Chapter 52: Finale

"Man, I take one little nap and everything almost falls apart." Daylen joked as he healed Elissa.

"Damn you!" she cried before kissing him.

After they finally separated, Daylen immediately shifted his focus to the battlefield. "So, are you ready to make these bastards pay for screwing with us?" he asked calmly.

"Definitely!" Elissa replied energetically.

Shortly afterwards, Daylen hurled a fireball into the mass of darkspawn who were reconvening nearby. He then summoned an inferno that decimated the reinforcements that were attempting to overwhelm them. Satisfied with the devastation he'd just caused, Daylen then transformed into a swarm of insects and flew to where Aedan, Duran, Natia, Alistair and Darrian were struggling to battle a small army of darkspawn. He quickly wreaked havoc on the darkspawn forces before flying back across the battlefield to Neria and Theron's location. After returning to human form he activated his spell might and released a powered up heal spell on Theron, who immediately felt the effects. The Dalish warrior quickly got to his feet and joined Neria and Daylen in their fight against the darkspawn horde that was advancing toward them.

Daylen quickly blasted the creatures with a chain lightning spell while Neria summoned a stinging swarm and Theron fired a scattering shot. As the battlefield started clear, the wardens all began gathering around Daylen whose return provided a much needed boost to morale.

"Had a good rest I hope?" Duran joked.

"It's so nice that you could take a nap while the rest of us were fighting for our lives." Darrian added sarcastically.

"Hey, I figured you could handle it." Daylen replied with an equal amount of sarcasm while grinning.

"It is good to have you back Daylen." Theron said sincerely while Neria hugged Daylen.

"When this is all over, I'm going to have a few choice words for you." Natia added while playfully shoving him.

"I'm just going to kick your ass." Aedan interjected before locking hands with his friend while smiling.

"Daylen, it's good to have you back. Sorry about the mess, but you know, darkspawn laying siege and all..." Alistair joked.

"Well, I think it's time we did something about that." Daylen replied seriously. "Neria, you're with me. Theron be ready to make that bastard pay." he added coldly.

Daylen then made his way to the edge of the roof with Neria close behind and observed the Archdemon on a nearby rooftop. The beast immediately fired a ball of purple flames that Neria quickly blocked with a shimmering shield.

"Yeah, I missed you too." Daylen remarked sarcastically. "Now Neria!" he added loudly.

Neria then hit the Archdemon with a vulnerability hex followed by an affliction hex. Daylen quickly summoned a blizzard and tempest afterwards, creating the storm of the century spell combination. The creature was quickly caught in the center of the storm and found itself unable to escape, but the two mages weren't quite finished yet. Neria then summoned a death cloud and Daylen followed up with an inferno. The Archdemon was now being battered with a slew of high level spells and the damage was being amplified by its weakened defenses thanks to the hexes. There was also the fact that Daylen's spell might was active and Neria still had her spell wisp, both effects were amplifying the power of their spells. Determined to inflict as much damage as possible while the creature was on the defensive, Daylen then blasted it with a crushing prison while Neria summoned a stinging swarm. As the combined spell effects continued to devastate the beast, they both began firing arcane bolts that added to the havoc.

After the spells finally subsided, the monster roared weakly as it struggled to take flight once again. It soared above the rooftop of Fort Drakon where Theron was waiting. He quickly took his aim stance and fired several shots into the creatures underbelly. The beast came crashing down to the surface where the others were eagerly awaiting. Elissa quickly unleashed a flurry attack while Aedan, Duran and Alistair released assault combos against the creature. Meanwhile, Natia executed a punisher combo while Darrian released a string of pinpoint strikes.

