A/N: It has been awhile since I wrote anything on here. I had been intending to do a sequel to the last story I wrote, but life got in the way and it simply never panned out. But! I had inspiration for a new story and have been writing it since. This one is a take on Dragon Age Inquisition with an Elven Inquisitor but with a bit of a twist to it. I won't give away spoilers and just let you read for yourselves to decide if where I go with this is good or not. I added in some elven to this chapter, but all I can do is hope I didn't butcher it. For longer segments where the conversation is in Elven and I wanted you guys to know what they were saying, I simply put it in italics. So italics=Elven here. For those interested in the DA Elven language I did find a pretty awesome guy that's working on fleshing it out, fenxshiral and his Project Elvhen, and I would recommend taking a look. His work is well thought out. And as always with these things, everything to do with Dragon Age, Dragon Age Inquisition, Bioware, and all their properties belong to Bioware themselves. I do not own the rights to anything they created and would never claim as such. If I did then I probably wouldn't be broke right now. On that note, please read and I hope you all enjoy it.
Prologue: The Elf and the Breach
The elf had long raven hair that was kept in a loose braid, her eyes were silvery and her skin a rich almond. She wasn't very tall and her face carried a deep green Vallaslin with the markings of Mythal, she wore hardy traveling clothes that were well worn. She was on her knees, heavy chains holding her down as a quartet of guards stood over her menacingly. Cassandra stormed into the room as Leliana followed and glared down at the elf, this was the woman that had been found at the center of the blast? The one they said emerged from the fade itself? A sickly green glow emanated from her hand, it pulsed and the womans body stiffened as her face contorted into a grimace. Cassandra leaned in close, "Tell me why we shouldn't kill you now? Everyone that was at the conclave is dead, except for you." The elf sat in silence, not looking at Cassandra herself and instead looking around the room. She grabbed the woman's shackled hand and held it up to her face, "Explain THIS!" The woman gritted her teeth as the mark pulsed bright again and gasped out "Ame'banal vi'dirth'ma!"
Cassandra scowled and grabbed her shirt to haul her forward, "What did she say? What did you say!" Leliana stepped in and grabbed the Seekers shoulder, "Cassandra! We need her." Cassandra let the elf go with a huff. "Do you know what she said?" The Nightingale sighed, "My elven is a bit rusty but... I think she said she doesn't speak our language." Cassandra scowled, "She must be lying!" The spy master could only shrug in answer and Cassandra looked at the elf, "Do not lie to me, tell me what happened at the conclave!" The elf looked confused and when Cassandra moved to grab her again she shifted back and put up her imprisoned hands to ward off the human, "Mana! Ir abelas ame'banal vi'dirth'ma! Ame'banal vi'dirth'ma!" The Seeker scowled at her before motioning for the chains to be released, "Leliana go to the forward camp. I will bring the prisoner to look at the breach, maybe that will get her to say something that makes sense." The other woman hesitated just a moment before nodding and heading to the front lines.
The Seeker replaced the chains with ropes and when the elf was pulled outside she starred up at the hole in the sky, horror filling her face at the sight. Cassandra hesitated at that. Was that the look of the one who caused this? No that was the look of someone that had no idea what she was seeing, "We call it the Breach. It opened when the conclave exploded." There was a massive pulse from the Breach and it sent the elven woman screaming to her knees as the mark responded. She gasped for air as the glow faded and Cassandra helped her a bit roughly to her feet, "The mark is killing you. Every time the Breach grows, so does it. Do you still want to say you can't understand me?" The elf gave her a pained look and answered in a pleading tone, "Ame'banal vi'dirth'ma."
Cassandra sighed in frustration, "What were you even doing at the conclave if you don't understand the common tongue? No matter." She pulled the elf along through the camp and people glared at them. As they walked the elf seemed to compose herself a bit, her face being pulled into a stoney mask. The Seeker studied her, "They have determined your guilt already. You can tell that they blame you can't you? Even without words, without even knowing there is something you are being blamed for, you know these looks don't you?" The elf had no words to offer but Cassandra continued anyway, "The conclave was called by the Divine to create peace between the mages and Templar, it was our best chance to end the fighting. She brought their leaders together, but now they're dead as is she. We lash out, like the sky that rains down upon us, but we must think beyond ourselves, as she did, until the Breach is sealed." She pulled a dagger and saw the elven woman's look harden and grow darker. Cassandra looked her in the eye a moment before grabbing the other womans hands and cutting the rope pointedly, "There will be a trial. That is all I can promise. Now come, we do not have far to go and we must see if your mark can do what we hope it will." The elf rubbed her hands and watched the Seeker gesture for her to follow. The woman paused before slowly nodding and following Cassandra.
