#gurendar

The Veil rippled easily, carrying the small burst of energies across its wavelengths. The Fade pulled then pushed against the Veil, snapping at Elodie like a band. She retracted her magic quickly, hissing at the electricity in her hand.

Pritte paused and tilted his head to the side, “Everything all right, El?”

“Uh, yes. Just…the barrier between our world and the Fade is…not thin, per se, but volatile. I’ve never felt something quite like this before,” she explained. Pritte raised his eyebrows at her and looked at the vast expanse before them.

“That’s not reassuring, Long Legs,” Karega called.

“What results in such a change?” Pritte asked.

“Battles, places where a great number of people have died, or there were lots of magical energies coalescing together are all found to thin the Veil. But this feels…different. Yes, there is a thinness to it, but there is also a defensiveness.”

“You speak as though this is a living creature.”

Elodie shrugged, “It…certainly unique. Perhaps it’s like lyrium, a certain magical carrier but also…more?” It was pure speculation but she knew that lyrium and the Fade were definitely connected.

And while it was interesting to speculate on, she did not have the energy or time to spend on it. Elodie followed Karega and Effir to the building on the other side of the bridge.

“I assume we need to go down?” She said.

“That…seems right,” Effir replied, cocking their head to the side. Elodie furrowed her brow.

“Seems?”

“The Stone feels different here, it’s so potent that it’s hard to pick out a direction to walk in,” Pritte said.

“This is where Gurendar took his fall,” Karega said. Her voice was quiet and silencing as they turned to watch her. There was no hint of weakness in her, no extreme display of emotion – just her and her armor and gear. She looked out down at the mist covered depths of the cavern, her face blank.

“The Titan is down there; we just need to figure out how to get there.” Karega stepped away from the ledge and headed down a spiral staircase in the center of the room. The rest of them followed, Pritte lagging behind somewhat as he tried to jot as much information as he could down.

When they reached the bottom, they came to another bridge. The far side of which was obscured by the mist. The hair on the back of Elodie’s neck prickled – something wasn’t quite right. Lyrium buzzed in the air and there was a high pitched keening in Elodie’s ears, ringing before clear sound gave way.

You’re here?

Elodie blinked and fortified her mind. Spirits could and did often lurk even in the deepest of places. She had resisted them all before, she was not going to ruin that record now just because of sleep deprivation. She had survived worse.

The ringing cut off and they began to move across the bridge.

You are not alone! Please listen – No! She was not listening to this spirit! She blinked and trudged forward. She had ignored the spirits and the Archdemon, she could ignore this. Except her head was beginning to ring and feel fuzzy.

The only way was forward.

They were half way across the bridge when she noticed Pritte was lagging behind, caught at some interesting railing of the bridge.

“Pritte! Come on!” She gestured for him to keep up, to follow the walkway to the side of the building. They were now pressed against the side of one of the rock outcroppings. Pritte gathered his things and hurried along to get in front of Elodie now.

A glowing dart suddenly split through the air and landed right beside his head. Pritte screamed in shock and stumbled back, about to tip back into the chasm when Elodie waved her staff up and sent him back up on the walk way and into the wall of rock. He fell on his butt no less for wear, but Karega growled at the bolt and yanked it down.

She began to shout at the void in dwarven, though it was unclear if there was anyone there. Pritte listened to her and blanched before launching himself up and began to shout in what…sounded vaguely different from her speech. His tone was much more placating, beseeching than her angry tirade.

Elodie cast a simple barrier around them, regardless.

“I think…we should move,” she whispered, feeling unease suddenly take root in her stomach. They had to move, had to…get away from this place. She looked up at the pulsing lyrium above her head.

Yes, that, they should follow that.

The lyrium was so blue, so pure, untouched and untainted by all around it. Her hand reached up, touching its smooth exterior. She gasped and a loud screech filled the chasm.

The lyrium at her finger tips turned red and she jerked it away. No, red is bad. The color disappeared as quickly as it appeared but the cavern shook, groaned.

“MOVE!” Elodie shouted just in time for a cloud of bolts to suddenly appear in the fog. She drew up a barrier, stopping them and then high tailed it with the others down the spiraling walk way. More and more bolts appeared and she brought the barrier back, but it was exhausting work, she maybe had two more of these in her before she had to stop due to pain and exhaustion.

