First Floor

"How much longer until the others are done?"

"We've only been waiting for a few hours and considering that there aren't more demons, abominations or blood mages pouring down from the upper levels to take their pickings of our undefended position, I'd guess that we won't have to wait for much longer." Shatele told Lealion, both women utterly bored from waiting amongst the mage survivors. The hounds were keeping themselves occupied by fighting over every little object that they found from bones to small clothes, "Brother and the other wardens will have the tower cleared and then we can continue our journey."

"How many more people do we have to recruit?"

"The Dalish Elves...The Dwarves of Orzammar...Arl Eamon...Soldier's Peak-"

"We'll have to do this shit four more times?"

"We don't have to, but then our options would not be favorable." Shatele explained to the mage, "If Ferelden is overran by the Blight and not stopped, then we'll all be killed with women like you and me being traded around to be raped and defiled in horrific ways from dusk till dawn. Perhaps we would be raped to death's door just to be nursed back to health. But if we are killed, the darkspawn may not care and proceed to rape our corpses until the flesh rots from our bones."

"That rose my mood." Surana sarcastically replied, "What about the best outcome?"

"Orlais will stop the Blight and reoccupy Ferelden under the official reasoning of "reconstruction". As Cailan is dead with no heirs and King Maric had no other legitimate children, no one would be able to unite Ferelden and oppose Orlesian rule."

"Legitimate children?"

"King Maric was popular with women, perhaps he had a natural child and nobody knows about him."

"How would you know that it's a he?"

"I don't." Shatele quickly replied and brought out the sword that she had found on the demon whose ashes were being rolled on by Huan, "You are the mirror. Reflect. What does that mean?"

"Mirrors reflect people's images back to them right? Maybe the sword's meant to show it's victims their faces when they die?" Lealion offered with a shrug, "I have no idea, weapons aren't exactly my specialty."

"Maybe Wynne would know?"

"Or Mairon."

"No...he...scares Alistair...and he scares me."

"Why?"

"I get a bad feeling that everywhere he goes, he always finds a way to make a bad situation worst..."

The Black City

He was being toyed with.

Mairon had put up a strong fight against the black-horned scaled wolf that reformed from his counter assault. But the heavily wounded mage knew that this wolf's true form could have killed Mairon from the start. It was strange to be in the prey, Mairon was often used to being the predator that this sensation of fear inside of his heart was actually fascinating to him.

Not enough to ignore his mortal peril, but fascinating nonetheless.

"Still alive?"

"I've lost a lot of blood...but that's nothing new."

"Interesting..." A black chain flew out from the entity's palm and impaled itself into Mairon's chest, "GET OVER HERE!" The chain pulled Mairon across the hall where the lone occupant of the Black City gripped the mage's neck with his clawed hand and Mairon grabbed the man's face with his mangled hand.

"POINT BLANK BITCH!" Mairon fired a Mana bolt from his hand that encompassed the entity's head. But any hope that Mairon had was crushed when the entity's mouth had widened to devour the blast and bite off Mairon's hand. To the mage's surprise, he was more curious than fearful of his amputation, "Oh...that's how it feels?"

"I bit off your hand and that's all you have to say?"

"Pain's more of an inconvenience to me...guess I'm just used to it or something...plus I know a mage that can help me grow my hand back...plus we're in the Fade."

"So what happens in the Fade isn't real?"

"I'm not going to go that far."

"I'm done toying with you...I think I'll let you live..."

"You're rewarding me for being utterly raped for the past fifteen minutes?"

"No...for being my toy..." The Entity answered the unrelieved Mairon, "Now what I did to the magisters...that was rape..."

"Symbolically or literally?"

"Why not both?"

"They did intrude into your house."

"But I gave them what they wanted." The entity raised his free hand as it began to form into a gaseous fume that flowed into Mairon's open wounds, "The magisters wished for power and to be feared above gods by man...so I gave them the taint and the world suffers it now. The Archdragons sought to enter my city and take my power...so their pawns were given a touch of power they were never meant to have...and the Archdragons were betrayed and turned into the demons that the world suffers now...that you suffer now."

"I'm surprised that I haven't seen a dragon around here-"

"I think I can manage...and give you want you've wanted since you were a child."

"You're going to give me a pony?"

