Disclaimer: We do not own Dragon Age Series or Elder scrolls series

Co-Author and Beta: Etheral-23

Blood and fang: Act II

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Theron's fingers softly ran over the many animal figures carved in his necklace, each of them had been crafted with such dedication and care one could feel it in every single nook and nudge where the knife had shaped the wood. Care and dedication, those words could sum up a dalish's duty to his clan.

A clan he was now forced to leave behind.

It wouldn't have been his first choice, or the last for that matter, but... making Merrill, the Keeper, or any other of his kin watch him die was something he did not want to bring on them. So he chooses the blood, even if the risk was still there.

He was now a Grey Warden, one of the few groups of Shems that the dalish could respect. There were stories of great elven warriors and mages who had joined the order, and even dalish who had taken up the mantle of the Grey.

Regardless if they were honorable or not, or if their party was outstandingly varied, it did not change the fact he now had to follow a perilous journey alongside humans. The idea of leaving his clan for that made him feel uncomfortable. Did he begrudge humans? Ask any dalish and they will all tell you they did, how much and in what way would vary, but the answer was the same.

Did he personally hate these humans? It'd be incredibly ungrateful of his part after they saved his life if he did. But that didn't change the fact he felt... well, awkward around them. The idea of being a comrade in arms to the humans of the Grey Warden's party wasn't one he personally relished even if he was now duty bound.

He supposed he might get used to it, possibly even tolerate them. Guess he'd find out what type of people they are while traveling to stop the Blight. And there are others elves within this group of Wardens so it couldn't be so bad.

Though if he was honest he wasn't sure about Sarya's mother given her daughter's impression she had made since she had come to the clans weeks ago. By Mythal he prayed, or rather hoped she was nothing like her daughter... Was it wrong to think that?

The dalish warrior shook his head before gazing down at the new armor and sword Master Ilen and Varathorn had crafted thanks to Sarya discovering the Ironbark and Veridium ore.

This armor presented to him was crafted from pure Ironbark inlay-ed with ram leather. Theron could openly admit he knew absolutely nothing when it came to blacksmithing. Which was why he had no idea how the pauldrons, forearm, and shin guards looked shiny and metallic from bark? Still, Ilen and Varathorn expressed being made from Ironbark it would be quite flexible as well as durable.

Next to the armor was a beautiful single-edged veridium sword with slightly curved handle and pommel. The guard resembled a claw with elven writing engraved. Ilen explained it was made by the designs of a schematic found in an ancient elven ruin.

Sulevin, 'Purpose' the old Sabrea smith called the sword. Theron expressed that both the armor and sword should go to someone else but Ilen would have none of that. "You are Sabrea's finest warrior; this was always meant for you. Your father, Keeper Adras would be proud of you."

That made the elf grin before taking off his current attire.

He had just taken out his shirt when he felt the tent's blinds open briefly to let someone in. "Well it's good to see you up and about"

He looked back over his shoulder to see Sarya's mother standing there with her arms crossed and a grin on her lips. He briefly took in the details of the metallic parts of her armor, the pauldrons, chest piece, and forearm guards, alongside the hardened leather. Her posture was relaxed but Theron couldn't mistake that look in her eyes, her senses were sharp, ever vigilant in case she needed to act fast.

She was dangerous, of that were no doubt.

"Hmm" He merely hummed in reply, "Your daughter doesn't leave a good first impression"

Instead of being offended, she barked out a laugh. "Why would she? She's my daughter. Once you get pass her 'I-know-better-than-anyone-else' attitude, you'll see she's quite nice"

Theron's brown eyes stared at her unamused before rolling, he went to grab the first piece of armor he saw, which was an arm guard, and began strapping it. "I doubt that"

Miara arched a wry eyebrow "She saved your life didn't she?"

At that Theron had no answer, pausing momentarily before shaking his head a bit, making the braids on his hair sway slightly. "Why are you here?"

"Came to see if you needed medical attention. They tell me your Blight stage was very advanced, so it's best to be sure" She clicked her tongue and looked back at the tent's entrance. "Our expert healer should be here by now..."

As if answering her calling, a young elven mage wearing the blue and silver robes of the Grey Warden sorcerers burst in, looking harried. Long brown locks tied in a messy attempt at a bun, her amber eyes locked on a parchment in her hands before she hastily stashed it away in her satchel.

"Sorry, sorry!" She quickly apologized, sounding hurried. "There just so much to do around here, between tending the wounded and working with the other mages to slow down the werewolf strain spreading so others don't turn and-"

"Neria" Miara placed a hand on the young elf; her voice seemed to have a calming effect. "Relax its fine. Breath girl"

"Yes, right" She took a deep breathe, closing her eyes before opening them again, turning to the newly minted dalish Warden. "Greetings, you must be... Oh-Oh my..."

The dunmer tilted her head as Neria suddenly became lost for words, flushing quite visibly as she lifted a dainty hand to her mouth in surprise. Looking back at Theron she soon understood. The dalish was still shirtless, and Miara had to admit that Theron was more physically imposing that most elves in general. And that said something considering his kind had a lot of similarities to the bosmer in terms of physique.

It was obvious Theron was a warrior that trained constantly, as his slim yet muscular build showed. The sculpted valley of his stomach, the broad shoulders to the arms that visibly bulged with their movements and his hardened chest. Miara was intimately familiar with male body in its many shapes.

Poor Neria, young and innocent having spent most of her life locked away in that Tower, really had no experience with such things. As Miara was amusingly started to realize.

"Well," the Dunmer's voice roused Neria from her staring as she blushed; "I'll leave you in Neria's very capable hands." Patting the young elven mage's shoulder, the older elf gave a bemused gaze; "Try not to jump his bones, he just woke up from a coma and expressed his love to someone. Unless that Merrill girl likes sharing the bed."

"Miara!" Neria squawked out with a thicker blush while the older elf guffawed as she left.

Theron shook off his small blush before he groaned out a long sigh as he muttered in elven. His gaze soon came to the former circle mage who tensed up; "Andaran atish'an."

"A-Andaran atish'an." Neria gave a quick bow, still flustered but gave a small grin; "You're my next patient."

"I feel fine." Well, as fine as one could be being in a tainted induced coma for several days.

Neria shifted a bit; "You might feel fine, but as bad as you were one checkup would make me feel comfortable." As bad a shape as he was in, she was amazed he did not become a ghoul.

Theron stared at her for a moment before grunting and placed his gear down; "Go ahead." As he spoke that Neria was quickly near to him raising a hand which soon glowed. "Circle mage?"

"Yes, I was in Kinloch hold. That is a long story, came from Denerim's alienage before that." Neria answered as her hand moved around her fellow elf's upper torso.

Theron did not answer as he watched the young elf work. His eyes moved upward as he saw movement outside the tent. He could see Marcus and Alistair conversing with the Keepers. "The humans with you." Neria stopped as she peered up at him; "What are they like?"

"Good people, well, not sure about Morrigan. Brianna and I grew up together. We also have a Qunari assisting us. But he's really hard to read, Oh! We also have another elf who is a warden, Gin Tabris."

He hummed in thought, "Do they treat you fairly?"

"Um, yes. Why do you ask?"

Theron gave her a dry look before tapping at his own pointy ear.

"Oh!" Now she felt silly, "Of course, they are a fairly polite group. Not once have they judged me or Gin on our race" Her smiles dimmed a bit. "Though some of our companions can be rather difficult, o-on a personal level I mean. Morrigan is a swamp witch and... Can say some really scathing things, but I think that's because she just looks down on everyone. And Sten, well, he isn't really the conversationalist type"

"Great, I know to stay clear from them then" Theron merely stated.

Her lips pursed in thought, the glow in her hand slowly vanishing as she folded her hands together in front of her. "I know it's asking a lot of you, leaving your clan and everything you know like that" The elven mage sighed, "If it makes you feel any better, being a Warden wasn't really my choice"

"...It doesn't" He bluntly said as he stood up and continued putting on his armor. "But the sentiment is appreciated" Neria smiled as Theron paused; "And what of Miara?"

The young elf's face became a thoughtful; "She's... really weird, but in a good way, I think. She has been really helpful to the group, her lover Serana is here too. Along with their oldest daughter Sofie. Serana is a nice person." Theron felt there was more to that given the conflicted look from the girl; "Sofie loves talking as much as she loves fighting. You won't be bored around her."

Sarya's human mother and her oldest human sister, hmm. Well that was an odd family structure if you asked him.

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Many relieved faces bloomed around the encampment as Theron came out of his tent followed by Neria. Some of the Elven children quickly came over to the Dalish warrior. Marethari sighed beside Zathrian who patted her shoulder; "He will be alright. Becoming a Warden was better than death or worse."

"I know..." The elderly woman nodded before peering to Marcus and Alistair; "Treat him well."

Alistair gave a nod; "Yes ma'am."

"Now, we should focus on ending this werewolf curse" Serana spoke up as she walked up to the Keepers alongside her lover, the tall woman adjusted her hood as to cover her eyes from a few stray beams of sunlight that cut through the canopy. "We're on a limited time frame; the ones who were bitten will turn eventually unless we destroy the curse"

"Is it possible?" Alistair asked.

"If we know the source, then yes" Miara assured, "But we know nothing of this lycanthropy strain, and can only guess at its origins"

"Actually" Zathrian stepped forth rubbing his jaw in a thinking gesture. "I might be able to help with that"

Marcus frowned, "You know its source?"

"I'm old enough to have witnessed it before" The bald mage replied, part amused part wary. "Long ago, in this very forest, lived a wild spirit which took the form of a wolf. Witherfang" Realization soon dawned on Miara and Serana, they had seen this sort of thing before, and the presence of a spirit already brought many plausible explanations to this lycanthropy strain. "Ferocious, and fiercely protective of its home, Witherfang had found a group of vile, violent humans that were doing committing such profane acts they tainted the sanctity of its home"

The disgust in his voice was evident, and there was a hint of... anger. Honest anger, the kind someone felt when they had been personally slighted. It made Miara and Serana exchange a confused glance.

"The humans had acted as beasts, and so Witherfang made them beasts. Some say it actually revealed their real form by shaping them into those bloodthirsty animals"

Miara paced for a moment as she thought; "So for defiling the forest, Witherfang forced them as punishment to become Guardians of it by turning them into Werewolves?"

"In a manner of speaking. But as you are aware from the Werebeasts in your lands as Sarya had explained, they are extremely uncontrollable. As powerful as Witherfang is, it likely has difficulty tempering their feral nature."

True enough. Both ladies only knew of the Companions and Frostmoon Pack who mastered their bestial forms, not many could tame the beast within. "So we kill Witherfang and end the curse." Serana stated evenly; "But guessing it won't be that simple."

"Indeed." Zathrian gave a nod; "Witherfang will be a fierce-some opponent, it will not go down without a fight. But if you succeed bring its heart to me and I will end this curse."

Marcus drummed his fingers on his bicep; "Are there other dangers in the forest?"

"Absolutely, other wild beasts roam deep within, along with hostile spirits in areas where the veil is thin, and Sylvans. Lastly there is an insane Shem hermit roaming about. All the clans avoid the areas he claims to himself." Marethari responded as she glanced to Theron who was speaking with Mithra.

"We will be careful Keepers, and find this Witherfang." Alistair assured them with a steely nod.

Zathrian nodded; "I pray that you do."

Marcus slowly nodded to himself, his mind already going through the preparations. "I'll inform the others we'll leave soon. Will your clans be alright with us leaving?"

"Please, young man" Marethari gave him a wry look, "We may have been wounded, but we're hardly defenseless"

With that, they parted ways. Marcus and Alistair went around the camp, looking for their companions to organize the party that would venture into the forest. Meanwhile the dunmer and vampire walked towards the tent Sarya was currently resting in.

They parted the blinds and gently entered inside, making sure to be as silent as possible. Though given the state of exhaustion their child was in, the possibility of waking up was very slim.

They each knelt at her side; the young woman was curled up in a ball, wrapping the sheets around her tightly. Her chest rising and falling with each audible breath that escaped her nostrils.

Serana let out a soft sigh, "You did good, kiddo"

Miara tenderly reached to tuck a stray strand of hair off their daughter's face behind her ear. "Wish she could have been this calm when she was a kid"

"We have your sister to blame for that" The vampire dryly glared at her.

The dunmer bit back a sharp reply that nearly escaped her lips with an indignant shout, instead opting to hiss out as silently as she could. "How was I supposed to know Rathuni would give her moon sugar?!"

Last time she had ever let her eccentric older Khajiit sister babysit after that. Alandro wasn't really any better since he never had children of his own. Miara had more faith in Valerica looking after the children and that spoke volumes, given her opinion on the woman.

The Nordic vampire rolled her eyes before she rubbed her daughter's cheek; "She will be very cross we did not take her to stop this Witherfang."

"She can gripe as much as she wants after she has a full long rest." Which likely take a full day or two given how long Sarya stayed up to keep that barrier going. "Let's get ready."

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Theron felt his heart beat in his throat as she came to Merrill's tent. After seeing him survive the joining Marethari ordered her to rest up. Thus her first act was eating some food before taking a nap. Her ears perked as her cheeks flushed as Theron moved the blinds to enter; "Uh..." He uttered nervously as he sat down in front of her; "About... What I said-" he was interrupted by the young mage's dainty hand over his mouth.

