I roll over in my bed, feeling the warm light from the sun hit my face as I blearily open my eyes. The blurred and double vision of my room causes me to blindly fumble around for my glasses on the nightstand beside my bed. Once the glasses hit my face, I look around confused. The feeling of forgetting something is strong within my mind. I swing my legs over my bed and let my feet hit the soft beige carpet of my room. My dog, Zeus, snores on my bed. I look over to see the black and brown sheltie sleeping peacefully.

Odd . I think to myself. My dog has never been one to sleep on my bed at the same time as me. I shrug my shoulders thinking that in his old age he has become more of a cuddle bug and open my door. I look around to see the tiny townhouse that my family has affectionately called the "house of hallways" is still the same. The same door that leads to my sister, Olivia (not my dad's doing unlike my name), is closed and I can hear her talking to someone over the phone. My parent's door is open and I can hear that my dad is in a meeting with his job. He sounded frustrated so I figured it would be better to stay in my room.

Heading back into my tiny little room, I grab the phone sitting on the nightstand and check the time. 3:30 pm the phone reads brightly. I set my phone down and look out the window of my room. The Florida landscape is bright and sunny, and the courtyard of my house is full of bamboo and a big willow tree that the squirrels like to run up and down. However, looking closer I realize there is a slight shimmer in the landscape. It is brief and hardly noticeable unless you stare at it. I head downstairs and open the door leading to my courtyard. Just as I am about to reach the glimmer I hear someone shout my names.

"Caerlion!"

I turn to see my father standing in the doorway confused. My father, Steve, is standing in his work shirt with a pair of jeans. His beard has been shaved down recently leaving a clean look and his blue eyes are searching mine for an answer. It reminds me of the time when my father, sister, and I all went camping one time. During that camping trip I came close to petting a deer which my father scared away shouting for me. I was so disappointed due to the fact that I was about to have, and I quote, "a disney princess moment." He would always brag about that moment, but specifically leave out that he scared the deer away. This would cause me to remind him of that and he would always wave me away.

Speaking of, I am reminded of the stark fact that I have not responded to my father's questioning face. As I walk up to him, I respond, "Yes, dad?"

"What were you doing?"

I shrugged lightly and looked over to where the glimmer was, "I thought I saw something and was looking for it."

I've always been told that I most resemble my father, down to the fair skin. The only thing I have of my mother is her hair, eyes, and facial expressions apparently. I've never really seen the resemblance until now. Or at least I would if everytime I stared at his face it didn't become slightly blurry. I blink my eyes harshly thinking it was a trick of light or just my eyes unfocusing. However, that seems to do nothing, his face still remains blurry. My dad, who is currently saying something, is interrupted by me, "What is going on?"

Something seems to happen and his face becomes unblurred. I can now clearly see his face down to his straight nose and thin lips. Something crosses my mind, but it is too hazy to really focus on what is happening. His voice becomes the only thing I can focus on as he tells me to go back to sleep. I can feel my body moving on its own as I move back upstairs to my bedroom. Zeus has left my bed and is now roaming downstairs. As my body hits the bed, exhausted even after a nap, the only thing I can think is how something is not right.

The hot summer wind blows my hair away from my face as I sit on the rocky courtyard in front of my house. My dog is running around and I watch him with a small smile on my face. My mom got home from work about an hour ago and is helping my dad cook dinner. They decided to make my favorite food as a treat for me coming home on spring break. I hear the metal gate open and my smile drops from my face as the rocks crunch beside me. The sun is no longer shining on me as someone blocks the light from me.

His voice is gentle as he speaks, "Caerlion… what is this place?"

I look up to see Alistair standing over me. His face is confused as he glances around. Seeing the Mediterranean architecture of my house and the humid subtropical flora of my home state must have confused him. I stand up and brush the dirt off my legs. Looking at what I was wearing, a long t-shirt and shorts, his face flushed slightly at my state of undress causing an amused smile to cross my face, "This is my house, Alistair. My world."