"Oh yes...I'll give you the best damned pony that anyone would ever want..." The Entity laughed his booming laugh as Mairon felt his blood boil from the thick blackness that was merged with his being, "And the world will suffer you...Arthunus...the mage who struck the Black City."

"Does that make me a black mage?"

"As a matter of fact...yes it does..."

Templar Quarters

Mairon awoke coughing blood and with his mouth on something that tasted fairly nice.

His eyes stirred and his mind returned to it's place, now realizing that his head was one one of Morrigan's uncovered breasts. Breasts that were covered with his blood as was the rest of her body due to the heavy bleeding that he had done while asleep.

And even now that he was awake.

"That was fun...but with all of this blood loss...I'm surprised that I'm not dead..." Mairon managed as he staggered to his feet and looked to see that the rest of the group was still sound asleep and likely trapped in the Fade. The Sloth Demon was standing in place, clearly strained by whatever efforts that he had to take to keep the other wardens in the Fade. Mairon raised his hand and charged mana to it as he pondered destroying the demon right then and there.

Then decided against it.

"They'll be alright." Mairon waved his hand and walked over to an apparently dead mage that Mairon recognized as Niall, "Guess the demon was feeding off of him...well he is funny." Mairon found Lily's body under Revan and took several poultrices off of her. He then went to Niall and poured the contents of the poultrices down the mage's throat through he was careful not to choke the mage.

"You're on your own from here." Mairon said to the now breathing, but still unconscious mage. Amell figured that his fellow wardens would probably be able to wake up on their own, if not then that was their problem. In the meantime, he'd scout ahead and pick off any stragglers on this level.

That way Durin would never be able to catch up to him.

"Now to be a gentleman." Mairon refastened the witch's robe to restore her modesty and evaporated his own spilled blood so that it flowed back into his body. Mairon was further surprised to find that his stab wound from Tabris' missed attack was no longer bleeding though he could still feel something inside of it.

Mairon guessed it would be his black mark now.

"Least I know that I really did the impossible...too bad now will believe me when I tell them what I did in the Fade!" Mairon laughed to himself and then cringed upon remembering the sun-patterned eyes within he who sat upon the Black Throne, "Nice to be reminded of my mortality once in a while...speaking of which...just how many people are left to kill?"

"I'm pretty sure that I've accounted for every templar and mage that isn't dead or was killed by us..." Mairon thought to himself as he entered the next room and casually stepped on the fragile skull of a recently charred corpse, "The only ones that would still be alive are likely in the Harrowing Chamber...That's what...fourteen mages unaccounted for and one templar-" Mairon was interrupted from his thoughts as he opened the door and felt a great surge of heat burn upon his features. He erected a barrier over the door way just before he started rolling on the ground to put out the fire on his skin.

"I'M ON FIRE!" Mairon cried out in pain and excitement before the flames burnt out and Mairon stood to look upon a creature of myth that stared him down through the barrier, "A dragon?"

The fully mature Drake growled at Mairon, behind it a litter of dragonlings all roared at the mage as if to emulate their older brother

"Now how did you get here?" Mairon pondered, "Gregoir was really slacking if someone could sneak dragon eggs into the Tower." He could probably wait until the others awoke or just kill the dragons itself, but Mairon decided to consider a long term strategy, "Can't we negotiate?"

As if understanding Mairon's words, the Drake snapped it's jaws in Mairon's direction.

"I mean you do want to escape this tower, no?" Mairon inquired while the drake growled, "And fighting me is the best way for you to die."

The Drake calmed itself, but still remained crouched to strike at a moment's notice.

"I also have some enemies ahead of me...demons with power..." Mairon offered, "And I can give you that power."

The Drake barred it's teeth again, indicating mistrust in the human.

"I hear you! Why should you trust a human?" Mairon confided as he focused and felt the same blackness that gave him fear in the Black City begin to appear upon his arms, "But do you know what this is?"

The Drake recoiled at first and then moved it's head forward and acidic saliva dripped from it's jaws.

"If you help me kill the demons...I can turn their power into yours..." The Drake appeared convinced, but it glanced back at it's uncertain siblings as if asking about them, "Sure...they can have some too."

Inner Sanctem of the Fade

"How did you even get here?"

"I fell..."

"You fell...from where?" Morrigan asked while she and Oghren stood upon what was supposed to be the final stepping stone out of this realm, "Nevermind...I could have worst company."

