All Roads Lead to Denerim

by Sparrow Nightrunner

All Origins may be true, but that doesn't mean it'll be easy to take out that pesky archdemon. Between a xenophobic Dalish, a reformed playboy, a mage prodigy with a bad temper, and others, getting through the Blight without strangling one another (or Alistair, for that matter) will be hard enough.

27. The Joining

27. The Joining

The circle of gathered recruits was soundless. Despite what they had just seen, no one had the courage to break the sacred silence of the ritual.

Meila was already unconscious on the ground, having been the first to be submitted.

Daveth, the next, had not been so lucky. He would precede his fellow recruits into oblivion.

Ser Jory, after him, had panicked and drawn his sword, and Duncan had illustrated under no uncertain terms that, in this, there was no turning back.

That left six pairs of shocked eyes, one slightly less shocked pair, and one that was merely saddened and world-weary.

"You have been called to submit yourself to the Taint," Duncan's voice broke the silence, and the cup passed hands again. One by one, six more drank darkspawn blood. One by one, they each fell back, fading into dreams of a fearsome black dragon.