Sleep. She hadn’t slept in thirty-three hours.

They pushed forward faster, her long legs carrying her faster than her dwarven counterparts, but she was unwilling to leave them.

You do not need them.

They will not be harmed.

Leave them now.

Run to us.

We will welcome you.

Elodie Yvetta Amell.

Come.

Her vision went white for a moment as the invasive thoughts trickled into her brain. She should outrun the dwarves. Leave them behind.

NO! She could resist this, just like she resisted the Archdemon ten years ago in the Dead Trenches.

We are no Archdemon.

We simply wish to talk.

Every demon says that, and she wasn’t falling for it. She could hear the demon of Pride in her head, whispering to her about true tests never ending. It was right, temptation for a mage was never absent – but resistance…that was their true strength.

Another hailstorm of bolts launched themselves at her group and she brought up a wall of fire, incinerating their attempts. They were not such easy prey.

Elodie –

No, that was enough. She was done listening to the voices in her head.

The rock beneath and around them shook as a hole was suddenly blown apart behind them. Elodie’s eyes widened in shock as she saw…dwarves emerge from the hole, their bodies glowing brightly with lyrium.

Karega growled more dwarven profanities, readying her axe. Effir and Pritte took their stances and another shockwave sounded through the space. This time from around the bend of the outcropping, closing them in. She took a deep breath, she had faced worse odds, she had taken down an Archdemon, she had battled through the deep roads, and she had slain giants.

She opened a lyrium philter on her belt and tossed it back before driving the end of her staff into the stone above their heads.

A gasp escaped her. There were…spirits…in the stone. Sleeping, ancient spirits.

Help us? She pleaded, letting out a burst of her own radiating spirit healing energy. They sighed and the stone moved. It parted on a great thunderous crack and began to slip down away from the dwarves and down the outcropping.

Karega, Pritte, and Effir screamed as she jolted the slab of rock down and into the pit of fog. More stone blew up and the attacking dwarves began to scale the rock down after them.

“Pritte, give me the throwing axes,” Karega demanded and promptly began to throw axes at the crossbow bearers. One landed soundly in the skull and the dwarf stuttered and fell off into the void. The others did not stop however, as they advanced on Elodie and her group’s position.

Faster, she urged the boulder and then jerked her staff, changing direction to shoot up at a diagonal, spiraling around the stalagmite. It slammed into some of the dwarves, creaking, grinding, groaning as it blasted by against the grain of the rock. But she pushed it, feeling the old spirits wraps themselves around her body and imbue her with new energy.

She was a mage specialized in spirits, after all.

They whispered to her, old names and old things that she barely heard over the cacophony of battle. But they were joyous to be finally awake and…freed? Yes, freed.

The other…things tried to whisper to her as well, but she focused on her task to get her people safe. She jerked her staff again, going down and then sharply back up, using the stone as a battering ram. She would lose energy for this soon, however, if she did not find a solution….

Ah. Solution.

She launched the rock up back to the walkway. She urged her dwarves up onto it then turned back to their attackers, quickly following them. She touched the stone again and pulled out another spirit, this one bigger and brighter, sighing happily as it’s released from its stone prison.

How thin must the Veil be down here? She wondered, for the spirit to emerge from the stone and wrap its wispy body around Elodie, sinking its power deep within her.

Thank you, it said before they turned and raised a hand, freeing the…hundreds of spirits from their stone prisons, floating out and knocking back the dwarves into the abyss.

Elodie collapsed as the spirits left her, almost singing in their harmony as she felt the Veil waver and split.

Magic suffused the air and the cavern trembled in response. Spirits flooded, then receded, came back and then receded into the Fade, content with the equilibrium suddenly found.

The lyrium suddenly glowed brighter and she felt the voice in her head boom.

Free!

Free!

Finally free!

The song returns!

We’re Free!

So many voices, clouding her head, judgement, she couldn’t –

She staggered to stand up, Karega reached out, Effir called out a warning, but it was too late.

Elodie hit the edge of the rock and tipped back, falling into the depths.

Spirits continued to whoosh by her as their thoughts and the thoughts of the Titan, she thought, invaded her mind. Fear and confusion were rampant but not directed at her impending doom as she plummeted down…down…

Down, until the air changed and she was suddenly suspended up by the air. She dropped again when the air suddenly stopped. She screamed and the air resumed. Then cut off. And bit by bit she seemed to…be lowered to the depths until her feet touched solid ground and she fell with an “oomph!”

