The Dresden Age
Chapter 1- Na din'an sahlin!
-Heroes are made by their times.
"Na din'an sahlin!"
Keeper Destinna Istimaethoriel shouted. Instantly, a volley of arrows swarmed the near dawn night sky. Arching upward and down in a lazy half circle before finally biting into the earth and their targets.
Monsters. Thin. Lithe. Emaciated- Monsters. They were tall. They were skinny. They had fangs. Their clothes, those that wore any, were torn and covered in thick black ooze. The baleful venom dripped off them wherever they stepped. Poisoning the very earth below them. When the arrow's landed, all but a few monsters were hit and fell to the ground.
"Fenedhis lasa!" Keeper Destinna spat as she looked on from her hill. The natural small mound of dirt and rock gave the old spell caster the best view any could ask for in the forest. The keeper saw the last of her clansmen sprinting away to safety after luring the monsters into the clearing. Her clan's hunters, and others who took up the fight, had only clear line of view for their arrows from their trees and stones the forest provided. All aimed true. It was not enough. The monsters, a good chunk of them looked as though they tried to hug a porcupine, may have fallen to the tools of the hunt- but they simply stood back up again. "That merely bought us some time- and not enough."
"Keeper, look!" Destinna's first, her apprentice, shouted. Pointing at the center of the hoard. Destinna guessed at the monster with the arrow in its left eye. That same creature ignored its injury and simply roared. Shrieked more like. With the monsters now in the clearing, thus no brush to hide them from the light of the moon, Keeper Destinna finally got a good look at them. They were elves, or at least, resembled elves. Those thin, pointy, and long ears was something of a tip off. Their skin was pale and blotchy. Covered in baleful black bane. Especially around their eyes, mouths, and hands. Their eyes themselves, pure solid black- and yes. They did have fangs. "Could it be?"
"Darkspawn." Keeper Destinna confirmed. Suddenly, painful memories from a decade ago flashed through her mind. Of the blight. An endless army of monsters and poison. Killing and rotting everyone and everything they could find. Death. Nothing but death. All around. A flaming dragon of doom flying through the blood red sky above it all- then suddenly, a light in the darkness.
"Keeper!" Destinna's first asked, fear and concern in her voice. She looked at her. Clan Lavellan's second. The apprentice to the Clan's keeper of magic and knowledge. Destinna's apprentice and daughter she never had. The keeper remembered how her own daughter's adored her. She looked so young to Destinna. The poor girl was barely twenty and just recently suffered through her Vallaslin a month ago. Now she's here. Fighting Darkspawn.
It.
Wasn't.
Right.
"Keeper, are you alright?" The first asked, pure fear in her voice now. Destinna winced.
"I'm fine girl. Calm yourself." Destinna chastised. Her first stood a little straighter than before. Which meant she was now only a head shorter than Destinna. The keeper shook her head as she looked at the hoard and discovered, it wasn't a full hoard. The numbers were too small for an army. Too large for a group. And only sharlocks, or shrieks. The twisted form of an elf in the Darkspawn ranks. No weapons either. Only their bloody hands- and their fangs. "A raiding party. They sometimes come to the surface between blights. We happen to run into one. Fenedhis lasa."
"Th-Those are Da-Darkspawn?" The first stuttered, pointing at the small hoard of monsters. Shrieking at her clan and each other- literally spitting poison with every breath and bleed. "Th-They're still alive. How? They have so many arrows in them. Some in their heads."
"Da'len, you were not old enough to fight in the fifth blight." Destinna sighed. "Those monsters of the void are hard to kill."
"I-If arrow's don't work…" The first gulped, seeing the hoard prepare to charge. "H-How can we st-stop them?"
"By doing something desperate." Destinna steeled herself, pulling out the hunting knife her father left her after he died fighting the blight. Cutting her hand, and sticking the now bloody blade into a nearby tree. An oak. "With me."
Destinna's first eyes shot wide, gulped, and fallowed her teacher. Stabbing her own bloody knife next to the keeper's. Destinna gathered her power. Bright blue light burned in her hands. Keeper and her first began to chant.
