Post by Guest on Jun 8, 2011 13:59:26 GMT -5
Where...was he?
Cullen found himself blinking about at a twisted landscape with no real recollection of how he got there. It seemed like he was standing on some island that was....floating among other islands? Everything had a fuzzy kind of feel to it, like when someone was suffering from the heat or had something in their eye.
The templar looked about in confusion before he started walking. Surely there had to be someone here moderately friendly that could at least tell him what was going on or where he was. Maybe they could direct him to the nearest Chantry or settlement. It looked like there was a city in the distance...at least he thought it was a city. There didn’t look like there was a way to get there or even a way to leave the island he was on...at least he thought it was an island. He was not positive how big this place was.
So he walked, and he kept walking until his feet hurt and his armor started to weigh him down. Then he sat and rested for a time and walked again, his thoughts roaming as he did. He didn’t know even how long he had been walking, he couldn’t see the sun for the strange greenish clouds in the way.
It was on one of his rests that he met the first person he had seen in miles.
He heard them fist. Just a slight giggle that kept sounding out here and there. He would look about but see nothing. It was just starting to make him jumpy and paranoid when it sounded again with a “Hey Mister.”
Cullen found himself looking up at a tree. His first question was to wonder when a tree had just popped into existence, if one could call it that. It was blackened and twisted like everything else, but the first think that wasn’t jagged stone that Cullen had seen.
A child hung upside down above him. A curious tilt to her head and a friendly smile on her face. Her front tooth was chipped and her clothes ragged. She was filthy and barefoot as she hung upside down from the tree. Pointed ears peeking out under long black locks.
“Sorry Mister did I scare you?” she asked because Cullen had automatically jumped up and grabbed at his sword. “I didn’t mean to. Are you ok? It that really a sword? What’s that funny symbol on your armor? It’s really shiny, can I touch it? What are you? You don’t look like anyone else that comes through here.”
This was all delivered in quick order but not so fast that the words got tangled together. Still Cullen found himself blinking and at first not knowing what to do before making sure his sword was secure.
”It’s ok, I’m sure you didn’t mean to scare me,” Cullen stated in a quiet tone. He hadn’t had to deal with children since he had left the tower and dearly hoped he could remember how to handle them. ”I...seem to be a little lost actually. Can you tell me where I am?”
The elf girl flipped about on the tree limb, filthy feet dangling for a moment before Cullen caved to the paranoia in his gut. Since she seemed to want to get down he caught her with his hands and brought her to the ground carefully. She blinked up at him with a grateful smile and a polite word of thanks before looking concerned.
“Are you sure you’re lost Mister?”
Cullen almost snapped out that of course he was lost, he wouldn’t have said it if he wasn’t. Something had him holding his tongue though. Part of him wondering if they were taking about being physically lost as opposed to other ways.
”I...think I've been lost for a long time...”
“What do you think you are doing Templar!”
Cullen jumped at the voice, immediately standing at attention and turning around to see an ever familiar person.
”Knight Commander Greagoir?”
The Commander glared at Cullen with a stern and disapproving look the younger templar recognized easily.
“I asked you a question Templar.”
”Uh Ser...I was just...”
“Talking with a demon?”
That only served to confuse Cullen more before looking at the elf child next to him and back at the Knight-Commander. ”Ser? It’s just a little girl...”
“Dear Maker man do you not realize you are in the Fade?” Greagoir said than as if Cullen was a particularly thick learner.
The Fade? So this was all some kind of crazy dream Cullen was having. He supposed it was a slight better than his usual ones. Then again that depended on your point of view. Some of the ones Cullen had been having recently cause him to wake up with...and uncomfortable situation to handle...
“Demons can take any form here until you are all turned about to matters. Remember your oaths and your duty Templar and kill the blighted thing.”
”But...I...” Cullen stumbled looking back at the little girl that had so far said nothing. ”Are you going to say something?”
