Chapter 1 - The Inquisition

Snow gently fell from the heavens coating the small village of Haven in a veil of white. The bite of the cold winter air was enough to send even the sturdiest of people running for the nearest fire. But despite the falling snow and biting cold, all of the residents of the small village were braving the elements to catch a glimpse of something that'd the small village, nay the entire world of Thedas, had ever seen. Dozens upon hundreds of men and women, some armored and others clothed in robes, were trudging through the ankle deep snow heading up towards the sacred mountain behind Haven that held the holiest of objects. The Urn of Sacred Ashes.

The two groups kept as much distance from each other as possible while still staying on the path. The mages garbed in rune enchanted robes kept tight hold on their staffs as they walked. Their eyes burned with hatred as they glared at their one time jailors and executioner's. The Templar's, armed to the teeth, kept their weapons drawn as they too glared with righteous fury at their one-time charges.

For the past year if one were to even see one of either of these two groups within the same vicinity of each other, it was almost a guarantee that destruction would follow. But now these two groups marched side by side, albeit uneasily, up towards the ruins that were said to hold the ashes of the Chantry's Prophet Andraste. For a conclave, called for by Divine Justina, the leader of the Chantry, had been called. Its purpose was to end the civil war between the Templars and the Mages which had effectively torn Thedas asunder far worse than even the Fifth Blight.

But within the Chantry of the small village of Haven there was one woman who should've been with the Divine, but had yet to make the trek up the mountain path. The Right hand of the Divine, Seeker Cassandra Pentaghast, stood within the small side chapel of the Chantry. Sitting before her, illuminated by a single candle's flame, were three thick but distinct tomes. Running her fingers along the golden sun decorating the tome on the far right, she glared down at the other two as if trying to will their contents to change.

Her duties as the Right hand had forced her to read and study each of the two tomes until she had every little detail memorized. The first was the tale of the Fifth Blight, written by one of the heroes of the fifth blight, the circle mage Senior Enchanter Wynne before she died. In it she detailed her journey with the Hero of Ferelden and talked about all she knew about his time before she joined with him.

'The Hero of Ferelden was of all things an elvhen mage from the Circle of Magi named Alim Surana.' Cassandra recited summarizing the book. 'After being conscripted into the Wardens he watched as his entire order was decimated because of the betrayal of King Cailan's most trusted advisor Teryn Loghain. After crawling out of the Wilds with his fellow Warden Alistair, a mabari hound that'd bounded itself to the mage, and a mysterious apostate Morrigan he was seen again in the small village of Lothering. Once they left the village the small group were joined by a Chantry Sister named Leliana and a disgraced qunari warrior named Sten. After leaving the village they appeared next at the Circle of Magi with the treaties of the Wardens in tow demanding the mages support against the Blight.

'The Circle however had been overrun by abominations under the control of one of the Senor Enchanters. Alim Surana did the impossible by defeating the rouge mage and rescuing dozens of his fellow mages and Templars. With the Circles support secured the group, now joined by Senor Enchanter Wynne headed south to Redcliff. There they discovered the village had been overrun by undead under the command of a demon who'd managed to take hold of Arl Eamon's son Connor. Again defying all rational thought, Alim managed to protect the village and destroy the demon who'd taken ahold of Connor thereby freeing the boy of its corruption.

'The reason as to how the demon even managed to get a hold of Connor was son revealed. Arl Eamon had been poisoned by a blood mage under the orders of Teryn Loghain. The poison was said to be incurable, but the Arlessa had a plan. The Urn of Sacred Ashes. An Urn said to hold the ashes of the Bride of the Maker herself. Taking the quest Alim led his small group through the Bracillin forest an in the process securing the aid of the reclusive Dalish elves by helping them cure a mysterious disease known as lycanthropy. It was during their time with the Dalish elves that Alim discovered a long lost magical talent that'd been widely used by the elves of old. While the specifics of how he learned this magic was not recorded, what was recorded was the fact that after his time with the elves Alim went from using a traditional mage staff to a mage staff and a sword.

