Legend (Dragon Age Origins)

Chapter 13: Visions

Dru woke, gasping for air as the screams from her nightmare were replaced with the quiet rustling of leaves in the trees around her. She sat up, taking in a breath of relief when she realised that she was on her bedroll in their makeshift camp, and not at the hands of the darkspawn.

"Bad dreams, huh?"

Alistair was sitting on his own bedroll by the fire, gently stirring at an iron pot that hung over the flame. The group had stopped for the night to make camp in a small clearing away from the road. The full moon still glinted down at them from the star-filled sky, and Dru knew she had only slept for less than an hour.

She rubbed her eyes. She felt so tired. "It felt so real..." she murmured.

"They always do," Alistair replied solemnly. "Part of being a Grey Warden is being able to hear the darkspawn. That's what your dream was. Hearing them. The archdemon, it... 'talks' to the horde, and we feel it just as they do. That's why we know this is really a Blight."

"Great," she muttered sourly.

Alistair offered a sympathetic smile, and she felt a little guilt for her bad mood. He was a Grey Warden long before she was. He knew these dreams all too well.

"It takes a bit, but eventually you can block them out," he said. "Some of the older Grey Wardens said they could understand the archdemon a bit, but I sure can't."

"Any other surprises I should know about?"

"Other than dying young and the whole defeat-the-Blight-alone thing? No, I'm all tapped out for surprises," he chuckled.

Leliana emerged from the trees nearby and skipped toward them, her hands clasped. She dumped a mixture of leaves into the pot triumphantly.

"Hey!" Alistair protested, peering meekly down at the contents.

"They're just herbs," Leliana pouted. "I cannot understand how you Fereldens enjoy eating such bland food. Surely the culinary arts are known to some of you?"

"Yes, some." Alistair lifted up the spoon, inspecting the dull green life that clung to it. Defeated, he dumped it back into the pot. "I suppose it can't exactly make my cooking any worse."

Leliana beamed happily and took a seat next to Alistair. She had changed out of her leather armour and into a sleeveless gold dress that flowed around her. Her feet bare, she crossed her legs beneath her and leaned toward the Wardens.

"I heard you talking. I also had a vision, you know," she informed them.

"Really?" Dru was surprised. "Of the darkspawn?"

"Not exactly," Leliana replied at length. "In my vision, there was an impenetrable darkness and a noise, an ungodly noise. I stood on a peak and watched as the darkness consumed everything. And when the storm consumed the last of the sun's light, I fell, and the darkness drew me in."

"So you had a dream," Dru concluded. "Not a vision."

"No, it was much more than that," Leliana argued. "When I woke, I went to the Chantry's gardens as I always do. But that day, the rosebush in the corner had flowered. Everyone knew that bush was dead, but there it was – a single, beautiful rose. It was as if the Maker stretched out His hand to say, 'even in the midst of this darkness, there is hope and beauty. Have faith'."

Behind her, Alistair drew a small circle next to his head with his finger.

"I know the Maker was trying to tell me to help you," she continued. "There are so many good things in His world. I cannot sit by and allow the Blight to devour everything."