"Hunters. Stall." Destinna shouted, her blue tinted magic flowing into the tree. Using the blood covered knives in its bark as its port of entry. "Do whatever you can!"
WRAAAAIIIIIHHHHHH!
The shrieks, shrieked.
Extra loud this time.
Apparently, they thought that was their cue. The hoard charged.
The hunters and fighters of the Dalish clan Lavellan fallowed the orders of their keeper- they stood their ground and fought back. It was bad. Those in back, on hills, or in the trees- which was most of them- continued loosing arrow after arrow into the hoard. It did nothing. Even the arrows that struck at the eyes and legs did little but slow them down. Those unfortunate enough to be in the front, were forced to fight up close. With their swords, spears, clubs. Some were left with just rocks they picked up off the ground. They did little better. Slash. Stab. Smash. The monsters ignored them all. They simply piled onto the nearest warm-blooded son of Elgar'nan, grabbed hold, and sank their fanged teeth into elf flesh. What armor they wore- Leather, Steel, or Ironbark- did nothing! The spiked fangs and jagged broken teeth punched right through it all.
The clan could do naught but pray. Hope that these poor souls died quickly- oh, and loose even more arrows into them… it did nothing.
Luckily- thankfully, the Hoard's numbers were so few that they could only focus on a small handful of elf hunters at a time. About five Darkspawn to every elf. The other nearby hunters jammed everything they had into the distracted creatures. They couldn't kill the monsters, but they could pin them down. The Darkspawn didn't even seem to notice. It was especially egregious when a spear went through one's heart- or a sword in a neck.
"Good." Destinna breathed, the light in her hands circling the great oak. As did her apprentice. "They've bought us time."
"But how long?" Asked the hunt-master of the clan. An old friend of Destinna. They both joined clan Lavellan at the same time so long ago. Him from another Dalish clan. Her from a city alienage. In another life, they could've made a family together. Destinna really wanted wine right now. The good stuff. The hunts-master aimed his bow at the hoard. "Nothing we do hurts them. Those without Halla can't outrun them. Everything is on you, Vhenan."
"You mean like always?" The keeper of the clan teased its hunt-master. He smiled at her. His stupid handsome face with that dumb toothy grin. Loosing his arrow. It hit the one eye in the hoard that hadn't been skewered. Destinna hoped it had been the one her first pointed out from before. It was the right eye. Destinna opened her mouth to banter more- but then they felt it. The hoard stopped. The Darkspawn stopped devouring the fallen elf hunters- and turned to those still living. Luckily they were pinned by the spears, swords and arrows of clan Lavellan. The blades and weapons of the elves stabbed through their bodies. They Darkspawn could only shriek and bleed and claw impotently at their victors. Destinna sighed. They had won. All that was left was to finish their spell and call it a night.
"K-Keeper…" The first stammered. "The d-dead. They're rising."
"What?" Destinna looked at the hoard. It was true. The very same hunters that were slain by the Darkspawn. Who's bodies had been maimed and bitten off in chunks. Who's life had fled and guided to the beyond by Falon'Din- started thrashing and convulsing under the pinned pile of impaled monsters. Looking closer, Destinna could see their once brilliant green pupils and pure white eyes turn black as coal. Vein after vein fallowed on their exposed skin. As they howled in pain and suffering, their very teeth changed- all were forced into fangs now. "G-Ghouls? This quickly?"
Ghouls were what happened to those infected with the blight but survived its poison. Their bodies and minds rotted to the same feral madness as the Darkspawn. 'Survived' being the operative word. And it usually needed days to weeks to happen. Not immediately from a mangled corpse. Or at least that's what Destinna remembered. After the final battle of the blight. So many soldiers, some from her own clan, had survived the fight but also the infection. They became ghouls. It took days. Not this.
"Hunters. Spears ready!" The hunts-master ordered. Then mumbled. "This was not like the blight."
