It Festers Part 1

[Here is just a detailed backstory on Dorian's childhood] {Some of this I kind of just had to make up to fill in the gaps, I'm so sorry but I'm doing as much research on him as I can to make it as accurate as possible. It's just really hard without all the details but I absolutely love writing about him.}-Enjoy :)

Dorian steps up in front of the class and begins his demonstration. He creates electricity in the palm of his hand and shows his fellow peers.

"Dorian, you're so cool!" Antonette cries, "That's so amazing!"

Dorian winks at her, his love for magic grows each day. Ever since he was a little child he has had a passion for magic. That made his fellow students at the Circle of Carastes envy him a lot. Since he's an Altus, people expect a lot from him. They hold him to a pretty high standard because of it. His father, Halword Pavus is regarded highly in the Tevinter Imperium. So that's more pressure to be amazing placed upon him.

"Oh, please, this isn't the only thing I can do," Dorian whispers. He takes his other hand and puts it against the other. Suffocating what little electricity he had in that hand. He started to expand his hands, creating a huge orb of electricity. His fellow peers started clapping in unison. Wowing the teacher as well. Such an impressive sight, especially when it's conjured up by a nine-year-old.

"Very well done, Dorian," Enchanter Violet says, "Your studies have clearly paid off, your father is going to be very proud of you,"

Dorian smiles and stops the performance. He plays with his hair a little and then walks back to his seat. Today they are learning about electricity. One of Dorian's favorite forms of magic. He loves fire as well. Something about those two elements just amazes him. They can do things that other elements would never be able to do.

The students watch him in awe as he sits down. All but one student looks up to him. His name is Tullus Iuvenlis, son of Magister Lucius Iuvenlis. He is the second-best in his class. Dorian of course, is the first. Tullus has always hated Dorian, for whatever reason. Dorian doesn't really seem to care much about him or his opinion.

"Enchanter Violet," Tullus calls, raising his hand, "May I give a demonstration as well, I have something that I have been working on,"

Enchanter Violet nods and signals Tullus to come to the front of the class. There are about 20 students in that room, all watching him.

Tullus begins. He begins to chant these words, "Quod magicae in me aestuat ignis."

It means 'The Magic within me burns.'

He is trying to show that he is powerful too, but the spell doesn't go as planned.

Tullus begins to form electricity in his hands. The power is surging within him. He looks at Dorian and smirks. Dorian ignores him.

He begins to form more and more electricity, it starts to get bigger and bigger and bigger. A lightning bolt appears in his hand... it burns him.

"AHHHHH!" he screams in terror, "It BURNS!"

His fellow classmates laugh hysterically. Magical incidents happen like that all the time. It's nothing new. Those that are dumb enough to not be good enough get made fun of.

Enchanter Violet rushes to his side, pouring her water from earlier onto his hand. She casts a spell that heals the burn for the time being. He'll have to go to a mage who specializes in healing later. Tullus was trying to conjure up a lightning bolt and then put it in a jar. It is indeed an advanced spell for his age, one that he failed at doing.

"You can't be so foolish like that!" Enchanter Violet gasps, "Dorian please come up and show him how it's done."

Dorian steps up in front of the class, slowly, once again, and begins the incantation.

"Quod magicae in me aestuat ignis!" he chants passionately, conjuring up electricity with little to no effort. The lightning bolt appears in his hand and he places it in the jar. Simple enough. Everyone begins to clap.

Tullus is incredibly humiliated. He wanted to be the one to impress everyone. To do something that Dorian couldn't do. He hates him. So much. His father expects so much of him and compares him to Dorian. Saying things like "Why can't you be more like Dorian," to him constantly. That stuff really gets to him. He thought that this spell would give him a win. Give him a chance to prove that he was as good as Dorian, that he was even BETTER!

Dorian bows and looks to Tullus, "Thank you," he says humbly, he didn't expect anything from anyone. He just wanted to get it over with.

