Tainted (Alarian)

Incoming Angst

Sleep is a struggle these days for most of us. Alistair and I sit on watch for most of the night as while sleep doesn't come easy, nightmares do. Being wardens also makes us often the first to know when the Darkspawn are nearby waiting on the attack. “Do you remember what Duncan said?” Alistair asks as we sit on a log in front of the fire looking out into the dark. He still misses Duncan terribly, a fact I understand though I only knew him briefly and I still miss him myself, in my own way. He was one of the first people in the world to be genuinely kind to me. “Said about what?” I ask poking the fire with a stick to keep it from dying. “The Taint.” He says with a grimace. “Not much. Something about how it relates to the wardens but that's about it.” Alistair looks at me “Do you know much about it? Being- whatever it is you are. The Spirit. Demon. Thing. That you are?” I stop poking the fire and look at him “The taint has been around almost as long as the wardens have. The combination of mortal and Darkspawn causes it. Eventually it overtakes the person with it and they die an often slow painful death. Mortals haven't discovered a cure for it.” I explain. “Do you know the cure?” I look away suddenly becoming angry “No.” I say quietly staring at the dancing flames watching my reflection in them. “Not yet. That's part of why I’m here in the first place. Currently I'm just a tainted god.” I sense someone else in shadows then. “Who’s there?” I ask to the darkness and out into the light steps another Warden, Zariad Tabris of Denerim. He looks tired “How goes night watch you two?” Zariad asks walking over to us. “Uneventful until you showed up. Talking about the taint. How did it go in the deep roads?” He shakes his head “I’d rather not talk about it. Why are you talking about the taint there's no point. Just talk about something happy if you're out here because you can't sleep anyway. It'll at least not keep you on edge.” Zariad takes out a rolled up paper and tosses it to me “And you'll need to sign this if you want to get into the cities. Both of you. They're worried about the wardens yet again. I'm going to go see Zev. Goodnight guys.” Zariad bids us goodbye and soon disappears into Zevran's tent. Alistair and I sign the paper and put it away for later, going back to our earlier lighter hearted conversations. What else are we supposed to do? Here we are, two tainted wardens sitting in the middle of the night with only the firelight to keep us from being swallowed by vast darkness of the world.

Here have a sketchbook page as if it weren't angsty enough.

until next time,

Max