So I think Corypheus might actually be a Scooby-Doo villain... "And I would've gotten away with it, too, if it hadn't been for these meddling kids!"
He Who Would Be God
Nani paused just outside the Chantry, looking over her shoulder at Cassandra, Blackwall, and Sera, who'd agreed to follow her out here on her risky, seemingly suicide mission to bury Haven under a load of snow and rock.
"We can't draw all the attention to the trebuchet," she said. "They'll swarm us and take us down. Cassandra, Blackwall, I need you both to be as loud as possible and lure any Templars away from the trebuchet. Sera and I can sneak over there and get that crank turned. Once you think it's time, get into the Chantry. Don't worry about me."
"Are you certain?" Cassandra asked, tight worry lines around her eyes. "You will not be protected as well as you should be."
"We should be standing with you, mi'lady," Blackwall agreed. The older Warden's beard already had bits of blowing snow stuck in it, little white drops in a sea of black. He brushed a gauntleted hand through it, smoothing out the flakes of snow.
"We'll be fine," Nani insisted. "Sera and I can stay hidden on our way over there. And we'll be more effective if we aren't noticed."
"We'll just take 'em out with arrows!" Sera added, an oddly enthusiastic grin on her face. It seemed, for her, that the prospect of shooting things was enough to outweigh the possibility of death. "Those tits won't see us coming."
No, they wouldn't – a skilled rogue in stealth could do unparalleled amounts of damage. Nani had briefly considered enlisting a mage's aid, but her brother, the only mage she knew who could sneak nearly as well as her when he had the desire to, couldn't even walk. And if a Templar hit any of the mages with a spell purge, they'd be rendered useless. It had to be two rogues for such a delicate task, and Nani knew Sera was up to the challenge.
"We will draw them off you, then," Cassandra said. "Maker be with you."
"Creators guide you," Nani answered, stepping away.
"Blah, blah, Creators blah. What nonsense." Sera made a fart noise with her mouth and followed.
I'm going to regret bringing Sera, aren't I? Nani thought to herself, sneaking to one of the ruined wooden buildings and pressing her back flat against the wall. Sera followed suit. The girl was a fantastic archer, no doubt about that, but she seemed to despise all things Dalish; Nani, who adored all things Dalish (much more so than Finn, even) didn't see her and Sera having any sort of closeness in their future.
But it didn't matter much. Nani wasn't in the Inquisition to get chummy.
The great black dragon circled overhead like a vulture searching for carrion, its wings stirring the loose snow around Haven even from way up in the sky where it was. Every so often it let loose a high, keening screech that made Nani's ears feel like they were about to rip open.
She waited for the sounds of Blackwall and Cassandra engaging in battle, waited for the dragon to turn its head away, and rushed for the cover of the next building.
And that was the manner in which she approached the wall surrounding Haven, and the last trebuchet just within – waiting, holding her breath, sprinting whenever there was a good opportunity, her ears constantly honed in on the sounds of Templars rushing towards Cassandra and Blackwall up the hill. The frigid wind bit into the exposed skin on her face and neck and hands, the snow felt gritty and cold beneath her feet. Whenever she got too close to a burning building, the fires licked at her, singeing her even from a few inches away. She ignored it, gritting her teeth and focusing her eyes on the trebuchet.
All she and Sera had to do was turn it, then fire it on the mountainside. Then they'd make a mad sprint for the Chantry and get through the doors, Creators willing. Nani wouldn't need anyone there to show her the path out; she could track the footprints of the people who went before her.
She waited, staring at the trebuchet, crouched in the snow against a low retaining wall. There were two Templars blocking her path to the trebuchet, both armed with wicked-looking steel swords and tower shields. Very likely these two had been instructed to guard the trebuchet and hadn't followed the noise to where Cassandra and Blackwall were.
Nani nodded at Sera, then gestured silently at the Templar on the right. Sera grinned, pulling an arrow from the quiver at her back and getting it ready to fire; Nani aimed her own arrow at the Templar on the left, steadying herself.
She took a deep breath and held it, making herself as perfectly still as possible – it was a trick she'd learned from one of the older hunters. The rising and falling of one's diaphragm could disrupt a good shot, she knew, and cause one's hands to waver. And if she missed this shot, she'd be exposed.
With a sharp twang she released her arrow from the string. It cut cleanly into the left Templar's throat, piercing one of the only non-armored parts of his body. Sera fired not even a second later, her arrow thwacking into the right Templar's forehead.
The two bodies fell to the ground, slowly, tipping over like felled trees, the snow somewhat muffling the metallic crashing of their armor and weapons.
"Bits up, face down," Sera said triumphantly. She looked over at Nani. "Hey – you're a pretty good shot, yourself."
"I have to be," Nani said, stretching out just a bit so she could peek back and forth and deduce if anyone was nearby.
Nothing passed between her and the trebuchet but the icy wind.