"Very well done, Dorian," Enchanter Violet encourages, "You did a very amazing job, poor Tullus here could really learn a lot from you."

She pats Tullus on the head, sympathetically. Tullus just gets even madder. His hate for Dorian grows even more. He pushes her hand away and walks out of the classroom. All the students just watch, Dorian included.

"Well, that was..." Dorian whispers. He gives Enchanter Violet the jar and sits back down at his desk. He hates how people are constantly being compared to him. It doesn't make sense to him.

Dorian's classes for today are over, so he heads to the dorm room and to his bed. Tullus follows not too far behind. Dorian sees him in the corner of his eye.

"Welcome back, I thought you'd ran off," he chuckles quietly, trying to relieve the tension. Tullus rolls his eyes and goes to his bed.

"That was my presentation, Dorian," he confronts, "Why do you have to make everything about you?"

Dorian sighs, and looks to the picture of him and his father on his bedside table. Children are taught in Tevinter to never show weakness. To always appear strong and formidable.

"If I hadn't had done it, someone else would have," Dorian replies, softly, "It was embarrassing, thankfully your father wasn't there."

Tullus clenches his fist, "At least my father cares about me," Tullus growls. Dorian really looks up to his father, he would do anything to make him proud.

"Shut up," he says softly, trying to keep his cool.

"At least my mother loves my father and doesn't drive him mad!" Tullus yells, poking Dorian in the shoulder, "At least I am not like you, who doesn't care about anyone! You're just a weakling!"

"I said shut up!" Dorian turns, "At least I am a mage of talent, one that does not screw up a simple spell for the sake of impressing people!" he laughs, "You know nothing of me."

Dorian leaves the room, walking quickly and quietly past his fellow peers. He is tired of being there. Trying to live up to his father's expectations is impossible. When people mention his mother and father he shuts down. He has so much weight on him. People want him to be this perfect mage, perfect magister when he's older. He doesn't know if he truly really wants that.

He is normally pretty quiet, he doesn't like attracting attention to himself. Not like others want him to.

Dorian has known Tullus for a long time. He despises him. They used to be friends at one point but clearly no longer. Tullus became consumed with being better than him so they grew far apart. He thinks that Dorian does things to one-up him when he really has no intention of doing such a thing. He's just trying to get by. Like everyone else.

Dorian walks to the library and looks for books about spells of fire. He has a fire presentation tomorrow so he wants to find the perfect spell to show off. One to make his father proud of him. One that he has never done before.

Dorian grabs a book of spells about fire and begins to read. He comes across a spell called Flame Blast.

"Hmm, interesting," he mumbles, "So all I have to do is chant ignes incipit?"

Dorian smiles, he believes that it's the perfect spell. What could possibly go wrong?

He takes his leave and heads back up to his dormitory, with his head held high and the book in his hand. Tullus runs into him, with two people beside him.

"Hey, Dorian," Tullus says, "Whatcha doing?"

Dorian doesn't care about what he has to say, but he's willing to contribute to a somewhat polite discussion.

"I am reading about spells, I've been wanting to learn more about the fire element," Dorian admits, "What is it to you?"

"Mhm neat," Tullus looks to the boys beside him and nods. They both turn directly towards Dorian. They are Tullus' cousins. Teenagers. They step towards him and shove him to the ground.

"You may be an Altus, but you'll never be a proper magister!" the boy with blonde hair, known as Callum, growls, "I hear that you like to show off, now it's your turn to be humiliated,"

Dorian's eyes widen as they tear apart his robe that he cherishes deeply. His mother gave it to him. They kick him in the gut and he cries but no one hears. Tullus stands behind them and laughs. He walks to Dorian and hits him in the face.

"Ugh!" Dorian gasps, smacking the stonecold floor. Dorian can take care of himself but he has been rather tired since that whole ordeal in the classroom. As easy as he made that spell look, it took a lot out of him, and Tullus knew that.

