The three Inquisitors finally arrived at Skyhold, but as they made the long and grueling trip ,the Breach had become increasingly violent and Fade storms releasing lightning had struck the pathway they took. Multiple times did the three of them have to fight demons, sloth, despair, lust, and even pride being among them, but their might was enough to defeat the demons with little trouble. Now that they were at the outside gate of Skyhold, they had expected a full ensemble of demons waiting for them to protect the Reaper, but to their surprise, the entrance to Skyhold held no such army. The only challenge they faced was the closed gate, which could only be lifted from the inside. However, even if they could open the gate someone from this side, the loud creaking noise would alarm the Reaper immediately of their arrival.
They would have to climb over the ramparts.
"I'm guessing none of us has a giant ladder we can use?" Leo questioned half jokingly.
"No, but I can find us a way over the wall." Campbelin responded.
Campbelin set his equipment down and started tinkering with his items. Leo and Soleana looked on in amazement at what his tinkering had developed. Using some rope he always kept in case of tying some noble up back in his Carta days as well as some hooked blades he had, he was able to craft a hooked rope that they could attach to the other side of the wall.
"Will you do the honors?" Campbelin asked Soleana, jumping from the ground.
Soleana took the rope and spun it around multiple times. Leo and Campbelin took cover on the bridge ground to avoid accidentally getting hit by the sharp blades attached to the rope. After spinning the rope around a dozen times, Soleana used her strength to launch the hooked part of the rope across the wall as the two Inquisitors looked on in awe at her incredible display of power. After tugging the rope a couple of times to make sure it was tightly latched to the other side, Soleana looked at the two Inquisitors and gestured a hand motion that said After You.
"I'm not sure if the hook could take all three of us at the same time." Campbelin nervously chuckled. "I think it would be better if you went first and…"
"Pull you up while I do the hard part of balancing myself as I climb up the rope?" Soleana cut him off, crossing her arms while displaying an annoyed demeanor.
Campbelin nervously gave her a thumbs up, causing her to give out an annoyed sigh.
"Leo?" Soleana asked, looking at him for an interjection.
"We would really appreciate it, Soleana." Leo nervously smiled back.
"Fine." she groaned. "But you're holding my sword.".
After handing Leo her sword, which caused Leo to temporary stand unbalanced because of the unexpected weight, she started making her way up the rope. It took her around ten minutes to completely get on to the ramparts and nearly the entire time, Campbelin was chuckling at how wobbly she was while climbing the rope. Leo wouldn't dare laugh at her circumstance because he didn't want to get punched by her.
When she finally settled atop the ramparts, Soleana looked back down at Leo and Campbelin and gave them a good to go cue. Campbelin and Leo latched onto the rope, Campbelin slightly climbing up the rope to give Leo some space. A moment later, the two of them felt themselves being pulled up by Soleana.
"Halfway there!" Soleana claimed.
Just then, a group of wisps unexpectedly came swarming in on the rampart she was on. They didn't attack her, but their surprising arrival, caused her to nearly drop the hooked rope.
"What the hell was that?" Campbelin nervously questioned as the rope slightly dangled him and Leo side to side.
"Some wisps came by, but they're doing nothing." Soleana responded
She continued pulling up Leo and Campbelin, much slower than she previously did as to not make any sudden movements to accidentally stir the wisps the wrong way. It took her another minute to bring the two of them up three-quarters of the way and she tried testing her luck by pulling them up a little bit faster. The change in her body moments unfortunately caused the wisps to go crazy again, but this time Soleana closed her eyes to stay concentrated. A moment after closing her eyes however, the buzzing noise of their movements ceased and wondering where they went, her answer came in the form of the rope violently shaking.
Looking down at Leo and Campbelin, she saw them being surrounded by the wisps but none of the wisps attacked them. It was Campbelin's swaying around to avoid the wisps that caused the rope to violently swing.
"Get them away from me!" Campbelin squealed.
The two of them crashed several times into the wall almost causing them to lose their grip on the rope. Soleana seeing this started hauling them up faster than they thought possible. With one last display of strength, Soleana hauled them over several feet into the ramparts causing all of them to land on their backs. Soleana was the first to get to the ground and quickly looked over the ramparts to see the bothersome wisps venturing out into the Frostback Mountains. She turned back to face Leo who was slowly lifting himself from the ground, while Campbelin still laid on the ground trying to gather his breath.
"Are you serious!" Soleana said, bursting out in laughter at Campbelin.
Leo joined her with his own small chuckle as Campbelin finally lifted himself from the ground. He brushed off the dust from his clothes and stared at them, with slight annoyance, but after a moment, he was quick to let his annoyance go and joined them in laughter.
"What?" Campbelin said in-between laughter. "You know I don't like spirits.".
After a minute or two, the laughter stopped and they readied themselves to climb down the ramparts to head towards the main hall. Before leaving however, Soleana punched Campbelin in the arm.