It did little good. While there were few enough Darkspawn to start with, the surviving hunters from the first charge used all they had to entrap the monsters. Meaning the hunters had to pull away some of the spears from the-barely- disabled monsters, or be armed with nothing for their surprise reinforcements. The hunters tried. Some pulled out a couple spears and used them on the ghouls. They were both too few to work on the newborn monsters and the fresh wiggle room was enough for the Darkspawn to get a claw or bite in. Destinna winced as she saw another one of her hunters cut down at the knees and pulled into a pile of Darkspawn- his screams of agony drowned out by the shrieks of the monsters eating him.
"You need to hurry." The hunts-master announced to the two mages behind him. The elder hunter stood between them and the horde. His short sword at the ready. He ordered his men to leave the spears in the monsters. "We can't hold them. They will break free."
"We're almost there." The keeper announced. Both her and her first pouring in all their skill and energy into the spell. A faint dim aura surrounded the large oak behind them now. That was a mistake. A shriek to their side. Away from the small horde in the clearing. Everyone- Everyone turned to this new threat. Another Darkspawn. Another Sharlok, shrieking as it charged. This time straight at the two mages and their tree. Its arms swinging wildly. Fangs chomping. Eyes blacker than the night sky.
"A straggler." The hunts-master whispered. "Your light attracted it."
The elder hunter rammed his sword though the chest of the Darkspawn when it got close enough. It gasped. Weakened- for a moment. But only a moment. The monster recovered quickly, turned its angry dead gaze from the glow and the mages to its new meal. Attacking. The hunts-master kicked the monster away, pulling his now dripping black sword free. The monster jolted off the ground quickly.
The hunts-master was the best clan Lavellan had. Decades of fighting experience; Hunting animals. Slaying monsters. A few personal duels against the best the shemlen could threaten their clan with. Even a war. The very blight itself. It was not enough. Skill. Experience. Weapons and armor. None of it mattered. The creature's pure mindless aggression and hunger was too much. The best the hunts-master could do was slash the monster's eyes and slice off an arm at the elbow.
It was not enough.
The Darkspawn caught the sword in its teeth. Its edge caught between its chompers. Its jagged fangs and corrosive bile was enough to break the hardened steel right there. The monster paid no mind to the fact that it destroyed its own jaw to do it. The monster spat out bits and pieces of its destroyed fangs and black blood at the hunts-master… Along with chips of steel.
The hunts-master was forced back. His eyes covered with the infected bone and metal. The blinded hunts-master slashed wildly at the eyeless Darkspawn with what was left of his sword. That was the opening the monster needed. The Darkspawn couldn't see the Hunts-master, but it could hear and smell him. The creature dived. Grabbing the elder Elf, and like so many of the hunters, bit into the chain mail and boiled leather armor. Luckily, its destroyed jaw and broken teeth were too damaged to power through the armor. The hunts-master used his opportunity to stab his now knife sized blade into the Darkspawn's head. Just behind its ear.
It worked.
It finally worked.
The monster collapsed. Its limbs went limp. The Darkspawn stopped breathing.
"Vilkas!" Destinna screamed, despair in her voice.
"Finally." Vilkas, the hunts-master sighed, dropping the monster to his feet. It lied limp and lifeless on the ground. The destroyed blade still in the Darkspawn's head. "I'm fine. Well, alive. At least. Head shots men. Aim for their heads!"
That did the trick, or it would have if the clan hunters had anything left to fight with. All their weapons were currently in use and could not be pulled away. That, of course, was when the Darkspawn decided to stop eating their last batch of food. The hoard turned back to the remaining hunters and tried breaking free again. Ghouls as well.
They were making progress- fast.
"Dezzy." Vilkas the hunt-master said, rubbing his now smeared black eyes. "You better have something, or we're dead."
"We do! We do!" The first nodded, pure excitement and hope on her face. The blue energy on her hands flowing into the mighty oak behind them. "Keeper?"
"Now!" Destinna ordered. Just like that the Lavellan keeper and her first finished their spell and unleashed their weapon- the oak tree. Its branches twisted together and became alive. Its roots pulled themselves out of the ground. Even the higher part of its trunk cracked open and morphed into a face. This new beast howled out a mighty roar and turned toward the keeper. "Go, sylvan. Go forth and kill the Darkspawn."
