A pain extremely intense grabbed his mind, pulling at arrant memories of happy times and sad times. Shadowy figures would change into his friends and then into disgusting creatures with rotting flesh and evil smiles. Leric wanted so badly to be out of the barren landscape and escape the creatures that perused him.
Leric, Leric, his name filled his ears as he ran blindly towards the depths of the dark forest. As he looked it resembled the place he grew up in, but this place had darker shadows and eerie trees with bare limbs. No matter where he ran, the voiced followed him.
"Tamlen!" he screamed in hopes of finding his friend, his brother.
"I am right here Leric, why so dramatic?" Leric spun on his heels and looked behind him, coming face to face with Tamlen. His joy was immense and he grabbed his friend by the shoulder.
"You had we worried lethallin, I thought you were dead," gasped Leric. With a hearty shove he batted around Tamlen as they laughed. He didn't know when the woods had become beautiful again, but suddenly he felt like he was home.
"Leric your acting like those city shems, out here in this forest you and I are safe, we don't have to worry about pain anymore." Tamlen's smooth features slide into a bright smile, "Come with me, I will show you something amazing."
Leric was about to take a step when a cold sensation went from the pit of his stomach to the base of his throat. This situation was too strange, he felt like he had done this before, but differently. He shook his head, what was he a crazy man? He made up his mind to follow Tamlen, but didn't make it far until the pain returned to his head. Its pounding was like their celebration drums, a low and powerful beat played in his skull. Noise started to accompany the beat, at first Leric thought it was gibberish. However the longer it continued the clearer it became, words were being spoken, clear voices were saying something, he just couldn't grasp it. He had not realized he was on the ground in the fetal position until he opened his eyes and saw two feet in front of his head. As Leric tilted his head up a slothful smile flitted across Tamlen's face.
"Well are you coming or not lazy head, now is not the time to dally." With that Tamlen's powerful arms reached out and picked him up. His shoulder was seized by a vice grip as Leric was steered towards a deeper part of the woods.
"We are going to have so much fun, think of the adventure….." Leric knew something was out of place. He stopped listening to his friend and started to pay attention to the vice grip that was moving him. Since when had Tamlen grown so strong?
Again the clear sound of voices broke through his haze, it caused his head to snap up into the grey sky.
"Come on!" Tamlen's voice was stern and deep, he no longer wore a happy smile, instead his face was tight and angry. The flawless complexion somehow seemed grey and splotchy, his cruel smirk terrified Leric. "I. Said. Move." Tamlen yanked his shoulder and pushed him forward.
At the exact moment he was pushed forward he felt like a hand had grabbed his midsection and was pulling him backward. Trees passed in front of his vision as he moved swiftly through the landscape. The pounding was back again but it was becoming bearable.
"Noooo, your mine, do you hear me! You betrayed me and left me to DIE, you will not leave me here alone!" Tamlen was moving at the same speed towards him and since Leric was moving backward he saw his friend's visage. Hatred and furry coloured Tamlen's face. As his friend's hand came out for him a bright light blinded Leric and consumed Tamlen, the wild screams ended abruptly.
A new silence filled the air, it felt like he was floating. With a calmer mind he was able to remember that this feeling was what it felt like to be healed by the keeper. As a boy he had gotten several injuries that needed the aide of the keeper, and it felt just like this. With the knowledge that his clan keeper was watching over him, Leric allowed his mind to drift peaceful into oblivion.
Leric sat up and looked around in a dazed wonder. He didn't know where he was, Where is Tamlen? He thought. As he tried to get up, a hand pulled his shoulder from behind and caused him to start. He jumped and looked behind him only to be met with the calm and worried face of the keeper. Her wrinkled skin showed all her years, all the tragedies she had seen.
"Be calm, Da'len you are fine, please you must be calm."
Leric was anything but calm, there was a gap in his memories from when he and Tamlen found the creepy mirror to when he woke up a second ago. He pushed the keeper's hand away and tried to stand. The room spun and he collapsed again.
"You will not survive Leric if you continue this strain on you body."
"What happened keeper where is Tamlen?" The old women seemed to look older as he asked the question, a foreboding look came across her face.
"Your brother, he is gone I am afraid and you, you are plagued with the blight fever."