"Let me talk now and... be patient with me because you know how much I ramble. You know it's because I'm nervous and-" She could feel his lips forming into an amused and fond smile. "And I'm rambling now so... Here goes" She took in a deep breath, before slowly letting it out. "Me too, I mean I feel the same way. E-Everything you said, about being happy when we're together, I too feel happy just... so very happy every time I'm next to you" Her hand slowly trailed down, falling from his lips, and Theron's hands were there to tenderly hold them. "I want... I want to be with you, all the time"

Their faces drew closer as their foreheads gently rested against one another, their noses slightly touching as their closed their eyes, just enjoying the warmth of being so close to one another. Every moment they've ever held hands, every embrace they shared; it was it all was coming back again, a hundredfold, a thousand fold.

"Because when I'm with you... I feel everything just fits, that it's... right"

There was no fast drumming of the heart, to the point it ringed into their ears. No feelings of uneasiness. It was calm like none they had ever felt before, it felt letting the gentle waters of a peaceful river washing over them, while at the same time bathing under the warm rays of the spring sun.

Theron felt happy, the happiest he'd ever felt before. And he owed it all to this wonderful creature before him.

Still keeping his eyes closed, just enjoying the tender sensations of Merrill's skin against his, he spoke, "I... would very much like to kiss you right now"

"O-Oh" He could feel her face heating up, "I-I'm probably terrible at it, I mean, I've never really kissed anyone before so uh..."

She was interrupted as Theron's lips lock with hers. Her body only tensed for a second as both felt a surge course through their bodies. As if lightning itself had struck them, time itself seem to fade for both as Merrill's hands touches Theron's cheeks.

For this moment, there were no clans, werewolves, darkspawn, just them. And they savored the moment for as long as they could.

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Both Loke and Bran sat dutifully beside their respected masters as they and the others were preparing for their journey through the forest. And ready to face whatever awaited them. Sofie looked over her sword and hatchets. "Been a while since hunted some werebeasts." The Nord remarked with a grin.

Gin paused from adjusting his Crossbow; "You actually are looking forward to it?"

"It's a Nord trait, we like fighting."

"Hmph, well I feel mislead" The city elf huffed as he holstered Daveth's crossbow on his back and took out one of this blades for inspection. "Here I thought this career would be about fighting Darkspawn, nobody said anything about fighting werewolves"

"It's in the fine print" Alistair's jovial voice spoke as he came over, a playful smirk tugging at his lips. "Under the Weird Stuff clause"

That actually got a small laugh from the usually negative elf. "I'll be sure to ask for a raise then"

"You lot are far too laid back about this matter" The swamp witch announced her displeasure as she leaned back against a tree with her arms cross, the plant of her right foot pressing against the bark. "You are Wardens; your duty should be to focus on the Darkspawn, why are you wasting time helping these elves?"

Gin and Alistair looked crossed at the mage, "Because then we won't get reinforcements to fight the Blight"

"If they couldn't even fight off those monsters then what use are they to you then?" The witch uncaringly derided. "If you ask me-"

"Well it's a good thing nobody did" Gin snapped, his voice low but with an edge to it. "You are not in charge, shem. Don't pretend anyone actually cares about what you think"

Morrigan's amber eyes narrowed in growing irritation at the city elf, which choose to ignore her and continue his banter with Alistair.

Sofie winced, sucking in a sharp breath. For Gin to refer to her as 'shem' indicated just how low the city elf thought of the witch. And it's not like Morrigan helped matters, most of the time the scantily dressed mage was either insulting their companions, calling their morals and views with every ridicule she could come up with, and generally looking down on things most civilized folks would call 'virtuous'.

"The potential for them to grow is there." Miara's retort caught the young witch by surprise having not noticed her presence. "Remove the obstacle and we can garner loyal allies. A resource that could be quite valuable in the years to follow."

Regaining her composure Morrigan briefly glared before scoffing; "I suppose... But would have proven their strength if they had dealt with the threat on their own."

"True." A few overhearing were surprised by the Dunmer's answer; "But if we earn their trust, it works in our favor."

Brianna leaned slightly over to Marcus to whisper; "She's about the only one that even talks to Morrigan." Ever since leaving Flemeth's hut the dark elf had been chatting with the young swamp witch. Much to the said young woman's chagrin.

Serana hooded eyes rolled. Soon Theron came to join them at a jogging pace before he stopped; "Everyone ready?"

"Indeed," Marcus gave a nod; "Just how thick is this forest."

"Very, keep close and don't wander too far. You can get lost here if you're not careful." The Dalish warrior clarified sternly as he gazed at each of them.

"Any idea where we can find this spirit?" Marcus asked.

The dalish pointed to the forest, "There is an old elven ruin south-east of here, Keeper Zathrian says it's most likely where Witherfang resides"

"Then let's not waste any more time" Alistair stepped forth, motioning to the dalish. "Lead on"

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As someone who had grown up surrounded by walls all her life, the dense forest presented many wonder and unknown sights to Neria. Everything about it stimulated her senses, the smell of plants and flowers, the uneven ground beneath her feet, the sound of birds and other animals roaming behind the greenery, too thick for her to see much further beyond. She would have gotten lost ten times over, running in circles, had it not been for Theron's guiding the group.

He made it look so natural, the way he moved over the terrain, navigating between the trees as if he knew exactly where he was going. Momentarily stopping for a moment to inspect a track he found on the ground. Little things that Neria would have passed off as nothing or just wouldn't have noticed at all. A small print on the earth, a cracked branch, or a piece of fur.

She had no idea how the dalish clans lived like this, but it fascinated her. She had been there for a short while, and very busy for the most part, but the clans' culture was very much awe inspiring for her. Perhaps it was some deep feeling inspired by her own elven heritage, or simply the wonder of studying things that were completely knew to her, but she payed attention to everything their new Warden brethren did, hoping to learn.

Neria was starting to see her journey as a great opportunity, she felt blessed to be in this forest alone.

Some of her companions did not feel the same way.

"I hate the forest" Brianna sniffed, her nose most likely being congested by something in the forest that was affecting her nostrils. "I stepped in mud at least three times already..."

A lighthearted chuckle escaped Serana's lip; "Sarya used to be the same, just give it time and you'll be fine."

By the expression from Amell, she seriously doubted that. Bran and Loke walked ahead of the group with their noses to the ground. Sten's steely gaze missed no details around them as he walked beside Sofie. "The forest feels strange." He murmured quietly.

Miara wanted to remark it being the ambient magical energy throughout the forest. Something those in-tuned with nature and mages could feel. This forest had the loving embrace of Kyne like all the others the Dunmer ventured into. But as she let her senses reach out to the forest around them, something felt... off.

There was a tenseness in the air. She couldn't quite describe it fully with words.

"I think it is a lovely place myself," Neria smiled beside her longtime friend. "Just wish we could enjoy it under better circumstances." Her smile faltered.

Gin shrugged; "Assuming we don't die horribly from this Witherfang or Darkspawn." He noticed the dry expression from Theron; "What?"

"Pol told me of fellow elf in Denerim who had a... sour disposition, I take it that is you?"

"Well at least he was being polite about it. But I am glad you guys took him in."

Theron gave a nod before looking back ahead.

The sensation Miara was feeling was just becoming stronger, long years of developed instinct was telling her they were in danger. She reflexively casted Detect Life, trying to spot any sentient life form around them that could be nearby.

As a rule, the spell would ignore plant life and instead detect entities that possessed a mind, be they rudimentary and primitive like bugs or animals, to those that could employ reason and logic like sapient beings.

So it came to a shock to her when five tall thin trees around them were shining in her eyes due to the spell.

Her hand immediately went to Dragonbane and pulled it out in a swift motion, taking an Akaviri stance. "We're surrounded!" The group reacted fast, pulling their weapons and or preparing spells for combat. Neria was quick to put a barrier around each individual in their party.

There was a sudden, groaning noise, like wood being twisted and splintering. As though something was moving through the trees, something big enough to make them bend.

"Where?" Sofie asked; pulling out the two war axes from her belt as Leliana guarded her back, bow drawn and arrow ready to be aimed at a moment's notice.

Her response provoked a shock through the group, "The trees!"

Theron let out an elven swear as he readied his bow, "Sylvans!"

"Syl-what?" Gin questioned a look of utter confusion written all over his face.

The groaning intensified, this time becoming a guttural roar. Five trees around them shook, leaves falling as their canopies shook wildly, long branches twisted and curled, piece of bark split off from the main trunk, taking in the shape of long gnarly arms and legs. Their heads formed just bellowed their foliage, holes in the bark opened to reveal the threatening visage of monstrous faces.

"Those!"

Bran and Loke barked and growled fiercely ready to strike at the monsters. Sten was quick to draw his blade, glaring hard and ready for battle. Brianna, Neria, and Morrigan each glowed with magic from their staves and hands. "It would be prudent for the Saarebas not to use fire." the Qunari addressed not taking his eyes off the wooden monsters.

"Causing a forest fire wouldn't endear us to the dalish." Miara continued as Serana drew her father's sword with ice glowing from her other hand.

Gin held Daveth's crossbow tightly; "Any more obvious advice?" His sarcasm was palpable.

"Just one," Marcus spoke up with his swords drawn; "Bring them down!"

The wooden monsters roared again as they charged the group. The two mabari were the quickest next to Miara who dashed in-between them the hounds. A Sylvan raised one of its long arms to take a swipe at the elf and dogs. The dunmer ducked with finesse while the two mabari leaped away before resuming their charge.

"Mid Vur Shaan!" She directed her shouts at the hounds, and they became blurs that kept the Sylvan confused, they were too fast for its long limbs to reach. Bran dashed beneath its raised foot as this one harmlessly stomped the ground, missing the hound entirely.

The mabari proved a good distraction, as Miara casted a featherweight spell on herself, allowing her to jump high and sever one of the spirit's arms with her katana. The metal designed to cut through dragon scales easily cut through the bark, the arcs of lightning burning the stomp.

Serana casted a wave of unrelenting cold at one of the Sylvan's legs, and with a tug from the creature the leg shattered, making it tumble to the ground as it fell on one knee. Miara descended upon the creature's neck and severed its head, the rest of its giant body falling lifelessly to the ground.

Alistair grunted as vines emerged from the ground and snared him with a tight hold. He swung his blade upon the vines closest to his torso, cutting them to regain his mobility. His eyes widened as the sylvan loomed upon him, a sharp claw of bark raised to strike him down.

It fell upon him, but the fingers were severed by Marcus' blades. The noble gave Alistair a nod, this one nodding back in gratitude as he continued freeing himself. Despite his heavy armor, the enchantments on it allowed him to move with ease, as though he was only wearing leather. He rolled to side avoiding the sweeping attack from the Sylvan's other arm, slashing away another strike with a swing of his family blade. The sylvan raised its foot to stomp on the human, but Marcus managed to back away just in time.

The sylvan roared, and from its maw spat a mixture of sap and some other substance Marcus didn't want to think about. It splashed against his face, making the young noble recoil. He shut his eyes tightly as the liquid run down his face; he dropped one blade and tried to wipe away the sticky substance.

The tree entity raised its claw once more, and would have cut down the warrior were it not for something that appeared to be divine intervention. A strike of holy light descending upon its form, striking it with righteous fury.

Alistair, gasping with his arm outstretched, having managed to free half of his body, felt the vestiges of lyrium he still had left in him drain with the Holy Smite he casted. "Didn't even know it'd work on it!"

Neither former Templar or noble debated as they charged the wooden beasts by hacking off its legs. The Sylvan screeched in pain till two swords were plunged through its mouth and out the back of its head.

Nearby a Sylvan snarled in irritation as a bolt from Gin's bow stuck true into its wooden body. It roared before being stuck by arcs of lightning and ice spikes courtesy of Neria and Brianna. "I love these Tamriel destruction spells!" Amell chimed brightly as the wooden monster fell back dead.

"Why do I feel you just love blowing things up?" Gin remarked as he loaded another bolt.

Neria responded before her friend; "She liked to prank the Templars by setting fire on things"

"I never made it dangerous!" Brianna stammered before the Sylvan they 'thought' was dead stirred and rose to make one final lunge at the trio.

It was brought down by two arrows into its face and heart from Theron who was on top of a branch. "Always make sure the Sylvan is dead." The dalish warrior spoke up before leaping over to another tree. His movements were fast and agile as he seem to flow through the trees like a bird.

Well Sofie could admit Theron fought like a Bosmer as his arrows flew into the remaining Sylvan. The elven warrior was in his environment and used it like a true predator. Sten moved with surprising speed mixed with his natural immense strength as he sliced through the wooden beast's leg. It wailed in rage as it fell but brought its fist down to strike the Qunari.

Sofie jumped in, one of her axes burying itself right in the middle of its fist, the edge cutting through the wood. With her second axe she cut off the limb before the elbow. Sten severed its other leg with one mighty swing, letting the creature fall helplessly to the ground. It barely had time to struggle with its remaining arm when Leliana jumped in, her leap carrying her further than most humans thought possible, aided by the enchantments of her gear that booster her agility and movement, and buried her long daggers into the wood creature's head.

Two sylvians remained; the dead of their kin did not deter them in the least. Neria slammed her staff into the ground, willing her magic through it as the earth beneath one of the sylvian's feet softened into sludge, the mud was too dense and deep, so its gnarly feet quickly sank, unable to move anymore. Earth and rocks gathered before her staff, and she launched them with great velocity at the creature's head, tearing its head right off.

Theron deftly moved from branch to branch, raining down arrows through every opening he could find. Leliana joined him from the ground, though their attacks seemed to be mere annoyances to the creature, so Brianna chanted under her breath and imbued their bows with lightning. The energized arrows struck true, the magic in them shocking the beast as they burnt the area of impact.