"Indeed you could." Suddenly, the Dwarven noble appeared upon the fragmented island accompanied by a Circle Mage who looked like he had just been awoken from a hangover, "About time that we found our way here."

"Found your way here?"

"It's complicated from the way Durin described it..." The mage commented as mana freely danced on his open hands, "But this place is the source of a mage's power. Why shouldn't I be able to just make a door and go wherever I wanted?"

"The problem was that he choked when we ran into a golem."

"I was being healed...a potion was drained down my throat and revived me here..."

"Hey...eh...ain't this all a dream? And who are you nug-humper?"

"He is Niall, a mage of the Circle-"

"Good, but I don't care. Where are the others?"

"Create a doorway for them to come here."

"It's not that simple dwarf."

"The Circle Mage could do it, why not an experienced and uncaged witch?"

"I won't be pulled into a pointless argument with you."

"It is not an argument, it is a question."

"And you will pettle on with a long-winded deconstruction about how I am wrong rather than just saying I am wrong."

"Hey Niall...eh...so what's your story?"

"I tried to save the Circle, ran into the Sloth demon and fell asleep." Niall answered the Dwarf who was currently draining a bottle of rum, "Where did you get that?"

"Stole it out of my dream..." The dwarf laughed, "Since it's a dream...it ain't never gonna run out!"

"Can I have some-"

"Dream your own!"

"Play nice Oghren." Gimli said as he, Gilead and Leliana appeared upon the landmass with a bottle of ale in each hand, "There's enough for everyone!"

"How did the non-mage acquire drink? Have you found the secret of the magic-knights?"

"Brosca took it from his dream." Leliana explained while holding up a glass of wine, "It is a good vintage."

"What does a Chantry Sister know about vintage?"

"I was not always one, sir seeker."

"Now once the magic knights and qunari find us then we can leave this place." Durin commented and remembered what had brought them there in the first place, "After we track down the Sloth demon that brought us here and kill him."

"Why can't we just leave by ourselves?"

"As a demon brought us into this realm, it is likely that we must either persuade that demon to return us to the material world or we must slay the demon."

"Why do you not slumber?"

"As you surfacers say, speak of the devil and it'll appear," Gimli said as the harbinger of their current predicament appeared before it's captives, "Hey there! Want a drink?"

"Do not enjoy the rest that I have provided for you?"

"Tempt your fate and you will regret it." Morrigan warned the demon, whose flesh now appeared to be more festered and twisted, "No...I did not enjoy my sleep else I would not have left it."

"And your illusions are terrible."

"Where's the rum?"

"Go back to sleep and there will be more rum," The Sloth Demon said to the pondering Oghren, "You have traveled a long ways...you should sleep."

"Enough! I don't believe that your power is real!" Durin declared to the demon, "Come friends! He cannot hurt us if we don't believe in him!"

"What."

"Physical laws simply cannot be ignored. Existence cannot stand without them." Durin explained to the blinking Gilead, "We are faced with a staggering contradiction concerning the nature of this place called the Fade. It's very structure and it's grounding is created by the imaginations of those who dream. Those with the power to channel the essence of this place can manipulate it to their will."

"I'm going to pretend that this is going somewhere."

"That's what we usually do," Gimli said to Niall, "Besides, he may be on to something."

"For instance, demon, how do you know about the realms from which each of us emerged? Or to be more specific, how did you know about my father or of my heritage? Grievous errors aside."

"I read into your mind and found what causes you pain. So I constructed a place where you would accept and rest-"

"At least I would have if I had accepted the illusion that you had created. Which I didn't." Durin stated to the demon, "Cohesive reality is consistent with universal laws. Where the laws do not operate, there is no reality. All of this is unreal. Take for instance those drinks? Where did you get them? How have they not depleted?"

"Because we don't want them to?"

"Precisely Brosca! Within this place, we define our own reality. Normally reality is judged by the response of our senses. Once we are convinced of the reality of a given situation, we abide by its rules." Durin explained, "Yet, we all broke free from our so-called places of rest and thereby rejected the reality of those places. In doing so, we also reject acknowledgement of any power that you may have over us. If we do not believe in you, then you cannot hurt us."

A surge of lightning sparked from the Abominations shoulders and threw Durin to the edge of the landmass.

"That was entertaining," Gimli said as he brought out Kalah with the rest of the party preparing to attack the demon, "So you can hurt us...but that doesn't mean we can't hurt you."

