Warning: The following contains events that might trigger some unwanted emotions from readers. I didn't get too detailed unless it was necessary, but it can get pretty bad, depending on your imagination.

BTW: Just consider this a huge flashback

Highever

Castle Cousland

Several days earlier

She had fought with every ounce of strength in her body, but it was over.

Two Amaranthine men held her arms fast. Another approached her.

"Uppity little BITCH!"

The fist connected with her jaw.

"Not so high and mighty now, eh? Your noble blood wont help you here, whore!"

She refused to give in to their sadistic game. If she was going to die, she would die with dignity.

Unbeknownst to them all, something was watching from the Fade, powerless to act.

"FIENDS..." Justice growled.

He could do nothing without the Veil sufficiently sundered, which required more innocents to die. It was a bitter fact. One of the victims had the mark of magic in her body, but it was dormant. Imperfect. Broken. Not quite a mage, yet not completely mundane. If he combined himself with her, she could slay her captors and escape!

"You're good with a sword, I'll give you that." The man continued "But it's over now."

They were in the hallway that connected the family rooms. Some of the other men had finished with their fun with Oriana. She was sobbing on the ground, naked, bloodied, and bruised.

They had killed Oren. A little boy. Not content with their cruelty, they then proceeded to rape Oriana. What Elissa had seen them do to Oriana, she would never erase from her mind. She felt sick, knowing this would be her fate.

"Join yourself with me." Justice whispered from the Fade, to Elissa.

Somehow, Elissa heard the voice, and thought herself to be going mad. In reality, the same magical talent she had, though dormant, allowed Justice to talk to her from the Fade.

"MONSTERS!" Eleanor screamed "You'll hang for this!"

She had been captured too. The entire castle was filled with screams, fire, and battle.

The men laughed at her mothers words.

"No ones going to miss a couple of traitorous, Cousland whores." The leader shrugged. "You done with the Antivan bitch? Good. Kill her."

"ORIANA!" Elissa screamed.

It was too late. The knife was thrust into her body. Oriana cried no longer. Her sister in law was dead, along with sweet little Oren. She wouldn't hear him laugh, play games with him, or even see him smile. All that was left was death. This was all so wrong! Elissa was furious, crying, in denial, shocked, horrified and sick all at once. Why was this happening!

"Y'know, I really want to do the young little spitfire." One of the men mused.

"Let me aid you!" Justice repeated.

Was it a spirit, Elissa wondered? A demon!?

"Don't you touch her!" Eleanor snapped.

The leader forcefully ripped apart her gown, and grouped her. Elissa felt the shame, the humiliation. She was next.

"I love you, Mother." She closed her eyes.

"NO!"

Eleanor broke free and elbowed a man in the eye. As he was screaming, Eleanor tried to reach for her knife, but the soldiers were too quick.

The sword burst through her armor, and the blood immediately splattered across Elissa.

Elissa gasped with terror.

Eleanor collapsed to the ground, her eyes open to the world.

"MOTHER!"

The young Cousland was shaking, her mind having a hard time processing that her mother had just died in front of her. She had always been so strong, so stubborn, so bloody invincible. There was a time when Elissa felt closer to her Father. It shamed her to admit it, but there it was. Over the years, that changed. She wanted to tell her mother that despite their differences, she always loved her.

And now she was dead, along with Oren, Oriana, and likely the others. Aldous. Gilmore. Nan. Mother Mallol. Everyone.

The world that she had lived in was crumbling around her.

The Veil had finally been weakened enough.

"Now! Before it is too late!"

She didn't have time to ponder what this thing was offering. She wasn't even capable of thinking. All she knew is that her mother was dead. Her mother was dead. And something was offering to help her.

Elissa, cast into a pit of figurative despair, was willing to sell her very soul to whatever was promising her aid. The one thing she had left. All it would take was one more push-

"Stupid bitch!" One of the men kicked her mother's body, and then spat on it.

That last act of cruelty pushed her over the edge. She was not herself in that moment. She had completely snapped.

In that moment, as well, something surged into her body, and awoke something within her. Something that had been with her as a child. Something arcane. Something ancient, that had been lying dormant throughout all of the Cousland bloodline until this very moment.

Her eyes immediately lit up with arcane energy.

"NO MORE! DO YOU HEAR ME!? NO MORE!"

With newfound, savage strength, Elissa broke free of her captors in a brutal way: tearing their arms out of their sockets.

The leader was completely unprepared for Elissas head crashing into his face. Some of the others drew their swords, but Elissa was inhumanely fast and strong now.

The bloodlust and madness had taken over now. Her hands pierced through flesh and bone, ripping out their throats and hearts.

There was the one that raped Oriana!

Elissa seized him before he could strike her down. What she did next, she would never tell anyone from that day on.

Her hand gripped the offenders groin in a vice grip, and she crushed it in her hand, before ripping it away from his body. The chilling scream could be heard by everyone in the siege, but the Amaranthine soldiers thought it to be another of the Highever victims.

It wasn't enough. It would never, ever, be enough. She forced him to see what she had done to him, then threw it on the ground, before grinding it under her boot. Then she snapped his neck.

The leader was the last one left, but Elissa had time to finally reclaim her claymore. He was no match for her in this state. A quick series of clashes, as the sparks flew from their blades, and Elissa finally disarmed him. The blade severed his head.

She was panting, letting the adrenaline and arcane power overcome her.

Suddenly, she knew what she had to do next.

"FATHER!"

As she raced down the hallway, she heard the voice, much more clearly in her head, as if it resided there.

"NOW...WE...ARE ONE!"

I felt the need to explain Elissa's merging with Justice, since starting where I did, I skipped a lot of story. I might add more flashbacks if necessary.

There's evidence for magical talent that falls beyond the perceived Chantry picture of the physically weak, cloth wearing mage. Magical talent can express itself in different ways.

Other than that, there's little else to say: War is cruel.