(Maven)
"You're doing it again." Dorian's smug observation snapped me from my daze and I glanced back to see him looking at Odessa. I was thankful that most of them seemed to have run out of their usual line of questions about Drusilla and I, it made for more comfortable traveling.
Even with the Western Approach as large as it was, it still took some time to get people here to scout the place and I have a feeling Leliana had lost some on the way. It was probably those sections of refuse pools. That's what my twin and I had taken to calling them. The burning blighted bodies and polluted water…
I caught a slightly too defensive 'what are you talking about?' from our elven leader and Dorian only beamed at how easy she had made things for him.
"You. Staring off into the unknown. Thinking about a certain mage, perhaps?"
"I can't always think of you, Dorian. I would be forever heartbroken." She was so quick! Drusilla let out an approving cackle and met my mirthful gaze. I also felt just the tiniest bit guilty for being glad that our companions were back to their Lavellan focus.
With all that was going on around us, how could someone's love life be so interesting in comparison? I knew the answer, though. It was an easy diversion that didn't give you a hangover in the morning. Speaking of…I glanced at Drusilla again but she seemed no worse for wear.
"My, how tactful you've become. Bravo, my lady."
"I got my fill of this Game nonsense but bantering with you is so very enjoyable. My life is usually the last thing I am worried about, then. It's just you getting me to spill about everything that worries me."
"I hear it helps if you try not to look at my face- or hear my voice. Wait…"
Of course Blackwall was with us and we were about to meet up with Hawke and Logaine. I found myself worried for neither.
Bull and Varric were also along for the ride and I was steadily getting used to the variation of team numbers Odessa worked with. It was becoming less and less difficult to see this place passed its in-game version.
"This is all going to be demon binding, Warden sacrifices, and some shitty ass Venatori. Erimond will try to control your Mark. Just do your thing. He won't see it coming and he makes the funniest fucking face as he limps off." Drusilla murmured to Odessa as we neared Hawke and Warden Logaine.
"Sounds fun…"
"Like a Tuesday…" She had always wanted to use that line.
"Yes, exactly." Anytime either of us could get a laugh or a smile out of Odessa Lavellan was a tiny treasure because we may know the possibilities, but we weren't leading this shit.
"So, why are the Wardens being made to bind demons?" Blackwall spoke for the first time and Drusilla and I probably shared a wince.
"Corypheus is building a demon army…" Drusilla started.
"And Wardens, namely Warden mages are best for that,which is why most of the Warden mages will be lost to us when it comes time to fight."
"You're saying some might see reason?" Hope flashed in Odessa's eyes.
"They will at least see us as a refuge, a place where they will not have to worry about dying just so a demon can be bound to a mage." I sighed, glaring at the steps.
"Do you think we could...kill Erimond?"
All eyes turned to Drusilla and she rolled her eyes.
"Think about it. We have all of his info." She began, moving her index between herself and me."All he's going to try doing is fucking kill everyone here with his bound wardens and there are no warrior ones up there to save. He's a Venatori and I vote electrocution." She shrugged at the end and her face was passive. It was like she was talking about surviving a day at work without coffee.
Yet it made sense.
"You want to save Clarel…"
"I mean, sure, if we can. No matter the outcome, the Wardens need a leader and she is their go to." Then she was already making her way up the steps. What was going on?
We followed her up and I saw her hands sparking a little. Since when? How much had changed in her since the Winter Palace? She rarely studied at home anymore. Not that I would really know. Lately, I have been spending all my free time either training or with Cullen.
I was such a horrible big sister…
I half expected her to try and walk through the Wardens, trusting them to not move without orders from their unbound leader, but she waited and probably did a headcount.
"Can we go on the offensive, please? His voice grates on my nerves and there are only like five demons here and they're almost all either wraiths or ragey."
That's when I remembered why she was targeting Erimond and just wanted to kill him. She wanted to test her theory from over a month ago.
"Maven, what's going on with your sister?" Hawke asked, voice a contradiction to her posture. If Drusilla posed a threat to them, she would be put down, but this was an easily diffused situation.