His face goes from confused to amazed. He looks at the highlighter blue truck sitting outside of the garage and gets a giddy smile on his face, "Is that one of those cars?"

I nod, still amused, "It's called a truck."

He tests the word out before looking at me, "Caerlion, I have to tell you-"

"I know I'm in the Fade, Alistair."

"You do?" He looks hesitant to ask his next question before deciding it best to, "Then why didn't you come get us after defeating the demons?"

My face falls slightly and I look inside my house. I put a sad smile on my face as I grab Alistair's arm, which was once covered in armor and is now replaced with a plain blue t-shirt and some jeans. He looks confused at his change of clothing and my grabbing of his arm. I tilt my head to motion inside, "Come meet my family, Alistair."

"Caerlion, we don't-" He begins to say before I interrupt him, pleading.
"Alistair, please." My voice is choked with emotion, "Once you meet them, we can go, I promise."

I look into his eyes and we have a silent conversation before he nods quietly. I bring him inside still keeping a hand on his arm. As we wander inside, the smell of pasta cooking reaches my nose. I let out a pleased hum and let go of it as we found the kitchen. I go up next to my mom and watch as she cooks. She has a pleasant smile on her tanned face and her blonde hair shines in the late afternoon sun through the window on our roof. I clear my throat to catch her attention and she looks up at me with a warm smile, "Caerlion, there you are! Supper is almost done."

The sad smile is still on my face and I look over to Alistair, "Mom, I want you to meet my friend, Alistair."

"Hello, Alistair. My name is Rose," She says, wiping her hands on her dress pants and reaching out to shake his hand. Alistair looks confused on what to do before I mouth "shake it" to him, he hesitantly holds out his hand and lightly shakes her hand. My mom gives me a confused look before smiling politely at Alistair. The next introductions go just as before, hesitancy due to knowing that these are demons and not my real family. The heavy feeling in my chest doesn't go away as I see my family trying to actively get to know Alistair. In another life, maybe this would have been my present. Bringing someone I care about home to meet my family, however that isn't my life. My life now revolves around ending the Blight. When… if I get home, maybe this can happen. Maybe I can meet the proverbial love of my life and introduce them to my family.

My mom asks me, "Is he staying over for dinner?"

I shake my head, "No, he isn't… and I can't stay either."

My mother looks confused before getting a little frustrated, "Caerlion, we made all this food for you and you're not even going to stay to eat it?"

"This isn't real," I mutter quietly, looking down at my shoes.

"What do you mean it isn't real? Of course it's real." She scoffs, the demon obviously trying to play up the real life tone of my mother.

The once warm room of my family's kitchen turns into the emptiness of the Fade. Not having to look around, I can tell by Alistair's reaction that the floating islands of the raw Fade surprised him. The demon, which once looked like my mother, now showed its true looks. It was a desire demon. I took the dagger on the side of my belt and stuck it into its stomach. It fell to the ground just as a tear left my eye. Quickly wiping the tear away, Alistair and I quickly dispatch of the other two demons. Watching as my once-family fell, I felt my heart drop. This is my reality now. Killing demons that can turn into my family. I sniffle a little bit and look over at Alistair who has the face of not knowing what to say.

I remember our conversation from earlier and let out a little laugh. He looked at me strangely before I said, "Told you I wouldn't have to save you."

He cracks a half-smile, "I guess I was your knight in shining armor," he looks down at himself before pointing to his strange new clothing, "or whatever this is."

I laugh before the world goes blurry. I can tell Alistair looks confused, meaning that I was probably the first person he found. I give him a small smile before disappearing, "See you on the other side."

Time to fight the sloth demon, I guess.

Soon I pop back into existence and see Alistiar, Leliana, Wynne, and Bean standing around. I quietly mutter to myself as I look around, "So this is how the other side feels."

Looking ahead, I see the sloth demon standing there talking to Alistair. He is monstrous in form. Unlike the last sloth demon I experienced, he was not in the blighted bear form. He stood tall as an arcane horror with thin limbs, a sunken face that was covered by a headdress, and long robes. For the month and a half that I have been here, I am still shocked by how everything seems more lifelike compared to the game.

