It is all so quiet!

My companionable heartbeat sounds irregular of late?

I swear I hear whispers sometimes. An unrecognisable language but a familiar voice.

I have been in and out of consciousness yet it seems this voice is with me both in sleep and wake.

I…am…afraid!

I wake once again to darkness!

Ugh! How much time has passed?

Wait!?

That beating...it increases!

What?

What…is…happ-en-ing?!

Aah!...It hurts!

Something…is…wrong!

The walls are…convulsing…I…can't!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

A dark and viscous fluid spills out on to the cold flagstones of an unknown chamber. The Warden coughs and spews up her liquid protection. For near on two years she has been kept in this makeshift womb! Shifting further from her identity with each passing day. Her blood replaced, her body changed… slowly seeping into self-depravity.

She lay there; naked on the cold floor for a minute or two. Not knowing if she was dead or alive. Her limbs were sore, her vision at first weak. She tried to put weight on her hands but collapsed soon after. Her strength was all but drained. She turned on her back and looked up through this blurry haze in front of her. There was an orange/yellow light coming from one corner of the chamber, which she guessed came from a fireplace, and several other torches dispersed around the room, like several suns which had lost their brilliance. Not unlike herself really.

Suddenly the sound of a heavy metal door opening pushed her from her thoughts, probably the only sanctuary she had left. The door slammed seconds after and resounded about the room. Adryenn, painfully turned her head to see a tall, distorted figure cast in shadow at the top of the steep, stone stairs.

"At last!" said the creature.

"At last…my child and creation is born!"

"That…voice…I know that voice!" Adryenn said in a strangled voice.

"I'm flattered you remember" the voice continued. "I certainly have not forgotten you after all this time…my child"

"I am NOT your child. I am the DAUGHTER OF…" Adryenn stopped. She knew not what she was anymore. She knew only that she had been changed forever. She could feel it.

"Architect!" Adryenn slowly pushed herself up to a standing position and covering her naked body as best she could still dripping with the afterbirth. "Why?…What?!"

"Look there Adryenn! Look in that mirror." The Architect raised his hand in the direction of a black and gold ornate mirror, positioned to the far left of the fireplace.

Clutching her side, still in pain, Adryenn slowly hobbled over to the mirror dreading yet curiously wanting to see her fate.

Her breath caught in her throat!

Her skin was now paler like snow. Her short blonde hair was now hip length. Long and luscious! Tattooed across her body were symbols and words, Tevinter in origin, perfectly patterned. Her known tattoo across her eye, which she had got without her parent's consent when she was 15 from a Dalish elf, was now gone. And her eyes…were now a teal color instead of sky blue. Although she loathed herself, to any other mortal or creature she was the symbol of beauty, even more so than before.

"What have you done to me?" Adryenn said whilst running her hand down the glass in disbelief. Over the strange reflection staring back at her!

The Architect joined her. "I have made you whole, my child. Your former self was but a shadow of potential. You are now complete...Free!"

"FREE?!" Adryenn screamed, turning to the Architect. "I have become that which I despise! That which I hunted…I…I can feel it…the taint…its different some how….Why…Why me?"

"Your strength and beauty were unmatched, Adryenn," he said. "I knew from the minute I saw you how special you were. My interest in the Grey Wardens was a thirst which could not be quenched…until I met you."

The Architect moved closer and gently placed his long, contorted fingers on Adryenn's cheek. "You are now the epitome of everything I have dreamed. A new era of Darkspawn and human alike. Take heed Adryenn…Behold your Rebirth!"

Adryenn backed away from him, tears running down her face, fists clenched and her breathing shallow. After a couple of steps her back suddenly hit an old oak table, placed on the opposite side of the room. She turned her head slightly to look at its contents. Lying there was a bronze dagger with the Grey Warden Arms engraved in the hilt. Probably belonged to one of his failed experiments no doubt! A sudden motivation ran through her! She grabbed it and backed even further away, leaving more space between her and the Architect.

"I will NOT be another one of your test subjects!" Adryenn screamed. "The Maker may have turned his gaze from me because of my transgressions. I would not blame him! May I be condemned to the Black City itself for allowing you to continue breathing, when I should have killed you out right."

And with the last ounce of strength she plunged the dagger into her breast, barely giving the Architect time to react! As she fell, she thought but of one person...

Alistair…