"So what's your story?" Varric asked me as we walked down the bank.

"What do you mean?" I glanced at him. "Your accent," he stated, "you don't sound Ferelden, or from the Free Marches, and certainly not Orlesian. And your clothes aren't certainly in fashion… anywhere."

"Perceptive," I replied with a chuckle, "I'm actually not from here. I'm from another world entirely."

"Wait, what?" Varric stopped walking for a second to stare at me in shock. "Yep," I replied with a shrug, "I don't know how I got here, really."

"I imagine a lot of things are confusing for you," Solas commented. "You don't know half of it," I groaned, "there are so many things different, I don't even know where to begin listing things off."

"I imagine that magic you used would be the first," Cassandra mentioned without looking back at me.

"You used magic?" Solas asked me. I nodded. "I don't know how," I confessed, "I was panicking, a demon was charging at me. And the next thing I know…" I raised my hands, "I was holding a sword and a shield in my hands."

"Interesting," Solas murmured, "were you able to do this in your world?" I shook my head."Magic doesn't exist in my world," I stated, "well, not like it does here anyway."

"So magic does exist in your world?" Varric asked. "Well…" I started hesitantly, "it's all theory, really. There's no proof that it exists, or that it doesn't. So a lot of people say it doesn't exist." I smiled a little. "But… I've always been able to see things that other can't."

"Like what?" Solas asked as we started walking up a flight of stairs.

"Spirits of the dead," I replied, "in my world I'm what's called a 'spirit medium'. I'm able to see ghosts and talk to them when no one else can." I frowned. "A lot of people don't believe in such things, though. I've been told I was crazy or mentally ill more times than I can count."

"Perhaps this ability of yours is being affected by the Breach," Solas theorized, "and it's manifesting different due to the magic of Thedas."

"Demons ahead!" Cassandra said, charging.

I was about to step back when Solas grabbed my shoulder. "What do you see, when you look at the demons?" he asked.

"I see…" I looked back at the black robed things, and new ones that looked like pale green wisps in the shape of people. I told that to Solas.

"The black ones are called shades," Solas explained to me, "the green ones are called wraiths. Try looking at them using your ability, and tell me what you see."

Using my ability? I narrowed my eyes at them. In my world, the spirits just appeared to me as people who were semi-transparent. I relaxed my shoulders, focusing my attention on one of the shades.

"…they're glowing," I said in surprise, "they've got…a strange rainbow-like light on them. Sort of like…" I looked at my hands. "I've got a similar glow on my hands."

"Are you talking about the mark?" Solas asked, blasting an approaching shade with ice. "No," I replied, "it's a different light… I don't know how to explain it." I frowned.

"Try to take control of the light," Solas suggested, "maybe you can summon a weapon again."

I looked at my hands, trying to imagine the sword. But my thoughts turned to a weapon I was vastly more comfortable with - a bow and arrow. Before I knew it, a longbow made from a strange wood formed in my hands, with arrows shining with a white light.

"Excellently done," Solas complimented me, "can you use it?"

"Not… confidently," I muttered, raising the bow and pulling the arrow back, "but it's better than nothing!" I released the arrow, aiming at the shade trying to sneak up behind my shock, it hit the shade square in the back, killing it in one blow.

"Well done," Solas congratulated me. I was too shocked to say anything. In my archery classes, I almost never hit my target.

"I hope Leliana made it through all this," Cassandra stated as she continued up the stairs.

"She's resourceful, Seeker," Varric tried to soothe the woman, "I'd be more worried about the other lady in the group."

"Believe me, I'll be having a meltdown later," I muttered. Solas patted me on the shoulder sympathetically, "I will help you try to adapt to this world, Kristine."

"As will I," Varric stated, "speaking of, are you innocent?"

"I don't…" I started, then shrugged. "I don't know. I don't remember anything."

Varric chuckled. "That'll get you every time," he said, "you should've spun a story."

"That's what you would have done," Cassandra glared at Varric.

"It's more believable," Varric retorted with a grin, "and less prone to result in premature execution."

I smiled in spite of my nervousness. "Another Fade Rift," Solas said beside me, causing me to look ahead. Sure enough, another cluster of strange crystals floated in the air.

"They keep coming!" a soldier yelled from somewhere, "Help us!"

I raised my hands to try to summon the bow again, when a light sprang from my left palm to the rift. I felt strength being sapped from my arms and I couldn't move.