"You heard her. She wants to kill Eri-dammit." She had walked in and Erimond had ordered action, so we were all in it now. While we fought demons and warden mages, she beelined for Erimond. That was also strange. Normally, she wouldn't waste time killing demons.
She was saving her energy…
"What in the world are y-" Was all I heard before her fist connected with his face. Then she wrapped her hand around his throat but not in an attempt to strangle him. Things were quiet for a few seconds until I heard what sounded like seizing.
What was she doing? I turned to flank a final warden mage to see her with her work face on. That was rarely a good sign. What was worse were the bags under her eyes. She sat next to the now lifeless body of Erimond. How had she killed him?
True to my recollection earlier, she placed her hands on his chest and abdomen and began the surges.
"What is she doing?" Dorian inquired and, for once, I was amused about who was asking.
"She's bringing him back."
"But she never trained in necromancy. She's studying Knight Enchanting and none of that involves whatever it is she is trying to do." His words became background as I watched her lips move. It was like she had fallen asleep and she was reenacting a scene back home. I could almost hear the word "ccs" before she slammed a surge of electricity into his nervous system.
Again and again until the fifth times, Erimond wheezed and coughed with eyes wide and wild.
"Fasta vass…" Dorian uttered under his breath and I couldn't gauge his mood for once.
"Wait!" She was going to kill him again, I saw it as she was reaching towards him. I was right when I saw her pause.
"What?"
"Don't kill him again."
"Why not?" Then she actually seemed too be thinking.
"What in the-" In a rushed motion, Drusilla knocked him out with her staff like a Disney princess with a frying pan.
"So he can send a message to Corypheus? Fear the freaky twins who know things?"
"Yes!"
"But! The Fade…" She trailed off meekly.
"What about it?"
"I don't want to physically go there. You know what happens!"
"Not to intrude on your darling little argument but what just happened?" Hawke wasn't a mage, so her question made a lot of good sense here.
"Entropic magic. Then she brought him back with a precise discharge of lightning magic from her hands to reawaken his nervous system." Dorian seemed to have caught on before anyone else and stood in a daze. The most vigilant daze I have ever seen a person be in.
"Yeah, sure. I would have kept him dead because the idea of having Clarel around is nice. It would be easier to talk her into joining us that way. But noooooo. Let things move accordingly, she says. Let Corey get his red crystaly ass in a twist. If you haven't noticed, sis, it has been that way. Why do you think he's pulling this shit?" She gestured around herself.
"He also has his hands on a very powerful magic orb." I pointed calmly amidst her raid. My voice bordered on scolding and she gave another half-hearted shrug.
"I still think he would have been one less Venatori asshole to worry about." She pouted as she shoved him awake before she stood.
"You know where they're stationed?" Hawke sighed, still smiling. She looked about as tired as Drusilla.
"Adamant Fortress." We both answered. It was only after the words left our mouths that I realized how solemn we sounded.
"Ready when you are." There was a pause where looks and nods were exchanged. Drusilla looked as tense as I felt as we continued on.
"When we arrive, Cullen and the Inquisition army will need the battlements cleared. Demons will be everywhere. You want the highest chance of success with the lowest possible number of casualties, then that is the way to go. The battlements can be a maze, so I can point the way if needed." Then I turned to my sister.
"When did you learn that?"
"I've been experimenting with magic and it's limitations, lately. The way I see it, if my healing magic came so easily to me because of my extensive knowledge of the human body, then so could anything else on the opposing side of the spectrum."
"You really shut down all of his organs?"
"Nah, mostly just his brain. The music is backwards."
"The song you hear when magic is used?"
"Yeah. It's getting easier, but I only plan to learn everything I can about healing and knight enchanting."
"Have you been getting enough sleep?"
"Most nights." She shrugged but there was a shortness behind it. It was just like when she was a doctor in our world. Same Q&A, though, so it was a mild comfort. Just one of those good things that melted away to dread once we reached Adamant and all the madness ensued. I tried to keep my eyes on Cullen.
