Sorry about the mess not sure what exactly im doing it over 90 A4 pages long, but... giving it my best shot. hope you like it!
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Story Name Heros Blood (Name unconfirmed)
Author: Warden 795
Length and Status: Epic (ongoing)
Explicit Content: Yes
Story Elements: Romance, Action, Drama, Intrigue, Adventure. (etc)
Synopsis: My story rather hard to explain but its nothing to do with the regular dragon age story line, but i could make it work. Basically the Dragonage world and ours is linked by Magic Portals discovered after a blight nearly wiping everything off the map. it goes on to how the wardens are no longer weak but a proper and very powerful fraction with unlimited resources and power. The hero if you can call him that is a boy from the 'mortal' world who was attacked by darkspawn and is recuited in to the wardens where he finds a world full of demons, corrupt gods and darkspawn.
HERO'S BLOOD
By James Little
The names in this are all randomly generated. They share no links with anyone.
Prologue
Since the dawn of time humanity has been at war with the darkspawn. The darkspawn origins are almost unknown; most say they are punishment from god for the sins committed by mankind, others say depending on your belief that it was the fault of tervinter magisiters who using their magic they entered the fade a place where people dream and spirts/demons live. They wanted to see if they could enter the golden palace and come before the maker however the country teaches that the men's corruption turned the golden palace black and they returned to the world the first of the darkspawn.
but any truth behind this is unproven. All that is know is that they are blight upon the lands of man that wants nothing more than to wipe all life of the face of the earth, whether it be man or beast. They are a symbol of chaos, the first time they attacked almost wiped out the human race.
Men fought with swords and spears, tooth and nail, but it wasn’t enough. City after city was wiped out and burned by the merciless hoard, leaving nothing but death and destruction in their violent campaign, the entre sky was blood red, The legends state that they are controlled by a dragon called an ‘Arch demon’ a creature with almighty power, it is said that these Arch demons were once the old gods who were buried long before mankind came.
It is said when a darkspawn meets this ‘god’ they corrupt it for their campaign and another blight is unleased upon the world. With the Archdemon at their side the darkspawn power is unlimited with their ‘hive-minds’ they took man by surprise, the Archdemon’s power burned everything in their path those that ran away were cut down like animals, the darkspawn left no survivors the lucky ones had the quick deaths, men and women were dragged in to the ground never to be seen again, kingdoms allied in order to stop them and when the kings of man amassed for one last final stand in an attempt to stop them, an old chill was in the air as if they were in a frozen wasteland.
The kings knew the men feared the darkspawn they were outnumbered and out armed and were looking at certain destruction. The sky turned to blood red as the hoard marched towards them lighting crashed down, fire scorched the earth The men started to panic their fear could be tasted in the air, to the darkspawn it would most likely be the sweetest of smells, the men knew death was upon them approaching them faster and faster like a boulder down a steep hill; when the darkspawn arrived on the horizon seemed to smell the fear that salted the air and started marching towards them at a faster pace. But then just as things looked their blackest like the darkest of nights in winter, a sound of a horn thundered through the battlefield, it lifted the men’s sprits, making them feel brave and courage filled their body’s.
Then the grey wardens came they marched between the army of the kings and the Darkspawn and turned to face the hoard, they formed a wall with their own bodies to stop the darkspawn. It seemed like a futile attempt few men trying to weaken the vast everlasting hoard.
The darkspawn seemed unfazed by these new arrivals they knew this was humanity’s final stand, the Archdemon was certain of victory it took the lead of the battle riding at the front lines and sent its hoard forwards bearing down on their enemy egger for the kill howling for the blood of man, the Archdemon blew fire but instead of ordinary humans who fled these locked their shields and lowered their spears, yelling defiance at the horde before charging in to the fight.
Darkspawn fell to their blades no mercy no remorse shown, they cut them down each warden killed at least ten darkspawn before falling. Dust and bodies were everywhere blood drenched the ground like a flood but it was not red of mans but black of evil creatures. When the dust finally settled the kings looked on in amazement as the darkspawn were either dead or fleeing the field not the terrifying creatures that thirsted for blood not moments ago but frightened rabbits running away, the Archdemon lay slain on the battlefield and not one of the Kings men had been killed.
