Chapter 21: The Temple
It was only a few days after the wedding that Empress Celene's best friend and confidant, Morrigan the arcane mage, arrived at Skyhold, bearing unfortunate news.
"What is it?" asked Obsinion.
"Corypheus." Morrigan replied. "He is after something in the Arbor Wilds."
Faize, who had been in the meeting, suddenly grabbed at the medallion that pinned his cloak. "Mythal." he whispered.
"There is a temple there that was once the worshiping place for the Elven God Mythal." said Morrigan.
Iron Bull put an arm around his beloved Faize, trying to soothe the Elf's fears. "It'll be alright. We'll go kick that Corypheus ass out of there, alright?"
Faize nodded. "Thank you." He looked back at his brother. "Come with us, Obsinion. This is part of our heritage they're attacking."
Obsinion could see the conviction in his brother's eyes. "Alright. We'll march on the Arbor Wilds. Keep Corypheus busy while we find out what it is he's looking for in that Temple."
Iron Bull nodded, reaching over and grabbing Solas. "You're a mage; you're tagging along. Besides, being one of those Apostate-things, you might know something."
Solas didn't look too happy about being dragged along, but agreed.
"Sure this was a good idea?" Obsinion asked, observing his brother as the younger skittered over the tree branches.
"I'm just glad he didn't get a fear of those things after that burn." Iron Bull replied as he followed.
"Coming down." Faize slipped down into the waiting arms of his Iron Bull. "There are a few camps scattered around, but the Temple is that way." He looked at Obsinion. "Corypheus is there, along with a few Grey Wardens."
"We'd getter get moving." said Obsinion. The small group headed for the Temple, only to spot the figure of Corypheus as he attempted to get in. Some sort of device for repelling Darkspawn activated, destroying the creepy Magister.
"That looked almost to easy." said Faize as they walked past the broken device and the burnt remains.
"I'll agree." said Solas.
Suddenly, the body of a deceased Grey Warden moved.
"What?" asked Obsinion.
Red Lyrium crystals began to come out of the flesh near the face.
"Run! Get inside!"
They didn't need to be told twice. The group ran for the doorway, turning to close it. Through the crack, just before the door closed, they saw the face of Corypheus, as though he had never been destroyed.
"That's unnerving." said Faize.
"Apparently any Blighted creature can be a host for him." said Solas. "Or Grey Warden."
"Glad we didn't bring Blackwall." said Obsinion. He sighed when he saw a raised platform ahead of them, with a statue standing in the center. "Faize, we don't have the time to . . ."
There was a rumble from further in the temple, and Faize hopped off the platform. "I love puzzles." he grinned.
"What did you do?" asked Solas.
"Opened the door." Faize replied. "These things are puzzles. They are rights of passage, to test if you are worthy to see Mythal."
"But she died." Solas returned. "I saw it through the Fade."
"Doesn't matter." said Faize. "They told me Mythal watches over me, and I will not anger her by bypassing the rituals."
"But Corypheus . . . " started Obsinion.
"Let him do the damned rituals." said Iron Bull. "That thing can't get through that door, and will need to find another way in. We've bought a little time."
"Only a little." Obsinion replied. "We don't have the luxury of playing these games!"
Faize sighed, walking ahead of them into the next room. There were three rooms from here, and a sealed door. Before Obsinion and the others could argue their way into a circle and let Corypheus ahead of them, he darted into one of the side rooms and looked the floor puzzle over. "This way, this way, three this way, change the switch . . ."
"Faize! Where are you now?" Obsinion called.
"And done." Faize walked back out into the main room. "Next puzzle."
Obsinion groaned as they followed Faize through another door into another puzzle room. "Be quick about it."
"I don't like puzzles any more than you." said Iron Bull. "But look at his face. He's just dancing over those pads as they light up. He really enjoys puzzles like this."
"Done." Faize hopped off the pads. "One left." He led them to the third room, and Obsinion's face nearly dropped.
"This one's huge." he said. "We'll never get it . . . what are you doing, Faize?"
"Walk beside me." Faize said, holding Obsinion by the arm.
Solas and Iron Bull watched as Faize guided Obsinion with him across the pads, finishing the puzzle rather quickly.
"See?" Faize asked as he and Obsinion hopped off. "Now we can properly reach whatever Corrypheus was after."
Beyond the once-sealed door was a set of floating rocks that led up to a pool. Standing near this pool was an ancient Elf.
"What need have you of Vir'Abelasan(the Well of Sorrows)?" the Elf asked.
"A great evil, Corypheus, seeks to take this well." said Faize. "Please, tell us what it does?"
"It the collective knowledge of those of us that follow Mythal." He spotted the medalion on Faize's cloak. "A fellow follower?" he asked.
"They said when I was born, Mythal was watching over me." Faize replied.