'Their next recorded destination was the city of Denerim. Within the city of Denerim the small group sought the reclusive Brother Genitivi, who had been researching the location of the ashes. After searching and not finding the Brother, the Warden found his notes and set off after the Brother.

'As they traveled the north road the Wardens were set upon by a group of Antivan Crows, hired by Teryn Loghain to kill them. Surviving the ambush Alim spared the only surviving Crow earning the assassin's loyalty. On their travels to the location of Brother Genitivi, they passed by the city of Orzammar and secured the aid of the dwarves by naming Bhelen Aeducan the next King of Orzammar.

'Following the notes left behind by Brother Genitivi, the group made their way to the small village of Haven, where they encountered a cult of fanatics who'd come to believe that Andraste had been reborn as a dragon. Cutting a bloody path through the cult, Alim fought against the dragon at the peak of the Frostback Mountains. While he vanquished the dragon, something unexplainable happened. As the dragon died, curtesy of Alim's blade to its throat, the Warden ended up ingesting some of the dragon's blood. The action caused a change in the Warden. He became stronger and faster. His magic also seemed to have increased tenfold. But most curiously was that his eyes shifted from their normal color to a deep yellow

'After obtaining a small pouch of the legendary ashes the warden and his small group made their way back to Redcliffe and revived a near dead Arl Eamon. With the Arl backing the Wardens a Landsmeet was called to decide what actions Ferelden would take to counter the Blight. In the end Teryn Loghain was executed by Alim after being defeated in a duel by the mage and Alistair and Anora were pronounced to be the future King and Queen of Ferelden.

'With the monarchy decided, the armies of Ferelden concentrated all efforts on the Blight. In a battle which nearly reduced the city to ashes Alim Surana defeated the archdemon and lived to tell the tale. By defeating the archdemon Alim Surana was proclaimed the 'Hero of Ferelden' and was subsequently named the Commander of the Grey Wardens of Ferelden.'

Taking her eyes off the first book, Cassandra moved to the next. This book was contained a detailed accounting of the 'Champion of Highever'. One Garrett Hawke.

'The Champion hailed from a long and well known line of mages, in fact the Champion himself was a mage.' Cassandra recounted remembering what Varric had told her. 'He managed to get his family out of Lothering just before the darkspawn attacked destroying the village. But before they could make their great escape from Ferelden the Champion lost his sister to the darkspawn.

'After arriving in Kirkwall, the City of Chain's, the Champion became a bottom-feeder, working with a local smuggling group as a mage and enforcer. After making enough money to get his family into the poorest section of the town he worked on trying to provide his family with a better life. An opportunity presented itself when he was approached by the Varric with a business proposition. If Hawke could help fund it, they would go into the Deeproad in search of riches that'd been long lost to the darkspawn.

'After nearly a year of odd jobs, some of which included work with the Viscount, Hawke managed to get enough money scrapped together to become a full partner with Varric. During the year Hawke befriended an escaped Tevinter slave, a dalish elf, a city guard, a pirate, and a Warden deserter.

'It was during their time in the Deeproads that everything went wrong. After finding a rare and extremely valuable idol made up completely of an unknown type of lyrium, Hawke and Varric were betrayed by Varric's brother who locked them in the Deeproads. Somehow Hawke not only managed to get everyone out of the Deeproads, but on their way out they managed to stumble across an ancient cash of riches that would make even the richest of Orlesian nobles seem poor in comparison.

'Their escape extracted a terrible price however. Hawke's brother contracted Blight sickness during their travels and they were forced to leave him in the care of a passing by Warden scout group.

'For the next few years Hawke established himself as the go to man of Kirkwall. Even the Viscount sought Hawke's support and diplomacy as he tried to balance a delicate peace between the stranded qunari that were residing in his city and the rest of his citizens. Despite Hawke's best attempts the peace within the city eventually broke and the qunari attacked the city. Hawke led a counter attack against the qunari, which culminated in a one on one duel between Hawke and the Arishok, the leader of the qunari armies. Hawke defeated the Arishok, but the battle had forced him to reveal to the whole city that he was in fact an apostate. But because of his actions in defending the City Hawke was named as the 'Champion of Kirkwall' and therefor became untouchable, much to the ire of Knight Commander Meredith.