The sylvan did just that. Starting with the defeated monster at Vilkas' feet. Stomping its root 'foot' onto the beast and smashing it into the ground. A wet popping wound erupted in the forest. That got everyone's attention. Vilkas ordered his men to fall back. To run toward the very hill he was standing on with their clan's mages. They did. All but the archers in the trees. Empty quivers or not, they were safest where they were.
Leaving their weapons in the creatures. With no one to hold the Darkspawn in place, the monsters easily broke free of their restraints. Pulling the spears and swords out of their bodies- or ignoring them entirely. Regardless, the Darkspawn were slowed and crippled. Easy targets for the sylvan as the monsters tried to fallow the elf hunters. It did not take long for the wooded beast to reach the hoard.
Smash. Stomp. Smash. Stomp. Smash. Stomp.
One after the other, the sylvan pounded the Darkspawn with its mighty branch fists and its powerful root feet. This time, the monsters did stay down. If they weren't dead, then their bodies were simply too destroyed to continue. The sylvan was truly a mighty beast. As tall as three elves standing on each other's shoulders and wide as an aravel. What the shem's call 'land ships'. But, there's always a but, slowed, crippled, and overpowered Darkspawn did not mean helpless.
The sylvan was powerful but the Darkspawn were many. While the oak beast was busy killing one monster, the other creatures attacked the wood demon. Slash. Claw. And bite. One literal handful after another, the Sylvan was being dismantled.
"Keeper!" The first pointed at the battle in the clearing.
"I see it. Vilkas what-" Destinna stopped, she saw her old friend. His entire face was now covered with that same black ooze. He was still trying to rub it away as he fell to his knees. Clearly in pain. He could be of no help. Destinna bit her lip. Gathered her power. The tip of her mage staff burned with that same burning blue light. The keeper of the clan hurled a ball of arcane energy into the center of the Darkspawn. The horde was knocked down. A few even sent flying, scattered. A couple of those poor, poor, creatures smacked headfirst into trees and rocks. Which was awful. Just awful. But all were very much alive. "Fenedhis lasa!. If they were shem, half of that horde would be dead."
But they were not shemlen, and the Darkspawn were getting back on their feet. Ignoring the damage to their mangled bodies. The sylvan roared again, ready to charge and resume its onslaught- but the second it took a step its torn and clawed left leg crumbled and broke apart. The tortured tree fell on its wooden face in the dirt. Funny enough, it crushed at least two Darkspawn in its landing. The sylvan was as quick to recover as the Darkspawn. While it could no longer stand, it could still clobber and smash. Which it did, as the monsters continued their mangled assault on the tree beast.
"Na din'an sahlin!" The first roared, hurling her own arcane magic ball at the Darkspawn. It wasn't as powerful, but it amounted to the same. It was enough. Destinna and her first's magic allowed enough time for the hunters to reach their hill and sylvan free rein to crush more Darkspawn. The keeper and her apprentice continued their dynamic and found a rhythm. Popping off stray Darkspawn and blasting apart when they gathered into a group. Denying those monsters their only advantage against the sylvan as it crushed them; Numbers. The horde shrank smaller by the minute.
Of course, predictably, that was when more trouble came.
HEEEAAARRRKKKK
A shriek. A shriek. Another shriek. Not just the haunting battle cry. But the twisted elf Darkspawn. One by one, they appeared out of the forest. Not from a single direction. Or all at once. But they came. Their numbers were still small. Less than half the size of the original horde. But they were fresh. More importantly, they came from so many directions that they could swarm the sylvan. The wooden beast could not fight these new Darkspawn and the mangled hoard at once. Even with the mages help.
A new phase of the battle had begun. One where the elves were losing- again.
"Wh-Where did they all come from?" The first asked, hurling one ball of magic after another. Clearly loosing stamina and strength with each bout.
"Darkspawn. There are always more of them." The keeper answered, hurling her own balls of magic. Only her arcane attacks were faster, stronger, and always on their mark. "These must be the scouts the raiding party sent out when they came to the surface. Something. They came back when the battle became loud enough."