The combined attack and the results of the cumulative damage that the creature had suffered were starting to show. The Archdemon could barely stay standing and every warden there knew that the time to settle things was fast approaching. As they all closed in to finish the beast off, it once again unleashed its vortex attack, crippling all of the warriors who'd surrounded it. Theron was quick to react with a critical shot to the beast's neck which promptly ended the attack, but the others had still suffered a great deal of damage. Once again enraged by Theron's interference, the creature quickly tore a piece of wreckage from the ground and tossed it at the Dalish warrior, but not before firing a concentrated blast of purple flames at the flying piece of debris. The resulting explosion sent Theron flying over the edge of the roof, luckily he managed to grab hold of a ledge quickly enough to avoid plummeting to his death.

"Theron!" Neria shouted before bolting towards him.

Daylen kept his focus on the Archdemon. "You really like that trick don't you?" he asked coldly as he faced the beast. "Or is that just what you do when you're desperate?" he added as he approached the monster.

They were once again face to face and Daylen had every intention of ending things once and for all. As the Archdemon glared at him, it suddenly released a powerful breath attack that Daylen countered with a shock spell. As his electricity collided with the purple flames, a battle of wills ensued. Whoever succeeded in overpowering the other would win the day and Daylen was more determined than ever to end the beast. As he struggled to push the monster's flames back, he could feel his strength beginning to wane. "Sorry Valor, I guess you and your friends will have to find someone else to watch." he muttered before pouring everything he had into conquering the creature.

With one final, monumental effort, Daylen's electricity finally pushed back the Archdemon's flames and blasted through the creature's mouth. Electrical currents immediately began to tear through the beast's body from the inside out. Afterwards, the monster swayed slightly before finally falling over. Daylen then approached and blasted the creature with a crushing prison that shattered several of its bones, insuring that it wouldn't be standing again anytime soon. He then gathered every ounce of arcane energy he could muster into an immense arcane bolt that he held in his left hand. Daylen was beyond exhausted and he barely had the strength left to continue breathing, but it was time to finish things. He then made his way over to the battered and broken form of the Archdemon and looked into the beast's one remaining eye.

"You know what? I don't really like you." he declared triumphantly before firing the arcane bolt at pointblank range, completely blasting the Archdemon's head off. It was done, finally.

Afterwards, Daylen was immediately engulfed in an enormous pillar of light that was released from the Archdemon's body. The intensity of the light could be seen from all over Denerim as everyone who was engaged in battle took notice from all corners of the city and the outskirts. Friends and allies observed the sight and quickly came to understand what it meant. But for the wardens on the top of Fort Drakon, it was a scene of utter panic.

"DAYLEN!" they all screamed in horror as they struggled to their feet.

Elissa quickly made her way towards the light where she could barely make out the image of Daylen who slowly mouthed, "I love you." as he stared back at her. Moments later, the pillar of light exploded, knocking them all off their feet. The Blight was finally over, but at what cost?

Several hours later, the entrance of Fort Drakon had become quite crowded. In addition to Petra, Mithra, Kardol, and their respective entourages, the wardens' friends were also now awaiting their return.

"The bastards are on the run everywhere!" Oghren shouted cheerfully.

"Yes. It seems that Daylen, Neria and the others were successful." Wynne added quietly.

"Wynne, I'm worried. With the way Daylen was fighting and how ferocious that thing looked...what if-"

"We will simply have to await their return Petra. I am certain that Daylen will be fine and likely eager to regale us with tales of his amazing skill." Wynne cut in humorously, but she was unable to mask her own concerns.

"Shouldn't they have been here by now? Perhaps we should make our way to them..." Leliana said in a worried tone. Dog was clearly in favor of her suggestion and had been attempting to enter the fort for quite awhile now while the others held him back.

"We will, eventually...but right now, let's give them a chance to make it on their own." Wynne replied gently.

"I am fairly confident that they've all survived. Considering what I've seen them face in the past, this almost seems boring by comparison." Zevran added humorously.

"Theron WILL return." Mithra abruptly added, with absolute confidence.

Sten was silent as usual and so was Morrigan who simply stared at the fort with her arms crossed. Several moments later, Dog began barking and footsteps could be heard coming from within the fort.

