Fen'Tarasyl

Chapter One

Cold water splashing on her brought her from the world of dreams. She gasped and bolted upright, and she heard the cracking of her stiff bones at the motion. She turned her head to see the culprit, a tall woman with short, dark hair and a scar across her cheek. She was staring at her with dark, narrowed eyes. What bothered her the most about this woman was that her ears were unnaturally short and round.

"Who are you?!" The woman demanded.

The elf pulled back the threadbare blanket that had been covering her and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Her eyes widened at the sight of the pale blue swirls that adorned her bare legs and arms. She didn't have time to process what they were doing on her body, because the woman started shouting at her.

"Well? Answer me!"

She pushed her hair from her forehead and rubbed her temples, squeezing her eyes shut.

"F..." Why couldn't she remember her own name?

"Ff?" When Talyn opened her eyes, she saw the dark haired woman leaning forward, her face in Talyn's. "Fff what? Spit it out!"

"T-Talyn?" She said it like a question, her voice cracking with panic at the realization that she couldn't remember anything from before she was rudely woken up.

Suddenly, there was the sound of thunder and searing pain burned her hand, the sensation shot up her arm all the way to her shoulder. Talyn cried out in pain, falling to her knees on the floor, her right hand clutching her left. With wide eyes she looked down at her palm, and saw a bright green, jagged mark that shimmered dangerously with magic.

The dark haired woman bent down and grabbed Talyn's marked hand. Her grip just made the pain worse, but she was too disoriented to pull it out of the angry woman's grasp.

"Explain this." Her voice was angry and accusing.

"I-I can't!" Her words were wispy as she tried to remembered how to breathe.

She continued her interrogation, never letting go of Talyn's hand.

"What happened at the Temple of Sacred Ashes?"

"I don't know! I can't remember!"

"You're lying!" The woman growled, and she lunged for Talyn.

She flinched, and raised her other hand to protect her face from whatever the woman was about to do.

A hand shot out from the shadows, holding onto the woman's armored shoulder.

Her voice was soft and lulling, like a sweet lullaby. "Cassandra, we need her."

Talyn hadn't even seen the woman in the corner of the room, her face shrouded by the hood of her cloak, only a pale red braid peeking out from beneath it. The same eye adorned both her cloak and Cassandra's armor.

Cassandra looked at her, and sighed.

"You're right, Leiliana. As always."

Cassandra turned back to Talyn, her demeanor much more calm, but still accusing.

"Moments after the Temple of Sacred Ashes explodes, you step out of a rift with that mark on your hand. What else are we supposed to think, other than that you're the one who caused the explosion? The one who killed Divine Justinia and everyone who attended the Conclave?"

Talyn stood to her feet, her frustration giving her the strength she needed to not fall over. Her eyes were level with Cassandra's, and she stared into them, trying to convey the truth that the strange woman was unwilling to believe.

"I'm telling you the truth! My memories are gone, all of them! Whatever happened at your temple erased them." Her voice went up a pitch as she kept talking, "I'm begging you, you have to believe me! I am innocent!"

Another crack of thunder ensued, and that same, throbbing pain burned her whole arm, causing her to fall to her knees again. She watched the strange glowing mark grow on her palm.

'This can't be happening.' She thought to herself in horror.

She saw Cassandra give Leiliana a look.

"Go to the forward camp, Leiliana. I will take the prisoner to the rift."

"This 'prisoner' has a name." Talyn hissed.

Leiliana left the room. Cassandra turned back to Talyn with that same distrustful glare. She walked to a table in the corner of the room and picked up something. She tossed it at Talyn, and she caught it. It was leather armor.

But it didn't seem to look like regular leather armor. It was the deepest shade of black, so dark that it seemed to suck all the light in the room. There were no other markings, no insignia or design. There was a cowl that matched its darkness.

"You were wearing that when you stepped out of the rift. The healer had to take it off of you to heal your wounds. Put it on."

Talyn stared at the ebony armor for a moment, hoping for a spark of familiarity. But there was none. She set the armor on the bed and took off the nightgown she was wearing. She couldn't help her smug satisfaction when Cassandra blushed and averted her gaze.

There was a full-length mirror grimy and cracked with age against one of the walls. When Talyn caught a glimpse of her appearance, she gasped.

The pale blue swirls she had seen on her legs and arms were all over her body. They ran up her toned stomach, over her breasts, her shoulders, up her neck and even framed her face. She turned to look at her back, where there were indeed more pale blue marks.

That wasn't all that surprised her, though. She was beautiful. Long, pale golden hair cascaded down her back and shoulders to her waist. Her eyes were the color of the sky, and angled like a cat's. She had high cheekbones, full lips, and her elegantly pointed ears poked out of her hair like long, fleshy knives.

It was as if she had been sculpted by an artist.

She heard Cassandra scoff. "Stop staring at yourself and get dressed, we have no time to lose."

Talyn shot a glare at her captor and did as she was told. She fumbled with the armor, causing Cassandra to sigh and cross the room to help her. She said something rude about how one shouldn't wear armor if they couldn't put it on by themselves, which made Talyn's face beet red.

Roughly, Cassandra tied Talyn's hands together with rope. She didn't protest, mostly because Cassandra was right. She was a prisoner. Whatever happened now was out of her control.

"It's just until we enter the valley." Cassandra explained. "It will make the people feel safe."

Cassandra led Talyn through what looked to be a temple, and out into the world.

The first thing Talyn saw was a nightmare in the sky.