Note: While I assume everyone reading this has played Inquisition, there will also be heavy Trespasser spoilers in this chapter. If you haven't played that yet be warned.

Taken from The Fade War by Solona Amell,

Published 9.57 DA. Republished 10.17 SA. University of Denerim Press

The mage governor of Kirkwall to nearly the end-stage of the Fade War was a Tevinter named Dorian Pavus, a man rumored to have experimented with temporal magic. These speculations are absurd for reasons far beyond the scope of this work. For more information see...

Pavus was a tragic figure in many ways. The only son of a high-ranking Tevinter magister he enjoyed a close relationship with his father for most of his life, until the latter's death in the opening battle of the rebellion of the slave Fenris, as well as the death of his good friend Gereon Alexius. When the former Magister Corypheus approached certain ranking mages of the dying Tevinter Imperium Pavus reluctantly agreed...

Despite his acceptance Pavus was reluctant to engage in open fighting against the Andrastian Chantry, and so was instead tasked with holding the city of Kirkwall. Pavus was noted after the war to have been an unswervingly fair governor, enforcing the draconian rules of the self-styled New Tevinter with little enthusiasm, in particular allowing the underground worship of Andraste despite great personal risk...

Chapter IX

Maxwell Trevelyan awoke in a dark and run-down looking building, which he rapidly realized was actually some sort of basement. He sat up, and immediately felt light headed again. He managed to shake it off and look around a bit. He was on a bed in a room with maybe a dozen others. They all looked old, and worn. Several were simply a mattress with a covering thrown over it.

Before he could stand up a young man looked in and called, "He's awake."

There was a bustle of activity from the other room, and Clark entered. He still looked as horrible as Trevelyan remembered seeing before he'd passed out. Now however he realized the man also had a cane which he was favoring over his right leg. With a sigh Clark fell onto the bed opposite Trevelyan's and sat upright in it before saying, "I imagine you must have a lot of questions." Seeing Trevelyan's look he said, "To start with the basics, as I said, this is the year 9.45, you are currently in an underground bunker in Kirkwall, where a mage attempted to resurrect his wife some twelve years ago. We've been based here for the past year, waiting for you to arrive."

"How did you know I was coming?" Trevelyan asked, he was still too shocked for much to register beyond that."

Clark smiled weakly, "Math. We worked out how much power Dorian put into that attack, matched it up with the energy generated by your mark, measured the ensuing Rift, and worked out the week you'd arrive. The calculations took the better part of two years actually."

Trevelyan hadn't really understood any of that, but he didn't want to say so. Finally, he asked, "Where is everyone?"

"My group is mostly outside. Its night, so things are relatively quiet. They are scavenging what can still be found in the city outside, and trying to avoid the vengeful ghosts that once were the inhabitants. Still, safer than the demons." Clark answered.

"I mean, Cassandra and Varric." Trevelyan said quietly. "I watched them die in the Rift, what happened."

Clark scowled, "They died. Everyone died." He looked Trevelyan in the eye and said, "I mean that. Everyone died. The city outside was massacred in one night when the enemy came. Cassandra and Varric were lucky, they died early, and didn't have to see the end of the world. Our forces were successful in taking the city, but we had to go on with all of you lost. We secured the surrounding area in the months following, and repelled a major attack.

"Then three months afterward Celene was assassinated in her own palace. Orlais collapsed into anarchy immediately. Turns out the rebels weren't as united as we'd thought. Two groups split from Arras in protest. Dozens of groups tried to seize the thrown, and the Empire fell apart. The violence spilled over into Nevarra, and the Nevarran king ordered his troops out of Antiva to contain it. Antiva collapsed a month later. Without Nevarra they couldn't field an army large enough to keep fighting. We kept going, but were steadily pushed back by the freed mage forces. Then, six months after Antiva collapsed King Alistair died without an heir. The apparent choice was Conner Guerrin, but the bannorn refused to follow a mage and they rebelled.

"We couldn't keep going and pulled most of our forces back across the Waking Sea. We managed to leave a small garrison behind, but they were wiped out when the mages assaulted Kirkwall. In Fereldan things spiraled out of control. Conner and his brother were both killed, and there simply was no other heir. The country tore itself apart for months before..." He sighed, "Before I ended the war. There were...weapons that I'd refused to use you see, horrible weapons. Gas mostly. Twenty-thousand men wiped out in one barrage in minutes. Half the banns were killed. But we had to do it. The mages were massing their fleet to attack."

He was clearly holding back tears as he continued, "They invaded in 9.42. We fought for every inch of ground, and we unleashed everything we could on them. The entire city of Amaranthine was turned into a massive bomb and detonated when the mages took it. But they were endless. Bethany...Bethany died in Denerim, she was killed by a Pride Demon in front of me. Leliana was captured in that same battle. Then, the Veil was ripped open again. We never figured out how Corypheus managed it. That was the final straw." He paused, as if thinking for a moment, then said, "How did that passage go? It's been so long. 'He opened the fourth seal. And I beheld a pale horse, and his name that sat upon him was Death. And Hell followed with him.' They swept across Thedas, killing God knows how many. I guess they kept going too, across the oceans and into the north and west. And then, Corypheus's backer revealed himself."

