A decision

Snow danced in the midnight, lit up only by moonlight, and made it hard to see more than a couple of meters in front of you. A few weeks had passed by since I healed from the wounds I had suffered after the attack from the orcs. At first, I didn't believe I would recover, but I did, and more than that. I no longer felt like the cold was etching my skin when I fell. Maybe it was just me convincing myself that it wasn't 'that cold', or perhaps I was getting used to it.

I had done minor tasks for Cain, who was the one that saved me. Although it took some time to break the awkward barrier and ask what his name was, it was nice finally being able to talk to him more like someone I knew.

He told me to never wander further out than the ring of stones around the hut, and I didn't. Because every night I heard howls and shrieks coming from within the belly of the forest. I looked paler than usual, my snow-colored hair mixed well with the surroundings and if I laid down, I was near camouflaged.

At the moment the woods were quiet, too quiet, and with quiet I don't mean silence. I mean that the sounds only the unknown within the forest could produce were currently not present. Only the rapid snowstorm and the continuous loud bangs my axe made from splitting the wood on the wood stump made a melody that I was sure every living creature in the forest could hear. I was almost done though, and that thought kept me going even though my arms hurt and felt like they weighed 10 times as much as usual. Since I had shown signs of recovery, Cain had made me do physical tasks every day, and I felt my body get a more toned. I also ate more, each meal I ate at least twice as much as before.

I had been hoping to ask him if he knew anything about the orcs that attacked my village, but every time I brought the subject on board, he'd give me another task right away. My stomach growled, and I made sloppy movements swinging the axe, but it didn't matter because this was the last one. I placed the axe against the stump and took a breath to collect myself.

"Boy. Come here," Cain yelled from the other side of the hut. It was impressive his voice could carry through in this violent snowstorm, but I'd gotten used to just putting up with all the crazy things this man did.

A couple of heavy steps and icy breaths later, I finally saw the outline of the two meters tall muscle head that stood unaffected by his crippling surroundings. As I worked myself closer, I spotted something I'd never seen him with before. He held in his right hand a wide and long greatsword, so long that you couldn't even see the end of it that was buried in the snow.

It looked frightening, and the closer I came, the more I could feel the history that the sword extruded just from its presence. It was black with tally marks scraped into the metal, so many that they covered the whole blade, and the other side too. Although it looked ancient, not one scar from battle was visible, and it still shone as if it were right out of the smithy.

His cloak was also new to me. It looked less warm, but master hands had woven the fabric. It screamed impenetrable, and the back pictured a frightening vulture with its wings spread.

"The time has come. You can walk, eat and run again. You must choose. Where will you go?" He let out.

I had given the thought some attention before, but I never really had an answer.

"I don't know."

"I thought so. I have a proposal for you, Arthur." He said as he turned around and faced me. "Either you walk east to Skyhold, your kind's capital, make yourself a new life. Or you stay. Let me mentor you, teach you to be in one with the fire nesting within yourself. I can give you the truth, the whole truth. Of why you couldn't absorb the abili... the ability orb. " He almost looked sick as he was saying the last words, and there were obviously a thorn linked to them. Or he really disliked the idea of me living with him. I hoped for the first.

"What do you mean, you know why I couldn't get the ability orb?" I exclaimed, taken aback by what he said. He did not answer my question. In fact, he looked even more disgusted when I mentioned the ability orb. He forced me to choose right here and now.

Even if I were to seek the capital now, it would only lead to me being buried 6 feet below the snow. I had no idea how far Cain lived from the nearest city, which I would guess was Hill wood, my old home, or even if there still were a city. Along with the thought, a lump landed heavily in my stomach.

That's when I realized the true gift of what Cain was offering. Until now, I'd seen things he'd that no other man I knew was capable of. Hunting deer and crushing their necks with bare hands, surviving in incredible low temperatures, going on no sleep for 3–4 days with no signs of tiredness. Something clicked inside of me, as if I'd been avoiding the answer for so long. Cain is obviously a really powerful Guardian!

"I want to stay with you until I can kill every piece of shit orc on the continent."