He clutches his face in agony, trying to make the pain go away. He feels like a brick wall fell on top of him. It's almost as his soul was stolen from him. The pain he is feeling is almost unbearable.

"You are a failure, we know who you really are!" the other boy yells, "A scared little boy who likes to please his father! A DADDY'S BOY!"

They all laugh in his face. Usually, bullies would leave Dorian alone because of his father's title, but not this time.

They leave him on the floor, next to his torn up robes. They rip his book in half and chuck it at his face. They spat at him and walked away. Dorian felt as Tullus had felt. Humiliated, alone, and scared. He hated the feeling. He shook his head, trying to wake himself up from a bad dream. He knew it was a reality but he wanted to try anyway. The feeling of failure is horrible.

Dorian struggles to get up but does anyway. He gets back to his dormitory and sits on his bed, shaking. His hands hurt, his face hurt, everything hurts! He wipes the tears away from his eyes, saying, "Musn't be weak, must be strong,"

He repeats this phrase many times. His father told him that many times when he got hurt.

His father didn't approve of him crying, so he normally didn't. The pain he's feeling is just so horrible. It wasn't just physical pain, it was mentally destroying him and his pride. He didn't have any friends because nobody wanted to be friends with him. He didn't mean to hurt people or make them think he didn't care, he just wanted to be a good mage. He wanted to be strong.

He cries himself to sleep, quietly enough so that people can't hear him. Well, he thought they couldn't hear him.

"Do you hear Dorian," one boy whispers, "He's been going at it for hours,"

A couple more kids talk more about him and eventually people shut up.

Dorian wakes up from a deep sleep and sees his brand new staff, that he made himself, in Tullus' hands. He frowns as he sees Dorian's eyes open.

"Oh, look who's awake, baby Dorian," Tullus chuckles. He's changed in some way. Like now he isn't just a kid wanting to prove himself, he seems set on destroying Dorian. He doesn't have to be the best of the best, he just needs to get Dorian out of the way.

"Dorian, we heard you crying last night, what are you? Fereldan?!" one kid laughs, "Cause you're just like them, weak and pathetic!"

Dorian cannot bear this anymore. He has no friends, no allies, and is all alone.

"Give me my staff back," Dorian whispers, looking at the ground.

Tullus looks to his friends and laughs, "Oh what did you say, Dorian? I couldn't hear you!"

Dorian stands up from his bed and turns to face them. He has had enough of this. In class, he pretends to be this strong mage, someone that people could learn from. But people don't seem to get or see past his act. He is so much more than an Altus or a Pavus.

"Just give me my staff back, Tullus," he says gently. He doesn't want conflict, he never does, "Please, just give it back."

Dorian reaches out his hand for the staff. Tullus refuses to give it to him.

"Not a chance, you've caused enough trouble for me for one year," Tullus growls, pulling the staff closer to him. It is decorated with beads and Tevinter carvings. It also has a carving of the fire and electricity element. His favorite ones.

"Just give it back, now," Dorian asks once more, getting a little aggravated.

"Or what?" Tullus asks, "You'll do what?"

Dorian clenches his fists and swings at him. Tullus ducks and wacks him in the face. Dorian falls to the ground, hitting his head on the bedside table.

Dorian feels his forehead, feeling for a cut. He's okay but will have a pretty big bruise for a bit.

"Dude, snap it!" the other kid yells. Tullus puts the staff in his two hands and snaps it in half. Dorian yells and charges at Tullus, slamming him into the wall. That staff means everything to him. Everything he's worked for is symbolized within that staff.

"UGH, LET ME GO YOU CREEP!" Tullus cries as he's being thrown to the ground. The other kids in the room run out. They didn't wanna be involved like this.

"You broke my staff, didn't you?" Dorian asks sarcastically, "Shouldn't have done that."