As Theron held a sobbing Neria, he found himself cursing his own weakness. It should have been him, if he had finished the creature off before Daylen's recovery, the whole tragic scene that was now unfolding could have been avoided. As he surveyed the others, his guilt only grew. Darrian was cursing while punching the wall of the fort, his knuckles were becoming raw from the repeated abuse but he didn't seem to care. Natia was crying while Duran held her and Aedan had fallen to his knees in grief. Alistair had lowered his head in shock, the magnitude of the situation clearly hadn't sunk in yet. But the most painful member of their group to watch at the moment had to be Elissa. She had been scouring the debris of the roof for several minutes now while quietly muttering "Daylen" to herself. None them had the heart to stop her and at the moment they were dealing with their own grief.

"Damn you, Morrigan." Theron thought bitterly as Neria trembled in despair while he held her. Or had Daylen simply overexerted himself? Regardless the reason, they had all lost a friend and more. After awhile, Alistair finally raised his head.

"We should at least find his body. We owe him that much." he quietly announced. Neria's anguish only increased upon hearing his words, but Alistair was right. It didn't matter how long it took, they would have to recover Daylen's remains.

Unfortunately, very few of them were in any condition to perform the search. Their injuries could be overlooked, but their emotional states were another matter. Neither Neria nor Natia had stopped crying since they'd all recovered from the explosion and Aedan hadn't moved an inch.

"I'll do it, Alistair. You should take the others back to the entrance. It's probably best that they don't see him..." Duran replied hoarsely.

"I will help as well." Theron added quietly.

Alistair nodded before leading the way from the roof. "Wait a minute! We aren't going anywhere! We may have come up here separately, but we're leaving together, dammit!" Darrian shouted angrily.

No one had the heart to argue with him and so they all joined Elissa's desperate search for Daylen. The fact that he was dead clearly hadn't registered yet and Theron feared what her condition would deteriorate into once they discovered his body. After nearly an hour of searching, they were beginning to lose hope. It wasn't enough that killing the damned creature had cost Daylen his life, but apparently his body too.

"That's enough. There are mountains of debris and wreckage here. This could take hours, maybe even days and you all have injuries that need to be treated. I will continue the search, I am in a slightly better condition thanks to Daylen...anyway, the rest of you should go while I handle this." Theron announced sternly.

"NO! I have to find him!" Neria shouted defiantly.

"Neria, please." Theron pleaded quietly as he placed his hands on her face. She immediately began to cry as Theron embraced her once more.

"Theron is right, there isn't much daylight left and once night falls we definitely won't be able to..." Alistair couldn't finish.

Afterwards, they all reluctantly began to head towards the exit from the roof. Everyone except for Elissa, who was still quietly combing through rubble. The sight of her brought both Neria and Natia to tears, while Aedan struggled to avoid seeing the state his sister was in. "I'll get her." Theron said quietly before departing the group to make his way to Elissa.

"Elissa, you should leave now. We can continue our search for Daylen in the morning if I don't find him before nightfall." Theron said gently after approaching her.

She was either ignoring him or hadn't heard his voice, either way it was making Theron's task all the more painful. "Elissa, that's enough. Please stop." Theron added quietly as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"He's not gone! I can't just leave him!" Elissa shouted angrily. The whole exchange was threatening to break the others as they observed the scene.

"Elissa, I'm begging you-" but before Theron could finish he suddenly heard a very faint, but distinct sound. His training as a Dalish hunter allowed him to identify the most muffled of noises and at that moment he was certain he'd heard a cough.

He quickly focused his senses and struggled to hear the sound once more, while quietly praying that he hadn't imagined it. As he shut his eyes and settled his mind, he heard it once more and quickly made his way towards the source. After reaching a large pile of rubble, he promptly began digging through the debris.

"Duran, help me!" he shouted excitedly as he got closer to the source of the coughs.

Duran instinctively made his way over and began lending his assistance while the others made their way over as well. "Theron, is it-"

"I believe so! We must hurry before he runs out of air!" Theron replied frantically.

