In the Wilds by the Campfire... {Ember}

[Remus Wolfe ~ Witch Hunter]

If you close your eyes, Your life, a naked truth revealed,
Dreams you never lived and scars never healed
(Scars never healed)
In the darkness life will take you to the other side,
And find me waiting there you'll see if you just close your eyes.
If you just close your eyes.
(If you just close your eyes)

Deceived by my eyes and all I was told I should see.
Opinions not mine, The person they taught me to be.
One night in the dark of vision of someone I know,
And out of the darkness I heard a voice say I'm you.

Inside of me a light was turned on. Then I was alive.

~~~

In the Korcari Wilds there was a fire burning in an opening, a camp set up and a man sitting on a log as he stoked the fire. He had his sword beside him on one side, a bow on the other and strapped to his boot was a Dalish made dagger. He kept his ears alert for sounds around his camp while his eyes kept looking at the flames, he was lost in his thoughts and flashbacks.

Flashback to Kirkwall:

He walked into his house and suddenly he smelled blood, the metallic tang almost like a perfume that he could taste on the tip of his tongue as he shut the door behind him and pulled out his sword, whirling it once to get a good grip on it and he pointed it at the bedroom door, the only door in the hovel he lived in to avoid detection. There was either two things that had happened, Kyra had killed a burglar..or someone had killed Kyra, he sincerly hoped it was the former and not the latter.

His nerves were frayed as he kept Magi's Bane pointed at the door, his body tensed and coiled like a snake waiting to strike...

He finally opened the door and immediately he was overwhelmed by the smell of blood, an overpowering smell of it as it covered the floor, walls and the furniture in the bedroom in the middle of the bed, clothes in tatters, blood and other fluids leaking was Kyra, his fiancee..dead..violated and blood splattered.

He fought the bile that rose in his throat and the tears that pricked his eyes as he looked at the scene before him but it was no use, bellowing in rage and dropping his sword and moving to the corpse and holding her to him, his tears staining his clothes, her hair and running down his cheeks as he sobbed into the corpse's hair while her blood stained his clothes and hands.

After what seemed a lifetime of crying, he laid the body down again and looked around with a clearer set of eyes and noticed the Templar symbol drawn in blood on the wall along with a notice stuck to it.

He moved to the notice and ripped it off the wall and read it.

Dear Ser Wolfe,
I regret to inform you that your fiancee was found to be an apostate. She denied it but after some interrogation she told the truth. I'm sure you're relieved to hear she admitted the truth and we free you of the thrall she has over you.

Sincerly, Ser Vaan - Knight of the Templar Order.

Written on the back of the notice was...

I'm sure you're angry and upset but don't be. Your little whore is in a better place and I can tell you, my interrogation techniques are better than ever. She screamed like a gutted pig when I took her. This should teach you not to cross your betters!

A feeling that has only risen once in his lifetime, Remus Wolfe also known as Witch Hunter felt an all consuming hatred and rage for Vaan and his throng of templars. He vowed that before he died that Vaan would die a bloody death and the man's head would taken as a trophy.

He crumpled the notice, walked to the wardrobe and grabbed his Witch Hunter garb, grabbing the sword named Magi's Bane, his bow Wraithling and made sure his Dalish dagger named Fenrir's Razor was tucked away in his boot as he donned the armour once again after swearing to his beloved that he never would after putting that engagement ring on her finger.

He pulled the hood up but before he put the mask on, he walked over to the corpse of his fiancee and closed her eyes and pressed his lips to her cold ones before closing his eyes and pulling the mask on, only showing his golden eyes which had flecks of ice blue in them, standing in the dark right there, he looked like someone's worst nightmare.

Gathering what else he needed, he left the hovel and never looked back and the first of the Hunter's prey would be Vaan and his men. He would not be satisfied with less than that before he left Kirkwall.

Back to the present:

While he was stuck in his flashbacks, he was still paying attention to his surroundings and for the moment, all was well and quiet as the fire he was stoking kept the wild beasts of the Korcari Wilds away from his camp and the outskirts were littered with traps against the odd throngs of Darkspawn that appeared in the Wilds from the Deep Roads entrance nearby and against the animals of the Wilds.

For the moment, it was the calm before the storm.

~~~

If you close your eyes, Your life a naked truth revealed,
Dreams you never lived and, scars never healed
(Scars never healed)
In the darkness life will take you to the other side,
And find me waiting there, you'll see if you just close your eyes.
(Close Your Eyes)

Hearts uninspired, trapped inside somebody's dream.
To close to the fire, Yet cold and so numb with the pain.
But the fever is broken, and the river has run to the sea.
Washed to the ocean and saved by a voice inside me.

Inside of me a light was turned on, Then I was alive.

[Ember Griswald]

"Carroll! Wake up! You're going to be okay!" Ember shook her friend's lifeless body, but with no response.

"Ember, she's gone," Andrew watched the abomination fall limp to the ground before it burst into a million flames and disappeared. He put a single hand on her redhead's shoulder as she knelt over the young mage's body. "Look, we better keep moving. We need to find the others before it gets worse!"

