Chapter Twenty-five
Doom Upon All the World
The Inquisitor and his companions were prepared to set out that morning before dawn. Valina planned to sneak out, to leave a kiss on Cullen's cheek and a letter on his pillow promising she would return. The thought of saying goodbye had almost been too much to bear knowing the danger she was about to face, but Cullen was awake when Valina sat up in the cover of darkness. He caught her arm in his firm grasp, dragging her back down into his embrace. They did not speak except to say I love you before Valina slid from beneath the covers and dressed for battle.
It was quiet at the gate where the companions gathered on horseback with a small contingent of willing recruits, a solemn silence hanging over the group that spoke volumes of the sacrifice they were willing to make, should it come to that.
Malakar and Dorian were the last to arrive. They moved to the front, leading the way out of Skyhold's gate and across the bridge. Even though it was daytime, the closer they got to the Breach, the darker it became, the churning sky above blotting out the sun, green sparks of energy providing an eerie illumination to the scene as they approached the Valley of Sacred Ashes.
It took a great deal to spook Master Dennet's fine steeds but the group of companions left the horses well away from the decrepit structure, loosely tied to trees lest they need to escape before they began their way up towards the red glow that permeated the darkness.
'Dorian, Cassandra, Bull, with me,' Malakar said, voice clipped as he hurried through his instructions while they walked, 'Valina, Harding, follow close behind. We need sharp eyes and ears around us. Varric, Cole, Thom, Sera, Vivienne, Solas, spread out and watch for demons. Morrigan, you do what you need to do and find that dragon. We have to be prepared for every scenario we talked about.' The group nodded, and Malakar pursed his lips. He knew what they were about to face, knew that they may not come out of it alive, but they had to try. 'Be careful–'
Sparks arched into the sky from the decrepit structure, the sacred temple that lay in pieces, devastated by the blast that tore the Breach into the sky above so many months ago. Red light emanated into the sky, stifling some of the eerie green glow of the Breach.
Ahead they heard a voice echoing off the stone walls of the temple, a deep croaky tenor that vibrated through their chests as it boomed through the collapsing edifice.
Cassandra went to Malakar's side when they first heard the voice drifting down the path and the pair shared a glance. Clearly, they recognised the speaker.
Corypheus.
'…where is your Maker now?' he asked the handful of Inquisition soldiers who had been sent ahead by Scout Harding, 'Call Him to your aid. Call His wrath down upon me now…' The soldiers glanced at each other, blades firm in their grips despite the intimidating monster before them, despite the eerie chuckle that rumbled in Corypheus' chest. 'You cannot, for He does not exist. I am Corypheus, and I shall deliver you from this lie in which you linger. Bow before me. Bow before your new god and you will be spared.'
'Never!' a soldier shouted ahead, strong and determined even in the face of the ancient darkspawn magister, in the face of a self-proclaimed god.
Red light sparked and flared, the orb coming into view as the companions raced up the hill, eyes falling upon the scene. Corypheus stood before a broken archway, elevated by the steps as he stared down, surveying the soldiers, haggard lips curled in a sickening smile.
'As you wish.'
The Inquisition soldiers shielded their faces from the blinding flare of light as the orb pulsed, power crackling through the air, flashes and sparks arching into the sky before demons spawned in front of the soldiers.
'Come on!' Malakar yelled, sprinting ahead as the soldiers engaged with the Terror demons, hacking and slashing at the towering monsters, Malakar's heart filling with pride to see the recruits stand so bravely against their foe.
One of the soldiers was thrown backwards, a sharp cry breaking from his lips. Scout Harding sprinted to his side, helping him to his feet as the companions threw themselves into the fray. She ordered the recruits to retreat, handing off the wounded soldier to his comrade before she dropped back into cover, watching for more demons, her bow at the ready
The final terror demon fell by Cassandra's blade, and the companions regrouped, Malakar staring up at their foe.
'I knew you would come,' Corypheus said, arching down in a bow.
'It's over Corypheus. I won't let you open the Breach again,' Malakar said, tightening his grip on his staff, prepared to attack, 'it ends here.'
Corypheus smiled again, and Valina readjusted her grip on her blades. He was grandstanding, taunting, but behind the smirk, there was vicious, deep-seated anger, and Malakar was the focus.
'And so it shall.'
He raised his hand, the orb hovering over his mangled, talon like fingers. It sparked and crackled, and Valina felt the hair on the back of her neck rise as magic danced violently in the air. The ground shook beneath their feet, the six companions struggling to keep their footing. A sinking feeling settled in Valina's stomach as the temple and surrounding grounds began to rise from the earth with a lurch, the very earth beneath their feet trembling.
Valina heard Scout Harding gasp and she turned, watching as the dwarf tipped backwards. Valina sprinted towards the edge, dirt and rock crumbling in front of her feet as she stopped precariously, staring down.