Then without waiting for a thanks or acknowledgement for their dead the Grey wardens departed. Some say they watch over humanity waiting for the day the darkspawn return, others say this is fabled myth to teach children about bravery and standing up for all that’s good in the world no matter how dark it looks. However the truth is lost to history, history turns to legend, legends turn to myths. But even myths get lost.
Now the Grey Wardens have faded from the memories of man. Minstrels no longer sign songs of the bravery, honour and sacrifice of the wardens. The warnings of darkspawn are gone from the world. Now nothing but the possible fate of threat of them returning remains.
Chapter 1
James
The night was dark and a full moon was in the sky, the typical sort of full moon which started out horror stories that were read by parents to their children as they lay in bed, the one where vampires, werewolf’s and ghouls came out to play, was slowly rising above the houses the once starry sky was black.
Nothing but the moon and the street lamps lit up the sky. Two teenagers One Male and one female walked the streets alone the town it was late evening the male walked his back straight and his pace disciplined, the female walked at his pace, everyone else was all inside tellies on watching their programs.
The pair talked without much care in the world but the tone was getting heated. The male had blonde hair cut short in a military style his eyes were dark midnight blue but covering them he had glasses which were scratched in the lenses as if he did not care much for them and was dressed in green military uniform.
He had on a a full set of uniform coat, trousers with badges on the coat that said Air cadet, on his head he had a blue beret with a shiny silver badge with Air Training Corps round the edge, he wore on his feet black combat boots which were a dull black if it weren't for the badges he would easily of been confused for a soldier.
While the female had brown hair which flowed down to her shoulders, her eyes were hazel she wore simple blue jeans ripped in the odd place as if she was saying “I do not care how I look” and a cream coloured cardigan.
Finally one slightly raised their voice the male said “you know Kate I cannot shake the feeling that I have pissed you off somehow, even though I just got you together with my supposed best friend" he said with a laugh at the end, his eyebrows slightly raised. “Yeah I am James” Kate replied coldly she placed her hands on her hips.
“Care to explain as I don’t seem to remember doing anything wrong, if you still pissed about the joke I pulled come on let it go already or if your annoyed about me threatening Jacob relax” replied James, stopping abruptly in the dark alleyway at a crossroad, bins lined the fences, it was creepy in a way as it was silent, nothing could be heard but the pair, his face was half hidden in shadow his voice was cool but anger was beneath it, in the half-light he looked dangerous like a movie villain only thing he was missing was a scar to go with the imagine, a few dodgy catchphrases wouldn’t of gone amiss .
“Well for one thing I know you have been lying me this whole time I cannot believe I even felt sorry for you...” she screamed out. James looked at her in shock, he had a look of confusion on his face but that stated to melt to be replaced with anger.
"Lying?” he replied “what are you on about?” “You lied about having a girlfriend; you lied about her killing herself what the hell is wrong with you!” His Jaw tightened, James could see a flash of fear enter Kate’s eyes but only for a second only to be replaced with anger. “Whoa where the hell is this coming from?” He demanded.
“I know the truth” she replied. “You made it all up so I’d feel sorry for you and sleep with you what sort of sick pervert are you?”
Doing his best to keep the anger out of his voice he responded with “How delusional are you? Why would I want to sleep with you I just got you together with a person who i thought was my best friend! How many times have I been there for you to dry your tears when you needed me? How much sleep have I missed to listen to your stupid problems again and again? His voice started to crack but was ice cold and full of anger “When Amy died I needed you by my side for once I didn’t know how to cope with it, I have always been a rock for all our friends, you laughed and called me a sociopath. I was always there when anyone needed me despite your jokes, despite you leaving me out of everything but it just go to show that when someone needs your help you just stab them straight in the back but you love the attention when they listen to you, some friend you are all you care about is yourself.
Stamping her foot she screamed “Jacob told me everything he was the one that saw through your lies". James laughed acidly “typical just typical after everything I have done for the whelp he goes and betrays me like this, spreading lies and rumours after all this time it was my 'best mate' that…” he was interrupted by a lot of crashing and moaning coming from the next ally, Kate looked terrified and darted behind James, he muttered “typical just typical” he called aloud “hello anyone there” he was greeted by silence. What a stupid idea.