"Backer?" Trevelyan asked, startled at the idea.

"Oh yes," Clark mused. "One of the last people we would have suspected. An elven god apparently. The Dread Wolf."

"Elven god?" Trevelyan said, a bit dubious at that.

Clark nodded, "You've met him in fact." He looked Trevelyan in the eyes and said quite clearly, "Solas."

"Solas?" Trevelyan repeated, sure he must be mishearing.

"Oh yes." Clark said, the venom quite clear in his voice. "Corypheus is a pawn in a much larger plan. At the beginning of 9.43 we declared a truce with him, as it was clear we were both going to lose should Solas win." He sighed, "Didn't matter in the end though. I understand Corypheus is currently wearing Red Lyrium chains somewhere in that forest in Tevinter. Point is, we lost. We lost badly."

"Then it was all pointless," Trevelyan whispered. "I know I wasn't really chosen, but..."

"NO!" Clark said vehemently. "You are the only hope of fixing things. You didn't really think we put that much work into finding you out of kindness, do you?" He smiled again, "We're going to send you back. None of this will have happened."

"How?"

"Carefully," said a voice from behind him. He turned slightly to see Dorian Pavus leaning on the door.

"Problems?" Clark asked, seeing the other man.

Pavus nodded, "It seems the knife-ear worked out where we are. Probably found the magic from his arrival." He nodded to Trevelyan.

Clark sighed, "Gather everyone. We're going to have to try now. How long will the window last?"

"No more than two more days." Pavus said immediately. "Maybe not more than one. This isn't an exact branch of magic."

Clark frowned, then said, "We'll go in three hours. That should give us enough time before daylight to get back up to the Keep. Spread the word."

Pavus nodded again and left. As soon as he was gone Trevelyan asked, "Are you sure he can be trusted?"

Clark shrugged, "No, but he'll follow through. Dorian wanted to resurrect Tevinter, not destroy the world. He'll have to be dealt with when you arrive back in the past." He reached into a small bag and said, "I have something for that actually." After a moment, he pulled an odd pistol out of the bag and said, "This is called a revolver. The one I have in the past is broken, but we worked out how to fix it about a year and a half ago. You'll only have a few shots when you get back, so make them count." Clark stood and said, "We'll need to let you practice shooting on another weapon though. Come on, we have a bit of time."

Three hours later Trevelyan's hand was almost numb, and his ears were still ringing from the noise the weapon made in the confined space underneath Kirkwall. Clark appeared to be completely unbothered as he limped alongside. Finally, however it was time to surface. There were only about a dozen people in Clark's group. Each of them was carrying a long gun, like those used by the Fereldans. These however had a lever along the bottom, for reasons Trevelyan couldn't even begin to guess.

As he started to puzzle over it however Clark threw his cane away, then floated up in front of the rest of the group, before saying. "This has been a long time coming. Everyone here has lost everything they've ever cared about." There was some nodding from around Trevelyan at that, and he looked closer at everyone. Almost everyone was in their late twenties, and had scars from what was probably a half-dozen fights. More one was missing an ear, and two were missing fingers.

His attention snapped back as Clark said, "But today we end it. When Dorian performs his ritual, the elves will be wiped out, and the rest of the world can rebuild." Trevelyan frowned, that did not sound like the plan so far as he had been informed. "The Herald," Clark gestured to Trevelyan, "has been returned to us by the Maker in this darkest hour. By His holy light we shall prevail."

There came a muted cheer from the assembled men, then as one they said, "Let His will be done."

"On the earth as it is in heaven," Clark intoned. Then he reached for the trapdoor and said, "And up we go."

The trapdoor flung open, and Clark shot upward, apparently unconcerned about the lack of footing, or handholds. The others weren't quite so lucky. They grabbed onto a rickety ladder and climbed up one by one. Trevelyan came last, and he was greeted by a horrific sight. What had been Kirkwall was virtually gone. The building that had housed the underground complex had clearly been leveled at some point in the past, and the rest of Lowtown was the same. Here and there stood a pile of wood and stone that might have once been a building, but there was no evidence of a city. Looking farther he could see more ruins that once would have been Hightown, and sitting above that was the Keep. It was only half-standing.

Worse than that however was the sickly green glow that engulfed everything. It was the same color as the inside of the Rifts, then he guessed this was the Fade itself. As he looked around Trevelyan got the distinct impression that Clark's description had held back some of the details.

This wasn't another Rift, this was a world without a Veil at all. Though he thought to himself, Clark seemed to either not know or not care about the intricacies of the Fade, so he might just not realize it.

The group skulked through the city, avoiding any entrance to Darktown, which Trevelyan thought was odd. When he whispered that to a man beside him the man just shuddered and gestured for silence. Trevelyan obeyed, somewhat reluctantly, then heard shouting from up ahead. He heard Clark swear, and a moment later the man was in the air again, floating ahead of the group.

A moment later Clark said what sounded clearly like, "bang," and a noise like that of the pistol sounded. Then he was overhead and ordered, "They've found us. I killed the scouts, but they'll be out in force now. We need to go faster."