'Lace!'
Harding coughed, shielding her face from the dirt. 'I'm fine,' she shouted up as the temple lifted higher and higher into the air, waving Valina back, 'I'll join the others! Help Malakar.'
Valina wasted no time. If anyone could hold her own, it was Harding. She turned back to the group, joining her companions as they stood firm.
'You have been surprisingly successful in foiling my plans, but I have not forgotten what you are: a thief, in the wrong place at the wrong time. A trespasser. An insignificant gnat. We shall prove here, once and for all, which of us is worthy of godhood.'
'I'm here to stop you, Corypheus,' Malakar shouted as he met Corypheus' glowing gaze, 'nothing more.'
'We shall see.'
A deafening roar sounded above and the companions lifted their gaze as the red lyrium dragon descended from the stormy sky, landing on a crumbling section of the temple. It stalked forward, claws scraping at the ancient stone, digging furrows as it positioned itself beside its master on the raised ledge. A growl rumbled in its chest, and for the briefest moment the five companions feared that the witch had betrayed them in their most dire moment, but a swoosh sounded above and a massive horned dragon slammed into the corrupted red lyrium fiend.
'It's Morrigan!' Dorian yelled above the sound of the clashing beasts, over their roars as the two dragons fell from the floating section of the temple, fighting mid-air.
Corypheus turned back to the group, a sneer twisting his face. 'You dare,' he said, voice thick with venom as he drifted towards the group, power crackling around him, 'you may think yourself clever for bringing a dragon, but it will give you no advantage against me. You will die as a warning to those who oppose my divine will!'
'I told you, Corypheus – this ends now.'
'For you, it will!' Corypheus snarled, lifting his mangled hands.
Malakar raised his staff, gritting his teeth as he cast a shield over the group, holding firm against the magical blast Corypheus unleashed against them. Cassandra sprinted forward, shield at the ready, and Iron Bull charged ahead with her, unleashing a battle cry.
'If you desire death, you shall have it!' Corypheus shouted, teleporting away from the melee fighters, but he placed himself in Valina's path. She leapt forward, slashing at his back before he teleported again. He glanced back to where she'd attacked him, but she cloaked herself in shadow, and so he found Malakar's gaze.
'You will feel my wrath, little wretch!' he snarled, raising his hands again. Power crackled over the battle field, demons screeching as they spawned from small portals in the sky. 'You will have your wish!'
He teleported away, seeking higher ground as the demons converged on the group. Valina took out the closest demon before leaping towards Dorian, following the mage's cue and ripping through the frozen wraith.
'Come on!' Malakar called, hailing the group to the decrepit stairs to the side of the archway Corypheus had stood beside.
Corypheus' voice boomed over the stormy sounds of the rift above and the roars of the fighting dragons. 'Look at you, wearing slave markings on your face with pride. You are nothing. Born to a race of snivelling cowards that withered before Tevinter's strength!'
'Don't listen to him, Amatus,' Dorian yelled, running beside Malakar. He grit his teeth, brow knotted with rage to hear his lover insulted.
'I know, Vhenan,' Malakar said, glancing sideways. He reached out, snagging Dorian's hand for the briefest moment, with perfect timing. He dragged the other mage into a crouch when they reached the top of the stairs.
Valina glanced sideways at the same time, reacting. 'Down!' she yelled, grabbing Bull's meaty arm. The group ducked as the dragons crashed through the high stone walls of the temple, tails and wings cracking the heavy stone as they flew overhead, snapping and clawing at each other.
The five companions lurched to their feet, racing around old stone pillars towards their cunning foe, unable to hide their approach from Corypheus' high vantage. He snarled, raising his hands, channelling his magic to cast a powerful spell, the red beam ripping through the stone and dirt at their feet. They flung themselves away from the attack, but Cassandra weathered the onslaught, deflecting some of it with her shield.
'I will not stand for this outrage!' Corypheus roared, the ground shaking beneath his feet, reacting to his wrath.
'He's teleporting again,' Valina said, pointing towards the next set of stairs. Malakar did not wait, turning, trusting in her intuition, following Corypheus' advance up through the temple.
They sprinted below a set of archways, Bull almost losing his footing on the crumbling steps, but still, he charged ahead, and still, the dragons roared and raged above them, grappling with deadly claws and snapping mouths, Morrigan using her new horns to great effect to rip and smash at the dragon's head.
The five companions hurried up the final steps, emerging in an open section of the temple grounds. The area glowed, massive crystalline shards of red lyrium jutting from the dirt.
Corypheus stopped ahead, turning on them. 'Enough! I will destroy you where you stand.'
Magic crackled in the air again, demons spawning around them. The group worked in harmony, quickly dispatching the demons, preparing to give chase to their foe again, but an almighty roar sounded above. They looked up to the sky, watching as Morrigan flew up towards the churning rift.