“see nothing there” he snorted “probably some stupid cat got stuck in the bins now back to our argument…” then he felt his blood turn to ice and his hair stand on end as the most horrifying creature he had or would ever see walked out the darkness and into the half-light its face was ghostly white expect for the blood that covered its month as if it recently had something fleshy and alive for dinner, its teeth looked like fangs it wore some strange black armour and had a nasty looking sword in its right hand it looked like no metal he had ever seen, more like bone. Its cold black eyes were empty of everything but a look of hunger; they seeped into him as if it was deciding whether to have him with chips with ketchup on the side.
“You’re not a very good looking thing are you” he laughed nervously “so who is it? You got a good costume. You got us but can’t you see we are in the middle of an argument? so if you could kindly go away we can go back to it that would be great” The creature looked amused James got the feeling it was not here to chat, he quickly grabbed the largest stick near him, he felt like he was going to need it as five more appeared from the darkness still had the hungry look in their eyes as if he was a free pizza that was freshly made.James thought quickly Kate was still his friend at the end of the day and he had to protect her, despite him being angry with her he couldn't just let her get hurt.
He yelled “Kate run!” before whacking the creature with his stick snapping it in two. Well I'm dead he thought to himself now he was defenceless, but he saw the creature still had not recovered from the encounter from his stick he thought ‘what the heck’ he was dead anyway might as well die fighting and tackled the creature as he did he stole the sword out its grasp without hesitation he put the blade through the creature’s chest. It was kill or be killed.
He knew this was life or death if he wanted to survive this night he had to kill this creature and warn the police encase any more were around. He looked the five others began to advance his heart weighed him down there was no way he would get out of this alive, somehow he knew this was way out of police territory, no-one could help him now.
As he looked at the creatures a sudden warmth entered his body a smile come to his lips, he was going to die tonight but strangely he wasn't afraid it felt like years of stress had been lifted from him. He laughed out “so which one of you is next huh come on I've not got all night”.
The closest one to him charged he blocked the attacked before knocking the creatures blade to the side then twisting his hand a little chopped off the creatures head as it fell to its knees things seemed to slow down, how did he do that he never had any training accept fencing one time when he was a lot younger. It's friend charged and tried to swipe at him, he did a sort of limbo under the blade bringing his blade round and burying it deep in the creatures chest, he pulled it out twisting it round as he did so this time it was the opposite way in his hand and put it through the creatures back. Seriously how was he doing this!
The next attack was blocked by the edge of the sword. James could feel the creature fighting with all its strength and knew it was going to win; the other two were closing in fast. The creature roared in his face, “Urgg” James moaned “seriously have you heard of a breath mint” He kicked the creature as hard as he could in the back of the knee cap causing it to buckle; once the resistance of his opponent faded, he forced the blade through the throat. He went to pull it out but it was stuck.
Using the body as a shield he pushed it towards one of the creatures, the creature fell and became trapped under the body, but a little too late he tried to dodge but the last creature blade cut into his chest he fell to the ground. He crawled a small way away, the loss of blood making him dizzy.
Time seemed to go even slower he felt his blood pour down his chest; his strength was leaving his body. Slowly the creature walked towards him poised for the kill seeming to want to savour it. It licked its lips as if it was preparing its self for a good meal.
He found his voice he croaked defiantly blood filling his lungs “what you waiting for finish me off then” the creature raised its sword above his neck. James closed his eyes expecting death. He felt contemplated.
Then a strange whistling sound sounded followed by a thud, James opened his eyes to see the creature on its back with an arrow stuck in the middle of its forehead dead, then out of the shadows a group of men melted in to existence. “Who are you” he croaked.
One of the men most likely the leaders crouched down facing him he was a young man around twenty four, twenty five his close cropped hair was brown, his eyes were a sea green but full of seriousness, on the right side of his face he had a scar from his right eye to the corner of his mouth and said “My name is Matthew I am a Grey Warden, as well as the others here, these creatures you faced here are called Darkspawn our job is to protect you mortals from these creatures” “James Little honour to meet you, but well you didn’t do much of a good job” James joked coughing.
One of the other grey wardens looked at him and said “sir he looks badly wounded nothing a little magic couldn't heal... but you know what needs to be done if we can… might be kinder if we just let him die” the man named Mathew looked at him then back at James “this kid just took out four darkspawn on his own without training, I think he would make a fine warden, what do you say kid will you join our order? But be warned you will have to leave your family your friends, you will have to fight day in day out, but the joining ritual is often fatal many die, the training which for you will be after many more die”.