The others engaged in battle around me. I tried to pull my arm away, feeling a burning pain starting from my hand, traveling up my arm to my elbow. After a few moments, the crystals exploded, and I was able to move again. I yelled out in pain, cradling my arm and falling to my knees.

I wasn't the only one hurt, though. It looked like the demons were damaged by… whatever it was that I did. The other had no problem killing the demons.

"Kristine!" Solas yelled out in concern as he ran toward me. "I'm fine," I groaned, standing again and raising my still throbbing hand. The light reappeared, jumping from my hand to the rift. Pain roared through my hand and up my arm again, making me grind my teeth to keep from screaming.

The rift closed, and I cradled my arm against me again. "Well done," Solas said, patting my shoulder, "may I see your hand?" I nodded, extending my sore arm to him. He took my hand, examining the mark. "It's spreading more," he said quietly, his grip tightening on my hand slightly. "Is there anything you can do for the pain?" I asked.

"Certainly," Solas replied, his hands starting to glow with a blue light. A pleasantly warm feeling went up my arm to my elbow as his magic eased the pain. "Thank you," I said with a smile. "You are welcome, Kristine," Solas replied with a smile.

"Open the gate!" Cassandra commanded the soldiers, "The Rift is gone!"

"Right away, Lady Cassandra!"

"Whatever that thing is, it's useful," Varric commented.

"It's also a pain in the hand," I joked at him, making him snort.

Cassandra made a strange "ugh" noise as she led us through the gate, making both me and Varric laugh harder.

"We must prepare the soldiers!" I heard Leliana say to a man in red and white robes. "We will do no such thing," the man snapped back. "The prisoner must get to the temple of sacred ashes. It is our only chance!" Leliana retorted when she noticed us. "You made it!" she said with relief as she walked toward us. "Chancellor Roderick, this is…"

"I know who she is," the man sniffed. I could feel a knot tie itself in my stomach. I already did not like this guy.

"As Grand Chancellor of the Chantry," Roderick sneered, "I order you to take this prisoner to Val Royeux to face execution."

Yep. I do not like him.

"Order me?" Cassandra growled, "you are a glorified clerk. A bureaucrat!"

"And you are a thug," Roderick snapped back, "but a thug who supposedly serves the Chantry!"

"We serve the Most Holy, Chancellor," Leliana corrected him, "as you well know."

"Justinia is dead!" the cleric exploded, "we must elect a new divine and obey her orders on the matter!"

"Shouldn't closing the Breach be the more pressing issue, Chancellor?" I asked coldly, "or is your head so far up your ass that you can't even see the glowing thing above us?" I heard Varric snicker behind me.

"You brought this upon us in the first place!" Roderick yelled at me. I could feel my heart pounding in anger. I was three seconds away from slugging this guy in the face.

"Call a retreat, Seeker," Roderick said to Cassandra, "our position here is hopeless."

"We can stop this before it is too late," Cassandra stated.

"How?" Roderick asked, "you will never make it to the temple, even with all your soldiers."

"We must get to the temple," Cassandra said, "it's the quickest route."

"But not the safest," Leliana added, "we can take a path through the mountains while our soldiers charge elsewhere."

"We lost contact with an entire squad up there," Cassandra frowned at Leliana, "it's too risky."

"Listen to me," Roderick pleaded, "abandon this now, before more lives are lost."

Pain shot through my hand as the Breach expanded again above us. I grunted at the suddenness, rubbing my hand and trying to mask how much it really hurt.

"How do you wish to proceed?" Cassandra asked me.

"You're asking me?" I was surprised. "You have the mark," Solas commented behind me. "And we cannot seem to agree," Cassandra stated, "so the decision falls to you."

I looked up at the mountain thinking. If I went straight for the temple, the people on the pass would be lost. But if I took the pass, soldiers would die to buy us time. I took a deep breath, and sighed. How do you choose how people will die? I wondered, Even if I don't know the people, this is just… wrong. A small pain shot through the mark again, reminding me we didn't have a lot of time.

I looked back at Cassandra. "I say we charge," I told her, "I don't know if I'll survive long enough to take the pass, not with this thing on my hand."

Cassandra nodded, turning to Leliana. "Bring everyone left in the valley," she commanded. Leliana nodded, heading for the gate. As we passed the Chancellor, he spoke.

"On your head be the consequences, Seeker."