Still unsure she was alive, she remained on the ground, surrounded by warm fog. What…just happened?

Elodie had lived through many weird things. From being sent into the Fade and fighting other people’s nightmares to meeting a walking-talking demon possessed corpse to meeting an intelligent darkspawn…she had seen much, done more, and had learned a long time ago to expect the unexpected, and above all, if you think it’s too weird to happen, it will happen.

But this took the cake.

She was at…the bottom. The very lowest she felt she and the stone could go. The source of the air that had buoyed her up was conspicuously absent as the fog parted and a slimmer than average dwarven man strode forward. His white hair was long to the point of nearly reaching the ground, his eyes a brilliant blue from lyrium and his skin glowed blue with lyrium infused blood.

He was…beautiful, though, with a smile that seemed to wrap warmth around her.

“Be welcome, Elodie Amell, Hero of Ferelden.” His voice rang out clearly, though heavily accented. She trembled as she recognized his voice from earlier, except now it wasn’t in her head, but it filled the space all around her still.

“You were trying to convinced me to run ahead.”

He nodded, “Yes, I wished to speak to you about removing the seals placed around this place to allow the Titan to awaken fully. But apparently that was unnecessary.” He smiled again and her heart dropped. What did she do? She helped awaken the creature that was potentially killing her? Driving her mad to keep her down her the entire time like…

“You’re Gurendar,” she whispered and he nodded.

“I am. Or was. I am…what is the word in common? Chosen? …Checked? No, no…Champion. That is the word, Champion of the Titan, now. Though that title does not carry the same weight in your tongue as it does in mine.” He cocked his head to the side and strode closer, offering her a hand to stand up. She declined and rose herself, unwilling to put more pressure on her lyrium burns.

“We thought you dead.”

“That is a logical conclusion for what Karega saw. But as you can see, I am very much alive…just like you are. Just like the Sha-Brytol you forced off of the cliffs.”

Her eyes widened.

“Your friends will not be harmed. And as for why you are here…the Titan is not your enemy. We do not seek to harm you or our children. That is not why we called you.”

The obvious question tickled her tongue, but she couldn’t speak, just watch in strange fascination as he moved about the space, the fog briefly obscured his figure, only for him to appear once again, hands behind his back.

“We called you because we needed someone with magic to break the seal, to release those that kept us bound for all these millennia. We rejoiced when we felt you enter Kal-Sharok. And we tried to communicate with you but…it seems our methods have not improved. We apologize for the discomfort.” His voice was like a lullaby, soothing and warm, lulling her into a sense of complacency when she knew better.

“Those visions…what were they?” She asked and his face fell into a hard expression.

“To explain what happened, to tell you why it was so important for you to come, but it seems that those who are not of the Stone do not comprehend as well.” He did not elaborate any more, but began to walk away from her. Cursing inwardly, Elodie followed him until he stopped and looked up. The fog obscured everything but she could the faint glow of lyrium, bright and pure and singing in the center.

“We are old. And we have power. There are those in this world who will do anything for power and view it as a commodity to be had by themselves alone. But that is not the case. What was not be yours never will be, and trying to take it will only warp it into something unrecognizable. Give me your hand.” He held his own out and she looked at it for a long time.

There was…sorrow here. Spirits trapped for millennia, and this man was called as she had been. They were alive and she suspected that it was due to the Titan. Whatever it was, whatever plan it had, it didn’t appear malicious as so much as directing in a very clear manner.

She placed her hand in his. He raised it up to the glowing sphere of lyrium, and she expected the burn but all that came were visions of what was. Tears slipped down her face and she cried in shock, “No.”

A beautiful, tall elven woman walked through the Deep Roads, the tails of her armor billowing behind her in great bloody swaths of part magic part fabric. Hundreds of elves followed her, and for everyone that was clad in elegant, bloodied armor, there were ten more chained and crying as they descended into the deep.

The roads were pristine then all sharp and new carvings. But here they were tarnished the blood of the Children of the Stone, their bodies lining the halls.

And the woman laughed, smiling and happy as she strode past them all. Foreign words slipped past her lips that Elodie distantly recognized. Anger suffused the image and she felt the earth shake around the elves as skrimmers, Crestals, and deepstalkers flooded the chambers.