Her hand burned like it was being shoved into a fire repeatedly. She had no idea what was happening anymore, who this human was that led her along the path, but it was clear that something terrible was happening. And it had something to do with the strange and almost obscene magic that burned in the center of her right hand. When the hole in the sky pulsed again her hand burned as though she was being stabbed while shoved into the fire and she barely kept her feet but the human, Cassandra she thought she had been called by the other one, grabbed her arm and steadied her. Her grip was rough but not unkind, as though she had already figured out that the elf wasn't to blame for... well she wasn't sure what the people back behind them had blamed her for but it was something important enough to earn a killing rage. The anger in the air was palpable. They were crossing a bridge and Cassandra was speaking again, but they didn't make it across before a stone wreathed in green flames slammed into the bridge. No one had time to react before they plunged down to slam into the frozen river. The ice broke under the weight of the stones from the bridge and the elf found herself plunged into the freezing waters.
She swam desperately to the surface as soon as she found her senses again and thanked the gods when she found herself next to a hole in the ice. Had she drifted under the thick ice... she banished the thought as she pulled herself out of the waters. She gasped and shivered as ice already began to reform on her clothes but didn't have time to think on it. She looked about and froze when she saw the human fighting demons. What were demons doing here? It quickly didn't matter in face of the shade that spotted her and started making its way to her. She cast about quickly but there was no readily available weapons, so she used what she had and lifted her hands to send a torrent of fire pouring from her hands. The shades death scream echoed into the fade as burned and was sent back to where it had come from. She scrambled to her feet and watched as the Seeker killed the last demon. Cassandra advanced on the elf with a menacing look so she did the first thing she could think of and spread her hands to her sides to show she meant no harm. She winced a bit when the human lifted her blade before she paused and sighed. The blade lowered and she went over to the rubble silently. The elf lowered her hands as the human returned with a sword, she said something and held out the blade to her hilt first. She slowly took the blade and Cassandra huffed her face translating the next words all on its own, "Come elf." As she turned to leave the elf called to her, "Emma Irasir'in." The Seeker stopped and gave her a questioning look and the elf took a deep breath and put a hand on her chest, " 'Ma'melin Irasir'in." My name is Irasir'in.
Their progress through the snow was slow and cold, Irasir'ins clothes were stiff with ice as the water froze in the frigid air and caused her no small amount of discomfort. She didn't complain though, there was nothing to be done about it and her companion wouldn't know what she was saying anyway. Better to save the breath and try to breath in as little cold air as she could. She warmed up a bit when more demons attacked them, she used her magic to beat them back instead of the blade. The fire spells hurt the shades more than the blade would and the bursts of heat were welcome. They started up another hill and Irasir'in heard the fighting before they saw it, the clearing in front of them had a handful of soldiers fighting alongside a dwarf crossbowmen and an elf mage. They were fighting more demons but what drew Irasir'in's eye was the rift. A hole torn in the very fabric of reality, the veil itself shredded to let the fade pour into the real world.
She snapped out of it as Cassandra charged into the fray with a battle cry. The elf spread her hands and began casting spells, tossing fire and lightning into the demons from behind the front lines. The soldiers pushed forward, their moral rising with the reinforcements and sight of the Seeker tearing into the demons. The fade born beasts fell back under the renewed assault and eventually Irasir'in found herself standing beside the other elf. They grew close to the rift and Irasir'in wondered what they would do once they got there. Did this other mage have a way to close it? The answer became clear in a most painful fashion when the elf yelled something in the common tongue to her and grabbed her arm to push it up to the rift. She felt the power surge from the mark as tendrils of green power shot out to connect with the hole in the veil. She felt it draw from deep in her mana supply to stitch reality back together and close the rift that allowed the demons to come forth. Once it was closed the demons seemed to shrink away, their source of power was gone and it made them easy prey for the surviving soldiers.
The elf panted a bit as the last demon fell before he regained his composure and said something to her in the common tongue, the dwarf speaking to them both as well before Cassandra interrupted him. There was a brief conversation before the elf turned to her, "It seems that the Seeker believes you do not speak the common tongue. She has asked me to translate." Irasir'in let out a gust of air and relaxed a bit when she finally heard her own language, "That's because I don't speak the human tongue. It's a relief to hear someone else that speaks the language of The People." The elf paused as he studied her, "You're serious aren't you? Interesting. I thought that all of The People... well no matter. My name is Solas, and you are?" The elf bowed a bit, "Greetings Solas, I am Irasir'in. It is a pleasure to meet you" Solas smiled a bit, "It is a pleasure to meet you too. What clan do you hail from?" Irasir'in gave him an indecipherable look, "I do not hail from any clan. I am simply a wanderer that has lost her path." Solas nodded slowly and spoke to Cassandra for a moment before continuing, "Well Irasir'in, much as I would like to ask more about that it seems that we are short on time and I need to ask you a few questions that are of more importance."
