Through the Eluvian : A Dragon Age Fanfiction

Chapter Two: A Dream or A Reality?

I have no idea how long I spent in the darkness, but I soon found myself waking to a very familiar sniffing sound in my ear. Then next thing I notice is that I am lying on a cot, and the air smells of a forest that had recently known the spring rain. I blink my eyes open and carefully sit up to find my dog curled up next to me. He is a Rhodesian ridgeback with a rich red coat that is darkened at his nose, ears and paws. He is wearing a black nylon harness with his tags hanging from his right shoulder of the harness. Around his neck is a camo bandana

"Hey, there Ryder." I pet the dog as I survey my surroundings. There are elves, not just any elves but Dalish elves are everywhere I look, along with seven aravels, and halla scattered through out the camp. I gasp in amazement, and wonder if I am dreaming of this. All the while Ryder jumps from the bed, and I blink several times as I stand and turn around taking the sights, sounds, and smells. It is all too real, too real to be possible! I soon spot the familiar face of Keeper Marethari speaking with who I believe to be my warden. She is an older elf with hair white from age. Her vallaslin is that of Dirthamen the Elven god of secrets, fitting for the clan's keeper. On instinct, I make my way to her, my bare feet making little sound on the forest floor.

".....It was difficult for even my magic to keep you alive." The keeper says to him as I grow close, confirming that he is indeed who I thought he was.

"I kept telling Tamlen that we show have gone back." He speaks his voice deep, but crasking from sorrow, and pain.

"Do not worry da'len. Even though I might have been intrigued enough by such a cave to explore it further." She comforts him as a grandmother would. "Duncan thought there may have been darkspawn creatures inside the cave. Is that true?"

"I am not sure." He looks away from her briefly. "What do they look like?"

"Like a man, but dark and tainted with evil." Marethari grimaces "Perhaps you fought one in the cave and it wounded you."

"There were plenty of monsters, as well as walking dead." he replies. "Walking corpses?" She frowns "Dark magic, but not darkspawn. I know not what other creatures might have been." Then she turns to me. "You have been listening for a while to a conversation not for you, do you wish to add something?"

"I'm sorry." I step forward. "It's just a surprise to be here is all, am I still dreaming?"

"I assure you child you are not dreaming." Maethari slight amusment in her voice.

"Um, ok...." I frown as she turns back to the warden.

"Like you, Duncan found her in the ruins." Marethari clarifies for him.

"But there wasn't anyone there when I was with Tamlen." He shakes his head in disbelief.

"What do you remember?" She asks as I look at the other elf. He is quite handsome with long brown hair pulled away from his face, bright green eyes, and vallaslin in a rich black ink that shows devotion to the eleven goddess Mythal. A simple tree that covers his sickly pale face, causing me to want to touch it as he speaks with the keeper. I refrain, unsure if I truly want to know if this is all real as Marethri said or just a very vivid dream.

"We found a mirror, Keeper." The elvan man replies to her question. "Tamlen...He touched it. I tried to stop him, but he wouldn't listen"

"A mirror?" She asks. "And it caused all this? I have never heard of such a thing in all the lore we have collected."

"I have." I pipe up gaining their attention a telling part of the truth about the mirror. I honestly was not sure what information would be safe to share if Keeper Marethari was right about Theadas being real. "It was a portal, not a mirror. They are not very common, but they can be dangerous. I think it is the reason that I am here. I must have unknowingly came across one just as Tamlen, and um... What is your name?" I ask the male elf next to me.