After hearing his proclamation, the others immediately began aiding in the excavation. After several minutes of shifting wreckage and debris, they were all met with the most joyous scene they could've imagined. Laying in a pile of refuse, was none other than Daylen, weak and barely conscious, but alive.

"What took you so long?" he said weakly before coughing.

There were instant outbursts of jubilation as the others celebrated. "Why? Why did I honestly believe that you'd actually died?" Darrian asked happily while smiling.

"You bastard! Do you realize the scare you gave us all?" Duran shouted before laughing.

"You'll pay for this, mark my words!" Natia exclaimed while grinning.

"As soon as your strong enough to move, My fist will be having another meeting with your jaw." Aedan added as a wave of relief swept over him.

"Thank the maker! Daylen you really know how to build an atmosphere don't you?" Alistair added in an equally relieved tone.

"Daylen, don't ever do that to us again." Neria said quietly before gently hugging him.

"Daylen, it is once again good to have you back." Theron added happily.

As they all continued to rejoice, Elissa quietly made her forward. Without a word she leaned over and kissed Daylen before embracing him. "Let's go home." she said happily after caressing his cheek. Daylen gave a small grin as Aedan and Theron lifted him to his feet and lent him their shoulders to lean on. Afterwards, they all made their way back to the entrance of the fort where all of their friends and allies awaited. There was instant applause and revelry as they appeared. Leliana quickly jumped into Aedan's arms while Wynne lamented the condition they were all in as she observed the group. As the celebrations continued, a raven haired witch quietly slipped into the shadows and moments later a small, black cat had taken her place. The creature then strolled away into the distance, but not before taking one final glance back at Daylen.

As Valor observed the scene from within the fade with several other spirits, he appeared to be quite pleased. "I suppose the mortal didn't need our assistance after all." he commented cheerfully. "So tell me, does he meet your expectations?" he asked after facing a large, glowing, golden orb of light. The light simply released a brilliant flash of radiance before disappearing. "High praise indeed." he added pleasantly before disappearing himself.

Several weeks later, Daylen found himself relaxing in the royal palace with the others. After their battle with the Archdemon, he'd ended up sleeping for over a week and was eager to say his farewells to his fellow wardens before they temporarily went their separate ways. He'd already said his goodbyes to their other friends who were departing. After making absolutely sure that Daylen had fully recovered, Wynne had left to make preparations for a journey to Cumberland in Nevarra. Apparently, the College of Magi was about to have some big meeting and she planned to be there after the tower was back in shape. Sten had already said his goodbyes and begun the long journey back to Seheron. Leliana was busy preparing for her trip around Thedas with Aedan. Zevran was spending most of his time annoying Darrian, but had stated that he'd also be departing soon. Oghren had opted to remain on the surface and was spending most of his time with Felsi. Alistair was busy being a king and proving to be a surprisingly capable one according to Anora who had been surprised by his eagerness. True to her word, Morrigan had disappeared immediately after the battle.

"Well, have fun on your honeymoon." Daylen joked as he glanced at Aedan.

"Ha ha. We won't be gone too long. I want to get back and help Fergus with Highever a bit before I catch up with you and Theron. I can't leave all of the rebuilding to him and Elissa." Aedan replied casually. Not long after the battle, Aedan and Elissa had discovered to their immense joy and relief that their older brother, Fergus had survived his scouting mission into the Korcari Wilds, despite being injured.

"Well, you'd better not be. It's bad enough that Elissa is going to be away fixing Highever, if I find out she's going to have to be there longer than necessary because you've been slacking off with Leliana, I'm going to be pissed." Daylen added irritably.

"I told you, it won't be that long." Elissa added reassuringly before kissing Daylen.

"I'm sitting right...you know what, never mind." Aedan remarked in an exhausted tone while they all laughed.

"Neria, don't take too long at the tower either. I know you want help with the reconstruction and that Irving asked you to help teach a few lessons, but Theron will definitely get lonely and I'll be a poor substitute for you." Daylen added humorously.

