LOOK! A pretty green light
~Chapter 2~
Ella woke up to pain.
A searing pain ingrained deep into the palm of her right hand that then snaked it's way up her arm. It burned, crackled, and panged out in a frenzy of crazy feelings with every passing moment.
Ella thought this might be what death feels like if focused on one point of the body.
After a while, ‘what felt like eternity’, she finally grew used to the pain, ‘who was she kidding- she would never be used to this pain’, and looked around.
She was in, well more like tied tightly, to a chair, and in the middle of a stone room none the less. The only light in the room was coming from two torches on either side of her, and a small slit near the a top of a large wooden door in front of her.
Ella heard footsteps echoing out from behind the stone walls, then the light from the door blinked out of existence. The door opened without a single squeak as it slid against the smooth stone floor. No, it screeched instead. ‘Oww...it’s almost as bad as nails on a chalk board.’
In stepped a severe looking woman with black hair and dark narrowed eyes carrying a large metal shield, designed with a really weird looking white eye. and a sword strapped onto her back. Her face was set into an incredibly angry glare...and it was directed towards Ella. After her grand and intimidating entrance, a quieter and softer looking woman trailed in with a hood covering almost all of her face, but you could see light red strands peeking out. Her steps practically oozed danger and deadly grace, and her eyes were calm, yet they burned with an anger that matched the warrior woman.
“Tell me why we shouldn’t kill both of you now,” she demands angrily as she and the other woman stalk around Ella in a slow and steady circle.
‘Both?’
Just then Ella realizes she was not alone. To her right was a giant man with a set of huge, shiny grey curled horns, a little bit of dark brown hair, and deep dark purple eyes that stared sleepily at their capturers.
‘Is that a qunari? What the hell…’
“Wha-”
The warrior woman slams her hands into the sides of the chair and gets in both of their faces. She grabs Ella’s right hand and the qunari’s left hand, jerking them upwards violently. They stay seated only because of the tight ropes, and even they strain against the power and force behind the warrior woman's strong hands.
“Explain This!” She demands.
“I-I can’t” Ella exclaims, and she really can’t all she remembers is being about to play Drag-
‘Oh my God, this is the opening on Dragon age Inquisition! Why can’t I remember what happened? Oh yeah the nightmare stole them when- I still can’t remember. But I remember the story line...mostly.’
“What do you mean you can’t!” She yells and raises her hand as if to punch Ella straight in the jaw.
The other woman steps up and grabs her wrist-’Liliana’- “We need them Cassandra.” She looks deeply into the dark stormy eyes of the warrior.
“We only need one of them,” she growls out as she reaches for her sword.
Ella feels her insides freeze at that, then anger seizes her in it’s cold icy grip, “If you touch him I won’t help you,” she growls, but then calms down slightly, “...but if you don’t then I will do my best to help with whatever happened.” She finishes softly.
‘Why did she feel so protective of this man? They never met before...right?’
A deeper voice rings out slightly groggy, “Same on my side, but you know, for her.” It is filled with all the protectiveness of an older brother…’Older brother? Could it be? Was she not alone?’
Ella recognizes that voice, though i seems a bi deeper “Jared?”
“Its Jarad, in proper Qunlat,” Liliana helpfully supplies.
“I-I’m sorry, it seems my voice cracked a bit,” She quickly covers for herself awkwardly, ”...but... Jarad, is that really you?”
“Yeah its me. Ella?”
‘I’m so fucking happy, I’m not alone. I got my best friend and brother right here by my side!’
“Yeah…it’s me,” Ella grins widely at Jared...well... Jarad now.
“What do you remember?” Liliana asks, slightly less hostile than before, but still pretty angry because of her unanswered questions and despair over her recent loss.
Jarad answers, “I remember being with Ella. We were eating dinner together...I can’t remember where. Then running...then it’s blank”
Ella picks up where he left off, “We we running, and things were chasing us. Then...a woman? She was...I-I can’t remember.” Ella shakes her head, then gasps in pain as a pain shoots up her arm and into her very heart. ‘So much for being heartless.’ She thinks bitterly.
Jarad also gasps out slightly in pain and then takes a slight pained inhale through his lungs.
Both hands flare the brightest of greens for a moment.
Cassandra gives them both a long searching and judgeful look, then abruptly turns towards Liliana, “I’ll take them to the forward camp. If we have any chance it must be them,” She states.
“I will meet you there.” Liliana says then turns on her heel and walks straight out the dungeon door.