'What is she doing?' Bull asked.
'Something clever,' Valina said, a smirk catching on her lips as she watched Morrigan turn mid-air. The witch-dragon dropped from the sky, reaching out with sharp talons, crashing into the red-lyrium dragon on her descent. The two beasts wrestled for dominance in the air, hurtling towards the very ground on which the five companions stood.
'Move!' Malakar cried, and the group found cover as the dragons crashed down, a shockwave of dust and rock battering the five companions. Valina shielded her face from the worse of the onslaught. Looking through slitted eyes, she could see Morrigan – no longer a dragon – lying on the ground. The mage tried to lift herself up on shaky arms but dropped back into the dirt, unconscious as the red lyrium dragon rose to stand against them.
'The witch could be alive!' Cassandra said, 'we have to help her!'
'There is a dragon trying to kill us,' Malakar shot back, though his voice wavered, his gaze darting to her prone form.
'All the better to revive our own,' Cassandra countered as she marched forward, ready to face their new foe. The dragon was covered in scratches, bleeding profusely on its legs and neck, but still, it growled, teeth bared in a menacing display as it approached the group.
'I've got Morrigan,' Valina shouted. She stealthed, nothing more than a ripple in the air as she sprinted to Morrigan's side while Cassandra and Iron Bull drew the beast's attention away.
She dropped to her knees, sliding the last few feet towards the mage as she sheathed her daggers at her back. She rummaged in her belt pouch, fingers steady as she withdrew a phial, the red liquid glowing faintly under the darkened sky.
Valina rolled Morrigan to her back and the mage grimaced at the action, a moan shuddering in her chest. She was barely conscious, the flesh exposed by her scant robes covered in deep scratches. Valina uncorked the phial, lifting Morrigan's head, pouring the liquid down her throat, making the mage cough and splutter against the sudden influx of the bitter drought, but the moment the bottle was empty Valina cupped Morrigan's chin, holding her mouth closed to force her to swallow.
Morrigan's eyes fluttered open, gaze sharpening as the potion took hold and her wounds began to close. She shot upright, wild eyes darting to Valina with recognition.
Valina stood, offering her hand, and the moment Morrigan's fingers slid into her own Valina dragged the mage to her feet.
'Can you still fight?'
'Yes, I think so,' the witch said. She was unsteady but a determined fire flared in her gaze, though her eyes were filled with shadows, with memories Valina did not dare try to probe.
The dragon roared behind them and Valina turned. She and Morrigan were unable to do anything but watch as the red-lyrium dragon unleashed a massive breath that burned through the air like corrupted fire, their companions dodging and fade stepping away from the attack.
Valina sprinted back into the fray, feeling the familiar chill of a shield being cast over her as she dived beneath the dragon's hulking form, hacking and slashing wherever her blades wanted to bite at the thick scales. The dragon snarled, kicking at her, a heavy limb sweeping her from beneath its stomach. Her breath rushed from her lungs, stars dancing in her vision as she slammed against a stone on her way down, but she dragged her eyes open, watching as Malakar cast a final spell, the heavy stone fist he summoned slamming into the dragon's face.
A choked roar wrenched from its body, its massive legs trembling beneath its weight before it collapsed. Defeated, a red glow bathed its form before a crackling orb of light emerged from its body, the shape floating up before it shot toward their twisted spectator.
Corypheus' back arched and he stumbled, his shoulders straining with the spasms that wracked his body as the fragment of his soul returned. When he looked up, his body was still wrought with pain.
'Let it end here,' he roared before he turned away, 'let the skies boil. Let the world be rent asunder.'
He climbed further through this Black City of his creation, and Valina knew they were close – closer than the Inquisition had ever been before – to defeating the so-called God.
She followed her companions up another set of stairs, winding higher through the ruins, climbing over crumbling stone and trembling earth until, ahead, Corypheus stopped in the middle of a raised square with large pillars and cracked stone pavers, turning towards them for what they hoped would be the final standoff.
His hands clenched into fists, his scream rending the air as he bellowed, 'I will not allow it.'
Valina sprinted up beside Malakar. 'The Breach is getting bigger.'
'It will endanger the world,' Cassandra shouted above the mighty rumbling, 'we must stop this!'
The group rushed up the stairs as the Orb sparked and crackled in the middle of the square above the ancient magister, arcs of red lightning reaching the ground, but the moment they reached the top step a burst of magic from the orb flung them backwards. Even Cassandra and Bull could not maintain their footing, the warriors tumbling back with the others.
They clambered to their feet as fast as they could, adrenaline surging through their veins. Dorian and Malakar took positions at the edge of the square while the three melee fighters sprinted towards Corypheus. Valina watched him with her cold, assessing stare, saw the slight turn in his body and shouted out a direction before he teleported. Cassandra and Bull followed, the three converging on their foe the moment he appeared in front of a pillar, the warriors' charge pushing Corypheus back against the stone pillar.