"Know this: If you drink from the well, all the knowledge collected will be passed to you, and you will become a servant of Mythal."
"I already try to do my best." Faize replied.
"Then make your choice. We, the caretakers of this Temple, will go to try and stop this monster that knocks at our door."
Faize looked at Morrigan, who had gone ahead of them and now stood near the well. "Back off." he said.
Obsinion was startled by his brother's boldness. "Faize?"
"This well is our heritage, Obsinion. She has no right to it's knowledge." Faize looked at his brother. "We should be the ones to take the knowledge here."
Iron Bull held Solas back. "Let them." he said.
"You wouldn't know what to do with the knowledge." Morrigan spat.
"We'll figure it out." Faize replied. He looked again at Obsinion. "Come on. It's time we finally got back some of our history."
The pair of Elves stepped into the pool, hearing whispers around them. Together, they cupped some of the water into their hands and drank.
The well exploded, in a grand upwards splash that came down and seemingly was absorbed into the pair of Elves that now lay out cold on the basin floor.
For Fiaze and Obsinion, it was a different matter. They were standing in the dark, grey and blue wisps floating around them, whispers flooding their ears.
"Where am I?" asked Obsinion.
"Mythal?" Faize asked.
Everything went black.
The pair of Elves blinked awake, but the whispers remained. Strange symbols covered their faces, arms, and hands. Faize held his head in frustration, while Obsinion spotted a worse problem.
Corypheus had managed to get into the temple.
There was a large mirror-like object behind Vir'Abelasan, and somehow in his panic, Obsinion managed to open it, or at least that's what Morrigan managed to shout out as they ran towards it. It was a good thing it was 'open', because only seconds after they got through, the mirror behind them shattered, closing off the only chance Corypheus had of chasing them.
Morrigan activated another of the mirror-portals, and they stepped through. Almost immediately, the two Lavellan passed out, lying limply across the floor.
"Come on, love." said a soft voice. "I'm not going to have that healer tend to you forever."
Obsinion groaned, putting a hand up to shield his eyes from the sunlight that shone over him. "Cassandra?"
"Who else here would call you love?" she asked.
"How long have I been out?" he asked, pushing himself up to sitting.
"A week." Cassandra replied. "You were talking. A lot. It didn't seem to make any sense, but I took notes anyway after Morrigan said you and Faize drank from something called 'the Well of Sorrows' and gained some kind of knowledge."
Obsinion looked over a his beloved wife. She was without her armor, it no longer fit properly, and thus was wearing her normal clothes she often had on underneath that simple curass. To the unknowing, she was just not wearing the armor; to Obsinion, he could see the not-so-slight swell that made wearing the curass impossible. "How bad was I babbling?" he asked, spotting the stack of notes on the table.
"A lot." she replied. "Mostly about Blighted creatures and the ability to move freely from one creature to the next."
"If I was babbling this bad, was anyone taking notes from Faize?" Obsinion asked, finally getting up and checking the notes. Most of it seemed to be jibberish, half-sentences that didn't tell anyone much of anything. A few times his words were spattered with begging or pleading for his dear Cassandra to be alright, and it made him glad she'd been the one taking the notes.
"Yes." Cassandra replied. "Iron Bull himself was supposed to be taking the notes, so we might need a translator for them."
There was a knock at the door.
"Come in." said Obsinion. "Leliana, what is it?"
"Firstly, I'd like to scold you, Cassandra."
"For what?"
"You honestly thought you could hide it from me?" she asked. "The fact that your pregnant?"
Cassandra sighed. "And this is why you are the spymaster." she said. "And I had hoped."
"Don't worry, I know how to keep secrets."
"I know." said Cassandra.
"I also came to let you know Faize is up, or at least at knee level."
"What's wrong?"
"He's been ill ever since waking." Leliana replied. "It's got Iron Bull worried, but Solas keeps dismissing anything we might ask about. I think he knows something."
Obsinion turned slightly, his eye catching on the Dalish book he'd found with Faize and Solas the one day, about five or six weeks ago. "The Dalish book of Arcane Magic." he whispered, carefully opening the old binding. Several pages had been marked, and seemed all out of place. A recipe for a Rune. Another on how to make chalk. White chalk, to be specific. There was another on how to make scented candles, and another for Dalish celebration paint. He paused.
"What is it?" Cassandra asked.
"Leliana, do you know of anything that would require a Rune stone?"
"Any specific one?" she asked.
"Yeah, one for Life, and the giving thereof."
"Is something wrong?" asked Cassandra.
"There's a page torn from this book, subtly, like someone was trying to hide something." Obsinion replied. "The other pages marked involve the crafting of said Rune, candles, chalk, and Dalish celebratory body paint."
"Sounds odd." said Leliana.
"Also sounds like how I found him, just before . . ." Obsinion suddenly turned. "Where is Faize now?"