Cassandra grabs roughly at the ropes tying Ella and Jarad to the chair and cuts most of them away, but leaves the ones around their hands to keep them bound. She pulls them both up and makes them walk in front of her. She leads them out from the cell, for that was what it was, and through a large church like building-’Chantry’- and out into the sunlight.
Ella and Jarad take a moment to adjust to the sunlight before they realize they are being glared at by the many, many, angry people around them.
“They blame us for something,” Jarad says as he gets closer to you in a protective way.
“I- Holy Shit!” Ella says looking up with wide terrified and awed eyes. In the middle of the sky, high up in the air, is a giant vortex of swirling bright green with random bursts of a darker shade all crowding around a central bursting point in the sky. “What is that!”
“That is what we are calling the breach, a large hole into the fade that is spitting out demon after demon over and over again.” Says Cassandra as they step out of the gates of the town-’Haven’- and onto an old dirt path that looked frequently traveled.
Cassandra takes out a small, sharp knife and cuts the rope off of Jarad’s large hands, then Ella’s smaller ones.
“That Breach thing seems like a problem.” Jarad says, staring up into the sky, “and one I won’t feel right about if I don’t help solve it.”
“Agreed,” states Ella as she starts walking forward, “We should get moving.” Ella moves to walk up a hill, “AHH!” She falls to the ground in pain, clutching at her burning hand. She barely notices Jarad going down as well a little bit behind her. Cassandra clasps onto Ella’s elbow and pulls her up.
“The Breach is killing you,” She says, a bit of sympathy in her dark eyes, “as it expands so does the marks on both of your hands.”
Jarad stands up and shares a look with Ella, “We understand.” They say together.
Cassandra looks at both the prisoners with surprise and a new sort of respect, then she huffs slightly and continues on.
Jarad and Ella trail on behind her, sharing a small smile and a quick hug. The whispered words of brother and sister unspoken and unheard to anyone but themselves.
Then they come across a stone bridge.
Now, nothing is quite remarkable about this bridge. It is made of normal grey stone, and is built very simply, but sturdily. Nothing special.
...Until a bomb of sickly green and black hurls into it, breaking down stone into dust in less than a second, and it just so happens that Cassandra, Jarad, and Ella were walking in the exact middle of the bridge at that moment.
In a second all they felt was the freedom of free falling…
...and then Ella landed harshly on her hands and knees, scraping them slightly, not enough to draw blood, on the uneven and cold ice. Cassandra rolls into a crouch on the impact, so she doesn’t take any injuries. Jarad just falls straight onto his ass as it makes a loud THUMP.
Another magical green bomb hits a few feet away, but this time a sickly looking hunched figure with a old, ratty black cloak pops out.
“Demons!” Shouts Cassandra as she unshieves her sword and grabs her large shield. Then she goes rushing into to battle the demon.-’Shade’-
Another bomb hits directly in front of Jarad, and Ella quickly look behind her to see a pair of rusty daggers and a beat up staff. Running to where the weapons are, Ella grabs them both, and suddenly gets a bit of information, or perhaps a memory.
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“Da’len you must feel the blade as an extension of yourself. It is a part of you. NOW! ATTACK ME ,AGAIN!” An old man, an elf, yells at a small elvhen child with white hair and large green eyes.”
Without a word the young girl takes her wooden dagger, falls into a loose stance, and tries to hit the elder man, but is quickly knocked off her feet by his wooden staff and onto the grassy ground.
“AGAIN!”
Then the scene changes to the girl again, slightly older now, and a woman dressed in robes lined with fur and a beautiful light grey staff on her back that carries a glowing violet stone wrapped up and intertwined within a wooden cage at the top of the staff. She crouches down slightly in front of the young girl.
“Da’len you are a mage. You must put down your sharp daggers and take up a sturdy staff.”
“No. I don’t want to, I love my daggers. Please keeper, don’t make me do this,” The girl begs looking up into the eyes of her keeper.
“Deshanna. I don’t see why she can’t learn both ways to fight,she would probably be all the stronger for it,” the old man appears from behind a tree carrying a pair of wrapped daggers, “she is more than capable.”
“But it will be a distraction from her duties to be a keeper when she is older, she will be-”
“She will be who she wants to be,” He says with an air a decision,”if you do not let her learn both tactics we will leave and never come back to the clan Deshanna. You hear my words, will you heed them?”
“Ma nuevenin,” Deshanna says with a sneer as she turns and stalks away in a fit of anger,” but I am still the keeper and my teachings take precedence over yours.”
The old man looks at the girl and gives a wicked grin, “Well come on then Da’len let's train!”
The girl looks at him for a moment then grins widely, “Ma Serannas, Hahren!” She flies into him and gives him a hug.