"Why struggle? Why persist?" The Abomination asked as it's mass grew to into a large muscular creature similar to an ogre, "I suppose that I shall have to make you rest-" The Demon was interrupted when a mana mark appeared on it's body.

"It took us long enough to find our way back." Wynne stated as Lily drew out her knives, "But I believe we can force our way out of this nightmare."

"Thanks for the warning Morrigan!"

"I was expected to give you one?" Morrigan inquired just as a burst of Righteous Fire fell upon the demon and exploded in a burst of energy that left a searing hole in it's chest, "He didn't get a warning, do you hear him complain?"

"I'm not." Gimli said as the demon fell upon it's face, "Enjoy the nap!"

"Did I do that?" The newly arrived Alistair asked in just as much surprise as the rest of the party, "Did I...did I...destroy an abomination with one strike? I did that?"

"He was hexed by-"

"Yes Alistair, you did." A strained Revan gave the ex-templar a strong pat on the back as the demon began to erode before them, "Well done! Now we can leave the Fade."

"Well done indeed." Durin stated as he rose to his feet as if he hadn't been struck by lightning, "And here I was waiting to employ my gambit-"

"Sounds great and all...but we're more worried about leaving this place..."

"I think I can help with that." Wynne stated as she walked over to the dias of the Fade and struck it with the pommel of her staff, "There may be a momentary discomfort..." The fog of the Fade rose up and around them as the companions all felt themselves gasp...

Templar Quarters

The Wardens and the company all heavily coughed as they awoke upon the Fourth Floor of the Circle Tower. Their bodies were strained as if someone had kicked them while they were asleep and even when the stood, balance was elusive.

"How long were we asleep?"

"The Fade makes everything longer...it's amazing that any of us are alive..." Niall muttered, taking out a runic book that caught Wynne's attention, "I suppose this will be more useful to you than to me..."

"Obviously, though your courage should be noted." Gilead complemented the mage as he reached for the book and Gimli snatched it out of the mage's hand, "Why do you want it? Can you even read?"

"Of course I can read. My old man drilled every useless language that he could into my brain." Gimli scoffed and opened the book, "Let's see...how to kill abominations...nothing...how about how to prevent mage possession-"

"Page 659."

"Here." Gimli tossed the book to Wynne, "I don't see our resident blood mage around here."

"Blood mage? Mairon has dabbled in blood magic?"

"Dabbled wouldn't be the correct word." Revan answered, remembering the blast that the man created back at Ostagar, "He also tends to collect blood from the fallen and clearly understands more about the art than he should."

"Then I will have no choice but to report him-"

"He is a Grey Warden now. As much I'd like to hand him over to the templars...the Chantry has no authority over the Wardens and that includes mages as wardens." Alistair stated to Wynne, "Officially though, each branch of the Grey Wardens is only allowed to have one mage recruited from a Circle, but it's been ignored in recent years leading up to the Blight and the Chantry rarely supervises anyway. Plus, it's not unheard of for Wardens to conscript apostates or runaway circle mages when necessary."

"Very well, then how he uses his magic is on your shoulders." Wynne told the wardens, whose reaction ranged from neutral to annoyed and even enraged confusion, "I merely speak the truth."

"Bullshit. What he does is on him." Lily countered, "I've never let myself take a hit for something that I didn't do and that's not about to start."

"As interesting as this conversation is, we have a tower to save." Revan reminded the companions and led them out of the festering hall following Wynne to where the stairs to Harrowing Chamber would lie, "It doesn't appear as though there are any more demons or abominations on this floor."

"Uldred and his fellows are in the Harrowing Chamber...they've likely captured Irving and other survivors to corrupt." Wynne stated fearful for her fellow Circle members, "Or perhaps Uldred was merciful and killed them."

"How is it mercy to kill them?"

"There are worst fates than death Durin."

"I do not deny this elf, it is simply puzzling that death in itself is considered mercy."

"Well if someone gave you a choice between being beheaded or castrated, wouldn't death by beheading be considered merciful compared to the other option?"

"Less painful and more honorable, but not merciful. True mercy would not involve death. Mercy is where one has power over another with all might and laws giving one the right to destroy the other. But instead, the one pardons the other and sends them on their way. That is mercy! Mercy is derived from power."

"Your musings are amusing if you placed them in a book, I am certain that many would read about your thoughts."