James replied “ether way I die but I get a chance at killing more of these things called Darkspawn? Sign me up”. Mathew smiled “Nico warp him up so he makes the journey. Roger can you help me lift him when Nico is done” he walked over to were the last darkspawn was trapped under its comrades body, he looked down at the creature, he had a look of disgust on his face. He drew his sword and thrust it down. "One of you call the clean up team, we've got to go."
The journey seemed ages but his consequence was fading, First leg was a car journey then he was carried through something he could not explain possibly a portal, his body was weak from the amount of blood he lost, Now he was being carried on horseback, his mind was racing; portals? Darkspawn? Horses what happened to the car? What the hell is going on those things should not exist; part of him hoped that this was all a dream and he would wake up soon. But the pain told him otherwise.
Then he saw a city it was huge with massive walls they were the largest walls he had ever seen or it was his mind was playing tricks. The wall seemed as high as a skyscraper and seemed longer then the Great Wall of China, but then again he had never seen the great wall in person.
The horse trotted through some huge gates, behind the gates was the most beautiful city, the buildings looked simple modern but yet ancient, no TV was here or electricity but people who lived here seemed happy, He looked at the Soldiers that had filed around the group, The youngest was around his age sixteen but he already looked like a hardened veteran, with scratches and dents in his armour, his face straight and serious.
The soldiers all had a crest on their armour it was the symbol of a creature that looked like a griffin. James looked at Matthew and saw his armour had the same crest these were Grey Wardens.
It took roughly five minutes but the horses took them through the City, James felt the last of his strength leave his body his, vision was starting to go, he fell of his horse, He heard shouting then it all went black. He awoke to see a group of people standing around him; one had a crown on his head, but his vision was to blurred to make out and facial features. The man with the crown said aloud to the room “These words have been spoken since the first, join us brothers and sisters. Join us in the shadows where we stand vigilant. Join us as we carry the duty that cannot be forswore and should you perish, know that your sacrifice will not be forgotten, and that one day we shall join you…”
He passed James a goblet and said “From here on you are a grey warden” James took the goblet raised it smiled and said in a weak voice “To the Grey Wardens” before swallowing the drink whole, almost straight away he saw terrible things darkspawn a huge army of them and many more horrible things like it was trying to drive him insane then it all went black again.
He awoke this time only Mathew was standing at the end of the room talking to someone but it was a blur, he realised that his glasses had been taken off; He found his glasses which were on the table next to the bed he was on and put them on.
When he saw James was awake he walked over and said “Morning, how are you feeling?” James replied with “Does that drink always come with those visions? And what is with the taste, could they add strawberries or something?” Mathew laughed and said “Visions always, you will start getting nightmares, I will give you small idea of them but save any big questions for training" James nodded and Mathew continued "they are a way how we see the Darkspawn.
You see the archdemon if it’s a blight which you will learn about in training talks to the darkspawn, it controls their weak hive minds, like the way the queen bee does, without the Archdemon there can be no blight. But they are still deadly in large numbers, but a lot less organised.” “So what was in the drink?” James asked.
Matthew hesitated for a few moments and replied “Darkspawn blood we drink their blood so we can defeat the Archdemon, we are able to sense Darkspawn presence that means they are unable to take us by surprise, but they can sense us as well and you become immune to any further corruption from their tainted blood to a certain extent. Any other questions?”.
“Yeah” James replied “any other side effects?” “A few more” he admitted “one you will find out soon, another few is you will have decreased fertility, and shortened lifespans you have thirty years max before you die from the corruption in your blood and that's if you do not fall in battle and depending on how much interaction you have with the Darkspawn. Nearly all die in under ten, “Interesting so what happens to me now” James asked. “Well you passed the joining but now you got to train, but not just yet follow me”
“But What about my stab wound?” James asked. “Oh that” Mathew said “it got healed nothing there not even a scar, so you coming or what”. James jumped out of bed he was still wearing his ripped cadet uniform.Mathew was right there was not even a scratch just dried blood around the rip, he looked at Mathew and asked “can I borrow your knife” Mathew passed it over without saying anything.
James took the knife and stared down his beloved uniform then using the knife he ripped away the badges, with a heavy sigh he took of his hard earned cadet rank slides, he handed the knife back to Mathew and shoved them in his pocket muttering “looks like I won’t be needing these anymore”. Mathew said “Come on James your first day as a Grey warden starts now” and walked out the room, James followed him.