'With his positon secure Hawke tried to lay low, but without a Viscount the city was leaderless and many turned to him for advice. Despite his best efforts, tensions between the mages and the Templar's began to worsen as Meredith became more and more oppressive.

'Everything went wrong one fateful evening when Senior Enchanter Orsino headed to the Chantry to seek the Grand Clerics help. Meredith went to intercept him and Hawke was forced to act as an intermediary. But before a compromise could be reached the Warden deserter Anders set loose an ancient spell which destroyed the Chantry killing dozens including the Grand Cleric of Kirkwall.

'With the destruction of the Chantry Meredith snapped and ordered for the Right of Tranquility to be enforced.

'The fate of the Warden Anders was unknown as he momentarily disappeared with the Champion. And when the Champion reappeared he refused to speak about what happened.

'Hawke's next action was to take up arms with the mages as he tried to defend the innocents against Meredith's insanity. Eventually Hawke was forced to kill both Orsino, who'd fallen to using bloodmagic, and Meredith. It was during his fight with Meredith that Hawke found the lyrium idol they'd first found down in the Deeproads. The Knight Commander had bought it off of Bartrand and fashioned it into a sword. But the unknown lyrium had a side effect that no one expected. Despite making the Knight Commander insane, upon her death it turned her into a lyrium statue that still sat in the courtyard of the Circle in Kirkwall.

'After the battle of the Circle the Champion and his companions scattered to the winds and disappeared. For the mage rebellion had begun.'

Taking her eyes off of the second book, Cassandra looked down at the book that was under her fingertips. This was book was not a story, rather a decree. A decree that'd been written by the Divine herself authorizing the creation of an Inquisition whose sole purposes would be to bring a swift end to the mage Templar conflict.

Using the decree she and the Left Hand of the Divine were able to assemble a small army with the sole purpose of ending the war. The only thing they lacked was a leader, an Inquisitor. The one who would be the figure head of the Inquisition and would also be the one responsible for making the choices that would reshape Thedas as a whole. Their first choice had been the 'Hero of Ferelden', but despite the Left's close ties with the Hero, they were unable to find him let alone secure his help. So they went with their second choice of the Champion of Kirkwall, but again they had no luck in finding him either.

With no Inquisitor to lead them the Inquisition failed to do much more than provide security for the Divine. Truthfully this conclave was the first true action the Inquisition had taken, and it wasn't even their action in the first place. It'd been the Divine herself who stepped up and demanded the Conclave. The Inquisition was merely here for appearance sake.

"The last of the mages and the Templar's are making their way towards the Temple of Andraste Cassandra." A soft voice said from behind her.

Cassandra didn't need to look behind her to know who the voice belong too. Sister Leliana, also known as 'Sister Nightingale' or the 'Left hand of the Divine'. "What are you doing here Leliana," Cassandra asked turning to look at the bard turned Chantry Sister turned spymaster. "You should be with the Divine and helping her to prepare."

Leliana huffed and turned her head. "The Divine asked that she be left alone for the moment. She needed time prepare and wanted to be left in solitude for meditation."

Cassandra narrowed her gaze at the spymaster. "I trust you left some of your best with her then?"

"Of course." Leliana said offhandedly. "Ten of my best are watching her from the shadows. She may trust that the mages and Templar's are coming in peace. But I do not."

Nodding to herself Cassandra turned and picked up the three thick tomes. She wasn't sure what she had even gotten them out in the first place. Maybe it was to remind herself of what had led them to this point. Or maybe it was to try and realize something she might've over looked. Either way, now was not the time. She needed to focus on the here and now.

Moving back to the shelf she couldn't help but notice as Leliana's crystal blue eyes followed the movements of the book detailing the Fifth Blight. "Have you had any word Leliana?"

