Chapter Two: Nightmare

Little feet pounded across the ground. Twigs snapped as branches got pushed aside left and right. The three young elves laughed as they ran through the trees. Syreva’s parents would be coming back today with the hunting team. They should be returning today. The trio were determined to be the first to greet them.

A woman came into view. The early sunlight gave her blonde hair an almost halo-like sheen. She had bright green eyes that always dazzled Renan. Her magic glinting just behind them. Always right within reach should she need it. The serpentine valasslin over her left eye only amplified its brightness.

“Aunt Mikaya,” He called out to her.

“Well if it isn’t the little mageling,” Mikaya laughed as she held her arms out to the trio, “My favorite little troublemakers all together I see.”

“We aren’t so little anymore! I’ve reached ten now. Old enough to begin scouting,” Kara huffed, crossing her arms at Mikaya’s side.

“No, I don’t suppose you are, Karavani, but scouting isn’t quite where you’ll be. Not just yet,” came the familiar baritone of Renan’s uncle, Aston. The gruff warrior was the only human who tended to stay with their caravan. It was said that he was nearly beaten by a group of grizzlies and Mikaya had saved him. Somehow she had managed to scare them off with her magic. That had supposedly sparked their 30+ year romance.

“Papa!” Syreva happily called as she was held in her mother’s arms. The seven-year-old was nestled against her mother, head burrowed against her shoulder.

“Don’t tease her too much, she’s nearly there,” Mikaya rocked Syreva in her arms and looked down to Renan, “Mind helping him little mageling, we got a good hunt this time.”

The cart did have a few smaller kills near the front. The bear at the back caught him by surprise. “Will we be working these tonight, uncle?”

“Yes, that is the plan. Let us get the cart back to the caravan,” Aston said and took the reins of his stallion.

Mikaya clicked her tongue and she hopped up on her young elk, Syreva still clinging to her. She held the reins steady and smiled down at the two young elves, “Climb aboard the cart or you’ll get left behind.”

Renan and Kara both hopped on the front of the cart where the fennec, nug, and other small kills were piled. The cart steadily made its way up to the caravan.

*****

Early light swiftly turned dark. Renan was now about thirteen. He could feel the air around him shift and coil with the magic he was trying to grasp. A magic he was too young to truly understand. A magic he’d only read about but hadn’t thought would work. He felt the pulse of the ground beneath his feet. The shifting winds in the air were as cold as winter’s frost. His honey eyes lit up with terror as he clung to his crudely made staff.

“No no no no no,” Renan panicked as he looked over his notes, “It wasn’t supposed to do this. Not this big. Not like this.”

Green smoke formed around him. The crystal at the end lit up like a beacon in the night. He wasn’t near his caravan. Or rather… he wasn’t on the same plane as the caravan. He was sensible to notice it wasn’t the same plane. The eerie greens and grays that seemed to wash over everything wasn’t just a trick of the eyes. The foreboding energy that twirled about like flittering birds told him this was bad. He had to get out.

“You shouldn’t be here,” a voice spoke out. The voice seemed to echo and come from every direction. “You’re far too young to be traveling here.”

“I- I don’t… I- I didn’t…” Sweat formed on his hands, making it that much harder to keep a grip on the staff.

“You didn’t what? Expect to end up here?” the echoing voice laughed at this, “All who walk the darker path wind up here.”

“I’m not on any dark path… I just… I… I didn’t mean to come here…” Renan felt the blood drain as he felt the echoes sound loudly in his mind.

“Leave child,” the voice echoed out again, “Do not return.”

Fade spiders scuttled about in the distance. He could hear them. They were searching for him. Renan felt for the coils of magic in the air. He desperately pulled them to him as he clung tight to the staff. Smoke surrounded him and he vanished from the strange realm. The deep echoing voice still haunting his mind.

“I will find you if you return.”

*****

Renan awoke, falling from the night sky down towards a possible rocky death. He quickly activated his travel magic and found himself landing on the balcony outside Syreva’s room. His back ached and his head was swimming. His hair was matted down by cold sweat and he was trembling. Actually trembling. He’d not felt this afraid since the first time he saw that nightmare.

“Renan!” Syreva called out in surprise. She had just been jolted awake by his sudden appearance, “What happened? Are you alright?”

“I would hardly call a drop from the heavens something that’s ‘alright’ but I’ll live,” He groaned as she helped him to his feet and over to the chair at her desk.

“What happened, Renan?” Her green eyes, reminiscent of her mother’s, seemed to see beyond his carefully masked walls.

“Nightmare. Old one. Must have startled me,” Renan told her and looked away. Those eyes always made him feel guilty. Desperate even.

“Should I call for a healer? Maybe one of the other mages?” Syreva took his hands in hers, “Something that can help?”

“Maybe just let me rest on the couch for the remainder of the night?” He wasn’t sure he could handle explaining to her what happened. That nightmare was years old. He was nearly twenty-eight. He shouldn’t be afraid of something that wasn’t ever real. “It wasn’t actually real, was it?”

“Alright. Rest on the couch tonight. I’m taking you to the healers in the morning.” She was being stern but her features were soft, worried. Oh how he wished she’d worry more for herself.

“Yes, Inquisitor, I promise to do exactly that,” he rolled his eyes.

“I may just send Vivienne to deal with you if you act like that. We both know just how much she loves handling you.” Syreva smirked with victory.

He cringed at her words, “I’d rather let Dorian practice some of that Tevinter blood magic on me. No thank you.” He carefully made his way to her couch and laid back on it, “I promise to see a healer. Happy?”

“I will be when you’re better,” Syreva stated calmly and tossed him a blanket and pillow, “Sleep.”

“You as well,” He mumbled and fell into the darkness he preferred when he wished for sleep.

(You can also find this fic on my Ao3 account here.)

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