Without another word Clark was above a building, and there was another roar, this one far louder, and soon there were traces of smoke from ahead.

Ahead of him one of the men raised his gun, and fired. There was a sharp crack in the air, and the man worked the lever before continuing forward. They rounded one of the buildings leading into Hightown, and Trevelyan saw a ruined square that might once have been a market. Shattered remains of elves lay among the wreckage, and ahead he heard another explosion. A moment later there was a horrible crash, and as the group headed to the Keep they passed the building which had just been blasted to the ground.

Little by little they moved toward the castle, until finally they were at the base of the stairs. There was a small cheer from the men. They had almost made it. Half stayed at the base of the stairs, fanning out with their rifles, and the rest began upward. At a motion from Dorian, Trevelyan followed, but before he was halfway up a lightning bolt flashed out of the air, blasting two of the remaining six men were instantly killed, and the remainder died as more lightning struck around them.

Trevelyan dove for cover, and saw a tall figure descending from the clouds, and settling on the stairs above them. The figure was clearly an elf, and after a moment he turned his head in Trevelyan's direction, and Trevelyan recognized Solas. With an almost lazy gesture Solas incinerated all six men who had stayed on guard, even as they raised their guns to shoot at him.

"It's futile Maxwell," the elf called. "You didn't really think a force this pathetic could throw you back in time, did you? I've won already. Come out and let me end this." Trevelyan didn't move, but a moment later he felt an invisible force grab him by the arm and drag him back onto the stairs, then shoved him onto his knees in front of the elf. Less than a minute later Dorian joined him. The elf smiled darkly, then raised on finger, pointed it at Dorian's head and said, "Di…"

He was cut off as a beam of light flashed out of the city and struck Solas's hand. The elf yanked it back, but the damaged hand was already healing. He looked up, and said, "A little late aren't you."

"Not yet," Clark said from above them. "And we both know you can't kill them without me finishing you.

Solas stepped back, and said, "Too bad. I nearly killed you in Redcliffe, this time Mythal won't be here to save you." There was a roar of wind and Solas began to rise into the air.

Trevelyan looked up as Clark backed away. He could clearly be heard saying, "Saint Michael the Archangel, defend me in battle. Save me from…"

The rest of his words were drowned out as Solas lashed out at him, and the battle was joined. The tops of the walls surrounding the stair began to disintegrate as Dorian grabbed Trevelyan's arm and said, "Come on. We don't have long before those two rip the city apart."

Trevelyan snapped out of the sight, and began to run up the stairs, Dorian just behind him. As they reached the ruined doors of the Keep he looked back to where the two had been, and saw nothing but a swirling mass of smashed stone and metal from the surrounding area.

The pair raced inside, and Dorian was already fumbling with his amulet when they arrived back in the room the entire trip had started in. He began to work magic through the amulet, pushing power back into exactly the spot Trevelyan had been standing, and as he did so he finally gestured for Trevelyan to stand in the center of the mass of power. With a final word Dorian formed a seal around Trevelyan, and began to push with his magic.

There was a horrible noise from above them, and the last of the roof was swept away as Solas dove down onto them, but then the elf was gone, and Trevelyan found himself hurtling back through time. He watched the room come back into focus, saw the young Dorian raise a hand to point at Cassandra.

With a single motion Trevelyan raised his revolver, leveled it at Dorian, and as the last of the power faded, he fired.

A/N: On the matter of Dorian and his father, as I'm sure people will wonder: per my interpretation of Inquisition the attempt by Dorian's father to use blood magic was relatively recent (that is to say, sometime in the past decade), and so was after the initial Point of Departure from the story. Given the background of the two I do not see it as unlikely that his father with a small amount of prompting could have chosen to not attempt blood magic in an attempt to change Dorian to heterosexual. Thus, in the backstory for the Dorian in this story he was not estranged from his father, who instead was killed by Fenris's group. The same goes for both Alexius and Alexius's son.

Also, perhaps more importantly, I needed the temporal magic to happen similar to how it did in game.

As for the powers exhibited, according to my understanding of the game Solas is attempting to bring down the Veil that made the Fade and Thedas separate in the first place. Given the nature of the Fade this should mean that anyone with sufficient control over it/magical power should be able to pull off extraordinary feats, similar to those that William has displayed in previous stories, while within the Fade anyway. As will be shown later, that doesn't mean he necessarily HAS those powers while physically in the Fade in the main T/L. He learned to manipulate the Fade over the years since Solas ripped the Veil from the sky.

And in case anyone is curious, Corypheus was actually killed by Solas as part of the plan to bring the Veil down. The battle Solas is referring to happened just over a year and a quarter before this chapter. Redcliffe was pretty much the only major city in Fereldan (or Thedas really) left at that point, and Solas sent his forces to wipe it out, as it also had the only independent elf population by that point. He and William fought, Solas won, and Flemeth swooped in to battle him as well. She died, or was absorbed as she was in-game, but it gave William time to flee the city with a few survivors, and the prototype lever-action rifles that they hoped would change the tide of the war. None of those were sent back with Trevelyan because no one thought of it.