"Do you truly believe that Sten?"

"No."

"Hey guys! I found a new urinal!" Oghren declared while relieving himself through a large recently made hole in the Tevinter Architecture, "Wanna see me make an arch?"

"Try setting it on fire!"

"And burn my junk? I LIKE MY JUNK!"

"Then by all means, keep having fun with your junk!" Lily yelled to the laughter of some, "Men and their junk...they treat it like a toy."

"Euphemisms and habits of genitalia aside, does anyone hear that?" Morrigan inquired as the group heard the sound of familiar laughter mixed with a terrified scream, "I believe we now know the fate of our beloved Amell."

"Why doesn't the Maker answer any of my prayers?" Alistair whined as the group followed the laughter, passing over many mutilated, burnt and even chewed demonic and human corpses, "At least Mairon did us a favor."

"Not just him..." Revan noted the teeth marks on one body and a set of broken cages nearby, "He made some friends."

"Hope those friends are our friends..."

"Do you?"

"I don't know." Gilead said to Gimli as the group entered the stairway and found a large mound of templar corpses with a familiar figure using some of them as some kind of puppet show, "These don't count towards the game."

"Bout time you got here! I didn't do enough killing to raise my score much anyway." Mairon stated as he hopped down from the mound and dropped his makeshift puppets, "I was just catching up with Cullen."

"Maker protect me!" The mage kneeling within a squared forcefield cried, "Maker help me! Maker save me!"

"What did you do him?"

"Is everything my fault Tabris? He was like that when I found him!" Mairon lightly pleaded with the unconvinced elf, "I was just trying to pick up his spirits."

"By dangling his fallen comrades in front of him?"

"I really don't know who I pieced together...the demons evidently ripped them apart so badly that they weren't recognizable-"

"Can you explain the hole in the wall?"

"A dragon did it."

"What dragon?"

"The one that I fed with the corpses of it's victims...I guess Drakes can grow wings."

"You released a dragon...into Thedas?"

"There's about half a dozen of them..."

"Why?"

"Six dragons...one for each of the Grey Wardens." Mairon pointed as Alistair was about to ask something, "I discounted myself...I don't want a dragon."

"Why not?"

"I want a pony!"

"Either Mairon's the single-greatest defense for Templar validity or he's crazier than a coconut..."

"How would you know what a coconut looks like?" Durin asked just as Cullen stood up and screamed, "The magic knight awakens!"

"Magic? Magic is evil...magic is...hell..." Cullen stated as if out of a waking nightmare, "You know nothing of what they are capable of dwarf-"

"Manipulate the elements, manipulate blood, summon demons, create projectiles of mana, alter the Fade to their will-"

"IT'S NOT THAT SIMPLE!" Cullen cried out, "I watched as those mages murdered my comrades...ripped out their spines...took out their eyes, ground them into...juice and forced them to drink it...the demons...defiled them...to death and then raised them back just to defile them to death again...tearing bloody orifices in their skulls...their prostates...their legs...their stomachs...they pulled out tongues and tied them together into rope with which to lynch their victims...the demons set my friends on fire and urinated on them with acid as they suffered their wounds..."

"This is giving me so many ideas..." Mairon was recording every word that Cullen spoke in spite of Wynne's heavy disapproval, "Keep going Cullen! Expel those emotional demons!"

"No! I'm not possessed! I'M NOT!"

"Calm yourself Cullen, all will be well soon." Wynne assured the young templar, "Where are Uldred and Irving?"

"Upstairs...Uldred and his fiends are...transforming mages into monsters like them..." Cullen reported, "You must destroy them all-"

"No, that won't happen."

"Why?" Sten asked Cousland, "You have seen firsthand what these monsters are capable of and yet you still wish to save the Saarabas tower?"

"We can't just kill them all." Revan countered, "What do you propose we do?"

"Kill everyone in that room and imprison the rest."

"Because imprisoning mages worked so well the first time!" Mairon laughed, "Besides, why should any of us fear maleficarum? They should fear me."

"Did your voice just change?"

"No," Mairon punched his throat and coughed before correcting himself to Alistair, "No! Why would my voice change?"

"Speaking of change...did you really attack the Black City?" Morrigan asked to the shock and fear of the party, "Tis curious."

"It was the dwarf's idea." Mairon stated, pointing to Durin who made no attempt to deny his involvement, "But it worked right? You guys got out."