When she spoke next, Elodie did recognize the words.

“Is this the might of the dwarves? The force of the Titan? How pitiful.” The slaughter was not quick as she delighted in maiming, cutting, and inflicting torture upon the poor creatures.

She cut a great swath of red and blood to the Titan, and finally she stood before the Champion of the Titan, a great hero clad in lyrium infused armor, their axe raised high.

“You are nothing before my will!” She cried and turned back, barking an order back to her troops.

Holders of the slaves reached down, unsheathed blades and drew them across the throats of the slaves, blood running down their bodies. Magic poured out of the elves and into the woman before the Champion.

The Champion cried out and Elodie felt the fear and the anger, the distress at seeing so much blood, so much death. Needless. Wrong.

How could someone do this?

They charged the woman, raising their axe high as she directed the magic into them, past their armor and into the body, sinking deep and around their heart.

They screamed, fighting the control as she whispered commands, dark things, to them.

“You are mine. This is all mine. How dare you attempt to keep it away from me.”

But the Champion fought and lunged forward to hack into her only to have one of her followers take the blow for her. He gasped, sputtered, fell into the void to die.

No. Needless death.

What does this sacrifice bring but destruction?

The magic flowed more intently into the Champion and they fell to their knees, the magic pushing past them and….

Into the Titan.

The cavern shook and pain coursed through her body as she felt the blood force its way into the lyrium, into the Titan.

Her will was to the be the Titan’s will, overpowering it with the sacrifice of hundreds of innocents. Blood, twisting will and creation into slavery and destruction.

Forever tainted.

The scene shifted suddenly, growing from blue to red. The thoughts became disjointed and disfigured with the woman’s thoughts, her will suffused into it. Shadows flew across the red, and suddenly teeth and claws sank into the veins, bursting, overflowing, harvested? No, attacked. Sinking, falling, deeper? How much father could we fall? Down, down. Hidden, away, PAIN.

Severed. Disconnected.

Children. Where are the Children? Are they safe? Who will protect them?

Did we hurt them? No. No. Not death. Not sacrifice, never. No choice. Her will.

She needed an army.

The visions slowly cleared from her mind, and when Elodie landed back in herself she found herself sobbing. She clutched at her sides as she felt the pain and the sickness twisting the Titan inside and out.

“What…what was that? Was that this Titan?” She gasped, finally finding her voice.

“No, that was our sister. She yet lives, not yet allowed to die.”

That…the source of the taint was…blood magic? No, not blood magic, but twisting will and thrusting it upon another. That was what twisted the Titan. Mass sacrifice, forcing a creature of creation to kill like that.

Titans…create.

She let out a shaky breath, trying to regain herself.

“I am tainted, as well, I should not be here.” She should not have touched the lyrium! What if she will cause this Titan to sicken with the Blight?

“That is precisely why you should be here. The taint stems from the corrupted Titan, only a pure one may remove it completely.” He took her hand again and placed it back to the lyrium.

“Let it flow into you like you allowed the Blight to flow. Let it burn away all traces of corrupted will.” The lyrium was cool to the touch this time and it slipped into her fingers and hand, painfully sinking her skin and into her blood.

The Joining had been painful and terrifying, and the purification was no less so. It was worse in a way, as she fell to the ground, vomiting black bile and sludge as the pure lyrium worked through her body.

Her magic strained under the effort, billowing out and collapsing against her in heavy waves.

It went on for what felt like hours, vomiting and choking as the lyrium slowly burned away the taint.

As the last drop left her, she felt her body lighten and her magic coalesce within her once more, hovering carefully as she instinctively tried to heal herself before falling into a deep slumber.

There were no visions of Archdemons or of Titans past. Only sweet, normal dreams filled with blue skies and flowers. The Fade pressed up against inside the cavern, surrounding the Titan and falling back into Elodie…

When she woke, she was on a stone bed with Gurendar standing nearby. He smiled and gestured to her.

“You are free, unburdened of will that is not your own.”

She felt her body and her eyes widened at how…clear she felt. Her head didn’t feel heavy, inundated with whispers of the taint. Eleven years of thoughts that were not her own had plagued her. Eleven years she had felt the poison pressing up inside of her, trying to consume her….

