Kirk Tabris

Firstly, a big thank you to everyone who has been reading this and a little shout-out to Bloodravyn who never misses a chapter! :)

Secondly, a warning that I anticipate about... 3 more chapters only (not including possible extras though I have none planned right now) for the Origins portion of this series (I will be doing an Awakening portion too. ...Well I'm pretty sure I will) which leads me to:

Thirdly, while I'm not strapped for ideas in the slightest (in fact I have too many sometimes) and while I do have a clear sense of where I'm taking this series I would still love to hear any ideas you all may have for future chapters, extras, scenarios, and content you'd want to see. Can be old, can be new, can be something you want expanded or explained.

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Wynne swept the Oak Branch in great arcs, bolts of green; nature’s might, erupting from the tip as she did, crashing into the werewolf and burning it with a loud sizzling sound. As it leaped forward and tried to rake her with its monstrous claws, Alistair, suited in a heavy chainmail stepped in its way; shield raised and deflected the blows before swiping at the beast with his blade, causing it to move back from the attack. Kirk fired two arrows in quick succession but they were batted away by the creature, snarling menacingly at the trio so distracted by Kirk’s attack it did not notice their fourth ally emerging from the shadows and brush behind it. The sunlight that broke through the forest canopy glinted dimly on Zevran’s blades as the elf thrust his daggers deep into the werewolf’s back, the beast howling in agony as the wounds bled freely.



The werewolf spun around with such ferocity and speed that Zevran’s daggers were torn from his hands, still embedded in the creature’s back and glared at the unarmed assassin, teeth bared, before knocking him away and into a tree with a swipe of its gangly but inhumanely strong arms, the tanned elf slumping to the ground. Kirk took aim in response, hoping to slay the creature with a single arrow before it could hurt Zevran any more, Wynne running to the Antivan to administer healing with her magic, while Alistair moved in to guard the mage and injured assassin.



It was precisely their single-minded focus on Zevran that allowed the second werewolf to catch Kirk off guard, rushing from bush and brush much like Zevran had, it pounced upon the city elf, knocking his bow from his hands and pinning him to the ground. Summoning strength from somewhere deep inside, Kirk was barely able hold the beast’s claws away from his throat and face, its legs either side of him, sitting on his body and stopping him from getting away. Something akin to a smile crossed its face as it lowered its maw to Kirk’s face, jaws opening at it sought to bite off the tattooed elf’s face when a wild and savage darkness erupted from within Kirk’s body.



The shaking of Kirk’s arms stopped as he now held the beasts claws back firmly with no fear, his face twisted tightly and angrily into something so bestial it nearly matched the werewolf’s, the creature recoiling momentarily from the blonde elf’s sudden transformation as a feeling of great fear flowed out like a wave from the ocean of Kirk’s psyche and enveloped it. Kirk could hear Alistair shouting somewhere in the distance, but it was muted by white noise, an urge to kill this beast for the sake of killing rather than self-defense welled up inside Kirk but before he could act the werewolf fell forward onto him, dead.



Wynne stood panting, her staff outstretched from which she had moments ago channeled her powerful magic that had cast forth a fist of stone which had hammered into the werewolf’s skull, breaking it apart and spreading the contents all around its lifeless body, the first werewolf lay dead behind her in a pool of its own blood from Alistair’s sure strikes. The elderly mage rushed over to the corpse, and Kirk hidden beneath it, joined by Alistair at her side, while Zevran who had been slowed to a hobble by his injury was close behind the pair.



By the time they rolled the beast’s body from on top of Kirk the dark aura that had paralyzed the werewolf had disappeared, and his face had returned to normal, no longer a beastly visage. Although he was uninjured Kirk decided that they should return to the Dalish camp; Zevran required some time to rest and heal, and they also needed to restock their supplies of arrows, poultices and potions, having underestimated the dangers of the forest. None, save Kirk, knew of what had awakened within him that day.