James brain went in to overtime about everything he saw and had been told so he gave up even trying to think about it and just decided to go with it.
He noticed more Wardens marching round, He looked at Mathew he knew nothing of him and was xurious, finally after walking out of the keep he asked “So how long you been a Warden? If it's ok me asking” “All my life" Mathew replied "I was born in to the wardens”.
“How does that work” James asked. “Well one of your parents is a Grey Warden, normally the dad; the taint passes on from the Warden parent to you when the mother is pregnant.” Mathew replied. “Due to the fact I was born with the taint I am able to live longer then a warden like you unless I fall in battle”.
A loud rumbling broke the silence that followed; James felt his stomach and moaned “Mathew I am hungry where can I grab a bite to eat”. Mathew laughed “right ok follow me”.
He took James to a huge dining hall, it kind of looked like the one used for Harry Potter but without the enchanted ceiling and much larger, inside was more wardens then he could count, An army of them they were singing and drinking, Dancing, eating and generally having a good time, even the odd fight looked to be good humour, Men and women, everyone was equal here.
Mathew sat him down, and sat opposite him. A few men came over, they were huge and built like gorillas, with great big bushy beards when joined them they clapped Mathew on the back, and the largest one with three scars across his face, like a claw mark said “Commander this a new Ensign?” “Yes and no he's an Ensign, Mike this man killed four darkspawn already without training, and had his joining ritual last night” James stomach interrupted him, the warden named Mike nodded at him respectfully before putting in front of him a huge roast chicken saying “tuck in”.
James shoved his face in the chicken eating in huge chunks not using a knife or fork. The moment he was finished the chicken, the other wardens pushed alcohol and even more food his way, plate after plate, he did not even notice what he was eating and he was normally a fussy eater, After a good hour past James was full his stomach was practically out of his uniform, he felt shattered, plates were lined up beside him and empty ale flasks.
He looked up at the three men around him all with huge grins on their faces, before bursting in to laughter. “What happened?” He asked stifling a burb. “Well one side effect of the Joining is you get seriously hungry.” Laughed the warden named Mike,
Just then they were interrupted by kid who ran up to them he was no older then twelve he said “Warden Commander, sir the king wishes to see the new recruit straight away “ Mathew looked annoyed but replied “Ok where is the king?” “In the war room sir” “thank you, come along Little”.
“So the Wardens have a king?” James asked. “`Well it’s the first time in a long time, we are not really meant to have a king. But what happened is the First Warden who is the warden in charge of all Grey Wardens, needed soldiers to fight against the Darkspawn as they looked to over run us without an Archdemon so you can imagine the panic that caused, che gathered Elves, Dwarfs, Orc’s, Mages, the land of Albion was stuck in a brutal civil war, the old king was a tyrant and so the Grey Wardens joined on the rebels side, they were so impressed with his leadership and caring attitude they made him king. His children, who are in the mortal world when he goes through the calling, will not be in charge of the Wardens but will over the kingdom of Albion, until then if they do come here we treat them as a prince and princess, we out of respect give them some control of the wardens” Mathew said, “Hold up a sec” James said stopping abruptly “I thought Elves, Dwarf, Orc’s, and mages existed only in stories”. Mathew laughed “Where do you think the stories come from, now come on you can keep asking questions until we get there”.
They continued walking down the streets, he saw villages working together, no homeless it seemed. “OK so why did the king not just be king?”.“Well the war left the Wardens with few in number no-one was ready for command, so just became easier to let him have it while he’s alive, the Darkspawn are growing in number every day, plus anyone who takes up a high up post doesn’t live to long, Longest we have so far is a year as High constable which is second in command of the Grey Wardens ” . “Right this is all very confusing… so we have this meeting with the king then training, but what happens with the darkspawn do we out and fight them?”
“God’s no “Mathew said “err I meant that to the darkspawn question, our men are low on arms, moral is decent but nowhere good or ready enough to take the territory’s back, we just have to hold the line here so they cannot destroy the lands and your mortal world, we protect those of over the bridge but it’s a lot harder”.
Mathew stopped under a huge tower, it had two guards outside both wearing full body Golden armour, and they were armed with a long spear, sword and a shield, with a crest that looked like a wolves head. He guessed these were not Grey Wardens, possibly the king’s men “But sooner or later we will get over run will we not, we cannot hold this place forever no matter our number of skill". James asked. James looked at Mathew his expression was grim, after a few moments silence he said “Maybe but now is not the time to discuss what tactics we use, from here on follow my lead”.