I see Alistair nod at me when he looks over at me in the middle of the demon talking. I give him a slight nod and prepare to attack. Alistair draws his sword as an arrow from Leliana's bow hits the sloth demon in the face. Lightning shoots from my hands as I start throwing spell after spell at the demon and Bean starts biting at the demon's ankles. From the corner of my eyes I see Wynne look shocked at our quick method of attack first, ask questions later. She quickly snaps out of it and starts attacking as well. The demon also looked shocked, caught off guard by the interruption of his monologue. It quickly snaps out of the shock and just as it is about to attack, one last arrow and a firebolt to the face causes the demon to fall.

My party sits there and I can tell the one thing on our mind is if it was really over. I had warned them that my experiences with the demon was a long arduous battle with it changing shape and almost always wiping out my party at least 4 times before I could kill it. Seeing the sloth demon lay dead on the ground another thought passes my mind as I can hear Alistair speak with Niall in the background, That was really… anticlimactic .

"-never expected you to free yourself, to free us both," I hear the excited tone of Niall. That was the body that was out in the real world, I remembered. Niall, I spoke to him briefly before the incident with Jowan. I think I asked him where some books on interdimensional travel were, which he just gave me a strange look, but showed me. I look over to see the brown haired, round faced mage talking to the rest of my group. I walk up beside Alistair as Niall keeps speaking animatedly, "When you return… take the Litany of Adralla from my… body. It has the ability to protect you from the worst of what blood magic can do."

"Thank you, Niall," Alistair speaks solemnly. It was already discussed that there was nothing we could do to save Niall. He, himself, will even say that he has spent too long in the Fade. Niall nods and soon the same white light that transported me here begins swarming my party and me. I give one last look to the Fade and close my eyes as we are popped back into the real world.

Opening my eyes, I sit up and see that the outer world body of the demon has fallen to the ground. I look around to see that everyone is still getting their bearings as they make the transition from the real world to the Fade and back. Wynne and I seem to be the only ones to snap back quickly, probably having to go through the Harrowing. I stand up and dust myself off, I look over to see Alistair next to me and staring up at me confused. I shrug lightly, "I'd offer my hand, but I don't think I have quite the physical strength to pull you up."

That gets a laugh out of him and he stands himself wobbling a little bit. I steady him by putting my hand on his arm. I look over to see Wynne assisting Leliana and Bean shaking the enchanted sleep from his body. Our short reprieve of rest is interrupted by a small horde of abominations rushing into the room. We barely have time to prepare ourselves before needing to attack. I mentally sigh as I realize that we still have a long way to go.

We run into a room quickly shutting the door behind us as a blood mage hurls a firebolt at my little party. Hearing the blood mage shout as the last of her possessed templars fall, I nod to Wynne and the door opens and I feel warmth dance inbetween my fingers as I grace her with the same effect. A nice firebolt to the face. She goes down with a scream and I gag at the whiff of burning flesh. Turning I see a purple shield around a templar praying. The man I quickly recognize as Cullen. He looks up at everyone with a confused look before seeing me. His face twists into something awful as he tries to set me on fire with his eyes.

"This trick again?" Cullen's voice is tight as he speaks, "I know what you are. It won't work. I will stay strong…"

Knowing he thinks I am a demon, I hold my hands out, "Cullen, I am not a demon. You have to believe me."

"Enough!" He stops, his hands start twisting with each other as he continues to silently pray, "How far they must have delved into my thoughts."

Wynne speaks up, her voice gentle, "The boy is exhausted. I've never seen anything like this cage before." She looks down at Cullen, trying to reassure him, "Rest easy… help is here."