Dorian walks away, leaving Tullus there, speechless. Tullus isn't hurt, not at all like Dorian is. But he isn't going to give up that easily. He gets up and runs after Dorian, charging into his side. Dorian falls down the stairs leading to the dormitory. He gasps for air, clenching his stomach in agony. Tullus catches himself so he doesn't fall with him. At this point, all the kids are watching them. All the kids around there, that is.

"You are weak, Pavus," Tullus calls, throwing the remainders of his staff at him.

Dorian stands up, weakly, and faces his opponent.

"I don't need a staff," Dorian says, with a smile on his face, lifting his eyebrow.

"Pfft oh please, we know all your power comes with this staff," Tullus smirks, "Come on, fight me, prove that you're worthy of your title!"

Dorian shakes his head, he doesn't wish to fight. He knows that Tullus is a very skilled mage.

"No," Dorian says sternly, "No,"

Tullus laughs, "Wow, too weak to face me?" he asks annoyingly, "So all of that magic in class, just for show? Wouldn't surprise me if you weren't worthy of the Altus title."

Tullus shoves Dorian to the ground and pins him there.

"Weakling, so much for the perfect mage," he laughs, "More like perfect nobody,"

"Get off of me," Dorian growls, "Please stop!"

"Oh make me, make me baby!" Tullus yells, "You're all talk, nothing more!"

Dorian is done playing nice. He is done letting people walk on him and put him down. His success matters, if others don't do as well, screw em.

Dorian puts his finger to his head and uses his mind blast spell to shove Tullus into the wall. Tullus wacks the wall and falls to the ground. He was about to use one of his very own spells that he had been working on before Dorian decided to use a spell that he had learned very recently.

"Ignis incipit!" Dorian screams, sending fire out of his hands and onto Tullus. Tullus screams in terror, getting burned everywhere but his face. Dorian faints and falls to the ground. Tullus is screaming in agony while all the Enchanters rush to him. Scowling Dorian on the way. If he's lucky, the punishment won't be severe. His father won't be very happy with him.

They grab Dorian and Tullus and take them to the Infirmary. They set Dorian on the bed across from him, hoping that he'll wake up soon.

"What is the meaning of this?" Grand Enchanter Mystique says, "What happened here?"

Tullus is whimpering quietly while Dorian isn't even concious.

"They were fighting in the hallway," Enchanter Violet says, "They haven't been getting along very well recently,"

Grand Enchanter just looks at pitiful Tullus and then to Dorian, "What happened to them?"

Enchanter Violet gulps, "Well, Tullus was trying to make Dorian mad and so Dorian cast a spell to protect himself but it did more damage than he anticipated," she sighs, "It was self-defense, Madam. Tullus was trying to hurt him, just look at the marks."

Dorian opens his eyes, "What happened, where am I?"

"Dorian, you can't just do that!" Grand Enchanter scowls, "Luckily Tullus is only burned slightly, you can't just use fire spells on a fellow student!"

"I-I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, he was trying to-"

She interrupts, "I don't care, you have to be better!" she yells, "Tullus is an ignorant child, you are not! You need to control yourself. There is a time for spells and there is a time for talk."

Dorian's father enters the room swiftly, heading to Dorian.

"Are you alright?" he asks, "I heard about what happened,"

Dorian nods and rests his head back on his pillow. His father goes to talk with the Grand Enchanter in the other room. They yelled a little and then they entered the room once more.

"Dorian, we have decided to expel you," Grand Enchanter says, "I'm sorry but I just cannot have you here, this is not the place for you,"

Dorian says nothing and looks to his father, he just nods. So Dorian accepts it and walks over to Tullus. He whispers in his ear, "Well, that was quite something,"

He walks away with his father, rather quickly. Probably to avoid confrontation with Tullus and his father. Either way, he's expelled...

"You will be going to a new Circle, a better one, I promise," his father says, "Never be afraid to stand up for yourself."

Dorian smiles and walks out of the Circle Carastes for good. He didn't really feel sorry about what happened at all. He was ready to leave for a long time. Shame it happened this way, but he didn't seem to mind.

Little did he know, it would only get worse from there.