He looked at the guards and said “The king wishes to see us” the guards did not say anything but looked them up and down and opened the door. “Can I borrow your sword I got a feeling I’m going to need it…”Mathew laughed “we shall see” they entered the tower.
The room was lined with guards both Grey Warden and the suspected kings guard, they all stood to attention spears pointing to the ceiling when they saw Mathew enter the tower.
In the end room was three people one of them wore the grey warden armour but all of them armed to the teeth, one James wanted to name him Captain battle axe as he was armed with two of the largest battle-axe's with two smaller battle axe’s, strapped to his side, Another was a tall women with long slender legs she was wearing robes, like the ones you would see people of magic in the films wear, it was perfect on her figure. A long stick was strapped to her back, James had the feeling that he did not want to annoy her, as she radiated power the last one was obviously the king he wore golden armour with a wolf crest and another grey warden crest on both arms, and a golden crown on his balding Grey haired head.
They were all looking at a map and arguing, James recognised the king and cursed “oh son of a...” but was interrupted by Mathew clearing his throat loudly they all looked up. “Ah commander and Mr Little nice to see you again” “Mr Roberts, Sir good to see you too” replied James. “Wait you know the King?” asked Mathew his face full of confusion. “Yes he is a friend of my daughter Kate” the King said. “She’s not my friend any more your majesty kinda had an argument, just before I became a Grey Warden”. “That is a great shame you two were good friends... but on a more serious note was she with you on that night before the darkspawn arrived?” the king asked. “Yes your majesty” he said quickly.
The King looked at his fellow grey wardens. “Looks like the attack on the surface was more than a random attack, they are going after my daughter…” “Sir we should be more concerned with how they got there” said the female in the robes. The King face was sickly white but he nodded, “Jessica I want you and your mages to work on that problem” “yes sir we will get right on it” she crossed her arms over her chest and did a small bow she turned to face Mathew and James.
She looked James up and down and asked “what are those covering your eyes?” “They are glasses ma’am I need them to see” he said sheepishly, he had always hated wearing them, “hmm a grey warden cannot have this” she pulled out her stick and pointed it in his face said some strange words, possibly incantations few seconds later, she put her stick back in its holder and said “the deed is done, Mathew I’ll see you later” before walking off.
James thought that was extremely odd then his vision went blurry his head started to ache he took of his glasses, as if it was some sort of miracle his vision was well perfect he no longer needed his damn glasses that had always held him back. He choked “my vision its perfect”, Mathew clapped him on his shoulders and said “congrats”.
“Mathew I want you to deal with the protection of my daughter and son contact those who I have already in place” said the King “right away sir” Mathew bowed the same way as the women called Jessica and headed out. “Lieutenant take Mr Little to training I must return to my kingdom and then the mortal world.” Captain Battle-axe lieutenant said “yes sir” and bowed “come along Ensign” as they walked out of the room the king called after him “I hope you will be a benefit to the wardens”. James followed the lieutenant, he saw children running round the street playing tag, and other children games.
He asked the lieutenant “Sir what is this place?” The lieutenant replied in a bored voice “This place is known as Anderfall the Warden HQ our main base of operation, there is no crime here, no poor, as we have no real possessions and we all need to work together, We here are the first and last line of defence for the lands beyond this place and the mortal world. Most of these people have never stepped outside this world, only people we get in from the mortal world are soldiers from your world, come to join the wardens most never make it back.”
They continued walking in silence past more wardens, more people, James just felt in complete awe of the city, people lived there life’s in peace and war despite the constant doom they were in they were happy. They stopped outside a huge building with fields of mud, dummies in, assault courses, they seemed to go on for ever then the wardens in training themselves. There was at least a thousand training all seemed to be doing different things, one group was sword training, others were crawling through the mud with a huge guy yelling at them, all of them were wearing a grey uniform, some were getting fire blown at them with their shields raised. The Lieutenant took him past the men and women training, and in to a classroom.
The room was filled with soldiers from all country’s men and women still in their combat uniform and Men and women in what looked like fine silks and homemade clothing which looked nothing like what was made in the world he came from, quite a few were in robes. The lieutenant said “this is your new unit, the warden Commander and First Warden believe highly in you but I do not think you will last very long, aim to prove me wrong ensign. Good luck he’s all yours taskmaster sorry hes late.