The question seemed to catch the spymaster off guard, a feat in and of itself. "Word of what Cassandra?"

"Don't play coy with me Leliana." Cassandra said putting the books back. "I know that you've been using the Chantry's resources to find the Hero of Ferelden."

"Of course I have." Leliana said quickly. "He is needed."

Placing the books away Cassandra turned to her fellow Sister and fixed her with a knowing look. "Yes he is. But my question is whether you are looking for him for the Inquisition, or for yourself."

Leliana looked decidedly uncomfortable. A common look she wore whenever, and only, when the Hero of Ferelden was brought into discussion. "For the Inquisition Cassandra. Even if I….there is no use in changing the past. I….we should get moving. The Divine will not wait for us even if we are the representatives for the Inquisition."

Cassandra sympathized with Leliana. It was well known that Leliana and Alim had been more than just companions during their journey together. They had been lovers, and more. They were to be wed and were on the path to do so when the Divine approached Leliana and asked her to be her Left Hand. It was unknown what happened between the two of them, but soon Leliana was known as Sister Nightingale the Divine's Left Hand and the Hero of Ferelden had disappeared.

The most devote amongst the Chantry praised Leliana with choosing the Maker over the mage, even if he was considered a hero. Other's romanticized the story making Leliana the tragic heroine escaping the clutches of the evil mage. While others seeking to discredit the Chantry claimed that Leliana had killed the Hero of Ferelden under orders from the Divine herself. But the truth was that only Leliana and Alim Surana knew what happened that faithful day. And Leliana wasn't willing to talk about it.

Motioning with her head towards the door, Cassandra moved towards the main doors of the Chantry with Leliana at her side. "And what of the Champion? Has Varric given you any more information?"

Shaking her head Leliana pushed open the door for the two of them. "No. He maintains the story he told us back in Kirkwall. Perhaps we should just let him go Cassandra. Holding one of Hawke's friends captive won't make him any more amiable towards our cause."

"He knows something he isn't telling us Leliana." Cassandra said quickly as the two of them rounded the corner of the Chantry giving them a clear view of the Temple of Andraste resting on top of the Frostback Mountains. "I don't trust that little dwarf. He knows something Leliana. And I want to know what it is."

Leliana silently shook her head as the two proceeded to ascend the path towards the temple. "As you say Cassandra. But I've checked out everything he's told us, and everything checks out so far. Perhaps we can give him a more official position within the Inquisition. Something that –"

Both the Right and Left Hand of the Divine were suddenly knocked backwards off their feet as green light far brighter than the sun blinded them.

Leliana was the first of the two to recover. The ex-bard quickly jumped to her feet, her eyes shooting skywards trying to find the source of the explosion. "Oh merde."

Cassandra, who was only a fraction of a second behind Leliana in regaining her feet, looked up towards the Temple of Andraste. Or at least what was left of the Temple. Where there was once a glittering five story temple there was only a pile of smoldering ruins. Cassandra felt her blood run cold as realization set in and she took off at a dead run. "Oh Maker…the Divine!"

"Cassandra!" She heard Leliana yell from behind her. "Cassandra wait!"

As Cassandra ran up the hill towards the ruins her eyes slowly went skywards. And as they rose her pace faltered before she felt herself stop almost involuntarily. "What in the Maker's name is that?" She asked to no one in particular her eyes unable to leave the sight before her.

High in the sky above them swirling like a green maelstrom was a sight unlike any Cassandra had ever seen before. Hearing the crunch of snow beside her Cassandra spared a brief glance at Leliana before turning her eyes back skywards. "Leliana?"

For perhaps the first time since she'd known her, Sister Nightingale was speechless. "I have no idea. Dear Maker…whats going on?"

Hope y'all liked it! Please let me know what y'all thought please! Reviews of any kind are welcome! I got more than a little inspiration after playing DA3 for this one so hopefully chapters will be coming out fairly steadily.

Hawke and Surana will be making themselves known in this story and will be far more prevalent than they were in DA3.

Hope you all liked it! See y'all soon!