"In fact, why didn't you kill the demon when you got out?" Gilead inquired, "Hell! How did you get out?"

"Would you believe me if I told you dalish?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Because my answer would disprove everything that you've been taught to accept and have faith in."

"Try me."

"Let's save that for later friends, I'd rather have everyone able to fight in the chamber right above us." Gimli said as he came in between the dalish and the mage, "And Cullen? That's your name? Stay safe. It will be over soon."

"Maker turn his gaze on you, wardens..." The templar muttered as he sat back into his prayer, "I hope your compassion hasn't doomed us all."

"Either way you're fucked, so make peace with the Maker while you can." Mairon advised the now shaking templar, "And by the way, Andraste was a mage."

"What?"

"Oh nothing! Just keep praying to your Maker." Mairon told the templar, "And he'll be happy to ignore you."

Harrowing Chamber

"I will never submit!"

"Your resistance only fuels our power!" Uldred taunted as he and two other mages manipulated the energies of the fade into a vortex. At the center of this vortex of misery and pain was a single young enchanter was held in suspended animation while forks of magic whipped into his very skin and flesh, "Yield!"

"Maker be with me!"

"The Maker is a lie!"

"Like how your mother was a whore-"

"MY MOTHER IS A SAINT!" Uldred created a magical claw that raked the enchanter across his chest and bitch slapped him, "Yield you elven-born freak!"

"No!"

"Guess this one won't come quietly-" One of Uldred's conspirators was silenced when an arrow and a bolt sank into the back of his head and caused the vortex to dissipate.

"Sorry...I thought we were expected." Gimli apologized while the other wardens entered the chamber and the dwarf's victim planted his face into the ground, "Was that my kill..."

"I believe it was mine." Gilead stated as Uldred's confusion became heavily apparent, "No matter, we seem to have disturbed a magical ritual of his."

"That was rude of you." Uldred mused while he calmed himself, "But no lasting harm was committed-"

"On the contrary, one of your conspirators is dead." Durin pointed out, "With the amounts of your demons and fellow mages that we slew to come to this point...your forces have been decimated beyond repair. And now, you are facing a heavy numerical disadvantage."

"Numbers do not win a battle little dwarf."

"They always help..." Alistair commented, "Where is the First Enchanter-"

"He's over there stupid boy." Morrigan answered, pointing to where an old man with a long beard was tied up in the corner of the room with a few other mages, apprentices and enchanters, "Look before you speak."

"Uldred...your scheme ends now." Wynne stated, pointing the end of her staff at the rebellious Senior Enchanter, "Surrender now and your life will be spared. There is no need for any further bloodshed."

"Why not?"

"He does have a point...why end the bloodshed?" Mairon inquired and shrugged his shoulders, "Then again, this is the last pocket of meatbags. All good things must come to an end...though I'd really prefer if they didn't..."

"Can I go back to my corner?" The traumatized enchanter asked Uldred who waved his hand in reply, "With gusto!"

"Why are you letting him go?" Durin inquired, "In fact, what were you doing to him?"

"Unlocked his gift and making him like us."

"He and his fellows are abominations." Wynne warned the group, "They may wear the faces of men, but they are monsters now in spirit and in form."

"Monsters? We have merely transcended the narrow-minded, oppressive, dogmatic restrictions of the Chantry." One of Uldred's companions spoke, "Now we may do as we please-"

"You've only made yourselves doubly vulnerable to the magic knights that the Chantry controls through addictive substances." Durin countered, "Now when our resident magic knight uses his abilities, you will fall twice as quickly."

"Durin...shut up..."

"I am merely explaining how you have a strong advantage against these demon-possessed mages. After all, your abilities work against mages and creatures of the fade, no?"

"They do-"

"Which means that they would in essence, stack against abominations?"

"That's not how it-"

"So in their present state, you are their single greatest danger." Durin concluded as Alistair cried on the inside and Mairon broke down laughing, "What is funny Amell?"

"I'm not sure which is funnier...the idea of Alistair being a threat or the idea that a templar can hurt an abomination!"

"This doesn't have to end in violence." Revan attempted to reason with the unfettered mages, "Release your captives and turn yourselves in and we can avoid unnecessary bloodshed."

"And what if I don't believe that bloodshed is unnecessary?"

