1.
I regained consciousness with a start on hearing a woman's keening scream. I jerk awake in a cold, dank dungeon, on my knees with my arms locked in stocks. The room was lit by a Saint Elmo's fire throwing the men dressed in medieval armour, their swords drawn into relief. Another keening scream shook me out off my stupor.
I turn to see a petite brunette nearly curling up on herself in pain. I felt some kind of electrical jolt run through my left arm. I grit my teeth to the pain as I try to hold the woman upright, despite the sword point digging into my neck. I feel a line of blood drip down my neck as I turn to look at the idiot who was digging a sword into my neck.
"She needs a doctor!" I said in an urgent voice to the guardswoman who was looming over me. She had a hard, angular face with short hair and was dressed in a purple black armour with a flaming eye in white.
"Táim ag ordú duit céim amach uait, anois Tevinter scum!" I receive in reply for being a concerned citizen. As they say, no good deed goes unpunished…
"Femme, j'essaie d'être utile ici!" I shot back. If the woman was planning on throwing European languages at me, might as well throw the one language I know right back at her. This turned out to be a good idea, as another figure appeared behind less angry Rosy O'Donnell. Yes, I am a fan of Deadpool. No, I am not psychotic myself.
"Vous parlez orlesian?" the cowled figure asked, her voice having all the softness of an APFSDS. I grimace from another jolt as my brain scrambled to process the information being provided.
"Non, je ne parle pas orlesien! Je parle français ... Ok, où diable suis-je? En quelle année sommes-nous?" I asked, having a really bad feeling. The two women share a look, then on some unspoken signal, Warrior Girl decided to sheath her sword.
"9:41 Dragon" replied Warrior Girl, while I struggled to keep the woman next to me upright.
And just like that everything changed for me.
The French speaking woman explained the situation to me or rather us, as the woman I was helping was finally alert enough to take part in the conversation. We were in Haven and were in custody as suspects in Divine Justinia's murder and the attack on the Conclave. Warrior Girl switched to French to be part of the conversation and was essentially trying to pin the blame on us through her aggressive posturing.
"Enough!" said the brunette in accented French, her voice giving it a slightly lyrical touch. I turned to look at her as she got up to her feet, glaring at both the women and the guards surrounding us. She's atleast a head shorter than me, but her posture radiates strength, her back ramrod straight as she tried to shoot lasers from her eyes.
"We did not do it! I was sent here by my clan to request aid from The Chantry against Templar attacks! I am the representative of Clan Lavellan and I had come to meet Divine Justinia, especially after a Templar raid rendered my clan's First Tranquil! I would gain nothing by killing her!" she screamed at them in French.
Just then I was struck by an image. Of putrid skies, rocks and cliffs, giant albino spiders (shivers) and running in a desperate mad dash to a woman of burning gold.
I felt a strong arm supporting me as I regained my senses; I looked up into a pair of aquamarine blue eyes, lined with kohl and tattoos framing her high cheek bones.
"Are you alright?" she asked me in a concerned voice, I look around and realise I was on the ground.
"What happened? You fainted and started yelling and twitching" Cowl Girl said, her voice concerned. I grunt as I straightened up from the ground, relaying the broken visions that I saw, presumably scattered memories caused by my amnesia, which my fellow prisoner immediately corroborates, stating of a woman of golden light to whom she reached out to.
Cowl and Warrior shared a look, and then Warrior rapped out an order to Cowl, who nodded and left immediately.
"What happens now?" I asked, knowing this would define the rest of my life. Whether I would die of old age or an executioner's axe would be decided by it.
"It would be easier to show you" Warrior Girl replied as she undid the stocks on both of us, tying our wrists with rope and leading us out of the cell.
The level of hostility we were met with by the villagers was palpable. I couldn't help but quip at it.
"If they were any angrier, I'd be worried of being underwater" I said, my voice light while I keep an eye on three of them, a woman standing near a cart, a man dressed in a soldier's armour and another bald man with a goatee, who was fingering a solid looking hammer.
Warrior Girl gave some poetic guff about the Mark on my fellow prisoner's hand, the Breach and how everyone had already tried and judged us. Only thanks to her, we weren't being executed.
"So….basically that" I point towards the Breach "is an unstable Einstein-Rosen bridge that could possibly be closed by that" at which I point at the Mark on my new friend's hand. I received a puzzled expression from Warrior Girl and a WTF expression from my new friend (whose name I needed to learn soon).
"Well….yes, I suppose?" Warrior Girl replied, her confusion knocking her rage with a beautiful right cross. Which was what I had intended. Everyone thinks of me as an amiable idiot, which I use to avoid, by pass, confuse and dodge my opponents. The few people who have seen through the façade realise I am a lot more dangerous than I let on.
