.: BLESSED IS SHE :.
Ravene was slow to awaken from her tumble, a terrifying drop through an open mineshaft. She had no idea where it came from, or why she had never seen it before – but it had saved her life. Her head throbbed, and as she sat up, she gently reached for the wound. Blood now stained her leather gloves, and she frown as she rubbed it between her fingers and thumb.
Wet enough to stick to her hand, yet too dry to run. The gash on her forehead was healing, and had probably been doing so for a while. She stumbled to her feet, sharply hissing a foul curse as her leg rang with pain. It was cold and dark around her, what little light was here, glistened off the icy walls and wet rock. Faded and worn cobblestones marked her path – apparently this mineshaft had once connected to something bigger.
Ravene wondered briefly, if somehow this was connected to the now devastated Temple of Sacred Ashes. Its stonework was somewhat similar, though it had paid a price against the terrible weather and climate of the Frostbacks. She felt very alone in the corridor, it seemed longer and unnecessarily eerie as she limped along, wincing every once in a while. She hurried best she could, pausing only when the hallway opened up to a somewhat larger room, with demons investigate the surroundings.
They were a mix of creatures, terrifying in appearance, their forms constantly shifting and changing – like the Fade. Some had hands ending in fearsome talons while others seemed to lack any true physically and simply drifted around, leaving trails of green in the air.
But the one that truly made her worry was the being of pure fire. Its body was a bubbling mass of lava, its exterior only briefly forming a blackened carapace of hardened skin. Its eyes burned brighter than the rest, oozing white hot magma that would only turn sizzling orange when it hit the ground.
Then it turned its gaze upon her, and while rage demons were comparably simple in accordance to other beings of the Fade, it didn't take a mastermind to realize that the supposed Herald of Andraste was both wounded and unarmed. It bellowed some sort of cry and the spirits around it rushed at her, two shades closing in fast.
While fire did little against the rage monster, it still worked quite well on the others. Ravene extended her arm and let loose a stream of flames, igniting the nearest shade and causing it to panic and flail. It slowed the other down, giving her enough time to concentrate and summon an explosion of fire to roar up beneath the two. Their shrieks were terrible, and they floundered as the fire broiled their ethereal flesh.
A sharp pain tore into Ravene's chest, and she staggered back, looking down at the faint green glow resonating from a small circle near her heart. It hurt, whatever energy that wraith used stung like countless bees, but it could've been worse. She scowled at the thing, and did the same to it as it had done the first shade – she lit it on fire.
The wraith panicked, skirting about on the edge of the battle as the flames tore into it.
As the shades recovered, they attacked: the first grabbing Ravene's leg and knocking her off balance. It dragged her into the larger room, ignoring her protesting kicks against its burnt chest. It had a job to do, of course – the rage demon had ordered them to subdue the mage and it would fulfill its purpose.
"Maker help me, when I get up-" Ravene's angry words were cut off as she yelped, the other shade digging it's talons into her shoulder. Her cry seemed to illicit the curiosity of the wraith, bringing it closer to investigate.
The rage creature neared then, its seething form dwarfing the shades as it rose up, lava from its body splattering down dangerously close to Ravene's already wounded leg.
Then it spoke, a simple command coming from… somewhere, Ravene didn't dare imagine where.
"Die."
That was the second time someone had told her that, and she was beginning to wonder if that's all the enemy really thought about. Was she at the top of everyone's preverbal shit-list? She would've come back with some sort of snappy response, had she not been distracted by her marked hand.
It resonated with energy, enough to make Ravene's limb feel as if it was being twisted and pulled. It sparked with magic, drawing the attention of the nearest shade, which snatched her wrist and examined the anchor.
To it, the mark burned like holy fire – a radiant flaming star somehow branded in the mortal's flesh.
In that moment, when the shade curiously poked at the brand with a single talon, the wild magic ignited. Green lightning flew from the Herald's hand and cut through the fiery demon's shoulder, and continued until it smashed into the ceiling. Icicles crashed down and the tomb shook as a portal tore open: a swirling, and bleary image of the Fade on the other side.