The keeper's simple words played over and over in his head. How had he become infected and what did she mean Tamlen was gone? A confused look must have crossed Leric's face because the keeper patted his knee and said, "Stay young one, I will go get the Warden, the man who found you."
With that the women left the aravel as Leric stared at the door. He felt tight, like a hand was squeezing his heart and his soul. A quick prayer to the gods was muttered under his breath as a dark man came into the room. Leric's first impression was, of course, Shem! Then getting over the shock he realized what a big and imposing figure the guest portrayed, with daggers on his back and a strange white/silver outfit.
The man tilted his head to Leric in greeting, "It is good to see the Keeper healing has been able to keep you with us." Leric thought the human sounded sincere, but was cautious anyway.
"Who are you and what have you done with Tamlen"
"My name is Duncan of the Grey Wardens and I came to the woods in search of a Dalish recruit. However as I was traveling I came across your body and thought it best to bring you here. As for this other elf, Tamlen I think you said his name was, well I saw no one but you."
The human man, Duncan held nothing of value for Leric so he pushed off the bed and went to grab his quiver. "What are you doing Leric you must be still or the taint will move faster!" Chastised the Keeper.
"If this human" Leric waved to Duncan, "Knows nothing of Tamlen then he is still out there sick and injured"
The keeper looked over to Leric and sighed, "What happened to you, at least tell the clan where to look"
Leric recalled how they had found the humans in the forest and gone in search of the cave once the Shems were killed. He had to pause briefly when trying to describe the unnatural environment full of corpses and monsters. Darkspawn, that was what Duncan had told him they were. When he finally got to the part about the magical mirror, he could see Duncan's interest in it. The man pushed for details, but all Leric could remember was the location of the artefact and Tamlen touching it.
"If you are so adamant on going to the cave again, then fine, but take my apprentice, she can help better analyse the mirror." Leric nodded enthusiastically and was glad he had the keeper's blessing, not that it would have changed his mind if she did not granted it. Leric strapped on his brown and black leather armour, placing his secret dagger on the inside fold of his tunic. The Dalish leather fit tightly to his toned build and his long limbs were clad in protective encasements of intricately woven leather with vine designs. He remembered sadly how Tamlen had helped him pick this outfit out when they had become hunters together.
"I will accompany you, if what you say is true, then the mirror may be how the Darkspawn are coming into this area." With that Duncan stepped outside before Leric could even start to protest the human's intrusion. They are such an obnoxious race, he thought as he strung his quiver and picked 30 arrows and put them in his pack. He was a skilled warrior with blade, but his passion was archery. Tamlen would even say that if Leric had to choose between the arms of a woman or the arms of his bow, the latter would always win. Pushing such trivial thoughts aside, Leric strode out into the early morning light towards the cave that haunted his dreams.
Blazing fires danced off the hunter's vivid green eyes as he fought back tears. Leric had found no sign of Tamlen and he trusted the word of the Grey Warden when he said that his clan brother was most likely dead. As he stood tall in front of the honorary funeral fire for Tamlen, he dug the butt end of his bow into the dirt, he would not cry, not here. Others had long since left and even though he was the only one left, he still would not openly show such weakness. Leric wanted to scream and yell, to throw anything within reach, his still form itched to cause pain for others. Yet he stayed stiller than the largest tree in the forest with roots firmly in the ground.
As Leric's mind wandered he started to consider the option Duncan had given him. After destroying the mirror, the human man had bluntly told him that in a month at most he would die a painful death. He even said that Leric could turn into the creatures that the group had fought on the way to the mirror. In the beginning Leric had thought the notions unbelievably stupid, he was healthy, a hunter in his prime. For goodness sake he wasn't even twenty and two years. However as he stared at the creatures lining the cave floor he felt a strange camaraderie with them, he almost grieved over the dead ones. This hideous feeling was causing him to now take heed to the Warden.
Leric hated having to leave his home, his clan, but he was slowly coming to the realization that he was turning into something else. Frustration caused him to throw his bow to the ground in anger. Why had the gods condemned him. They took his friend, made him sick and now they left him no other path but to follow a Shem around the country doing the dirty work not even most flat ears would do.