"Then we'll have to destroy you." Revan replied, activating his Spirit Aura to the surprise of two of Uldred's companions, "Make your choice."

"So we are not the only ones who have unleashed our potential...perhaps we can come to an arrangement Grey Warden," An unaffected Uldred offered, "A mage is but a larval form of something even greater! Your Chantry vilifies us, calls us abominations when we have truly reached our full potential! With said potential, we would be invaluable to you against the Blight."

"You offer to join us?"

"Of course! If the darkspawn overrun all of Thedas then what point will there be for power and freedom?" Uldred answered Gilead, "Though we despise the Chantry, we are aware of the Grey Warden treaties that compel the Circle of Magi to aid against the Blight. We would be perfectly willing to do so."

"If?" Lily added, "Come on, this sounds way too good to be true."

"You're actually considering this?"

"I hate blood magic, but you've seen what Mairon can do! Imagine if we had 50 mages that were as strong as him?" Tabris rolled her eyes when Mairon started laughing again, "It would be better overall if we used these abominations against the Blight rather then fighting them!"

"And what about after the blight is over?" Revan countered, "These mages just slaughtered their own people in cold blood or worst. Summoning demons, mindlessly tearing holes in the veil, defiling the dead, mind-rapping templars-"

"Aren't they already mind-raped?" Mairon reminded the party, "Honestly, seeing Cullen's little pity party made my day-"

"The point is that these mages have given us no reason to trust them-"

"And they wouldn't be able to escape anyway as I destroyed the boats." The entire party gasped and stared at Durin who merely brushed his beard in apathy, "As a failsafe in the event that we failed to contain the mages, so that they cannot escape."

"We were never going to use the boats-"

"You were going to fly on the back of the dragons once you fed them enough demons and mana to enhance their growth?"

"Well...yes-"

"They're already gone." Mairon said as a very emotive crack appeared in Uldred's calm exterior, "Even the drakes grew wings...guess those vestibles are more than useless limbs-"

"Resistance! Everywhere I go, resistance!" Uldred shouted in a voice that half his own and half the demon's that indwelt him, "You are a thorn in my side, and I must remove you before you fester!"

"Did you have to use such a disgusting analogy?"

"No! But it served to bring the point across-"

"It was effective and to the point, but it could have been better worded." Durin stated, "It makes you appear weak for being vulnerable to a little thorn."

"That settles it. You die first." Uldred happily laughed before addressing the other wardens, "Will anyone object?"

"No."

"No."

"Yes!"

"Ignore the Chantry Sister and kill the dwarf."

"The one with gold beard, remember that."

"No."

"No."

"Eh..."

"You can try."

"Go ahead, I'm bored with him."

"Light em up."

"You were going to strike me anyway so why-" Durin was interrupted when violent spikes and tendrils of electricity surged from Profion's hands and covered over the dwarf's armor. When the mage was finished, a smoking Durin remained upon his feet, "You failed."

"Give it time." Uldred was interrupted by a red flask that was thrown at his feet. Just as he and his compatriots noted the object, a bolt from Kalah broke open the flask and splashed warm red liquid over the mages as Lily threw a Fire Bomb into their vicinity.

"That was your only free shot, friend." Gimli stated as the screaming mages were set on fire.

"Why was I not informed of this free shot?"

"You would have told him." Alistair answered as the mages stopped screaming and in place of fire, mana burned off of their bodies as they assumed the true form of their abominable states, "Oh yeah...mages can heal themselves."

"Only if you leave us alive." Uldred stated still in human form and unharmed, "What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger."

Author's Notes:

Sorry that the Sloth Demon battle was kind of anti-climatic, but I felt like it would be redundant to have a long epic battle there.

The whole point of the Fade was for the characters to overcome it's illusions and there was the true battle. Beating the Sloth Demon is repetitive because the characters have already beaten him in a sense. Plus, the guy shape-shifts into various forms during the battle and they all bring into question exactly what kind of demon he truly is.

He has an Arcane Horror form which technically could only happen if he was a mage corpse possessed by a Pride Demon and he also has a Wrath Demon form even though he's a sloth demon...it's all so confusing and I just wasn't in the mood.

I swear to make up for it with the Uldred fight.

As for what happened to Mairon/Arthunas...it's not going to drastically change the story line, but let's just say that eventually it will lead the overall picture in Thedas to get...worse...way worse...