Ravene watched awestruck as some sort of force began to pull on the spirits. The wraith was the first to go, turning into a faint wisp of green before it shot back into the portal, and then the other three began to feel the forceful tug. The shades clawed at the ground, one slipping and bursting into a dark shadow as it was sucked inside, while the other frantically tried to grab at Ravene's leg.
She gritted her teeth and kicked at the monster, nailing it squarely in the face. It screeched and floundered as it suffered the same fate as its twin.
The rage demon was stronger, initially the portal had nearly gotten it – but now it staggered towards her, ignoring how a stream of flame and magma was now being drawn into the event. Its eyes blazed even brighter as it watched her scramble back from its reach.
"DIE!"
"You first," Ravene snarled and snapped her fingers. Ice flash froze around the lava monster's body, and shattered seconds afterwards, resulting in the demon being sent back to the Fade not as a whole being, but as several, frozen chunks.
The portal collapsed shortly thereafter, leaving the Herald in a dark, cold silence.
"Astounding.." She spat, irritated.
The Herald chose not to think too hard on what had just happened. It was something that could wait until she was safe, and safety didn't seem like it was coming anytime soon. Ravene hesitated when she reached the end of the tunnel gazed out at a terrible blizzard. It didn't surprise he there was a storm, seeing at how her luck was going. It seemed after she had sealed the Breach, everything had gone disastrously wrong.
Corypheus attacked, she had buried Haven in an avalanche, been mauled by demons after it felt like her arm tried to tear itself off, and then found herself standing on the cusp of a powerful winter storm. Ravene had a particular type of luck, one good enough to get her through alive, yet bad enough to lead her straight into another catastrophe.
There were few options available to her – either continue her journey and try to find the others, or stay here.
"Dead either way," she grumbled, and began her march into the storm. "Might as well walk…"
‡
Cullen was out searching for the Herald not by his own inclination, but that of Mother Giselle. He, like the others, had been relatively grave since Haven, but no doubt she suspected he had been hit hardest. It was his idea, after all – to bury Haven as a spiteful last stand. He imagined it as a sort of grim sending off, one last strike against the foe.
That had changed when Chancellor Roderick recalled a passage he had taken on a pilgrimage. Suddenly the last stand had turned into a ploy to escape. Ravene had sacrificed herself to save them, and he wondered why. For the past few hours, before he had gone out to search – he and the others had done nothing but bicker about what to do next.
Her sacrifice would amount to nothing because the Inquisition couldn't get its bloody act together.
If anything, this hopeless search at least gave him some time to think. The storm had finally let up, allowing him and the few men he had chosen to look more thoroughly.
"Not that it matters," he muttered, bitter and angry. "No one could…"
His words trailed off as he spotted something on the tree line. A bright flash: like fire before it was snuffed out by the chilling wind and snow. Cullen's eyes narrowed, it was possible that they were being tracked by Venatori, but unlikely. They had no idea where they were, and any trails to try and follow them had been obliterated.
Hand on the hilt of his sword, the Commander approached.
His eyes widened.
"Maker's breath…"
Slumped against a tree was a red-haired beauty, her left hand flickering with the faintest of strange magic. Cullen's heart soared briefly as he hurried towards her, shouting to the others in his party that he had found her. He knelt down next to her, noting how she was too pale and lips had the faintest tinge of blue to them.
"Andraste have mercy," He lifted touched her chin and lifted her bowed head, peering into heavy-lidded, exhausted viridian eyes. "How long have you been out here?"
Clearly the Herald didn't recognize him at first, for she stared at him with equal parts confusion and fear. Hypothermia had made coherent thoughts near impossible, and she was shaking so violently that she could barely speak. Her stare slowly transferred to realization, and she shakily spoke.
"C-Commander?" She stammered, eyes flicking to the others as they approached. He nodded, reassuring her.
"Lady Herald."
Without a blanket or a spare cloak, he undid his own and wrapped it around her, doing his best to shield her from the terrible mountain weather. Cullen could feel her shaking as he gently picked her up; he turned quickly and headed back towards the camp nestled in a sheltered section of the snowy plains. She would've never had made it had he not found her, and they both knew that.
Cullen thought back to Mother Giselle and her advice to take a walk and look for what they had lost.
Had she known Ravene was alive, or was it just chance?
He imagined eventually, he'd find out.