A slow, haunting melody seeps out from behind the locked doors of a back room in the Thirsty Seer; it was a tune that would be worthy to be played at any funeral or in grieving of something long lost, for just the sound of it could evoke feelings of despair. Rathvald had composed this song the night before and had played it for her, per her instruction, on the silvery strings of his simple harp that was only distinguished from others by the two dragon heads that were carved in its wooden frame. As the music filled the air, Addie watched in fiendish satisfaction as the flames she had created changed in color and darkened to a deep blood red, almost black. The experiment had proven successful and her theory was confirmed.
Addie’s gaze was fixed on the crimson flames in the fireplace as she methodically tried to replicate on the syrinx-her instrument of choice- the exact notes he had played; her hope was to elicit the same darkening of her own magic that he had achieved with this same melody the prior night. The flames that flickered before her were already an unnatural color for a fire, but such had they been since she started to study the forbidden knowledge recorded on the scrolls and tomes that the necromancer, Kalost, had led her to in the Old Archives- a sign written in her very magic that her mind was darkening as she danced ever closer toward the line into madness. Even so, her own magic was still too attuned to light and nature, something she would have to remedy if she ever wanted to perform the spells needed to bring back the dead.
For now, there were still questions that had to be answered. Had her magic turned darker due to the haunting sound of the tune or the lyrics that accompanied it? Or was there something more to it, was Rathvald the key? Did he possess some power of song that even he, himself, didn’t realize? The answers would soon come as she continued to play; and though she couldn’t sing while she played this instrument, she could hear his voice in her head- his rich, baritone voice singing the words he had written as though he were right beside her:
"Upon stretched wings I saw them as their eyes were glowing.
To me they came from on high, with despair following.
I saw the fires burning, far into the night.
For not a soul was returning, that was not set alight.
So call for the bodies to meet the dirt of the banks,
For the water to take them into its deep embrace.
Fathers that came before me, can you hear my plight?
Please bring what you can safely, least through the night.
Oh carry not the burden of me to rest
Carry not my torn heart or sundered flesh.
Throw me upon the pyre to save others from the blight.
Carry not the burden, carry me naught to the light
Let the waters take me, let them pull me down to the deep
For what can I claim from those waves, but eternal sleep?
As for the hearth I long for, it matters not
The trail that I stepped upon has many trouble wrought
My home is now behind me and I've lost my sight.
As spear tips take the gleam from the stars in the night.
So keep me naught on the shoulders of those that would carry me.
Let the carrion consume me, in a field of bones yet to be made." **
The room had grown dark as Addie finished playing the final notes and an unsettling cold was radiating from the near black flames in the fireplace; she lowered the pipes from her lips and a devilish grin began to curl on the corners of them as she delighted in the result of her experiment. Perhaps she was now one step closer to her goal- what had started out as an innocent search for information on Hawke’s killers had evolved into a mission to ultimately bring her father back from the dead. She had been tempted by the dark arts of necromancy- which, on the surface, had promised her hope of seeing his face and hearing his voice again- and she had allowed for her mind to be guided down this path of shadow.
Addie knew that what she was doing was going against her very nature and could possibly lead to her being hurt or completely ripped apart as she flirted with such negative energy, but she was in too deep now and her mind had been snared to the point of where she no longer cared- the only thing she cared about now was the power to raise the dead; she wanted this power so badly that she was willing to compromise everything she was. Was there any hope of saving her or would the darkness claim yet another victim?
((**Of Note: The lyrics posted were written by the player of Rathvald.))