Ember watched as the tears left her eyes and fell from her face onto Carroll's body. She was so young, so beautiful as she laid there peaceful. The girl's screams played over and over in her mind. "She was just a child! How could he want this?!" Of course, she was speaking of Uldred, the senior mage of the Circle that everyone suspected to be corrupt. There were rumors running around the halls of his dabbling in the forbidden arts, but Ember didn't want to believe it. Now she did.

She stood up, whipping the tears from her eyes as she felt Andrew's hands guide her away. And she followed, getting one last look at the girl before turning her head away.

But then they stopped. A sharp hiss erupted the silence behind them. Ember slowly turned her head around to get a look at the direction of the hiss. Her eyes grew wide, Carroll's body was gone, but was now replaced with one of those... an Abomination. "No. No, it's not possible!" This wasn't supposed to happen, it wasn't supposed to happen like this! The grotesque creature crept forward, and Ember fell to her knees. Andrew stepped forward with his staff in hand, realizing that he would have to do the job. She didn't bother to look up, she just kept her amber eyes fixed on the floor. The hissing grew louder as she could hear the sounds of flames erupted through the air, followed by sounds of fighting with much have been his staff. But it soon stopped. Andrew's body fell to the ground and the monster stood over it while looking at her. Ember didn't move. All she could see was Carroll's face and frail body as the creatures hands wrapped around her neck.

----------------

Ember sprung away, whipping the sweat off her forehead and rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Her heart was beating fast and her breathing was heavy as she flew her legs over the side of the bed. It was going to be another one of those nights; a night full of restlessness. Ever since her escape in Kirkwall and Andrew's death, she didn't meet a good night of sleep. Nightmares haunted her dreams and all she could do was continue her journey to keep herself occupied... and sane.

She left the bed, putting on her clothes followed by her boots and sword, and left the room. The Inn was quiet, save for a few drunken men in the lobby who seemed to be deep in conversation. One of which was the Inn Keeper, "I'll be taking my leave a bit earlier than expected, sir. The room is yours." Ember said with a calm smile as the man nodded, returning the smile and grabbing the key from her hands.

"Feel free to come back again anytime, Miss Griswald," The man replied, though with more slickness in his voice.

"Thank you, but I-" she hesitated, getting ready to say she didn't believe that would happen, but in fear for sounding rude, she refrained from saying it. "Thank you," she gave another soft smile and then headed for the front door, leaving the two men and the Inn behind. Like all the others recently.

The sun was already below the horizon, the last bit of deep orange and pink spilling into the sky before the darkness took over. It was like they were trying to escape, trying to outrun it... Much like herself, only, she still wasn't sure what she was running from. The Templars? Maybe, they were definitely one thing, but deep down she didn't feel they were the true threat.

Something else, however, caught her eye as she continued through the wilds. The smell of smoke. Where the smoke, there were people. But what people? Was it a local burning wood? Or was it a camp? As of late the wilds here in the country became overrun with bandits and barbarians. It was a growing problem that not even the government could seem to take care of.

Either way, it seemed to peek her curiosity. And she was willing to sate it. She crept along further, the smell of smoke growing heavier, and before long she caught site of where the smoke was coming from. As she made it around a small hill, the sight of fire came into view. Near the controlled fire, was a man. Only the flames could light his face, and through his gaze she gathered his mind was miles away. She just needed to make sure that she draw any attention to herself. And maybe it was wishful thinking because within a second the sounds of scattering feet were heard behind her.

She quickly turned around, just as fast as her hand grabbed the hilt of her sword and readied her stance. Whoever it was, they knew she was there because the steps grew louder into her direction; leaves and sticks crushing beneath their feet. And the sound of screeching.

One of them must have entered one of the many traps she found on the ground here. Ever since she entered she was weaving in and out of them. Unfortunately, his friend didn't seem to fall victim them as he kept walking forward until the fire at the camp behind her lightly lit his features.

Darkspawn.

That meant there was an entrance nearby. Oh bloody hell, how many more was she going to have to kill before she left this dreaded place? The fiery redhead stepped forward towards the creature, raising her sword farther and farther until she got close enough to it to put the blade into its chest. It put up a fight, of course, running at full speed towards her with its odd battle cry. She didn't let it distract her, though, as she slammed the sharp blade into its neck and cut off his head. She was still getting used to using a sword instead of staff, but she figured she needed to for obvious safety reasons. Plus, it didn't seemed that hard to use it. If you knew where to stab to kill, it wasn't as difficult as you would have thought.

