Hi! This is technically a crossover. But the other game is not really known and doesn't have an archive on this site so I'm putting it in the main Dragon Age archive. If it's a problem to any admin, send me a PM and I'll move it to another section.
Also, I don't have Inquisition yet, so i apologize for any and all mistakes. Also, I haven't played neither Shadow of the Phoenix or Spellforce 2 yet, so it's essentially based on the Order of Dawn.
It had taken them days for reaching the old castle, even with Solas' knowledge of it.
When they entered the courtyard, everyone shared a collective groan. While it wasn't a complete ruin, it would still need work, and lots of it, until it would be considered suitable for the Inquisition.
But the things that attracted everyone's attention were the strange monuments in the courtyard. There were seven of them: Three on each side and one in front of the main door.
It looked like a circle of column with an opening, two statueson the opposite end of it. One of a man with a sword pointed to the ground and another of a woman with a staff. There was also a strange blue sword-like symbol on the ground.
Turning their attention toward the three rmonuments on the left side of the courtyard, they approached them. One was built of stones and had a statue of a man, another was made of wood and the statue was of an elven woman and the last one was also built of stone but with a dwarf statue on it.
The other three looked even stranger. They were all quite dark, two of them were crudly built of wood, one having rocks too. The last one was darker than the last two and completly black.
As for their statues, they did not look like anything they knew.
One of them kind of looked like an elf, another vaguely ressembled an hurlock and the last one was of a huge monster.
Each of the monuments also had a symbol on it's center.
"Solas, what are those?" asked Cassandra.
"I have little knowledge of those things. They are even older than the castle around us. But in the dungeons there is someone who can explain it better than I."
"And who is it?"
"Someone here for a long time."
"Why was he emprisoned?"
"For his own good."
With those cryptic words the Inquisitor, Cauthrien, Cassandra, Leliana, Josephine and Cole followed Solas into the dungeons. After a few minutes of descending deeper and deeper into the castle, they reached a metal door which Solas opened up by simply pushing it.
Inside was a man shackled to the wall. Completly naked, his clothes, armor and weapons were in a corner of the room, laying on top of a chest.
His hair was surprisingly short, considering that he was there for, if Solas said the truth, decades or even centuries. Much more suprising was the fact that he was not a pile of bones on he floor.
"Are you sure he's been there for as long as you say?" asked Varric.
"Yes. He's been there for centuries."
"He aged well."
A weak hissing sound came from the man. It took a few seconds to realize he was laughing (trying to more accuratly) at what the dwarf had said.
"So he's still alive."
"He's so sad." said Cole. "He's alone, the last of his kind."
"Get...out..of...my...head." said the man in between long breaths and barely audible.
"What is your name?" asked him Cassandra.
"Shin."
"You don't have a last name?"
"Never... needed... one."
"If we unshackle you, can you get up?"
"Yes."
"Where are the keys?"
"Should be on... the top of the pile on the chest."
Leliana walked to the pile, took the key and passed it to Cauthrien. She opened the shackles and helped the man up.
"There are strange stones inside. What are they?" aksed Leliana, holding the chest open and with a very faint glow on her face.
"Don't touch them!" The man rushed toward her but, unused to walking, almost collapsed into her. She sidestepped him and he ended up lying on the chest. The pile that was on top of it falling to the ground.
"Sorry. Do you need help getting your amor on?"
"No. I can do it. But could you leave a torch here and get ou while I put at least pants on?"
"So that's who you wanted us to meet, Solas? A madman who can barely stand up, was locked here for centuries if you're telling the truth and is obsessed with stones?" said a bitter Cauthrien while they were waiting outside.
"He is more than that. Much more." Cole spoke in.
"Indeed."
After a little shuffle, Shin was out of the room, two swords on his back, a dark leather armor on him and a steel helmet covering his face.
"Now, how is the Order doing?" he asked
"The Templars have broken from the Chantry and are fighting the..." began Josephine
"What?! The Templars? The Chantry? How long hasit been? What changed? What happend to Darius? To Eloni ? To the Norcaines? The orcs? The trolls? To Greyfell?" the man said, more and more panicked with each word.
The core of the Inquisition went silent.
"We... we... We don't..." began Leliana.
"We have absolutely no idea what you are talking about." bluntly stated Varric.
"Absolutely no..." the man face fell and the rest of his body shortly followed.
"How long have I..."Shin began, only to stop himself, "No, you can't answer that. Do you know of the Convocation?"
"Vaguely. Only that it was something that broke the world and it took years to get whole again." answered Cauthrien.
"How long ago was it?"
"I think it happend a century or two before Andraste so I'd say a millenium."
"A mill..." the man looked aghast. "And why did you wake me up?"
"Solas here" Varric pointed to the elf,"said you could tell us what those monuments in the courtyard are."
"So that's the only reason you came here."
"No. We came to this castle because we need a new base of operations." interjected Cassandra.
"A base of Operations against what? And who are you?"
Their explanation of Thedas and it's recent events took them half a day while Shin's tale of his world took them just an hour (he didn't dwell on the reason why he was locked up, what those monuments or his stones were). While each of them alternatively went outside to check on the progress the rest of the Inquisition had made with clearing the castle up and to bring back food or torches, Shin didn't seem to be hungry or needing to sleep.
"So, now that we've told you everything you needed to know, can you tell us what those monuments on the courtyard are?"
"Of course. Lead the way." Shin took the chest with him. While they were climbing back up, he began talking.
"During the war of the Convocation, the mages of the Circle, the thirteen most powerful mages in Fiara, were at war with each other. They quickly realised that they needed servants that would be loyals to the end and intelligents enough to be given command of their armies. They also needed those armies in the first place. So they created the Runes, magic stones with an imprit of a living into them. And those monuments, allowing them to summon peasants, mages and soldiers. They weren't really sentient, only a vague echo of their race. Those summons are bound to their rune's weilder. In this case, me."
None of them could believe what they've heard. Such magic was impossible.
"As I said, those runes aren't sentient. Only pale imitation of what they once were. No, those soldiers, while being essentialy limitless in numbers and without anything but loyalty, weren't intelligent enough. They weren't good soldiers, couldn't decide anything, couldn't lead anything."
One by one, the statues' eyes lit up and sent ray of light to the symbol on the ground of their monuments.
"They weren't good soliders, but they were too much like what the Circle wanted to give up this line of magic. So they took new stones, and, instead of making an imprit of a living being into it, they trapped souls in them. Souls of powerful soldiers, mages, tactitians. People who could lead the armies the lesser runes invoked but would still be loyal to the end to whoever held their runes. Warriors that would not age, neither hunger or need sleep."
None of them could believe what they've heard. To bind someone very sould to a stone, making them a servant of whoever held it...
"As you guessed, I'm one of those soldiers, I'm a Rune Warrior. My case is a bit special, as I don't have a wielder."
As each ray of light materialised someone, Shin conclued:
"I can give you the army you need."
End! I hope you liked it.
And don't forget, any review is better than no review at all.
Bye.