They hacked and slashed at his haggard body while the two mages alternated between shielding spells and attacks. Corypheus grew more desperate with every moment, lashing out violently with his clawed hands and draining spells, pushing them back enough to move, but Valina's keen eye caught the subtle tells when he tried to teleport in his weakened state. The moment he reappeared, they fell upon him again, and soon he found his power depleting with every successive blow. He dropped down to one knee, clutching at his chest, overwhelmed by the synchronised attack of the Inquisitor and his companions.
The orb sparked above Corypheus and the group backed up as their foe rose on trembling legs, throwing a blast of magic at them. They slid backwards, Malakar the only one to weather the blow by ducking down to his knee, his staff wedged in the cracked ground beneath his feet.
'No! Not like this!' Corypheus cried out as he reached for the orb, drawing the glowing artefact into his hand, struggling to contain it as it crackled with power, 'I have walked the halls of the Golden City, crossed the ages…'
Malakar straightened, the anchor sparking, lighting up a startling green.
'Dumat! Ancient ones!' Corypheus said, focus on the orb, oblivious to Malakar's approach, 'I beseech you!'
The Inquisitor glanced at his hand, the anchor crackling with energy. He trusted his instinct, extending his arm towards Corypheus as the darkspawn magister struggled to contain the ancient artefact, his prayer echoing off the stone pillars.
'If you exist – if you ever truly existed – aid me now!'
Green energy danced with red, and when Corypheus lifted his hand to attack the orb flew towards Malakar, all traces of the ancient magister's magic lifted as the glow flickered to green in the blink of an eye.
Corypheus collapsed to his knees, slumping back on his heels in defeat as Malakar stared at the orb that floated above his hand. He raised his arm, extending it to the sky, a mighty pillar of energy shooting straight up into the middle of the churning Breach, the thunderous sound it unleashed almost deafening as the clouds sparked with green lightening for a final time.
The orb dropped to the ground, glow extinguished. Massive stones began to fall back to the earth on which they stood, Corypheus' magic fading, but Malakar's focus remained on the magister, his lips twisted in a snarl.
'You wanted into the fade?' he thundered, lifting his hand, dragging Corypheus to his feet with the power of the anchor, 'then that's where I'll send you!'
A magical green fire burst from Corypheus' struggling form, fade energy igniting around him before it imploded in a bright flash of light, and the false god was no more.
Rocks and boulders began to rain down upon them, forcing the companions to run for cover. Valina tried to keep an eye on her four companions, but the five were separated as they dodged and weaved through the ruins, making it down to solid earth.
She was forced to leap sideways as boulder crashed down beside her, barely missing her legs, the shockwave it sent out throwing her into a wall. For a moment, she lay there, half conscious as she struggled to catch her breath, but she forced her eyes open when a shadowy figure appeared at her side, heart racing for a moment before she recognised the face that peeked out from beneath the wide brimmed hat.
'Cole,' she said, sitting up against the stone. She hissed out a breath, clutching at her arm, surprised to find it wet.
'You hurt,' he said, gaze following hers to the fresh wound, her coat torn by the jagged rocks around her, her arm streaked with blood, 'stabbing, a burning pain that sears your skin.' He reached out. 'Let me help you.'
'Thank you, Cole, it's just a cut,' she said, though she did accept the hand he offered, and he helped her to her feet.
Their companions emerged from the tree line, looking up as they approached the base of the stairs. Though dark clouds remained, the sky above was calm now, the churning storm of the rift slowly settling.
'Inquisitor, are you alive?' Cassandra called, and Valina heard the waver in her voice, followed by a sigh of relief when Malakar appeared at the top of the stairs from behind an archway, using his staff for support as he came down the broken steps.
'Victorious, I see,' Morrigan said, the witch in reasonable health despite her thrilling dragon battle, 'what a novel result.'
Dorian pushed through the crowd, rushing to Malakar. A smile lit the elf's lips as his lover dragged him into a bone crushing embrace.
'Don't ever do that again,' he whispered, clutching Malakar tightly to his chest.
'What, save the world?' Malakar joked when Dorian released him, though the mages lingered close together.
He managed a smile. 'Once is enough, Amatus.'
For a moment, silence fell over the group.
'It seems the Breach is finally closed,' Valina said, eyes raised to the sky.
Malakar lifted his gaze too. 'It does look that way.'
The companions shuffled on their feet, almost overwhelmed by the moment – a moment they'd hung their hopes on for all these months – before Cassandra finally spoke.
'What do we do now?'
Malakar slid his hand into Dorian, a weary smile on his lips as he said, 'we go back to Skyhold.'