Dragon Age: Coexist

Angry Mothers and Loving Fathers

My transformation wasn't as graceful as the others had been, due to my rage and lack of discipline; I roughly landed on the old pavement, wings evolving into arms, legs becoming that of an elf's.

My mind seemed to have become nothing but a dark pit filled with lust. Lust for blood, carnage, mayhem, revenge. With every human or templar that I saw, I imagined them dying slowly and gruesomely by my hand. The mere thought of it calmed me down slightly, but at that moment, there was nothing that could refrain me from reveling in the fire that grew with each sighting of the enemy.

But the man who had fueled this fire was not to be seen. I could not get his voice out of my head; it was tainted with arrogance, superiority. It infuriated me.

Not worthy? How dare he.

Duncan, the Commander of Ferelden's Grey Wardens, had insisted that Jaiden and I join him, defied the law and Chantry to recruit us. Yet I was not worthy?

I growled, voice mirroring that of the wolf that I had become one with in Morrigan's training sessions. I would rather surrender myself to templars than see that man's face again, hear that enraging voice.

After my march of loathing came to an end, I found myself in Duncan's domain, seeing Jaiden before him, with Tiberias at his side.

Surprisingly, as I looked into the depths of Duncan's kind eyes, I felt no anger, no hatred; no sadistic thoughts came to mind.

I walked up to them slowly, unsure of the feeling that washed over me when I made contact with the man. Was it…trust? I did not know.

Trust was something that I had never given anyone that was not the same as me. I realized that there were some elves who could not be trusted, as they had submitted themselves to human kind and would not hesitate to betray me, yet I foolishly trusted every elf I saw; to do the opposite would render me paranoid.

The only other mages I ever associated myself with were Morrigan and Flemeth, whom the latter of which had betrayed me. At that time, I was still ignorant as to how I was to behave around people who were magically aware, human or elven.

The fact that I was feeling the same thing I did whenever I was in the presence of my own kind when I looked at Duncan, a human, bewildered me; I was standing before him silent, confused. He smiled at me lovingly, as if I were his child.

"You've returned," his soft tone removed any rage that still lingered, "I see you have not brought Alistair with you. Have you questions?"

I scowled at the sound of his name. "Just one," I said. "Are the rest of the Grey Wardens arseholes like the templar, or is he one of a kind?"

Jaiden laughed. Duncan sighed. "Did the two of you have a disagreement?"

I scoffed. "Disagreement my ass! The bastard thinks I'm not worthy to be a Warden because-"

I stopped myself.

Alistair didn't think I was worthy because I didn't want to be a Warden, along with the fact that I was indeed an apostate. I feared that if I told Duncan this, I would….offend him. And to my utter mystification, that was the last thing that I wanted to do.

Duncan frowned. "Why did he think you unworthy?"

I stared at him. I can't lie. He'll be sure to talk to Alistair about it, and he'll tell him the truth. Then he'll be even more mad at me.

I sighed. "I don't…..want to be a Grey Warden. Not really. But that doesn't mean that I'm not grateful to you for saving me and my brother. I even tried to leave, but Jaiden wouldn't let me."