“It was no problem, Da’len. Let’s go to the meadow now.Oh,” He stops and hands the pair of finely sharpened daggers to the girl, “These are yours now. Treat them well, and we will start training with them next week.”
“Yes, Harhen!” She admires the blades. They appear to be polar opposites of each other in almost every way. One blade is a darkened obsidian black color that reflects the light and glints a deep purple in the light. It’s hilt is extravagantly wrapped with a thick and sturdy Crimson red cloth, and it’s blade is slightly curved to the left. The other blade is a gleaming silver that is so polished it almost seems to glow white. The wrapping on this blade are a deep ocean blue that wraps in a steady and straight pattern over the hilt of the blade. The cloth is thin, but strong, and the blade curves slightly to the right.
The scenes play out training from both the old man and the keeper. The girl is taught how to both use magic and wield her twin daggers.
The second to last scene shows the girl, now a barley young adult, kneeling before the keeper. Her white hair has grown longer, down to the middle of her back, and is slightly wavy. She now has some womanly curves, and her eyes are a bright shade of emerald with bits of blue peeking through. Over her left eye is the stark Vallaslin for Sylaise in black, which contrasts amazingly against her pale skin.
“Are you ready to undertake this task da’len?”
“Yes, keeper.”
“Then go with the blessing of the Gods, may Mythal protect you, Elgar’nan guide you, and Dirthamen keep your secrets. May the dread wolf never hear your steps, Da’len. Dareth Shiral.”
“Dareth Shiral,” the woman echoed and turned away from the keeper. She walked to a tree that had the old man next to it holding a pack.
“Hahren,” she greets.
“Da’len,” he replies,” while you are gone I have a task for you.”
“What is it?”
“Learn how to channel you magical energy onto your daggers and fight with them. With this shem war going on you will want to hide the fact that you’re a mage, so act the rogue. I won’t be here if you come back, I have nothing left to teach you.” He says staring into her eyes and it seemed to her, her very soul.
“H-harhen! Why won’t you be here?” She asks confused.
The old man laughs, “I’m old Da’len, it is time for me to pass on. I’ll join your parents on the other side and look over you, alright? Be careful and wary out there. Dareth Shiral”
The girl hugs the old man, “Dareth Shiral.” she says softly.
The girl then grabs the pack and turns around to start her long and dangerous journey.
The very last images to flash by were the girl following the old man’s advice and learning to mold her magic into her daggers for battle so that she could cast and slice at the same time. Then hiding her daggers in a magically sealed bag under the roots of a large tree pressed against its center.
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Ella blinked and suddenly realized that she was still in the middle of battle...with a demon. She remembered -Learned?- how to fight using her daggers, and she is a mage!
She then realized that she held a staff in one of her hands….and Jarad was still in danger from the shade that was still breathing it's rotting breath in his face.
‘He was supposed to be a mage right?’
“Oi! Jarad, catch!” She threw the staff at him and he caught it with one hand, and then stilled for a second before attacking the shade with blasts of fiery magic.
At the same time another shade appeared in front on Ella, and she immediately knew what to do.
She trusted her instincts.
She slashed out with one of the daggers left, then slashed right, then plunger forwards with a knife straight into the ghostly stomach of the shade. Pulling her blade free, and with it some black sticky goop, she kicked out with her leg, enhancing it lightly with magical energy, and hits the shades lower body, causing it to be slightly knocked back and stunned for a few seconds.
Then a staff came out from behind the shade and smashed into the shades head causing it to dispel into wisps of smoke and vapor. Jarad was standing right there, breathing slightly heavy, with violet eyes burning like a dyed flame.
Jarad looked deep into her wild green eyes, a question burning in their depths.
‘Did you just learn to fight through a weird memory thing?’
Ella tilted her head down slightly in a nod and smiled lightly.
‘Holy Shit! So did I!' He grins widely at her and is about to say something aloud when-
“Drops your weapons, NOW!” Cassandra yells pointing the sharpened edge her sword at Jarad’s throat threateningly.
“We will not be defenseless,” He states in a low growl as he glares into Cassandra's eyes.
Cassandra stays frozen for a few moments, assessing the meaning behind Jarad's eyes before sighting, “You’re right I can’t protect you. I should remember you agreed to help and haven’t tried to run...Yet.”
“And we won’t ‘try to run’ where would we even run to? We agreed to help, we won’t abandon this now. Besides this threatens more than just the people here if what you said is true. All people will be affected by this if we don’t stop it, now, “ Ella says strapping her new daggers to her back.
Jarad just swings his staff onto his back and makes a grunting sound of agreement as it clings there magically.