Then, There, and When?

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D/C: We own nothing. If only we do…

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Lee Totema and I have been coming up of a Dragon Age Fic, this is the result of it!

Brainstorming at its best!

She wrote the intro of the chapter and it is amazing in my opinion!

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Solas stared out into the wasteland that was now Thedas. Destroying the barrier to the fade had took time, time that took to war. With the knowledge somehow leaked to the world, it descended into chaos. War was a constant in all regions, the dwarves grew into isolationist, shutting their doors for good. Orlais and Ferelden kept on bombarding their soldiers against each other with less and less in each regiment.

And Solas could only look to himself for his failure. He had thought to raise the People back to their rightful place and reintroduce magic into the world. Where did it all go wrong? It didn't destroy the world, at least not entirely. Instead, there were more survivors than he expected. The Tevinter Imperium had grown stronger with their rush of magic, beating back the Qunari was their first line of order. The entire world was next. Demons appeared everywhere and Solas couldn't find his peaceful spirit friends anymore.

There was too much anger, hatred, fear. It bled into the ground as there was no more line between the world and dreams. His People that he worked so hard for left him with his grief and his broken spirit.

"What have I done?" Solas asked himself. "What purpose was for all of this? The People have left me and are getting slaughtered. Tevinter grows ever stronger, drunk on their proficiency with magic. Blood is constantly being shed from fear of the unknown, the fear I cause." Solas looked at his trembling hands. He only had the power to strip the barrier. The constant battles from the old Inquisition left him weakened. The friends that he once made, the respect that he had for them, and their blood on his hands. The green lightning grew, its roar heard from the high mountain that he had found. All he could do was watch as the landscape squirm with battle cries to fight against the demons. The sheer power from his attempt to restore the world, turned the spirits into demons that he could not save.

He looked at the sky above him, dark from constant fires, eruptions. The Black City that held his brethren was getting weaker and Solas knew that he wouldn't have the strength to stop them from exerting their anger. They were shut away for thousands of years, thinking of only one thing: His death.

And he found it nearly welcoming. Solas grunted as he used his staff to push himself up, wondering if there was anything else he can do. He wasn't much for faith as he had no God to pray to but he felt a sudden desperation growing inside of him.

"If the Maker...if you truly do exist, please... Please, have mercy on the ones who have forsaken me and, perhaps, a way to undo my failure."

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For a place that looked abandoned, snow covered and partially flooded, it was well preserved. Surprisingly considering that there are demons running around the area. Current location, what appears to be an abandoned village in western Ferelden. How do they know it's officially abandoned? There are partially frozen bodies scattered throughout the village. The bodies appeared as if they were repeatedly frozen and thawed for who knows how long, and were all still rotting away when they are unfrozen. The sight would have been unnerving, however with how the world appears to be coming to an end and constant war made many impervious to the sight. That doesn't even include the demons that now permanently roam the world. It is commonly agreed that is better to fight off a demon than

For one young Qunari, the sight of it all was nothing out of the norm. Being born in a world that had seen anything but war, death and chaos, after being alive with all of that surrounded her for seventeen something years, not a lot of could faze her theses days. Dressed in raggedy clothing that could barely pass off as armor. Unkempt and dirty silver hair tied in a messy pony tail, two horns which grew upwards and curled downward and sickly pale metallic purplish skin tone. Despite looking sickly and frail, she stands six feet tall and is more than capable of wielding heavy iron shield and sword both situated on her back. The only thing that seemed to be in a pristine condition is the leather belt that is holding the shield and sword in place.

Giggles escaped the Qunari as she ventured deeper into the village and at the sight of the all the possible items that could be used for herself and companions. She had saw a half-buried forge earlier and many of the items seen could be reused. Now if she could figure out how long the group will stay here.

"Careful, Hissera."

The Qunari, Hissera, turned around to see an older human male staring at her warningly. The human male appeared to be in his late thirties to early forties, a gritty appearance and covered with scars. Short peppered hair that he keeps repeatedly trying to slick back to no avail and has a scraggly beard and mustache. He is dressed similar to Hissera, raggedy clothing but unlike her, he is wearing a heavily patched hooded cloak. Underneath the cloak, the human has a muscular build and looks more than capable of using his spear to kick ass. "Come on, Griffin… the twins already checked the area and cleared it for enemies."

