As a duster, I knew I wouldn't get out of the life I had. I grew up with an alcoholic mother and a father that had disappeared when he couldn't pay the Carta back the coin he borrowed from them. Unlucky sod that one was.

Hunger, that was the one word that explained my childhood. I was always hungry. My mother of the year would waste coin after coin on the drink, never on anything I could have. I grew up scavenging what I could from the waste from the city to eat. I was a spindly thing as I was growing up.

I would bite and tear the flesh of the casteless to keep away from the food I was able to get from the higher levels. They wouldn't get my food.

It's probably why I can't remember much of my early years. My mind was only filled with how much of a sodding mother I had and food!

Then mother found a man that promised us that he would take us up to the surface. He promised us food, shelter, a home if we would go with him. My mother's belly grew with his child.

He left us before she was born.

It didn't matter because, when I was eight, I saw the person that would become my whole world.

Rica. That is her name. She had the same wild red hair as I did.

From then on I sodding took that hunger and made it into a weapon. I wouldn't let my precious jewel suffer the same fate as I did.

When I turned fourteen, I signed up for the Carta. It was light work at first, pocketing a few things, shaking down a few cowardly merchants, working with Leske and blackmailing a few poor sods. And during all that time I was training to fight for real. My muscles grew, my beard came in, and my hammer was sodding huge.

Then came the day where I killed a man. He refused to pay to the Carta. I had to strap him down to a chair and beat him until he agreed. He never did and my fist caved in his face. I came home to a blacked out mother and Rica tended to my broken knuckles. She was a tiny thing with a beautiful face and here I was, blood covered. I wanted to do everything for her though. The less burden she carried, the better.

And in the end, it didn't matter.

"What in the Stone do you mean that Beraht came here!?" I shouted. Rica was bathed with clothes befitting a deshyr from the Diamond Quarter.

"What do you think he came here to do? Your sister is as pretty as a jewel. There are plenty of nobles who would want to tap that." Kalah chuckled darkly, drinking from her bottle.

"Nobody asked you to open your mouth mother!" I yelled.

"Derek…you have always tried to do everything for me. Thank you. I know…when I looked at everyone in Dust Town, I was able to have a normal childhood because of you. I want to pay you back someday and if I have to be a noble hunter…then so be it." Rica said, standing up.

"Well, look at you being all high and mighty all because you were giving new clothes and some piss make-up." Kalah said. I glared at her before my sister cupped my face and made me face her.

"I never wanted this life for you Rica." I said softly.

"I know but I hate that you come home bloody so often if only to try to give me a good life. I think it's time I start pulling my own weight." Rica said, giving me a kiss on the cheek.

I'm man enough to admit I sobbed like a nug when she had to go toward the Diamond Quarter.

So the days continued where I shook down those who didn't paid, stole for Beraht, smuggled lyrium, and other things while my sister was busy trying to sell herself into those with caste.

Then it all changed on an assignment to rig the provings.

"Shit, what do we do? He's sodding drunk!" Leske said, the man that was supposed to win, Everd, passed out on the ground. I knelt down and saw his face. He wouldn't be waking up for a while.

"There's no other way. I'm entering the Provings." I said, taking off my armor.

"Have you lost your Stone sense?! You can't go out there! You're going to get knocked on your ass faster than we can eat a nug leg!" Leske said. I laughed at his joke.

"You want to face Beraht than be my guest. I got things to protect." I said, taking off Everd's armor and putting it on. I got his hammer and nodded at Leske. He sighed and rubbed his face.

"Then call me an addled nug. Try not to get killed out there." Leske chuckled.

I didn't. I won everything. Then Everd had to wake up and shut everything down. The deshyrs were outraged. A casteless rose up and defeated their best known fighters. So what happened?

I was sodding put in jail then taken to Beraht, that's what happened.

"You know? I blame you. It was your sodding idea to go into the Provings, your sodding idea that 'Oh I'll win and everything will be ok!' And now we didn't get even taken by the guard. Oh no, it had to be Beraht that captured us!" Leske shouted in his cell.

"Be quiet and let me think!" I yelled. I growled and hit my bars again. I had rags on and the scars from the torture that Beraht gave me were itching. I saw the jailer come back around and I slumped against the bar.

"Hey…hey! Wake up you piece of-" As soon as he got close, I grabbed him through the bars and started to choke him. He scratched at my arms, trying to get away. I snapped it without a second thought. I grabbed his body and started to go through the pockets.

"Heh, it looks like the Ancestors favor me." I said, getting the key and unlocking the cell.

"Come on hurry up!" Leske whined. I went and unlocked his door as well. I grabbed the sword from the jailer and tossed his dagger to Leske. It was a massacre that would have been written in the Memories should they decided on it.

In the end, Beraht laid dead and I knew I couldn't stay.

"You're going to go through the Deep Roads? Are you lyrium addled!? That's suicide!" Leske shouted at me as I went through one of the hidden exits.

"You got a better idea? I can't stay in Orzammar and I can't stay in the Carta." I said, tossing another boulder with a grunt.

"We can stay and rule the Carta! Beraht is dead now! All we have to do is pick up the pieces and-"

"No Leske. I'm done with this life. I'm not getting any younger. I'm done. If you want to stay and pick up the pieces, that's your decision friend. I'm going Topside." I explained. Leske gave out a shaky breath and held out his hand.

"Well…let's hope someone or something is watching over you because I'm not going to check if your corpse is getting eaten by darkspawn." Leske chuckled. I held his hand and gave it a good shake. We did a final nod and I went out.

I didn't encounter many darkspawn. I thought I was going to die in there as I traveled through the maze like Deep Roads. Then a sudden tremor happened with a faint beating within. The Ancestors must have favored me because I didn't get splattered or crushed underneath the rock slide.

Instead, I saw the light streaming in. As I climbed through the rubble, I saw the surface world for the first time.

And that was the first time I smelled freedom.

Trivia: That tremor that Derek felt? That was Nia coming into the world. If Nia didn't come into the Dragon Age world, Talen would have been the only one to have survived.

Dforce76: The comics are considered canon, just change Alistair back into a Grey Warden and they still apply.

Thank you Chimera Spyke for your review! Please Review!