"Dowstairs. They were supposed to be heading for the War Room, to compare the relative parts of the notes gathered while you two were asleep." Leliana replied. She looked at Cassandra. "Also, I was asked to warn you that the Chantry has decided it will be either you or I that becomes the next Divine."
"You can have it." said Cassandra. "I'm not leaving Obsinion just to become the next Divine. Besides, she is not allowed family."
Leliana nodded.
Obsinion quickly made his way down to the War Room, spotting Faize leaned against Iron Bull almost immediately. "You lied to me." he said, looking at his brother.
"Hmm?" Faize covered his mouth again, swallowing. "What are you talking about?"
"A month and a half ago, when I found you in the Undercroft. Solas said it was nothing, that he was just helping you with something. You said it was for Iron Bull, to make you stronger. You lied."
Faize shifted nervously. "Can we not talk about it here?" he asked.
"There's only you, me, and Iron Bull here right now. What did you do?"
Faize swallowed, but said nothing.
"Faize, I need to know what you did that is making you so sick right now."
Faize began to fiddle with his fingers down in his lap, but still said nothing. He wasn't even looking at Obsinion anymore.
Iron Bull put an arm around him. "It's alright. I will always be at your side, Kadan, no matter what." he assured.
"Even after what I did?" Faize asked. There was a waver in his voice. "What I asked Solas to help me do?"
"The vows were for eternity, Faize." said Iron Bull as he tilted his lover's face up to look at him. "I made you cry enough. I will stay with you forever."
Faize reached into his pocket and pulled out the torn page. "I heard about what would happen to you at the turn of seasons." Faize said. "And you'd taught me enough Qunari to know how to read it. I looked for an answer, and found one." He handed the page to Obsinion, tears running down his face. "I'm sick because of something I did, and something . . . we did."
Obsinion looked at the page, a sigh escaping him. "You know this is borderline blood magic, right?"
"It's why I asked Solas. Lotus turned me down after I said it involved magic. I knew Vivienne would just laugh at me, and Dorian has a big mouth. So I turned to the Apostate, asking him to keep it a secret, since it wasn't even guaranteed to work."
"What is it?" Iron Bull asked.
Faize finally stopped wringing his hands, sighing. This was never a good sign, since it usually meant he was about to go shoot something. "It's nothing." he said, standing and walking out of the room.
"Nothing my ass." said Obsinion. He handed the page to the Iron Bull. "Be careful with him, ok? There a good chance, if this magic worked, that he's pregnant." He turned and followed Faize.
The Elf actually wasn't shooting anything when Obsinion found him. He was sitting in one of the pens, hugging his poor Halla. And he was crying.
"Faize?"
"Go away."
"Faize, I was worried about you." said Obsinion.
Faize sighed, letting the Halla wander off to the other side of the pen. "Just go away." he repeated. It was obvious he was crying.
"I'm not leaving."
"You ruined everything." Faize said. He wiped his nose on his sleeve. "I was going to wait, see if it was true. But you just had to ruin it, didn't you?"
Obsinion leaned on the side of the fence into the pen, spotting Faize leaned on the side, hand on his lower abdomen. "I'm sorry. I just got so worried when Leliana said you were getting sick. And I noticed a page missing from that book, and all the other pages you'd marked."
Faize just stayed where he was. "Don't pull me from active duty, please?"
"But Faize . . ."
"I'm not a doll to be dusted every so often."
"Cassandra said the same thing." Obsinion said. "And she's not on active duty anymore."
"I'm an archer, alright? And it hasn't even been confirmed or denied yet. At least grant me my freedom until then."
Obsinion sighed. "Faize, I'm worried about you, alright? Iron Bull is, too. I won't have you acting recklessly, ok?"
There was no answer, and Obsinion looked over to see Faize had dozed off, having cried himself into exhaustion. Slipping into the pen, he felt along his brother's thin body, pausing at the lower abdomen. There was some swelling, and it made Obsinion worry. But Faize wanted to still have his freedom, while he still could, and Obsinion wasn't going to be the one to take it away, not yet. Let his husband argue with him on that subject. Carefully, he picked his brother up and carried him back to the War Room, depositing said Elf into the lap of the male Qunari.
"Here, hold. Don't let him leave." he said.
"Something wrong with him?" asked Lotus.
"I pissed him off." Obsinion replied. "And his poor Halla paid for it with a very wet pelt."
"He killed it? But I thought he loved that Halla." said Rose. "Oh." she rubbed her expansive belly. She would be having her child any day now.
"It's just soaked in tears." Obsinion clarified. "His Halla is about as stubborn as his husband."
Iron Bull did not look pleased to be compared to the Halla, but gently tilted Faize's face so he was leaning on him.
"Now, then, about those notes . . ." started Obsinion.