[Fic]: A Failed Harrowing: Chapter 2
Title: A Failed Harrowing
Chapter: 2
Fandom: Dragon Age the wold at large. Information from both games used
Characters: Main characters are both original. Cannon characters may make small appearances but are not integral to the plot.
Rating: PG (Rating may change from chapter to chapter)
Words: 1041
Spoilers: mild about the world but not about the plots of either dragon age game
Disclaimer: I own my main characters but not the world they inhabit or the cannon characters they meet.
Summary:
A year before the blight a harrowing in the Circle Tower of Ferelden goes terribly wrong. Oswin the young initiate makes the wrong choice and ends up with the company of a demon in his mind. Through sheer will power and a talent for force magic he is able to wall off the demon, keep control of his body, and fool the Templars into believing he's passed the test. But for how long?
Radella is a young recruit whose recently transferred from Kirkwall. A Templars first instinct when finding out a mage is possessed by a demon should be to kill him, but a something stays her sword. Personal tragedy has left her questioning the order, the chantry and her current way of life. But what now? Does she help the mage escape or turn him in for just punishment?
Note: I plan on make this a series if it gains any interest. Cross posted in Dragon Age
(Chapter 1)
Radella clenched her quill so tightly she worried it might snap.
You did the right thing.
Why did the words make her so angry? She stared at her own hand writing, scrawled in with a delicate looping elegance across the paper. Why did it feel like a lie?
But what else was she suppose to tell her mother. The woman had made an impossible choice. She had done the only thing she could; abided by the law and the Maker. Radella had no right to be furious with her. But she was. With shaking hands she pushed her unfinished letter aside and let her fingertips glide over the one she had received from her mother this morning. She still had difficultly grasping its contents. She could almost hear her mother’s voice as she read over the troubling words.
Radella my love,
I so sorry but I have terrible news. Your brother Payton has been taken to the gallows. It started weeks ago. He had nightmares at first. He heard voices whispering to him in his sleep. We didn’t think much of them; just the childish fears of a boy of six years. But then he started hearing them during the day. That scared me Radella it really did, but I prayed to Andraste it was a child’s wild imagination. Something he’d grow out of with time. It wasn’t.
There was a really bad storm, you remember how terrified little Payton is of thunder. You remember how he used to hide under the bed when he was scared? Well I had made him a cup of tea the way you used to. Sometimes that comforts him you know, and I can coax him out. But when I came into the room, oh it was just awful Radella. All his books and toys were flying in mid air in huge arks. I screamed and dropped the cup. Then they all fell to the ground. Payton was crying. I didn’t know what had happened. He said, the voices told him he could do it. Make the toys fly.
I had to tell your father. I couldn’t keep something like this from him. Not when Payton, was hearing voices. You know what that could mean; I don’t have to tell you. We waited till morning to go to the gallows with him. You would have been proud. The templar there, Emeric I think, he was very kind with him. You do just and good work love.
He cried of course but we had to let him go. We had to be strong for him. It was for the best. They said we could still write him, though they feel it’s better if we keep contact limited. Let him adjust you know. Oh it’s been so hard darling I won’t lie to you. I’ve lost my baby boy, why was he shackled with such a curse.
I thought losing you to Ferelden after the transfer was going to be the most difficult thing I would have to live through. But now both my children have been taken away from me. I hope you will not be too ashamed of your brother. He cannot help it. I know the curse is something children have from birth but I can’t help but blame myself, somehow, that I must have somehow cause this.
We have tried to keep it quiet. Only our closest family friends in Kirkwall know. The rest we told he had gone to live with family in the Free Marches. We will try our best to make sure none of this follows you to the tower my love. Payton’s fate is a tragedy that has hurt us all enough; we will keep it from harming you.
Your father and I miss you greatly, but we know you have commitments. We are so proud of you. Know that our family will make it through this terrible tragedy. We love you.
With All My Heart,
Mother
They thought she’d be ashamed. She blinked away tears. Her six year old brother had been ripped from his family and they worried about her pride and ambition. She wanted to scream at them. But what good would her anger do them, or her grief.
She was expected to be the voice of reason, the voice of comfort. They wanted her to tell them what a wonderful life mages had in the circle. How they were protected and taught. They lived well and were happy. If asked last night Radella would have been able to give them that comfort. That soft lie she lived every day. It’s not so bad here, she’d tell them; for someone else’s little boy, but not for her brother.
That’s what was expected, what her mother was silently begging for between the lines of her letter. Why were those words now so hard to put to ink? She stared at the nearly blank sheet of paper. And a thought slowly crept into her head. The circle tower is more forgiving than the gallows. She buried her head in her hands and summoned all her strength to keep the tears from coming.
After several silent moments she tossed the quill down on top of the empty parchment and stood. This was too much to handle at the moment. She needed time to digest. She briskly left her room and wondered down the cold stone hallway, her footsteps echoed in the tense silence. The mood was unmistakable. The harrowings upstairs left the entire circle tower in eerier strained quite. As friends, mentors and teachers wanted to find out who of their loved ones would come back to them, and who would not. The atmosphere of fear was not what she wanted to lace her mother’s letter with. She needed to find a refuge, a place where the circle was at its best.
She’d go to the library. No other place more represented the best of the circle tower. The dusty shelves and quite study made the circle feel more like a university than a gilded cage. It was a place of learning where the talented practiced there craft. Perhaps there she could find some solace and the words to comfort her mother. It was there that she found him.
