"'Go to the conclave', they said. 'It'll be fun', they said. I'm going to have to bathe for a month to get all this shit off of me!" Grumbled a small, dirty elf as he furiously shook himself dry. "I swear, Artemis, when we get back home, I have some words for the Keeper. Not nice words, either. They're gonna be mean, nasty, spiteful words."

Artemis chuckled. "I'm sure those weren't her exact words, Apollo. It was more like 'Artemis, go with your fool brother to the silly peace meeting and spy on the stinky shems for a bit."

"Details, details," Apollo laughed as he sidestepped a puddle." And I'm not just your fool brother. I'm your handsome, suave, older brother."

"Yeah, by 5 minutes. I don't think that counts. Besides, no one can tell. I'm taller and more mature." She stuck her tongue out at him. "I think that counts more than minutes."

Apollo looked affronted. "Excuse me? You take that back, or youre getting a fireball to the face!" He raised his hands up, and a small flame started dancing in his palms.

"All right, all right- no fireballs. Anyways, we should get serious. Have you figured out where we are?"

"Well, we're not in Thedas, that's for sure. I wonder if this could be-" a distant rumble of thunder broke his thoughts, and as he looked up, he noticed massive spiders pouring from the sky. "What the actual fuck," he squeaked as he stumbled backwards into another puddle, landing on his rear.

"I think that's our cue to exit, stage right," said Artemis, and she offered a hand to help him back on his feet. As he righted himself, she asked "so, run now?" He nodded furiously. And so they ran. They ran and ran, until they were stumbling and out of breath.

Eventually they made it to a clearing, with no demon spiders in sight.

"Do you think they're gone?" Panted Artemis, bent over and clutching her knees for support as she calmed herself down.

Apollo glanced around. " I think we're-" he froze, looking off in the distance.

"Apollo, what is it?"She whimpered breathily.

He pointed," Over there. I think... I think I see... A woman?"

"A demon?"

"No, I think she's friendly," he waved, and said," she's calling us over. I can see her waving us towards a...Green light? There's a green light thingy beside her."

"That doesn't sound crazy at all, brother." She sighed, "but I guess it's worth a shot. It has to be better than those demon spi-" A scuttling sound came from behind her. "Speak of the Maker. Well, that settles it. Demon lady, here we come!"

They bolted towards the light, and then, ironically, everything went dark.

Artemis woke to a fierce pain in her left hand. She blinked herself into awareness, and slowly glanced around the room. After discovering that she was being held in a cell, she found her brother slumped over against a wall about 3 feet from her, to her left. A faint glow was emitting from his side. "Brother!"Artemis tried to yell, but found herself speaking in a hoarse whisper. She tried to move towards him, but found herself also chained to the wall. What in Thedas is going on here? She thought to herself, and glanced down at her wrists. "What the hell!" She exclaimed as her left glowed brightly.

An explosive BOOM shook the room, and she watched in horror as the mark on her hand grew in length up her hand. Dust and shards of ceiling mortar landed in her hair, but she didn't mind. She was more concerned about how bright the mark was getting. It grew brighter by the second, painfully so, both for her eyes and her hand. She bit back a scream.

"Ooooooww. Owowowowoww. What the fuck?!" Artemis turned towards her brother, who was staring at his right hand intensely. "Why are you glowing?" He asked his hand, not expecting a reply. He glanced up at Artemis and said,"my hand is glowing."

She raised her manacled hands and showed him her left palm.

"Your hand is glowing, too. Artie, why are our hands glowing?" His voice started to rise, finally setting into his panic.

He snapped his head towards the door, ears turning. "Someone's coming."

Sure enough, the door opened widely with a BANG, and from it stepped some guards, a toned woman with what looked like a hairy eyeball on a sword emblazoned on her tunic, and what looked like a chantry sister.

"See, my ladies? Awake, just like we said. One of them was screaming their heads off," said a soldier.

"Yes, thank you. You may be dismissed," the strong woman said with a wave of her hand, and the soldiers left with a salute. She turned to the elven siblings as soon as they were gone and said in a loud, commanding voice, "Tell me why I shouldn't kill you both now." She paced between them. "The conclave is destroyed. Everyone is dead except for the two of you."

Apollo's face went white. "D-dead? That's awful! What happened at the conclave?"

The warrior woman faltered for a moment. "You do not know?" Then her face slipped back into her intimidating mask, and she grabbed his wrists. "Explain this."

"We can't," said Artemis in a small voice. Then, "we just woke up with them."

The woman lunged towards her with her hand raised. "You're lying!"

The chantry sister rushed forward and grabbed her arm before she could swing. "Cassandra, we need them."

Cassandra sighed, "Of course, Leliana." Then she turned towards Artemis and asked, in a much softer voice,"What do you know?"

"I remember running. And spiders. And more running."said Artemis. "That's it."

"You forgot about the woman," Apollo interjected.

"A woman?" That got Leliana's attention.

"Yes, ma'am, a woman. We were running from the big-assed demon spiders, and I saw a woman. She reached out to us, and then-" He cut off, and his face twisted into a grimace.

"And then?" Cassandra pushed.

"And then... Nothing. Not one thing. My memory gets all fuzzy after that. Then we woke up in this lovely dungeon of yours. Quite charming, really. The shackles and the smell of old shit really gives this place such a comforting atmosphere. Honestly-"

Cassandra bristled. "Are you mocking me?"

"No, ma'am," Artemis said quickly. "That's how he deals with things. He jokes all the feelings away." She gave him a withering glare. He shrugged unapologetically.

"Leliana, what do you make of them?" Cassandra said without taking her eyes off the twins.

"I do believe we have no choice but to believe them." She shrugged. "I will see you at the forward camp." With that, she turned, and left.

Another explosion wracked the building. "What in Thedas is that?" Apollo winced at the pain crawling up his arm as his hand flared brightly. Cassandra bent down and unchained his hands, and did the same for Artemis.

"It is better to show you," she said in a dark tone. "Follow me."