The ‘taskmaster’ looked up and said “Ah welcome to the Bloody Spears now we can get started we each have a training partner the only one left…” the room started to giggle. “… We cannot figure out his full name, as he cannot remember it” the room was practically trying to stop itself from laughing, The Taskmaster pointed to a huge man who looked like a bear, he had very short black hair his face was covered in scars he wore Russian army uniform.
James walked past the sniggering troops, ignoring them, he was used to these sort of people his whole life. He sat next to his partner and said “Names James Little nice to meet you”, The bear replied “Me, victor” in a heavy Russian accent. “Nice, yes to meet you” said James.
“right that’s enough with the love in” Said the task master “All of you are here to become Grey Wardens and yes there is one of you who have already under taken the joining, be warned anyone who reveals the secret will have the harshest punishment, now it’s my sorry job somehow to turn you useless whelps into Grey Wardens, may the God's have mercy on my soul".
He looked around the room before continuing “Now only the Males can do main fighting roles and go out deep in to Darkspawn territory unless you are a female mage” one of the female recruits put their hand in the air and said “sir that is extremely sexist we females are just as good as the men!”
“There is nothing sexist about it so if you shut your pie hole maybe I could explain” the taskmaster replied “First off yes women are the same as men, hell I known women that make even the toughest soldiers in your worlds look like pansies, we used to have female wardens as infantry but that was until we realised that the Darkspawn aim to capture the women…they corrupt the women turning her in to a Broodmother who then spills out over a hundred more Darkspawn everyday now unlike normal women , the Darkspawn bore from warden flesh, are a lot more cleaver, and stronger than regular darkspawn they even have the ability to talk, they are the darkspawn’s elite ask yourself this is it better to remove a hazard or to ignore it and allow your enemies to overrun you with endless troops, this is why we have trouble with defeating them, no matter how many you kill more and more spill out, until the Broodmother is slain but they are deep behind the darkspawn lines”.
The women who put her hand up face turn a sickle colour of green but still she asked “then why recruit women if we are such a ‘hazard’ sure it’s not just because we somehow ‘distract’ the men”
The taskmaster put his face in his palm and with a steely voice of calm “Everyone no matter their sex or race is welcome in the Wardens. As long as you fight darkspawn you are welcome in the Wardens, if you dissert you will be executed. Commit a serious crime and found guilty you will be executed, any other questions?” “Yes sir” James said putting his hand in the air.
“This better not be a stupid question but ok go ahead” “Sir how come the Wardens are not in the modern world history books if this is what we do?”. The whole room started to murder to each other, the taskmaster smiled for a second and James knew he asked a good question.
The taskmaster pondered for a moment and said “All of history has the Grey Wardens in it but we just changed it so it would not cause mass panic in future, one of the most famous was the battle of Thermopolis, where three hundred Grey Wardens stood against the entire blight sacrificing themselves so the remaining Wardens could gather an army of humanity to defeat them, in history the Spartans as great as they once were, were often confused for Grey Wardens as we had the same tactics. No retreat, No surrender, No mercy. We even trained with them, most of our recruits were Spartan soldiers. But the publicity was bad and the Templars started having a pissy fit”
A couple of people in the room starting giggling one even said “stupid Templars” the taskmasters eyes narrowed but continued “when the people started celebrating us so, they tried to ruin it, then pretty soon the people turned on us as they feared our warriors the Templars used this fear to keep control and use them to attack us, we’d fight lots of blood would be spilt so we offered them a treaty. As the world needs the Templars”
The same recruit who called the Templars stupid had a coughing fit and put his hand in the air and said “but the Templars lock away us mages for our whole life’s, they torture us,and murder those who do not keep in line, if the people do not want us then why do we protect them?”
The task master took a couple of seconds to reply “Well politics for the Templars, but You will guard them and they will hate you for it. Whenever there is not a Blight actively crawling over the surface, humanity will do its best to forget how much they need you. And that's good. We need to stand apart from them, even if they have to push us away to make us do it. That is the only way we can ever make the hard decisions.”
