Final song of 'The Gallows'
The full might of Kirkwall's Templar army had finally shown itself, shown by the dozens, upon dozens of torchlight's strapped to the central masts of the many, many ships sailing towards the Gallows, as well as the uncountable numbers of templar soldiers marching through the central courtyard gates of the gallows, Kirkwall's 'Circle of Magi'.
It was only in the final moments until their doom that many of the mages trapped inside 'The Gallows' or Kirkwalls 'Circle of Magi' finally understood why it was built on a prison island. Even if they wanted to escape, there was no possible way. The Gallows had only one huge main exit, the central gates and no other way off, not even through underground tunnels... like in most circles outside of Kirkwall. And to even attempt to swim across to dry land was suicide, as it would require swimming past dozens of boats manned by templar's who were now out to eliminate all of the mages. The templar's had to... now that 'The Right of Annulment' had been ordered by Knight-Commander Meredith. Even 'The Champion of Kirkwall' could not help them in their final moments… as she stood next to the Knight-Commander and marched into the Gallows by her side, determinded to stop the mages once and for all.
Though what the Champion, Knight-Commander Meredith, and all of the hundreds of templar's heard as they marched through the main gate was beyond belief, it was all of the mages singing in one loud, sad, desperate and deafening chorus. The near one hundred mages sang it from the ground level, they sang it from the top of the staircases, sang it from within the tower, and even sang it from the rooftops and anywhere else that their voices would carry!
It was so loud, so sad, and so heartbreaking that it caused every single templar to pause and listen to its final teary message:
"Nearer to the maker are we… all of us doomed souls are we…
Nearer than any other motral are we… soon… to be in your kind, caring hands we hope we shall be…
Soon… all the sufferings and torments of this world shall end… and we'll be once again reunited with our maker, we plea… In the hour of our deaths, this is all that we plead to thee…
Take us into your loving and caring hands, we plea… Take us from the death and worry of this mortal realm, we plea… so that we may be nearer to thee… our maker and dearest, please...
Next to your side we hope to be…. inside the golden city, next to thee, we plea…
Life was as hard as it could ever possibly be for us… your mage born sons and daughters we admit to thee… But we still love you and admit and beg to thee... take us away from here, we plea… the pain and suffering we face here, you see...
So that we may be… Nearer to thee… Who has created us, as he always did see us to be… We hope to see your face and smile, dear maker, do we-"
Though their sad song was interrupted by Knight-commander Meredith suddenly waving her hand forward and commanding: "KILL THEM ALL!"
True to their oath, once an order was given to the templar's by their knight-commander, did they obey. There was only one soul who hesitated, her comrades following their leader and not following the full on charge as well. And that was the Champion of Kirkwall. She knew that Bethany-her younger sister-was one of the doomed souls trapped inside the circle tower. Still Hawke know that Bethany, her little sister... was, without a doubt, singing this final, sad song the loudest out of any mage stationed inside the Gallows…
Incase you were wondering, yeah, I took this idea from Titanic, the "Nearer my God to Thee..."
But, given that any mage inside the tower was doomed to their fate if you sided with the Templars... I honestly thought that if any Templar heard this song being sung, they would not have gone through with the slaughter. And certain options made it so that Bethany would be inside the tower at the end of the game. But I have a feeling, even if the game plotlines weren't taken into account, Bethany would have stayed inside the tower of her own free will... even though she knew what would likely happen...
Lol, and I thought that this sad song, would not in the least affect Knight-Commander Merediths cold heart. And yeah, the final part of this fic could play out anyway. *Hawke could kill her sister, or spare Bethany because the song had an affect on her heart.*
Anyway, I rewatched the sinking of titanic in both the 90's remake and the old, old, 1953 black and white movie... and was so reminded of the fate of the mages inside the circle of mages... who were trapped on an island-just as hopless as being trapped out at sea, I think-but coming to accept it... and die with honor.