"Wuld!" A dash of movement, and Miara slashed one of its legs off. As it stumbled, a gust of wind and mist soared, coalescing into Serana's form floated high in the air and her red blade cut off the creature's head.

Morrigan huffed as the magical energies faded from her staff. "Well that was a workout." She murmured beside Neria and Brianna.

"A lot different than Spriggans that's for sure." Sofie retorted knelt down to look at the severed head of a sylvan.

As the group steadied themselves Miara stood near at one of the dead forest beasts before her eyes surveyed all in her sight. This only reaffirmed the Dunmer that something was off. And had been for a long time. The forest was restless, uneased, and angry...

Miara peered over to the Dalish warrior who was retrieving his arrows; "Are the sylvans usually hostile like this Theron?"

The Dalish paused in thought before grunting as he pulled out an arrow; "Normally they usually only attacked if you entered too far in forest. Though I heard they have grown more and more aggressive over the years." retrieving his last arrow he recalled something Merrill told him; "Except one. Merrill and Sarya met a Sylvan who called itself Grand Oak."

Petting her hound, Neria looked up to the older elf; "Why are you asking about this?"

A low growl caught all of their attention with Bran and Loke soon returning the growls. Neria having to hold her Mabari as soon more deep growls could be heard in the shadows and around them.

"Close ranks!" Marcus yelled as everyone came together with their backs to one another. The noble grabbed his dog's collar to pull him back as he held Engram in his other hand. Slowly towering figures came out of the shadowed areas around them. Bodies covered in thick fur, varying from brown to black over muscular frames. Claw-like feet and hands, easy to tear rip apart limbs of prey. Long canine snouts with rows of sharp long teeth in their mauls. Golden yellow vulpine eyes glared with rage and fury.

These were very different compared to the werewolves of Tamriel, taller and longer limbed, differently built in terms of muscle proportions. The largest among them stomped forward; scars adorned its face as its fur was a grayish brown; "Why are you here?" Its voice was masculine, deep and guttural.

"The beasts speak?" Sten muttered to Sofie at his side, holding greatsword tightly.

Serana hissed to her beloved in urgency. "Miara they still have their intelligence, they're not feral!"

"Which means the attack on the dalish was premeditated..." The dunmer spoke in realization.

But why?

"Your whispers serve you not!" The leading werewolf roared, "Nothing escapes our ears!" His form lowered slightly as his long muscular legs coiled, ready to spring into action at a moment's notice.

"Who are you?" Marcus tensely asked.

The werewolf did not lose any aggression even as he answered, "I am Swiftrunner that is the name given to me by our Lady!"

Sofie silently mouthed, 'Lady?' given her mothers a curious look, and they two shared her confusion. "Who is this Lady you speak of?" Miara questioned.

"She is the Lady of the Forest, our savior, who has given us our minds back, calmed the great fury and need to hunt that constantly surges within us" Swiftrunner said with a surprising amount of candor and devotion in his voice. "Now you answer, why have you come to these parts?"

"I think the answer is obvious" Theron snarled, doing a good job at imitating the animal ferocity the werewolves possessed in their voices. "We are here to make you answer for your crimes against my people!"

The werewolves growled; a few snarled and roared in anger, the group tensed, fearing a fight was inevitable.

"You speak of crimes, yet you stand with that old mage your people call leader! He is the one to be held accountable!"

"What?" The dalish anger said in bafflement, "What do you mean by that?"

Swiftrunner took a menacing step forward, "What befell your clan is of his own making!"

"You attacked us!" Theron tightened the grip on his blade. "Slaughtered my people, cursed many to turn into more of you monsters!"

The situation was getting out of hand; the werewolves crouched, looking like they were going to attack. Already the mages on their party were preparing spells.

Miara knew there was a lot more going on now thanks to Swiftrunner's words, Zathrian was involved somehow, but they needed more information. They needed to get to the bottom of this, but if they fought now then...

Swiftrunner howled, brandishing his sharp claws, ready to lunge for the elf when-

"KAAN!"

For a moment the very ground shook, with a gasp escaping the lips of the two former circle mages. That power again, magic so primal and immense... The entire forest seemed to react to it. Swiftrunner and his kin froze as the power of Miara's shout stayed their rage. "H-how did you do that?" The Alpha wolf questioned now in a relaxed stance. His gaze wide and in awe.

Miara stepped forward despite quick protest from the others; "Calm yourselves, I do not wish conflict. I want to know the truth."

Swiftrunner only gazed at the Dunmer; "You are like the Lady, your voice soothes..." He uttered in a quiet reverence. Marcus and the others took note the rest of the werewolves were no longer ready to attack. Now they seemed docile, calmed as they all gazed solely at Miara.

The dunmer said nothing as peered to every were-beast she could see, then return he eyes to Swiftrunner; "What truth is hidden from us by Zathrian?"

"Keeper Zathrian would hide nothing!" Theron declared angrily.

At that Swiftrunner faintly snarled glaring at young elf; "Then you are ignorant from the lies told to you Dalish." He peered back down to Miara; "The old elf lies..."

"We came to break the curse." Miara stated their intentions on why they were there.

"We shall see gray one, but if you come to kill the Lady we will defend her." With that the wolf ran off with the others following and vanishing into the shadows.

The breath everyone behind seem to hold escaped their lips as Theron marched over to older elf; "We should have killed them!"

However Miara ignored him as she stared were the Swiftrunner fled to; "We are going to see the Grand Oak." The dunmer addressed in a tone of steel.

"We are?" Alistair's brow rose before turning to Marcus.

Theron only looked more irritated; "We are here to stop the Werewolves and Witherfang!"

Slowly the Dunmer turned her gaze to the Dalish warrior; "I think there is a lot more going on than we know or led to believe. This forest feels wrong, the air is tense. I feel rage coming from the trees, grass, and stone. Someone has defiled this place, and as someone who honors Kynareth my duty is clear. And if that coincides with this Lady of the forest, Witherfang, and the Werewolves I will find it!" She roared back with a glare as she leaned forward. "Now, take us to the GRAND! OAK!" Once more the ground shook as her voice laced with her thu'um.

Theron could stare horrified at the dunmer, unable to comprehend the type of power she wielded that the world itself shuddered before her very words. A sentiment that was being shared by some of their companions.

"T-This way..." The elf said resigned, not wanting to test his luck against that voice of hers.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Leliana sighed with disappointment, "I wish we could have talked to the Grand Oak a bit more, I wanted to share some limericks with him."

"Another day" Sofie jested with a pat on the redhead's shoulder.

While meeting a rhyming tree was a very interesting occurrence for most of the party, they were unfortunately pressed for time. Miara kept their meeting short, asking direct questions to the tree spirit. It told them, in verse of course, that it knew not the reason behind the werewolf curse or why the werebeasts were so furious at Zathrian. But it did provide them the location of someone that may know the truth, deeper into the forest, so they would travel further south to meet with them.

Of which Theron argued against, "I must warn you again, the spirits of that area are particularly protective of their shrine. Hunters have been attacked just by being too near"

"Your concerns are noted and taken into account, Theron" The dunmer replied, "But we must know just what Swiftrunner was talking about"

"I cannot understand why you take what that beast said seriously" The dark skinned elf shook his head in disappointment, making his braids sway. "Keeper Zathrian is a very wise man; he's protected his clan for generations, all clans look up to him"

"The wisest, the kindest, and gentlest of people can also harbor the darkest of secrets." The cryptic way she spoke those words made most lift a brow in question. Serana and their daughter only lowered their gazes for moment before keeping their eyes forward.

Marcus kept his stride beside the Dunmer; "You're really sure about this?"

"It is better than walking into something blindly and causing more harm." The dunmer retorted sternly. "I learned a long time ago never to overlook anything that could be vital information."

Theron grumbled but did not respond back. Seeing this as a waste of time they did not have.

Neria kept close to Brianna and Gin as they gazed around the forest; "The air feels thick here."

"The magic is strong in this part of the forest." Morrigan spoke up as she breathed in the air; "There is power here. Old and ancient."

"And not something that should be disturbed;" The dalish elf quipped in mild irritation.

The two faithful mabari sniffed through the grass on either side of the dunmer as they cautiously walked into a vast grove that seemed to be fenced by larger than average trees. Countless flowers of all types littered the area with a modest lake at the center. Sunlight came through tree line and beamed onto the watery surface enhancing the beauty of this place.

Forest animals; from birds, rabbits, and even deer roamed the grove. Seemingly uninterested in the present company that entered as they roamed about.

"Remarkable." Brianna uttered as they surveyed the grove. Neria nodded along with Gin before their older distant elven cousin stopped at the edge of the lake. "Why did we stop?" Amell questioned.

Sofie came to her mother's side while Bran and Loke sniffed around them. "You feel that?"

"Like we're being watched." Her other mother retorted as she gripped the handle of her father's sheathed sword on her hip.

It was at that moment the animals fell silent. A silence that soon engulfed the area to an uncomfortable degree as everyone tensed. Loke's and Bran's ears shot up along with their heads as both growled. And at that same moment came a sound known only to those who roamed the vast forests of Tamriel.

The faint but unmistakable buzzing of insects.

Gin's eyes grew wide as a being made of pure wood phased through from one of the trees. Feminine in form, branches stuck from its head like horns, its hands were claw-like. A glowing green light emanated from its upper torso. Its face, female in looks unlike the sylvians. Soon more like it appeared, rising from the ground or through the trees.

"Spriggans!" Sofie muttered as she grabbed the hilt of her blade.

An ethereal melodic giggle danced in the air as what also came from hiding was what appeared to be women of unworldly beauty. Their bodies, nude with greenish brown skin, from their elbows and knees down their limbs were wooden. Some having hair of moss while other having real hair made from a multitude of colors like flowers. Their eyes danced with trancing allure.

In an instant the group behind Miara drew their weapons till the Dunmer yelled; "Lower them!"

"Are you insane!?" Theron exclaimed with his sword at the ready. He along with the others soon went silent as a large shadow rose in front of them.

Miara watched as a spriggan the size of a sylvan rose out from the lake. Its body being of pure wood, but thicker the smaller ones. Multiple spike-like branches adorned its head like antlers. Spike-like branches were on it elbows as its claws with massive. A bright orange glow came from within its body.

"Oh fuck…" Gin summing up what everyone thought at the moment.

"Oh like we didn't need more bad news." Alistair jested darkly as growling wolves came out from the bushes. And they were not alone with the largest bear any of them had ever seen slowly walked into the grove.

"Fenedhis lasa!" Theron swore with a snarl. "Now we're going to die because of you!" He glared at Miara who only stared up the Spriggan Matron.

The towering spriggan rose up one of its arms and the other spriggans move in a more aggressive posture. Till Miara yelled out in a dialect none of the Thedosians had ever heard before. However there was a reaction as all the spriggans and animals froze. The Dunmer kept talking as gestured to herself with a hand to her chest and gave a small bow. That seemed to calm the entities as the matron and others soon became laxed in their posture.

Leli leaned over to Sofie who watched on; "How did your mother do that?" she questioned in a hushed tone.

"Mom is one the few people who learned the Spriggan language. Devotes of Kynareth know some words here and there. Trust me, getting attack one too many times by forest spirits just because you were too close gets old after a while, picking up their tongue is one of the few ways to prevent it"

Soon everyone heard a feminine whisper in the same language from the matron. Miara gave a quick nod as she looked back to the others; "Sheath your weapons now! The matron and the others won't attack us."

"Somehow I do not feel that convinced." Gin quipped fearfully.

Serana looked to her lover who stared back. Sighing the Nordic vampire put away her blade which followed their daughter; "Do as Miara says. "

Reluctantly and very slowly, they obeyed. Sten was the last one to lower his blade, being surrounded by such entities that were supernatural in nature put the qunari on edge. Magic was dangerous and needed to held on a leash, these creatures as embodiment of how chaotic the world is were proof of that.

Neria and Brianna were fascinated by these creatures; they could only wonder what kind of Fade spirits could nestle into the physical world so seemingly like these ones did. Morrigan for her part was well aware they did not come from the Fade at all. To those like Marcus, those who had grown inside cities, it all felt straight from an old fairy tale. Werewolves, forest spirits, dalish elves. Life hadn't been so complicated before, yet now that felt like a lifetime ago.

The matron lightly bent her back to look closer at the dunmer; her glowing eyes seemed to look straight into her soul. She spoke in her tongue. "You, fleshy one. I feel in you the voice of the Sky Mother, long has it been since any of your kind spoke it"

"My own existence is a complicated matter" Miara replied, though her companions couldn't understand a word. "By the grace of Kyne and Akatosh, I wield the Voice. And I honor her gifts by learning your tongue"

"You do not disgust me as the other fleshlings" The ancient matron replied. Well, leave it to the spriggans to be blunt about their disdain for anything that walked on two legs, and was made of meat. "And you have stayed their blades when others are quick to slaughter our packs and chop down our sisters, for that, I will spare your lives" She tilted her head, water dripping from her still wet antlers. "But why have you sought us?"

"We come seeking answers" Miara respectfully said, "But may we speak in the mortal's tongue? My companions need to hear them as well"

The great tree spirit's face morphed into disgust, "Must we speak in that guttural tongue?"

"It's only polite" The dunmer replied, her words changing to the common tongue, surprising her companions.

The various spriggans looked amongst themselves, still muttering in their own tongue, unsure as to where this situation would lead. This was all very out of the norm for them, usually they would have slaughtered these trespassers already.