The elf shook her head for a moment. “No Ser. Not my place to be telling you or the scary man what to think of me. I’ll go away if you want me to though.”
Cullen frowned, that didn’t seem like the kind of reply a demon would make. What if it was saying that to throw Cullen off though? And if that was the demon what was Greagoir? Another demon? A spirit? Some mage that was out to screw with his head more?
“Why do you hesitate Cullen, you remember what happened the last time that happened...don’t you,” the Knight-Commander stated then.
It was so strange. One moment Cullen was standing there with the elf child and the Knight-Commander and the next...
“Cullen! What are you doing!? Kill it!”
Cullen blinked about him, trying to understand what was going on. He was...in the Harrowing Chamber in the Circle tower? What was going on?
“CULLEN!”
Brandy brown eyes focused just in time for the blond elf before him to swat his sword out of his hands with unnatural strength. Neria gave a maniacal laugh and Cullen barely got out of the way of jets of fire that shot from her palm.
Boris came running up behind her, thinking to try and save his brother templar. Neria looked over her shoulder though, spotting him and throwing another hand out. Ice covering the other templar and freezing him in place.
Oh Maker Neria was going to kill Boris! None of the other templars were close enough to help him. She was going to crush him into powder! How could she though? The Neria he knew wouldn’t hurt a fly...
Yet there she was, cackling as she snapped off a hand. Taunting Boris by holding it up in front of him!
Cullen scrambled for his sword, snapping it up as he dove for the possessed elf. Neria saw him coming, turning to attack. With frost or fire Cullen could not say and did not care to. He stayed low, hoping to duck under any attack as he closed the distance. Then he reached her and his blade was sinking into her flesh.
Pale blue eyes stared at him in shock and for a moment Cullen swore he could see the real Neria in them. “Cul...len...”
“I’m sorry...” he said, his face an unfeeling mask though he felt the pain in his heart. “I’m sorry...”
He drove the rest of the blade through her then. One arm holding her to him as he squeezed his eyes shut. His knees protested a bit from his position on the floor but he could not find it in him to care. Neria was dead because of him. He had thought he had understood Harrowings and had been so sure Neria would pull through. She was a good person...why did she have to die? She shouldn’t have needed to go up against that demon in the first place. Why did she need to be tested like that? Wasn’t being a good person enough?
And what about him? Why did he have to kill her? He didn’t want to be the butcher of innocent people! He could feel the blood as if it had splashed on skin instead of his armor. Did this make him a murderer? There was nothing in the Chant about templars after all but there was a passage about hurting others. Was he damned because of this!?
The doubts lashed at him like a whip and he was on his hands and knees trying to quiet them. They seemed louder though and with a different voice for each. Neria, Boris, the Knight-Commander, and even his own...
He became slowly aware of a pair of filthy toes in front of him and looked up to see the elf child crouched down by him looking curious. “Why did you kill her Mister?”
Cullen cringed at the question. ”It’s a little hard to explain I’m afraid.”
The child tilted her head to the side, green eyes still curious. “Was she mean? Was she a monster? Was she going to hurt more people like she tried to do you with the fire?”
Children and their questions...they just never stopped with them. So Cullen sighed and decided to try and give a general answer to appease the curiosity. ”She wasn’t a mean person now but a monster did sneak into her and make her one. She very likely would have hurt more people if I hadn’t...” he swallowed the last of his words.
“Like who?”
Cullen was a bit startled by the question. After all no one ever really thought to stop and ask who an abomination would hurt. ”Well there was Boris, myself, the other templars in the room. Then you had the Commander, the rest of the templars, The First Enchanter, and...the rest of the mages in the tower...”
“So...You killed her because the monster in her would have had her hurting others where you lived? Friends? Do you think she would have preferred the monster doing that?”
Cullen gave the little elf girl a small grin then, sadness of losing Neria laced with a bit of humor as he imagined what she would have said about a monster trying to hurt others in the tower with her as the sword. ”No...I don’t think she would have...”
