Chapter 2
Evelyn wakes up in a cold, dark place- a dungeon? There is a clank when she tries to move- realizing her hands and legs are chained in cold steel. The air is damp and dank. A bright green burst from her hand surprises her and she gasps, then jumps as her cell door bursts open. Two women walk through and circle her. A dark haired woman speaks, her voice low and raspy with grief as she explains that everyone who had been at the conclave was now dead. She is shocked and the voices fall away as the gravity of the situation seeps into her. How? How could this be? She felt like she was just there. She faintly remembers a loud explosion, but the memory slips through her fingers like sand when she tries to concentrate on it. The dark haired woman picks up her hand and asks for an explanation as the emerald glow returns. The other woman with the cloak over her head steps in the way saying that they needed her- asking her what she remembered. Her words are kind, but her eyes are not. Spiders, but larger than she had ever known. A woman- glowing with in the same eerie green as her hand. The two women whisper something to each other as the cloaked one leaves. The other helps her up and says that she needs to see something. Outside, snow is falling, but her eyes gaze upward at a massive green tear that goes up miles upon miles. A rift to the fade, the woman calls it, spitting out demons and growing larger with each breath. The breach crackles and her hand explodes with pain and light. The woman tells her the mark is killing her. She is suspicious, but Evelyn knows there is no way that she could have done this- even if she doesn't remember anything.
Evelyn and Cassandra start traveling toward one of the smaller breaches, several times having to stop from either a large green glowing comet or the pain in her hand overwhelming her. When a demon starts attacking Evelyn spies a staff laying on the ground in a pile of rubble. She picked it up feeling the familiar surge of magic thrum through her veins. With a staff she feels whole again, less vulnerable. She helps kill the demon with ease. Cassandra is startled that she is a mage and tells her to drop her weapon but there is no way that is happening. They come to an accord and stalk off toward the rift again. After several battles they are almost there. She can feel it in her hand. The air is thick with magic and the sound of fighting. The rift up close is… beautiful, if you can get over the fear and dread lingering in the air. An elven mage and dwarf are fighting near the rift. The elf takes her hand and pushes it toward the rift, which starts to crackle and close. The pain in her hand is immense but tolerable. She is getting used to this ache throbbing through her veins.
Cassandra, Evelyn, Varric and Solas fight their way through several more bouts of demons to close another rift, this time by herself. She takes a moment to get to feel the energy surrounding the rift- dark, swirling, screaming. The magic so potent but also so different from the magic she herself uses. In all her years in the circle, she had seen many forms of magic- her own specialty being spirit because she always thought it felt the best to wield- soft and alive, like nature, but also powerful, like nature. The crackling of lightning, the roar of fire, the chill of cold, even the raw, sharp power of blood magic when a circle mage went rogue, nothing felt like this did. She closed the rift with haste, shivering after, like it took something from her.
"I demand you place her in irons and take her to Val Royeaux to stand trial!" Chancellor Rodderick was screaming at Cassandra, spittle shooting from his mouth in rage. Evelyn felt like a chasm had opened up below her and she was just waiting to fall. Her eyes widened with terror when Cassandra comes to her aid, basically telling him to stick it. Oh thank the maker. It feels good to have her on my side for once, she thinks.
They continue to head for the largest breach, shining like a beacon in the sky, passing shriveled, twisted bodies petrified in positions of agony. And if that wasn't creepy enough, the rift hung like a green sun in the sky, casting its otherworldly glow on the surrounding pit. Flanked by Leliana and her bowmen, they cautiously walk toward the massive rift.
Voices, a woman, a man, her own start spitting out of the rift. Cassandra looks aghast to hear the Divine's voice, crying for help. Evelyn is surprised to hear her own, especially when the man's voice, sinister and dark, sentences her to death. She doesn't remember anything that happened- it's all a fog shifting and shaping.
Evelyn starts to reopen the rift when an enormous pride demon materializes and laughs menacingly. She quickly uses her mark to start closing the rift, stunning the demon when it sends out a large burst of magical energy. There is a whirl of movement as everyone is fighting, magic and arrows whirring by her ears at the massive beast. She wants to move back, where her magic is most effective, but must remain close to the rift to disrupt it again. More demons are pouring out of the fade, one swiping at her side as a shock of pain follows. Evelyn moves to seal the rift for good, noticing that Varric and Solas are unconscious, laying on the ground face down. Cassandra is the only one standing and she isn't looking so well either. Evelyn sends a prayer to the maker that this will work and lifts her hand, feeling the now familiar thrum of that strange magic flowing down her arm towards that great hole in the sky. There is a huge burst of energy, so big it knocks her back and her head hits a rock. Her eyes start to close as she sees Cassandra move toward her, telling her she did it- it is done.