"I won't be away for long. Try not to miss me too much. And don't let Daylen get you into too much trouble." Neria remarked with a note of concern in her voice as Theron held her.

"I will miss you, for as long as we're apart. I will also try to steer Daylen away from any...ominous scenarios that we encounter." Theron replied calmly.

"Before any of you go anywhere, you have a wedding to attend." Natia announced proudly.

"I wouldn't dream of missing this. It's not every day Orzammar elects two Paragons, let alone two Paragons who're getting married." Daylen commented happily.

"I still can't believe those assembly bastards voted you both in as Paragons." Darrian added.

"And all we had to do was help slay an Archdemon and save the world from a Blight." Duran remarked sarcastically.

"Darrian, you should bring Shianni. I'm sure she'd love to see Orzammar." Aedan said while grinning.

"I suppose I could if she isn't too busy helping with the repairs to the alienage." Darrian replied in a clueless manner. "Once I'm done helping everyone there, I'll be able to catch up with you and Theron." he added as he turned to Daylen.

"Well, I guess everyone's going to be occupied for a few months at least. I guess it really is up to us to rebuild the wardens. Damn! I just wanted to spend a few weeks relaxing in bed with Elissa." Daylen lamented.

"Isn't that exactly what you've been doing for the last few days." Natia replied mischievously.

"I'm not hearing this!" Aedan shouted irritably.

They all laughed once more at Aedan's expense before getting quiet. "Well, getting recruits shouldn't be too much trouble. This 'Heroes of Ferelden' thing has its perks. Plus, Daylen is the one who slew the Archdemon. You should see some of the people in his fan club." Darrian finally remarked.

"You should've seen the look on the revered mother's face when we told her that you were the one who killed it. You'd think someone pissed in her tea." Aedan joked.

"You mean the Chantry has a problem accepting the fact that a mage saved their asses? That doesn't sound like the warm and welcoming organization that I've come to know." Daylen added sarcastically.

They all found themselves laughing once more before settling down. "And you survived, the first Grey Warden to survive the killing blow." Aedan finally said quietly.

Daylen quickly exchanged glances with Elissa and Theron who were the only ones who knew about Morrigan's ritual. "Yeah, he survived. He's too stubborn to die and I'm glad." Elissa replied happily as she curled up closer to Daylen.

"I'm relieved as well. If you had perished, then the initial responsibility of rebuilding the Grey Wardens in Ferelden would have fallen to me alone." Theron added with a note of relief in his voice.

"I guess you really don't want that kind of burden, huh? Damn. Well, I guess I really will have to help out now. To be honest, I was planning to slip away with Elissa to Highever and leaving everything to you." Daylen admitted.

"Daylen!" Neria shouted incredulously.

"Don't Daylen me. The Blight's over and I'm tired of being responsible." Daylen joked.

"Theron, you have my condolences." Aedan remarked grimly as his friends chuckled.

Several hours later, Daylen and Theron found themselves walking down one of the many hallways of the palace. "I never got the chance to thank you for explaining things to Elissa. I owe you more than you can ever imagine, Theron." Daylen said gratefully as he faced the Dalish warrior.

"Daylen, you don't have to thank me and you certainly don't owe me anything. You saved us all from an unspeakable evil. You led us to the momentary peace that we have now and for that, we're all grateful." Theron replied.

"Yeah well, I still feel like I owe you. Tell you what, if you ever get into trouble with Neria, you can blame it on me." Daylen joked.

"I may hold you to that Daylen. Given your history of getting into trouble and the fact that we will be working on our own for several months without the others, I foresee a great many situations occurring that may upset Neria." Theron added seriously.

"You worry too much. How much trouble could we possibly get into in Amaranthine?" Daylen remarked while smiling.

Theron simply shook his head and braced himself for the inevitable storm. "Neria, forgive me in advance." Theron whispered to himself while Daylen laughed.