"No. That's not it." Vilkas said, the old hunter having given up on his face. He had his fellow hunters help him to his feet. Vilkas mumbled something to his men. They mumbled something back. Even with his eyes closed. His face covered in mud, sludge, and blood, Destinna knew realization and thought on her old friend's face when she saw it. "They're only attacking the Sylvan. Even when the Darkspawn could attack us. Those monsters are swarming the only real threat against them. They're prioritizing."
"Oh… Oh no." Destinna mumbled. The old keeper remembered a time from years ago. When she was her first's age right now. When Destinna just started her own apprenticeship. The first time she fought Darkspawn- before the blight. It was genlocks, though. The twisted form of Dwarves. Another raiding party had come to the surface. Those beasts were truly mindless. They attacked everyone. No thought. No tactics. No teamwork. Attack. Attack. Attack. This? Destinna looked closer. What Vilkas said was right. The sharlocks, or 'shrieks', were ignoring the elves they came to devour. They all headed straight toward the only thing that could defeat their horde- and were tearing it apart. A cold, cold, bitter chill ran down the keeper's spine. "No..."
"What?" The first asked. Knocking a Darkspawn off the side of the sylvan with her magic. "What are you talking about?"
"Does that mean another blight?" Destinna asked. Blasting the horde apart after it formed yet again- or she tried to. The keeper's blasts were getting smaller and further off their mark with each bout. Destinna's lungs were burning. Her vision blurred. Sweat was soaking through her robes and armor. And that was before the fear was setting in. There was no hiding that. Destinna really needed a drink. Wine. The good stuff. "That's the only time when these monsters can think."
"Sh-Should we run?" The first panted, hurling another ball- or tried to. The poor girl tripped over her own exhausted feet. The energy cleared into nothing on her staff. The young apprentice couldn't even catch herself as she fell- landing on her face in the dirt. Not unlike the legless sylvan. The first looked down at her own lifeless sweat soaked legs. Her panting gone. Her eyes wide. The poor girl stopped breathing. The first looked at the keeper. Her mentor. Her only hope. "Ca-Can we run?"
That got everyone's attention- everyone but the Darkspawn, thankfully.
Destinna looked around. At her exhausted apprentice. At her blinded and battered old friend. At what remained of her clan's fighters. Scraped, clawed, bleeding- most importantly, weaponless.
Fear.
Fear and death.
That was what filled the air in the near dawn morning of the forest. The faces of her clansmen said it best. Each lithe proud face of the clan. Her clan. Eyes wide but focused. Breathing strained but steady. Arms tired and weak from holding down monsters of legend. All of them covered in red blood and black sludge.
All their hands empty.
All their knees buckling.
Through their wounds, exhaustion, or sheer terror Clan Lavellan could barely stand on their feet.
They all knew what was coming.
"We can't run." Vilkas announced. His tone determined and direct, even if his gaze was not. Few of the clan reacted to that. Some turned at him. Some turned away. The rest just looked on. "We can't fight."
Destinna sighed, limping over to her first. Leaning heavily on her staff. Clear terror on the poor girl's face. Destinna lifted her apprentice to her feet- Tried to, anyway. She simply had no strength left. Destinna dragged her to a nearby tree and set her up against its trunk. The keeper did the same. Though, leaning instead of sitting. They both looked on at the sorry end of the 'battle' before them in the clearing. The sylvan was literally down to its last leg. Its arms were torn away, much like its left leg. The trunk was down to its last few rings. The wood demon's face? Little left but its eye and part of its jaw.
The beast did its best. A stomp or two as the Darkspawn clawed away the last of its wood.
Then it was gone.
The last hope of clan Lavellan.
Torn to pieces before them. Then the Darkspawn turned toward their meal. Hungry and ready to eat.
Destinna looked at her clan, one last time. As battered, scared, and exhausted as they were- they armed themselves best they could. Sticks. Branches. One found a stray antler of a buck in the dirt. A hunter gave Vilkas a rock of all things. Pointing him at their enemy. A few ran off, to be sure. Who could blame them? Even if they couldn't get far. But most stayed.
Destinna gathered what remained of her power, poured it in her staff. The keeper looked down at her exhausted apprentice. Too tired to stand. Terrified beyond all reason- but ready to fight non-the-less.