Cullen found himself blinking about at a twisted landscape with no real recollection of how he got there. It seemed like he was standing on some island that was....floating among other islands? Everything had a fuzzy kind of feel to it, like when someone was suffering from the heat or had something in their eye.
The templar looked about in confusion before he started walking. Surely there had to be someone here moderately friendly that could at least tell him what was going on or where he was. Maybe they could direct him to the nearest Chantry or settlement. It looked like there was a city in the distance...at least he thought it was a city. There didn’t look like there was a way to get there or even a way to leave the island he was on...at least he thought it was an island. He was not positive how big this place was.
So he walked, and he kept walking until his feet hurt and his armor started to weigh him down. Then he sat and rested for a time and walked again, his thoughts roaming as he did. He didn’t know even how long he had been walking, he couldn’t see the sun for the strange greenish clouds in the way.
It was on one of his rests that he met the first person he had seen in miles.
He heard them fist. Just a slight giggle that kept sounding out here and there. He would look about but see nothing. It was just starting to make him jumpy and paranoid when it sounded again with a “Hey Mister.”
Cullen found himself looking up at a tree. His first question was to wonder when a tree had just popped into existence, if one could call it that. It was blackened and twisted like everything else, but the first think that wasn’t jagged stone that Cullen had seen.
A child hung upside down above him. A curious tilt to her head and a friendly smile on her face. Her front tooth was chipped and her clothes ragged. She was filthy and barefoot as she hung upside down from the tree. Pointed ears peeking out under long black locks.
“Sorry Mister did I scare you?” she asked because Cullen had automatically jumped up and grabbed at his sword. “I didn’t mean to. Are you ok? It that really a sword? What’s that funny symbol on your armor? It’s really shiny, can I touch it? What are you? You don’t look like anyone else that comes through here.”
This was all delivered in quick order but not so fast that the words got tangled together. Still Cullen found himself blinking and at first not knowing what to do before making sure his sword was secure.
”It’s ok, I’m sure you didn’t mean to scare me,” Cullen stated in a quiet tone. He hadn’t had to deal with children since he had left the tower and dearly hoped he could remember how to handle them. ”I...seem to be a little lost actually. Can you tell me where I am?”
The elf girl flipped about on the tree limb, filthy feet dangling for a moment before Cullen caved to the paranoia in his gut. Since she seemed to want to get down he caught her with his hands and brought her to the ground carefully. She blinked up at him with a grateful smile and a polite word of thanks before looking concerned.
“Are you sure you’re lost Mister?”
Cullen almost snapped out that of course he was lost, he wouldn’t have said it if he wasn’t. Something had him holding his tongue though. Part of him wondering if they were taking about being physically lost as opposed to other ways.
”I...think I've been lost for a long time...”
“What do you think you are doing Templar!”
Cullen jumped at the voice, immediately standing at attention and turning around to see an ever familiar person.
”Knight Commander Greagoir?”
The Commander glared at Cullen with a stern and disapproving look the younger templar recognized easily.
“I asked you a question Templar.”
”Uh Ser...I was just...”
“Talking with a demon?”
That only served to confuse Cullen more before looking at the elf child next to him and back at the Knight-Commander. ”Ser? It’s just a little girl...”
“Dear Maker man do you not realize you are in the Fade?” Greagoir said than as if Cullen was a particularly thick learner.
The Fade? So this was all some kind of crazy dream Cullen was having. He supposed it was a slight better than his usual ones. Then again that depended on your point of view. Some of the ones Cullen had been having recently cause him to wake up with...and uncomfortable situation to handle...
“Demons can take any form here until you are all turned about to matters. Remember your oaths and your duty Templar and kill the blighted thing.”
”But...I...” Cullen stumbled looking back at the little girl that had so far said nothing. ”Are you going to say something?”
The elf shook her head for a moment. “No Ser. Not my place to be telling you or the scary man what to think of me. I’ll go away if you want me to though.”