[Remus Wolfe ~ Witch Hunter]

White walls surround us
No light will touch your face again
Rain taps the window
As we sleep among the dead

Days go on forever
But I have not left your side
We can chase the dark together
If you go then so will I

There is nothing left of you
I can see it in your eyes
Sing the anthem of the angels
And say the last goodbye

~~~

First he heard the footsteps, banging like war drums "Darkspawn.." he muttered, he knew they were headed towards his camp as he snapped out of his thoughts and he knew there was bear traps laid around the camp but he grabbed the water bucket beside him and threw it on the fire, dousing it and leaving the area in complete darkness, the face of the Darkspawn that was infront of him just flickered as he used an old Chasind spell under his breath and ran his hand over his eyes before his eyesight lit up the dark, his eyes were glowing an eerie golden colour but he didn't waste much more time and grabbed Magi's Bane from it's resting place and swept it up in an arc, cleaving through the Darkspawn Hurlock and he ducked low as another Hurlock swung it's sword at him from the side and he spun on his knee, decapitating the Huclock's legs, forcing him to fall on his knees and he immediately cut the head off before he heard more Darkspawn falling to the ground.

"They don't sound like bear traps.." he muttered bitterly and wondered who else was around before he glanced in a direction of where steel and more steel was flashing, he headed in the direction of it, knowing he'd taken care of the darkspawn he'd seen but there was more heading past his encampment and he blended into the dark as he grabbed his bow from the place it was beside his seat and with the spell helping him see in the dark he took aim after settng an arrow on the bow at a Darkspawn Hurlock 'sneaking' as much as it can behind the person, a girl he saw and let the arrow fly into the head of the Darkspawn and dropping it dead though the arrow had narrowly missed the girl and he slipped his bow onto his back and took out Magi's Bane again and leapt forward, beginning to cut down Darkspawn, mostly heedless of his own life as he had survived so far in life equally on luck and on his own instincts.

He booted one Darkspawn to the floor, impaled his sword into the chest and left the sword there while ducking and rolling to avoid another 'spawn's axe coming down and decapitating his fallen comrade, he pulled out his Dalish dagger from his boot and looked at the rather large Hurlock, weilding what appeared to be a twisted version of a Dwarven Axe. He mentally gulped but outward appearances showed he was calm and he ran through a few scenarios in his head then he moved forward, the axe coming down but he moved to the left and kicked the axe out of the Darkspawn's hands and punched it in the throat then moved behind it as it fell to the floor clutching it's throat and he impaled his dagger into it's skull.

Making sure most of the Darkspawn were taken care of, he moved back to where Magi's Bane was still buried in the corpse of a headless Hurlock and pulled it out then he wiped the blood away from the sword using a piece of Darkspawn's armour and did the same with his dagger.

Stopping for a moment to catch his breath, he looked towards the female who had apparently come towards his camp. He weaved in and out of the corpses littering the ground and when he spoke, his voice was like gravel "Care to tell me what exactly a beautiful girl like yourself is doing in the wilds?"

While speaking, his 'glowing' eyes were roaming her and the surroundings to make sure she wasn't an apostate that had resorted to using a sword and then he waited for a response.

~~~

Cold light above us
Hope fills the heart
And fades away
Skin white as winter
As the sky returns to grey

Days go on forever
But I have not left your side
We can chase the dark together
If you go then so will I

There is nothing left of you
I can see it in your eyes
Sing the anthem of the angels
And say the last goodbye
I keep holding onto you
But I can't bring you back to life
Sing the anthem of the angels
Then say the last goodbye

[Ember Griswald]

Just as she turned back to look at the stranger at the camp, when more footsteps were heard behind her. Her head snapped into the direction, her eyes immediately catching sight of the creatures coming forward. Before she could even think of putting the sword back on her hip, her hands gripped the hilt once more to engage in another battle.

But before she could even as much as swing her sword at the oncoming Darkspawn, it seemed another was already one step ahead of her. The only thing she could hear was the arrow slicing through the air past her ear, before it landed between the eyes of the creature that was about to grab her. Ember heard many rumors about the Darkspawn, about what they did to women. They didn't kill them like they did with men. Apparently they'd capture the women instead, they keep them, feed them, and turn them into creatures that were made to breed more. She didn't know whether it was true or not, and she didn't plan on finding out.

She watched the creature fall lifeless to the cold ground at her feet. "They go down just as easily as humans," she thought to herself as she stared into the dilated black eyes of the soulless being. It was something about staring into them that gave her chills, like it transforming her right then and there. She quickly turned away, not wanting to look at it any longer, and diverted her attention to the man beyond who was quite literally barreling his way through the hoard of Darkspawn behind her. It wasn't until the man finally killed the last one--or so she hoped--that she put her sword away.

The redhead beauty rolled her eyes at his flirtatious greeting, "Flatterer."[/b] There was a small hint of a smile on her face, with more sarcasm than anything. She was used to this kind of behavior from men. She lived most of her life locked up with many of them, they were worse than this stranger before her. By now they would have already tried to bed her. "I was merely passing through... Avoiding the cities and civilizations. Away from the general pop-"

She was cut off when another hiss and low growl sounded behind her, making her do a total 180 before a burst of fire shot out from her palms and engulfed the creature in flames. Only a few shrieks echoed through the air as it fell to the ground in a pile of burnt flesh. It was only then that she realized what she had just done. Her cover was blown. Any hopes of getting passed this man freely were now gone, unless he was welcoming towards the occasional wandering mage.

"I've got to stop doing that."