The whole room was in silence he continued “They call for our help they love us, what they cannot understand is why we must be neutral and they hate us for not solving their every problem, plus wardens in fame doesn’t end well you will always get the men who want power and want to take over in the mortal world. So it’s better to remove ourselves from the problem, we have units there to recruit and hunt down creatures such as vampires, werewolves and demons they are the special operations part of the Wardens, the Templars mainly deal with them but sometimes they ask for our help. But now I am going to introduce you to your fellow grey warden recruits, I want no fighting follow me”.
He led them outside, they walked in to a training area but people were already in it. James looked at them at least three groups, the closest one to them was a Male, he was smaller than all the men in uniform, but was about his height, maybe just a bit taller his dark brown hair flowed down to the middle of his back, on his face he had a tattoo that took up half his face, it looked like branches coming of a tree, his ears were pointed. Elves James thought. The elf wore robes that looked like they had been handmade, around him more elves male and female about twenty of them in total.
By the elves side, were the shortest men he had ever seen, most of the men had breads, dwarfs he thought. They all seemed to encircle one, his bead had treasure in it and on his right arm he had a crest that was golden, possibly royalty? James pegged him for the leader.
The third group by deduction Orcs had pale green skin and teeth that looked like a dogs but the face was roughly humanoid, all of them were larger than the humans expect for Victor, who looked like he'd fit in well, they were at least seven foot tall, each of them had scars all over their bodies. Their clothes looked mostly like rags.
The human group stopped immediately taking in this sight, the three groups turned to face them, James was glad that no-one in the room had weapons as the tension in the air was high and the elves looking at them from the far side looked murderous and shot evil glances at them.
Not one of the groups made the first mood, James looked at his comrades in disgust they looked scared, he shook his head then strode over to the groups, "nothing ventured nothing gained" he muttered to himself. The Tall elf he seen first walked over as well as the Dwarf leader, followed by the largest Orc. The three of them met in the middle of the clearing, between all the groups tension in the air rose as if everyone was preparing for a fight.
James looked at three in front of him each looked like veterans of war, he was just a kid, he held out his hand in a manner of greeting and said “My name is James Little it is an honour to meet you all” “well met” said the Elf who took his hand and shook it “My Name is Ardriel I did not know humans had manners”. James replied “well I come from the mortal realm so I can say nothing of you elves”
“What is it like up there” Ardriel asked “How are our forests” James sighed “us humans are killing the world slowly it’s not a pretty sight, you would not recognise it from any stories you may have heard” the elf’s face went pale he nodded.
The Dwarf leader shook his hand, nodded and said “Garal” The orc towered over him but James looked him straight in the eyes and shook his massive hand. The Orc laughed in a deep voice “Orok the bloody, you are a child but I sense you are a warrior but one worthy of respect? We shall see…” The tension passed, Victor led the way for the humans and shook hands with each of the different groups.
His fellow wardens patted him on the back, He looked towards the task master who he just realised had company. On the taskmasters right stood Mathew his face was dark but he nodded at James before turning round and leaving the area.
The taskmaster called them over and said grimly “we have lost a team of a hundred wardens, we need to start pushing you guys through as we are losing this war, now if you follow me again it’s time to issue you your training uniform you will not get your armour or weapon just yet.
They went in to one of the buildings attached to the classroom they were just in but this was a huge room it had the uniform’s, weapons and armour all round, some armour looked different than others, some were what all the Grey Wardens were wearing and full body armour including a helmet, different breastplates and helmets but all had the warden crest on it.
Three warden’s two females around twenty and one male elf, who had his hair in a ponytail handed out the uniforms, they looked them up and down and handed them each three pairs of uniform.
Ardriel the elf leader went to the elf in a harsh voice “what are you doing, you’re an elf you do not do human servants work” the small elf replied calmly “I am not doing a servants job this was punishment for a stupid thing I did. Everyone is equal in the wardens, we all fight for the same cause and we all die by each other’s side. If you call inequality again I will personally hand you your backside" He handed the uniform to Ardriel who took it, who opened his mouth and closed it as if he wanted to say something but could not put it to words but nodded sheepishly and walked off.
The taskmaster grabbed James and pushed him forwards to the door. Once everyone had the uniform they were told to form up in a three rank squad there was about seventy of them in total. The taskmaster called out to them and said in a booming voice “From here on now you will be turned in to Wardens, many of you may die, but it will be because fate has decreed it but rest in the peace for the knowledge that we shall join you.” He looked at them all and yelled “Drop down and give me fifty press ups”.
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