Cullen frowned, that didn’t seem like the kind of reply a demon would make. What if it was saying that to throw Cullen off though? And if that was the demon what was Greagoir? Another demon? A spirit? Some mage that was out to screw with his head more?
“Why do you hesitate Cullen, you remember what happened the last time that happened...don’t you,” the Knight-Commander stated then.
It was so strange. One moment Cullen was standing there with the elf child and the Knight-Commander and the next...
“Cullen! What are you doing!? Kill it!”
Cullen blinked about him, trying to understand what was going on. He was...in the Harrowing Chamber in the Circle tower? What was going on?
“CULLEN!”
Brandy brown eyes focused just in time for the blond elf before him to swat his sword out of his hands with unnatural strength. Neria gave a maniacal laugh and Cullen barely got out of the way of jets of fire that shot from her palm.
Boris came running up behind her, thinking to try and save his brother templar. Neria looked over her shoulder though, spotting him and throwing another hand out. Ice covering the other templar and freezing him in place.
Oh Maker Neria was going to kill Boris! None of the other templars were close enough to help him. She was going to crush him into powder! How could she though? The Neria he knew wouldn’t hurt a fly...
Yet there she was, cackling as she snapped off a hand. Taunting Boris by holding it up in front of him!
Cullen scrambled for his sword, snapping it up as he dove for the possessed elf. Neria saw him coming, turning to attack. With frost or fire Cullen could not say and did not care to. He stayed low, hoping to duck under any attack as he closed the distance. Then he reached her and his blade was sinking into her flesh.
Pale blue eyes stared at him in shock and for a moment Cullen swore he could see the real Neria in them. “Cul...len...”
“I’m sorry...” he said, his face an unfeeling mask though he felt the pain in his heart. “I’m sorry...”
He drove the rest of the blade through her then. One arm holding her to him as he squeezed his eyes shut. His knees protested a bit from his position on the floor but he could not find it in him to care. Neria was dead because of him. He had thought he had understood Harrowings and had been so sure Neria would pull through. She was a good person...why did she have to die? She shouldn’t have needed to go up against that demon in the first place. Why did she need to be tested like that? Wasn’t being a good person enough?
And what about him? Why did he have to kill her? He didn’t want to be the butcher of innocent people! He could feel the blood as if it had splashed on skin instead of his armor. Did this make him a murderer? There was nothing in the Chant about templars after all but there was a passage about hurting others. Was he damned because of this!?
The doubts lashed at him like a whip and he was on his hands and knees trying to quiet them. They seemed louder though and with a different voice for each. Neria, Boris, the Knight-Commander, and even his own...
He became slowly aware of a pair of filthy toes in front of him and looked up to see the elf child crouched down by him looking curious. “Why did you kill her Mister?”
Cullen cringed at the question. ”It’s a little hard to explain I’m afraid.”
The child tilted her head to the side, green eyes still curious. “Was she mean? Was she a monster? Was she going to hurt more people like she tried to do you with the fire?”
Children and their questions...they just never stopped with them. So Cullen sighed and decided to try and give a general answer to appease the curiosity. ”She wasn’t a mean person now but a monster did sneak into her and make her one. She very likely would have hurt more people if I hadn’t...” he swallowed the last of his words.
“Like who?”
Cullen was a bit startled by the question. After all no one ever really thought to stop and ask who an abomination would hurt. ”Well there was Boris, myself, the other templars in the room. Then you had the Commander, the rest of the templars, The First Enchanter, and...the rest of the mages in the tower...”
“So...You killed her because the monster in her would have had her hurting others where you lived? Friends? Do you think she would have preferred the monster doing that?”
Cullen gave the little elf girl a small grin then, sadness of losing Neria laced with a bit of humor as he imagined what she would have said about a monster trying to hurt others in the tower with her as the sword. ”No...I don’t think she would have...”