolf the barcode on her calf. "This is how they find me. Behind the tattoo, there is a small piece of metal that they inserted into the muscle of my leg. It tells them where I am located, and the tattoo lets them know that they have found the right person. My plan when I awake tomorrow is to try to convince whoever is in charge to help me find a body burnt enough that I can take the tracker out and put it in the burnt bodies' to trick the guardians into thinking I am already dead."
"You've said threaders several times now, but what are they really?"
"They are like historians of sorts. For example, I studied Thedas' history and its possibilities."
The wolf let out a long suffering sigh. "You keep saying that. What does it mean?"
"Oh. Okay, well take the Hero of Ferelden. There is always a Hero in the histories, but there are many different versions of the Hero in each history. Who was the Hero in this world?"
"A city elf by the name of Allora Tabris."
"Oh her!" Zero smiled to herself. "I think she's one of the ones I liked. Saved Redcliffe and the mages of Lake Calenhad, didn't poison the Urn of Sacred Ashes, brokered peace between the Werewolves and the Dalish of the Brecillian Woods right? Or was that Imogen Tabris? Who is the current ruler of Ferelden?"
"That would be King Alistair."
"That might be Allora then. Imogen kept Anora as the sole ruler and had romanced Alistair, so he stayed by her side. Unless Allora wasn't involved with Alistair and I'm thinking of Maelina Tabris… They all get tangled in my head sometimes. It's a process of trying to remember who was who and who did what."
The wolf let out a low chuckle. "No, you are correct. Allora Tabris did have a romance with King Alistair, which ended when she sacrificed herself to the arch-demon. You know much about these Heroes then?"
"Yes, it was my job." Zero nodded, pulling her thoughts from the possibilities. "Anyway, I followed many wardens through their adventures in Ferelden during the fifth blight, and know much of what could have been during those times and their outcome later in history. I had also studied the Champion of Kirkwall, and had just begun my studies of the so-called 'Herald of Andraste', Danica Lavellan when I awoke in a cell under Haven's chantry."
"Did you get very far?"
"Not particularly. I did get farther than what the current history is at. I would say I have approximately four or five months of future knowledge before history catches up with what I know."
"And what happens in those months?"
Zero gaze the wolf a half-lidded look. "If you thought I would give up all my secrets at once, you thought me a fool, Wolf. I do not know who you are or what your game is. No, any information I will give only to Danica Lavellan and those she trusts."
"You are wise to do so; however, I must ask why you have answered all my questions thus far?"
Zero sighed and ran her hand over her loom. "I do not know why I feel comfortable sharing these things with you, Wolf, only that I feel it is not a bad thing to do. Perhaps it is because I am overly eager to speak to someone in full understandable sentences and not the common language that I slaughter when I am awake. Perhaps it is because I feel no ill will from you, and I have not given you any information that will harm those who are currently taking care of me. Take your pick of my answers. However, I think it is time for me to awake, so goodbye wolf, maybe I will see you in future dreams if the guardians have not found me first."
Zero awoke panting on her scratchy bed of hay. She was drenched in sweat, despite the thinness of the blanket she had been given for warmth. Throwing off the offending fabric, Zero stood on her feet and began stretching her muscles out.
If she was to live in this world, she would have to pull her own weight. When my well of information dries up, I'll have to join the army or something. I need to get in shape by then if I want to be any help. She had just finished her stretching and was debating the merit of jogging around the cell when there was a knock on the door.
"Hello Cero, good nalvark." Solas pushed the door open, showing her a bowl of soup and a loaf of bread. Her breakfast for the day.
"Good morning, Solas. Thank you." She replied, taking the food, and sitting in the chair she had woken up in.
She tore off a piece of the bread, dipping it in the warm soup that had bits of vegetables bobbing at the top. It was rather good for a prisoner's meal. She'd have to savor this in the case that they didn't believe her story. Too soon, the warm soup was gone and Zero decided to breach the subject of her barcode. She started to roll up the bottom of the thin cotton dress she wore so the barcode was visible.
"Solas."
He looked up, examining her face. "Have tattoo on leg. Not good tattoo, very bad. Soldiers from not Thedas come to look for me. Soldiers not good for me, want to" she didn't know kill, so she mimicked slitting her throat. "Not bad to Danica or you or Leliana, only want me. Want help please. Soldiers find me through metal in leg. If help me, need person can put metal in leg and be me. Need someone" she mimed slitting her throat again and a whoosh of fire "so soldiers can't recognize not me."
Zero offered her leg out to Solas and pointed out the metal piece with her fingers. When he found it, he examined the barcode for a moment before standing up again.
"Thank you." he murmured. He made a stay here gesture. "Kduav holo, Cero."
She nodded, and as he slipped out, she had a terribly lonely feeling build in her throat. She groaned and put her face in her hands.
How am I supposed to do this?
Even if she was learning the language rather quickly, how was she supposed to warn them of Corypheus without jeopardizing her position? Would they even believe her? And if they didn't, would they leave her in this cell until Corypheus really did come? If they didn't believe her, what would she do about the guardians?
I'm fucked.
Before she could work herself up into a true panic, however, Solas returned – with Danica. They talked in normal tones and Zero caught words like 'tattoo', 'dangerous', and 'speak' thrown in around her name. Finally, Danica walked over to her and started to prod the barcode.
"It is called a barcode in other-world." Zero explained. "It speaks my name and rank as threader."
"And it's bad?" Danica asked, her fingers ghosting over the numbers.
"Yes."
"Why are they after you?"
Zero thought for a minute on how to put it, then shrugged internally. She hadn't wanted to get into this so early on, but she also didn't want to lie. They'd find out eventually and it would be much worse if she didn't just come out and say it now.
"In other-world, am like mage, but not mage. Called threader. Study history of other worlds by looking at threads. Sometimes threaders slip into worlds. Some on purpose, some not. Guardians are people after me, like Templars. Hunt down threaders." She made the same slitting throat motion as she had with Solas. "Piece of metal in leg they use to find me."
She took Danica's hand and pressed a finger into the skin where the barcode was. When her finger finally found the metal, Danica grimaced. She took her finger from Zero's grip and ghosted her hand over the tattoos on her arms. "And are these bad too?"
Zero shrugged. "Do not think so. They feel okay. Not know much about these tattoos."
Danica nodded and stood back up, offering a hand to Zero. "Okay. How can we help you?"
"Will need to cut metal out of leg. Have to find person to pretend to be me." She mimed fire again "best choice. Soldiers look for barcode. Person have no skin, they think I already dead. Leave with metal." Zero examined Solas and Danica's faces for any kind of disgust, but luckily she found none.
"There are many burned bodies near the Temple of Sacred Ashes. We will help you Cero."
Tears pinpricked at the corners of Zero's eyes. This was more than she had hoped for.
She pulled Danica into a hug, muttering her foreign words into the other woman's ears. "I wish I had all the words in your language so I could properly thank you, however I pledge to you, Danica Lavellan, future inquisitor, that I will help you in your endeavors until my dying day in this world. You have my help as long as you need it and more."
While Danica certainly didn't understand the words, she understood the sentiment behind them, hugging Zero tightly, then pulled back and showed her the brightest smile Zero had ever seen. "Welcome to the Inquisition, Cero. We will take care of you here."