This was where he truly thrived. It was just like chess but 3D with real live people and the Commander cherished every piece despite knowing he would lose men in this battle. Stern faced even as Odessa told him to not take any risks. Warden Logaine would watch our backs.
The familiar words caused a trickle of comfort that just barely clouded out all the death going on around us. It was already worse than our losses at Haven, in my eyes. Cullen and I matched gazes and I was speechless for a moment. I had never seen him look so scared here. His expression had softened to putty at the realization that he wouldn't be going with us. Drusilla would have winked at him, sending all her confidence and good humor into the single gesture, but I didn't work like that. I also was not the type to kiss a man before battle in front of so many others. So I just nodded as guilt accumulated in my gut, building and building until it was at the back of my throat. He wasn't going to like what was about to happen. Maybe I should have let Drusilla kill Erimond…
We were thrown into the fray.
"Drusilla! How many more times can you do what you did to Erimond?" Odessa asked over her shoulder.
"Not many. It takes focus and I wasn't planning on using it more than once today. I also need contact. Doesn't have to be skin but it can't be metal. Not sure how it would work on demons if it would work at all. It should be used as sparingly as your rifty hand."
"Will we be fighting anything other than demons here?"
"Just the mage wardens under Corypheus's control."
"And we're going into the Fade?"
"Yup."
"All of us?"
"Yup and we won't even be sleeping."
The next time we saw Erimond, he was standing near Clarel and looked much more shaken than in the game cutscenes. Within the next few minutes, we had the seed of doubt planted in Clarel's. Her faith in Erimond's bullshit was getting lower and lower and now the man was on the run again as an archdemon flew overhead.
Then the Pride demon was through and we had to act fast. Drusilla and I left the Pride demon to the pros. They knew how it worked by now and we stuck to the Wraiths.
"Clarel will die if we don't hurry. She might die anyways." I tell Odessa.
"Erimond?"
"Archdemon. Then the bridge breaks, killing Clarel, and sending the rest of us into the Fade." We would be too late. There was no way we would be able to move faster than a dragon.
I was right and I hated how right I was as we all fell into the glowing rift that saved us all from death.
"So this is the Fade…" Hawke mused, her tone none too comfortable.
"Not what I remember, either." Dorian started.
"Yes, sharing grapes with a desire demon before he tried to possess you. We know." If Hawke was uncomfortable, Drusilla was about to throw up. She was sickly pale even as we all wound up standing on the same floor. Neither of us was prone to vertigo or dizzy spells? What was worrying her? She knew how things here went.
"How did you kn-wait, nevermind." Ah, he was catching on. The wave of companions voicing their dislike of the new situation passed through everyone and Odessa was still asked if this was like her last time here.
She didn't remember, of course.
"Well, that's about to change. Come on, I hate this place about as much as the rest of you, but it is necessary."
"Are my memories of the last time I was here...still here?"
"Yeah…" Drusilla conceded. As we continued on, a familiar figure came into view.
"By the Maker, could that be?" Logaine reminded us of his presence here and I raised my head to see the spirit of the Divine herself as she greeted Logaine and Hawke.
"To save some time and talk. That is the spirit of Divine Justinia. She is here to actually help us and I think that's enough to rule her out as a demon. She's going to be our guide of sorts through this...place. Guide you to where you can get your memories of your last visit here."
"Why can't you just tell me what happened?" Odessa asked us and we shook our heads.
"It is not the same."
"Plus…" Drusilla sighed, somewhat defeatedly. "We have to be here to destroy the hugeass Nightmare demon sending out the false Calling. It feeds on fear."
"I would gladly avenge the insult this Nightmare dealt my brethren." Warden Logaine declared without raising his voice.
"You will have your chance, Brave Warden. This place of darkness is its lair." The spirit may have been on our side, but it didn't mean her voice and presence gave me any comfort.
"So, I literally have to fight for my memories?" Odessa seemed to find mild amusement in this, but pulled out her great axe, nonetheless.