She dove for it, rolling back to her feet when she hit the ground. In the distance, she could still hear Cassandra and Blackwall fighting. Good – she didn't want them to lose their lives just to draw the focus off her and Sera.
Not wasting any time, she gripped the wooden crank in her freezing, nearly numb fingers and hauled it to the left. The trebuchet groaned and protested as it swiveled just a bit in the intended direction. Sera grabbed a couple of the other spokes on the crank and helped Nani turn it – the girl was surprisingly strong, for her size. The trebuchet shuddered and turned, inch by agonizing inch, and Nani's breaths were coming loud and fast as she pulled.
It shook to a stop, aimed up at the mountainside above, and Nani straightened her back, expelling a sharp breath.
"Be ready to run," she warned Sera. "The avalanche is going to pick up speed fast."
She reached a hand for it, took a deep breath.
But just as she was about to cut the trebuchet loose and fire on the mountainside, the black dragon roared, shaking the earth below as it swooped down towards them. Curses, they'd have to dodge out of the way and hide before they could fire the damn thing; Nani was just able to yell a "get out of the way!" at Sera before the dragon spat a torrent of fire on them.
Nani dodged, the flames clawing at her armor. She rolled back to her feet, made ready to run…
…and was immediately blown sideways by an exploding fireball.
The earth spun, whirled, throwing Nani onto her back and knocking the air out of her lungs. Her vision faded to psychedelic pinpricks of color for a moment, fizzling back into reality as she managed to suck in a strangled breath. She turned her head to the side, squinting, straining to see through the wall of flames.
Something was coming towards her.
No – someone. And not Sera; Nani couldn't see or hear her anywhere. The towering figure strode straight through the fire, coming into crisp view, and Nani's heart squeezed its way up into her throat.
It – he – was a monstrosity.
He must've been three times her height, if she was any judge. His abdomen was a rotted, gaped open mess of exposed ribs and sinew and the bloodied red of wet muscle; all over his body red lyrium shards jutted out like cancerous growths, especially on his head, where they'd completely parasitized one side of his scarred face. His arms were nearly skin and bone, shoulders covered by black, scaly pauldrons. But his eyes were the worst – piercing, intense, so full of hate that Nani found herself fixed to her spot in the snow.
She knew instantly that the Elder One had reached her at last.
Get up, she urged herself. Get up! RUN!
It was all she could do to struggle to her feet, forced to abandon her lost bow and arrows, wherever they'd been flung to. A massive rumbling behind her startled her; she looked over her shoulder to see the black dragon land and lope up behind her, the earth crumbling beneath it. It slowed to a halt and swung its scaly neck down, regarding her with wicked, feral eyes the color of pure blood. Its scalding breath steamed around her, reeking of smoke.
She looked around for an escape route, but found none. The dragon had cut her off.
"Pretender," the humanoid figure snarled, bringing Nani's attention back to him. His voice was deep, guttural, like a demon's laugh. "You toy with forces that are beyond your ken. No more."
The gears in her brain turned rapidly. Alexius had mentioned her being the mistake at the Temple, the one that foiled the Elder One's plans. Cole said he was coming for her. The scar on her left hand must've been his doing – and the conclave explosion as well.
He'd murdered the Divine. More than that, he'd put the entire world at risk. And no one put Nani's family and clan at risk.
"I didn't want to get sucked into the Fade and have a painful mark seared into my skin," Nani snapped back, spreading her legs just slightly in a fighting stance. "If you'll recall, I'm not the one who exploded a peace talk, either. You did this all yourself."
Where was Finn when she needed him? She wouldn't have minded a cheeky "Elder Bitch" comment to lighten the mood, remind her that she wasn't alone.
"Your memories fail you, elf," he sneered, glaring down at her like she was some putrid stain on the snow, begging to be wiped away. "You stumbled into something you did not understand and ruined it with your meddling. You are a mistake."
No, you're a mistake, Finn probably would've said. Nothing that ugly should be allowed to exist. Have you seen a mirror? The reflection might kill you.
Imagining her brother's possible words comforted her, just a bit.
"Why do this?" she said, her hands clenching into fists, nails biting into her palms. "Why murder hundreds of people just to tear the sky to shreds? The Breach is gone. Sealed. And I'll seal two hundred more if I have to. You can't just end the world without opposition."
"You understand nothing." He glided a step closer; the dragon's breath stirred Nani's hair and raised her hackles. "Mortals beg for truth they cannot have. It is beyond what you are – what I was. Know me, know what you have pretended to be, for I do not seek to destroy the world." He lifted a bony, clawed hand. "Exalt the Elder One. The will that is Corypheus."
It hit her hard, like a slap to the face – like he'd said, he hadn't meant to destroy the world. If she was inferring correctly…he was insane enough to want to own it.
But, then, what was the purpose of the Breach? A scare tactic? She couldn't be quite sure.
"You. Will. Kneel," Corypheus ordered, raising his hand even further, as if he could telepathically compel her to drop to her knees and worship him.
As if she would.