She nodded, "Of course. Ask what you will." The other elf spoke to the Seeker again and passed on the question, "What were you doing at the Conclave? Do you know what caused the explosion?" Irasir'in shook her head, "I don't know. On both accounts, I have no memory of even being there. I remember I was traveling with my..." Her face filled with terror, "Oh gods no. No no no, was I alone when they found me?" Solas blinked at her, "What? Yes, why-" She grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him forward, "Are you sure? There wasn't a girl with me? A young elf, no more than eight!" Understanding crossed his face, "I... no. We saw no child with you, or in the area. She might be safe back at the village though." Irasir'in gripped his shirt tightly for a few seconds before releasing him. She stepped back, oblivious to the swords Cassandra and the surviving soldiers had pulled on her as she started muttering to herself, "The village. We didn't... no no she must have gotten out. She has to be at this village... or the woods! Yes she has to be out there... she has to be safe."
Solas spoke to the Seeker softly before coming over and putting a hand on her shoulder, "Wherever she is I am certain she is fine. We can look for her later, but right now we have to close the Breach." The elf woman stood still a moment with her eyes closed before she opened them, fire and steel filling them, "What is the Breach? That hole in the sky?" Solas nodded and she continued, "If it needs to be closed before we find her then so be it. I will close this Breach and kill everything that stands in the way." The soldiers looked suddenly nervous so the look on her face must have shown her intentions full, and all except Cassandra, Solas, and the dwarf took a cautious step away from her. The human and dwarf exchanged a look as Solas translated but Irasir'in didn't wait for him to finish, she stalked past the group silently to continue down the path that would lead her to the Breach. And hopefully her daughter.
The march to the next camp wasn't every long but there were enough demons on the way there to make it hard. She fought with a singular determination, her blade was quickly stained with the blood of demons and lightning still sparked between her fingers when the entered the forward camp. When they got inside the humans began to argue, Cassandra and the red head from earlier arguing with a man in a fancy hat and cleric robes. The way he gestured to her and the anger on his face made his thoughts clear enough to Irasir'in but she ignored them in favor of starring into the hole in the sky before speaking to Solas, "This arguing is a waste of time." The other elf cast her a sideways glance, "Oh? The Seeker and the Nightingale are... enthusiastically discussing what to do next with the chancellor, but if you have input..."
She snorted, "Discussing you say. They argue as children without parents here to tell them what to do. They should gather all their troops and we should march on the rift, retake the ground lost by force and seal that hole while we still can. The longer we wait, the more demons there will be waiting for us there and anymore 'discussion' is pointless in the face of that." Solas studied her a moment before turning to the humans and adding his own voice to the mix. There was silence at his words, a pause before the chancellor started yelling again as Cassandra and this Nightingale started calling out to their men. The troops started running about and organizing as Solas turned to her and motioned for her to follow him, "It would seem that the Seeker and her counterpart agree with you. We are moving on the rift without delay." Irasir'in kept her face neutral, "They would listen to the words of not only an elf but their prisoner?" Solas smirked, "They would listen to words of wisdom certainly. Whose mouth they came from mean little." Irasir'in snorted, "I see. Well since they are willing to listen to us, then we should not disappoint. Besides I have someone I need to find and I would rather find her sooner rather than later."
The fight to the temple was harsh and she walked upon a path that had been paved by the life blood of the men and woman who fought beside her. She did not let that thought slow her though, death was just a part of the path warrior took. Her blade bit into demons, her magics burned them, and she gritted her teeth against the pain that flared in her hand whenever she sealed a rift or the Breach pulsed again. Finally the flow of demons tapered off and stopped as they arrived at the remains of the Temple itself. She murmured a soft prayer to the dead for those that died getting them this far and for those that died here in the Conclave itself. Cassandra lead her into a crater below the glowing rift, a place where blood red lyrium grew from the walls, she gave the crystals an uneasy look before making sure she walked as far away from the stuff as she could. She could feel the wrongness, the rot that lay inside of them, in her very bones. The magic in her blood cringed when she came near one and it put her on edge. She jumped when she heard voices echoing from the fade and frowned at Solas as the humans began to talk with disbelieving looks and the dwarf said something looking extremely serious, "What is it they're saying?"