"I… I am so proud of you, Da'len." Destinna confessed, tears in her eyes. The first looked up at her mentor. Her mother in all but name. She nodded, grabbing her hand. She squeezed. The mangled horde of monsters shrieked at them. Ready for one last charge. The horde was so small now. A fraction of its first number at the start. But they might as well have been that endless army Destinna fought in Denerim all those years ago. The keeper felt her power. Destinna had enough for one last spell. She imagined fire. Ready for the end.
Destinna looked up at the sky. It was so purple it was almost blue. The sun was so close to its birth, she could taste daylight. Destinna prayed to Mythal they lived long enough to see the sun again.
"Na via lerno victoria!"
Someone roared to the side. His voice deep and rich, and full of vengeance- It sounded like hope. Their hope. Everyone turned to this new voice. Everyone. Clan Lavellan and the Darkspawn. He was an elf, like they were. This champion had bleached white hair. Hard hazel eyes. Battle scared spiky black steel armor. He somehow carried a sword larger than he was- both hands.
Destinna felt sorry for this fool. He wasn't a member of her clan, no. But he was braving death itself, alone. Maybe not for them, but he was with them.
"Na din'an sahlin!"
To the other side of the clearing, opposite of the warrior, was another elf. A mage. Like Destinna and her apprentice. Standing on a ridge, overlooking them all. Her staff glowing. Burning with deep dark red light. Blood red. Flames in its thorned branches. Lighting up the near dawn forest. Illuminating everything around her. It wasn't just her. More elves. They appeared next to her. Beside her in a line. All of them archers. All their arrows lit aflame.
"Th-They're Dalish." The first panted, hope and disbelief in her voice, pointing at the Vallaslin on their faces and their forest garb clothing.
The Darkspawn were confused. The mangled horde stared at all three parties of elves. All their torrid faces directed at one group at a time- as if they all had the same mind, looking through the same eyes. It didn't take long. They focused their fury at the elves on the ridge- What posed the biggest threat. Just like the sylvan. They charged.
That was a mistake.
That single elf warrior the hoard ignored? He finally made it to the Darkspawn. His huge broad-sword slicing down in a full body jump- he sliced one of those fresh monsters into pieces. A wave of force knocked the rest to the ground.
That was the cue for the elves on the ridge. With a shout, the mage casted a spell and roots burst out from the ground. Entrapping several Darkspawn. The healthier looking ones. The ones that didn't have arrows in their eyes or knees. The mage shouted again. The archers to her side loosed their flaming arrows. There were only so many archers and they were far away from their targets. Only a few of their salvo hit the monsters, and none were fatal blows- or they shouldn't be.
The fire. The dull, small flames in the heads of the arrows. They burned. They burned. They burned. That black sludge slathered over the Darkspawn? It might as well have been pitch or lamp oil. Whatever unlucky limb had been struck by the arrow erupted in fire. Quickly spreading to the rest of the body. Turning the once monsters of darkness and cold into light and heat. The flames from the burning bale were so hot that the one wood entrapped Darkspawn that was hit burned through the tough root.
Destinna and her clan knew one thing. One thing they would remember until their last breath-
How they screamed.
Not shrieking. Not roaring. They screamed.
It was truly glorious... as it was haunting. It wasn't just the Darkspawn aflame that screamed, but the entire horde. All at once. In pure agony.
Destinna saw this. It was like a hammer strike to her head. The keeper stepped forward- and nearly fell over. The arcane aura in her staff almost fizzled out. The message was clear. Destinna could cast one last spell or stand. She couldn't do both.
"Dammit!" Destinna cursed, falling back on the tree. Her legs numb, she was so tired. "I really need a drink. Whine. The good stuff."
The elf warrior roared again. Swinging his sword low and slicing several rising Darkspawn at the knees- literally. As a fallow up, plunging his massive sword through not one, not two, but three Darkspawn in a single blow. Carving down and bisecting the beasts in a breath. Just like that. In less than a minute, what was left of the horde was cut in half. All but literally.
"Fire. The answer is fire... And a big fucking sword." Destinna laughed, spitefully. "Of course."