The Dalish did not kneel to madmen. The Dalish did not break down and sink to their knees in front of certain doom. This was not the first time Nani had stared death in the face, either, and if she knew one thing, it was that a Dalish elf did not show fear in front of a predator. No matter what.
"I will not bow," she spat, her lips pulling back into a snarl of sorts. The mark on her hand throbbed, flared green, sent shards of pain through her bloodstream – it hadn't been doing that for the past few days. She'd thought it had gotten better. Perhaps the close proximity to this Corypheus set it off again.
"Insolent creature." Corypheus lifted his other hand, and Nani spotted something clutched in it, but she couldn't quite deduce what it was. It appeared round from where she stood, circular grooves cut into its black, faintly shiny surface. "Your subservience does not matter to me. I am here for the Anchor, and the process of removing it begins now."
Before Nani could think about how ridiculously ominous that sounded, crackling red lines like lightning strikes appeared on the orb in Corypheus's hand, a cloud of pale red magic around it; Corypheus thrust his free hand forward, the same red magic jumping forth from his palm.
Nani's mark exploded.
Maybe not literally, but it felt as much – the pain was all fire, all burning acid in her palm. Her entire left arm trembled, as if given a life of its own, the green of her mark flaring brightly.
The agony was so blinding, so forceful, that her teeth knocked together. Her left hand was nearly writhing in front of her, and she clamped down on her wrist with her right hand, trying to stop it. She felt the strong compulsion to sink to her knees and press her face into the snow and scream, but she refused to, instead bending and pressing her hand into her belly. She held fast to her last semblances of sanity, her legs shaking so violently in their struggle to keep her upright that she thought they might snap.
"It is your fault, Herald," Corypheus said, his voice dripping with venom. "You interrupted a ritual years in the planning, and instead of dying, you stole its purpose."
She could barely see him; white spots were flashing in front of her eyes. But she ground her teeth together and refused to break.
His voice came again, a low rumble over the white-hot pain. "I do not know how you survived, but what marks you as 'touched', what you flail at rifts, I crafted to assault the very heavens."
Hold on, she begged herself. Hold on… Creators have mercy, I can't keep going much longer…
"And you used the Anchor to undo my work?" His words were pure acid. "The gall."
Her legs trembled and knocked around beneath her, but she'd promised herself she would not kneel before him, and she would not.
All sorts of questions flashed through her mind like little pinpricks – the majority of them involving the word "why" – but she couldn't muster the strength to say them. Instead, she managed to spit out just three words:
"Fuck…your..work."
Finn would've been so proud of her.
That was the last coherent thought she had before Corypheus strode up to her, grasped her left wrist, and lifted her high in the air in front of him.
She was forced to dangle there, in the air, like a captured animal about to be flayed by a hunter. Her arm felt like it was about to rip out of its socket. But at least he'd stopped that horrendous spell, and aching as it was, at least her hand was beginning to recover. Even so, she almost would've preferred her previous state – hanging by one arm in front of Corypheus, her legs still and useless beneath her, was not the best outcome.
"Such bold words, with nothing behind them," Corypheus snarled, nearly in her face. "I once breached the Fade in the name of another, to serve the Old Gods of the empire in person. I found only chaos and corruption. Dead whispers. For a thousand years I was confused. No more." He hefted her higher, putting their eyes on the same level, and she resisted the urge to either shrink away or kick him in the face. "I have gathered the will to return under no name but my own, to champion withered Tevinter and correct this Blighted world. Beg that I succeed, for I have seen the throne of the gods, and it was empty."
So that was the reason for the Breach, for the disaster that had nearly plunged Thedas into destruction: Corypheus's crazed desire to creep physically back into the Beyond and turn himself into a god. The Breach hadn't been meant to pour demons into the world from the Beyond; it had been intended to get Corypheus there.
Nani choked down a pained noise, trying her hardest to keep her voice from cracking. "Am I supposed to be scared by that? By you saying the shemlen god doesn't exist?"
She'd pushed him too far, with her reckless words. His eyes flashed, and he heaved his arm – and her – back, then threw her hard at the trebuchet.
Her body cracked into its wooden frame, her bones knocking together, her head jarring so hard that everything went black for a moment.
"The Anchor is permanent." Corypheus's voice permeated her dizziness, even as she strained to open her eyes and clear her head from where she lay at the foot of the trebuchet. "You have spoiled it with your stumbling. So be it; I will begin again, find another way to give this world the nation – and God – it requires. As for you, little mortal… I will not suffer even an unknowing rival." He strode closer to where she lay, his dragon only feet behind him, steam puffing from the creature's nostrils. "You will die."
A choking noise bubbled up from Nani's throat as she planted her hands down and rose first to her hands and knees, then to her feet on unsteady legs.
"Maybe so," she forced out. Her teeth clenched. "But not by your hand."
She kicked the trebuchet's release, and it answered, flinging a heavy stone up onto the mountainside above them. And with a great shudder that rocked the earth beneath her, the avalanche began.