And now she was free.

Free only to have Alistair and potentially his son still be bound.

Her breath hitched and tears threatened to spill over. She could take Alistair here, perhaps. But little Duncan….

Loud shouting suddenly sounded from the far end of the space. Gurendar turned in mild curiosity just in time for Karega, Pritte, and Effir to suddenly charge in, weapons raised high.

Karega was swearing in her tongue again and ready to kill whatever stood in her way when she spotted Gurendar. She stopped, eyes wide.

“Gurendar?” she said.

“Karega, Paragon-Elect of Kal-Sharok, be welcome,” he said in the same voice warm voice he had used to greet Elodie.

Karega sneered and charged at him again. He sighed and ducked to the side, deftly avoiding every move.

“This is very unproductive, Karega.”

She shouted at him in dwarven and Elodie could hear the angry desperation, the confused outrage.

“Karega, stop. He’s melded with the Titan, he is…her Champion now.” Elodie said meekly.

Karega whipped around, eyes glassy but full of indignation, “Do you not think I know that? He is hers now, he is no longer my husband.”

“I…still retain my memories, Karega. I was very fond of you. I loved you, even, and our children.”

She screamed at him again, but her axe remained on the ground.

More dwarven spilled from her lips and Gurendar nodded, replying to her in their tongue. Pritte had his notebook out and quickly taking notes and sketches of the place.

Effir watched the interaction between Karega and Gurendar, until finally they strode forward and put themselves between the two.

“Paragon-Elect, the Titan has changed him, this gift does not come without price, and it is unfortunate that you have to pay it. But he lives, and he serves the Stone. He protects Kal-Sharok.” Their voice was even and softer than their usual biting tone.

Gurendar nodded, “Well-said, young one. I am and am not the man you remember. I…we are different, and we apologize for the strife for this to have caused you. In the past this would not have been so…traumatic. We are learning.” He brought his hands forward and bowed his head and Elodie got the distinct feeling that he wanted to feel more, that he wanted to give her the love he once had been able to do…. But things change, the world shifts and the demands it has for you can take a toll.

Some dreams simply cannot be.

Her eyes closed once again and she turned her gaze to the rock above her.

The world demanded sacrifice from everyone, some were more difficult to bear than others. The sacrifices made to be a Grey Warden weighed more heavily than the sacrifice to be a guard, or even a Templar considering that becoming a Warden was a guaranteed death sentence. And Karega had made sacrifices as Paragon-Elect, even more sacrifice when she married Gurendar. And while Elodie could see the immense honor it would be to have her husband be tied like to the Titan and her children to be tied to him…it was a gut wrenching sacrifice. Love lost, hope, then it was torn all away again as she realized that he was gone just not gone.

“You…are not my husband,” Karega bit out.

“No,” he answered and Elodie could feel the disillusioned hurt rolling off of Karega.

Her face scrunched up and she turned from Gurendar. Pritte’s eyebrows drew together and Effir hung their head low.

Loss is the most difficult when there is not satisfactory closure, when the wound isn’t even stitched. Elodie rose from the stone, legs wobbling and head aching from dehydration. She remembered Nav, waking up one day to find that the Templars had…there had been the decision to…they were made Tranquil. They had known who she was but they hadn’t known. There really was no pain like that, to see someone you love just…ripped away like that, but to have them still linger.

She rested her hand on Karega’s shoulder, not saying anything but offering any compassion she could. A gauntleted hand came up and rested on hers.

It was Effir who spoke first, “Why call the Warden?”

“She is like those who created the barrier around us, and we needed the barrier gone. It was an opportunity we could not resist,” Gurendar replied, tilting his head to the side.

Effir nodded their head, “Your methods are dangerous, I expect you to refine them if you are going to continue to communicate with Kal-Sharok.” That made Karega whip around, eyes ablaze.

“You do not get to talk to hi – them – like that! They do not intend to harm –

“But we do, Karega. They are right. We will do better, there were better channels…before, but so many things have felt…blocked. The barrier is gone now though, at least here, that will hopefully help.”

“Hopefully?” Effir pushed but Gurendar shook his head and turned away from them and to Elodie. His eyes appeared to glow even brighter now.

“Elodie Amell, we were not finished.” Gurendar suddenly said, walking to her side, giving her another reassuring smile.