Chapter: 2
Fandom: Dragon Age the wold at large. Information from both games used
Characters: Main characters are both original. Cannon characters may make small appearances but are not integral to the plot.
Rating: PG (Rating may change from chapter to chapter)
Words: 1041
Spoilers: mild about the world but not about the plots of either dragon age game
Disclaimer: I own my main characters but not the world they inhabit or the cannon characters they meet.
Summary:
A year before the blight a harrowing in the Circle Tower of Ferelden goes terribly wrong. Oswin the young initiate makes the wrong choice and ends up with the company of a demon in his mind. Through sheer will power and a talent for force magic he is able to wall off the demon, keep control of his body, and fool the Templars into believing he's passed the test. But for how long?
Radella is a young recruit whose recently transferred from Kirkwall. A Templars first instinct when finding out a mage is possessed by a demon should be to kill him, but a something stays her sword. Personal tragedy has left her questioning the order, the chantry and her current way of life. But what now? Does she help the mage escape or turn him in for just punishment?
Note: I plan on make this a series if it gains any interest. Cross posted in Dragon Age
(Chapter 1)
Radella clenched her quill so tightly she worried it might snap.
You did the right thing.
Why did the words make her so angry? She stared at her own hand writing, scrawled in with a delicate looping elegance across the paper. Why did it feel like a lie?
But what else was she suppose to tell her mother. The woman had made an impossible choice. She had done the only thing she could; abided by the law and the Maker. Radella had no right to be furious with her. But she was. With shaking hands she pushed her unfinished letter aside and let her fingertips glide over the one she had received from her mother this morning. She still had difficultly grasping its contents. She could almost hear her mother’s voice as she read over the troubling words.
Radella my love,
I so sorry but I have terrible news. Your brother Payton has been taken to the gallows. It started weeks ago. He had nightmares at first. He heard voices whispering to him in his sleep. We didn’t think much of them; just the childish fears of a boy of six years. But then he started hearing them during the day. That scared me Radella it really did, but I prayed to Andraste it was a child’s wild imagination. Something he’d grow out of with time. It wasn’t.
There was a really bad storm, you remember how terrified little Payton is of thunder. You remember how he used to hide under the bed when he was scared? Well I had made him a cup of tea the way you used to. Sometimes that comforts him you know, and I can coax him out. But when I came into the room, oh it was just awful Radella. All his books and toys were flying in mid air in huge arks. I screamed and dropped the cup. Then they all fell to the ground. Payton was crying. I didn’t know what had happened. He said, the voices told him he could do it. Make the toys fly.
I had to tell your father. I couldn’t keep something like this from him. Not when Payton, was hearing voices. You know what that could mean; I don’t have to tell you. We waited till morning to go to the gallows with him. You would have been proud. The templar there, Emeric I think, he was very kind with him. You do just and good work love.
He cried of course but we had to let him go. We had to be strong for him. It was for the best. They said we could still write him, though they feel it’s better if we keep contact limited. Let him adjust you know. Oh it’s been so hard darling I won’t lie to you. I’ve lost my baby boy, why was he shackled with such a curse.
I thought losing you to Ferelden after the transfer was going to be the most difficult thing I would have to live through. But now both my children have been taken away from me. I hope you will not be too ashamed of your brother. He cannot help it. I know the curse is something children have from birth but I can’t help but blame myself, somehow, that I must have somehow cause this.
We have tried to keep it quiet. Only our closest family friends in Kirkwall know. The rest we told he had gone to live with family in the Free Marches. We will try our best to make sure none of this follows you to the tower my love. Payton’s fate is a tragedy that has hurt us all enough; we will keep it from harming you.
Your father and I miss you greatly, but we know you have commitments. We are so proud of you. Know that our family will make it through this terrible tragedy. We love you.
With All My Heart,
Mother
They thought she’d be ashamed. She blinked away tears. Her six year old brother had been ripped from his family and they worried about her pride and ambition. She wanted to scream at them. But what good would her anger do them, or her grief.
She was expected to be the voice of reason, the voice of comfort. They wanted her to tell them what a wonderful life mages had in the circle. How they were protected and taught. They lived well and were happy. If asked last night Radella would have been able to give them that comfort. That soft lie she lived every day. It’s not so bad here, she’d tell them; for someone else’s little boy, but not for her brother.
That’s what was expected, what her mother was silently begging for between the lines of her letter. Why were those words now so hard to put to ink? She stared at the nearly blank sheet of paper. And a thought slowly crept into her head. The circle tower is more forgiving than the gallows. She buried her head in her hands and summoned all her strength to keep the tears from coming.
After several silent moments she tossed the quill down on top of the empty parchment and stood. This was too much to handle at the moment. She needed time to digest. She briskly left her room and wondered down the cold stone hallway, her footsteps echoed in the tense silence. The mood was unmistakable. The harrowings upstairs left the entire circle tower in eerier strained quite. As friends, mentors and teachers wanted to find out who of their loved ones would come back to them, and who would not. The atmosphere of fear was not what she wanted to lace her mother’s letter with. She needed to find a refuge, a place where the circle was at its best.
She’d go to the library. No other place more represented the best of the circle tower. The dusty shelves and quite study made the circle feel more like a university than a gilded cage. It was a place of learning where the talented practiced there craft. Perhaps there she could find some solace and the words to comfort her mother. It was there that she found him.