"...Very well" The matron conceded, speaking with her shrill voice in the tongue the other mortals would understand. "What answers do you seek?"

Alistair kept a wary eye on the Wolves and bear who are now laying down in the grove. Their eyes staring solely at the group. Then his gaze turned to Spriggans around them, and finally the matron. "This feels so surreal." he murmured quietly beside Marcus.

The former lay-sister only looked in awe at the sight Spriggans as they now move about the grove. Either conversing with each other or kept their attention to their group.

"What has defiled this forest, matron?"

The Dunmer's question was met with hisses from the other Spriggans while a snarl came from the matron. "Our sister was taken!"

"Your sister?"

The orange hue from the Matron glowed brighter. "She was taken from us and cursed, violated!" The giant Spriggan seethed.

Theron muttered to Miara; "What does this have to do with our quest? We're wasting time"

She ignored him, "How did it happened?"

"She was bound" The matron snarled, "With chains of magic and blood, forced against her will to be merged with a wolf, made an instrument of dark powers. Let loose upon mortals to carry out someone's vengeance"

"A wolf?" Morrigan frowned, "That cannot be a coincidence"

"Witherfang" Sofie's eyes widened in realization. "So, the missing spriggan here, the Lady the werewolves spoke of, Witherfang, they're all-"

"-The same entity" The Cousland finished in realization. These talk about spirits and magic went over his head for the most part, as these were subjects he had no experience with. But regardless, he could follow the logic behind this reasoning. "So, your 'sister', uh" He balked when the matron's fiery glare snapped to him, and he momentarily felt he made a mistake by speaking directly to the being. "She was taken from you, and used to create the werewolf curse, em... revered elder?" He hazarded a guess at how to call this tree spirit with the proper respect. He quickly whispered to Miara, "Well tell me that was the correct way to address her"

"The correct way is unpronounceable in the common tongue" The dunmer replied. She spared the young man from the matron's scrutiny by getting her attention once more. "Do you know who did it?"

"We..." She actually hesitated for a second, "are unsure. We never saw him directly, but the forest tells us it was one of yours" She pointed a long finger made of bark at the dalish of the group, "a painted elf"

One of us... That echoed in the elven warrior's head; "No..." He said quietly still in shock of her words; "The Dalish have always respected the forest!" his voice rose in a respectful tone as he came forward. "We would never defile this place." The young elf spoke with certainty as the matron glared at him.

"The old one lies..." Morrigan spoke up, remembering Swiftrunner's words, as Theron sharply peered her way. "Perhaps one did."

"No! Keeper Zathrian has always shown the utmost reverence for the forest!" He would have continued before Miara's hand came to his shoulder. Uncertainty shone in his eyes as he gazed back to the older elf; "It's not him."

The dunmer looked back to the matron who spoke; "Free our sister!" she and all the Spriggans chorused in unison. "Break what binds her." The Matron ordered as she lowered back into the lake; "Bring her home." Soon all became still as all the Spriggans had vanished back into the trees, the great matron descending into the lake once more, along with the wolves and bear who retreated back into the forest.

"Well," Alistair quipped as he surveyed the area; "That was an experience."

"To think such entities like them exist." Brianna shuddered with her hand to her heart; "Amazing!"

Gin slumped down with a deep long sigh; "Just glad they didn't kill us." Bran walked offering a comforting like to his hand, earning a scratch on the ear from the elf.

"We should not linger here further." Sten addressed with an edge to his voice.

Theron let out a wary breath from his mouth, quickly walking away. "I agree, we need to find Witherfang and kill it"

"Oh by the blood" Serana muttered in growing irritation, "Did you even hear what they said?"

"Yes, I heard what they said!" The dalish shouted, turning back with a heated glare on his gaze. "And I refuse to believe it" He seethed. "You people-" He stopped himself, lips pursing as he tried to reign in the anger. "You don't know Keeper Zathrian; he's highly revered amongst our people. He's done... so much for the dalish, lived longer than any us, and used all those years to protect his clans, and help any other clan when they needed aid" He huffed, lifting his arms and letting them fall against the sides of his legs. "Why do you even think he had something to do with this?"

"He did seem to know a lot about the curse and Witherfang" Marcus pointed out; remember the elf's anger when he recalled the spirit's tale.

"He's centuries old, and he did say he witnessed what happened long ago, just... not how now that I think about it" Alistair weighted in. Honestly, it seemed like Zathrian hadn't told them the whole story now that they knew more about this whole terrible situation.

"I know this is hard, Theron" Miara said placating, "But we need you to think, do you know of anything that might have happened centuries ago? Any incident about humans hurting the dalish?"

Said elf gave her the most deadpanning look he could muster, trying to make her realize the stupidity of her question with his gaze alone.

"Right..." Indeed, Miara felt stupid having said it. "But, do you know of anything specific that might have happened to his clan or to Zathrian himself?"

Theron let out a long sigh, running a hand over his dark hair. "Not... really. Every dalish clan always has bad encounters with humans. I... I did hear that Zathrian lost his family, but his clan has not been forthcoming on the details. I doubt many know what really happened." He didn't want it to be true but... the signs were all there. He was dalish; he shouldn't shy away from the truth. Even if it hurt.

"Well, we can either ask Zathrian" Sofie listed their options, "Or we can speak with this spriggan that was used to start the werewolf curse, and is now taking care of them"

Marcus crossed his arms, nodding grimly, "I doubt we'll get anything out of Zathrian"

The Dalish warrior among them took affront to that but said nothing as the group left the grove. In his heart he knew they were wrong with their baseless assumptions. One way another he would prove it to them.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Loke and Bran sniffed the ground as they traversed through the forest. All their senses were alert as they also took in the splendor of the forest. They had also noticed ruins; be they small, large, or even a simple alter that had been reclaimed by nature ages ago.

"What are all these ruins?" Leliana asked as peered to their guide.

"Elven, a city could have been here in ancient times." Theron spoke curtly while his eyes missed nothing. "But we never fully ventured out too far in the forest to really look."

Sofie whistled at the sight of a mural; "Beautiful architecture."

Her Dunmeri mother had to agree though couldn't place the style to anything from back home. The ancient elves had branched out into their own much like her people, The Snow Elves, the Maomer, or the Bosmer. And so much of it was lost... But she had to remain focused.

The hounds stopped, growling as they sensed something further ahead.

Marcus immediately held up his hand, "Careful, we're not alone"

His words soon proved to be true, as from within the ruins they saw the peculiar sight of a white wolf, whose feet were covered in vines and leaves, projecting an otherworldly aura as plants grew wherever its paws touched the ground.

Witherfang, the name Zathrian had given to the spriggan bound to the wolf.

The wolf spirit looked at them for a moment with its glowing amber eyes, locking themselves unto Miara for a moment before it suddenly let out a howl that echoed through the area, before suddenly departing into the ruins once more and vanishing from sight.

They barely had time to process what they thought, when suddenly the werewolves emerged, jumping over the edges and fallen walls of the ruins. They growled and howled, crouching as they readied themselves to attack.

"You were warned!" Swiftrunner roared, "We will not let you harm the Lady!"

"That's not why we're here!" Miara quickly said; trying to defuse the situation before it got out of hand. "We came to save her!"

"If you seek to save her then you should have brought the one who cursed her!" The alpha snarled, "Yet we see you here in her sanctuary ready for war!"

"We only seek to speak!" Marcus shouted, taking a step forward, "To understand!"

"Lies, all lies!" The werewolf was beyond reason at this point. His devotion to his Lady was absolute, such that he refused to listen, he would not allow a single threat to reach their beloved savior. "We will listen to your words no more!"

The battle seemed inevitable at this point, the great wolves readied themselves to attack, while the Wardens and their companions readied their weapons for a fight they did not want to have, but they would not hesitate to defend themselves.

Just as Swiftrunner said, no more words would be headed, so what made the werebeasts stop in their tracks was the echoing roar that far outclassed any howl any of them could ever hope to let out.

Much to the ruby dragon's annoyance there had hardly been any opening for Odahviing to keep an eye on his briinah as they roamed the forest below. Now, finally finding an opening through canopy he saw Miara surrounded by wolves of Hircine.

The great dovah roared as he swooped down from the skies. Boiling rage turned to pure fear as the werebeasts scattered as Odahviing landed close to the group. His sapphire eyes glowed with a rage and fury no werewolf could come close to match as he roared once more with his head raised. "FUS ROH DAH!"

Theron's seized as he witnessed was the dragon's roar sending Swiftrunner and others flying like leaves off a tree. By all the gods a dragon! Never in his life has he felt such utter fear next to learning he was tainted. What in the names of Mythal had he angered to give him this kind of luck!?

Odahviing's sudden appearance had completely caught the werebeasts off guard and in terror as they saw their alpha and few others sent flying with nothing but a roar. Their spirits were now broken as they all fled back into the largest of ruins where Witherfang fled. A wounded Swiftrunner slowly rose to his feet, growling before fleeing.

Both Miara and Marcus sighed heavily once the threat was now gone. "Well that could have gone worse." the young noble quipped.

A groan came from the Dunmer as she turned just in time so see Theron fire an arrow at her Zeymah. Said arrow only bounced off the dragon's scales as all froze. Odahviing's head turned as he felt something hit him and saw a tattooed elf holding up a bow shakily. "Was that supposed to hurt little Fahliil?"

"Creators preserve me..." The dalish warrior muttered in disbelief, "You speak!"

"Ah, at least your ears do work properly unlike your sense of self-preservation" The dragon took joy in the mortal squirming, "After all; attacking a dragon is the height of folly"

"Lay off him Odahviing" Miara droned like a scolding older sister, "He had no idea about you"

"He attacked me first" The dragon petulantly replied.

"Oh yes, and he did such devastating damage" The dunmer sarcastically waved a hand at the fallen arrow that had bounced of him harmlessly. She looked at the still shaken elf with humor in her gaze, "Bit of advice, try not to antagonize him" She patted him in the shoulder.

The act made Theron recoil, his chest rising and falling as he drew in several gasps of breath, his eyes darting between the great speaking dragon and the party who did not look all that surprised at his presence. "What in the Void is wrong with you?! What... what is this?! You know the dragon?!"

"Was that how we looked like when we first found out?" Alistair jested with a wry grin, "Wish I could have preserved that expression on a portrait"

Theron slowly shook his head, "Either you're all insane... or I went insane" It was the only possible explanation he could come up with right now.

"Theron, Theron" The gray elf spoke in an easy going fashion, approaching with a soft step. "Look, it's very complicated to explain; especially now when we have more pressing matters to attend to. But him right here?" She pointed at the ruby dragon. "He's on our side, that's all you need to know for now. The rest of the group knows; trust me it was shocking for them as well when they found out"

"Andraste, she's underselling it..." Gin muttered to himself. Leliana nodding as she remembered her, umm, freak out as Sofie called it. How Sten had zero reaction she will never know.

"And you are now a member of our little questing company, so trust me when I tell you you'll know the whole truth once we are on the road" She smiled. "Does that sound fair?"

"I..." He shifted a glance at the red dragon, he didn't like the way those serpentine azure eyes were looking at him, "suppose I have not much of an option right now. Our quest comes first" Hard as it was, he just had to put this bizarre event to the side until he knew the clans were safe. "Your group is too strange for my tastes" He bluntly said.

"Well" She patted him in the shoulder a couple of times, "Now you're part of it, better get used to it"

That was not a very reassuring feeling for the Dalish warrior. He observed the Dunmeri woman speaking to the dragon while Neria came to his side holding her staff close; "I think the rest of us are still adjusting." She turned to look up at the stone face of Sten; "I really can't tell what you're feeling, no offense."

A grunt came from the Qunari but said nothing.

Morrigan edged close to the trail that led to the Elven ruins; "The magic is strong in that place. The veil also feels thin here; we will likely encounter some demons as well as the wolves." Sofie walked up beside her who smirked; "I suppose you will find that thrilling Nord."

"Adventure and combat is in my blood." A chuckle came from the towering woman before shifting her gaze over to Theron; "We find anything of importance we bring back to the clans?"

A nod came from the Dalish; "Our focus should be the wolves and Witherfang, but that too would be appreciated greatly. From what I know no one has been to these ruins, so should be quite a bit. Once we stop all this I can tell the Keepers to send people here."

"Alright, shall we get going?" Marcus quipped as he started walking with Loke beside him.

Serana let out a long sigh; "Nothing like going into unexplored ancient ruins where dangers lurk possibly at every corner." Her lover came back to her side as they walked and Odahviing took flight once more with a gust from his wings jostling everyone. "Lovely..."

"Fun isn't it." By the blood Miara sounded almost like an excited child at their birthday. How did she fell in love with this woman she will never know.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

To the Tamrielic individuals of the company, the ancient elven ruins showed that the thedosian elves were in fact related to the rest of their kin back in Tamriel. The architecture bore a striking resemblance to the mer folk's that preserved a lot of their aldmeri forefathers' influence, such as the Altmer, Ayleid or Falmer.

Perfectly symmetrical structures, curved accents to add a much more artistic touch to the walls and pillars, yet still carried enough differences to tell it apart from the building styles of their cousins from across the sea.

While the call of dungeon crawling and plundering never failed to excite her after all these years, Miara still couldn't feel a bit saddened by the fact that much of ancient cultures were lost, their memories only remained as ruins scattered through the world. The wonders of culture crafted by people, their own identities carved into the stone. It made it all the more tragic considering the thedosian elves had fallen from grace so badly, and still endured many terrible things.

