Redcliffe, 9th of Kingsway, 9:41 Dragon

"Let me go!"

She was thrown into a cell in the dungeons at Redcliffe Castle. She had done nothing wrong, only stand against the tyranny of the Tevinter Magister staking claim to the mages and refuse to leave the village. The magister would not tolerate her defiance, but he was determined to break her and use her gifts as a mage.

"You can't do this! Let me out of here! You have no right!"

She stood helpless as the Tevinter zealots marched away. She tried to melt the iron bars of her cell door, but the shackles around her wrists cancelled out her magik. She sank to her knees, wondering why the Maker had cursed her so.

"Why have you forsaken me, Maker? Have I not been faithful?"

Searching for an answer she knew would never come, she let the tears slip free as she thought back to when it all began- when everything changed for her forever.

Drakonis, 9:24 Dragon

"Runa, come on let's go play!"

Runa Alarie, a bright young girl of seven years with raven black hair and eyes that sparkled like the ocean, smiled as she hurried to join the other children. She like so many others was an orphan, having spent her whole life at the Starlight Manor orphanage which sat along the River Dane between Stormgard and Edgewater. She was just a week or so from her eighth birthday- or rather the eighth anniversary of her arrival to Starlight Manor- and was excited for the party the matron was planning.

The children laughed and chased each other around, beckoning to Runa. But when she got close to where they were gathered, she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks and stared in fear at something that only she could see.

"Runa?"

"Runa, what's wrong?"

Worried, some of the children hurried to her side while the others ran to fetch the matron. The children who went to Runa tried to snap her out of the trace that had overtaken her, but they could not reach her and when the matron arrived they explained what happened as best as they could.

"Runa, can you hear me child?" the matron waved her hand in front of her eyes, snapped her fingers, gently shook her shoulders, anything to break the trance but to no avail. "Ivan, take Runa to her room. Thomas, take one of the horse and hurry to Edgewater to fetch a healer. The rest of you, inside."

Everyone did as they were told, knowing the situation was serious. The matron hoped that Runa would be alright over the few days until the healer could reach them; it was nearly a two days' ride to Edgewater one way from Starlight Manor.

"You're strong, child... so very strong..."

"Who are you?" Runa asked, looking around and seeing no one in the fog that surrounded her.

"I am here."

Runa turned to find a strange creature made of fire looming over her. "W-Who are you?"

"I am Zakkon."

"W-What do you want?"

"I want your power. Give it to me, child."

The creature reached out to her and Runa screamed, squeezing her eyes shut.

Runa awoke with a start, the thick smell of smoke in the air and the cold of raindrops kissing her face as the grass tickled her skin. She looked around and found herself outside in the rain, Starlight Manor radiating a bitter cold like the dead of winter yet it was burning with an intense blue flame. She stared at her home, standing there hopeless as the flames continued to climb higher even in the rain. She didn't know that everyone else had been trapped inside. She didn't even know what had happened; the last thing she remembered was running to join the other children.

She stood there until the sun had begun to rise on the horizon and Thomas had returned with the healer and a few others.

"Runa, what happened?"

Runa was dazed, still affected but whatever had put her into the trance the day before. "I... I don't know..."

"Search for any survivors."

The healer looked her over while two of the men went to see if they could find a way into the orphanage, noticing that her hair was no longer a raven black but instead an array of blues- deep and dark at the roots, growing lighter to the tips.

"Well? Is she alright?"

The healer sighed and stood, looking to one of the extra hands that had come to help with the fire. "We need to take her to the Circle, Thomas."

"What? Why?"

"Because she's a mage."

Thomas looked at one of the men who had accompanied them back to the orphanage, a Templar who had been stationed in Edgewater. "How can you be sure?"

"She's singing with magikal energy." The healer said, amazed at how much power such a little girl could hold.

"Did she... did she do this..?" Thomas asked, looking to the ruins as his heart sank.

"I'm afraid so..."

"Thomas...?"

Thomas looked at Runa, seeing fear in her eyes.

"I'm scared... I don't want to see it again..."

"See what?"

Runa looked at the Templar. "A creature... it looked so old, so lonely... everything was so cold..."

The Templar and the healer looked at each other, knowing that she had seen a demon of some kind. "We have to hurry, before it's too late."

The other men rejoined them, informing the Templar that no one else had survived the fire. Sighing, the Templar instructed them to take Thomas back to Edgewater and find him lodging while he and the healer took Runa to Kinlock Hold. Thomas was helpless to stop them from taking Runa, being pulled away by the other men. She looked so afraid, so lonely, like her world had come crashing down on her and crumbled into dust yet she clearly didn't understand what had happened.

"Runa..."

Redcliffe, 9th of Kingsway, 9:41 Dragon

Back in her cell, Runa felt the same fear and helplessness she had the day she arrived at Kinlock Hold. Everything had changed the day her magik awoke, the day the strange creature- a demon of fire- had tried to steal her power away from her, the day that she lost everything she had ever known. As she sat there in the dark, dank cell she almost wanted to beg to be given to the Templars because at least she knew what to expect with them after years of abuse at the hands of the Templars of Kinlock Hold. With the Tevinters, she had no idea what was coming for her and that terrified her more than the demon that haunted her dreams.

"Someone, please... save me..."