"Even so. One can never be too careful." Griffin stated before he turned around and headed of towards the opposite side of the village.

Hissera grinned to herself before she headed towards the only building that in the village that remains standing and partially untouched by time. A tall stone building that looked like it was built to withhold the test of time. The closer she got to the building, anticipation only grew even more within her. Letting out a shaky breath, Hissera pushed the heavy doors and her brows furrowed at feeling that the doors were locked. The debate now is to use her sword to break the lock or doors. Breaking the lock will result with the door unusable, and that would be an issue. Breaking down the entire door is also a no go for the same reason.

"Need help?"

"We'll have this open in no time."

Hissera nose scrunched up, as two nearly identical elves appeared from seemingly out of nowhere, each wrapping an around her neck. The Twins, Revas and Samahl, the group's professional thieves and prankster. The only two people in the entire world that could get a complete rise out of her. The twins are in their mid-twenties, long silver tied in a low ponytail, and have semi-fair complexions. Hissera towers them by five inches and they have slender bodies typical of being elven. They wore identical worn clothing, even right down to the same tears and holes. Some of them looked intentional in order to keep up the appearance of being identical. There were subtle between the two, Revas is taller than his younger brother by half an inch and his bangs are longer. Samahl, unlike his brother, hide his weapons and tools out of sight and how he manages to hide them is still a mystery for many. The main difference both males each have an identical metal handguard, Revas on his left arm and Samahl on his right arm.

The reason for the distrust was that the twins tend to target Hissera more so than the others in their pranks. In her own defense, she is gullible and easily lead on. It's all fun and games until she winds up stranded in the middle of a heavily demon infested forest. "I swear if there are demons on the other side…"

"Then have Kasan hand us over to Darla and Loco?" Revas asked with an eyebrow raised, he pulled away from Hissera and headed towards the locked door. He took out his lock picking kit from his belt and proceeded to pick at the lock.

"We learned our lesson from the last time we tricked you." Samahl deadpanned, he kept his arm around Hissera as they watch his brother work on the lock. "Why are you alone? Griffin doesn't like it when you wonder off on your own."

"Only when someone hadn't already surveyed the area beforehand…"

"And why is that?" Revas asked as he continued to pick on the lock.

"…" Hissera flushed violet and sheepishly looked away from the twins. "I tend to attract trouble…"

"And demons. Don't forget demons, how? We still don't know."

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Solas lifted his head as he felt a sudden shift coming from one the spells he had placed in a certain location. He turned his attention towards the giant window of his current sanctuary. Attention swept away from his previous worry gone and replaced with wistfulness. 'Visitors at Haven…'

As much Solas wants to ignore the presence of the trespassers roaming around his old stomping grounds. Then again, he needs to ensure they were not going to cause any sort of trouble. Haven is just a stone throws away from where he is and make sure they do not disturb the peace Haven once brought to many.

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Hissera face scrunched up as she scanned through a room that appeared to be used to keep records or something of that matter, in the stone building. There were books and papers scattered around. A dusty wooden desk sat at the back room along with a chair flip backwards. The only source of light is the torch the twins lit for her. Hopefully there is something the group could use. Maybe she'll find a trinket or something in the mess.

Laughter filled the hall and crashes quickly followed. Hissera rolled her eyes at the ruckus but ignored it in favor of looking through the room. The more she looked through the room, the more she cursed herself for not being able to understand anything she found. The Qunari blamed in inability to not being able to understand anything she was trying to read. A lot of the papers were yellowed and the ink that was once on them are long gone or to faded to read.

Hissera looked around the room and found a spot to place the torch to keep it out of her way as she continued on with her search. Papers with faded words continued to pile up high, books in another, and whatever else stacked on top of the desk. By the looks of it, this was a complete dud. Even with her minimum knowledge of reading, there was nothing from what she could read that hardly caught her interest.

That was until Hissera found a thick book with a strange symbol on the front of it. The book had a broken lock that used to ensure no one could see its secrets. No matter how much she wants to place the book in one of the three piles but Hissera cannot. It wasn't what was written in the book but that symbol keeps calling out to her.

Hissera swore she saw the symbol before, just did not know when or where. Maybe Griffin will know about the symbol and maybe Loco will read it to her.

"Hey, isn't that the Inquisition symbol?"

To be continued…

It's a slow start