She felt like she was walking the halls of the falmeri cathedral of Auriel once more.

"Look at this" Neria eagerly pointed to Brianna at a nearby mural. "It's just like those books we read. Old elvhen fresco"

"Minimalistic but stylish" The human mage complimented.

As the rest of the group wondered at the sight of these ancient ruins, Theron took a moment to inspect an old mural depicting elves riding their hallas. They looked so free...

He closed his eyes, resting his forearm against the cold wall and placing his forehead over this one, offering a silent prayer to the gods and their ancestors.

"When this entire mess is over I'm coming back here." Miara addressed as she took in the scope of the ruins. "Not matter how subtle, traces of Aldmeris lingers." That word evoked a reaction from the three Thedosian elves as they sharply turned her way.

"Sarya brought that up to us." Theron spoke slowly as an odd recognition glowed from his eyes. "Said it was the motherland of all Elvhen."

Neria blinked in confusion which was shared by Gin; "Why do I feel I know that place, but never heard of it name till now?" The young elven mage questioned garnering a nod from Gin who was the same.

Miara gave them a mournful smile; "Because all elves remember Aldmeris, even if it's faintly. Just as many migrated from there to Tamriel, many came here to Thedas." Likely some to Akavir as well, but she had no way to know that; "Can tell you later once this is done."

The lone Qunari of the group surveyed the ruins. Nature had taken back the area as he saw enormous tree roots had broken through the marble and rooted in areas. "It will likely be difficult to maneuver in certain areas."

"Watch where you fight in this place." Marcus remarked beside Alistair; "We don't want to be stuck in a cave-in."

Sofie gazes up to a hole in the ceiling above; "Goes without saying." she murmured quietly. A sigh escaped her Nordic mother who pulled down her hood; "Feel better?"

"Good getting out of the sunlight for a while."

"Hmm..." Miara made a sound of discomfort. "This place... it feels haunted"

"Like I said, the Veil is thin here" The swamp witch explained, "As it is often the case with elven sites, this place was likely where a massacre took place. The acts, the death, the emotional impact left have the barriers between this world and the Fade weakened. So it's not odd for spirits to jump into the world, or perhaps imprints left behind by the people who lived here"

"You mean memory echoes?" Neria questioned as they advanced. "Not exactly ghosts of people, but mirages of their memories left by them, repeating themselves on a patter around their most powerful emotions and the moments they lived through"

"Demons, ghosts, memory-ghosts" The city elf grumbled, "This goes way over my head. It was simpler when I just had to kill Darkspawn"

"You'll still be killing something" Brianna pointed out. "I have little doubt that there are demons here" It was almost too easy how one could make a tear in the Veil here with the proper application of magic. A blood mage wouldn't even need to shed a single drop.

"This place most likely bodies that had been laying here for centuries, and demons eager to reach the physical world that will possess them" Neria pursed her lip. "They will be hostile, Theron"

"If they are possessed, it won't be desecrating the bodies of my ancestors" The dalish said staunchly. "It'd be liberating them"

Leliana gave a nod patting the Dalish elf shoulder; "Good attitude."

Thankfully the stairs were most intact save a massive tree branch that had broken through a section of it. Going downwards they came to a square platform which was attached to other stairs or hallways leading to other areas of the ruins.

"No splitting up." Marcus addressed the others while their mabari sniffed around. "If anything we'll likely have to sweep through most of this place."

The dragonborn agreed; "Better than being ambushed by surprise." She remarked as she drew Dragonbane. She noticed Loke and Bran peering up to all of them whimpering. "And the Werewolf scent is all over the place meaning these two can't smell them out."

Theron drew his own sword; "Then we rely on our instincts and experience."

"Ataas shokra (Glorious struggle)." Sten dryly quipped as he also drew his greatsword.

Alistair glanced to Marcus; "Which way should we try first?"

The Cousland rubbed chin before shifting left down a hall the others soon followed.

The hall kept leading them deeper down, at some points breaking off to reveal patches of earth and stone, making it look like a natural cavern. The passage extended and kept turning to the right, finding tiles and more elven construction appearing once again as they kept marching.

"I don't get it, why is this underground" Alistair muttered in confusion. "Did elves live underground too?"

Theron rolled his eyes; "This must have been only part of a much larger complex, long since destroyed or reclaimed by nature"

They had passed through bits of elven ruins while traversing the woods, so it made sense to Alistair. "Right, so maybe there was a city here at some point then?"

"Possibly" Miara threw in her two septims. "In my experience, underground ruins are the most likely to survive the passage of time. Even if the civilization in question wasn't underground dwelling, lots of constructions inside caverns, natural or artificial, aren't actually that odd, in some places they're even common, as they were used to either store things of importance, or to make crypts. Sometimes both"

"This place doesn't look like a temple, those weren't build underground" Theron weighted in. "No, it's too deep for nature to have naturally overgrown it" Centuries or not, it wouldn't have been enough time for some much earth to cover it. This place was clearly designed to go deeper. "I believe you are right, this was either a place to store something, or to bury our dead"

"Fascinating" By Morrigan's tone, they couldn't tell if she was truly intrigued or was employing her usual brand of dry wit. "But what I'd truly like to know is why have we encountered no werewolves yet? They were adamant to make sure we would not gain entrance"

"I think we can thank our scaly friend for scaring them off" Serana grinned, but she soon stopped the moment she spotted something. "But that might not be only danger" She pointed at something that made Sofie hiss and Miara to freeze.

Spider webs, far too large for them to belong to normal sized spiders.

"And this is where I leave!" Miara said in an upbeat tone that did not convey any sort of levity, quickly turning around. "Let me know how it turns out, good luck!"

Both Sofie and Serana grabbed Miara by the wrists, while a few around them were flabbergasted by her words. "Mom is terrified of spiders." Sofie growled out as she and her other mother attempted to hold the Dunmer from running away. This was no easy feat for both of them.

Theron felt his eye twitch as he deadpans; "She speaks to spirits, werewolves, and a dragon. But is horrified of spiders..." The drone in his voice being as dry as sand.

"I had a dwarven friend who was the same." Leliana remarked back with a weak shrug. Tug hated those things!

Brianna tried to appeal to the older elf; "We kill them fast they won't be a problem."

"Don't care!" Miara snarled trying to pry herself from her lover and daughter.

"Remember why we're here" Sofie said, not exactly with an encouraging tone, but rather tired. Like she had dealt with this so many times she no longer had neither the patience nor sympathy to deal with it.

"Big quest, save people, yadda, yadda, yadda" Serana was only marginally more inspirational than their daughter. "Plus, you know there's always some nice treasure every time we find spiders"

The dunmer ceased struggling, "...I'm not going to fight them" She said with finality in her voice.

"We know" Sofie and Serana droned together, getting the Dragonborn to walk with them again.

The whole thing was just bizarre and left the group giving each other weird glances.

They reached a large chamber with a high ceiling, torn walls where massive tree roots sprouted and filled plenty of the interior. But the antechamber remained mostly intact. It had a well-crafted round stone slab on the floor, decorated with swirly and circular patterns.

"I can only guess the purpose of this chamber" Theron muttered to himself, feeling humbled to be here right now. This entire complex was clearly built with a purpose in mind, he just wished to know what it was.

But his musings were cut short with an unnatural roar that filled the chamber. Sparks blazing out of nowhere on the great slab as molten rock suddenly emerged from the ground, erupting like a miniature volcano and taking the shape of a fiery monster with fire and lava making up its blob like body.

To the Tamriels, it looked like a type of flame atronach. To the thedosian mages however, the sight was familiar.

"Rage demon!" Brianna shouted. The mages quickly readied their spells, conjuring snaps of sudden cold and flailing spikes of pure along with waves of frost at the creature. The overpowering barrage was enough to freeze the creature solid.

Neria gripped staff as the arcane energy glowed from the tip; "That won't hold it for long!" To showing truth to her words the ice had already begun to crack. It was at that instant they all heard the sound of clunky metal on scraping the marble floor.

Behind the rage demon shambled forth several skeletons. Some wore ancient, broken, and rusted elven armor holding broken weapons. Others were simply skeletons, their clothes having rotted away ages ago. "Well our day just got better," Gin quipped as he held Daveth's crossbow.

As everyone prepared for battle the trio from Tamriel stared at the demonic entity encased in ice. That... That wasn't a daedra... Soon the ice shattered at the living beast of lava roared in fury. "KILL THEM!" It bellowed in a guttural malicious tone.

At its command the skeletons let out a disturbing wail before charging.

Theron's finger twitched for a moment that was all the hesitation he had before he readied his bow and shoot two successive arrows right into the head of the skeletons, making them fall to the ground motionlessly. He wasn't entirely sure why destroying the skulls of long dead bodies worked, but in all honestly he didn't care, all he wanted was to keep those demons from defiling the bodies of his ancestors.

Gin and Leliana joined him, letting loose bolts and arrows with great accuracy. Loke and Bran charged; their strength was enough to outright rip off the long since rotten limbs of the undead without much effort, leaving them vulnerable for Alistair and Marcus to finish them off with swings of their blade. Sten charged holding the blunt side of his blade upfront, barreling down the corpses into pieces as they fell to the floor.

Miara choose not to take out Dawnbreaker, she didn't want to hurt Serana in a random burst of the sword's holy power. But Dragonbane did the job effortlessly all the same, cutting away the skeletons rather than reducing them to ash. She and her lover, struck with blade and magic in a dance of perfect cooperation refined from years of fighting side by side, almost like dancing around each other.

As the mages once more struck with arcane energies at the great Rage demon, this one raised a wall of flames around it and launched a barraged of heat. Neria and Brianna shielded themselves with barriers, whereas Morrigan's form shimmered, her entire body shrinking and taking the form of a raven, flying across the room and once more reappearing as her regular self, attacking with a wave of ice spikes that traversed the ground and impaled the Rage demon. It howled in pain as the magical ice soon melted away into vapor. The fiery entity slithered over the ground towards the witch, Morrigan grunted and kept casting spell after spell at it but most they did was harmless impact against him. Rage demons were very common, and not exactly the most powerful in the hierarchy of spirits, but the rage left in this place but elves who had suffered many injustices had spawned a very powerful dark spirit, embodying all the anger they felt towards the people who had hurt them so much.

Morrigan readied herself to fly off again, when it was the sight of another set of wings descending fast that caught her attention. Dragon like and seemingly made of flames yet taking on a very physical look, Sofie landed between the demon and the witch, a savage grin on her face as she let the demon come close. She didn't even take out her sword as the great spirit loomed over her, raising a fiery claw to strike her down and bringing it down on her.

Sofie caught it in her hand.

Morrigan's lip slightly parted as she saw the nord holding the creature's arm in place, seemingly unbothered by the fact she was holding solid fire. Just holding her ground when the demon struck with the other arm and caught it as well.

Then Sofie began to change.

Not like Morrigan had done, her body hadn't suddenly become something else. But rather her entire body was developing unnatural features. It was subtle at first, the taut muscles in her arms that struggled against the demon's strength bulged further, her skin developing scale-like markings that became all the more noticeable with every second, until thin scales seemed to sprout from her skin like chainmail, the bulging veins in her bicep glowed with fire, becoming lava-like as they traversed through her limps.

The emerge of the scales stopped just as it was beginning to reach her neck, leaving the sides of her jaw with the faint markings that could pass off as war paint, all the while the nord's blue eyes glowed, the pupils becoming two draconic slits.

Sofie let go one of the demon's arms, and punched it in its fiery face. The demon staggered back and fell to the ground. "Is that the peak of your 'rage' demon!? I haven't enjoyed myself yet!" The Nordic woman's voice was deeper and bestial.

Boiling was the anger from the demon as it rose with a roar and breathed out stream of fire. Morrigan was wise enough to shift back into a raven to fly away as the flames hit the Nordic warrior.

"Sofie!" Leliana cried out in both shock and fear. The fear now proving unfounded as the flames did nothing to the towering woman who charged the demon by slamming her fist once more to its face; "What in the Maker's name..." her voice in awe as she saw human and demon raise their fist at one another.

A chuckle came from Serana as she slashed through several skeletons. "Been a while since our girl used that." She quipped beside her lover who smiled back.

"What the hell is that!?" Theron cried out not sharing their enthusiasm. "Is Sofie possessed!?"

"Far from it lad." Miara addressed punching a skeleton's skull off.

Dodging a swipe from the demon claws Sofie grabbed the extended arm and pulled it off with her pure strength. The Fade beast roared out in pain before being kicked in the gut with a fist to its lower jaw as it leaned forward, sending it flying back into a wall.

The nord did not relent, blow after blow descended upon the great Rage, glowing fiery ichor splattering across the wall, the creature's physical body dimmed, and slowly losing its shine as the flames kept dying down.

With a fierce battle cry, the nord drove her fist through the Rage's chest, the burning matter that made up its body lacked any sort of organs or bones, but the sustained damage that had chipped away its life force was finally too much. The Rage turned to stone around Sofie's arm and crumbled to dust.

The last of the skeletons were finished off, leaving many an impressed Thedosian to look at Sofie slack jawed.

"Well that was... something" Alistair muttered.

"Exhilarating it's what it was" Brianna muttered in a tone that Neria had trouble deciphering. And was that a purr she let out?

Miara and Serana exchanged an amused look as they could swear Leliana was about to swoon herself.

Theron tentatively asked; "How exactly did you do that?"