"That's for laughing at me while I was climbing." Soleana explained walking away.
"Ow." Campbelin said, rubbing his arm.
He turned to Leo who simply shrugged and chuckled following behind Soleana.
Kaya stood before Solas in the throne room as he sat in the previous Inquisitor's throne. It was almost time for the ritual and Solas had wanted an answer from her. Whether she accepted or denied the ritual offer from him, he knew he needed to act soon performing the ritual or returning her home, respectively. Even though he needed an answer from her, his demeanor and body language didn't indicate such urgency.
"What will it be Kaya?" Solas asked in a calm voice.
Kaya diverted her eyes to the ground from his sharp gaze and kept her head low. She started saying a Dalish prayer, a prayer her Keeper encouraged her to recite whenever she needed to ask for forgiveness. Although Solas could barely hear her words, he was very familiar with such formalities that came with a prayer. He was definitely eager to hear her answer now. After thirty seconds, Kaya lifted her head and stared directly into the eyes of Solas.
"I am denying your offer." Kaya answered.
Slightly disappointed at her answer, Solas understood her decision and simply nodded.
"Then I ought to bring you back home." he responded calmly, lifting himself from the throne.
As he approached her, Solas took her hand, but she reluctantly pulled it away. Solas looked back at her confused.
"But I cannot let you do this." Kaya with determination. "Kill all the Inquisitors in the multiverse.".
Solas was taken aback, Kaya still staring at him without wavering.
"I give you the chance to continue your life and you still want to fight against me?" Solas responded.
"We don't have to fight and you don't have to continue your crusade." Kaya returned.
"I do, because in every universe it could've only been me to have restored the Inquisitor!" Solas returned, anger in his voice. "You don't understand.".
"I really tried to, but yes, I don't understand." Kaya sighed.
Solas returned with a sigh of his own.
"Then I will not regret this."
Solas quickly summoned mana and tried attacking Kaya with an intense blast of rift magic. Kaya rapidly conjured up a barrier spell, but the potency of Solas spell still caused her to slide back a couple of feet. Solas started sending multiple spirit bolts at Kaya and for the first half dozen of them, she was forced to step back to avoid getting hit by them, but after she had seen the pattern, she was able to dodge them and shoot back some of her own spirit bolts. With each exchange of spirit bolts, Kaya was able to get a step closer to Solas. Seeing how dangerously close Kaya was, Solas summoned a sizable amount of mana to launch a stonefist at her. Kaya carefully and gracefully spun around the attack and use her mana to utilize a Fade step to rapidly catch Solas off guard. Solas was fast to react and activated his own Fade step to meet her. The two of them were locked together, but unlike the first time they fought where their hands were locked together, now their staves were in stalemate. Solas made the first move to get out of the stalemate by pushing Kaya back and slamming his staff against hers. Kaya was forced down by Solas' attacks and in order to get out of the trap she summoned magic to transform the ends of her staff into a knight-enchanter blade. In between Solas' repeated attacks, Kaya quickly swung her staff up, staggering him back and swung her knight enchanter blade at him, giving him a small cut across his left cheek.
Solas stepped back and touch the cut and looked at his finger to see the blood.
Angered, Solas summoned the Pull of the Abyss ability behind Kaya, preventing her from moving. Knowing that she couldn't spare magic to dispel the spell, Kaya was forced to create another protective barrier as Solas launch more powerful spirit bolts at her. Although for a moment, the barrier seemed to hold up, she felt her mana wavering and knew she couldn't keep it up. Once the abyss disappeared, she was ready to attack Solas with her own spirit bolt, but as soon as she released her barrier, Solas released another augmented stonefist. The impact caused her to fly all the way back near the opened main hall's doors. Solas impatiently started launching more potent spirit bolts at Kaya as she laid on the ground, but Kaya's adrenaline rushed in and enabled her to activate the Aegis of the Rift, temporarily protecting her as she tried to gather her strength again.
"You will die and be remembered as a traitor to your comrades!" Solas taunted, viciously launching more spirit bolts. "At least before I go back and eliminate them too.".
Kaya tried standing back on her two feet to augment the Aegis a little longer, but as she tried to lift herself from the ground, she slowly fell back down. All she could do now was looked up at the weakening Aegis. As she was ready to meet on the full force of Solas' magic, the Aegis magically reconstructed itself. A moment later, she felt herself being lifted up from the ground. She looked up to her saviors and saw Leo and Campbelin helping her to her feet while Soleana held up the Aegis.
"You...you came for me." Kaya whispered, struggling to smile.
"Of course we did." Leo smiled back.
"I'm sure glad you weren't a traitor after all." Campbelin snorted.
Kaya nodded and tightly gripped her staff.
"We're stronger than ever now!" Kaya screamed across the room to Solas as the spirit bolts stopped.
Solas angrily gritted and pulled his hood over his head.
"The four of you are still not enough to stop me!" the Reaper responded.