"If I could wipe the world clean of these Tevinter bastards with a flick of my staff, it would make life easier for all of us. For now, you'll just have to head to the shelters and trust your City Council's advice."
Anri chuckled at hearing Dorian's wit. But the man's words seemed to have done the trick, for the people gave their thanks and began their own preparations for lockdown.
Dorian saw Anri and greeted him warmly. "Sleep well?"
"I did, thanks." Anri kissed his cheek.
Dorian frowned at seeing him dressed for action. "Surely you don't need to venture out too far."
"Relax, it's just a precaution. But I need to find a link to a vein my, um, fade residual can get a feel from."
"Let me come with you."
Anri shook his head. "You have more important work to do. I'll be back before sundown." He kissed Dorian's lips then pulled away.
Dorian couldn't help but feel worry at seeing Anri's receding back as the man headed into the woodland areas. His thoughts kept going back and forth to Anri's face and his nagging worry that something frightening was changing within him. He made a mental note to check on his spirit-binding array later on. They had their jobs to do, so he returned his focus toward his duty.
The quiet lull of tall elms and ash birch trees allowed Anri to sort through his thoughts. For the first time he felt he could breathe, being away from the city and the din of frantic activity. Even being around Dorian, it had been hard for him to process sense from the impossible and stupid situations in his life.
Despite his mind being lost in thoughts, his instincts were constantly attuned to environmental changes. A perk he had finally developed to fruition, living so long under the pressures of exerting himself without an anchor. And his pain was in a constant ebb of severity within his body. Yet, this tidal path of agony felt like a tempering hammer, which was forging something unexpected within him.
Anri was concerned that his body's tempering was what invited Ray into his subconsciousness unknowingly; allowing the immortal inheritance to unlock and take shape.
"Right now, I can't think of this."
He returned his focus to the hill top ahead and the stirring energies felt from the trees and movement of the grass. They swayed with shrinking bends, like buckling under the weight of a force. He glanced at his sparking hip pouch and pulled out the vials of sample red lyrium he had taken from the giant. The vials vibrated with a scratchy hum, casting magical waves that highlighted red lyrium veins running like spider lines to the top of the hill.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Anri followed the way up and sat on the grassy knoll, where the green had been drained out of the ground to make the soil like cracked baked clay. As he knelt down he saw grains of sandy soil, picked one up with a fingertip. He eased into a crossed-legged meditation position and closed his eyes.
See through a grain of sand; gaze upon the ages of truth.
His memory of Ray's voice resounded in his mind with the riddle. Grains of sand fell, forming objects and with objects the memories associated to give them meaning.
One sand grain reverted to being a piece of dirt-stained glass, which was formerly a broken piece of an ale bottle tossed across a burning ship being attacked by pirates. During the day the ship had been sailing with full confident it would deliver families escaping the Fifth Blight to the Free Marches. During boarding, the ship's captain had taken a hefty bonus to cargo the desperate and orphaned out of a collapsing Ferelden.
"A grain of sand is an echo of life. The echo is the truth." Anri realized the meaning.
His mind was pulled into his Spiritual Sea, which was changed. The sea roared with waves to become a chaotic ocean and the sky stirred with virulent storm clouds. The corruption of the land was attempting to pull him down and apart. It was attempting to make him like a fragmented shell with nothing to remake him whole.
"What is the truth?" His voice echoed about him.
In his sea elven words formed as gold symbols. These symbols rushed into his soul body's forehead.
The make of a man is the will of one.
Anri felt his memories reeling backward across his time as the Shadow Master, Inquisitor, Herald, betrayed lover, devoted lover, playboy, hunter, initiate, brother and finally a boy. A grain of sand fell from the boy's hand. The singular echo of his life.
The palm of his soul-hand opened, caught the falling grain and squeezed into a fist to smash the grain into nothing. His life's echo shattered, freeing his soul form from the linear rules of that life. One which was made because of external will framed as expectations, obligations and other people's understanding of him. But those rules of others no longer applied to his being, which was retaking shape. The Anri Lavellan who once belonged to the will of many was now the Anri who cultivated the will of one. The truth behind the echo.
His Spiritual Sea rose as mighty tidal wave and crashed down on his soul body to break it into sand. When the waters cleared and became still, pure white and sparkling sand gathered to reforge a brighter and more solid Soul Core. His soul body sat on his horizon with more clarity. His first step to refinement.
External corruption pushed into his Spiritual Sea, attempting to trap him to old rules that no longer exist. They couldn't take hold and were washed out by the waters.
Anri eased out of his Spiritual Sea with his consciousness returning to the physical world. He sighed and fretted when he saw it was evening. It seemed hours had passed while he had been in deep meditation. Wasting no time, he reopened his Spiritual Sea to tap into the corrupted energy and map their lines across an imagined map of the Wycome region.
Without realizing it, his body emitted waves of fade energy as he tapped into the corruption lines, but they didn't alert the enemy. Rather they neutralized the sickness to cleanse the area.
Night was high in the sky when he wobbled to his feet and descended the hill to return to his people. Although, he worried if one day he might not be able to call them that. This thought frightened him.
Anri shook his head and focused on seeing Elana and Dorian again. He had to make sure they had a tasty dinner.