"Oh" Sofie smirked not so humbly as her muscles relaxed, the veins of fire and scales receding back into her skin, her eyes returning to normal as well. "That's what happens when you drink dragon blood"

"You're a Reaver?" The Qunari questioned.

"Oh you have something like that here too?"

"We call them Dragonknights in Tamriel," Serana explained to the Dalish warrior, Qunari, and former lay-sister. "But they don't drink the blood of dragons, rather they use magics inspired by them. Sofie here however did drink the blood of a true dragon."

A true dragon, Theron didn't fully understand that. "Feel I'm missing something." The young elf questioned.

"It's goes along with Odahviing, something I'll gladly explain once this is done." Miara promised as she strolled over to her daughter and knelt at the ebbing embers of the rage demon. Much like the dragons of Thedas, these demons also left more questions than answers. The entity literally embodied anger itself with fire and lava coming off its body. But it felt off, as if it was not a complete being.

That made no sense at all.

While the dunmer looked over the remains everyone took a quick breather while Leliana came up to Sofie. "Does... Does that hurt? Changing into that?"

"In the beginning when I was learning it. Took a long time before I reached the level I am now." And that was not easy in the least. Sofie can recall the blood, sweat, and tears she poured into mastering her skills.

Kneeling down to the now still skeletal remains Theron uttered a small prayer, hoping his ancestors know their bones were at peace now. "We're probably going run into more of these." Gin quipped at his side.

"I had that feeling to." the Dalish warrior concurred grimly. "I'll tell the clans to have these bones properly buried."

Neria came to their side; "Once we clear the place of demons and werewolves that will make it safer."

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

They continued forth. And as they traveled further into the inner sanctum they run into small pockets of possessed corpses that were swiftly dispatched of. Along with some giant spiders that, much to the amusement and/or chagrin of some Thedosian, Miara completely avoided, choosing instead to hide behind the towering form of her eldest daughter.

"Is it over?" She dared take a peek.

"Yes!" Sofie and Serana exclaimed in exasperation.

But what came next killed all levity.

They reached another large chamber with a circular slab very similar to the one they had seen before. The chamber lead to three different directions closed off by gates. But what really caught their attention was the sudden apparition that took shape before them.

The body was small, ethereal and wisp looking, clearly a spirit, not amongst the living.

And it was just a child, an elven child

"Mamae? Mamae na mara san..." The fright in his voice was evident to anyone.

"Maker..." Neria muttered with growing heartache, once more reminded that this place was most likely the site of a massacre, and this child had been one of the victims.

Theron stepped forth, his eyes softer than any of them had seen before. He spoke with sympathy and sadness, "Atish'an, da'len" He held a hand in a none threatening gesture, "Vir falon"

But the ghostly child didn't seem to hear him. It reacted as though it had heard something terrifying, "Mamae? Mamae?! Mamae!" The spirit bolted away in a hurry, his form slowly disappearing into wisps.

"Da'len!" Theron cried out for the spirit. His hand slowly lowering as he realized there was nothing he could do.

For a moment, everyone remained silent.

"He was crying for his mother..." The dalish muttered, lingering pain present in his voice. "I... I want follow him"

"Theron-" Marcus called out to him.

The dalish asked ever so softly, "Please"

"...Very well"

And so continued once more, following on the direction the spirit had traveled to, the silence amongst them a heavy and solemn one, nobody dared break it.

Their path split numerous times, they could only guess where the ghostly child had disappeared to. So they could only follow their instincts and explored the chambers they could, eventually they stumbled into a library, littered with ancient books. For a moment, Theron was thrilled, thinking they had stumbled upon a priceless collection of elvhen knowledge and lore, a find like this would mean so much for their people.

Inspecting the books killed his enthusiasm swiftly.

"Ruined..." He spat, looking at the damp, soft pages, any writing they had on them was barely readable. "Time has weathered them too much" He looked over and over the different books, but they all seemed to share the same poor state.

Leliana, bless her, tried to lift his spirits. "Perhaps there is one in good state we can find for your clans. I'm sure we can spare a moment to keep looking"

To Theron's surprise, the others (well, with the exception of Sten and Morrigan) were quick to agree. "Thank you..." He said sincerely from the bottom of his heart. Although being in the company of humans still bothered him somewhat, he had enough honor in him to thank them when they were acting out of the kindness of their hearts.

As the group sorted through the numerous ancient shelves Neria stood near a statue gazing down at the floor. Her head cocked as she knelt down staring at a strange white gem. Ornate with elven writing she could see what she swore looked like blood inside. Strangely she felt a strong warmth coming from it.

She could not take her eyes away from it as her hands moved down to grab it. The moment her fingers clasped the gem memories flooded into her mind. Images of battles; be they against mortal or demons a figure donned in the most beautiful robe-like armor she had ever seen. The figure moved with a grace and efficiency wielding magic in one hand and a glowing blade of pure magic attached to an ornate sword hilt.

Words could not describe the sight as the figure tore through his enemies. Within a blink that memory faded as the figure now stood before her. His golden black robe armor almost seemed to glow. Pale skin with white long hair, long elven ears sticking through them. Shock etched on his face which soon morphed into fear.

'Please don't be scared. I won't hurt you.' Neria conveyed through her thoughts which seem to quell the figure. 'Who are you?' Once more images flooded her mind.

There was... a battle. Fierce elven forces fighting against an enemy she couldn't quite make out. But at the center of the memory where elven knights who wielded magic and blade equally. There was pride, honor, and devotion in the feelings that came with the memory.

Then there was fear, anger, and despair. A foul magic struck the knight the memory was centered around, and this is where he ended up.

'You were a warrior' Neria thought in realization.

More images, the word became clear and she soon understood its meaning. Dirth'ena Enasalin; Arcane Warrior, a mage who employed martial arts alongside spells to fight. They were outstanding engines of war that cut a path in the battlefield no matter who the enemies were. The elven mage thought of the Knight-Enchanters, and came to the conclusion that this ancient elven art was where their craft was inspired.

She could feel indignation and disgust from the gem from that thought, so she quickly apologized.

'Is there any way I can help you?' Sympathy and compassion gripped her heart, and she felt the blazing spark of hope emanating from the gem. It begged for freedom, to join his ancestors' spirits. She was shown images of the gem shattering, and she understood what she had to do, it also promised to reward Neria with the knowledge of the ancient elven martial art. 'I need no reward; I know this is the right thing to do'

There was a wave of humbleness, and offered the reward all the same. Not out of desperation, but gratitude.

Neria thought about it for a moment. It wouldn't be the first time she received knowledge directly into her mind before. That spirit in the Fade (oh what was her name? Saria, Sanya or something), gave her the knowledge of the light spear that vanquished demons and corruption equally. Besides, this was a chance to recover ancient elven knowledge; this could greatly benefit the dalish clans.

'I accept'

The soul let out a flare of joy, and she felt its essence entering her mind.

There she had more flashes of memory not of her own. Visions of battle spells, martial techniques her body couldn't hope to replicate. Shining armor of elven knights, blades of pure arcane energy. Words in a language she wasn't entirely familiar with before, they now possessed extreme clarity to her, as though she had learnt the words in her sleep.

Then, it was over; the soul had nothing more to offer.

Neria smiled softly, 'I hope you find peace'.

And with a flare of her mana, she shattered it.

"What was that?" Miara asked, turning sharply, dropping another ruined book on a pile. "I felt a spark of magic"

"Same here" Brianna added, followed by nods from Serana and Morrigan. "Did you find something Neria, something with magic in it?"

Neria perked up as she spun on her heels and fully stood. She displayed the pieces of the broken gem as the Dunmer and her longtime friend came over. "The soul of an ancient Dirth'ena Enasalin was trapped inside this gem."

That name drew Theron's attention; "An arcane warrior?"

Neria gave a nod; "I freed him and in return he gave me all the knowledge and skills of that old art!" She spoke brightly as she felt genuinely excited to fully master all that was given to her.

Her enthusiasm was not shared by the others, Theron especially; "What?!"

"There was a soul here" She motioned excitedly to the broken remains of the gem. "An elf, and ancient warrior from long ago!" She felt as though she was first learning theory under Irving again, all this knowledge fresh in her mind, but it was like she had always known it and never understood it until now. "He showed me what he was, a knight, who wielded magic. It's like the Knight-Enchanters, Brianna!"

Her friend did not look so thrilled, "Neria why didn't you tell any of us what you were doing?"

"Oh I know, I'm so sorry. It's just, the knight must have been here for so long" She said apologetically, looking down at the gem, not realizing one of their companions was walking closer to her at a hurried gait. "I felt so bad for him, I just wanted to..." She stopped the moment she felt someone standing less than a foot from her, and looked up to see the very angry face of Theron. "...to help"

"Why didn't you say anything?" He demanded.

"I-"

"Do you even realize what you took?" The elf seethed, gesturing at the gem. "That was... That was forgotten knowledge, from an actual ancient elf that lived who knows how long ago. And you just took it"

"I-I didn't steal it" The young woman tried to defend herself, "I just wanted to help the knight"

"What you did was take something that doesn't belong to you" The hunter said bitingly. "You didn't stop for a second of consulting the only dalish here about it? Or about taking the gem to the clans?"

"Enough" Brianna pushed the dalish away from her friend, "She didn't do anything wrong. And why are you so angry? She's an elf too, she's not a human stealing your history"

"She may not be" Theron conceded, "But did she stop to think how she could share the knowledge that is now only in her mind?"

That... honestly had not occurred to Neria.

"Thought so" The dalish ruefully sneered. "Whether she wanted to do the right thing or not is irrelevant, she didn't consider the consequences of her action" He looked at Neria with contempt. "You are an elf, Neria Surana, but you are not dalish. You have not toiled, sacrificed, or suffered like the clans have. You had no right to take what wasn't yours"

Neria blinked rapidly avoiding his gaze, unable to hold back the guilty tears escaping her eyes.

Most of her companions gave her a sympathetic look before glaring at the dalish, who merely let out a snort and began pacing at the library's entrance, uncaring whatever things they would think or say behind his back, trying to calm himself down.

"I just wanted to help..."

"Your heart was in the right place, Neria" Miara said with a soft comforting tone, placing her hands upon her shoulders as Brianna tenderly rubbed her back. "But you were very naive, you had no idea this soul was telling you the truth. It could have been manipulating you for all you knew"

"B-But I felt it, his emotions, his memories..."

"And what if they were lies, illusions. We both know better," Brianna remarked in a calm but reprimanding tone.

A more understanding gaze came from the older elf; "The emotions from the spirit overwhelmed you didn't they?" The younger elf nodded in shame. The earliest lessons taught to a mage were to be wary and suspicious of spirits. Those basics were pounded endlessly into their heads. "Emotions can do that for anyone. You should have told us, Neria, so we could have made sure it was safe" Miara's voice being warm and maternal.

"I... understand." Neria murmured before being patted on the cheek by the gray skinned elf who grinned. "Things are just so different out here than the Circle."

"You'll learn." Miara reassured her with a grin from Brianna.

"Theron." The elven warrior shifted his impatient gaze towards her "The knight showed me where his armor and weapon is buried."

A low grunt came from the Dalish elf; "Well that's a start." He stated before leaving the room.

Alistair shook his head while the others kept their judgement quiet. A low bitter glare came from Gin as he walked up beside Neria, Miara, and Brianna. "If he thinks the dalish have it worse than those living in the Alienages I'd love to show him Denerim." He growled before strolling away.

Marcus shook his head, letting out a tired sigh as he rubbed his neck. He softly called to the elven mage; "Are you okay?"

"Um, yeah" The young elf replied, "Yes, I'm fine. It's just, I never had anyone be so angry at me before... Well aside from you that time" She weakly laughed at the memory.

"That time you needed a wakeup call, and you needed to be ready for the battlefield. Which I'm happy to say you learnt" The noble spoke with a sincere smile. "I'm not going to pretend Theron was completely justified in talking to you like that, but I can understand where he's coming from. To have your entire history constantly taken and discarded, every day facing all kinds of hardships. Someone with a privileged life like myself can't possibly know what it's like"

"Funny" Brianna said honestly, "You never come across like someone who has always been privileged"

"Because I was taught there is a responsibility to my lineage, a duty" He nodded to the dalish walking further ahead, "Theron also has one such duty, like all dalish have, one they take extremely seriously"

"The elves here walk a very difficult path" Miara agreed, "To say they are sensitive about preserving their culture is a massive understatement"

As they approached their destination guided by Neria's instructions. They witnessed another ghostly apparition, this time of an elven woman entering a large chamber phasing through the wall. Many of them already came to the conclusion this could be the mother of the ghostly elven child.

"The mother and child" Neria recalled sadly, "The Arcane Warrior died protecting them..."

They quickly picked up the pace, and witnessed a great chamber whose purpose soon became clear as they took in the details. As with many parts of these ruins, they were giant roots piercing through stone and earth, and around a great circular platform stood the status of elves in armored plates unlike any type they had seen the dalish wear before, illuminated by braziers they saw one single rectangular object in the middle of the circular area, the status poised to face it directly, almost in reverence.

A sarcophagus.

"This is where he is buried... where they buried him" Neria spoke as the apparitions manifested again, this time next to the tomb. The mother and child, embracing tightly as they gazed upon the tomb with sadness in their ethereal eyes.

Theron slowly approached, and the spirits became wary of him, becoming agitated. He raised his hands in a placating manner before bowing with a hand to his chest.