He groans, trying to keep our voices drowned out, "Enough visions. If anything in you is human… kill me now and end this game." He begins to sob and my heart breaks for Cullen as he tries to maintain himself, "You broke the others, but I will stay strong. For their sake… for mine. Sifting through my thoughts… tempting me with the one thing I always wanted, but could never have…"

I start to feel uncomfortable as he continues speaking about the person he was infatuated with, which was well me. I knew I shouldn't be hearing this, he's been tortured with my image and now he is seeing me and thinks I am here to torture him as well, "Using my shame against me… my ill-advised infatuation with her… a mage, of all people. I am so tired of all these cruel jokes… these tricks… these…"

"Cullen, please, listen to me." I try to say before he looks up and yells. His sunken face is red like his eyes and there are bags underneath his brown eyes.

"Silence!" He stands up, "I'll not listen to anything you have to say. Begone!" He looks confused as it doesn't seem to work, "Still here? That's always worked before. I close my eyes, but you are still here."

"Because I'm real, Cullen."

His face twists in understandable frustration, "Do not blame me for being cautious. Those voices… images… were so real… Why have you returned to the tower? How did you survive?"

"Good luck, I guess?"

He sneers, "Yes, well, not everyone of us can have your good luck, now can we."
That was very much the wrong thing to say, "Cullen, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it-"

"I do not care what you meant or didn't mean." He snaps. I nod silently before quietly asking.

"Irving and the other mages are up there, right?"

Cullen looks confused, "What others? What do you mean?"

Wynne steps in deflecting his harsh attention from me to her, "Irving and the other mages that fought Uldred. Are they in the Harrowing Chamber?"

He nods sadly and his brown eyes become haunted, "Yes, they are. The sounds coming from out of there… Maker…"

We head into the Harrowing Chamber, but not with one last shout from Cullen to kill all the mages. Wynne and I rush in to see Irving and about 12 other mages sitting in the Harrowing Chamber. In the center, stands Uldred and a few abominations. They surround a mage and whatever is said the mage nods and is surrounded by a white light. He twists and turns, screaming in pain as the light becomes brighter and brighter. The mage soon turns into an abomination and Uldred turns to face us.

"Ah… look who we have here… Irving's star pupil," the smug voice of the demon possessing Uldred rings out into the cold air of the Harrowing Chamber. I debate if I should humor him and keep the conversation going. Knowing the sooner that we deal with the abominations, we have a better shot at dealing with Uldred. I debate if I should be that impulsive, but I think of the torture that Cullen went through and the torture that everyone else has gone through and I feel a sort of contempt towards whatever Uldred will say next.

When he finished speaking, the only thing I can say is "Fuck you." and fire shoots from my hands to one of the abominations.

Uldred in the form of a pride demon finally falls and I stand over him heaving. Rage is the only thing I felt for a good minute while we battled him. I can feel fire start to weave through my fingers again as I remember every single little bit of pain he has put the people of this tower through. My breath comes out faster as the fire grows larger in my hands. I feel a hand on my shoulder and it is like cool water rushes over me. Alistair stands next to me and gives me a reassuring squeeze. I feel the fires slowly extinguish themselves and I look over to see Wynne with Irving. I make my way over and kneel down beside him. Wynne has already healed him as much as she could so I just listen to him talk.

His voice is weary and hoarse as he speaks, "Maker… I'm too old for this."

"Irving, are you alright?" I ask, knowing Wynne has probably already asked him.

He groans lightly, "I've… been better. But I am grateful to be alive. I suppose this is both of your doings, isn't it?"

He looks towards Wynne and me for confirmation to which we both nod. He then focuses his brown eyes on me which hold an element of surprise, "I was surprised to find you standing there, but I am glad to see you have returned. The Circle owes you both a debt we will never be able to repay."

He motions for me to assist in supporting him, I move over to throw his arm over my shoulder and my arm around his waist to get a good hold of him, "Come let's see to the templars. I am sure they will want to know that the tower is once again ours."

I nod and we begin to walk, he lets out an exasperated groan as we make our way downstairs, "Curse whoever insisted that the Circle be housed in a tower."

I let out a little laugh and try to keep him steady as we make our way down stairs, "About why I'm here…"