I know I may sound like I am blowing my own trumpet, but when you have other people coming up and acknowledging it, it must be fact.
My new friend (whose name I don't know yet) narrowed her eyes at me as Warrior Girl slit our bindings open. I stretched a little, and shot her a quick smile and a wink as we follow Warrior Girl. I felt a surge run through my arm as my fellow prisoner fell towards the ground, clutching her left arm and letting out a pained keen. I grab her and prevent her from landing on the ground.
Our guide helpfully pointed out the fact that as each time the Breach grew, the Mark grew. Slowly, but surely it would kill her. And that somehow, as I fell out of the Fade (whatever the hell that is) alongside her, I was acting as some kind of magical energy sink, lessening its impact on her. But if it grew any further, we both would die. In agony.
Lovely.
We were making our way across a bridge when a meteor strike caused the entire thing to collapse, dropping the three of us down into a frozen river. Where we were set upon by Dementor knock offs. Warrior Girl decided that she needed to take 'em on single handedly. As she leapt into battle, another Dementor-thingy appeared in front of us. And something inside me went snap.
Play For Real (Dirty Phonics Remix) - The Crystal Method
I rush it, slamming my fist into it staggering it. It shook its head then let out a shrieking howl at me. I felt a new energy course through me. I focus it all into a powerful yell, which I let loose on the creature in front of me. It popped like a balloon, while the ice under it had melted.
I didn't get a chance to analyse the situation as I turn around to a screech. My fellow prisoner had got a pair of daggers and was cutting another creature to ribbons as she danced around it. She seemed to be holding out well. I then check on Warrior Girl to see her on the defensive against three of the Dementor knock offs. I summon up the energy I used earlier, focusing them into my feet and my hands. My vision tunneled, then I was standing in between two of them, electricity crackling around my fingers, my arms jutting out of their chests. I jerk my hands to myself, cutting them in half.
I straightened up to feel a sword again poking me in my neck. This was getting annoying.
Warrior Girl barked out an order at us in the same unintelligible language as before, to which my fellow prisoner (I really need to learn her name) said something placating in the same lingo. Warrior Girl's entire demeanor changed, gesturing at us to keep our weapons. She then hands out two vials to the both of us, to which I share a look at my new friend, then clink the vial she's holding with mine and drink it.
My new friend is not amused by my antics and is consequently rolling her eyes at me. I then heard another ululating howl. The three of us shared a glance and then made our way in the direction of the howl.
Ok, so my friend's Glowing Hand Of Destiny can seal up rifts. Sympathetic magic, at a guess?
And if everyone is wondering why I am not curling into a ball, gibbering with panic, even I am not sure why.
"You have probably come to the closest explanation to how the Mark is closing the rifts" said a bald….elf? I blink once, then twice.
Ok, demons, spirits, magic, medieval Xena's , unstable Einstein-Rosen bridges and now elves. So…..where do I get my Hogwarts' Acceptance Letter?
Or should it be Durmstrang, considering where I was?
I dismissed my line of thought as whatever they were discussing was wrapped up. They all turned and were looking at me uncomfortably. I start fidgeting under their scrutiny.
"What? Do I have something in my hair?" I asked them, wondering what they are playing at.
"We are hoping you would introduce yourself" the elf offered, his voice a mellow baritone.
"Yes, well. That would be nice, but you people haven't even offered me your names!" I retort. Which was neatly punctuated by a crashing meteor and ripping, tearing sound and a draconian roar.
I turn around to look at something that is a cross of T-Rex meet Godzilla meet the Xenomorph. Which left me with a disturbing vision of the three having a ménage a trois.
I do not want to even know how the hell that would work.
The creature roared and cracked a three headed electric whip, raising one hand to swipe at us.
Among the discordant yells, spells and twangs of a crossbow being fired at it, I instinctually gathered up energy around my eyes and focused it into a tight beam of energy. I then direct the energy at its head, causing it to be blasted off.
This ended with me greeting the ground with my head when I fell unconscious.
Greetings ladies and gentlemen to my Dragon Age Inquisition fanfic "Till The End Of The Line"!
No I have not abandoned any of my other stories (Barring Ghosts Of The Past) so any of my long-time readers rejoice, I will get around to finishing all of them. Eventually.
Problem with me is that I have way too many ideas bouncing around in my head, which I need to get out and onto paper (or webpage) ASAP. Plus here I get a chance to experiment with my writing styles and ideas and you guys can tell me whether it works or not.
All my stories are test beds for original novel ideas I have running around in my head. So feedback is always appreciated.
And our nameless protagonist may seem OP, but there's a very good reason why. Hint: The explanation is in the chapter.