He spoke in the dalish tongue, broken as it was with so much knowledge they had lost. "Ancient ones, I come before you with humility, seeking the honored one's armaments"

The ghosts stared at him cautiously and in confusion, as though the only thing that kept them from panicking was the shape of his ears.

Theron bit back a curse, "They can't fully understand me, a lot of our own language is missing..."

"Let me try" To his surprise, Miara came to his side. "Let's see how well old ehlnofex translates to thedosian elven" She cleared her throat and spoke in a tongue that the others Thedosians couldn't understand in the least, with the exception of Theron who could only pick up a few words, making it sound like broken sentences to him. "We found the soul of the man who protected, he is free now"

All elven and human language descended from the ancestral Ehlnofey, it was a gamble as Miara was unsure how much divergence has happened since Aldmeris Elves came to these lands. But at the basic foundation of their language, it should still be understood at some level.

And to everyone's relief the ghosts seem to understand as their fear morphed to gratefulness. "They understood," Leliana spoke with hope. Soon the mother spoke several words before she and her child vanished. "What did they say?"

"Thank you." Miara and Theron chorused as the young elf sighed; "Ma serannas." He gave a nod to the older elf; "Now they can rest."

The Dunmer glanced at him before peering back to Neria; "The knight said we can have his armor?"

"Yes, and his weapon as well."

Walking over to the sarcophagus Miara rested her hand on the lid. She quietly spoke a Dunmeri prayer before sliding it open. Theron and the others came to her side as the lib fell to the side and the dust settled. There within rested the bones of the ancient warrior with his armor still on. Beside him was an ornate sword hilt.

"Gods be praised..." An absolutely thrilled smile slowly formed on the dalish's lips. "Ancient elven plate"

The armor was majestic, a shining bronze in coloration that didn't seem to have lost any of its luster. With layered pauldrons, fine cloth intertwined between the armor segments on the arms, wrapping around the chest plate area and the collar with leather straps crossing diagonally over the area. Long armored gauntlets and leggings with chainmail in between, hanging on the front and the back of the armor like a long loincloth or a waist cape, the pants strapped in with a thick leather belt. The armor was so masterfully design they could see multiple carvings added in for decoration, to fully bring the armor's splendor.

"A fine armor" Sten acknowledged matter of factly.

"Wow, for Sten to get so emotional you know this thing's good" Sofie jested, elbowing the qunari who didn't even budge.

Alistair whistled in appreciation, "So this is what ancient elven craftsmanship is like. Very nice indeed"

"We've lost so much..." Theron spoke, voice thick with emotion. "Even how to make this type of armor. Yet here I am seeing it, touching it" He said with great reverence as the tips of his fingers slowly traced the chest plate. "This armor was worn by a great elven knight" A hero, forgotten perhaps, but he would make sure his legacy would live on.

"I'm not much of an expert" Morrigan flatly sneered, "But aren't swords supposed to have a blade?" She said, pointing at the sword hilt next to the body.

"I... will admit it is odd" The dalish slowly said, reaching out for the blade part in question.

Picking it up with reverence Theron brings it out. He took the time to admire the incredible detailing but cocked a brow at the place were a sword is supposed to be; "Well..." He paused before gazing over to Neria; "What did you see in the memories?"

Walking over the young elven mage stared at the hilt. She thought for a moment as she recalled the memories; "The warrior used magic to create the blade."

"Well that is interesting." Serana quipped in a curious manner.

"May I see?" Miara asked garnering the others attention. Hesitant, Theron handed the hilt to the Dunmer. Her crimson eyes took in everything before concentrating her magical energy into it. In that instant a blade of pure silver energy rose like a beacon. Theron and the other gasp as the blade shined so brightly it was almost blinding for a moment.

As their eyes adjusted everyone stared in awe. "Beautiful," Morrigan being the first out of all them spoke with a sheer amazement in her voice.

"But..." Neria murmured as her eyes stayed on the blade; "When the knight used it was another color."

"Must have been the color of his magic" Miara absently replied, almost too entranced with the construct in her hand. A blade made of pure arcane energy, and it wasn't a bound weapon summoned from Oblivion, this was something created by not just the materials were in the blade, but also by a wave of complex enchanting matrix that channeled pure raw arcane power that solidified into this edge of light.

For a moment, it reminded Miara of the Sword-Singer spirit blades, but those were constructs created purely from the soul, they were much more intimate than the weapon in her hand. And though it most likely lacked the versatility and esoteric abilities a Sword-Singer could cast through their blades, this weapon could be wielded by nearly anyone. These Arcane Warriors were mage knights in every sense of the word, and made sure it was reflected even in their weaponry.

She nearly salivating at the thought of tinkering with this item and discovering its secrets, finding out the correct process of building such a distinguished weapon to fit this far more advanced age of theirs.

Miara swung the blade, joy dancing in her red eyes with the chirping magical sound it produced. "Can I take this, please?"

"...How about no?" Theron deadpanned.

XxX ~ xx ~ XxX

Gathering the pieces of the armor took a bit of time as they made certain the bones of the arcane warrior was not damaged. The armor looked as if it was newly forged, and as light as leather. Placing the lid back on the sarcophagus they placed the pieces there. Miara remarked they can gather the pieces once they dealt with the Witherfang. Though Serana literally had to pry the sword out of her lover's hands.

"You can look at it back at the Dalish camp." The Nordic vampire was dressing down Miara like a child.

After the group pressed further into the ruins. Going downwards there were thankfully not many more encounters of demons, undead, or spiders. They took in the sight of a few murals and statues they found as they roamed deeper, Theron remarking some of statues being the Thedosian elven gods.

Miara took careful interest in the brief detailing of said deities till all stopped in a large room where several Werewolves stood. In a flash the group readied for battle till a gray wolf raised a claw hand; "Peace! We did not come here for battle." He spoke in a guttural tone.

The Dunmer took lead beside Marcus and Theron; "Your actions outside begged to differ." Remarked the young nobleman.

The wolf said nothing as he stared at Miara; "Gray one. The Lady wishes to speak with you and your comrades. There will be no fighting; we have no desire to face down your dragon."

A few protested as the Dragonborn took a few steps near the werebeasts; "Then take us to her."

With a soft growl, the werewolf waved with his long claw to follow them. The Wardens and their allies did not let their guard down even for a second; everyone stayed on their toes and kept a hand near their weapons in case things took a turn for the worst.

Further into the chambers they went, and they began to notice all manner of plants and moss growing all over the walls, as if trying to build hanging gardens inside the ancient ruin, trying to return it to nature, giant roots of trees that laid far above in the surface pierced through the ceiling and intertwined with each other.

They neared the final chamber, where most of the werewolf pack laid. There had to be dozens upon dozens of them, crouching or standing atop the different levels of the chamber, looking down at their 'guests'. Soft growls and a few warning barks promised them that if they were do harm their pack or their beloved lady, there would be consequences.

And there, standing next to the unmistakable figure of Swiftrunner, stood the one they had come to seek. Greenish bare skin, limbs made out of vines and roots, long silky black hair, and equally dark eyes that were almost dark void if not for the hints of irises and pupils.

The so called Lady of the Forest, the long lost sister of the spriggans.

She looked at them with an unreadable expression, while some like Leliana could only gaze in wonder, thinking of all the possible lyrics and poems she could write about the spirit's humanoid beauty, others felt unnerved like they had with the spriggans in the forest, as this being was far from a mortal. It had no reason to follow their mindset.

The fact that she commanded the loyalty and devotion of so many dangerous beasts did not help matters.

"This was a mistake..." Theron muttered, holding himself from reaching his bow.

"Relax" Miara whispered, "Let me talk first" She approached, just a few steps so she wouldn't be that far apart from her group and wouldn't be taken as a threat. With a hand to her heart, she spoke with respect; "Fair winds to you, child of Kyne"

The Lady of the Forest tilted her head, those black eyes staring intently at the gray skinned elf, measuring her. Her lips softly parted, her expression morphing to one of realization. "Ahh I see" With a rooted hand to her forehead, she greeted back. "I greet you as well. Though mortal you look, I feel you are anything but"

That garnered a few questioning looks from her Thedosian comrades. "True, and while I would love to speak candidly with you. We are pressed for time."

"Indeed, there is much going on I fear you are not aware of."

Swiftrunner, despite injuries snarled fiercely; "Do not listen to her my Lady. Whatever she is she will betray you!"

"Hush, this being's power is far beyond anyone of us. If she decided, she could slaughter everyone you wanted to save. Is that what you want?" The lady's voice rebuked in a calm stern melodic voice.

At that the alpha relented and knelt beside his mistress; "I want none of us to die this day."

"Then why did you attack the Dalish?!" Theron's anger boiled as he marched beside Miara. "What grievance has there been to do such a thing?!"

The Lady's gaze turned to the young warrior; "Because our rage would no longer be contained. But we set it aside because now words must be said. And hidden truths must be told."

"We encountered your sisters." the dunmer addressed getting the matter on topic; "They stated you were taken long ago."

A nod came from the lady; "I was. Taken and stripped to be a mere tool of vengeance. By Zathrian."

The words fell upon the dalish like hammer upon the anvil, "No... I refuse to believe it" He said staunchly. "Why would he have had to?"

A frown formed on the Lady's brow. "A common reason that compels all men to do terrible things; Revenge"

"Revenge?" Marcus muttered unnerved, very familiar with that desire. "Against whom?"

"Humans of course" The spirit said as though that was the most obvious thing in the world. "Do elves have any other enemies?"

The noble fell silent, exchanging a few uncomfortable looks with others from their group. Theron, despite his belief in the Keeper who was so respected by many dalish clans, let the spirit speak. Keeper Zathrian was... old, very old. And tragedies at the hands of humans were far too common amongst their kind, if even what part of it was true then...

"Zathrian came to these woods, centuries ago" The Lady of the Forest solemnly recalled the tale. "Full of sorrow and rage, all creatures of the forest could feel the pain he felt inside" Her voice was melancholic, as if she still felt compassion for the man despite what she ordered her pack to do. "I approached him, for I had never seen a mortal feel so much, I was used to them just passing through our forest. Zathrian though... I never knew mortals could be so full of emotions"

Her eyes soon became angered, "And in that moment of curiosity, he seized me with magic and blood, bound me to the body of a wolf. He used my ties to nature and the essence of a wolf, to punish the humans who wronged him, turned them in to the beasts he saw them as"

"...What did these humans do?" Theron asked his voice barely above a whisper.

Surprisingly it was not the Lady who told him, it was Swiftrunner, but what truly took them all aback was how solemn he sounded. Like there was sympathy beneath all that animalistic rage. Yet what he said was what truly horrified him. "He had children, dearly beloved children. A daughter, entering the cusp of adulthood, and a son, young but dutiful... Humans attacked his clan once, and they took his children"

Theron could feel his stomach drop, as did many others, for they suspected with disgust and trepidation the fate that had befallen Zathrian's family.

"The son, they killed. The daughter... they raped. And she took her own life, when she discovered she was with child"

Horror etched in the eyes of all as those words were spoken. Neria, Brianna, and Leliana cupped their mouths as they gasped. A whimper came from both mabari who understood what was said, even Sten showed brief anger in his eyes if only for a moment. Alistair cursed as he shook his head in disgust. A snarl came from Serana alongside Sofie who reigned in their fury.

Miara's eyes grew in both horror and understanding. The Thalmor had incurred her unbridled rage when they did the one thing that spelled the end of their tyranny. Beside her, Theron appeared numb by those words. While he knew Zathrian had lost family, he had no idea how horrible a tragedy it had been. To have your own children taken from you in such a way.

"H-he... couldn't have defiled the forest to do such a thing." Even saying those words they held not conviction. Only loss held in his tone.

A dry look came from the one person unbothered by the conversation; "Are you that truly blind?" Morrigan remarked with apathy; "The truth is laid bare and you still deny it? Your Keeper had violated the forest to reap vengeance."

Theron glared back heatedly at the swamp witch before turning back to the lady who gazed at him; "If you truly do not believe my words. Ask Zathrian himself. But know our rage will not be contained until Zathrian lifts the curse"

"For three hundred years any human who has ventured to this forest has become cursed to be the beasts before you." Swiftrunner growled out; "All those who had harmed Zathrian's children are dead. Let the curse end and free us from a crime none of us ever committed."

"Well this is a damn mess." Gin murmured with a long sigh.

"Why attack us then?" The dalish demanded, "Was it revenge against Zathrian?"

"In part" The Lady of the Forest admitted. "I long to reunite with my sisters, but so long as Zathrian has me bound that is denied to me. The humans he cursed are long dead, yet he allows the curse to spread through the binding he put me under, forcing me to turn more mortals I find into werewolves. I believed that if I pressured him to act, he would undo his curse" She said, "I see his hatred outweighs his love for his clan"

"Zathrian will not act, that much is clear" Swiftrunner growled, "We will have this curse end, one way or another"

Theron's hands tightened, his knuckles going white. He reigned in his anger by taking a deep breath before looking into the Lady's dark eyes once more. "What if... What if we bring Zathrian here? Persuade him to undo his binding?"

The spirit pondered on his words, "If you do so. You must know that he will resist at every opportunity, it is not just for his vengeance, and the curse that binds me is what keeps him alive as well"

A shocked gasp escaped Neria's lips, realization dawning on her. "Of course... That is how he's lived so long. The blood magic binding he used, he must have tied you to his own life force, so long as you live then so does him"

"He never recovered the elven immortality..." Theron spoke with disappointment.

"But wait" Sofie frowned, realizing something important. "If the curse ends, then Zathrian will die... as will you" She looked at the Lady with wide eyes.