Solas listened as the voice from the fade returned and faded away, "It would seem that the first voice was that of our enemy. The second was the humans Divine calling for he-" Her own voice echoed back and cut him off, "Malas wait! Stay back!" The Seeker advanced on her and began to yell again but Irasir'in ignored her as the blood drained from her face, "No. No Malas couldn't be there. If she was... no..." Solas spoke to the Seeker until the woman growled something and stormed into the crater as the elf took Irasir'in's shoulders, "There's no reason to think the worst yet. You came out alive, she may have as well. We won't know for sure unless we look for her, and we can't do that until the Breach is closed. So close it quickly and we will find out." Irasir'in nodded slowly, "What do I need to do?"
The ground shook under the footsteps of the pride demon, the Breach hanging above the battle that rage below like a guillotine. Irasir'in pushed herself to her feet, blood running down the side of her face from where the beast had backhanded her away from the rift when she attempted to close it. Cassandra grabbed her arm to steady her, saying something in the common tongue. Irasir'in looked at her broken sword and tossed it to the side. She retrieved a sword from a dead soldier that lay next to her and gave the Seeker a look filled with steel and fire, she might not speak the same language as the human but she knew what needed to be done. She pointed to the pride demon wordlessly and then to herself before she made a motion to indicate she was going to go around behind it. She pointed at Cassandra and pointed to the opposite side of the demon, the Seeker nodded her understanding and hurried off. Irasir'in made her way behind the demon silently, watching as Cassandra engaged the beast. She cast about and found the body of another fallen soldier, she relieved him of his weapon and squared up on the pride demon.
She bolted into a silent run, arms held low to keep the weapons out of her way as she went. Finally she got close enough and jumped, slamming her blades into the pride demons back. The beast roared at her and staggered a bit, massive arms reaching for his back trying to grab her and flailing about when he couldn't reach. She hung onto the blades tight as the demon bucked at her, spinning and turning in place. Arrows thumped into the demon, blades cut into its legs, and spells splashed against his hide. She gritted her teeth and tapped into her reserves of mana, a surge of magic being channeled through her blades into the demon to burn him from the inside. The beast roared in pain, flame and polluted smoke pouring from his mouth. Cassandra screamed a war cry as she plunged her blade into the demons guts, the damage finally breaking the demons back and sending it toppling forward to the ground. Irasir'in pushed herself to her feet gasping, she had used far too much magic in that last blow but she knew that she still had to push herself on. She stood on the back of the demons body and raised her hand into the air, a surge of green energy lashing out from her hand to slam into the Breach, ripples of power repairing the damage and smoothing the edges before the rift was stabilized and sealed from further incursion.
She screamed as the mark tore the last of the mana from her body, stripping her of every ounce of magic it could for its purpose. She gasped and nearly collapsed on the spot, staggering as she was released from the grips of the power she used. She panted and reached into her shirt to pull out a pendant. She had felt tired when she had first woken in the cell and now she understood why. The pendant had drawn on her power, tapped into her mana pool to fuel its sister. Hope surged in her as it picked up on the flickering remains of the twin nearby, she stumbled forward and off the demon. She heard Cassandra call to her as she hauled herself up and forward, tripping and falling over herself to get to follow the pendant to a pile of rubble. She dug barehanded through the rubble, praying to whatever gods could hear her she would find her. Find Malas.
She found it, a mana shield that was barely there and flickering away slowly. Cassandra caught up to and saw the bubble. She looked confused and said something to Irasir'in but she ignored the human and cleared the rest of the rubble. Under the rubble and soot from the explosion was a cocoon of magic, something that easily popped the moment she touched it. Sitting inside of the hole there was a scared little elf girl, a tiny reflection of the crying woman that pulled the child into her arms and held her daughter as though letting go would mean the end of the world. Which to Irasir'in, losing this girl would be just that. She heard the humans talking around her, but it meant little to her right then. All that mattered was Malas, the tiny life that held onto her mother tight and cried along with Irasir'in as she repeated, "Mamae! Mamae! Mamae!" Her voice was muffled as she shoved her face into her mothers chest. The world fell away from her piece by piece as the relief of finding her daughter and the exhaustion from the fighting caught up to her, the elf silently passing out with the her life and her soul held tight to her chest.
A/N: And as it always should and will be, please feel free to review. Till next time. (Minor edit already to mess with spacing. Consider anything I write subject to minor edits from now till... well forever)