"They'll pounce on the warrior now." Vilkas announced. A hunter whispering into his leader's ear, pointing at the events unfolding before them. Even if Vilkas' eyes couldn't see it. "He's as much a threat as the mage and her archers."
He was right. The remaining Darkspawn shrieked and sprinted at this champion. Even the entrapped ones tore through their wooden bonds and charged. The white and black champion welcomed it. Smiling a daring grin. Something you'd find in a bawdy campfire tale for children. He was right to smile. Because that's when the Halla charged.
A cavalry, a small one, of mounted Halla erupted out of the same side of the clearing the champion did. The blades of their swords and the tips of their spears and clubs were lit aflame. In one single charge the cavalry slashed, stabbed, and smashed their way through the Darkspawn. A single touch from those fires burned away its target. Those burning wrecks, those that weren't killed outright, wretched and wreathed, sure. But in moments those monsters fell to the ground, lifeless, as their bodies burned.
In a single attack, what was once a horde was now but a handful.
"They... They did it. They really did it!" The first laughed, tears in her eyes. Pure joy in her words. Destinna was right there with her apprentice. Looking at this, she could only imagine- this must've been what the armies of the dales were like. Magic, Might, and Precision. All in one.
'This is what the humans fear.' Destinna thought, the Halla cavalry forming up for another charge. The archers on the ridge knocking their flaming arrows for another salvo. Their mage already prepared for another spell. The warrior? He just sliced the heads off of two Darkspawn. 'This is what the humans should fear. This is the strength we'll use to take back our home. Rebuild the Dales- No. Arlathan. Make Elves great again.'
"Keeper?" The first asked. Destinna looked down. She was pointing at the horizon. "The dawn. Its here."
"Yes." Destinna said, looking at the new day being born. Something she had never felt, rising inside her chest. "It truly is."
"What did you just say?" Vilkas asked, stunned disbelief in his voice. A hunter to his side wasn't too different as he pointed at the clearing. Destinna looked and- the horde. What was left of it. They all stopped. Standing still. All of them turned toward the east. All of them were staring at the newborn sun. And, And, And... They were elves. Not sherlocks. Not shrieks. But honest to goodness elves. All of them. Through their mangled and twisted bodies, Destinna and her clan could see the Darkspawn were truly elves. Blackened veins and fanged teeth, sure. But they were elves. "That can't be right."
"A-Are they all ghouls?" The first asked, unsure. "We saw how quickly the victims turn after death."
"N-No... that's not it." The keeper announced, uncertain. Destinna looked at their faces. They stared in awe at the sun. As if it was the first time seeing it in all their lives. In a way it was true. For their undeath, it would be. But there was more. Their faces. Their clothes. That black sludge? It wasn't the blight. It was blood. Dark. Red. Blood. The kind you only find from deep, deep wounds. Fatal wounds. While it did blotch around their bodies- their mouths. Their hungry, hungry fanged mouths. Covered. In layers of it. "What is happening."
"Destinna?" Vilkas asked, clearly beseeching knowledge. He would find none.
No one would.
No one.
Everyone around. Clan Lavellan on the hill. The archers on the ridge. The Halla cavalry and Warrior in the clearing. They all stood there. Confused at the seemingly mindless ghouls starring at the morning sun like fresh newborns.
Of course, predictably, that's when things really got strange.
Tattoos. The ghoul elves didn't just have death blood on their bodies, but also tattoos. Not just Vallaslin, which revealed all of them to be Dalish, but also bright, spiky, swervy, red tattoos over them. The morning light of dawn revealed all of it.
"Keeper, have you seen anything like this?" The first asked. Destinna shook her head.
Evidently, the warrior had less patience or curiosity than the rest of them. As he shook his bleached white head and swung his sword at the nearest ghoul Elf. The ghoul... caught the sword. Well, it reached out its hand and captured the blade in its arm as it sliced through his hand and down his wrist. It reminded Destinna of that first stray Darkspawn who caught Vilkas' sword in its teeth. Neutralizing a weapon at the expense of a body part.