"Death is not the same to me as mortals" The Lady said, "This life, my experiences, it will all be like a dream. Fragments of which shall remain in my next life. It is true that I will lose a bit of myself... but I miss my kin oh so dearly, living separated from them is unbearable"

"Doesn't death scare you in any way?" Alistair muttered, "You still said you would lose a part of yourself"

"All things die" The spriggan merely replied, "Such is the way of things"

And from death, life is reborn anew. Such is the cycle; everything that this Spriggan is now will be gone. And a new daughter of Kyne will be born to the world. Miara understood; "We will convince Zathrian to come here and break the curse."

The lady's lips dawned a grateful smile; "Once I am dead, take my heart to my sisters. They will know what to do." A deep low mournful whine came from all the Werebeasts at her words; "Do not mourn for me, you all shall be free from this curse as I will be."

Miara turned to the others while the Lady conversed with Swiftrunner; "Now all we need to do is convince Zathrian to break the curse..." There was a mild draw in her voice; "Like that will be easy."

"Even with his clans being tormented by the curse he created?" Leliana questioned.

"You would be surprised how much someone would allow something when hate and anger grip their heart." Serana retorted back mournfully.

Brianna sighed with a hand to her hip; "So how do we change his mind?" Her gaze turned to Theron who stared in no particular direction. "What do you think?"

She was met with silence by the young warrior. His mind clouded by confusion. Did Keeper Zathrian actually do this? Defile a nature spirit just to reap vengeance. Not that it was unwarranted given what happened. But how he went about it, if what the lady said was true. Everything that has befallen the clans right now was Keeper Zathrian's fault.

Alistair scratched his head in befuddlement; "Feel a bit out of my depth here."

"Isn't that a normal occurrence for you?" Morrigan jested earning a glare from the former Templar.

Sten, who had been quiet as a statue peered to Marcus; "This mattered should be settled with due haste."

"Agree with the big guy." Sofie remarked crossing her arms which made the Qunari grunt.

They were right, no more delays, they needed to reach Zathrian and fast. Perhaps if she traveled herself, but Whirlwind Sprint only gets you so far in a terrain as dense as this forest. Perhaps if she summoned Shadowmere then-

"There is no need"

All gazes snapped back to the entrance, the werewolves growled and howled in rage as the reason for their curse appeared. Zathrian strolled into the room, seemingly uncaring of how many claws and fangs eager to rip him to shreds were present. He merely tapped his lyrium infused staff against the ground with each step in a calm and collected gait. His eyes bore directly into the Lady of the Forest, ignoring every else.

"Keeper Zathrian" Theron exclaimed in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"I feared it was only a matter of time before you discovered the truth of her identity, and I see my fears were well founded. I should have known you would up to your tricks, spirit" The ancient Keeper said, "Have you swayed them with your honeyed words?"

Swiftrunner, true to his name, moved faster than any of them could react. In but a moment, he had sidelined the group and stood up to Zathrian, drawing to his full height to further show the difference in size between the elf and him. "She is the Lady of the Forest! You will show respect!"

Zathrian stared up at the werebeast unimpressed, "You have taught them speech again, spirit. Try as you might, you cannot disguise the fact they are beasts"

"Swiftrunner, please" The Lady asked in a gentle voice.

The werewolf soon relaxed his stance, and faithfully returned to his side. "As you wish, my Lady"

"Hmph, you have them well tamed" He glared at the Wardens and their allies, "Is this how you Wardens honor your promises? Why do you entertain her whims?"

"Because we know the truth now, Zathrian" Marcus stepped forward, his eyes staring piercingly at the mage. "We know what you did"

"You accuse me" He slammed the end of his staff against the cold floor, "But if you know the truth, you should know what was done to my son, to..." He drew a shaky breath, his eyes closing momentarily before glaring at them once more, the pain in them still as fresh as it was so long ago. "To my daughter. How many times do you believe you humans have done this to my people? For how long have your kind hunted us?" He seethed, "Too long... My vengeance is justice"

"Not all humans-"

"Yes, yes, not all humans wish for my kind to suffer. So a few among you have honor, it changes not the fact that most of you are nothing but vile, bloodthirsty, beasts" He spat. No longer was he hiding the hate, the sheer anger he felt toward humanity any longer under the pretense of civility. This was Zathrian as he truly was, a man filled with pain and loathing. "So into beasts, I turned them"

"Keeper Zathrian" Theron was aghast, heartbroken that such an honored figure had done all this. "But you are a Keeper, you taught your clan to honor the forest and the spirits, and yet-"

"Your father was a Keeper too, Theron" His voice lost a bit of its edge. "I knew him; to say he was an outstanding man does not do him justice... And yet humans took him from you, before you could even remember, you of all people should understand my motives"

"So..." Miara soon spoke as she marched towards the keeper. "You justified your vengeance by defiling the forest. Violating her." She pointed to the Lady before stopping a foot away from him; "Bound her to a wolf and used her to stay alive all years. And marking any human with your curse." A cold edge resonated in her tone as she glared with fury.

Zathrian stood defiant; "You are a parent as I was. What would you have done if someone harmed your son, your daughters?" Anger reflected back in his gaze. "Besides sick that pet dragon of yours on them." So he had seen Odahviing…

His words struck a deep chord in the Dunmer as anger shook her entire form before releasing out a shuddered breath; "I would have slaughtered all those responsible." A nod came from the old Keeper as he walked around her. After what she had done in the past, the mistakes she made, her sins… she had no right to judge Zathrian.

"But the people who harmed your children are long dead." Neria reasoned.

"Yet humanity still shuns, violate, and condemn us just for being elves. Before being taken to the Circle you lived an alienage did you not Neria Surana? As well as you Gin Tabris." His eyes turned to the city elf. "What have the humans done to you there?"

"I'll be the first to admit I'm not a fan of most Shems. But that goes only to those who have done us wrong." Gin declared with a frown. "What you've done, can't you see how it affected everything?"

Zathrian gripped his staff tightly; "All I can see are the bodies of my children and the hate when looking at the shemlem." The anger and mourning mixed as he spoke; "Their futures taken away by humans, who toyed with them, tortured them, just because they thought they were in right to do so, just because they were elves..."

"But, the clans" Theron said between a pause, "they are suffering right now..."

"Because of these beasts" The Keeper pointed his staff accusingly at the werewolves. "Please, Theron, do the right thing. Help me end this once and for all"

The hunter's eyes narrowed slightly, "Giving you the heart, it won't end the curse will it? You'll just transfer it to something else; there will be werewolves who will spread it"

"It's what they deserve" Zathrian seethed, his frown twisting into a scowl. "My vengeance is eternal"

The elven hunter could only stare at the Keeper with disappointment and disgust, slowly shaking his head. He gazed at the Lady of the Forest, who throughout it all remained calmed despite how fast the situation was deteriorating. To his companions, whom he was meant to follow in their quest to save not just this human nation, but all the lives in it, this included elves.

And finally, he looked at Zathrian, who was meant to be the embodiment of everything great about the dalish, and saw him for what he truly was.

"I dislike humans" Theron bluntly stated, ignoring the wince he drew from some of his companions. "How could I not, after all they did to us? But this... this isn't about holding our grudges to humanity; it's about what you've done. You threw away your believes as a Keeper, you brought this curse on us all"

"It was these beasts-!"

"It was you!" Theron pointed a finger accusingly at the Keeper, the candor in his voice raging as a wildfire. "You let this happen to our people because you value your pain over them!"

"How dare you?!" Zathrian spat through clenched teeth, "You have no idea how much I've done for my clan, for the dalish people!"

"It's clear to me now what you're willing to do for your revenge. Our clans are suffering from something you could have fixed already, but refuse to out of hate for long dead humans. Your hate holds more room in your heart the love for our kin"

The Keeper crossed the distance between them in a heartbeat, his eyes blazing red with the power of his blood magic. "I would do anything for my clan!"

Theron met his gaze without flinching, "No, you would do anything for your hate. That is what you truly treasure"

"Why, you foolish and naive-"

"If you truly cared for your clan, for our people" The anger in his voice slowly softened, replaced by a pleading desperation. "Then please, Zathrian, I beg of you... spare them of this pain. There are those who will lose sons, daughters, parents, if you keep on like this. You will take them from their families, like yours was taken from you"

A shuddering gasp escaped the Keeper's lisp, the magic in his eyes vanishing, revealing eyes that belonged to a suffering man. "I am... far too old to have mercy. All I can see are the faces of my children"

Slowly, Theron placed a hand upon his robed chest, right over his heart. "Then remember the faces of your clan, the people who have looked up to you for guidance for so long"

Lanaya, Mithra, Sarel, Varathorn, Elora, and many more. He had known most of them since they were children, since their parents were children. So many faces that had aged before his eyes while his remained unchanged.

His beloved kin, who looked up to him.

His people, whom he had left to suffer just for his need of vengeance.

Zathrian let out an explosive breath, finding his legs to be very weak. He clung to his staff as he fell to one knee; Theron hurriedly placed his hands on him so he wouldn't fall. The Keeper felt tired, so very tired and old...

"You win..." He brokenly said, tears gathering at the corners of his eyes. "While I can never forgive the humans... I won't let our people suffer because of my rage."

A small collective sigh escape them as Theron helped the old Keeper stand. Zathrian's eyes were hollow, empty save for his pain and regret as his tears cascaded down. Rubbing his eyes he patted the young elf's shoulder; "Adras would have been proud of you." Once those words left his lips the keeper made his way to the Lady.

Swiftrunner and the other werebeasts were ready for any treachery. But the old elf just stared solely at the Spriggan he had forcefully bound for his vengeance. "For... What I did to you spirit. I am truly sorry." His voice conveying sincerity as he bowed his head to her.

"I never cared for mortals before" The Lady softly spoke, "But meeting you, Zathrian, meeting all the mortals I cursed over the centuries, I discovered how much you can feel. There is hate, rage, greed in you, and pain drives you to do horrible things… but that pain was born because of how much you loved your family" She smiled, "You mortals are filled with so many emotions, I hope in my next life what remains of me will share what I learnt with my sisters"

"You… shame me, spirit" The Keeper humbly replied; "I am just an old man, who has lived for far too long…"

"Do not be afraid" The spriggan soothingly said. "Death and life are part of the cycle of nature, from our death, life will sprung anew"

His choice made, his demons faced, Zathrian readied himself to end it all at long last.

Gripping his staff with both hands, Zathrian raised it high as an arcane circle appeared under him and the Spriggan. As he brought it down the circle cracked and faded before re-surging into a violent burst of light.

Nothing of them remained, the Lady was branches and vines on the ground, save for her glowing heart. Zathrian's body was gone, only ashes on his clothes remained, as if all his centuries had suddenly caught up to him in an instant.

Swiftrunner and all the werewolves howled in mourning as they stood by the Spriggan's now dead form. Theron quickly ran to the Keeper's remains.

Miara closed her eyes with a heavy sigh; "It is done..."

The werewolves growled and whined as their forms began to shift, shrinking as the fur fell off their bodies, snouts retreating into normal mouths, their long muscular limbs becoming normal and hairless. To those unfamiliar with werewolves the whole thing must have looked like their transformation but in reverse, as they were actually returning to their true forms.

What remained were not the tall beasts plagued by animalistic fury. But a group of normal looking humans and elves who stared at each other in wonderment, uncaring that they were all naked.

"Oh Maker..." Neria quickly covered her eyes and turned.

"Guess we should have seen that coming" Alistair quipped. In hindsight, it was unlikely these people would have returned to normal with clothes on.

"You... You did it!" The human form of Swiftrunner exclaimed with utter joy, "You actually did it! Oh thank you all so much!"

"We are glad we did the right thing" Marcus smiled at the man, "I'm sorry about the Lady though"

A flash of pain appeared in his eyes, "We will remember her, and all she did for us, always. But now, our bodies are free of the curse, our minds no longer plagued by the thought of hunting prey. We can finally return to our lives"

"You won't get far like that" Serana commented, "I'll go through our things and see if we have enough cloaks for you people"

"You'll need an escort to return to civilization, nearest human village should do" Sofie added before nudging at the large qunari at her side. "Sten and I can escort you"

The qunari didn't sound too please but did not argue, "If I must"

As they helped the now normal people prepare for a return to their proper lives, Theron hesitantly reached for Zathrian's staff, running a thumb over its surface in contemplation. All that pain he held inside, everything he did for the sake of his revenge, even at the cost of his clan's safety.

Theron couldn't say any of this had been worth it.

Miara stood at his side, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

The dalish slowly shook his head, "No, no I'm not" He sighed tiredly, "What am I even going to say to his clan? Should I tell them the truth about what he did? I-I just can't ruin their image of Zathrian, Miara. Despite what he did, he still meant a lot to so many people..."

Miara let out a soft breath, "I can't tell you what you should do, Theron. These are your people; you know what will be best for them"

The hunter looked at the staff once again, "I find myself doubting that at the moment"

"Regardless, remember that it was you who convinced Zathrian to put aside his hate and end the curse he started. We all heard what you said to him, Theron; you're wiser than you believe." She smiled at the young Warden, "I know you have made your people proud"

"...Thank you" He said in gratitude. "It's just... all this felt like a waste, like it shouldn't have happened in the first place"

"Such is life" Miara knelt down, gently pulling aside the remains of the Lady, and holding the glowing core of vines and roots that was her heart. "We have no answer to the things that happen, but we take solace in knowing that even from death, comes life"

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Hope you all enjoy that!