“We have two requests of you, if you would be so willing to help. One, is to carry a…sample of ourselves, a seed perhaps in your tongue, to another place. We have been gone for too long. It is time to rebuild.”

“I can leave? Will I not perish away from the Titan?”

“No. We gave you the visions to bring you here to help us, not to harm you. Why would we harm someone who has helped us?” He cocked his head to the side again and she wondered at how such an old creature as the Titan could have such a…child-like effect on a grown man.

Relief surged through her and she nodded. This outcome, while odd, was preferential to every single one that she had come up with in her head. She had not been looking forward to lyrium imbued demons due to a Rift, or having to actually kill the Titan.

How would one even begin to kill one?

She shook her head free of the thought.

“To help you? To take another Champion?”

“Champions must be Children. You are not one of the Children.” He answered simply. She supposed she should be relieved at that, but worry for the dwarves in Kal-Sharok bloomed anew. Who would be claimed? Children?

The Titan may be a force of creation but it clearly did not think in the same way that Elodie or the dwarves did. Would it understand the difference between a child and an adult, a willing volunteer and an unwilling one?

Gurendar blinked, his brow drawing together somewhat before he began to speak again.

“Once we were connected across through the Stone, able to plant ourselves into the Stone anew. But now we are singular, cut off, and have no room to grow. Will you do this for us?”

Elodie watched the strange man, eyeing how eerie his eyes glowed, the faint blue of his skin…. But she also thought of the Blight, of how she no longer felt connected to it, of how pure lyrium had somehow surged through her and purified her. Ferelden’s lands were still recovering from the Blight, the taint sown deep into where the horde had marched.

It wasn’t just herself or Alistair tainted, it was land, it was people.

She nodded her head and he smiled.

“Thank you, Elodie Amell.” He strode to the wall where she had touched to receive her vision and held up a box he had picked up along the way. He whispered a few unintelligible words and lyrium began to pour into the box.

Bright, untainted, fresh lyrium that she…heard. Its music was twinkling and hypnotic, beautiful and swaying. It was cut off quickly as Gurendar shut the box, locks suddenly moving in place.

“There, take this to a deep place, the pour the lyrium onto a clean bed of rock.”

“That is remarkably simple.”

“We need not much, only the opportunity.” He answered. She took the box from him, surprised by its lightweight before placing it gently in her pack.

“And the second thing?”

“Ah, yes. This…is not something we ask lightly but, we are fearful of what the future will bring. We were awakened by a…great rupture, and such change in the past has led to death. The death of our sisters.”

There was a long pause as Gurendar shifted on his feet.

“We ask that should we be attacked, that you return to us with haste, to defend us.”

That…wasn’t ominous at all. She watched Gurendar’s face, watched the slight confusion and surprise at his own words. Perhaps not all had been revealed to him by the Titan until now. Elodie considered it. She…did not wish to return, she wished to spend the rest of her days with Alistair and Duncan, perhaps they could try one more time for children now that she was free of the taint. Her time as the Hero was coming to a close, or at least…she had hoped it was. For how could she stand by and allow this Titan to be attacked, potentially enslaved and harvested for its power further endangering countless people and their very world?

In the end, her choice was clear and while she did not relish it, it was her responsibility. Those who can, should do their part to ensure the safety of the world and its people. She nodded her head.

“I will return if I am able.” She said, bowing her head and swearing herself to it. She could regret it, but she had regretted little in moments such as these.

Gurendar smiled and bowed in gratitude.

Karega stepped forward then, her face drawn into a tight lipped frown. She watched her husband, confident and knowing.

“You serve the Titan?”

“Yes.”

“Then…that is good. I love you but we serve the Stone and Her city.” She switched to dwarven, her voice never wavering, only sounding strong and defiantly beautiful.

Gurendar nodded and leaned forward at the end, resting his forehead against hers. He murmured something in dwarven and she let out a long breath before giving a short laugh.

Her heart ached as she watched them. She longed to return to her Alistair, it had been too long, her body was weary and she was…ready. Ready to go home and sleep for a year or two.

“How will I know exactly to return? I’m not a dwarf, I lack all of sort of Stone Sense,” she said, raising herself from the slab.

Gurendar turned to her, his hands still on Karega, “You have merged with us, no matter how briefly, that has changed you. You are connected to us now. When the time comes, you will know.”