The warrior gave the ghoul an indignant look, rolled his eyes and- he had Vallaslin. Destinna could see it now. It stretched through his entire body. The parts she could see under the armor. They started glowing. The warrior stabbed his hand into the chest of the ghoul and- the warrior cried. Pure pain and agony in his voice. The mage on the ridge cried out as the warrior collapsed on the ground. Its weapon still in the ghoul's forearm. The mage snarled as she pulled out a knife and cut into her hand. The red arcane magic ball on her staff? It glowed brighter. Hotter. Destinna could feel it from her hill. Across the clearing. She could only imagine what it felt like where the archers were.
The mage hurled the blood magic fueled ball of death at the ghouls. Destinna had seen such power before. It would disintegrate those ghouls- It did nothing. No. That's wrong. It did do something. It just didn't turn those monsters into dust and ash. Those creatures absorbed the blast. An unholy orb of pure blood magic washed into them like they were sponges, or- abominations. Destinna took a closer look, as best she could- What happened next was even stranger.
Those red spike tattoos on their faces? They stretched and grew, and glowed throughout their body. Not unlike the warrior with his glowing Vallaslin. That handful of monsters actually seemed to enjoy it. Really enjoyed it, if their orgasmic faces said anything. It didn't last long. After it was over and the monsters enjoyed their meal, all the ghouls, even the injured one, looked down at the fallen warrior. Pure hunger and burning power in their glowing dark eyes- but then they stopped. The entire pack of them turned back to face the sun. For added strange, it looked like they didn't want to. The pack fought the whole time to keep their gaze at the fresh and helpless meal at their feet as something forced them to face the ball of light in the sky.
They howled. Not shrieked. Howled.
"What is happening?" The first asked, completely confused. "What is this?"
"I-I..." Destinna had no answers. Nothing.
Everyone, the ghouls included, were snapped out of their confusion when an arrow stabbed into the wounded ghoul. The one with the giant broad-sword in its forearm. Right between its eyes. Everyone looked up. One of the archers on the ridge. He was the only one focused. His bow at the ready position. Knocking another arrow as the now dead ghoul dropped next to the fallen warrior.
"Keeper, is that... That's a human, right?" The first pointed up at the ridge, even more confused. Though, more confident and less worried than before. "And the mage? That armor. They're gray wardens, aren't they? Like the stories you and Hunt-master Vilkas told us about during the blight."
It was true. Now that Destinna finally had the chance to get a good look at them. One was indeed a human. Long black hair. Deep focused eyes. A withered longbow in hand. The mage herself is Dalish, or was, anyway. Blond hair tied into a ponytail. A dreadful sneer on her face. More- she was pregnant. Heavily so. Destinna couldn't help but notice how close the two stood on the ridge. Right next to each other.
'Traitor'. Destinna thought, then mentally slapped herself. There was no time for that. Instead, she focused on the uniforms. They were indeed wearing the garb of the gray wardens. Steel and iron chain mail with the odd plate armor thrown in. Blue accents. It was hard to miss the Griffin heraldry. Oddly, only the human archer and the elf mage wore the uniforms. The rest were all Dalish elves. Destinna guessed from the same clan. Though which one she could not be certain.
SHRREEAAAAKKKKK
The ghouls shrieked. The small pack now facing the ridge. Rage and hunger in their cries of hate. They were preparing to charge again.
They didn't. The dread wolf knows they tried. But something stopped them. A certain special something. Their Vallaslin. Buried under the spiky red tattoos of what killed them, were the markings of the creators. They started glowing. Glorious gold. The markings of 'the people' and their gods overpowered and burned through the markings of death and rabid hunger. The ghoul's eyes shined bright green- they ran.
Away from the battle.
Out of the clearing.
Toward the sun.
The few able-bodied ghouls ran off, abandoning the fight and their wounded.
Everyone stood there. Stunned.
Even the Halla cavalry were surprised.
"D-Did, did we win?" The first asked, still on the ground leaning against the tree.
Destinna laughed. Cackled. She dropped her staff. Its energy clearing into nothing as Destinna fell to her knees. Her vision going black. It all faded into nothing.
"Keeper!"
